Ending The Year With A Whimper!

Well, I know I promised you a blog after Sunday, but in all honesty there's nowt to write about! A very sharp frost Saturday night seemed to upset most fishery's from what I've heard. I drew one of the two peg's I didn't want and didn't really catch a lot. Five small roach and a small skimmer to be exact. I could have caught small fish but it's hard to get your head down for them when only a couple of pegs up someone is bagging, and on the golden peg too!

So a disappointing year in angling finished in a disappointing way - my worst year results wise for a good few years. The brightest point would have to be away from match fishing too with my pb river carp which I nabbed early one morning before work in September. I'd really like a river 20lb'er next year, but it seems I've been saying that for a long while too. Hopefully 2014 is a much better year for angling for me all round!

Hopefully you all had a good Christmas, and a Happy New Year to you all. I hope it's a fish filled one!

Gavin

Sunday December 22nd

Well, it's certainly a bit blowy of late! Apologies for the lack of pictures - in the rush of getting things sorted for Christmas I forgot to give the batteries in my camera a proper charge. And before anyone suggests I could have used my phone, my "smartphone" is apparently smarter than my ageing laptop and the two really don't seem to get on very well together!

Anyhow, along with the wind yesterday morning it also decided to rain as I was leaving the house too, although thankfully it stopped before the draw. I'd not walked round but could see the wind was blowing down the lake and slightly off the back of the lower number pegs on the right side of the lake as you look at it from the car park. It was about right then that I found myself right at the windward end on the left-hand bank - peg 62 was to be my home for the day.

People who know the venue will know it's a corner peg on an island, and you can just fish to the up the side of the point without leaving your own peg. Fishing across was going to be fun with the wind, but on the times it abated a little I had a small area of calmer water where the point of the island protected it a little. I had two rigs up for here - a .3gr Nick Gilbert Power Finesse for fishing on the deck in just over 3ft of water on the slope, and a 4x10 Preston PB2 for fishing punch shallow. The deeper rig also doubled for my margin rig at about 12m to my left near some straggly reeds. Last up was a .4g Power Finesse set to fish in about 5ft of water at 12m angled to my left (downwind). all the rigs had .125 Garboline hook-links, with the two deeper rigs fished finished with a size 18 Drennan Wide Gape Match hook. The shallow rig had a size 16 B611 on as it was only going to be used with punch. All the rigs were matched to Preston 11h elastic. I also put up my 10ft CarbonActive Mini Carp with a small strait lead, just in case the wind increased any more!

I only fed the deepest swim from the off - giving it just three grains of corn and a tiny pinch of hemp. I plugged away with either the shallow punch rig or the slope rig when the wind allowed, or on the bomb otherwise for the first hour with nothing to show for it. With other people having caught odd carp that I could see I risked a bit of feed across, and give it just three grains of corn.

A fruitless try on the other two lines saw me back across but had only one tiny roach on a 9mm punch to show for my efforts. At times the wind was outrageous but I plugged away, occasionally using the bomb to get through the worst of it. On around the two hour mark, during a slight lull in the wind I lowered my punch rig down and the float simply went with it. I was quite surprised to see that my lift saw several feet of red lakky come out! The wind chose that time to start blowing again, and I was thankful for the nice forgiving elastic as the wind buffeted the pole around as I gingerly shipped back. A nice looking common of about 4lb was my reward.

With one carp in the net my efforts didn't seem so much in vain, and about forty minutes later - again when the wind allowed me to fish the pole - I had two carp in as many drops. I was like bagging-up, for those two drops! Both were again about 4lb each. For a while after the wind didn't allow my to try across on the pole, while the tip remained steadfastly motionless.

The last hour loomed and the temperature started to cool a bit. Any signs of life across had gone now and I plugged away mostly in the deep water. My faith in a line that had not given me a bite was rewarded with about twenty minutes to go when the float dipped with a grain of corn on the hook. After a few minutes a carp that looked nearer 6lb than 5 was in the net, but sadly I didn't get any more.

My four carp in the end weighed in at just under 18lb and was good enough for third place - 28lb won and 25lb was second. Both those weights were taken from the end pegs on either bank nearest to the car park - and off the wind for pretty much all but the worst gusts! It was hard work, but at least I had some reward for it. It's just a shame that the worst of the wind eased away while packing up - when the scales came round there was barely a ripple, as usually seems to happen!

Right, must be off - things to sort out before Christmas, but all being well I'll be back out next Sunday and will have a blog for you the following Monday or Tuesday. Have a good Christmas all who read this, and may Santa bring you lots of nice fishing related goodies! If not, do as I most likely will and go buy your own!

Autumn/Winter Update

Well, I keep meaning to sit and do a proper write-up but I just can't seem to find the time!

I've had an odd decent days fishing but it has been largely hit and miss - I think with one win and a second place since my last update, but also some real slow days. This weekend gone was the Fur and Feather and regular readers will know that they haven't been the kindest of matches to me since I started this blog back in 2008.

This year the weather looked to be better as at least the lakes didn't have a lid on them. I have to admit though, when I drew peg 53 - the same peg I drew and blanked off last year in the Christmas match - I was a little despondent!

My mood improved a little when I sat down on my box - despite the tighter pegging with the higher attendance. There were a few leaves drifting about in the corner, and one thing that everyone knows about the venue is that the carp love leaves! Not that there were any of those showing.

I had a few rigs up - one for the deepest water I could find, at 11m angled to my right, a margin rig for 8m to my right about 3ft deep that also doubled up for fishing just on the slope up to the island. I also had a 2ft deep dibber rig and a roach rig for 6m.

I fed the margin and the deep line with just six grains of corn and a tiny pinch of hemp and started flicking a few casters to the roach line, before starting to explore along the far bank with the slope rig and corn, looking for any signs.

After twenty minutes it looked as though no carp were present, so I decided to have one drop on the 2ft punch rig before I had a go for the roach. I was somewhat shocked when the float burried after about a min but I missed it! Next drop it went again and the lift saw my 13h lakky streaming out! A decent carp of around 4lb was the culpret.

The next two hours saw odd bites out of the blue in different places along the far bank, and at the halfway mark I had five carp and had lost one which had picked up a stick in a raft of leaves and the hook pulled near the net.

The last part never saw me hook any other carp, but I plugged away getting odd roach on punch but largely missing the bites.

At the end my carp went 19-3, and was third on the lake with 21lb second and 22 winning - both weights taken from the deepest area of the lake in the open water. Not losing that carp, or having the last spell after roach almost without doubt would have won me the lake (I never picked up my roach rig), but never mind! I skillfully in not winning managed to avoid the lake winners bottle of Champagne (which I don't drink!) and managed a choice from the table instead. The bottle of Jack Daniels winter punch is much more to my taste, although a case of beer was tempting!

In all honesty, I was pretty happy to have broke my duck of poor Fur and Feather matches and have caught some fish! The other lake was just as close, with 33lb and 32lb being top weights and giving the overall winner.

I hope to give you a couple of proper blogs soon as I have time off over Christmas, but if I don't write before then have a great Christmas all, and a Happy New Year!

Autumn Update!

It seems an age since I last did any kind of update, and when I checked, it is!

I've had a few decent days fishing to report - a win the week before last on the new lake with 55lb odd, taken mostly on meat in the deep water. The old lake hasn't been so good for me, with just one third place in the last few matches - taken mostly in the first hour across and last thirty min in the edge - the middle part was dire!

The new lake has seen me at least having a days fishing if I've not picked up - I've had one other win off it with 85lb taken mostly in the edge. The shame of it was a walker came past with an hour to go and killed it. Just fifteen carp made up that weight, and the first three were only about 5lb in total! I also had a second off that peg the week after, beaten by 9lb for first. I lost a fish about that size at the net, and a lump last drop too! The other match that comes to mind on there was a day when I had about 12-14 smallish carp taken on meat down the track - an enjoyable days fishing for 4th with around 40lb. Three weights in a row on the total opposite side of the lake made the frame, but I enjoyed myself!

With the clocks now changed I hope to find the time again to write more detailed blogs as I did before - they may not be every week but I do want to try to get back in to it!

Tight Lines

Gavin

A Quick Update!

Well, there may not be a great deal to report of the match front - I've had a couple of draws I didn't want, followed by and enjoyable days fishing last week where I finished up with 74lb 4oz on the new lake, only to be beaten in to second place by 4oz by the end peg! Guess it wasn't to be then...

On the flip side, I've managed to nobble a carp from the river - a river pb for me too at an ounce over 17lb in weight. Well worth getting up early for to have an hour before I started work. It'd be nice to get one or two more, but with the onset of the cooler weather they seem to have drifted off - guess I'll have to find the time to go look for them again!

August Update!

Sorry for the lack of updates - I've been quite busy of late, and what free time I've had I can't seem to find the want to sit at the laptop for an hour to write a blog at the moment!

I didn't fish the weekend after the last blog, but since then the three matches have been pretty good. I came nowhere with 49lb on the old lake, but followed that up the week after on the same lake with a win with 73lb odd. Both times the bulk of my fish came on corn in the edge.

Last week on the new lake I was narrowly pipped for first by around 1lb, having 66lb 7oz. So I've at least been catching some fish! Thoughts of those carp in the river still occupy my mind though, but finding time to fish for them is another matter...

As the evenings edge in I imagine the updates will become more regular as I'll perhaps get time on the Sunday evening to write them after, while the info is still fresh in my mind!

Sunday July 21st

With the up-turn in form of the old lake I was looking forward to fishing it - especially as there are no arm- achingly 17m wide pegs on there!

I had a walk around and wasn't really too fussed with where I drew. However, when peg 62 came out I was pretty happy as looking at the draw sheet I was an end-peg with plenty of room. Can't complain at that!

I had three rigs up for the day - one for across, one for 5m and one for 13m down the margin to my left, just behind the reeds laying over just visible in the picture. Standard rigs really - .15 hook-links to size 18 Fox Series 2's on the far-bank and 5m line. A small .1gr XTM was for across in a little over a foot of water, where as the 5m line had a .3gr NG Decker in about 5ft of water. I used 15h for across and black hydro on a puller for 5m. For the margin I had about 2.5ft of water and the rig was a .2gr XTM. Hook-link was .17 to a 16 Series 2 and matched up to Preston 17h.

On the whistle I fed across with about twenty 6mm pellets, while the 5m line had a whole pot of hemp and corn. Knocks and indications were slow coming across to start with and my first bite came after about twenty minutes - a common of about 4lb. In the next half an hour two more about 3lb each fell before the line faded, I think in part due to someone walking past to go use the fishery toilet!

I plugged away on the line and started getting an odd small 4oz pastie on banded pellet - all the while regularly feeding at 5m by hand. I was just toying on giving it a go on the ninety minute mark when I had a carp of about 2lb across so I plugged away on it for a bit longer.

On the two hour mark I decided to drop in after no more better fish across. Odd signs led me to plug away on it and in the next hour I had three carp off it. Not big fish, but I was putting something in the net! When the next fish was a roach of about 12oz I decided to top-up with half a big pot, but first dropping a half a pot of corn down the edge.

Dropping in the margins on double corn it took about two minutes to get a bite - a reasonable mirror of about 4lb. Two more followed in quick succession, both about the same size before a lull led to me topping it up. Twice more the top-up worked for two carp at a time, albeit fish of about 3lb but they were coming steady.

When the third top-up led to just a missed bite I decided to leave it be for a bit and drop back in at 5m. For the next hour I managed to rotate the two swims, only ever managing one carp at a time, but with two lines working I carried on.

With an hour to go I started getting snagged up down the edge - whatever it was hadn't been there previous as I was using the graphics on the butt as a marker and was fishing in the same place - fishing just before and beyond also led to the same. After three lost hook-links and a tug of war with the plummet trying to find a clear spot I decided to re-feed across before dropping in at 5m.

As it turned out, re-feeding across was a waste of time as I plodded along steadily at 5m for the last hour, going from nineteen carp up to twenty five. For the most part they were quite small (just under 3lb), but the last one was a better fish of about 5lb.

I'd had a pretty enjoyable day, but had no real idea how I'd done as I couldn't really see anyone, although I'd heard a bit of splashing! When the scales got to me 56lb odd was the top weight. I comfortably topped that, with my fish going 85lb 11oz on the scales, and while the remaining frame places were close I finished comfortably first.

Did being the end peg help? I've no doubt it did! It was nice to draw one for a change, and it was nice to get plenty of bites. It was by no means stupidly easy fishing, but enjoyable having to work and rotate to keep bites coming. The 5m line in particular needing constant tweaking to keep the indications hittable.

There's no blog planned for next week as I'm busy elsewhere. However, I have seen a carp or two in the river again on my travels, including a familiar old friend who'm I have a picture of with me holding him/her, taken back in 2005! I may be able to wangle just an hour or two after them in the next few weeks... perhaps!

Sunday 14th July

Well, what another scorcher! I have to admit that in the past I used to grumble at these sorts of temperatures, but after a winter that seemed to last forever I'm quite enjoying it at the moment.

This Sundays match was back on the new lake due to a booking on the other lake, although I have to say I wasn't fussed, and if I were pushed to say I'd have preferred it for two reasons; there's more shade - and with a Duxford air show on too the low flying aircraft seem to have less of an effect on this lake as it's more enclosed.

At the draw peg 8 came out of the bag in my hand, and I have to admit I didn't really fancy it. The back of the lake looked more coloured (pegs 14 to 29), but never-the-less I was going to give it a good go! First rigs up for the day were for across - an arm aching 17m in the heat, and slightly awkward with a high bank behind. First was a .2gr NG Ghandi in just under 2ft of water. The second was a dibber rig to fish at 1ft as the water was 2ft right in tight and I suspected that the fish may not want to go down. Both rigs were matched to 15h elastic and .15 hook-links. Next up was a margin line. I had a nice long margin to my right (as shown) so my swim was literally lowering my float to within inches of the next sleeper. Depth here was about 2.5ft. The rig was stepped up as per usual for the margin - .17 hook-link to a size 16 Fox Series 2 and matched to Preston 17h elastic. Last up was a throw-away 2+2 line but as I never had a bite here you don't need to know about it. With a bit of time to spare I also plumbed along the right margin and found the same depth at the same distance as before. Handy, but again I'd not had a bite here by the end!

On the whistle I fed a about a dozen 6mm pellets and a pinch of loose groundbait, while the 2+2 line got a decent pinch of hemp, meat and corn. I elected to leave the two margin lines for a bit. With it being a long way across and an awkward bank behind I elected to start on a worm which stays on well. However, the micro perch and small roach were such a pain I quickly swapped to a 6mm expander. I waited slightly longer before a 2oz skimmer fell so I tried an 8mm cube of meat but got exactly the same result.

After finding the small fish such a pain I cut out feeding any crumb and the slivers faded away. The perch were still a problem and ruled out fishing worm or even meat as the pesky "wasps" even munched that! I plugged away with pellet or corn but with no joy. I could see peg 11 catching steadily to my left although the carp didn't look big. I had a brief try on the shallow rig but the same happened. No response on pellet, and perch on caster or meat!

On the two hour mark I needed something to start working and gave the left margin a small amount of meat and corn. I went back across and started seeing odd carpy signs. A missed bite boded well on pellet, especially as the next drop produced a small common of about 1lb. However, no more bites were forthcoming. A slight movement to my right a little, at the full 17.5m caught my eye so I dropped my shallow rig over it. Bingo! No sooner had the float settled than the elastic came streaming out. Not a big carp at about 3lb, but not a bad result when the next drop was followed but a 4lb'er and then shortly after one about 6lb! A slightly longer wait ensued and it looked as though the fish had back away. A brief rest while I had a bite-less try elsewhere got me a little baby ghostie of about 12oz but then it totally died.

With two hours to go and a now barren swim I decided to give the right margin a good helping of ground bait - I had nothing to lose! I could see peg 11 still catching, while peg 14 was also catching down the edge too. I started to feed small amounts more often down the left margin but all I could get down the edge were small perch - they were even taking double 8mm meat on the hook!

With an hour to go I had a small common of about 3lb down the edge - maybe it was about to come good? No bites came for a bit so I had a brief try across, but apart from one missed bite on the shallow rig nothing else showed.

I could see odd signs down the edge and decided on a kill or cure measure with half an hour to go and slapped in half a pot of corn noisily (no meat, I didn't want to feed the perch!). With fifteen minutes to go it paid off as a brace of 5lb'ers fell before the indications faded. With little more than two minutes to go I gambled on feeding again - much less but hopefully enough to get a bite. With no more than ten seconds left the float was away and the lakky followed it at the same time! A cry of "fish on" came from me on the whistle as a slow, sluggish fish chugged away on the end. Five minutes later I was looking at a chunky sparsely scaled mirror every bit a double! A result, and maybe enough to haul me in to the frame....

When the scales go to me just 12lb odd was top weight. My fish plonked the scales round to just over 39lb and when peg 11 only put 30lb on the scales I began to wonder being as they were tipped to win. As the scales got round it was obvious it had fished hard and the best weight to go on the scales after were just shy of 30lb.

