Part 2 Getting it wrong

I'm going to give somewhere else a try,

somewhere I've been past in my van hundreds of times but never stopped and had a look, there are reportedly 20lb pike,big carp,Roach and Rudd to 3lb,

Tench into double figures, and the reason why I'm going big fat stripeys, that's it  I'm off Saturday the 16th November hope the lakes ready for the visit of TheGudgeon.

My tackle is the same as before but i will be setting up one of my Matt Hayes rods so i can float fish, and i will also be taking my lure rod so i can do a bit of dropshotting never done this style of fishing before so should be fun. 

It's 6.55am Saturday morning and I've just arrived at The old quarry fishery in Betchworth. On first impressions was WOW, it look liked I'm walking back in time doesn't seem as if anybody has fished this place for years, does this mean I going to have a good day erm I mean come on I am TheGudgeon I could fish in a tank full of hungry piranhas and blank.

So first thing first have a look around see what's about and where I fancy to fish, and the far corner by the over hanging tree looks very perchy indeed so that's where I head, now according to the bailiffs son who paid me a quick visit to take my 15 quid for two rods he told me I'm on the deepest side of the lake but in the wrong swim. I should be in peg 5, four swims down to my left in between the two trees fish as close as you can to the snags and keep the feed going in, thanks for that bit of info but after dragging my self round here I give this swim a go for a while so I can recuperate and have a brew. But three hours later I'm sitting here fish-less not even a nibble, I drop shotted, lure fished,and even put a spinner through the swim and the only thing I caught was the bottom first then I went straight in the bush I've got to admit I'm not great at this fishing lark but I just love being out on the bank me vs the fish.

It's time to move now I've got to load up the korum barrow and lug the whole lot round to peg 5, don't get me wrong it's not that far but the path isn't that good and not that wide either so after slipping on the wet leaves once and having the barrow tip over after getting the wheel stuck I arrive in the swim. First things first, sod the fishing make a cup of tea and relax get my breath back, ten minutes later I'm sorting myself out, and all the time I'm doing this 4 or 5 maggots are being thrown as close to the snags as possible so by the time I cast out the swim should be ready and willing to give up its jewels please pretty please.

So now I'm fishing and within two minutes I'm in to a fish a small perch returned safely, i cast back out and the float goes straight under again and a fish of the same size comes swinging in i'm happy now because i am catching.

Now where are the monsters I ask my self, so I keep the bait going in after a while my swim goes a bit quiet so I take it that's a sign something big has move in. I'm getting nervous now, with that the float bobbles and slides under the water and as soon as I strike I know this is not a tiddler, it feels like an age before I get my first glimpse of the beast in the crystal clear water out in front of me it's a good one but before I can slip the landing net under the fish the hook pulls and the perch all of about 2lb just drifts back into the roots of the tree to my right, it's not going to be my day.

I put the landing net down and rebait my hook, I'm not going to dwell on the fact that I lost a good fish but It happens. So I cast back out in the same place and to my amazement the float bury's straight away and the battle begins again. This time i say to myself take it easy because it feels a lot bigger than the last one, after what seems like an hour (really it was the best part of a minute) i get the first glimpse of the fish rolling in front of me, I could see the stripes of a very big Sargent it's a PB if I can land it but to my horror it happens again you got it the dreaded hook Pull!!! at this point I just throw the rod down in the bush and sulk for at least half hour, i lost the first one and just put it down to bad luck. But losing second fish just knocked the stuffing out of me, I half heartedly tried to fish on but the swim just seem to go dead, so i packed up and headed home. I'm not proud to say I gave up, I've been defeated it's not a great feeling but sometimes you have to step back away from what you are doing to see where you are going wrong, and i have done just that, now i can see the mistakes I made and make adjustments accordingly.

I'm not finished with this lake, I'm going to have to come back again and again until I get the answers I want, and for the lake to give up it's jewels, so until next time i'm still on the hunt for that 4lb perch.

Part 1 breaking my P/B.

It's Saturday 26th October and I'm out fishing for the first time  in months due to holidays and sickness, it's a windy day and  spitting with rain but it's quite mild for this time of year, I'm at Framfields park fisherys in uckfield East Sussex, I'm fishing spring lake on the complex which is stuffed with carp but holds some very big perch and that's what I'm here for.

