Back at it again:

After the success of the common a couple of weeks previous I had returned the following weekend to a busy lake and drew a blank. Keen to try and get the next bite I fished a short afternoon session with the hope of seeing something positive to go on for the following day which I had available as well. I was duly rewarded when I noticed a fish very subtly show tight to an island. I continued to watch and again it quietly rolled. I was surprised how tight it was, literally only a couple of feet deep on the shelf. With this in mind and the mild southerly due to roll in that evening I primed the area up with a couple of pouch fulls. An angler had just moved out of the swim and another dropped in later on that evening for a quick overnighter. I returned the following morning and followed the angler into that swim after he packed up. Whilst he was putting the last of his gear away a fish showed twice in the area. I flicked the right hand rod out there and scattered a small handful with the catapult. I did the middle rod and then flicked the last rod down the marginal shelf to my left, slackened off and sank the line and scattered a couple of pouches around it. It was getting breezy now and I battled with the brolly in the 20mph headwind.

No sooner had I sat down and the right hand alarm let out a couple of bleeps. I looked and the tip was slowly pulling down and the line was tightening so I jumped out and lifted the rod into a very unhappy fish which proceeded to try and do me every way it could. After an epic battle of about 15 mins she was in the net and it was a cracking common weighing in at 37 +.

I re did the rod and sat under the brolly again as the wind continued to increase and rain began to fall. As I sat sipping a brew I was looking at the left hand rod wondering if it was exactly where I wanted it when all of a sudden the alarm sounded and the tip pulled round. The line popped out the clip and the spool began to churn steadily. I couldn’t quite believe it as I lifted into another lump. After a steady plod around we had her in the net and she went 44lb on the nose. I was absolutely buzzing at this point and it was more than I could have ever hoped for. It’s so nice when it all comes right and it’s sessions like that that keep you motivated through the cold dark days of winter….

Fantastic angling!