Peg 16, Match Lake
16th March 2016
Every so often the planets align and everything seems to fall nicely into place, when you find yourself in pleasant surroundings with a bit of time on your hands. This was the situation I found myself in this week when I was scheduled to work down on the Isle of Wight on Monday, in Yeovil Tuesday and then finish off on Wednesday in Salisbury. The work isn't too difficult or taxing and for the most part I can be done within three hours or thereabouts, so it is fair to say that I have had it pretty cushy for the last 3 months or so. When we were doing the first part of this contract last summer, I was able to find a few nice fisheries and Orchard was one of them and I have wanted to get back since. Last time I visited I was still learning the basics and stuck to fishing the margins with my float rod so it would be interesting to see if I could venture further out and try the feeder rod this time.
I decided that I would leave for my job in Salisbury, straight from the fishery and had to set myself a strict time to leave to ensure I wasn't late on site. It's one thing to be late because of traffic but I think Luke might have something to say if the reason I was late because I was fishing and he was stuck behind his laptop in the office. I had to be out of the gate by 4pm, allowing 30 minutes for any congestion I may encounter but I was confident that once I was clear of the M27 then I wouldn't get much until I hit Salisbury's ring road. With a time imprinted in my mind and my bags packed I left the hotel and made my way to the lakes, arriving around 10am, giving me 6 hours of fishing.
At Orchard you have to go into the tackle and bait shop before making your way down to a lake and pay the £10 fee. If you don't and they have to come to the bankside the fee is doubled, plus they sell the fattest and juiciest red maggots I have ever used. After making my purchases in the shop (bait and float stops) it was time to get a line in the water and there are a number of lakes to choose from but I decided to go onto the snake lake again, but this time I would go around to where the lake split into three at the 'T' junction on peg 16. This gave me a variety of areas to fish and would hopefully bag me some decent fish.
I had seen a rig in Improve Your Coarse Fishing where the maggot feeder was fixed on the main line with the hook length on a sort of heli-rig attached via a small swivel on the main line and locked into place with two float stops and a short length of silicon tubing over part of the hook length and swivel to prevent tangles. I wasn't too sure at first because I hadn't used this set-up before and I was on my own, Damian, Luke or Richard were not with me and I do suffer from a little bit of doubt over my tactics or set-up without them. However, my fears were soon put to the back of my mind as soon as I made the first cast and I felt more relaxed.
I think my confidence will build with time but I like fishing with the lads, they laugh at me for catching tiddlers but they are always there for me if I need any advice or help. Anyway, the article I saw the rig in advised leaving the feeder in the water for around 30 minutes before casting out again into the same area. Now patience is something I have little of when it comes to fishing and I do sometimes find myself chasing a bite, but today I was determined to control the urge to reel in and re-cast. The rod was placed into the rod rest with the tip slightly bent, just enough to show any activity on the hook and just off the surface of the water. The wind was blowing a little and causing a few ripples which made the rod tip look like it was bouncing but I remembered what Rich had told me when we were at Makin's and resisted the urge to strike. After about 20 minutes the end of the rod bent round and I knew I was in. I picked up the rod and struck, feeling the resistance on the line as the hook did it's job I began to reel in. I could tell it was a big fish from the feel of it through the rod and finally understood what Matt Hayes and Mick Brown meant when they would say it was this fish or that fish when they were on TV. Quite how they can tell what species they have on the line must be something that comes with experience because I didn't have a clue what I had hooked.
After two or three minutes of playing the fish I finally managed to get it into my landing net and was pleasantly surprised to see it was a bit of a beast. My scales read 5lb, but I took a pound off because the unhooking mat was waterlogged and quite heavy, so my first fish was a lovely Common Carp in great condition. After that things died off a bit and I decided that maybe it was time to switch to a loaded waggler just on the edge of the shelf where the lake bed dropped a bit. I didn't have to wait long and soon I was into a shoal of roach and it was in, out, in, out fishing for about an hour or so until the fish moved on.
I was catching at a steady pace and switching between float and feeder every hour or so and just having a really enjoyable session though in the back of my mind I was aware that I had a job to do in Salisbury and so I packed up around 3.30pm. As I left the lakes I was aware of someone in a mobility scooter just past the gate on the road, what I didn't expect was the sight before me. There was an elderly gentleman shooting squirrels in a tree from his mobility scooter and getting quite angry at his dog. If I hadn't of taken the photo below I doubt anyone would have believed me.
Once I stopped laughing at the way the bloke was shouting at the dog and blaming the poor mutt for him missing the squirrels I made my to Salisbury and the daily grind.....
See you on the bankside......
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| My peg was just to the right |
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| The rig I used |
I think my confidence will build with time but I like fishing with the lads, they laugh at me for catching tiddlers but they are always there for me if I need any advice or help. Anyway, the article I saw the rig in advised leaving the feeder in the water for around 30 minutes before casting out again into the same area. Now patience is something I have little of when it comes to fishing and I do sometimes find myself chasing a bite, but today I was determined to control the urge to reel in and re-cast. The rod was placed into the rod rest with the tip slightly bent, just enough to show any activity on the hook and just off the surface of the water. The wind was blowing a little and causing a few ripples which made the rod tip look like it was bouncing but I remembered what Rich had told me when we were at Makin's and resisted the urge to strike. After about 20 minutes the end of the rod bent round and I knew I was in. I picked up the rod and struck, feeling the resistance on the line as the hook did it's job I began to reel in. I could tell it was a big fish from the feel of it through the rod and finally understood what Matt Hayes and Mick Brown meant when they would say it was this fish or that fish when they were on TV. Quite how they can tell what species they have on the line must be something that comes with experience because I didn't have a clue what I had hooked.
After two or three minutes of playing the fish I finally managed to get it into my landing net and was pleasantly surprised to see it was a bit of a beast. My scales read 5lb, but I took a pound off because the unhooking mat was waterlogged and quite heavy, so my first fish was a lovely Common Carp in great condition. After that things died off a bit and I decided that maybe it was time to switch to a loaded waggler just on the edge of the shelf where the lake bed dropped a bit. I didn't have to wait long and soon I was into a shoal of roach and it was in, out, in, out fishing for about an hour or so until the fish moved on.
I was catching at a steady pace and switching between float and feeder every hour or so and just having a really enjoyable session though in the back of my mind I was aware that I had a job to do in Salisbury and so I packed up around 3.30pm. As I left the lakes I was aware of someone in a mobility scooter just past the gate on the road, what I didn't expect was the sight before me. There was an elderly gentleman shooting squirrels in a tree from his mobility scooter and getting quite angry at his dog. If I hadn't of taken the photo below I doubt anyone would have believed me.
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| You see some strange things when fishing |
See you on the bankside......
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