Good Evening.
I have a feeling the fire is going to become a big source of motivation and comfort over the next month. There is, as they say, nothing like a good bonfire, and I guess the whole process of building it, getting it going, and feeding it throughout the evening becomes a slight ritual that you not only enjoy, but is good for the moral. Writing on my laptop beside it, makes a welcome change from sitting in the bivvy and apart from when it rains, this is what I intend on doing for my month-long session.
In a way moving swims in the last couple of days reminds me a little of my first session at Cassien in 2008. I fished in my first swim for about ten days and then moved into Aviron, where I went onto have a memorable session. I am not expecting anything huge in the way of numbers of carp, I am here for a big common, but I will also take what comes. I enjoyed a long stint in the boat today looking for features and this swim is littered with them. There are oodles of plateaus, lots of underwater snags in the shape of trees, and the lakebed rises and falls in a very inviting way. The lads before me managed four carp over two weeks, including a couple of losses, and I am not saying it was down to the swim; it was certainly down to good fishing, but, there is certainly much to get excited about with what is in front of me. As I have slowly settled into my new home I keep smiling to myself, as not only is it a much better place in general, it is my kind of swim. I have room to move, the dogs can roam without any issues, I can have a fire, I have a great view of the lake, and there are no people wandering around, apart from the occasional visitor.
Speaking of visitors my Italian friend Gerry popped down yesterday evening with something very special – a new regulator. The Italian size is smaller than the UK, France, Germany etc… and the only option was to swap the original one for the Italian size. A little grease was called for, to push the new regulator into the very tight tubing, a couple of cable ties finished the job, and I now just needed a gas bottle to test it out. Unfortunately, I gave my new one back to the camp site, but Gerry came to the rescue again and popped home to get a spare one. A telephone call alerted me of his arrival at 10.30pm and after a five-minute boat trip in the dark, I was soon connecting the new regulator to a full 25kg propane bottle. Did it work? It did! Withing a few minutes I could hear snoring coming from the bivvy as Flash obviously appreciated the warmth and Charley wrapped in a blanket looked happy enough!
Charley has been a bit more mobile today and is eating and drinking. I had to hand feed her at first to get her going and that seemed to do the trick. Personally I think she was being a bit of a madam and she refused to eat out of her bowl unless I picked it up off the ground. In the end we came to an agreement and I put the bowl on a bucket so it was off the ground. I have been watching her today and I do actually think she has doggy flu! Her stiffness would explain it and she has had a runny nose!! She wagged her tail a little this afternoon and followed me around, so she does seem to be making progress.
The rods were put out at 3pm. I am fishing one rod very close in at the bottom of the drop off in front of me. It is only fifteen yards from the bank and falls sharply away to 14ft. It levels off here and then gradually gets deeper. I don’t want to ignore the obvious passing place for a carp and how many times do you think carp swim under our rod tips at night. The other two rods have been put out in the mountain range of plateaus. One is at the bottom of a large plateau that rises to about 5ft from 18ft. I decided to go for the bottom as opposed to actually on the plateau and I might play around with this a little. The final rod was put in between a small and sharply sloping plateau and in front of a snaggy hump. It looked too carpy to overlook and the depth here is about 16ft.
Bait wise I decided to scatter boilies liberally over the wide plateau area. A boilie here and a boilie there, with a slight concentration near my hookbait. If the fish arrive and I get some action then I do have the capacity to fill it in, but it is winter, the water temperature is about 6 degrees and by spreading the bait over a wide area, I hope to get any fish that come across it searching long and hard for their next mouthful.
There are no pictures today as I have been incredibly busy and have not sat down since my first coffee at 8am this morning. I enjoyed an egg sarnie after I had rigged up my rods and pasta was on the menu for tonight’s dinner! I am getting into the pasta in a big way and after watching the Italian lads eat it ‘every’ day, I can see why. Variety is the key and there is so much you can do with pasta the mind boggles.
One big change I have also made this session is I have ditched the dreaded dvd player. I decided that as Christmas and New Year are out-of-the-way, it is time for some serious hardcore fishing, no more lounging around watching films that I have watched umpteen times, but instead, enjoy the surroundings, enjoy the fire, and hopefully enjoy holding some whackers!
See you tomorrow.
Jake and the dogs.
