Well, I remembered to take the batteries out of my camera, recharge them and put them back in - but I still forgot to take a peg picture for you! Must be getting old I reckon...
The previous Sundays practice on the new lake went well, for me anyway. The lake fished hard all round (as did most places looking at the results quickly in the paper) I drew a well noted winter peg (27) and had seven carp and two big skimmers for 31lb - second weight was 8lb and I was the only angler who had more than one carp.
This weekend was different - it had been relatively mild for the week, and the Saturday night wasn't clear, cold and with a full moon. My draw saw me sat on peg 18 - I don't really mind the peg as it tends to be okay in the winter, although the week previous it was in the middle of three blanks.
I had four rigs up - one for on the deck across at 16.5m in about 3ft of water, one for dobbing along the bank, one for the track (14m angled left with the wind gusty) and a silvers rig for fishing at 5m.
With the match starting I fed the silvers line and the track line before going across on the deck rig with corn. No liners led me to try the dobbing rig, both left and right along the island (needing 17m of pole) but still with no joy. I could just see my peg from last week catching well from the off, and the peg to my right had a small carp too. Time to try and make something happen!
I fed across, just a tiny pinch of crumb and a few micro pellets, before having five minutes down the track on corn. I didn't expect it to go, and it didn't! Back across and a missed bite that may have been a liner was followed by what was certainly a liner. I picked up the shallow rig (set at about 2ft) and went across. The float only sat for a few seconds before plinking under and soon my first carp was in the net, a baby of about 1lb 12oz! I had an even smaller one next drop (small enough to go in the bits net) before I lost the next carp which felt much larger than the other two. I had a high tuft of grass behind me, and had to lift the pole high to ship back - it was awkward to play fish for sure!
I thought it made no difference when it was perhaps only two or three minutes for my next bite ( a common of about 3lb), but no sooner had the fish arrived than they vanished. I tried all over the peg but with no joy, so I re-fed a tiny amount and left it again.
Down the track gave no joy, so I went back across. Nothing where I'd had the first couple of bites, but a bit further to my right I had another bite and put another common of about 3lb in the net. After that bites became scarce again! I could still see peg 27 catching, and then the peg to my left had a run of three decent fish down the track. I couldn't make that line work though, despite it being the only line that produced for me the week previous!
It was simply a case of going through the motions - I had an odd try on maggot which gave me a few perch, before missing a bite across on the deck. Dropping the shallow rig in gave me a quick bite but that fish (it felt like a small carp, like the one I'd put in the silvers net of 1lb or so) came adrift, again as I had to lift the pole high to get it over the grass behind.
With perhaps three-quarters of an hour to go I saw a fish move well down my peg to my left. Going the full 17.5 down there the float plinked under instantly. After a lively tussle a common of a good 4lb went in the net, and perhaps ten minutes later his twin brother joined him. A missed bite after got me thinking of a late bag up, but the next bite gave me a roach of about 2oz, as did the next three drops! Too much like hard work at 17m+. I dropped in down the track, but with no signs I had a last drop across but no more carp came, just another small roach.
The lake had fished much better than the week previous, and in the end my 19lb 15oz was only good enough for fourth place, with weights of 21lb, 24lb and a runaway 62lb. The pegs either side had 9lb and 15lb.
With two rounds to go I'm narrowly leading the league, although with the worst result to be dropped it's far from over. I promise next time I'll get a pic, and try to find a bit more time for a better write up. Back in a fortnight!
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