Great day fishing at Valley Farm Fisheries.

With heavy rain forecast for the day I headed to the fishery with my umbrella in tow. I arrived at the venue at about 10am, the wind was blowing into my favourite spot but it was occupied by two fisherman already. I decided to fish a spot I hadn't tried before which is opposite the island on the other side of the lake. I figured this swim would give me more options as I could fish the island margins opposite, fish into the deeper water to my left past the point or fish in front of me in the shallow warmer water. I set up and cast a method feeder along the island margin and put the other to my left into deeper water. I used two grains of corn on my hair rigs with a mix of hemp and generic ground bait for the method feeder.

Heavy rain!

There was plenty of movement on the rod tip on my left but no takes. The rain held back and the sun appeared and with it the fish on the surface. I changed one rod to a controller float and fished it with floating crust. Not long into the surface fishing I had a nice fish on, it was running right and into the reeds so I had to put pressure on it to prevent it from breaking off. This rod is my light set up with only 4lb line so I was running the risk of snapping the line. After a short struggle near the margins the fish moved to my front and I eased the pressure. I brought it into the net and weighed it, a nice 9lb common not bad for the first fish of the day.

9lb common.

Not long after I had a strong run on the rod to my left, the fish I connected with was fairly hefty but didn't feel as big as the first. I got the fish to the bank easily enough but it got a second wind when it saw the net and roared off again. I played the fish in open water until it was ready to come in, this one was a nice 7lb common. Oddly with the fish in the landing net came a Signal crayfish! I'm not sure how he got in the net but another nice fish landed nonetheless.

Signal crayfish.

Smaller common.

About midday the heavens opened in a massive shower with thunder peeling off in the near distance. It was at this time my Grandfather turned up to do a spot of fishing himself, not great timing! I greeted him and we took shelter in the nearby hut and waited for the rain to abate. He set up on the point to my left and preceded to fish with floating crust about 5 meters to his front. This proved to work extremely well as he produced three fish of 8-10lb and countless smaller carp! The fish must travel past the point as it is the most prominent feature in the deepest part of the lake. I think it proves that it can pay off to keep it simple by fishing one rod effectively rather than two less so. He out fished me significantly and had a great day.

One of Grandfathers nice fish.

I consequently had only one more carp and two bream near the margin. The method feeder having only produced the one fish. I finished fishing an hour before dusk and headed home happy that my Grandfather had had a great days fishing even though mine was fairly mediocre. Next time I think I will fish the conditions and maybe concentrate on the one rod.

Beautiful evening!