Sunday 8th March 2015
This was a session that had been on the calendar for a while as me and my old mate Martin managed to find a mutually agreeable day to get on the bank together. As the day approached, fellow Pem Central member Paul managed to get a day pass off her indoors and so the three of us found ourselves on Arley Reservoir, which is the largest of the 3 waters available at Worthington lakes. We pegged ourselves in a new area for me, on the bank between Arley and Worthington, taking up the section to the right of the towers up to the overflow. Martin was closest to the towers, I was in the middle and Paul was on the right next to the overflow.
We all fished the feeder for the day. My set up was slightly different than I normally do on here, opting for a running feeder rig over my normal paternoster set up. I started on a 2ft hooklength to a size 14 Drennan Carbon Feeder hook. I had to make a further variation on my normal tactics as the tackle shop was out of my favourite Omen groundbait so I went for the Sensas Magic sweet fishmeal groundbait this time. Sensas Magic is a groundbait I have a lot of confidence in having used it extensively but this was the first time I have tried the sweet fishmeal version. To complete my bait tray, I had some red/white mixed maggot and half a pint of caster.
Once set up I started off with a large feeder and no hooklength to put a carpet of feed down. As I wasn't sure how the venue had been fishing I was slightly cautious and restricted my initial bombardment to just 5 feeder fulls before switching to a smaller feeder and adding the hooklength.
The obligatory £1 side bet was placed on the first fish between me and Paul. Martin was non-committal which back-fired on him when he caught the first fish of the day and missed out on the valuable golden nugget. Incidentally, the first fish for Martin was a nice Roach.
The heat was on between me and Paul, so I could feel the tension in the air as my tip shot round and I tentatively played my first fish to the net. The result was a nice Roach, but more importantly I had claimed bragging rights and that all important golden nugget (for now).
As it happened Paul only just missed out on the golden nugget as he reeled in his first fish shortly after me. Losing the quid had obviously hit Paul hard as he was soon to suggest a double or nothing second bet on the first to catch a Bream - feeling greedy from my earlier victory I immediately accepted the challenge without considering the fact that despite not blanking at the venue, I had yet to catch a proper Bream and Paul had bagged them in every session we had on there last year. My luck soon ran out as Paul was soon landing the first proper Bream of the day, quietly giggling to himself as he did so. So the bets had cancelled themselves out and from this point on, it was only pride at stake.
My second fish of the day turned out to be a small skimmer, which I am certain would not have counted as a Bream anyway. Martin had also added a second fish to his tally so we were having a 3 way tie on the fish count. As the day went on from this point, Martin was getting steadily frustrated with missing what was obviously Perch bites, but at least he was intermittently getting some of the Perch to the bank. I also had started to catch Perch, many of which didn't even register a bite on the tip and I only noticed when I was winding in to refill the feeder. Paul however was much slower on catching but when he did, he made up for it by sliding more slabs over the net. The longer the day went on, my dreams of catching the elusive Bream were fading fast as even the Perch had stopped biting at this stage. Not surprisingly the banter was also escalating as my bragging rights were taken away by Paul. I was clutching at any straw available to explain away my lack of success but none would be accepted. Eventually I managed to get into a few more fish, sadly they were the ever willing Perch that I was hoping to avoid. (Quite ironic really that I had spent the winter lure fishing on the canals, hoping for a Perch and getting nothing, now when I don't want them, they were more than happy to oblige). I managed to sneak a second nice roach before Paul slammed the final nail in the coffin with what was probably his biggest of the day.
3 o'clock was soon upon us and that was when we called time on the day. Another good days fishing on Worthington with good company, good banter and no dry nets. Sadly the Bream evaded me and Martin today. Martin managed a good number of Perch and probably had the most fish on the day, Paul was master Bream slayer and yet again I was left missing the slab I am longing to find on this venue.
Couple of points I'll consider going forward from here:
1. Generally, I end up casting further than Paul when we go to Worthington and feeder fish. He also always out fishes me on this method too. So I think in future sessions I need to make a conscious effort to cast slightly shorter than usual.
2. Confidence makes a difference and whilst it probably had nothing to do with the groundbait mix I was using, I will definitely be making sure I get some Omen for my next session on here.
3. The pegs on this bank were quite snaggy, especially for Martin who was closest to the corner.
4. The deeper water seemed to work better today. On my swim, I had a 13 count on the cast whilst Paul claimed to have a 20 count. Could this have been a contributing factor to Paul's success today?
Not sure when my next outing will be now as I have a few personal commitments over the next few weeks, through which I am going to miss the first match on Pems calendar this year but at worst I should be out for Pems second match on Rosemary Wood on the last weekend of the month.
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