Thanks for the kind comments.


Sunday
The Ark
If it carries on like this i will be building an Ark.. where is all this rain coming from? I can't seem to remember conditions being so Autumunal during mid Summer. The gear which has been trebled in weight for the last couple of weeks due to being constantly soaked was stashed in the car.. jeez! A cloudburst hit me in full stride halfway round, my glasses made it impossible to make out the path, come on fella this is madness. Flat as glass with persistant rain, hardly ideal but my only chance for a few days and i am having it. I walked round the lake twice with the gear on the low loader, stopping every at couple of breaks in the trees, trying to get a sign.. sh*t.
A couple of the weekend boys were hurriedly packing away as the rain intensified. As i stood on the opposite bank in the rain trying to perform a miracle by rolling a cig in a monsoon, i was delivered a gift. A mirror half rolled in the margin less than four feet from where i dripped. The rain eased into a light drizzle as a bright ray of sunshine hit the margin, and again the fish rolled in the steam that rose from the surface. The humidity became intense as i stripped off down to my tshirt, and by hand flicked in around eighty chops of Enzyme. I repeated the process with the bait another ten feet further out, if they are travelling i am going to stop em. I sat back peering from under the brolly in the rain that had decided to try and make my fleeting visit as miserable as possible. Fifteen metres down the bank another fish rolled, was it the same fish moved off because of the disturbance? A good mirror pushed out to the right about six foot from the bait, and eased my worries... the're here. The rods were tilted up with slack lines with no hanger or bobbins. Another roll, this time the fish was directly over the bait.. i crept out and crouched down peering at the spot. The surface was pinging off the bait as it was disturbed by the fish, yes! The line looked like barge rope drooping into the water, come on i willed it to go. A heavy fish continued to halve out to the right, and i walked along the bank trying to line it up.. they know, i was ten metres away when it absolutely ripped off, i slipped and slid all the way to the rod and backwound for an eternity. Kinnel! visions of me holding a proper chunk raced through my mind as i coaxed the fish back to margin. This fish wasn't for coming in, it rolled and went in the net first time. Man that fish was a lunatic.. 22lb 8oz Common. In the last half hour i sat there i noticed a good show on the other bank and i went round sodden to the bone and fed two kilo of chops in a good spot. A really enjoyable couple of hours that could have been so easily a wash out.

Monday
The rain continued all night and into the early hours of the morning.. the phone rang from the office, forget it Mark, go fishing or summat. The call was totally unexpected, a few lads are on holidays etc and it has been all hands on deck.. the weather was so severe the gaffa reckoned it was a pointless excercise. A cool Northerly wind with heavy rain set for 25mph.. i was down the lake for 10.00 am. The gear had quadrupled in weight, and the reels, oh the reels £400 a chuck and they looked as though i had dragged em down there in the sh*t. F*ck em, they are tools, they will clean up when they have done there job in hand. I had to take off the specs, it was a pointless excercise trying to look through them in the driving rain. Splosh, right over the bait from the evening before. I don't know why, but i stood for another three quaters of an hour in the rain and clocked another couple of fish in the spot before i decided to settle in. F*ckin dripping again. I had to have the brolly facing away from the water because of the gusting wind and rain.... f*ckin ell tudge your mad for it! setting up in the face of this sh*t, a guy that had been on the other side for a couple of hours had a chat with me then left, your f*ckin mad man, ravin mad he shouted as he slipped and squelched he's way home. I went for it again and put another kilo in the spot, i chucked a little parcel of chops on top and as i ran back and tried to get back under the brolly i got a piercing ringing sound in my ears which buzzed in my head. Weird! i tried to pop my ears by rotating my jaw... the ring continued, i tugged the side of the brolly to scope the rods and immediately set off as the penny fianlly dropped.. the blue led was sparkling in the greyness, and the spool spinning like a top. Yeah!! i shouted out at the top of my voice to an empty lake.
Again the fish went like a demon.. another one? i turned and nodded as a guy that had come down to do a spot of baiting up, watched a spirited battle off another Common.. 21lb. The fish moved up the bank as the afternoon went on and i should have followed them. I should have set up a couple of swims in front and laid a couple of traps, then continued on as i picked them off.. truth is i was totally covered in sh*te from head to foot and was more than happy with the one for the effort.

Don't Believe The Truth

Cheers.

Excellent read once again Mark nice one

Quality angling,especially under those conditions Tudge. They're well on that enzyme bait as well. Interesting!!

