November 10th to 12th Linch Hill Willow lake

The forecast was for strong winds and heavy rain for the next few days but who cares when large roach are the quarry. Linch Hill Willow lake was to be the venue again. The last sessions disappointment was put behind me.

The day was bright and sunny as I made my way to the lake. On arrival I off loaded the car and put everything on the barrow and made my way to the lake which is about a 300m walk.  There was not a cloud in the sky and no wind, how this was to change during the night.

The lake was busy with carp anglers and my first two choices of swims were taken. I had missed these swims by just 1 hr each. Talking to a carp angler who had taken a big roach in the morning he said he was leaving very soon. I asked how large was the roach, his reply was just over 3lbs and he lost another. The roach was weighed too. He showed me the area where he fished and I could reach it with my marker rod, but I had reservations about getting there with a swim feeder if the predicted winds got up. The last thing I wanted to do was bait it up then not be able to reach the target area.

Looking towards the island I found a small patch of gravel with weed bed on the edge. It was here at a distance of 35m that I baited up.

The end rig I was using was the normal 2 hook rig baited with red maggots on a size 18 hook and 3lb 6oz hooklink. I had increased the hooklink strength from my last visit.

I put out about half a pint of hemp followed by about the same amount of maggots both live and dead. Mind you I did feel inferior as the carp guy’s fishing there use gallons of the things. One of the other lakes on the complex Christchurch had been taken apart by carpers using 10 gallons at a time. They have been banned now on that lake. What effect it will have on Willow lake I’m unsure, but there is gallon after gallon going in at the moment.

I keep casting out the drennan swimfeeders each hour to keep it topped up. Clipping up to ensure I hit the spot each time. This is critical.

So I cast out at about 3pm after setting everything up, and at first casting out every 30 mins to top up the swim then reverting back into the more routinely hourly cast. There was clear blue sky and a breathless wind. However the forecast for later in the early morning  suggested 70mph winds. The lake looked lifeless no fish movement at all.

At 5.30pm the bivvi had a good layer of frost and the sky was still clear. I continued casting out until 10pm and then called it a day with thicker frost on the bivvi. I woke at about 3am when there was a slight gust of wind. I peeped out from under the sleeping bag to see some cloud cover almost obscuring the crescent of the moon. Time to zip up the bivvi a little, as rain was predicted and I didn’t want the prospects of getting wet. Soon it was raining and windy. At 6.30am in the morning the wind was gusting through the trees with twigs and debris bashing the bivvi. I put on my water proofs and rebaited using the head torch as it was that dark and cast the feeders on the spot taking into account the wind direction.  This continued for the remainder of the morning. Then at 12 noon the rain stopped but the wind still roared.

I spent 1 hour with the marker rod feature finding the gravel patch to make sure all was good. I then spent another hour setting the length right by using the normal pole elastic on the reel line. Soon I was  spodded out 1 pint of hemp and a half a pint of dead maggots. With this done I cast out again at 3pm. The temperature was 12c which was much warmer than the previous day. The evening was spent watching the rats clear the swim of anything edible and probably inedible and listening to the radio. The wind was still howling, it was as intensive as it had been all day. Then out of the blue at 9.30pm one of the rods bleeped a few times and I was out like a shot. The rod top was nodding left and the fish was there. I lifted into the fish and felt a few thumps and then it became weeded. Some gentle pulling eventually extracted it from the weed. A few more thumps but it didn’t feel right. As I bought it closer in the head torch I could see some weed just above the fish. There was still some fight in the fish as it kited left and right and slowly I bought it closer and closer, I could see the large silver flank of a fish now beaten just in front of me, then disaster the main line broke by the weed and all was lost( must have been the muscles in the weed). It looked a big roach or rudd, I will never know though. The feeling after this is not particularly nice. I’m not one for throwing things around, I just get this numb feeling, that emptiness of despair which doesn’t last too long. However I was soon tackled up again, marking everything out in the dark and wind making sure all was good. I recast again on the button but nothing happened all night again.

I was up at 6.15 with a slight glow in the eastern sky. Again I had to use the headlight to see what I was up to. I picked up the first rod to recast, as I was clipping up this one the other rod was away. I lifted into the fish and felt a few heavy thumps on the end plus much weed. The fish started to come in easily and I could feel that thump occasionally. Then the weed came off and the fish woke up. It started to power around but I had it under control. I played it for a while and it played me some as well! I got it close on several occasions and could see it was a good tench. The vortexes as the big tail worked away had my heart thumping. Then click click click the reel clutch took the strain again and for the last time and ooop’s the hook popped out.

Well that was it for the remainder of the day. I did some feature finding on a couple of other swims. I also met Adam Randall who is a consultant for CC Moore and we talked for ages before he had to set up and me leave for home.

I’m disappointed, but I’m learning so much. I’m going to reflect on these mishaps and make some changes. Perhaps I’m unlucky but I need to rethink!

If you always do what you have always done, you will get what you have always got!!!!!!!!!!!!