I chose to fish the same swim again as I knew where the clear spots in the weed were and I had left the reels clipped up last time, only today I decided the fish were not going to get the better of me in the reed beds and opted to stick my waders on and sit out in the water, this gave me a better angle with the rods on the clear spots and also meant that I could get out past the reeds before the tench got in them.
Now all the fish I have hook and landed on here this year have come to a groundbait feeder rig fished on a tip apart from one lost fish the other day that took a bolt rigged maggot feeder, my mate Jon has also had success fishing the same so imagine my surprise when not ten minuets after casting out the bite alarm on the so called sleeper rod signalled a screaming run and a nice 4lb tench lay in the net. Another real old warrior, there must be something about these older, wiser (or not so) tench been first up on a morning as I had one the other day first thing. Happy to have a fish in the net so soon I re-cast both rods and went to pour some tea when the alarm went off again, this time a dogged fight saw the fish doing the usual trick of kiting left for the weeds only this time I was ready and waded through them to meet the fish with the net. As I lifted it from the water I realised I could be hold a new pb as it felt way heavier than the 5's I had on Tuesday and with a pb just short of 6lb this fish wouldn't be far off so I slipped it into the keep net to weigh later. I had only just finished off my tea and re-cast the rods when the alarm wailed at yet another screaming run, a fight much the same as the last saw me with another slightly bigger than the last and I knew now I had 1 if not 2 pb's in the net and 3 fish in total within the first hour! Expecting another run anytime soon I put breakfast off until I was starving, nothing came in the next hour so I got the flask and porridge out and it wasn't until around 8am that I got another bite. By now the wind had picked up a lot and was making it hard work landing the feeders in the right spot, I had just re cast the bolt rigged maggot feeder and was setting the bobbing when I felt a slow steady pull on the line through my fingers, thinking it was the wind and tow pulling I let out some more line and clipped on the bobbing only to have it pulled slowly to the rod, ah wind I thought as it dropped down around 4 inch only to pop up again and line slowly start to peel off the bait runner. I lifted into it and it wasn't long before I had a nice fat slab of a bream around 4.5lb-5lb sat in the landing net. Not long after the quiver tip finally pulled around and a steady fight saw me drawing the fish closer to the bank only for it to come off, I was thinking another hook pull but on winding in found a scale on the hook and a very slimmed up line.
At around 9.30am the bait runner burst into life again only not quite so fast and on lifting into the fish I instantly knew it was bigger, it felt heavy and made plenty of slow runs taking line from the reel each time. It took me a while to get it close to the bank and once there did the usual trick of heading for the reed beds only for me to now be able to head it off, a couple of rolls confirmed it was bigger and I was now shaking as it set off on a powerful run, thankfully to the right and away from the thickest of the reeds. It took a good five minuets of powerful runs before finally rolling into the net and spitting the hook out! I decided not to mess around and weighed the fish in the net before slipping it into the net for a trophy shot later, I went back and weighed the net and that fish went 6lb 15oz, a new pb by almost a pound. Happy as a pig in muck I left the rod on the bank and sat and had a bite to eat and more tea.
It wasn't until around half past 10 that I had any more action, the maggot rig roaring off again with a five pounder, shortly after I packed up as the wind was getting stronger and making it just about impossible to land on the spot, distance was no issue but the stiff side wind constantly blew 2oz feeders way off line.
I'm sat here now scratching my head as to why the fish suddenly decided they liked maggots and why I never managed a fish on the method that has been successful for my self and Jon over the last few weeks???
I'm over the moon with not just the pb but all the fish this week, it's been great and the only down side is I cant get back on the bank for the next two weeks or so.
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