Sunday May 28th

Well, I see after moaning about the cold mother nature decided to turn up the heating! I bet next week will be cool and damp mind (continuing the theme) especially as it's a bank holiday weekend.

Walking around the lake it was evident that pretty much every carp in the lake had decided to spawn, which given the warm weather isn't surprising but I'd hoped that they may have decided to on Friday and Saturday and would hopefully have been finished - no chance! It looked as though it would be a tough day then.

At the draw I went in the bag at my customary late place in the queue and out came peg 40. Despite this being an end peg I didn't want it - it's a full 17m to the island, but it's also very snaggy across meaning that getting tight is hard work. There is also a big tree behind that gets in the way, plus the bay that peg 1 is in is directly behind you meaning that I had to have the pole at an awkward angle to ship out. The plus side is that if 40 is in peg 1 isn't so you can fish the bay behind you.

The rig for the bay was the first up, and it took 14.5m to fish the margin tight because the tree behind means you have to go long because the angle. On a clock face from my box, with twelve being in front, I was fishing at five! Added to the fact that I had to have my pole rollers at four o'clock then I'd be swinging the pole around a lot! Rig for this was a .2gr NG Floats XTM, all nice and shiny from my new batch of floats! As you'll know I love the original XTM's bet they were too small for a lot of the margins I fish. These look spot on and I imagine they'll replace the old DC5's I used to use (and break regularly) in the margins. Standard margin fayre for the terminal gear - mainline of .19 to .17 and a size 16 Fox Series 2 hook were matched to Preston 17h lakky. This rig also doubled for the margin at 5m to my right, tight to some overhanging marginal grass. Depth was just over 2ft on both. The only other rig up was for the far bank, with an original NG XTM on .17 to .15 and and 18 Fox Series 2, matched to Preston 15h lakky. I eventually found a gap in the far side root's, perhaps only a foot wide, but enough to get tight to the bank in about 16in of water.

At the start I decided not to feed any of the lines, imagining that eating was the last thing on their minds. It also meant that I could leave the bay behind me as a safe haven for any non-spawning fish to keep well out of the way, given that it has a lot of tree cover. With an air-show on at the nearby Duxford airfield I hoped that the noise would push fish in that wanted away from the commotion, both in and out of the water!

The first drop was met with many liners, even though I was fishing away from the bush where they were spawning - I don't want to be foul hooking fish, and spawning fish are best let be in my opinion. I didn't get any proper bites, trying both meat and worm so I fed a palm full of pellet across. The first drop over that the lakky pulled out and the fish sluggishly nodded for a second before charging off... foul-hooked! After a few seconds it came off. It was on the forty-five minute mark when I had my first proper bite which gave me a small mirror of about 12oz, unusual in the new lake. The next drop in and another small carp came off - having to swing the pole around a lot before shipping back is never ideal, but worse for small fish.

In the next half hour I went on to lose two more what felt like small carp, so I changed the hook in case the point had dulled, and worked out that if I swung the pole high over head height I could ship back over a branch of the tree, before guiding the pole round to rollers. Hopefully the momentum of movement towards me earlier would keep them on the hook a bit better! The first drop worked as I put a crucian of about 10oz in the net, followed by a smaller pasty carp, but then the bites went. It was hard work swinging such a long pole around rather than just shipping back, and the sun had came round the tree meaning I was no longer in the shade too.

As the bites had died I chanced a bit more feed, and my first drop on that give me a very lean and spawned out common of about three pound. My hopes of having it worked out were scuppered by the sun on the far bank, as the fish decided to spawn there too. Fishing across started to become a nightmare, with the liners constantly dragging the rig out of place, and quite often in to the roots. Sometimes I could flick the rig free, but often I'd have to pull for a break. I'd sat by the pond during the week one afternoon and tied up loads of rigs and filled the hook-length box up, but I was rapidly depleting them! Not something I want as Fox no longer do the hooks and I'm struggling to find a suitable replacement, as the fishery rules are for barbed hooks. I'm hoping they'll re-appear under their new Matrix banner, but my enquiry's to them have been met with a big fat zilch...

With two hours gone I needed to feed one of the margin lines. With signs in the bay I gave them a reasonable helping of corn, hemp and meat - I'd keep the other margin line until later. I also put on a slightly heavier rig for across, hoping that the increased weight in the rig would allow me to hold it better against the liners and stop me getting dragged in to the roots. I had a new pattern to try for this, an NG Floats Ghandi - designed to fish the far bank of snake lakes it's a short dumpy pattern, and the .2gr size I put on was shorter than the .1gr XTm I usually use. The change worked and while the float swirled around from the fish, it stayed in place much better and I cut the hook-up's across by about 80%! No bites though.

