Weds 19th August, 13:00 - 17:00hrs, Lavender Hall, Hot and clear but windy.
Touchdown sounds a bit too glamorous really. Suffice to say we returned from our family holiday in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
My car was booked in for a service and MOT at noon at the dealership in Berkswell. Whilst the mechanics worked I took the opportunity to fish the Station pool at Lavender Hall after Carp. Tackle was minimalist; rod, centrepin reel, a few hooks, a loaf of bread and a net. The most extravagant item was the price of the ticket to fish - £10 for four hours!!
Unlike my last visit the Carp were not visible on the top. The breeze was strong and I think the ripple kept them down a bit. I started in the windward margins but it took a while to get a bite. Neither surface baits or large flakes on the bottom attracted much interest other than small fish nibbling them.
The first fish came to a solitary piece of crust left dangling in the water over the top of some Iris; an upper double common. No scales or camera I'm afraid, both were still somewhere in a suitcase on the dining room floor at this point. It was a good fight and a nice welcome-home fish.
Although I persevered with the windward edge nothing more happened. It's the school holidays and frequently kids who were fishing would leg it round the lake to either get to a bleeping alarm or talk to their mates. I've got no problem with kids fishing but kids will be kids and they are noisy - I was exactly the same.
Spying the corner furthest away from all human activity I though it was worth a look. It was on the back of the wind, shallow and in full sun but it's redeeming feature was I hadn't seen anyone walk round it in the last hour. I crept into position and peered over the top of the bankside cover. I could see a large common and a few other Carp mooching around. I offered them some bread and the big Common took it in a very relaxed way. I missed it on the strike, but amazingly the fish didn't spook. It moved off slowly though and I changed target fish. Still low and concealed I offered another piece of bread on the surface and a second Carp sucked it down. After another scrap this was a mirror about 15lbs.
Two final noteworthy events. When crouching down in the quiet bay red ants crawled up my legs and bit me in numerous and manly places. Trying brush the little attackers off without expleting and staying low was hard and made me laugh. The car passed it's MOT.
Given this is a small pool which gets a lot of fishing attention I believe the Carp had sussed out that the quiet bay had no one fishing near it and was therefore safe. On modern pressured waters like this I believe the fish's habits have as much to do with anglers whereabouts as they do the weather.
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