Thirties Brace

Scott talks us through a recent session on a pit in milton keynes.

All the lakes near me were frozen and, like most of us, I was just itching to get out; more than anything else I was desperate to blow the cobwebs off the gear! The pit I’ve been fishing in Milton Keynes had been frozen for nearly two weeks, but as soon as I had the call to say it was thawing out, the van was packed within 20 minutes!

I hear anglers say that you’re wasting your time until the fish adjust to the cold water that had just gone into the lake following the ice melt, but I don’t agree. For me, any sudden change in the weather is a good change, especially when it’s not been fishing well. When it’s been hot and there’s a sudden cold snap, or if there’s been no wind and suddenly it’s blowing a gale, those are the days I love.

When I arrived, the lake was cold and flat calm. I had a walk around for a couple of hours and decided on a swim I knew well that had a big silt patch towards an island at about 110 yards. The night passed quietly, apart from the rain which didn’t stop until 11am. However, once it did stop it gave me the chance to get out of the bivvy and have a look around. As soon as I turned my back on the water again I heard a crash and I turned around to see a big ring right over my rigs – my confidence shot up! I suppose it was about an hour later when the left-hand rod tore off, and 10 minutes later I had banked a winter whacker! It was a lovely dark mirror that went just over 35lb.