Upon arrival it seemed the lake was pretty quiet which went against our expectations, however it seemed the reason for this was the lake had been fishing hard the last couple of weeks since our last visit which seemed to have put many off. From what I have gleaned so far this is pretty much the norm on the Match lake anyway and not to be put off we went in search of suitable swims in which to set up camp.
I had a hankering to pick up where I left off last time and decided to do a night in the bottom bay again and pending any activity or lack thereof would be prepared to move onto any showing fish. You may recall last time I felt I had definitely had pick ups while in the bottom bay but that the fish were 'getting away with it' and I had come suitably armed with a modified rig to hopefully convert any pick ups into fish. It seemed however that this time I was not visited during that first night as I had no obvious signs of activity from the alarms.
It was apparent laid there all night listening to fish ( they sounded more like cattle being thrown in ! ), crash out a few swims further up that a move was indeed needed, and so the next morning I wandered up the bank with a rod and a light lead to search out any clearer areas in amongst the still profuse weed beds on which I might present a bait in the areas they had been showing. Indeed I saw signs of fish in the thicker parts of the weed beds while having a feel around and felt confident I was making the right decision.
Having moved the house and all the gear and settled into the new swim, right hand gravelly I think it's called, fish continued to show in the general area throughout the rest of the day making me more certain I was in with a chance. Fishing the left hand rod on a Chod rig in a channel in the weed and the right hand rod on my normal blow back rig close to the Island on the right hand side of the swim on what felt like a clear spot.
What I didn't account for that evening was the way the temperature suddenly plummeted and almost certainly dropped into single figures from being in the upper teens or low twenties. It was a shock to me and I'm pretty sure it was to the fish too! Late October I have found can be a tricky time with the temperatures yo yo'ing as they do and needless to say a very quiet night followed with an odd fish showing here and there but they seemed to have moved off the area.
A warm day followed and the next night was a lot warmer, in fact ridiculously so with the air temperature staying in low double to mid double figures. Crazy weather, and it's no wonder the fish seem confused and difficult to tempt. Despite the odd fish still showing here and there they just didn't seem to be showing any obvious signs of feeding, in fact I am more of the opinion they were just ridding themselves of parasites from being laid up in the weed beds and inactive.
Quite a frustrating session to be honest, especially as my Son managed to get a take on the third morning which he unfortunately lost due to a cut off. Such a shame as he worked hard to get the fish's head down only to lose it to misfortune. He did nothing wrong, the line must have simply touched a sharp Mussel or something when under tension. I felt for him and he handled it well considering. He re set the trap hopeful of a repeat occurrence but no more action came during the rest of our stay.
To say the Match lake is a head banger is an understatement, but we will continue to persevere . All being well by the time the next session comes around some of the extensive weed will have died back and the fish should have settled into a more predictable pattern as should the weather.
To be honest I fully expected our first few sessions to be tricky so I am by no means bemoaning our luck. In fact I actually think we have done better than most having had chances on our first and second sessions on the lake. I have fished plenty of difficult waters in the past so this is nothing new. Carp fishing is a puzzle and I think we are close but need to find a few more pieces before the picture begins to look complete.
Another atmospheric Yateley morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment