Trip #139 – Sherborne Lake – Stuck in the mud…
My last session was a bit of a hard one, so I returned today, slightly more optimistic. However, a few things weren’t on my side. Firstly, time – I only had the morning to fish as I was collecting my eldest son from cub camp. Secondly, peg choice. There was a match on today, meaning 25 or 26 anglers would be trying their best to outdo one another. Yeovil and Sherborne Angling Association members are a nice bunch; they seem to get on well, and it’s genuinely exciting to see 25+ anglers consistently turn up every week to fish a match. That said, I wasn’t fishing a match, so my choices were limited to pegs 1 to 11.
I arrived at the lake at 6:50 AM after the compulsory McDonald’s breakfast and coffee. I was surprised to see a few cars already there. Gary greeted me and informed me that lake resident Terry was already down at the water’s edge setting up. I started unpacking the car, and a few other anglers arrived. They clearly enjoyed their fishing… and a chinwag, but don’t we all? I loaded my trolley and began the walk down towards peg 11.
As the match would be using every other peg, I decided on peg 10, with Terry on peg 9. As expected from reading the monthly email, the lake level was down – I’d estimate by around 3ft. I glanced over to the island where I had been casting previously. No wonder I didn’t catch; that entire area was exposed as a shallow spit of land leading out into the lake. Note to self for next time: peg 7, fish closer! Because the lake was so low today, rather than setting up on the bank, I would be down in the mud. Setting up was a messy business; I was ankle-deep in mud and silt at times. I nearly lost a leg of my seatbox to the thick and sticky mud, but after much fiddling, my box was finally set. A change from the last session, I would be using braid this time. My set-up was as follows:
- 13ft feeder rod, 6.9kg J-Braid, 12lb shockleader, 6lb Fluorocarbon boom to a 4lb hooklink on a size 18 feeder finesse.
This was my only setup today, so it was relatively quick. Before long, my groundbait was mixed, bait hooked (double reds), and I was sat on my box casting out towards the middle of the lake, ignoring my mud-caked wellies. Setting the rod down, I reached for my forgotten McDonald’s and noticed a slight tapping on the tip of the rod. What a refreshing change from the four-hour blank of the last session! I watched the bites increasing, and on striking, I… missed it. I missed the next three as well. I wondered if I was still adjusting to fishing braid rather than mono. Either way, fifth cast, fifth bite, and I was in! A lovely roach of a few ounces.
Resetting with the same bait, I cast back out, and within 30 seconds, there was another tap on the rod tip, followed by another and another. Soon, the match anglers turned up and started setting up. I even managed to miss a fish right in front of two club members (what a div!). Anyway… fishing was non-stop, and after an hour or so, I had caught 27 roach and rudd up to around half a pound.
Double casters seemed to pull the better stamp of roach, and trialling double worm segments didn’t produce any good results either. However, as I wasn’t fishing the match and really wanted a bream, I changed tactics. For the next hour or so, I sat alternating bigger baits in the hope of a slab. Larger pellets, wafters, Band’ems, mini boilies – I tried almost everything in my bait bag. No such luck, and after that hour, I switched back to double red maggot or half a worm and maggot, and was immediately back into fish.
Despite trying up to five maggots, I couldn’t seem to get through these smaller fish, but I was actually thankful to be catching. I continued with a stream of small silver fish, totalling 51 by 12:15 PM, by which time I needed to pack up and head home to pick up a somewhat exhausted nine-year-old from cub camp. So that was that; I had managed not to blank on the enigma that is Sherborne Lake. I still don’t think this tale is over. I don’t imagine it will be until I catch a slab, and that may take a while… I could do with the practice anyway. I also mentally added a few things to my Christmas list: a platform, mud feet, and an umbrella.
Before I left, I returned to peg 7, jumped down off the bank and onto the mud, remembering that I had lost a feeder in my previous session. Sure enough, after a bit of rummaging, I found it! A bit squished but still very usable.
My Ratings Update
Fishability – *** (3/5 Stars)I managed some fish this time! Hopefully bigger ones next time!
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