Sunday 14 November 2010

An Unwanted First....

Got up nice and early on Saturday for the sprint to one of the local waters.

Normal stuff had already been done and I was away from the house in plenty of time to meet Blankman at 06:30.

We arrived at the water and the predicted light winds of 8mph SW were in fact a stronger 15-20mph Westerly wind. Not a good start, but at least there was a chop on.

We trudged over to the swim that had been producing for us both over the last month and quick had the rods out after abit of adjustment for the wind speed.

It was a mixed bag of selections we put out including bluey, smelt, herring etc and we had high expectations of a good days fishing.

07:30 and I noticed one of the BBB 's lights was on and the drop off arm was on the ground. Strange??? No Sound? I quickly made my way over to the rod and quickly noticed that some line had peeled off. So I struck. Nothing there, so I reeled in and found a very small imprint on the bait.

It was soon recast and alarm reset. That's when I notice I had knocked the volume and had turned it down to zero. What a plonker!!


Helps if you turn it on

Now there is missing a run due to a fish dropping a bait, but to miss it because I've not turned up the sound, well I only have my self to blame. The three P's comes to mind. Piss Poor Preparation.

Anyway, after a few choice words I quickly calmed down and got back to the business of scanning the water for life.

In the shallows I notice a fish cruising at the surface, A solitary bream over a shallow weed bed. It cruised about for 5 mins and then disappeared into the chop.

08:00 came and Blankman front alarm sounded (he remember to turn in on) and Steve Bown drop off indicator was on the ground.

Blankman struck and was into a good fish, in fact the bend in the rod looked like a very good fish (not to rub in in Craig) and after a bit of pressure he looked to have the better of it.

Due to the chop on the water, I decided to get the landing net and make sure this one was landed. Just as I had gotten the net then the line goes limp.

Did it break the braid? No.
Did it shake the hooks? No.


So what happened, after a few choice words we inspected the rig and all seemed fine. Until I notice that the second treble was missing, but the trace was intacted.

To say there was a lesion to be learnt about trace making, about sums it up for BM.

Wilts all looked good on the end treble and swivel, both being secured using a crimp. He had in fact taken a second short piece of wire, and crimped this onto the main wire as a second hook. Say no more!.

That what had given way and that what had cost him a decent pike.

The condition got gradually worse during the morning and no more runs came our way.

The fishing was also not helped by the flotilla of kids being shown how to sail boats.

But instead of using the 100 acres of water, they decided to use the bit in front of us. So with the echoes of a shouting and whistles from the boats we trudged back to the cares and for a new swim.

We settled into the new swim by 12:30 and got the rods out in varies different areas and ranges. I can really see the benefits of decent braid for distance fishing and distance casting. A 3oz lead and a small bait or eel section goes a long way.

Anyhow, nothing happened for most of the afternoon apart for the conditions being totally different from the morning e.g. no wind, and clear conditions.

This didn't help to get the pike feeding. All the other fish, bream, roach etc were on the feed and all around our baits were signs of fish grazing the remnants of the weed.

The only sign of potential action was what can only be put down to a line bite from the bream.

The condition seemed right all day, expect for the barometer pressure was in a low spell, but with a rise forecast for late Sunday through to Wednesday perhaps my it was just one of those days.

So It was a unwanted first blank of the season. My run of catch comes to an end. Not a bad start 22 fish in about 8 session.


TL for now.....

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