The last trip!

With a week off and the first main frost of the winter this week I didn't fancy much fishing but was determined to go and Phil and Steve were also looking for perhaps the last trip of the year.

I was hopeful that Elinor would continue to fish whatever the weather. There are loads of fish in there, Ed is still stocking and catch returns for the last few weeks had been at 3 per rod. Not bad for early December!!

It rained most of the morning but surprisingly the thing I found most difficult was the cold. Although there hadn't been a frost the night before, the wind increased as the day went on and that was biting. My fingers got so cold that every half hour I couldn't move one so had to put my gloves on and warm up before starting again. At the end of the day I felt chilled to the bone.

Having said that I still saw quite a few fish rising out in front of me so I had confidence that every now and again the fish came around and they were well up in the water. We started on the far side between the dam and the spinney, for me it was a bit shallow and didn't think it would fish until things warmed up around lunch. However Phil proved me wrong quite quickly and had a nice rainbow on a damsel. It kept us going for another 20 minutes but I fancied the other side and we headed off.

Phil and Steve carried on past the spinney into the next bay but I stopped just before the boats. I saw fish rising quickly and that did me for the day. I used a ghost tip and two damsels all day until the last half hour and managed 3 fish.

I was once again surprised how close in they were and on small waters they do tend to cruise the margins. With this on my mind I got out of the water and stood further up the bank. With the wind right to left and out a bit I could do a few short back casts and then punch it up into the wind and it flew out. It's surprising by going backwards 5 yards I got a 5 yard longer cast. I just had to remember to retrieve it right in close. My first two fish took this close in. My third took on the drop at range but all of them must have been in just a couple of feet under water.

Phil and Steve were struggling but we all tucked in close together. It was only after Steve had been nattering and heard that some one else has caught on buzzers that he came back to try one. He had two quick takes so I changed my point and had a take. Phil then changed his whole cast to buzzers and suddenly was full of action. He managed to land 2 fish as well as a few takes and Steve then came over and dropped in to also catch.

It went quiet again for a while and Phil and I decided to call it a day. However Steve had got the bug and carried on for a while without success. All in all in rough conditions we had seven between us which on the day was a great result, perhaps only being beaten by a guy on pensioners point who at least had his 6.

I think that will be my last trip of the year now!