Gavin's Peg

Looking Back On The Year.

2011-12-20T11:23:00.006Z

Well, the year is up again all ready, so it is time to take a look back at 2011! Unfortunately, it's been a short one in terms of angling for me as various things in life conspired to get in the way of my bankside time. At the moment, temporarily at least, I'm stuck in Milton Keynes and not really able to get out. I do hope that changes soon!

So, what happened this year then? Well, January started as 2010 finished, fishing through the ice and not catching anything! It was Sunday the 23rd when I caught my first fish for about two months. The first fish I hooked actually came off near the net and I have to admit I wasn't sure if I should cry or jump in after it! I only had three carp that day and finished just out of the frame. It did however get me back in the swing of things for the winter league.

The winter league started well for me, as not only did the draw bag be kind to me, but I was also the golden peg! Just a shame it was a new one for the league. On that day I switched between the reeds in the edge of the peg and fishing at 13m in to the open water and managed eleven carp and a brown goldfish to comfortably win the match with 32lb 10oz, about 20lb ahead of second place!

With the coming of February and it started well on the New Lake at Westside. It was the first match on there since the end of November the previous year when everything froze over. This first match boded well for me with the winter league the week after, winning with just shy of 33lb taken on punch shallow. The winter league the next week was a kick in the privates though as I struggled from an unfavourable peg and managed just one perch of 1oz. Fortunately, you can drop the worst result and this didn't cost me.

The week after that match saw me draw a peg I didn't want on the old lake, and had blanked off of two times not long before. I wasn't best happy with it, but fished it different to before largely ignoring the island in front and fishing the deepest water I could find. The result? I managed to pinch a few decent fish from the deep water coupled with a lump from the margin and a win from a peg nobody wants in the winter with 38lb. The winter league the week after saw me scrape in to second place on the day and good points, but the weather had warmed up enough that it was impossible to get through the roach on maggot and I ended fishing on corn. A decent end to the month.

With March coming in the weather just started to perk up a bit. The open before the fourth winter league saw me draw a consistent winter peg, and I managed a third place. The winter league saw me draw a peg I wanted and the day ended far better than I ever could have imagined! Twenty carp and a skimmer on bread punch shallow saw me walk the match by a country mile with a total of 96lb 1oz, a fair bit ahead of the second placed 18lb. If I hadn't had to go get another net I may have managed the ton! Oh well!

The week after that, again on the open the week before the winter league, saw me celebrate my 30th birthday with a win, again by fishing corn in the open water. The fifth winter league match saw me draw a peg which I quite like but it had been a struggle for those that had drawn it previous. I managed to eek a few fish out catching both deep and shallow on the long line, plus a couple of small fish at 5m and a bonus margin lump. I managed to scrape third on the day and the winter league seemed to be shaping up nicely!

Going into April and it was the last round of the league. I'd worked out that a top four finish would be enough to clinch the title, and I managed to go one better on the day and bought home the trophy. I didn't have much time to bask in the glory mind as it was away early the next morning to Belfast to get married the weekend after!

My first match back was a disaster while the last match of the month saw me finish in second place but just 3lb 6oz off first. I was left to rue having to make rigs on the bank which saw me starting the match late, but I'd had an enjoyable days fishing and the fish seemed to be starting to munch in the warm summer like weather.

May bought the annual bank-holiday pairs match. This day saw me struggle for fifth on the day with the wind a complete pain, but my partner saved the day with a third on his lake which got us third placed pair and a pick up!

The next two matches proved to be a bit of a struggle, and nothing to write home about with very little caught. The two weekends after proved more eventful after slow starts - firstly with a win on the Old Lake with 52lb odd of carp taken mostly late on in the margins, and then on the New Lake with 29lb which was taken mostly in the last half an hour on worm. It does help when you pan a 12lb'er with about a minute to go!

June started a week late for me, and was probably the wettest day I've ever sat out in in the summer. Despite the weather (and a slow start!) I managed another win with 50lb 10oz caught mainly on pellet fished long feeding with a catty. In fact, June was a good month for me as I fished three matches and won all three, the first time anyone has won three opens in a row on the fishery since it opened about twelve years ago! What was most satisfying was that they were won fishing differently, with pellet, corn and worm all being the winning baits.

