23-04-10 - Arrowvalley Lake Redditch

Just a short and sweet entry before the weekend activities.
With a half day at work today, and the weather making a change for the better, i fancied a pleasure session on my favourite Arrowvalley lake in Redditch, 2 minutes from work. I say the weather was better, with excellent day time temperatures and pretty much constant sun, but we had a frost most mornings this week!!


Plan for the day was simple, very simple. i loaded the ready rod bag with a rod and my landing net handle, and took my box, carry all and a keepnet. Rod was my old trusty MAP matchtek 13ft float rod, brilliant for silvers, small TDR loaded with 0.17 Genesis and a Cralusso Rocket light waggler. I finished the rig off with an 0.10 Ultima Power Silk hooklength with an 18 B611.
i'd been very interested in these floats after seeing them in action so got myself a couple to try out and this was the perfect time. The rocket floats feature a wire guide running from the bottom of the float around and up the side of the float, this moves the attachment point of the waggler during the cast, aiding range.
The float was loaded to the tune of 3g, with an extra gram required to set it perfectly. i didnt have the proper waggler attachments so locked a snap link in place with a few number 8 stotts, then the final amount of loading set with a main bulk of numbers 8's and a couple of positive number 8 droppers.





Bait for the day was a bag of Dynamite Silver X Fishmeal Bream, and half a bag of Sensas lake, then half a pint of dead red maggots. Simple, again!!
I plumbed the depth with a normal unloaded waggler on the snap link to get a positive depth finding, then replaced it with the cralusso to set it properly. first impressions, they cast like a dream!!!
a 4g float isnt big, around 5AA, but it was casting 8-10g float distance!! So with the conditions of the day, an irregular blustery wind, i set my clip at a positive 35 yards and gave myself 3 turns of the reel to sink the line. groundbait mixed, with very good helping of dead reds added, i gave the swim 5 sausages of GB (and i'm getting pretty accurate with the groundbait catty now! england call up coming i reckon - i wish!!!) to get the swim going.
It took some time to get my first bite after around 30 minutes and a perch was the culprit. not a great sign with so many skimmers and roach present in the lake. I was giving the swim a couple of sausages of GB every 15 minutes to spark some activity. i managed 3 perch and blade roach before i connected with my first proper fish. At first i felt it was a skimmer but it gave a real good account of itself under the rod tip and a lovely hybrid was the culprit.



It really was a beautifull fish and my first hybrid from Arrowvalley that i can remember.
things werent amazing on the bites front, but they were regular enough to keep me interested. i was getting on well with the wagglers, with bites showing up nicely on the dotted down float. when the wind got up taking a shot off helped me keep the float in sight, and being able to change the tip insert for a red, yellow or black tip instantly is an absolutely superb facility.
i did suffer a few tangles over the session, which could be down to my shotting pattern, but i did find if i didnt hit the clip fully and straighten the rig out, it would definately tangle. i also found it a massive help to let the float settle for a second or two to allow the snaplink to drop form the side of the float down to the bottom of the float before sinking the line.
i ended the session with the majority of the extra shotting around the float with just a couple of droppers down the line. this was getting me the most bites in the 5 foot deep swim. i'd pretty quickly got through my bait, but felt the regular top ups were definately worth bites.
i finished with 2 nice hybrids, 2 bream, and few perch and roach for around 12lb and a lovely afternoon.
Roll on more Friday afternoon sessions!!!!!