Why Should I Join The PAC? Proof In the Pudding- A Small Insight...
I see alot of people asking on social media 'Why should I join the PAC?'...Pikelines, listening to some of the best anglers in the country, the chance to fish some stunning waters but for me its the chance to meet anglers who are most likely fishing on your door step, 20 meters down stream from your pre bait and vise versa..... hopefully this gives you a small insight...Way back in May myself and fellow PAC member Andy sat down with a beer in hand scrolling through miles and miles of water ways on google earth pin pointing possible areas to target for the coming season. Since then we both became distracted by other waters and put the possible swims to one side. With my season just kicking off after having renovated a house for the last 2 months and Andy's going from strength to strength it seemed the right time to drop in on a swim, find the features and plan ahead.
Picking Andy up early Sunday morning we headed to the 'second venue' (all will become clear), this had been prebaited previously and Andy topped this up with a mix of finely chopped sprats, lamprey etc.. Jumping back in the car we headed off to the what would be the first venue, arriving at the swim and after a few small obstacles we got down to the waters edge, expecting to be fishing in around 12-15ft of water it was a nice surprise to find 25ft of water. Working the baits over the swim it did not produce as quickly as we thought it would on first impressions and once the baits had covered the majority of the water available we reeled in and headed over to venue number 3. Though this was not a negative as we have found a water that may unlock a secret with a bit of pre bait and forward planning this could be a venue for the following few weeks as the season draws out.
After another drive and a short walk we arrived at the water, this was a piece of slack water with a gentle crease as the flow increased into the main current. Once again the baits were worked around the swim and indications of active fish were evident as a small pike rolled on the surface below our feet. But once again a 'certain' swim didn't produce and we moved on again. Returning to the first swim that was prebaited early morning the rods were quickly out mounted with the freshest supermarket bought mackerel, injected heavily with salmon oil. I didn't have chance to get the third rod out before the sound of the bobbin slapped against the bank stick and a high pitched tone of the alarm sounded as line peeled off the open spool. Picking the rod up and feeling the line to ensure it was a positive run I closed the spool and struck. But as i did the line didn't tighten as much as i would have liked and the unnerving sounding of the drag spinning free. With freezing cold fingers i fumbled to tighten the drag whilst maintaining what pressure i could, at this point I realised that the rear drag knob had frozen hence i thought it was tight when the rod was set up but it was clearly not. Managing to twist the knob tight I still had contact with the fish and it appeared at the surface quickly, with gills flared and the mackerel hanging from its mouth. She shook her head side to side thrashing the mackerel which was shaken from the treble in her scissors. Netting the fish she was clearly very short with a huge girth! After a customary firm hand shake from Andy, she was hoisted onto the wet matt, flicking the hooks out the scissors and after a quick weigh she went 19-03. The condition of the fish was immaculate and one that had possibly never seen a set of trebles before. Sliding her back into the coloured water she glided back down into the depths as a stream of bubbles were expelled from her gills.
Turning my back to the water and mounting another mackerel onto the set of trebles my second rod received a very positive indication as the bobbin dropped and line was stripped quickly. Walking to the rod and striking I felt a small amount of resistance...but then nothing. I had rudely interrupted a good fish turning the bait in its mouth as when i brought the bait to the bank the spine had been broken and the body gashed right between the set of trebles! After this short spell of action myself and Andy received no further indication and we moved up stream to feature find. Settling into another swim the sun was well up in the sky and had most likely put the fish down until dusk. As we suspected nothing developed through the day and we returned at dusk to the swim I had previously caught from. Dusk was a long drawn out affair strangely taking a long time to become dark and nothing was interested in feeding.
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