By Martyn Russ
After the great session on the lakes opening myself , Joel Mathews and Stephen Quinn decided to do a 72 hr session down at Hendre Lake but as we were delayed getting to the lake on Monday due to appointments we fond that nearly all the swims had gone and by lunch time the lake was full. We had managed to get the very last peg at the back of the island on the house bank. A swim that many of the local anglers rated but i personally have never fished. We had decided on fishing in a group and taking certain areas of the swim each as the back swim is actually a single and a double joined together in size.
Joel had decided on targeting just in front of an overhanging tree on the edge of the island and another rod tucked in tight to the right of the island. I had decided on one rod under the big tree on the right side of the island and one next to it fished slightly further back from the tree just to the right. Stephen placed both rods into the bay one along the margin area towards a small bush and the other cast slightly into open water towards a larger bush where we had seen fish topping. For the first night we all just chose a high attract bait and placed the rods on the spots with a handful of boilies over the top scattered about,.
I had chose to place one rod out with a Solar Candy Floss 20 mm boilie Topped with a Mainline IB Popup glugged in Pineapple Korda Goo and the other was a Solar Candyfloss Cork Dust Wafter 16 mm soaked in Sherbert Korda Goo fished on a whipped D rig on a Size 6 Pallatrax Gripz SP Hook Each set up was completed with a small GodmanPVA 18 mm mesh stick containing a mix of Solar up and down mix and other oils and attractors. By the time we were all set up and all rods were in it was coming up early evening so we settled down for a coffee and waited for some action.
I was actually the first to catch but it turned out to be a greedy bream. Joel was the fist off the mark with the carp with a lovely little common. I followed shortly after with a nice common at 17 lb 2 oz. Then it was Joel's turn again with another 2 carp in quick succession taking us through the first night. My next fish came in the early hours 13 lb 8 oz again caught on an IB / Candy combination followed by a quick double take where I landed the first and lost the second.. Joel also had one during the early hours that managed to get the better off him during the fight and ended up wiping my rods out but that's the risk you take when fishing close together.
Stephens rods remained quiet for the first night apart from a strange take where it took line then dropped the bait. Then come early morning when he had his first proper run the fish managed to pull him into the margin area where his line ended up breaking from a branch or something. Then around lunch Stephen managed his first carp of the session followed by a huge bream The carp then suddenly seemed to switch off and the water went quiet with no sign of the fish right into the night. As the water had gone quiet Joel decided to pull his rods at 1 am to get some sleep. myself and Stephen continued to fish though the night. I managed another 2 small ones at 2 am and then nothing until the next morning.
As we entered the final morning and had planned to pack p and be gone by 4 pm I decided to spod the remaining bait out over the spots. there wasn't much left only a couple of spombs but it seemed to spur them into action as Joel landed a small double and then i followed just before lunch with the biggest fish of the session at 21 lb 12 oz and then my final fish of the session which turned out to be a lovely 15 lb Ghost carp. We had a great session over the 72 hours and i learnt a lot about the swim and really enjoyed the company. It was nice that all of us ended up catching and i can't wait for the next adventure.
Wet Nets & Tight Lines
