What a week, and it goes to show that putting in a little extra time comes with rewards.
Monday l headed down to Cemex Westhampnett for my first overnight session in ages. The weather forecast wasn’t good with temperatures dropping to minus two overnight, however it was the chilling northeasterly wind that made it feel far colder. Sensibly l decided to take a bivvy for that extra comfort and lm glad l did as even with its extra protection l still felt chilly. Although a bivvy may give you some extra comfort it can cost you the odd fish and whilst erecting it l received my first run which l missed! Darkness came and with it came a few strange twitchy bites to my worm hookbaits. At first l thought they maybe eels or perch plucking at them but at 9pm l decided to strike at one and landed a four-pound tench! Little happened after this until 2-20am when something hooked itself, the culprit a 1lb 13oz perch! Two aborted runs at 5am and 8am seemed to be the end of the action but as l decided to call it a day two quick runs produced a brace of perch for a combined weight of 6lb 8oz! To say l returned home happy is an understatement!
Two hours was spent roving around the river Loddon on Wednesday trying to help my dad catch chub on breadflake but unfortunately another angler had already visited the stretch making each swim ten times harder than it should have been. Four half -hearted bites came dad’s way, but all were missed.
Thursday my brother and l headed to Cemex St Patrick’s Stream to trot a stick float down it in search of dace but the river was two-feet high, looking like weak tea and after just an hour we decided to head of elsewhere. I tried the river Blackwater only to be smashed up from a big chub, whilst Kevin grabbed his pike gear and went to a newfound hotspot where he took seven modest pike.
Friday l hadn’t planned on going fishing but after looking at the barometer and seeing a reading of 994mb just knew something would be having it. Knowing that my brother had caught a few pike in a short period the day before l grabbed my pike rods, some sardines and headed towards Cemex K1. The lake looked cold on arrival and l questioned whether the group of pike that were held up in the area before Christmas were still around. Twenty minutes after casting out l knew the answer and after striking knew that l was attached to something slightly larger than expected. It wasn’t the big girl as this fish was too short but it may well have been a fish spotted and estimated at fourteen pounds, only now on the mat it was considerably bigger making the big girl, very big indeed!
Having landed a good perch earlier in the week and now a large pike for the Cemex Challenge Cup l really do need to start concentrating on Dace and Roach, but l doubt if l will get the chance next week, one because l still think the rivers will be too fast, the other is, l need to do some work!
