Sunday May 30th

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!

Sunday 23rd May

Well, somebody has certainly turned up the heating out! A fair attendance of people had made their way out in to the sun, meaning that one or two pegs were in that I didn't really want to draw. The one that particularly stood out was peg 15... Now what did I say last week that I have a habit of drawing the pegs I don't want if I say it! So you've guessed what number came out of the bag in my hand! I have to say, sat back right in a corner it was really a margin or bust peg.

I had to fight my way in to the peg, as you can see it was a bit tight to get everything in with the bank side growth. Oh for a pair of shears! (I've learnt the hard way that you don't grab and pull them to rip them out, ouch!) The island is probably near 30m away so it was going to be a tip rod day, although finding it's 4ft odd deep tight to the island in a gap in the reeds meant it was twice the depth I wanted! Crumb mixed and clipped up at the right place it was time to decide my other approaches to the peg. The margin I thought would be the best bet- to my left there was a nice sloping margin so I plumbed along it until I found that perfect (in my mind!) two foot of water. Rig was simple and strong, with the margin pole making an outing as there were some big fish cruising about! A .2gr DC5 float on .18 line direct to an 18 Fox Series 2 hook, with purple hydro was the gear to hopefully subde them. The right margin was deeper than I wanted so I fed a 5m line a bit to the right in about 4ft of water. A .2gr diamond bodied float on .17 to .15 and a 20 Fox Series 2 was the set up. Last up was a rig to fish the weed bed that stretches through the peg in the middle. I found a hole at 12m to the left, but with over 6ft of water there I wasn't optimistic of catching there in the heat. Rig was the same as the 5m line but with a heavier float. Lakkies were 14 latex.

On the whistle I fed the pole swims, the margin getting a mix of hemp, 6mm pellet and corn, while the 12m line had just hemp and corn. Half a pot went on each, then I started flicking corn on to the 5m line. Baiting the method with a single grain of corn it was then dispatched to the island. Liners were evident from the off, and everyone around was getting the same whatever they were fishing as the fish were starting to spawn. Despite regular casting it took half an hour to get a proper indication, a drop back as I was just about to pick the rod up. A crucian of about half a pound was the result, although at least I was off the mark. The indication came a good half an hour later and was a proper yank around. I had to keep the rod up to keep the fish away from the weed and soon a 3lb common was in the net.

The next hour passed pretty slowly and a slight breeze had picked up. Blowing over my shoulder it seems that all the fish followed it as the cruising fish and the liners vanished. I tried the all the pole lines briefly but nothing showed on any of them, and nobody near was catching either. On the two hour mark I had a quick flurry of activity, with two fish in quick succession. The first a small common of about 2lb, the next a funny looking 5lb common that had the body of a 3lb'er with the head of a double stuck on it. A fish that I'm sure I've caught off the next peg in to my right twice before! The flurry of soon slowed, perhaps as they were all that was there, or maybe because the person on the next peg decided that they'd put the feeder up as I was catching on it, and the big "sploosh" seemed to land closer and closer to me each time!

Going passed the halfway mark I picked the rod up to find a fish attached, but once I got it back halfway it got stuck. Letting out slack the fish could swim away but no matter what I tried I couldn't get the fish past the snag and had to eventually pull for a break. A skimmer of a pound and a half soon after proved to be the only activity for a while, with the whole area of the lake seeming to be dead. I tried the pole lines, hoping the steady feeding by hand on the two closer lines would have gained the attentions of something, but it hadn't. With nothing to lose I filled in the margin line, giving it a pot of hemp then a pot of corn and pellet. I wasn't optimistic though! News also started to filter around the the only person really catching was on the golden peg, round the other side of the lake about as far as it was possible to get from where I was sitting.

With half an hour to go I toyed with packing away early when I again had two bites in two chucks, the first indications I'd had since the skimmer. Neither fish were big, both around two and half pound. On the last cast I had what looked like a liner that almost pulled the rod in, and an interesting twenty second tussle followed with a carp of about 8lb that had somehow managed to lasso it's self before it came free!

At the end of the match my fears had came true- that if the fish didn't come in to the edge it would be a struggle. It hadn't been great for anyone really apart from the golden peg who'd had 72lb. The other frame weights were a long way behind with 27lb and 26lb being next, with my 19lb odd being 5th.

Hopefully now the fish will have finished up spawning and the fishing will settle down for next weekend. With it being a bank holiday I'm not sure which day I'll be out, but hopefully it'll be a good 'un!

