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 !