It’s a small, shallow, low stocked 2 acre lake. open to the elements in the middle of a bowl like field. With only a handful of members the lake doesn’t see much disturbance. Me sitting in my bivvy full of flu, coughing constantly, really won’t have helped the margin spots I was targeting.

After watching the swans completely wipe my bait out on one spot and realising just how shallow the water actually was in front of me, I needed to change it up. I’d seen a couple of fish crash out on the far bank, pretty tight in, early on in the session and then again which forced me to change tactics.

I unclipped my rigs and cast both rods over onto the far bank. I walked round with a bait bucket and loose fed a couple of handfuls of mixed size pellet and a handful of boilies then clipped my rig back on and swung it into place over the baited spot. I walked back to my bivvy, tensioned my line, set my bobbins and that was that. Enough bait and attraction for 1 bite. That’s what came, just before first light, the trusty hinged stiff rig with one of the pop ups I’ve just been making myself did the trick and absolutely nailed it.

It was a bit sketchy at times as the fish went through weed twice, but it’s dying back nicely now and I pulled the fish through fine. I’m over the moon to glide this one over the net cord, a fish called “6 scale” (which ironically has more than 6 scales 🤷🏻‍♂️ 😂).

James Dixon