For once my working week passed quite quickly and before I knew it I was hurtling down the country lanes “Big Pit” bound in the driving rain.

As I pulled up to the gates the rain stepped up a gear and I endured a soaking whilst unlocking the big Iron Gate, not that it bothered me in the slightest, I was angling!

As I drove up the track I noticed a car parked up on the verge, my heart sank…I knew exactly where he would be, I parked the van up and strolled through the undergrowth just in time to see the owner of the car cast out from the far bank and confirm my suspicions.

I knew I resembled a drowned rat so didn’t waste any more time, I jumped back in the van and drove to the top of the Pit to another area that I fancied, the barrow was loaded without haste and I quickly pushed it to my chosen area.

Once in the swim I went against the rule books and quickly set up the Titan and threw the bedchair under it in an attempt to keep it dry and then quickly set about setting up the 3 rods on naked chod’s with Live System cork ball hook baits.

Having fished the swim several times before I knew the spots well so it didn’t take me long to get the baits where I wanted them.

The left hand rod was fished about 3 rods out into a deep channel, the middle and right hand rod were fished tight to an overhanging bush on the Island margin, I then scattered 50 baits over each rod.

Just as I was setting the last hanger the rain stopped, I couldn’t help but laugh and just looked up at the sky and said “thanks for that old fella!”

With the rods sorted I tided up the swim and made myself comfortable for the night, several cups of coffee later I noticed some strange noises coming from somewhere but after a few minutes of searching where it was coming from I realised it was my stomach, so with that I rummaged in the rucksack to see what culinary delights I could put together and a few minutes later I was enjoying a chicken & mushroom risotto.

As I sat on the bedchair filling the hole in my stomach I couldn’t help but notice an eerie silence all around the lake, even the resident owl was quiet!

The evening past with nothing to note and by 11pm I was ready to rest my eyes, it didn’t take long either as the next thing I can recall is the noise of the geese landing with an explosion, it took me a few minutes to realise that I wasn’t actually set up at Heathrow Airport, once I had reached that conclusion I fired up the coleman for the first brew of the day confident that I wasn’t going to be hit by a Boeing 747.

With a complete lack of fish sightings my confidence began to wane, bite time came and went and by 11am I had pretty much called it a day and began a slow pack up before heading home to spend some time with the kids.

I had half planned a social with my brother in law the following Friday and few text messages later on Sunday it was confirmed.

Once again after a hectic week at work Friday afternoon soon rolled around along with my freedom, I pointed the van in the direction of Martin’s little syndicate water, turned up the cd player and battled the traffic before eventually pulling up in the car park at the same time as Martin.

We decided to go and have a walk and see what was occurring, being only a small lake of 6-7 acres it was actually quite busy with 3 people on so we decided the best thing to do would be to fish as far away from everyone else as we could, keep quiet and see what happens.

Once the barrows were loaded we made our way around the small lake and stopped where the no fishing bank began.

I decided to only fish the two rods so it didn’t take me long to get them sorted, two chod’s were cast out into the silt with a healthy scattering of 15mm Live System over the top.

The Titan was soon erected and I sat down on the bedchair with a coffee to take in the atmosphere, it’s a very attractive small water with a good stock of fish for its size, nothing of monster proportions in there with the biggest touching 30lb at the right time of the year.

After rustling a Risotto up on the coleman I went next door to see how Martin was getting on, we stood and chatted for a while before I left him to eat his pot noodle, bankside dining at its finest!

My kettle had just reached the boil when I heard the sound of Martin’s Neville singing its merry tune, so I ran over to give assistance but unfortunately the hook pulled several minutes into the fight when the culprit on the end made its way into some lily pads.

I left Martin to get his rod back out in the failing light and naturally finished the coffee which I was rudely interrupted whilst making, Martin appeared an hour or so later with a couple of cold Fosters which I more than happy to help drink.

The evening past quickly and by 10pm we decided it was time to get some shut eye, being a “night water” I was expecting to be awoken sometime in the early hours so the thought of seeing the back of my eye lids was too good an opportunity to miss!

I had just entered a strange but enjoyable dream that I couldn’t possibly mention when I was brought back to the land of the living by my left hand Neville screaming for attention, I was on it in a flash, the rod instantly took on its full battle curve as I applied the brakes to stop it getting its head in the lily pads, but slowly she came into my near margin and a few hairy moments later I was just pulling her head over the net cord when I became aware of my lead flying past my ear, I dived forward with the net and luckily managed to engulf the rest of the culprit into the folds of the net, that was lucky!!

