The weather continues to be a challenge and today was no different: misty, rainy, windy, cold but then brightening up later in the afternoon. The drive out of Bristol wasn't too bad and after a detour to Premiere Angling to pick up half a pint of maggots I started down the twisty turny roads towards the Hunters Rest Pub and the lake.

The mist had got so bad that upon arriving I couldn't actually see the lake from the car park! It was eerily still and quiet as I borrowed the gear through the fields (two nights in a bedchair and my back was shot, so no rucksacks on shoulders today...). Not surprisingly I found the lake was deserted...

I started about setting up the gear and it was then that disaster stuck: I'd reorganised my bag after the trip away, skimming it down to day session gear and although I'd packed two rods I'd somehow only packed one reel...

Aaaarrrrg. How incredibly annoying! After turning the air blue and working through every possible idea of what to do I decided to make the hour round trip home to get the reel... Just really, really irritating.

So after another long drive I arrived back at the lake at 11:30am slightly stressed out but this time with the right amount of tackle. My idea was to do a lap of the lake but as I arrived in the point swim I'd fished in my my last session a carp jumped close to the tree island... A good a sign as any that there were fish in the area! I wasted no time getting the feeder rod set up and baited with a ball of 12 or so red and white maggots. Luckily my first cast was on the money and I set about sorting out the ledger rod which I'd decided to fish close to the second small island, again with maggots.

I didn't have to wait long for a bite as the feeder rod rattled off ten minutes later. A nice scaley mirror was on the end, nothing massive but it was a start.

And then nothing happened for quite some time... I got badly snagged a couple of times and lost a feeder (work party task, clearing snags?). The weather changed with the mist burning off and the sun coming out occasionally from behind big fluffy clouds. The big problem though was a cold wind started blowing across the lake, strong enough that white capped waves were washing into the far bank... not ideal!

So after a few hours of no action I decided to up sticks and head round to the other end of the island. It would mean fishing head on into the wind but it would be worth it if I could locate some fish.

Twenty freezing minutes later another move was on the cards as although I'd had one aborted pickup on the ledger, there wasn't anything else happening. As the fish didn't appear to be on the end of the wind I decided to try the sheltered bank near my original peg. The water was flat calm and I fancied the idea of a bit of margin stalking.

One thing that I'd started doing since arriving at the lake was to prebait some margin spots. Having had a bit of a lead around on the last session I'd discovered that the margins were straight down from the bank side and pretty deep. As I'd loads of hemp and maise left over from my fishless overnight sessions I decided to bait three spots and headed over to the first of these.

Over the next hour I had loads of liners and one aborted pickup but nothing really happened. It was fun though, sneaking around and dropping a rig into a likely looking spot, I've a feeling that once it warms up (if it ever warms up...) the margins will be very productive...

Although it had been tough going so far the action really picked up for the last couple of hours. Maybe the island spot being rested made a difference but I picked off three fish in quick succession! But the real excitement came from the prebaited near margin spot to my right. As I'd been baiting with hemp and maise I changed my hookbait on the ledger rod to two grains of maize that I'd been soaking in pineapple liquid - super sweet!

The rod was placed by hand and walked back to the rests and it took about five minutes for the first bite to come... The bobbin hit the blank and the rod ripped off with a one toner - very exciting!

I managed two more fish from that margin before packing down, a smaller common and another bigger common that had got snagged on a broken line. Luckily I managed to untether it and get the line out of the lake but I decided not to photograph the fish as it was a bit of a struggle getting it in.

So despite the weather, the reel fiasco and the later than planned start it was another enjoyable session at Hunters Lake. Unfortunately I've only till the end of May to fish the lake as the Crosshands Angling Club have decided to drop their membership of the federation meaning the access to the River Avon is being dropped. As they've also dropped Ham Green lakes but not changed their tab price so club membership isn't really an option for me now.

So I'm on the hunt for another club! It's a shame as the Holiday Inn Lake, Hunters Lake and the River Avon have all been really fun to fish over the last couple of months. I was also very keen to fish Ashlea Farm but maybe I can sneak a session in there before my ticket runs out...

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...