So, a win from a peg I didn't really fancy wasn't a bad result, even if it wasn't won until the last ten seconds with that last-gasp lump! Perhaps just rewards for the arm-aching work at 17m in the heat earlier. I know I certainly felt it when I got home!

Sunday July 7th

Well, that was rather a hot weekend! From the car park after arriving there were signs of some fish spawning, although it looked as if they were finishing up. Hopefully a good day was in store with the fish hungry after eventually getting down to what they seem to have been waiting to do for months!

When my hand came out of the draw bag I was pretty happy with the number I saw - for the first time in what seems forever I was away from the front of the lake! Peg 25 is one of my favourite pegs on the lake and one I have a good record from. I put three rigs up to approach the peg; one for across, one for 12m slightly to my right at the bottom of the slope and one for the left margins at 5m. I'm pretty sure you know what my rigs are likely to be now, so with writing time limited I'll skip going to detail over them!

On the whistle I fed across with about twenty 6mm pellets before giving the track line with half a pot of hemp, corn and meat. I could see a few fish around and was pretty confident that I'd catch. My first bite wasn't long in coming and fell to a 6mm expander pellet - a small common of about 3lb. Odd liners ensued as I carried on dripping a few pellets across but about twenty minutes later my next carp also fell to a pellet - a bit bigger this time at about 5lb.

The next fish I hooked I lost after a few seconds, but unfortunately it seemed to move the mire of roots across (it had taken a good amount of plumbing to find a clear area tight over) and I started to snag up on most drops across. I have to admit I threw the pole back in frustration after snagging up again, only to see my top-kit and short 4 shoot across the lake! Not good, but fortunately I managed to quickly retrieve it after getting out a spare no4 and using my cupping kit. Phew, that could have been expensive!

I calmed down and bit and with a new rig had a good plumb around again to try and find a clear area to fish. I settled on an area much further to the right than I've fished the peg before, and near to the corner of the island. I'd avoid it normally as it could mean the fish run along the island and directly away from you, causing problems, but needs must and with no other suitable areas it was my best bet for across! I fed it with a few pellets and a little loose groundbait before deciding that it would be a good time after the disturbance to start trying to prime a margin swim. I gave it half a pot of hemp, corn and meat before going on to my track line.

I didn't have any signs while down the track, but I could see an odd swirl across. With a pellet on I had a few liners and one missed bite so I tried a worm. That didn't stay in long as a small mirror of about 2lb fell. Topping up after each fish and two more fish fell fairly quickly, one about 4lb but the other most likely nearer to 8lb. However, after the run of fish all signs seemed to disappear - I'm pretty sure due to the wind which was pushing down to the front of the lake, now I wasn't drawn there! I could see peg 29 (the last peg in along the side I was on) start to catch regular from their edge swim. I couldn't get a bite from mine!

Odd perch were all that seemed to show before I nabbed a ghostie of about 4lb that I watched swim along the island, drop over the feed and then the float went away. With an hour and a half to go peg 29 was motoring, but while I could see others catching a few, their fish looked smaller than mine. With just one hour left I had another fish across at about 3lb but then lost one almost strait away after.

The lost fish seemed to be the death-knell as I struggled for a bite anywhere in the peg. I started spending equal time across and down the edge (I'd written off the deep line as I'd had no bites or fish blowing on the line, and I'd not seen anyone else catch there either). With about twenty minutes to go I had my first bite down the edge on meat, but I wasn't expecting a 3lb bream! With about ten minutes left my second bite down the edge gave me a common of about 7lb but I didn't have time for any more.

When the scales got to me 37lb was top weight and 34lb was second. I took the lead for a while when my fish totalled 39lb 2oz but as I expected peg 29 was comfortably ahead of me with a total of 59lb odd. The last peg to weigh looked like they'd push me for second but they totalled 36lb.

In the end I was quite pleased with that - the day nearly fell to pieces at one point. Interestingly I think we arrived just as the fish had finished up spawning - it was a late draw and a midday start. All the bigger fish I had were a bit lethargic and a lot of the fish I saw looked tired and recently spawned out. Hopefully the hot weather has allowed them to get that out of the way now and hopefully now they'll get their heads down and have a munch!

Sunday June 30th

Well, it's back to business as usual! The river carping didn't go too well, with someone nobbling a carp from my swim one day when I had to leave early (and I know had I stayed I'd have had one) and I also had a stalking opportunity ruined when a black lab (it's always one of those misbehaving too!) jumped on top of a low double common I had grubbing around my bait!

Arriving at the lake and with the wind blowing down the lake I fancied a draw around the back of the island - it was at the windward end but sheltered, and also with the temperatures forecast to reach the mid 20's it's also fairly shallow. Alas, it wasn't to be when I drew peg 47, although I don't particularly mind the peg it is in the deepest part of the lake and can therefore be a challenge on bright, hot days.

I had just the two rigs up for the day - a rig for 12m in to the open water which also doubled for my 2+2 line (which was just 2in shallower) and a rig for the margin to my right at 5m. Pretty standard summer rigs went up, with a .4gr NG Decker for the deeper rig, finished with a .15 Reflo Power hooklink, and the margin rig was a .2gr NG XTM with a .17 hooklink. Lakkys were black hydro and Preston 17h respectively.

With a lot of fish cruising about looking as if they wanted to spawn I was worried that my deep swim would perhaps be a struggle until those fish that wanted to feed would come in to the edge, and I was proved correct! Pretty much everyone I could see was catching odd fish early while I remained biteless.

With the wind being a bit of a mare after an hour I abandoned the longer swim - I always think if it's going to be a worthwhile line you'll catch their fairly early before the fish move closer. It proved to be a fair wait until they did, as it wasn't until three hours in before I had my first fish - a common of about 4lb from the 2+2 line.

For a bit I managed to alternate between the 2+2 line and the edge and pinch odd fish. With an hour to go I'd had seven carp - four from the edge and three out, which were smaller than the margin fish. With the fish seeming to respond in the edge to me feeding noisily (slapping the feed out of the cup) I risked pushing the swim by upping the bait, and the result was that although odd fish still came in I couldn't get a bite! Wrong move.

The sum total of my last hour was a 2oz roach on corn from the 2+2 line, and a carp of about 5-6lb which I lost at the net, hooked from the margin right near the end after I backed off on the feeding.

The gamble of upping the bait proved to be quite costly in the end as I finished fourth with 33lb, with the weights ahead of me being 36lb, 37lb and 43lb winning. The lost fish alone cost me a place or two, but as I seem to have developed a knack of doing this year I didn't quite get it right again. Frustrating, but we can't have it all ways, and there is always next Sunday! Hopefully I'll find the time to do my write up a bit earlier, while things are a bit fresher in my mind!

Not Much To Report!

My blog will continue as normal in a few weeks, I'm just having a bit of a break from matches at the moment! I've had a bit of time on the river (unsuccessfully!) after carp, and have enjoyed the change of scenery, travelling light and coming and going as I want - even if I can only catch great big snotty's on boilies!

I'm starting a new job soon so you may have to bare with erratic updates - I'm guessing sometimes they'll not appear until a Tues or Wed, but I'll do my best to keep everything updated. Until then, I have a little more than a week to catch me my first river carp in five years......

Sunday June 2nd

Well, it's only taken until June but at last some better weather seems to have arrived! Back on the old lake and I fancied a draw around the island but the ol' drawing hand let me down again and I drew peg 42 - the furthest away from the island I could get, and yet again the first peg on the lake and on the scales! At least if I didn't catch I'd get to see some fish.....

While 42 has absolutely no form of late it's a peg I quite like, and have done well from in the past - it's not as deep as most of the other open water pegs which I think makes it easier to get the fish to go down to the bottom. First up was a rig for 13m out, although this rig also doubled for my 2+2 line with it being just 3in shallower here. This was a .3gr NG Decker, with the rig finished with a .15 hook-link and a size 16 hook and matched to black hydro on a pull bung. Second rig up was a short margin rig for 5m in case the fish came close (they didn't!), and the third was long down the margin at 11m on the corner of the sleeper of the un-used peg 41. Line and hooks here were the same as for the open water rig, while the float was a .2gr NG XTM, lakky was Preston 15h. Last up was a shallow rig for the open water to try and mug one or two of the cruising fish.

On the whistle I fed a small amount of hemp and corn long, while the 2+2 got a bit more bait and a few cubes of meat added too. I left the margin lines to start with. Now, In all the times I've had this peg it's been a late goer and yesterday was no exception! Everyone I could see was catching odd fish in the first few hours (the next peg had two very quick, and was then told-off for fishing too shallow and didn't catch anymore - naughty boy!) while it took me until the halfway mark of the six hour match to get a bite! That was on the short margin on the only time I saw a fish there and it came off shortly after hooking it and left me with a scale on the hook!

I didn't go long down the edge until late, having about two hours to go, leaving it as a safe area for fish to back off too. By feeding tiny amounts of bait via the smallest Preston Cad-Pot I had two fish in fairly quick succession  - one on meat and one on corn. The indications faded slightly so I had a drop on the 2+2 line and had a bite here, and missed it!

Two more fish on the long margin both on corn put me in mind for a late charge, and with forty minutes to go I had two fish in a row on the 2+2 line. My hopes of a (very) late bug-up halted there when the peg to my right threw all his bait in as he packed up, including a load of expanders which had dried out during the day (so they said) which floated! Every carp in the area seemed to make a beeline for the pile of floaters and my swim which had been progressively getting better sharply took a turn and I never had any more indications. What a prat!

My six fish went 20lb 3oz, which was actually in second place behind peg 53's 60lb odd (from the windward corner), until the last two pegs to weigh narrowly pushed me down to fourth with 23lb odd and 21lb 2oz. That said, one angler round the island certainly tipped back a second placed weight (ten carp) after someone told them everyone in the open was bagging! Oops...

In hindsight I fed too much, and feeding both margins with tiny amounts (and perhaps going long in the edge earlier) would have got me a couple more fish. Considering it's June the water felt surprisingly cool when I took my nets out, and I think I, along with others perhaps overdone it a bit! Still, with the weather forecast to hold both warm and steady all week hopefully the fish will know where they are after the topsy-turvy weather of the last seven months, and maybe they'll even have a good feed before they spawn! Here's hoping..

Blind Pairs 27/5/13

I'll apologise for not mentioning last week that I wouldn't be out until the Monday - I totally forgot it was a Bank Holiday weekend! Normally the  procedure for the blind pairs is a random draw over both lakes, with the pegs from one lake being drawn against the others. With just sixteen anglers down this year, and the old lake not fishing very well the decision this year was made to have everybody on the new lake. While I can understand that, it did mean that one or two pegs would be in that you I really didn't want to be on.

Come the draw and my hand dips in and out comes peg 2 - the shortest walk, and one of the pegs I really didn't want to be on! The owner feeds the carp here (well, peg 1 in the bay to my right), but from past experience when a peg is in here the fish don't stay. Everyone walks past the peg which isn't great, most keep their distance, while one idiot did insist on keep walking past and even standing in peg 1 once he was ready (and they drew about seven pegs to my right!) It's a shame I didn't have a catapult out, as I could have found a use for those rock hard Ringers 8mm boilies I've had for year in my bag....

As you can see, the bay to my right looked good, and I had one line at 11m along the bank to the corner of peg 1. It was a little over 3ft deep here, deeper than I'd like for a margin but I'd give it a go! I was going to leave it until well in the match to feed here, hoping that fish would feel safe and come back. I had a margin line to my left at 8m where the water was about 2.5ft deep. Both were on Preston 15h elastic matched to .15 hook-links and used NG floats XTM's in .2gr. I also decided on a meat swim at 5m where it was about 6ft deep. I had two reasons for not going longer - I didn't want to stop fish from the open water in front from coming back in to the bay, and also the fact that going much further out the depth drops down to around eight or nine foot! A little too deep for my liking. Last up was a small method feeder to fish to the island, a cast just reachable with my 10ft CarbonActive!

I was getting odd liners from the off on the tip, and after fifteen minutes the rod was round and I was in to my first carp - a small common of about 3lb. The knocks settled off a bit after but returned about twenty minutes later. They carried on until about the hour mark when the rod went round just as I put it down! Another common the spitting image of the first was soon in the net. I began to wonder if the day would be better than I thought when on the next cast the tip went when I still had hold of the rod - not a carp this time, but a skimmer of 2lb 12oz (I know that, cos it was the only fish in that net!)

After that flurry the indications stopped on the tip altogether, so I had a drop at 5m where I had been dripping a bit of meat and I'd seen odd bubbles. I missed the first bite after only a few minutes. The next one I connected with and a fish nodded away like a bream. I carefully shipped back, and as I un-shipped a ghostie of about 5lb surfaced, and then the rig pinged back past me ear! I didn't swear, much!

After the lost fish any signs of life were hard to come by. I don't think it was a coincidence that the bites died as the sun came on to my swim around the large trees behind me. Just after two hours in I was about to drop in down the edge for the first time. I baited up my margin rig with a cube of meat, and then flicked some meat on to the 5m line. As the meat sank there was a large swirl where I'd fed, so I promptly dropped the margin rig in over it, and no sooner than the float settled than the elastic pulled out! The result was a mirror about 4lb.

That proved to be the last action I had, apart from knocking my little radio in the lake! It only needed an hour in the sun to get it to work again mind, and having the Championship play-off to listen to kept me sane with absolutely no signs of life in front of me. I wasn't the only one finding it hard as the peg to my left packed up bite less with an hour or so to go, while the peg nearest to my right had only one small perch. I was the first to weigh (and was on the scales, but it did mean I got to take home dry nets!), and my 12lb odd was about halfway in my section.

The lake was divided in to two sections and when I was drawn with the nearest peg to my right (first and last pegs in our sections) any chance of a result in the pairs was well gone. Especially when the first and second weights on the whole lake drew together! It was a bit of a struggle for everyone with 35lb enough to win. With the heat the fish were looking more like they wanted to spawn (the carp in my pond were chasing when I got home), but with the weather cooling off again it looks like that'll be delayed again. Hopefully, not for much longer!

Sunday May 19th

I'll start by apologising for the lack of last weeks report, but simply there was nothing to report!

I was looking forward to going back on to the new lake, as the majority of the last few months seem to have been spent on the old lake. A few people had been up and pleasure fished during the week and it had been fishing quite well.

At the queue for the draw I took my customary late place in the line and saw many of the pegs I wanted come out before I reached the bag. When my hand went in, peg 34 came out in it - that'll do. I struggled off if in one of the winter league rounds, but once it's warmed up it's usually a pretty good peg with a long margin to the right. It had also fished well on Wednesday! It's not too far to the island (14.5m), but due to the stock pond behind being quite close you do have to un-ship twice.

I kept the day nice and simple - two rigs for the margins, one long to the right where I'd feed with a pot, and a short one to the left where I'd flick a little bait by hand. I'd have used the same rigs but the depth was different by about six inches, being slightly deeper on the longer right margin. The only other rig I had up was for across in just over a foot of water. All the rigs were using NG Floats XTM's, with .2gr floats in the edge in 2-2.5ft of water, and .1gr across. All the rigs were on Preston 15 hollo lakky with .15 hook-links.

I didn't feed the margins on the whistle, simply going across with a few 6mm pellets in a toss-pot, topped off with a little groundbait to make things a little less likely to fall out when double-shipping! There were a few fish present so I was surprised that it took me fifteen minutes (and two drops across) to get a bite. A crucian of about 1lb was the culprit. Next drop I hooked a carp which I lost when it charged through a sunken branch along the peg, but at least I got the branch out! When the next carp I hooked about ten minutes later came off as it ran along the island it looked as if it was going to be one of those days...

It was near the hour mark when I put my first carp in the net - a decent ghostie common of about 5lb, which next drop was followed by a baby of around 1lb. Bites started to come steady after - a small common of about 2lb was followed by a mirror of around 4lb and then a wild ghostie of about the same size before the swim again faded. I tried a change of hook bait and put on a fair-sized worm which got me a bream of about 2.5lb - not the target species, but welcome all the same! After that though the swim seemed to die.

Near two hours in and it looked like I'd need the margins sooner rather than later, so a decent pinch of hemp with a few grains of corn and cubes of meat went long to the right, while I started to flick odd cubes of meat to the left. I went back across but no indications came, so after thirty minutes I decided to have a quick drop in the edge.

I had a liner at first so I decided to stick with it a little longer, fishing a single cube of meat on the hook. I was just about to leave it when the float burried and a small common of about 3lb was soon in the net. Given the time it had taken I decided to top it up with a small amount and leave it. I initially went back across, but I'd been in no longer than five minutes when I saw a large tail waving at me from the short margin. Thinking to myself "I'll have him" I bought the long rig in, put the margin rig on, and anticipating a big lump put two cubes of meat on the hook. I lowered the rig in, and it sat for barely ten seconds before the float was away. The anticipated yards of dark blue lakky never appeared though, and a crucian of about 1lb plodded it's way to the net!

The margin lump faded away, and I went a fair period of the match unable to raise a bite from anywhere. I kept flicking a few bits of meat in short to the left, and the right side had odd small helping of bait via the cup. Odd fish would show across, but they'd got very spooky and apart from one pricked fish they vanished before they got near the pole.

