I’d known about the lake for a while, but the quest started
earlier this year when I purchased a spring ticket
for Ringland near Norwich. It was initially just
somewhere to go until the season started in June, it
gave me a few months to decide were I was going to
fish in June or if I liked Ringland enough I could
stay on, there certainly wasn’t any financial
commitment at the price RMC Angling were charging.
I didn’t really do any homework into the venue
before starting out other than a few trips down
there to have a nose about, and such like. The nice
thing about Ringland is that it is small, about four
acres - I
certainly ain't no distance angler and that pleased
me. It’s a lovely old gravel pit with areas of silt
and gravel all over the place. It’s beautiful and
mature with overhanging trees, clear water and deep
margins.
Another plus is that it is hardly fished, bonus!
The reason being (allegedly!) is that the place is
rock hard, in for a penny in for a pound they say.
To help you build a picture of the lake I would
estimate that the stock is about 20/25 fish, the
largest resident (a mid 30 called Lumpy), having
died earlier in the year. This left “Bighead” as the
current largest at around 28lb, apparently they were
another couple around this size but haven’t been
caught for a couple of years and are sadly presumed
dead.
So, we have a small lake, with a small
stocking, and seemingly little angling pressure at
present. I’m assuming that the lake has had some
serious attention in the past and the fish are wise,
cautious, or more than likely both!
First session came at the end of April,
unsurprisingly I blanked, but I didn’t mind, it was
the first time I’d been for about six weeks and it
was just good to be on the banks again. I’d seen one
of the lake’s two ‘un-catchable’ ghosties in my
swim, but I didn’t manage to nail him, not this time
anyway!
Second time out was mid-May and I was down for a two
nighter. I had a wander round with my marker rod to
identify some clear spots in the weed, which had got
a fair bit thicker since I was last down two weeks
ago. Based on this information I picked a swim and
went and fetched the gear. Fully laden, I dragged
everything to the plot. In the process I managed to
pull a muscle in my back, but at the time I didn’t
realise, as I didn’t initially feel any pain or
discomfort. On setting up it was business as usual,
I was fishing on a nice clean bit of gravel next to
a weedy area, a couple of the regulars had mentioned
fishing on the silt, but I was content to do my own
thing. It was something to try in the future if I
struggled for a bite on the gravel. I sprinkled a
few Carp Company Ice Reds out in the area and set
the traps.
As time passed my back really began to stiffen
up, casting to the spot was becoming a chore, a
lesson to travel light if ever there was one! I got
the rods out at 20:30 for the last time that day and
retreated back to bivvy for a lie down. Naturally I
didn’t get much sleep that night, and by about 03:00
I couldn’t move. I decided I’d had enough and called
a friend to come down and help me get home, the pain
was that bad!
I wasn’t expecting to be rescued till about 05:30
that morning so I pulled the covers over my head and
tried again to get some shut eye. The minutes ticked
by and just as day broke the left hand Delkim
screamed at me to get up. Startled as I was, I flung
myself up and bent into the fish. Strangely at the
time I would have quite happily caught nothing! As
the fish pulled from a distance I received shooting
pains all down my right side but I struggled on. I
got a moments rest when the fish stopped in the weed
bed in front of me. Eventually some ‘gentle’ side
strain eased it out, after that it simply plodded
about for a while in front.
Andy with "Bighead" - 28lb 5oz
At first glance it didn’t look that big and I
managed to net it first time. On second glance I
noticed the depth and girth and I started to get an
inkling this was one of the bigger fish. Once
unhooked, it swung the scales round to 28lb 5oz,
result!! I looked at my watch, 05:20, another 10
minutes till the cavalry arrived!
So I sacked the
fish up and staked it out in deep water for 10
minutes until help came. Lifting it for the photo’s
was a real killer, maybe catching her was the
natural painkiller I needed as the pictures hide the
pain well! We put the fish back and got on with
packing up, well I didn’t, I just watched making
occasional moaning noises.
Somewhat elated, I was
glad to be going home, and even had the following
week off work. I managed to get down a few days
later with some pictures I’d knocked up on the pc,
luckily there was one guy down there (on a Sunday
afternoon?) who identified the fish as “Bighead”,
the largest resident of Ringland.
So it had been a session of good and bad luck,
definitely productive, but will it continue as I
continue into the new season? Fingers crossed eh!