I gave Martin a shout to do some photos, we weighed her in at 17lb and ounces and then safely returned her to the watery home of which she came.

On inspecting the rig, the hook point was turned right over so I threw it in the fox box and rigged up a fresh chod before getting it back out on the spot.

I had a quick smoke with Martin and told him my tale of luck which he found most amusing then bid him good night and climbed back into bed sleeping uninterrupted until 5 am when a fish crashing 30 yards out woke me from my slumber.

I rolled a smoke and fired up the coleman watching the water for about half an hour before deciding to get another hours kip which tuned into 3 hours as I didn’t wake up until Martin walked into my swim demanding that his china mug was filled instantly.

We had a few cups of the good stuff then decided to call it a day, I was more than happy with my slice of luck but felt bad for Martin, he had only managed to get on the bank a few times this year due to one thing and another.

I mentioned that I was heading to the tackle shop to replenish stocks for the following week and Martin decided to tag along, after being greeted by Pete as we walked through the door and having a coffee we both left having spent about 3 times as much as we had planned, Martin panicking as to what he was going to tell my sister – I just laughed and said “Well I better spend it before the wife does!” and with that said our good byes and left for home both laughing.

I have been fortunate in being able to book a few days off work next week which will see me heading back down the “Big Pit” straight from work Wednesday evening and I plan on staying until Friday afternoon, it will make a nice change being able to fish a couple of nights opposed to my very quick overnighters and hopefully I shall manage to meet one if its magical residents.

So until then, be lucky

Smithy

NB. October’s video blog shall be online Saturday 6th October

It’s been a manic few weeks with one thing and another so didn’t get a chance to write the last instalment so I will carry on from where I left off.

Following another terrible week at work I was keen to get down the Pit and let off some steam so was over the moon when 5pm finally rolled around and I could point the van in the direction of the Pit.

I must have been driving like a man possessed as I made the journey in record time and was soon pulling into the fishery gates.

My frown soon turned to a smile as I saw the swim that I had been successful in and had primed for weeks was vacant and as an added bonus the wind was hacking through a channel right on top of my spots.

I couldn’t load the barrow quick enough but after what seemed like an eternity [but was probably only a few minutes] I was standing in the swim and feeling confident.

I went and sat down by the margin, rolled a smoke and watched the water for a few minutes, during a break in the wind I could just about make out some coloured water and some fizzing tight to the overhanging bush which I had landed the miracle common from the previous session, that was enough for me to go on!

I quickly put a rod together but instead of my usual naked chod I opted for a solid bag presentation with a XXX dumbbell on the hair and filled the bag with snails, active feast and pellet, I was hoping this would keep them grubbing about a bit longer.

I didn’t bother casting to the spot and clipping up, I knew the spot well and fancied my chances so the solid bag was cast straight out and just brushed the branches as it hit the water, bang on the money!

The other two rods were fished on naked chods baited with XXX corkballs and cast out to their normal spots at the bottom of the marginal shelf tight to the Island.

With the rods sorted I put the kettle on for a well-earned brew as I felt I had done all I could and would just have to wait for the outcome, I also decided not to introduce any bait over the chods until it got dark in an attempt to avoid a repeat of the last session when the swans noted me baiting up and became a nuisance throughout the duration of my stay.

I sat on the bedchair watching the water for an hour or so when eventually the light faded enough for me to safely bait up so I introduced a couple of kg of XXX over the two chod rods using the catty.

The mozzies were turning into a complete nightmare, more than usual and whilst sat listening to the radio at about 11pm I felt a sudden surge of pain in my lip so punched myself in the face as you do to try and stop whatever was the culprit, however all I was left with was a swollen face and resembled Shrek.

I sat up until about 1am listening for anything that might be moving in front of me, but other than a few maybes the swim seemed quiet so I eventually gave in to my heavy lids and climbed into the sleeping bag for some shut eye, pulling the sleeping bag over my head in the process to try and stave off my blood sucking friends.

The next thing I remember is being rudely awoken by “BANG BANG BANG, WOOF WOOF!!” I opened my eyes in the half-light to see a flock of geese looking cagey and on edge, pleased the world wasn’t ending I fired up the coleman for a brew and whilst taking the first sip I remembered it was Sept 1st and start of the Duck/Goose shooting season – Normally I would have been out there with them but with no land permissions at present my shotgun is firmly locked up in the cabinet.

