I went to Larford Speci lake yesterday, nice to get out in the fresh air after all the christmas binge, and it was certainly fresh.

A strong westerley wind was blowing from the burr bank into the chalet bank, so naturally I went for the most comfortable bank with the wind off my back, despite the strong wind it was still mild and the water had a nice colour in it, a sure sign that the fish were still feeding. I set up on peg 13, approx half way along the burr bank, I always avoid the corners at this time of the year, the fish prefer open water, if you fish a corner peg you will have to wait a long time before you get your first bite. There were two other anglers on this bank and they set up in the corner nearest the Arena pool, because it was the most sheltered area on the lakes, when I had a quick chat with them at the end of the day, they had really struggled, this was also the shallowest area of the lake.

I set up a method feeder and a pole, the normal pattern at this time of year is to start on the feeder and then catch on the pole later in the day. I started off at 30 turns on the method and I did not have long to wait for a bite, a skimmer of about a pound and a half gave a good positive pull round of the tip, I caught skimmers in little bursts for about 3 hours, inbetween trying the pole at 13m. Whenever I picked up the pole I would get a couple of quick bites and then nothing, good presentation was hard in the strong gusty wind, so it was back out on the feeder and some more skimmers.

As the day went on the pole line gradually got better, and about 2 o'clock I caught my first carp of the day, a great fight on pole gear, with the wind getting increasingly stronger I decided to forget the pole and fish the feeder on the pole line, this proved a good move as I had a good run of bream and a 14lb mirror.

The pattern to catching the carp on this lake at the moment is to start the day fishing in the middle of the lake, a cast of approx 80m, as this is the area that the carp spend most of their day and when they want to feed, usually the last 2 hours of day light, they will move into the margins, by margins I mean the area at the bottom of the near shelf which is approx 5-7m out from the bank, still in a good depth of water, approx 7ft. This pattern of carp behaviour, I am finding very common at this time of year, especially on commercial type fisheries that are fished by pole anglers and boilie boys. Anyone else found the same??

I finished the day with approx 50lb skimmers and 2 carp, the best about 14lb, great fishing for the time of the year.

The picture above is a view of the 'speci' lake, taken from the Arena bank, the burr bank is the one on the left.