Sunday 24th January

It has to be said that this Sunday it was nice to arrive at the venue and for there not to be a single piece of ice in sight!

I quite fancied a draw in the 70's, being quite sure that as they all hold cover of some sort that they would probably be the pegs to have. I was slightly torn about the peg I drew (69) as people seem to favour the area as it's deep, yet I think sometimes when it's been very cold but the fish look for slightly shallower water that warms up a bit quicker.

Plan for the day was simplereally with two pole lines, one at 12m and one in the left margins where there are some sparse underwater stick-up's. Lastly I put up my trusty bomb rod to fish a strait lead past the pole line. With no wind I could get away with a light float in the near 7ft of water, using a 4x14 Preston Chianti. I had just over 5ft of water in the edge but the rig here was the same. I also put a shallower rig up using a 4x12 float with strung shotting, so I had at least one rig to try shallow on each line (two obviously on the longer line) All the pole rigs were on .12 line to 18 hooks, lakky was a soft 12 latex on the deeper rigs and grey hydro on the shallowest. Lastly for the bomb I had a variety of hook links tied up to allow me to try either punch or corn (singles and multiples) at varying lengths from the lead.

On the whistle both pole lines received a tiny amount of hemp, two grains of corn and a few casters before I baited the bomb with a single grain of corn and cast it a couple of meters past the pole line and to the right (where I had a fair amount of open water, I had a peg nearer to the left, and opposite to the left) It didn't take long before I had a slight twitch but it never developed. I left it about twelve minutes before re-casting, this time a touch closer in and more in front. After only a minute I had a proper liner which pulled the tip a good few inches round but again another ten minutes on that spot produced nothing. The third cast went directly in front, about 6ft behind the pole swim but gave nothing in 12-15 minutes. I have to admit that worried me as the last time (not counting when there was ice) I drew the area (peg 68) the only fish I had was on my first cast!

Deciding on a change I swapped the hook link for one with a longer hair and tried punch, casting to the spot where I'd had the proper liner. Again after only a minute the rod pulled steadily round, but this time it kept going! What felt like a decent fish kited round to the right for a few seconds without taking any line, then just as I was going to undo the clutch a bit it pulled off! I was not best amused.... Checking the clutch on the reel it seemed fine, set as it has been since it was last used, but I decided to slacken it two 'clicks' anyway in the hope that the situation would not be repeated.

The lost fish spelled the end of any movement, even liners. I went through the motions the next few casts but nothing happened, until an hour and a half in when totally out of the blue and just as I was about to give the pole a go, I had a savage pull before the tip dropped totally slack. After a few winds of the reel I made contact with the fish which rather plodded it's way to the net. At about 3lb the common had taken a single grain of corn cast strait in front but a few meters behind where I had fed the pole line. I gave the bomb another go on the same spot but nothing came of it.

Going on the pole it was again a case of going through the motions as like the pegs around me, I couldn't buy a bite, not on any bait or at any depth. At this point odd fish had been caught but only at the ends of the lake. Back on the lead and it was more of the same, not even a liner was to be had. The others in the open area where I was had ceased to get liners too, and with an hour and a bit to go the angler nearest (and opposite) packed up fish less. I'd been flicking a few maggots over the pole swims every 7-8 minutes after my first try on them, in an attempt to provoke a response even from a roach but I couldn't get the slightest sign of a fish anywhere.

Heading in to the last hour I decided to sit it out on the tip, so finding the biggest grain of corn I could I dropped it a few feet to the right of where I had caught the fish. After about ten minutes, and totally out of the blue the rod absolutely wrenched round and a couple of minutes after a common of about 4lb joined the other in the net. At least he wasn't lonely now! The late fish did bring hope of a late feeding spell but it wasn't to be, trying back where I'd had fish and even trying the furthest I'd cast, and leaving the casts 15-20 minutes I had no further joy. I think there may have been a slight twitch of the tip very shortly before the end but I was packing the pole rigs away at the time and didn't have my eyes totally focused on the tip.

After the match I was kicking myself for losing a fish on a hard day as despite hearing that one of the reeds pegs had produced a good weight nobody else had more than three carp. The top weight of the day was that one peg in the reeds, having 42lb of carp on punch I believe, where as two fish for 13lb was 2nd and just over 10lb was 3rd. My two carp went 7lb 2oz and was just enough for 4th. The lost fish had almost certainly cost me a place, and maybe even 2nd so while I was kicking myself for that at least I caught-the only person sat in the open water, and in the middle part of the lake to catch. The five or so others who had carp were all sat at either end of the lake.

Next week signals the start of the venue individual winter league (delayed due to the weather) so I'm hoping for a good start to the defence of my title. That said, the coming weeks weather looks none to clever so even it's it's not frozen it's gonna be hard! Check back in a week and see!

Sunday 17th January

Well, I have to admit that last week I let the weather get the better of me! With snow and a cold wind forecast, and the fact that I had a cold I really didn't fancy smashing ice again, so I didn't, I stayed at home!

Back to this week anyway... News was that the lakes were mostly thawed out on Saturday so I left the ice breaker at home. Trouble was that with the water already very cold a slight frost Saturday night put a coat of ice (albeit not that thick) back on the lake.

I was fairly happy with my draw. Peg 70 has a few straggly reeds to the left where I thought I'd be able to catch a few roach, while the tree at about 6m to the right is normally a good margin spot. The water was as clear as I've ever seen it and I could see the bottom under the tree so I didn't expect to fish right under it, but with near 4ft of water at the end of the tree, coupled with the sun being out and on the bank I did think it may offer the chance of a late carp. I couldn't break the ice as far out with the pole as I wanted, managing to about 9m out, not quite far enough to get to the bottom of the slope of the small island.

