We Are Not Alone

Another weekend and another quest for perch was in order. So after sorting out the usual at home and explaining to the dog why he was being left at home today, I ventured out of the house.

The morning was breezy, with slight chill in the air and the occasional drop of rain from the pasting storm. It could go either way, so I quick got the brolly out and packed it into the car, just in case.

It didn't take me long to travel along the back roads and soon I was down by the lake side, but I wasn't alone.
As I approached the bank a huge swirl erupted in front of me and a black shape turned up and over into the lake. I had my suspicions and I followed the lines of bubbles along the margin. Soon enough the monster of the pond emerged again and the shimmering body of a dog otter was eye balling me.
Well, all hell broke loose,  and I began cursing and swearing, whilst screaming like an banshee to try to scare the living daylights out of the fish eating terror that was residing in the lake.
After five mins of demonic behaviuor the smooth criminal had disappeared from my sight and with mission accomplished, I ventured off to my tackle.

All was quiet again.

I soon went about setting up the rods. The first was baited up with a large lobworm on a running ledger, and cast under the trees on the far bank. Bobbin attached, Delkim on and the bait snatching gear was put into action.
It didn't take long half a dozen roach and rudd to oblige and take the bait and soon one was being cast out on a paternoster into the shade.

With the rods baited and carefully positioned, I sat back in the chair with the first cuppa to take in the sights and sounds of the lake. A Green Woodpecker  with its looping flight and screeching call, pasted along the far side in the wooded area, whilst the resident pair of Buzzard had found an early morning thermal. With each graceful turn, the pair gradually gaining height on the column of hot are, whilst offering a reassuring calls to one another.

The morning was still cool, but the first rays of sun started to break above the treeline and cast a shadow onto the lakes surface. All was still, including the bobbins.

After an hour or so of inactivity on the rods, a recast was in order, but with the lobworm looking a little worse for ware, I decided it needed to be changed. The morning sun had defrosted the king prawns and with there pungent smell wafting out of the bait box, it just seemed rude not to hook one up.

Resting back in the chair, I was starting to loss myself in the quiet when one of the alarms starting to wake from its slumber. Those bleeps turned into a continuous tone and the reel fizzed,  but didn't need to strike as the fish was hooked.After a hectic fight, a small Common Carp was landed.

Rebait and recast, but the bait had hardly settled before another carp snaffled the whole prawn. Not quite what I was intending to catch, but it showed that something was feeding other than the small 3" Roach and Rudd.

The other rod was surprisingly quiet, and I wound in to check to see if the bait was still intact, which it was so it was cast back out to the far bank.

Midday came and when and I noticed that other anglers were catching the carp too on various methods from simple float fished bait to zig rigs. With the first bite of a sandwich, the prawn baited rod bobbin was twitching, but suspecting another carp I didn't give it much attention. That was until the bobbin started to rise to the top and the baitrunner started to click. Dropping the salad and chicken sandwich, I struck and felt something other than a  carp.
It didn't take long to have the a solid perch of a pound in the net, but it was a first on a king prawn, so I felt quite chuffed with the change of bait.

After slipping back the perch, and attaching another prawn to the hook, I finished lunch and sat in the midday sun.

By early afternoon, the sun had moved over the lake and the shade was now on the near margin. So sensing the fish were keeping out of the sun, I decided to have a little play with the 4m pole.

I introduce a few pieces of chopped prawn around the float and it didn't take long for a series of small perch to snaffle the bait which was just touching bottom. But along with the perch, there was also a couple of other species of fish.

Fish after fish after fish came to the prawn and in between the crucian's, tench and countless perch, the pole elastic was stretch on a number of occasions by carp in the 3-5lb bracket.

Most were landed, but one wasn't. The float had hardly settled when the float slide away and the line went solid. But as I started to exert pressure on the fish, it move off at a pass and before I could react, the hook pulled.

By 5pm, with the prawns running out and the carp playing havoc with all bar the rudd baited rod, I decided enough was enough and headed for home.

TL