Half an hour after feeding the bay I had a drop in there on meat. The float went as soon as it settled and I missed it! The next drop I didn't, and a decent carp that looked about 5-6lb plodded away (hooked in the mouth) as I slowly guided the pole round to where I could ship back. I got to that point and it came off. With the fish not feeding properly (obviously!) and the fact that I had to swing the pole around so much I'd feared that may be a problem. No more bites followed so I topped it up and went back across. Half a worm got me a proper bite strait away and a carp of about 4lb, before the spawning fish returned and it just became daft to even try to fish there.

The middle of the match passed with little to say - I'd get an odd liner in the bay, and when the spawning fish moved along the bank I'd try across but with no joy. The air display was in full swing now so at least I had something to watch! I couldn't see it all because of the tree's, but I did see a Eurofighter Typhoon, a formation of Spitfire's and Hurricane - the latter two were based at Duxford during the WWII as it was a fighter base. History lesson over!

With about an hour and forty to go the spawning seemed to ease off a bit, and with a few fish seeming to move in the edges I decided to feed my other margin too. I had about three quarters of a kilo of Sonubaits Tigerfish groundbait mixed up that had been in my freezer, so I dumped in four big pots of that along the edge, with just an odd grain of corn and cubes of meat in. Had to be worth a try!

Leaving the groundbait alone I went in to the bay on double corn, havin given that half a pot before I'd dumped the crumb the other way, along the normal bank where it was comfortable to fish! I hadn't been in there that long before the float was away and this time the fish stayed on and a 5lb mirror was soon panned. Like the other two carp I'd had it was barely hooked and quite sluggish - no wonder the other fish had came off. They were fish that had just finished spawning and weren't really interested.

I couldn't get any more knocks there, although I'm sure the bay was hampered by people keep walking along who weren't catching. They mightn't have walked right along the edge of the bank, but they could have also walked a lot further away from it!

I decided to have a drop on the groundbait fed margin about twenty minutes after I'd fed it, and was surprised when the float shot away the instant the double corn hookbait had settled - not from a carp, but a bonus bream of about 2.5lb!

That was pretty much the end of the action though, as people started to pack away and trundle past the bay with barrows any fish that were there melted away, some tw@t of a bank-walker (not anyone fishing the match), who shouldn't even have been there didn't help too, I didn't see him walk up, but looked round to see him standing about 4ft away from where I'd fed in a Daz-white t-shirt! He got look and then walked off, but the damage was done. I'd carried on pinging odd pellets across but nothing was doing there, and busting the hook-link on that rig pulling for a break led me to chuck that rig up the bank.

About ten minutes before the end, once the bay had got a few minutes peace I decided to plug away on a whole worm in there - at the very least it might catch a perch or two. I missed a bite, before catching a perch smaller than the worm, then just two minutes before the all-out had a bite that saw me attached to something that felt not only sluggish, but big. I guided the pole round slowly, but after perhaps a minute the hook pulled. It may have been foul-hooked - I don't think it was, but I'll never know! I didn't bother to drop in after, and I hadn't even got the rig back on the winder before the whistle went.

It was evident from the amount of walkers that it had fished hard - there were a few DNW's and even some who'd blanked. Peg 11 put an excellent weight for the day of 31lb on the scales, taking the win by a decent margin. Peg 17 had five carp caught in the edge under a scum-raft for 18lb odd. I was last to weigh and while I knew I didn't have 18lb, I thought I could just pip the 16lb 1oz that was third. My bit's went 4lb 1oz, and the three proper carp 12lb 10oz, just scraping me in to the frame.

I knew it was going to be a hard and frustrating day with the fish spawning, so third off a peg I didn't really want perhaps wasn't too bad in the end! The lost fish were frustrating, but it's down to the fact they were spawning (or just finished in the case of those that did eat) and that's just nature taking it's course and is out of the way now. Hopefully the fish will be eating next week - the bank holiday weekend see's the blind pairs match on the Monday, so next weeks blog wont be up until Monday night at the earliest, but probably Tuesday.

Tight lines if you're out before then!

