Digger’ing this winter

Normally in the winter I try and target one water exclusively. The banks are quiet and the fish still can be caught if you get things right. I have found the winter actually easier due to much less pressure and I find I can prep swims/spots more effectively.

For the last two winter seasons I focused on Anglers Paradise (Kracking Lake) and luckily did ok. I somehow managed to land almost the entire lakes stock of 15 fish. Included amongst them were 4 40s and quite a few others 30s. All amazingly caught between the months of November and February.  Having had nearly all the fish I wanted from Kracking, it was time to find another hunting ground for our country’s cold months.

Living in South West comes with a few perks when it comes to venue choice. Although our lakes don’t hold huge fish (Kracking holding the biggest), most are shallow and therefore fish all year round.  With my entire year planned from April onwards, I needed a venue for from late January to late March.

After weighing up my options it was clear where I needed to go … Digger Lakes. If you could build a lake that encompassed every aspect in angling that I excelled in, Snails Lake on the Digger Lakes complex would be it. It’s weedy in places with loads of channels and bays for the fish to escape into. The lake as a whole is quite technical therefore right up my street. It’s far from easy due to its layout and the pressure it receives but if fished right, it holds some amazing rewards. As the venue is picturesque and has a great head of 20s, it’s one of my venues I used to visit when doing magazine features or media related material. Due to this I had only ever done 6/7 nights on the venue collectively before the winter. I must say that every time I did visit ‘Snails’ previously, I had got extremely lucky! One feature I managed to land 8 fish in an afternoon, the tally including 5 20s one of which was an ‘A TEAM’ member called the Half Lin at over 27lb.

With my previous sessions aside, the main reason I chose Digger Lakes was because ALL the A team were well overdue with none coming out within the last 4/5 months.  With 5 fish over 30lb and the other 5 certainly over 25lb, getting on Snails was a total no brainer.

With my first feature of the year done and out the way, I knew I had an almost uninterrupted clear run through till late march to do my own thing.

I planned my starting session on Digger Lakes in amongst a week’s holiday from work. The original plan was to do a 48 hours session mid-week as the lake would be quietest then. Having never fished it in the winter, I was keen to see what it would be like.

With all the big fish due, I knew I needed to target the areas where most of the big fish had been caught from previously. One of the area’s I highlighted was an area called Tyler’s Bay. It had done almost every big fish in the lake at some point so an area that obviously needed some attention.

Tyler’s Bay (originally called Tyler’s lake) was the only lake before the others were dug out back in 2012. Now, Tyler’s lake has been connected to Snails Lake via a small channel meaning all the fish can come and go between the two lakes as they please. Since the two lakes were connected, the area that was Tyler’s lake has been called Tyler’s Bay. Although this area carried great big fish form, it had

become very weedy in the summer and almost unfishable so I’m told. Due to the weed, it had hardly been fished so naturally I think the bigger fish moved in there away from the pressure on the main lake. The weed was still heavy even in January meaning it was still being ignored by most

As an angler who will do anything to get an edge, I secretly raked few spots on the Sunday morning before my session on Tuesday. Before leaving I baited my 5 different spots with 5kg of Mainline Cell and our new ‘prototype’ bait. I normally would never bait that heavy on a day ticket lake in the winter BUT, the weather was so mild and I knew almost 100% that no one would fish it as all the anglers assumed it was still loaded with weed. With the spots primed and pre-baited, my winter plans were about to start!

The beginning

I arrived early on Tuesday and as planned the swim was empty. With my spots already primed I knew where the rods were going so getting fishing was easy. Although I baited heavy previously, when fishing I was just fishing for a bite at a time. It is still winter after all.

With a large handful of mixed and crushed Cell/Prototype boilies (10/14mm) and Hinders hemp perfectly applied to the spots via the baiting spoon, the rigs soon followed in the same way. To keep the fish feeling unpressured, both rods were connected to banksticks on the far margins and fished ‘washing line’ style.

The rigs were very simple and reliable as always. The hookbait was a small snowman consisting of a 10mm Cell bottom bait and a white 10mm pop-up. This was mounted ‘blow-back’ style to a size 8 Gardner dark Mugga. The hook was sharpened to perfection to ensure maximum hooking potential. On the hooks eye was a section of cover shrink tube just curved over enough to make the hook flip and turn aggressively. The rest of the rig was combi style; Trickster heavy braid made up my supple section and was connected to a 4inch section of Tricklink stiff boom material.

