Apparently there are some good eels in the Leam. This was an exploratory session really to see if anything happens here as the sun goes down.
It started spitting as I was choosing where to fish and by the time I'd put my chair down in my chosen spot upstream of a large willow tree on the near bank large globs of water started to fall from the blackened sky.
I stared at the underside of my brolly for the first half hour whilst I let the compact storm pass over. I hadn't even set up.
After the rain and thunder I set up two simple quiver tip rigs and alternated between worms, prawns and dead baits on the hook. Before rigging up I pulled a lead across the bottom to work out where the tree roots came in and learn a little about the bottom contours. The sun was now out and the air felt fresh. I fished at the bottom of the near marginal slope.
I had made up a fishy chum of dead maggots, casters and prawns and fed that along with some reds sparingly into the swim at first. I held back the lions share for twilight.
It only took fifteen minutes for the tip to register some interest but I was using medium sized baits and so some bites were snatchy and unconvincing. The bites continued for only an hour after the rain during which I had an eel of eleven ounces and was bitten off by something.
After this hour the bites simply dried up. I thought a predator might have moved in so had an hour on dead baits but nothing. I scaled down to maggots on the hook but still nothing. I rotated through prawns and worm but nothing I tried bought me a bite.
The tips were motionless until just before nine o'clock when I had two more rattly bites on worms.
I've seen such an intense feeding burst after a storm a couple of times before - whilst after carp - but when so close to the evening my recollection is they usually continue. This one ended as abruptly as it started.
As the evening closed in I found myself becoming concerned about the safety of my car in the car park. I could hear the odd noisy gathering knocking about and so didn't stick around for full darkness.
Cheers.
I share your car park concerns. The last time I was down there I noticed patches of glass (from car windows) on the floor.
ReplyDeleteIt's probably OK in the middle of the day with plenty of dog walkers about (preferably with kids in school too), but not somewhere I'd trust for a late evening session.
It hasn't been too kind to me in terms of fishing either, which only adds to my reluctance!