ouchthathurt
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 15, 2021
- Messages
- 2,935
- Reaction score
- 12,709
- Points
- 113
- Location
- Hastings East Sussex
- Favourite Fishing
- Shore
With the boys returned home, an unsuccessful trip to billing aquadrome under my belt, my leave all used up for the summer and work looming (first shift at 7pm tonight!) I thought it would be rude not to have a quick overnighter somewhere that floats my boat a bit more than the commercial/club lakes my boy enjoys. But where to go??
The river was a good bet, I’ve got a lot to learn there and every session is a valuable chance to unlock it, so the car was loaded with all the paraphernalia required, wife and child given a kiss goodbye and I was on the road…
…only I wasn’t, the fuel light had come on! Quick detour into a petrol station and soon £50 worth of esso’s finest on board, I set off again…
…only I didn’t! I remembered that I’d left my head torch on charge! So quickly nipped home, picked it up and set off again…
…only I didn’t!! I’d left my storm poles behind! So conducting the smartest about turn I’ve ever completed since marching off the parade square in the army, i whizzed back home to grab the offending poles. My wife was most unimpressed, she was getting sick of saying goodbye to me! (Postman must have been under the bed
)
So finally happy that I was all kitted out, I set forth for the river…
…only I didn’t!! As I drove out of my road, I got the strongest gut feeling that I was heading in the wrong direction and that a trip to zombie sheep lake would be better. Why I suddenly thought of that, I don’t know - I hadn’t fished there since October 2022. The instinct was so strong I had to follow my nose. So a quick 180 saw me heading down the coast road towards Kent.
On arriving at the lake, there were two already on, tucked away out of the gusty wind that threatened to flatten everything in its path. The point swim was free, not one of my favourite spots, but it did look bloody good with white horses crashing into the bank. Barrow loaded and off I trotted to secure the peg. It also has the bonus of seeing every inch of the little lake.
On my way round I stopped to chat with the guys fishing, one lad had caught a lovely common that he put at 38lb!! He said it was hugely swollen and spawnbound and was nearly as wide as it was long. I congratulated him on a new PB and carried on to my chosen pitch.
It’s a 2 rod water now, which had put me off before, but now didn’t seem to matter. I went to grab my marker rod… only to find if left it in the shed! (Id taken minimal kit to billing aquadrome and had forgotten to put it all back in the hold-all!) still, a 3oz lead and a large block of hi density foam on the spare rod and a makeshift marker was engineered. I located a gulley that ran about 60yrds off and fired both rods with pva bags of boilies, crumbed boilies and 2&3mm pellets into the gulley, before putting about 1/2kg of boilies all over the area. Both rods were fished helicopter style, with leadcore leaders, 3oz leads and long 18” tungsten loaded semi stiff hooklinks to size 6 barbless claw hammer hooks fished slip D style. Rods out it was time to set up house.
Putting up the brolly was a nightmare! The wind was so strong I looked at one point that I’d been shrink wrapped in brolly! It took all my pegs and storm poles to secure the damn thing, and I was half convinced I’d wake up in the morning to find the damn thing Essex bound, but with night drawing in, the wind dropped and I could breathe easier.
I got my head down at about 11pm and was soon up again as the left hand rod went into melt down! (Just love the note of a one toner on a neville) a spirited fight soon had the first on the bank, a nice common weighing 17lb.
I got the rod redone and back out there and sat up reading red storm rising by Tom Clancy, good book! I nodded off about 2:30 and at 3am had another screamer! This fight was a lot slower and heavier and felt like a better fish, but as I tried to bring it up, it picked up my other line, I dropped the tip to try to guide it under the other rod when the hook fell out! Still, you can’t win them all! Rod rebagged and repositioned, I curled up for a kip.
At 7am, the left hand rod was again in action, with a strange twitchy bite that slowly developed. On striking, the fight was very strange, hardly any weight or resistance, but a lot of water being shifted. It was all over in about 30secs, I merely pumped and winded it straight to the net, where it stayed, half in and half out, the damn thing had grounded out! A quick shake and shuffle and it finally ended up on the mat. What was immediately obvious was that this was the same carp the other lad had caught the night before at 38lb! It looked like it had swallowed a beach ball!
One quick weigh to confirm it, then one quick pic and it was straight back in the pond. As it kicked away, I could see why the fight was so poor, it could barely swim and waddled away, awkwardly into the depths.
