Glow stick

There is something very strange about arriving at a lake, rod in hand and not trying to catch a fish!

This was the position I found myself in this weekend having decided to spend a few hours Sunday morning mapping out the estate lake. I also used the time to bait up the spot from where my first of the lake came from, see Morning Glory, with some more Baitworks Royal Marine.

I am sure the members will have named all the lakes swims but here is my take (for the moment) on the fancied locations:

• The Stage, west – first on the list. 9.75 wraps was a safe distance to the derelict jetty finding a clear bottom in about 3ft of water. Pre-baited.

• Kingfishers, west – a tiny stage stand with very limited casting so I waded the margin. The right was heavy silt under the willows but the left was firmer and would be easy to place a bait near the undercut banks. Pre-baited.

• Two Logs, west – straight towards the fallen tree pictured in Welcome to the Jungle; and I found what must be the old river bank at 6.5 wraps and in 4ft of water. Smooth and wide (running left to right. There was weed between this feature and the bank.

• Happy Campers – in the arm/bay, perpendicular to the bank and 12 wraps is a depression in an otherwise shallow bay. At 3.5ft I think this is the other old stream bed running left to right.

• The Willows, east – someone was in the swim and with a rod in the left margin. A popular spot and perhaps to obvious.

• The Penultimate, east – where I met Dan on the first visit. This morning I saw a fish show on the far margin and at about two thirds of the way across there seems to be smooth depression at 4 to 5ft. Will get the wraps another time as I was short on time and forgot to click up!! But I liked this spot as it will get the evening and early morning sunlight as the bank-side trees are low. Good for forthcoming overnighters in August.

I studied cartography at university so this type of topographic mapping, technically hydrographic mapping is pretty straight forward with a good marker float, mine (pictured) is from Gardner.

Also, I think I will invest in some heavier gripper leads, they will come in handy if I fish some of the clubs river sections that I have heard have the odd carp present. Plus the feedback from these leads is the same a bespoke “feature finding” leads.

As an aside there is a very good YouTube video by Korda featuring Simon Scott (VS Fisheries) and Mark Bryant (Baitworks) at Shillinglee Lake in Surrey, a very similar dammed estate lake. Has a few good tips.

I will be back early next Sunday and this time the rods will be baited!

Tightlines and contour lines.