Sunday May 20th

Okay, I get it now! After the wettest April on record, it now seems we're going for the coldest May. It seems like it anyway as after last weeks brief trip in to spring I spent yet another day in May with my coat on all day.

Walking round before the match I noted that the lilly bed in pegs 44/45 was solid with fish (as always when it's up), while anywhere in the wind was noticeably cooler. I also commented that I wouldn't mind peg 48 again, but that I'd never put my hand in the bag and get it again after drawing it in the last open. So guess what peg come out in my hand? famous last words and all that! I didn't have the end peg advantage this time that I'd had before though.

I'm sure you pretty much know my rigs by now, with a small NG XTM for across in about 20in of water, while the 5m rig had a .2gr decker in about 3.5ft. Lines for both were .15 to .13 with a size 20 Fox Series 2 hook, both rigs were matched to Preston 13h elastic on a pull bung. Last up was the margin rig, fished at about 5m to my left. In 2ft of water I had a .2gr DC5 float on .17 line to a .15 hook-link and a size 18 Fox Series 2 hook. Lakky on this was Preston 15h.

On the whistle I fed the 5m line with a third of a pot of hemp and corn before going across on meat, feeding just a little meat and a few pellets via a cad-pot. Unlike a couple of weeks ago I was getting a lot of knocks from small fish, while there also wasn't any fish moving around my side of the island. Both of those were bad signs. I carried on plodding away with the small amounts of feed as I've found upping it makes the small fish problem worse. On the half hour mark I had my first proper bite which I missed, and no more followed until the hour mark when I had a small 2oz common on meat.

I could see a few others catching - peg 45 was running away with the match, and peg 70 had a couple from their margin too. On the ninety minute mark I gambled on dumping a pot on the far line as I had nothing to lose by doing it. I also fed the margin line too as it looked like I'd need it. After that I dropped in at 5m, and my confidence rose when I had indications early - early fish off this line tends to make for a good day. I missed the first bite I had here, but the second came not long after and gave me a common of about 3lb. I was just about to leave the line when I had the next bite and this was a decent fish of about 5lb that tried it's hardest to go round the small point to my right. I should have taken this as a signal to step-up but I didn't, and was left cursing as the next fish did get round the point and snagged me in the marginal roots, leaving me to pull for a break. The next rig was stepped up to black hydro on .17 line to a .15 hook-link and an 18 Fox Series 2 hook - I wasn't having that again!

Typically after the lost fish the line died on me, so I tried back across. Upping the feed here had got rid of the bits, but unfortunately there was nothing else there. Coming back to the 5m line and I thought I'd got away with the lost fish as an instant bite gave me a crucian, but it died a death after and I couldn't even raise a liner.

With half the match gone now I dropped in the margins, missing the first bite I had on meat. A switch to double corn worked and gave me two decent fish in a row, both around the 5lb mark. The bites faded after so I topped it up and spent a while rotating the lines but couldn't raise a sniff from anywhere. Back in the margins saw me lose a fish that felt decent and I'm sure it wasn't foul-hooked.

With very little happening I upped the bait - it was cool out but the water was warmer than the last match I'd been on there. I slapped a whole pot down the edge and gave the 5m line a good pot too. With all the lines dead and two hours to go I had nothing to lose!

The margin line gave me a small ghostie of about 3lb after, and then a short while later a decent common of about 5lb. Bites faded after, so another decent hit of bait went in via the cup and the line had a quick rest while I had a brief (and bite-less) try on the other two lines. I thought I had it sussed when I dropped back on the margins as a plump 5lb mirror was followed by a smaller common. Two fish to a pot it had been so far, so out went the pot again, and a 3lb'er fell soon afterwards. The next drop gave... nothing! Not even a liner.

With an hour to go all the lines were dead again. On eight carp I was on par or ahead of everyone else I could see (I had no idea how the island pegs were doing) apart from peg 45 who was still catching, and on the golden peg too. I started to loose-feed by hand in the edge instead of pot, and dropped on to the 5m line. This proved frustrating as I could get an odd bite here but couldn't hit any of them! Unusually, they came if I sat and waited rather than lifting and dropping, but changing the depths and the shotting made no difference as the float would shoot away and the lift was met with nothing. Well, the one that was met with something gave me a two foot long stick! How do they do that?

