Anglers Paradise 2017 - Session 4

Session 4 - Main Lake

Feeling a little fresher than expected on Monday morning after a night of magic glasses at the BBQ, Steve and I were planning on fishing Main for a day or two, but after a quick recon mission down to the lake quite a few of the pegs were already taken so we decided we'd take minimal gear and do a bit of opportunistic fishing in the free areas of the lake. Steve slotted in down by the pagoda, which is where he wanted to fish anyway, and I headed off around towards the bay area below the specimen carp lake.

Mid double common from Main lake

 There were a number of lumps sunbathing amongst the weeds and after a few catapults of dog biscuits I managed to temp a few into having a bit of a munch on the surface. Unfortunately, I'd also attracted an army of little 1 to 2lb carp who were also feeling rather peckish. Despite my best efforts to try and avoid the smaller fish, after hooking 4 or 5 of them the bigger fish had drifted out of the area. I knew they'd come back if I stopped causing the disturbance of catching the small fish though, and from previous trips I knew if I was quiet they quite often followed a path right up against the bank under a tree on my left. So I ditched the floater gear, and very carefully placed an essential cell wafter in a small hole in the dwarf lily pads, no more than a foot in diameter just under the outer branches of the tree on my left no more than 2 feet from the bank. I roughly crumbled a handful of boilies and dropped them in over the top, with another handful of whole boilies which I flicked out in a wider diameter of 3 or 4 feet. About 20 minutes later the water erupted under the tree and my spool  briefly screamed into action as a fish had fallen for the trap and made a dash into an area of thicker weeds. It hadn't locked up solid and I could still feel the fish on the end, and so ensued a painstaking 10 minute battle of giving and gaining line to keep the fish moving and slowly free it from the weeds. Eventually I got it within netting distance, and after a few failed attempts managed to get it in the net, complete with a bouquet of dwarf lily pads draped over its head like weedy dreadlocks. I did weigh it but have since forgotten the weight but I'm pretty sure it was a mid double or there abouts, I really should write these things down!

As I was taking the photos, Steve phoned me to inform me the person who had been fishing next to him on Nev's point had packed up, so I gathered my gear together and quickly nabbed the peg so I had somewhere to fish for the night. I tried a bit of floater fishing here too, with the same result as in the weedy bay, so gave up on that and set about finding a spot to fish to. In previous years there had been a hard spot no more than 30 or so yards out that had provided me with a number of fish, but it was no longer there, so I opted to fish a bit further out where I could see fish passing through over what turned out to be a slope where the lake changed depth by around a foot in a fairly short distance before levelling out again. I baited the area with about half a kilo of boilies and then headed back to the villa for the rest of my gear and a bite to eat while the fish hopefully stopped off on their travels through my swim for a bite to eat themselves.

Upon returning I quickly put the rods out and set up camp for the night. Steve was telling me how he always seemed to get a run from his spot at around 6 o'clock, and that it was almost 6 o'clock when low and behold, his alarm went off!

Steve with a mid double fully scaled mirror from Main

He had a similar battle to my earlier capture, with the fish burying itself in the dwarf pads, and after getting locked up in the weeds just out of netting range handed me the rod while he went for a little paddle in the lake with net. Eventually he managed to scoop the fish up in the net and get it back to the bank. We weighed this one too, and again I've forgotten the weight, but most of our fish from main over the years have been between 13 and 18lb so I'll call it another mid double. I really really should write these things down!

Steve saw a bit more action through the evening with 2 more runs, both of which he lost in the weeds, but my swim was proving to be pretty dead despite a steady stream of fish passing through. I had even swapped over to zigs for a few hours to no avail, but felt confident I'd get a few in the night. I was wrong of course, I caught bugger all! Not even a liner. I did have a furry friend to keep me company though in the form of the resident dog, who decided to spend the night in my bivvy after a busy evening of digging the rats out of the bank!