Five days past before I return to Bowood peg 7, more in hope rather than any thing else! The weather was still variable with sunny spells dotted among gloom, typical November I suppose!

Views from peg 7.

Any way peg 7 was tackled with the usual pike rod set out to about 20m and slightly to right of centre while the pole line was at 10 metres with a 1g Paster float but this time with a soft set Chinese hollow elastic of 1.6mm (about a 6-8 in our terms) to provide me with a bit of oomph if the tench showed but still okay for the small fish. With the water being very coloured still I cupped out three balls of groundbait with micros and wheat – no corn this time. I had white maggots with casters that had turned from them, 2mm and 4mm expander and wheat.The small fish were in a feeding mood but when I say small I mean tiny, some were dropping out as they were just holding on to the maggot! After about an hour or so the pike float didn’t go under but started “drifting” towards me, a quick ship back with the pole and picking the rod up I struck and felt a solid connection which initially kept very low and plodded before waking up and eventually coming to the net at 8-05.

That was the only pike action, fishing 9:15 to 12:30 saw me finish with 13 roach, 20 rudd, a gudgeon (a rarity for the main lake), 2 blades and 2 small perch for the princely total of 1-08. Like I said they were small!

Wednesday sees me back on 7, why 7 you ask when your favourite is 10? Well the weather has not been kind but it has been warm and I don’t think the fish have moved down to the deeper water yet. This session was a little later starting 9:45 to 12:45 and there was no sign of pike action anywhere. I decided to do something different and fished mainly expander on the same rig as previously ending with 16 roach, 4 roach and a blade for 1-09 which should have been more as I managed to be lazy and tried to swing in a roach of 6oz and didn’t learn my lesson and did the same with a skimmer later on!

Friday arrives and I decide to have a rest and see what Blacklands is fishing like. If it was okay I had in mind seeing if I could hold a match there in the future. I paid my peg fee at reception and went to peg 3 which was not where I thought it was! I had assumed from the map in reception that it was on far side of the bench whereas it was on the the toilet block side. More of a worry was the amount of leaves on the surface of the water, I managed to clear some with my landing net but it was still awkward at the start although the breeze picked up and drew a lot down to the left of me, but I was still left with a lot. The peg would have been difficult to fish with a rod!. I set up to fish at 7m in about 6 feet of water but rather than do my usual tactic of starting two swims, one with worm the other with micros, I opted for just starting on worm and feeding micros over the top due to the leaves. I had taken a mish mash of tackle- my match pole and the canal style matchbox seat but had forgotten to put in the cup to go with the cupping kit, so I improvised and had to use a toss pot!

I had tackled up with a home made float on 0.14mm line to 0.12mm hooklength and a 16 but after a biteless hour on worm and expander I decided I needed to take the advice I had given to sidestreambob and make some changes, namely the hooklength was changed to a 0.10mm and 20 hook. The expander was put on and I got out a bite to eat expecting a wait but within a couple of minutes the float slowly went under and a strike saw a skimmer of 1-06 come to the net so small changes can make a difference! I carried on and ended up with 9 roach and further skimmers of 0-14, 1-00 and 0-13 all bar one on expander for a total of between 5 and 5.5lb. I had started at 9:30 and ended at 12:50 as the wind had changed direction and was starting to move the carpet of leaves back in my direction.

Wednesday and Thursday were to be taken up with domestic duties so Tuesday 28th was the last chance in November, so with the turn in the weather I headed off to peg10 at Bowood. I was short of useable sardines so for a change put out a smelt of roughly the right size to about 13m. On the pole line I opted for a home made chianti style taking 0.4g and set the bulk about three feet from the hook with a number 8 and a number 10 dropper about a foot apart as the water was a lot clearer and I know from past experience that a slow sinking bait is better in these conditions even if it attracts the smaller fish. Only one ball of groundbait was introduced with a pinch of 2mm expanders and wheat and at 8:45 I settled back with double white maggot.

I didn’t have to wait long, indeed the first six put ins saw me put 5 small skimmers/blades in the net along with a tiny roach. It was good to see the skimmers as it showed the bream are still breeding for the future. After about forty minutes the pike float bobbed a few times before disappearing, a strike produced a short but spirited fight from a jack of 4-12 with a weal on it’s back where it had been attacked by something. That however was the end of the pike rod action but I did hook a pike on the pole, I am presuming it was a pike as it was a classic slow sinking with the strike producing a solid weight as if the bottom was hooked, the “bottom” then moves slowly off before realising it is hooked and starts making a run – then the hook pulls! I ended that last session at 11:45 on the pole with 21 rudd, 6 roach and 13 skimmers/blades for 2-08; some of the rudd and all bar two of the roach were very small – 3 or 4 to the ounce!

December calls but Wednesday I pick up a kilo of sardines from the fishmonger in Devizes that I can bag up in pairs and store in the freezer for future pike visits!