It's been snowing recently and with it all melting in a couple of days worth of rain, everything was pretty soggy... Arriving at the venue, I had a quick scout around before settling in swim 2. While I'd been watching the water from the entrance, several fish poked their heads out to open water and the swim also had the added feature of an inflow pipe to the right. At this time of year, oxygen levels are pretty low and any fresh water flowing into the lake is as good a draw as any.

As it turned out, the inflow swim was the only spot to produce a bite in the 24 hours of fishing! A clean common carp of around 12lb ripped off at 4am which saved me from a blank.

Despite moving swims and giving it everything, I just couldn't get another bite... However, I will return! The lake looks fantastic and with a good head of prime condition fish, I've a feeling that once we get into late spring and early summer the fishing will really pick up. Fingers crossed, there'll be another opportunity to head down to Furnace Brook Fishery before the summer is over.

With only one stop en route to pick up some maggots, I arrived at Hunters Lake at around 9.30am to find it completely devoid of anglers... I decided to settle on the on the 'point' swim and cast the feeder to main the tree island, with the 2nd rod being fished to the small island on my left with a medusa rig of 15 or so red and white maggots.

Amazingly, the small island rod ripped off after 10 minutes! The result was a fighting fit mirror carp of around 15lb which game an amazing account of itself on light gear.

The action was slow and steady throughout the day, with definite feeding spells where the feeder rod would produce a run of fish. I worked my way through a couple of common carp, a crucian carp (my first in over a decade!) and a decent size bream which baring in mind the time of year, wasn't a bad haul.

The day finished with a prime common carp which was in immaculate condition - not bad, not bad at all!

I'm already looking forward to my next session at Hunters Lake, I've a feeling that once we move into spring proper the fishing will really pick up and there maybe some monsters lurking... Watch this space!

The first one was just before the snow arrived in Bristol. I've been desperate to try Ashlea Farm since joining the Crosshands Angling Club and decided to give it a go last Monday. The sun was out and good weather was predicted for day but I arrived at the lake to find half of it frozen over... I did fish for a couple of hours but my heart wasn't in it, plus one of the local farmers was burning something disgusting and the smell was making me feel seriously ill! Not wanting to completely give up I headed to the Holiday Inn lake only to find that completely frozen over... At that point I called it quits and headed for home.

And then it snowed... and snowed... and snowed! All hopes of fishing were dashed and as the thaw set in, the river flooded meaning the chance of a end of season pike is quickly slipping away.

The snow disappeared almost as quickly as it arrived and today I decided to come up the the Holiday Inn lake for a day session. Although it's warm enough the top end of the lake towards the hotel is still frozen and try as I might at the bowl end, I just couldn't nick a bite...

It's funny, in my head I always think of winter as being November to January but it turns out March is the worst!

Last minute update: I wrote this post on the bankside and didn't have time to update it... I didn't blank! In the last hour of the session it started raining and I managed 3 fish in the space of 10 minutes! My guess is that the slight change in temperature and conditions triggered a feeding spell ;)

If you've been following this blog or my YouTube channel you'll have noticed I've been fishing up at The Holiday Inn Lake (otherwise known as 'The Crest Lake') quite a bit recently and it's yet to let me down in terms of bagging up (a rare thing in winter!). So after dropping my daughter off I headed to the lake, pulling into the car park at 3pm on the nose and then ran round to the 1st swim to get set up.

As it was late in the day I decided to fish a swim at the top end of the lake where the sun would've been on the water for the most amount of time. It's also shallower at the top end and my thinking was the fish may have moved into the warmer water as the day wore on.

The proven tactics so far have been a feeder rod with liquidized bread and sweetcorn hookbaits and today was no different as I had my 1st bite within 10 minutes of casting out! And amazingly, the bites kept on coming with 6 fish in the net and two lost. Baring in mind I've had this number of fish to show for a whole day session in the past, it wasn't a bad result. Just goes to show that reading a lake to figure out where the fish might be and getting on them can result in bites even in the coldest of conditions.

The weather is set to get mind bogglingly cold over the next couple of weeks and with chilly winds, heavy frosts and snow predicted so this might be the last lake session for a while... I'm really glad I braved the elements today even if I couldn't feel my face or fingers by the time I packed down! The heater in the car never felt so good...

Conditions looked bang on for some action with the day starting warm and drizzly and then turning overcast. But for some reason I just couldn't get amongst the fish...

The day started well with a carp falling to the feeder rod within ten minutes of the first cast but with nothing else to show for the first couple of hours it was beginning to get tough...

I persevered though, casting every twenty minutes or so and moving swims six times but nothing I did triggered a bite. Things got so dire that I wrote this blog post during the session!

Luckily the final move to the thinner end of the lake (pegs 20 and 21) produced some fast action with 4 bites and a couple of lost fish in less than an hour. If that doesn't prove that location in winter is key I don't know what does ;)