Going in circles for chub!

I've spent a good 35 years catching all manner of sized chub but always found it difficult to catch bigger fish or too often than not actually hit chub bites! 

We all know the saying in the barbel community 'Don't strike at chub bites' as they often end up with no fish and more often than not destroy your chance of bagging a barbel. 

Well, I spent many years researching how chub feed and watching them in clear water on the Hants Avon, Wye, Stour and the Bristol Avon. Because of the way they feed throughout the water table with their front facing mouth, bites are mostly a very quick pull then absolutely nothing! Unlike the average barbel bite which is nothing short of the rod going in if the clutch isn't set! The reason in the different bite being the way barbel feed. 

Their mouths are down turned and once they take the bait in and turn in the flow, they're invariably hooked. Unlike their cousins who rob the bait and piss off without so much as a thankyou! This I felt made my angling tough as I wanted to target bigger chub over night on the river but I didn't want to have to sit up in a chair all night watching a pair of isotopes and praying I'd be awake enough to hit the single bite chances I may get. 

I know it's untraditional and some may call it unsporting but I want to catch fish....time is not my friend and living a long way from any of the above mentioned favourite venues, I need to be fishing to the best of my ability with the best fish catching end tackle I can use! I've played around with tons of contraptions and rigs, hooks, leads, feeders etc and I've come to one last final rig and approach which for the best part nails every single fish! 

It allows me to set up on a river overnight with my lightweight bed chair and actually get some sleep during the session knowing I will still hook the majority of the bites I get. 

So, how do I do it? Simple.....After locating a spot I want to fish, may require a weed rake on some venues during summer. I get a pair of rods set up with 12lb main line on and a soft braided hook link like Drennan braid in 8lb gravel brown. 

On the hook link I tie a knotless knot set up to a size 6-10 Mustad Demon Circle hook. The gap between the shank of the hook and the hook bait needs to be as tight as possible. The chub find it almost impossible to eject the circle hook! I remove the barbs to ensure safe unhooking. I then use a hybrid Korda lead clip with my desired weight clipped on and a small PVA bag of pellets to ensure a tangle free rig placement in the swim. 

The video above shows a great swim I have targeted in the past with extremely clear water and fantastic possibilities to target specific fish close in under the rod tip with single rod tactics and the circle hook approach which gives epic takes when fished so close in! If you watch closely you'll see a big old fish come through the swim near the end of the video. I later went on to land the fish at 6lb 5oz.

When you fish with circles it's really important to remember that striking isn't required! Sit on your hands and wait for the bites to develop on their own. This can at times be a tough thing to do when the rod tips bouncing around all over the place but trust me when I say wait for the clutch to go! And it will! 

The bites are now just a screaming take like that of a carp or barbel. Be warned! This tactic has been my go to for 4 seasons now and I have taken some fantastic fish on it. 

27 chub over 6lbs and 3 over 7lbs have all fallen for the tactic using a combo of either boilie or  sweetcorn hook bait in just a couple of seasons. It may be a little bit unusual or not so sporting as more traditional approaches but it does give amazing results and lets be honest.....the captures are what we go out for!

 

As both the girls are off school and work this week we decided we'd have a family days fishing at a local pond today. The weather was rather blustery and a tad on the chilly side but we made the most of it. 

I started the day off getting Marianne set up with a float rod and then Natasha with a short 8M pole so they could both fish the inside marginal shelf. 

I went for the island margin with a shovel style feeder, sticky cell pellets soaked in Banoffee syrup. 

The girls fished a mixture of maggots, corm, worm and small bits of meat on the float. Marianne was first to get some action and started to catch plenty of nice skimmers up to about 4lbs. I put a sleeper rod out down the inside for a perch but that stayed very quiet all day long. 

To be honest it was a rather slow day all round apart from Marianne's float spot which she took plenty of skimmers and roach from. 

I found the carp a few times but they were few and far between with just an odd bite and then they were gone again. The venue was lovely and quiet with just 2 other guys carping on there but they seemed to struggle as well by the looks of it. 

