‘WINTER 2003-2004’ – TERRY HEARN

Winter 2003-2004 by Terry Hearn With any luck I’ve got my timing right and this article should be going into the Christmas/New Year issue, which is ideal as it’s set at this time of the year, in the winter of 2003/04.

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Right: Off to pastures new, the park lake.

Main pic: Biggest in the lake, Whitescale at 39.08.

03-2004

I

’ve always found the first half of winter to be the most difficult part. The weather’s getting colder, the tufted ducks are becoming a nightmare, the nights seem to go on forever, and at times the fishing can seem almost impossible. If there’s a time of year when those carp fishing blues can creep in for a short while, then, for me at least, this is it. Don’t get me wrong, on some venues the late autumn and early part of winter can be a good time of the year, but on other venues, particularly the lowstock weedy gravel pits, it can also be a testing time.

I spent the autumn of 2003 fishing two such pits, St. Ives Lagoon in Cambridgeshire and another mature and snaggy water in the Lea Valley. Both are low-stock venues and both proved to be ever so difficult at that time of the year.

St. Ives was far from easy anyway, whatever time of the year you fished it, and in the case of the Lea Valley water, I’m sure the fact that it turned out to have hardly any fish in it anyway had a lot to do with the lack of action. It was a lovely-looking lake, but a pipe joined it to a much larger pit next door, and although it seemed unlikely at the time, with hindsight it’s clear that the fish could cross between the two pits, and in the winter they definitely lived in the big lake. Anyway, that’s another story, but it’s fair to say that the autumn didn’t go quite to plan that year.

By November I’d started fishing with a friend, Nigel Sharp, on RMC Angling’s Road Lake on the old Longfield complex,

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Winter 2003-2004 by Terry Hearn

The view from Swim One on the Road Lake, looking left along the treeline. a nice small, sheltered water that suddenly seemed a much better prospect for the winter. Not only did it contain a good stock of carp, it was nearly always quiet midweek and, being only 20 minutes from my house, it seemed the ideal choice of venue.

This was the first year that the Longfield complex went back on the RMC ticket, and both Nige and I had already fished there a bit through the summer. It was an exciting time, when it was all still very much an unknown quantity to anyone other than the old original syndicate members, and it was only once we’d spent some time fishing there that we’d realised just how many good fish it contained. For a small lake it has an incredible stock – from memory, around 30 fish, with 15 or more of those weighing over 30lb at that time, and this in just a couple of acres of water.

We’d been lucky enough to get amongst the action during the warmer summer months, taking half a dozen or so fish each, including some off the surface. They really did love a floater over there. Still, although it was well stocked for its size, catching them through the colder months proved a lot more difficult than we’d first imagined.

They had shown themselves from time to time, but the lake seemed to shut down once the weed started to really die back. I think that was the main problem back then; the smelly, dead and dying weed lying over much of the lakebed made decent presentation very difficult, and I’m not so sure that the carp were keen on feeding in it anyway.

After fishing a dozen or so blank nights through November and early December, we decided that it was time for a break, and right through the Christmas period we went float fishing for other species, as well as having a couple of trips for some small carp in the Basingstoke Canal. Sometimes it’s a

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good idea to walk away from the difficult waters for a while at this time of the year, and a bit of fun fishing is often the best way of remotivating yourself.

We had a great time fishing short day trips here and there, mainly fishing for chub and roach on the rivers, and it was just the break that we needed.

With fresh minds and renewed confidence, the first week in January saw Nige and me back after the elusive residents in the Road Lake.

The Road Lake has a 48-hour rule, which basically meant you could fish two nights at a time, but then you’d have to be off the water for the following two nights before you were allowed back. We quite liked this as it meant the lake was very rarely busy, and most of our midweek trips we had it to ourselves. The thing was, you had to keep a close eye on the weather forecasts in order to make sure you were on there for the better nights.

With a 48-hour rule it’s ever so easy to muck up and end up fishing through a

frosty couple of nights and then not be able to fish for 48 hours afterwards, which, if Sod’s Law has its way, will be just as the low-pressure front moves in.

So, the timing of our trips was always well thought out and we always tried to be there for when the wet and windy conditions came in.

