Dave Coster's Fishing Diary- November 2019

This entry was posted on 13th December, 2019

Yet another wet start to a new month saw rivers in the fields again and this time quite a few lakes in my area were heavily flooded out as well. One fishery had to close completely because even the stands had disappeared under water! I had been planning to have a go on the Upper River Witham, but after looking at the raging torrent running through Grantham, I checked where my friend Chris was heading for.

I ended up joining him on the Match Lake at Woodland Waters, which is always a good bet for some decent action. Chris picked a swim on the deepest part of the lake, where he decided to use a hybrid feeder with F1 micro pellets, while I opted for the pole a bit further round on the tall tree bank. My plan was to try for some big perch with prawns, casters and chopped worms.



I was still setting up my gear when I noticed Chris was into a good bream already, using 6mm wafters on a short 4-inch hook length. I found it interesting the way he dips the last inch of his quivertip just under the surface when positioning his feeder rod on a quiver rest. I think this helps to prevent striking at smaller indications, waiting for proper takes when the rod whips round. As I got to his peg to witness some of the hectic action, bream number three was on its way into his landing net.

Back in my swim the plan was to fish left and right, just down the nearside ledge, close to some overhanging bushes and trees. I also fed up a long pole line, just in case the closer ones didn’t work. I rotated around the inside lines, eventually finding a few small perch and the odd slightly bigger sample, but no signs of anything to get excited about. I always seem to latch into the “lumps” in this lake when I’m on the whip and bagging with lighter gear. I’ve been smashed by several good fish recently, some of which I’m convinced were decent perch.



I could see Chris’s feeder plopping out into the middle of the lake quite regularly, so I guessed he was still catching well. My plan was unravelling fast, with skimmers, roach and small perch lapping up chopped worm, while the normally deadly prawns I kept trying were being ignored completely. This seafood bait worked well for me back in the warmer summer months and just when I thought it would be even more devastating, as the weather turns colder, no interest at all.

In the end I concentrated on the long pole, switching between full depth and shallow rigs, catching lots of fish, including a few better sized roach and one big skimmer. As always it was enjoyable, but I need to completely rethink my winter perch tactics on this venue.

No need to worry about the bream side of things, Chris had a cracking bag of proper slabs, a good 50lb weight we reckoned. The Grantham fish catching machine marches on, leaving just about everyone else in Lincolnshire struggling behind in the cold and often wet conditions.



I had missed my local fishing club’s first winter fixture, but was determined to make the second- round match on Hawthorne, at the Willow Lakes complex, just up the A1 from Grantham. I had never fished this lake before and didn’t have a clue what to expect. I drew a peg called “Caravan Corner” which is pretty self-explanatory, but luckily at this time of the year there were no holiday makers around.

The rain had taken its toll on this fishery too. The normally grassy banks had turned into a mud bath and in some places water was overflowing between the lakes. I joked with one angler that he should maybe set up a stick float rig. When I got to my peg, I didn’t like the look of it. It was tucked away in a narrow corner and didn’t offer very much water to play with.



The first hour was dire. I tried everything and couldn’t buy a bite. The overgrown margin area in the corner to my right was littered with sunken tree branches, so I quickly gave up on that. The deepest water I could find down the track was only just over two feet and that didn’t feel right, but I plugged away at it, feeding micro pellets, chop and a few casters. Eventually, after I had missed a couple of tiny indications on my light pole rig, a decent skimmer turned up out of the blue. It took ages before I managed to coax out another similar sized fish.

I started to explore tight over to an island, where I had earlier cupped in a few pellets. All I got there was snagged on a sunken branch a couple of times, so I switched to a new area further down the feature, dinking a few pellets and casters over my float with a catapult. Without even registering a proper bite, my pole elastic was suddenly charging off down the lake with something angry attached to my rig. It took ages to tame whatever was on the end. It turned out to be a carp, foul hooked in a pectoral fin, which was why it was so hard to get in.



The carp managed to wreck my swim and it took ages before another bite occurred down the track from another skimmer. After that I tried the old trick of dibbing my distance pole rig along the island, hoping to drop my hook bait right on the nose of something, but that didn’t work. It was turning miserable, with the rain becoming more persistent. It was cold too, so I put my umbrella up.

For the last hour of the match I stepped up feeding the island with a few more casters as I couldn’t buy a bite on pellets. I managed to nick another carp and skimmer over there, plus another couple of skimmers short, all on a single caster. The only thing I caught on a red maggot was a tiny perch.

