The Hunt for Eels – Part 3

I had three runs and missed a couple again striking into thin air. The third produced a long slim fish that was yellow green in colour and went 4 lb 2 oz. Like the previous yellow green coloured fish it looked older than the silver/greys and had a few battle scars.

Wol who was fishing a hundred yards closer to the car park than me in a superb looking swim blanked not even getting a sniff in a swim that looked utterly superb and screamed eels.

The next night was to see a series of disasters and a major result.

We both fished a large swim where the bank formed a pier that stuck out into the lake. The swim commanded a lot of water and the obligatory flip of a coin saw me fish on the right and Wol on the left. I plumbed my half and commented to Wol that there was one very obvious spot.

At 3.30am I had a very gentle bite off this spot and hit into a big fish. The scrap was superb and eventually Wol netted a big silver/grey for me. We had both assumed when she went in the net that the fish would go 6lb+ but she turned out to be lighter than she looked. She was a beautiful looking fish as all the silver/greys have been and weighed 5 lb 12 oz setting a new p.b.

!

Before and after the bite I had had a series of disasters. Wol’s diary entry reads:

“Tonight we headed for a swim big enough for the two of us although four rods each might be a push. Its up the endurance side of the lake and after huffin an puffin we arrived at the swim entrance and decided to drop the gear down and just have a wander about and check out some other swims before making it a deffo on that one. A quick wander round an a few head scratching moments we agree on both going in the swim Andy fishing to the right and me to the left.

With that I gather my rod bag, chair, sleeping bag and small carryall and make my way through small gap that leads through to the swim pushing large stingers, balsam and brambles to one side as I squeeze through. Gear in swim Andy then comes trundling through with gear mounted on trolley and four broken down rods on top. CRACK, now that doesn’t sound to good to me from where I’m standing in swim. Andy comes to a sudden halt and in no time he’s realised that somehow his beloved number 4 rod has snapped about 2 feet from the tip. The air was blue, and to say he was pissed off would be an understatement. Anyhow at least there was going to be more room in the swim for my rods !

It turned out to be a windy old night and the indicators constantly bleeping, with the light bobbins on it did make it a tad difficult. However at some ungodly hour Andy managed to nail a belting fish of 5 lb 12 oz to set a new PB whilst I only managed a very small Tench.

Most of the night it had been raining and typically as I looked at my watch at 4.30 with the thought of packing away it decided to get heavier. I decided that I would pack away bed chair and sleeping bag and take them to the car along with the bucket of maggots, as I wouldn’t fancy trying to haul my kit back in one trip in the almost torrential rain.

With waterproofs donned I said to Andy that I was going to take a bit of kit back to the car and got some sort of grunt from a curled up mass inside a sleeping bag, probably still raging about his rod I remember thinking.

Getting back from the trip to the car I give Andy another shout and tell him we’d best photograph his fish and pack up as its already 5.30 am and time is of the essence. The Dog’s soon out looking for his waterproofs. F***, B*****ks, F*** hell, the air once again turns blue as I soon guess that he’s left his waterproofs indoors. At this point I quietly and slowly (I’m not in no great rush unlike Andy) pack my gear away, whilst all nice and dry in my waterproofs.

After coming to terms with the fact that he’s going to get wet Andy decides to do the rods first and keep the brolly up whilst packing away in an attempt to keep him and gear as dry as possible. First rod to come in and he manages to get the rig completely tangled around one of the other rods that’s still out, rain getting heavier and buzzers bleeping like made he spends a minute or so undoing the mess cursing every few seconds whilst wiping the rain from his glasses.

With this done its then in with second rod (only 3 rods tonight as 4th is now in three pieces rather than 2) and would you believe it this also wraps itself around last rod left out.

At this stage, with tantrum in full swing and the rod being thrashed about I turned away and almost pissed myself laughing. I turned round after composing myself to see Andy swearing at tangled rods, gear everywhere getting soaked, bank sticks all over the place, at which point I think the steam really erupted from the kettle and he started biting through all the lines and rigs. With that I had to leave the swim and walk down the bank and burst into fits of laughter.

After managing to throw all the gear into a heap on the trolley only one thing left to do and that was take a few pics of the big eel. Andy had just bought a new wide-angle lens for the camera and was pleased as punch with the results so far on it. Anyhow, on getting the camera out it was once again “blue valley” as he realised he had left it at home. Hamlet cigar tune would have been a great play if I had had it on my mobile.

Camera out he takes off his glasses and adjusts some settings on his camera. Once done he then goes to pick up his glasses only to find he can’t find them. Bankside rage in full swing now and we’re both on our knees desperately looking for these glasses. After lots of shouting and cursing from Andy whilst I’m laughing me socks off we manage to find them amongst the undergrowth. Although a blank for me a superbly entertaining session.

The following night Wol couldn’t fish and the one angler fishing the lake was in the swim we had fished the night before. I returned to the swim further along the same bank that had produced me a 4lb 2oz fish less than a week earlier. I managed just one bite just before dawn and landed another yellow green fish that was longer than my 5 lb 12 oz but much smaller in the girth and weighed in at 4 lb 14 oz.

My next visit, I fished the swim where I had had the 5 lb 12 oz and Wol fished fairly close to the end of the lake nearest to he car park again. Wol had a stormer of a night taking a small fish of around 2 lb 8 oz plus more fish of 4 lb 4oz, 4 lb 6 oz and 5 lb 0 oz whilst I managed a solitary fish just before dawn at 4 lb 10 oz. Mine was a long yellow green fish Wol’s were all silver greys.

The next night we both fished the car park end but in different swims. I blanked without any indication and Wol had one bite that resulted in an eel of about 1 lb.

The day of the next visit, Wol visited the lake mid-afternoon and it was covered in blue green algae. He decided not to fish but I went to the water in the evening on the off chance and arrived to find that a breeze had picked up and had blown all of the algae down to the car park end. I fished a new swim and had a series of twitches on my left hand rod soon after putting it in just after dusk. Nothing came of these and it was on a distance rod fished in 4′ of water at the bottom of a bar that I finally got a run at 4 am. This was another chunky silver/grey, which went 4 lb 11 oz.

Wol was now off on hols and I managed to get in a couple of nights while he was away, fishing the swim that had produced my PB though blanking both times. The third night I returned to the other side of the lake and the swim that had produced two fives to me in a week a month earlier and also had seen me lose a very big fish.

From early on I had been experimenting with deadbaits with no success and had tried a live bait on the previous visit. This session I had a screaming run on a tiny perch live bait run soon after dark and landed another beautiful silver/grey fishing in 5′ of water next to some overhanging bushes. She went 4 lb 5 oz and was my 7th consecutive eel over 4lb, the fish having come from four different swims.

I persisted with livebaits and deadbaits in the hope of picking up an outsized fish but had no further runs on them over the next two weeks with all of my fish coming to lobworms. The average size fell with the largest fish being 3lb 15 oz and the smallest my only eel under three pounds at 1lb 15 oz. Warren persisted with lobworms on all rods with Kevlar traces and continued to catch at the same rate but had a couple of fours.

John popped down for a single night and timed it perfectly with the three of us taking 2 fish each from swims all over the lake. John was fishing the swim that had produced my PB and took a superb fish of 5 lb 4 oz. The seventh different eel over 5lb from the lake in 8 weeks.

The nights were now drawing in it is time to move on. We’ve had a great time fishing for the eels over the last two months and will certainly be spending time after big eels every season from now on. Eels are fascinating creatures that fight incredibly well and have a presence that is different to any other coarse fish.