With half an hour to go I decided to plug away in the edge as it was the only line to give me a fish in the last couple of hours. A decent common of about 5lb fell to double corn, before a missed bite spooked a fish. With just ten minutes to go I gambled on slapping a whole pot of bait in from a height, hoping the noise would work too. I had exactly seven minutes left (I'd just looked at the time) when the float went, and a decent tussle saw a common of about 7lb in the net. Still time for another? You bet! This time the float went with just seconds to spare, albeit only a much smaller fish of about 3lb.

When the scales got to me peg 45 had put 64lb 8oz on the scales. I knew I didn't have that, but I hoped that the decent average stamp of fish would see me just scrape 50lb, and they did - the scales went to 50lb 8oz. I was narrowly pipped for second place by peg 53 in the corner around the island who put 52lb 7oz on the scales, including a ghostie of about 12lb.

It's not often you get 50lb at the venue and feel frustrated but I was! After having to scale up last week I should have just gone on an all out summer rig approach. The one lost fish alone on the 5m line would have gave me second, and not losing that fish may have meant the line stayed alive. Another two or three fish on top of that probably would have got me first too (or very near), given the stamp of fish. I never felt I quite got the edge right too, having to make a lot of changes to the feed to keep them coming. Perhaps it was just one of those day's - I do think the fish have spawning rather than eating on their minds, but never the less I came home thinking I should have had a bit more. Guess there's always next week!

It Felt Like Spring.... For A Day!

And it was only a day, because as I sit here now looking out of the window the wind and rain is back!

The brief spell of warmer weather had even put the carp in the stock pond in spawning mode, with several groups of fish crashing about in the marginal vegetation - surprising really as I wouldn't imagine the water had warmed up that much yet!

As had been the norm on the new lake, I wanted a high number (pegs number 1-40 on this lake, anything of 14 or more would do), so I was happy when 34 came out in my hand - it is the going flyer on the lake! Having said that, there were only three left in the bag when I drew, the other two being 18 and 25, so I would have taken any of those.

There were two big pluses to the peg in my opinion (not including the recent form), and those are that it's not as wide as some areas at only 14.5m, and that it has a long margin to the right with two small bays in it, which is where the overflow pipe runs out of the lake in to the small stream behind. I had three rigs up for the day, the far-bank being a small NG XTM. The depth here was about 14in, and it was on .17 line to a .15 hook-link and matched to a size 18 Fox Series 2. This was attached to Preston 13h lakky on a pull-bung. Second up was a rig for 5m, but being as it never got picked up after I plumbed the depth I won't dwell on it. Lastly the margin rig, which was a .2gr DC5 float fished in about 2ft of water. I fished this at about 10m to my right, on the point in the middle of the two bays.

On the whistle I fed the 5m line with a pinch of hemp, meat and corn, while the margin line had the same - I elected to feed this from the start as it has form as a margin swim recently. I then went across with a cube of meat, feeding three cubes of meat and a few 6mm pellets in a cad-pot topped off with a little groundbait.

Despite there being a few fish visible indications were not fast in coming. I was feeding a small pinch of bait via the cad-pot every few minutes to hopefully encourage the fish in to feeding. On the forty minute mark I saw end-peg 40 catch a carp, and then had my first bite. Things didn't go to plan as the fish charged off round the point of the island before the rig gave way above the hook-link, probably cut off against a root from the bank. This prompted me to step up the lakky on the new rig to 15h - the next fish wasn't doing the same! I then topped up the margin with a similar amount to the first time.

It was a while before any more signs were had, but I'd seen peg 40 net another fish. On the eighty minute mark I decided on a change to half a worm, and I also started to ping a few pellets across with the catapult instead of relying on the pot. I don't know which change (if any!) prompted it, but my next bite wasn't long in coming - a decent common of about 5lb. Not too long after my second carp also fell to the worm, a pure white ghostie common that looks exactly the same as one I have in my pond! A bit bigger than my pond fish though at about 3lb.

After that flurry the swim faded so I topped it up with a dozen pellets and a few cubes of meat via the cupping kit and had a brief look in the edge. Despite seeing a few fish moving along the edge it was a bit early for them to settle and I never had a bite there. I could however see a few fish along the far bank and my return to there saw me quickly put carp three and four in the net - a small common of about 3lb, and a ghostie of about 5lb. I'd carried on pinging a few pellets across and was just thinking about re-feeding with the cupping kit when my next bite came, a crucian of about a pound.

