The 33lb 4oz mirror which ended the session on a high
Ryan Heaton of RG Baits fished a new venue for the first time last week and got off to a cracking start – good angling!
‘Given the lake had only opened on Monday, I was extremely surprised to see every peg empty as I drove through the gates on Thursday afternoon, the abundance of peg choice meant I could have a wander with no interruptions and that I did.
I think the recent cold snap would explain the fact they weren’t giving themselves up easily, for which reason I opted for a swim adjacent a rather large reedbed, Norfolk reeds are generally a good starting point during the colder months I just hoped the theory would follow suit on this occasion. After a quick lead about my initial plan had been foiled in the early stages, weed growth up to and around the reeds made presenting a rig anywhere near them practically impossible, however a couple rod lengths off the reeds was a nice smooth silty channel which was big enough to house two rods.
The successful rig
I decided to apply a kilo or so of bait with the throwing stick to get a nice spread of freebies and fish two very simple wafter presentations over the top, a size 5 Big-T with a shrink tube kicker mounted on 10 inches of Tungsten Loaded braid being my approach.
The nice lean 29lb mirror
The first take came on the Friday morning at roughly 7.30am which resulted in a nice lean mirror of 29 on the button, a few snaps of my prize and the rod was back on the spot again, topped up with another kilo of boilie. The following 24 hours passed with not so much as a single beep but at the exact same time on the Saturday morning the same rod was away again, this time round I weren’t so lucky, the fish went through my other line which resulted in a hookpull.
To say spirits were dampened would be an understatement but ah well that’s how it goes sometimes so let’s not dwell on the matter too much and get it back out in the wet stuff. They say that fish follow feeding patterns on certain waters and I feel that was the case in this instance, it was a further 24 eventless hours until I had another series of beeps on the right hand rod. After the lost fish the day previous I was determined to settle the scores with this one, playing it to the net very gingerly indeed, luckily there were no dramas this time round and she was safely sulking in the bottom of the mesh. The scales read 33.4 which put the perfect end to what could have been classed as a challenging session, it’s always nice to get off the mark on a venue and now I can’t wait to get back to chance my luck at a few more!’