WHAT A WINTER BARGAIN!
I much prefer fishing in the warmer months, but I always get itchy feet when it is cold and can’t resist a few hours on the bank a couple of times a month.
At the start of December, a friend and I headed to Lindholme Lakes. It is a complex that we’ve visited a couple of times before and knew that if anywhere was going to produce a few bites, this was it.
There’s plenty to be impressed about there, with the quality of fish, the wide range of lakes, great tackle shop and plush café just a few of them. But what struck me most about the day was the day-ticket price.
We both paid £5 each, which I initially thought was an error. But no, they’ve simply put their prices down to encourage people to get on the banks in winter. Commercial fisheries are businesses, and their aim is to make money, but to see one of the big players in the game step back and take a bit of a financial hit at a time of year when they know the fishing isn’t going to be at its best is brilliant. I’ll certainly be going back a few more times before the winter is out to take advantage of the great value offer.
My session of two halves
I’ve read IYCF for several years and I’ve noticed a heavy emphasis on how the smallest changes can often make the biggest differences to what you catch.
That was evident during a recent session on a club water when the roach were the only fish that would feed. I started off with a 4x12 float with a wire stem, shotting it with No10s. I caught a few, but I was missing lots of bites! I decided to switch rigs, going to a 4x10 with a carbon stem and No11 shot to try and make the hookbait sink that fraction slower. It was like flicking a light switch and my conversion rate shot up!
I ended the day with almost 20lb of roach and I wouldn’t have even had half that if I hadn’t got off my box and made the change.
Fewer keyboard warriors please!
Social media has become a huge part of many people’s lives and, when it is used properly, it can be truly uplifting.
Seeing people’s smiles as they pose with big fish is brilliant and it helps display the magic of fishing to a wider audience. But on the flip side, Facebook and similar platforms can also bring out the worst in people! Some prefer to be ‘keyboard warriors’, seemingly sniping at others for absolutely no reason at all.
They type things that they wouldn’t dream of saying in front of someone’s face, and I find this quite sad. I wish that people would just use social media in a positive fashion, rather than having a pop when it really isn’t warranted.
A new dimension added to my chub fishing
Over the last couple of years I’ve really got into my lure fishing and have done quite a bit during the winter for species such as perch and pike. But I’d never actually considered using the tactic for chub
