Anyhow…I thought I’d accompany the photos of my most recent capture with a short ish blog of how things can turn up trumps whilst out there in search of those dreams!
A couple of weeks ago I returned home from one of my monthly Business trips to China and exclaimed to the Missus that I need to go for a couple of nights fishing somewhere nice to get a fix and chill out! I was extremely tired from jet lag and stressed out from all my recent travels and escapades… Seed well and truly sewn!
Little did she know that in the back of mind I really wanted to get back down to Abbey with my partner in crime, Lee England, and have another go for something special we saw during our last visit to the Heron back in March.
Anyway back to the plot…a quick phone call to Lee and the Heron and Ferry were booked for the fast approaching Friday through to until the Mon…a nice long weekend Dangling and Socialising in the sun to look forwards too…happy days! All I had to do now was to explain to the Wife that we were in fact better off going to Abbey than somewhere like Orchid or Yateley or our Syndicate because the Heron had just been closed for a week and it’s bound to fish it’s nuts off and it’s such a good opportunity at this time of the year and all that! Which was in actual fact what we convinced ourselves was rather true although as you will find out later….best laid plans…..blah blah blah…
Right…we now only have a few days to sort out the gear (Spool my New Shimano Tech Mags! and prepare the bait and make the essential last minute final preparations before the off at 2.30am Friday morning….WRONG! Lee gives me a call on the Wednesday saying that his mother in law has just past away and that he knows that his Missus will need his support and look after the kids…etc…etc…
Now as things turned out this gives the poor Fella a bit of a dilemma because we all want to do the right thing and go fishing…I mean…stay at home…so on the Thurs night he discusses it with his Mrs whom convinces him to go…basically saying that She wants to be with her kids and with her own family over the week-end. Fairplay to Siobhan...although that’s really made him feel more guilty…and I thought I was a selfish barsteward….only kidding Mate!...you know I would’ve gone on my Todd!
So by 5am we were down at Dover, then by 8am French time we were making our way down to the short ish drive to Abbey around 2hrs. The forecast for the weekend was hot and humid although it was raining and mild when we got there…never have trusted the French weather forecasts, although we were suitably armed with zigs and maggots due to the amount of weed cutting that had gone on in the previous week and we wanted to give them something else to look at opposed to the usual concoction of boilles and particles/pellets that are constantly dropped on their heads with every make and model of bait boat you could ever imagine! For the record I tend to leave mine at home simply because you can cast to almost every spot and the difference in presentation is something different….which I like.
Anyway... after a quick chat with Cedric (the expert Boar shooting Bailiff!), and the man from Holland (his name escapes me for the moment)….we headed off around the Heron Lake in search of showing fish and to chuck a marker about to see the extent of the weed removal operation that had supposedly gone very well, but it was still quite thick and some Anglers had pulled off because of it....bad news!
After a good couple of hours and noticing that the middle was stitched up with some smaller fish showing at both ends of the lake…we opted to go on the wind and fished a couple of swims near two Dutch Fella’s who were bivvied up on the Fox tail of the wind. Nothing had been out of the Fox although the Heron had produced the odd fish or two…not the best news but I do know that there’s always a chance of a take on these waters so confidence remained high.
Lee opted to try some zigs and I started off with a simple popped up maggot clip rig just under-armed out adjacent to some heavy floating weed that accumulated at the bottom of bay. The weed still appeared very heavy and judging by the tons and tons of it removed and dumped in the nearby field…must’ve been a real nightmare previously.
OK…that’s one rod sorted…now time to open up a Stella whilst sorting out the 2nd rod when all of a sudden the maggot rod screams off!!!...hand over spool…felt a few light kicks and hook pull…convinced it was a tench...oh well…never mind…more critically balanced maggots back out on the spot although I’m now seeing bubblers all over the area and then all of a sudden a nice big black dolphin catches my eye three quarters of the way across the lake on the edge of the floating weed! Happy Days…great choice of swim methinks and that’s where the 2nd rod will be going out and the third would either back up the 1st or wait until another fish shows somewhere in between.
The second maggot rig flies straight and true towards the “Dolphin” spot…the Tech Mags are truly magnificent although never going to be worth all the money they cost but hey I more than earned my bonus that paid for them so sod it…anyway, the lead lands nicely and confidence is high…time to get the bivvy up, drink some more Stella and get ready for the infamous Lee England Thai Chicken stir fry…Wok and all…washed down with some superb red wine…HHHMMM!!!
