Sense and worry about the house sent me home for a night – the battering from storms Franklyn or Gladys (I lost track of which one was which), was pretty much continuous, and I’ve now come back down in the last few hours of Franklin for a couple of nights.

I arrived down just after 8 in the morning, it was very blowy and it would be until around 1 this afternoon. I hoped to get back to the swim I was in before. I’d been baiting here on and off when I could over the past month, knowing that I was planning a long session and the carp do love this area. The long-range forecast, in conjunction with watching the jet stream, was looking perfect, however, I didn’t release how bad it would get and that the winds would predominantly come from the west.

When I arrived, I had a quick look about, but with the way the wind was blowing and due to be blowing over the next few days, the same swim was the obvious choice. I’d taken a drive around the lake before committing myself. I doubt I would’ve been able to get the bivvy up in a high proportion of them. I had to pitch my bivvy up around the corner a bit from the swim, out of a direct blast of the wind.

The bivvy is well back out of the main blast of the wind; it wasn’t too much of an issue to set up.

Getting the bait out into a headwind is also pretty simple. With the small Fox spombs, I just wrapped up the same as when I was here yesterday and blasted them out without too many difficulties.

The wind was due to pick up to gusts of just over 50 mph and then fade away. The pressure was 1013mbs and would increase by another 10lmds over the coming 48 hours.

There’s a good chop on the water, and these carp have just got to come out for a munch.

Nice to see the mornings getting lighter as well as the evening, the extra daylight hours have just got to get these carp on the munch. It was another bleep-free night, this is starting to become comical! These carp are normally out to play by this time of the year and when they do I certainly need to be here to make the most of it. There’s a bit of sunshine forecast today and a possibility of some rain as well. Something got to bring this carp out to play.

Ian’s due down for a day session today, and we can have a good chat about the coming spring campaign on Airfield Lake.

I’ve put some thought into moving swim or where to head next time. My conclusion is currently as I’ve not really seen any carp showing anywhere, there doesn’t seem any point in flitting about from swim to swim when I can’t pinpoint the whereabouts of the carp. Whereas, staying here, in a swim that is known for its captures over the winter months, sticking it out has to be the way forward as the first of March is 6 days away. I count that as spring and will it give me a few sessions before the Airfield lake opens in mid-March.

I can’t wait for these massive panoramic views again.

Ian has been and gone, and the buzzers are still silent. The conditions are looking perfect; the fish just have to switch on soon, it feels perfect, even the wind is so much warmer than the previous day’s.

It got to five o’clock, the wind was still blowing into my swim, I really needed to get a bit more bait out and fresh hook baits. It looked like I would need to hang on a bit longer.

Same story, different day, until the telltales signs of a bream bite, only confirmed when you pick the rod up and there not a lump of a carp trying to do a sneaky trick on you.

The bream was at 8am as I had slept well all night, the sun was out and looking gorgeous across the lake and valley.

The day is due to be cloudy, the cloud is already slowly building up, which is a shame, as vitamin D does you a world of good after the long bleak winter of grey days.

Ian is doing another day session today. Tonight, the temperature is 6 degrees. I can only hope that the carp get themselves going soon.

Ian came and went with no success. I have recast the other rod that didn’t have the bream on this morning, and we can only hope for success during the last night.

It’s going to be a wet backup, but hopefully, I will be able to do it in between showers. Unfortunately, there are still no signs of carp. It’s getting a bit silly now and quite unbelievable; there clearly is something about the lake that’s different from the previous year. In my personal belief is that it must be the weather and the fact there is more weed still about than previous years. All the other aspects are pretty much the same.

It was days only this time last year and it fished very well. I wasn’t about due to the travel restrictions; however, the year before, I had about 20 carp by now and similar numbers the year before. This is why I believe it must be the weather, it’s been cold and grey for many days, the lake didn’t freeze over, its the lack of sunshine and the constant low temperature that has been different to the previous year and with the weed growth.

I got a bit damp packing up; however, I felt I needed to fish the third night. I felt I was in with a chance or two.

Until next time

Richard

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