It's strange because just a week or so back I was able to extract about 25 carp on the exact same method I used today. 

The silver fish were still pretty active though and the girls made the most of it. Marianne decided to have a go with some alternative baits for fun and amazingly caught on pieces of beef jerky, bits of ham from her sandwiches, snails, caterpillars, space raider crisps were also taken and probably the most unusual thing I've ever seen a fish caught on! 

Just shows you can catch on just about anything! She recons the best bait out the lot was the ham and jerky. I've got a new Drennan Acolyte 11ft feeder rod on order this week with 6 tips down to 1/2oz which should be absolutely perfect for the roach fishing on the river.....hopefully I'll get the chance to use it next week if all goes to plan. 

I'm hoping I can head down to Hampshire on Tuesday or Wednesday for 3 days so the approach will be to chase the big roach for one last time this season before the 14th March. At the end of March I have a trip over to France to my friend Nicks lake with my bestie Chris for the week. It's a work party trip so part fishery management work and part fishing. There's plenty to do with swim reconstruction I started back in July last year, some tree trimming, painting etc so it should be a fun trip.

Feeder tactics on rivers!

I've had a number of messages about my tactics for feeder fishing on rivers in the last few weeks so, I thought I'd write a small article about how I go about approaching my swim and how to present a feeder in the water with the best chance of hooking the majority of bites.

Below you'll find a short video and a few diagrams showing my tactics but for now this is how it's done...Let's of course discuss our swim first: So what are we looking for in a swim? Well that obviously depends on many things....First up, what are we hoping to catch or target? 

So let's say for example we're fishing the river Wye for barbel and chub. Ok, we also need to think about time of year too, as conditions of river, day light hours and of course water colour and temperature play a massive part in where we will find our quarry. 

So, we have our venue....typically in summer it's fairly low water conditions with clear water and bright sunlight. Well, in this case we're looking for a good steady flow of medium paced water with a little depth. We don't want a whirl pool or lots of unsteady flow.

 A little cover is also a great advantage, let's say a big over hanging tree such as a willow for example. These will all harbour fish during the brighter times of the day. 

I like to fish an area just after some fast water where the flow is still very good but starting to settle down and not like a cauldron. 

I would look to target either the far bank tree line or even inside if it has good cover below. In winter conditions I would be looking for a steady flow slackening off towards the marginal shelf and presenting my bait there in deeper water. 

Once we have our swim it's time to think about our actual approach. On a large wide river such as the Severn or Wye I would opt for a longer than usual feeder rod such as my fantastic Drennan Acolyte 13ft distance feeder. This I couple up to my trusty Daiwa Ninja 4000 reel. I vary the tip depending on casting weight requirements and flow of water. I prefer to fish as light as possible in winter for bite detection and up the tip and line strength in summer to cope with weed growth and energetic fish.

I position my rod rest high and slightly upstream at maybe 15 degrees angle to my seating position. I try to chose a spot to fish that allows me to cast straight in front or very slightly upstream of my seating position. I start with the lightest feeder I can get away with holding bottom. 

The way this is achieved is by casting an empty feeder into my spot and then allowing some line to come from the spool to create a bow in the line as per the diagram. This bow helps to keep the feeder low down to the bottom and not at an acute angle to the rod, which will cause the feeder to roll quickly away from your spot and not hold bottom. 

With this approach you'll be surprised at how little amount of weight you require to hold bottom in quite strong current! I will then add my hook link, bait and fill the feeder for my first cast. The process is then repeated in the same spot and line paid out until the feeder appears to stop moving.

I will keep this same process happening throughout the day recasting every few minutes in the first half hour to get some bait into my swim. As the day progresses you can increase or decrease the time the feeder is in the water depending on the bites you are receiving. 

The other great thing about this technique is that a majority of your bites will be self hooked fish. This happens due to the fish picking up the bait, turning and dislodging the light feeder, which then in turn rolls in the flow on the bowed line and sets the hook for you. 

