It’s been a lot longer than I intended it to be since I sat down and wrote a piece, but unfortunately my head just hasn’t been in it and my mojo disappeared.
At the end of June we suffered the heart ache of a second miscarriage within 7 months, so understandably I haven’t been able to be far from home, several hospital visits later and my wife was finally on the mend – I kept my head busy by rolling pop ups in the kitchen and planted a couple of small fruit trees in the garden in memory of the little angels that we will never get to meet whilst keeping an eye on the kids whilst my wife rested up.
It was last week when I felt that I could slip away for a night, my Pete rang to see if I fancied a social on Duncan Kays old mid-northants water now known as Elsons and can be fished on a day ticket.
I felt it was just what I needed and it coincided with Pete’s birthday so if the leviathans didn’t want to play ball we could be certain that a good social would be had.
We planned on fishing the Sunday night in the hope that the busy complex would be quieter, so with the Monday booked off work I set about having a good sort out of the kit on the Saturday night.
With summer suddenly engulfing the country in an unexpected heat wave I had to lighten the load as I expected I would have to keep very mobile just setting little traps – I looked at everything I normally take, if I hadn’t used it in the last 3 sessions it got chucked.
Sometime later the gear that had been on a huge weight loss program was loaded in the van before spending a few hours with the wife and kids asking her on more than one occasion if she minded me going.
Evening soon turned to night and eventually I went to bed hoping that the muggy night wouldn’t keep me awake and sometime in the early hours I fell asleep not waking until 10am, the last few weeks had completely drained me and I was well overdue a decent sleep – I awoke feeling a lot more upbeat than normal and seemed to have a different fresh outlook on life.
I had planned to meet Pete down the lake at 3pm but by early afternoon I was getting itchy feet and ended up leaving home a fair bit earlier than I had needed to, although it was a good job that I did as it seemed every road that I tried to use was closed, it was 2:50pm when I eventually pulled through the gate so sat in the van with the blowers on in an attempt to keep cool whilst I waited for Pete to arrive.
It was just after 3pm when he pulled through the gate, we headed over to the small hut to purchase our tickets, fill our pockets with cans of cold drink then set off on a couple of laps of the lake.
It didn’t take long for us to find the fish, in the second swim we walked into had fish absolutely everywhere!
We stood watching them for a good 10 minutes slurping at the scum on the surface before Pete suggested we go and look for a few more – I just looked at him and laughed before saying “you are joking, they are all here – sod the walk, get the rods!” Pete just laughed and said “Come on, we’ve got all afternoon” so off we trotted.
An hour later we had looked in every nook and cranny off the small water and naturally I was right, every fish in the lake was in the second swim that we had walked into!
By the time we had got back to where we had originally started someone had turned up and was casting near to the showing fish from the corner, nowhere near where I intended going but I thought he may actually do me a favour by pushing them down to me if I could keep my swim quiet enough.
Within 10 minutes I had jogged back to the van, loaded the barrow and jogged back to the swim full of excitement – its didn’t take me long to tie up a couple of zigs, I didn’t want to cause any disturbance with a marker so guessed the depth I should be fishing and tied up 4 foot zig’s on both rods with a small bit of black foam as a hookbait then flicked them out 20 yards to where the fish were cruising I then felt the lead down – it felt to me about 5 foot deep so I had done pretty well with my guestimate.
With the rods out I set up the bedchair in the shade and stuck the kettle on for a well-earned brew before sitting back and soaking up the atmosphere of this old little water.
The hours flew by and before I knew it Pete arrived in my swim holding a take away menu in one hand and a fork in the other whilst making strange grunting noises!
I glanced through the menu before ringing up the order for delivery, the very pleasant Indian man on the end of the phone told me that he would meet me in the lay by next to the lake in half an hour which gave me plenty of time to rig the rods up ready for the night, fresh rigs were tied and hook baits attached before I propped the rods up against the oval and went to meet my new Indian friend.
A short while later I returned to my swim, Pete was sat on the floor clutching his fork and something that can only be described as a dog bowl, the bag was snatched from my grasp and half of it tipped into his trough before being devoured by what looked like someone who hadn’t eaten in 6 months!
