PERFECT TIMING
9th June 2020
Rob Dobson’s timing couldn’t have been more perfect, as his long-awaited trip to Churn Pool fell perfectly, just after lockdown restrictions were eased.
The Covid-19 lockdown restrictions caused a huge amount of disruption to a lot of anglers’ planned sessions this year. Many people missed out on trips they had booked, months and even years in advance. However, some anglers fell lucky, and none more so than Rob Dobson, who managed to attend his eagerly-awaited full lake booking of Churn Pool, in the heart of the Cotswolds, soon after restrictions were eased.
He revealed:
“We arrived at the venue to be greeted with a cold north-easterly wind and rain, however the water temperature was up from the previous hot weather, so the fish were pretty active.
“I chose to fish the popular lodge swim as I had caught from the area earlier in the year and knew the topography pretty well. The fish were also showing towards the far bank so a no brainer. PVA bags were in order for quick bites and were cast onto the spots for the evening, over a scattering of The Krill Freezer boilies. Simple, short, supple braided hooklinks with whittled down Krill Pop-Ups were my hookbaits of choice.
PVA bags were in order for quick bites and were cast onto the spots for the evening, over a scattering of The Krill Freezer boilies.
“Shortly after dark the rod positioned on the spot that produced for me in the winter was away, which resulted in a lovely 25lb common. I redid the rod and got it back onto the spot using the tree line as a visual marker. A few hours later it was away again with a fish known as the Drop Scale Linear at 38lb on the nose. It was one of the A team that my mate caught exactly 4 years previously just shy of 30lb. I couldn’t believe it on the first night too.
“The bites dried up for a day or so before I had another, a 19lb common. After another couple of days the bites dried up as the fish had obviously moved, as the conditions started to change. A soft westerly started to blow pushing fish down the other end of the lake. I decided to move, and found some new spots, where I decided to bait heavier with a mixture of Bloodworm and Ellipse pellets, courtesy of Mitch Hammonds, along with plenty of Krill and tigers. Other fish to 29lb slowly began to come off various spots as the session progressed, this time using fluorocarbon D rigs and Krill Wafters/tigers as hookbaits.
“On the last couple of days it got warm again and the fish moved over a shallow gravelly area in a corner bay, where the wind was pushing. I had a couple off that spot, just under arming out, Krill wafters on D rigs presented heli style, with a couple of foam nuggets on the hook. Then I put approximately 3kg of Bloodworm pellet and a couple of handfuls of Krill on the spot, when the nuggets appeared on the surface. It was proper up close and personal fishing and being active kept the bites coming.
“On the last day, just a few hours before we packed up I had another stunning A team fish known as The Linear at 37lb 5ozs, off the same spot. The session ended in 11 bites, 8 fish landed including two 30’s, six 20’s and two doubles. An absolutely perfect result, I was buzzing.”
