The best thing about Readers is you never really know what you are going to catch, Carp, Tench, Bream, Chub, Roach, Rudd, Perch plus some exotic oddities like Goldfish and Ghosties this lake has it all. After a quick walk around the lake we opted to fish in between the two islands which would give us both a feature to fish to, as an added bonus I also had a set of pads in the margins just to the left of my swim. For me there isn't a nicer looking fish in our waters than the Tench so that was the target for today, I've caught them to just over 4lbs from this lake but I know they go bigger.
Readers has a sudden drop off in the margins and this is where I've had the most success from, the plan was to float fish strawberry sweetcorn and worms in the margin and feed hemp and small strawberry pellets but I'd also brought other Tench favourites like prawns and luncheon meat to try. Setup was nice and simple as I was using my trusty Drennan Power Carp Waggler combined with Shimano reel and 6lb line straight through to a size 14 barbless hook. I'd also opted to use my brand new Korum Neoteric as a second rod which I would use to alternate between ledgering maize on a hair (boilies are banned) and fishing on the top with dog biscuits depending on where the Carp were showing.
The first action of the day was from Graham's swim as he lost two decent Carp early on, one of which almost dragged his rod in whilst I was doing my best to distract him by demoing my brand new rod. My first fish of the day fell to the float in the form of some small Roach, Gudgeon and Perch that all took liking to my corn and worms fished tight to the pads. By midday I had also managed this small Carp that was caught off the top on a dog biscuit fished tight to the island.
As the day progressed and with action few and far between I decided to swap my surface rod to a ledger so I could stick it on a bite alarm and focus more of my attention on the float. The bait of choice on the ledger was double maize fished on a hair, I was still holding out hope of a Tench or two but as I flicked the bait out to the edge of the pads and baited the area heavily with hemp I suspected Carp were the more likely quarry. Within an hour of casting out the ledger I had caught two small Carp of maybe a few pounds each but by the end of the day had also managed to lose four more fish (hook pulls) which I had half expected when fishing tight to the pads and having to bully them a little.
Meanwhile on the float heavy feeding the margins was starting to pay off as I added a further two Carp late in the day including this lovely Common which I estimated to be about 6lbs.
I finished the day with four Carp and some small bits and pieces but for the first time in a while it felt like I'd earned my catch. Despite trying every tactic, bait and rig going Graham managed just two Carp plus a few Roach and Perch.
4-1 baby!
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