4pm, Friday, 28 April.
In spite of the forecast promising better things we’ve had almost continuous rain and a drop in temperature. Paul Garner came to see us last night and he too said he had heard that the weather was going to get drier and warmer, so the forecasters have got it wrong somewhere.
My Big Kipper sleeping bag has been very welcome and my fear that it would be too warm for a trip in late April was unfounded. Everyone on the lake is struggling for a bite and this normally very popular water is descending into the doldrums. Even the ever-popular match lake, where bites are practically guaranteed, has many anglers with dry nets.
But at 8 o’ clock this morning Dave D had a nice run that, when struck, bucked the rod in that familiar way that big bream do and left us in no doubt what it was. It gave a good account of itself and we guessed it would top 11lbs as it lay in the net. But no, it pulled the digital scales to 10lb 10oz. It was a personal best bream for Dave, and we were all as chuffed for him as if we had caught it ourselves, and had us all whooping for joy. Was this the turning point we’d been waiting for? Was some better fishing around the corner?
But no, it wasn’t to be. I had a steaming run and a hell of a scrap off an 11lb 14oz long, lean common a few hours later, but the lake was obviously fading fast with no one seeing any action. I gave us all a bit of a boost an hour or so later with a bream of about 6lb, but it didn’t herald the start of a change for the better. >
So we decided to pack for home at 2pm and, as always, the rods were left till last. Right at the death Dave C had a lovely slow run that had to be from a bream. He struck and felt the fish for a second or so and than all went slack. The line had parted at the swivel. This was the second time it had happened to him in the three days we’d been there. 
The first time he had done the obvious thing and changed to a different hooklength, just in case the line he had been using had deteriorated in some way. Now it looked like the swivel was at fault, perhaps some sharp edge inside the ring. We’ll know later when he gets it under a magnifying glass at home. That won’t put those lost fish on the bank but it will solve a mystery that is bugging us.
The trip was a mixture of success and failure. The fishing was poor, compared to what this water is capable of, and the weather promised more than it gave. On a very positive note, however, this first venture into live reports from the waterside, although spattered with niggling little problems, proved a great success.
See the latest ‘Grapevine Gossip’ for the inside story.
