Despite the onset of February, the extreme cold weather that had been conspicuous by its absence, finally arrived & took a hold on the UK, rendering many opportunities to get out onto the bankside almost impossible. I have managed a couple of short overnight sessions at Oakwood since Christmas, but with nothing to show for my efforts - an outcome that hasn't surprised me at all! In all fairness, I've been spending much of my time preparing everything for next season that has included the purchase of a new sleeping bag, some quality clothing & a few items of terminal tackle. The bulk of my activities have seen me messing around with various ingredients & making up lots of experimental bait mixes trying to come up with a new bait for Oakwood next season. Ironically, my normal mix has performed quite well for me this season, but I wanted something extra special for the forthcoming campaign. After many weeks of rolling, I'm pretty certain I've got my new mix just right after including one important ingredient that just gives the mix what I've been striving for - something that gives my bait a bit of extra texture, helps increase its hardness & improves its attractiveness & digestibility. I've also opted to change the flavour label & the oil base too, moving away from my favourite condensed milk & sweetcorn oil combination that has served me so well in the past. The only thing left to do now is to get churning it out in bulk & stocking up the freezer ready for June. One thing is for certain - the wife isn't going to be too impressed when I go into full production with it... On a relative subject, I recently purchased another great bit of kit - a 'Rekord' bait / rolling table. It's slightly smaller than a Gardner 'Baitmaster', but is produced in solid sections, as opposed to a Baitmaster that has to be assembled in three sections & mounted on a separate board. Now I'm making most of my bait in 20mm size, I can 'knock up' a few kilos of bait in virtually no time at all!

The forthcoming weeks will be spent making more batches of the new mix, rolling a decent supply of cork-ball pop-ups & hoping to squeeze in the odd session here & there when the conditions allow...

I'll also be attending the Carp & Coarse angling show at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry on the 18th February along with a few mates.