Sunday 30th December

No picture of the peg today - the bright glaring sun in front of me made it practically impossible to get one! Anyhow, you only need to look at last weeks blog to see - as with a high attendance meaning most pegs were in, I still managed to draw the same peg as last week. In fact, I think three of my last five matches have been sat on that peg now!

There's no real need to run through the rigs either - I had the same set-ups as last week, with the conditions practically the same as before. The wind did manage a slight breather and dropped totally before the whistle, but it turned out to be the calm before the storm, and predictably it started again, right on the whistle!

I started the match on the long pole while the wind wasn't so bad. I searched along the far bank hoping to find some signs of life but none were forthcoming. On the half hour mark I gave up wrestling with 16m of pole and dropped in on the 13m line, dripping odd grains of corn in. As I caught late on off that line last week I was confident it would go again, so I plugged away at it for a while.

After ninety minutes everybody I could see to my right (sat in the sun) had carp, and some people had two or three. The sun hadn't came round the island where I was, but was glaring off the water around my nets, and even with glasses on, a peaked cap and one hand in front of me it was a nightmare as the ripple shattered the reflection - and led me to come home with a thumping headache which still hasn't quite faded.

The glare led me to plug away on the bomb for a bit, but it wasn't until there was just under two hours left before the rod went round with a fish on. It was a decent fish too at around 5lb, falling to double corn. The rod went round on the next cast after a similar ten minute wait, but in-explicably there was nothing on the end. If it was a liner, it was the most savage I've ever had!

I plugged away at the bomb for a while after, but no more bites came, so with an hour-and-a-bit to go I went back on the 13m line, certain that it would produce. I gave it until there was just under half-an-hour to go, but had no signs on it. Rather fed up, I threaded three grains of corn on one of the longer haired hook-links I had for the bomb (for bread) and cast out to where I'd had my one fish. I then proceeded to have a cup of coffee before packing away my pole rigs. The bomb had been out for about that "magical" ten minute mark before the rod near went in the lake! A 4lb common then came in like a wet sack - it'd obviously used all it's energy on the bite then! The same trick was repeated and shortly before the end of the match the rod went round again and a 5lb common made the net shortly before the whistle.

I didn't bother to weigh in - I could see a few people with more fish than me, plus my pounding head just wanted to get home! I perhaps should have plugged away on the bomb a lot more during the day, but I was sure I could make the pole work - I guess I was wrong!

The top weight on the day was peg 51 with a little over 80lb - the conditions combined to make that area of the lake carp soup. It's the shallowest part of the lake, was off the worst of the wind and in the sun the whole time it was out. It's not often that peg fishes in the winter, but it was spot on yesterday! 46lb was second from peg 44, before three weights all around the 30lb mark.

For me it's a disappointing end to the year - the winter has been hard for me angling wise as I've struggled to gain any sort of form and confidence. The draw bag has played some part in it granted, but I just can't seem to get in to the swing of things as I did over the summer. I can't complain too much mind, as on the whole I've had a fish-filled year - four of the five ton+ match weights from the venue were in my nets. I guess the slow last two months is just a leveller for the great summer I had.

Tight lines to all, and a Happy New Year for 2013. Here's hoping it's a good 'un!

Sunday December 23rd

I have to admit, after missing last Sunday I was looking forward more than usual to getting out on the bank! It's been nice and mild too, with temperatures in to double figures - I chose to try and ignore the wind which woke me at 5am!

When I drew the current form pegs nearest the car park had all gone, and I pulled out peg 66 on the end of the island. I had mixed feelings about this - it's normally a decent peg all year round, but it's recent form has been poor, and I struggled off it not too long ago, catching just a few roach.

While the wind was quite bad, unlike last time I could manage to hold 13m of pole to fish the bottom of the slope from the island. The wind was awkward at times, but by using a longer than usual line above the float, and two no8 back-shot halfway and holding them, I could get a steady presentation on my rig. A .4gr NG Decker on .15 mainline to a .125 hook-link and a size 16 B611 was the rig, matched to Preston 11h lakky. With a tinge of colour I also used the same rig at 5m for a throw-away line where it was just two inches shallower - just under 5ft in both cases. I also put up a rig on the same terminal gear, but using a 4x14 Preston Chianti, just in case the wind settled. Last up was my 10ft CarbonActive Mini Carp for fishing the bomb along the island. As usual, I had various hook-links for this to change between different multiples of corn or punched bread.

On the whistle I fed half-a-dozen grains of corn and a tiny pinch of hemp at 13m, before starting on the bomb and double corn. I was just going to drip an odd grain at 5m by hand.

I had four or five chucks on the bomb in the first hour with no signs of life, and with the wind at times dropping or turning enough I thought I could hold the 16m of pole to fish the island. When I saw some fish move right along the island without giving me a sign it made my mind up! I hastily got the two extra pole sections from my bag, and put up a rig to fish 2ft deep using the same terminal gear as the other rigs, but using a small 4x10 Preston PB2 float. First drop in on a big bread punch I had a bite that I missed, then dropping in again the float went and I had a bitterling! After that the wind got a bit swirly again, and holding the pole became awkward - typically, the wind was just teasing me!

I had a brief try at 13m that bought me no joy, so I went back on the bomb with double corn. After the first hour of getting my eye in casting, I managed to get the bomb as tight as I could without clipping the vegetation and needing to bring it back in. I left it for ten minutes and was just saying to the next peg that I could see fish in the area but was getting no sings on the tip when the rod went round! A small carp of about 3lb was the culprit. Despite a fair few drops being bang on the money after, I couldn't get another bite on the bomb even varying the baits between multiples of corn or bread punches.

After going through the motions on the 13m and 5m line without a bite, and plugging away on the bomb as well I couldn't raise a response. I was only fishing corn as I figured with one carp it wasn't worth fishing for the roach, and I hadn't bought any maggots! With just over an hour left the wind settled a bit again so I decided to try the pole across. With the fish ignoring anything still on the bomb I decided to try a corn skin on the hook, hoping the fluttering of the bait would make a fish snap at it. First drop across doing that and the float was away and carp number two, a twin of the first was soon heading to the net!

I plugged away along the far bank on the pole but other than a liner I couldn't muster anything else. The wind had an odd gust which twice saw me snag on the vegetation, but both times I managed to flick the rig clear without needing to pull for a break! Lucky, eh?

With half an hour to go I dropped in on the 13m line again, and the float sat for only a few seconds before the tiny pimple of bristle wasn't there! Carp number three was soon in the net - it's a while since I had that many carp! Topping up with two grains of corn and number four was joining the others five minutes later, both about 3lb, but very welcome. I missed a bite next drop before I saw the next peg catch one carp then lose another form their close line. I had a drop in on mine but nothing came of it, so with just a few minutes left I was back on the 13m line. The float plinked away and something a little more lively was on the end. A 5lb'er was netted and no sooner did it reach the keepnet than the whistle went!

Predictably, pegs 70 and 72 (either side of the rushes) had both caught well, with 70 just coming out on top with 50lb and a few ounces, and 47lb being second. My five carp went a little over 17lb which was good enough for third in the end, with eveyone else finding it much harder. The weather hadn't helped my day (the first two pegs barely had the wind), but even then I doubt I could have got near their weights. Anyhow, I was just happy to have caught!

I'll be back on the bank again between Christmas and New Year - most likely on the usual Sunday, but I may just manage to sneak out on to one of the midweek matches too! I'd like to wish everyone reading this a Merry Christmas, and I hope that all of you that manage to get out on to the bank of the festive period manage to catch a few fish - hopefully with some nice shiny new gear! Tight lines, and have a good one!

Sunday December 9th

Well, at least it's been a damn sight warmer this week! I think it took me about five hours sat by the fire to thaw out properly last week!

Back on the old lake and I wasn't totally sure of where I wanted to draw (except the obvious peg 72, which is always a good draw in the cold), but was fairly happy with peg 68 - it's a deep peg in the open water. While it has no recent form what so ever, I always feel that there is space to explore and that somewhere there'll be a fish or two to catch!

While setting up the wind wasn't too bad, as while it was right to left it was slightly off my back too. I had two pole rigs up for one line at 13m - one a 4x14 Preston Chianti which the conditions never allowed me to use, and a .4gr NG Decker. Both rigs had .12 hook-links to size 18 hooks and were matched to Preston 11h elastic. The only other set up was a 10ft CarbonActive mini, with 6lb mainline and a 1/3 oz bomb. I had a variety of different hook-links to try on this to allow for different size punches of bread or multiples of corn. With plenty of time before the start I also plumbed up a line at 11m but downwind - I'd try feeding this line positively rather than drip-feeding as I would the main line.

On the whistle I fed around twenty grains of corn on the positive line, before going on the 13m line and starting to drip grains of corn in two's or three's, with an odd grain of hemp in too. The wind started to turn a bit so I couldn't pick up the lighter rig which I'd prefer to use. I plugged away for the first three quarters of an hour on corn, dripping a little in every few minutes but with no joy. Putting a single red maggot on bought a small roach instantly so I hadn't blanked, but as I had to double ship it wasn't ideal catching them that far out so I went back on corn.

On the hour mark I had a brief try on the positive line but with nothing to show from there I had a try on the bomb with a stack of bread punch. At this time only pegs 44 and 59 had carp, other than that it was just roach. Back out long and still nothing was forthcoming and I started to worry - it normally takes a little while to work but I'd hoped to have started to get an odd indication by now.

