One rod in one spot today. After a drive around the lake and a look in countless swima, I finally spotted a fish show and that was my mind made up.
On a very windy and sunny day, this was the pefect area. I flicked the bait out a couple of rod lengths with a tiny mesh bag dipped in Catalyst food dip and a washed out pink dumbell pop up. It also had a couple of small pouches of pellets and crushed boilies.
Tucked away in an over grown swim, just the way I like it.
Unfortunately, with the water temperature still low, it’s proving hard to get a bite.
With Spring ever closer and the family away in Ireland for the week. I am out on the lake and not sure if I will split the week up with a trip to Suffolk or not. I will wait for a report from Rob on the mill pond and also how I get on here.
The lake was very full over the weekend and had produced some fish. I had my eye on a particular swim/area of the lake. However, there were only a couple of swims free that didn’t have much confidence in, so I hung around and had a good chat with other members. I opted to put my barrow in a swim until they had packed up.
I had brought my thermometer along to check the water temperature, it was only 4 degrees (still very cold). With this in mind, I was only going to be putting out my groundbait mix and 10mm catalyst boilies.
With plenty of micro particulars – this would not over feed the fish, easily break down and get mopped up by nuisance fish. It would also hopefully attract the carp!
Day 1
I was joined by my friend for a few hours, who was Pike fishing. It was a very pleasant day and a good catch up and even the sun came out for a few hours! Dispite all this, I have only had a couple of Bream so far. The water temperature was finally starting to rise with a warm westerly blowing – the pressure was dropping, I may well be in for a change.
A very pleasant evening.
Day 2
Well, that was a very uneventful day not a single bleep. The only good thing is that the water temperature is holding at 5 degree’s and the pressure has dropped even more. I have a feeling that the fish caught over the weekend were on the back of all the sunshine we had, it must have got them moving. Unfortunately, with the wind & grey sky’s, I think this may have stopped thier activities. However, I did hear fish last night and I have opted to add some more bait today, we shall see if that’s the right plan but I feel it is.
Gained a friend today.
Day 3
Not much to say, still catching Bream and still no carp. I am sticking to the plan of not much bait (until tomrrow), when I feel its been enough time since the weekend bait up from all the other anglers.
Day 4
Been a hard day, with still no Carp, however the wind had picked up and it feels warmer and the pressure is still dropping. I have added 3 kilos of Catalyst boilies over my two spots, I hope that when the fish switch on, they have and nice baited area to feed in and I hope I can hold them there.
Day 5
I was yet again woken up by a Bream, it’s like a morning alarm clock! The wind and rain had arrived in the early hours, signaling the arrival of storm Doris and as the day progressed the rain moved away, the wind picked up to 50mph gusts and had swung around into my face. It battered the bivvy until later afternoon, when it died down to 25mph gusts, which felt like a gentle breeze, after nearly 12hrs of much stronger winds.
Now that the pressure had dropped to 990, I was hoping that some action may arrive and so did the other 5 other angler’s who arrived this afternoon. I was not feeling that confident any more and the wind swung to WNW, there was a real bitter chill in the air. I am still determine to catch a Carp and plan on stay tonight and review the situation again tomorrow lunchtime
Day 6
Well that was another non-eventful night. This has made my mind up, despite the weather changing, I am clearly in the wrong spot. It’s time to regroup, learn from this session and move onto the next one. I try not to be down hearted about blank periods of fishing and try to learn something from them. You should always try and turn a negative into a positive, as in life, you learn something every day. You should use this information to your advantage, I will analyse this trip over the next few days and be back out soon.
We are in for a big change in the weather this week and I am only able to fish tonight. I am hoping that the weather will start to bring the fish back on the feed.
I have set up in an area I know the carp start feeding in, after a cold snap. I have only put out a small amount of bait, in the form of chopped boilies soaked in the catalyst food dip and Catalyst pellets also soaked in the dip. This will put some attraction into the area and hopefully draw the fish into to the area.
6 am pack up and not a single bleep. It wont be long before they get their heads down, shame I am not back for 5 day’s.
After a very unsuccessful day, after the otter in my swim. I arrived back just before 7 pm and there where a couple of other anglers on. So I headed around to the other side of the lake and after spotting a few shows, I set up in the corner swim and flicked my line out into my favourite spots. I catapulted a couple of pouches of chopped Catalyst boilies over the top.
Set up kettle and all set for a few hours on Netflix – with one ear open for the Carp. There were a couple or more Carp moving, which gave me a bit of confidence. This turned into the best night sleep for a long time, with not even a single bleep!
I am out today and its very sunny and I have set up in a very warm corner of the lake.
I used my Baiting pole to put out my rig to the tree lined margin. I loaded the bait spoon with a small amount of Catalyst pellets, which had been soaked in Salmon liquid for a few days and then add a handful of chopped boilies. Both rod’s were set up with pop ups.
This certainly is a very nice tree lined margin and I was feeling very confident – until an otter put up and started hunting in the area. It was not even bothered about me, so much for them being shy and timid creatures. After that, I packed up and took a walk around the lake, to give myself an idea of my best options for my return later for the night.
