Carping in the Nene

When I first arrived at my peg on a stretch of the river Nene near Wansford my confidence of catching my first Carp of 2002 was not what you'd call sky high. It was the first time I'd ever tackled the river in January and the bare trees sillhoueted against a darkening cloudy sky seemed a million miles away from the backdrop I'd become acustomed to in the summer months. Mind you, there was still a small spark of hope which had motivated me enough to leave the comfort of a warm bed to spend the weekend bivvied up under the stars. No frosts were forcast and the relitively clear margin of the slow flowing river seemed less daunting than some of the large stillwaters I've focused my attention on in previous winter sessions. By 4:30pm all three baits were in position and the fifteen long hours of darkness finally decended. At about 8:30pm I had to strip down from the thermal suite as I was starting to bake in my sleeping bag. I decided that why I was up and about I'd add a dose of Ultrabite to the swim. I'd not had so much as a line bite in 4 hours and tiredness was starting to creep in. I didn't have any method mix with me so a big dollop of paste hollowed out, filled with the liquid and sealed up was soon finding its way to the bottom of the swim near my right hand hookbait. An hour later and I was back out of the sleeping bag waiting for my first small bleep of the night to tear away. A second later I was into a bream! I got back in the bag and soon dropped off for one of the best sleeps I've had in weeks, only to be woken at 6:15am to the sound of my fox micron going mental. I looked out through my bivvy door expecting to see Mark there tweaking my line with a smug grin on his face, but he wasn't. He was still fast asleep in his own bivvy and my bait had been well and truly picked up. I managed to land the fish after a brief struggle and was fairly suprised when the scales went round to 17lb 8oz, it seemed to look more like a fourteen. That was the only fish of the session, but not bad considering the time of year. 12 months ago I'd never dream of fishing for Carp in winter on the river, but now I feel fairly confident fishing it at any time of the year. Did the Ultrabite work? Who knows! but it certainly didn't do any harm. One thing's for sure, I know I will never go fishing again without any, and at just 50p per phial per session, it's no more expensive than a tin of sweetcorn! Report by Chris Walton