Nice to see that the bank holiday has kept up it's usual tradition, seeing as it's been lovely all week and once the weekend arrived so did the rain and cold!
I was hoping for a change in my luck at the draw bag ( I was elected to draw, even though my form in the bag isn't great at the moment!) Going in the queue late some good combinations of pegs had already come out of the bag, so I wasn't optimistic! In the end I was reasonably happy with the combination of pegs that come out of the bag, with numbers 12 and 42. With 12 being a wider peg I was took that, being the younger one of the pair!
I hadn't walked round but from the car park I knew it would be in full blast of the wind. I think the time I took the picture was as calm as it got! I wasn't that optimistic about the peg to be honest, having struggled of it in the past. I did set up a pole rig to fish up the island at about 15m, but envisaged I'd end up on the tip. This was something that came to the fore while I was changing the rig, as the wind launched both my pole and the rollers over. How it didn't damage my pole I don't know- I was very lucky there. So a small method it was to fish over! A pole rig for 12m and down the peg was set up just where it started to shallow up. In 6ft of water a .4gr diamond bodied float was put up, on .17 line to a .13 hook length and a 15 B711. Last rig up was for the right margin at 5m, where there was a slight bay in the edge with a little bank side cover hanging in to it. This rig was on .16 line direct to a size 20 Fox series 2 hook. Elastic was Preston 15h and the swim was about two and half feet deep. I also found an area in the left margin the same depth, but I didn't feed it at the start as it was facing in to the wind and I didn't want to feed it and not be able to fish it!
On the whistle I fed the deep swim with half a pot of hemp, a few 4mm pellets and a few grains of corn, while the margin had a 50/50 mix of hemp and pellet, with a few grains of corn. A single hair rigged grain of corn was cast across on the method. A perfect cast first time, with the feeder splashing the island, resulting in a bite after only a minute or two, a good start! Only a common of about 2lb but I was off the mark. The next chuck the tip went round and unbelievably, there wasn't a fish on the end! The third chuck gave me a small ghostie of about 2lb then the next fish made the roots, and after a bit of too-ing and fro-ing it came off. It was a little while before the next bite, probably on the 45min mark. This was again a fish of probably 2 1/2lb. I topped up the long line (I was feeding the margin with a few pellets by hand) and went back on the tip. I then had another quick bite, picking up the rod there was no resistance and when I wound in the hook length was cut clean in half.
The loss of another fish seemed to slow the swim down a bit, with nothing in the next 45 minutes although I was still getting liners. I did top up the deep line again and kept plugging away on the tip. Coming up to the two hour mark two quick fish made it in to the net. Not big fish but a touch bigger than the others at probably 3lb a piece. The swim then seemed to fade again, although I was still getting odd liners so I decided to try the deep pole swim. I gave it near ten minutes and just as I was about to give up on it the float ducked under but I missed it! I gave it a bit longer but no more bites came so it was back on the tip.
The spell on the tip was a bit frustrating ( including one chuck that got stuck up the island!) as fish seemed to come instantly to the feeder, with a flurry of liners before fading off quick. I tried having the bait right on top of the feeder instead of burying it- hoping that the fish would find it quickly. The idea was sound in principle but it didn't work! The next thing to try was adding some micro pellets to the mix, so while these were soaking I had a drop in the margin on pellet. I had a bite instantly and soon another 3lb common was in the net. I missed a bite next drop in and then had another common of about 3lb. I was just starting to think I was going to empty the margins when the next drop I pricked a fish and the swim quietened off. I topped up with a quarter of a pot of hemp and pellet, then mixed the soaked micro's in to the crumb for the feeder. I was going to feed the left margin but the wind was a big no-no now, gusting at times at stupid strengths!
The addition of the pellets seemed to have an instant response, as carp number nine made it's way in, a mental ghostie common of about 3lb. On the next cast the second hail shower of the day started and as I reached for my jacket the tip wrenched round but with the slight delay in picking up the fish was snagged in the roots. I had another drop in but the activity had faded so I went in on the pole in the deep water. I missed a bite which may have been a liner, before missing two bites that almost certainly weren't! Back in the margins and two more fish made their way to the net in the next twenty minutes, although both being only just 2lb a piece. The indications seemed to slow a bit so I topped up with a quarter of a cup of bait and went back on the tip.
The first cast bought just some liners so I decided to try two hair rigged pellets instead of corn. This gave an instant response with a fish that felt much better than any of the others I'd had. After a few minutes a cracking looking koi about 6lb was in the net. Going in to the last hour now and bites seemed hard to come by, with another try on both pole lines being fruitless. I decided to up the bait by hand in the margin swim before trying double corn on the hair on the method. Again the change bought a quick response, with a pure silver ghostie about 4lb joining his orange, black and silver mate in the net! However after this the swim seemed devoid of life, so with 40 minutes to go I decided to stick it out in the margins.
I was getting liners in the margins and with twenty minutes to go the increase in bait worked as a bite on pellet saw me land by far the biggest fish from the margins, a common of about 6lb. Unfortunately I couldn't add to it, with the last spell of the match producing just one missed bite.
When the scales got to me 51lb 12 oz was the top weight on my lake, I knew I didn't have that, but I was closer to it than I thought with my fish going 50lb 10oz. I was thinking that the lost fish had cost me a lake win when the last angler to weigh on the lake had 84lb 12oz. Lake third it was then! Back in the car park everyone was trying to work out who'd won (while the organiser was) and it seemed that me and my partner (who was 4th on the other lake) were tied on points with another pair for first. No problem, as we had a better weight. When the result was read out both pairs were read out as first- tied on points, the weight difference apparently didn't matter and we split 1st and second! A bit of a bummer as we were done out of third last year on weight after tying on points! I wasn't the only one a bit miffed by this too! Still, at least I caught some fish on what must have been the coldest day in May I've ever fished. We were even treated to another hail shower in the car park after!
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