Sunday May 16th

Well, what a backwards week for weather! I had a suspicion that the fishing might prove to be tricky after a week that provided three frosts. I always remembered that May was warm....

With a decent attendance the craic before the match was good, which helped keep me awake after waking up at 3.30am for some reason. Standing in the queue in my customary late place all the favoured early pegs had gone, and I said I fancied peg 25, although I've only ever drawn it once before. Well, surprisingly peg 25 came out of the bag in my hand! Normally that only happens when I'm thinking of a peg I don't want to draw.....

The peg sits near the corner of the island, and it is about 15.5m to the island in front, although I elected to fish a little to the left in to the bay at about 16.5m, where the water was a bit shallower. The island rig was in about two and a half foot of water, using a 4x10 Preston durafloat direct on .15 line to a size 2o Fox Series 2 hook, lakky was Preston 15h. Plumbing along the island a bit I was disappointed to find only one real fishable area as the bottom was all over the place, plus there were a lot of twigs etc on the bottom. I did put up a shallow rig to explore along the island if need be. This was a 4x10 Preston PB2, again on .15 line direct to a 15 B711. Set to fish about 18in deep. Lakky was Preston 13h for this. Lastly I had a rig up for the deeper water, as it was where the two top weights were caught last week. I was surprised at the depth in front of me, having over 7ft of water from about 4m until about 12m, so the rig was at 13m at an angle to the right where it was just shallowing up. In not quite 7ft of water the rig was a diamond bodied hand-made float on .17 line to a .15 hook link. Hook was a 20 Fox Series 2 and lakky was a soft 14 latex. No margin line as experience tells me the margins here are deep, plus an awkward bottom.

I have to admit I wasn't sat on my box when the whistle went, and in the time it took me to sit down and cup a few pellets and a bit of loose crumb across I could see the angler on peg 18 already playing a fish! I fed the deep line with a decent pinch of pellet and some corn. It was a throw away line really, as I never seem to catch in the deep water on this lake. The same reason was also why I elected to feed it with pellet instead of the hemp and corn I never catch over!

Shipping across with a pellet I wasn't to be outdone by peg 18, and as per last week the float had hardly been out long when it slid away. Lifting saw me attached to a sluggish weight which then livened up. I have to admit though that a fish first drop normally for me is a bad sign, like last week! After a bit of a tussle a decent ghostie common of a good 7lb was in the net. Not a bad start whatever way you look at it. I went strait over again without feeding (having had an instant bite I thought some grub would still be there) I hadn't long been out when I missed a bite but no more indications followed so after a few minutes I put a toss-pot on and filled it with half a dozen pellets and a pinch of crumb. This had the desired effect as a liner was soon followed by a bite and a very lively fish was on. Unfortunately after a minute or two of flying about the whole swim it came off! I'm not sure it was foul hooked either.

The lost fish did to the swim exactly what I thought it might and no more bites followed. I carried on dripping a few pellets and a bit of crumb in, in the hope of getting the fish which had now started to cruise about a bit to go down. I wasn't unduly worried, as I'd only seen the one other fish caught and nobody was really getting any indications. Just on the hour mark I was contemplating having a quick drop on the track line when I had the kind of bite I like when fishing long- before I had a chance to realise the float was gone the lakky was streaming out! This one flew round like the one I'd lost before and when netted turned out to be a black and silver ghostie, a cracking looking fish of about 4lb. Quite why they scrap harder than normal carp I don't know- answers on a postcard please!

Nothing else came from the line in the next few minutes, and I'd seen no other fish caught either so I decided to feed a few casters on the long line, so a dozen went in the cup along with a pinch of loose groundbait. I then dropped in down the track on a pellet. I gave it a good ten minutes with no signs of life, then just as I was going to leave it I had a liner. This gave me a bit of hope of something coming from it and I gave the line a bit longer but nothing else came of it. I went back across on pellet and an almost instant bite gave me a sluggish resistance that never gained momentum and turned out to be a skimmer of about two and half pound.

Nothing more followed, and indeed the next hour and a half turned out totally dead, not only for me but for everyone else near me. A few fish were cruising about and while most around me seemed to be hoping that they would get there heads down and just waiting I was shipping back every few minutes to fill the toss-pot, mostly with crumb but with a few 4mm pellets in too. An occasional try on the shallow rig had given me just a tiny perch that dropped off on the way back. I'd actually just thought to myself that it was never going to happen when a bite out of the blue saw me playing carp number three and after a few minutes a common of about 5lb was in the net. Filling the toss-pot with a few pellets and a bit of crumb and no sooner had I tapped the bait out than the elastic pulled out of the pole. Carp number four quickly joined the others in the net, a smaller common of about 3lb. I was just thinking that the warmer temperature of the day had switched the fish on, but then they had disappeared as quickly as they'd arrived.