With two hours gone I had another go on the positive line, before trying double maggot on the drip-fed line which led to tiny roach number two. Word came up that peg 72 had started to nab odd fish now, and one or two others had odd carp in with their roach. On the half way mark I went back on the bomb and bread, cast just past the pole line and a tiny bit up wind. The rod had barely been on the rest for ten seconds when it pulled round positively and after a lively fight a common of about 6lb was netted - a fair bit bigger than the other carp I'd seen caught. I had a couple more chucks in the same area, but had no more joy.

With an hour and a half remaining I decided to plug away and catch a few roach to boost my weight - with one good carp I thought a few roach would help me stay clear of anyone who had more smaller fish, and beside 59 and 72, nobody else had more than one carp! It wasn't ideal catching them at 13m due to the fact I had to un-ship twice, but I was putting small roach in the net pretty regular. Most fish were under an ounce, but an odd one that was about twelve-to-the-pound came too.

With around twenty minutes to go I'd probably put a pound of roach in the net, but two of the three anglers I could see on one carp both had another. They were small fish again, both around 3lb so I figured that the roach with my bigger fish should just keep me ahead of them. That plan went out of the window when they went back out and both hooked another. Plan change - I needed another carp!

With only just over ten minutes to go I decided there was one way to go about it - a big bright bait in the hope of attracting the attention of a carp. Two of the biggest bits of corn I could find were put on the hair and the bomb flicked to pretty much where I'd had my other carp. It had been in place for about two or three minutes before the tip started to see-saw back and forth - not great big positive movements, but enough to signal a hooked fish!

What felt a big weight came in very easy until it got under my rod tip, and then it woke up, going on a run across the lake that must have taken about thirty yards of line! I had to slow it myself before it went round the marginal point of peg 48! After a hefty fight I managed to net it with about a minute left - a munter of a ghostie easily in to double figures! I managed to get the bomb back out again but it didn't go again in the thirty seconds or so left!

When the scales got to me 25lb was top weight from peg 59, which was also the golden peg! After that 15lb was next, and a few weights just scraping in to double figures. My net of plips went 1lb 4oz, and then my two carp went on the scales taking them to 19lb 10oz! My total of 20lb 14oz was good enough for third in the end as peg 72 put a little over 31lb on the scales.

While my late gamble paid of somewhat I wish I'd approached it different. Now the cold has been set in a while I didn't expect it to be so hard. With hindsight I wish I'd not fished the long pole and just tried the bomb with no feed what-so-ever out long, and just had a short pole line for the roach which would have been much quicker and easier than un-shipping twice from 13m. While I can't say for sure I'd have had more carp doing it I think it would have increased my chances. With the roach fishing being easier too just one more carp would definitely have got me second, and perhaps even first had it been big enough with the extra roach to go with it. Still, I didn't do it, and at least I caught, unlike last week!

As it stands at the moment I wont be out next Sunday so no blog, but I'll be back out the Sunday after, and with Christmas midweek it wont affect my normal Sundays. Hopefully, the fish will be a little more obliging!

Fur & Feather - Sunday 2nd December

What can you say - it's nearly Christmas, where's the year gone! The Arctic blast arrived, albeit not quite as bad as perhaps it looked last week. Still, I arrived with my nice "new" ice breaker (made over a year ago, but yet to be used after not fishing last winter!). At the draw I was told I wouldn't need it - there were only three or four pegs round the back of the island with ice. Guess where I found myself heading? Yup, you guessed it! Peg 53 on the old lake (the first time I've drawn on that lake in the Christmas match) - in the shade, and first peg in the ice!

Peg 53 actually won last weeks match on the lake - but it was pretty mild, and they were sat in a gap of ten empty pegs! No such luxury today with all the pegs in that area in. I put my box down and started to clear the ice where my nets would go, then the ice in my right hand margin to allow me to have a line there. I levelled my box, got up to get my silvers net and the ice holes were already freezing up again! Great.

The left hand side of my peg was ice free, and with a small lilly bed at 6m with about 4ft of water next to it (about the deepest the peg gets) I hoped I could nobble a few roach here. The gear was a compromise - the roach don't tend to be too fussy so a rig with a .09 hook-link and a size 20 hook was for here. The float was a 4x12 Preston Chianti, and the lakky was 9h. I'd put up a rig to fish at 11m slightly to my right at about 1 O'clock, but where I'd cleared the ice there (cut with the cupping kit and pushed under) was re-frozen too! I left it for when the ice (hopefully) cleared, and set up a rig for the island. I could fish slightly to my left on the island, on the edge of the ice, not where I wanted to get really, but pointless clearing as any holes I made re-froze! I wasn't going to feed the island anyway, just dob along it and hope against hope really! The last two rigs were finished on .12 hook-links and size 18 hooks, with the lakky being Preston 11h. Optimistic really.

I started the match flicking odd casters and maggots to the lillys, while going across on punch hoping to find one carp stupid enough to be in the shallowest, coldest part of the lake. There weren't any! Nor were there any roach too.

On some days you just feel there are no fish there, and yesterday was one of those! For the first three hours the peg carried on re-freezing any areas I tried to keep clear, the only thing that stopped it was on the occasions the breeze picked up, but that cut right through me instead. Eventually the sun found the water and it stopped freezing with ninety minutes to go (it never really got on to me with the tree's!), but I never had a bite. When the sun dropped off the water with twenty minutes to go I packed up, rather fed up! The peg to my left finished the same (not surprised given the amount of likky they fed, most of which floated up to the edge of the ice in my peg!). The peg to my right had two tiny roach fishing up to a bramble bush hanging in the water in the edge, while the others who were totally iced in blanked too - I think seven of us on that lake suffered the same fate!

To rub it in, when I wanted to get back to the barn to warm up I had the scales. I wasn't supposed to be weighing, but those that were meant to be weighing left the draw without taking them. I volunteered to take them up to the lake to those that had drawn them, but as soon as the one remaining person who was meant to have them weighed they cleared off, leaving me to do it!

I was practically the last back to the barn, and just managed to get a sausage roll and a mince pie before they were all scoffed. The cup of tea was most welcomed, as I'd had little else to do all day other than drink my flask! When I eventually got to the prize table I was sorely tempted to take some of the booze that was still there to drown my sorrows, but instead I took the box of Thorntons chocolates to give to the wife - that made her day, even if I'd had a crap one! I used to like winter fishing, but the last couple of weeks have been dire now, and I've not really had much enjoyment from it. Hopefully a change in luck at the draw bag is on the way!

Sunday 25th November

Well, what a rough night! It was quite calm when I went to bed, but at 4am the wind woke me sounding like a lorry driving through the wall! Thankfully, the weather was not as bad for us in Cambridge as many other parts of the country.

The wind seemed pretty much strait down the lake, so nowhere was going to escape it with the exception of peg 42, where it was pretty calm. My hand went in the bag and came out with 66, which is usually a decent year-round peg just on the end of the island. When I put my box down and sat for a minute I was quite pleased, as the lake kinks slightly back here, meaning the wind was for the most part rushing past me further across the lake.

I could comfortably plumb up to 10m (the occasional gust still affected me there, but for the most part it was okay), so I had a pole line here, and then one at 8m to my left (downwind) down the nearside slope using the same rig. Depth was about 5ft, and a .4gr NG Decker held stable here. This rig was finished off with a .14 hook-link and a size 16 B611, and matched to Preston 13h. Despite the wind, it was quite warm and I've found that carp do largely tend to feed in those conditions. To fish the island the 10ft Carbonactive Mini Carp came out, and my plan was to fish the bomb with either corn or bread in multiple grains/punches. I also soaked-up a few micro's to try a pellet cone if the fish needed some feed.

With very little to set up I was ready well before the off, and with the rain clouds long gone and the sun coming out it wasn't too bad. With the whistle I fed a few grains of hemp and corn at 10m, while the down wind line was fed more positively, with the idea that I'd not top it up and just see what happened. A grain of corn was hair-rigged and cast a meter or so short of the island where the depth was about 3ft, and I waited....

Two hours later I was still waiting! I'd topped the 10m line up with four grains of corn and a tiny pinch of hemp every half an hour, and I'd tried different multiples of corn and punched bread, exploring along the island and dropping down the shelf looking for signs. I hadn't seen one!

Odd carp had been caught - pegs 64, 48 and 44 I'd seen catch one each, so it was time to try the pole lines. With no sign on any of those I went back on the bomb. Cast dead in front of me and much tighter to the island in about 2ft of water I had a very slow deliberate liner. I left it, and it never developed. It was the only sign of a bite I had on the tip all day.

Out of desperation I got last weeks maggots out, and fishing them on the hook at 10m I winkled out a few roach to save the blank! I only really gave it twenty minutes or so before I switched back to corn, which got me a bonus 3oz roach as opposed to the twenty to the pound ones I was getting on maggot.

I never saw another sign of a carp in my swim all day, and was long packed up before the scales even started to weigh in! The two windward end pegs (pegs 53 and 62) were first and second on the day with a little over 24lb top, and just under 24lb second. There were a few low double figure weights and a few people like me that were carp-less and didn't weigh.

Next week is the fishery Fur and Feather, and typically the weather is looking on turning very cold by the end of next week. Hopefully we can just avoid a freeze-over (my ice breaker is ready mind), but beyond that I don't think we're going to get away with it. I know the weather forecasters often get it wrong, but it seems that when predicting an Arctic blast they don't!

Sunday November 18th

After a few weeks on the old lake I was looking forward to going back on to the new lake. The only downside looked to be be the weather again, as per last week the relatively mild weather during the week lead to clear sky's Saturday night and quite a sharp frost on Sunday morning.