The knot connecting the two was an Albright knot and this was covered in Critical mass putty. The rig was finished off with an anti-tangle sleeve and steamed straight. The lead arrangement was our covert lead clip with a 6oz flat pear. A 20inch section of Camflex unleaded was used as my leader material. As the rigs were being dropped by a pole, I masked the hook with some Rigwise foam to stop it tangling. Overall it’s a stiff short hooklink that gets slammed home by a heavy lead. My philosophy is simple when it comes to fishing venues like Digger Lakes; Get the rig in a place they haven’t dealt with rigs much before, using a set-up the have rarely seen before using a bait they love.

With the rods all sorted in the mild conditions, it did not take long before the first one was away. Less than 1 hour in and a low 20 was in the net!

The first 24 hours I landed 5 fish, which was more than the whole of the last 7 days combined. With the fish clearly on the munch, I was convinced one of the A team was going to say hello. The next 24 hours I landed another 4 fish including another 3 20s. Luckily, I have an amazing girlfriend who told me to stay on as I was clearly on the fish. I stayed another 2 nights and the action continued as I landed another 6 fish. I finished the session having caught 15 fish including 8 over 20lb in 4 days and nights. That session was my longest session ever as I

never have enough time for long sessions. Although every fish battle was epic due to the weed, the Muggas were solid as always and I landed them all.

Over the next three weeks the weather got really cold and the frosts started to kick in each night. I had done another 6 nights between work and still managed to catch consistently even know the weather was bad.  I fished a few swims but kept going back into Tylers as that’s where the bites were coming from, It got so cold at night my reels were actually freeing, twice when I had a fish the clutch was solid so I had no choice but to use the backwind. I was averaging 2/3 fish a night with the average size being just over 20lb. I was happy to be catching but puzzled to where all these big fish were hanging.

Still determined to catch a bigger one, I bit the bullet and booked two days of work. I was to fish Tuesday morning through till Thursday morning then go straight into work after a quick shower at home. In my head I was thinking this may be tmy last proper session and I needed to catch a decent one.

I arrived at the lake at first light on Tuesday and surprisingly the lake was empty. I walked around and like always nothing was showing. I wanted to fish peg 1/2 but something kept drawing me back to Tylers. The weekend before was really warm and I knew the fish would have gone in there in the weed. The water clarity in the bay was clearer than I had ever seen it but I just could not leave that part of the lake. I really did not fancy it truth be told but something made me stay. I got the rods sorted and fished exactly the same as I did on my first winter session.

Less than 30 minutes in, the bobbin hit the deck and I was in. After a solid weed fight a low 20 was in the net. Looked like I made the right choice after all … or so I thought. Ben the owner soon rocked up and told me he had seen a big common feeding in here this weekend. Thinking nothing of it, I carried on tying fresh rigs and he went up the tree after our normal chinwag. He spotted one fish in the weed but nothing compared to the weekend just gone. He agreed from what he could see, the number of fish in here had dropped, this then explained the clarity I noticed. Even though I had caught, 8 hours later as darkness fell I still thought I was not on the fish.  My main bite times had come and gone and I was already planning a move the next morning. 11pm I got in bed fully expecting to wake at 5am and start packing up. The night was baltic and even by 11pm it was -2, I did not expect anything I must say. 

I was woken by three bleeps (All you get when fishing washing line), shone my dying light to see the bobbin on the floor. I jumped up, wound the slack up and lifted into the fish. It felt heavy but it was shaking its head like a small fish. The fish plodded around going in every weedbed in the bay. After 20 minutes I netted what a thought was a small fish at first. With the battery in my headtorch now dead, I couldn’t see the fish all that well in the light of the full moon. I changed the battery and looked into the net to see a decent mass of golden scales  … YES!!!

Knowing I had finally got a bigger fish, I got the rod sorted and waited a few hours for the magazine photographer to arrive. That morning the fish was confirmed as the Box Common, the lakes biggest common. Weighing in at 28lb 3oz, I was over the moon.

