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!
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