After my return from a really good trip to France on the 11th
of January, the forecast showed that there was snow on the way, after a chat
with a good friend, Dan Woods, we decided to go fishing in the snow to get a
few snaps of us holding fish with a snowy backdrop, something we have both
dreamt of. We arrived in Langford at 7:00am ready for the gates of Chestnut
Pool to open at 7:30. The snow was slowly falling but we weren’t worried, we
still wanted to get the rods out.
 |
| Rods Out in the First Swim, No Joy. |
We got
into the car park with no cars so we were the only anglers to be on the lake
which is another added bonus; if the fish were hungry they would soon get on
the feed and stumble across us. Saying that as soon as we got set up it didn’t
take long for Dan to hook into the first fish of the session only a small
mirror but very welcome. We fished on the “hot peg” and one I can’t seem to get
on as when I get there it is always occupied for reasons that will come about.
The fish were taking quite well getting a good few bites which at times it was really
hectic.
 |
| A Small Mirror to Kick Off the Day! |
I
started off to the left of Dan with one rod in the margins, and one rod in
between 2 bushes on the island, I was regularly recasting to keep a fresh bag
or supply of bait on that specific zone. An hour or so passed and no fish for
me so I decided to move to the right of Dan and had one rod just in the channel
and one as tight as I could get it to the island which caused some confusion
for me, around every 10-15 minutes I’d get a major drop back, thinking I was
into a fish I’d lift the rod for nothing to be there so maybe I was getting to
the rod too late, the next time I re-cast I got the bobbin tight so that when
that specific rod dropped back I knew straight away, but same thing happened again,
no resistance on the opposite end. As I was getting confused with this I
decided to leave one rod there to see if I could overcome the problem but no
more takes but tangled rigs were brought in so something was up? So I kept
re-casting to that spot. I managed to start getting bites on from the opening
of the island on my left hand rod which was relief for me.
 |
| Nice Small Mirror For the First Fish of the Session. |
Dan was
managing to get a good spell of bites at times getting pretty hectic, using
bottom baits cast only just into the channel as it seemed the further you go
into the channel the smaller the fish were getting. He got a good amount of
fish casting the left hand rod onto the longer side of the island with a good
few boilies put out over the top of both rods which seemed to hold fish, when
the bait was gone they stopped feeding but as soon as more bait was introduced
they came back and got on the feed again.
One
thing that I see is paramount is trying to get clipped up so you can cast to
the clip to get everything sitting properly rather than casting and letting
everything fall into a mess on the bottom of the lake bed. Dan was feathering
the lead down to the bottom which is another good method of getting the rigs
sitting properly. I prefer clipping up as I can sit in confidence of the rig
being functional, this is the same as when I’m fishing for a high stock of fish
on zigs so that there is 2 splashes, one being the lead and a light dimple from
the zig foam as it hits the water, if the rod doesn’t go within 15 to 20
minutes I reel in and then recast the same rod back out hitting the clip
slightly harder.
 |
| A Nice Small Brace When Pete Came Round For a Chat! |
A good
steady flow of action carried on through the day seeing Dan catch into double
figures, he added a good amount of fish to the tally up to around 11:00am
catching 17 fish, to carry on catching throughout the session, I was slow behind
as I feel I wasn’t completely prepared catching around 4 fish up to lunchtime,
I was having problems hooking the drop backs from the island which for me was a
nightmare! As the afternoon went on, Pete came round to see how we were doing
for Dan to hook into a fish and then as I started talking to Pete to see my
left rod scream off, he was a tad shocked as to how many fish we were catching,
a better way to do it with both of us playing a fish as Pete was taking
pictures to put onto Facebook. I had the bigger fish of the two but we were
still smiling getting some snaps done in the snow.
To
start off with I was using small rigs around 4-5 inches as it seems to help
hook the fish quicker but they didn’t seem to get any bites, I adjusted the
size of the rig with adding a 8-9 inch hook link and I got much better bites
coupled with a size 10 fang twister and a small orange popup nailed to the
bottom on a running rig set up on one rod and a 14mm chocolate popup chopped
down around 1cm off the bottom was another method that caught me some fish,
they weren’t at all picky with what they were taking either being popups or
bottom baits which was getting more bites.
 |
| Nice Shot of Both of Us Playing Fish At the Same Time! Happy days. |
Dan was
using long hook links with inline leads which he said were his favourite bottom
bait presentation, I could fall for the idea but instead of using the square
pear leads, I would prefer to use the distance inline leads. He used long hook
links around 9-10 inches and a bottom bait tipped off with a 10mm pink popup
and a double 10mm presentation which was getting just as many bites as the
other presentation, we also realised we weren’t being plagued by bream so they
weren’t a problem trying to combat them or risk using 10mm baits which is what
I was using.
Dan
proceeded to hook into the biggest fish of the session being a lovely 16lb
common on the nose, I was really happy for him as we didn’t anticipate anything
of that stature but it was a lovely common and made a brilliant picture in the
snow, well done mate! As the session went on the snow got heavier and from
various texts from friends and family, the snow was getting heavier and heavier
so that was our cue to pack up. Between us we managed to land 35 fish up to
16lb and losing some along the way, Dan lost a few fish but I didn’t lose so
many only 2 fish, that’s why I love using the Nash Fang Twister presentation as
it is a wide gape hook and hooks the fish in the bottom lip or the scissors
every time.
 |
| Dans 16lb on the Nose Common! Well Done Mate. |
It was
a good enjoyable session and to be bagging up in the snow made it so much
better along with some footage which I shall try and upload very soon, with a
good amount of bait ordered, I shall be fishing when the lids disappear on the
lakes, may even be another trip to Chestnut in a few weeks’ time after a few
sessions on the reservoir!
Thanks For Reading!
Follow Me on Tiwtter - @Rosst93
