Watching the weather
CC Moore's Dean Watson tells us what he's been up to this month...
My time on the bank has been somewhat hindered recently, working at a tackle shop you end up sorting others out first and yourself last, especially at this time of year when a lot of anglers are dusting off their kit after a winter break etc.
I was itching to get back to the water! The fish had woken up and a few were starting to get caught, so I was eager to get my rods out for this session.
The weather was all seasons for the past week, hail, big winds, bright sun, temperatures had been up and down all week, I’m sure it had the fish confused as well as us anglers.
I arrived at the lake with a big north wind pushing down the far end. A few swims were free down that area of the lake and I did see a few fish show, but I knew we had a new weather front moving in the following morning. The warm south winds and rain were arriving overnight and I’m sure the fish would move with them, I was going to take a chance. The plan was to be set up and ready for the fish to turn up with the rigs and baited areas all sorted and in place.
I baiting each area with half a kilo of the ever faithful Live System boilies. Fishing into deep silt, matching cork ball pop-ups were the hook bait choice, nicely balanced to sit primed and ready on top of the silt.
The night passed without a beep, I woke up at first light with a massive south wind pushing into the brolly along with a bit of drizzle. It wasn’t long before the plan had come good and the first rod was away resulting in an awesome looking carp that went 22lb, a lovely slate grey mirror. Over the moon to get one in the bag, I slipped the fish into the recovery sling to wait another 30 minutes for the light levels to improve and just as I did the left hand rod was away, this one resulted in a 25lb 4oz mirror and a brace of 20s for me, very happy indeed.
One of my mates saw me playing the second fish and popped round to do the honours on the camera, as he arrived in the swim the middle rod was screaming off, unreal! Taking a chance on the wind change had paid off big time for me and the third take resulted in a stunning 19lb mirror. A beautiful dark scaley who will be on the wanted list in years to come.
Paying attention to the weather that’s on the way plays a vital part in my fishing. You can plan round it and use it to your advantage, it paid off and resulted in a good morning’s work and one happy angler.
All the best and tight lines
Dean