dorsetandchub
Well-known member
One of my favourite lines from the last series of Blackadder, delivered by the esteemed Captain, was "The plan, Baldrick, had one small flaw, it was bolloc...."
Starting my day with a steely determination and a foolproof plan, what could possibly go wrong?
A while back, whilst at my favourite Revels Fishery, I began to think the best chance of nailing a big perch was the old lake with prawns for bait. The other lakes do (or, rather, have) contain big perch but none have come out in an age whereas the old lake was a bit of an unknown quantity. I thought it might be worth a go.
After liberally dousing myself in Riemann P20, I arrived with a minimum of tackle - a Greys Specimen 11ft, Browning Ultimatch 50 with 8lb main, a Drennan 3BB straight waggler to a size 10 to 6lb trace.
Setting myself up on my chosen peg, I had a big patch of lillies in front of me and cast well past bringing the prawn back to the edge.
The weather being roasting hot, it began to feel like the fish were as weather weary as I was fast becoming. Even with a baseball cap, I felt like I were being slowly cooked and wasn't sure I'd have hit any bites had they occurred. Still, a six pack of Diet Coke and a flask of tea were ready to try and help.
The bird life also seemed to be resting today with much singing but little flying. Even though I felt like throwing myself in the lake, there was the usual collection of crazy microlight fliers. In this weather? They want to get even closer to the sun?
It was as I was thinking about Daedalus that the waggler walloped under and I felt instantly it wasn't the perch I hoped for but an equally welcome tench, around two and a half pounds of it.
The liquid supply kept me going through a series of carp, around eight of them between 2 and circa 7lbs, punctuated by another tench, around a pound lighter than the first.
After a five hour session, I began to think about calling it a day when one last bite resulted in a most unusual fight and, after several minutes, a nice bream around the 3lb mark was netted.
That was enough for today. I was beginning to feel like Alec Guinness in Bridge on the River Kwai.
I almost felt today to be a little of a moral victory as I didn't take any cubed meat which is definitely King here. Anyway, tomorrow's another day and, hopefully, one that won't leave me feeling microwaved.
Starting my day with a steely determination and a foolproof plan, what could possibly go wrong?
A while back, whilst at my favourite Revels Fishery, I began to think the best chance of nailing a big perch was the old lake with prawns for bait. The other lakes do (or, rather, have) contain big perch but none have come out in an age whereas the old lake was a bit of an unknown quantity. I thought it might be worth a go.
After liberally dousing myself in Riemann P20, I arrived with a minimum of tackle - a Greys Specimen 11ft, Browning Ultimatch 50 with 8lb main, a Drennan 3BB straight waggler to a size 10 to 6lb trace.
Setting myself up on my chosen peg, I had a big patch of lillies in front of me and cast well past bringing the prawn back to the edge.
The weather being roasting hot, it began to feel like the fish were as weather weary as I was fast becoming. Even with a baseball cap, I felt like I were being slowly cooked and wasn't sure I'd have hit any bites had they occurred. Still, a six pack of Diet Coke and a flask of tea were ready to try and help.
The bird life also seemed to be resting today with much singing but little flying. Even though I felt like throwing myself in the lake, there was the usual collection of crazy microlight fliers. In this weather? They want to get even closer to the sun?
It was as I was thinking about Daedalus that the waggler walloped under and I felt instantly it wasn't the perch I hoped for but an equally welcome tench, around two and a half pounds of it.
The liquid supply kept me going through a series of carp, around eight of them between 2 and circa 7lbs, punctuated by another tench, around a pound lighter than the first.
After a five hour session, I began to think about calling it a day when one last bite resulted in a most unusual fight and, after several minutes, a nice bream around the 3lb mark was netted.
That was enough for today. I was beginning to feel like Alec Guinness in Bridge on the River Kwai.
I almost felt today to be a little of a moral victory as I didn't take any cubed meat which is definitely King here. Anyway, tomorrow's another day and, hopefully, one that won't leave me feeling microwaved.
