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Well, I had just managed to get my gear dry and put away from Wednesday night's session when I got a text from a mate asking if I fancied a social as the sun was out. After obtaining permission from the relevant authorities (a.k.a the wife) I swung by the off license after finishing work for a couple of cold cans and made the short journey to the lake. On arrival, it was busy with another 6 anglers on plus the two of us. This is a fairly small (and sometimes tricky) lake so we didn't have too many options in terms of swims but after a little look about, we both decided to fish behind one of the islands directly across from the lazy pegs where a couple of regulars were bivvied up already. The swims we had chosen are rarely fished as they are a bit of a jungle and getting a barrow round there, especially with all the rain we have had recently is a bit of a nightmare. Nevertheless, we made our way around and I sat and watched the water for a few minutes to come up with a plan. Before I had readied a rod, the two anglers across from us, came out from their bivvies in tandem and proceeded to absolutely fill it in. Scoop after scoop of pellet went in and I stopped counting after 40 scoops. Fortunately for us, there was a large bed of lily pads between us and them so with the hope that the commotion may push the fish away from them, I quickly got a rod ready with a single Scopex and Peach popup and with an underarm flick, dropped it tight to my side of the lilies. With one rod out, I set up camp and doused on the jungle formula as the mozzies were out in force before readying the other rod with another multi rig and Scopex and Peach. For this rod, I decided to have a feel around with the lead tight to my own margin, a few feet off to the right of my swim. After finding a nice glassy spot with a fairly soft donk of the lead, I 'Pacman' baited a row of chops and chickpeas below my feet and for a few meters further down the bank to my right where a channel between the bank and the island narrows right down to around 6ft wide before it opens out into the main body of the lake. A perfect ambush point, I thought. I had just set the trap on the second rod when the first rod ripped off and after coaxing the fish away from the pads, it came to the net with very little fuss. As I looked down into the mesh, I saw a recognisable stockie. In fact, it was the same fish that I caught a couple of weeks ago (you can see the picture in the first post of this thread). It must really have a liking to those little pop ups and who could blame it? I unhooked it in the net and let it go quickly before cracking a nice cold beer and getting some food on the go. It was a muggy night and I didn't sleep well but managed to finally zonk out at around 3am before being rudely awoken at just after 5am by a one toner on the margin rod, I leaped from the bedchair struggling to get my boots on and rather than wasting time unzipping the mozzie mesh on my Lo Pro, I went straight through it, pulling it off the brolly in the process. The rod was bent double and by the time I was on it, it had already cleaned out my other rod. Fighting to open my eyes, the fish went wild and put up one hell of a scrap, flat rodding me a couple of times before I eventually managed to net it. Once on the mat, I realised this was another fish that I recognised having caught it off the top a couple of years previous. When I had it last time, it had some serious tail damage but it seems to have recovered quite well. So, with a visit to the scales which read 17lb and a quick photo, I slipped it back leaving just enough time for a brew before I had to hit the road.

Youll have loads of fun with it mate I found this guys videos very helpful when working out what is what and he also does a few vids on the new drone regulations and breaks them down. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6h2_HfTP6g

Hours of fun and bitten fingernails ahead. Have fun. Could I suggest you take a look at Litchi software. It allows you to pre-program a route and take photos exactly where you want to. (although I have not kept up with DJI developments) It could be useful for your roofing excersise where you do not want to miss a shot. One other hopefully helpful suggestion - take a spotter with you especially early days. There's so much info coming at you it is easy to lose track of the drone.

Finally got the confidence to buy it. Just need to learn how to use it now🤔

I do think summertime many day ticket or even smaller club venues can be busy all the time. I have gone to fish a club venue, the park lake, Suffolk Water Park and Hintlesham midweek and found no available swims! Compare that to my syndicate, where the most I have ever seen is 10 anglers on 45acres.

After weeks of incessant rain, there came a break in the weather and with little time to waste before the banks became busy for the bank holiday weekend, I set out once again for quick overnight trip. The session began in the usual manner, with me walking the lake for a couple of hours trying to find some fish and lightly baiting a few marginal spots. There was only one other angler on the lake so I had plenty of options in terms of swims and after chatting with him briefly, he told me that fish had been crashing in a side channel. I know that channel is 2ft deep in most places and covered with blanket weed so decided to leave them to it. After a good few hours walking and not a lot to go on, I decided to set up in a swim called 'Pads' which has plenty of water to go at and would allow me to set some traps in case the fish left the channel during the night. The left hand rod went out 14 wraps fairly tight to the far margin and just off where the channel joins the main body of the lake. The right hander went 8 wraps out and to my right where a large bed of lily pads was beginning to bloom. Both rods were baited with my favoured 11mm Scopex and Peach Proper Jobs on multi rigs and only the right hand rod had any loose feed in the shape of a dozen 15 and 18 millers spread over the top with the catty. Just on dusk, the left hand rod pulled up tight before dropping back a little, when it pulled up tight again and the line pinged out of the clip, I looked out to the spot where I saw a big swirl erupt and a set of rings began pulsating across the flat surface. I picked up the rod and wound down and upon making contact with the fish, it came round on an arc towards my right hand rod and the pads. Fortunately, I managed to steer it away from the other rod after a bit of 'knit one perl one' with the rods and after a good scrap, the fish began to tire. I managed to net it at the second attempt after it had one last burst, swimming over the net cord at my first attempt. Looking down into the net, I was convinced it was a 20 although the scales do not lie (well, not mine anyway ;)) and it went 19lb 4oz. Needless to say, I went to bed very happy with a big, full moon on display right out in front of the brolly. The rest of the night passed uneventfully and unfortunately, I had to be home for work but packing up on a glorious sunny morning was made a little sweeter by having not blanked. It's just a shame that I had to be at work for 9am as this lake fishes really well from 8am-10am and I had just had a couple of liners on the right hander when time finally ran out. Ah well, theres always next week.