Sunday November 21st

It has to be said that after not fishing last Sunday I was very eager to get out on the bank, although I didn't have my normal pre-draw walk round as I was engaged in something else that brought me much joy- gooner baiting! As you do really when your a Spurs fan and you beat them at their own place after giving them a two goal start.

With the Christmas match coming up in a fortnight some pegs went in the bag that generally ain't used, so that they're clear and have been fished beforehand. I drew one of those pegs (67) and I was pretty happy with it as the pegs either side that are normally used are both decent winter pegs. I was slightly tempered by the fact that the pegs in that area of the lake all blanked last week mind!

Plan of attack for the day was simple; a bomb rod and two pole lines. I was going to fish the bomb more to my left towards (but not on) the point of the island. This was standard winter bomb gear, using a 1/3oz Guru square pear lead running on 6lb line and stopped with a Korum quick change bead. I had a few hook-links to try on it, all tied on .15 line using either size 16 or 18 Kamasan Animals. The different hook-links allowed me to try various length traces and different multiples (or just a single) grain of corn. I plumbed around and at 13m found an area where there was a pronounced kink in the bottom. Peg 66 to the left is a fair bit shallower than 68 to the right and the bottom sloped away gently left to right but at about 11 o'clock there was a sharp difference of about a foot so I settled on fishing just away from this. Depth was just over 6ft and float here was a .4gr NG Decker on .15 line to a .14 hook-length and a 16 B611 hook, which looks tiny compared to the Fox hooks I use when it's warmer! A similar rig was put up for the 2+2 line but fished to my right a bit where it's a touch deeper, being as closer in was shallower and the colour has dropped from the water. This was in about 5ft of water and used basically the same rig as the long line but with a .3gr float, both set to fish at dead depth. Lastly I had a shallow rig set at 3ft for trying over the long line. This was on .14 direct to a 16 B611. All the pole rigs were matched to Preston 13h elastic.

On the whistle I fed the long line with four grains of corn and a small pinch of hemp, while the closer line received the same of corn and a tiny ball of softened micro pellets. I then cast the bomb at and angle between me and the point of the island, but about four or five meters short. I had a liner pretty quick so I was sure the tip would go but after fifteen minutes nothing had happened so I re-cast a bit shorter. Again I had signs of fish but again after near twenty minutes nothing came of it. I tried double corn this time, and again a touch shorter but also more in front of me. Again I had a liner but after another fruitless fifteen minutes the occasional liner failed to produce. I decided to try a small pellet cone to try and make a bite, and this was cast towards the point but about six meters short. Again I had a liner, but again a twenty minute wait failed to produce a bite. Still, nobody else I could see had caught either!

With over an hour gone I decided it was time to try the pole line, so I slipped a smallish grain of corn on and shipped out. Nothing came of this after quarter of an hour so I decided to try dripping a few casters over the long line every few minutes via a small pot to try and provoke a response. After two more fruitless drops on corn I slid the float up 1cm and decided to try double maggot. After a few minutes I was sure I had a slight movement on the float which was shotted to the merest pimple. After another minute there was the slightest of dip's under the water and a lift was met with the sight of elastic. I have to admit I played the fish very gingerly and after a few minutes a decent common of about 6lb was in the net. Baiting with double red again and putting just four casters in the pot I shipped out long again. It took a few minutes again but there was again a definite but very delicate sideways movement on the float. A minute or so after that the float ever so gently just dipped under the surface tension. Again the lift saw elastic out and after a much more comfortable fight a small common of perhaps 2lb was in the net. The next drop again gave me a very slight movement but it never developed, so conscious that there were still three hours left I decided to rest the swim, topping it up with just four casters and three grains of hemp.

