Firstly, I must thank my wife and kids for letting me out during the last few days of their Easter holidays. It’s week fifteen of the year and I’ve just only starting trip 10. I try to average 1 trip a week but this year hasn’t gotten off to a great start. We still have 37 weeks to go, so I better not write this year off just yet!

After my last trip, which really proved the carp really aren’t feeding heavily in open water yet. It was time to find an area where I felt the carp wouldn’t be too far away from me. I’m not into snag fishing these days, I’m too old for that.

After going backwards and forwards from a number of swims, I settled for the Gate Swim.

This gives me the opportunity to fish closer to where I believe the carp have tucked themselves away – under the trees and in the bays away from the colder open water areas.

I’ve fished this swim before and lost a fish, I need to be mindful of this happening again. The wind was pushing hard into this swim, it wouldn’t be worth getting my Deeper Sonar out unless it dies down or changes direction. There’s rain forecast, so this may also hamper my plans. However, I’d fished the swim around the corner to my left and the Deeper had drifted into this swim water. This helped me find the deeper water. 

This gave me enough information as to where the 4 to 5ft of water was located, and I would get my sonar out later.

The rods are positioned on opposite sides of the bay and a few spombs dumped over them, they were baited with 12m x 15m wafters one masala and the other Classic Corn .

Ian arrived at around 1330 and opted to fish on the island next to where I was pitched up.

It involved a bridge and a slippy slope, so I offered to help him set up and I reeled in my rods. 10 minutes into setting up the bivvy, the heavens opened, first rain and then by a hail storm. He ended up sitting on the floor in his bivvy until it passed, luckily all his other kit was in the car.

This happened twice over the coming hours, along with a thunderstorm and a few bolts of lightning hitting nearby.

The weather was all over the place in the days, and catching something was going to be a hard graft again this trip.

The only thing for certain was that the pressure was going up, and I wouldn’t catch anything being at home.

I topped up the swim with a few more spombs, in between the heavy showers with more 12mm Catalyst boilies and flaked maize soaked in plenty of Catalyst Syrup.

A stunning sunset finally arrived over the lake as the weather front finally cleared.

All was quiet overnight until the rain arrived, not as heavy as yesterday. This gave me a bit of hope on the carp front, as we had seen a lot yesterday evening as the sun was setting, Ian popped over for a chat, before heading back to get his rods out, and the carp were showing way more than the last time we where here.

I’ve been watching the lake since I got up, and the only interesting thing to report was a kingfisher on my rods! There may have been one carp who stuck its head out and thought a yukky day.

The rain faded away, the wind changed to the North East, and it was forecast to be 4 degrees tonight, very close to being a frost. I reeled in for about an hour and popped over to have a chat with Ian, who was blanking like me – despite seeing carp as well.

When I got back, I topped the swim up a bit and put fresh hook baits on. I decided to switch over to 15mm Glugged Wafter, just to see if that makes any difference.

It sort of did, as I had a duck within the hour! I couldn’t believe it, after over 24 hours with the bird life avoiding my spot. Let’s hope after this incident that they continue to ignore me.

It’s now Saturday afternoon, and coffee has been consumed, all with a burger, followed by Hot Cross buns all done on the Weber and looking out over this fantastic view.

The far bank is 1285 feet away, which is about 104 wraps away. The beauty of where I am is there are another 5 anglers fishing, and I can’t see them. This lake has been perfectly adapted to fish by the estate manager, so all car parks are located in the woods and we are unable to see any vehicles to spoil the views. Occasionally, you will see a bit of spombing going on, which lets you know that you’re not alone.

After yesterday’s storm, it’s like the trophies today, and will be a balmy 15 degrees C! Which is 7 degrees warmer than yesterday and no hail, etc. The carp will have to be on the munch, move, etc.

Even the frogs have woken up today. It’s ridiculous how April throws up so much different weather. I reeled in at around 1 pm, went for a walk and chat with a few fellow syndicate members, and then headed back to Ian’s swim for a chat. I returned to my swim just before 4pm and was surprised at how hot this corner is, the carp must be close by.

With the third bleep-free night under my belt and am now into a sixth-night blank. April is proving to be as hard going as always.

Unfortunately, it was yet another wet pack-up for me today, but it was made easier with the close proximity of my car.

Until next time

Richard

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