Diary Entry

...fish for a few minutes, when it zoomed towards me, and because I didn't reel in fast enough, it spat out the hook with the aid of a slightly slack line. I would have cursed my luck (or rusty fishing skills) even more if I had realized at the time that this would be the one and only bite I would get all day. It was nice sitting in the sun after such a long, bitter winter, and I even got a tan, but the fishing was terrible. I'm not sure it is worth the drive for this fishery.

...iameter hook length, and had a load of fresh boilies and pellets to use.My hopes were high at first, but I quickly became despondent as the cold started to seep into my bones from the constant gale force winds. It was freezing, the forecast woefully inaccurate, as usual. And even worse no bites.I started out on the small lake, purely because it was more sheltered, but the biting wind still got to me, and I could see no signs of life in there. I'm not going to lie, I very nearly packed up and went home. On a whim, I went for a walk, up to the island end, and found somewhere tha...

...ess. Back to further my success of the other day, I returned to the same swim where I caught the biggest fish I have ever caught. While not (surprise surprise) emulating that glory, I did never the less have an enjoyable day's fishing.After a couple of hours at this swim with only skimmer bites, I decided to move to the other end of the lake, to another known hot spot, on the back of the cold wind. It looked reasonably promising, and I caught three small fish. While I was sat there, I noticed a dead fish floating on the surface, and recalled that some guy had told me that the lake ha...

...l fairly cool, but I managed to get away with just wearing a fleece and thermal trousers - no wooly hat needed ! I arrived about lunch time and went to the far side of the lake for a change.Things started well, and carried on at a frantic pace. As soon as I chucked the ledger out, another bite happened. It was great fun, and although the carp were small, they fought like mad, and it was real struggle to get them in. The biggest carp was on the float, but the other 8 were on fruity boilie on the bolt rig, just off the reedy point of the next swim along. I was using the very short h...

... It was probably the hardest fighting carp I have ever caught. After this struggle I thought my swim had been mashed up and disturbed too much, so I moved the float rod to the next swim, a tiny over grown bay that looked like it was rarely fished. After ten minutes I had a gentle, slow bite, which I thought was probably a bream. But all hell broke loose.  This big carp took me all around the lake, and tested my new Shimano Classic Barbel rod to the max. I prayed my knot would hold, and bullied it out of the (many) snags. After half an hour it finally gave up and came to th...

...less.  Lessons Learnt Here are a few things that I learnt from this jolly caper at Marsh farm: Keep checking your hook link length for damage as even small carp will snap you otherwise Placing your bait close to a snag is a balancing act between ensuring getting a bite and ensuring that when you do, the carp disappears into said snag, never to be seen again Tie your own hook lengths as pre-tied shop ones are not strong enough Keep changing your bait for a fresh one very frequently, and re-cast out the ledger every hour

...t is a commercial fishery - we know there is going to be fish in the vicinity. But the real question is - where are the big ones ? Which this does not tell you. I went to the usual spot at the end, and float fished, mainly because my carping reel was broken. I only had one bite all day, and that produced an 8lb chubby and fairly short common.  So, to sum up, the good points were: My new carping barrow was a success and made getting to the bank much easier The sonar fish finder is probably not going to be much use. Going fishing in March it is po...

...f induced. The cold wind was irritating, and blew my float fishing presentation out of the window. Two ducks hassled me for five hours solid, continually swimming around my float, making fishing impossible, and winding me up intensely. I was so bored and sleepy when I finally did get a bite from a large carp, I didn't react quick enough and let it get into the snags. Better luck next time hopefully.

Epic Days Fishing In A Cold Wind. Sat in a freezing cold wind all day in the back bay, but caught carp all day long and almost from the beginning. I have decided to not use pre-tied hair rigs any more because they let me down badly today.Fishing in front of the boat I got bite after bite. But the last five fish snapped me. They were angry and violent, and at least two were giants. I had one swim off like a rocket, flick its head, and snap me in open water, before I could react. It looked bigger than 20lb. I think it would have been the biggest fish I have ever cau...

Least Said The Better This Week. Terrible days fishing where nothing happened at all.The heatwave killed the fishing so there is nothing to report. I got once bite, and that snapped me. Funny how the carp at Marsh Farm can disappear for no discernable reason.