Meadow Lake

4 Nights Fishing

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With it being half-term this week, and having a very understanding family, I’m out for 5 nights. With any luck, I was sort of hoping to go to the Private School Lake, as it’s half-term. Unfortunately, everyone else had the same idea, and who could blame them? Luckily, they have two weeks off at half-term, and there’s always next week or, if it becomes too painful down here, I may have the opportunity to move lakes or swims if I feel the need.

I arrived at Meadow Lake around 11:30 AM to find only 3 day anglers about. I had no real idea of where to go, and the wind would be pushing from the North West and West at times. I didn’t fancy being on the receiving end of that wind. It would be a swing area at times over the course of the week, with the likelihood of rain for half the days, varying from light to heavy.

It took me three trips around the lake and over an hour to select my swim. It came down to various small reasons combined that I felt were best for me, to formulate a plan of action for this week and the best chance of one of my target carp for what’s left of this winter.

I’d probably brought more bait than food to cover any fishing situation and lake or swim move. I’m starting off open-minded and will formulate an action plan over the first 24 hours. I’ve picked a swim that my target mirror comes from the most. The downside is this swim hasn’t produced a carp since Christmas week. But if I want that carp, I have to endure a few blank sessions. Other swims looked appealing, but that carp draws me away from a swim. I very nearly pitched up in. I’m hoping to get down to the Private School Lake next week, as they are still off school, and that just makes things much more simple.

I’ve opted to fish the margins along the right-hand bank, in front of an old day swim. I walked along there and flicked the marker rod out, and it felt just perfect. I headed back to my swim, clipped a four-ounce lead on, chucked it out next to the marker rod, checked the bottom, and wrapped it up on my Summit Tackle Marker sticks. I headed back to collect my marker rod, with a bucket of boilies and my catapult and put about six pouches full over the spot. I did the same down the left-hand margins, then later on with my Nash spoon with the remaining crumb mixture from last week’s trip on the estate lake.

I then finished off by putting a Masala wafter on the left-hand rod and the Catalyst wafter on the right-hand rod. It was then time to get the camp sorted and get the kettle on.

I woke to a very cold and foggy morning, with no action in the night. Despite hearing a couple of carp crashing out along my left-hand margins, I didn’t have a single bleep. I was up at 6 am watching the water and slowly witnessing the foggy morning vanish away and the sun slowly poking its head over the treetops. I was surprised it took so long; it was nearly 8 am before the light touched the trees.

With the water so calm, watching the water was much easier. There had been a few signs of bream, roach, etc., but not a single carpy sign.

I put a lot of thought into my options for my second night on the lake. I even took a walk about after finding out more information about where the carp have been coming from. There’s one particular swim that features a lot, but that swim and where you cast isn’t for me. I’m more likely to lose carp than land them, and that’s simply not an option unless by accident. But putting myself in that situation isn’t quite right. The only option would be to cast some distance away from where the carp have been coming from, which I can’t see the point in yet after one night in a swim that I feel will produce the goods at some point. I’m sure I will be looking at this option as the week goes on.

In the meantime, I rebaited both rods, had a switch around with rigs and hook baits, and topped up the swim with more crumb and a few more boilies, as part of my ongoing baiting program of building up the swim.

The second night passed without any bleeps. However, the weather is now on the turn and a lot warmer at night. After the last two, it could make all the difference. Depending on the rain, I may now leave my hook baits out for the next day or two, as this can help you catch the wearier carp, like the one I’m after. The only baiting up will be various pellets today, just to keep the attractions flowing.

What can I say? Another bleep-free night. These carp have to be on the move soon. I’ve been doing some Deeper scanning this morning, two casts and simply let it drift in the wind. You can cover so much water without any disturbance. Why people thrash around with a lead or a marker float is completely astounding these days. If the tools are available, use them, boys and girls. I bet you don’t use Cardinal 55s anymore; you probably have the top-of-the-range reels. It’s simply progress.

I’ve also finally seen a good few carp showing as well, admittedly at the other end of the lake, but they are waking up, which is the important thing. Plus, Steve heard a good lump crashing out to the left of him last night, which is my way.

I am going to give it until 1500 hrs and then take a walk, visit the ‘Tardis’, and pop in for a chat with Steve. Then, I’ll head back to get the rods out for probably the last night, as packing this all up and sorting it out on the same day isn’t fun. It will just give me a little more time; we shall make the final decision tomorrow morning.

Steve had a result about 1130 this morning with a 27lber. It’s been some time since his last carp. This will certainly spur him on now.

I finally took the decision to move my right-hand rod to where my Deeper Sonar had picked up a few carp as I was scanning the lake. I didn’t do anything at first as I was trying to map as much as possible with the current wind direction a force. I spent just over an hour mapping this end, with only two casts. This simply wouldn’t be possible with a lead and marker float set up, plus the carp would be long gone.

I did reel in the right-hand rod and flick it out there, roughly in the zone. But when I finished mapping, I downloaded the data to my Fish Deeper Page and set about a more accurate approach. Around 1430, it was time for my daily trip around the lake, a good opportunity to wrap this rod up to the distance calculated by my Sonar and check the horizon markers on the map with the rule feature. I was away. I got a fantastic drop, and the silty area felt fantastically smooth. I left the clip in place and headed off for a chat with Steve before heading back around to my swim once Carpy Kev had driven past, heading to the bird hide swim. I needed to give him a quick update before getting my rods out. This was all sorted by 1645 and time for my last coffee of the day; otherwise, I’d be up and down all night long.

Much to my dismay, I had a tench at 0800 hrs on the last morning. You wonder why it couldn’t have been a carp, but for once, the weatherman was sort of correct, as we ended up with sunshine and could actually dry things out.

Steve managed a couple more overnight, which is great news for him, as it’s been some time since he caught and will certainly give him a good boost of confidence.

I’m hoping to be back down the estate lake on my next trip out.

Until then.

Richard

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