The Old Hall pt 17

Well the last 2 sessions up on the old hall have proved fruitless, with the low stock disappearing, this had happened at the same time as last year, when the uneven autumn weather patterns kick in the fish are nowhere to be found.

 On my previous session I had spoken to one of the chaps that maintains the bank side vegetation around the lake and he had kindly opened up a couple areas on the dam end by strimming back the reeds enabling me to fish from it instead of fishing across to it, the idea being that less line out, much better presentations from being able to lower the rigs into place and much more accurate baiting to the rigs would hopefully bring a fish or two onto the rods.

I arrived and settled into the middle of the dam, it was tight but fishable. With 2 margin rods presented on the areas i would normally fish to and a 3rd rod out in open water, the traps were set. The heavy westerly wind had been coming off my left shoulder giving the margins along this bank a calmness while the rest of the lake was being whipped up to a foam. With no sightings over the first day of the session i decided that the fish must have been up on the wind, but was sure they would travel to the deeper water for darkness. Come morning i was still sat behind silent alarms.

The wind had been consistent and was still pushing hard up to the shallows. Time to give the new rods a few chucks. Filling my pockets with bait a quick journey up the lake to the shallower water and i deposited 100 baits all around the floating island. Back on the rods and i rigged 2 of them for range and after a couple of test casts up the lake i settled them 10 yards off the floating island at around 140 yards.The Acurix doing a lovely job of landing the hook baits among the free offerings. At this range there was little option but to fish tight lines with a long drop on a heavy bobbin. The day passed by pretty quickly and before darkness the rods were re baited and settled back out. I opted for 2 margins again and one left at long range on the island. With a heavy sprinkling of crushed boilies on the margin rods there was little more i could do. Leaving the following morning fishless i can only think the fish were tucked up in the reed beds to get out of the heavy chop and unprepared to leave them to come looking for food.

The following session saw very similar weather patterns to the previous visit, with the exception of a very thick mist, at times the 96 mile journey to the lake was tricky, with visibility down to 40-50 yards, as i traveled over the moorlands this would drop to about 4 yards, i could barely see beyond the car bonnet. Arriving safely i loaded up and after some indecisiveness I opted to fish the middle of the lake and settled into the top platform swim, probably the comfiest and cosiest swim on the lake. Spot level, which is nice compared to the majority of the pegs where i spend my time balancing the stove and stuff on 45 degree inclines !

This swim enables me to fish to the floating island and to the dam end, albeit a bit of a chuck. I can cover 3/4 of the lake from here and knowing there was no one else due on for the duration of my session i immediately set a bed of bait on the dam and also a bed in open water in front of me at 45 yards, this bed would join up to the island rod area by a trail of loosely applied bait. Once the rods were settled it was time to dodge the imminent rain, get the bivvy up, home sorted and to get the stove on for the first round of coffee. By 6pm the fireworks were in full force in the area, but thankfully were short lived due to the persistent rain.

8pm and the dam rod started to go with a slow pull round, i lifted and felt a fish on, bloody bream, skimming it across the surface 140 yards to the net it was soon removed off my hook and the rod baited up with a fresh B1 and cast back into the area as best as i could in the darkness. I woke as light filtered through the heavy cloud cover, i was fishless, i had fully expected to be woken through the night with a fish, the 11pm - 2am slot had passed by with unbroken sleep.

The 2nd day passed by very similar to the first but without the thick fog, but it hadn't stopped raining for 12 hours or so and looked like it had no intentions of stopping. The lake is know for being stubborn to produce under 2 specific weather conditions, Fog/mist and heavy rain. This session had seen copious amounts of both and the rain barely stopped for the duration. The only areas i have ever had a fish from in the rain was the stream mouth, i contemplated moving but being stubborn and having applied large beds of bait i stuck to my spots when really i should have moved up to the streams. With the amount of rain coming down i can guarantee id have been given an almighty soaking in the move too, but maybe just maybe it would have payed off.

The Old Hall pt 16

Well this blog has certainly taken time to come together, apologies to those who read them and follow my exploits. What can i say, this summer has come and gone so quickly, I've put in the usual amount of time on the lake, fishing every second week for a couple of nights, at the height of summer the lake was hit with an algae bloom that within a week of starting would see the gin clear water turn to a dark green, oxygen levels were low and the fishing was tough, These fish tend to sight feed, of this I'm sure due to the amount that come out to high viz white scud pop ups that i top my bottom baits off with. So once the algae took a hold it wasn't long before it resembled pea soup.
I was still catching consistently, picking up a fish or two in the session, these mainly being the stocky commons that went in a few years ago, they ranged from 12 to 16lb and are definitely on there way forward, the spinal growth on some of these fish is pretty impressive, they're getting bigger without getting fat belly's !

