The last couple of weeks have been tough on Cawcutts with few fish coming out and bites hard to come by. Last week because I was holding my social I only managed one short session so this week I decided to try and get down more.
On Monday at 10:00 AM the rota started and I was down looking around, there were fish in the bay and the usual suspects rolling out in the middle of the no-go area on the main part of the lake. The wind was due to push from the east at some point into the bay and since fish were present I decided to fish the channel between the bay and the main lake. Within an hour I had a fish rolling over my bait but I failed to get a take. By the afternoon the rain arrived and so I hunkered down under the brolly. As the day wore on into evening the rain became heavier and by dark it was coming down so hard the rods were firing off. Two hours later I packed up in the dark and torrential rain, everything was soaked and weighed a ton and the effort to get it all back to the car exhausted me completely.
Next morning at dawn I was back in the swim again waiting for a north-easterly to blow into the bay. By afternoon the lake was pushing nicely and the north-easterly blowing the whole length of the bay. Trees were thrashing around and it looked perfect for a bite but I never saw a single fish roll. I left a few hours after dark again pondering my next move all the way home.
The next day I had the afternoon and evening free and the northerly was still blowing but now from the north-west. It was a choice (because the south bank is closed) between the point (on the back of the wind) where I could cast to the south bank or Arbury corner at the far end of the lake where again, I could fish the south bank. The wind was cold so I choose the point on the back of the wind casting to the south bank. A few hours after settling in the left hand rod bleeped a few times and I was in to a chunky 19lb mirror.
To be honest I was thoroughly relieved to get a bite as like I said it's been tough of late. I fished on until after dark again and then left noting before I did that the wind had swung back to the west and the fish were rolling at the far end of the lake.
When I left the car park there was one other car but when I arrived back the next morning there was five sitting there. All the swims in the main area of the lake were taken up except the one I wanted at the far end of the lake. I walked the 3/4 kilometer to the swim and set up. With my stripped back kit (2 rods) and my new lightweight cradle it was an easy enough task and with the alarms already setup I was cast out and settled in quickly. Two hours later the right hand rod placed forty yards up the south bank margin bleeped and then took off with a 27.2lb common on the other end.
It's been a hard week the toughest yet so to come away with a couple of bites is pleasing to say the least.
Both fish were caught over a kilo of Crazy nut boilies and a Superfruit 12mm snail popup on a size 8 Ultra sharp gripper combi rig.