On our first trip back the weather was absolutely ideal, with a strong southwesterly whipping across the normally sheltered pond. If anything was going to stir the fish into feeding then this was surely it. Nige fished from The Pipes straight in front of the car park and I went for a nice cosy swim beneath the chestnut trees, known as The Conkers.

The conditions were so good on that trip that it was almost a surprise when our 48 hours was up and we’d received no action. We’d definitely heard one or two turn over during the hours of darkness, but it was as though time had run out, and all too soon it was time to start packing away. We left the rods out right till the death that last morning, lying them on the deck with everything else packed up around us, until every last minute of our 48 hours had been used up and it was time to get off. By this stage there wasn’t a solitary angler on the lake and, if anything, the conditions seemed to be getting better by the hour.

For the next two days it stayed mild and blustery, particularly on the second night away, when the winds reached gale force in strength. By the time we’d got back, however, it was on the change, and I remember the sky clearing and the evening being a chilly one. We were both set up in the same plots as before, with Nige in the car park and me set up in the dip beneath the conker trees. Another member,

They liked a floater over there. One from back in the summer.

And Nige with one of his summercaught fish, the lovely mirror known as Orange Spot.

Wady, was set up a little bit further down the bank, and that evening we kept ourselves warm, drinking countless cups of tea and chatting about the summertime, when the lake seemed so much easier, and discussing what our chances of catching were in the winter months. As always, the topic of conversation drifted to how big the two biggest mirrors, namely Clover and the Big Dink, would be. Both had been caught at around 38-39lb back in the summer, so there was possibly the chance of a winter 40-pounder. Mind you, just getting a bite seemed hard enough at the time, let alone catching one of the big fellas.

Wady had been the last to receive any action on the Road Lake, when he’d had a couple of takes during the first

week of November. It was now Jan 8th and there hadn’t been a bite in around eight weeks. Surely something would have to happen soon.

My swim was pretty sheltered, so I didn’t realise just how much the temperature dropped that night. It wasn’t until I wandered out from beneath the conker trees into Nige’s swim first thing in the morning that I saw the frost on the grass. Next I spotted the wet weigh sling hanging up, the icy unhooking mat, and then the smile on Nige’s face. He’d caught one in the early hours of the morning, and rather than get me up straightaway, he thought he’d leave it as a surprise!! That was good enough news, but when he told me it was Clover, the fish we’d been chatting about most of the previous evening, I thought he was surely on a wind-up. The look on his face said it all though, and sure enough he’d had Clover. That one really was talked onto the hook I can tell you; over 30 fish in the lake and Nige had just bagged the second biggest on his first bite of the winter.

On the scales Clover went 38lb 8oz, and she looked immaculate, all oranges and browns, a cracking fish to catch at any time of the year, but on January 9th on a cold and frosty morning, it really was a bit special. It was a great result for Nige, and we hoped that it was just the start of good things to come. It was certainly enough to fire us up into

fishing hard over the next couple of weeks, that I do remember, but the weather turned cold once more, and again, the Road Lake went back to looking completely lifeless. At times it really was as though there were no fish in there at all.

The thing with the Road Lake is that it’s not only fairly deep, but it also has tall trees surrounding it, and being so enclosed it doesn’t get much wind and can therefore take a while to respond to any milder spells in the weather. The weather leading up to Nige’s capture had been pretty exceptional for January, with strong, mild winds, but soon after that it once again turned cold. Mild spells through January rarely last very long anyway, and on a deep and sheltered lake they can take a while to have any effect. On the other hand, on a shallow venue, preferably one that’s open to the warming influences of a nice southwesterly wind, two or three days is more than enough time to stir the carp into feeding. If it’s shallow enough then just a slight change in the weather conditions can make all the difference.

It was with these thoughts in mind that I decided on a change of venue for my next trip. The water I had lined up was a local water, the Golf Course Lake – a fairly small, silty mere of around six or seven acres, with no weed whatsoever and an average depth of just three foot.

Left & right: A couple of little ’uns from our coldweather trips to the Basingstoke Canal.

Great fun.

