Another Gift...

After last week's success with the 2 commons, yet failing to land either of the 2 mirrors I hooked, I couldn't wait to get back and settle the score. Today I finished work at midday and pointed the car bonnet at Sultan. 

I never had long to fish, but after a short time looking around the usual spots I stumbled across a group of mirrors. I was actually trying to get some photographs of them, but when they started rolling over each other and almost beaching themselves to get to some bread I'd deposited, I quickly swapped the camera for the rod. 

A piece of bread was squeezed onto my size 4 hook and cast out amongst the fish. I held my breath, hoping the fish wouldn't spook off, and although one or two drifted off, a couple remained. The hook-bait wafted through the water and landed on the bottom quite slowly. I watched where the line entered the water for a minute or so, then wound it in to find it had gone soggy and fallen off. The carp had disappeared by now, but soon after my next cast I saw them out of the corner of my eye coming towards me from the left. 


 

A Gift from the Gods...

I woke to rain, increasingly heavy rain, it didn’t bode well. I had planned go stalking after lunch, opting to fish the later part of the day as the mornings were still a touch chilly. As luck had it, the rain subsided and the sky cleared nicely by 11, and by midday the sun shone as I left the house and headed towards the moat. 

It looked lovely when I got there, no other anglers were in sight and the gently ripped water reflected a million shards of sunlight. Among the sparkling margins I hoped the carp would be on the move, I crept around, all over and saw very little. I regrouped, had some lunch and began looking again. It was surprising what an hour can do, the spots I’d baited had fish on, fish that looked every bit the classic long lean fish I’d come to associate with the moat. 

Easter Weekend

Forgive me if this seems a little rushed, I'm dead tired...


I decided to be brave this weekend, it is April after all. I'd been to the moat twice during the week to deposit some sweetcorn onto the spots I'd ultimately be fishing. Peg 27 is one of my favourites, tucked away in the corner, just the way I like them. The problem lies with the fact that the swim isn't big enough to spend the night in.....well, for most maybe. 


I tipped up around 2:30 on Saturday afternoon and carries my scaled down gear to the swim. There was a match on one section, but it was far enough away for me not to see or hear a soul. I set up camp, which consisted of chair under a brolly. With the rods fishing either margin I settled back and made some tea. 


Teatime came and so did the bream, they were relentless shaking their heads violently from side to side all the way in. Some had to be pushing 8lbs too. Just on dark I made a cast with the left hand rod which took off before I could put it in the rests, it was a lovely dark tench of around 3lbs.