I fancied a higher number draw, so when number 2 came out in my hand I feared the worse! Basically, my peg for the day was a twenty meter square right off the main lake by the car park (the tip of the bay is visible in the pic), although I did have an island chuck with the bomb (only as peg 3 wasn't in - it would be a a bit close otherwise). There's always fish in that area of the lake in the evenings as they often get fed there after matches and during the week, but with it being the first match in a month on the lake, with the cold and everyone having to walk past my peg optimism was low!

I set up a rig for the margin to my right in case any fish came back in to the bay, one for 13m towards the open water plus my bomb rod with a variety of hook-links to try different baits.

To cut a long and very boring story short, I had one carp about 4lb and five little perch. The carp came to the bomb and bread, dropped fairly short of the island about two hours in to the match. I didn't actually see the tip go round either, as somebody walked up the bank behind me, and when they asked how I'd got on I replied looking round to them (something along the lines of a four lettered word, followed by sayin I was bite-less) and when I looked back the tip was round a foot! I never had another liner or twitch on the tip, and the perch fell to maggot fished in the edge.

Peg 5 won with 48lb of carp on punch, so the fish that normally inhabit my little bay looked to have headed that way! Just 12lb was second from peg 7, and peg 11 was third with 11lb. A few other people had just the one carp like me, and some had none. It's fair to say it wasn't the day I was looking forward too as the winter "aqua bingo" begins!

Sunday November 11th

I have to admit the weather had me a little worried about the fishing on the morning, as what seemed just a chilly morning in my back garden turned in to a progressively harder frost the nearer to the venue we got! The day was supposed to be pleasant enough, but after three or four mild days and nights I did wonder what effect it would have.

Walking around before the start I could see that the colour had dropped out a touch from last week, but I was a little unsure of where I wanted to draw, although with the pegs around the back of the island being missed out I skill fully managed to avoid any of the four end-pegs the gap created! I was happy enough with peg 44, as at least with the remains of the large lilly bed in the peg I had some cover to fish to.

I put up three rigs for the day, although in the end I never picked up the shallow rig that I put up. What I expected to be my main catching rig would cover me for two areas of the swim - for 6m near to the lilly's, and for 13m at the bottom of the slope up to the small island. That slope is very un-even, else I would have fished up it slightly to cover more depths. This rig was a 4x14 Preston Chianti (with the cane tip replaced by a plastic one), with a .14 hook-link to a size 16 B611, and matched to Preston 13h elastic. Depth on both areas was the same to within a inch, at around 5ft. The last rig was for 6m to my left in the edge. The float was a 4x12 Chianti, again with plastic tip, while the terminal gear was the same too. Depth here was about 3ft.

On the whistle the margin and the 6m line both had a pinch of hemp and corn, while the longer line would be built up from drip-fed corn and and odd grain of hemp. Form peg 42 to my left was in to fish instantly, and had three before I had my first bite about half an hour in. I'd had odd liners, and the fish (a small common about 2lb) was hooked in the pectoral fin.

After that fish the liners faded away in my swim, and while peg 42 to my left was catching, so was everybody on the opposite bank that I could see. They were all basking in pleasant sunshine, while mocking those of us on the other bank who were all still sat with coats on!

After an hour I had my first look near the lilly's but had no joy. I tried the margin and had an odd knock but they seemed from small fish. I tried maggot out long which bought me a 1oz roach strait away, so carried on plugging away on corn. The two pegs to my right were fairing no better than me, so I elected to just plug away and hope some fish would turn up. Meanwhile, I had to get up and get my neck gaiter as I was feeling a bit chilled. Peg 70 opposite was sitting in a t-shirt!

With a little over two hours to go I was nine carp behind peg 42 to my left, while end peg 72 on the opposite bank wasn't catching fast, but their fish were much bigger. I dropped in near the lilly's and had my first bite there, and a small ghostie gave a lively account of it's self. Topping up with just two grains of corn carp number three fell soon after, again only around 2.5lb. That fish however decided to run in to the lilly's instead of away, and caused a bit of a disturbance that led to no bite on the next drop.

Back out long and two fish fell in quick succession, and they were about 3lb a piece. Again though, after two fish the swim went off. I topped it up with a small pinch of bait and tried in the edge. I did miss a bite here on corn, but nothing followed after.

With an hour to go I dropped back in near the lilly's, and was away instantly! This time the swim kept going and for the last hour I had a steady run of bites on corn. The fish weren't big, but from five fish with an hour to go I finished on fourteen carp. I was topping up with just two grains of corn each time, and never missed a bite until the very last minute! I'd over taken peg 42 in terms of numbers of fish too, as their peg had faded in the last ninety minutes, although I suspected peg 72 opposite would have more weight. They had less fish, but much bigger!

At the weigh in peg 42 put 36lb odd on to the scales - it was going to be close! My fish totalled up to 37-8 and gave me the lead for a little while, until the first end peg on the other bank (peg 62) put 39-1 on the scales! If only I hadn't missed that last bite! The were a few 20lb weights on that bank until we got to peg 72 on the end who put a couple of ounces over 40lb on the scales - less than 3lb more than me! Doh!

While being so close but so far, I'm not sure there was a lot else I could have done really - I never lost a fish. It was just the usual story for that peg - plenty of fish, but smaller. Both pegs that beat me were end pegs on the much warmer bank so I suppose to make the frame (and over take peg 42 after being nine carp behind at one point) wasn't a bad, but I guess when you're only one fish away from winning it's easy to look at a missed bite last chuck and think "if only!"

I think next week is back on the new lake after a few matches in a on the old lake, so the fishing will be a bit different. With no matches having been on there for a month there's nothing to go on too. Hopefully, it fishes okay!

Sunday November 4th

Well, I have to say as the week pressed on the weather forecast for Sunday looked less and less promising! While there is always the hope they'd get it wrong (which we all know happens!), it delivered just as promised - the rain started at about the moment I first went out in to the back garden at 6.30am, and never really stopped until after I got home. Yes, that is a brolly in the picture, as even I didn't fancy a day in that cold rain!

Last week the pegs to draw on the old lake had been around the island, and when peg 66 stuck to my hand I was pretty pleased. It's a decent year round peg to be honest anyway. I did notice however that the water there was clearer than last week, plus the wind was a different direction pushing what leaves there was up to the car park end of the lake. Was it going to be a case of should have been here last week?

I decided on three areas to target in the swim - across to the island, fishing at about 15m which dropped me down the slope a touch in to not quite 3ft of water. I also had a line at 5m, and then plumbed up with the same rig until I found the same depth on the slope up to the other side, which was nicely at 13m. Depth here was not quite 5ft. Simple rigs too - a 4x12 Preston Chianti on the island rig, and a 4x14 of the same on the deep rig! Both had the cane tip removed and a plastic one put in. Line was .15 to a .14 hook-link and size 16 B611's, while lakky was Preston 13h. I did put up a third rig in case the wind made the light Chianti impossible to present in the deep water, using a NG Decker, but the peg was pretty well sheltered - thankfully! In the end, I never picked up stand-by rig.

At the off the deep lines had a pinch of hemp and corn fed on to them - a bit more on to the throwaway 5m line which I expect to not be a viable target line for much longer as the cold comes in. I then went across on a 4mm expander pellet, with a small cad-pot on the pole which contained a little crumb and a few 3mm pellets. I was off the mark pretty quick but only with small 1oz roach which produced more missed bites than anything else. Odd carp were getting caught, including one on the peg to my left which won last week.

A grain of corn proved harder for the roach to nab, and the bites slowed for long enough that about twenty-five minutes in my first carp fell, a small common of about 2lb. In the next half an hour I managed to add three more of the same size to the net, all to corn - steady, if not spectacular! However, as tends to happen from lines on the far bank here it died after the initial run of fish. I do feel the rain may not have helped as it went from just wet to an icy monsoon!

I left the far line after perhaps twenty minutes without a bite, having a few drops over the 13m line to see if they'd dropped down the shelf. I had a liner here which led to me plugging away there a bit longer than I may have. A missed bite was followed by a small roach on corn, so I topped it up and went back across.

The rain had eased a touch now, but the indications I could get from across seemed to be from small fish. A switch back to pellet put a roach in the net, before a change back to corn saw me nab a small 12oz mirror before the swim went quiet again

With no more knocks across I had a drop in again at 13m, and again an occasional liner led me to plug away there, hoping the drip fed corn via the small pot would encourage them to feed. I couldn't see the pegs nearer the car park in the open water, but from what others were saying I knew they were catching, and quite well by the sounds of it!

On the half-way mark of the match I decided it was worth a drop on the 5m line, and it was a worth while effort as the float slipped away pretty quickly and gave me a common of about 3lb, but unsurprisingly no more followed. A drop on to the 13m line also gave me a quick fish, again about 3lb.

The quick burst of fish was followed by a lull, so I gambled on re-feeding both lines in the deeper water with the pot. A quick drop across just led to knocks from roach again so I didn't give it too long before coming back in to the deeper water at 13m with perhaps ninety minutes to go.

Two missed bites led me to fiddle with the shotting, moving it all down in to a tighter bulk to make it more positive. I knew two pegs were catching well, but third place looked a wide open possibility. The change worked as three small carp all around 10oz fell - not quite what I wanted, but better than catching roach! With just under an hour left I gambled on feeding it again as the bites faded (rather than just drip feeding with a pole mounted pot).

Resting the 13m line I dropped in at 5m, and the throwaway line gave me a quick bonus in the form of a chunky common that perhaps nudged 5lb, but again no more followed. Back on the 13m line and I started to put a run of fish together - I wasn't bagging, but I was getting an odd bite and putting a steady run of carp in the net. I did lose exact count, but I finished the match with about eleven "proper" carp plus the pasties I'd had. With a few minutes to go bites were fading again so without the time to rest and re-feed I spent the last part at 5m looking for another bonus. I did get a liner, but no proper bite.

