As I expected work did take me south again as it ussually does, hence my absence for 10 days. The thing I didnt expect was that my day off changed from wednesday to thursday or in other words the last day of the season to the first day of the close season! So the intended trip to the Thames fishing for pike was off but where was I going to go?
My work is usually in Uxbridge and a quick look through the Yellow Pages brought me the answer, Farlows Lakes near Iver which is litereally 10 minutes drive away. Even better than the proximity they even have a shop on site with all the bait you could ever want and free advice and inside information too.
By 10 o'clock I was set up in the top corner of the motorway bank well away from everyone else and baited up with Dynamite Baits 'Spicy shrimp and Prawn' boilies. Because of the presure these fish receive I opted for a running lead with a 14 inch hook length and size 8 hook. An island ran diagonally in front of me about 30 to 40 m out and as recomended the 2 baits were cast reasonably tight against this feature. Again because of the presure I avoided PVA bags and pulted 15 to 20 boiles and some loose Koi pelets around each bait. The other reason for avoiding PVA bags was that I knew with my rusty casting and the accuracy needed I'd probably need 3 or 4 attempts to get the baits in the right spot.
By 2 pm I was begining to loose a bit of faith when off went the right hand rod and I pulled nicely into a fish. All seemed to go too well untill the fish arrived under the rod tip and seemed at last to wake up and plunged around on a short line for a few minutes. Finely with a sigh of relief i slipped the net under a well conditioned mirror carp that pulled the scales around to 13lb 2 oz. Not a massive fish by any standards but my biggest for a very very long time.
That was to be my only action for the day, because the gates get locked at 6 I had to pack up early before dusk to avoid being locked in.
The attached picture is the carp of the day, my question is though, how can you take good photos when on your own which give a sense of scale? Anyone have any ideas?
Next week sees me off again and with any luck my good friend Pete will be meeting up with me at Willow lakes inHertfordshire. Fingers crossed, be lucky.
My work is usually in Uxbridge and a quick look through the Yellow Pages brought me the answer, Farlows Lakes near Iver which is litereally 10 minutes drive away. Even better than the proximity they even have a shop on site with all the bait you could ever want and free advice and inside information too.
By 10 o'clock I was set up in the top corner of the motorway bank well away from everyone else and baited up with Dynamite Baits 'Spicy shrimp and Prawn' boilies. Because of the presure these fish receive I opted for a running lead with a 14 inch hook length and size 8 hook. An island ran diagonally in front of me about 30 to 40 m out and as recomended the 2 baits were cast reasonably tight against this feature. Again because of the presure I avoided PVA bags and pulted 15 to 20 boiles and some loose Koi pelets around each bait. The other reason for avoiding PVA bags was that I knew with my rusty casting and the accuracy needed I'd probably need 3 or 4 attempts to get the baits in the right spot.
By 2 pm I was begining to loose a bit of faith when off went the right hand rod and I pulled nicely into a fish. All seemed to go too well untill the fish arrived under the rod tip and seemed at last to wake up and plunged around on a short line for a few minutes. Finely with a sigh of relief i slipped the net under a well conditioned mirror carp that pulled the scales around to 13lb 2 oz. Not a massive fish by any standards but my biggest for a very very long time.
That was to be my only action for the day, because the gates get locked at 6 I had to pack up early before dusk to avoid being locked in.
The attached picture is the carp of the day, my question is though, how can you take good photos when on your own which give a sense of scale? Anyone have any ideas?
Next week sees me off again and with any luck my good friend Pete will be meeting up with me at Willow lakes inHertfordshire. Fingers crossed, be lucky.
1 comment:
If you have a digital camera with a timer, get a bankstick camera attachment or a small tripod and try a few shots before you catch anything. You might feel a bit of a prat posing for a camera without a fish, but so what! Get the best position and set your tripod up there and then. It can be a bit of a struggle to get the fish and get posed in time, but you soon get the hang of it.
If you have 35mm film camera, you can get can get a balloon-like device that you screw into the shutter button which has a long tube. When you squeeze the balloon, it takes a picture. That way you have full control of when you are taking the picture.
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