Date: 27th August 2008
Bait: Just sweet corn
Tactics: Waggler using corn as bait or pole fished the margins
Peg: 32
Target Species: Bit of everything
Introduction
I woke up at 5am specially just to go fishing yesterday (Wednesday 27th August) at Priory Lakes in Ruskington, originally I wanted to fish Haverholme Park, but it was a Wednesday and usually there are matches on, my second choice was to give Burton Pedwardine a go as it has been quite a while since I last fished the place, but due to problems with my car, I had to settle with a mile long walk to Priory Lakes.
There was a sighting of a big black cat at the lake just less than 2 weeks ago. It was scary to think about, but it wasn’t enough to stop me from fishing so, after my breakfast and getting dressed and all that, it was 5:30am and I got my tackle ready and made sure everything was packed and strapped onto my trolley snugly. By the time this was done, it was just gone 6am.
The first impressions after setting off was looking at the weather and it was pretty much a perfect morning, there was no wind and the temperature wasn’t warm and it wasn’t cold, so it was pretty much perfect. The skies had the red tint from the rising sun and it was a nice sight. After the mileish long walk to the venue, turned out the gates were locked and that the place opens to fish at 7:30am. I was a bit cheesed off to admit, but I did walk all the way and there was no way I was going to walk back, so I waited for an hour for the place to open.
Whilst waiting, I saw a way to get in the place, just walk around the fence, I only did this to have a quick peep at the two lakes and to make a decision where to fish, after a half hour of inspection, it was decided that Peg 32 on Lake 1 would be the best peg as there was a lot of activity in that peg. Normally Peg 1 is the best peg in matches, but I was there to enjoy myself.
Above is a picture of the sunrise on Lake 2.
Preparation
After waiting half an hour after inspecting the place, the gates opened and it was time for me to walk to peg 32. Prior to setting up the equipment, which were a waggler and a pole line to the margins. I decided to take a few pictures of my swim and explain what my tactics were for you guys, consider yourself lucky!
As you can see, there is plenty of overhang coming from the reeds with a bunch of lily pads not too far away, I guessed that if I went to fish the lily pads it would be a struggle to get the fish out into the open due to the plentiful options of snagging me in the reeds or into the lily pads. I felt that the fish may feel safer under the reeds and less chance of me getting snagged, so I decided to fish just there, just on the edge of the overhang.
In front of the tree in the picture, there were Carp leaping about and also there are lily pads too so I suspected there may be fish in there and felt that it was a good idea to fish just in front of the tree not too far away from the lily pads.
Now it was time to set up, I used my trusty Preston LERC 13m pole as always and it was rigged with grade 14 elastic with 6lb line, as it was a margin swim, I needed a small float and sometimes, the fish take the bait on the drop, so a small oval shaped float would be ideal in my opinion, so I selected my Maver black ice durassic dibbler float as it was the closest and best choice out of the floats I had. I set the rig up with a 2 size 8 pole shots about 8 inches from the hook to get the float down through the silver fish if there are any in the swim, and then 2 more shots about 2 inches from the hook so the float is just sitting perfectly. The bait was sweet corn which will weigh the float down more, but I planned to fish 2 inches over depth so it sits perfectly. The hook in question was a spade ended Preston Innovations PR21 size 16 and I felt it would do the job pretty well.
The waggler rig was set up ready for backup in case the bites dried up or slowed down from the margins. I used my Browning Commercial Carp rod which is a good light rod for continuous casting and it was strong and stiff with a bit of bend to play the Carp in the place and some of the small silvers in question. The line I used was 8lb line with a 6lb hook length; the hook was size 16 and again, Preston PR21 which has never let me down when using sweet corn. I noticed the Carp were leaping near the places I wanted to cast my waggler to, so I felt it would be a good idea to fish shallow, so I settled with 12 inches shallow. The waggler I selected was a pre-loaded Preston Pellet Waggler which should do the trick.
Now to start fishing!
The Pole Swim
The minute the float first went into the margins, it started dipping as if to say, something is there. It was a very positive sign. Before the 10 minute mark, the float buried under and I struck and met with a positive resistance, it wasn’t a big fish, but it was a satisfying Tench of about 1lb. I was too focused on my fishing and getting the fish back into the water that I forgot to take a picture of it.
