Well, the days might have been nice and warm just lately but the nights have a distinct chill to them now, I got up this morning to find that the heating had clicked on for the first time since, erm... I can't remember. Funny though, my first thought wasn't how the cold would affect the fishing, it was hoping that I didn't draw next to some wally that fills it in like I did last week!
The usual pre-draw chat was about who wanted which pegs and my wish list was 20, 23, 25 and 29, although I did say I wouldn't mind 33. The sun had just started to burn through the mist as we drew, just taking the chill out of the air, hand in the bag knowing that two of the pegs I wanted were gone and out comes 33, that'll do!
Peg 33 sits on the end of the island, and although it's a long way to the island (near 17m) it also has a small reedy bay along the left hand bank and can be a very good margin swim on it's day. I drew this peg a month ago and came 3rd with 46lb, mostly in the last 2hrs on meat in the margins. The first rig I set up was for the margin, at about 12m, just on the end of the marginal bay and just past the reeds, the reasons for this was that the slope was a little more managable and a heck of a lot cleaner so easier to fish. The lake still held good colour so I kept with the .18 line but scaled down the hook to a 14 B611, float was a .2gr DC5 in roughly 3ft of water, and the lakky was a very soft set 16 latex. The far bank rig had the same pattern float, same line and hook but a 15h elastic, as I had quite alot of smaller fish last time of this peg, I started this on the far slope in just under 3ft of water but expected to have to go further over later. Bait was corn, pellet and hemp but I'd also brought some red maggots as well has a few worms and some casters, no meat as it was now cooling down.
At the start I fed the far bank swim with about a dozen 4mm pellets, half a dozen grains of corn and a pinch of hemp. The margin was feed the same but with a pinch of casters too, and I would top it up with the same every half hour or so. First drop long with a pellet resulted in it getting shredded by small rudd, not what you want at 16.5m! on with a grain of corn and after loads of silly knocks a proper bite gave me a small crucian carp of about 6oz, net drop gave the same silly knocks for about a minite before they stopped, and then a proper bite which resulted in a 2lb+ common. The next drop gave a small pasty carp then a lost foulhooker signalled a quitening down of the swim for around 20min. Just before the hour mark two lost fish were followed by a spate of liners and unhittable bites. I'm sure the lost fish wearn't foulhooked, just fish that are not feeding properly.
I decided on a slight change of tactics following the liners, feeling that the fish were slightly higher in the water, so off with the half butt section and out with the 17.5m section to fish further up the shelf, I also decided to add another shot to the rig and use the corn to sink it, then drag it up the shelf so the float only just showed, hard work at near 17m but worth a try when there were fish there that just wearnt having it, although nobody else was catching either!
First drop further over was met with an instant bite from a mental 4lb ghostie, then a smaller common about half the size followed next drop in, but then no more bites were forth coming. Although the fish seemed to have gone I didn't want to feed alot so just dripped about 6-8 pellets and 3 grains of corn in every 7-8 min via the toss-pot, as I had done after every fish, but nothing followed so an hour and a half gone I tried the margin but 5 mins with no liners at all was enough to know nothing was there so back across and an instant bite results on a 4lb common then a couple of missed bites, so I tried a pellet and had a run of 4 small carp (4-8oz) before it quietend off again, before I foulhooked a fish lifting the rig which roared up the island and left my rig in a mess when it came off!
Back in the margin and a bite on a pellet gave me a small common of about 1lb but no more bites, but by this point I still hadn't seen much else caught, except the 2 decent carp from the margin on the peg to my right. Going back across again gave an instant response after being rested, 2 carp around 1.5-2lb then one 3lber hooked in the tail which gave me a lively run around before it quitened off again. Back in the margin with an hour and a half to go gave a small tench about a pound and two carp the same size in quick sucession before it again tailed off, so back to the island which again produced after the rest with two carp about 3lb a piece before that again tailed off.
Going into the last hour I was well ahead of anyone I could see but both swims seemed lifeless, and the next 30mins gave just one small fish in the margins but no other indications so with half an hour left I gambled on potting in across about 30 pellets and a dozen grains of corn, Ignoring the margins which had been quite dissapointing. An instant bite across gave another fish of around 3-4lb then nothing else, until with about 3min to go, and with me willing a fish to take the bait one did! A few minites after the whistle were needed to tame what was the biggest fish of the day at around 7lb. I knew I had a decent weight, but the bites were very much winter like , and despite the warm day it was obvious that the cold nights had an effect as I reckon 85% of my fish cames from 'dinks' on the float that never even took it under, even dotted right down.
When the scales got to my peg 16lb odd was top weight so I knew then I'd won, my small fish net going just over 6lb and my carp net a shade under 41lb gave me a 47lb 4oz net and a very comfortable win. I have say though I really enjoyed the day (except the floating leaves which were a pain for the last 3hrs!) as a neat and delicate approach was needed while still having a few fish to catch!
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