July didn't start so well, with me tipping back after a day struggling. I however got back to form with another three match winning streak, and managed to take the golden peg in the process! Again I didn't catch all on one method, with a win on the hottest day of the year on corn at 5m on the deck, and a predominantly margin approach with corn took the golden peg. Over on the New Lake it was again worm that done the damage. The weights were good too, with 63lb, 68lb and 70lb nets. The month then finished off as it started with me having a right struggle - one foul-hooked fish was all I managed.

August started off in true bagging style with me winning off the Old Lake with 114lb 10z, taken from the 5m line and the margin. I ran out of net space with a few minutes left else I may have managed the lake record but I wasn't complaining as it was my first ton off the lake! The next week on the New Lake wasn't such a bagging spree and I scraped out a level 24lb for second. The next two matches saw a spell of deja-vu with me drawing the same peg twice. Nobody likes peg 64 on the Old Lake and but I managed two results that pleased me massively with a third with 61lb 2oz taken from the margin, and then the next week I totalled 83lb finishing narrowly second taken from the 5m line. I did perhaps spend too much time chasing spooky margin fish but it was still a top result off the peg. The only downer was the first time I drew the peg I got mauled by ants - I was bitten more than forty times up my legs, not nice!

September started in a winning style with me weighing just over 74lb taken rotating the margin and the 5m line on a rather wet day. The next week wasn't such a good result but was probably as good an effort as I'd put in. On an unfavoured peg round the back of the island that's not often used (and I'd never caught a carp off) I managed a predominantly last hour 35lb weight taken off the 5m line on corn. I just scraped in to third with that, but I was in a row of five pegs were just two or three other carp were caught! It was a good example of keeping going and having confidence in yourself.You can't always win but to frame when the pegs either side had one carp between then aint a bad result.

The last two matches of the month were on the New Lake, the first one was a bit of a struggle off a peg that was again not very often in. I was just pipped for third place, but I perhaps didn't get the peg quite right and I should have managed a frame place. The last match was a win from a peg I didn't want, but I scraped out 29lb 4oz for a win. They say you're only as good as your last match, and that was my last match as since then life has managed to get in the way.

Looking back at it, it has been a good year for results. A win in the winter league, a golden peg and in to double figures of wins for a nine month season seems pretty good to me.

While the year started very slow I seemed to get in to the flow of things well. I didn't have just one or two ways of fishing which pleases me - catching on a variety of baits tactics on the pole with corn, meat, pellet, worm, caster and breadpunch all being used. Perhaps the most pleasing thing for me is getting the hang of catching better from open water. It always seemed to be something I struggled to get right but I just seemed to get the hang of it this year and didn't feel the need to either try and force the fish shallow (a method I like fishing) or chucking the feeder.

Getting that right I think helped me turn a few pegs that I perhaps would have finished second or third off in the past in to winners this year. Just as pleasing is some good results of not so good pegs, helped I think in large parts by becoming very confident in how I was fishing. Okay, I still had one or two bad days but by and large it was a good year. It's just a shame my fishing had to stop at a time when I was enjoying it so much.

I'd like to be able to tell you what it was that clicked but it's just seemed that I was in tune with the venue. Once the weather warmed up to the point you could influence the fish with feeding I just seemed to have the knack of knowing when to force the pegs or make a change, meaning that I seldom came away from a peg thinking it was worth a lot more weight. I honestly can't pick one day that I think was the best - 96lb on a damp drizzly March day stands out, but so does my first ton off the Old Lake. Equally, I've had some good results off poor pegs which I equally enjoyed.

As soon as I'm back on the bank I'll update the blog, even if it's just a days pleasure fishing. I'd still like to get a few guest blogs up, so if you fancy writing about your days fishing (good or bad, regardless of the venue) drop me a line via the comments option. The same goes if you're in the Milton Keynes area, be nice to get a few pointers on where to fish.

Lastly, I'd like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Thanks for reading my ramblings - after all, if nobody reads it it's not worth writing!

Fancy Writing About Your Match?

2011-11-22T18:22:00.002Z

Just as an idea I thought that while I'm off the bank I'd offer some people a chance to guest here!

If you fancy the idea leave a message here with contact details (in the comments, and I won't publish your e-mail address to avoid spam) and I will get back to you and we can arrange something. It would be nice give those that keep dropping in something to read, so if you fancy writing up about your match (regardless of how you get on) drop me a line!

