After reading a few of the blogs on here I thought I would have a go myself.

Its been 5 years since I last fished apart from the odd few hours here and there and by few I mean maybe 3 or 4 times. I have to say one of the main reasons for starting up again is down to my girlfriend’s dad who runs Carthagena fisheries which is stunning place and where I will be doing most of my fishing.

I am far from an experienced carp angler and to some this might not be the sort of thing you want to read.

I have decided to start from scratch and go out as though this was my first time carping. Luckily due to being over the lakes and at my girlfriends house, I have managed to hound Jel and the members and read enough magazines over the past 8 months to feel confident enough to go out now and hopefully start catching.

I have bought nearly all new gear as much of my previous bits were old, lost or broken and im now ready to get out and start again the sport I once loved so much.

For the next 12 months I will put updates every session as to what I have learnt, what I have caught and all the bits in between.

First session is four nights this Saturday through to Wednesday afternoon. Probably the worst time to go considering the snow and freezing temperatures we currently have but still it will give me the chance to get to know the water a little better.

My chosen two venues are Carthagena's Brooke Lake and The Nursery pit.

Brooke Lake is about 5 acres and has everything I could possibly need as anyone that has seen the four seasons DVD or fished there will know.

I will put a post up on Wednesday and let you all know how I get on

Be Lucky

Bill

good luck bill,be nice to hear how you go on..good stuff!!!

Will look forward to reading your report/blog, Bill..

We all had to start somewhere in terms of writing and I agree Carthagena is an awesome fishery....

As I went to the car to load up the gear the handles where frosted up to the point where I thought I was going to break something, the puddles around the garage where frozen solid and there was zero wind....great. I will be honest if I hadn’t been planning this trip for a couple of weeks and wasn’t meeting a friend I would probably have not gone.

I phoned my mate Dan who had go there the night before "what’s the damage mate?"

"It’s not bad actually there was snow last night but the lakes good not iced over at all"

Result! Got down there and found a nice swim that gave me good access to some snags against the jetty, the sun beaming on there. I markered up and it was a nice depth of about 6-7ft a lot shallower than the 9-11ft in front of me, a nice silty patch with some dead foliage. Surely this water would heat up first and the fish move in?

Rather than spod out and disturb anything that might have been holding up in the snags I put the skeetex on and walked out on the jetty, it was just under the water so I knew no one would be going out on there and disturbing my swim. Over both spots I threw out a mixture of chopped and whole Nash Squid Liver + RR with the matching pellets and trout pellets mixed together, one to the snaggy overhanging tree and another to a small clearing between two reed beds that looked like the fish might patrol through.

In order to give me the best idea of what was working I fished two different rigs, rig one was lead core with a 2.5oz pear inline lead to a 7inch hair rig, bait for this rig was scopex bottom with a white chocolate 10mm pop-up fished snowman style, the second a chod rig with a small 3 inch fluorocarbon hook link on this one a single amber strawberry attract pop-up.

The left rod was the pop-up which I fished over the bed of bait I put between the two reed beds, first cast was spot on and I felt confident that this was the one to do something.

The right rod went out to the snaggy tree, again a spot on cast thanks to clipping up I put a small pva mesh bag on this time with just pellet inside.

By this time it was about 12 and already the light was fading over the trees, time to get in the bivvi and cook some lunch.

About 3pm the worst happened slush started forming to the left of my swim and it was creeping over, by midnight there was a floating island of ice drifting over my lines... not good.

That night it got worse it snowed about 5 inches and then rained which luckily melted some of the snow back. Needless to say there was nothing out in the night and I awoke next morning to ice everywhere the temperature had dropped to minus 4 degrees and it was so bad that rain water had sat on the spindle to my right alarm and then froze solid.

I pulled the rods in and had a talk with my mate Dan about what to do. After much walking around the lake and finding no signs of fish we decided on packing up and cutting our losses.

Getting back to the swim and packing up the bivvi we both agreed it felt like a total waste to go home but with the ice now covering the whole lake apart from a very tiny area we had no choice. Then I thought "what about moving on to the weir pool or the river?" after a long pause we both said yeah why not.

There are a good head of big chub some nice barbel and even a few carp so as slim as the chances of catching where they was better than staying at home.

We dumped all the gear in the back of Dan's car and moved the short distance onto the river. We found a nice double swim and set up for the long day and night ahead.

I switched the pop-up rig to a maggot clip and left the other as it was on the boillies. Both rods where in the margins under an overhanging willow which I thought would be a good shout.

It was getting dark again now and I turned in for the night. I slept right through with not so much as a beep all night. I had done what I could but the conditions where just to poor with it dropping to over minus 5 I called it a day and headed for the warmth and comfort of home.

I don’t regret going for a second and although this was my first proper session in almost 5 years it was a good one.

I can’t say I learned heaps but what I did learn is if it’s that cold you’re probably best off staying home.

So it will be the New Year before I get out again now and next report back so have a good new year and I hope you have better luck than me with your fishing and the weather

Good Luck!

Bill

Bill, still a nice piece to read....

One thing - you can't beat the feeling of catching a fish when everything is against you, including the worst elements...

Keep going, and when you catch despite the odds you'll know what I mean.... ...and we'll be happy to hear of your success...

Thanks Paul

i agree i will really apreciate a winter fish so much more thats what drives me to get out there even in these conditions.

Its not the best picture as i only had my phone with me but this was the view from the Bivvy at 5am




Im just enjoying writing about it as thats a learnig curve as well.


i should be on the bank again thiss weekend with it thawing out now so i will update then.

Bill

If the lake is not frozen, I hope you catch one and we at FW can read about it!

Good Luck....

I'm hoping to get out too....

With the weather now getting to a more stable and the temprature not going up and down like a yo-yo im going to be getting back on the lake this weekend for the first time this year and im feeling confident. The fish are starting to show and after a long pause starting to feed again.

i have been putting some bait over a few spots so fingers crossed it could produce a fish.

In the period where i couldnt get on the lakes i had a trip down to a local stretch of river for the chub, no monsters all averaging between 2-4lbs. one thing i found was that i went from catching one or two fish on plain liquidised bread to catching eight to ten by just adding 4 cloves of garlic to the bread....Result!

Didnt manage to get and pics of the larger ones as i had no one to man the camera but did get these.

Catch up after my weekend trip.

Good Luck! Bill

Well done for putting in the effort, Bill