Fur and Feather- Eskimo Style!

I'll start off by apologising to those who checked last week for an update when there wasn't one! It wasn't because I done badly, I just didn't go because of the weather. It seemed I made the right choice as I enjoyed the Tottenham game where as the match was won with sixteen perch for 80z! 7oz and 4oz completed the frame weights and on a day when the temperature never got above -2 I think I made the right decision.

On the Saturday a few people had gone to the venue with ice-breakers and used them and the boat to clear a little of the ice, and with the temperature holding above zero overnight coupled with a little rain too it kept the venue fishable. On arriving an area of the new lake was actually ice-free (it had been for a few days) and some carp could be seen cruising near the surface, but they most definitely didn't look like they were in a mood to eat! Still, it's where everyone wanted to draw. I actually fancied a draw on the old lake as the masses of tiny roach would give a busy day, even through the ice but I didn't get my way and drew peg 18 on the new lake, where the ice was!


As I mentioned, the day previous some of the ice had been broken and I (like the others in the ice) had a small hole to about 5m out. I took off a few layers and set about making the hole a bit bigger! I cleared the ice to about 9m but struggled to chuck my ice breaker much further. Still, at least my breaker went through as someone else two pegs up was doing bouncing bomb impressions with a 7lb breaker. My breaker found it's self being used by a couple of others (it even made it to the other lake!) but not one person by way of thank-you took it back to the car park for me, just to my peg! They ALL had barrows too, where as I lug my gear on my back- think I'll be wanting a small usage fee for it next time.....

I decided to keep things simple as the only species I've ever caught on this lake through the ice are small perch which tend not to be tackle shy. Indeed the last time through the ice on that lake was just before Christmas last year on the same peg! I had one rig set up for two areas of my peg, at 9m on the edge of the ice as far as I could get, and one section closer but to my left and again on the edge of the ice. A slim 4x14 DC9 float was on .10 main line to a .09 hook-link and a size 20 B611. Lakky was Preston 9h. I found in the past I got just as many bites of the small perch on that gear as I did on anything lighter, while red maggot had been as good a bait as any
so I stuck with that in the hope that it would also cope with a bonus fish should one happen along. These would most likely be a skimmer or big perch above anything else given the conditions. Others were fishing much finer with pinkie or punch (allowed again for this match) but I was confident enough on maggot! Bait-wise I had red and white maggots (including some older ones that would hopefully still have some life in the cold water) a few casters and a small amount of Sonubaits F1 groundbait darkened down with black dye, hoping it may bring in a skimmer.

On the whistle I fed the furthest line with a marble sized pinch of crumb with just two maggots and casters in, while the closer line had just four maggots. I was going to drip odd maggots over the longer line to try and provoke life, while just leaving the other line. Normally it takes perhaps half an hour to get a bite in similar conditions so I played around with the rig over the longer line, trying just on or off the bottom, red or white maggot, lifting and jigging the rig or leaving it still. On the hour mark I have to admit I was worried about not having had a bite, and none of the four or five others I could see had either. I had a drop on the other line and tried the same things to provoke a bite but with absolutely no joy. Word came round that someone on the favoured reed pegs on the other lake had a carp, while the early pegs on my lake (where it was ice free and fish seen) had lost odd foul hookers.

On the two hour mark a carp had been caught in those early pegs, but again everyone I could see was bite less and odd people started to walk about. I decided to chop up a half a dozen maggots and feed them on the closer line but this failed too. I could see no point in scaling down as people fishing squatt or pinkie on much lighter gear were all bite less too! I kept up the rotating of the two swims, dripping an odd maggot on the far line while tinkering with the rig in an attempt to make a bite happen, but despite working hard to get a response I couldn't find it. I have to admit I was worried as I'd never blanked on the lake before, but it was looking likely!

With an hour to go the temperature dropped and cat-ice started to form around the edge of my ice hole. I got up and went for a bit of a walk to get the circulation going again and saw one of the early pegs dropping their second carp into their net before walking back and joining the ranks of the bite less (those that were still there) in the Eskimo holes. I gave it till ten minutes before the end before doing something I rarely do and packed up early! The sausage rolls and mince pies in the barn were calling me.......

In the end out of the sixteen or so drawn on my lake there were only three to weigh in, one angler with two carp (who won overall), one with one carp (second overall) and one with one carp and a small perch, beaten by two anglers on the other lake who'd had carp. Incidentally, all the carp on my lake were foul-hooked, meaning that just the one small perch was the only fish caught "properly" on my lake! There were a few catchers on the other lake- three anglers had caught a single carp while most of the others had a few small roach so I was right in wanting a draw on that lake! To cap the day off my peg number came out late in the peg raffle so my choice was a little limited, and had to "make do" (ahem!) with twelve cans of Carling-the brightest part of the day!

I have to admit that's the hardest I'd ever worked for a blank, but in the end I just had the feeling that there wasn't a fish in front of me to catch, and like I said even those fishing finer on my lake also failed to get a bite. It was just one of those days and I think that had I had bloodworm and joker it would have been no better. The weather is forecast to stay cold for a bit, albeit with a slight improvement by the weekend. Fingers crossed that will be the end of it!