Sunday 27th February (W/L Rd 3)

After last weeks match I was looking forward to this round of the winter league as the fish seemed to be spreading out at last. I did walk around the lake before the draw and it was noticeable that the water was starting to colour up, hopefully from fish moving around! Peering into the reeds on peg 72 they were solid with carp and it looked like it would be the peg to draw. Other than that the only thing I noted was that I didn't want to draw peg 53 in the corner as the cold north-easterly wind was blowing strait into it. I also have a love / hate relationship with that peg, largely hate!


I drew in my customary late position and thankfully 53 was gone (normally saying I don't want a peg guides it into my hand in the bag), although 72 was also gone. When peg 70 came out in my hand and I was pretty happy with that as it gives you the option of shallow water in the edge under a small tree, deeper water in the open plus the small island to fish to, although the bottom is very up and down near it and not the best for fishing.


Putting my box down on the peg it was noticeable that there were a lot of small roach topping and I figured that may mean that the maggot approach that's worked well lately may be a no-goer. I didn't plumb up too close to the small island, experience told me it's about four and a half foot deep in front of it, and that also there is a root or similar snag halfway along it! I set up a rig to try shallow against it early at 14.5m, hoping to snare a fish on punch early. This was a 4x10 Preston PB2 set at about two and a half feet deep. Line was .14 to .125 to a 16 B611 and 11h lakky. The rig I thought would be the main line of attack was at about 12.5m were the bottom was shallowing up. The rig here had the same hook and lines as the shallow rig but the float was a 4x14 Preston Chianti in about five foot of water. Lakky here was also 11h. My margin rig was at 6m to my right just under the edge of the tree, in not quite 3ft of water. This rig was on .14 direct to a 16 B611 and on 13h elastic. Float was a 4x12 Chianti. I'd like to have used a lighter float but fishing that way was facing into the wind and the heavier float held the rig better in the skim. Lastly, with the colour back in the water I figured it was worth a gamble having a 2+2 line again, hoping it could be worth a bonus fish in the last half an hour or so. This was just my side of the deepest water in near 6ft of depth. Float was a .3gr NG Floats decker, but with the same line, hook and lakky as the margin rig. Bait-wise on my tray I had corn, caster, maggot and some softened micro pellet, with some 4mm expanders for the hook.


On the whistle I fed the 12.5m line with a tiny ball of micro's and four maggots, while the margin line had a small pinch of caster and micro's. Baiting up with a large piece of punch I shipped out to the small island. It didn't take long for the float to bury but I missed it! I suspected small roach as they were topping out there. Dropping the rig back out and the same happened, while the two anglers opposite had both had small roach on maggots. I baited up with a tougher (and bigger) double punch and the roach seemed to leave this alone. After ten minutes without a sign here, trying it along the island I came in and swapped for the main rig. With double maggot on the rig it went strait away and a roach of about 1oz went in the net. I was already a long way behind peg 72 mind, as they had three carp already! In fact at this time I'd seen six carp caught, all to my right off the increasingly stiff and cold breeze.


I plugged away catching small odd small roach on maggot, introducing tiny balls of micro's with odd maggots when after 45 minutes I decided to slip on a pellet. A longer wait for a bite gave me hope the roach would leave it alone but when it did go it was an even smaller roach! At this point I decided to introduce odd grains of corn so something that the micro roach wouldn't eat was left in the swim. I also topped the margin line as in all probability the (now annoying, where were they when we had the ice!) roach had eaten all the bait there. I had another try on the long punch rig, and on corn on the main line but with no joy. With peg 72 running away with it easily now on the hour and a quarter mark I dropped in under the tree to my right on double maggot, hoping that their catching had pushed odd fish out of the back of the reeds towards my margin line - no such luck! I had ten bite less minutes here before going back to the 12.5m line.