Most of the bites will be a few taps followed by a drop back and then a good pull round, which is your time to lift into the fish. Watch the short video for an example of this. Be warned that barbel bites can be brutal and I would certainly set my clutch to insure no break offs on powerful takes.

This is a fantastic method which I employ when fishing for all species! It honestly works so well. 

 With a job taking me back down south this week it seemed incredibly rude not to take my fishing gear and try for a few more roach on the Hants Avon. I finished work early Tuesday and made the journey down to make the delivery I had to make in Lymington before spending the evening with friends. 

Wednesday was an early start and I sat outside the car park of the fishery from 5am to insure I was first on an hour before sunrise as per club rules. I'd had a little walk around the fishery the day before and it sounded like the fish were now much more spread out throughout the venue unlike a few weeks back where they were all sat in just a handful of swims. 

Day 1: As the sun rose I ventured on to the river to fish my favourite peg. The river looked in fine form dropping away from the recent floods still with a hint of colour.....looked like it should be a good day out. 

I set up a float line and a feeder rod too and positioned my Korum chair and side tray for easy access of bait etc. Once ready I made my first cast down with the feeder to get a little bait into the target area. 

It didn't take long for the bites to arrive! In fact just a few seconds passed and I was already into my first of the day. A nice dace around 10 ounces. 

I kept the casting localised but not too tightly packed as I wanted to get the fish spread slightly so my float trot would have a little bit of space to run across the shoal if it was slightly off line. 

A few more casts were made and after a short run of dace I got my first roach around a pound in weight. I then switched over to the float rig with my Drennan Acolyte 15ft and a 7 no 12 Lignum Stick float to size 18 hook. 

Trusty old red maggots the bait. Out she went and gently down towards the over hanging tree. As it passed over the shoal it dipped and I was once again into a nice 14 ounce red fin. The fish came one after another for the best part of an hour and a half. Things then went a tad quiet. 

I decided to try the feeder again and keep the swim active with regular casts. I tried the inside marginal shelf first up and as I positioned the rod in the rests it hooped around! Instantly I knew this was a much better fish. 

The rod was hooped over and the fish shook its head around even taking line from the spool! This was either a huge roach or a pike had grabbed a smaller fish off my hook. 

The battle continued for about 2 minutes and my heart was in my mouth waiting to see what it was I'd hooked. 

I prayed it was a massive roach but my head was saying it was just fighting too hard. I was right....a rather fat looking perch came to the surface and made another bolt for freedom. 

I felt rather disappointed it wasn't the monster roach but also pleased when I weighed the fish at 2lb 12oz as this was a new river Avon PB for me. 

The action continued throughout the day with over 70 roach to 1lb 10oz, dace to 10oz and another prime perch of 2lb 4oz, even a small skimmer came to join the club before the light went and I had to call it a day.

Day 2: My old friend Mark Pearce was to spend the day with me today chasing chub at Throop with another 6.30am start. We met in the mill car park, got the usual man hugs and gentries out the way before heading down to our first spot just above Barbel bend. 

The river looked in good shape despite the horrid conditions we had woken up to. It was dark, raining and very windy. Presenting a float was near on impossible to start with so we went for a light feeder option each. A few casts were made in close only to be mullered by minnows. 

A cast was made out towards two thirds of the way across and as the feeder settled the tip went round hard. I struck and was surprised to be met with a very solid resistance of a decent fish! 

The fish sat low all the way in and I thought to be honest it was a chub until I saw the round shape of a nice bream slide over the mesh of the net. At just over four pounds it was a good start to proceedings. The next cast was made and before the rod was even in the rest, the same thing happened again! 

Another much better bream fought all the way to the net only to come off just before I slipped the mesh under it. I told Mark to get his bait out to the similar area and he was next up to hook a bream with his first ever river bream of 4lb coming quickly. It wasn't the chub we were dearly after but he was over the moon with his first ever river bream and a pb. I took a couple of pics for him and we both cast straight back to the little hot spot. 

