Sunday July 10th

Well, what a change it makes not to whinge about the weather! This morning was about as near a perfect morning as you'd pick to fish; not to warm, a slight breeze plus a bit of cloud..... I have to admit I was optimistic! Walking round the lake beforehand and the marginal lilly bed looks wrecked and there were a lot of lillies drifting loose so it looked as though the fish had spawned too.

I wasn't overly picky with regards to pegs apart from the fact I didn't want pegs 15 or 40, so I was happy to see both of them gone before I got to the draw bag! I was very happy with the number that came out in my hand, I've a good relationship with peg 25! It's a peg I knew I'd be able to get right up in to the shallow water of the island, and while it's not the narrowest of pegs, it's one where I can leave the 17.5m section in the bag!

Nothing too complex for the day in hand tackle wise, I had two identical rigs for 16m to the island fished just to my right, plus a margin rig. The far bank rigs were Nick Gilbert XTM's on .17 line to .15 hook-links and size 18 Fox Series 2 hooks, both matched to Preston 15h lakky. Depth here was about 18in. The other rig was for the margin to my right at about 5m. I had to do a bit of gardening to be able to pull my rig right in to the bank into about 2.5ft of water. Float here was was a newer.2gr Nick Gilbert XT Series Margin float coupled to my normal margin gear of .19 line to a 17 hook-link and a size 16 Fox Series 2. Lakky on this was purple Hydro. Unusually I was ready well before the whistle so I also put up a rig to fish shallow against the far bank, but I never picked it up!

On the whistle I fed a small palm-full of 6mm pellets (about 25-30) across while the margins had just a small pinch of hemp and corn, plus I was going to flick corn there by hand too. On going across on a 6mm expander I had a carpy like indication that I think was from a fish spooking before catching a roach of about 2oz. The next chuck I again had a roach of the same size before the indications got a bit silly and then died away. On the half hour mark with the indications fading I cupped in the same amount of pellets that I started with and had a bite almost the instant the float settled which produced a carp of about 3lb.

With the first carp in the net I picked the catty up and started pinging a few pellets across but the indications were few and far between so on the hour mark the cup went back across. This again bought an instant response from a carp bigger than the first at about 5lb. That fish was quickly followed by a smaller carp of perhaps only a pound before the indications faded again. I expected that going across with the cup would bring a fish again as had been the pattern but it didn't, and the swim seemed to be going downhill rather than getting better with indications fading away.

On the two hour mark I started to introduce casters in with the cupped feed while still pinging pellets across in three's and four's every few minutes. I took the chance to have a quick drop in the edge as I'd seen signs of fish but all I had was a couple of liners. Going back across, but on double caster and at last there seemed to be a bit of life with an occasional indication. I managed to catch two perch before my first carp fell to the change, a dark koi of about 4lb. This was followed by a chunky mirror next drop of a similar weight. After that fish the indications again faded so I again fed with the bigger cup, about a dozen each of caster and 6mm pellet before having another quick try in the margins.

As happened the first time in the edge I only had a liner so I didn't waste too long there, and on dropping back across the lakky was ripped out as I lowered the float in, this resulted in another chunky dark coloured koi but this one was probably nearer 5lb. I was still getting indications after this so I held back from cupping in again and just flicked a few pellets in, and eventually carp number six fell. A quick drop in after that and the indications weren't really there so across went the cup again. At this point someone walked round and bought news that the lake was fishing hard, with the most anyone admitting to being three carp. The fish came back to the feed but were most definitely edgy, I suspect at least in part due to the walker!

The fish did come back, after I'd had another brief (bite-less) spell in the edge. Steady rather than fast I was getting two fish off a feed before having to cup in again. I did try toss-potting rather than catapulting and using the big cup but it wasn't right and I think the fish felt more comfortable grazing rather than with the feed super tight. The fish were worth waiting for, all about four pound mark.

With forty minutes to go I was on thirteen carp and steadily working towards a good weight when a hooked carp ran along the island to the left, much the same as the others had. This one however hit a branch and broke the hook-link off against it, but I did get the branch out! The lost fish seemed to upset the swim a bit and it took a while to get the fish going again. A change to half a worm managed to get me three more carp in the last twenty minutes, the first two a bit smaller than average but the last one, netted just on the whistle was a beautiful black, gold and silver koi of around 6lb.

I couldn't really see the other anglers but had heard a bit of splashing late, but when the scales got to me 25lb was the top weight. My fish comfortably topped that and went a bit more than I thought nudging the scales to a total of 70lb 12oz, comfortably finishing ahead of the second placed weight of 29lb.

Overall I have to say I enjoyed the day, I worked hard for the fish and felt satisfied with the result. It was also nice to be rid of the lost fish that have been a problem on the lake in the last few weeks too, not that I was doing anything different!