The Golf Course Lake really is the perfect winter water. Back in 1991 I’d spent a season fishing there, and with it being so shallow, I remember it always used to respond well to any milder spells in the weather. Although I’d walked round it on a few occasions, 13 years had passed since I’d last wet a line there. Many of the same old original specimens were still about, with a dozen or so carp left out of an original stock of 19 fish. They are old fish though, and so over the

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Winter 2003-2004 by Terry Hearn

The Golf Course Lake on the final morning of my stay. Top winter water.

Nige with the Road Lake’s Clover at 38.08. January 9th. years the lake has lost a few, but of the Fortunately The H swim was free, so ones that are left, there are still some I quickly set about getting my tackle good carp remaining; three over 35lb, round there and set up. Before long with the lake record being a mirror three hookbaits were spread across the known as Whitescale, which had last middle area of the lake, all 15mm Source bottom baits, each tipped with a been caught at just under 40lb earlier that winter. It had to be worth a go, and little PVA bag containing half a dozen so with a mild spell in the weather 10mm boilies and some boilie crumb.

Rig-wise I kept it simple, using small forecast for the next day or so, I set off for a couple of nights’ fishing.

1.5oz leads fished rotary/silt rig-style with the backstop positioned 3-4ins up The lake’s only a short 20-minute the leadcore leader. As a hooklink I was drive from my house, but all the way there I was thinking about where I using Stealth Skin at the time, with the ever-faithful size 6 ESP Stiff Rigger wanted to be. The middle of the lake had to be my best bet, and I knew from knotted onto the end. old which was the best swim to be The baits had only been out an hour or so before one of the lake’s many fishing it from – The H, so named because there used to be a couple of bream hung itself. Before I could get scaffold poles protruding from the that rod back out, the indicator on one water, with another clamped crossways, of the remaining rods started dancing forming the letter H. Nowadays the old up and down, with another bream on scaffold poles are long gone but the the end. There was lots going on out swim still keeps its name. there, and it was then that I decided to

Another view of the park lake.

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They were on it. The 21lb common.

do something that I don’t often do in January…stick out a load of bait! It was mild for the time of year, and with so much bream activity causing competition for food, I felt the carp had to be up for a feed. Not only that, but the weather forecast for the next couple of days said it was turning very cold with the chance of snow on the way. If the carp were going to have a feed then hopefully it would be now.

The gulls made catapulting bait out impossible, but with the use of a small pocket-sized spod I soon had around a pound or so of both whole and broken 15mm Source boilies spread between the rods. No marker float, instead I chose to spread the bait out a bit, which I find works better in shallower lakes. In deep water the bait will spread as it sinks anyway, but in shallow water you don’t get much spread, so I find it best to cast the spod to slightly different spots each time.

That first night was incredible, and the bobbins really didn’t stop moving.

By dawn I’d caught eight bream and it was becoming a struggle to keep getting in and out of the bag – I needed some

Nice, simple PVA bag tactics with a few 10ml baits plus some boilie crumb. sleep. Again, a couple of short breamlike bleeps disturbed me from my slumber. Casually putting on my boots I looked at the indicator, which was just held at the top, shaking. As I watched, the line pulled from its clip and the clutch started ticking, ever so slowly. As soon as I picked up the rod it was clear that a carp was hooked. I can’t tell you how careful I was with that fish, gingerly leading it all the way in until it was finally safe within the confines of my net. At such a difficult time of the year it meant a lot to get it in. At 21lb 1oz it was one of the lake’s smaller residents, a nice golden common. On the mat it excreted some of my bait. They were on it, and with conditions still looking good for another, suddenly I wasn’t so tired any more!

What I really wanted to do was get a bit more bait in the swim, as by now I figured it would all be gone. The thing was, it was still fairly early in the morning, feeding time, and I decided it could be a good idea to leave it till midday. It was a decision well made, as just after 10.00 a.m., the same recast rod received another take. Again it wasn’t a screamer, just a fast series of bleeps as the bobbin shot to the top, but positive enough to tell me it wasn’t a bream.

The fight was similar to the first fish, with me just gingerly leading it in like a dog on a lead, and the fish slowly kiting right all the time.