Mark was quickly in again and this fish looked much better. I sunk the net under a much thicker looking fish and at 7lb 2oz he was absolutely buzzing! He followed it up with another of 4 pounds before we found a large stretch of mono snagged across the swim which claimed 2 feeders in succession. 

We decided to have a move as it made presentation pretty difficult. A move a few hundred yards down stream to a new, very chubby looking spot. We sat for the best part of an hour and a half casting and baiting the spot without so much as a bite other than from pesky minnows....another move was required. 

Upstream to the wall swim and the process began again. After another 3 hours of working the swim hard Mark finally hit into a decent fish. It held low and looked pretty decent from where I was standing. 

I got the net ready and in the flow it came to the surface. A big old chub of around 6 pounds! We were very excited! The fish buried deep into the fast flow and Mark kept his cool. 

Finally it looked like the battle was won and as I went to net it she rolled on the hook link and the hook lost its hold. We were absolutely gutted. I thought there was a really good chance of another so I continued to put maintenance droppers of hemp and maggot in just above the spot. 

We had to endure endless minnows and 3 pike attacks before he got another bream of 4 pounds. I felt that was it for the swim and we drove down to school bridge for one last blast at it. We started the process once more and suffered the plight of yet more minnow and a couple of gudgeon. 

It just wasn't happening for us. 3 more pike attacks for Mark and we watched as the angler just up from us landed 3 cracking chub one after another. We just couldn't find them ourselves. I felt disappointed but Mark was more than happy with the results for the day, landing a pb bream and learning lots of new skills he could take away to try on his own. We sat it out till light called an end to proceedings and we retired to the Oak pub in Burton for a pint of ale and a lovely dinner. 

A thoroughly enjoyable yet tough day.

Day 3: I spent the night in the layby out side the River Avon again and rose around 6am to make a flask and get kit ready for one last onslaught at the roach. 

I ventured on as the sun came up and opted to fish a swim I'd not fished before. There weren't many bank side features but it's a known spot for a bigger fish. 

I went straight onto the feeder and instantly started to get some fantastic dace up to 10 ounces again. This continued till around 11am with a few nice roach to a pound showing up too. 

Things then went deathly quiet and throughout the fishery we were all struggling to even get a bite! It was as if there were literally no fish present! I cast round the swim with float and feeder trying new areas, single maggots, double, triple! 

Nothing worked. It was around 4pm I started to receive a few more bites again with sporadic bites coming all round the swim on both float and feeder. 

I persevered until last knockings for about 30lbs of silvers....a great day but I felt that things were just not as good as they were 2 days prior. There we go, that's fishing! 

A great time out on the bank and some fantastic fish landed once again. A pleasure to be out enjoying the wild life and beautiful fish that both rivers have to offer.

That's me done for this week. Not too sure on my next day out as I have to cover a few extra days work this week and the van needs to be booked in for an MOT and 2 new tyres. 

Hopefully I'll get another chance of a big red fin before the season comes to a close and maybe....just maybe that bloody elusive Stour chub may make an appearance! 

I've never had so many blank chub sessions on the Stour before? For a river that I have been exceedingly lucky on over previous seasons, it's been a lot less kind to me this season. 

Tight lines all

Keith

 Well, with the weather looking a bit precarious this week when i have some free time, I decided to make the most of a free Sunday and head back up the little Welsh pond known as Llangorse. 

Alarm was set for 4.15am and despite being absolutely flooded with man flu I made the 50 mile drive up over the Brecons to try once more for a big old croc! With it being a Sunday I knew the venue would be far busier than a weekday and on arrival there were already guys getting their kit out ready to launch. 

I raced around to grab a boat and get out ahead of the crowds. The boat was festooned  with enough kit for 10 anglers and off I trekked across the pool to my favourite spot. As it got light my first rods went into the lake with fresh bait dropped into 21-23 feet of water as this was the depth I have been catching recently up there.

I placed the rods in the rests and sat back with the usual first cuppa and smoke of the day as the hoards ventured out to join me. 

It seemed like everyone had the same idea as they all headed within yards of my floats! 

Typical, 550 plus acres of water and they've got to sit almost on top of you! 

