“Three Men in a Boat”
We arrived at Old Bury Hill,at about 7 am and embarked on the good punt Maggotdrowner for a trip up to the “Jungle.”
On arriving in the “Jungle” it appeared that the monsoon was arriving but with the capture of a nice Bream of 5lb 8ozs, the weather started to clear ………
Trev broke his Tench “duck” with 3 nice fish , and Geoff had a nice male tench of 3lb 3ozs ………………….
The following is the report originally posted on Maggotdrowning.com about the day above, by a very good friend of mine,Trevor Manning aka Ziptrev.
Unfortunatly Trev is no longer with us, but reading this will i hope give you a taste of the mans style which is so missed by those who were fortunate enough to know him ………….
An Enjoyable Excursion.
As I approached Junction 23 of the M1 on Thursday 4th July, I cursed my weakness as my eyelids grew heavier and heavier.
I was so looking forward to a new experience that was a long standing arrangement and here I was less than 50 miles into a 180-mile journey and falling asleep at the wheel!
I had arranged weeks ago to go and visit Peter in London and fish a, quite unique in my experience, venue.
As the day approached, I asked Peter for directions and found they took me through Central London! At Rush hour time!!
Panic!
Peter solved that problem, by a) inviting me to stay the night & b) By arranging to meet me around the M25, a road I was much happier with!
So, cheerfully, I set off (well early at 3am to arrive by 7pm ) with all the carefully prepared lightweight gear and bait.
The Venue in question was Bury Hill Lake, which we were going to fish by punt!
Yes PUNT! Redolent of my old Cambridge days on the Cam, I could say (except I would be a liar, as I never went to University! Let alone Cambridge!)
Peter had promised me a good chance of a Tench, something I had been looking for since January1, but this years Tench have refused to respond to my tempting.
Secondly, there was an outside chance of my 1st Zander, albeit a Stillwater fish, as they sometimes fell to maggot.
And Thirdly, Geoff had watched the discussion and remembering the times ‘years ago’, when he had fished the lake, had also wheedled an invitation and he is always fun to be with.
So, I groaned to myself as I pulled into the Shepshed lay-by at 3.30 and decided that 20 minutes was all I could afford, so as not to miss the fun of the next day!
When I awoke at 10 to 6.00pm, I had a choice! Either give up the idea and let this damned weakness win, or try and achieve the next 130 miles as fast as possible!
Well, of course!
At 7.00 I phoned Peter,
‘Are you there mate?’ he said
‘Not Quite’ I replied
‘Whereabouts are you then?’
‘Err just coming into Cambridge’ I said weakly!
In fact, I should have said Cambridgeshire, as I was on the outskirts of Huntingdon!
I quickly explained my predicament, and as I had to visit my parents in Suffolk anyway, to collect Macmillan Charity Money, offered to call it off.
Peter rose to the news with his lovely laid back style and wouldn’t hear of my idea. ‘Just take it easy, mate, no problems and ring me when you hit the A20’
So gratefully, I carried on down, joined the M11, hit the last services on the M25 before the scenic Queen Elizabeth Toll Bridge to buy a peace offering bunch of flowers for making Maria’s meal so delayed and made my way to the A20.
On phoning, I was directed to a pub of all places and by the time Peter and Geoff arrived, had ordered 3 pints! £6.80 for the record Martin and only 1 a decent Black one!
Due to the time, we only had a swift half to follow and were soon enjoying an excellent home made Spaghetti Bolognese, which was the first meal I had been able to eat for 3 days! It just goes to show how you can relax in great Company.
Faced with a 5.30 start, we did as normal under those circumstances and stayed up too late yarning away, with the sheer pleasure of discussing fishing and the forums as like minded people do.
However, Peter woke me on time on Friday morning and quick preparation of flasks etc, A bundling of kit into Geoff’s car and we set off on what proved to be an hours drive enlivened by Geoff’s colourful monologue of other drivers abilities, self abuse habits and parental uncertainties!
Arriving at the Lake after negotiating overtaking the final ‘******’ we found we were only the second car to arrive and the guy in the 1st was just through unloading enough kit on a trolley to set up a base camp for a Himalayas expedition.
He went through to the gate, we followed with the minimum of kit and whilst we waited for the bailiff to arrive, Peter and Geoff watched the Carp near the Boathouse rise to pieces of bread.
The wait was short: We paid our £15 pounds each! And chose a punt.
I had undertaken 2 difficult tasks, Firstly not to fall in, so I obviously needed to hold on with both hands and secondly not to lose my glasses, so again, I had to keep checking on them!
Therefore I relied on Redgrave in the Bow
And had to let Pinsent take the blunt end!
Under the guidance of these 2 master boatmen, we made our way (sometimes straightish, often at an angle and on more than one occasion, sideways on) to the far bottom end of the Lake, known as ‘The Jungle’
Choosing a swim to the right, we started to fish close to the bank in about 3’ of water.
We all had waggler floats, Geoff and Pete with 6lb mainline and I with 10! Hook lengths of 3lb for Peter and Geoff and 3.6lb for me! Well I had come to catch a big Tench.
