We are at the end of January; the water temperatures are at their lowest and the fish are lethargic.
Peer into the water next to the fishing platforms, what has changed?
The water is much clearer now, gone as that silty water created by the free feeding Summer fish. The marginal weed has died back; removing fish food and cover. Next place your hand in the water for fifteen seconds - cold isn't it!
The water is much clearer now, gone as that silty water created by the free feeding Summer fish. The marginal weed has died back; removing fish food and cover. Next place your hand in the water for fifteen seconds - cold isn't it!
In the depths of Winter I fish for bites. What exactly does that mean?
Generally it will entail fishing maggots along with sparse quantities of 2mm micro pellets & fine particle groundbait.
I will take you through yesterdays (27th January 2015) four hour fishing session at the Partridge Lakes complex in Culcheth. There are many lakes to choose from but the most consistent lakes during Winter in my opinion are Willow, Piper & Gold lakes. All of these lakes have diverse stocking with plenty of Roach, Gudgeon, Skimmer Bream, Rudd, Chub and of course Carp.
Generally it will entail fishing maggots along with sparse quantities of 2mm micro pellets & fine particle groundbait.
I will take you through yesterdays (27th January 2015) four hour fishing session at the Partridge Lakes complex in Culcheth. There are many lakes to choose from but the most consistent lakes during Winter in my opinion are Willow, Piper & Gold lakes. All of these lakes have diverse stocking with plenty of Roach, Gudgeon, Skimmer Bream, Rudd, Chub and of course Carp.
I will fish over this feed with my preferred centre pin & 20 foot match float rod set up. A 0.6 gram slim profile pole float is my float choice with a shirt button style weights configuration.
I catch three or four of these small fish before bites come to an abrupt end!
I have been fishing single red maggot, what shall I do next?
Stop and think for a moment! I watched an angler fishing close by catch two, 2oz Roach in the opening five minutes. He picked up his catapult and fed about a dozen maggots. The gusty wind blew them off target so he fired a dozen more towards his waggler. He caught another Roach slightly larger at 3oz. Another dozen maggots were fed - he can't buy a bite now, his swim has died. Welcome to a MID WINTER MURDER! I see this scenario unfold so often in the depths of Winter; anglers murdering a productive swim.
When bites tail off after the initial feed, try laying your rig in the water in a different way or change the color of your maggot. In my case I change to a white maggot.
I have been fishing single red maggot, what shall I do next?
Stop and think for a moment! I watched an angler fishing close by catch two, 2oz Roach in the opening five minutes. He picked up his catapult and fed about a dozen maggots. The gusty wind blew them off target so he fired a dozen more towards his waggler. He caught another Roach slightly larger at 3oz. Another dozen maggots were fed - he can't buy a bite now, his swim has died. Welcome to a MID WINTER MURDER! I see this scenario unfold so often in the depths of Winter; anglers murdering a productive swim.
When bites tail off after the initial feed, try laying your rig in the water in a different way or change the color of your maggot. In my case I change to a white maggot.
A few more fish follow before bites dry up yet again. I change back to a red maggot - nothing. I have caught approximately seven fish off the initial five maggots feed - time to introduce some more maggots.
I wait for the wind to die down before throwing two or three maggots towards the end of my 20 foot rod tip. Why have I done this?
There appears to be some nice stamp Roach (2oz to 3oz fish) in my swim and I know how this age group of fish are a little wiser and back off very tight feed. By throwing the next consignment of feed by hand I know they will be spread a little around the initial tight feed area. More fish follow; and I catch another three or four fish before yet again my bites dry up again. The fish are really finicky today; not really in the mood to feed. The waggler angler close by now has gone for a walk he cannot buy a bite; things went from bad to worse for him. He saw me catching at the bottom of the lakes marginal shelf (6 metre's from the bank) so decided to feed more maggots closer in. He caught a fish straight away, then out came the catapult - SWIM NO 2 MURDERED!
I wait for the wind to die down before throwing two or three maggots towards the end of my 20 foot rod tip. Why have I done this?
