FAS - Badshot Lea Little Pond, 18th August 2019

Checking my diary and it had been over a month since my last outing... to say I was getting cabin fever is an understatement!

Farnham Angling Society were at Badshot Lea small pond a venue that I really enjoy so it was a simple decision.

The Draw
Thirteen of us fishing, third last to draw today and I pulled out peg 29, in the middle of the far bank.

Set-up
Arriving at the peg, with the wind and rain driving, even though the weather forecast predicted the weather would ease I decided not to setup a pole line.  I even discounted the margins which could potentially be a big mistake.

It was rod only today.  Two feeder rods, one with a traditional running feeder set-up and the other with a hybrid feeder, both fished on the same line short of the half way point on the lake.

The waggler rod would be fished around pole range, so approximately 16 metres.

Bait was F1 Green Sweet, maggots, casters and micro pellets.

All-In
Two balls of ground bait laced with casters on the waggler line which surprised Mark next to me who thought I was either straight into a fish or a large carp had topped!

Starting the match for real on the standard running feeder rig and a 4 hole feeder to get some bait into the swim with 2-3 minute casts, red and white maggot on the hook.

After 10 minutes and one big liner I switched to a smaller 2 hole feeder and continued fishing.  Small roach were coming to the net in the first hour until finally some skimmers showed up although not the  larger fish that we know are in this pond.

Hour two went by slowly with a quick 20 minute look on the waggler line for a couple more roach however the tow was pretty bad despite laying some line on the deck and I didn't want to compromise the main line of attack, the feeder.

Hour three, still casting every 5 minutes and finally some better bream turned up which was a welcome sight as I had heard Terry next door had two good "net fish".  Retrieving the feeder about half way back to me I connected with something very large!  I played it for about 10 minutes trying to see it and potentially get it in netting range before the hook pulled and the rig was smashed up.

Obviously a foul hooked carp that was minding its own business before my rig came spinning past it!

A quick couple of casts on the hybrid feeder and a 6mm white wafter resulted in two more fish although the bites on the hybrid where definitely taking longer and I was leaving the rig in longer than 5 minutes as I quickly retied the smashed up running feeder rig.

Mark next door shouted rather loudly as he lost a big fish at the net on the pole in the margins, turned out to be a 4 foot catfish that refused to fit into his small match landing net!

I ended up with seven net fish and some bits at the all out.

Result
15lb 12oz for a section second.  Smashed up by Eddie Rippon who had 33lb of carp on the weigh sheet before he had even pulled his net!

The other bank had some close competition with three weights in the 26lb range!

Conclusion
Regular casting on a spot and the bream will turn up... that's what we always tell ourselves, well it worked, it took patience and discipline however it did eventually work.

So what did I learn today?  Well, I should have set-up a margin line on the pole.  The water was coloured and Mark next door had hooked a couple of fish in his margins.  Eddie on the other hand had his carp on the feeder and one missed bite in the margin.  Nevertheless I should have set a margin rig up as it would have taken no time at all.

The decision not to set a long pole line up was correct with Mark next door catching only small roach on his pole line.

A great day, good company and a pick up, what's not to like!