I dealt with my short week at work in spectacular fashion completing a last minute turn around trip to Cardiff in style; I was back in the office at 3pm with tunnel vision and only one thing on my mind – The Big Pit!
When 5pm rolled around I hit the forced shutdown button on my computer and I was out of the door like a rat up a drain pipe, the nights were drawing in fast and I knew that to stand a chance on my first night I needed to beat the darkness to be as accurate as possible.
One thing that I noted during my tearing round the country roads was the huge amount of Rainbows, the whole sky was covered with them - it was really a spectacular sight, what made it even more special was that it looked like each one ended in the direction of the Pit, I thought to myself “Is this a sign from the Carp Gods?” then laughed and put my foot down, I would have loved to have stopped to have taken a few pictures if I had more time.
The drive to the Pit was completed in record time and before I knew it I was parking the van up at the side of the track and with not another angler in sight I loaded the barrow as quick as I could and headed round the Pit to the swim that I had landed an immaculate common from a few weeks previously.
Once in the swim I wasted no time at all getting the 3 rods sorted, the middle and right hand rod would be fished close together tight to the Island on naked chod’s baited with Live System Cork Balls with a hundred 15 miller scattered over the top with the throwing stick.
The left hand rods was fished 15 yards off the baited spot also on a naked chod baited with a Live System Cork Ball but this time fished as a single.
With the rods sorted I put up the Titan just as the last few rays of sunlight disappeared over the horizon.
After doing a bit of a video catch up I fired up the coleman and rustled up a Risotto which was demolished in seconds and washed down with several cups of strong coffee to try and keep me awake so I could sit up and listen to see I could hear anything show in the darkness and by 10:30pm I had heard two definite shows out towards the Island.
I climbed into the bag just before 11pm feeling confident that I would be woken at dawn by the sound of my Neville, however I didn’t need to wait that long!
I was just entering a dream which I can’t recall when I heard a screaming noise, it seemed to last hours but in reality it was only a few seconds when I awoke in a daze and realised what was going on, I grabbed my wellies from behind the bedchair and my head torch and ran out to deal with the offending left hand rod.
With the rod firmly in my hand in battle curve I waded out into the shallow water when I became aware of a sudden loss of weight from my head. Fortunately or unfortunately,whichever way you look at it,the strap had come detached from my headtorch and it had fallen off my head and had caught in the gap in my hooded top at my neck, I grabbed it just in time as it became loose and was heading for the Abyss – after a few seconds fumbling in the darkness I soon had it firmly attached to my head and battle resumed.
After a few scary moments I caught a glimpse of a small perfectly proportioned Linear as it rolled over the net cord, it was by no means a beast and in reality probably one of the smallest fish in the lake but nevertheless I punched the air in delight, it was a great start and added another to my tally for the tricky Pit.
I pushed the handle of the net into the soft ground in the water and put a storm pole through the block to secure the net then waded back to the bank to zero the sling and set up the camera gear and interval timer – with the prep done it was just a case of retrieving my prize from the water and weighing her in, the needle made a small spin round to mid doubles and I then fired off a few self takes before return her safely to the magical pit.
After tiding the swim up, I set about getting the rod sorted but upon closer inspection the hookpoint on the chod had turned right over so I got my sharpening kit out of my rucksack and gave it a quick rub with a file until it was stick sharp once again and with a new Cork Ball attached it was just a case of getting the rod back out on the spot from which the take came.
All thought of sleep had disappeared, I was fired up and fully expected another so I rolled a smoke and fired up the coleman for a celebratory brew – I checked by phone and it was just gone midnight, it was then that it dawned on me that it was my first take at night from the Pit.
After a few cups of the good stuff I climbed back into the bag and was soon fast asleep not awaking until first light.
I didn’t even get out of the bag to light the coleman and as I lay there with a coffee looking out over the misty water I couldn’t help but feel confident,but despite my hopes & anticipations the day passed quietly with just a few subtle shows near my spots whilst I made a huge dent in my coffee rations.
Before I knew it 3pm had rolled around and I decided to redo the rods ready for the night ahead, fresh hook baits were tied on and the rigs were dispatched to the same spot from which they were retrieved.
Pete turned up just has the light faded carrying small Chinese feast and as we sat there savouring the atmosphere and dining on eastern delights talk turned to the following season, I have never seen Pete so excited about fishing a water,the place had certainly taken a hold of him again as it had me.
Pete left me to it at about 10:30pm and said that he was awaiting the phone call for Photographer duties as I had told him earlier that I would not be doing self takes of the “Big Girl”, he just laughed as he walked off until the darkness saying “Speak to you at Dawn!”
I have to admit I shared Pete’s enthusiasm and whilst sat there on my own with the coffee before bed the wind picked up and the rain started; it couldn’t have looked any better as I climbed into bed.
Unfortunately my sleep wasn’t interrupted; I awoke at Dawn to the sound of some geese crashing on the water about 50 yards out, the conditions still looked good before although my confidence was beginning to wane.
Dawn passed without as much as a sighting or a liner so I never got to make that call to Pete demanding Photography duties, I sat on the edge of the bedchair chain drinking coffee hoping to see something that I could cast a bait to but nothing showed and by 10am I was forced to have a slow pack up before eventually heading for home slightly gutted that I never got to meet one of the magical beasts of the Pit but chuffed to bits with the little linear that I had met on the first night.
Whilst on the Drive home I couldn’t help but notice that autumn was well and truly upon us, the roads were covered in brown leaves and with that my thought turned to my rigs with winter just around the corner it was time that I started fine tuning a few things ready for my winter campaign, so the next few evenings shall be spent with the tackle box in the living room tinkering about with a few things until I find something that I am happy with, maybe turning the clock back and going back to basics.
Until next time, be lucky
Smithy