I had a fruitless spell on the bomb again, but with no liners at all. During this time I saw peg 42 on the opposite bank catch a carp, then news came round that peg 59 round the island had five, including a double figure fish! And they'd moaned like billy-ho about the peg too! After wasting fifteen minutes on the bomb I went back on the pole but disaster struck when I foul-hooked a fish lifting and dropping the rig, with it coming off after two or three seconds. On cold days I've often had that be the end of the swim so I dripped in just three maggots and then left it alone. I had a five minute try on the close line (which I'd flicked very occasional grains of corn too) but nothing came of it, so I had another drop on the bomb. I had every intention of giving it fifteen minutes before trying the long pole again but after only five or six minutes I saw peg 42 catch two fish in quick succession so I dropped back on it a bit earlier.

Again, after a short wait a tiny sideways indication indicated the presence of a fish, with the (very delicate) bite following shortly after. A plump common of about 4lb was followed about ten minutes later by a small mirror of about 3lb. A ten minute wait with no signs led to me cupping in just four maggots and three grains of hemp before I had another fruitless try on the close line which I'd started to drip maggots on. I also had a quick try on the bomb but I'd lost confidence in it so only gave it five minutes. At this point news got round that peg 59 now had seven carp, while others started to catch odd fish too.

Back on the pole and the most positive bite of the day followed when after lifting and dropping the rig the float actually "dinked" out of sight! After a ponderous fight a common of perhaps nearer 7lb than six was in the net. Next drop followed the usual pattern of slight movement and very delicate bite. The bad news is the same slow steady pull of the last fish was followed by the fish coming off! The sky may have been dull the whole day, but the air certainly turned blue then I can tell you! I gave the line a quick rest, again topping up with just four maggots. I was never confident of the other two lines going so didn't give them long, and with just an hour to go I was back on the long line.

A missed bite led me to nudge the rig up to dead depth (the fish had all been hooked just inside the mouth) and the desired effect was had as the next three drops all produced fish. Nothing big, all being around the three pound mark. Again the same pattern happened, a very slight movement being followed by a very delicate bite shortly after, and each time I topped up with just three maggots. I then missed two sharper bites in quick succession so I decided to nudge the float up a tiny bit and the next bite produced a very un-expected crucian of about a pound and a quarter! The steady nature of the swim continued to the end with three slight indications all being followed by a fish, a chunky 4lb mirror and a brace of equally chunky commons, both around the 4lb mark, finishing the match on a nice round ten carp. The ninth carp showed the value of having plenty of the same length hook-links tied when the hook went in the net and bent, as I bit it off and very quickly replaced it with an identical one, allowing me to drop back quickly without checking the depth again. The last carp went in the net with five minutes to go and given the bites had all taken a touch longer than that I dropped in for the last minute expecting not to have enough time for another. I didn't!

While packing up news of peg 59's catch seemed to vary between seven and ten carp, although all said about them having one big lump. When the scales got to me peg 59 had weighed in just over 40lb, with the lump being a ghostie of 13lb 2oz! My crucian went 1-7 on the scales and pulling my other net out it looked as it would be very tight for first. I didn't look at the scales but I knew I had around 40lb, with the weight being called at 41-11, giving me a 43-2 total and a very narrow win. Just 9lb something was third although someone threw back four carp and almost certainly third place as someone had apparently told them that everyone was bagging up! Oops.

Next week is back on lake one, and given that it hasn't had a match on it for a while I'm expecting it to be very hard. The weather forecast doesn't exactly look promising either.....

Sunday November 7th

I'll start with my now customary weekly moan about the weather! After a lovely mild week why do we have to get a days cold rain at the end of the week and then a sharp frost Saturday night. Still, I wouldn't want to be sitting out there right now in that wind.....

While waiting for the draw and chatting about pegs someone mentioned about peg 42 being no good. I kind of sprang to it's defence saying that it's pretty consistent all year round and nearly always produces fish, then putting my hand in the bag I was given a chance to prove what I had said (or eat my words) as that's what I drew! I was fairly happy with that, and it's a nice short walk!

Approach for the day was pretty simple really, three pole rigs for two lines and a bomb rod! The 13m and 5m rigs were practically identical, using a .3gr NG Floats Decker in about 5ft of water. the depth was about four inches difference but a separate rig allowed me to keep a nice short line above the float when fishing short. I also had a half depth shallow rig too, using a 4x10 PB2 float. All the rigs were with .13 hook-links (direct on the shallow rig) and had size 20 Fox Series 2 hooks, and all on Preston 13h elastic. The bomb rod was my trusty 10ft Drennan and was to be my starting gambit.