 Unlike last year where i tended to fish one end of the lake or the other, this summer i tended to concentrate on the middle of the lake fishing out towards but away from the floating island. The bite times became pretty obvious after a session or two and the dark hours were prime, so with the lake being busy with duck feeders and dog walkers in the day it made sense to switch over to snoozing in the day and staying up through the dark hours. At least that was the plan. My pet goose had had chicks and they were growing so fast , each session i was astounded at the differences, now they are fully grown and join her in the daily visits and overnight stays at my bivvy, 3 geese is getting a bit noisy now and i wonder if and when they may fledge. I'm hoping they leave with the Canada geese when they start to fill the lake up any day now.

Among the commons i was catching i also picked up a couple more small mirrors scraping the 10lb mark, some of these are going to be fine fish in a few seasons.
With the summer in full bloom, a recapture of some of the ancient original residents, the Stumpy common, Twin Scales and the Chestnut mirror all within a session of each other were added to the tally, and wherever stumpy is I'm sure single scale would have been close by. I spent the summer searching for the big pale fish i had seen the previous season but with the algae bloom continuing right through till mid September sightings of any carp were rare. As with last year the fish are only ever showy after dark, when if its a quiet night you can track them around the lake with just the use of your ears.

The Ancient Stumpy common @ 19+

Chestnut

The Ancient Twinscales @11lb

September was a tough month up there, but the algae was dropping out and the night time temperatures were plummeting with the effect of cooling the water down nicely. The lake is around 1000ft above sea level and has a very short spring summer autumn on it , with around 6 months of winter ! The water is still feeling warm to the touch and this session saw me heading away from the shallower top end towards the deep water.

 Settling into the brambles swim it was out with the marker rod to find the small drop of i fish to , as luck would have it the line was still in the clip and after a single cast i found what i was looking for and settled a rod onto it with a small scattering of around 80 SAE bacteria B1s onto it. The 2nd rod was as usual fished towards the reedbed in the usual spot that has provided me with a fair few fish over the last 17 months. The night drew in and was completely uneventful, waking to the dawn chorus and a very misty lake all i could do was get the kettle on the go and sit on my hands for an hour or two.

 


Once the mist lifted the rods were re baited and dropped back into the areas. I'm not one for shouting about the products i use in my fishing as i hate to be an advert, but I've come across what can only be described as the stiffest coated braid hooklink material making the blow back rig  i use as stiff as tying a combi rig without the hassle, its the Fox Camo tec in a clay colour. Really happy with it.

Soon after the sun had burnt through, the temperatures soared and after a few texts off a mate on a lake not too far from where i was, we both agreed that the chances of a fish in these conditions were slim to say the least. Id no sooner put the phone down when the rod off the reeds bent round on a pretty violent take. A strong tussle ensued it initially went for the outlet pipe in the corner to my right, but I've fished this swim a lot and was prepared for this exact scenario, i leaned on the rod and the fish turned into open water. It kited out across me and was soon turned again towards the net, once glance and the fish dived deep into the 7ft of water beneath my feet, getting it off the bottom was not easy and once the fish did come up it rolled in the sunshine and went back down again, it seemed well hooked and even tho i was sure it was Single scale i let it make a few more short runs into open water to try and tire it out ready for netting, one more dive under my feet and she came up and into the net with ease.  At 22lb15oz shes the biggest fish of the year for me so far so although a repeat capture i felt a shot was well deserved. So that's that then really, there's a repeat capture of a fish that i would like, this being the coach mirror, only to see how its progressed since i had it in march or April last year. A very elusive fish for sure. I'm still chasing the ultra elusive big pale fish that hasn't been out for 15 years now and theres a small cluster of ancient beasts that are proving tricky as hell to trip up , I'm starting to wonder if they just don't eat boilies !

The Ancient Single Scale @ 22lb 15 oz

The Old Hall pt 15

Loading up the barrow at the car park, it was with anticipation of what could be that I trundled my way down to the lakeside. With a strong south westerly pushing up into the shallows I became unsure as to what to do, fish the heavy chop or settle into the deeper water at the opposite end of the lake. A stroll around, as is often the case, proved unfruitful, as is often the case on here, I saw nothing. Heading back to the shallows to retrieve the barrow and rods from the bushes I was still undecided where to set up.