My tackle comprises of two Matt Hayes all rounder rods which 

I couple with my shimano baby bait runners reels loaded with 8lb dawia sensor line, my end tackle is a korum run rig 1/2 ounce bomb and hook link wise 6-8 inches of Berkeley trilene fluorocarbon in 6lb breaking strain with a

size 6 drennen super specialist hook very simple but strong and effective.

Bait wise was simple krilled prawns and plain prawns plus maggots which I scented with Archie Braddocks perch magic looking good.

Now to get down to the nitty gritty of the story, it doesn't start very good because I set my alarm for 5am but i didn't get up until gone 6am, just shows you how much I wanted to go, but I got myself up and loaded the car and off I went, it's only a 45 minute drive if that ,and I arrived to find the car park full, there a match on the other lake the bailiff said thank god for that I said, but to be quite honest I could of turned round and gone home, I didn't feel wright but I told myself 

I've got to get on with it your be ok just take your time and relax, little did I know how my day was going to pan out.

Spring lake I'm fishing is about 3 acre in size and has two island these two island split in the middle of the lake,it's at this point is where I'm going to fish.

So now I'm in my swim with my rods 90% set up all I got to do is attach my hook links and hit the spots where I think mister and misses stripey live first rod is flicked out to within a couple of inches of the island great cast is my luck changing nope, place my rod on its rest clipped up my bobbing and my batteries are flat in my chub T3's boll###s, not been fishing for a while I forgot to check if  they worked, so now I've go to keep one eye on the first rod while I cast out the second rod.

Now as I said before this place is stuffed with carp and my first rod burst into life as the second hit the water so I put that rod on to the rest and done battle with the first, a small carp of about 5lb, now when I checked the second rod that was bending into a funny shape so carp on again about the same size as the first,

Two carp in the net, I'm happy it's a fish or two but it's not what I'm after so I unhooked the fish and get the rods back out, it continues like this for the next few hours, all the time I'm throwing maggots down to the old reed bed to my left 

Little did I know but the maggots I was feeding to my left we're stiring mummer perch into action but I persisted on the prawns krilled or natural one in open water the other by the island carp after carp after carp you get the message by now I am fed up with bloody small carp

so I brought in the open water rod and put a float on with a 3lb hook link and size 16 hook, first chuck I caught a perch

Well let's try that again, in the mean time the wind is picking up and the rain is getting a bit heavier so time for my new umbrella 50" korum fibreglass, put it in one position get comfortable and the wind changes direction, now I got to move it as the wind is blowing towards me causing me alsorts of problem, while this is happening I get another carp on me float bloody hell I'm not enjoying myself now but I'm going to stick with it

while I land that carp I get another on the prawn rod, I lost that one, so now again no rods in water right I'm going to sort the brolly out, got the brolly all pin down chair already and now I think I'm comfortable I leave the prawn rod out because I going to put a live bait on well that was the idea three hours later I couldn't catch a cold the swim was dead so with my float rod I wandered down a couple of swims and eventually I caught a small 3" roach yessssss come on, hooked it up and flicked it out just down to my left, it only been out a minute and the bobbing hit the rod blank result not massive but a another stripey.

It look like I'm only going to catch on live baits because after catching a few more small roach and sticking them back on the hook I caught more stripeys😃

All the time they are getting bigger, little did I know what was going to happen next.

I'm only fishing one rod now down to my left with live baits with a sprinkling of Braddocks maggots, after a hour I catch a good size live bait and send it back out down the depths sit back in my chair and ready myself for another perch, but nothing happens for at least hour, so now  I'm comfortable and dozzing, let's set the scene the wind blowing I'm tired and the bobbing twitching all of a sudden the wind changes direction and blows my brolly inside out and breaks it, as that happens my bobbing shot up I move forward to the front of my chair to get ready to strike just as the line starts to peel off my reel my chair snaps and I end up in the mud now with a broken brolly flapping in the wind, I was rolling round on the floor trying to get myself up I manage to grabbed the rod and struck on my knees yes fish on and it feels a good one but what's this I can't reel in the bobbing has wrap around the line and tangled f@#k me what else is going to happen, so now I'm going to have to hand line this fish in, successfully scooping up a personal best fish of      2lb 7oz over the moon.

So one broken brolly and chair muddy arse birds nest in my main line complete mayhem everywhere, but am I happy you bet your bottom dollar I am, I stuck with it after all the things that happened I carried on and was rewarded, and I got my fishing mojo back, but I'm still on the hunt for that four pounder so until the next episode tight lines 😛