It was clear that pegs 42 and 70 would be first and second (42 is perhaps THE form peg at the moment, framing in the last four or five matches even when the island pegs have been good), but nobody else was admitting to more than seven or eight carp. The late flurry had indeed given me third place with 40-15, with peg 42 putting 75lb odd on the scales and peg 70 putting 69lb on. Not bad weights, or days fishing given the weather, but I do have the task of drying out nearly everything now during the week!

Sunday October 28th

Sorry about the delay in posting this week, I had problems with the internet at home which are thankfully sorted now!

I was quite surprised when I walked round the old lake that it still held a decent colour with the cold snap we'd endured on the previous two days. I fancied the island pegs to be the pick, as not only was the water more coloured but the leaves that have started to fall in numbers were around the island too. Not enough to disrupt a days fishing, but enough to encourage the carp to be under them looking for some grub!

I didn't manage to get one of those pegs, instead drawing peg 46 in the open water. I don't mind the peg in all honesty as you've got options on it. I opted for a pretty simple approach - three rigs to cover two lines in the open water (one at 13m, one at 5m and a shallow rig), plus a margin rig to fish to my right just short of the sleeper on peg 47. With the cold now here all my rigs were on .15 line to .13 hook-links, finished with size 20 Fox Series 2's, and all matched to Preston 13h lakky. Both the open water rigs featured .4gr NG Deckers in a little over 6ft of water, while the margin rig had a 4x12 Preston Somo which I've fitted a plastic tip in to. Depth was about 3ft here. Last up was the shallow rig in case I saw cruising fish. This was a 4x10 Preston PB2 set about two foot deep.

On the whistle I fed a small pinch of hemp and around thirty grains of corn at 5m, while the margin got the same plus four cubes of meat. I was going to build up the long line by drip feeding corn and the odd grain of hemp via a small Cad-Pot on the pole.

It didn't take long to get odd signs of fish, and pretty much everyone I could see had a carp before the twenty minutes or so it took me to catch my first - a small common of about 2.5lb. In fact, peg 64 had got off to a flyer and had three! With odd indications I was sure that my long line would come good later, so I tried my best to ignore those who were catching to features. When my second carp fell about fifteen minutes later (smaller than the first though) I thought the bites would stay regular, but the swim died a death on me.

An hour and a half in and with no more fish and just two missed bites to show it was looking as if I'd got it wrong - most people were catching odd fish and everyone bar one person I could see had more than me. With the fish appearing to be eating it looked that my drip feeding three or four grains of corn wasn't right. I decided to gamble on potting in about twenty grains of corn and a reasonable pinch of hemp long, and leave it for five minutes while I had a quick drop in at 5m.

It didn't take long to get a response at 5m and two fish around 3lb a piece fell quickly - it looked like the slightly heavier feeding had worked there! I topped up the short line and left it as while the indications were still there they'd gone iffy - it was still early for that line!

Going back out long and bites were a little more forthcoming. I missed the first two, so changed the shotting around, closing the bulk right up and moving it so it started no more than ten inches from the hook. This worked and three fish fell pretty quickly, with them seemingly responding well to the hit of bait, plus I was now feeding five or six grains of corn after every fish. The worrying thing was the stamp of the fish as they were all small. I could see pegs 64 and 66 catching well, and their fish looked bigger than mine which all seemed around 2.5lb. When my eighth carp fell my fears allayed a touch as it was a good chunky common of about 5lb, and I thought I had it sussed. I was wrong, and the bites just ceased!

I took the risk of topping up while I tried in the edge. With nothing there showing I took a gamble in the edge too. With the onset of the cold I'd started to clear my bait freezer, and had taken a pint and a half of dead maggots out of it, plus some frozen groundbait left overs. I potted two pots of the crumb in, with a decent amount of the dead maggots too. Nothing ventured and all that!

Dropping in in on the 5m line I hooked what felt a better fish almost instantly but it came adrift after a minute or two. I have to say, I'm not sure it wasn't foul hooked. A small common of about a pound fell after that, and going out long produced nothing at all - not even a liner. A look in the edge and I could see a mud cloud over the groundbait. Rather excitedly, I put a bunch of dead maggots on the hook and laid the rig in. A couple of liners followed and I was ready for the bite when it came.... from a 3oz roach! I tried a grain of corn and had a liner on this before it faded, so I re-potted with groundbait and maggots and left it.

Dropping out long and I had an instant bite and put another small carp in the net, but no more bites or indications followed. I could get signs of fish at 5m so plugged away there hoping to make it work, but all I managed was a couple more small carp and a host of knocks and liners, which no matter what I tried (away from the feed, depth and shotting changes and changing feed amounts) I couldn't find a way of hitting more of them.

I finished the match on twelve carp, but the stamp had been small. My total of 37-11 was good enough only for seventh on the day. Peg 64 won with just over 60lb, with peg 66 pushing them close with 58lb. However, 43lb was good enough for third, so frustratingly I wasn't that far away! I expected the day to be much harder than it was, and perhaps started too negatively. That said, although I had a flurry of fish when I upped the feed, it didn't last long before the peg died a death. The last part of the match at 5m was frustrating too, as there were plainly some fish present. Perhaps a change of rig may have worked there, with the conditions good perhaps a thinner bodied lighter float would have given less resistance and turned a few of those nudged in to proper bites? On the last match on the lake the heavier rig was better at 5m, but the water is colder and a little clearer, so perhaps while they were there, they were reluctant feeders. It's something to think about anyway!

Sunday 21st October

Well, no frost yesterday morning to report! The weather was quite pleasant for the last few days and I was optimistic that the fishing would be quite decent...

As per usual, I took a place quite late in the draw queue, and had mixed feelings when peg 20 came out in my grasp - I've not drawn it lately, but in the past it's been a very good peg. However, it's recent form hasn't been that great, and the last match showed the fish were starting to group-up in the late 20's and in to the 30' - their usual winter haunts. The peg doesn't have great winter form!

It was noticeable as I pushed my shuttle round the lake that the colour had started to drop out of the water, and the lake was a fair bit clearer than it had been a fortnight ago. I had three rigs up for the day, and the far bank one was a bit lighter than had been lately given the colour dropping out - a small NG XTM in about 22in of water in the bay at 16m slightly to my left was on .15 mainline with a .13 hook-link with a size 20 Fox Series 2. At 13m, where it had just as it started to shallow up I had about 6ft of water. The rig here was a .4gr NG Decker, with the same terminal gear as above. Lastly, I had a rig for the margin at 10m to my right. In about 3ft of water I had a small 4X12 Preston Somo which I've taken the cane tip out of and changed for a plastic one. Lines on this were .17 to .15 and a slightly bigger hook, to hopefully cope with a few margin lumps! Lakky on all three rigs was Preston 13h on a pull-bung.

At the start I fed a small pinch of pellet, meat and corn down the track and in the edge, before filling my small Toss-Pot up with half-a-dozen pellets and a pinch of crumb. I'd had two drops doing this fishing with an expander on the hook before I had a liner. I tried half a worm next chuck, which gave me a tiny perch. I'd only seen two bream caught so far, so it was slow going for everyone!

About forty minutes in to the match I saw a carp swirl on my far line as I was shipping across, so I lowered my rig down without tapping the feed out of the pot and it was away! For a few seconds at least, as what felt a good fish stayed on for just a few seconds before the rig came back with the hook-link cut in half cleanly.

The lost fish was the last sign I saw of life across for a bit. Odd carp were getting caught now, but the only bites I could get were from tiny perch on either worm or maggot across. I'd topped up the track and margins with tiny amounts after loosing that fish, and on the ninety minute mark I decided to try the track line. I started with a small cube of meat, and had a liner there. A change to a grain of corn got me a bite instantly, and I played the carp back to the top-kit when the hook pulled! It wasn't a big fish, bit I was getting the feeling it was going to be one of those days....

With that lost fish any signs of better fish died away. I'd seen the odd fish move at the extreme left of my peg, so I decided to start a new swim there on the island. With the fishing being hard I decided on a winter rig! It was a touch shallower where I'd seen the movement (and I wasn't sure it was carp), but I stuck with the 13h lakky. The rig was a small Preston PB2 set about 18in deep with a 16 B611 on a .14 hook-link. It may look strange stepping up but the hook-link was a different line (Garbo line) as opposed to the Preston Reflo Power I use for my summer fishing - it's a bit suppler, and also the Reflo is in reality .15 where as the Garbo is actually what it says on the spool.

I put a tiny Cad-Pot on the pole and started to drip odd casters there, fishing single caster on the hook. I had bites strait away doing this, mostly from dumpy roach in the 1-2oz bracket, with an odd bigger one. If I put maggot on I caught a perch! I plodded away for half an hour catching roach before it died a sudden death! Suspecting a carp may be responsible I slipped a grain of corn on, and away went the float. A very lively fight ensued, and I honestly thought I was going to lose the fish as it picked up a branch in the edge. In the end I slipped the net under a cracking looking yellow ghostie of about 8lb - a few more of those and we'd be in business!

Sadly, hooking the carp had killed the swim totally and even the perch had gone! News came round that the pegs in the late 20's and in to the 30's were catching, while I couldn't raise a bite from anywhere in my swim. It wasn't until about half an hour before the end when I had another bite, with single caster giving me a little common of about 2lb.

As a whole, the lake fished much harder than I thought it would. Peg 27 won (the peg I won the last match on that lake from) with 37lb - only four carp and one 2lb skimmer! There was a another 30lb weight and a couple of big 20's but a fair few people also did as I had done and tipped their odd fish back!