Top bloggin'

Mirror, Mirror..
Thursday
How good is it to meet someone that you haven't seen or spoken to for a while? One,of my four hours on the bank had been spent chatting to a good angling friend, whilst my eyes flicked back and forth to the water in between the conversation. Three times the fish left a large silver envelope on the surface... Problem was, it was round the far side and i asked myself if i was going to do the yomp for two hours fishing.. f*ck it.
I stood in the trees soaked through to the back of my 'rukkie' with sweat.. jeez, i'm getting to old for this sh*t. Another fish lolloped out in the large rolls on the surface only thirty metres out. Tight swim with trees overhanging the margin either side, and in the past i have usually had to wade out to net fish. No problem really, if i have to go out to my waist then i will be in. Half a kilo of Enzyme chops were scattered in the area followed by two perfectly placed one ounce lead rigs that hardly made a splash. 6.15 pm and not a sign, it was as if i had thrown stones in to spook em. 10 mins and i had to be off, f*ck em, if they dont want to scoff.. i do, my guts were in knots and i was rattlin' from lack of nourishment. Two rods left on the alarms, everything was stashed and ready to go.. One rod left on the alarm. I placed my hand on the handle.. it was like an electric shock, the rod and alarm exploded making me jump back.. kinnell! the fish flat rodded me as i struggled to find the anti reverse switch under the baitrunner. I gritted my teeth expecting the line to go with a bang, f*ck me.. i released the backwind and mashed my hand in the double handle, chipping the beef off my knuckles that leaked claret all over the reel spool..going going going going.. the line sythed the surface straight down the middle of the lake a good seventy odd yards out, then stopped and thumped back hard through the rod handle. I walked into the water winding down pumping furiously.. f*ckin ell my pockets were full, phone, wallet.. i stepped back out and threw out everything on to the bank. I had sat with all my valuables on my tackle box, in case and had only just put everthing back in my pockets for the off. I ran into the water to the edge of the trees which was just below my waist, and wound down expecting it to have gone. It was still there, i tried to let the fish have head out on a long line in open water. Heavy head shaking and repeated thumps down the line, f*ckin ell man this is one of the big dudes then the lump picked up pace and kited in a huge arc at speed for the margin snags to my left. I walked out up to my mid chest and wound down hard with rod and reel under the water, come on.. i walked round the corner still at chest height and held on.. then all went solid. I got as close as i could, wound down and brought back a lead. I squelched my way round my swim packing away the last bits.. I berated my myself all the way home and into the next day. A bad error of judgement? trying to play the fish out on the long line.. simple as that.

Thursday
Yeah!.. go on then, i will meet you down there, i put the phone down and threw a few bits together. I really wasn't in the mood, losing the fish the previous week still kept revisiting my mind. Work had been a bitch, and fishing really wasn't going to recharge my sapped energy.. mentally and physically i was totally f*cked.
We strolled down to the bay, and immediately Tommy dissapeared down a narrow path through the trees and began settin he's gear up. Thunderstorms and sunny spells had been on and off all day, and in between i sat in the bay waiting and looking.. if i don't see owt i'm not bothering. A few cigs later, a fish pushed it'self out to my left a couple of swims up. I stared hard at the ring left in the margin, then another pushed out less than three feet from the bank.
I slowed as i came out of the foliage, then stopped.. jeeeesus!
The surface popped and blipped with bubbles and debris out of the coloured margin. Strange how you adopt this crouched down posture whilst trying to set up rods etc.. i really wanted to do this one on the float, but the rods were set up and time was at an essence. I lowered in the rods less than a rod length out, pulled off slack line, and crept back up the bank and tried to hide behind a bush.
I must have gained a few minutes of mental energy from somewhere. I squinted my eyes at the line that hung down coiled in between the rings on the right hand rod. I watched it ever so slowly tighten, inch by inch. It was like slow motion.. i thought it was a mind trick and moved toward the rod. The rod trembled on the rest.. the line jolted the reel, then the alarm blared out. Heavy, dogged and tiring.. this fish din't want to come in. Tommy netted a stonkin' Mirror which was photographed and weighed in at 26lb 2oz. F*ckin result that fella.. only been in half an hour. Cheers mate.
I was more than happy with the Mirror, and decided to lower the rod back in the same spot... i might as well put some bait round em both now after the disturbance. I had another hour to go, and sat in the chair with my eyes shut trying to make some sense of this carp fishing lark. Half an hour later the left hand rod absolutely flew. I back winded for an eternity, then the fish rolled out in the bay.. come on, my arms can't take this.
The fish continued to fight with total determination in the margin, and did wonders for my aches and pains. Tommy did the honours again.. we photographed and weighed a lump of of a fish in the shape of a Mirror 29lb 1oz. Cheekily, i lowered the baits back out for the last ten minutes, but knew deep down that i had been gifted a tidy brace of fish for simply sitting and watching for fifteen minutes.
The rest will follow when i get a little time.
Cheers.

I remember as a lad, being set up on the marina, i'd been there 3 days with only a handful of Tinca's to show for my efforts, you came on and knocked out 2 upper doubles from the pointy bay (big uns for those days) within an hour or two, and came walking back round saying you were going home now for your tea.

15 years on, nothing has changed much!

Top angling.

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apart from us all having a bit less hair and gained few extra inches round the waistline

nice read as per mark..

you speak for yourself paul....




nice read swinton.!

Yep....there's not many who ain't been Tudged on there...

He's like feckin Solskjaer...

Quality as per mate....