January 11th Great Somerfords
Fished on a small gravel pit of about 8 acres today. There was a strong northwest wind that would make float fishing very difficult, so it would be a ledgering day. I arrived at dawn to find the first gravel pit with an algae bloom. Which is strange with the coldness of the water, but sometimes this happens. There are some really good roach in here of over 2lbs.
As I was wandering around Steve the owner came to see me. We chatted for a while about the lakes and what had happened to them in the freeze. They had been covered in ice for 4 weeks which was about the longest period he can remember. He told me about an angler who had fished the other larger gravel pit on complex over the weekend and had seen two shoals of roach swimming around the margins. One was of many small roach and one shoal of roach of between 1-2lbs which looked in pristine condition.
This lake is crystal clear at present so it was this lake that I decided to fish.
I was supposed to meeting my pal Ivor later in the day and sms him to meet me on the lake. Being a bit soft I decided to fish a swim in the cover of a large fir tree which gave me plenty of protection from the wind.
The set up was two Fox light Duo rods with 5lb main line. I fished swimfeeder maggots on a helicopter rig on one and liquidised bread in a feeder and flake on the hook for the other. Click on images to enlarge.
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- Close up of helicopter rig
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- Helicopter rig
The fish normally patrol the drop off as it goes to 6ft deep so it was here 3 rod lengths out where I positioned the rods.
Ivor came and joined me at midday and cast a lob worm out in the same area.
The action was none stop cast after cast but no bites. Rob another member of the association was fishing and he fared no better. Between the 3 of us it was a complete bite-less session. Not even a perch came our way.
The only action I saw all day was last thing just before the light faded a few rudd started to prime on the far side of the lake working their way down about 2 rod lengths out from the bank.
Never experienced a blank like this before! Strange times indeed!
