As the year drew to a close I felt like setting myself a new challenge for the rest of the season. I suddenly had the urge to catch a big roach. Many years ago I caught a splendid one of just over one pound. Could I catch one of that size,or bigger, between the first of January and the end of the season in March?
My first trip out was on New Year's Day. As I arrived at the Figure of Eight the heavens opened. This was not how it was supposed to be. The next two and a half hours were bite less as I occupied myself solely with keeping dry and moving backwards away from the water as the level rose. With two streams running into the lake and the overflow stream running out into an already high River Douglas it was no surprise that the level of the lake rose around 18 inches in just a couple of hours. By 3 o'clock the rain had finally stopped and I needed to move to a new spot as I was now backed up against a steep slope and sat with my feet in couple of inches of water. About 30 yards down the channel there was a peg that was still above the water level so I collected my gear together and moved.
I threw in a handful of hemp next to some overhanging tree branches to my left and swung my float out into position. In the sky to the west the faintest glimmer of sunshine broke through. This was more like it. Ten minutes later the float dipped, I struck and brought in a small roach of around an ounce. I re-baited with a single white maggot and cast out again. At least I wasn't going to blank.As the light was fading I caught my final fish, the best of the day - a 3ounce roach.
So not really the day I had in mind but at least I had caught some roach albeit ones that were at least a pound smaller than I'd hoped for.
Two weeks later I had the chance to try again. However, conditions were not ideal. It was a bright sunny day but the temperature had dropped to around five degrees with overnight frosts. The water was so clear that I knew it was likely to be a bad day. I persevered for a couple of hours trying a range of baits and a couple of different spots all to no avail. My first blank of the season.
The cold snap had well and truly arrived with parts of the country plunged into that all familiar winter chaos. Luckily for me the North West didn't suffer too much to begin with so I got the chance of a few hours pike fishing on the Lancaster canal. It was a bitterly cold day with much of the canal frozen over but I found a spot where a feeder stream ran in and this seemed to have created just enough movement in the water to stop it from icing up. Fishing my usual sprat dead bait I tried the slow retrieve next to every bit of dead weed bed I could find without the slightest bit of interest. With numb fingers and freezing toes I gave up after a couple of hours.
My only other trip out in January was to a Cumbrian tarn renowned for its perch. I had high hopes but the thermometer dipped sharply the night before and the bright day that followed left me feeling that it may be another difficult trip. I wasn't wrong. Three hours in the afternoon up until dusk without the slightest hint of a bite. The water holds some big tench so I spent a bit of time exploring the lake looking for some suitable swims that I can fish come June 16th.
Not a great month but there's still another six weeks until the end of the season. Hope springs eternal.
My only other trip out in January was to a Cumbrian tarn renowned for its perch. I had high hopes but the thermometer dipped sharply the night before and the bright day that followed left me feeling that it may be another difficult trip. I wasn't wrong. Three hours in the afternoon up until dusk without the slightest hint of a bite. The water holds some big tench so I spent a bit of time exploring the lake looking for some suitable swims that I can fish come June 16th.
Not a great month but there's still another six weeks until the end of the season. Hope springs eternal.