I don't really think there was a lot I could have done different, although it was frustrating losing those two fish - there just wasn't any number of fish in front of me to catch, something that may now happen with the onset of winter! Fishing the lighter rig from the off may have got me an extra fish or two, but I doubt it would have bought a framing weight. The weather looks good for the next few days, but it's due to turn cold for the weekend - I think I best have a proper rig tying session, and re-do the winter rig side of my winder tray!

Sunday October 14th

Well, we definitely had a taste of what's to come yesterday morning with a touch of ground frost, which developed in to quite a sharp looking frost as we got out of the town and to the fishery. The water on the old lake still held a fair amount of colour mind, and with the changing of the weather I really didn't know where I wanted to draw!

In the end I took my customary place late in the draw queue and dipped my hand in with just three pegs left, and out came peg 70 - that'll do, it's a good peg year round and has a few options. The peg has a small island in it, but I knew the bottom is very irregular near it, plus I couldn't get tight to it with the reeds hanging over. In the end I elected to fish the near slope at 5m, and on the slope up to the island at 13m. The depths were roughly 5ft (the far line was about 2in deeper). I put up near identical rigs for the two lines, with the only difference being a heavier .4gr NG Decker used long as it caught the breeze a touch more. Terminal gear was .17 line to a .15 hook-link and a size 16 hook, with the lakky Preston 13h. I had small tree over hanging to my right at 6m, where I had a margin rig up to fish there in 2ft of water. Float was a .2gr NG XTM, while the terminal gear was the same as the other rigs, except the lakky was Preston 15h. I did also put up a shallow rig to try, but never picked it up in the end!

On the whistle the 5m line got about a quarter of a pot of hemp and corn, and I then put just six grains of corn and a small pinch of hemp in the small Toss-Pot and went out to the long line. I had a liner pretty quick, and I started to see odd fish cruise as it got quite warm in the sun - which I was nicely sat in! Peg 42 started off like a train (they had six fish in the first hour!) while pegs 46 and 48 also had a carp early.

I'd topped up the swim for a third time with the small pot as I was getting signs of fish (I'd came back every five minutes to do so) and as I lowered the rig in the third time the float went within seconds of it settling! A lively scrap saw a small common of about 2.5lb in the net pretty quickly. By the end of the first hour I had three carp all around the same size, and each fish fell to a bait that had been worked - nothing came by sitting and waiting. As well as peg 42, pegs 46, 48 and 53 were all catching and had more than me, but I was happy to be plodding along getting bites - it's a marathon, not a sprint!

With just over an hour gone I decided that with the warm sun on my bank (it was in my eyes for the first two hours or so, and the glare meant the pic had to wait until after the match) that I'd start flicking some bait in the edge by hand, hoping that some fish would come in. I was still picking up odd fish from the long line, and again every bite was taken either as I lowered it in through the loose feed, or after lifting and dropping. Interestingly, despite there being no tow of note, my bites were coming either side of where I was feeding, lined up with a light coloured reed on the small island.

I put my sixth fish in the net dead on the two hour mark, but had no big fish with them all being 2.5/3lb fish. Peg 42 was still catching, albeit slower, and 46 was one fish ahead of me but theirs were bigger. Apart from those two the other two I could see catching had slowed and there was little to chose between us in terms of numbers, but I couldn't tell how big their fish were.

Carp number seven was the first bite I had directly over my feed, and was also the biggest fish I'd had so far at about 4lb. I was starting to miss odd bites, which I think were roach (they were topping, and the pegs opposite were catching odd ones while I plugged away on corn. It was noticeable that my bites were starting to get less frequent, so I upped the feed a little. It worked to an extent bringing me two fish in two drops (the only time that happened on that line) before fading away.

At the three hour mark I decided to top up the long line and rest it, coming in to the 5m line where I'd been feeding corn by hand. I had a fish off that line pretty instantly, but didn't get a bite in the five minutes after so decided to leave it. I had a quick try in the edge, but there were only small fish present and after a few minutes of getting little dib's I left it. As I swung the margin rig in two small bubbles came up from my 5m line, so I picked that rig up and lowered the corn down over them - I think I must have lowered the corn in to it's mouth as the float simply carried on going! After netting the 3lb'er no more bites came, so I decided to risk topping it up (just a pinch of hemp and ten grains of corn) before trying out long.

With two hours to go, peg 42 seemed to have dried up, while 46 was still catching and had probably caught them up. Most people I could see were catching now, but they'd had to wait for their bites and hadn't caught in the first half of the match. The rest seemed to have to done the swim some good, and I had another three carp from it at ten minute intervals, before it went off as though someone had flicked a switch. For the next hour I rotated the swims but couldn't raise a bite from anywhere. I decided to change the rate of feeding on my 5m line, putting half the amount in, but a little more often. I'd been in the sun most of the day (it was clouding up) so I figured my best chance of a run of fish was from there as it had warmed up. Bizarrely, the margin under the tree was carp-less, and I got bitted out when I dropped in so I discarded it!.

With twenty minutes to go I had a small 2lb common from the 5m - the only bite I had so far that hadn't come from the bait being worked. No more followed, so I had a brief try long but that had never recovered. With ten minutes to go I decided to drop in on the 5m line using the heavier rig. I adjusted the depth (I'd plumbed both areas with both the .3gr and .4gr rigs, and marked both on the top-kits) and lowered the heavier rig in. The float settled nicely, then blinked away! The lift was met with more resistance than I expected, and after a few minutes netted my best fish of the day, a common of about 5lb! With just a few minutes left I had a liner, so I lifted the float clear of the water and then slowly lowered it back down. It sat there for a few seconds before sailing away, and the lift saw planty of lakky plod out! A lively fight saw me net a ghostie mirror of about 4lb. I hoped I'd have time for one last one, but just as I lowered my rig in the whistle went.

From what I could see the other bank had fished well, while the peg to my right had caught a few late. Peg 42 was the first to weigh and they fell just shy of the 50lb mark - I figured it was close between us, but guessed I'd just pip them when asked by the angler on 72 - I figured on having about 52lb, but as I was the third from last to weigh I'd have to wait! When the scales got to me I wasn't surprised to see peg 46 comfortably in front, having a shade over 70lb. Behind that there was peg 42's 49lb odd, plus a 42lb and a 41lb with a few 30's too. Not bad considering the sharp frost in the morning! My two weighs totalled up to 51lb 14oz to give me second, and a bit of kudos for admitting to my weight near on the dot!

In the end I was happy with the second placing. I'd worked hard to keep the fish coming, and in my book that makes for an enjoyable days fishing! I'm not sure why the late rig change at 5m worked (the lighter rig behaved perfectly well in the conditions), but it's one of those things. Trying it earlier may have worked, or perhaps those fish just showed up at that time and it'd have made no difference. Who knows? Still, I'd had an enjoyable day, worked at it and caught a few fish (eighteen carp in total), while sat in quite pleasant sunshine for most of the day. Can't knock that!

Sunday October 7th

With the temperature a chilly 2 degrees C when I first ventured out in to my back garden in the morning, I definitely made good with the promise from the end of last weeks blog to take my fleece!

Despite the cold night, the lake looked good and still held a very good colour. By the time I dipped my hand in the draw bag the pegs I wanted were all gone, and peg 27 was in my hand. In the winter it's a very good peg, but in the last match on the lake that was in a line of pegs which had been very hard. I was expecting a struggle!

With the peg being about 19m wide fish the pole over was a complete no-no, so the first thing out of my bag was a 10ft Carbonactive Mini Carp, set up with a small 30gr in-line Preston method feeder. I had a two options for hook-links by using a quick-change bead - either a quick stop for fishing corn or a Sonubaits S-Pellet, or with a hair rigged pellet band so I could use try a Sonu Band 'Um. These were tied on .15 line to a size 16 Kamasan Animal. I also had two pole rigs up, one for 14m where the bottom started to slope up where I intended to fish meat and corn, and a margin rig just in case, fished at 6m to my right.

On the whistle I fed my track line with a small pinch of hemp and meat before casting across on the method. It wasn't long before I had a stonking drop-back which led me to pick the rod up, fully expecting to wind back in to a fish - but I didn't! I wasn't happy with my next cast so I wound it strait back and re-loaded the feeder. It landed spot-on this time round, so much so that I still had the rod in my hand as the tip went round! A plump little ghostie of about 2lb gave a good account of himself before being netted.

That great start didn't last long, and despite getting a few liners no more bites developed, while the pegs either side of me also had a quick fish, both bigger than mine! I topped the track line up on the forty-five minute mark, and then started sprinkling a few soaked micro's in to the groundbait (Sonubaits Krill groundbait, yes, even I've got on the band wagon a touch with that!)

On the hour mark two fish in two chucks kept me on the tip, and when the fourth carp feel a couple of casts later it looked like the slight warming of the day was bringing the fish on, as the sun started to burn off the mist. All of the fish had fell to corn hookbaits, but the biggest was perhaps about 3lb! The pegs either side had one less fish each than me, but theirs were bigger!

I topped the track line up, and then started to feed the margin as the pegs either side had both caught from their margins. I didn't put a lot in, about twenty casters plus four or five bits of meat and corn too. On the first cast after doing that I had another carp pretty instantly, but this was only about a pound and a half and found it's way in to the silvers net with the ghostie. A few bite-less casts and with nearly two and a half hours gone I decided to have one quick cast with just pellets on the feeder to leave some grub over. With a Band 'Um on the hair I gave it five or six minutes, then just as I checked the time to see if it it's allotted time was up the rod wrenched round good and proper! After a hefty tussle which saw the carp pretty much tail walk at one point, decent common of about 7lb was panned. After that I gave it two more cast's, but with no more joy I gave it a rest.

