Diary of an average angler

A mild episode of shingles delayed my return to the water, this being my first outing for three weeks. After a couple of challenging trips to the 20ft drain, and general malaise because of the shingles, I decided on an 'easy' session on the side ponds at the Clay Pit. I usually mange a few fish on this venue and being able to park almost next to the swim was a bonus, given my post-viral state! I was fortunate to get the spot I usually fish although there were a few people on the main lake.

I started off with sweetcorn, fishing the nearside margin to my right. I had groundbaited the margin, as well as groundbaiting the far corner, which I sometimes refer to as the bay. Most of my previous fish have come from the 'bay', but on my last visit in June I caught a couple of tench in the margin.

On this occasion there was nothing doing in the margin so I reverted to the bay. After a few missed bites, including one where I felt what seemed like a decent fish, I eventually hooked a good fish. After a short but spirited fight a beautifully conditioned tench came to the net. At 4lb it was a good start to the session. Soon after I hooked into another fish, almost certainly a tench, but it shed the hook after less than a minute.

I tried bread flake for a while but it produced only finicky bites that I couldn't hit. I suspected small rudd or, perhaps, crucians, which a re notoriously delicate biters.

I next changed to a small cube of spam. I didn't have to wait long before I was into another good fish. This time it fought even harder and far longer than the first one. After a few scares as it tried to reach the far reed bank, and similarly the nearside reeds, another fine tench was in the net. At 4¼ lbs it was only slightly heavier than the first fish but it fought much harder and longer. Again it was in fine condition.

Having changed to bread again I hooked another good fish but it came off almost immediately as I tried to stop it reaching the far reeds. However, when I retrieved there was a small scale on the hook. So it had been a foul hooking. I'm unsure what the scale was from but assume it was a tench, given the power of the fish. A carp scale would have been much larger.

A brief period with a boillie on the hook produced no action at all. I'm not a great fan of boillies or other 'modern' baits, so I didn't mind too much that nothing 'took the bait'.

With the bay having gone quiet I tried down the side of the reeds to my right with spam. It proved to be a good decision as after a short while a good bite resulted in a powerful fish that I soon judged not to be a tench. And I was correct since it soon became apparent that it was a small carp. It fought like mad after a powerful initial run and although at 4½ lbs it was not much bigger that the previous tench, it fought harder and much longer. A slender muscly carp.

Back on corn I went back to the 'bay' having rested it for a while. I didn't have to wait long before hooking into another powerful fish that on this occasion made for the far reeds and I was unable to stop it. Unfortunately it had transferred me to the reeds and hand lining retrieved the float but not the hook.

That was to be my last fish as a few subsequent, less than positive bites produced nothing. But it was a great session that restored some confidence after a number of challenging outings recently. No doubt I will be brought back down to earth the next time I'm out on a river!