I happen to be in a fortunate position where I am allowed to leave work at 12:30 on a Friday so on the 18th May I planned an afternoon session at Whitmore Fisheries, which is local to my work, with my mate Tony, who is a beginner in the sport. I recently helped Tony out by getting him sorted with some tackle and he was keen to give it a try. Another friend of mine Paul was also planning to join us.
When we arrived at the fishery we were promptly met by the bailiff who directed us to East Lake pegs 8 and 9, which are well known to be fliers on the lake and by some stroke of luck were sat empty when we arrived. I found myself on peg 8 while Tony went to peg 9.
I first assisted Tony in getting set up, opting to fish a method feeder on a 10ft tip rod with a small preston inline feeder, Tony was very quickly catching fish which left me happy to get myself tackled up. I also went for the method feeder set up on my trusty 9ft6/11ft Puddle Chucker, set up at 11ft today. I opted for a larger feeder to give me and Tony a chance of working out which was preffered on the day and changing if we need to. I also set up a pole line at 2+2 and one in the margins, these were really set for later in the day.
I was catching reasonably frequently but during his rounds the bailiff stopped by and advised me to cast further. Apparently there is a sunken island in the lake and my casts were falling short of it. Following this guidance we found the shallower water which made a massive and instant change to my day as on most casts my tip was flying round before the feeder had even settled as big chub and carp were taking the feeder on the drop (point to note for next time here - bring my pellet waggler set up). This continued for a while and Tony was also catching well. While all this was going on, Paul had turned up and settled himself on peg 10 and was catching on the pole.
Tony decided to call it a day at around 5pm after about 10 'last casts' at which point Paul moved himself onto the now vacant peg 9 and preceeded to catch on the method over the same sunken island.
Meanwhile, I had been feeding my pole lines throughout the afternoon and decided to have a quick look. The 2+2 line was a little slower than expected but did produce a few carp and a barbel, it seemed to be that the fish were taking the bait on the drop towards the bottom of the swim but when I shallowed up a bit the bites seemed to stop. So back on the bottom I went and continued to catch well. Eventually as the session was drawing to a close I came in on the margin line where I managed to catch a few good Barbel, the biggest of the day being about 6lb. I decided to go back out on the feeder for a while as I slowly packed away my gear, managing to land a couple more fish before eventually calling it a day at around 7pm.
Overall it was an enjoyable afternoon, Tony had a good time and we have arranged to go back this coming Thursday for a full day. Hopefully I will remember to get some photos this time around.
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