The wind had got quite bad and swirly now and corn or small balls of micro's were all I dared feed with the tow picking up. I'd moved all the shot down to keep the rig stable now and was having to plug away on either corn or pellet as maggot wouldn't touch the bottom for the tiny roach, although the odd one still managed to hang it's self on a pellet! With near half the match gone I decided on a double change, reaching into my bag I got some hemp out and decided I'd feed just that and odd grains of corn long to discourage the micro roach. In the margin I put another section on and plumbed down to the limit of my peg in the hope that 72 had pushed odd fish down (they had about a dozen by this point) I was never going to catch up with them, but no-one else I could see had more than three carp. I didn't feed the extreme margin of the peg, just put a large grain of corn on which would sink the float and dragged it up the slope. The float had been there less than ten seconds when I found myself attached to a carp of about 3lb. The next two drops were the same, waiting less than a minute for a bite! With three carp in the net it didn't do it a fourth time but I'd dragged myself up into the running. I risked a tiny sprinkling of hemp in the swim and left it alone. Up until that point 72 had slowed up, so they must have pushed the fish out of the reeds and behind them. I must have pushed them back ( I know, generous of me!) as they started catching quickly again after!


With just two hours left I decided on a drop on the 2+2 line where I'd been regularly dripping single grains of corn. I wasn't overly surprised when I didn't have a sign on it so I fed a small punch of hemp with the cup on it and carried on feeding it as I had, keeping it in mind for a late fish. Going back on the longer deep swim I had my first sign of a carp there when I had a definite liner. It had started to warm up just a touch now and the wind had eased slightly and was no longer a problem to my presentation, allowing me to spread the shot again. I was hoping that a combination of that and the regular drip feeding would bring a late burst out of the swim, and not long after the liner I had a proper indication on corn. I have to say that for all the world it looked like a proper bite, but the fish that I lost after a minute felt suspiciously foul hooked! Back out and a few minutes later I had another bite on corn and this one wasn't foul hooked, a ghostie of about 3lb joining the others in the net. I topped up with just four grains of hemp and one of corn and five minutes later found myself attached to another carp which felt bigger than the others, and a few minutes later a mirror of about 6lb was in the net. I repeated the trick and perhaps ten minutes later another bite saw a common of about 4lb in the net.


The indications faded after, so with forty minutes left I rested the swim hoping for one last flurry off it. I was almost certainly ahead of everyone I could see now, with the exception of peg 72 who had about twenty carp by this point! No indications came off the 2+2 line, and I had one bite in the margin which I lost and I suspect was foul hooked. The sun peeped through as I shipped back out to the long deep line, and I didn't wait long for a bite with carp number seven joining the others in the net, again it was a common of about 3lb. Next drop and again I had to hardly wait as another pea-in-a-pod common was in the net. The last twenty minutes didn't produce a proper bite, but it did produce a few liners as the warm sun bought the fish up. In hindsight I should have tried the shallow rig over the line, but never mind!


I didn't walk round at the weigh in, and had gathered a small crowd behind of people listening to the Carling Cup final on my radio! Surprisingly the island pegs hadn't fished, even the ones out of the wind and it had been much patchier than the week before with some people not having carp. Just 15lb was top weight when the scales got to me, with my fish going a few pound more than I thought, totalling 28lb 1oz. Weighing in peg 72 was a formality really as they were run away winners with 73lb, but nobody else managed double figures after them.


In terms of the league I was surprised to see that even after my round two disaster I was in fifth (not counting this result), but I finished ahead of everyone above me and closed the gap up, and with three rounds left and the worst result to drop it's still all to fish for. Hopefully now as we just nudge into March and hopefully spring we should see an end to barren pegs and hopeless draws!

Sunday 20th February

After the disappointment of last weeks winter league I was eager to catch a few fish and get back on track, nothing worse than not catching when others did! I didn't walk round the lake before the match but I saw a fish top in the open water, while those that looked said there was little movement in the favoured reed pegs, but some fish showing around the back of the island (peg 59)


I was one of the last to draw and hadn't taken any notice of who'd drawn where, but I wasn't best pleased when peg 48 came out in my hand! Regular readers may notice that it's a peg I've drawn twice in recent times and haven't had a bite off it in ten hours fishing. I wasn't best pleased it has to be said, and did let some people know!


Putting my box down on the peg I was weighing up my options and decided on just two lines, one for near the island and one somewhere else! In what is a shallow peg I decided to plumb long and round to the left and try and find somewhere with a better depth than the 4ft in front. After a long while plumbing I found the bottom of the island slope at 13.5m to my left, fishing in the reflection of the biggest tree reflection on the left of the picture. I had about five and a half feet of water here. This rig was a 4x14 Preston Chianti, while my island rig in about 3ft of water was a 4x10 Chianti. Both were on .14 line to a .125 hook length to an 18 hook and on Preston 11h elastic. Lastly I had a rig to try punch shallow over the island line. Set initially about two and a half foot, the float was a 4x10 PB2 on the same line as the others but with a 16 hook and on grey hydro.


