A lovely long mirror for Darryl
Observation and effort helped Darryl Dunn get amongst the fish on his last session – good angling!
‘I had the rare opportunity of a 3 day session available to me, and I wasn’t about to waste it! Arriving later than I would have liked meant I had to find some fish and get my act into gear as quickly as possible. Luckily for me the first swim I looked in commanded a shallow weedy bay, and after quickly climbing a tree it was clear there were a few fish in residence. It is also known to do a few daytime bites, so I knew I could get the traps set ready for the next day.
The night passed uneventfully, as did most of the next day with heavy rain all morning and afternoon. By late afternoon the weather took on a whole more summery feel to it with bright sunshine for the rest of the day. All of a sudden backs started to appear in the weed. A quick peak from up a tree confirmed that there were 10-15 fish in the swim, but they seemed to be interested in only soaking up what rays of the sun they could. All three baits were left on the spots hoping of for some nightime action.
As I had been in the bivvy for most of the day I took the opportunity to sit by the rods, tea in hand enjoying the evening sunshine. I started to notice the odd fish showing across the lake from me along a reed line. As the evening drew in the shows became more and more frequent and that feeling of itchy feet started to take hold. I set the alarm on my phone for 4am and hit the sleeping bag for a few hours. And before I knew it I was again tea in hand sitting on a bucket by the rods watching the world wake up. Alas with a dry net again! Mist was rising up off of the lakes surface but I thought I could make out a set of rings coming from the area I had seen fish the previous evening. As the sun got a little higher in the sky I saw my first definite show. By 8am I had seen 10-15 shows and those feet were by now getting very itchy indeed. Another quick look up the tree showed once again a few fish out in front of me just sitting in heavy weed looking very lethargic. Mind made up, I needed to scratch that itch and get on those fish.
By 9;30 I was in my new swim and by now sweating buckets in the already climbing temperatures. And although I didn’t really expect any action at this time of the day in these conditions I wanted to get the rods out with as little disturbance as possible. So with just a quick flick around with a lead I soon had a rough idea of what was out in front of me with much lighter weed than in the previous swim. The area I had seen most of the action was tight to a reed bed about 35 yards to my right. Fishing to this would mean fishing totally locked up with stout tackle. Three fresh hinged stiff links were tied up using size 5 Cryogen SR hooks and Tungsten Loaded hook link. When Dave at ESP had sent me some of the prototype hooks he had told me about their phenomenal strength to wire gauge due to a new process they were using. And up until now I hadn’t put them under any real big stress. If I am lucky enough to get a bite I’m sure this will give them a good test I thought.
At about midday and totally unexpectedly the reed bed rod whopped around violently as a hooked fish charged for freedom. And after a very spirited fight I soon had a nice common chugging about in the deeper water in front of me out of harms way. It was soon in the net and as I popped the hook out I gave it a quick inspection and it had passed the test with flying colours. The trap was reset and a couple more pouches of the Krill topped up the spot. I’d only had the rods out less than 2 hours and my move had paid off. Apart from a couple of liners on dark that evening the rest of the day was uneventful. Fish were still showing in the area so confidence was high. Once again the alarm was set for 4am as I retired for the night.
I had only just finished making the first magical brew of the day when once again the same rod violently slammed around. As soon as I had the rod in my hand I couldn’t believe the power this fish had. But I had no choice but to give it as much stick as I dared to stop it gaining sanctuary in the thick reed bed. Once it realised it wasn’t going to make it without a fight it turned and headed powerfully off into open water, making long deep runs in the deeper water.
He gave me a merry old dance for a good 15 minutes before I was able to slip the net under a lovely long mirror. Once again as I popped the hook out it looked as good as new. That was pretty much the maximum amount of pressure I would ever feel it was fair to exert on a fish in a fight and it had come through with flying colours. I finally got to enjoy that cup of tea as I sat there feeling very pleased with my mornings work.
Soon after the reed bed rod was away again in equally spectacular fashion. Once again I had to lean on the hook hard to stop the fish making the safety of the reed bed. And after a very similar fight to the first I slipped the net under my second 33lb mirror of the morning. This is not a venue where they throw themselves at you so to have 3 in 24 hours was a big buzz’.