I know I’m a bit weather obsessed, but January was a pretty memorable month, even if it was for the wrong reasons. Everyone will have their story to tell but here in Cornwall we’ve been battered! Goretti was the first to hit on January 8th which came with a Red Weather Warning and it was perfectly forecast. The intensity of the wind as it crossed over us was full on. The pressure crashed and it went from breezy to hurricane strength in a matter of minutes. We lost power and for a minute there even I got a tad nervous. I was grateful the boat on the drive was in the lee of the house and not more exposed (always got my priorities right!). The destruction was unbelievable and the commute to work the following morning was eye opening. I’ve never seen so many trees down.
Then came Ingrid. Not quite with the same wind strength but Ingrid brought us a huge South Easterly whereas Goretti was North Westerly. The swell on the south coast was massive. The coastline was battered and back in South Devon where I grew up, Teignmouth lost the end of the pier and in Dawlish parts of the old sea wall were damaged, again. In fairness, the new section of the wall came through unscathed. My boat did take a little spin on it’s trailer this time, but no damage done. Phew!
And finally it was Chandra’s turn. Not the same wind intensity but the rain, the RAIN! It just didn’t stop. It fell on saturated ground and the result was exactly what you’d expect. We were lucky at home and at work which is on the banks of the river Fowey at Lostwithiel. I’ve never seen the river so high. Thank goodness it was a neap tide (small tide) and not a big spring tide. Had it been, the picture would have been very different and really serious.
So with mother nature showing us who is boss time and time again, looking back at my fishing in January, I’m surprised I got out as much as I did. With the conditions so poor my options have been limited. When it’s all against you like it has been, it’s not the time to go on new adventures learning something new. No, I reckon go for what you know, go somewhere safe and just be grateful for a few bites. With dark evenings after work my only realistic opportunity I opted to go back to my syndicate lake for some winter roach fishing. They feed on dusk which fits my timings after work and with a bit of effort and pre-baiting, you can swing the odds in your favour.
I cleaned up the slow cooker and started cooking up batches of hemp seed. If anything will get winter roach feeding, it’s a big bucket of hemp seed fed onto your chosen spot a couple of days’ in advance of your session. If you can do this two or three times before your session, even better. Given the choice, I’d have very cold temperatures for winter roach fishing. It seems to slow all the small fish down and you get a chance for the bigger ones. That’s exactly what I got on the first outing and I enjoyed a couple of hours of really excellent feeder fishing. Nothing complicated, just maggot feeders, maggot hook baits and sharp hooks. I caught a decent stamp of fish on that first session. Nothing over a pound and a half, but a couple of that size plus lots around a pound. It’s January, I’m happy with that!
The next couple of sessions were in much milder conditions and the small fish were out in force. Most fish were under half a pound but in really good condition so I’m not complaining. I did get a bonus Perch which felt like a roach with its head shakes during the fight but it wasn’t to be.
At the end of the month Joss fancied a trip out. He’d been reading about making a rod with bamboo and wanted to try it. There’s some bamboo growing at the lake so it was easy to access. We had a lot of fun selecting our “rods” assessing them for taper and straightness before committing to our blank. We cut them down, trimmed off the offshoots and tied on our simple float rigs. We’d earnt our little rods and they performed admirably. Joss’ rod in particular had a lovely tip action that bent into a beautiful curve as he landed a string of great fish. Nothing massive but we’d found a weather window and we were in the fresh air catching more roach in January. That’ll do for me.
Somewhere in all of that was a bonkers work trip to Taiwan. There and back in four days. We had one evening at a beautiful port and there were clearly a lot of fish there. But there always is when there’s a “No Fishing” sign.
Let’s see if February is any kinder to us. Fingers crossed!