I'd seen the odd bubble coming up from the track line, so was pretty confident there were a some fish about. The peg to my right was now down the track and had caught there (including a bream of about 4lb!). I baited up with a cube of meat and lowered the rig in, and it didn't take long to get a slow liner. A minute or so later the float slipped away and the lift was met by the sight of the 13h lakky streaming out! After a bit of persuasion from the pull-bung, a common the twin of the last fish I'd had on the method was panned. I had a quick drop in with no signs so I risked topping up with a small pinch of bait. A bite a few minutes after saw me briefly hook a fish which nodded like a bream for a couple of seconds before coming off.

After losing that fish I had a brief try in the margins with no joy, so found myself back on the method. The liners and signs of fish I'd been getting had slowed up, and I sat and watched as the pegs either side caught odd fish (mostly from their margins) while I couldn't get a bite. It was as I was contemplating picking up the pole again that a bite from the blue which gave me a 4lb mirror, which led me to plug away at it a bit longer, but with no joy.

On the ninety minute mark I had a quick try in the edge but that didn't give me so much as a sign of life, so decided to try cupping in two pots of loose groundbait down there (it works everywhere else, so I read!) and then picked up the track rig again. As per the first time it didn't take long to get a bite here and a common of about 4lb was the result. And again, as per the first time I'd tried the track line line I topped up and lost a fish shortly after!

With a little over an hour to go and the temperature started to drop and the fleece was needed again! Back on the tip and I had a very savage liner. I decided to re-clip up the method a touch closer to drop it down the slope a touch more (just once round the spool, perhaps only 15-20cm) I also decided to see if the pellet / Band 'Um combo would pick up a bigger fish again. It didn't take long to tell me it worked as the rod wrenched round after a couple of minutes. It was a decent common too of about 8lb, but disaster struck as it picked up a branch close in (well, a small tree). The fish was still on for a few seconds before a "bump" feeling came up the line telling me I'd lost it. With such a short amount of line between tree and fish it broke the hook-link off against it. I got the tree in mind, that was probably 4lb....

The next cast was made using corn and the predominantly groundbait mix while I quickly tied up another method hook-link with a band on the hair (I don't like having too many banded hair-rigs tied as the bands tend to deteriorate, and I'd bent the other hook pulling in a branch from across). It took me two casts to complete the hook-link as both time the rod pulled round pretty quick, giving me a brace of 4lb'ers. I gave the corn one last chuck as it'd worked but no bites saw me back on the Band 'Um and pellet combo. As had been the case, a slightly longer wait saw a bigger fish fall as a common of about 5lb was soon panned. With the method having been the most productive line I decided to stay with it and not pick the pole up in last half hour or so. I only had one more bite on it (on corn) and another fish of about 3lb was put in the net about seven minutes before the end. I finished on eleven bigger carp, plus the two small ones. I never found out if feeding that crumb down the edge worked!

When the scales got to me 30lb was the top weight from the peg to my right. I totalled 47lb 15oz before the peg to my left fell just short of the weight to my right. The danger peg I thought was the next along who I'd seen playing a few fish, but they totalled 37lb odd to take second, but evidently they'd lost quite a few fish too.

In the end the top four weights were all in a line, and it looks like the fish are moving in to their winter haunts with the advent of the water cooling. That said, considering the weather in the lead up to the Sunday (a lot of rain two nights in a row, followed by a frost) that's hardly surprising, and it didn't fish too bad. We can't expect too much now it's October - those leaner times are just around the corner!

Sunday September 30th

Well, after last weeks soaking I was pleased that the weather forecast didn't predict any rain until long after we'd have left the bankside, which was nice because trying to find the space to get everything dry when it's still wet outside makes the nightmare process of getting everything dry even worse.

Being back on the old lake, I really fancied a draw in the open water but it wasn't to be as I found myself on peg 64. The pegs in the open water were relatively wind free, but those of us in the arms of the island found the wind hitting the island and then funnelling through. Last week the rain, this week a wind tunnel! Peg 64 has something of a poor reputation but I've always done okay of it. The downside is it's a late go'er so it's a case of hoping the fish show up early enough!

I had three areas to target in the swim; tight across at 13.5m, 5m and the right hand margin at 4m. At times the wind wasn't too bad, so I risked going on the lighter side with the rigs. The far bank had a .1gr NG XTM, in 14in of water this had 2ft of line above the float to allow for the wind. This was on .17 line to a .15 hook-link and an 18 hook. Lakky was Preston 13h. For the 5m line I had a .3gr NG Decker, set with the same terminal gear as the far bank rig. With minutes to go before the all-in, I also put up a heavier .4gr of the same. Lastly was a .2gr NG XTM for the margins. Hooks and line were stepped up here, and the lakky was Preston 15h.

The start of the match led to the 5m line getting about a third of a pot of hemp and corn before going across with a tiny pot on the pole to feed just 4-6 pellets each time. The close proximity of the margin meant I'd feed it by hand. The wind meant that the pot didn't stay on long! It was also very frustrating as I could see signs of fish across, but it was impossible to present the rig to them! the lighter float came off to be replaced with a .2gr version, but still the gusty wind ruined the presentation. Putting a string of backshot along the line helped when the wind wasn't so bad, but the skim was a nightmare as the wind rushed along the island.

After forty minutes or so frustration got the better of me - I'd missed one bite across but the wind was less gusty and more consistent blowing now. In the odd lull I could see fish over the bait (when the wind let me feed with the catty), but trying to fish it was only going to lead to a bad back and/or a broken pole. I didn't fancy either and left it alone!

Going on to the 5m line I didn't expect too much so early. An odd liner gave me a little heart, but I could see most of the pegs in the open water catching steadily. I started flicking bait in to the margin to try and get that going too.

It was on about the ninety minute mark when I had my first carp. A brief lull in the wind led me to drop in across. I tried a cube of as a change bait and the float was away instantly. Not a big fish - a common of about 2lb but I was off the mark. Unfortunately the wind picked up again and put the mockers on it!

Dropping back to the 5m and either the rest or the quarter pot top-up had worked as I missed a bite lowering the rig in right over the feed (surprising given the wind). Lowering the rig back in didn't work, so I re-filled the small pot and lowering the hook bait in through the loose feed. As soon as the corn hit hit the bottom the float was away! A decent common of around 4lb was culprit, and a few minutes later he was joined by his little brother. Again, this one was taken lowering in through the feed and the bite came within seconds. With the fish taking like that I wished I could have fished the light rig, but I could only get any presentation fishing with the heavier one! Another 3lb'er fell after a short while but the swim seemed to be fading. I could get signs of fish, but no bites.

With the half way point of the match arriving I topped up the 5m line with the same amount as I'd started it with. A positive move but I was a long way behind the open water pegs! A drop in the margins got me a bite on double corn but I missed it and no more came, so I gambled on upping the regularity of my feeding here so I was flicking bait in to it every five minutes or so.

By now the wind had got even worse, so I put two more no8 Stotz on the line as backshot halfway between the float and pole tip. They'd have sank the float normally but by holding them just in the water they absorbed most of the wind buffeting. It was perhaps a combination of the better presentation and the re-feed and rest but I started to nick an odd fish off the 5m line. I was by no means motoring, but the fish were a decent average stamp with each one being around 4lb. Again, every fish fell quickly after lowering in the rig. By dropping it in but holding the float clear of the water I let the rig straiten. Once it had dropped strait I lowered the float in, holding tight to the back shot. If I got a bite it was within seconds and I didn't miss one.

With an hour to go I had eight carp, and decided that I could risk a quick drop in the edge to see if there was anything there. I had a bite on double corn no sooner had it hit the bottom, but it was only a bubba of about 2lb. No more signs followed in the coming minutes so I gave it a whole handful of both corn and hemp, making plenty of noise. I picked the heavier rig up for the 5m line, lowered it in and then noticed swirls coming from the edge!

I gave it about thirty seconds at 5m (enough time to get a bite if it was going to, given how it had been), before bringing it in and picking up the margin rig. Double corn was lowered in, and holding the rig tight to the back shot as the float settled (as I had been at 5m) got me a bite instantly! As I played the fish I flicked a few grains of corn in to keep them happy, before netting a fish that was nearer 5lb than 4lb. That worked another two times with similar stamp fish, before they were gone as quick as they turned up. I gambled by giving it just one handful of bait before going back to the 5m line with just over twenty minutes left.

The wind had eased a lot now, and while I could get odd indications no bites came. I decided I could get away with the lighter rig now, so tried that but using a cube of meat as a change bait. It worked, but strangely now I had to leave the bait static! I had two fish on this, albeit they were both smaller at 2.5/3lb, before gambling the last few minutes in the edge, but that didn't get me one last lump that I was hoping for, and I finished on thirteen carp.

I was packed away in time to follow the scales round, and 59lb and 46lb were the top weights from the open water. Peg 62 to my left in the corner also had a slightly bigger 46lb weight caught late on from their long margin before I topped them with my fish going 47lb 13oz. There was another low 40lb weight from the open water pegs on my bank, before I was pushed down in to third by a 53lb wieght.

I was happy enough with that given the conditions - the first spell of the match was a nightmare with the wind, and perhaps I should have tried the bomb over. Other than that I don't think there was much else I could have done - I never lost a fish and only missed two bites. I think it's fair to say the summer bagging has finished now, as that was the second weekend in a row I've sat with my jacket on. I'm taking my fleece next week!

Wet, Wetter and Soaked! 23/9/12

No picture today folks, as I didn't have time to take it before the match - no way was the camera coming out after in that!