The next hour followed with no indications, on either the track line or across, and nobody I could see near me was catching anything other than odd silvers. With just under an hour to go another bite saw me playing carp number five. A common of about 6lb was soon in the net, and following the pattern I put half a dozen pellets in the pot then topped it off with groundbait. I doubt the bait had been in the water more than a minute when the float went away and at the same time as I lifted the lakky shot out of the end. I had the fish on for no more than a few seconds then it was gone. Shipping back I found the whole rig had gone- not a trace of line left! Somehow the rig must have came off. A new rig on and I went back over, but that was it. For some reason the rig didn't seem right and I was never as happy with it as the one I'd lost. I did have another go with the shallow rig but all that gave me was a tiny perch. Odd fish were then moving across and I'm sure I'd have caught on the other rig, even though the new one was on exactly the same set-up!

While waiting for the scales the most anyone was admitting to was four carp, although somebody was apparently admitting to having a couple of doubles. It sounded like it was going to be close! When the scales got to me 17lb was the top weight and I comfortably had that, my skimmer and micro perch going 2lb 8oz and my five carp going 26lb 8oz, giving me a dead level 29lb. The next best weight was just over 19lb in the end and that nagging feeling that lost fish would cost me didn't come true. I have to say I was a bit miffed still about the rig coming off, I've used the crows foot way of attaching rigs to the elastic for over seven years and have never had that happen before. Guess I'll just have to put it down to one of those things!

Sunday May 9th

Well, I'd like to know what's happened to the weather, apart from the fact that it's getting colder and not warmer! I was quite happy with my draw peg 14 being near to where I drew last week. The only down side was that the peg had the cold north-easterly wind on it.



On sitting at the peg the wind wasn't too bad, and it allowed me to plumb up on the long pole. There was about 3ft of water tight up to the island at 17m, perhaps a little more depth than I'd want at this time of the year. With quite a bit of room to my left I had enough space to fish two margin swims. One at 5m which I'd feed by hand just short of a newly growing lilly bed, and the other at 12m under some nearside vegetation. The rig for across was a 4x12 Preston durafloat on .16 line direct to a size 20 Fox Series 2 hook, with lakky being Preston 15h. The margin rig had the same hook and line, using a 4x12 Preston Somo in about two and a half feet of water (same depth on both swims) I also had a stronger margin rig set up, just in case! I had the tip rod left in the rod sleeve but close to hand should the wind picked up.

On the whistle I fed a pinch of 4mm pellets across, the long margin line with a decent pinch of hemp and a few grains of corn. The close margin line was fed just by hand, having a pinch of pellets every few minutes. It didn't take me long to get a response across on a 6mm pellet. The bait hadn't been the water much for than a minute I guess when I had my first bite. After a decent scrap I had a common of about 7lb in the net, not a bad start! Nothing next drop so I re-fed with a reasonable pinch of pellet and was instantly in again, this time a smaller carp of about 3lb. Again only slight nudges followed so I had to feed again, although only with a small amount via-toss pot. This didn't seem to have the desired effect and after four or five drops with just odd liners I fed a decent amount via the big cup again. Again it didn't take long for a response as a mirror of about 4lb made the net. No more bites followed, and even the knocks and liners had seemed to fade away.

The rest of the match was a bit of a washout- I think what I was worried about happened, and I think I may have over done the bait. I had to feed a decent amount to get the bites; topping up with a toss-pot didn't work, so I really should have gone down the micro pellet and caster route rather than using the 4mm pellets I did. At one point the wind picked up enough that I needed to fish the tip and after not long I had a crucian of about a pound and a half, but that proved to be a false dawn. The last few hours of the match passed un-eventfully, and even the margins were lifeless.

In the end I tipped back about 15lb, and the lake had fished a bit harder than I expected, with 32lb winning and 31lb being 2nd, and 27lb third. In hindsight I should have fished it much more like I would have in March or early April. I may have had to put up with a few bits but I think a framing or winning weight would have been possible, but instead (like a lot of others I think on the day) I got it wrong and over done it. Still, next week is on the same lake so I'll be trying to put it right then!

Bank Holiday Pairs Match

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!