I’m back after going home yesterday for a family thing. Last night, I was back down at the lake around 07:30, knowing exactly where I was heading. After seeing a couple of nice carp show off Gate Island, that swim was my number one choice. It’s a bit of a pain to get to due to crossing a wooden bridge just wide enough for a barrow when it’s full of kit to get across. Well, half full, as I don’t fancy dumping it all in 3ft of silty water.

Once across, on an idyllic island with wildlife for company. My approach was to get both rods out to each corner of the island in front of me, where I’d seen carp on my previous trip and sit back and wait until about 13:00 hrs, processing the information from my observations throughout the morning.

I spotted carp pretty much everywhere and was taken aback by the amount of activity today compared to yesterday, it’s the first day of spring, and they had gone crazy overnight.

With the calmer weather forecast, I’d gone for the long-range operation to start with, and if necessary, move the baits to another area. They start to form a pattern in their activities over the next 24 hours, which gives me another 24 hours to fill a spot in and get a carp or two before the dredged tooth operation this Friday, the 22nd of March 2024.

The afternoon and evening were fantastic. The conditions and the carp were very active, and then night arrived. The skies cleared, the moon came out, and in the early hours, the fog arrived. That was the kiss of death; the carp vanished, and not a sign until around 09:00 hrs this morning.

I’ve come to the conclusion that one or both of my rods need to move. Plus, as I’ve got to be up and gone early tomorrow morning, if the skies are due to be clear again, it’s possibly pointless in actual fishing tonight. I may have to knock it on the head and accept that I’m not going to catch until I can get back into some sort of rhythm, which may be hard going over the next four weeks.

I will just have to take it week by week. Most importantly, my tooth needs to heal well, and then I can fit my fishing around everything else, which is pretty easy. I’ve a few weeks when it may be days only but that could produce me some carp.

I honestly think I’m more worried about having my gum cut open. What’s left of my tooth cut in half and then pulled out, stitched back up, and then the whole healing process. I’m glad I’m going private instead of NHS because I just don’t want to wait any longer. This saga has been going on since the beginning of December and is no doubt getting me down. Roll on a couple of weeks when hopefully it will be a distant memory.

Today is supposed to be similar weather-wise to yesterday, but that turned out even better than expected, and hopefully, today will be as good.

Ian is doing his first night of 2024 in the Tower Swim, as he likes it there, and he did well there in previous years. I think he stands a good chance of catching his first carp of the year over the next few nights.

Once the weather has updated itself this afternoon, I will make up my mind if it’s worth the night or not. Currently, there’s a cloud cover forecast, which is perfect. Hopefully, it won’t change. I’m almost certainly going to have a damp pack-up.

It was a very silent night and an early start to get off the lake before the rain. I will be back soon, and hopefully, the tooth issue is about to be resolved today, as it’s been way too long.

Until next time,

Richard

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