I have to admit I was looking forward to this weeks match on the old lake, partly as I'd had a break from it, and more partly because I'd managed to sneak out pleasure fishing during the week and had a good 150lb+ from the same lake!
I have to admit in the morning the optimism was lessened a touch by the howling wind. When my hand went in to the bag peg 42 came out, a peg I was reasonably happy with, but not out of the wind! Putting my box down the wind was blowing from left to right but at me, a direction that was going to make presentation awkward in the left margin, the one I preffered. I had a quick plumb up at 12m in the open water, as a starter mostly as the pole was just controllable as long as the wind didn't pick up anymore. Rig for this was on .17 line to a .15 hook link with a 20 Fox Series 2 hook. Float was a handmade diamond pattern in .4gr size (very stable for it's weight) in about five and a half foot of water. This rig would also double up for the 5m line, where it was a touch shallower. Last rig up was a margin rig, for the left under a tree and tight to the bank. This was on .18 direct to a 16 Fox series 2, float was a .2gr DC5 in two and a half foot of water.
On the whistle the long line was fed with a pinch of hemp and corn, while the 5m line got half a pot of corn. The margin swim had a whole pot, half hemp and the rest equal parts corn and meat.
Odd fish were starting to cruise about and on starting long on a grain of corn I had a knock instantly that I missed. I had no more indications in the next few minutes so topped up the same line with a few grains of corn with the big pot. The wind meant a toss-pot was a no-no! Odd indications followed after feeding but nothing that probably wasn't from cruising fish. All the while I was flicking corn to the 5m line, while on the half hour the margin had another half a pot.
With an hour gone no proper bites had been forthcoming, and with the wind picking up I dropped in on the closer lines earlier than I wanted. Nobody right at my end of the lake had caught yet, but I could see some people in the middle that had. Ten minutes on the 5m line gave me no joy so I decided to have a drop on the margins. I was just going to leave it when a liner made me decide to give it a touch longer. I hooked a fish only seconds later but it come off after a few seconds. I decided to top the swim up and leave it alone after that.
I had a brief look out long after but the wind had carried on increasing and after a few minutes gave up on it as a bad job. Back on the 5m line and nothing was really happening so I decided to pot in half a cup of hemp to try and kick it to life. It kind of had the effect as I started to get odd liners, but it was nudging the halfway mark before I had my first proper bite on the line, which I promptly missed! No mistakes the second time as I re-baited and dropped back in. I flicked a few grains of corn round the float and then it vanished. I know from past times drawing the peg it's a slow starter but I had to say I was relieved to slip a 3lb common in to the net! It was probably a quarter of an hour before the next bite, but I lost the fish. I'm not sure if it was foul hooked or rolled on the line but it didn't feel right as I played it.
The line seemed to slow a bit after so I fed a decent amount of hemp on the line again and carried on flicking corn on to it while I tried the margin again. I was starting to get liners on the margins but I couldn't get a proper bite on it so I soon went back on the 5m line. This produced a frustrating spell of missed bites, and despite changing depths and the shotting I still couldn't hit the bites. I'd liked to have shortened the line between the float and pole but the wind was nasty by this time. With an hour and a bit to go I dropped in to the margin and still had indications that I couldn't turn in to bites. I decided to put on a new rig for the margin, with the same gear but on a longer line. This allowed me more leeway with the wind, and also allowed me to lay more line on the bottom. To counter the increased likely hood of liners I took off a shot to leave more float showing. This had the desired effect, producing proper bites. I was missing as many as I was hitting, but at least I was getting bites now! The last hour gave me six more carp, the first four about 3lb a piece and the last two bigger, around the 4/5lb mark. All came to meat.
At the end I was close to anyone that I could see, but I did wonder if the sheltered pegs around the island had made the most of being out of the wind. As the first to weigh in my seven carp went 24lb 12oz on the scales, which stayed 1st until we got to peg 62 in the corner, who was admitting to eight carp. The went on to the scales at 29lb exactly and in the end proved enough for the win, leaving me in second with 21lb and some close weights after that. I was a bit disappointed after, not only for sussing the margins too late and narrowly missing out, but with the wind which ruining what would have been a better days fishing, as I wasn't alone in thinking that there were more fish to be caught than the weather allowed us too!
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