The crucian signalled to me it was time to top-up, and it didn't take long for the fish to come back. Carp five and six were both decent fish in the 4lb bracket, and topping up strait after seemed the way to go (I'd had two fish off each feed so far) This worked, and in fact they came so soon after dropping the rig in I figured I may be able to pinch a third fish off that feed - and I did! Smaller than the previous two at about 3lb, but I was now pulling away from peg 40 who still nabbing odd fish.

I wasn't surprised to find after that flurry of action that bites were a little harder to come by, and when my next bite after topping up gave me a big brown goldfish I decided to leave the line for a bit and try the margin. I'd given it five minutes down the edge on meat without a knock and was just about to leave it when a bite totally from the blue saw me putting carp number ten in the net with ninety minutes to go. I decided to give it another go, topping up with a toss-pot of meat and corn but it didn't happen, so I gave it a decent pinch of meat, hemp and corn via the cupping kit and went across again.

The rest across had let the fish settle and the eleventh carp to go in the net was a decent one of about 6lb, but then a raft of floating scum made presentation awkward. I could see signs of fish under it, but just couldn't get a bait through the mix of willow fluff and weed the geese have pulled up cleanly. After wasting a bit of time trying I gave up and dropped in down the edge. A few liners gave me the confidence to wait for a proper bite on meat, and after ten minutes or so I had one. Like the first fish from down the edge it was one of the smaller ones at about 3lb.

With an hour to go the raft cleared a little, and when I could get my rig in across I could get a bite before too long. Carp numbers thirteen and fourteen were again that decent 4lb stamp, but after topping up I lost the next fish. Dropping in on the margin I managed to nick another fish there, a little bigger than the first two, but again the margins failed to bring more than one bite. I went back across with a quarter of an hour to go, and my next bite was from a fish that felt bigger than those before it. I panned a fish that weighed exactly 8lb with seven minutes to go - I know the exact weight as it was the only fish to go in that net! The scum-raft had drifted back and perhaps I should have had my last drop in the edge, but I could see feeding fish across so persevered in trying to get my rig in there, but to no avail.

Two people were admitting to eight carp each, but other than that most were admitting to three or four. When the scales got to me 27lb was top weight, and my fish tipped the scales round to 64lb 12oz. The end peg (40) put 26lb odd on the scales for third - their swim died a death in the last couple of hours.

It was a pleasing day after struggling the last time round on that lake, but not as pleasing as being able to sit out a fair part of the day in a t-shirt as opposed to a fleece and full waterproofs! I wouldn't be surprised if we're back to that next week.

May Bank Holiday Part 2 - Pairs Match

I quite fancy a job at the Met-Office! Yesterday a frost was forecast in the morning that we never got, last night wasn't supposed to drop below 6-7 degree's C but it was 2 degree's at 6.30am! And it gets colder out in the countryside where Westside is than in my garden near the town centre. I doubt I'd be any worse than them.

The normal plan of action is that I fish the new lake in the pairs, and pegs 23 on the new lake and 46 on the old lake came out in my hand. Someone must have told my partner that peg 46 DNW'd yesterday as he immediately declared that he'd like peg 23! So the old lake it was for me! I wasn't too fussed to be honest, as at least I wouldn't be getting the tip rod out.

I quite like peg 46 to be fair, but it's not been the greatest peg for a while. But with plenty of open water to draw fish from I fancied being able to nobble a few fish. I had four rigs up for the day, one for 13m, one for 5m, a shallow rig in case I saw cruising fish and lastly a margin rig. The long and 5m rigs were pretty similar, with about 6ft 6in of depth long and 6ft short, and both had Nick Gilbert Deckers on with a .4gr long and a .3gr short. Both were on .15 line to .13 hook-links and finished with size 20 Fox Series 2's, with both matched to Preston 13h with a pull-bung. The shallow rig had the same terminal gear with a small Nick Gilbert XTM float with a long line above it. Hook was a Kamamsan Animal with a hair-rigged band. Last up was the margin rig, the exact same one I didn't catch on yesterday!

On the whistle I fed a pinch of meat, hemp and corn long, while the shorter line got a more generous amount. I again left the margins till later. I could see a few cruising fish so started on the shallow rig, pulling the band through a cube of meat. I was pinging odd cubes with the catty out and after about ten minutes I had a proper bite which I missed. This led me to try it for a bit longer but I had no more signs on it.

Going on the deck with corn got me indications strait away and after about ten minutes I was off the mark with a small common of about 2lb. By this point nearly everyone I could see already had carp! Another bite a few minutes later saw me nobble another small carp, but they are the usual stamp of fish for the open out long. I was hoping to get a few bigger fish later at either 5m or in the margins.