It wasn’t until I’d got it under the tip that I began to realise I’d hooked something a bit special. It felt ever so weighty, and slow with it, but gradually I managed to ease it up in the coloured water for a glimpse. As soon as those shoulders broke surface, I knew which fish it was. I was certain it was the fish known as Whitescale, and I prayed for it to stay on the end. Those last few minutes seemed to go on forever, but with a little patience I soon managed to tease her into the net. It was an incredible moment, all those years away, and then within a short time of coming back, I’d caught the biggest fish in the

The 23lb mirror that came just as the frost was starting to appear. lake. I’d only been down the one night, and so it was definitely a case of right place, right time.

She shone orange in the morning sunshine, a real prize, and at a weight of 39lb 8oz, my biggest ever January carp.

With the pictures done, and feeling a little lucky, I again got to work with the little spod, putting out the last of a 2k bag of Source. Never did I expect to be running out of bait in January, but that was it, I’d made use of absolutely everything I had with me. I even dragged an old half bag of pellets from the depths of the rucksack and mixed them in just to bulk up the mix a bit.

Within minutes of getting the rods back out the liners started up again, and before long the bream followed. The

weather had now turned from damp and overcast to give way to beautiful clear blue skies. It was lovely for the daytime, but I had no doubt that with the clear skies there was going to be a real overnight drop in temperature.

Just before dark, as the temperature began to plummet, the same right-hand rod received yet another take, resulting in a nice orangey-coloured mirror of 22lb 12oz.

By the time I’d returned her to the lake the frost was already starting to form. I stayed on for the night, hoping for that one last bite, but that was to be the last of the action for that trip, and by dawn there was a layer of thick hoarfrost covering everything.

Other than Whitescale, there were

The Road Lake’s Big Dink in the net. “That’ll learn you!”

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Winter 2003-2004 by Terry Hearn

Above: I managed to winkle one out, a nice mirror of 29.14.

Right: One from the Golf Course Lake when I fished it before, about 1991. 18lb. one or two other big fish in the Golf Course Lake, but for some reason I never did go back that winter. I was more than happy with the result I’d had, and I think I was just enjoying myself fishing around rather than sitting on the same venue each trip.

During the first week of February it was off to pastures new again, as Nige, Nick and I all headed towards Swindon for a few day-sessions on a large park lake. Our tickets only covered us for the days, and so the nights in between were generally spent sleeping in the car, and anyone who’s done that will know that it’s pretty hard work, especially in the winter. We didn’t do a lot; of the three of us I made the strongest endeavours, putting in a dozen or so day trips, and it certainly turned out to be a bit of an eye-opener. Our trips coincided with some of the best conditions all winter, and the lake fished ever so well while we were down there. It was all a bit new

to us that first year, but I was lucky enough to winkle one out myself, a nice chunky mirror of 29.14, taken on a three-bait stringer off the dam wall.

There were a couple of the real big fellas out as well while we were there, mirrors of 40 and 45lb, so we’d certainly timed our trips right. It really was an incredible venue, and one that we planned to make a return to the following winter.

In between the day trips to the park lake, we’d fished the odd night over at the Road Lake. Things had been looking up a bit and since Nige’s fish, Wady had caught a couple more, the best being another of the lake’s big ’uns, the lovely Three Scales at 36lb+, which was a great result. By now I was getting desperate for my winter Road Lake mirror. All I hoped for was one bite, just one bite to make all the nights worthwhile. On the morning

of Sunday February 8th, a month after Nige had caught Clover, I finally got the take I’d been praying for.

I’d arrived at the Road Lake early on the Saturday evening. Generally I tended to miss the weekends, but on this occasion, I’d sent Nige a text and found that it was pretty quiet, with just three people angling. It had to be worth squeezing in an overnighter. All week the weather had been incredibly mild, with big southwesterly winds, but by the end of the week it had spun round to a much cooler northwesterly. I hoped the warmer winds over the previous few days had already done their job and got the carp in the feeding mood and, given that the Road Lake is a particularly sheltered venue, I knew it would take a while before the cooler wind had any detrimental

She looked lovely in her winter colours.

39.04.

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Lew’s dream had come true. Heather at 47lb+. effect.

