The cornish quest: vol 1

[Teo]

Finding the opportunity to do a nighter we took to our club waters, pondering about which lake to go to, one lake stood out above the others with no opportunity to prebait and only 18hrs we chose it was the wheal rashleigh. Following our last nighter on a hard lake, around 20 acres with a low stock and depths to 70ft, we decided to go to one of the clubs 'easier' lakes. with fish to 25lb+ and a slightly bigger stock and a slightly smaller lake, we took to the lake with a van full of gear and on arrival it was clear which spot to fish, a double swim with fish leaping around it- the only downside was the trek- we did not have the barrow. We foolishly thought we would be at a 'car park swim'. What a mistake. After 4 trips between us we managed to trapse our gear up the path and down the steps to the swim. I would be fishing on the right hand side, fishing my two rods to the far margin. After casting a PVA bag of 2mm pellets out on one rod and a sringer of 20mm boilies on the other rod I commenced with setting up my brolly.

 

Once the brolly was setup and my gear was organised, I took to the chair and decided to watch for any signs of activity, annoyingly the only activity that could be seen was a carp repetitively mocking us by jumping out of the water at an unfishable area every ten minutes. Leaving the rods out for an hour it was clear that I was not using the right tactics, winding in both I took a gamble, putting both of my rods on a red dynamite baits wafter with 30-40 boilies pulted loosely around the spot. Another hour passed as biting time drew nearer, I slackened my line off on my rods as I had been fishing tight lines; there was an almost instant postitive reaction as my bobbin dropped and came back up, I instantly struck, but the fish had run into the middle of the lake and lost the hook. I had, almost instantly another repeat of this and as light drew to a close I  put out quarter of a kilo spread around my bait. sleeping through the night without a run (but loads of single beeps apparently- I was fast asleep) I was woken up at first light to a run, reeling this in it was clear it was not big but it was a fighter, struggling to keep this away from my other rod I managed to get it within a few foot of the bank only to have the hook pull. The landing net was to stay dry for the moment. Recasting and baiting with 10 freebies I dosed off for an hour, only to be waken up to a ferocious run, dragging the rig along the lake , as i started beggining the fight it was clear that it was bigger than the last, not too big but still a fighter. 

 

Reaching the net under the fish it was clear that this was a beautiful carp, a lovely dark mirror, a long and pristine fish was put onto the mat and transferred to the sling to reach a 13lb 14oz. Not a huge fish but a fighter and a good looking natural carp. 

 

It was clear that biting time was over in the morning as we started our tedious trips back to the car, sitting there with just a net, a mat, a sling, scales and the rods out, I wound in my first rod to find a stick snagged on it- no wonder that bite alarm had no action. As i put that rod back in the bag, my other rod screamed off at a rate of knots, taking the lead miles away from the peg, I struck- it felt unusual, like nothing I have ever had before, I thought that it was just a small carp with loads of energy - Or the dreaded bream- but it felt better then a bream. Popping it into the net, it was my first ever tench, coming out at 5lb on the dot.

 

Well I was the only one to have any action, and I landed two of the three fish so it was a succesfull session and with one of the best looking fish I have caught so far.

It was time to go as we said our goodbyes to the lake and drove home to breakfast and warm shower as we discussed about our next session...