Sticking it Out - The Cold Finally Pays
morale dwindling I had to think of a better plan
I fished all the way through from April to April that season. I wanted to make the most of my ticket and I had fish big enough to motivate me. I suppose it was November when I noticed the bleakness, the nights were pulling in, summer was a distant memory and the magical colours of autumn had lost its wonder.
Where are they gonna go? Do they go anywhere in particular? The lake had around 13 islands which meant seeing the whole lake at once was impossible, you had a few swims on the road bank that looked out on the open water which also contained the deeper depths, it seemed like a good bet to focus my efforts primarily there, that part of the lake was lit up by an industrial estate behind and if I didn’t see anything there I would do slow laps after dark to see if I could hear anything.
I was convinced that wasn’t a bad plan but after weeks of looking after dark without anything to go on and morale dwindling I had to think of a better plan. I decided that I would start fishing sections of the lake as fanned out as possible with slight drops in the bobbins to see if I could pick up a few liners. I felt at that point I wouldn’t miss anything from the vantage point swims, I feel like if they were there one would have given it away.
The cold had definitely got to my head.
I screen shot a google earth image of the lake, outlined all the banks and islands, marked all the pegs and methodically moved around the lake fishing for liners. After a few weeks of doing this a couple had come out that I knew of and during that time I had picked up a liner but was still struggling to put the pieces together.
I ended up even marking where I believe the fish had been caught from (not exactly but I knew the swims and the rough ranges) and then I marked where I had my liner from.
Suddenly looking at this image and the data that I had collected it hit me…. Nothing had come from open water. All the various different action had one thing in common. It had come from between the islands. The fish in winter still favoured the protection from the elements the islands offered. Eureka!
If memory serves the arrows represented wind direction, colours were different sessions and the dots were the occurrences on those particular sessions (captures, liners or shows). The cold had definitely got to my head.
I then highlighted all the south facing parts of the islands and bays, stayed away from swims anglers were doing regular time in and that gave me areas to target. I think I must of been a week away from new moon so I started trickling some boilie crumb, corn and maggot into a few areas of a particular swim in preparation.
The clutch was clacking off line
Then on the new moon which was a Wednesday I finished work as soon as I could and headed to the lake to get the rods out. The plan still at this point was to just fish a few hours into darkness. I was keeping the sessions short most of the time appreciating that this would be a slog.
But about 4pm the rod ramped off and I had a lovely scrap with a mirror that was holding its ground very well, the rod was fully compressed and at times it just felt like it was doing what it wanted. The clutch was clacking off line with big boils as it turned just under the surface and eventually it bobbed up beaten and I scooped the net under it.
30lb120z - Pop up rig
That fish represented a lot for me, I had put a lot of work in and it had finally paid off but the pursuit of that bite had forced me to really think about it and id come up with tactics I would still use to this day.
If you’re out there in the winter months I wish you every success.