Working Mans Club #5 – Josh Bennett

After a couple of trips, I had a nice break away with dad planned to Combley Lakes on the Isle of Wight. Wirth travel tablets taken for the short hop over on the ferry, we arrived to the small, intimate lake with 3 nights ahead of us. The lake itself was low on water, such was the weather we’d been having and this meant the fish were following the base of the marginal shelf. Watching and placing baits carefully onto their patrol routes, I managed to catch a couple of lovely fish, one of which was a stunning 41.07 mirror. Both fish were caught over a small amount of bait and really utilising liquids to maximise attraction. I am now using many different liquids in the mix, a combination of Liquid Fish, Crustacean Liquid, C-Stim and the new Edge Oil. The porous nature of the marine and heat boilies, as well as the matching pellets really do allow the liquids to penetrate the bait and leak out gradually whilst on the lakebed.

Returning to the mainland it didn’t take me long to start thinking of the syndicate again. A quick night squeezed in proved to be in the wrong swim. It showed me that the fish really were frequenting the area I had been catching from beforehand. Looking back, I made the completely wrong choice. I opted for the back of the wind and didn’t look at the wider picture. With the intense heat, the water level had dropped again and now the fish had warm, shallow water surrounded by a thick blanket of weed. Whereas it had before, wind direction just wouldn’t play a part now and I felt the fish were really settled in that particular area of the lake. As such, I vowed to return and avenge my stupidity. The following week, my night session coincided with no one being on the lake, so I simply walked the gear round to my preferred pitch. Again, in the early hours I picked up a fish on the right hand rod and somehow, through several weed beds, landed it from the bank. It was a lovely common that I had seen a few of the other anglers catch at just under 29lbs. It was a real lean, dark fish and made the early pack up a little easier.