Winter is here

Not having been fishing for about 6 weeks I was starting to get crabbit (grumpy for non Scots readers) I had planned a Grafham trip but the forecast for day one looked shaky for the kayak 15mph wind limit rule. Saturday looked fine but it was too far for me to travel for a single days fishing, so I decided the trip was off on Thursday morning. On checking the local forecast at 6am before setting off for yet another plan B trip I couldn’t resist having a look at Grafham. The forecast was now fine, the laptop was thumped shut and I was out the door 5 minutes later.

It was great to be back on the water, if nothing else it would be a shakedown on my new Lowrance Ti/Berley Pro combo. In my mini refit I had also added a Yakattack dogbone camera mount fitting this to the mast hole with RAM 1.5 inch wedge mount. One of the first things I noticed was the water temperature, the last time I was on here it was 16c, it was now 10c, winter is here! I then took a run over the first snag which I like to target, wow! The structure scan was impressive, it looked like a pencil drawing of a tree. When I sold my old unit I had posted it off to the new owner before realising that I hadn’t backed up my GPS marks. Initially I was annoyed about this but they were so easy to find again with this I needn’t have worried.

I picked up fish here and there, this one came from one of my marks which looks like a boulder field about 20ft square.

This one from a ridge that looked around 40ft long.

I probably ended the day in double figures but without any of the larger Perch I was attempting to target. What surprised me was the general lack of fish in this part of the loch.

 

When I woke up the next morning there had been a heavy overnight frost, my C-Tug was frozen to my Outback. The stove wouldn’t light so it was cold pasta for breakfast and ice cold water, not the hearty start to the day I had planned. The water temp was now 8c, the water level had also risen by about a 1.5ft due to a release of water upstream. I knew I was in for a tough day and as my mate Scott once put it, I was washing lures for most of the day. Large lures like Bulldawgs, small drop shot lures and shads- it was a balanced day in this respect.

All in it wasn’t a great couple of days fishing but the new kit worked well. I can’t say when I’ll be out next as the month ahead is busy. The weather, as ever will also play its part.