Within seconds of being back at this end of the lake I saw a carp roll. 20 yards out and right in front of the small stream that has proved to be productive for me last year. Decision was soon made and during the process of getting the rods out I had seen another 3 fish roll at short range in front of me.

A rod quietly flicked out to the island and 2 just out into open water at 20 and 30 yards were soon in place along with 20 baits covering each rod. 
Id no sooner got the bivvy up and kettle on when the island rod whipped round. Fishing locked up gave the fish little chance of reaching sanctuary but during the first few seconds of the fight the hook pulled. This is something that rarely happens to me, the previous year i had only lost the one fish and that had been to a hook link being cut off probably damaged by the copious amounts of mussels the lake contains. This time the Fox SSBP had straightened right out on me under the pressure and the hook hold had been compromised

With a new rig in place and another handful of bait over the top the rod was soon settled back on the new Banktech stage sticks and buzz bars.They had withstood a very violent take and were still locked up tight. Evening drew in and the south westerly had started to turn as predicted, it was now working its way towards becoming a northerly. It was cold and was not long before the clouds were dropping the wet stuff on me.

Banktech Stage Sticks

6am the following morning and I'm blasted out of my bed to the sounds of the delkim screaming and again the left hand rod bucking and kicking in the rests. After a few seconds of pressure the fish started to kite away from the island and I felt in control. It wasn't long before it was netted and my prize could be seen. As it rolled in the net I could see it was a linear mirror on one side and the other was just a cluster near towards the tail end. I was sure I had heard tales of this fish and was positive it was one of the elusive ancient beasts.

After slipping the fish into a retainer sling, a quick check of the rig and again I would find the hook had straightened out slightly, not as much as the previous one but still enough to send the rig to the rubbish bag. With a new rig tied and threaded through a pva bag of crumbed bait it was soon back out on the spot I had banked the fish from, the line relaxed and allowed to settle freely on the lakebed before the bobbin was clipped onto the line. Another 20 baits flicked out loosely to the general area and it was brew and breakfast time.

 Within the hour Mart had arrived to do the shots for me, i would normally only have done a mat shot of this fish but something was eating away at me about it. I was soon to find out that I had done the right thing. The fish weighing in at a mere 15lb 8oz turned out to be one of the elusive and ancient A team.  It had been stocked around 30 yrs ago and had only been caught twice in its time as a resident of the lake ! An honour to have experienced this capture I can tell you.

3rd recorded capture in 30 yrs...

Although the wind was still pushing from the west it was due to turn 180 degrees at around mid day and then stay easterly for the rest of the session. Thoughts of moving onto the new wind crossed my mind. Just after 10 am again the left hand island rod thumped round, with an exact repeat of the loss of the first fish, this fish was only ever hooked for around 4 to 5 seconds before the hook pulled out of the fish, again for the 3rd time this session the Fox hooks that I have been using for over 5 years with untroubled use had let me down.

True to the forecast at around lunchtime the wind turned arcing its way from west to north to east in a matter of an hour or so and was soon pushing off my back. Would the fish follow the new wind, i'm sure they do during the summer, but was the wind warm enough for them today? I had received 3 takes in less than 24 hours so the decision to move was put off.  Late afternoon would see the friendly  mother goose turn up to see me, in tow were her newly born chicks, fluffy yellow balls of high pitched squeaks. I was surprised that the mom allowed the chicks to approach me and in no time they were underfoot and clamouring for me to feed them, i even managing to hand feed one of the chicks with a chunk of crust.

As evening drew in, the wind slowed and with darkness approaching the gusts pretty much dropped off and soon after dark, stopped completely giving me fine viewing of the flattened surface. The lake came alive. With bream blowing and the occasional carp showing in the deeper water, I began to think I had made the wrong decision, but only time would tell.

An undisturbed night came and went without a single indication on the rods. The sky had cleared during darkness and it wasn't long before the sun was breaking over the horizon behind me filling the world with its warmth. Hopefully this would bring the fish back up to the shallows  and out in front of me again. The wind picked up and stayed easterly, hacking down to the deeper water. I had to make a decision and soon as to whether to move down there or not. I had one night left and really wanted to put to rights the fish losses. In the end I stayed put hoping the sun would send the fish my way. Waking the following morning would make me realise with hindsight,  I had made the wrong decision, I should have moved and promised myself from now on ill put that bit of extra effort in and move on my whims as I generally do. Getting old u see !