The morning past quickly whilst I chain drank coffee, but bite time came and went and so did my chance as the sun climbed higher in the sky and the temperature rose.

I had to be off by late morning as I had promised the wife I would be home, everything was packed away with just the rods left on the floor but eventually I gave in, chucked the rods on the barrow and made my way back to the van about two hours later than planned, I knew she would understand!

I headed for home dreading the following week at work but knew once it was all over I would be returning the following Saturday for some more therapy and a good social with Pete who I managed to arrange a guest ticket for.

As expected the week was dragging, on Tuesday evening I gave Pete a call to see if he fancied a walk round the Pit to do some marker work and a bit of a reconnaissance which he quickly agreed to.

My van was off the road on the Wednesday having some paint work done so Pete came and picked me up then we shot straight down the Pit (via the chip shop!).

Once down there we began our walk round in a lucky anti clockwise fashion, we had only walked about 200 yards when I saw a fish show out the corner of my eye in the “Sticks”, we stopped and watched the water only for it to roll again 10 yards further up the Island margin.

So out came the marker rod, I wanted to see what it was showing over and it soon became apparent that it was a silty channel 8ft in depth before becoming much shallower and onto a plateau which was then only 3.5 feet pretty much all the way back to bank.

After that we carried on round the lake having a chuck with the marker anywhere that looked the slightest bit carpy whilst talking excitedly about the weekend, that chat continued all the way home and in the pub over several beers which I felt slightly worse the wear for the following morning!

The next couple of days were spent aimlessly staring out of the office window praying for my freedom and eventually it came in the form of 5pm Friday afternoon.

I shot home to prepare the gear for the following morning and then spent the rest of the evening wearing a trench in the living room carpet whilst pacing up and down waiting for bedtime!

I was awake early so put the camera gear in the van and had a quick coffee before giving the kids and wife a cuddle and telling them I would see them soon, with my eldest shouting “catch one bigger than me daddy as I walked out of the door”.

I quite enjoyed the drive down the lake, the music was blaring out whilst I tackled the quiet country roads and before I knew it I was in paradise.

I parked the van up, grabbed a bucket and quickly walked round the lake to where the fish had showed a few days previously, once in the swim I sat on the bucket and rolled a smoke to see if anything occurred.

I had only been sat there 20 minutes when I noticed some fizzing bang on the spot I had seen the fish show on my reconnaissance mission so I jumped off the bucket and ran back to the van to get the rest of the kit.

The weather forecast had told me it was going to be a scorcher and for once they had got it spot on, it was getting hotter by the minute.

My head was telling me to cast out but my heart was telling me to rest the swim, naturally I went with my heart as my head usually has a tumble weed rolling around in it.

I set up the Titan to provide a bit of shade, laid out the bedchair and then fired up the coleman for a brew whilst I had a think about what to do.

I decided to bait up lightly around the Island margin and also another spot close in which I found then rest the swim for the day, only casting out once Pete had arrived so with that took my time setting up the rods.

The left hand rod would be fished 20 yards out in a solid bag of Live System Pellet and a matching 15mm hookbait, the other two rods were going to be fished in the channel close to the Island.

Once the rods were set up I found the spots with a bare lead then clipped up, removed the lead and attached a mini spomb to introduce a small amount of bait, once I had finished it was just a case of clipping the lead and rig on and propping them up against the Titan for the rest of the day whilst I gathered my thoughts.

The afternoon passed quite quickly and at about 4pm I took a stroll round the lake and chatted to the few anglers that were fishing, all of them sharing the same story of no luck and a few of them no luck this season. I really felt for them and hope that their run of bad luck ends soon.

It was soon 5:30pm and my phone ringing told me that Pete had arrived so I made the walk down to the gate to let him in, he looked like a kid at Christmas and very excited to be coming back to his old haunt.

I left him to load his barrow and made my way back to the swim to finally get my rods sorted for the night which took all of 5 minutes and in fact I had already made a brew and had one waiting for Pete when he barrowed past my swim looking like he was going to collapse, so naturally he was more than grateful for the waiting beverage.

It took Pete an hour or so to get sorted next door but once he got the rods out he walked into my swim carrying a 4 pack of warm beer, but it was the thought that counted I suppose!

We spent the next few hours sat in my swim talking about next season and what we expected or more likely hoped would happen but was soon brought back to the here and the now when a good fish rolled over my right hand rod, Pete simply said “how big do you reckon it will be then?” I just said “No idea mate, we’ll find out at dawn I guess!” before we both burst out laughing.

