I had only brought a pole, so that was easy, just a few topkits to set up. Andy has cut out an area opposite the platforms on the far bank, which is clear from overhanging grass and vegetation - nice to see some proactive fishery management. I set up two rigs to fish over, one for 12" deep, as it plumbed up 12" deep about 12" from the far bank, any tighter in and it went to 8" and the depth below the float has to be 12" - venue rules. These were both set up with a 18 LWG tied with a band on 0.12, No10 elastic. There were a few cruisers moving round and expecting to get some of them, I set up a mugging rig on a long line, 0.14 hooklength with a 16 LWG, again with a band.
Two more rigs to complete the set up, both for down the track at the joint of 6/7, where I plumbed up and found the same depth at 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock. Both Hillbilly chumps, one with a LWG and band, the other with a 18 Kaizen on 0.12. These would also do for a short line at the bottom of the near shelf.
Bait tray was live maggots, dead maggots, 4 & 6m pellets, corn and 1/4 of a big Preston cup of chopped worm, I mixed up 1 kilo of GB and as I had loads of spare time, I did pump a few 4 & 6mm expanders.
The all-in saw me trying to mug one of the cruisers, but they would spook away at any attempt, even with 5' of line above the float. This wasted nearly 15 minutes, then I tried across and had a couple of missed bites, I also tried banded pellet short where I had been flicking them in - nothing and half an hour was gone!! That wasn't the plan at all, as this lake has a large head of small stockies and getting too far behind makes it difficult to catch up. I had fed the two lines down the track, one with GB, dead maggot and worm, one with pellet and corn, first fish was a stockie carp on worm from the RH line.
I was going nowhere fast so switched the short line to maggot whilst I picked off a couple of stockies from the far bank, dropping in on maggot short was more successful, as I put together a few more stockies and a couple of skimmers. As the bites were at least as frequent as those over, I stuck with it and carried on feeding a few 4mm pellets and maggot, this saw a run of carp and skimmers coming, not at an amazing rate, but quick enough to keep working at it to increase the catch rate.
I started feeding nuggets of GB on the short line and this brought in the big skimmers, maggot had been the best bait, but it had slowed a little. A switch to expander brought an immediate response and 3 more skimmers netted in quick succession. By the halfway point I thought I had 30lb + of silvers, so dropped another net in (50lb limit). I rested the line by going back tight across, as there were the odd sign or two of bigger carp over the pellet I had kept putting in with a catapult, there didn't seem to be a way of picking up a better fish, as the stockies got to the bait before the bigger ones could get to it.
Fishing across was slower than the short line, so I kept plugging away at it, when it went quiet, a change of bait seemed to do the trick, I had a couple on worm, a few on corn and I was catching steadily to the end. I had to stop and mix up some more GB, they wanted plenty, it was a very enjoyable days fishing and my 61 stockies went 39.09 and the skimmers, some cracking roach and a couple of perch went a very enjoyable 84.10 - I think this is my PB match weight for silvers from a commercial. Definitely won't leave it too long to get back to Ivy House.
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