Just after the whistle (I spent that long plumbing up I wasn't ready!) I fed the left hand swim with two grains of corn and four casters, then I baited up with a large piece of punch and tried the island line. After establishing that nothing was hiding along the island I fed it with a tiny pinch of crumb and four pinkies before trying a grain of corn in the deep swim. Five minutes here and no signs so it was on to maggot, a single red on the hook and just three maggots into a small cad-pot. I'd been in the swim no more than to or three minutes when the tiny speck of float blinked under! After a surprisingly lively fight a common of about 2.5lb was in the net. Repeating the process I gave it ten minutes without a bite before I decided to swap lines, not wanting to push it.


Shipping out to the island I was optimistic of a bite as odd fish were now starting to cruise round the island. The only response I had after tipping out the tiny pinch of crumb and pinkies was a liner approaching the hour mark, while the nearly everyone I could see had a carp now, while the peg opposite had three! Back on the deeper line and the three maggots were tipped on the float. Only a matter of minutes later and the single red maggot done the job again, a small common the twin of the first was in the net. Ten minutes later and again the tiny speck of float dipped under again and a bigger common of about 4lb made an appearance. The next bite barely took a minute and a small ghostie of about 2lb joined the others in the net.


Predictably the flurry of activity slowed so I left the swim alone and went back to the island. The next hour was slow and the only sign of life was a liner closer to the island despite rotating the swims. I did keep seeing good sized mirror cruise along the margin to my left. It would reach my nets and then cruise off. I decided to have a try in the edge, and a quick plumb up revealed that under the end of one piece of overhanging vegetation the depth was identical to the far bank area I'd plumbed up. I fed a pinch of casters and three grains of corn and left it alone while I had fruitless tries on the other two lines.


After leaving the two long lines I topped up each one, a tiny pinch of crumb and pinkies to the island and just three maggots on the deep line. I slipped a grain of corn on the rig and dragged it up the marginal slope. I have to admit despite seeing fish down the edge I was surprised when the float went after about thirty seconds! The amount of lakky showed it was a much bigger fish than the others I'd had and after a few minutes the same pale (well, I'm certain it was!) mirror that I'd seen cruising up the edge was in my net. A useful lump of about 8lb! By now I was getting a fair amount of stick, generally along the lines of "not bad for a (insert your own choice of four letter word!) swim!" I didn't expect to get another bite down the edge so I fed the same small pinch of casters and corn down the edge and left it.


It was a slow response now, with the island line giving no bites. With just under an hour and a half left I had another bite off the deep line, again to single red maggot. This was a decent fish too, a common of about 6lb which required the use of the pull-bung! Bites weren't coming fast and the next forty minutes gave me just two more bites. Feeding just three maggots every few minutes red maggot again done the damage and a common of about 6lb and a mirror of about 5lb gave me eight carp with about thirty minutes to go.


Sadly for me the last spell of the match didn't produce and I had to watch others catching odd fish. I missed two bites on maggot which led me to try past my swim, which very unsurprisingly didn't work. Back over the bait gave me a small roach so a switch to corn was tried. I missed a bite on this too before the match finished. I guessed my weight to be in the low to mid thirty's, but with someone else having eight fish and another having six including a double it looked like being close.


Being the third to weigh in 14lb was top when the scales reached me. I comfortably topped that, with my fish going 38lb 1oz. After finishing packing away just over 30lb was the next best weight, with a twenty and some high teen weights also going on the scales. In the end the lake fished quite well in the cold and the fish were spread out with everyone catching carp apart from the one angler who went home halfway through the match as they were getting beat both sides! With the weather looking to warm up in the week it's looking good for the winter league next week. Here's hoping for a repeat of the result!

Sunday 13th February (W/L Rd 2)

Why is it the weather on days leading up to the weekend are lovely, yet when Saturday night arrives so does the frost! After last weeks match I wanted a reasonably high number from the draw, anything from 14 (okay, but preferably higher!) would do me. I wasn't best happy then when peg 5 came out of the bag in my hand, the lowest number in......

