‘Ferrero Rochers' And Conkers

STEVE COLLETT Britain’s leading all-round angler loves taking on challenges at all kinds of venues. Read his triumphs and disasters, warts ‘n’ all, exclusively in AM.

I LOVE and hate this time of year with equal measure. I love the colours, the smells, the comfortable temperatures. I hate the unpredictability, the pressure changes, and the hit-and-miss fishing conditions.

The rain shouldn’t bother me really, but it’s not great for pictures, and the wind can sometimes work in your favour. It’s the air pressure that throws a spanner in the works.

It can mean the difference between one bite and 100. I know this because I keep very detailed records, I’m borderline obsessive about it.

Today was one of those days. We’d had low pressure for three days, but it also rained for three days, mind you.

And cometh the hour when I want to go fishing, the cloud breaks, the wind gets up and changes direction, and the pressure shoots through the roof.

I have ingrained in my brain the old-fashioned angler’s rhyme: “When the wind is in the north the skilful anglers goes not forth.

“When the wind is in the south, it blows the bait in the fish’s mouth.

“When the wind is in the east the fish will bite the least.

“But when the wind is in the west, the fishing will be at its best.”

It’s not the gospel, and it’s probably never been scientifically proven, but it holds a lot of water on some venues, and is poppycock on others.

Take Grafham Water, for instance, a vast venue that fishes its head of in an easterly and any pressure. And yet my carp syndicate is a waste of time in an easterly and the slightest lift in pressure.

Another water that I fish is absolutely useless in a westerly when it’s supposed to be ‘besterly.’

With all of this in mind, where do you go? Where do you plonk yourself down for a day’s fishing at this time of year?