Well its been a while since I wrote my first piece to say the least. Work has being even more hectic than usual, myself and Mrs have moved house and have our first child on the way. All this means time to get out on the bank has been almost nonexistent the past few months.

Since we’ve moved house iv managed just three nights in total on the bank. One night on the syndicate and 2 quick overnighters between work on Snake Pit. The night over the syndicate was more of a social which ended up with just 1 mid double mirror on the bank . While the 2 quick work overnighters on Snake produced a solitary tench. So that’s the past few month pretty summed up in a few simple line.

Which brings me up to the start of August, I have finally managed to get to a point where I can now start grabbing a few hours most evenings and at least 1 full day at the weekend. This is something that the Mrs fully supports as we know once little one is here there will be no fishing for a while. As such I have decided not to pursue the big common in Snake Pit for the foreseeable future.  I just don’t have the time that a place such as snake pit requires. Also its nice just to get on the bank, get a bend in the rods and bag a few from a different local water.

First session out was a short 2 hour session in which I bagged 4 fish only up to mid doubles but its nice to be back out there and catching a few. Again the second session lasted a little over 2 hours and saw me bag 3 fish topped by a 20lb 7oz common

the last take of that second session turned out to be every carp anglers nightmare….the dreaded bream, but at 10lb 12oz, a new PB,I wasn’t complaining to much about the slimy net afterwards.

The last session out was last night (Friday 8th August), with the kit all ready to go for when the Mrs. got home from work I was bank side by 6pm. With the kit on the barrow I was expecting a bit of a walk round the pit tonight as I’m sure my exploits (and that of Wayne, a very good friend of mine) hadn’t gone unnoticed. My suspicions were confirmed once I walked round into the bay that had been producing the fish. I found 3 different anglers fishing the bay with 1 in particular fishing the very swim that I had been fishing only 24 hours before.

Oh well not be to disheartened as it was bound to happen, I carried on pushing round the pit a bit further to fish one of the other bays. Now in the particular part of the lake is an area called ‘The Point’ which has 4 swims. This is very much a social area and with the first 3 swims being occupied, I stopped in the last remaining swim. This swim looks out to open water with a sizeable bay to the left, a few fish were rolling along with the odd bubbler. I decided this swim would do nicely. Rigs, as usual, were to consist of 25lb Thinking Anglers Tungskin, curve shank hooks fished blow back style with 3oz Lead Shed dumpy distance lead, fished on lead clips with Lead Shed ‘Pin It’ tungsten tubing completing the set up. Bait was to be Sticky Baits Krill Dumbbells on the hair with tiny little sticks of Krill Stick Mix

With both rods cast out on to showing fish a take was surely imminent, following the previous session patterns where id had a fish on the bank inside 10 minutes. Tonight, however, the fish were not quite reading the script and I had to wait almost a full hour for the first rod to rattle off. A nice steady, reasonably heavy fight produced my first mirror from the lake this year (mirrors are a rare thing in this lake, it’s known for and dominated by commons). At 23lb 1oz I was over the moon with it…honestly

No sooner had that been released back into the lake then the remaining rod ripped off which after a lively scrap produced an upper double common.

Now with both rods out of action, the common released. Both rigs were changed, re-baited and cast back out to the general area they had been before. With the rods back out Wayne arrived just as the kettle boiled. After an hour with a few fish still showing in the bay to the left and a good old chin wag with Wayne the left hand rod ripped off again, this time with a little small common on the end which was soon in the net. Once the common was dealt with that rod got popped onto the quiver and the remaining rod was taken off the rests, laid on the deck with a small stone placed on top of the spool while I packed away. The remaining rod was reeled in and the walk back to the car park was a sweet one as yet again, a short session had come up wonders. Proving that you don’t always need to be on the bank for days at a time to bag a few fish, and you don’t need to carry a shed load of gear for just a few hours fishing either. That’s me signing off as I’m off down the pit for the day tomorrow in the hope of bagging a few more which will be part of my next piece.