After kindly being invited by Adrian Ellis..."Elli" ( the conservation manager for Cemex), my uncle and I were off to do a 24 hour session at the famous yately complex.
The plan of action really was to get the carp rods out and try as best we could for a fish basically.
My uncle was planning on picking me up at around 12 midday, to meet Adrian at Yately angling for a brief chat and introduction before we headded off to the lakes. This sounded easier than it actually was, as with me and my uncle's navigational skills, we were alright for the majority of the motorways, but then we went doo-lally at the B roads!!!Eventually, we met up with Adrian, and introduced ourselves before having a quick chat to him about where's fishing etc...we came to a conclusion that the split lake would be the best lake of choice! Away we were on a very short car journey to the complex.
We got out and thankfully Adrian had provided us with a barrow as we would have had a lot of trouble transporting our gear without it! Before we started fsihing however, we were given a guided tour of the lakes and complex. The place is HUGE let me tell you that. We saw the famous car park lake, home of "Heather the Leather" and various other lakes, before entering the split lake. The lake itself is like two huge pools of water surrounded with an abundance of foliage and wildlife, with a split in the middle. Basically, two 12 acre lakes joined together with a split where they connect!
We had thanked Adrian for the tour and he guided us round to a good spot where he then sat with us for a bit as we set up. Bait and tactics for me for the day was:
Mainline Pulse 18mm boilies for the cats,
Dynamite baits 15mm tiger nut boilies for the carp.
And maggots and corn for the float.
Rigs used were a semi fixed bolt rig with 15lbs mainline tied to a leadcore leader and 25lbs braid. Double baits were going to be used on each. My uncle however was using a shokka rig on one rod, with bolt rigs on the other two rods, with mainline activ-8 boilies and richworth crab and mussel. With the added extra of hi viz frank warwick squid and octopus pop-ups.
Here's the view from my swim...
And the view from my uncle's swim (bang on the left of me)...
To start off, me and my uncle had a play about with the marker rod he had set up, to find patches of gravel or any underwater features in our swims. My uncle had started up while i was setting up the float. He had cast out his baits with PVA bags and came to my swim to have a play about with the marker rod. He found a hump about 25/30 yards out just to the right of me with a patch of gravel on it and some clear spots about 60 odd yards out to the left of me...as the lake was pretty weedy.
The day started off slow, not many fish were showing to be honest with you...the odd splash from small fish and that was it to begin with really. The float was producing the odd small fish on maggot, fishing on a small drop off i found by an overhanging tree, the rudd were ravenous and the roach and perch were showing too.
Adrian had then left us, so we were at it solo, trying for an elusive yately specimen fish. To keep me occupied while waiting for the carp rods to do something, I put a nightlight on the top of my float and started going again for some tiddlers to pass the time...After having a few, a bit of food was in order before going to have a chat with my uncle. We were discussing tactics and how he had been pleased with a "perfect" cast, tight to an island he was fishing to, clipped up. As things got darker, my uncle had a couple of blips on the clipped up rod, his left hand rod was cast to the very left of him towards some snags, and the right rod to the immediate right of him to some gravel...with the middle one clipped up. He struck, but nothing on the end. It was to dark to get an accurate cast in but he stuck a load of bait in a bag, along with his rig (to avoid hooking the weed), and made a blind cast straight out. He seemed happy with the 70 odd yard cast out in to open water and put the rods on the rest...before going off to sleep!
I then returned to my bivvy pondering on what to do, but i sat tight as i knoew that i had potentially good spots in this vast array of water. I didnt have a bedchair, so i opted for the floor of my bivvy, laying on the groundsheet, using my rod holdall as a pillow (that's right...i can improvise!!!). After a little kip, with the masses of wildlife providing me with musical entertainment during the night, I hear my uncle shout out..."Ash, are you awake!?" I called back...."yeah, I am mate, are you in!?" ... "yeah!!!"
I got out and ran towards my uncle, where I had got up so quick I got a head rush and started stumbling about a bit. I regained my bearings and got to his swim...he asked me to reel in his other rods for safety reasons and get the net ready if he got it within reach. He tightened his clutch up to the fullest, as he plays the fish on backwind. Even so...his rod was doubled and the clutch was spinning away, the fish was going off like a steam train. A few minutes later, Tim had regained control of the fish and he told me to turn my headtorch on so he could see it...IT WAS A CATFISH!!! In excitement he got me to net it, and I got it on the bank..."god it this feels heavy" was my immediate response to it... it was on the unhooking mat and my uncle tried to unhook it, but in the excitement of it all he wasn't able to and handed me the forceps, and i unhooked it. We set the scales and the fish weighed in at 20lbs 8oz...
"I've caught a catfish!!!" was all he was saying for the rest of the session!!! As it was the first ever catfish he had EVER caught!
He rebaited and recast, as did I, and we both went back to our bivvies after a little chat. Went back to kip, in hope to have a fish out for myself. The next thing I know, it's morning, and the rods still haven't been touched...much to our disappointment. But, a big fish had still been caught, so there was nothing to be worried about! After a quick bit of breakfast and a spot of floatfishing, resulting in an abundance of rudd...taking any bait they could fine...Adrian came back. This was about lunchtime.
We told him about the moggie and he was pleased to hear it....we were planning on leaving just after 6:30pm that day to aviod the rush hour traffic. Unfortunately, neither of us had anything else for the rest of the day.
Nonetheless, it was a great day and night....and day, spent by the both of us and I'd like to thank Adrian for giving us the oppertunity on fishing a brilliant bit of water.
Well done again to Tim, who once again, outfishes everyone around him! Thanks for catching mate! We always have a laugh....it was just that much better seeing him catch something like that! Well done again. And well done on him catching his first EVER catfish! Not a bad size for his first one i might add!
We then packed up and went home...happy...but extremely tired! My bed looked like heaven!
Thanks for reading everyone!
Tight Lines,
Ash
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