After a few weeks of no overnighters, I have finally re-obtained my club ticket to a lake just north from me. This lake holds some real characters, dark and old fish which is exactly what I am after. I had booked onto the lake to fish for a night on Friday after work and it made sense seeing as I finish at 3 o’clock. I left work and made a beeline to Tesco to get myself some food for the night and arrived at the lake at around 4:00, only just managing to bypass all the traffic.

I had a wonder round and spoke to the very few anglers which were fishing to which they had nothing to show during the afternoon. I had a walk around the far side and had a quick look to see if there were any signs of fish in the far margins.

I flicked two rods out whilst I set up the brolly and got everything sorted for the night and trickled out some boilies to a small area half way across the lake at about 20 yards.

On each rod I had gone for the same hookbaits but different rigs and baiting strategy. On the right rod was a short hinged stiff rig with a white fluoro popup and the left rod was a short chod rig again with a fluoro white pop-up but the chod was around 2.5inches long to stand proud of any blanket weed. The right rod was flicked onto a small patch of silt which was about 4ft square roughly so it was the perfect place to present a hinged rig. It became evident it was a patch of light silt as the lead went down with a firm thud and didn’t plug in very far so I was more than confident presenting this arrangement. This was then followed by a tight area of 50 boilies around the hookbait.

The left rod was flicked onto a light patch of weed for the night, on this rod I had a 2.5oz lead for better hooking efficiency, but I lengthened the distance between the bottom bead of the chod rig to the lead to make sure the lead wasn’t dragging everything into the weed, when I flicked this rod out it was quite a soft drop so it came apparent that it was landing on light weed and I was right as I reeled in to check the weed there was a bit around the lead but none masking the hook in any way. On this rod I spread the bait out over a wide area to see if I could get the fish feeding and possibly draw in any others so I can get another quick bite which will come apparent very soon.

The afternoon drew on and no fish as of yet but I was still confident that something would happen sooner or later, the bait was on point and the rigs were presented perfectly something had to happen! The evening drew round and after the really hot weather finally turning the evening mild; the rain came in and really cooled everything down meaning the conditions were near on perfect.

Finally, twelve o’clock I was away with the fairies when the right hander took off! Bolting out my bivvy with no shoes on, I hooked into a very weighty resistance on the other end, once I had managed to steer the fish away from marginal reeds and snags, it was in front of me twisting and turning on the surface, just as I placed the net in the water, the fish quickly surged off in a last bid of freedom and just that had happened. The hook popped out, GUTTED!

I brought the rig in and recast to clip up to the spot and then changed the hookbait and check the hook situation. The hook had gone blunt and the point had rolled which had knackered the hook. I brought out my hook sharpening gear and sharpened the hook even more, a little bit of the JAG solution in silt brown on the hookpoint and a fresh hookbait which was thread onto the Rig Marole bait screw and the rig was back in position. I then went about topping up the area with a further 50 boilies over that rod and everything was set once again.

I sat back in despair but then again still feeling confident and enlightened that I had things spot on. I lit the stove up and sat contemplating for half an hour with a cup of tea in hand to see what I could do. I went through strategically in my head where the rigs are sat, rough estimate on how much bait I had put out and what activity I had and then settled back down confident that both rigs were in there prime to tackle any mooching fish. I was soon awoken with a fish rolling over my left hand spot looking like a decent fish so I then closed my eyes and dropped back off into the land of nod.

Soon after at 3 o’clock, I had a positive indication on the left hander this time. Fishing locked up as I was fishing in weed, the stow hit the rod blank quicker than I had ever seen, as I ran down the rod tip had buckled over and line slowly clicking from the spool even on a tight clutch, I was in! As I have caught a few low twenties before, they have all been slow fights whereby the fish was just plodding from left to right and making the odd slow powerful surge I was confident I had a good fish. As the fish made a last minute dive into the rushes in the margins, she was soon languishing on the surface to which slid the net under her and she was mine, a sigh of relief was passed and the fish left in the margins to grab its breath back whilst I set the camera up and zeroed the scales.

I lifted the fish out and instantly I knew it was a good fish by its thick set frame and deep body. As I placed her in the cradle which she more or less filled, I recognised the fish from recent pics she was a fish known as “Pecs”. Hoisted onto the scales and she spun the needle round to 26lb 4oz!! Up in weight from her capture last week. This will come as a surprise but she had kicked my pb out the park by a couple of pound so what a good way to spend a Friday night. After a few patient moments taking some pics only managing one decent one, I was stood in the margins cradling her allowing her to get her breath back before going off to fight another day.

I sharpened the rig and flicked it back out and left the butt of the rod on my alarm with the tip in the water to sink the line and set about spreading some more bait out, whilst doing so the rod lad lifted up and ripped off! This was a rare occurrence but it shows me that spreading the bait out allows a few other fish to move in and have a bit of a munch, I dropped the throwing stick and lifted into another weighty resistance but the fish couldn’t have taken the hookbait that confidently as she came off. I wasn’t disheartened as I had bagged one and was really over the moon. With the rod repositioned I was soon sat back glancing at the pics of the fish and sipping another celebratory cup of tea.

It just shows that if you go through everything properly and go through the right processes in your head and if you’re confident then make a plan and stick by it and it will work out for the better. I had the rods out and sat in good positions and they had produced the goods, I am now a fan of the naked chod as it gives better presentation after reading a recent below the surface article and hinged stiff rigs also doing the damage so no need for me to change.

I got my head down for a few more hours and waited for a break in the rain before leaving to come home, I was happy as can be as I had bagged one on my first overnighter back on the bank for a while so the momentum will carry to next week to get out again and try and bag a few more, revised tactics and I will be back for more.

Hope you’ve been catching plenty

Ross.