A Long Long Time Ago...
Well as we can‘t be out on the banks right now I thought I’d write about the angling I’ve done so far in 2020. It all seems like such a long time ago now, but all was going well on my local water, Broadlands lakes in Hampshire and I‘d had a productive January. Largley due to the mild temperatures we’ve had most of the winter, I was still managing to sneak fish from the margins and employ tactics that I would usually associate with the warmer months in terms of rigs and baiting approach. Scattering Boilies and fishing groundbait sticks over margins spots and catapulting boilie over large areas in open water were still bringing the bites.
January came and went in the usual way, it always feels like someone has added an extra week on especially if you’re paid before Christmas! Along comes February to rescue us from death throes of festivity and it was time to squeeze in a cheeky session before jetting off to India for some winter sun. 😎
By this time much of the U.K. had seen some horrendous rainfall and the weather down south continued to be mild. With that all factored in I decided to stick with my baiting approach for this session. Arriving at the lake it was pretty clear that the water levels were high, and with the majority of anglers quite rightly set up on the higher ground, I found that one side of lake was completely devoid from angling pressure. I had just one nights angling so decided it wouldn’t be too much of a drama to fish this flood prone area and got to work. The night was disappointingly quiet and totally fishless! Sat there feeling quite dejected with a brew, the phone rang and it was my pal Chris letting me know that he was on his way down for a cuppa, and a couple of hours fishing. Now Chris has an uncanny knack of bringing brother luck with him on his brew visits, in fact its difficult to remember a time that I haven’t had a run shortly after his arrival, so I decided to leave the rods in position until he arrived and then maybe think about moving for the last few hours. You really couldn’t make it up! As I watched Chris pull into the car park and begin to unload, the glorious sound of a Delkim in total meltdown interrupted my tea making ritual and shortly after a lovely mid twenty common was in the net!
Chris promptly arrived and did the honours with the camera and began to set up his gear next door while I got the kettle on. We chatted whilst Chris set up, sipping hot tea and generally chewing the fat when the same rod busted off, clutch buzzing like a chainsaw and tea all over the shop, another carp was soon in the net!
Well, we were both expecting some more action that day but it just wasn’t to be and with the days slipping by so quickly in February we were soon trudging back to car park to head home.
A few days later I was several thousand miles away soaking up the sun In Goa. A vibrant part of India with a rich history and quite possibly the best food in the world! Anyway, two weeks of that was quite enough and shortly after arriving back in the UK I was off up to Manchester to help Dean from Ultimate Carp Nutriton, (UCN) with a stand at the Northern Angling Show. While I was in India, UCN announced the long awaited release of the Moonfruit boilie. Since joining UCN in 2019 I‘ve been lucky enough to test various baits and different batches of the superb liquid “e” all of which caught me a shed load of carp, but the release, or re-release I should say of the Moonfruit Boilie is a game changer!
As we headed toward March, the world started to become a little strange, but shortly after the show I was heading out with my first batch of Moonfruit. Game changer it was but i‘ll save that for the next piece!
Link to UCN in picture.