A day's floater fishing with Chris Ball

Last week I received a message from my friend Chris Ball. I asked when he was fishing next and he told me he’d planned a day’s floater fishing at the Linear complex near Oxford the following day and that I was welcome to join him. I cleared it at work and with the Mrs and replied back that I’d meet him there at around 9:30am. 

I arrived on time but Chris beat me to it and was already walking around searching for signs that the fish would be in a good mood. I found his car before I found him, it was parked in front of Brasenose One, and the carp were heavily spawning in the reeds right in front of the car-park. Not a great sign but when I eventually caught up with Chris walking around Hardwick he assured me that there was no spawning activity, I think due to the deeper nature of the lake. After saying hello and having a quick chat we got the essentials from the cars and headed to the lake. We spotted a few fish in an early swim and fired out some bait. The fish here didn’t seem too interested but I decided to give it a try whilst Chris moved further up the lake. I made a few casts and had one enquiry to the hook-bait but after half an hour or so I moved on. 

RN Match on Brasenose Two

Going into the weekend I had a vision of spending a weekend with a group of anglers I didn’t know, save for a couple, and on a venue I had little or no experience on, fishing an approach alien to me and with the prospect of rain. As it turned out I was completely wrong, I’ll explain.

I’d arranged a lift with Jace, we’d never met but after a brief phone conversation I was happy that we were on the same wavelength and that we’d get on brilliantly. Andy contacted me after getting wind that I’d be attending and asked if I wanted to partner him, I agreed knowing that Andy was a good angler and another of the very few I had actually met before. So the plan was to work until Thursday lunchtime, leave at 1pm and head for the linear complex in Oxfordshire, the venue was Brasenose two, runs water known for its big hits of fish, but whether or not it would happen with the lake pressured remained to be seen. The danger was also being tied to one peg, if it was a bad draw then you could sit in an area devoid of fish watching others catch, but it was a gamble that had to be made, I was just happy to be going fishing for the weekend.