Q Lake - UKCC Prep Round 1

So after a gruelling weekend at Q lake with Kieran last week I sit back and look at the odds we faced. With the temps not getting much above 2 degrees with a light snow fall, we never thought we would stand much of a chance of catching. But we were treated to a calm wind blowing and not many other anglers on the lake so here is what we made of it.

I rocked up to the lake at 7.30 Saturday morning to find K looking a bit disappointed. He had had a very frustrating night with several missed runs, false pick ups and trailing lines and had brought the rigs in at about 11pm to get some sleep after a rough few days at home.

Things didn't look good for us getting in to the fish but you cant catch them at home.

K was fishing single hook baits in to the holes in the weed on the far margin so I opted for solid bags and Choddys. As K had settled in to peg 13 I dropped in behind him on peg 12 and put a solid bag just off the far bank weed bed with a scattering of S7 and NuttaS barrels around it. The other rod was cast to the area known as the 'doughnut' with an S7 Pink Choddy for the time being. After a few hours of motionless buzzers and a good old chat with K I decided to change it up a bit and made a worm rig with a small piece of pop up corn to balance it out. I cast it back to the 'doughnut' and redid my PVA bag with a Wraysberry wafter trimmed down hook bait.

Again after a few hours K had some more false bites which we now believe are fish trailing we were both getting frustrated. Soon talk turned to bait and in particular hook baits so Kieran produced a pot of his own special Double H 12mm pop ups. He had several colours with him but the white ones grabbed my attention and soon he was handing me a small pot with white, red and cream baits. Hmm yummy. We decided before the light went we would have a plum around in one of the empty swims next to us and found some interesting features.

So after our plumbing session I decided it was time to get the rods sorted for the night and loaded my left hand rod with a multi-chod and a Double H white pop up.

Might not be a DNA hookbait but K is a field tester so works for me.

Again on my other rod was a PVA bag with a Wraysberry wafter cast to a reed bed on the far margin then it was time for tea! With a little prep anyone can cook well on the bank and it needn't cost the earth! I had chopped some onion and coriander at home and placed it in a small Tupperware box with some olive oil and brought my awesome Tefal frying pan. I fried the onion and herbs for a few mins before adding some mince which I browned off. Then the sauce ingredients and let it simmer, tasty! And K thought so too!

Warming up with Chilli! 

After tea we stopped up chatting for a bit and came up with a viable game plan for our attack on the UKCC, admittedly a lot of the match will depend on the draw but with things as they are a good draw could see K through to the semi's which would be epic! We soon retired to bed as the temps came down further due to no cloud cover and a huge full moon.

As I was wrapped up in my new Big Snooze + (Thanks Wife) my left hand rod gave two single bleeps I thought to be a liner before ripping of a few seconds later! The Double H was away and I was battling to keep the fish from getting its head in the weed. I soon had a common laid in the bottom of the net which I secured before going to wake K up who thought I was playing a joke on him! The hook hold was excellent, centre of the bottom lip and a good inch back! Nailed! After a few quick camera shots and weighing her in at 14lb and a few ounces we slipped her back to the cold water before I checked the rig and recast to the open water to my left. Then I made a brew to try and warm the hands a bit! I climbed back in the bag to have an uneventful night except a few liners.

14lb and a few ounce, will remember this fish.

Dawn came around 6.30 and I was up making a new bag on my spare Diffusion leader which was put on the right hand rod to the far margin again. I brought in my left hand rod to find I had been done! The loop was tight up to the eye of the hook with the bottom bead near the lead. I would have thought that would have given me a good indication but all I had was single bleeps with no bobbin movement. Ah well it happens to us all.

Rods as I woke up left hand bobbin still in the same spot! 

I sorted the rig out and recast for it to rattle off five minutes later but as I got the fish to the surface the hook pulled and a mid double ghosty splashed the surface. Such is life but to even had a bite in the conditions I was super happy and a fish made my weekend! Looking forward to my next session in a few weeks now. Hopefully I will be able to get some bait out this time and have a few fish munching.

Matt.