With a little over an hour to go the persisting with feeding the edge paid off and bites started to come in the long margin. I was missing most so cut right back on the bait fed via the toss-pot and the missed bites became a thing of the past. The first four I had down the edge weren't "big" fish, being decent 4lb stamp I wasn't complaining. The next carp after that was much better, and after quite a hefty fight a plump ghostie common that was probably near to 10lb was panned. The indications to the right faded after - perhaps due to the longer fight. A tail in the short swim caught my attention so I topped the longer swim up with the cup and dropped in short with double meat. As per the first time the float had barely settled before it was away but this time a fair amount of lakky did follow it - a plump 6lb common being the result. I had just enough time to nab one more fish from the long margin, a smaller fish at around 3lb, but it did mean I finished with a nice round dozen "proper carp" - the baby 1lb'er going in with the crucians and the bream.

I was the second to last to weigh in, and when the scales got to me 47lb was top weight - I was sure I had that. My bits net went a helpful 7lb odd, and my carp 53lb odd for a total of just over 61lb, and what is only my second win of what has been a hard year so far. Hopefully things are on the up, and the sun even shone for most of the day! Hopefully we can now have some more of the same.

May Bank Holiday Pairs 6/5/13

Well, that's unusual for a Bank Holiday weekend - the sun shone for most of it!

I missed the Sunday open with other commitments, but a quick text Sunday evening told me my pairs partner had won the match from peg 72 with 56lb, but the other back-up weights were quite far behind. With that form in the draw bag I told him he was drawing our pegs on the morning, and low and behold he came out of the bag with 37 on the new lake, and peg 72 again! Peg 72 was to be mine for the day, as he didn't want to sit on it two days running. All that time I can't draw away from the island and as soon as someone else picks my peg they get me out there! I'll have to get someone to pick my pegs more often until my drawing arm returns to form....

I have to admit, I was a bit wary of being on the previous days winning peg. Had the lake been fishing well it wouldn't have bothered me, but as it was patchy and out of sorts nothing was assured. Despite the reeds being stuffed with fish my partner had told me he couldn't catch there - as has been the case in recent weeks. The "one foot deep" rule means your bait is under where the fish are, and they're just lazing in the sun in the reeds. Much like I would be had I been in that cold water for the last six months of a very long winter!

Rig-wise I had four up - a shallow rig for out at 13m as there were quite a few fish milling out there. They'd all gone when the whistle went though, so I only briefly picked it up. I had a shallow rig for the reeds, using a small Preston Pink in-line dibber. I like these for the reeds as they don't snag if pulled through them due to there being no eye to catch. I was going to fish caster here, while the long shallow rig had a hair-rigged pellet band and a longer line above it (the shorter line gives better control over hooked fish in the reeds), hence the need for two rigs. The other two rigs were one for 5m with corn, and a margin rig for my right where my partner had caught the day before.

One the whistle I fed the 5m line with a quarter of a pot of hemp and corn before going in to the rushes hoping for an early mug fish. Two other people had early fish dobbing, but it took me until about twenty minutes in before I managed to trick a fish - a little baby of about 2lb. No more bites were forthcoming for a while as the day became very frustrating for pretty much everyone I could see. There were fish milling about everywhere, but nothing and nobody seemed to be able to get a bite from them!

It was on the two hour mark before my second fish fell, and that was in my right hand margin to meat not long after I'd started flicking a few cubes in there. I had a little golden spell after where I took a fish from my 5m line before tricking three in pretty quick succession from the edge of the reeds where some of the fish had moved to. They then moved right back in the reeds where you couldn't reach them. I can honestly say I've never had so many fish in front of me that I couldn't get a bite from!

Coming away from the reeds and back at 5m I had two fish here before that faded away. The last two hours were bite less until about half an hour before the end when I lost a big fish down the edge to my right that snagged me behind the sleeper on the next swim! I had a carp not long after, and had I had another thirty seconds I probably would have added another as the tail just started wafting around my float as the whistle went. Every bite I'd had that side I'd seen a fish doing that, but this one had poor time-keeping, in my opinion anyway!

My nine fish were pretty small and went only 23lb which was third on the lake, with 25lb from peg 49 and 28lb from peg 68 beating me . My partner managed 5th on the other lake with 17lb which left us as fourth pair, just one point behind third and two points behind second. I just needed one more fish!

In hindsight I think I got it quite badly wrong - I think I went at it too positive on the day and should have won the lake off the peg. Seeing so many fish I was sure they'd drop and feed at some point but they just didn't want to know. I re-fed the 5m line after the flurry of fish which I think was a bad move - I should have just carried on dripping corn there by hand. I also should have at least had a brief try out long on the deck. Last of all in the right margin I should have fed less (I didn't fill it in) but the pegs either side of me were big potting so I upped my feed a little too not wanting them to draw fish. I saw a couple of fish definitely spook from the fed area and should never have used the big cup there. I prefer to feed by hand when it's like it is, but a tree in the edge prevented me doing that accurately. I should have just fed tiny amounts via toss-pot and sat over it and waited. I won't dwell on the lost fish as those things happen - and it may have been foul hooked. I should have guessed it'd be one of those days when I nearly managed to take my eye out before the match started, getting a thin sharp stick jab me just 6-7mm under the eye when I went to pick my cool bag out of the bag on my shuttle. It bled a little, and is a little swollen and sore now, but could have been a lot worse. Still, the next time someone says "it's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick" I'll be able to offer them a fair opinion on the matter!

Sunday 28th April

It's hard to try and keep a blog updated at the best of times, but when you're not catching a lot it's actually even harder - nobody wants to revisit a hard or bad day. For that reason, this is going to be another brief update!

Typically for a Sunday of late, the morning bought quite a sharp frost (it had dropped to -2 overnight). Walking round the lake showed a lot of fish moving in the open water, but yet again my drawing hand disappointed me and plucked out peg 51 - just along from where I was two weeks ago, and where I seem to have spent the best part of the winter sitting!

I did hope that as it's the shallowest part of the lake a few fish would move in there as they did a fortnight ago, but it wasn't to be. I caught some small carp on the long pole and meat against the island early (palm sized fish), but then the wind got up, the cloud increased and the day seemed to get cooler. I picked up a few decent roach on closer lines, but even when the wind allowed I couldn't get bites across. In the end I admitted defeat and actually started packing away early - unusual for me but in all honesty I was fed up.

The weather is set to pick up a bit during the week, so hopefully the fish will spread out a touch more in time for the pairs match on May Bank Holiday, which is the next time I'll be out. I do have a plan - I'm going to do my best to get my partner to draw this time!

Sunday April 21st

Sorry for the late update, and it'll only be a brief one!

Despite the weather being on the up, typically Sunday morning greeted us with quite a sharp frost. This was followed by a bright sunny day - not great conditions for fishing.

I drew peg 31 on the new lake, which is a very hit-and-miss peg, and more often miss! I struggled for a few small perch off it for a dnw but the lake on the whole fished hard. Just 28lb was good enough for the win, with 9lb and 7lb making up the rest of the frame. There were plenty of fish seen by all, but they were simply in the upper layers warming up.

Perhaps struggling with a trapped nerve in my shoulder all week should have been enough to tell me to stay at home, but with the sun out it wasn't a bad day out considering what we've had over the last few months!

Two Hundred Not Out!

Well, post number two hundred it is! That time has soon gone as it was back in September of '08 when I started this blog - time flies when you're having fun, as fishing generally is!

With the Winter League now finished (I did just manage to scrape 4th place, on weight) the weather has decided to finally pick up, and forecast has predicted highs of perhaps 20 degrees C - a world away from the snow of the penultimate W/L round just a few weeks ago.

A wonder around the lake before the draw showed lots of basking fish - quite predictable really, and the pegs in the open water seemed to have the most in, as they benefit from more of the sun. I was hoping that I'd be able to end my run of island draws but it wasn't to be! I had a bit of a moan about peg 49 - it's seldom in (the sun bought the solar powered anglers out and a higher attendance!), and I drew it twice in a row a couple of years back and really struggled. On the plus side, it's in the shallowest part of the lake and a few fish may move in as the day warmed up. That said, with the closer pegging those pegs are normally hard work.

I had three rigs up for the day; one for across, one for 5m and one for the margin. I had about 16in of water tight to the bank about 13.5m away and a .1gr NG Floats XTM was for there. Finished with a .13 dia hook-link and a size 20 Fox Series 2 hook (I still have a bit of a stash of those!) and matched to Preston 13h lakky. The 5m line had the same terminal gear, but with the depth of about 4ft the float was a 4x14 Preston Chianti which I'd changed the tip for a plastic one. Last up was a margin rig. To my right there is a small inflow pipe, and I plumbed up to fish about two foot past it and the same out from it. Proper gear for here (well, it was considering what I have been using!) with a .2gr XTM with a .15 hook-link, size 18 Fox 2 hook and finished with 15h lakky. I have to admit, after a long winter that rig seemed brutal!