Putting my box on the peg the only saving grace was that the water looked a touch more coloured than the previous week, but on the down-side no silvers showed in the area last week so it really was carp or bust. It was also in a rather cold easterly wind, but thankfully it was behind me. It was definitely colder than the other side of the lake that was more sheltered mind. The peg weighed in near 10lb last week, but that was mostly one fish on practically the last drop!

In the absence of silvers showing here my plan changed slightly- I had planned a rig for down the track in search of skimmers and roach, but as they were not there I figured I'd be better spending the time in search of carp. Two rigs were up for the far bank 15m away, a 4x10 Preston Chianti on .14 to a .125 hook-link and a 16 B611 in 3ft of water. This was on Preston 13h lakky. I also had a shallow rig for searching (or dobbing, as it seems to be known now) the far bank. This was on the same terminal gear as the other rig, but the float was a 4x10 Preston PB2 set about 2ft deep. Lastly I had a rig for the margins. This was really an all or nothing throw of the dice, but if I caught here they'd be big fish! My far bank rig was the perfect depth for here but I also had a heavier rig put up too, on .14 direct to a 20 Fox Series 2 hook and 15h lakky, just in case the big boys showed!

On the whistle I fed the margins with a pinch of micro pellets and casters with four grains of corn, before going across with a grain of corn, mostly in search of indications of fish! After ten minutes with no signs I decided to feed a tiny amount (four maggots) dead in front and then go on the shallow rig and search the far bank with punch. After near an hour of "dobbing" along the far bank with no signs I baited up with a single maggot on the deep rig and went across. I'd barely been in a minute when I had a liner, which was promptly followed by a large ghostie swimming out of my swim! For the next hour I plugged away on the far line deep, trickling in three maggots every few minutes in an attempt to make something happen. With the second hour coming in the lack of life was beginning to concern me, with not even a little perch or roach to show. I then decided to feed a tiny pinch of crumb in the hope of kicking it into life and then have a look in the margins.

I was just baiting up the margin rig with a grain of corn when disaster struck! The fishery boat was moored in the next peg, and just as I was going to drop in the edge someone walked up the bank and promptly dragged the boat out as they'd left there top-kit hanging up a far bank tree, not the disturbance I wanted! I carried on searching the far bank with the shallow rig, trying both punch and maggot, even going as far as 17.5m along the bank to my right where I had the most room. I was just going to drop down the edge again when somebody else walked along the bank. I have to admit I wasn't best amused, especially as words were had before the draw about not walking due to people being disturbed!

I decided to get a lighter rig out to fish the far bank, dropping down to an 18 hook on .12 and 11h lakky in the hope of getting a response, and going back over the fed line I actually did get a bite with an hour and a half to go.... a tiny perch! Working along every area of the swim I'd tried it was dead as can be, and even the angler next peg who was fishing just for silvers was struggling for bites. If they were catching I'd have considered doing it as catch-up, but they just weren't there! I'd tried everything I could think of to get a bite and was really just going through the motions when, with fifteen minutes to go I had a bite on punch long to my left (an area I'd dropped over a dozen times!), which I missed! I shallowed the rig up a bit, dropped in again in the same place, and just as I was thinking it wouldn't go again it did. This time I bumped it, putting my rig up the tree in the process. I didn't swear..... much! Predictably that was the last sign I had and to rub salt in the wounds the angler to my left who spent the whole day struggling for silvers (they had 4oz of them on the scales) caught a small carp about 3lb on their silvers line right at the death.

I was rather down on packing up, having struggled for so long then blowing my chance right at the death, losing a rig in the process. Twenty four pound (five carp) won from the peg furthest away from mine on the lake (peg 20) but just three 8lb weights made the next few frame weights (all in late numbers!), followed by a 6lb weight of silvers. I finished second from last with 1oz, ahead of one DNW. Other than not bumping that fish I'm not sure what else I could have done. Perhaps if I'd plugged away on a silvers line I'd have caught more (not hard) but there just weren't enough silvers present (I'd have had bites across if there were, I'm sure) to make it into a weight that was good enough for anything so I gambled on a carp to get a top 5/6 place. In the league you can drop your worst weight so this one will have to be it and I now need good results in the last four matches for a respectable finish. That's the plus side to the day, but it doesn't take away the fact that I packed up disappointed!

