My gravel pit campaign continues and I managed to get a pass out for an over night session so headed for Linear in the hope that the Bream would feed at night and the Tench at dusk and dawn. I arrived at the complex at 3pm but struggled to decide where to fish. All the lakes are busy on a weekend and my first choice swim had gone so I fished on the point of one of the arms on Hardwick.
By the time I had everything set up it was 6pm and I enjoyed the stunning evening in peaceful surroundings. The lake was like a mill pool and the only noise came from the water chickens and the occasional Carp crashing out of the water. The usual worm baits were unusually quiet as dusk approached and then finally on dusk I had the first bite of the session. A Tench was the culprit, not a hoped for Bream but the fight was great and I thought I was going to lose it in the reeds but just managed to turn it in time. A dark beauty of 7lb 5oz. I think they are on the munch and in a few weeks an eight or nine may just be possible.
My thoughts of this being the turning point were wrong and there was no more dusky action and in no time it was dark. Well I say dark but the moon was so bright in the cloudless sky that the head torch was barely touched, only required for close up baiting work or to get another beer from the back of the bivvy.
Not long before the beers started to take effect and I retired to the bed chair to get a hopefully broken by Bream night sleep. It certainly was a broken night sleep but not in the way I had hoped! A nearby (hard to tell) rave started raging about an hour later and all I could hear was the thudding bass. Strangely it had the effect of both waking me up and sending me to sleep also. I know I am getting older and not in to that scene but I did not expect that on a peaceful nights fishing! It was gone 5am by the time it finished!! Why don't those kids just start earlier and then finish at say 3am?
I woke at 6am to peace and quiet and a misty Tench like morning.
I rebaited and cast several times but nothing was stirring, the fish were probably still asleep after the rave.
With a scheduled finish time of 12pm I finally had another run at 11.30am. Again a Tench was the culprit and only a tad smaller at 7lb 2oz.
These fish are strange in their habits of being most catchable around midday, not exactly textbook.
The water was as clear as an aquarium and I spotted several big Carp mooching about, one was a monster that must be well into the 30s, maybe a change of species is in order.