I started the match by just feeding the 5m line, giving it about a dozen grains of corn and a pinch of hemp. I then went across with a small cad-pot on the pole and fed just a few pellets and two pieces of meat. There were signs of odd fish moving, and the peg to my right had a carp after about 15 minutes. I carried on across, occasionally coming back to drip a few pellets in, and on the half hour mark I had my first bite on a 6mm expander. After a lively scrap I was off the mark with a ghostie of about 5lb.

I plugged away for a bit across, swapping between meat and pellet on the hook, but I felt something wasn't quite right with the feeding so I picked up the catapult to flick a few pellets across. It seemed to bring increased signs and just after the hour mark carp number two fell - a 3lb'er on a cube of meat. About fifteen minutes later I had it's twin brother and I was hoping the swim would start improving but all signs of life inexplicably vanished.

I dropped in on the 5m line, and had already started to flick odd cubes of meat in the edge. I had a liner at 5m so plugged away at it for a bit, but no joy came from it. I had a quick drop down the edge but I thought it was a bit early for that, and I assumed correct!

I went back across and odd fish were moving over, but they were not coming to the feed and shied away from any movement. It seemed that what fish were there were just moving in the upper layers warming themselves - I suppose I'd have been doing the same.

After the barren middle part of the match with just under two hours left I saw a fish move down the edge. I baited with a single cube of meat and lowered the rig in. After a short wait the float slipped away and a nice ghostie of perhaps 7lb was the result. I'd flicked four more cubes of meat in while playing it, so I baited up and went strait back over it. Again a short wait and then a common of about 4lb fell. I managed to repeat the trick two more times before the next peg decided they wanted a bit of the action, and promptly put a whole pot of bait down the edge at the limit of their peg in my direction. Either that, or they thought they'd just kill my peg - you decide!

Indications vanished from the edge pretty quick, so I had a drop in on the 5m line, again with meat as that's what the bulk of my bites had fallen to. I didn't wait long for the float to slip away and a common of about 3lb was the result, but my hopes of lining them up here were false as after that I couldn't even raise a liner from there.

Back down the edge and I had occasional signs of life with an hour to go - nowhere near what it had been though. I decided to try double meat to see if a stand out bait would nab me a fish and it did, but it happened to be my smallest of the day at about 2lb! That proved to be my last bite of the day, and I spent the rest of the match looking for bites that wouldn't come.

I couldn't see many pegs in the open water, but they had been catching and there were two people admitting to around twenty fish each. When the scales got to me 61lb was top, with 37lb next. My nine carp totalled 39lb odd and turned out to be the top weight from the island pegs by nearly 20lb. It turned out to be just good enough for third overall as peg 72 put 70lb on the scales - I didn't see the board  after but with what some people were admitting to they must have been close to me.

In the end it wasn't a bad day, and I'm not sure that I could have done anything to nab any more fish from the peg. It's a shame the person next door felt the need to fill the edge in - it definitely had an effect on my margin but that's beyond my control. It may well have slowed anyway, but it would have been nice to have allowed it to take it's own course! I do think I would have pushed at least second place closer though. Still, it was nice to be out on a gorgeous day - I spent much of it in a t-shirt as the temperature topped 20C, and it was nice to have to work at the correct feeding to catch some fish. Things look on the up!

Winter League Final Round (7/4/13)

Well, after what seems an age the weather seems to just be turning a corner! That said, despite the nice days we were still getting snow as recently as Thursday, plus the nice sunny days with temperatures just in to double figures were punctuated by nightly sharp frosts - not very good for fishing.

I was hoping for a good result as a top five finish was possible as the points were very close. It looked set to be a hard match with last weeks open on the lake being won with just under 4lb - and no carp were caught. For what seems like the first time in an eternity I was quite happy with my draw with peg 14 coming out in my hand. I wasn't in the flyer 20's, but I fancied I could catch from it.

It's quite a wide peg, with a half-butt needed in the 16m section to tuck up tight to the island in front of me (I also got out my old Superlegion extension which goes up the back of my G-Maxx 800 to allow me to try further down the bank) There is a good depth tight to the island here, with a good 3ft right in tight. I didn't plumb up here, I just put up two rigs to dob punch along the bank - one to fish between just off the bottom and 2ft, and one to fish between 2ft and 18in. With the sun warming up nicely (the pic was taken after the match) I figured that shallow would be the way to go with the sun being on the far bank most of the day. I also set up a rig to fish at 13m at a slight angle to my left towards a weed bed, with 6ft of water here. Last up was a margin rig. Peg 14 has a very long margin with a corner of the lake to my left, so I set up a rig here for fishing in about 3ft of water. It was purely a gamble for a lump or two, but worth a go. I had a feeling the water wasn't quite warm enough for that yet though! All the rigs were finished with .14 dia hook-links and matched up to Preston 13h lakky.

On the whistle I fed a tiny ball of softened micro pellets and three grains of corn down the track before baiting up the deeper dobbing rig with punch - I was going to wait until midday to feed the edge when the day had got to it's warmest. It took a while before I started to get any signs, and my first fish was a small dumpy roach. I could see peg 11 (last weeks winning peg) catching roach, and they also had an early small carp of about 1lb 8oz, but nobody else I could see had caught.

It was just over half an hour in when I had my next bite, taken on the shallower rig pushed as tight in to a small bay in front of me as I dared. A small carp of about 1-12 was the culprit, but very welcome as it was the first carp I've caught for about six weeks! No more followed, and I just carried on catching an odd small roach.

Midday arrived and I decided to feed the edge - nothing ventured, nothing gained! A pinch of caster with two grains of corn and two pieces of meat were introduced. I had a drop in at 13m with a 4mm expander pellet and had a small roach instantly, but no more bites followed so I topped it back up with a tiny ball of micro's and went back across.

With the 17.5m section on I tried a little further down the swim, at first to my left (with no joy) and then to my right. Getting to the limits of my peg to the right I missed a bite, and with the bait still on I lowered the rig in again and it sank away. Carp number two sleepily chugged it's way in to the waiting net, again only a baby at around 2lb, but still welcome. A liner next drop led me to drop in on the shallower rig and a much more lively 3lb ghostie was the result.

After the two-fish flurry I went back to getting just an occasional roach. I had fruitless tries on the other two lines, with a even a switch to worm failing to get a bite from a perch. Back out long and a slight breeze had picked up, taking the edge off the temperature of what was a very pleasant day (I'd taken my fleece of before the match started, and my Thinsulate hat was replaced by a baseball cap!) so I tried the deeper of the two shallow rigs again. A bite saw me connected to another carp for a few seconds before it kited round and picked up a sunken stick and came off - a disaster on a hard day! I thought I'd gotten away with it next drop when I had a small common of about 1lb 8oz, but that proved to be the last I saw of any carp in my peg and the last hour was spent nabbing just an occasional roach on punch, while watching as others started to catch an occasional carp late on, and it looked like a good place may just slip away from me.

When the scales got to me end peg 5 was top weight, with four carp and a bream for 21lb. My four baby's and bits went 9lb 12oz, which in the end turned out just enough to be third, beaten my the other end peg (40) who had two late carp for 13lb.

A slightly better end to the league after my poor middle part, but at least it was a cracking day to be out in! A quick check on the board and my third on the day should be enough to get me in to fifth overall, and may just be enough to scrape me in to fourth - I'll let you know for certain next week. In the end it was a respectable finish considering my draws have been pretty appalling away from drawing an okay peg on the right day in the first round. With us set to lose the frosts now hopefully the water temperature will start to rise and the fish start waking up and spreading out - it'll be nice to be able to influence things a little with feeding as opposed to playing aquatic bingo!

Winter League Rd 4 (24/3/13)

Well, on my last update I finished by hoping it would be a bit warmer and more spring-like. I put the mockers on that one, didn't I! Thankfully we haven't had anywhere near as much snow as most of the country and quite luckily (or not!) the winter league was able to go ahead.

True to my current (lack of) draw bag form I found myself sitting on peg 56, so I'm not moving too far around the lake at the moment! I knew the peg only had a very slim chance of giving me a carp - in fact I was about as far away from where I wanted to be as possible. On the plus side, I was out of the worst of the wind.