I was pretty happy with my draw on the new lake - peg 29 has had some decent form recently so I fancied it for a few fish. It's a wide peg (17.5m) and I did put up a pole rig to fish across to the nearest part of the island. However, I've been struggling during the week with a sore shoulder and didn't fancy fishing it, and more so with the forecast weather! I also set up a 10ft Preston Mini Carp to fish a small method feeder in the little bay slightly to the left which was about 18m away. I set up a rig for 13m which was just up from the deepest part of the channel, and also a rig to fish both margins.

It hadn't rained until dead on the whistle, and from then on that was it for the day! It took me ten minutes to get my first bite on the small method, and when the thirty minute mark came it was looking to be a decent day despite the weather as I had three carp in the net, all falling to corn. No big fish at 3lb a piece, but steady fishing.

After my third fish the swim seemed to die - indications and everything just stopped. I was toying with trying the pole on the hour mark when I had a bite out of the blue and a lively scrap saw me put a ghostie of about 5lb in the net. I plugged away a bit longer and the same thing happened - half an hour with no sign, and then just as I was about to leave it a bite from nowhere! A small 3lb mirror this time.

No more followed for a bit so I tried the pole but with no joy. Nobody on my part of the lake was catching, but I could see pegs 23 and 34 both plodding away. I have to admit I started to wish I'd bought a fleece with me and the cold and damp meant I relented and put my brolly up! I hate the sitting under it, but with no bites I decided on a bit of shelter. The batteries in my little portable radio also decided they'd had enough and died, so I didn't even have the football for entertainment!

I was rotating the swims but it just wasn't happening, and I never had a bite on the pole at all. Pegs 23 and 34 were still plodding on, and I was watching them with ten minutes to go (having packed away my pole rigs already) when the tip wanged round and near took the rod in! Another small 3lb common was soon netted, and another followed on the next cast. Marvellous! No bites for four hours and that happens...

I packed away rather soggy and went to follow the scales around. Peg 5 was the first to weigh and they had around 35lb, and few DNW's followed before peg 11 put just short of 60lb on the scales for the win. I think there was a DNW, a 21lb weight and a 27lb weight before the scales got to peg 23 who put 43lb odd on the scales. Only two people bothered to weigh in along my side of the lake - the peg to my right didn't make double figures and my seven pasties went 23lb odd. Peg 34 who I'd seen catching had lost a few fish but still managed 41lb for third but they perhaps lost enough to challenge first place. I'm not sure what the last couple weighed as I trudged back to get my barrow before I needed a boat instead!

So not a great day for me, but given the conditions it didn't fish too bad overall. Perhaps if I'd fished the long pole in to the little bay all day I may have had a bit more - but perhaps not. I know it would have just made my shoulder worse anyhow so it was ultimately for the best. At the end of the day I never had enough fish in front of me to win and at least I had the best weight on my part of the lake. It's going to take days to get everything dry now (no chance of it going in the garden in the next few days!), so I hope next weekend brings some drier weather!

Sunday September 16th

This weeks open was again on the old lake as there had been a club booking on the new lake on the Saturday. I don't know how they fared but it was a cracking day on the Saturday, which led to me feeling not the best first thing due to an impromptu bar-be-que! Still, helping with the on-going tree removal around and between the lakes for an hour before the draw soon saw the night before's excess worn off!

I really wanted a draw in the open water on the lake but didn't get my wish an ended up sat of peg 57 which is right round the back of the island. In years past it's been the area you want in late summer / early autumn, but it's current form has been pretty poor in all honesty. Still, I had a bit of room so I set about making the best of it! The gardening theme carried on for a bit as I had ten minutes cutting bankside vegetation to allow me to get tight to the edge, and I also trimmed the reedy-like things that were overhanging in to the peg. Not only does it make it look tidy, but it stops you grabbing one when reaching for the net or a section - they can give nasty cuts much like a paper cut! I learnt that the hard way!

After making the peg nice and comfortable it was time for the rigs. I had three up for the day - one for the far bank, on for 5m and a margin rig. The far bank was plumbed up until I found a nice clear area with about 16in of depth. Float was a .1gr NG XTM on .17 line to a .15 hooklink and a size 16 hook, the lakky was Preston 15h. The 5m rig was a .3gr NG Decker in about 5ft of water. Lines and hooks were the same as the far bank rig, but the lakky was Preston 13h. Last up was a margin line for the edge to my left, about 6m away. Gear was slightly stepped up here, with .19 to .17, with a .2gr NG XTM used in the 2ft of water I had here. Lakky was Preston 17h.

With the match under way I fed the 5m line with half a medium pot of hemp and corn before going across on an 8mm banded pellet with just half-a-dozen 6mm pellets in a Cad-Pot. It took about ten minutes before I had odd signs of a fish, and shortly after my first carp was in the net. Only a small common of about 2lb, but a fish still! I carried on dripping in a few pellets with the pot, and the signs of life started to pick up.

It wasn't until the half hour mark when my next fish fell, a slightly bigger fish of about 3lb. This triggered a little bit of a flurry and by the hour mark I had five carp. The biggest about 5lb, but the rest the more usual 3lb. As tends to happen after the flurry the swim faded a bit. I was still getting knocks but it seemed they were from the small carp as I could see no signs of fish across. My thoughts were proved correct when I had a small common of about 6oz, and then on the ninety minute mark a small mirror of about 12oz.

I decided that to try and bring the proper fish back I'd use the catty to feed rather than the pot, hoping the noise would encourage the fish. Upping the feed tends to make the small fish problem worse! Hopes that this was the trick were raised when my sixth proper carp fell - a mirror about 4lb, but after that I only added a small 6oz common in the next half hour or so.

With the half way point in the match approaching I fed the margin, but after last weeks bits problem it didn't get a lot - a third of a pot of corn with a few bits of meat in. I dropped in on the 5m line which I'd been feeding by hand, but ten minutes here gave me just a liner. I had a brief foray across again, but a small 4oz common was the only result. I gave the 5m line a bit of a hit with a pinch of hemp and corn via the pot, before dropping in the margins.

Two cubes of meat in the edge got a pretty quick response, but again it was one of those little palm sized commons. I put a pot on the pole and topped the swim up with a pinch of corn, and had double corn on the hook. I missed the first bite, but not the second. It wasn't the margin pig I wanted, but it was another 3lb in the net. Two more followed in pretty quick succession, but then the bites stopped. I topped it up with a decent pinch of corn and left it alone.

Dropping in at 5m I started to get a response, but after a flurry of three fish quickly it slowed up. They were perhaps a little bigger than the margin fish mind. The last part of the match was spent rotating between the margins and 5m. I never managed to line up a run of fish, but after every rest the 5m line would give me a proper carp, and sometimes two. The margins gave me only one more 3lb'er, and a few more little baby carp! I did lose a good fish from the 5m line, which led me a merry dance before snagging me on a bramble hanging from the island. It may have been foul hooked, from the swirls it was much bigger than any fish I'd landed.

I finished the match with seventeen or eighteen proper carp and the ones in the bits net, but didn't really know how I'd done as I could only see three other anglers. Two of those tipped back just one fish a piece, and the next peg to my right had at best half of what I'd had. I packed away and met the scales just as the first peg was being weighed in, and they put 47lb on the scales. I knew I had that, but others were telling me that pegs 70 and 72 had caught well. When the scales got to me I totalled 63lb and a few ounces, while next door just scraped 30lb. In the end pegs 70 and 72 totalled 49lb and 53lb respectively to make the frame places close, but I finished 10lb clear for what is my first win off that peg!

I'm sure next week is on the new lake after a couple of weeks away from it - it'll be nice to fish it rather than just cut down tree's around it!

Sunday September 9th

It seems (this weekend at least) that the start of autumn has bought a little touch of summer with it!

I dipped in the draw bag earlier than I normally do this week, and was happy enough with the result - peg 46 was sitting in the palm of my hand. It's not every body's favourite peg but I like it as you have options. Along with the deeper open water it has nice shallow margins which allow you to get tight in to the bank. It'd do me for the day!

I had three rigs set up for the match, and the first up was a shallow rig for 13m. Realistically this would only get used for the first hour to nick an odd fish until the other lines settled, else I may have set one up for deeper. It was fished 12in deep to comply with the fishery rules, with the float a small NG Floats Extra Tough dibber on .17 line with a .15 hook-link. The hook was a 16 Kamasan animal tied knotless knot style with a pellet band on the hair. Lakky was Preston 15h, and all the shot was under the float to let the bait sink slowly. The next rig was for the 2+2 line. This did start as a .3gr NG Decker, but was later stepped up to a .4gr with the wind. It was on the same lines as the shallow rig but with a size 18 Fox Series 2 hook. The lakky was black hydro on a pull-bung and the swim was about 5ft 6in deep. Last up was a margin rig for the right-hand side at about 5m. In 2ft of water a .2gr NG XTM was fished on .19 line to a .17 hook-link tied to a size 16 Fox Series 2, with the lakky being 17h.

I went for quite a positive start on the 2+2 line, giving it a whole medium pot of hemp and corn before picking up the shallow rig. I'd only had one flick of the catapult before the elastic pulled out - I call that a good start! It was only a small fish of about 2lb, but I was off the mark. Unlike the last time I fished shallow on the lake, I wasn't besieged by bitterling out long, so could flick a few pellets out in an attempt to make something happen rather than just trying to mug cruising fish as others were.

It was only about ten minutes later when I had my next bite - just a very slow but deliberate pull down of the pole tip. A slow, almost breamy fight saw me net a big old crucian that was probably 2lb! After this the cruising fish seemed to vanish, and the next bite didn't come until the 45min mark, just as I was going to leave the swim. Again, this fish was only about 2lb, but it led me to give the swim another twenty minutes which didn't produce.