Crazy as it sounds, I still was not confident the next day. I was still planning to move but due to the fact I had caught a decent one, I decided to give it till after

the 3pm bite time before heading off  2.55pm came and I looked at my phone and thought, that’s it its time to go. As I pulled my bag out from under the bed BEEP,BEEP,BEEP … no way, fish on!!

Like always I wound up the slack and hit the rod! This time it felt a stronger fish as it was flapping about on the surface. As it swam past we I could see it was another good common. Before long she was in the net and I knew exactly what fish it was. At 26lb odd, I had caught Patch … know as the lakes second biggest common. What a session, although I had not caught numbers of fish, I had nailed the two biggest commons in the lake!

Having almost missed the Patch common due to my haste to move, I decided to stay for the last night and forget moving completely. Well, that was a mistake because I packed up at 5am Thursday morning with nothing more to show for my efforts.

My next session came the following week, this time I had 2 nights and one day. I got to the lake to find it was empty. The wind was savage and I could see why people stayed at home. I walked into Tylers and I could see that the water was even clearer than last week … that area ruled out instantly!

After a few laps I decided to go into peg 5 as it was slightly out the wind and I really fancied the spot the ducks smashed me a few weeks previous. I landed a 21lb mirror during the first night, so I was feeling super confident for the next day. As early morning came the weather took a savage turn and the wind become insane as it mixed with hail and rain. I tried to sit it out but after one guest to many the brolly ripped and pulled all the pegs out the ground. Was blown out totally!

Luckily for me I managed to close the battered brolly and get my gear on the barrow without dying in extreme weather. The whole lake became a sea as the swirling wind found every bay and channel. The only sheltered spot on the whole lake was in peg 1, it was either fish that swim or go home … so I set up and tried again. Trees were down all over the patch, man it was savage. Peg1 was one of my swims I fancied anyway so I had already done my homework in the swim previously. I fished the left rod ‘washing line’ style to the left bank in among some overhanging trees, the right rod was in a deep gully just behind an island. With 30/50 baits over each rod, I was finally fishing by 1pm.

The wind was so bad I had to sink my tips and drop the bobbins to the floor to stop all the false indications. This was all in addition the brolly actually blocking the wind as the rods were next to my bed.

About 3pm I was sat tying some fresh rigs when I saw the bobbin smash into the blank of the right rod. I lifted into a powerful fish that decided to go straight round the island and off down the lake. I contemplated getting in but the wind was so strong I don’t think I would have stood a chance in hell. I kept steady pressure on the fish and finally managed to pull her back round the island and into my net. GTHD mainline was to thank for this capture I must say, epic stuff!

As I looked down I could not believe what I was seeing, another decent 20 common!

Ben the owner nipped by to take some pictures and move the fallen trees from the path. The fish was the third biggest common in the lake at 27lb … 3 biggest commons in two sessions … madness!!

The session got better; through the evening I landed another 3 fish all being over 20lb!! By 6am the following morning I was on the M5 on my way home for a shower before another day at work.

With the end of March approaching, I managed to sneak in a few more nights and caught some lovely low 20s on my way. My final session of the year actually came on March 31st. I was not planning a trip as my van was being fixed and was due to take all day. When the mechanics finished early I jumped in the van and headed to the lake for the 6 hours I had left before the Mrs was due to get home. I had to sit on my frozen bait on the way up as it had just come out the freezer, was never expecting to even go fishing.

With only 6 hours to fish, I wasn’t expecting anything. If nothing was to happen, it would give me some good time to tie some rigs ready for my new venture come April.

I arrived in the car park and saw Tylers was free again. I knew from the weekend’s weather and the water clarity that the fish would be in there. Fishing the same as my very first session that year, the rods were dropped in and I was fishing with 5 hours to go.  3 hours in I landed my first one, a dark upper double. With just one hour left I landed a lush low 20 mirror. Just based on looks, i would say it was one of the best looking fish I had caught on my campaign.

Winter Dreams

It had been a good start to my year on Digger lakes,. I had done 14 nights/15 days for 39 fishing including 27 different 20s. The biggest three fish being all commons and all over 26lb.

With pastures new now here, its time to start netting some south west 30s and 40s 😉