To say the Predator angling has been patchy this 2021/2022 season would be an understatement! With changeable weather conditions and a serious lack of rain the drains have been very difficult at times with only small fish to show for our efforts. The season got off to a later start than normal with my first session on the 29th November.
Arriving at first light to find the drain half frozen over wasn't the best start but after walking a fair way to find a gap in the ice I soon had two rods out fishing with my faithful Lamprey deadbaits on. Before too long my close in rod was away with a fine looking jack of about 8 or 9lb on the end shortly followed by another of similar size on the rod placed in the middle of the drain. Not much happened the rest of the day other than another small Jack despite moving all the way along the drain trying different areas to cover as much water as possible.
I then managed two or three more trips before Christmas on various different sections of drain but all with similar results, landing lovely plump jacks but not a sign of anything decent. It wasn't until New Years Eve that I arranged to go fishing with my Dad for a session on a section of drain that we hadn't visited before that I caught a slightly better fish around low double. A lovely fat Pike that had been feeding well but still managed to snaffle my Lamprey which was positioned at the bottom of the near shelf! An area that would certainly be worth visiting again that's for sure. After catching up with Dad I was out again in the morning for another go, this time with my brother Adam on the section of drain that I first visited at the end of November.
The action came pretty quickly netting a lively jack that once again snaffled a lamprey in the margins quickly followed by a slightly bigger one on a Bluey. Typical of drain fishing it went quiet around lunchtime then a flurry of activity in mid afternoon again. In the end I landed four, missed a few and my bro landed the best one, another low double. The most productive day of the season so far but still no sign of any decent fish!
Determined to find some better fish the next couple of trips were spent leap frogging along the drain, spending about an hour in each likely looking spot and then moving along. Having just two rods, a small rucksack, net and unhooking mat you can cover around a mile of drain during a full days fishing. But even this approach was pretty unsuccessful, producing no more than a couple of resident jacks. It really was proving to be a very difficult winter for myself with the weather changing every five minutes going from overnight frosts to 15 degrees and gale-force winds, which as anyone who has fished the Fens before will know is far from ideal!
With such a difficult December and January behind me I was looking forward to trying out my new Lowrance Tripleshot Echo Sounder at the beginning of February kitted out on my Fox 2.9 metre Inflatable. Hopefully this would reveal something of interest and help to locate some baitfish instead of walking miles and fishing blind.
Keep an eye out for the next blog to find out how I get on!
Tight lines
Mickey.
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