There's something about having a whole pond to yourself, every sight, sound and smell is yours and yours alone, sometimes catching big fish doesn't always have to happen to have a good day which was just as well as I doubted whether any tench would show in this weather.
Whilst is wasn't cold the previous night was once again frosty and that northerly wind was still present as I made my way past the busy match lake to the tiny pond round the back, the one in the trees, the wild one that's full of tench and the one that was all mine, at least for today. I was full of optimism although deep down I knew those little rudd would be trouble. I set up by some pads knowing I could get owned by any decent tench but I could always step up if they did show.
Suffice to say I wasn't going to be fishing on the drop, using quite a heavy stick, the sort that deals with boily water on rivers, this was shotted to get the bait down through the potential boils caused by feeding rudd. On cue a succession of small rudd took my maggot and they were indeed small, even smaller were the perch but they offered variety and showed my bait was getting to the deck, they had dark colours in this clear pond unlike the washed out versions next door.
Quite a few small bream showed too plus a few roach and many more rudd, I ended up with 121 fish in total, 20 were tinnie bream, 20 were tiny perch and 10 were roach, the rest were those little bars of gold, 71 of them. It was fun though as the rudd, bream and perch tally were my best for this pond and I could have caught more, so I can target beating those totals next time if there's no tench showing. This was the biggest fish of the day which says it all, but I got bites and had plenty to keep me occupied.
Sometimes catching tiddlers takes you back to your youth, but you are older and wise enough to appreciate having a lovely little pond to yourself, I saw three people all day aside from the masses I passed on the match pool earlier. The kingfisher turned up like an old friend and a heron rumaged through the far bank as if it were a deer, I'm not sure what it was up to but it was entertaining, bounding along through the trees in a haphazard manner, it should have been feasting on those rudd like the kingfisher as the little blue expert got two in two before beeping it's way through the woods not to be seen again, job done.
I'll really look forward to returning when all the weed has grown, raking a swim and doing some proper summer tench fishing but this will do for today even though no tench showed. Whilst packing up I turned over a bit of old bark, two snails were having a conference but what fantastic colours they were, I gently put them back and walked back out into the open, it seemed like I was entering the outside world once more, having been cocooned in my own private woodland bubble.
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Later in the week I am back for a morning on a clear canal and once again it's blowing down the cut. My heavy winter jacket was cooking me in the sun but that didn't last long as the clouds came over and it got really bitter. I spotted some chub in the sunny spell and cast to one on the far shelf who I saw head for my bait it was so clear, it looked around 10oz in the water but it was much bigger and these chub sure go well, it felt good to get a bend in the rod after all those rudd the other day.
Aside from a few bleak and chublets I failed to catch much until moving down opposite a pub where I had a sole perch. I drew stares from the pub garden but for a change they seemed the strange ones, sitting there in their hoodies and winter coats. The canal fished better in winter for sure and is quite hard at the moment, the cold nights, wind, flotsam and clarity of water were vying to be my excuses for today. I looked once more across to the pub where everyone was enjoying a beer and just as I was thinking maybe it's not that cold a couple of lads went to the patio heaters to warm their hands up, what a difference the sun makes this time of year, or failing that a patio heater or two, now if only they could make one for us anglers.
