Day 6 : Big Zalk

Thu 27th August

Sunrise over Zalk

Back to Zalk

We fished the same peg as we had on Tuesday but swapped around, me on the right, Garry on the left. So I would have the submerged weedbed this time. Bertie joined us and fished the next peg. We hadn't pre-baited the night before and started with just bait-up feeders again.

Slow start

Initial indications weren't good as we were getting Roach bites, the odd small-ish Roach and no Bream. Perhaps the pre-baiting was essential. However, we persisted regular casting of heavily laced groundbait and just hoped the Bream would turn up. They did, eventually, but were of a much smaller stamp than they had been on Tuesday.

Garry with a Bream in the net

My 1st weed catch of the day

Weather on the change again

Initially the weather was very bright and sunny with light winds. As the morning went on the sun vanished and the cool stronger wind returned similar to Tuesday - from our left (easterly). In the afternoon the sun started to come through more and the wind turned almost 180 degrees so was now blowing from our right. We carried on catching Bream (no Roach) but again, they were smaller fish. Bertie had a few Bream and smaller fish but the big ones didn't really show.

A friendly visit

We were visited by a couple of black swans with beautiful beaks of bright red with a white flash. They were very friendly as they approached quite closely, hoping for some freebies. I had the dregs of some corn so obliged by throwing it into the shallows - which they lapped up. They were clearly a breeding pair as they showed signs of distress when separated - even just either side of our platforms. They called out to each other until they were re-united again. Apparently they are native to Australia but seemed quite at home on Zalk lakes.

The weigh-in

This could best be described as a slow day by Zalk standards.I had 62lb 9oz including 22 Bream and 9 Roach (not bad for a slow day). I thought I had beaten Garry - his estimate being 50lb. However, he needs to go back to quantity surveying classes as he'd had a great catch of 92lb - nice one Garry.

Current tally is 3 wins each.

A small part of Garry's catch

Tomorrow

We have decided to have a few hours on the Ijssel before we set off for the ferry. I asked Bertie if he could recommend anywhere and he shrugged his shoulders and said "No, you choose". Therefore we decided on Copse. We fished there last year and know that we could get parked right behind our pegs ready for a quick re-pack of the cars and a getaway.  We expected it to be hard so decided that we would not even wet our keepnets so the tally of 3 wins each would be the final tally for the week. Yet again Bertie said he would join us but didn't look thrilled about Copse.