I think we can safely say that winter has now arrived. The summer bird species like Swallows and Swifts have migrated to the warmer climes of north Africa, and have been replaced by their more recognisable winter counterparts such as Pied Wagtails and the ubiquitous Robins that sit on your rods cheekily begging for boilie crumbs or maggots.  

Fishing wise we can now expect things to slow up somewhat, and indeed this had been the case for me recently on the water I was fishing throughout the summer and autumn. Being a shallow water with an average depth of no more than 4 feet or so it responds very quickly in changes to the temperature, and so with the sliding mercury things have been very different to what they were a few weeks ago and I have experienced several blanks at this particular water. In contrast I have dabbled on another water that is much deeper and so is less directly affected by changes in temperature. With an average depth here of 10 or 12 feet it has taken longer for any changes to take effect, and thus I have had some recent success at this water. Fishing my usual short day sessions I have managed to land 5 fish, three of which have broken the twenty pound barrier and two of which are the largest known fish in the lake. I'll let the pictures do the talking and the weights are listed underneath each one. A simple and actually a bit of an old school fruit seed mix boilie was the successful bait, fished on a straight forward bolt rig set up, consisting of an eight inch hooklink, a two ounce custom made lead and around four feet of leadcore.

21lb 12oz Mirror

 

 

This beast weighed in at 32lb 3oz and is the largest fish in the lake

 

 

At 27lb 2oz I was over the moon with this stunning creature !

 

 

So as you can see, a bit of a result, the two biggest fish came during the same day session and is my biggest ever brace of Carp.

Although I may have caught the lakes two largest 'known' residents, they are not really my target for the water. These fish are all Mirrors and there are a few other nice Mirrors that I would like to see in the bottom of my net in the next few months, however there are also some very nice Commons which are my main target and these tend to be much more elusive than the Mirrors. One particular Common I have seen on occasion has caught my imagination, and whilst I think I may have a rough idea of what size it could be I can only confirm this by putting it on the bank....
Both the waters that I am dividing my time between hold some good looking, twenty pound plus Commons, so I will alternate between the two depending on weather conditions in the hope of achieving my goal.

I also have another water in the pipeline that I shall be dallying with from time to time, it's a water in it's infancy as it is a brand new syndicate, but it does contain some original fish that run to over twenty pounds as well a some stock fish that have been in there for about a year and were stocked at doubles, so it will be interesting to see how they have done. All in all I have plenty to do to keep me busy over the winter period and it should also take me through into the spring of next year. Each water has it's own little challenges and targets for me to go at and hopefully I will enjoy my time at each one even if I don't manage to achieve all my goals.

End of summer finale

The last few sessions have seen me bank several twenty pound fish to finish off my summer campaign. It's been an interesting re introduction to my Carp fishing this year and I have thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it. The flurry of twenties has been the icing on the cake after having applied a bait all summer to the water. I have to say that my whole ethos towards my fishing has also changed which has enabled me to fish in a more relaxed manner and yet still fish in a very effective way. Having banked a large number of fish from the water including a few of the better specimens I am pretty confident in the way that my whole approach is working. My rigs have evolved over the course of the season to the point that I have no concerns whatsoever about their effectiveness. The fish in this lake may not be big by national standards and the water may well be regarded as carrying quite a heavy stock of fish with an estimated number of around 120 Carp in a couple of acres, along with a large head of silver fish, but believe me when I say they are some of the cutest Carp I have come across. Their ability to rid themselves of an anglers rig is their party trick and it became apparent quite early on in my campaign that I was indeed being 'done' regularly by these clever Carp. I knew they were eating my bait and I was catching a few fish but I was also getting indications on the rod tips and alarms that led me to believe that some of the fish were indeed dealing with my rigs. The final conclusive piece of evidence was when I reeled in several times to find the blow back tube up by the eye of the hook.....
This led me to make some very small  but important changes to my rigs, and I now believe that the majority of the fish that pick up the rig are being hooked and if they should still be able to deal with it then at least the rig will still be fishing effectively once rejected, offering me the chance of hooking the next fish that should pick up the bait...

One I'd been hoping to bump into.

 

 

Last fish of my summer bait campaign.

So the seasons are now moving on and summer has turned to autumn and this in turn will take us into winter and it's time to change my approach. The bait I was using, while still one of the most effective baits I have ever used in colder water temperatures, and indeed one of the best baits I have used full stop, has come to the end of it's usefulness in catching Carp as we move into the twilight months of this year. A change of bait is in order to something more suited to the colder water temperatures, and early results on another water suggest that I am on the right track with my new bait.

Early result to my winter bait from a different water.

 

 

 

The Carp are now getting their winter condition and colouration and I am really looking forward to hopefully banking a few in the coming weeks and months. It won't be easy but it will be worth the effort to see them in their glorious winter coats.