I was having a great social and it was exactly what I needed after a few terrible weeks in my non angling life but I’m not one to moan so I will leave it there (those that know me are now laughing rather loudly and calling me a lying ba$%ard!).

After we had slowly drank our small amount of beer rations we decided to call it a night, so Pete returned next door and I sat on the bedchair for one last smoke and coffee then set my alarm for 3am so I could listen for a little while then got into the bag and soon drifted off.

The next thing I recall is the alarm on my phone going off at a deafening level so quickly turned it off, answered the call of nature, popped the kettle on and rolled smoke.

There was a heavy mist all around the lake and an eerie quietness all around me, I was sat there for a good half an hour when I eventually heard a fish roll somewhere out in front of me, I couldn’t be sure exactly where but it sounded very close to my right hand rod.

I had another smoke and sat there a little longer to see if I could hear it again but nothing materialised so I climbed back in the bag at about 4am and fortunately returned into my dream where I left off but that isn’t suitable on here!

I was awake again at 6am, so did the normal ritual of rolling a smoke and putting the kettle on, there was a heavy mist all around me and I could barely see a few feet in front of my face but there was very carpy atmosphere, it was electric!

I was just lighting the coleman to have a brew and savour the scene when I heard a few bleeps come from my right hand Neville, I turned around just in time to see the tip wrap round so lifted into the fish instantly before it even had a chance to take any line.

The fish must have been just as shocked as I was to the action as other than a hairy moment in a weed bed I pretty much led the culprit to the waiting net like a dog on a lead and was half expecting a red eyed monster to be the culprit, so was made up to see the scale pattern of an immaculate common glistening in the early morning sunlight.

I secured the fish in the edge then went and woke Pete to do the honours with the camera, fortunately the mist cleared enough for us to get some good pictures which as per normal Pete did superbly, we weighed the old warrior in at 24 lb 15 oz which we were both shocked at because the frame of the fish seemed a lot bigger but she just felt empty then we slipped her back to her watery home safely to fight another day.

I was absolutely made up but bloody thirsty so had the first brew of the day and it was good! After caffeinating myself I got the rod back out onto the spot hoping for another and spent the next few hours hovering over the rods but unfortunately the Nevilles remained silent for the rest of the session.

We reluctantly packed up late morning before the sun got too hot and I am glad we did as I was dripping from head to foot during the barrow journey back to the van!

So with that we loaded the vans and headed for home, well I did – Pete has got a week off work so shot straight down to the Ouse Valley for a week on the bank the jammy sod!

I’m not sure if I shall manage to get out next week due to it being my youngest’s 1st birthday but you can rest assured that I shall be out the following week hoping to out wit yet another mythical creature.

Until then,

Smithy

After a hectic first week back at work following my week long break I was over the moon when 5pm Friday afternoon came around, I did my greatest Superman impression in the disabled toilet (It’s nearest to the door) I went from Civilian all suited and booted to Hard-core Carper in a matter of seconds, the look on the IT guys face was a picture when I walked through the office, not that I cared…I was free and off dangling!

I made the usual 15 minute journey to the lake in less than 5 minutes and arrived at the fishery gate in a cloud of dust, but once at the pit stuck to the strict speed limit until I got to the car park as much as it hurt!

Once I was all parked up and the barrow had been loaded I scanned the lake to see what swims were left. My choice wasn’t a great one, after a tip off from Mark I knew that the swim I fared so well in last session was free although it was on the end of a cold northerly which had been blowing all week, but with little choice available I dropped in there for the night.

The normal tedious barrow journey round the boggy track was made slightly easier after a few days of cold northerly winds had dried it out and for the first time in a while I arrived in the swim not out of breath or ready to collapse in a heap which made a nice change.

The first thing that I did notice was the Floating Green Sh%t as it had become known following my previous session, it had dramatically built up in front of the swim so I spent a good 10 minutes clearing it to make my line lay slightly better presented.

After I had finished my weed clearing routine I set about getting the rods sorted, I couldn’t put my left hand rod where I wanted to due to a huge drifting weed bed which was positioned between me and the spot so I opted to fish that one close in for night, I carefully tied on a XXX pop up onto a chod and placed it about 20 yards out then scattered about 50 18mm XXX over the top with the catty.

The middle and right hand rod were once again fished running chod style and baited with a XXX pop up and fished 10 yards apart at 60 yards range, I then scattered ½ kilo of 18mm XXX over the two rods.

