The Mouse that Roared or fishing at Higher Farm

[Banana Steve]

Well it was agreed by both Ian and I that we would fish “Higher Farm” near Burton. With a choice of three lakes we opted for the lake known as the lower lake. After a huge detour we finally arrived at Higher Farm at 9am. (Both Ian and I couldn’t remember how to get there)

As we arrived the weather was to say a little bit miserable so the order of the day was to get into a comfortable peg and get the umbrellas up. Once we had set them up it was a case of getting the rest of the equipment under the protection of the umbrellas. As I was setting up my tackle, I heard something that normally doesn’t come from Ian but alas I heared Ian swearing. To start with I thought that he may have broken his pole or something else, as I went to see what the problem was Ian had his entire terminal tackle out from his box and was laid out on the grass and everything was covered in groundbait. On asking Ian what had happen it was explained to me that a mouse had found its way into his seat box and found that its wildest dreams had come to fruition. Well to be honest it was not funny but at the time I did find it very amusing, I had visions of the mouse returning that night with his lady friend and saying to her “Honest there was loads of food here” with reply something like “ohh yeah that’s your story” or something along those lines.

Anyway back to the fishing, by the time we had both set up it was 10am, I was on the waggler and Ian was fishing the pole. Ian was using pellet as feed and maggot as hookbait. Where I was using just maggot, my waggler set up was my normal rig but with a slightly heavier float instead of the norma1and1/2AA I like to use, I opted for a 2AA insert waggler. This gave me the extra distance if required. The main line was 2lb Maxima at .12mm and my hook length was .14mm Silstar Konnect at 2.14lb with a size 18 B911 from Kamasan. I was using my light waggler rod a Maver Liquid Crystal which when I used to fish in matches was perfect for roach and skimmers.

I started before Ian and with the first cast I hooked and landed a respectable roach of a round 7ozs, second cast exactly the same again. Ian’s comment was “Looks like the fish are up for it” for which they were for the next hour or so I caught some nice roach and even had 1lb roach.


Ian started to catch well and even had the first set of points with a gudgeon, but I was not far behind him with two species and 3 points

A Gudgeon

Rudd


The race was on and Ian started to get a head with the points, but I may not caught as many species as him I still managed a total of 6 point with a skimmer bream and a common carp.
Skimmer

Common Carp



As the day wore on Ian started to catch the small carp and the odd better one as well, he had swapped from maggot to pellet. With not having any pellet I had to come up with a plan of my own to get the small carp feeding, so out came the old faithful, Sweetcorn. I didn’t feed to heavy as I did not want to put the fish off or over feed them. The bites were very slow to start with and Ian was racing ahead with the Pellet. However, they did move onto the corn and a lot of the carp I caught were of the same stamp, they had the look of a ghost carp in them.
One of the small Carp

Ian at this point went a personal mission and went on a gudgeon hunt. He did really well and must have had at least 20+
Ian with a Gudgeon


As the afternoon came the weather got a lot better and the rain disappeared. I had a phone call from Twiddler stating that she had broke her PB for a Chub and Roach the Chub being 4lb.10ozs but for some reason she didn’t weigh the Roach in. I told Ian this and we agreed that Claudia had done well.

We finished at 4:00pm and on bringing in the fish, we found that we both had around 20lb of fish each so a draw was declared but Ian did catch more points than me.
Ian’s Catch


As we weighed in I remembered that Ian had caught a nice roach as well, for which I took a photo of.
Ian’s Roach


Few more pictures of the day.

Ian Gudgeon Bashing again


A View from my peg


The day ended at the Pub where we met up with Fullcreel and JP for a nice drink.

[Simon N]

Great Report Steve, Some Fantastic Looking Fish, Did Twiddler Mention Where She Caught Her PB Chub From?

[Banana Steve]

Originally Posted by Simon N

Great Report Steve, Some Fantastic Looking Fish, Did Twiddler Mention Where She Caught Her PB Chub From?

The River Itchen

[pingu]

cracking day there ,
and a beer to finish what more could you want

dave

[pingu]

Originally Posted by Banana Steve

I had a phone call from Twiddler stating that she had broke her PB for a Chub and Roach the Chub being 4lb.10ozs but for some reason she didn’t weigh the Roach in. I told Ian this and we agreed that Claudia had done well.

.

wheres this fish then twiddles

I think you are only talking to your FB friends


dave

[BaggieRich]

Well done Steve, sounds like a good day.

[paddy2k7_red4life]

well done mate