The Blind Eye common
Alex Grice has been in touch with news of a very eventful session on his first trip to a special venue – well done Alex!
‘I was due to meet my good friend Dan Stacey to shoot a magazine feature over at one of his target venues for the year. He had promised me that if we managed to get the pictures done in enough time, we could then head over to another venue he knew not too far away for a quick nights fishing. I was super keen at the idea he had suggested and within no time at all, I felt like we had enough images to formulate a piece. With everything wrapped up by mid afternoon, we went about moving lakes and after a short, fairly unusual drive we were parked at the gates of this extremely special venue.
With the car loaded with kit, a bucket full of Pacific Tuna boilies and a grin the size of the Cheshire cat, I simply couldn’t wait to drive on through and immerse myself in an afternoons fishing. Upon arrival, I saw a fish instantly head and shoulder out in the lake, a real lump at that too! Having now seen one further fuelled the excitement and anticipation.
I had never fished a lake quite like it, fully matured with abundance of weed and insect life. A series of small islands littered the lake, forming secretive bays in all directions. We parked up and went for a short walk around the lake, in the hope of seeing a few more. With the lake being gin clear, it wasn’t long before we spotted a big 30+ common right in the edge, snuffling in the shallow weed that lined the margins. We continued round, walking under the ancient willow trees around the lake, looking in every nook and cranny the lake had to offer.
Tools of the trade
By now, I was fully raring to go and I popped back to the car to grab a bucket of bait and my rods. It was a muggy afternoon, so I knew the bites probably wouldn’t occur till the temperatures dropped in the early evening. Like usual, I spent the first half hour casting about with a bare lead on my marker rod, trying to get a drop was the main aim with so much weed about the lake. After a while, I had three spots sorted and went about scattering a kilo of freebies over each area. I decided to leave the areas for the rest of the afternoon and spent the time getting some rigs tied up and popping round to see Dan for a brew.
Come early evening, I had three carefully tied hinges on the rods, made up with my ever trusty Cryogen Stiff Riggers and Green Tungsten Loaded boom sections. These were mounted with three white Tuna pop-ups and cast to the small clear areas between the weed. One area in particular was a lovely seam of silt that ran at the bottom of a slope before meeting the shallower water. I was super- confident in this area, as this is where I had seen the fish lump out when we first arrived.
Every fish had a story to tell
With all three rods positioned perfectly, I sat back in the brolly with a brew to look over the images I had shot earlier in the day. No sooner had the kettle boiled and the silt rod was away, tearing line from the SS as I scurried down to it in complete shock. A tense battle followed and soon after I found myself slipping the net under a lovely dark common. Little did I know the session was going to be slightly more hectic than I anticipated! We got her on the mat and I popped the size 6 hook out of the bottom lip. I slipped her back and got the rig re- steamed ready to put back out to the silty area. The hook was still super sharp, so I was happy to put the rod straight back out after a quick steam of the link.
Morning return
A top of Tuna baits and the rod was back on the money. It was now getting towards dark and I was thinking about getting some dinner on the go, when suddenly I was interrupted by another savage take on the same rod. This time, it clearly felt like a powerful fish, tearing me from weed bed to weed bed as I tried to hang on. Thankfully, I managed to steer the fish back, with gentle pressure to ensure I didn’t put too much strain on the hook hold. After another 10 minutes, she was finally in the net and from lifting her up onto the mat, it became apparent it was a much bigger fish. Dan informed me that it was the blind eye common and would be over 30lbs, of which we later confirmed to be correct. With two fish in only a matter of hours, I was happy with that and felt more than chuffed to have caught a couple of cracking fish from what is a truly amazing venue.
As darkness loomed, the fish came alive and over the course of the night I managed to catch another four fish! Three of them were stunning looking commons and the other turned out to be a weird old looking mirror. Come the morning I felt like I had been at an all night rave and the only thing that managed to get me up out of bed was a turbocharged coffee.
As soon as the light became suitable, I removed a couple of the better fish I had caught from the deep water where they were safely resting in the sacks. Dan came round and helped me get some awesome pictures in the early morning light and its fair to say I was elated with the result I had during the quick few hours out on the bank’.