Out Of Action For A Bit!

2011-10-10T09:26:00.001+01:00

As it say's I won't be on the bank for a few weeks (and it's killing me!), but hopefully I'll be out on the bank before the winter sets in properly.

Sunday September 25th

2011-09-25T22:39:00.005+01:00

Hmm, the weather seems a bit confused now, it really doesn't seem to know if it's summer or autumn!

Walking round the lake before the draw and I wanted a peg round the sides or the back of the lake (from 13 round to 33), although lately I always seem to draw along the front. When I went in the bag pretty much all the pegs on the front of the lake had gone, so my hand goes in and out comes peg 5! Still, at least I didn't have to walk far.

In all honesty, while I didn't want a draw round the front of the lake (it's not the form area), if I had to choose one swim in that area in warmer weather it would be peg 5. It couldn't be any worse than the last time I drew it anyway, when I had just one perch off it in the second round of the winter league.

The rigs that went up were pretty standard really - a small Nick Gilbert XTM on .17 to .15 for across, finished with an 18 Fox Series 2 hook and matched to Preston 15h lakky. I was very pleased when I managed to find about 18in of water almost right against the bank, which is a non-existance on most pegs due to the low water level at the moment. Fishing tight to the bank stops the liners from fish swimming behind your float. It also meant that if I wanted to feed with the catty any over-shot the pellets would either be right up the bank out of the way (feeding the moorhen) or would drop off the steep bank onto my float! The other rigs up were a .4gr Nick Gilbert Decker for fishing the 2+2 line. After catching late on this line not that far away last week I was quite confident of nabbing a fish or two on it. Terminal gear was the same as the far-bank rig, fished in about 6.5ft of water, but matched to Preston 13h lakky on a pull-bung. Last up was the margin rig. This was 0n .19 to .17 and a 16 Fox Series 2. Float was a .2gr DC5 fished in about 2ft of water, and was matched to purple Hydro. If fish show on this line they're animals!

On the whistle the far line was fed with a small pinch of pellets and some loose crumb, while the 2+2 line and the margins had half a pot of bait each, a mixture of hemp and corn with a small amount of meat. Going across with a 6mm expander on the hook it was about ten minutes before I started to get any signs, and I'm sure they were from small fish. Given that I was getting small knocks I started to feed about ten pellets and a small pinch of crumb across to keep some bait going in. There were a few carp milling about so I was sure some would have a munch at some point.

It was on the 45 minute mark when I had my first bite. I was re-filling the toss-pot and could actually see a fish feeding across, so I lowered the bait slowly down and it was away instantly, and I tapped the bait out of the pot as the fish swam out of the swim. Isoon had a 4lb common in the net, and had a liner not long after that but then the swim faded away and I couldn't buy a bite.

On the hour and a half mark I decided on a try on the 2+2 line which I'd been feeding by hand but couldn't get a bite here. I decided to start introducing a few casters across, and tried half a worm. This got a bite strait away from a tiny perch, not really what I was after! At this point, of the five anglers I could see I'd only seen the angler on peg 39 (the end peg and the golden peg) hook a fish, although it turned out that they'd lost it. I tried caster across but couldn't get a bite off any line. I had one liner on the 2+2 line but nothing else ever developed, even though I could still see a few fish cruising.

It was on the half way mark of the match when I had a bite out of the blue, and this gave me a ghostie of about 4lb. I had another bite next drop which gave me a mirror of about 5lb. I'd started to feed with the catty but nothing more came after that brief flurry so I topped it up via the big pot, giving it about twenty pellets, the same of casters plus some loose crumb.

I was still dropping in on the other lines but couldn't raise a single indication from them. I fed a couple of pots of loose crumb down the edge, as I figured I had nothing to loose. Plugging away across I could get an odd liner so I spent most of my time here as at least odd fish seemed to be present.

With just over an hour to go I tried half a worm across and had a bite not long after lowering it in, with the resulting fish a common of about 6lb. The next drop produced another bite to the worm, with this fish a touch bigger at around 7lb. No bites followed next drop so I topped up with the big cup again but the next bite saw me bump a fish. I thought I'd got away with it when I had a 3lb ghostie soon after but my thoughts of a last hour bonanza were done with and I had no more indications until the last few minutes of the match when the fish came back but I didn't have enough time to nab one.