I decided that it was time to leave, so wrapped up and headed back to the car, but not before I found the corpse of what would have been a bloody nice perch! I think some spinning might be in order here too…
with that, I jumped in the car and raced the torrential rain home, happy that I’d followed my gut.
The river was a good bet, I’ve got a lot to learn there and every session is a valuable chance to unlock it, so the car was loaded with all the paraphernalia required, wife and child given a kiss goodbye and I was on the road…
…only I wasn’t, the fuel light had come on! Quick detour into a petrol station and soon £50 worth of esso’s finest on board, I set off again…
…only I didn’t! I remembered that I’d left my head torch on charge! So quickly nipped home, picked it up and set off again…
…only I didn’t!! I’d left my storm poles behind! So conducting the smartest about turn I’ve ever completed since marching off the parade square in the army, i whizzed back home to grab the offending poles. My wife was most unimpressed, she was getting sick of saying goodbye to me! (Postman must have been under the bed
) So finally happy that I was all kitted out, I set forth for the river…
…only I didn’t!! As I drove out of my road, I got the strongest gut feeling that I was heading in the wrong direction and that a trip to zombie sheep lake would be better. Why I suddenly thought of that, I don’t know - I hadn’t fished there since October 2022. The instinct was so strong I had to follow my nose. So a quick 180 saw me heading down the coast road towards Kent.
On arriving at the lake, there were two already on, tucked away out of the gusty wind that threatened to flatten everything in its path. The point swim was free, not one of my favourite spots, but it did look bloody good with white horses crashing into the bank. Barrow loaded and off I trotted to secure the peg. It also has the bonus of seeing every inch of the little lake.
On my way round I stopped to chat with the guys fishing, one lad had caught a lovely common that he put at 38lb!! He said it was hugely swollen and spawnbound and was nearly as wide as it was long. I congratulated him on a new PB and carried on to my chosen pitch.
It’s a 2 rod water now, which had put me off before, but now didn’t seem to matter. I went to grab my marker rod… only to find if left it in the shed! (Id taken minimal kit to billing aquadrome and had forgotten to put it all back in the hold-all!) still, a 3oz lead and a large block of hi density foam on the spare rod and a makeshift marker was engineered. I located a gulley that ran about 60yrds off and fired both rods with pva bags of boilies, crumbed boilies and 2&3mm pellets into the gulley, before putting about 1/2kg of boilies all over the area. Both rods were fished helicopter style, with leadcore leaders, 3oz leads and long 18” tungsten loaded semi stiff hooklinks to size 6 barbless claw hammer hooks fished slip D style. Rods out it was time to set up house.
Putting up the brolly was a nightmare! The wind was so strong I looked at one point that I’d been shrink wrapped in brolly! It took all my pegs and storm poles to secure the damn thing, and I was half convinced I’d wake up in the morning to find the damn thing Essex bound, but with night drawing in, the wind dropped and I could breathe easier.I got my head down at about 11pm and was soon up again as the left hand rod went into melt down! (Just love the note of a one toner on a neville) a spirited fight soon had the first on the bank, a nice common weighing 17lb.
I got the rod redone and back out there and sat up reading red storm rising by Tom Clancy, good book! I nodded off about 2:30 and at 3am had another screamer! This fight was a lot slower and heavier and felt like a better fish, but as I tried to bring it up, it picked up my other line, I dropped the tip to try to guide it under the other rod when the hook fell out! Still, you can’t win them all! Rod rebagged and repositioned, I curled up for a kip.At 7am, the left hand rod was again in action, with a strange twitchy bite that slowly developed. On striking, the fight was very strange, hardly any weight or resistance, but a lot of water being shifted. It was all over in about 30secs, I merely pumped and winded it straight to the net, where it stayed, half in and half out, the damn thing had grounded out! A quick shake and shuffle and it finally ended up on the mat. What was immediately obvious was that this was the same carp the other lad had caught the night before at 38lb! It looked like it had swallowed a beach ball!
One quick weigh to confirm it, then one quick pic and it was straight back in the pond. As it kicked away, I could see why the fight was so poor, it could barely swim and waddled away, awkwardly into the depths.I decided that it was time to leave, so wrapped up and headed back to the car, but not before I found the corpse of what would have been a bloody nice perch! I think some spinning might be in order here too…
with that, I jumped in the car and raced the torrential rain home, happy that I’d followed my gut.
Great write up and pics
