It's late September and things are changing on Reedy Fen.
Summer went out with a blast two weeks ago, a heatwave into the thirties that lasted the whole week. The carp migrated to the margins sending up nuclear plumes of sediment clouding up the gin clear water, a final feeding frenzy, polishing off the spots for perhaps the last time this year.
Autumnal winds pushed in overcast skies, air and water temperatures dropped and the margins suddenly became deserted. With the warmth of the sun no longer heating up the surface layers of the lake like before, temperatures all around were in flux. The bankside greenery bore witness to this and had started to fade to yellow, the winds carried the evidence of this change. Crows gathered in the sky, cawing at the finality of a summer passed.
I felt it two weeks ago as I opened the front door to greet the dawn, there was a distinct chill in the air.

For the past few months I've been regularly catching and settled into a routine of arriving at the crack of dawn and fishing till dark. Bites would come from early morning till eleven and then if conditions were right you might get another chance later in the day, there was always some stalking you could do in the meantime. Patterns started to develop to the point that when I went fishing, I expected to catch. The weeks passed and we hit the first week of September and I noticed how the runs were coming later in the day. Late afternoon/evening had become prime time for a bite, a sure sign that the lake was cooling off which in turn affected the timing of feeding periods.
The equilibrium was at a tipping point and change was coming, this week saw its effect as I struggled to get a bite. From getting through four or five kilos of bait a session I had gone down to just one as I felt my way through the last three weeks of fishing, I noted how the activity on the lake had slowed dramatically.

It was through observation that I successfully arrived at a method that would catch the carp; however, I was never fully convinced I’d got it exactly right and made multiple changes to try and keep the bites coming. At the end of each week I'd go through how I’d done and which setup I thought had been the most productive (I would often be trying out something slightly different on the other rod).
Sometimes I went the wrong way on one of the rods, but I always managed a bite or two off the two day sessions that I mostly did. So when I noticed how things were changing, I knew time was running out for the method I was employing and that I’d most likely have to start all over again.

One of the things that affects our catch rate is numbers, sounds obvious but it’s an important reason for the slow down. With the decrease in activity you’ll have fewer chances, less competition between feeding fish and correspondingly fewer bites. So everything has to be right and any weakness in your setup will be amplified making those bites harder to come by. I've had carp roll over my area and not picked them up, so I always knew there was a weakness in my setup which is why I’m always looking to explore a different one.
This week's session was used to try and get ahead of the game and I think I made progress. Observation again was the key as I noted where and when I was seeing the carp show and this in turn led to the decision for a change.

“You don’t know what you don’t know”.
It’s never wise to assume something, it’s always best to test it out and then you really know, you'll often be surprised at the results and of course, you'll learn something.

I’ll be back next week to meet the challenge.