MAKE HAY WHILE THE SUN SHINES
17th July 2020
Whilst the sun shone down, Lance Barton capitalised on the perfect weather conditions on his latest trip, which saw him land one of Christchurch’s finest!
We are sure there are people out there that fish whenever they get chance, and aren’t provided with the luxury of choosing to fish in the perfect weather conditions all the time. It is therefore always nice when planets align and the sun comes out on your upcoming trip. Lance Barton had been hawk eying the weather reports for weeks, before it finally changed for the better! His choice of waiting for the sun to come was perfect, as he banked a couple of cracking fish from Linch Hill’s Christchurch.
He revealed:
“After all the sun we’ve had over the last few weeks, I found myself eagerly visiting my weather apps in anticipation of a change. When it finally came, it was looking prime with 30mph warm south-westerly winds, with full cloud cover and a pressure drop to just above a 1,000mb.
“I knew where I wanted to go, and preferably the day before it was due in. On Monday afternoon I made my way down to the lake, a long 180 mile journey. The lake was relatively busy but no one was in the swim I fancied, “how’s your luck” I thought! The wind had started early and was already howling down into the end of the lake where my bucket was a swim called End Trees. After speaking to a friend Stu, he informed me the fish were already there – and in numbers.
“I was in no rush to get the rigs out, although all the spots in that swim were logged into my phone, I was happy to leave them there quiet. Having fished that area of the lake before I knew the fish would move up to the other end of the lake just before dark and I predicted they’d be back mid-morning the next day, this gave me an hour to get rods on spots and a sprinkling of Krill Active over the top of them.
“The night passed quietly as I thought it would, but the suspense of waiting, then watching them slowly show their way down the lake and finally settling over the spot was electric. After a couple of hours a group of mallards congregated just down wind from the spot and started filtering the surface for food, that was surely being kicked up off the bottom by feeding fish. After few minutes of this, one of rods went into absolute meltdown; one of those takes where a sense of fear came over me on the way down to the rod as it savagely ripped line from the clutch. Obviously there was a very angry carp on the end and after a long winded dramatic battle a fish appropriately named the fighting machine was still thrashing around in the folds of the net like it was its mission to burst out. At 37lb on the nose it was a good start but as fast as the feeding spell started it seemed to be over, I obviously only had a small window to get a bite. I left them to it for the remainder of the afternoon letting them have a free feed on whatever was left without getting the rod back in.
Right on time, the right-hand rod melted and little did I know what was about to waddle over the net cord, covered in weed. A real special one and one I dearly wanted to catch, “4 scale” at 37lb 10oz
“I decided a bigger hit of bait was going to be the plan of attack, so that evening again after the fish had done the off, three kilos of the Active was deposited onto the spot, this time with two rods going to that area on 16mm Krill pop ups.
“The next day came and you could time them by your watch, they were there but this time in bigger numbers than the day before. The ducks arrived this time followed by half a dozen seagulls, and the waders were put on and I sat knowing what was about to come. The takes that session were all brutal and the middle rod was ripping on a fairly tight clutch, this time it made it to the weed and really got itself in deep, with the pressure held on I could feel the braided mainline ripping through the weed before a huge ball hit the surface and I was left to pump the whole lot to the net where Ben scooped the entire contents up. In the bottom of the net, under all the weed, laid a colossal golden carp, a fish known as Ben’s common. I left her in the net while I started to put a fresh bait on and wrap the rod up ready to be fired back to the spot, they where still on me and I wanted to get it back out with one cast only. Luckily that was the case but as I was sinking the braid the rod lunged forward in my hand and I had one on! A spirited fight later and a lovely upper-twenty mirror was in the net; absolute carnage! Ben’s Common rocked the scales around to 43lb 10oz and I couldn’t have even happier.
“There was a break in the weather the next day with spells of sun meaning the fish didn’t return and spent most of the day around the margins and down the other end, I did manage a nice mid-twenty common from the edge but other than that it was pretty uneventful. The sun was due back for my final day and I was keen to follow the same regime as I had done before.
“It really was so predictable and enjoyable angling when again they turned back up on the spot, smashing it to bits with some textbook head and shouldering with plumes of bubbles and sediment hitting the surface. Right on time, the right-hand rod melted and little did I know what was about to waddle over the net cord, covered in weed. A real special one and one I dearly wanted to catch, “4 scale” at 37lb 10oz. A few lads came down to share the moment, and Scott Phillips a mate who was on Stoneacres arrived with his camera to get some extra shots.
“I did mange one more from the edge but my time was up and I had to leave, another session down with another three of the proper ones ticked off. My three-hour drive home was an enjoyable one with the radio cranked right up and a big smile on my face.”
