First I feel the need to apologise in advance to anyone who's read any of my blogs. After re-reading previous entries i noticed just how much I mention the weather not being what I wanted/expected. Ive unwittingly picked up the British trait of finding it too hot, too cold, too wet etc. In the UK our weather is what it is and we all have to accept it and adapt. This blog was meant to be about fishing, not about meteorological observations. However in saying that today the weather really was the show stopper !
I'd earmarked today as my best chance to get back on the bank for another few weeks at least but the weather Over the previous few days the weather forecast had warned of very strong winds (30mph+) with gusts of over 50mph but I was hopeful that with a bit of thought I'd be able to find somewhere sheltered for the day. After all as the saying goes "There's no such thing as bad weather, just unsuitable clothing" (although I'd be amazed if it was a coarse angler who coined the phrase !) I decided to head back to the Oaks at Sessay in North Yorkshire as a lot of the lakes are ringed by trees and vegetation offering some cover (theoretically !)
The day didn't start well with traffic jams caused by blown over HGVs and me realising I'd left all my reels at home. This pretty much guaranteed I'd be heading for one of the snake lakes at the complex as it would be pole only today. To be honest this was where I'd fancied anyway, as I hoped the F1s would feed despite the temperature dropping again from the weekend. I drove round the 3 snake lakes looking at potential spots and only saw 3 other hardy (crazy ?) Souls fishing. The trees didnt offer as much respite from the wind as I'd expected but peg 36 on Cedar was the calmest I could find, so although the conifers behind me were buffeted and dancing in the wind, the peg in front was virtually untouched.
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| Cedar Peg 36 - North West of complex |
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| The Eye Of The Storm ? |
I'd expected pellets or maggots to be the best options so my bait tray was relatively uncluttered (by my standards !) on arrival I'd wetted some fishery feed pellets in both micros and 4mm, 2 pints of red/white maggots, some corn for bigger carp/F1s and a little groundbait (Sonubaits F1/Sensas Lake)
I set up my tackle and plumbed up around the peg. The far bank was just about 13m straight out, so I could fish 2 lines at 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock at bang on 13m with the same depth each side, on a nice flat area down the far bank slope. As the gradient was quiet shallow I had the options of starting at 3' deep but my adding or removing a section I could search the different depths if required. I planned to fish one line negatively with a few micros and a banded 4mm over the top, whilst the other long swim would get 4mm feed pellets with an expander on the hook. I'd fed another line with some corn and a little groundbait down the track in 5 feet of water about 8m out but at the same 13m distance from my position, to try and leave for a few hours to offer a safe area for the (bigger) fish to back off into. However as things transpired i didn't fish this line at all. Lastly I would throw a few maggots in by hand every few minutes down the base of the near shelf at 3-4m with the intention of not fishing for at least an hour to build up the fish's confidence and really just catch anything with fins.
After the late start it was nearly midday when I started actually fishing an almost inevitably the wind had changed direction. One minute it was directly behond me coming through the gap in the trees, then it would veer and come across and seemed to generally swirl around. Even with a longer line and backshot the presentation on the long lines was awful. After persevering for far too long with only a small skimmer to show I had to admit defeat and abandon fishing past 5m otherwise my pride and joy pole would soon come in far more than its official 9 sections ! A brief hailstorm and rain didn't brighten my mood and I had really decided to quit but then I dropped on the short line for the first time and had a small roach. The sun came out and I could actually feel the warmth on my face. I started catching small roach and after gradually increasing the feed had a good F1. It wasnt fast or furious but I was getting bites. As id fed over a larger area I could try different depths as I'd intended on the far side. Most of the skimmers came directly at the base of the shelf but I had a few F1s right on top of the near shelf in about 2.5 feet of water but perhaps unsurprisingly they didn't settle.I got a bit ahead of myself and fed a small golf ball of groundbait but this seemed to put the fish right off. When they did come back after a bit more careful loose feeding it was skimmers and the biggest probably went a pound before I had a few more F1s every now and then. I could have tried a few things to make something happen such as a longer margin line but by now the heavens opened again, except this time it turned into a full-on blizzard of wet snow. There was no way a brolly could survive this wind so I just had to grit my teeth and bear it. I'll admit at one point when i could no longer feel my fingers, I retreated to the car for 15 mins to defrost before fishing again.
The next rain storm made me decide that descretion was the better part of valour and after all this was a pleasure session not a match. I'd only fished for 2.5 hours but had had 4 F1s up to 2.5lbs , 20+ roach and a few good Skimmers, all from a top kit + 1 or 2 length. I decided to call it quits before I broke anything and had a blustery return up the A19.
So i managed some really nice fish and whilst I could have caught a lot more, I felt quite satisfied with what I did have in the time I actually had a float in the water.
My final word about the weather.....I wonder if people in other countries where the weather is warm all year round get bored ? Maybe they should experience some British Springtime !
Tight lines
Robin
