I'll apologise for there being no picture, my now battered phone camera plays up a bit now and won't always take a pic! With 22 pairs fishing it was well attended which is probably why an EA bailiff made an appearance, not a problem but I'd imagine they would have more luck chasing pleasure anglers on day ticket waters!
As usual my pairs partner let me draw as apparently I've got a better drawing arm. The two numbers out were peg 11 on the New Lake and 47 on the Old Lake. Now Barney who I was fishing with had endured peg 47 on the Old Lake a few weeks ago and didn't have a bite so he wasn't keen on it again for for the first time in the pairs I fished the Old Lake.
Peg 47 doesn't have a lot going for it really. It's one of the deepest pegs on the lake and has no real track record. On the pole line there is 7ft odd of water from about 4m all the way out. The margin is bare but with 2ft almost next to the bank I hoped to be able to nobble a fish or five there late on!, especially as I had the luxury of an empty peg to my left. For the long line at about 12m out I put up a .4gr diamond bodied hand made float. Light for the depth but the heavy and long glass stem and the body shape make them very stable. Line for this was .16 to a 14 B611 and a 14 latex set soft for the lakky. I put up two shallow rigs on similar gear, one at half depth and one at 1ft but both with black hydro. I hoped that I'd be able to catch shallow as the swim has no real form so hoped to manage to nobble an odd fish as they cruised though. Lastly I put up a margin rig. This was on .16 thru again, but with a 18 Fox Series 2 hook to fish meat. Lakky was a soft purple hydro as hopefully anything here would be a munter!
On the whistle a decent pinch of hemp and a few grains of corn went out long while the margin received a third of a pot of hemp with a few grains of corn and bits of meat. It didn't take long to get odd slight nudges on the float so started to top up with a few grains of hemp and corn via a toss-pot. After perhaps 15 minites the angler opposite had a fish in the open water so I was confident I could get a fish or two. Nudging the half hour mark I get a bite and lift but nothing is there, perhaps a liner? Either way afterwards everything faded out. Odd fish were moving but I didn't want to start to feed to bring the fish up yet, the open water swims are slow starters!
The next two hours were dire, and the wind picked up to a point where controlling shallow rigs and feeding was awkward, although during the calmer spells I did try it but all that happened was that my bait was shredded by tiny roach. The margin swim was lifeless, but I carried on topping it up every 40-45 minites. Half way through the match only one angler in the favoured reed pegs was catching regularly and nobody else I could see had more than two carp. Although I'd been topping up regular with reasonable amounts I decided I had nothing to lose by attacking the swim so fed a whole pot of bait and went out on double corn. A liner after a minite or two was followed by a proper bite and a small common of just over a pound found it's way to the net. A missed bite next chuck and then the swim faded so I gave it another half a cup. Odd bites followed on single corn but all were missed and I suspect they were roach.
With an hour to go I was going nowhere and I could barely hold the pole out in the wind now. The margin hadn't gave a sign so I gave it a big pot of bait. Ten minites later and a bite on meat lead me a merry dance with what was probably foul hooked before it pulled and the hook came back bent. Another half a pot in and a new hook and an instant bite gave what felt properly hooked and then that came off! I gave it a minite or two and nothing followed so I gave it another pot of bait. The next bite came five minites later and a good fish gave me a tussle before a common of about 7lb was bundled in to the net. More bait in and again about five minites later and the lakky is out again as a smaller 4lb odd fish finds it's way in. Whoopie, bag up in the last hour shall we? Wrong! I never had another proper bite, but I did start to get liners again about 20 seconds before the end. Looking at what I could see I guessed I'd be about 5th on the lake, and that's were I finished with 12lb 6oz with 49lb winning the lake. Looking back I should have dumped bait in up the side earlier after it worked doing it long, guess I was a bit slow there really!
After the match while the results were being worked out it was obvious to all who would be 1st and 2nd, but with many people blowing out and my partner being about 7th I thought we may sneak 3rd, which we did. Unfortunately it was tied and we lost out on weight by 9oz! It was to prove to be a close but no cigar day, another 6oz and I would have been 4th on my lake and got us 3rd pair. Another pound and three quarters would have won me the 11 peg section money and 4lb would have got me 2nd on the lake and maybe just enough for 2nd pair ( I didn't quite catch the points totals). I was certainly left to rue not feeding heavier earlier, or the lost fish that I'm sure wasn't foul hooked but alas it wasn't to be!
Not sure what lake I'll be on next week but it would be nice to catch a few fish again! Check back next week where hopefully I'll have a change of fortune!
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