I had three rigs up for the day - a rig for across where I had 3ft of water tight to the point in front of me. With that bank being under cut I did think there was a chance it may give me a rouge carp. I also had a corn line fished at 11.5m at an angle away to my right at the bottom of the slope. Both these rigs were matched to .125 hook-links and fished on 11h lakky. Lastly, at 6m to my right there was some straggly brambles hanging in the water with near 4ft of water on the edge of them. I could clearly see in the last match that this was the only place the angler who had it last time could get a bite (from roach), so I set up a lighter rig here. I hoped that a solid no8 lakky matched to a .10 hook-link and an 18 hook would give me a chance with a carp in the cold.

On the whistle the snow started again (and carried on for most of the day, thankfully not settling) and I fed a tiny pinch of hemp and caster in the edge, while the track line got three grains of corn and a tiny pinch of hemp. I tried across on punch off the deck without feeding and had nothing for the first ten minutes or so before I started getting knocks off roach.

A change to caster didn't work as the fish must have been tiny, so I fed a tiny pinch of hemp and caster across and went to the full depth. Odd bites started coming to this, albeit from roach of less than an ounce. Still, I was off the mark and the three others I could see hadn't caught anything.

On the hour mark, with perhaps half a dozen micro roach I decided to have a drop on the corn line. I'd been in no more than a couple of minutes before the float blinked away, a better 2oz roach being the culprit. I plugged away at this line for a while, dripping odd grains of corn and hemp in. I carried on catching the odd roach, all a bit smaller than the first one. I was missing half the bites, even when cutting bits of corn in half, but I plugged away simply because I didn't want to be catching tiny roach at 13.5m, plus I figured plugging away on corn would be my best bet for a bonus.

I kept having odd tries on the closer line but surprisingly, I couldn't get a bite there on the lighter gear. On the two hour mark I was perhaps hitting one in four bites now, and the roach were getting smaller. I decided to make a change and get my head down for the roach. I swapped the top-kits and put the softer no8 lakky, and changed the hook-link too, with a .10 to an 18 B611 going on. I also started another line at 6m in front where the depth was the same as at 11.5m.

Back out on what was the original corn line with caster on the hook I started most of my bites. The roach were small, mostly around an ounce but an odd 2oz fish came. It was steady rather than fast, but I was getting then quicker than the others I could see who were now all fishing for roach. I kept trying the closer line but it wasn't until just over an hour before I had my first bite there.

The last hour the fish came nice and steady at 6m. It was a case of feed a pinch of hemp and just 4-6 casters and fish it out. When the fish got tiny it was time to feed again! The average size was perhaps ten-to-the-pound, but an odd bigger one came with one perhaps going a huge(!) 4oz.

I actually really enjoyed the last part of the match, and I even stopped caring that the odd gust of wind resulted in me getting pelted with snow off the trees behind me! I actually wish I'd gone for roach from the off, starting long and trying to feed them closer, but never mind!

I knew a couple of people sat in the open had caught fairly well, and two pegs sat next to each other and the last two to weigh put weights of 44lb and 42lb on the scales, with 17lb good enough for third. I had a little more than I thought when my roach went 5lb 4oz, but it wasn't until someone said after that I'd done well off the peg that I looked and saw that I'd done enough for 5th, just one ounce off 4th! They'd had a couple of pasty carp in with their roach. It's a shame I didn't switch to them a bit earlier, just for that extra point as a lot of people have had poor results and blow-outs and a top 5 place may (just) be achievable with a very good result in the last round. I think overall there is a clear winner now who will struggle to be caught with two 2nd places, a 4th and a 5th, but everyone who has won a round has suffered very poor results. I must have been a bit of a draw-bag the last few winter leagues I fished, but I'm certainly paying for it this year!

I'm not sure what my plans are for next weekend with it being Easter, but if I am out it wont be until the Monday in all likely hood. Looking at the weather forecast, I'm tempted to have the weekend off and have a good few rig making sessions and re-lakky some tops instead. We'll see.

Winter League Rd 3 (10/3/13)

Well, I had to open my mouth last week and say about the weather improving, didn't I? I should have known that was only during the week! After a glimpse of spring I woke up Sunday morning to find (as much of the country probably did) a dusting of snow. Deep joy.

Still, the winter league continued, as did my bad run in the draw-bag! I was not best pleased to find peg 53 in my hand again. There was no need to take a picture of the peg as it's the same one as last week.

I had a secret weapon this week after only being able to catch roach last week - after seeing the rapid temperature change I had a clutch of my leftover squatt rigs from the Div 2 national in the summer, plus a top-kit that still has a no3 lakky in it. It's just as well I did, else I fear it would have been a DNW next to my name.

Unlike last week when it was quite pleasant after a cold start, this week it was just cold! I had the wind pushing occasionally in at me (when we had it) and with it wet snow blowing in at me for much of the day. I struggled to eek out five tiny fish on small bits of punch for a massive 1oz! (two tiny roach and three even smaller bitterling). The only place I had a bite was long down my right margin where there were a few roots and sticks in the edge.

The day was finished up nicely when the next peg started packing up noisily with ten minutes to go. They chucked their made up bomb round down the middle while they stood up packing their pole away and had a last-gasp carp on it. The highlight of my day was finding I hadn't drank all of my flask so I could have a coffee while I was packing up..

I actually fared slightly better than the last round of the winter league beating two anglers who never had a bite all day, and tying with the peg to my right who also eeked out a few tiny fish to stave off the dreaded DNW.

In terms of winning the winter league my chances are all but over now (unless others start drawing as bad as me in the last two rounds!), as even with a change in fortune I've still a bad result to carry.

There's no blog next week, looking at the weather for the week I've decided on an early birthday / St Patricks day celebration next Sunday instead (my wife is Northern Irish, so it's a legitimate excuse for me!), and it seems a better prospect than sitting in the cold catching nothing. Hopefully given that it'll be near April the weather will be at least a little more favourable next time!

Sunday March 3rd

I always see March as the beginning of spring (the Met Office tell us the same too), so it's about typical that after a pretty settled week with a few milder days I wake up on Sunday morning to find a sharp frost and that it's -2 degrees outside!

Walking around the lake there was no signs of life - normally a sign that the open water is the area to draw as opposed to an island peg. Most of the island pegs were gone when my hand went in, apart from 53 that is - and that's what had came out when I looked in my hand!

Long term readers will know I have a love/hate relationship with the peg, and it's more of the latter on the whole. It's really a summer peg, but it does occasionally fish in the cooler months during mild spells as it's shallow. I guess the morning of a sharp frost isn't the time to draw it.

Still, with a task still to do I set up three rigs - one for the long margin to my right at 12m in 3ft of water, one for 8m down the track in 4.5ft of water, and one for just under 3ft of water pretty tight to the far bank at 13m. The floats were Preston Chianti's on the deeper lines (a 4x12 and a 4x14) with a small Preston PB2 for across where I planned to search the peg with punch. All the rigs had .125 hook-links, with size 16 hooks for the near and far rigs, and an 18 for the track. All the rigs were matched up to Preston 11h elastic.

On the whistle I fed a tiny pinch of bait down the track (hemp and corn) before starting across on punch. I decided to leave the margin to my right until later - there was quite a high attendance but I had a lot of space here where the corner is. I hoped by leaving it quiet a few fish may move here out of the way. Optimism, eh!

The peg to my left had a carp pretty much strait away (their only fish), where as I could only get the occasional knock on the punch before I managed to get of the mark with a tiny roach of less than 1oz. How the hell do they take a 9mm bread punch? I tried a small bit of corn on the deck across and had a proper dig on it almost strait away but missed it. I never had another bite across all day after that!

I chopped about trying to get a bite on corn or punch, both across (where I'd started to drip odd bit's of feed too) and down the track but it wasn't happening. On the half way mark in the match I tried down the edge, hoping against hope really. I managed two small roach there, one on a tiny piece of corn and one on a caster which I hadn't even fed there.

With two hours to go I decided that it wasn't going to happen with carp so I started feeding odd caster on the 8m line with the intention of catching a few roach. It wasn't a winter league match but I figured it was better to get a few bites and at least have something to keep me interested - there was no football on until 4pm to listen too!

Initially, the roach were tiny and I was missing a lot of bites. Even with the dotted down float I had to watch it after it went under and wait until it moved sideways - if it went under out of sight nothing was there when I lifted! The fish were all under an ounce for the first hour, and I had to keep changing the depth to even get regular bites. I had odd quiet spells which I hoped were carp, but none materialised, and feeding a small pinch of hemp again bought the roach back.

In the last hour I found it was better to feed a reasonable pinch of hemp with six casters in an fish it out rather than drip odd casters in. The average size of fish got to an ounce, with an odd two ounce fish thrown in too. I was getting less bites than I started with, but was hitting more of them. Fishing away from the feed slightly helped too. I finished the match with about thirty-five roach which went 2lb 8oz on the scales for absolutely nowhere, but I actually quite enjoyed it! I wish I'd tried it earlier to see if the size of roach carried on increasing - they are in there.

