I arrived on the Syndicate Thursday Morning and with the lake quiet I felt confident. I had a quick trot round the bank and found the fish showing half way round the lake at about 65 yds range, I dropped a bucket in the swim and jogged back to the van to fetch the rest of the gear.
It didn't take me long to get sorted and I soon had 3 rods cast onto showing fish so I sat back and enjoyed the first brew of the day, before I knew it dusk had arrived so I got the dinner on. I was fully expecting a take at any moment and just couldn't relax but by 10pm I called it a night and got in the bag.
I awoke at about 6am and looked at the rods, I could tell instantly that something was amiss. The middle bobbin was touching the roller and on a very tight line, I knew what had happened and I had never done it before until now and that is sleeping through a take. I fired up the Coleman and had a strong coffee before cooking up a few Bacon Rolls and a Cappuccino to wash them down. After breakfast I decided it was time to investigate the offending rod. My earlier thoughts were confirmed when I struggled to retrieve the rig ,the fish had obviously taken me through one of the big weed beds towards the far margin, to say I was gutted was a huge understatement.
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| At least I ate well during the Session.... |
At 3pm I got all 3 rods back on the spots and with the occasional fish still showing I felt pretty confident, my old mate "Dumpy" arrived shortly after and set up next door.
After a good catch up we ordered a Chinese and sat up until about 10pm having a good chinwag before calling it a night, the cold that I had endured all week had really taken it out of me and I was soon in the land of nod.
After an uninterrupted sleep I woke up at 6:45am and looked out from under the Oval, the swim looked completely dead and I knew that it wasn't going to happen now. I had a brew and a couple of smokes all the while trying to tell myself that I had done everything right and it couldn't be helped, but it was frustrating that all that hard work hadn't paid off this time. By 10am I packed away and left the lake with that deflated feeling which I always try to avoid but I am sure that every Carp Angler has felt at some point in their career.
So here I am sat at home typing this up and looking towards my next session, I am hoping to manage 2 nights on the bank from Friday but it [as always] depends on work.
Surely it's only a matter of time before all the pieces of the puzzle come together, isn't it?
Until next time,
Smithy
