I was lucky enough to be able to go Wednesday again this week, but that’s the last Wednesday until Wintertime. I’m certainly not going to wish my life away and certainly not wish for the winter months. I wasn’t up as early as I had planned, but I didn’t set the alarm clock, as I wasn’t really in that much of a rush. As it turned out, it was raining, plus I missed a swim I was interested in, you know the saying – snooze, you lose! I certainly did snooze, and I will never know what would of happen if I’d gone in that swim.

I’d been walking about, chatting to a couple of fellow syndicate members, and even took a picture for one of them before settling on a spot to fish.

This is my last 3 nighter for a couple of weeks. Due to Bank Holidays and family birthdays, I’m hoping to fit in a few single nights under the brolly, which I’ve not done since a couple of years back.

I fished this swim for 3 nights, last year in September and it produced the goods then. Before then, I fished it on the weekend before Lockdown and it produced a nice 26lber then. I really like this bottom part of the complex, but you can also get too many lines in the water and the carp don’t like it. I’m hoping I’m early enough in the week for this not to happen.

I fished the back of a 7-foot gravel bar, which I found a few years back with my Deeper. There’s also a channel as well that’s very productive.

I baited up this area with 12mm Catalyst boilies, flaked maize soaked in Catalyst syrup and a few Impact Particles all mixed up. I would fish a Catalyst Cork wafter, with half a 12x15mm classic Corn wafter, on the other rod a Masala 12mm pop up on and see how it goes.

The conditions were looking perfect, and I knew there was a chance of a big lump down here before they spawn at the beginning of May.

It was a peaceful night, I was up a few times for a wee (as old people do), and I’d forgotten how dark it was down this end of the lake when the moonlight isn’t about. However, the stars are amazing and I could look at them for ages, it does make you realize, that we are just a tiny dot amongst trillions of other dots and we have to be nice to each other as we are the most important and wonderful dot out there.

I’m going to sit on my hands today and will not touch the rods or add any more bait. The Tuffy’s tell me there’s still food out there, with any luck, they will stir the bottom of the lake up, and the carp will move in at some point over the next 24 hours.

There’s a weather front moving my way over the next 24 hours, it may arrive overnight in dribs and drabs, but the main front is due first thing tomorrow morning. This may well wake up the carp. The warm weather is going to get them out from under all those snaggy corners they love. This cold wind isn’t going to help. I’m thinking about doing the odd day trip over the coming weeks as the wife’s away for work, plus a few family things going on. I’ve got a lot going on in May and I will have to reduce my fishing time to a lot of days and single nights fishing. I can get back in the groove for June and July.

Better get off this train of thought, otherwise, it will be Christmas!

All still today, the wind is picking up and I’m sure rain isn’t far away. According to the forecast, we will get a shower between 8 and 9 pm and maybe the odd one tonight. Let’s hope these fish are feeling it, as the pressure is dropping from 1020 to 1005 by Saturday morning. This has to be the area to be in – deeper, warmer, and less cold winds.

The clouds are on their way, and I’m sure the rain isn’t far behind.

It was a bit disappointing to wake up to yet another blank night on the bank. I’ve analyzed the options available to me when I got here, and I can see the only option available to me is going in the other only swim that looked right. After weighing it up again, I would still have picked this one.

I have to accept that open-water fishing is going to be less productive than fishing 6 inches away from the snags and I need to sort my mindset out. Otherwise, it will start affecting my plans.

I’m going to have to put my thinking cap on to sort out what to do with the rods today. The rain had moved north, so, I’m going to change over hook baits at some point at 1 o’clock ish. I feel this is the best time, am not sure about putting any more bait out today, there is definitely a chill in the air from the north wind.

Around 10 am, I finally had a carp show over my area, and another one close by. I was convinced they were about yesterday, the birds were a bit flustered a couple of times.

Now the sunshine has gone behind the clouds, and it certainly feels a lot colder. I’m thinking about just changing the hook baits, this will give me the best chance of pulling a late blank saver out.

I stood by the rods, drinking my early morning coffee and thinking about what I could do to improve/help me stand a better chance of producing a bite.

I waited until about 1 o’clock, reeled in my rods to get some fresh hook baits on, and also lead around a bit further out. After seeing the carp show, a few more wraps out, there was a nice smooth patch of silt that surely had to be worth a go. It looked about right to where the fish had stuck its head out some hours ago. I did the same with the other rod a lot more to my right and found a continuation of the silty area.

In it to win it they say – with both rods. After two nights without a bleep, something had to be done.

There was the odd light rain shower moving through, the sunshine was finally out, it had been a cold morning. It was nice to feel warmth again.

Bit of a tip, if you’re like me to struggle to thread the floss through the eye of the hook swivel, one of these handy needle threading tools will change everything.

Hopefully, this will help.

The evening was full of topping carp, giving me a real boost of confidence. I even stayed up till nearly 11 o’clock, hoping something would happen. Once the sun disappeared for the day you knew it was going to be a cold one, the temperature felt like it was plummeting fast. I really felt positive about a bite before midnight, it felt perfect.

I was up sometime in the night for a wee, I don’t look at the time now as I’ve learned that this can affect your sleep pattern. My barrow and the unhooking mat were both white with frost and I knew I probably didn’t stand a chance until morning arrived.

I drifted back to sleep, remembering the number of times I’ve caught in April with a frost on the ground, freezing cold, and trying to take photographs.

I wasn’t up as early as I normally would’ve been on the last morning – I think this was due to my warm sleeping bag and I was up between 4 and 5 am for that wee. This does help me at home sleeping in.

I was surprised that there was no fog or even a fair bit of mist this morning. I got the coffee on the stove and poured myself a cup. The overnight temperature was going to be 8 degrees C tonight, and I’m wondering if coming a day early will have cost me a carp or two. But spending time with the family is more important some weekends and that was really why I wanted to get here Wednesday, so I could be home by lunchtime today.

It’s now just about 9 o’clock. I’ve checked the weather again, and it looks like there’s a spot of rain due at 10 am, and I’m not going to get out of here by then.

I’m hoping that’s not the case, as the sun is trying to burn through the clouds and will help dry some stuff off. In particular, my bivvy, as tomorrow and Monday’s forecast doesn’t look that great. I’m also hoping for a mid-morning run from Mr Carp, as they were active yesterday morning around that time, we can only hope.

Lucky for me the rain didn’t arrive, but it was another blank to the list.

until next time

Richard

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