Wednesday 13 July 2011

A Brief Respite




July 2011

No fishing since last April had me itching to return to the water.
The weather has been warm for the first part of the month and all the summer species have been showing in abundance following spawning.

Last week I took a trip to a small fishery in Northamptonshire called Yolk Hill Farm I had found this little gem by accident during a drive out in the countryside a couple of years ago. It is a small fishery with 3 pools to cater for all levels of experience with a lovely mixed stocking of very fine quality fish. One of the great attractions for me is that you will always see a Red Kite or two that will often fly within 20ft of you if you don't make too much noise.

I chose to fish horseshoe as this little pond contains some of the best Golden Rudd I have ever seen with some will into specimen size. To get the best out of this water it is best to fish light but as some of the carp run close to double figures … not too light. So I opted for a 12ft match rod with 4lb main line and a quill float. Bait for me was simple, 2 red maggots on a size 18hook.

As I was setting up I flicked a small pinch of maggots into the water every now and then and watched the water start to boil as the greedy Rudd pounced on every free offering.

Once set up I flicked the float out into the centre of the boil and had my first Rudd of the morning. The colour of these fish is fantastic, deep golden flanks and blood red fins.
This continued for the next hour with nearly every cast resulting in yet another beautifully coloured fish. Suddenly the float dived in a much different way and I could tell immediately from the fight that this was no ordinary Rudd. I was correct, and smiled to myself as a lovely grey Tench slipped over the net. I was a little surprised as the hook was set 6in under the float in around 5ft of water, but a little loose feed and a bigger Tench on the next cast proved they were indeed feeding just sub surface.

I often pause fishing for a cup of tea or coffee and reflect on the days events or ponder a change of set-up. Today my attention was drawn by two Red Kites performing low level aerobatics over the lakes. I have seen these birds snatch dead fish off the surface of the water, something a seasoned “birdwatcher” from the village tells me they do not do!!!    has anyone told that to the birds?
Looking above the Kites at around 200ft I could see a Buzzard circling (a first for me in this part of the country) So my coffee break lasted a lot longer then usual as I enjoyed the show.

Around 11:30am the cloud rolled in and I was soon huddled under my umbrella trying to keep dry in the absolute downpour that was now upon me. The wind picked up scattering any tackle not bolted to the floor and I twice watched umbrellas floating across the lake with the owners running around the bank to intercept them on the far side. The weather was progressively getting worse and I watched my float being moved around the water with every gust. During the hight of the storm I had a lovely Mirror Carp followed by a large Common Carp just the lift that my dampened spirits needed.

Looking around the lake I could see wet and bedraggled anglers walking through the mud towards their cars, wet, dejected and completely pi**ed off. It may be that I am lazy but I prefer to keep warm and dry under my umbrella and ride out bad weather, and as long as I have coffee in my flask and a couple of biscuits to keep me company then I am a happy man.

Backwater

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