For the second week in a row I was on the scales so everyone had to wait while I packed away, although it was apparent there were a few DNW's. Peg 31 was supposed to have caught a few, but depending on who you listened to it varied from 6-9 carp, and they're not always the most honest at saying what they have either!

With me the first to weigh in (the angler on the peg to my right blanked, as did the one to my left) my fish totalled 29lb 4oz. Peg 11 was the next to put anything of note on the scales, with 11lb of pasties and one 8lb'er which turned out enough for second, pipping peg 15 by just a few ounces. A few double figure weights followed, but also a few DNW's and peg 31 then put a weight of just over 18lb on the scales, but was less than what peg 15 had so had to be content with 4th. The last to weigh in was peg 37 who put one fish of 11lb 4oz on the scales, probably one of the most perfect commons you'll ever see.

So, a win from an area I didn't want wasn't bad on what turned out to be a hard day for all on the new lake. Next weeks open is back on the old lake, and a club booking on that lake was won with 104lb so it's fair to say most are looking forward to being back on there!

Sunday 18th September

2011-09-18T21:12:00.003+01:00

First off all I'll apologise for the lack of picture, I meant to take it after the match but totally forgot until after I'd loaded up the barrow and I wasn't taking it all off to get to my camera!

I was a bit bemused with my peg when number 9 came out, it's seldom used and in actual fact I had to rummage to find it as it was just a tiny gap in the bankside vegetation! It's not now, after I spent about twenty minutes of frantic chopping with secateurs!

It's one of the few pegs on the lake where you can't reach the island with the pole which meant a feeder chuck to the island (about 20m). The far bank vegetation was a bit fun until I got my eye in (think it was four months since the tip rod last came out!) I fished a small method on this line, and then set up two pole rigs - one for 11m to my left in the margin and a rig for fishing 2+2. I'm pretty sure you know what the rigs were by now!

I was a touch late starting after my little Sunday morning gardening session, and my first few chucks were a bit wayward! On the thirty minute mark I had my first bite, falling to an 8mm S-Pellet. Not a massive fish at about 3lb. Next cast I nearly had the rod pulled out of my hand, but the fish came off and I'm sure it was foul-hooked by the way it was kiting. Then the next drop I had a little bubba of a carp of about 1lb. I was just harbouring thoughts of putting a run together when the swim totally died.

It was a while before any more signs, and I found myself glad of my little £3 Asda radio so I could listen to the football! I'd had fruitless tries on both pole line and was back on the feeder when the rod did it's best to jump in the lake while I was celebrating Luka Modric's opener for Spurs against Liverpool! Another followed not long after but my thoughts of a run of fish ended when I lost a fish that pulled off right at the net.

After that flurry the swim was totally dead unless I tried worm up the side where I could catch perch, but I was enjoying the football and wished I was watching that instead as Spurs thumped Liverpool 4-0 (sorry Carl!)

With just twenty-five minutes to go I missed my first bite on the 2+2 line. I didn't give it long as I could see a carp feeding up against the far bank, but a few chucks on the method gave me only liners. I went back on the pole on the 2+2 line for the last ten minutes and wished I'd stayed on it after that first bite as I added a brace of 4lb'ers to the net in the last few minutes! You'd think I'd know better than to chase the fish after the last couple of matches...

I was on the scales and the second to weight in, so for a brief while I was winning the match with 20lb 4oz! Peg 14 put just over 39lb on the scales and the chatter suggested it would be close between them and peg 27 who was on the golden peg. When we got round to them they put 38lb 12oz on the scales to just miss out! I managed to hold on to 3rd place until the very last person to weigh in put 21lb 6oz on the scales. I was kicking myself a bit, not just from those lost fish but also for coming off the pole for that spell near the end. Perhaps I should have caught a few more perch on worm in the edge......

Sunday September 11th

2011-09-11T20:40:00.004+01:00

Well, Autumn has arrived with a bang! The wind has been blowing all night and I was woken at 6am by the rain lashing down. Not a good combination for a days fishing.

With another near sell out there were a couple of pegs I fancied as they had room; pegs 66 and 68, which also had no wind in them, and peg 44 which also has a large lilly bed in it that always holds carp. I really didn't want to draw round the island as all the pegs were in, although at least the ones round the back of the island were out of the worst of the wind.

