All the time I am putting in of late is really paying off. After catching the ones I wanted from my Essex syndicate fairly early on in the season I made a quick phone call to Ben Lofting who runs Cleverly Mere and I managed to obtain a ticket. I had made a few trips down to the lake and to my surprise I found it relatively quiet as over the years has picked up a reputation for being a busy venue. On my first few trips down, I never fished but simply got to grips with the place.
My first trip down with the rods was a quick Tuesday overnighter. When I arrived the heavens opened and on my first lap of the lake I got a soaking. There was a few fish showing in a deep bay (around 18ft) so my plan was to get a close to them as possible and fish 2 rods at the base of the steep marginal shelf. To wrap it up I blanked.
Not wanting to be defeated I planned to get back down on the Thursday. Arriving at the lake at 6pm I was forced to stay in my van or face another soaking as the rain was really coming down. I checked the weather forecast on my phone and it wasn’t due to clear until the early hours so I jumped in a swim that controlled a good bit of water in the centre of the lake. Three simple pop up rigs using ESP Sinklink Braid and ESP Stiff Riggers were attached on helicopter rigs and cast into open water going down with firm ‘donks’ followed by 2 kilo of DT Bait Developments Peach N’ Sour 15mms. Through the night I landed a 33lb common known as ‘Black Wart’ and a spawned out mid 20 mirror and a low 20.
Be Lucky,
Kris Garrett