A productive day!

This Saturday was to be a day of maintenance and I got to the lakes early to fire up the mower, the sun was out and so were the Swallows, they were like a squadron of Stealth bombers swooping to grab a drink from the lakes surface. The lakes are at the best now with so much life bursting from every corner, the plants are all vibrant and its so nice to see hoards of Bees buzzing from plant to plant.

Above the Tench Lake full of life

I had just completed the second circuit of the Tench Lake when Chris arrived eager to start a job, i got the Stihl Strimmer from the store and off he went to strim out the steps and swims. A couple of hours followed where the grass was flailed, strimmed and trimmed to within an inch of its life. Then it was time to strap on the nap sack and go and weed spray the freshly strimmed steps to each lake and blitz the track around the lakes. The final job of the day was to chop up the fallen tree up by the stock pond, this tree had come down during the week and the branches had entangled with the electric fence causing it to trip the main switch. Chris climbed the fence and soon had his own "timber moment", the large branches were removed and the fence was once again operating on maximum.

With the list of chores complete and it now being 2pm we could finally grab a rod and go and catch a fish or two. Chris only had a couple of hours as his lads were doing a Gig that evening and they needed their Dad and his band wagon. First fish was to be the Tench and with a typical mid summers day for once we soon had the floats settled next to some large lily beds.

Chris was soon into his first fish which led him a merry dance through the thick lily beds, plenty of finesse had the fish in the net. I managed to miss my first bite, to busy admiring the dragonflys. Chris managed another to make a brace before deciding as his time was short to try for a Carp on the top lake.

I decided to move swims to a more sheltered spot and maybe find some shade, at this time the family turned up for a walk around, this included my mother in-law and a box full of freshly baked Coconut Buns, bliss! I baited up the new swim with some of my Carp feed and within minutes the bubbles appeared as Tench began digging in the thick silt. I dropped the float amongst the bubblers, this was baited with a small cube of luncheon meat. The bubbles were exploding so close to the float that it actually shook, then the classic lift and the float flattened on the surface. The Tench had sucked in the bait and lifted the large swan shot from the lake bed, i struck and was immediately met with the feisty thump, thump of a Tench that now dived for the Lily bed. These fish really are great scrappers and on the 4lb line and light tackle its a great little workout. Chris soon returned minus his hook having lost a good fish in the rushes, he decided to call it a day and i know Dad and i really appreciated his help once again. Lisa and the family then also made a move and i was left to the sounds of the wildlife, the screech of a high circling Buzzard, the piercing cry of the numerous Moorhens and the buzz of insects. I really love this type of fishing, true Mr Crabtree relaxation, simple methods and a way to really unwind. I managed 4 fish before noticing the huge commotion in the far side weed beds, the Tench were spawning again, the second time this month. That inspired me to pack up the Tench gear and go and stalk some Carp it was by now 19.00, i done a few quick photos.

The Tench above were spawned out and i can only surmise they were part of the first spawning that took place. With the Tench kit packed away i walked up to the top lake and scattered the standard chunks of crust, the poured a cup of coffee and sat to wait for the first slurp of a Carp. A full 5 minutes elapsed before two Carp hoovered up the offerings, i baited the hook and dropped the bait into the margins. A plethora of Rudd pounced and pushed the crust around on the surface like a gang of kids learning to swim, suddenly they were gone and the golden shape of a Carp appeared below the bread. The crust was sucked below with hardly a ripple on the surface and i lifted into the fish which didn't take to kindly to the mealtime interruption. The surface exploded and the fish stormed off clearly in a foul mood at being duped, a great scrap followed and eventually the fish was netted a lovely Common.

As the evening drew on the Carp made a few more mistakes but as with the Tench i noticed some of then started spawning, thrashing the reeds violently. Despite some of the fish having other things on the mind i still landed 3 more fish.

Above and below a couple of the newly introduced Mirrors clearly doing well in the main lake.

Below the final fish of the day another Common Carp this one a real chunk, making a great few hours fishing on what was a very productive day.