Anyway, that aside I was happy with my rig placement and sat enjoying the sounds of the wildlife awaiting my first bite of the day. It came around 8.25am and the float slipped away only to bob straight back up and no follow up???? I was a bit baffled but put on a fresh bait to the same spot in hope of a repeat. 

As it happed just a few minutes later it was again sailing away only for the same bloody thing to happen again! Now I was not only annoyed but bloody puzzled too! 

Ok, possibly just a fluke but a change of rig was in order and I went down two hook sizes and shortened the trace. 

As I was doing this the rod to my right went and I had.....you guessed it.....another missed take! I don't think I've ever missed more than one bite in a day but 3 was taking the piss! 

All the rods came in with new rigs on and as the wind had picked up considerable I needed to move as it was blowing straight in my face and making float placement very difficult as the floats were drawing towards me and the boat. 

I wondered if this had something to do with the missed takes as well? I don't honestly know but I swung the boat out into open water and brought it back ahead of the spots on the tail of the wind. 

This meant the bow was now facing the wind as it should be. Within seconds of casting I was away on the first rod....All I knew about it was the sound of my drag zipping from the reel. 

I struck into a good solid resistance this time and felt much happier I'd clearly made the right decision moving. 

The fish gave a rather lively fight, throwing itself clear of the water numerous times before giving up and slipping over the net cord. Thank god for that, a nice double.

The fish was a complete knob head in the sling and the trebles got hooked up in the rubber mesh of the adjacent net. I sorted the fish and sent him packing back to his home. I was just trying to remove said hooks from the net when I heard another drag zipping off! 

I couldn't believe it, just like that two fish in a row and another nice double which had to be handballed out as the net was currently out of action. I finally got the mess sorted out and all baits were recast and I sat back for a coffee. 

My next chance came about an hour later and I actually got to see this bite. A nice typical bobbing motion before it slid under and I struck into a nice cleanly hooked mid double. I was now starting to feel a little less hard done by from the first 3 loses. 

I sat in the spot for another hour and a half fruitless and just as I was considering a move the left hand rod flew into action. 

This one felt a little better and after a great scrap a nice 18 pounder was sat glaring at me from the bottom of the boat sling. 

By the way, if any of you regularly boat fish for pike then I can highly recommend the Korum Boat Sling. It's an absolute godsend. 

A great design sling which has adjustable arms that go across the boat and leave the fish safely off the deck of the boat and away from harm. 

It doubles up as a weigh sling and even as a floating retainer to place the fish in for recovery! Excellent work from Korum! 

After the fish went back I tried 3 or 4 other favourite areas but as the wind grew I felt my chances slip away for another one. 

Still, can't complain with four lovely doubles finding the boat again. Great fishing as ever.

Tight lines guys

Keith x

I decided to venture back up Llangorse today despite battling a heavy chest, sore throat and cough which I woke up with. 

I set the alarm for 4am and from the moment I got out of bed I was thinking 

I was making a mistake going all the way to Brecon to sit in the cold with a cold! 

For the first 40 minutes of the drive I was considering turning back home and going back to bed but eventually got too close to the lake to turn back. 

I rocked up before first light and spent about an hour getting the boat ready for the onslaught and just making it as nice a place to spend the day as I could with the dreaded lurgy hanging over me. 

I was the only one on the lake and ventured out to a favourite spot that did the majority of the fish on Tuesday. Rods were placed all around the boat in around 21-23 feet of water and I sat back with a coffee feeling quite confident and actually a bit better from the fresh air my lungs were receiving. 

Around 8.45am I got my first take of the day and the float sailed away without so much as a bob. 

I struck down into a good solid resistance and a short but spirited fight ensued before I netted a lovely pike of 18lb 1oz.  A great start and I had hopes for another. 

I hadn't banked on it happening so quickly though as I had just rebaited the rod that had done the fish and sat down for a coffee when I heard the ratchet on my l/h rod scream into life! 

Another very positive take that brought me another smaller fish of around 12lbs. What a start! 