The three rigs I put up were as follows- A roach rig for just beyond the stick ups to my left in about four and a half foot of water. This was a 4x12 DC10 float on .12 mainline with a .09 hook link to a size 20 hook. Lakky for this was a doubled 5. The other two rigs (under the tree and on the edge of the ice) had the same line, hook and lakky, both on .125 line to an 18 hook and a 10 latex elastic. The only difference was the float sizes, a 4x12 for the margin and a 4x14 for the longer line. Depths were four foot and a little over five foot respectively.

On the whistle the roach line was fed with a pinch of hemp with three maggots and casters. The long line had more or less the same while I didn't feed the margin to start with and dropped in down there. I thought with the sun being on the bank and the cover that I might be able to nab an early carp but after five minutes with no joy I fed a few maggots and casters here and dropped on to the roach line. With it having a few minutes to settle I expected a response pretty quickly but it never happened. I gave it a few minutes, flicking 2/3 maggots over the top regularly but it just didn't go. I was surprised but not unduly worried as apart from the next peg along nobody else I could see had caught.

Coming up to the hour mark I'd tried all the swims but with no joy, and the reflections on the 9m line made seeing the float awkward. News came round that odd people were sat on pockets of small fish but it was feast or famine and as I was an hour behind in a small fish race I decided to abandon the roach line. I wasn't happy with the reflections on the 9m line as it was making it near impossible to see the float with a facing sun, plus it was a bit short of where I wanted. Oh how I wanted my ice breaker! Then an idea; a 3 inch thick two foot long on the bank, which was rapidly lobbed out on to the edge of the ice smashing it about a meter back. After a quick clear out with the pole cup I fed a couple of maggots and a small pinch of hemp on the line before leaving it.

Dropping in under the tree and a few tiny knocks showed on the float. Lifting and dropping the same happened again. I decided to try a smaller hook on the rig, trying to just catch a fish. First drop and a small roach came in, my first fish of the year! Two more followed in the next two drops but then they faded away. I went over the longer line and no sooner had the float settled it dipped away but I missed it. A small roach followed next chuck but no more came.

Nothing else had happened going in to the last hour, while three or four anglers had been regularly catching small roach. The only signs of fish in front of me were on the longer line. With three quarters of an hour to go the float dragged to the left a few inches before slipping away. Lifting up expecting a small roach to be on the end I was surprised when the number 10 latex made it's way under the ice. After a few minutes of delicate playing a mirror of about 2 1/2lb was in the net, YYYEEESSS! A liner next chuck led to nothing so I fed three maggots and the same of hemp on the line before having an unsuccessful try in the margins again. Two more small roach were all that found their way in in the last half an hour before the whistle went.

My first carp of 2010 tipped the scales at a whopping 2lb 15oz and the roach 2oz between the lot of them, but it was enough for my first win of the year with nobody else on the lake catching a carp. Second was 1lb 14oz of small roach and a few other weights over 1lb were weighed in.

Hopefully by next week all the ice will be gone and we can resume normal winter service! See you then...

Sunday 3rd January

Well, the New Year has started the same as the old one, that is cold! Oh, and with a lot of ice! I can't be the only one who's fed up with it...

With a surprisingly good turn out and more than one ice breaker present (plus the boat and some weed rakes) the required number of swims were cleared super quick and the draw was only a few minutes late! I fancied the pegs anywhere in the open water (67-72 were the ones in) so with due aplomb my hand came out of the bag with peg 62! Yes, I've finally managed to draw it, but typically weeks after I'd have wanted to, and weeks after a carp was last caught in a match!

Plonking my box down and my first task was to clear the ice again, as it had only been smashed and it was starting to freeze up again. Drawing the peg put me in a bit of a dilemma as last week the island pegs had not produced anywhere near the numbers of roach as the other pegs, plus they had shown late. The corner, with a few stick up's in it had the morning sun into it and the peg had been (up until the freeze up) THE peg for carp (which is why I drew it for the first time in two and a half years fishing at the venue, when no carp have been showing!) So I decided to have a gamble and put a rig up for carp next to the stick ups, while feeding a near roach swim as last week. The carp rig was on .12 to an 18 hook and grey hydro - not too heavy but I'd imagine any carp hooked would be very sluggish. This rig had a small 4x10 float in just over 3ft of water. The roach rig was the same as last week but with a lighter lakky (lesson learned!) chancing trying doubled elastic again, with a double 5 hopefully soft enough not to bump any better silvers but give a fighting chance with any carp.

On the whistle I fed three casters, the same of maggots and a tiny pinch of hemp on the 4m roach line before trying the longer margin line (I decided not to break across) at 7m with bread punch not feeding. I decided to leave the roach line till I saw other people start catching off theirs.

To cut a long story short (four hours and forty minutes shorter to be precise, I packed up a bit early!) I never had a bite. The two pegs to my right never had a bite either and I only saw four tiny roach caught all day with three of the five people I could see blanking. I spent the majority of the day on the carp rig, mostly on maggot but for what it was worth I may as well have been fishing on a 20mm boilie. Even with the sun in the corner my peg was freezing up all day and while the corner looked like it could produce a fish I don't really think I was ever in any danger of doing so!

So, the New Year hardly started with a bang but I did get to enjoy Man U getting dumped out of the FA Cup by Leeds which provided some amusement, and as the sun was dropping, along with the temperature I packed up at the final whistle as I was fed up with clearing the ice every five minutes. As I thought the open water pegs caught roach with 3lb 11oz winning, and while nobody had any decent fish they had a lot of bites with the winner having 150 odd fish!

I have to say I'm rather fed up of the weather now and am contemplating waiting until the weather picks up a bit now, which looking at the long range weather forecast may not be for a while.... I'll let you know what I decide next week!