Shortly after, I hooked into another fish, which had a good strong resistance on it; I felt this had to be a Carp due to the way to was fighting. After a good lengthy battle, a tired 2lbs mirror Carp came into the net.
Not the best of pictures, but as I was on my own, I had to settle to take pictures of the fish in the landing net.
After a few small Tench to about 1lb and some small Carp to 2lbs, I hooked into a fish and it went off like a steam train. I struggled a lot to keep it under control and the grade 14 elastic was streaming out of the end of the pole. I managed to prevent the Carp from going into the lily pads and under the reeds, but it managed to go on another run towards the lily pads on the far bank! Surprisingly, the Carp made it and snapped my 6lb line clean off right next to the hook.
The picture shows you were the lily pads were and I reckon it’s a good 25 yards to those lily pads and on grade 14 elastic, I can only wonder what it could have been.
I felt a bit lazy and satisfied that I had a good bash on the pole line after 4 hours of fishing down there, so I decided to pack the pole up and have a go on the waggler.
After 4 hours on the pole line, I ended up with roughly 70lbs of fish, mainly Carp, but I did manage to get 3 crucians and 10 Tench. The crucians and Tench were only up to 1lb which is not a surprise as the venue is only 4/5 years old.
The Waggler Swim
Where can I start?
The first thing I did was casted nothing over there, just the waggler in order to clip up the line so I don’t end up catching a new PB tree. The first few casts were short, and eventually, I managed to get it right in front of the tree. So I clipped up and reeled in and put a sweet corn grain on the hook.
The first cast over there, the float buried under on the first cast and met with a strong resistance, stronger than any fish on the pole line and not as strong as the one that got away. As I was only pleasure fishing, I was in no hurry to get the fish in, I played it about until it was tired and after a good 5 minutes of playing the fish, I was able to slip my net under a pristine looking Common Carp.
The Carp proved to be the biggest fish of the day and I would guess that its weight would be 4lbs, as you can see my trainer in the picture; I am a size 9 so you get an idea of the size. Not the biggest Carp I have caught, but one of the enjoyable ones as it was the biggest I have caught using the waggler.
The waggler proved to be not as effective as the pole line, but I was still catch Carp to 2lbs with the odd Rudd every now and again.
One of the many Rudd that was caught on the waggler.
When I was about to give up and pack up for the afternoon, I hooked into a small silver looking fish and when I slipped my net under it, it looked too lean to be a Roach or a Rudd or even an Ide. First instinct confused me at first, then I realised that it was a Chub, my first ever Chub! I was happy about that, a new PB Chub of about a few ounces. Personally, I would prefer to catch a Chub from a river, but it was welcome anyways.
Not a big Chub, but I hope to get a few bigger ones from a river in the near future.
On the waggler line, I caught plenty of Carp up to about 2lbs with 1 exception which was 4lbs, plenty of Rudd and a small Chub. Altogether, I would estimate that I caught roughly 40lbs from the waggler line.
Summary
After reflecting on what seemed to be a successful 7 hours of fishing, 4 hours on the pole and 3 hours on the waggler, I would guess that I caught 110lbs at the most. I planned to get a mixed bag and below showed what I caught:
Carp: too many!
Tench: 10
Rudd: 20-30
Crucians: 3
Chub: 1
I am happy with that result and hopefully next time I get on the bank, I’ll have stories of bigger fish and maybe more pictures of the fish. Maybe even catch the one that got away if I decide to fish Priory Lakes again.
Venue Review
I would recommend Priory Lakes to anyone who is learning to fish as you are pretty much guaranteed at least 20lbs bag every time you go. I am unsure about the winter, but anyone can catch in the summer.
The pegs are very tidy and plat formed, but the major criticism I have of a few pegs is that there is a huge patch of lily pads about 3-4 yards in front giving the angler no room to play the fish. Also the ground is dry and very stony which is not good for pole anglers, so a roller is essential.
Out of 10, I would give Priory Lakes an 8.5 mainly due to the sport and mixed bags you can catch.