The rod was rebaited and placed slightly away from the first position and I again sat back to try and finish my cuppa whilst texting a few mates with the capture news. 

Exactly 20 minutes later my r/h rod was away....this time a few bobs of the float and then she sailed away....I struck down into a much better fish this time and she held low under the boat in 22 feet. 

Plumes of bubbles came up as she buried deep down with my ratchet purring and the braided mainline making that fantastic noise as it passed through the rod rings under pressure. I swung the net over the side and waited for her to surface so I could gather her up in the mesh. On the scales she went 19lb 5oz....an impressive fish. 

To my delight it was turning out to be a great morning so far and all thoughts of my head cold and the difficulties of getting up and the 50 miles drive had now evaporated into the back of my mind in a cloud of pike euphoria. I thought I'd probably had my fill now and sat back with yet another hot coffee and attempted a smoke which neigh on killed me.

I didn't have to wait long for another bite though and 30 minutes later the r/h rod was yet again sailing into the distance with said snapper attached! 

This was tail walked and threw a merry song and bloody dance all over the place! I was waiting for the hooks to come flying out to be honest as it was more like fighting a marlin than a pike! Hilarious fun and despite the carnage she drew over the net without the hooks loosing their purchase. 

Another fine fish of just over 16lbs, I messaged Andy Loble and instantly got abused for my immense 'jammyness'...I think he even called me something beginning with an 'F' too! Needless to say I rubbed salt in the wounds as he was busy working and I was fishing....Could the day honestly get any better? 4 fish banked by 9.45am! That was a record for me. Well yes it could get better and no less than 13 minutes later I was yet again into another streamlined torpedo. 

Not quite so aerobatic as the previous fish but still put up a decent account of itself and weighed in at 14lbs on the nail. 

By now I was starting to think I must have trod in shit or something as there were 4 other boats on the lake with 2 anglers in each craft and nothing else seemed to be getting caught. 

I thought it was time to move the rod that had produced the most fish as there were a few roach moving just above my position to my right. I put a lovely fresh sardine on to the trebles and launched it to the active area and reached for my sunglasses as the sun was now higher in the sky and I was squinting to see any of the floats. 

Andy then rang me for a chat and about 5 minutes into the conversation I had to hang up as I was in again on the newly positioned sardine rod. Andy abused me as I hung up.....I think there was the use of another 'F' word and also the 'jammy' one again too. 

It was now 10.15am and no 6 was in the net at 14lb 4oz. I took my jumper off as I was actually sweating in the sun (probably just sweats from my flu bug) but it felt nice to at last be warmed up by the sun.

Things went quiet for a bit so I decided to move a little bit West of my current spot to a section of similar depth water that had done good fish for me in past sessions. I sat there for just over an hour and a half without a sniff. I sat wondering if the fish had ventured up the water column slightly so upped anchors and headed for an area where the drop off goes from 13-20 feet over the course of about 25 meters. 

Baits were placed in a line along the shelf at varying depths and I poured yet another coffee and attempted another rollie. By now the wind had started to pick up a little and a gentle chop was lapping up against the bow of the boat. 

The gentle rocking motion was making my already heavy eyes feel like they now had lead weights attached to them! 

Thankfully I had a nice take on the 18 foot depth rod which woke me back up and a beautiful 17 pounder found the net! 

Honestly couldn't believe I was now on 7 fish for the day....What a result. 

Within minutes of putting the 17 back I was in again on the same rod which had only been in the water 15 minutes at most.....This resulted in a long fish of 16lb 12oz. 

As I was unhooking the fish in the boat sling with my bite proof gloves on she sprung up and nailed me with a front incisor right on the only bit of the glove with no protection! 

Typical....blood was coming out everywhere from my thumb!  Literally looked like someone had been murdered on the boat! 

I couldn't stop the bleeding and had no plasters on board, so a makeshift had to be done out of some snot rag in my pocket and some marker elastic wrapped round it tightly to hold it in place.  Thankfully that worked for about half an hour.

