November 23rd and 24th Willow Lake Linch Hill

Knowing that cooler weather was coming towards the end of the week, I decided to try another session on Willow Lake. The forecast was for a warmish day of 7c going down to -3c for the night. The weed has not fully died back yet and there is still plenty to hang your baits up in. I was fishing a clear patch of gravel with weed all around it.

I baited with some live and dead maggots plus some hemp. I used the spomb for the first time and had to say it performed magnificently, zero spillage.

As the evening approached the temperature started to drop, but not below zero as there were a few clouds about. These though cleared at 9am and then the frost put in an appearance. I had one very quick short lift of the bobbin and that was it for the evening. The female foxes were howling all night for a mate, which had the dog’s barking in the house until it was time for them to go in.

Then at 1am I had a screaming run and I thought this is it, the fish came straight to the surface as all big roach do, then it started to flap around and yes it was a duck. I managed to land the thing but it made a complete mess of the end rig. So it was re tackling time. Back out the rig went and I slipped back into my slumber again.

Then at 3pm I had another take and yes those darling ducks must have been hungry to find my size 18 hook and two red maggots in 12 ft of water. I had one more take from one of those things again at first light, but luckily it spat the baited hook out as it came to the surface.

Dawn came with little or no activity from priming roach. A couple of carp crashed out but all was quite. I was glad when the sun came out and  it’s warm rays penetrated through the bivvi.

Dan Williams came to see me and we had a chat about most things in fishing and by 1pm I was almost ready to go home. All the carpers had seen the light (and the forecast) and had packed away. So I was alone on the lake. So out came the marker rod and I cast around a few swims that took my fancy to find the gravel. It was a good 2hrs work and told me much about each swim. It’s good to be able to do this when no one is on the water. So that was it another blank, but things should improve once the weed has gone. I fear though it could be in the new year before this happens.

The forecast for Friday when I’m fishing Chew for the pike is light winds from the north and plenty of sunshine. I just hope the visibility in the water is slightly better than the previous week. But hey ho I’m looking forward to fishing there with Andy Cowley again.