I had a short bite-less spell after but the regular trickle of hemp and corn saw two more fish in quick succession fall to corn before the indications stopped again. On the ninety minutes mark I saw a fish cruising along the edge and as the temperature was rising nicely I decided to feed it, giving it a quarter of a cup of bait before having a sneaky look on the 5m line. I didn't expect bites on it so early and I wasn't disappointed when none came!

I had a long spell with no signs so decided to up the feed out long, giving it a decent helping of hemp and corn before leaving it. I had a brief try on the other two lines before going back on the long line. A missed bite saw me bulk the shot down again making the rig more positive, and this done the job as the next two time the float went under my lifts saw the lakky come out. As had been the norm out long they were fish around the 2.5lb mark, before the next bite I had saw the fish come adrift.

After the lost fish the indications slowed so I topped the line up again and dropped in on the 5m line on meat. I had a bite that saw the float fly under at a huge rate of knots, but the lift was met with thin air! No more bites came so I gave it a hit of bait similar to how I'd kicked it off before having a brief try in the edge.

Back out long and I could get silly knocks on corn so I tried a cube of meat which got me a bite, but that fish came adrift half way back. I couldn't get a bite again on meat but switching back to corn saw me nab a better common of about 4lb and then another smaller fish before the line faded again, so I topped it up again.

I tried a grain of corn on the 5m line, and this saw me nab a fish of about 3lb but no more bites followed, despite me trying all around the feed, and trying meat too. I decided to up the bait by hand here - a few other people were catching well and I needed this line to give me a good late run. The margin got a big pot too - it hadn't showed any signs so I wasn't going to kill it!

Back out long and there wasn't the signs that there was before, but I managed one more small carp by fishing a cube of meat away slightly from the feed. Back at 5m and a bite right away saw me hook a fish bigger than all the others, with a plump 5lb mirror being just what I wanted. With an hour to go I hoped it would kick in to life but it didn't. A quick try in the margins was fruitless, as was out long. With nothing to lose I slapped half a pot of bait in at 5m and managed a carp right away over it - a common of about 4lb. I plugged away over it for a bit, not wanting to feed like that again but the line was totally dead with no indications at all. I eventually gambled on slapping the bait in again but I couldn't raise an indication from anywhere in the swim.

When the scales got to me the peg to my left was top with 37lb 4oz - I thought it was going to be tight and it was, with me just pipping them with 37lb 8oz! My weight was only good enough for third on the lake though, with two pegs round the island producing weights of 59lb and 56lb - both from pegs with cover in the margin.

On returning to the car-park it was obvious who'd won with the one pair having a lake win and a fourth, but with my partner having a lake fourth we managed second pair with a few points to spare. I honestly don't think we could have done any better from those pegs, and while my partner was only 5lb off second on his lake we'd have still lost out on weight unless he'd had another 30lb+ in weight, while I needed 20lb to get another point. Still, it wasn't a bad weekend!

May Bank Holiday Weekend, Part 1!

It's a bit novel to get out twice in one weekend, and I have to say I was looking forward to it - despite the weather!

With only ten anglers showing for the open there wasn't really any pegs I didn't want as we'd all have a bit of space. The wind was pushing towards the car-park end so that looked favourable, so I promptly drew peg 48 which was the furthest peg away from the car-park that was in on my bank. Still, it was an end peg so you never know!

I put three rigs up for the day - a far bank rig at 13m on the corner of the island, a 5m rig and a margin rig. The far rig was tight to the island in about 20in of water, with a small NG XTM float on .15 line to a .13 hook-link and finished with a size 20 Fox Series 2 hook. This was matched to Preston 13h lakky on a pull-bung. The 5m line had a .2gr NG Decker (probably takes around .3gr really) The depth here was about 4ft and that rig had the same terminal gear as the far bank rig. Last up was the margin rig for 6m to my left. I had just over 2ft here and the rig was a 4x12 Preston Somo (I've replaced the cane tip for a slightly fatter plastic one) on .15 line with a hook-link of the same. This was finished with a size 18 Fox Series 2 hook and matched to Preston 15h lakky.