With packing up time now bearing down on me as you have to be back at the boat house for 4pm and it's a good 40 minutes back from my mark, I wanted to make the most of my last hour and a halves fishing.

I moved slightly East into a bit deeper section but still on the marginal shelf. Baits were again positioned along the shelf at varying depths. 

Numerous messages came through on my phone with congratulations on the captures but all saying the same thing.....'where's the twenty pounder Keith:' 

Well blow me down as I was just about to reply to the messages my r/h rods float started to disappear into the depths. 

I lifted the rod from the rest and opened the bail arm to give the fish a confident few seconds before setting the hooks. The fight was at first quite jagged and I presumed it was a small jack to start with....How wrong was I! 

The fish neared the boat and then buried itself down 15 feet with my ratchet going into hyper drive...This was definitely not a jack! The fight was ferocious and I had to put the rod under ones in their rests as she was doing circles under the boat trying to free the hooks. Eventually she succumbed to the persistent pressure and I netted a much better fish. 

This had to be a twenty for sure! I readied the sling and scales, made sure I had pliers and cutters to hand before bringing my prize aboard. 

This fish was a whole next level in length and girth. The scales pulled around to a fantastic 22lb 3oz. I'm pretty sure I recognise the fish from a previous capture a season or so back but I'll have to look through some of my older pictures. 

What a day! 9 fish in total, all absolutely perfect.....Not sure I'll repeat that again in a hurry.

Well, that's it for this week, back to work tomorrow. May get to go out again somewhere Sunday or next week if all goes well. Tight lines everyone and stay safe

Keith x

 
I had a very last minute decision to go to Llangorse Lake with Chris today as we were both off work....We arrived before dawn to get the boat set up after a 3.30am alarm and1hr 40 min drive! The weather was dry but exceptionally cold at -4C. 

The lake is still in flood but clear as tap water. We got to our first spot just after sunrise and settled in for what looked like a beautiful day afloat. 

All our kit including the clothes we were wearing were covered in a thick film of ice and the rods were frozen to the boat! 

We got ourselves tidy and proceeded to anchor up. 6 rods were then placed around the boat with a float paternoster rig on each and a mixture of sea fish hook baits. 

Things started off very slowly with nothing to show for our efforts in the first 2 hours despite trying a couple of my favourite spots for a bite. We started off in 16-20 feet of water and only managed a small jack before 10am on a Fox replicant lure. 

We decided around 11am to move a bit further out into the deeper area of the lake at 23 feet, the last part of the drop off shelf. 

Again 6 baits were placed in a line along the shelf and we sat back in anticipation of a nibble. Things continued to be very slow and to be honest both of us were feeling like that was going to be it for the day. I poured out a cuppa from my flask and rolled a smoke whilst we chatted endless shit as usual and laughed our heads off. 

Suddenly I spotted the 2nd rod on the left sides float start to act strangely and then sail away..... I gave it a couple of seconds and struck down into the fish. 

A rather sluggish pike made its way to the boat and Chris slipped the net under it for me. Finally a slightly better one. As the sun rose in the sky further, we thought that was almost certainly it for the day. 

About half an hour passed by before the same rod was yet again away with a slightly better mid double which put up a much better fight. 

After we put the fish back we tweaked a few rig components and made a recast into the deeper area. 

With a couple of hours of the day left and sun at its highest point, there was a slight increase in the surface water temperature and it was obviously enough to trigger a few bites. 

We sat back again to discuss this years holiday plans and Chris had a take on one of his rods only for the fish to drop the bait on the strike....I was gutted for him as he'd worked hard all day for nothing to show for his efforts. It wasn't long after that I had another bite on the same rod yet again. 

This fish felt much better again and after a spirited scarp we boated a nice upper double to end the day. 

It was a tough day all round but the slight increase in temperature seemed to trigger a few fish to bite and turned the day right around. I thoroughly enjoyed Chris's company as ever and we had lots of banter and giggles with just one other angler on the whole lake! 

Unfortunately Chris felt quite poorly as the day progressed and he's now full of a horrid head cold. Hope you feel better soon brother x