After I had finished my curry I got a few pva bags tied up with micro pellet, snail and a good helping of GLM inside and flicked both rods down the edge, slackened the line right off and was confident I would be answering the call of the Neville at some point in the next few hours.
It was lovely to be sat by the water and the temperature dropped to more bearable levels, we enjoyed a couple of beers and chatted about what had happened in the last few weeks and hoped for better times to come – during the whole evening we were treated to an arial display by the fish and both commented that it wasn’t a matter of if but when!
It was just before midnight when Pete went back to his swim and flicked his rods out for the night, I fired up the coleman for a last brew before bed – as I sat listening to the fish roll I couldn’t help but notice the boshing was getting more intense, due to the sound any chance of sleep was hard to come by and over the next couple of hours the sound changed from of a boshing to thrashing.
It was 2am when I come to conclusion that the fish were starting to spawn again, so went to get off the bedchair and get the rods in – just as I started to walk down the steep slope my left hand rod let out a one toner.
As I got down to the rod I could just about make out in the moonlight a group of fish chasing each other up the margin which had obviously picked up my line – my suspicions were confirmed and both rods were brought in and propped up against the oval.
They were making such a racket that I all but gave up on sleep so put the kettle on and had a smoke, it was just after 3am when Pete walked into the swim laughing “you’re awake then!?” he said, “how did you guess?” was my reply!
I made Pete a brew then we sat and discussed what to do in the morning, both deciding that we would pack up and go and look at another lake to see if we could nick one of the surface before it got too hot, but if truth be told if I hadn’t had a beer I would probably have packed up in the middle of the night and although I was probably fine to drive I just wouldn’t risk it and never will.
Pete left my swim at about 03:30am to try and get some kip, I did the same and eventually drifted off to the sound of the leviathan’s having sexy time!
It felt like I had only been asleep 5 minutes when I awoke at 6am, I literally had to peel my eyes open before I could stick the kettle on and roll a smoke, after a quick brew with the rods already propped against the oval it only took me 5 minutes to get packed away and the kit loaded on the barrow.
I could hear Pete doing the same next door and by 7am the van was loaded, because I was spooled up with fluorocarbon and didn’t bring a floater outfit we just took Pete’s Floater rod, net, mat and the few essentials that we needed including plenty of water!
We found the fish instantly on one of the other waters and it didn’t take long to get them going – within 20 minutes Pete had a nice little mirror on the bank, we took a couple of photos as quick as we could as the sun was already beating down its’ ray with some force, the fish was soon returned and we attempted to get them going again- but this time it was me holding the carbon!
The fish seemed to be on edge since Pete’s fish and didn’t in all honesty show much interest, we gave it half an hour before setting off to one of the other lakes to find some that may be up for it.
Half an hour later we had found a group of fish that looked well up for it, Pete said “shall I get feeding then?” I replied “no need mate, they are up for it!” and without a second thought cast out my single mixer hook bait – only 10 seconds later the hook bait was taken and the surface erupted, the fish which was probably only a small double put up a great account of itself with some powerful runs and just when I thought I had it under control and ready for netting the hook pulled – the air was blue and a few choice words were chosen!
A few of the fish drifted off and once again looked slightly on edge, we fed them for a good 40 minutes flicking only a few chum mixers out at a time, I waited as long as I could before introducing a bait which when I did was taken with confidence and a battle began once again, with several rather impressive runs I felt confident that I was attached to a better fish and within a few minutes we were greeted by the sight of small but absolutely stunning common, it might not have been a chunk by any stretch of the imagination but words cannot explain how much that fish meant to me – after a few quick pictures I cradled her in the edge as she gathered her strength and just has she waddled off thanked her for what she had done for me.
With a fish each on the bank, we gathered our bits together and headed back to the car park and headed for home, both feeling rather chuffed - both for different reasons.
As I sit writing this now, I feel like the cloud has lifted and can’t wait to get back out and chase a few chunks once again – a quick phone call to the bailiff on “Raptor” has lifted my spirits, it’s quietened right off with most of the members struggling for a take they have pulled off for easier waters which means I better sign off for now and get the van loaded ready for tomorrow.
Until next time,
Smithy