Heaven !.

[Squirrel_Basher 17,100]

Day out on a local lake by kind invitation.

I've fished this water several times so knew what the methods were and wasted no time mixing up a large batch of groundbait with added molasses and a touch of scopex .Fired out 6 tennis ball sized balls on the 30 yard mark,keeping them in a 3 m circle, and set up the feeder rod and pike rig! ..Few casts to the mark until I was happy and clipped up the line with an elastic band.This is preferable to the reel clip as there are a few decent carp in here that would smash the line if clipped tight .6 pound line,inline method feeder to top up the bait bed , and 4 lb bottem with 14 hook .Hook bait is brandling worm with a maggot stopper .

It takes a while for the bream to get on the feed as its a massive lake .Set up the float rod for the margins and kept an eye on the tip .Fed the margins a bit of corn and fished tight to the reeds .Wasn't long before the float slid away and maximum side strain kept the tench from the safety of the reeds .Once in open water it took line and gave a good scrap.Just netted it when the tip went round slowly which I struck and was into the first bream.Still had the tench in the net so leant down off the stage to reach the bream .Sorted them out and put down the float rod .Several more bream ,all around the 4 -5 lb mark followed before the inevitable happened .The water just off the stage is about 3 ft and gin clear and I noticed a decent pike moving towards the keepnet.A lightning dash and it shook the net violently,foaming the water as it did so .This is the hazard of nets here but there is a plus side to it .Put a maggot on the float rig and tossed it out with a few maggots around it ,straight away a small roach was swung in .Tapped it and mounted it on a set of trebles with a sliding float above as no livebaiting here ..Flicked it into the shallows just off the net and put the rod on a rest with the baitrunner on .Back to the bream and caught a few more plus another bonus tench when I noticed the pike float move off slowly and gather speed till it disappeared in deep water .Allowed the pike to take a bit off the reel then struck it hard .The pike was very strong and his first run took a bit of stopping to steer him away from an island.Several more lunges in deep water , a tail walk in the margins and my mate glove him in .Nice .16.8lb of pure muscle.

The bream here need a lot of ground bait so in with another 4 balls -Little tip here for you bream freaks .-Add a white pop-up boilie to the bait balls and they float up providing a target area to cast at !.

Ended up with half a net full of slabs to 6lb ,the smallest was 4 .A couple more bonus tench added to the bag before we had to go because of the enforced shutting of the gates .Best tench was 7lb ,smallest 3 .Weighed in at 107 lb plus the pike ,a bag of 123lb .Very enjoyable day made all the better by the sight of a passage osprey quartering the lake ,although we never saw it plunge .

[GHT 6]

WOW..nice catch.

[Squirrel_Basher 17,100]

My mate had 300 lb from the same lake ,same swim the day after.Much bolder bites than I was getting so a pre-baiting session in order I think .

[Ricky-N.p.p 0]

good read thet mate !

well done !