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 !