I chose to set up in a corner off the back of the wind anyway, Peg One, which, for the social side of things, was not only close to Nige, but it was close to the car too, which is always handy.

One of the other lads, Trevor, was just packing up after fishing a day-session in the swim, so I sat in Nige’s plot getting my rods ready. I put two together; both with little 1.5oz leads fished rotary rigstyle, and hinged stiff links baited with 15mm Source pop-ups.

It was almost dark by the time I went to cast out the rods. Luckily, I already knew the swim fairly well, having fished it several times earlier in the winter. The first rod went out fine first chuck, landing with a firm ‘donk’ as the lead touched bottom. I’d positioned it on a hard, clean area just three rod lengths out over the back of a decaying strip of weed, and only a few feet from a bank of snags that ran up the margin to the swim’s left. I was particularly happy with that rod, having fished the spot lots in the past. I’d never had a bite there, but the rig always came in clean whenever I reeled it in and the spot just felt right. The other rod was cast out a little further and a bit to the right in a silty-bottomed clearing in the weed. No freebies, both rods were left to fish as singles. I was only down for the night, and by fishing two single hookbaits I hoped I was increasing my chances of a pick-up.

The night passed uneventfully, but I did see a carp pop its head out on the opposite margin a little after first light.

Although it was probably 20yds away from where I was cast, in February it was still a very good sign, and I decided

against a recast for the short amount of time that was left. I was already well happy with the position of my two hookbaits as it was, and besides, the Road Lake was still ever so weedy, therefore the chances of getting a good drop on the lead in that area were very slim. I was close enough.

Mid-morning, shortly before packing away time, Nige strolled down to my swim for a cuppa. We were just sitting there, chatting excitedly about our plans for the coming spring; Nige planned to continue his quest for the rather large Burghfield common, whereas I fancied heading back to St. Ives in Cambridgeshire. Both venues are pretty challenging, probably a bit too much to take on during the winter months, but we both agreed that the warmer weather really couldn’t come quickly enough! The Road Lake had drifted from our minds for a short while.

The take came suddenly and completely out of the blue…certainly not how I’d expected it to be. It came to the left rod, a twitchy sort of take, with the light bobbin dancing up and down, clearly too violent for a liner, yet still I looked at it in disbelief for a second or two before rushing forward and picking up the rod. I could barely believe it, but after twenty plus winter nights’ fishing The Road Lake without a take, I was finally into a fish.

Just a rod length or so from the bank, straight in front of the swim I was fishing was a small set of dead pads.

They shouldn’t have posed too much of a problem, but I was aware that they had already caused the loss of a couple of fish to other anglers back in the

autumn when they were a lot more substantial. They’d died back a fair bit since then, but I still played the fish fairly heavy, trying my hardest to keep it high up in the water and away from any roots. Despite my efforts, only a short while into the fight the fish became snagged. My heart was in my mouth, and the thought of losing it because of a few silly pad stems was unbearable, especially as it was clearly a good fish.

The first foot or so of my leadcore leader was visible above the surface, and great vortexes of water appeared amongst the dying pads. I kept the pressure on and, bit by bit, every time the fish lunged, I’d gain a few inches back, until eventually the fish broke surface with a couple of the big floppy leaves covering its face. The long pad stems trailed behind as I led it towards the already waiting net. Nige did the business, engulfing it in the mesh first time around, and together we both stared down at my prize. It looked a good ’un, a real good ’un, but it still took a few seconds for us to say what we were both thinking – there was no doubt about it, it was the lake’s big fella, the Big Dink. Pleased? I was over the moon!

In its winter colours it looked incredible, and at a weight of 39lb 4oz was a true February whacker. At last I’d got my winter Road Lake mirror. One take each and we’d caught the two biggest fish in the lake. As I keep saying, when times are hard it’s worth remembering that quite often you only need the one bite!

The good news didn’t end there either, because that same morning we got the special news that another friend, Lewis Read, had just had his one bite, resulting in his dream fish, the one and only Heather the Leather at 47.12! What had started off as a difficult winter had finished up being one of our most memorable.

Have a great Christmas and a happy New Year! G

Big it up!

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