Wednesday 8^th November

Again it’s been a month since I last fished so I feel a little distant from what’s been happening at Dinton.   Talking to Darren reveals that as far as he knows not a great deal has been caught since I had Measles (the fish not the spotty disease).    Only a few upper 20’s have been out and the number of anglers fishing has plummeted as a result.      That’s good because it means that you have more chance to fish the better swims and keep some bait going in regularly.   Again that might be a problem for me as I’ve got a lot of work on in the next few weeks.     But I am supremely confident that if the fish are feeding I will catch them.

The Beach is free so without hesitation I’m straight in there.     From the Beach I can fish 1 rod on the spot where I had Heart Tail and Measles and my other 2 rods on the Beach hotspots.      On checking out the swim with a marker rod it’s clear that the weed has died back considerably, and that might discourage the cautious Dinton carp.     But many of the big Dinton lumps spawned completely and so late in the summer that they are probably still nowhere near a healthy winter weight, so I’m still sure that they will feed somewhere.      I’ve not yet seen any activity in the swim, but I’m sure that if there are any fish feeding they will eat my bait.       If I see any positive signs of fish elsewhere I’ll move onto them.      

This photo shows that even though it is mid-November, the trees around the lake have stubbornly refused to shed their leaves.    Most don’t have a brown leaf on them!

Thursday 10^th October

A few fish have shown but mostly over 150 yards away in other swims.    During the night I had a couple of twitches on the middle rod, but I’m not certain whether it was cautious carp, nuisance 14lb bream or ducks.     There’s a lot of tufties on the lake now, and they keep creeping into the swim.     I’m fishing in 12-13ft water which is about the limit of their diving ability, but they are hungry and keep coming up with freebies.

There’s not many other anglers about so if I want to move it shouldn’t be a problem. 

Friday 11th October

Nothing’s happened overnight, and there’s a few other anglers appearing now.    I’ve now seen a couple of fish within 20 yards of the baits so it looks better than it did but I’ve not had any other twitcher activity.    

Saturday 12^th October

Nothings happened and I’ve got to pack up this morning, so it looks like this session is a blank.    I’m not too discouraged though, because I sense that the carp haven’t yet slipped into full winter mode yet, so if I can get back soon and maybe get some more bait in the swims, I’m still in with the chance of a couple more fish.       The weather is really still very mild and the trees surrounding the lake are still 95% green.    Here we are in mid-November and there is barely a sign of winter.

The session wasn’t quite over yet though, as the lake had a surprise in store for me.  As a keen birdwatcher I’ve always enjoyed the fabulous birdlife round the lakes at Dinton.    As I was sitting at dawn at the bivvy door with a cup of early morning coffee, a strange bird walked slowly and nervously out of the tangle of sunken bushes to my left.    It slowly crept along the margins and under the rods, flicking it’s wings as it went, before disappearing into the Phragmites reeds on my right.    It was a water rail, and although I’ve seen plenty before here at Dinton, usually a very brief glimpse is all you get.    I’ve never before seen one so close.   A bizarre looking bird for sure, with it’s strange bill, long thin body and cryptic camouflage.