Just after the hour saw me pick up the 2+2 rig, after first giving the margins it's first pot of bait as others had started to catch odd fish in the edge. It's perhaps worth pointing out that albeit early in the match, we didn't start until midday so it was after 1pm now. The 2+2 didn't take long to start getting indications and I was soon plodding away on the line quite nicely, albeit again the fish were very small average size. Two and a half hour in to the match saw me up to ten carp, but not one was bigger than 3lb. I was getting nearly every bite by lowering the rig slowly through the potted in corn with strung shotting. If I didn't get a bite after a few minutes I re-potted some corn and did the same again and it was working nicely. Others were catching faster (pegs 44 looked to be, as was peg 70 opposite to the left, who was fishing under a tree in the edge)

The steady run wasn't destined to last forever, and actually, it died a very rapid death! I bumped a fish at the same time as the louder jet planes started their aerobatics over the nearby Duxford airfield. The two combined was like a switch was flicked, and I couldn't get a bite! It's not the first time it's happened, and while the older prop planes don't seem to bother them much (and I quite like watching the Spitfires that are regularly seen over head even when there isn't a display), having F15's and Eurofighters low flying over the airfield really does. I wouldn't mind, but I couldn't see them most of the time! Even a low flying C47 direct over head and a Catalina Flying Boat that looked like it was going to land on the lake didn't upset them, but they absolutely don't like the jets!

A while later the Red Arrows meant a finale to the show with just over an hour of the match left, and odd bites started to happen again. Carp number eleven was my first bite in the edge and a touch bigger at around 4lb, but no more followed and the bitterling moved in! I came tighter in to the edge in about 14in of water in an attempt to avoid them, re-feeding before going back to the 2+2 line.

I was getting odd bites but not as fast as before, albeit the next few fish were bigger than it had been producing at around 3lb. I was on fourteen fish with forty minutes left and saw some tails in the edge - time to have a go for them! I harboured brief thoughts of a late bag-up when an 8lb ghostie was followed by a 4lb'er, but they proved to be the last fish I had as the bitterling came up to the bank and shredded everything in sight. Damn things! I tried upping the feed in an attempt to get the carp to push them out, but in hindsight that was the wrong thing to do, and made them worse!

I finished up with sixteen carp and a crucian. I knew I didn't have what peg 70 did - they had around twenty carp from what I'd seen. Peg 44 was admitting to eighteen carp but said they were all small, while I could see others with a couple less fish than me, but bigger. Still, I'd get to see them all, as I was on the scales!

First up was peg 44, and their fish totalled just over 50lb by a couple of ounces - it was going to be tight. I totalled just over 53lb, and we held of a few high 40lb weights until we were pushed down by peg 70 who we knew had more. I can't remember the exact weight, but they totalled just over 80lb and that's the second win in a row for that peg - something that doesn't happen often in the warmer months on the venue.

I was quite happy to make the frame in the end - I wasn't sure I was going to at one point. The phenomenon of the air display affecting the fishing is one I've had before, and it was the same for others in open water swims. It's the last display of the year mind, so it's not something that'll bother us again until next year anyway!

Sunday September 2nd

I have to admit September is probably my favourite month of all for fishing, as nature has a habit of making everything look at it's best as yellow, orange and gold starts to mingle in with the greenery. I think the fish are at their best too, with spawning a distant memory and a summers worth of feeding they are full, fit and healthy - what better time to catch them?

I have to admit that when I went in to the draw bag all the pegs I really wanted were gone, but was fairly happy with peg 23 in the corner as it's had good recent form (I think second in the last two matches on the lake). Also, being too wide for the pole makes it a simple peg to tackle!

Set up for the day was simple - a 10ft feeder rod to fish the method to the island, and two pole rigs. One for the open water at 13m, one for 14m across the bay to my left in the margin. Nothing complex! The open water line was about 6ft deep and had a .4gr Nick Gilbert Decker on .17 line to a .15 hook-link and a size 18 Fox Series 2 hook, and this was matched to black hydro on a pull bung. The margin rig was a .2gr XTM on .19 to a .17 hook-link and size 16 hook. This was matched to Preston 17h lakky. I had a variety of hook-links tied up for the method (all 4in of .17 line to a size 16 Kamasan Animal hook) so I could try a mixture of baits - either hair rigged hard pellets, corn or some Sonubait's Band-Um's that I'd bought recently to try. I had both soaked 2mm pellets and groundbait (Sonubait's Krill) to try in various percentages on the feeder.

I didn't feed the margin initially, and gave the 13m line a pot of hemp, meat and corn before starting on the feeder. It took around twenty minutes before I started getting the odd liner, and my first bite wasn't until the forty-five minute mark which gave me a skimmer of about 1lb which fell to a grain of corn. It was dead on the hour mark when my first carp fell to the feeder, and only a small one at about 3lb in weight. Again, this one fell to corn, and on the first chuck when I left the bait visible on the top of the feeder.

It didn't take too much longer for my second carp to fall, and a proper rod-wrencher gave me a common of about 8lb which again fell to corn. After that it was a case of getting just odd liners, so I switched to one of the Band-Um's which got me a bite pretty quickly - although a bream nudging 3lb wasn't what I was expecting!

After that flurry the swim seemed to fade, so on the 2hr mark I fed the margin with a pot of bait before having a drop on the pole line in the open water. I was pretty surprised to not get any bites here, as I'd seen a few bubbles from over the feed. Never the less, I topped it up with half a cup as I had been doing every forty minutes of so, and then went back on the feeder.

Up until this point I'd been using a mixture of pellets and groundbait on the feeder, so decided to try cutting out the pellet to see if that slowed the liners. This led to a little flurry of activity with three fish falling in the next eight or so casts. All the bites were pretty quick in coming, so I started to leave the feeder in for no longer than about three minutes. Two fish fell to corn, and one to a Tigerfish Band-Um. No real big fish, but all decent stamper's of about 4lb. Unfortunately, my little bagging spell came to an end when I lost a fish after the hook-link parted in the middle. I can only assume it was damaged or cut under the water as it wasn't under any more pressure than the other fish had given.

I plugged away for a bit on the feeder, and went back to putting a few pellets in the feeder too, to keep some bait in the swim. After a dozen or so fish-less casts I came off the feeder to try the pole lines. I could see peg 29 catching a few down the edge (now the tree's are gone!) but I couldn't get a bite from my margin. A switch to the open water line saw me miss two bites on meat in quick succession. I tried corn as a change, which didn't work! Going back on meat and nothing came, so I topped the swim up again.

Back on the feeder and the rest gave me an instant bite while the line was still tightening up, this one on one of the Sonubaits Band-Um's (a dumbell shaped boilie/pellet). Incidentally, I couldn't get a bite on a normal pellet! Again, it wasn't a big fish, but a decent weight builder at about 4lb. No more bites came and I was chopping and changing things again in an attempt to bring a bite. With a little over an hour left carp number seven fell, a touch smaller this one at about 3lb, before the next cast saw a proper rod wrencher which I thought I'd missed! It turned out to be a roach of about 3oz!

Going in to the last hour the feeder had faded away dramatically, so I plugged away on the pole lines, spending longer on the open water line as I'd at least had bites there. With about forty minutes to go I had a small mirror of about 2lb, but no more bites followed. I topped it up with a small amount of bait, and had a brief try in the margin but it was lifeless. Going back on the feeder brought a liner but I'm sure it was from a fish well away from the island, and it just didn't have the feel that it was going to go.

With a little under half an hour left I decided to plug away on the open water line, and was rewarded ten minutes before the end with a ghostie of about 3lb, and then with just five minutes to go a plump common of about 5lb. Both fell to a single cube of meat. Despite liners after, I didn't quite have enough time to nab another!

Packing away and I wasn't sure quite how well I'd done - I'd well beaten the anglers either side of me who only had two carp a piece, but peg 29 had a few and I was led to believe that peg 14 had caught well, as had peg 11. I got to the scales as peg 7 was weighing and they put just over 47lb on the scales - I didn't think I'd quite have that. Peg 11 then put 43lb on the scales, which is about what I thought I'd have. Peg 14 had a fair few fish, but not so many proper carp and they had a weight somewhere in the 30's. The next couple to weigh didn't trouble the frame weights and then it was my turn. With 4lb odd in the silvers net I lifted the carp out and it was obvious it was going to be close. With 45lb in there I had just enough to take the lead with a total of just over 49lb.

I finished packing away and met the scales again as the last person weighed in. Peg 29 who I thought was going to have more than me turned out to have less than I thought, and had a mid 30's weight, before the end peg had an upper 30's weight.

In the end it was hard work for the win, as the lake didn't fish as well as many of us thought it was going to. I think I was guilty of over feeding the pole lines - the open water line had bubbles for most of the day, but my bites came on it as I cut back on the feed late on. It could have just been the case of they fed better (as they tend to everywhere), but I wasn't the only one who felt that they'd perhaps over done it a little.

The method perhaps showed that lot's of feed wasn't best - just crumb on the feeder proved to be best on the day, as did a visual hook bait (both in terms of left on top of the feeder, and colour, due to corn getting the most bites). I quite like the idea of the Band-Um's, and am going to seek out some of the other flavours which have nice bright colours! The Tigerfish ones I have are a nice subtle brown. I think they may be useful as bright single hookbait's in the winter too.

I think next week is back on the old lake, and with the weather forecast to get quite hot also I think Autumn may be put on hold for just a short while. It's also the last Duxford air display of the year, so if the water isn't worth watching, the sky may well be!