I had twenty four hours of fishing over two venues in this session so I've got a job on my hands keeping the story moving to fit it in here.
Pete and I knocked off work at three on Weds and made our way to Sywell reservoir in Northamptonshire for an overnight session. The sole aim of the trip was a big Tench for which the place is famous.
Upon arrival the scale of the place was the first thing to hit us - it was big, and windy. Once paid up we looked out from the dam wall to select an area to fish before unloading. Sywell is shaped like the front of a giant thong. For the last few days the wind had been blowing into the right leg hole and out of the left (SW). We opted for a spot at the top of the left leg hole, looking over to the waistband (always nice).
First thing, Sywell is a beautiful place to fish. Crystal clear water and lush green countryside surrounds.
Once we'd set up the shelters and rods it was nearly seven o'clock. A lead cast around told me there was a weed bed about twenty yards out but a clearer area directly out from the bank. I had a depth of about 5ft in the clear area so thought this would be enough for a Tench. I spent half an hour raking in front of me and saw a Pike a rod length out which also gave me encouragement that the area was inhabited.
I set up two rods, one on a cage feeder with groundbait the second a maggot feeder. Both were on alarms.
After the raking I put in ten balls of grounbait and particles and a few pouches of maggots and cast both rods out.
There endeth the fishing story really as apart from a single bleep liner at about 21:45 I didn't have a knock all session. Also after the liner I reeled in and a Pike snapped at my feeder so it could have been that causing the bleep!
Ducks started diving on the bait as the night drew in leading me to wind in a two a.m. At four thirty I was up for the dawn but so was the wind so the float fishing session I had planned was shelved. I topped up the baited area but still no signs for me or Pete. Between us we had not seen a single fish roll, flip or jump since our arrival.
At six in the morning we talked tactics and agreed our best chance of a big Tench was now behind us. We decided to pack up the shelters dewy damp and head to LAA's Jubilee after Bream and Roach for the rest of the day.
To cut a lot of effort short, we were fishing at Jube by ten a.m. I opted for a maggot feeder over a bed of groundbait. First cast I had a Bream about two pounds, third cast I had a Perch and after that it all went very quiet. Locals said the Bream were spawning heavily and so were not likely to play ball today.
I took a walk and saw some half decent Rudd amongst the Carp at the windward end of the Horseshoe pool. Suffering from the mania brought on from lack of sleep I quickly returned to base to set up a float rod and return to where I'd seen the fish. By the time I arrived back it was chucking it down. I hunckered down and sat out that shower and subsequent ones in just my shirt, I was soon a combination of soaked then warm and damp.
I fed red maggots steadily and fished 12" deep. Once I'd got the fish going between the showers I had frequent bites. I had four or five Rudd to about nine ounces (not weighed), and a hybrid that I thought was the Roach of a lifetime at 2lb 9ozs before I got a closer look at it.
Best of all though was a pure Roach of 1lb 7ozs - just 1oz off a Gold!
After the big Roach things dried up a bit so I returned to the main pool next to Pete and we both fished shallow and caught well with the Roach for the rest of the day. After I'd left for home Pete had a 13oz Roach so the scores on the doors in the fishing challenge are now;
Cheers.
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