The 1st fish quickly fell to our Matchman!
A nice clean Bream that Peter caught within the 1st ½ hour of fishing. At about 8.30.am. We were fishing mostly red maggot, feeding Red Sensas Ground bait, dead and alive white maggot sweetcorn and hemp. Geoff and I had also brought worm, but had no bites at all on these. Geoff switched back to maggot and succeeded quickly in landing his 1st fish………
This fine specimen of a Roach was all he needed to loudly proclaim ‘Well, I’ve not blanked and so I can rest now’
As he said it for the 5th time, I nearly replied, as I had sat there, in the middle for 1 and ½ hours without seeing a single bite!
Then Peter, who had abandoned his forward facing swim in favour of fishing out the back, with the excuse that ‘My Bum hurts’ hit into a much better fish and landed this result!
The Bream was weighed carefully and proved to be 5lb 8oz, a cracking fish that would have been a PB for me!
Then at last my float dipped, the line tightened, went screaming off to the right………………………….AND SNAPPED!
I ruefully wound in and found the 3.6lb hook length had parted some 4” from the hook and that with a Kamasan 911 hook to Drennan Double Strength line!
A very nice Tench I guess!
Then Peter was in again! This time, much more fight than the Bream!
The fish took line and ran! Peter brought it in, it ran again! 3 or 4 times this happened and then it rolled on the surface, coming towards the net.
Unmistakably a large Green Tench and if it wasn’t over 7lbs, it was a damn heavy 6!
We shall never know, as with one final lunge, the Fish snapped Peters line the same as mine earlier and disappeared into the depths (or shallows to be more accurate!)
Peter then retied, using a heavier bottom line and Geoff went and caught this Bream, to make me even more envious!
Shortly after, I had my second bite of the day!
The fish was on for even less time this time, made straight for a pile of overhanging bushes to the right and splashed on the surface underneath the bush, before my float and line came catapulting back! Annoyed? Yes! but not devastated, the Fish were here! If I just got it right, I could have my Tench to start the season AND anything over 5lb would give me a verifiable PB. So, Going over the top as usual, I tied up a 14 hook to 7lb hook length. Lets see how this would hold them!
Peter then quickly caught another 6 to 8 Bream of the this stamp in quick succession
I had lost my 2nd fish at about 10.30 and when 12.00 came along, with no more bites to the heavier line, reluctantly went along with the suggestion to move to the other side of the lake, as I was sure the fish would come!
In the meantime, Peter had made yet another interesting catch.
On the forum recently a Bullhead had been caught and identification was unsure as to whether it was a Bullhead or a Ruffe.
Well for clarification, this is Peter’s Tommy Ruffe!
We went across the Lake and rebaited a swim; fishless for half an hour Peter came to the rescue again. Suggesting we try a pellet approach, he produced some and shared them with Geoff and I. I meanwhile had retied onto 5lb line a Kamasan711 intermediate size15 hook.
This small scale down worked, as at last the float dipped and after a (heart stopping for me, in view of my previous experience) 3-minute fight, guided this fish to Peters waiting net.
Yes! I succeeded in catching my Tench, which weighed 3lb 3ozs! For me a great result!
As always happens, I got a second, even better at 3lb 13oz and then another bizarre one!
Striking, I was into a fighter that made straight for the bushes (we were fishing so close, my rod could touch them!) Pulling hard, the fish turned and made straight for the punt. Went solid as it spun round the anchor rope! I could only hold and swear, as Peter leaned over the side with the landing net to try and scare it out. A minute passed and nothing moved and then for the third time, my line parted! I swore again, but it turned silent, as grinning hugely, Peter lifted the landing net, with my fish and hook, which he had managed to capture as it tethered itself to the anchor rope! This was a male of 3lb 7ozs.
Then Geoff caught what proved to be our 4th and final Tench, his 1st male out of over 40 Tench this year, which weighed 3lb 2ozs.
I caught at last a Bream of about a lb, but the bites were proving slow and probably as we were getting tired, poor casting was causing breakages and tangles in the undergrowth of the aptly named ‘Jungle’.
We moved to the Island at about 5.15pm, but when Geoff decided at 6.00pm, that he needed to visit ‘The little Boys room’ then we declared it a day. I believe he did need to go too, as we crossed the lake in less than half the time the outward journey took and he hit the boathouse running!
I dozed contentedly in the back of the car as we made our way home, stopping only to collect a Chinese Meal, that Geoff and I decided was only just reward for Peter and Maria's hospitality and even the discovery that some nice person had stolen a wing mirror cover off my courtesy car (mine is undergoing repair) could not dampen the day.
The following morning, as Peter led me back to the M25, I could not help but feel grateful that I had fallen onto an Internet forum that has provided so many enjoyable experiences and where most of the people I have met have turned out to be genuine and true friends.
Thanks Geoff for sharing the day, Thanks Peter for providing the opportunity and your great hospitality and thanks Tench for playing ball and making my wish come true!
Trev.
