Well, I have to say it was definitely a bit warmer over night than last week! With the temperature being in double figures in my back garden early I was fairly optimistic of catching a few fish, it's just a shame I didn't get the benefit of an extra hours kip, as with the clocks going back I just woke up at six instead of seven am!
I was sure that the island pegs would still be the ones to draw, but I'm not one for being near the front of the draw queue and by the time I went in they were all gone! I wasn't happy with the number in my hand 47. It's a deep peg, but with no features. In the two times I've had it the only way I've really caught from it was in the margin against the bare bank to the left. There is no bank to the right to fish too and with the direction of the wind it was going to be awkward to fish that side. I had three rigs up for the pole, the first at 12m where I had not quite seven foot of water. This was a .4gr handmade float. It may seem light for the depth but the diamond body shape with a long heavy glass stem makes them very stable. I had a shallow rig up for the same line, this was a 4x12 Preston PB2, set about 3ft deep. Last pole rig was an adapted 4x12 Preston Somo in about two and a half feet of water. Line on all three was .16 with 16 B611's on the long rigs and a 14 on the margin rig. Elastics were a soft 14 latex for the deep rig, black hydro for the shallow and Preston 15h for the margins. I also put up a tip rod with a strait lead on it as the wind was a bit swirly.
At the whistle the long line was fed with a pinch of hemp and a few grains of corn, while the margin got the same plus a pinch of casters. I put a single grain of corn on the deck rig, set about an inch over depth and shipped the pole out. After about a minute the float buried and I was that surprised to get a bite that fast I was a little slow and missed it! Nothing followed in the next three or four minutes so I dripped a few grains of hemp and corn in and not long later I had a liner. Again nothing followed so I dripped a few grains in again as the last two knocks had came shortly after feeding. It didn't work though and no more bites were forthcoming. At this time two of the pegs opposite had started to catch in the edge, although they were sitting in the sun.
On the half hour mark I topped up the margin again and took the toss-pot off my long deck rig as the wind had got increasingly swirly and it was catching the pot. Odd fish were starting to top now but the wind had now all but ruled out using the shallow rig as it would be impossible to feed out long! On the hour mark the long pole had to be abandoned due to the wind, so I re-plumbed at 6m where it was slightly shallower. After this was fed two grains of corn went on the hair rig and out went the bomb. Two chucks later and no joy, yet I was watching the two opposite catching in their nice sheltered calm swims!
With near two hours gone and apart from the two opposite I'd seen nobody else catch, so I bit my lead rig off and put a small method feeder on. But this time some of the gusts of wind were nearly blowing the rod off the rest! Second chuck in and just as I decide to have my first coffee of the day the rod absolutely tanked round! The lack of resistance suggested that it wasn't a carp and soon a crucian about a pound found it's way in. A liner next chuck was followed by another crucian so I decided to top up both pole swims and have a bit longer on the tip.
By the halfway mark no more bites had came so I decided to drop in on the 6m line. The float can't have been in the swim much more than a minute when a nice positive bite saw me attached to my first carp of the day. It wasn't a big fish, at about 2lb but when I'd only seen the two opposite catch it was welcome. One of them had stopped catching now, having about 5-6 fish, while the other was bagging in the marginal reeds! I had a bite next chuck but missed it, and with the next few minutes bite less I decided to try the margins.
A single grain of corn on and I thought I had a knock as I was dragging the rig up the slope. Not sure if it was I put a few grains of hemp and corn in the toss-pot and went in again. After a short while a proper bite sees me land a torpedo common of about 3lb. Next drop, again on corn and a bite sees me prick a fish so I topped up and gave it a rest, trying both the 6m line and the method again, both with no joy. That's apart from a tiny roach on single dead red maggot on the method! With an hour and a half to go I go back in the edge. Again a quick response but I missed that bite, and the next! The third bite I decided to leave a bit longer and it worked as it pulled the elastic from the pole! A ghostie of about 4lb was followed by a common about the same size ten minutes later before the bites seemed to fade.
A quick try on both other lines gave just a liner on the 6m line. Back in the edge and a few liners but I couldn't get a proper bite. The wind was blowing the rig back towards me, plus the leaves it was blowing through was making good presentation very hard. With three quarters of an hour left I decided to try double caster and nudge the depth up a bit to try and hold the bait still for better presentation. It worked as two carp, both around 4lb followed in the next twenty minutes. Carp number seven came to double maggot with twenty or so minutes to go. Despite liners (and a bit of hoping / praying) I couldn't add another carp before the whistle.
I couldn't see that much caught apart from the peg opposite who'd bagged up, and the peg next to him who had about the same as me. When the scales got to me 26lb was top weight, close with what I thought I had but my fish went 28lb 11oz. No weights of more than mid doubles came until the peg opposite walked it with 84lb. Just the next peg then, and it looked close when he pulled his net out, but the scales settled on 27lb 4oz leaving me second.
It was a mixed day really, I was happy to frame off a peg I didn't fancy, but the weather and the leaves had definitely cost me a few fish. I think I perhaps should have tried the margins earlier, and definitely should have tried maggot or caster earlier when I couldn't always get the presentation I wanted on corn. Thankfully it didn't really cost me, I'd never had 80lb from the peg to win bit I perhaps should have had 40lb from the peg.
Next week sees us go in to November and what should be proper winter fishing, except the weather is forecast to be in the mid to high teens all week! I'm not really sure what to expect from Lake one next week, but I'll let you know!
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