The Old Hall pt 3

Time had been limited recently and it had been the best part of a month since my last visit to the old hall lake, again i left home with plenty of time under darkness to arrive and mooch around before deciding which swim to choose. I ended up with my original plan which was to fish the last area of the lake that i had not fished. This was to give me some time plotting the lake bed in this final area. With an hour of darkness still upon me the rods were flicked out to 3 different ranges, one off the bottom end, around 8 yards from the bank, one out in open water straight out in front of me at around 40 yards and the third rod, an underarm flick out along the reed lined margin.

Once the rods were settled i got the home built and after a cuppa it was time for a snooze till daylight. Within minutes of shutting my eyes i received a single toned take of the right hand rod, what initially felt like a bream soon started to pull back and was making a desperate attempt to get itself into the reed beds under my feet, once turned from the snaggy margin it was soon in the net. A small but immaculate common of 12lbs, no monster, but my 6th fish from the venue. I would later find out this fish was, although only little, one of the oldest of the lakes residents. It was taken over a 16mm B1 Bacteria bottom bait topped with a 10mm Scud.

small, but an ancient fish

Great start to the 3 day session. By mid day the wind had turned as forecast and was now picking up and pushing towards me. Everything looked right for the fish to be in the vicinity. The day passed quite quickly with no sightings of any other carp, and other than a bream of around 4lbs the rods stayed quiet. As evening drew in i managed to bait up without the attentions of the resident tufted ducks, spreading around 2kg of rolled baits over the 3 rods, with a similar amount of B1 pellet to accompany the boilies.

I slept well after my 2am start that day and was surprised to wake some time after dawn after an undisturbed sleep. I woke to a stunning sunny morning, the breeze that had faded away under darkness soon picked back up and again was pushing from right to left long my bank, giving me ideal conditions for the carp to be patrolling. With a few tufties and mallards having found my baits, i was getting cleaned out, i left them to get their fill, knowing it would enable me to fish over fresh bait for the last night of the session. I refrained from moving the rods just yet, preferring to leave them quiet and the lake undisturbed, these fish are wily and are rarely fished for so im sure the act of recasting could possibly scare them from the area, if they were present.

Again the day passed quickly and i was soon entering my second night. With no sightings or activity from the bream through the day, and even the tufties not hassling me too much, i decided to add just a small amount of fresh B1 pellet and a smattering of rolled baits over the spots i was fishing. With the rigs rebaited with balanced rigs then a hefty amount of paste wrapped around the hookbaits, they were all dropped back onto the baited zones and darkness enveloped the lake.

I woke in the middle of the night to a stuttering take and lifted into a bream, this would be the first of  dozen over the night, each would come to a large hookbait and would managed to shift a 31/2oz lead out of the silt and swim freely off with it, coming up against a tight clutch. After the first few i was getting slimed up and smelt awfull, i really didnt want to get into the sleeping bag in this state, so i opted to spend the night sat up dozing in the chair untill the next slimey bait theif came along. By first light i was exhausted and looked a sight. I managed a quick wash and wipe down to remove the filth off my hands and face and started an early pack down of the gear, leaving the rods out till the last minute and was unrewarded for my efforts. Although id banked a carp,I felt like i had had a blank session, i think this was due to the speed at which i had caught it and then sat fishless for the rest of the session.

Over my first 5 sessions, totaling 13 nights i am relatively happy with the progress i have made on the 4 acre water, Ive mapped out much of the lake, I have found some interesting hard areas, loads of soft clean aerobic silty spots, found plenty of areas with mussels present, i have managed to fish in all areas of the lake and to make it all worthwhile, i've managed 6 carp from the low stock of around 35 fish.

Im doing something right, but now i need to work on avoiding these pesky bream. With a 3 nighter due next week i'm keen as mustard to be up there. Spring should have woken properly now up there, its a late to bloom venue due to its height above sea level. Roll on thursday !