I re-spooled my reels and made up some leaders with inline drop off leads, then packed ready to go. Ray, who had booked the lake originally was now able to go, bringing with him his nephew Steve. The two Steve’s and Ray travelled together and I travelled with Mike. Before long we were pulling into the Channel Tunnel, I’ve never crossed this way before and it’s certainly quick!
On the other side Mike and I couldn’t keep up with the other van, we got a bit lost, so we didn’t arrive until late afternoon. We all met up with Chris the lake owner for all the do’s and don’ts. I really punished him for information – the lake has an average depth of 16-17 feet, but had 3 feet of flood water on it. That meant that only five pegs were available – 7, 8 and 10 on the far bank and 3 and 4 on the near bank. Swims 7 and 8 were on a point and were chosen by Ray and his nephew. Steve from Leigh Tackle chose 10, so Mike and I had to decide on 3 or 4. We both liked the look of 4, especially as the owner had said that a lot of fish were along the margin between 4 and 10. After much debate and as I’d already had a reasonable season I said to Mike “Go on you have 4”.
I sat and scanned my water in peg 3 to plan my approach. I was opposite 7 & 8, the point as it is known, which is the narrowest part of the lake. I had quite a bit of water down to my right, but a lot of it was blocked by nearside trees protruding. The lads opposite had put a quite few lines down there – the normal three rod rule had been dropped as there were only five of us so all the other four lads put out four rods. I felt that the lake had become line city so opted to fish just three as I only wanted one line on each area. I put my left hand rod on a small bar about 30 yards out halfway between Mike and myself and the middle rod to a similar feature short of the middle of the lake (I didn’t fancy this one too much as was close to the opposite peg). I found another bar approximately 30 yards out in front of peg 2, so now my spots were all sorted. The owner Chris had said to fish for a bite and that’s exactly what I did.
That evening I put just a handful of chops and a PVA bag on each rod. The first night passed and no one had a touch – we weren’t too bothered after our rushed start. We spent Sunday settling in properly and out in the boats redoing and confirming our spots. Early afternoon I rowed out and put another handful of chops on each spot. None of us were fishing during the day due to the heat wave we were NOT enjoying! Early evening out came all the rowboats again – it was like a scene at the local park! I let everybody finish as I thought I’d have the quietest water for the fish to back into if they were spooked. An hour later I quietly dropped PVA bags of pellets with a couple of chops and a chop on the hair onto each spot.
We all settled down for a chat and a couple of beers. Bedtime came and finally the temperature started cooling down. I must have nodded off because at about 1:45am I was woken up by some liners on my left hand rod. Twenty minutes later it was away and I picked up the rod – I was ‘in’. I made sure I landed it so that I didn’t need to worry about the BIG BLANK. I bundled it into the net – Yessss I was away! I notice some commotion on the far bank – they’d caught too. I drove a bankstick into the spreader to secure it, got the stuff I hadn’t needed so far, scales, sling, camera and then woke Mike. “Eyup buddy, I’ve got one. Giss hand.” Weighing and after the pictures were done, I was off the mark with a 31lb Common. It was still dark so that was that rod finished right up until that evening. At 3:30am the right hand rod was away and immediately it felt different; slower and more dogged. I could see reasonably well now as it had got much lighter. I gave the fish lots of stick to keep it out of any weed and the lines of the others and eventually I managed to slip it into the waiting net. Bankstick in the block, weigh sling blah, blah, I woke Mike. “Mike got another one. Think it’s a good ’un. Giss hand again”. Once the pictures and weighing were done, I carefully returned a new PB Common weighing 44lb 10oz. Wahey! I could go home happy now whatever happened.
It was quite late when I woke again after the early hour antics – about 10 am. It looked like a sunny day in the park again with the row boats out. I decided to make a brew and some brekkie, I chatted to Mike – he’s was still blanking whilst most of us have caught – he remained patient and confident. Evening came round and I repeated the procedure I believed was working for me. I felt I was definitely in the fish’s patrol route. At 1:45am the liners start again – you could set your watch by these. The left hand rod produced a 22lb mirror. I started dozing until Mike woke me up saying he’d got one. His patience has been rewarded with a magnificent Common of 54lb. Weighing, lots of pictures and handshakes done, I heard my alarm scream so ran back next door and landed a 20lb mirror on my middle rod. That was the end of the action for the day.
We continued to do our own thing and I kept things quiet and disturbance to a minimum. I got into bed and waited for the liners to start. I couldn’t believe we were half way through the trip already! Time flies even when your rods aren’t in very much. I was determined to carry on with my routine and not get distracted. I was really nurturing my spots to keep them working.