Well, it appears that summer is back! With the return of the warmer weather I, along with many others were hoping that it would signal the return of better fishing! A thought which took a big knock when I found out that 23 people were booked in to fish. It's the most ever on one lake since I've fished the venue and I began to think a good days fishing was a bit more distant. I fancied a draw in the 20's where there would be a bit more room, specifically 21 as it's a big bay in the island and it's hardly ever in in matches. I was a bit disappointed when I drew peg 18, although it can be a good peg (I had 77lb off it only a few weeks ago) it's never been any good when I've drawn it and the next peg (17) was in, as it obviously would be with the high attendance (That's how you know the golden peg is full up!)
With a gusty wind I elected not to put up a long pole to the island, just put up a rod to fish a small method feeder in the small bay in the island, which is too far to reach with the pole anyway! I did get the pole out so after knocking up some crumb for the feeder I set up a rig to fish in the margins to my left at about 5m, next to some lillies in about two and a half feet of water. Standard margin fare for the rig; purple hydro to .18 line and a 16 Fox series 2 hook. Float was a .2gr DC5. With plenty of time once set up I sat and tied up plenty of method hooklengths. I don't get on with fine 'hair-net' landing nets so should the quickstop break off in the net I had plenty of spares tied up to quickly change!
On the whistle I cupped in a pot of hemp, meat and corn in the margins, and no sooner than I had tipped it out than peg 21 was playing a fish! I was right to fancy it then! I didn't have a bad start, my first cast dropped a bit shorter than I'd like but the second was spot on and I soon had a common of about 4lb in the net, followed by it's slightly smaller brother about ten minutes later, both on an 8mm pellet. I started to see signs of fish moving across but was receiving next to no liners, even in only 18 inches of water! I've had this before here and the trick is too just keep plugging away and they've always switched on later. The next fish came just after the hour mark and was on corn, again about 4lb.
After fish number three I saw a fish swirl in the margins so I had a quick drop in the edge (which I was topping up every 3o min with half a pot of bait) but apart from an odd knock from small fish nothing materialised. Back on the tip and odd fish could still be seen moving along the far bank. In an attempt to get them feeding I upped the bait a bit, casting a bit more often and even switching to just dampened micro pellets on the feeder to get more grub out. On the mid-way mark the tip went round with a lumpy mirror. Next chuck a steady pull round gave what felt like a bream although it was only on for a few seconds before it came off. Next chuck I started to get liners, a good sign that hopefully the fish would start to get their heads down when disaster struck in the form of someone walking the bank! They stood on the higher bank behind for a minute or so, in full view, before walking off mumbling something about the swirling fish up the bank. Well, after that they didn't stay! The swim died a total death after, within five minutes there were no fish up the far bank and I never had another bite or liner the rest of the match, I may as well have been casting into a bath!
I kept the feeder going in every two minutes, and started to flick bait down the edge by hand in an attempt to attract some fish but I never had another indication. I have to say the swim just felt dead and I knew I was just going through the motions. The match was won with a bit over 70lb and peg 21 was second with 61lb. Unbelievably my four carp went 17lb 10z and were good enough for third! I nearly tipped back too as I was a bit peeved, people are quick enough to moan if they are sky-lined by others but seem happy enough to commit the same crime! Still, a slight surprise at a pick-up was soon bettered by listening to Spurs beating Liverpool on the radio(sorry Carl!)
No blog next week as I'll be away for a few days so it'll be another fortnight before I'm fishing again. See you then!
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