It was great to be out again as it had been far too long since my free time coincided with the lakes being in a liquid form.

At this time of year the increased light levels will play a bigger role than the water temperature, in getting the fish moving and feeding. This was a lesson a friend and I learnt at our expense last year. We were both waiting for the water temperature to rise, which was taking ages, and sitting on our backsides whist others were braving the cold and catching some whacking great carp. So an earlier start was promised by us both this year.

I wanted a lake with little weed that was relatively shallow so that the water would respond quickly to any rise in air temperature and without the weed the fish would be more likely to be moving around rather than holding up.

Par lakes over in Brentwood (run by Brentwood Angling) sprang to mind as they filled the criteria I was looking for and after a quick phone call to the shop I was heading over there for a look around.

On arriving I was greeted by an empty car park so I knew that I would have the pick of swims on the back lake, which I where I wanted to head for. Having done a short session on there with a friend a few weeks previously, I had an idea where the fish may have been, as by not seeing or catching anything that trip we deduced that the fish were elsewhere in the lake!!

And so with a loaded barrow I headed off for the “elsewhere” swim which covered a shallower bay to my left and deeper open water to my right, so hopefully I would be able to find a depth that the fish were happy feeding in.

It was really ( well, relatively) warm and after finding a couple of areas that I was consistently bringing bloodworm in on the hook, I sat back with a sweaty brow, a smile on my face, and three baits on the money.

Just on dark I had a liner on the middle rod, and shortly after the same thing happened again, and so this rod was recast a little shorter. Clearly the fish were in residence, but despite being up at first light I couldn’t pinpoint them or buy a bite, but all things considered it was a very enjoyable trip and with the fish beginning to signs of waking up on the back lake, and the front lake producing a mid double common whilst I was there, things are looking up.

A word of warning, the coots are a bit of a problem if you attempt to put any bait out during the day, as the water is very clear and the weed has been stripped back, they can pinpoint any freebies with ease. I got around this by baiting two areas, one for the birds and one for the fish. This bought me some time and kept the areas I thought the fish were in far quieter.

Hopefully the weather will now steadily grow slowly warmer, but even if it doesn’t, don’t forget the light levels will be sparking the fish into life all around the country over the next few weeks, and there’s no better time to bag yourself a whacker.

Til next time, tight lines.