At weigh in time I walked around to find the scales. It soon became apparent my peg looked the most unappealing spot on the lake. I discovered this unusual water to be festooned with islands, a proper maze. Most swims had so many features, it could easily get confusing where to target your feed or place your tackle next. One thing was for sure, the eventual winner was just about as far away from where my peg as he could be, weighing in 33lbs of carp and skimmers. I was told this was a low weight for the venue. 21lbs came second.



When the scales eventually ended up at my swim, I weighed in 13lbs, thinking that wouldn’t trouble anyone. I had kind of enjoyed scratching these few fish together and will definitely fish this island dotted lake again, but hopefully somewhere a bit more picturesque than the caravan park end.

When I eventually trudged back through all the mud and deepening puddles, I was rewarded in the car park with some section money. That was a bonus I didn’t expect.



One of my neighbours is a very keen angler. I fished with him earlier this year and we had planned a return trip to Portland Lakes, a complex near Newark he’d introduced me to back in the spring. On the way there my phone kept bleeping messages. I couldn’t find anywhere to park up and read them

as I travelled down winding country roads, so I waited until I pulled into the fishery entrance. My friend Jim was sitting there in his car and explained the place was closed. It turned out all the stands and pegs were under water.

Jim suggested another fishery I hadn’t been to before some 30 minutes away, so I followed him to a place called Redmile, just off the main A52 road that runs from Grantham to Nottingham.

The sign at the entrance to Janson Fishery certainly gives a good clue what to expect!



I don’t think I can ever remember visiting a fishery before where the owner greeted me standing waist deep in the middle of one of his lakes! That was the case here as I met Jeff Beston, who was busy de-silting the first lake by the café. He was using a sludge pump, a bit like a vacuum cleaner, gradually working around the doughnut shaped pool in chest waders. I know how hard work this is, having done exactly the same thing when I owned a fishery down south many years ago.

Since Jeff and Linda took over this popular venue a couple of years back, they have built two new lakes with the aim of taking the complex to a new level. Although the two established main snake lakes, Match Pool and Munroes, have staggering match records of 520lbs and 404lbs respectively, a lot of new work has been done. A cracking looking canal style lake between the two main ones has been created. That’s where we were heading after being told it was stocked with mixed species.



Aubrey’s turned out to be a long, beautifully sculptured snake lake with a big island down the middle and well-spaced, comfortable pegs. I’m not into carp hauling where you need a pile of keepnets and several fish counters to keep track of what’s going on. I know its popular, but I like having to work a bit harder for my fish and relying on a tad more finesse to catch them. It seemed I’d discovered the perfect place, because I was told by the bailiff the target species were chub, ide and skimmers, with possibilities of barbel, along with a lighter mix of carp.



Considering how dire the conditions had been all month, it turned into a great session. I plumbed up at full depth down the middle and then worked my pole across, settling for a spot tight against the far side shelf. I then cupped in a few micro pellets and casters just up the slope, positioning my full depth pole rig where I imagined the bait would tumble down to. I then pinged a few casters out with a light actioned catapult. My float shot under instantly and for the first 20 minutes it was an ide every time, chunky 6oz to 10oz fish that would soon build a weight in a match. As I built the swim up, chub began to appear, mainly 4 to 8oz samples, along with the odd bigger one close to the one-pound mark.



I tried switching to pellets on the hook and the inevitable happened, stockie carp between one and two pounds butted in on the proceedings. This was good fun after such a tricky month’s fishing. Although there was a chilly easterly breeze, I was keeping busy and didn’t really notice it. I could see Jim next door catching well too, using similar tactics.

As the session progressed a pattern emerged where cupping in fresh doses of fishery micro pellets produced a flurry of carp on a 4mm hooker, while loose feeding casters got the ide and chub in a frenzy. Whatever I tried; I didn’t manage to get my rig in without getting a bite!



You can only use keepnets in matches on Janson lakes, so it was hard to estimate what we caught. All I can say is it was a lot and very enjoyable. It gets dark early at this time of the year and just as I got the chub and ide swirling for loose feed on the far bank, it was becoming tricky to see my float tip. Time to pack up.

At one time snake lakes used to be rare in the UK. I think the first one ever built and which I fished a few times was Heyford in Northamptonshire. Since then “snakes” have popped up all over the place, but are particularly popular in my part of Lincolnshire. I‘ve already fished several and now have another three to play with. It’s a bit like canal fishing but without all the hassle of boats and having to navigate your pole away from speeding bikes and towpath joggers.