Sunday 6th February

It'll be nice to not be looking at the weather forecast for the weekend without having my fingers crossed, that's for sure! Fortunately, the worst of the gales seemed to subside and with much of Westside fishery being sheltered it didn't look too bad this morning. Nobody really knew what to expect mind, as it was the first match on lake one since the ill-fated Christmas match. This lake really seemed to suffer this winter, with it freezing as the leaves dropped. Thankfully the owner kept breaking the ice every day and the colour has now gone to it's normal winter look instead of the blackness from the leaves, and with the milder weather I was looking forward to fishing a different lake!


With no recent match form to go by no-one really knew where would be the place to draw, but I was happy when I pulled out peg 29 as it's generally a good winter peg. The wind wasn't too bad, although it did swirl round in the tree's a bit. The awkward thing was the rafts of floating debris that had been blown off the tree's and were drifting left to right and then back. I had three rigs up, two for the island at 16.5m and one for 12m down the track at 1 o'clock just where it had started to shallow up. All the rigs had 16 B611's to .12 hook-links, with the track rig having a .4gr NG decker in near 7ft of water. Lakky on this was grey Hydro. The far bank rigs were a 4x12 chianti in just over 3ft of water (I'd plumbed right along the far bank and had a few areas set to try along he bank), while the second rig was a 4x10 PB2 set to fish a foot off the bottom. Lakky on both these rigs was Preston 13h. Lastly I also put up a bomb rod just in case the wind got bad.


On the whistle I few a small ball of crumb with half a dozen casters and three grains of corn in down the track. I then went across to the far bank with a grain of corn hoping to snare an early mug fish. Ten minutes later I had no mug fish! A cupped across a pinch of loose crumb and four casters dead in front, and then tried caster on the hook. After about half an hour I was just toying with the idea of putting a small pot on to feed across regularly when the peg to my right had a carp. Pot on and double maggot on the hook and I had my first bite, from a tiny perch! Next drop produced an equally tiny roach before a switch to caster gave me a chunky perch.


Just over an hour in and the swirling wind was awkward so I had a chuck on the bomb while I set up an identical deck rig with a longer line above it. I didn't give it too long on the bomb as the floating debris was a pain catching the line. Back on the pole and I had a definite liner so I switched to the shallow rig. I missed a bite on caster but no more followed so I had a drop on the track line on double maggot. The float had barely settled when a small roach nabbed the bait. Another next drop so I tried a grain of corn but ten minutes later with no indications it was time to go back across.


With two hours gone going and no bites across I slipped on a grain of corn, and after a few minutes a definite liner was followed by a bite that I knew I hit late, which led to me having a merry dance for a minute or so with a foul hooked fish before it came off. Switching baits gave no response, even away from where I'd fed so on the halfway mark I decided to try something different, picking up my shallow rig and baiting it with a 9mm piece of bread punch (from a home-made copy of the old image bread punches that I made 18 years ago!). I dropped this in about two meters down from where I'd fed. The float had only settled for a few seconds when it ducked under and I had my first carp from lake one for nearly four months! Not a big fish at about 3lb. The next half an hour produced three more the same size before I had a spell where I missed three bites in the next twenty minutes, so with an hour and a half or so to go I left the swim, not wanting to push it.

A brief spell down the track on corn gave me two liners but no other joy so I shallowed the rig up four inches and dropped back across on punch. I had two 3lb'ers in as many drops before I hooked a fish that felt much bigger but disaster struck when the fish went under a big raft of drifting debris. After a minute or so of playing it with a large twig on the line it came off. I was really expecting that to spook the fish but it didn't take long for another carp to fall, again about 3lb. I then had a spell of two missed bites again before carp number eight fell with forty minutes to go. With no bites for ten minutes in the hot-spot I dropped the rig a meter further down the swim and the float buried instantly with the biggest fish of the day, with a ghostie of about 5lb falling.


I had no more bites further down the swim and the last spell of the match was spent searching the swim trying to find a bite, and with ten minutes left the original hot-spot again produced a fish. I was hoping for one more but with about three minutes to go the wind, which had become increasingly swirly, caught the pole as I was lifting the rig and put me up the far bank! With the rig wrecked I didn't bother to go back out with so little time and started to pack up as word round the bank was nobody had more than three carp.


When the scales got to me 12lb was the top weight, but while the lake had fished hard for carp everyone had caught fish which wasn't bad considering it was the first match for two months on the lake! There was even a near 7lb weight of roach. My fish went 32lb 14oz for the win, something I can hopefully repeat in next weeks winter league second round!