12/04/23

Winter Campaign

Coming into the winter, I was confident that at some point I could get a result or two. My initial optimism began to dwindle by December, after several blank nights and I became a little despondent. Keeping the faith, I just kept plugging away really. We had some terribly cold nights. I think minus seven was the coldest I fished in. Inevitably, on some mornings the lake would be largely frozen and I would have to retreat with biting hands and a red little nose!

With the intention of staying until the job was done or time ran out, I simply pulled on my big boy pants and eventually, got into a few fish. It was now early January, and although all of the fish were small stock fish, it gave me the confidence that my approach was working. The fish weren’t really showing me where to be, so having bites meant they hadn’t moved far from where I felt they had been most of the autumn and early winter. I had four or five fish in total for my returns in January and all had come to pale pink pop-up heavens.

They've woken up

As things began to warm up through the start of February, so did the fishing. The fish didn’t really show much more, but the activity around the baited area certainly increased. I started to receive liners and knew pretty much when the takes would come. With daytime temperatures up to 12 or 13 degrees on occasions, I made sure to see the bank as much as I could. With some further new stock fish being added to the lake, it seemed to have woken the lake’s larger fish.

With the increase in action, I played around with the rigs slightly, switching between the pop-ups and bottom baits. It soon became apparent that the fish seemed to prefer a small white tipper on a wafting hook bait, rather than the more blatant pink heaven. Presenting this bang in the middle of the spot, I would bait sparingly with 4 spombs or so at the start of the night. I would usually receive action around an hour or so into dark and this would last until midnight or 1am. On some nights, I would have three or four takes before the action subdued. I did try and bait up again, sometimes after a fish or two or three fish, but every time I would replenish the bait I would never receive another take. In short, I had to bait heavy enough at the start of the night to receive as many bites as possible without overfeeding, as any replenishment through the night would stop the action. It was a difficult balance and it was only through trial and error that I came to the conclusion. Sometimes I would place all three rods on the spot, other times I would just leave the two, but almost always, the most bites came to the wafters and white baits.

Two Forties

Over the course of February, I had some amazing fishing. I managed two forties in the shape of ‘The Parrot’ and ‘Pawprint’, the latter being a huge weight for her at 45lb exactly. I managed some nice back up 30’s and into early March managed a lake record common. The first week of March brought snow and some biting northerlies again. Luckily, work landed on those cold wintry days and I left the fish to find some warmth before my return during Cheltenham Gold Cup week. I always love Cheltenham and as much as I’d like to say I sat intently and watched the lake, I didn’t, I simply sat and watched the racing!

Sadly, the remainder of March bought only stockies and my final night was cut short early due to issues at home. A blank wasn’t the way I wanted to go out, but I gave the lake a nod, thanked it for the memories and simply locked the gate for pastures new. ‘Blue’ had been so kind and had certainly given me a winter to remember. Who knows, one day I may return on a guest for a winter trip or two and that big one may just slip up. For now, she’s beaten me, but that’s ok, we can’t win them all.

Take care.