On the whistle the long line received three grains of corn and a pinch of hemp, while the close line had half a dozen grains of corn. I baited up the bomb with a single hair rigged grain of corn and used a tiny Guru pellet cone the give a little bait to the area. This was cast just short of mid-way but to my left. I did this as nobody was that way on the lake so it was a nice quiet area and hopefully somewhere the fish would move too out of the way of noisy anglers walking around before the start! It had been out no more than a minute when the tip nudged as if a fish was near, then only a few minutes later it pulled round with a fish on! Not massive at about a pound twelve but a quick start. I had a liner next cast but nothing on the cast after so on the three quarter of an hour mark I swapped to the pole.

I could see odd fish cruising around, but all were on the opposite side of the lake in the sun - as per usual I had drawn the cold side of the lake, and sat in the shade all day and was quite cool. I missed a bite first drop on corn but no more followed, so on the hour mark I started to toss-pot in odd grains of hemp and a few casters in an attempt so spark some life. Probably fifteen minutes after I started to get odd indications that I suspected were from roach, as some were topping in my swim. I gave it a short while on the shallow rig in case they were from carp higher in the water but nothing came of it, the showing fish were all still on the sunny side of the lake! Going back on the deck I decided to try maggot, and low and behold a small roach fell to double white, but fell off as I un-shipped. Back out on maggot and no quick bite, instead it was five minutes before the float slid under and lifting in to what I thought would be a roach wasn't a roach! Only a small carp, not much over a pound, but everyone was struggling with the exception of 46 in the deep water (where I was last week) who'd had three carp off the same short line I caught late from last week. A few minutes after that carp another slow bite saw me lift in to a fish, but after a second or two it came off and left me with a scale on the hook. Nothing came in the next ten minutes or so, so I cupped in two grains of corn and a few casters and left it.

My next try was on the close line, which I had been throwing grains of corn in ones and two's on, but I had no joy on this so I had two casts on the bomb, leaving each for about fifteen minutes but I didn't even have a liner. Dropping back on the longer pole line on maggot and a quick bite saw me catch a roach of an ounce. I switched to corn and a response was pretty quick in coming and saw me attached to a bigger fish. After a few minutes a chunky mirror nudging 5lb was in the net. It didn't take long next chuck to get another bite, albeit from a much smaller fish of about 2lb, again on corn, but any thoughts of a run of fish soon went as the next few drops were bite less.

I had a fruitless spell trying the bomb and even a short spell on the shallow rig but they came to nothing so with an hour and a quarter to go I found myself on the 5m line. I had a liner lowering the rig in so that gave me some confidence and after a short while I had my first bite here which produced another small fish just nudging the 2lb mark. I gave it a while longer although the swim showed occasional signs of life I couldn't get a proper bite, even trying away from the feed a touch, a trick that normally works. A quick try on the bomb to rest it gave me a small carp of not much more than a pound after a near ten minute wait, so I had another cast which saw the rod near pulled of the rest not long after setting the tip. This led to me playing a 3lb'er to the net with the spare hook-link that I was baiting up stuck in my hand! I didn't get a bite next drop so with half an hour left I came back to the 5m line. I had a bite here quickly and a fish that I'm sure wasn't foul-hooked powered off and then came adrift. I plugged away here for the rest of the match for nothing, but close to the end it did show signs of fish. In hindsight I should have tried the long line or gone back to the tip after losing that fish really.

As first to weigh in my fish went 18lb 11oz on the scales, while the next peg (same angler on the same peg that won last week) had just over 12lb. Peg 46 then put 36lb 9oz on the scales for a comfortable win. A few weights of 10-11lb was about the sum of all the other people weighing, leaving me in second, but I saw two people tip back that may well have had enough for 3rd! A bit daft really.

Last of all, just a quick note to say I wont be blogging next week as I shall be away over the weekend, but I'll be back raring to get out on the bank the week after!