The Old Hall pt 14

Time was on my side, i had planned for a late arrival on Wednesday night, but managed to actually arrive with a few hours daylight available for me to have a good look round. After an hours searching had resulting in me not seeing a single carp show i decided to try to fit into a really tight swim i had been itching to fish since i started on the venue but very much doubted i could fit into. The swim has nice deep margins within a yard of the bank giving me 6ft of water over a very clean stone and gravel shelf drop off. An area I'm positive the fish will visit and patrol. Needing to know if it was possible to squeeze in i got the bivvy up prior to the rods which only generally happens if its raining on arrival.
After some twisting and bending of the frame around fence posts i managed to get things settled and pegged down sufficiently to resist the westerly breeze pushing in towards me,
On my way to the lake i had been to collect my new "StageStix" off Banktech Innovations and these were soon screwed firmly into place on the platform that fronts the swim. It had been a long day and the journey down was quite hectic, with home built it was time for a coffee while i baited up the rods and prepared some bags of crumbed Bacteria B1s. A quick run through of the marker rod revealed what i already knew of the right hand margin, gravel and stones littered the area in front of the bank side alders and willows. A simple blow back rig, baited with an 18mm and 12mm boilie was dropped onto the area of the marker float at around 7 yards to my right and feeling the lead crack down onto the hard area i was contented to put out 1/2 kg of chopped 18mm baits tight to the hook bait and the marker float was retrieved.

The left hand rod would go out onto the same area of the dam end that i usually fish from the brambles swim on the opposite side of the lake. This was soon flicked the 60 yards with a large 3 oz bag of crumbed bait. Just the middle rod to sort out but first a few recce's with the marker rod. at around 30 yards i found the area i was looking for, i wanted to fish the slight slope at the far edge of the deep trough under my feet, with the hook bait positioned a foot off the marker rod it could then be clipped and measured off for further casts to be exactly on the spot i wanted to present my bait. With the marker still in place 2 kg of 18mm boilies were soon applied to a concentrated area and the 3 traps were set.
Evening drew on and the sunset was staggering as is often the case on this lake, with darkness looming the local bat population was becoming active and soon there were hundreds of them buzzing me and cleaning the lake off midges and mosquito's. I was soon getting liners on the rods and any chance of an early night was out the question, every time i lay back one of the alarms would be triggered causing me to jump up in bed to stare at the rods. After being startled by a fish crashing out on my right hand margin I gave up thoughts of sleep, slipped my boots on and cranked the stove up. Sitting up for the night is all well and good but i had had a long day and must have slid into sleep while sitting upright on the bedchair, i was blasted off it by a single piercing scream of the delkim and the swim was lit with blue light. The right hand marginal rod was in meltdown, fully arced round and line spewing off the spool. A short but frantic battle ensued but was soon over with a decent common in the net. A quick mat shot and onto the scales revealing a weight of 16lb 9oz.  Not a monster but a welcome fish, and the first off the lake in 5 weeks i believe. After releasing it a quick check of the camera would reveal the shots out of focus, i had left the lens in manual focus last time was using it. Even though every fish from this low stock water is special at least it wasnt one of the really special fish !

With the excitement over the rod was soon re positioned back onto the spot the fish had come from and after a brew and a smoke the dawn light was soon breaking through the darkness and Thursday had arrived. With it came the sun !

By lunchtime it was hot, undoubtedly the hottest days fishing i could remember since the previous summer, It felt like a late spring day yet the trees and bushes on the lake have barely started to uncurl their leaves, the willows and hawthorn are just starting to green up and the reed mace is just starting to push this years shoots above water level. Oh the joys of fishing elevated venues ! Short springs/summers against what seem like endless autumn/winters.

Sadly the daytime passed without sightings of a carp, a jaunt to the shallows in the heat of the day and with the easterly wind pushing down the lake, viewing conditions up this end were perfect but after spending an hour or so searching i would find no fish present, The afternoon passed in good company and with an hour of light left, the rods would be re baited up and recast to the same spots.
As darkness fell and with me feeling pretty exhausted i turned in for a few hours sleep, only to be woken by line bites starting at around 10.30pm. Hauling myself up as i was turning down the sensitivity of the alarms i came to realise that the liners were coming of bats, the lake was covered with them. Undoubtedly a massive colony was migrating to the lake for the summer months. They were constantly clipping the slackened lines and even the rods themselves at times. Another night passed with less than a few hours sleep.

