First 48 hours after lockdown - Cackle Hills

Last weekend I had my first night session since lockdown restrictions was lifted in the UK thanks to the hard work from the Angling Trust, I did the 48 hours at Cackle Hill fishery on Speci 1 lake. Speci 1 is the main lake on the complex and the hardest, there are 3 lakes in total at the complex, a mixed lake for the pleasure angler, speci 1 and speci 2 (the biggest lake on the complex)

Arrived just before 7am as I thought it would be busy as it was the Easter weekend and the whole complex was booked so I wanted to be close to the front of the cue to get set up quicker. Funny enough there was only one other vehicle at the gate when I arrived, soon as I parked up, had to do the long walk to my swim on the lake which was the furthest swim on the lake, when I got to my swim there was another angler who hasn't packed up, he did say he just had a double take so I cant blame him for not being out the swim, I kindly asked the angler what he caught, where he's baited up and what he used. He caught 2 catfish a 30lber and a 55lber, on Peperami never thought of using that for a hookbait before but may consider it for future sessions. He also warned me that carp have been showing in the swim but they weren't biting.

I put three rods out two of them with a bottom bait, premier baits matrix 16mm boilie on a standard hair rig and a D-rig, the other rod had the matrix pop-up 16mm on a Ronnie rig. All the hooks were size 6 from Rigworx, the hair rig a wide gape pattern, D-rig a curve shank pattern and the Ronnie the crank pattern. I wasn't expecting the get a bite instantly as much as that would be a great way to start the session I was preparing for a bite in the afternoon, all the rods did have a small mesh bag full of mixed pellets of the matrix flavour to give a small amount of loose feed for the fish to find along with the hookbait. The mesh bags were prepared the day before the session to save me tying them on the bank, t

The mesh is from T and T PVA Mesh, to me they provide the best Mesh, it is top quality, really strong when you tie it and melts away perfectly on the lake bed, I used 32mm mesh for this session. If your looking into adding mesh in to your fishing I highly recommend T and T PVA Mesh at checkout use discount code Jon10 to get 10% off your order.

Bite time came and went so I left the rods in the water as I was happy to where I casted, left hand rod (hair rig) was towards an oak tree that had branches hanging over into the lake so I tried to get as close as I can without losing my rig, middle rod (Ronnie rig) was towards the opposite bank and the right hand rod (D-rig) was down to my right in the margins. I did walk round to the oak tree and opposite bank to throw in a few handfuls of boilies and crumbed up boilies up and down the bank so the fish can come along both ways to the rigs, also did this on the right hand rod along the margins, had no luck during the day so my thoughts turned to the night, unfortunately no action in the night. 24 hours have passed with 24 remaining I decided to change my rig positions, move the left hand rod to the reeds on my left, put the middle rod on the same line as it was before but smack bang in the middle of the lake and the right hand rod from the margins to the open of lake towards swim number 8 but within my boundary. With the sun come through and temperature rising I changed the middle rods rig into a zig rig, used the Rigworx zig kit tied with 4ft zig line as the lake depth was roughly 6ft deep, started with the yellow kicker with black foam, as the hours ticked by and evening was fast approaching I reverted back to my Ronnie rig with a fresh pop-up, hoping to get a bite during the night. Confidence was running high as people in swims 6 and 7 had bites during the day and the night before. 

Woke up at 5 am to start packing but once again unfortunately no bites, as I was packing up I was thinking what I could've done differently to get a bite but my answer was ''I could've done nothing different'' tried 3 different rigs to start with to give different presentations, the hooks were razor sharp, put them all into good spots, the bait and the mesh bags were top quality so I accepted that it wasn't my day and my quest for a 30lber continues, want to say big thank you to the staff at Cackle Hill fishery, friendly staff, very helpful, will definitely book another session but for speci 2. If your in the south east areas I would recommend you to give this fishery a go, lakes in good condition and the fish they have are stunning. 

Also if your looking for great end tackle that gives you rig confidence try Rigworx, been using them for a while now and its the only end tackle I use, the hooks are razor sharp, great chod/boom material which is great for Ronnies, great swivels and amazing tungsten putty.

With this session in the books with a blank my attention now turns to my next session which will be next month at Elphicks where me, my brothers and dad will tackle the kettles lake. Thank you for reading this post I do apologise that it was fully of details of catches but everyone will blank a session, my brother always says 'that's why its called fishing and not catching''. Roll on the next session.

Tight lines