As I had found the previous trip so rewarding, I decided that the following Tuesday would be worth a full day trip. True to form, after doing a few jobs, I arrived at the reservoir at about 2.30pm. The day had started nicely with a breeze and sunshine, but by the time I arrived, a brisk wind had picked up and the skies looked threatening. I decided to wear my chest waders and waterproof jacket, just in case the heavens opened.
When I arrived, the wind has reached such a level that floatfishing could only be done in one corner in the lee of the dam. With the rain falling regularly, the weather became foul. I started floatfishing a 2BB float but put 3BB shot on to anchor it to the bottom and fished with corn and spam. I had a slow start with a few small roach and rudd but the fish became larger as the session progressed. I ended with about 20bream to 2lbs., although most were in the half to one pound mark. I also had about a dozen rudd and roach, again mostly under half a pound, but with one rudd over a pound. The highlight was four tench which I didn't expect with the best topping 4lb. I think tench are underrated fish, and together with the roach ,are my favourite species from that venue. It proved a fruitful visit, helped by the fact that nobody had fished it for a while due to the summer weather; it was so cold it felt more like November than August. The only spell of inactivity coincided with a group of four lads who tried fishing for an hour, but made so much noise that the fish went off the feed. Perhaps a quick read of Mr. Crabtree would help them appreciate that stealth pays dividends when fishing, especially in clear waters.