I woke for my last day, so high was my confidence after the fish on the first night i was surprised to have gone through the night without a fish. By mid morning the hook baits had been refreshed and the spots topped up with another kg of B1 each in readiness for the coming night. The wind was still pushing down the lake to the dam and even though this day was overcast it was still quite warm. Another spell up in the shallows looking for signs would again reveal nothing. The fish just don't seem to be heading up there just yet, so i was in the right place i just needed them to feel hungry ! Mid afternoon and my left hand rod off the dam was bouncing in the rests, resulting in slimey bait thief of around 4lbs, the rod was barely back on the rests after the recast when it was off again, another bream of around 3lbs. Thankfully that was the last i saw of them.

As evening drew on the low cloud started to break and high pressure took its place, perfect conditions for the last night, High pressure seems to get these fish moving up here so i entered my last night confident for a 2nd fish. I was out in no time and woke after an undisturbed night, late and already beyond the time i should have been packing up by. A quick coffee while i packed away and soon the gear was on the barrow and i was leaving for home.

The Old Hall pt 13

Well its certainly been some time since my last blog, so long in fact i can barely remember where i left off, suffice to say this winter saw me visiting the bank less than i have ever fished during the winter months, so much so, that i managed just 4 outings from my Christmas session till  now. I managed to end the year with a lovely common weighing in at 16lb, giving me a total of 31 fish for the year spent on the lake, with a total of 44 nights spent up there.

In the early new year the lake froze up solid for a couple of weeks, when it finally defrosted i was not really in a position to get bank side. When i finally could get out it would be under a sever gale in late January, Prior to arriving i already knew the storm was going to be pretty bad so opted to set up in one of the deeper corners with the wind coming off my back and partly being protected by an ancient Yew tree. After 2 nights of howling gales and no activity on the rods, i called it a day and came away a night early, i'd had enough of being battered about. 3 weeks later would see me getting back onto the car park and again high winds forced my hand, with the lake high up on the moorlands its quite exposed and with temperatures hovering round 3 degrees in the daytime i didn't want the easterly gale blasting at me so i opted to fish the stream. I was rewarded with a small fish off the island an hour before dark on the first night, a little spawned on fish of 8lb, but a lovely plated mirror never the less.

The rest of the session passed pretty quickly and uneventfully and would soon be at a close. a fortnight later would see a repeat of pretty much identical weather and so i opted to fish the stream swim again.
Again toward the end of the first day, half an hour before darkness and i was graced with a common, this fish when hooked felt like it was stuck, i couldn't budge it away from the island, i knew there was little to catch on out there but still all i could feel was the shaking of the fishes head when suddenly it awoke ! It blasted into life and shot away from the island towards my margin 30 yards to the left, it virtually crashed into the reed lined bank and started to power off along the margin, burying the rod tip to keep the line from passing through a nearby tree, i  applied pressure and managed to coax it away from the margin and back towards me. After a few powerful lunges under the rod tip the fish was soon nestled in the folds of the net and an 18lb 9oz common was my prize.

Again that was the end of the excitement for the session, The water temperature was still very low and the water coming in off the streams was so much colder than the lake water so I'm in 2 minds whether the fish are properly active yet.

The following session, now nearing the end of march, was forecasting 2 days of blissful sunshine and mild southerly winds, i arrived and really struggled to make a decision as to what to do, i had left home in sunshine but travelling in driving rain from Chester into Staffordshire,
Stashing the trolley full of kit under a yew tree, i spent the best part of an hour being indecisive. I had seen nothing whatsoever to go on. In the end i decided i would hope the weather men got it right and the sun would get through and therefore set up on the south facing bank in the shallow water with the southerly wind pushing towards me in  swim i call the swamp. 24 hours later and the sun finally broke through, the temperatures soared and by midday it was finally t shirt weather, i had forgotten how pleasant sitting back in the sun behind the alarms could be. The day passed without a sighting of a fish, from my position i could see pretty much all of the lake and had seen nothing.

2 nights passed quickly and quietly and soon these were followed with a 3rd and it was time to head home. The only positives i can take from the session is the fact that the water is warming and the fish will soon be on the feed. One of the things with this lake and others at elevation is that they wake up around 3 weeks behind everywhere else and shut down much sooner. On my last morning the crust was starting to be broken up by the fish and starting to appear on the surface, a sure sign spring is arriving up there and the fish are starting to move !