Chilly Winds, One Chance and Lots of Questions

I arrived at the lake earlier than normal this week, having decided to load the car before heading off to my gardening job. Thankfully, it was in a quiet area, and I was only working on the front garden, so the car and all my kit would be safe enough while I worked. It saved me the usual trip home to reload everything afterwards, and with the house on my route to the lake anyway, it felt like a proper win-win situation.

With that cold northerly wind still hanging around and absolutely no signs of spawning carp yet, I headed straight back down to the bottom section of the lake again. I’m really growing to love this area of the water. It just feels right down there — quiet, tucked away and full of potential.

My baiting approach would remain exactly the same. Particles and boilies alongside small mesh bags packed with pellets soaked in hemp oil. Simple, subtle and giving the carp just enough to keep them searching around the spots.

Hookbait-wise, I made a slight adjustment. One rod was armed with a 15mm EnerGize Corkie Wafter topped with a 12mm EnerGize pop-up, while the other rod would continue with a White Blank Saver, as they’ve been working wonders recently.

The weather still looked far from ideal. Pressure was steady at 1015mbs, but the wind direction was all over the place. Air temperatures were sitting around 16 degrees, although there was even talk of a possible frost on Thursday night. Looking ahead, next week seemed much the same. Personally, I can’t see these carp spawning anytime soon unless Saturday suddenly brings a proper rise in temperatures.

1800 Hrs

Honestly, it felt more like March than May.

The northerly wind had a proper bitter edge to it and, despite the thermometer showing 15 degrees, it felt far colder sat behind the rods. Gloves were soon on, and I’d already climbed into the sleeping bag to warm my feet up.

On the positive side, the carp still appeared active enough. That was the one thing keeping confidence levels high.

Let’s hope it stayed that way.

2220 Hrs

The left-hand rod suddenly gave a couple of isolated bleeps.

At first, I dismissed it as bats. It’s a common occurrence around dusk on this lake, and the indicators often twitch as they clip the lines in the fading light. But then the rod absolutely melted off.

Definitely not a bat.

The fish powered hard from right to left margin, plodding deep and heavy in that cold water. After a long, stubborn battle, I finally slipped the net cord under it on my first attempt.

Happy days.

25lb 13oz Common

After the last two sessions, I was relieved to get one on the first night. Confidence instantly returned. Another bag was quickly attached using PVA cable ties before the rig was flicked straight back onto the spot.

At some point afterwards, I drifted back off to sleep until the cuckoos woke me around 0530 hrs. For a moment, I considered staying awake, but I knew I needed the rest. I lay there on the bedchair listening to the lake wake up before eventually drifting back off again, only waking just after 0800 hrs — just in time to phone the wife on her way to work.

1400 Hrs

By early afternoon, I’d decided to switch things around a little.

I’ve always enjoyed experimenting while fishing. Sometimes it’s the only way to outsmart the better stamp of carp. The left-hand rod stayed exactly where it was because I was happy with that spot, but I changed the right-hand rod over to a solid bag presentation.

I’d spotted a few fish showing closer in and felt there was enough reason to try dropping a small mesh bag over them. Two hours later, though, nothing had happened.

That got me thinking.

Where were these carp actually moving from?

The answer, in my mind, had to be the bay over to my right. Open water hadn’t produced anything so far, so I started looking at intercept routes instead. I eventually concluded that the bottom of the marginal shelf was worth a try.

That’s the only real way to crack a swim properly — keep trying different things until patterns begin to form. Eventually, you find spots that repeatedly and consistently produce fish.

I already had confidence in the left-hand rod.

The entire session now revolved around finding the right-hand area.

0926 Hrs

I’d been awake on and off throughout the night.

Conditions actually looked very good. The wind had swung southerly, there’d been some rain during the darkness, and everything felt far more carp-like. Yet I never had a single bleep.

I’ve got a theory about why.

There’s a swim between the two points separating me and the next angler, and somebody slipped into it during the night. In my past experience, whenever someone sets up in that swim, it seems to completely cut this area off.

I honestly don’t fully understand why, because there’s still loads of water to my right, and this swim itself covers a huge amount of area. But time and time again, it seems to change the fish’s movement.

I’d actually be interested to know whether other anglers experience similar things on their own lakes.

At this point, I had a decision to make about whether to stay another night under the same circumstances.

1226 Hrs

After a lot of thought, plus a good discussion with Ian, I decided to stay put.

Part of me simply wanted to understand the swim better.

I eventually found a feature I was happy with before baiting the area with four half-filled large Spombs of my particle mixture. The left-hand rod was redone onto the productive spot again, and by the time everything was sorted, it was around 1345 hrs.

Perfect timing for lunch.

I sat there, eating, watching the water, and reading my book, quietly hoping things would come together on the final night.

As evening arrived, the lake looked absolutely stunning. The wind eased off, the light softened, and for a while my confidence came flooding back again.

But as the darkness dragged on, it slowly faded away.

Despite all the effort, all the thinking and all the changes, that lone common was my only bite of the session.

I’m genuinely starting to wonder whether the carp are simply a bit moody at the moment. Normally, they’re spawning around the first week of May, but everything feels behind this year. Maybe this weekend’s warmer weather will trigger them, maybe it won’t.

Looking ahead to next week, it feels like I could be in for another challenging session.

Still, one bite is sometimes enough to keep the fire burning.

Until next time,

Richard

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