Happy Mondays!

Remember them? The group. Well today is monday and I am trying to stay happy, but the day did not start off well!

Firstly my ‘super’ bivvy heater, is not functioning well at the moment. This is my fault I guess, as the regulator is 16 bar, which I think is for the pressure of small bottles. I am not sure though? When I bought it from the German guys fishing at American Beach, they were using a 5kg propane bottle, and it was working fine. I bought a larger bottle, 13kg, because it will last longer and which was butane.You can use both with this heater. The larger bottle has 30 bar pressure, and it worked really well the first time. However, butane freezes in very cold weather, so I purchased a propane bottle for the next replacement, and this did not work very well at all. Only a very small flame flickers on the element. Today I swapped the propane bottle back for a butane one, and now just the pilot light is lit, and nothing else happens. I never used to use a heater in my bivvy,  I really got it for the dogs, more than anything. Once you have one though, you wonder how you ever managed without it! The nights at the moment can be brutally cold, I am fine in my sleeping bag of course, but you know it is very cold outside of the bag. Fortunately my dogs are not the complaining type, but I think they may start to protest soon, if I do not get it sorted. I am not a gas expert or a plumber. If anyone reading this, knows what I should do to rectify this, please comment. Please! Different regulator maybe?

I have been using my small coleman stove for the past few days, to kick a little heat into the bivvy every now and then, but last night this starting playing up to.

This morning my connection speed was so slow i could not log into the internet.

And….My van was actually still stuck in the mud!

Fortunately, I have now mended the coleman. The feed pipe was blocked. The connection speed is back, hence I am writing my blog. And I managed to get three strong looking, OAP rowers, to help me get my van free once and for all. I have now been to the supermarket, I have enough food for a couple of weeks, and the day is now starting to take a turn for the better.

Naturally when I went to the supermarket, I reeled in the rods. I now have to have a rethink. I think the fish are not feeding at the moment, and are just laying around being dormant! The big rain that came before xmas, got the fish feeding very heavily, and maybe they are quite content at the moment, surviving off that. I know from past experiences that fish can sit around for days not moving very far, when it is cold. So I have come up with a plan. I will leave the 59lb plateau rod where it is, but the other three rods I am going to move every 48hrs to a new spot. Hopefully I can eventually drop a bait not too far from a dormant fish, which may trigger it into life, and get it mooching around for a few treats. 

I remember many years ago, fishing a lake called Hutton pond in Somerset. A friend and I, fished for several days, and did not have a single bite. It was very cold, and the place seemed lifeless. On the last night I moved up the other end of the lake, it is a very small water of 1.5 acres! I cast out the rods, and just ran back to get my remaining kit. I had a very slow take on the way back, and landed one of the biggest fish in the lake. It was covered in leeches, and had obviously been sat up for many days. I had obviously cast a bait right by him, and it was enough to tempt him into having a munch!

The other slight dilemna I am having is with my choice of bait. Should I continue with the crayfish resistant Nut boilies, or switch back to the Fish. At least if they attract crayfish, it may also draw in a fish. If I go with the fish I will have to check the rods every 24 hours. Perhaps I will go with Nut on two rods and Fish on the other, and see which catches first.

We will see I guess, and I shall obviously let you all know! At least one thing is for sure. It is now turning into a ‘Happy Monday’ afternoon!

Jake.

Winter carping...

You little beauty!

Help required please!