Bury Hill - 25th October 2006

[Rob M]

We were all looking forward to this one, despite the poor weather forecast for the day ahead. Paul arrived at Bury Hill at 6.55 am, surprisingly I got there at 7.10am and Dave arrived just before 7.30am. After exchanging the customary hellos etc, we paid up and set off down the long bank (there was a match on the front bank) and settled around peg 38. It had been reported that Zander had come out at peg 36 last week, so Dave and Paul were in a good spot as they were fishing for preds. They shared the peg, because they wanted to 'get close'. Not sure what they meant by that...



I was on peg 39 fishing for carp. The rain pretty much started when we got there, but it was light and not too much of an annoyance. It stopped for a large part of the day, but the wind picked up instead. Lovely SE smack bang in our faces, nice.

Anyway, with our p***-taking meters set to 'Maximum' we set up and got on with business. This was my swim:



Within 5 minutes of casting his first rod out, Paul had a screaming run and we all thought there was a Zander or Pike on the cards.



A huge fight ensued and we waited until a...Mirror Carp appeared on the surface!



Now we're not sure what happened, whether it went for the lamprey section or got foul hooked, but it appears it was probably the latter. Either way, it was a cracking fish and we were well chuffed for Paul, as it is now his PB at 19.5 lbs.

I caught a bream of around 3 lbs a short time later, and really that was it for me. I was fishing for carp, but didn't have any success. No worries, I can go back anytime, I only live 2 miles away. I had a chat with the baliff later and was pleased to hear that generally most carp anglers have had a tough year there, so at least I know it's nothing I'm doing wrong!

It was quiet for pretty much the rest of the day until around 4.30pm. I bought the bacon sandwiches for us, being the generous sort of guy I am (and the fact I didn't bring my stove). We had time to chat, wax lyrical about the advantages of Christina Aguilera over Britney (strangely, their singing abilities didn't come into it) and generally enjoy the social side of the meet. Of course Dave produced the legendary Pingu pies (although they were pasties). Yummy, but he forgot the beer. Git.

It wasn't long before Paul started the ball rolling with the Zander though:



Paul will have to fill in the details of what he caught it on etc., but either way he landed his first-ever Zander, around 7lbs. We were really chuffed for him. He then caught a slightly smaller Zed and two pike! He also had numerous dropped runs, we were wondering if this is indicative of Zander. Thats academic though, as Paul really showed us the way to do it and taught Dave and I how to properly unhook and handle predators, cheers Paul.

The rain really started to hammer down pretty much until we left at 6.15pm. It was now 'game on' as we had 2 hours of daylight left. Dave was looking at a blank, but took the inspired decision to move swims and set himself up near some lillies. It paid off, as he had a Zander of around 5 pounds just 5 minutes before we packed up. He was chuffed, as we were and it was a great end of the day for him.

All the preds were taken in the last 2 hours of daylight, it was like a switch had been turned on, because the bites didn't stop. Mr Carp didn't want to play for me today, but I gain as much enjoyment watching others catch anyway.

Well, we all left at 6.15pm after a cracking day. Thanks lads, it was a brilliant meet and I haven't laughed so much for ages. I'll see you both soon. All the finer details and the rest of the photos will appear as soon as Paul and Dave get online

Cheers!
Rob

[baitmaster]

nice report rob

tightlines
kevin

[Norfolkboy]

Great report Rob, shame you didn't manage any carp, but you didn't blank atleast.

Big well done to Paul and Dave on their zeds (awesome aren't they!), can't wait to see the rest of the pics.

[Rob M]

MORE PHOTOS (FROM DAVE)













Rob

[Norfolkboy]

Nice one Paul, great to see you plugging the forum

[Greenheart]

Well done Guys, sounds like you had some cracking PIES, oop's I mean fish. Well done on the Zeds. Interesting bait for the carp too. Could this be the end of Boilies???

[baitmaster]

well done paul on your zeds and your carp

tightlines
kevin

[geffski]

nice pics! and sounds like you had a good larf to!
if ever you up for another can i tag along?
find a nice crisp winters day and hit the pike!

[Fishing Forum Admin]

Cracking report and pics guys must be well made up on the zeds

[fishypaul]

well its days like this that make it all worthwhile,good company and good fishing,
they don't come along too frequently so its special when it does come along,

i got to the lake bright and early in pitch darkness,but had to wait half an hour for the gates to open,
gave me bags of time to sort the trolley out etc,

rob and dave turned up with time to spare and we were soon fishing ,i paired up with dave for security,we have heard of robs liking for wearing stilletto's and fishnet tights while fishing and we decided to banish him to another swim,

we had just about put our stuff down when it started raining,just what you need ,rain while setting up,
well we hadn't even finished sorting ourselves when my middle rod shot off,this was baited with a legered lamprey section,the fish gave me quite a tussle and i was starting to think to myself it might be a twenty ( pike of course ! ) just then a rather red looking tail appeared and rob said," it looks like a carp ",SILLY ARSE !!! thought I ,who had ever heard of a carp taking a deadbait,then it surfaced and we were all gob smacked,a nice looking mirror carp and a rather big one at that !,

after a farcical netting scenario,( we ended up using 2 nets, DON'T ASK !!!! ) it turned out the carp was trailing a couple of sets of end tackle,whether these snagged the trebles on my rig or the fish took the bait we will never know as all hooks fell out in the net,i suspect the former.
very soon she was weighed and turned the scales at 19lb 8oz,not a bad start to the day


the rain soon started to peter out and it got a bit brighter and the wind started getting up,the sport was slow,i had a quick take which came off in the lillies but it was rather quiet,time to enjoy the finer things in life,bacon butties ( thanks rob ) pingu pies ( thanks dave ) and taking the p*** out of rob,
we had a great time,for someone who fishes alone most of the time this was great,the banter and the flatulence went on all day,sometime around midday i think it was rob had a nice bream on his carping gear,thats 2 of us off the mark.

it wasn't until mid afternoon that things started to get interesting,i was getting the odd twitch on my left rod which was placed with a dead roach on a leger stem just behind the lily pad to my left,all of a sudden it shot off and after a brief struggle i was overjoyed to see my first ever zander in the net,quickly unhooked it was weighed at 7lb 8oz and went back very strongly,i found it awkward to handle,they are not as easy to handle as a pike,



well i didn't have time to bask in my glory,my middle rod which was placed over by the island went off like an express train ,this was baited with my old faithful a half herring ,a slow ponderous fight resulted in zander # 2 ,this was quickly dealt with and weighed at 6lb 4oz,
all this time poor old rob and daves indicators were not moving so it was with a little guilt that i struck into another fish a little while later,this turned out to be a 7lb pike again caught on half herring.
i think the fish started wising up now and i had three or four dropped runs or missed strikes,these zeds can be frustrsating kev can't they ?,
the light was beginning to fade and we were all starting to think about packing away when my left hand rod,the one on the lily pad with the roach on a leger stem shot off again,this time i hooked it,it was a pike of about 5lb and as i was unhooking it daves rod finally went motoring off ,he had been fishing all day without so much as a sniff and he thoroughly deserved this fish,he got his first ever zander at 6lb 4oz and a lovely fish it was too.



and that was that,if we were able to stay for a few hours i'm sure we would have got a few more but its kick out time at sunset,
we retired to ours cars all soaked through but having had a great day,if only i could fish with you guys every week,fishing can sometimes be a lonely affair but with guys such as you i could fish every day.