By the time I was sorted it was getting on for 6:30pm and I knew that Pete would be down shortly to pay me a visit and fill me in on the new lake he is fishing, true to his word he was soon walking into my swim with a Pie and Chips in hand, top man!

So I put the Oval up to shelter from the cold wind before tucking into some grub which I demolished in about 30 seconds flat!

The kettle was soon on the boil and as Pete was telling me all the carpy delights of his new home my right hand rod let out a couple of bleeps before pulling up tight, I didn’t waste any time lifting into it but once I had it was quite obvious that a pesky Tench was the culprit, I just said to Pete “oh well, least my rigs are working!”.

Once the Tench had been returned no worse off for its’ mistake I quickly tied on a new bait and put the rod back on the spot followed by 50 baits over the top, before getting back under the Oval to finish my now luke warm coffee.

The time flew by and before I knew it darkness descended around the lake, at about 10pm Pete bid me farewell and wished me luck for the night.

Once on my own I fired up the coleman once again and replied to a few messages and tweets that I had become aware of as my phone was bleeping in the background followed by an unexpected phone called from my old mate “Dumpy” who was fishing a rock hard pit about 45 minutes away and had incidentally enjoyed some success so it was great to catch up.

Once my phone had begun to quieten down at about 11pm I was just about to call it a night when I received a message asking me to go round the other side of the lake and do some pictures for another member so I reeled in the rods and made my way round the lake and was met by one very happy angler indeed, once the pictures of the stunning common were done I wished him well and returned to my swim to get the rods sorted for the night once again.

I tied on all 3 baits and then placed them back on the spots although I was very concerned about the line lay as I couldn’t see the weed beds that had floated in during the hours of darkness, but there was little I could do about it now so just had to hope that my baits wouldn’t be pulled off the spots and ruining my presentation – anybody that knows me will tell you I can be quite anal about line lay, but with limited time on the bank I want to make sure everything is perfect and as it should be.

I got back under the Oval, put the radio on to catch the mid night news but soon turned it off as it was depressing me then fired up the coleman for a quick brew before bed.

Once I was hydrated, I climbed into the bag and soon drifted off into a deep sleep, I must have been tired to because I slept right through the night and didn’t wake until gone 7am which is very late for me normally choosing to be up at Dawn.

As per the normal routine, the first thing I did was fire the coleman and rolled a smoke – once I had woken up a bit I noticed that the wind had swung right round to a bitterly cold easterly and was hammering into my swim bringing a load of the floating green sh%t with it.

Normally I like to leave the baits on the spots until lunch time but as I was worried about the presentation I reeled in at about 9:30am, rebaited then put them back out on the spots however the left hand rod was baited with a single yellow Northern Special and put slightly further out in the hope to nick a quick bite before “bite time” had passed.

I was a bit more relaxed after doing the rods, so got a coffee on the go and retreated from the cold wind under the Oval and got a book out, I must off been reading for a few hours because I received a text and couldn’t believe the time, gone 1pm already!

I went and stood by the rods to survey the area, my swim again was a mass off green sh%t that had come in on the wind, I just shook my head then got back under the Oval to ring my wife, I told her that the conditions were pants, I had itchy feet but nowhere to move to and felt like I was camping, she told me that if I went home instead of doing another night she wouldn’t mind if I did 2 nights next weekend. I told her I’d check the forecast on my phone and let her know and hung up, upon checking the forecast I was delighted to see a big pressure drop due at the end of the week along with some long overdue south westerly’s, I sent her a text saying I would be home at about 8pm.

I chain drank coffee and stared across the lake all afternoon in the hope of one of the big girls making a mistake but it wasn’t to be, and at 6pm I decided to call it day.

I slowly packed everything away leaving the rods right until the last minute then had to clear the weed off the rod tips before I could retrieve them.

Once sorted I barrowed back to the van with my tail firmly between my legs, it was my first blank for a month and it had brought me back to down to earth with a bump.

As I drove out the gate I vowed to return the following weekend and settle the score, I’m just hoping the big girl can evade capture until then, she’s due out any day now and my heart jumps out of my chest whenever I get a text message!

I have to attend a wedding in Durham on Thursday and shall be staying overnight then travelling back Friday morning which means I can get back down the lake slightly earlier than normal but you can rest assured my heart will be in my mouth the whole time I’m there in case the news I am dreading comes through!

Until then,

Smithy