Sunday 28th June

Well, this Sunday started off being hot and it got even hotter! With the extra people on the venue that the last weeks good weights inevitably brings I wasn't sure where I wanted to draw, but hopefully it would have some shade! I had mixed feelings when peg 64 was in my hand; it's not got great form but it does at least have some shade!

In my experience of the peg the best way to catch of this peg is down the middle but in the heat I wasn't sure that it would be a reliable approach. The far bank is not the levelest and is very awkward to fish unless you go tight over into very shallow water which I don't like doing here. I had two areas marked for across, one in front and the other more to the right under a tree, both in just over a foot of water. Rig wise a 4x8 Preston pink dibber was on .16 line and an 18 Fox Series 2. Lakky was a Preston 15h. The down the track rig was in about 5ft of water, just where it started to shallow up. Float was a .3gr handmade pattern on .16 line with a 14 B611 with a 14 latex. The best area I could find for the margin was just in front of some nearside reeds. The nature of the peg means you have to fish close to yourself, more than I'd like. The saving grace was that I was hidden behind the bank side vegetation. The rig was a .2gr DC5 float on .18 line to a 16 Fox Series 2 hook with purple hydro.

At the whistle the far bank was fed with just a few pellets while the track line got a good helping of hemp and corn while the margin got the same but with a small amount of meat. On going across predictably (as I've always had on this peg) the roach battered the pellet. I was quite regularly pinging pellets across with a catty hoping that the noise would attract carp. A few fish could be seen cruising about but none were feeding. After about half an hour a swirl was seen in the margin so I had a quick drop in but the fish spooked. This set the pattern on for the next hour and a half, particularly on the far bank, but the fish would spook as soon as the pole went within a few feet of them.

Just after the two hour mark my first bite came across when a carp came onto one of the far bank lines while I was fishing it. As is usual in such shallow water the bite it's self saw the lakky streaming out and soon a very spawned out looking common of about 2lb was in the net. The next bite came perhaps ten minutes later but it came off not long after it had hooked it's self it. That seemed to cease activity on the far bank so I dropped into the middle where odd bubbles had started to appear. I started on single corn but the indications in on the float without a proper bite led me try double corn. A bite wasn't long in coming and a similar sized common to the first found it's way into the net. Next drop and the indications seemed decidedly roachy, point proven when the next bite gave a 6oz roach so I topped the swim up with a pot of bait and went back across.

Not long after going back across I had a fish, this time from the right of the swim under the overhanging tree, followed by another next chuck which was foul hooked, but it had hooked it's self. The swim seemed to fade again but the bubbles on the track line had increased so I risked feeding a whole pot of pellets on the far line under the tree to try and bring back the fish and hold them. The next drop down the middle gave an instant bite and a common of perhaps 3lb found it's way in.

No more fish came until with an hour and a half to go my first proper bite came from the margin and gave a fish of about 3lb but no more followed. The next spell gave rise to frustration as fish frequently moved along the far bank but wouldn't settle. My only bite came from the track line, but I didn't see it as I was looking at the margin at the time! With odd fish coming into the margin I again dropped in the edge on meat and was soon away with a distinct ghostie mirror of about 5lb that had swimming about in front of me most of the day! The next 45 minutes gave me another 7 fish, if topping up with a large toss-pot didn't get a bite then feeding a whole pot of bait quickly bought them back! What would have been carp number 15 came off and the fish seemed unsettled and no more came. I finished the match wishing the fish had same along earlier, although from what I heared on the bank side grapevine suggested that some big weights had been had.

When the scales got to me 65lb was to weight with 57lb second. My fish went 46lb 7oz and was good enough for 4th, with another weight of 65lb being second. Had I managed to get the fish going even half an hour earlier then a win would definitely have been possible, and the quiet last 15 minutes after losing a fish possibly cost me a 3rd place. I really should have put a whole pot of bait down the margin after losing that fish and left it for a few minutes, that rest may have been enough for me to nobble an extra fish or two and push for 3rd, still, I enjoyed the day and after a tough few weeks it's nice to be getting in among a few fish. Hopefully next week I can go a few places better!