Remember my prediction at the end of my last blog? Well, pre-draw I stated that I didn't really mind where I drew as long as I wasn't round the back of the island. Well, the peg I drew was as far around the back as I could get! Despite some people saying that 57 was a good draw it never has been whenever I've drawn it. My confidence dropped a notch when walking to my peg with my gear as the water was definitely clearer once I got to the island pegs, a definite sign that there were not as many fish in those pegs.
I put up three rigs to cover four areas of my swim to try and make the most of it. First up was a 4x10 PB2 on .14 line to a 16 B611 and Preston 13h elastic in a little over 2ft of water. I fished slightly to my left where the water was deeper near the island rather than go into the bay where it was shallower due to the clarity in the water. Next rig was set up to fish at 6m. The depth here was a good 6ft, maybe a touch more which is deeper than I'd like. Float was a .3gr hand made jobbie from Mark Haskins. The diamond shape and long glass stem makes them very stable and means you can fish with a smaller float, and as there was little wind I didn't need to go heavier. Lakky was a soft 14 latex, while the line was .14 and again a 16 B611. Last rig was to fish left and right in the margins in about 3ft of water at about 6m. Float was a .2gr DC5 on .16 line to a 16B611. Lakky was a Preston 15h to hopefully cope with the lumps I hoped would move in here.
I fed the far line with just caster hoping for anything that swims while the others were fed with a decent pinch of hemp and a few grains of corn. After 10 minutes without indication, even on maggot I started to drip four or five casters in every few minutes but the next 20 passed without joy. Odd bubbles had risen from the track line so I decided to have a quick try on it. Hardly 10 seconds had passed when the float vanishes and out streams the lakky. A few minutes later a mad 3lb common which had the body of a chub found it's way to the net. After such a quick bite I dropped in without feeding hoping there were a few fish there but nothing after a few minutes led me to top up with 3 grains of corn and a small pinch of hemp. Another 10 minutes passes without joy so I went back across as I didn't want to try the margins yet.
The next 40 minutes were barren, even on maggot, either across or down the track. By this time a few fish had started to move to my left in the edge at about 13m, where there was some bank side growth hanging in the water. However, the match rules state you can't fish past the next peg and that was where I'd fed at 6m to my left! This was to prove frustrating as the nearest person to me that side was round the corner on 53, with 3 empty pegs and a corner between us I could have fished 18m down the edge and still not been anywhere near half way to the next person, but rules are rules as I had to watch the fish taking the micky in the margins there for the rest of the day and not being able to fish it, even though they were closer to me than the island opposite! An hour after my only bite so far I had a bite down the track that was an exact repeat of the first and another lean 3lb common found it's way to the net, but again nothing followed. It took an hour again to get a bite from any swim, a carbon copy of the last two but this one came off.
That was the last action of any sort for the day apart from one tiny roach across on maggot and one even smaller carp in the margin on maggot. Then 10 mins before the end a liner down the track was followed by a proper bite which I missed clean as a whistle! Thus ended a frustrating day in which my landing net got used more for clearing out the floating crud which shifted from the far end of the lake half way into the match. Shame the fish didn't follow it, which they normally do! Still, at least the rain stopped at the end of the match so I could pack up in the dry! The match was won with 48lb from peg 48, and the open water pegs fished much better than the pegs around the island. Still, I shall back out on Monday hoping for some Bank-holiday cheer!
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