After Work Result...

At last I was finally granted permission to send the evening stalking. I had some time owing to me at work so left at 3pm still unsure of where to go. Carron Row was a good bet and usually throws up a fish or two at this time of year, Oaks Melt was another option and being a new venue for me it was a very close second, but the car headed in the direction of Tithe Barn, local to work and with the chance of a nice scaly mirror, I’m a sucker for a scaly mirror.

I parked in the lay-by, donned my fishing clothes, grabbed the gear from the boot and set off along the well worn path. I was travelling light, a large unhooking mat, net, Mark IV and a bucket with my Delmatic, some hooks and floats and a loaf of bread. I arrived at the top pond, saw two guys fishing and had a quick gander at the available swims. There was a ripple on half the water and this blew into the bottom left hand corner, a favourite spot of mine.

The bush I fish to is connected to the out of bounds bank and I fish to it from the last swim. A quick trot round to the bush enabled me to see if there were any fish surrounding it and to throw a few crusts under it. Whilst letting the carp find it I had a quick walk around the middle pond but again, all was very quiet and there were no fish cruising, this didn’t bode well at all. Incidentally there were two anglers fishing this pond, with bottom tactics and they’d had a fish apiece during the day.

Back at my swim I noticed some disturbance, watched and spotted a pair of big rubbery lips break surface and gulp down a crust. I quickly set up the Mark IV, attached a crust to the hook and after four bad casts watched one land sweetly and on the money. The first take I managed to pull the hook from him before it was set, and the second take resulted in a hooked fish that took off like a steam train with me hanging on for dear life. I gradually made some line back but the hook pulled as I reached for the net. The fish was a common around 10lbs.



After my failure I must have made three or four circuits of the ponds, with the other anglers poking fun telling me I’d wear the banks away if I wasn’t careful. But I can’t keep still during short stalking sessions, not unless I have feeding fish in front of me. I have to be on the move, looking for that opportunity. I found myself back at the same swim an hour later topping up the bush with bread. I stood well back and waited to see what occurred. At first I thought the disturbance was caused by a small carp of 3 or 4lbs, but as the sun reappeared from behind the clouds I saw it...a vision.

It was a crucian, I’d estimate at the weight above, it was huge, it was beautiful, it was all my dreams rolled into one. I watched as it delicately nibbled the crusts hardly making them move, no wonder we never hit the bites. But this fish would have to wait for another time, a dedicated trip for this day I was nowhere near ready for them, or tackled up for them, I was already hatching the plan for my return visit.

No more carp visited the bush and I thought about calling it a day for a brief moment, but one of the guys fishing the middle pond mention the bottom pond. Now not a great deal of folk fish the bottom pond. It’s quite a bit smaller than the other two, being around three quarters of an acre, and it is wall to wall with Canadian pond weed, top to bottom all year round. Couple this with a veritable jungle to manoeuvre to get to most of the pitches and you get to understand why most don’t bother.



Soon enough I was fighting my way through blackthorn, bramble and all manner of other bushes I don’t know the names of. Eventually I got to the area I liked the look of, the end pitch with fresh grass and reeds signalling that nobody had been here for a while. I looked out across the pool and shuddered at the amount of weed, but I had confidence in my tackle and methods so felt comfortable about fishing, especially off the top.



I stood with my hook baited and watched for a while before making a cast. There was a small amount of disturbance around half way across in a small gap among the weed. I cast just beyond, teased it back and observed. Within a few seconds there were loads of small silver fish attacking the crust and within a minute it had been devoured. This was going to be fun.

I re-baited the hook and looked up just in time to see a carp’s dorsal fin break surface. I cast once again just beyond and teased it back, but I must have done so too quickly as a bow wave soon shot off and all I was left with was the shoal of silver critters munching away on my crust. I stood a while longer looking for something else to cast at and it came in the shape of yet another dorsal breaking surface. I made the cast, this time much further past the fish and teased it back extra carefully.



This time the fish didn’t appear to spook, but I did lose sight of it. Sure enough the silvers were at it again, but for a split second they stopped, all went quiet and the half crust I had left on the hook disappeared down the throat of a carp. After the strike I lost a few yards of line ad when I gained control all went horribly solid as I suspected it would. I leaned both sides and kept the pressure on, pulling from one angle and then another and I was sure that I was gaining some line back. Slowly but surely I coaxed my prize towards me and reached out full stretch and netted a massive ball of weed.

I hoisted the net and weed up onto the bank and on the unhooking mat. When I finally got through the weed and found the fish I was quite pleasantly shocked. Not a massive fish, but a very pretty one, the scaly mirror I was looking for was mine. I took a few self takes on the camera and put her back into the margins. I had a big smile on my face and kept saying “YES” whilst looking around to make sure nobody was watching.



I hung around for a little while later but everything was quiet, the rest of the fish must have sunk down into the depths after all the commotion. But I’d be back, this weedy little haven s just the quiet little paradise I’ve been looking for, another one of those hideaways I can escape to any time I Please. I stopped off at Carron Row on the way back, just to see if I could sneak a common out to complete the set, but it was just as moody as the other place. I fed a few swims with bread but nothing rose so I headed home with a smile and couple of nice future sessions to look forward to, the return on the bottom pond and the big crucians.