It’s now early evening and you can probably picture this…Dennis, Michel (Dutch Fella’s) and Lee are standing in my swim with cans in hand admiring my new reels when all of a sudden the 1st rod rockets away….I’m straight on it in a flash searching for the bait runner…DOH! And eventually tighten up the spool and the rod bends in two…CARP! After a spirited fight….all of 6.5secs the fish snaps me at the leader knot! ****! Everyone goes quiet and cautiously flee my swim leaving me to reflect on what might have been!
Hey ho..chin up I say…still plenty of time and opportunity left…WRONG….the night passes without a bleep…the third rod becomes a searcher and I start getting twitchy in the morning after much needed bacon sarnies and endless cups of Tetley.
By Noon I’ve seen no more Dolphins and even the tench have vacated the swim. I know that the fish at Abbey can be spooked out in large shoals very easily and thus it’s not wise to thrash it to death with Markers and Spods…thus I wandered off for another good look around…it didn't take long before I found a large shoal of fish at the top end and on the back of the wind….but…not in the Heron but in the Fox! They were boshers and cruisers…why oh why do people bivvy up all week long and never get off there backside to look for fish! Not one Angler was anywhere near these Carp…Quality!!!
Within minutes I was back in the car, after leaving some empty luggage in the swim, and back down to persuade Lee to move…he only had a few liners in the swim next to me and was easily convinced that a move would be a good idea. So literally within about 30mins the car was packed with rods and bivvies hanging out of the boot and we were off up to swim 10 on the Fox where I recall Ali Hamidi had done a couple of mid-thirties using the Spice Girls (ZigaZigAhh) on a Korda trip.
We decided not to spook any fish and use the map to determine how deep to fish the zigs…I really do not like the variable set-ups and prefer to alter my depths accordingly. After converting into meters we set about to cover a couple of areas and decided to only fish a rod each to start off with and only put the bivvies up after dinner.
Now casting 15ft zigs is never easy and takes a bit of skill to punch them skyward and feather down to avoid tangles….after a couple of attempts we managed to be fishing in the correct areas only a couple of feet beneath the surface.
Lee was first to get some action but lost it in the weed…unlucky but nonetheless they were up for it…a big hit on the zigs!!! WRONG again…. We tried and tried but never managed to tempt one at these depths….so a change was on the cards and I managed to find a nice shelf on the far bank that was around 10feet and was castable with an 8ft zig…within minutes I was in!
A few single bleeps on the running lead set up and a tightening of the spool spelt out a definite zig like take…the fish felt very small at first and then the stretch of the 12lbs double strength and 70yds of 16lbs Pro clear was taken up and I then felt the weight of a very large fish that had one thing on it’s mind…Run! or should that be Swim!
It took me all over the place…I was up and down the bank….backwards and forwards…weeded up and then on top and then half in the net and then out again…must have been 25-30mins before I eventually got it safely into the net…”At least 30 Lee said”….I was just relieved to get the bloody thing in!…it was not the most enjoyable fight because I was not confident about the line after the previous day’s lost fish…but looking back…it was awesome heart stopping stuff…the water was so clear and when in the deep margin…it looked a picture!
I got everything sorted out whilst the fish was recovering in the nice deep margin being held by Lee whom jumped straight in…socks and all! The fish was weighed and photographed and duly put back to fight another day and the celebrations began!
That’s 3 of the 4 40’s I need to complete the goal I set out to achieve many, many years ago…I just need to be able to put more time in the UK when my Daughter has grown up a bit and pleads to her Mother to go fishing with Dad to complete the “Full House”. I know many people have done a lot bigger than this but all I can say is fairplay and respect to them...fish into and over the 50lbs mark are something I can only dream about but maybe one day I’ll have the time to go after those massive fish.
On the last day we persisted with the zigs but also tried the bottom and I had a bottom bait out to the far margin, snowman style, that ripped off before we packed off home. The fish fought very well and I was a lot more confident that She would not come off or break me up….the Mirror went 28.08 and I was well pleased but at the same time wished that Lee had had her to replicate the last trip we had in March ie a fish a piece…It could well be the other way around next time…That’s fishing!
40.12
28.08
Until the English 40 Common blog....All the best!
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