1/12/2007 report from Wadmill Lake

mithrandir · #1 12-02-2007, 09:23 AM

Had a little trip to Todber on Saturday, with Twiddler and Banana Steve.

Weather was expected to be awful But I hoped we could get some good fishing in before it got too bad.

Twiddler and Banana Steve decided to fish Park Lake and they will no doubt put their reports up later, I fished Wadmill.

When I arrived at the lake there was no one else on it, so I had pick of all the pegs, I decided to pick one near the car and with the wind in my face.

It was a bit blowy but a lovely sunny day and I was soon joined on the lake by a family party, I do not think they had bought tickets but at least they did not stay too long.

The fishing was slow, two other anglers turned up and bivvied up on the opposite bank ( I think they may well have been in for a rough night).

About 11-30 I got my first bite of the day, a stuttering drop back, and in came this blank buster of a small bream.

The day continued very slowly, the two guys on the other side still had nothing ( and by the time I left that was still the case!)

about 2-00 I had a take on the rod I had in the margin, rod tip bent round and the bait runner screamed off, I awoke from my day dream and picked the rod up, to feel two small head shakes and then a slack line. I had missed it!

Well I looked up at the sky and it was all getting pretty black, so I tidied up the kit, put the hood on my coat and got ready for a shower.

And down came the rain, up came the wind, rod tips were flapping and I thought to myself why do I go fishing, then the answer came.

The rod out by the island burst into life and I had to get up from the huddle I formed on the chair to try and keep everything as dry as possible, I played what felt like a decent fish swiftly into the net, it was a large mirror but I was not going to weigh it or photograph it as the rain was hard and slightly sleety so I unhooked it in the net and let it go.

With the conditions as they were I just launched the same bait, a piece of pepperami, back out to a similar spot ( the wind was too strong to give an accurate cast) and looked in dismay at the seat which was now puddled with water and perched myself on the edge to await the end of the rain. Within minutes the margin rod sprang into life and I was back into action, this time a bream had taken the 10mm pineapple boille from the bed of corn I had laid in the margin.

This too was unhooked in the water due to conditions.

Then the sky lightened and the rain stopped.

I was treated to a full rainbow as the clouds disappeared into the east.

Twiddler phoned and said that as it looked like the weather had broken did I want to pack up and go, it was 3 o'clock and we only had an hour of light left so I said yes, everything was soaked so I started the pack up.

In the spirit of last cast I put 2 bank sticks out to hold the rods still baited in the water as I packed everything away, dismantling the rod pod and putting the buzzers away, dismantled the net and packed the net away, whilst doing this I noticed the island rod was twitching, and the reel was moving!

The line had kited about 50 yards across the lake, I ran over to it and lifted into was felt like a snag, the fish had managed to swim behind the island, so a battle to retrieve this began.
I felt the judders as the line was drawn across the reeds at the edge of the island, but I had heavy line on and so just held gentle pressure on, slowly but surely I got the fish back out into open water and eased it gently back to the bank, all the time I held gentle pressure with one hand whilst I gradually re assembled the net with the other, not an easy task.

as I got the fish in closer, which was staying deep and pulling continuously, I saw deep swirls in the water as it pulled again and struggled to the reeds near the bank, taking a few more yards of line off me.

Finally I had the net ready, the fish close in and I landed this common

got it into the weigh sling and it tipped out at 5.42KG ( just a faction under 12lb)

I released this one and looked across the lake and here came Twiddler and Banana Steve, fed up of waiting they came over to see what was taking so long.

I finished packing up and we all headed back to the car, they both kindly helped me with my kit as I was now totally knackered, I am still not really fit enough for a full days fishing.

I found it quite interesting that what appeared to be cold rain had turned the fish onto feeding, this is the reverse of what I had expected, but it is possible that just the disturbance of the water woke them up, as the strong wind must have lowered the surface temperature of the water alot during the morning.

So not a bad day, I was warm and dry in my suit, but now it is time to clean and dry all the kit and re-lubricate the reels, everything had a good soaking.