Monday night came and so did the frosts. The first constant spell of frosts has been forecasted and although this maybe playing right into my plans targeting perch throughout November.

The Royalty

Its certainly not what I need on my first outing to Kingsmead. The only plus is that Monday night is the first frost so there still is an outside chance of a result. Arriving with a couple of hours before dusk I was amazed at the amount of fish showing and with baits in place by nightfall felt confident, especially as a carp anglers flash could be seen around 9pm. Casting every hour my first chance came around 9-30pm but the culprit that picked my bait up failed to hook itself on the maggot baited helicopter rig. A few bleeps during the night came however even after spodding more maggots out and repeatedly casting no action came until dawn when soon after a recast the right hand indicator sprung into life resulting in a 2lbs 2oz roach, result.

Tuesday evening the snow came making the drive to Christchurch in the early hours of Wednesday a slow one. Three nights of heavy frosts would have killed almost every venue and so it was with just the odd pike plus a few silver fish caught, however the bright sunshine enabled everyone to move about and enjoy the venue. Working with the winners of the TCF, Korum challenge was an absolute joy and a great day was had by all.

With the weather continuing on the same theme, thoughts of angling were put on the backburner and my time was spent cleaning the fishing shed and sorting out the perch terminal tackle.

Next week I have a photography session at Willingshurst with Steve Saunders for Anglers Mail plus another trip to the roach lake on Wednesday with good friend Paul Garner before making the final preparations for the perch sessions. Thursday and Friday nights are free so if the weather picks up then another night at Kingsmead maybe on the cards, however if it stays the same I will spend the day on Horton Boat Pool looking for a big perch whilst creating a feature for TCF and Coarse Fisherman