As I set out the weather outside was 12 degrees, dry but very windy. When I arrived at the fishery around 7:20, I was surprised to see about 5 cars in the car park, that is busier than what I see in the height of summer.
Due to the weather I could see that no one was at the top of the lake and so it was in that direction that I made my way after I'd loaded up the trolley.
I'd already planned that today I would just keep things simple and fish with just one rod. This would in theory enable me to "get back into the old routine" easily.
Although the temperature according to the car was 12 degrees the strong wind must have made it in reality, at least, half that.
The setup today was a match rod with 4lb main line to a size 20 (yes I can still see it) hook. Bait was primarily single maggot but depending on the day I had with me some corn. No ground bait today just loose fed maggots, hemp, pellets and corn on a little and often basis.
I was set up and ready to make my first cast at 8.22. The question now was, how long before I got my first bite of the season?
The answer was about a minute, the culprit, not unexpectedly, a very small roach. By the end of the first hour I caught another two and a gudgeon, making my total for the day, four.
One of the reasons I 'only' caught four was because I kept getting tangled up when casting due to the strong wind. At the end of the hour I reviewed my shotting pattern. I had all the weight around the float because I wanted to slowly let the bait drop through the water. I decided to make the pattern more even and the result was that I never got another tangle all day. Success!
The next hour's results proved my point, 5 roach and a perch made the virtual net. My total for the day was now ten, double figures.
The fishing slowed down a bit in the next hour. Just the three small roach making the net. Total now was thirteen.
Around noon after another small roach had made the net I decided to give corn a go. I was immediately rewarded with a roach of about 5 or 6 ounces. Much bigger than the ones taking the maggots.
By 13:30 I was still on the corn. I had only more fish to show for my efforts. The good news was that it was my first bream of the season. Not a monster though.
By 15:00 my total for the day had risen to 21. I'd added to the total with another bream and roach on corn plus 2 roach and my first crucian of the season on maggot.
During the day I'd been feeding the margin swim to my left with the occasional piece of corn and so for the last hour I dropped my float in it to see what I had attracted. The result was 2 nice tench.
That was it for the day. I packed up about 16:30. I went home happy after catching 23 fish in all.
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