Diary of an average angler

Today's choice of venue was decided by the forecast for a strengthening SW wind. I would have preferred to return to Earith but the part of the lake that is accessible would have been exposed to the wind, which wouldn't have been great for waggler fishing. So I went to Fields End hoping to get the swim in the SW corner, which I did. In fact the lake was deserted, mine still being the only car in the visitors' parking when I left. And only a couple of anglers arrived from the on-site caravan park. So it was a very peaceful day.

I started off with some pre-diced spam, this having been particularly attractive to the rudd on my last visit. Once again I started getting bites almost immediately but as on the previous visit I was missing more than I was hitting. I put this down to smaller fish not being able to mouth the meat bait completely. But after a while I managed to hook a few rudd and roach, including some good sized fish. I weighed one of the rudd at 10oz.

Things were livened up a bit by three crucians. The first bore a distinct resemblance to a fish I caught on the previous visit. It wasn't in very good condition with a damaged eye and discoloured scales. There was also some mouth damage, which was also seen on a later fish. The second crucian was the smallest but was in the best condition of the three. All three gave a good account of themselves.

I continued to catch rudd and roach throughout the session although things did tail off a bit towards the end. And I continued not to make contact with many of the bites, feeling the fish briefly on a number of occasions. There was a temptation to scale down the end tackle, with a smaller hook and smaller baits, but with the risk of a carp turning up I deiced not to do this. In the event the carp didn't show. I could see another angler who seemed to be after carp and I didn't see him bring any fish in while I was there, so perhaps the carp were having an off day.

I was alternating between spam and bread flake, and getting bites on both. At one point, after a tangle that required retackling, I switched to a float-leger rig, thinking that by getting the bait to the bottom more quickly I might avoid the attention of the smaller fish. But although I caught on this set up it didn't really seem to offer a noticeable advantage, so I switched back to a straight waggler.

I had set a target of 2 p.m. to pack up, based on the forecast of rain at or around that time. In the event the rain arrived a bit earlier. As I wasn't hitting many bites by this time, those that I did being rudd or roach of a similar size to what I had been catching, I decided to leave a bit earlier.

It would have been nice if I could have caught a few more crucians, although three was better than I have achieved recently at this lake. And a tussle with a larger carp would have livened things up a bit more. But it wasn't to be. Nevertheless, it was a very peaceful few hours with plenty of bites to keep me interested, so I'm not really complaining.

Until the next time.