It was the Sunday before Halloween and my children were up early, as usual, begging me to carve the pumpkin for the next day. By 11am all my chores were done and I was free to fish. I'd been to the tackle shop the day before to pick up some bait and had heard that the 'Figure of Eight '.was fishing well at the moment. I had spent a lot of time there during the summer months and I fancied giving it a go on a beautiful and extraordinarily mild Autumn day.
Scots Lane New Pond is known locally as the 'Figure of Eight' due to its shape. Essentially it is two ponds joined by a canal like channel. Throughout the summer I had tried the back pond and the channel and had settled on a favourite peg about half way along the channel that had been productive on almost every occasion I'd fished.
There were a few other anglers around but luckily my spot was unoccupied. Setting up with my favourite fibreglass rod- a Bacchus and Rhone Matchman's Peg- a vintage Mitchell 300A, 3lb reel line straight through to a size 20 hook under a handmade antenna float, I begin to fish a few yards out in the margins to my right. The fish here can be very finicky so it always pays to keep changing the colour of the maggot until you find the one that works. In the summer it was red ones. Today it turned out to be whites.
I started to loose feed another spot about two rod lengths out in front of me where the water is fractionally deeper and tried a couple of casts. The first bite was very fast and predictablly I had a cup of tea in hand so missed it, At least the fish were interested..
Settling down with no distractions I hooked a small roach on the next cast. More loose feed another cast, another roach. By now I'm feeling very content and relaxed. It's a beautiful afternoon and I'm catching some lovely Autumnal roach
I hit the next bite and the fish takes off like a train. First to the right 10 yards or so then all the way back to the left before it begins to slow down and I gradually steer it to the net. I hadn't really expected to catch carp today but in the net is a lovely almost scale-less mirror that stretches the spring balance to three and a quarter pounds.
Even after the disturbance caused by the carp I'm still getting bites almost very cast and a few more roach are follwed by a tiny perch of abouth 3" in length. The next bite I hook an acrobatic bream that leaps out of the water almost immediately after I strike. It's the biggest bream I've ever caught at one and a half pounds. Not big by current standards but I've never really fished waters that held many so I'm chuffed to have added another personal best for the season.
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| An acrobatic bream. |
I finish the afternoon with a lovely common carp of two and a half pounds which puts up the most dogged fight of the day.
