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Dave Coster - March Fishing Diary
I began the month with a visit to Homeclose Fishery in Rutland. I wanted to return to this off-the-beaten-track place before the weather warmed up, after enjoying great sport there last summer on the main lake, called Hornbeam. The only problem back then was the ravenous rudd shoals, which acted like piranhas, no matter what baits I fed. I figured that while it was still cold the rudd would be less active and give me a chance to discover some of the other species that live there. It was a slow start on the pole but after an hour I started to coax a few bites and some skimmers moved in.
To begin with the skimmers were around 4 to 12oz, but gradually the size improved. No signs of the hungry rudd, which gave me the chance to anchored baits like worms, casters and red maggots hard on the bottom. I tried pellets but nothing showed any interest in them. I also tried larger worms and prawns for a while, because last year I caught some cracking perch on this venue, but it seemed that like the rudd they were still hibernating. All the same, it turned into a very enjoyable session.
I’ve been working on an exciting new project, helping to develop several bait ranges for Angling Direct’s popular Advanta X5 brand. A big box of samples turned up, so I decided the best way to test them would be on a local fishery I know well, Woodland Waters, just outside Grantham. I figured that by using the new baits on a lake I’m familiar with, it would soon become apparent how well they worked, in comparison to what I normally use.
First trip I opted for waggler tackle in a shallow swim on the Match Lake, where I know it’s possible to catch big roach, fish that are extremely fussy bait wise. I had a mixture of fishmeal and sweet pellets, along with a krill based groundbait, plus some natural baits like casters and maggots. It took a while to get bites due to it being bitterly cold. But gradually things began to happen, fishing over a fine bed of krill groundbait, laced with krill micros and casters. Small roach and skimmers turned up first to caster, so I tried a 4mm krill hooker pellet and this scale perfect big roach resulted.
I decided to try a sweet flavoured hooker pellet next and was immediately rewarded with a couple of net skimmers. This was getting interesting, so I carried on switching baits around, finding the big roach wanted casters or small red krill pellets, while the skimmers preferred sweet orange variations. It was turning into an enjoyable session, not easy but very encouraging as nothing much else was being caught. Towards the end of the day I sat it out on a bigger 6mm krill pellet and landed this cracking 2lb plus hybrid, which put up a proper scrap on my light waggler gear. It caused a few heart in the mouth moments, because initially I thought it was a huge roach!
A few days later I went back to the same swim to play around with my new selection of baits some more. This time the plan was to fish pole tackle, as I had missed quite a few tentative bites previously on the waggler and I wanted to try and find out what they were being caused by. It soon became apparent that the fish being missed were mainly big roach. Normally they don’t go for fishy groundbait mixes, but they certainly liked my new krill groundbait with a few casters fed over the top. I enjoyed a good run of fish on this format, before experimenting with different colour and flavour pellets again.
It became very noticeable that once again skimmers were a lot keener on sweet pellets in the cold- water conditions, while roach didn’t mind seafood flavours, even with the groundbait, as long as it was diluted a bit with some brown crumb. Bites dried up a few times, making me think that something bigger was down there, especially when I noticed odd small bubbles on the surface. I quickly put a soft 6mm krill pellet on my hook and pulled out of a good fish. A few minutes later the float slid away again and this tench resulted, the first one I’ve ever caught from here.
I had just one more opportunity to get out on the bank before the big lockdown was announced. I tried a new venue, Haverholme Park Lake, near Ewerby, which is just off the road from Sleaford to Skegness. I wanted to try my new pellet samples with feeder tactics next and they scored again, catching some decent skimmers and bream. Colours, flavours and consistencies were spot on, so I’m now just waiting for the next samples that will hopefully complete the ranges. I’m certainly impressed and can’t wait to try these new baits in warmer conditions when we are all allowed out again.
Stay home, stay safe.