Well, thankfully the winds had dropped for Sunday but on the minus side it had rained over night, a lot! something which normally effects the fishing negatively at Westside. I took my normal place late in the draw queue and was happy when peg 29 came out in my hand. It's got good recent form too with a first and a second in the last two matches.
With low weights winning the last two matches I decided on quite light rigs. I had two rigs for the pole across. First was a 4x10 Preston chianti, adapted to take a plastic tip. This was set to fish in just over three feet of water about two foot away from the island, on the front of the slight bay about 16.5m away. The second rig was a 4x10 Preston PB2. This rig was to fish about a foot off the bottom and would later be used to poke right in to the bay later in the match where it was just under three feet deep. Both these rigs were on .125 line to a 16 B611 and on a soft Preston 13h elastic. A third rig was for just down the near ledge to my left. I had a good five feet of water only feet from the bank so I fished at 5m to my left just off the remains of some lillies. This rig had a 4x14 chianti, again with a plastic tip. Line was .14 and hook was a 16 B611 and the lakky was a 12 latex. I did toy with putting up a bomb rod but decided not to as there was no wind and I could comfortably hold the 17m of pole I'd need to go right in the bay.
Plan for the day was to drip feed into just one area of the far bank, and other areas I'd plumbed (the other corner of the bay as well as right in it) would be fed later if need be but not before I'd tried them without bait. On the whistle I fed just six casters across while the 5m line had a small pinch hemp and three grains of corn. I decided to try corn across first and missed a sharp bite on it after only a couple of minutes, followed by two more in the next five minutes. I wasn't sure if they weren't bites from silvers so I slipped a caster on and a similar bite produced a 3oz roach, followed by a dumpy 2oz perch. The bites went a bit iffy after this and on the half hour mark I had a liner so I decided to try the shallow rig. First drop gave a bite from a tiny roach, but the second go the float settled and then slipped away and the lift was followed by a good amount of lakky. After a sluggish start a decent fight gave me a common of about 5lb was in the net, hooked just outside the mouth - a sure sign that the fish weren't feeding properly and what I perhaps expected after so much over night rain.
After that carp I decided to try for another without feeding. The exact pattern of the last drop happened again, the float slipped away just after settling but this time the lift was met with the elastic screaming off into the next peg and what I suspect was a foul hooker broke me. Unsurprisingly no more bites followed so I topped up with a few casters and decided to try the short line. I did have a liner after a few minutes on corn but nothing came of it, while trying a caster gave me just a tiny perch. After a good ten minutes I went back across on the shallow rig and caster and had a run of bites from roach, mostly 2oz fish but with one chunkier fish about 4oz but they quickly dried off. After a bite less few minutes I decided to go back on the deck on corn, missing a bite after a few minutes but connecting with the second. A very lively fight eventually resulted in a cracking looking fully scaled mirror, but it was hooked in the pectoral fin!
No more bites followed in the next few minutes, and by this time the sun had come round and was a complete nightmare. I was squinting trying to see my float, even with Polaroids, a peaked cap and one hand in front of me! At the halfway point of the match I tried the 5m line again, partly prompted by the sun and partly by the angler on the next peg (to my left) landing their second fish in a short spell from that line. No bites came so I went back across. Nothing on the deck led me to try up in the water again which gave just a tiny roach so I decided to try further along right into the bay. Not long after dropping into the bay I foul hooked and lost a fish as I was lifting the rig but it came off very shortly after. I went strait back to the same spot and an instant bite gave me a ghostie common, bigger than the first two fish at about 5lb, and a complete nightmare to play with the sun in my eyes.
The next few minutes gave no more bites so I dripped a few more casters in and shortly after I had another fish on. Again with the sun in my eyes I couldn't see what it was doing or where it was going and it came off half way back. I'm sure it wasn't foul hooked and was cursing as lost fish were most definitely not the way to keep the swim going, and predictably the bites dried up, both over the feed and in the bay. I tried the other side to the bay and this gave a small roach to caster but nothing else so I had a quick, but fruitless try on the 5m line. I have to say I was surprised there were no silver fish as I'd regularly been flicking a few casters by hand on it in an attempt to bring it to life.
With the whole swim seeming to be dead I decided to try dripping in a little bait regularly via a toss-pot, just 4-5 casters and an odd maggot in an attempt to liven things up. Not that long after trying it I hooked another carp, although it wasn't over the bait, I'd decided to have a quick drop in half way between where I was feeding and the back of the bay where the last fish had come from. This carp was much smaller than the others at around 2lb but hopefully I could pick a few of them up. Also, thankfully, the sun had dropped enough behind the far bank trees not to be a problem. Unfortunately any thoughts of lining a few up were gone as with an hour to go I foul hooked another fish and it tore off to my right before coming off.
The last hour produced very little. Coming shallower produced some very dithery bites on caster which when the did develop were just tiny perch. Maggot got instant bites, both shallow and on the deck but from the same tiny perch. Corn produced nothing, not even a liner and the other areas of the swim were equally lifeless. The only thing of note was a chunky 4oz perch on caster on the deck, plus the angler to my right having four carp in the last hour on the bomb!
I have to say at the whistle I was ruing not setting the bomb up as I was sure the angler to my right would beat me. I carry the bomb rod made up so it was as simple as put it together and put a hook length on! Even if I hadn't fished it all day it would have been worth a try, especially when the fish were very spooky, plus not to mention when I had the sun in my eyes. Very little else had been caught and when the scales got the the next peg 12lb was comfortably first. When they put their 4 carp on the scales they went 17lb 8oz and I really thought he'd pip me. My bits were first on the scales and went 1lb 11oz. Pulling my carp out I was thinking they'd go 15lb at most, so was surprised when the scales went to 16lb 11oz, giving me 18lb 6oz in total and a very narrow win.
I have to admit I felt a bit lucky to have won as I didn't feel I'd fished well, losing as much as I'd landed (albeit foul hooked) meant that I was never able to get the fish going. Plus I do think the bomb in the quiet spells, certainly perhaps in the last hour, could have been worth an extra fish or two. I still really don't know why I never put it up as I certainly had the time. That bomb rod will be out every week now!
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