I wish I'd got of my box and set up a lighter roach rig - I've put a top in my holdall with a soft single no8 elastic in (not ideal for small roach, but a lot better than the 11h I was using, and would still give me a chance with a carp in the cold). Hopefully it doesn't come to that for next weeks winter league with the weeks weather looking quite promising. The lake on the whole fished hard with just 30lb winning and two 18lb weights making the frame - weights taken from in the open water. Come on spring, get rolling in!

Winter League Rd 2 (24/2/13)

Well, I think it would be a struggle to be any colder without having ice on the lakes!

Despite talk of the match being moved on to another lake it went ahead as originally planned on the new lake. With it being very peggy last week a good draw was going to be vital - the lowest and the highest numbers wanted to be avoided as these place you on the front of the lake. Peg 34 wasn't what I wanted to see in my hand when it came out of the bag - on the front of the lake it, and one of the two pegs that blanked out right last week - my optimism waned somewhat upon seeing that as it has no recent form what-so-ever!

With plenty of time to set up I had a variety of rigs to try and scrape a few fish from the swim. I have to say I wasn't optimistic though! Whilst in the last winter league round I had the fortune to be out of the wind, this time I wasn't so lucky - what wind there was blew strait in to my face, and while it barely touched the water it was absolutely bitter! I don't very often sit with my jacket on, normally as fleece on top is fine, but I had it on and done right up such was the chill. Fingerless gloves were worn too - and I never fish with those on!

I had two lines down the middle, well away from each other (one fed with a tiny amount of dark groundbait, one with just loose feed) A deck rig for across which doubled for a margin rig for the long margin to my right, plus two shallow rigs for across. Plenty to try and search the peg, and that's what I did...

For four hours and forty five minutes I searched the peg - in the end I was even on size 20 hooks and .10 hook-links in an attempt to catch anything! (no point in going lighter on a commercial). It wasn't until that very end spell when I managed to catch four little perch down the edge to my right, doing nothing different to what I did all day. Other than those I never saw a sign of a fish all day. There was only one carp caught on my bank, while last week there were three, so it was fair to say it was hard. Still, the others didn't have to sit and watch (as I did) peg 29 catching on and off for much of the day as they put 50 odd pound on the scales.

My four micro-perch didn't do much for me - I think I was second from last! They only really saved me from a blank, the points won't matter as this will have to be the result dropped. It's not great, but not a disaster - always seem to get one cess-pit of a draw in a winter league series, yet still manage to have a good record in them. (it's funny how those that seem to christen me as a draw-bag when I do well are quiet though!) Here's hoping for both a change luck at the draw bag, and the weather. It will after all be March next week, and that's meant to be spring!

Sunday Feb 17th

I'm sure you're all beginning to detect a theme here - rather brief updates! Yes, unfortunately there is not a lot to write about again as the weather seems to conspire against us every week, with a few mild days leading up to the weekend and then a sharp frost on Saturday night / Sunday morning.

I have to admit, despite the draw (I had peg 5, which has no real winter form, but it does on occasion throw-up a surprise) I had a little confidence that a few fish could be had. With the sun slowly creeping higher in the sky the far bank of the peg would be in the sun most of the day, and I hoped a few fish would take advantage of that fact.

I had two dobbing rigs up for the far bank, plus a deck rig at just over 3ft which also doubled as a margin rig for 10m to my right. I had one bite all day across on punch on the shallowest (18in deep) dobbing rig which gave me a common of about 6lb. This was about twenty minutes in! I never saw a sign of a fish across, either visably or in terms of liners, and the same can be said for the pegs around me with either side having one carp each. At least they saw their bites mind - I looked away briefly and my carp announced it's presence by hooking it's self, even on the longer line used on my shallower rigs!

Peg 11 was the victor on the day with eight or nine small(ish) carp for about 22lb, two fish for 16lb was second I think.

With the Winter League set to continue next week there is talk the round will be moved on to the other lake which is at least providing a few more bites for everyone. The weather again looks set to be against us again though with another cold snap predicted.

I have to say (last week being the exception) that this winter has become more than a bit of a chore, and I can't help looking at the calender now as we approach the end of February and longing for those longer and hopefully warmer spring days!

Winter League Rd 1 (10/2/13)

Well, the weather has finally allowed the winter league to start, albeit I now believe it's shortened down to five matches instead of six. That said, despite the lack of ice it was still a bit on the cool side! A walk around the lake before hand didn't show any groups of fish visible, but it did show some pegs would be sheltered from the biting wind!

When my hand went in the bag peg 63 came out - I don't seem to be moving far on this lake, I keep getting to look at the same piece of island! I did mutter "at least I'm out of the wind", which turned out to be something which influenced the day quite a bit in the end....

I had a good plumb along the island so I knew where the line of the shelf dropped to around 3ft along the island. I had a rig up to fish on the deck for this, trying in various places until I hopefully found some fish. A 4x12 Chianti (with a plastic tip) on .14 mainline to a .125 hook-link and an 18 hook was for this. A "dobbing rig" to fish punch was also put up for this line, set initially about 10in off the bottom. A 4x10 Preston PB2 was on this rig, with the lines being the same as previous. The hook was a larger size 16 to allow for a large piece of punch. Last up I had a rig to fish two lines down the track at 11m, one to the left and the other to the right, just where the bottom started to slope up. A 4x14 Chianti was used here, same lines as the other two rigs and an 18 hook. The idea was to feed slightly more on one line and not top it up and see if one worked any better. All the rigs were matched to Preston 11h elastic.

On the whistle I fed my two track lines, before baiting up with just a corn skin and trying it along the far bank. I had about half an hour doing this with no joy, but in that time the pegs either side of me had both had a carp. I baited up the punch rig and started the searching process with that. I'd tried all along the bank and it wasn't until I got to the far right edge of my swim that the float went! A lively fight saw a ghostie of about 5lb in the net and that was one decision made right on the day - I hadn't set up a roach rig!

While baiting up again I noticed some slight movement in front of me, so rather than go right down the peg and risk pushing any fish away I tried there. The float had been in no more than a few seconds before it slipped away and carp number two was on. This fish was much smaller at about 1lb 12oz, but two in as many put-in's banished any thoughts of trying for roach!

I carried on searching the peg, and bites seldom came in two's from the same spot. It probably looked like I was merrily bagging from the same spot, but in fact I was working hard at searching out the fish that were constantly moving around the peg. Looking for what my friend Carl (very aptly I think) calls "nervous water" was the key to regular bites. A very subtle movement that many I think would discount or not even notice! The fish were of varying sizes, but it was noticeble that those I caught close to me were smaller - the bigger fish were obviously hanging away from noise / bankside presence.

By the halfway point in the match I was up to eight carp before signs of fish decreased. I had a drop down the middle over both lines and while they produced no signs of fish the rest to the far line worked. Back across and the next hour was steady if not spectacular with another six fish falling. I found that presentation wasn't quite right at one point and adding a string of small back shot helped keep the longer line in check and hit the bites that weren't quite as confident as the earlier ones.

After that run predictably the fish backed away again. Another spell down the track produced no bites but the signs of life came back across. The fish were noticebly wary now and despite obvious signs bites weren't forthcoming. With a cold rain falling for most of the day I wondered if the fish had dropped down a bit. Deepening the rig a couple of inches bought me carp number fifteen - my biggest of the day at about 6lb coming from right in front of me, but further from the bank. It looked like the fish had dropped out of the shallower water, especially when a 2lb'er fell next drop, but no more bites came.

Shallowing up and odd roach started to have a go at the punch - the carp were certainly backing away. I hooked another carp which felt a big fish further down the peg but disaster struck when it came off near the net. I didn't get a good look at it but it appeared to be 5lb+, and not foul-hooked. I checked the hook (which I'd changed after the last fish landed after I bent it with the disgorger) but it appeared fine. With about twenty minutes to go I hooked another carp, not so far down the peg and that one came off after a few seconds! While nothing appeared to be wrong with my hook, I changed it again - it seemed odd that I'd only lost fish after the hook change. I didn't get to find out if that was the answer as I never hooked another carp.

With sixteen carp in my net and nobody else having more than eight I was well clear of second place - my fish totalling 62lb 9oz, with 31lb being second and 24lb third. What was noticeble when I walked away from my peg was the wind - it was a cold day anyway, but that wind was bitter and the carp had obviously moved away from some of the more favoured pegs and out of the wind - second place was next peg to me while third and fourth both had the wind off their backs. After the struggles of the last few months it was nice to catch some fish, and they couldn't have came at a better time!