After rescheduling my holiday from January due to the snow and ice, I finally managed to get my weeks fishing in. I turned up last Sunday (21st February) at dinner time and guess what...the lake was frozen after the two previous nights of heavy frost.  Unsuprisingley I was the only idiot I mean angler there.  I had a walk round the 10 acre lake and found two swims that were fishable, one I didn't fancy and the other I had fished in September so that’s where I chose to set up camp.

16.00  All three rods were out, a bit of grub and a cup of rosie and I was ready...

18.00  The rain started and nothing happened during the night.  I was awake through most of it due to noise of the rain pounding on the bivvy and by daylight it was torrential. 

10.00  Monday I got my first take.  Happy days or so I thought!  I struck felt the fish then everything went solid, I couldn’t understand as I knew that rod was fishing in a clear area, free from weed or snags and a few seconds later the line went loose and I reeled in to find my 20lb coated braid hook link bitten through. Talking to the owner afterwards he informed me that there's a big catfish in the lake so it was probably that, and the same thing had happened to other people in the past...bleedin great!!! Sixteen hours of fishing and I hook the only fish in the place capable of chomping through mono. New rig on, the others rebaited and recasted, now the weather has turned to sleet/rain 16.00 a bream of 3lb 4oz.

17.00 The rain has finally stopped after 23 hours (lucky me)

21.00 Another bream  of 3lb 6 oz then nothing during the night.

04.30 Tuesday I'm woken up by guess what more poxy rain but it soon goes and by daylight it's dry and cold.

09.30  I decide to rebait and to make something happen as I didn’t want to have big baits out just singles, for some unknown reason I decided to cut two 14mm boilies in half, one white choc and one maple x and put half of each flavour on the hair back to back, two colours and flavours but still only 14mm.  Well I don’t know if it was because of, or in spite of what I did but by midday I had an 8lb 8oz mirror in the net.  Nice one sunshine I thought to myself, not the biggest carp in the world I grant you but with only catching bream since September I had nearly forgotten what a carp looked like.

14.45  More rain and another take and the welcome sight of a common on the bank, bang on 11lb, 15.30 another take this time a bream of 4lb 8 oz, fifteen minutes later one of the rods is off again.  I couldn't believe it when I got the fish in...a perch of 1lb 2oz (new pb).

17.00  It was cold but at least the rain had ceased.  Time to put new hook baits on (stick with what's been working I thought) so on went half of each flavour as before.

17.40  Another small bream.

18.00  It's now getting misty

20.15  More rain...

Two and half hours later the mist has disappeared but the rain was getting heavier (unbeknown to me this would be constant for the next 24 hours)  There was no more takes in the night and with only snatching a couple of hours sleep due to the noise of the rain, as I started to rebait the rods on Wednesday morning I'm feeling a bit knackered to say the least.

10.45  Wednesday moring I get a proper screaming run this time.  I'm into a reasonable fish only to get snagged on something about 20 yds out next the inevitable happened and the hook pulled, now to say I was pi***d off is the understatement of the year, anyway I had to crack on an stop whinging to myself.

21.15  (Yes ten and a half hours later)  I'm stuck in the bivvy in the rain when I a series of small bleeps on my alarm goes, great I thought another bream...but as I reeled in this was different.  This fish although not big was putting up a bit of a fight and to my amazement when I got it landed it was...wait for it...a 2lb 4oz ROACH (New pb) chuffed to bits.

I managed to get some sleep as the rain had stopped for the time being until I am woke...

05.05 Thursday morning with another bream of 4lb 4oz, followed by yet another bream of 3lb 12 oz.

08.45  At least now it was dry I could get outside the bivvy for a bit, instead of being cooped up like a battery chicken it was starting to do my head in.

13.30  Here comes heavy rain again...

19.45  Heavy rain is replaced by near gale force winds and torrential rain being blown directly into the bivvy door.  It was time to batten down the hatches only for the zip to come apart on my chub cyfish that’s less than a year old (phone call to hardy / greys first thing Monday) Great, now I had driving rain coming straight at me and I couldn't do my bivvy door up!  The only thing I could do is sit there for the next two hours like a plonker holding the door together to keep most of the rain out.  Even though being bivvyed up on a slight slope meant that the water came in under the door and over the ground sheet.  Anyway it's now an inch deep inside at one end of the bivvy nicely seeping in through the bottom of my holdalls (I must have upset someone in a previous life to have to deserved this much).

After a long night with no sleep and no bites it was finally Friday morning.  To be honest I was glad to be going home for a bath and some much needed sleep, as you can see from the photos below!

And to Mrs F - After 29 years of marriage I do miss you old girl when you're not with me, well you are knocking on a bit...45 this year!

Did I enjoy myself ? You bet I did.  No telly, no radio and no one else on the lake until I packed up.  Just me and the ducks.

I won't win any prizes for the size of the carp I caught, but I reckon I got five different species (could have been six) on 14mm boilie bottom baits will take some beating which is a great testament to the quality of the new Screamer Bait flavours - Maple X and White Chocolate Fruit and Nut.

Next weekend I am out for a 36 hour session using the new Deliverance boilies...hopefully the weather will be kinder and the fish bigger.

Thanks to Mark for his story - be sure to send us your next one (you nutter!)

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If you would like to read more about the new Screamer bait flavours - click here

 

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