June 16th Horseshoe lake

Well you can see from the previous blog my session started well with a fish 5 minutes after casting out.

So with hemp and dead maggots out I recast at 3.50am to the spots.

During the previous day, Steve a carper from up north had moved into the next swim. He seemed a really nice guy and even asked if he could fish the next swim. He had fished it a few times and had caught carp on each occasion.

I was just about to make a brew at 4.30am when I had a take on the left hand rod. The fight was definitely from a bigger tench and after a few minutes she came into view on the light coloured gravel. When they go into the net there is a relief and pleasure sensation almost instantly.

I kept her in the landing net to recover while I recast. In the weighing sling she came in at 9lbs 6oz.

Steve was up and about and he kindly took the photo’s for me to ensure that she was out of the water for least amount of time.

So with all of this going on I still hadn’t had a brew.

5.30 am I had a nice male fish of 6lbs 10oz, these males really go!

6am I had another male this time 6lbs .

Then at 6.10am I had another take and this fish went right and found a weed bed, however with gentle pressure out she came, and again on the lightly coloured gravel I could see she was a good tench. With the same process of holding in the net and recasting the rod  she was ready for weighing.

On the scales she went 9lbs 10 oz what a good 1.5 hrs of angling…….little did I know it would get better.

Steve helped with the photo’s etc.

Still I didn’t have time for a brew.

While I was sorting out the camera gear I had another take from tench of 6lbs 14oz. Steve was spending much of the time in my swim looking at the action i was getting. He had caught a couple of tench on boilies during the night.

6.40 I had a take from a tench of 5lbs 4oz which was a male.

6.45 I spombed out another 2 pints of hemp because at this rate there must be a good few fish out there. I didn’t have to wait long as at 7am I had a female of 5lbs 12oz.

I was gasping for that brew!

Then at 7.25am another female of 5lbs 10oz came to the net.

Steve was saying he hadn’t seen anything quite like it, and was even thinking about bringing his tench gear down next time. Steve also fishes the river Ribble for chub and barbel in the winter so is not entirely a carper.

At last 7.45am and time for a brew.

Then between 9.10 and 11.45am I had another 5 tench with the pick being two 8lbers.

The maggot situation was looking bleak I had used up more than I normally do.

So I decided to go and get some more. I called in the see Miles and David in the office to share my news. Two tench for over 19lbs in a little over 90 minutes plus others, they were very pleased.

I normally go to Faringdon to get maggots, however David said that they were closing down and moving to Ireland so he phoned them to see what the situation was…..they stopped selling maggots yesterday.

Swindon and Cotswold Angling here I come, it’s not too bad as I can call in and get pie and chips for lunch on my return.

While I was in the car driving I had been thinking of changing the end rig a little to something I had in my mind. It wasn’t mind blowing but just might give me an advantage. Although what’s wrong with the rigs I was using….not a lot. But I like to try something new out.

I fish a little 8 acre gravel pit with many fish around the 5lb mark and often use this as a testing site.

So I recast the rods and sat back and enjoyed pie and chips. Steve didn’t want any but by the look of what he was cooking I’m not surprised. He had a gourmet kitchen on the go.

After finishing lunch it was time to tie up one of the new rig and fitting it on one rod only. Within a few minutes the rod was away and I landed a good female tench of 6lbs 13oz.

I put out more hemp and dead maggots.

The wind speed had increased and it was quite rough on the lake. Casting was difficult resulting in a big bow in the line, which I think was making me drop short a few times.

Then at 2.45 pm I had a take on the changed rig rod and landed a tench of 7lbs 11oz followed by another at 3.10pm which was a 5lber, so I quickly tied another rig and changed the other rod to this one.

Things went quite for a while and at 7.45pm I missed a really good bite.

Then out of the blue I had a funny take where the line is pulled tight, the culprit being a perch of about 4oz. Even though it was a pretty little fish I didn’t bother Steve for a photo.

I cast out again at 10.30pm for the night. I had just a couple of short lifts on the swingers during the night before getting up at 3.40am to start the whole process again.