On the whistle I fed a small pinch of 6mm pellets and meat across, and then fed a pinch each of meat, hemp and corn at 5m. I decided to leave the margin line for a bit and see how they responded to bait before feeding it later in the day. In the first fifteen minutes I saw three or four other people catch carp while I hadn't had a knock. I was dripping in a few cubes of meat and an odd pellet in, and on the half hour mark had my first indication - I was lowering my rig down after feedin and the elastic pulled out! It came off a few seconds later mind, so not the best of starts!

It was about ten minutes after the lost fish when the next bite came, and that gave me a decent common of about 4lb, followed by a micro common of about 2oz! After a roach the next drop on meat I topped up with the big pot, giving it about a dozen pellets and half that of meat. A quick drop on the 5m where I'd been dripping corn and the odd bit of meat gave me just a liner, which led to be giving it a bit longer than I was going to without a proper bite.

Going back over on meat got me a response pretty quick, with a 2lb common being quite quickly followed by one slightly bigger. I topped up after each fish with a few pellets and three bits of meat, and when the next bite gave me a crucian of about a pound I thought I'd found a good rythem, only for the fish to fade away again. I topped up with a larger amount of bait again, but it didn't work this time.

With two hours gone I decided to start feeding the margin and gave it a modest pinch of corn, hemp and meat. I was going to keep some bait going in by hand too, albeit less often (but larger) amounts than what I was putting in at 5m. I had my first bite on meat at 5m too, which flew away but I missed it! A repeat on the next drop gave me a 2oz mirror so I gave it a quarter of a pot of hemp and left it alone.

Back on the far line at the halfway mark bought an odd indication but no proper bites, and peg 68 opposite started to catch a few fish in the open water. I topped up the far line with the big pot again, and had a fruitless try on both the close lines (apart from a foul-hooked bitterling in the margin!) The hit of bait and a rest seemed to do the line some good and two fish about 3lb each followed in pretty quick succession, before typically they backed away again.

Dropping in on the 5m line with two hours to go and a bite on meat, fishing just away from the feed saw me nab a common about 5lb, but no more followed. I upped the feed here slightly as they'd responded across to bait across, in the hope of a late flurry. I had fruitless try in the margin after seeing a swirl there, before going back across and nabbing two fish again in fairly quick time. Not big at about 3lb, but I was keeping bites coming! Next drop saw me catch a roach so I topped up again with the big pot.

Back at 5m I tried a grain of corn, which got me carp number seven after a very brief wait. Not as quick as number eight came as the stem of the float was just touching the water as I lowered the bait in with the loose-feed and the lakky ripped out! It was a decent fish too at about 5lb. The bites went iffy after so I topped that up and left it, having a fruitless try in the edge. By now the rain had really started, but it didn't seem to upset the fish as the far line gave me two fish again quite quick before I had to top it up, leaving me with ten carp with an hour to go.

I went back on the 5m line, and the next bite saw me land another crucian, this one a bit bigger than the first at about 1lb 4oz, before nabbing another carp of about 3lb. Again, it was corn doing the damage on this line. A brief spell of iffy bites led me to leave it and try the far line quickly. This gave me a bite and a small common of about 2lb before a spell of missed bites saw me land another 2oz carp. With little more than half an hour to go I decided to concentrate on the 5m line. This paid off as no sooner had I lowered my rig in than the float was away, and after a much more prolonged fight a lumpy mirror of about 8lb was netted.

After that fish I started to get indications that never developed so I swapped over to meat, missing two bites in a row on this. I changed the shotting from a spread-bulk to a much more positive tight bulk just 10in from the hook. This gave the desired response as the next bite was connected with, and resulted in a common about 3lb. After that a flurry of knocks that never went led me to try well away from the bait, and fishing above my feed (up the tow) saw me nab my last fish just seconds before the whistle, with me netting a 4lb ghostie in extra time.

Unlike last week, the rain didn't stop before the end, so I packed away slowly in the rain. I knew I'd pulled away from peg 68, and the only other peg that apparently had any number of fish was peg 64 but I couldn't see them. I weighed before both of them, and my fish went a touch more than I thought taking the scales to 56lb 7oz. I didn't follow the scales round as I still had stuff to pack away, but when I met up with them at the car park I'd finished first, with peg 68 totalling 36lb 12oz and peg 64 having about 28lb. Not bad for a day when the temperature never came above 7 degree's C!

Tomorrow brings the traditional pairs match, and in all likely hood I'll be on the other lake and I expect a much harder match. However, it's good to go in to it with a win, and hopefully I can keep the good form going! I'll be back with the blog from that either late Monday night, or on sometime Tuesday!