I opted to fish a swim called the Look-Out which fishes the extreme entrance of the bay, and is aptly named as upon walking to the edge of the pontoon situated in this swim you have a roughly 95% view of the entire lake, which is ideal for the spot and move approach that I favour.
Having never fished in the Look-Out before, I cast a bare leads around a few times, feeling for the drop and placed a Grange snowman rig on each of the two clean areas I located. The night passed quietly and at first light I took my cup of tea and positioned myself on the edge of the pontoon. For the next hour I felt like I was at Wimbledon, head twisting 180 degrees left to right and then back again, surveying the lake for any signs of carp. Sure enough on the opposite bank, from 20-50 yards out there were four or five lumps out and by 8am the barrow was loaded and I squelched my way round to the opposite bank. Yes, the rain had come down and all the banks were truly sodden. I’d seen fish in front of the Ski Slope right the way down to Scooter which was 4 swims down, and as someone was in my favoured choice of Ski Slope I decided not to punish him and fished in the Scooter.
By 11 O’clock I was all settled down with the rods in the water, but I just wasn’t feeling it! You must know that feeling, when you are in a swim and it just doesn’t feel right. Well, by 1 O’clock I’d pulled the rods back out and went trudging in the rain to try and find an area where it felt a little carpy’er.
With Dog Bay still thoroughly stitched up I popped into the Ski Slope to see the occupant and have a chin wag. It was only then that he informed me that he was pulling off later that afternoon. So my mind was made up… By 7 O’clock that evening I’d set up and started to reflect on my first session on Church lake, 2 months prior, when I’d fished this swim and happened to be the scene of my first capture from the lake on opening day April the 1st.
Right now the swim just felt right and not even the paddling pool it had turned into could dampen my spirits. The way I chose to approach the swim this time was a semi slack 16lb (0.37mm) Mirage fluorocarbon mainline attached to a slightly heavier lead than I usually use, being a 3.5oz inline Gardner flat pear, The contributing factors of the stiff crosswind and deeper water in front of this swim (16ft) dictated my lead choice. That and the fact that in deeper water I prefer a slightly heavier lead to get everything down that bit quicker, especially in this quite ‘towey’ area. The rest of the rig comprised my own triple pivot lead arrangement, with 8 inches Sink Skin hook link attached to a Covert Mugga hook. This hook pattern is complimented perfectly by the addition of a Covert Hook Aligner, as it not only aids the flipping mechanics of the rig but as a Mugga’s eye is so aggressively in-turned, once it’s in it holds. Unsurpassed…