A very attractive water:
But some 200m from the car-park, and it really is worth scouting out the path before lugging your kit down - access is far from obvious! (I did, for once, and the ensuing smugness has helped me survive what followed) It's also right next to a road, so traffic noise is ever-present. Raised next to Staples Corner, it doesn't really worry me, but some dislike it when they seek a spot of P.and Q.
My very first cast, on a grain of wheat, produced a sailaway bite, and I now proudly present my first Wake Valley fish:
That was it for wheat; an even smaller specimen fell to bread, a bit later. And that was it.
A pinch of groundbait dropped intoabout 18" of water at my feet was hammered by fish of about 2-3" long, but no such response to that thrown further out, for bigger fish.
I was then joined/invaded by a party of pond-dipping schoolkids, which didn't help, but their catches - a couple of lesser water-boatmen in the open water, and a few hoglice in the thick leaf-litter layer on the bottom, may have thrown a useful light on subsequent events. They cleared off, and so did the fish. Plumbing revealed much deeper (~8') water just beyond the lily line, but no hint of a bite could I buy.
I'm driven to conclude that the rudd have a collective PhD in Time-to-Skedaddle-ology; and that the bottom of the lake is largely covered in leaf-litter, soured by two years drought and now under-populated by detritivores and going putrid. Nevertheless, I saw a sedge-fly hatch, and that may mean there's a better bottom somewhere. Much plumbing required, I feel, and possibly experiments with zig-rigs and on-the-drop methods.
Also spotted a Grass Snake, but only had my cheapo camera. Bother.
John must be starting to think I'm a complete Jonah!
This sign was up near the car-park:
- so the Corporation is doing its bit to spread the word!
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