winter session 48hr

Just returned from a two night session on the lake ive been targeting this year to say it was hard would be a understatement,i tried every trick in the book but to no good i used the tactics i disscussed in my last blog but that never worked i also added the use of small pva bags but i just couldnt temp them,i watched the water for hours and sat listening in the dark for signs of fish movement but they just never let their guard down,i awoke the first morning to half of the lake frozen which made things a bit tricky the frost was hard and my feet were cold but i b attled on like i said before there was no sign of fish movements throughout the day as darkness fell i was stood drinking a brew when my middle rod sounded a strange run oh no not the dreaded bream as i started to play the fish my suspicions were right the slimy culprit was soon returned oh well at least that got the old heart racing the rod was recast and the wait started again.The next morning i awoke to every carpers nighmare not even a beep in the night my bobbins were still in the normal positions and were frozen solid alond with my rods&reels oh well the lake may have got the best of me this year but that will only drive me on next year that just leaves me to wish you all a merry xmas and happy newyear TIGHT LINES FOR 2008

WINTER SESSION

Just returned from a 24hr session on my local lake,id forgot how cruel winter sessions can be me and my mate deceided to try our luck on what is a hard water at the best of times but like true diehards we are we decieded to brave the elements.When we arived we had a good wind blowing right in to were we were fishing and hopes were queit high nothing happened through out the day but as the wind died off the temperature dropped it was at this time that i realised my boots were still wet from the last time i was out in them!!As darkness fell so did the temperature even more now my toes were realy starting to freeze with my damp boots,oh well have to brave it a good beef curry was soon wolfed down that seemed to light the fires i should have just tipped it into my boots maybe that would have defrosted my toes,anyways in the light of the moon we huddled together round a hot cup of bovril til we couldnt take it anymore i jumped in my bag and wrapped my bedchair cover around me leaving just my nose poking out so i could breath,into the land of carp i slipped....Morning arrived as my mate woke me are you still alive was the shout damn no runs in the night and a frost bitten nose,"Get the kettle on " was the shout as we discussed every thing that could of gone wrong last night oh well i will be back next week to brave the elements again we must be mad ha ha

winter fishing

Now with a real change in the weather getting much colder its time to start changing tactics i myself usually drop my hook size down and cut the amount of bait that i put in,my usual approach for most of the season would be to fish over a fairly large bed of bait usual incorporating hemp and boilies but as the temperatures drop i would cut the freebies down a bit unless the fish really switch on i continue to use hemp as i find this is still good through the winter but i don't put as much in.I would usually fish one rod like this another rod i would use a single hook bait usually a single hook bait i prefer tails ups bait and use the sc25 all the year round this is a proven bait and one that Ive had a lot of success with in winter i use there amino glugg aswell i would fish this rod just of my baited area , if I'm using three rods i would either use the single sc25 hook bait again or i would use a chod rig with a single small pop up on again this would be fished just of the area or used as a roving rod if i saw a fish move.People have their own methods for winter this is just one that i use its a method that I've caught good fish on in the winter months so I'm confident with it.Please feel free to post your tactics or comment's on winter fishing...cheers