There appears to be some nice stamp Roach (2oz to 3oz fish) in my swim and I know how this age group of fish are a little wiser and back off very tight feed. By throwing the next consignment of feed by hand I know they will be spread a little around the initial tight feed area. More fish follow; and I catch another three or four fish before yet again my bites dry up again. The fish are really finicky today; not really in the mood to feed. The waggler angler close by now has gone for a walk he cannot buy a bite; things went from bad to worse for him. He saw me catching at the bottom of the lakes marginal shelf (6 metre's from the bank) so decided to feed more maggots closer in. He caught a fish straight away, then out came the catapult - SWIM NO 2 MURDERED!
Immediately I get a response to the feed; granted not what I was expecting but very welcome nonetheless. For some reason throughout the session when I fed in this manner it resulted in one or two Rudd being caught!
A nice feeding / catching pattern was now starting to materialize.
- Feed nugget of groundbait & five maggots - Rudd followed by small Gudgeon.
- Loosefeed two or three maggots by hand and nice 2oz to 3oz Roach were tempted.
- Cup in five maggots nice and accurately and smaller 1oz Roach or Gudgeon would provide bites again after the larger Roach had backed off the feed.
The session was going really well until this bream was caught. A spell of five minutes without a bite followed. Carefully playing this bonus fish must have spooked the swim. I fed maggots via a cup; still nothing! A change from red to white maggot; no cigar! Had the larger fish eaten all the feed that was on the bottom? One more trick before deciding to re-feed again. I altered the depth to present my bait three inch off the bottom. Sometimes when a larger fish is hooked it disturbs groundbait particles leaving them suspended in the water just off the bottom.
These two fish followed before bites tailed off. I resumed the feeding pattern outlined in the bullet points. At first all was well and the fish responded to the feeding pattern. Then it became noticeable that it took longer for bites to return after a nugget of groundbait was introduced into the swim.
I changed my feeding pattern to a ratio of: one cup feed - two loosefed consignments of maggots.
I changed my feeding pattern to a ratio of: one cup feed - two loosefed consignments of maggots.
It was becoming more and more difficult to keep fish interested in feeding within the six metre float swim. I reached for my micro pellet feeder set up; this was fished whilst the float swim rested.
I cast the feeder underarm to approximately 16 metres. This set up was fished in three to four cast intervals (5 minute per cast). The first visit didn't produce any bites; however by resting the 6 metre swim I had given the fish time to regain confidence and they resumed feeding. It was short lived so I had another period on the feeder. First cast resulted in a little twitch on the quiver tip but unfortunately it didn't develop. The next nothing; however the third saw the quiver tip jerk round - nothing!
Another spell on the float produced only a few small Gudgeon. The session was nearing an end so with only fifteen minutes left I decided to finish on the feeder.
I cast the feeder underarm to approximately 16 metres. This set up was fished in three to four cast intervals (5 minute per cast). The first visit didn't produce any bites; however by resting the 6 metre swim I had given the fish time to regain confidence and they resumed feeding. It was short lived so I had another period on the feeder. First cast resulted in a little twitch on the quiver tip but unfortunately it didn't develop. The next nothing; however the third saw the quiver tip jerk round - nothing!
Another spell on the float produced only a few small Gudgeon. The session was nearing an end so with only fifteen minutes left I decided to finish on the feeder.
Well; my four hour, January fishing session ended on a high. By fishing for bites and carefully thinking through how and what I fed; a rewarding 12lb net of 58 fish was amassed.
Looking back at the stats over a warm cup of tea at home reveals exactly how productive the sport was! I probably missed one out of every three bites I had; resulting in the following averages:
No wonder I didn't even feel the cool North Westerly wind. LOL!
Please keep the drama to a minimum - NO MID WINTER MURDER of swims.
Fish for bites and enjoy your Winter fishing catching anything and everything that swims!
Looking back at the stats over a warm cup of tea at home reveals exactly how productive the sport was! I probably missed one out of every three bites I had; resulting in the following averages:
- A fish every four to five minutes
- A bite every three minutes!
No wonder I didn't even feel the cool North Westerly wind. LOL!
Please keep the drama to a minimum - NO MID WINTER MURDER of swims.
Fish for bites and enjoy your Winter fishing catching anything and everything that swims!