I fished here in early 2013, April I think & it was hard going, the fish were either spawning or not really woken up from their winter slumber. We had a few but no fish of any size or in the good quanities Id come to expect from this lovely day ticket fishery in the summer months.
So today is a gamble of sorts... is it too early.... Is the water temp warmed up enough for this time of year....
Anyway, let's go fishing & find out I said to myself the nite before as I readied my tackle.
Upon arrival the lake with my fishing pal @dangriff75, it's looking good at first glance, the water is warmer than normal for mid March & water clarity is low (the norm is a cloudy tinge)... all very fishy with a nice ripple on the water & an overcast sky.
Tactics were as my previous Marsh Farm blog, very tippy & soft 1.5tc rods & my small Okuma Baitrunners loaded with 6lb mainline, small method feeders, four or five inches of 4lb fluorocarbon hooklink, strong 16 hook with worm or sweetcorn my hookbait of choice.
The first three hours were spent building the swim & hoping for that première of the baitrunner clicking away.
With only a couple of liners by midday It was defo time to rethink our ideas, maggot feeders & helicopter rigs are always a good backup in my book for early spring.
So with rods recast we waited & waited & waited...
Nothing, this is becoming a bit of shocker.
With thoughts of just a bite of any kind we moved over from Harris lake to Richardsons, a supposed higher stocking of fish.
Dan had a twitchy slow bite within 20mins that resulted in a nice (if a little lazy) bream of around 3lb
In the mean time I was blanking spectacularly without a proper bite all day really.
I remarked to Dan jokingly "maybe I should cheer myself by buying something from the (brilliant by the way) onsite tackle shop"
Time ticked on to 2-30pm & Dan added a couple more smaller skimmers about a pound-ish & I made the decision to make up a float rod & find my inner boy by float fishing Crabtree style on the kiddies lake, Hill pond, just a bite or two would be nice !
I would always prefer this style but without a margin pole it's just to hard to keep the float in the swim without it getting blown all over the place thus presentation being hampered.
With the wind picking up becoming very blustery this was the only place that seemed to escape this crazy wind, Having said that I could only fish very tight to the margins without affecting presentation.
Armed with my 15ft Maver float rod & small pole float, I plumbed up less that a foot from a marginal bush & put a small handful of groundbait, maggots & sweetcorn.
My hooked maggots were gobbled up within 10 seconds of the sensitive float hitting the water by a chunky & very welcome 4oz Rudd. Get the champers out I've avoided the dredded blank Wooooo !
The next 30mins I proceeded to catch many nice Rudd & a few fat Gudgeon that brought back so many great childhood memories down on the river.
Ok so far it's not very exciting but when your blanking for most of the day it was extremely good fun on light match gear.
A few nice perch to just under a pound came next & i lost a beautifully coloured fin perfect Rudd of about a pound at the net, dam it !
I thought to myself there are some quality fish in this tiny pond, I've never bothered fishing here before but I'm sure that will change in my mind from now on.
The Rudd disappeared as I slowly topped up the bait in the swim & then zero bites in a few casts, maybe my fun has finished now.
This is where I thought this blog would end but what happened next was a bit unexpected.
With a worm hooked up I gave that a try & bang..... This is no Rudd or gudgeon, it steamed of out into the centre of the lake on very light gear, I played it gently & I few minutes later I had a wee tench in the net, at around 1lb 4oz, im enjoying this day so much more than this morning.
Three more tench followed in quick succession, perhaps a touch bigger than the previous one, these better fish have pushed out the slivers.
Dan followed me over with float rod in hand after seeing my rod bending, he jumped into the adjacent swim & straight away proceeded to catch a few Rudd & perch, along with a nice tench, in the picture below. With the light fading fast the place is fizzing with feeding fish.
Next fish for me with a tiny dip on the float was a lovely Crucian, about 1lb 4oz & I'm contemplating what size do they go to in here ?
Another few Tench & Cru's graced my net & I didn't want to leave this place, it's on fire. Both of us had about 25 last casts & with the last two, I had my two best Cru's of the day.
Worm on the hook, sensitive pole float, good presentation & strike at any small movements on the float was the order of the day. I really left it late to save my blank blushes, but the best fish came from such a unlikely place, I very nearly didn't bother seting up the float rod earlier, only to trudge back to the car with a sulk on.
It just shows you, don't give up & always keep positive, if your not catching, change things.
A different bait, rig, depth or tactic can sometimes change things dramatically, you need to seek out the fish rather than waiting for the fish to come to you.
So finally I ended up with five or six tench from 1lb to just under 2lb & seven crucians to 1lb 7oz.
Dans final stats were three bream to 3lb & four Tench to 1lb 5oz.
By the way.... I think dan needs to lay off the sherbets, every pic he takes of me is blurred #theshakes
All in all a strange but very fun days fishing & it shows you always learn new things. Dan & I have decided to join Godalming angling, mainly to night fish this place for the really big girls here. So once we get the mug shots & send in the forms, I'll be fishing a few new venues & of course I'll be writing up what we catch or maybe what we don't catch 😜
Until then right lines & wet nets people, I'm already counting down the days till the glorious 16th
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