When my hand went in the bag I was very disappointed that 55 came out- a seldom used peg with no form. I've sat on it before and am yet to catch a carp from it! Still, at least it was out of the worst of the wind.

The first rig up was for the bay in the island in front of me at about 15m. A Nick Gilbert XTM on .17 to .15 with an 18 Fox Series 2 matched to Preston 15 hollo was the gear for that line. Second up was a rig for the 2+2 line. In about 5ft of water I found that I could get away with a .3gr Nick Gilbert Decker. Terminal gear was the same as for the far bank rig but matched to black Hydro. Last up was a margin rig. At 5m to my left I had a nice marginal shelf with just over 2ft of water. A .2gr DC5 float was matched to .19 line to a .17 hook-link and a size 16 Fox Series 2 hook, with the rig matched to purple Hydro. Despite not having loads set up, I wasn't ready at the start for some reason, so I apologise for the hashed picture taken after the match just as it started to rain again!

When I started I fed the 2+2 line with half a pot of hemp and corn, while the margin got the same. I went across with a toss-pot on the pole and sprinkled a few 6mm pellets on the float. I carried on doing the same every few minutes but strangely even knocks from roach were few and far between. On the half hour mark I started topping the pot off with groundbait. This led to a few more knocks from small fish but no sign of any carp.

On the hour mark I dropped in on the 2+2 line. At this point the only fish I'd seen caught was a small roach. After about five minutes I had a bite on a single grain of corn which produced a carp of about 3oz, but no more bites followed. I went back across (but carried on feeding the closer lines by hand), and had a liner across but from a fish that was visibly cruising.

I had a while across but with no joy so I dropped back in on the 2+2 line, but had nothing here. I decided to have a brief look in the margin and had a bite pretty quick on double corn but from a pastie carp of about a pound. The activity was short lived and I couldn't get another bite here so I went back across.

On the half-way mark, and with no joy from either of the other two lines I dropped in the margin and promptly missed a bite on double corn. The next drop gave me another bite and I connected with this one, a carp of about 3lb, but again no more bites followed.

With just over an hour and a half to go nobody I could see had a 'proper' carp, so with nothing to lose I upped the feed in the edge, while giving the 2+2 line a quarter of a pot of hemp. I dropped in down the edge and hooked a fish that felt decent, but after twenty seconds or so the hook pulled. I topped the swim up and left it alone for a bit but I couldn't raise any signs from anywhere.

With an hour to go I lowered the rig in over the first bubbles I'd seen from the 2+2 line and as I lowered the float in it carried on going! Joy! I managed to do the same for about thirty-five minutes, taking my tally from one carp up to nine. A mixture of sizes from 2lb up to about 5lb but I wasn't concerned, the float was going under and I never missed one!

After the fast run the bites slowed a bit, and my attention was taken by some large fish grubbing in the edge. I lowered my margin rig in and it buried quickly, followed by lots of elastic! What looked to be a big ghostie roared around, and while it didn't look foul-hooked the lack of control suggested it wasn't hooked in the mouth. I'll never know for certain as after two or three minutes the hook pulled. The next drop down the edge the float goes, and my lift is met by a 4lb common leaping clear of the water and through the marginal brambles, leaving me hanging up the marginal cover! That was the last action in the margins but I managed one more carp off the 2+2 line.

At the end of the match I'd only seen two other carp caught so was pleased with how I'd plugged away and caught a few. When the scales came round it seemed that while peg 44 had bagged up, putting a level 80lb on the scales, the only other peg to have caught well was 66. My fish totalled 35lb 6oz and was good enough to scrape in to third place behind a near 50lb weight from peg 66, a result far beyond what I thought I could manage.

I believe next week is on the new lake, so it's a change of scenery!

Sunday 4th September

2011-09-04T21:35:00.003+01:00

With the two days before today being nice and warm I was quite optimistic that the lake would fish well, and the weather this morning was even nice with it being mild, overcast and with a slight breeze... looking good!

Walking round before hand I didn't really know where I wanted to draw, apart from 64 that is - I fancied a change of scenery! Thankfully, when I dipped my hand in to the bag that number was gone but I managed to get the same two numbers on my ticket, with 46 coming out in my hand. I was pretty happy with that!

There were a few fish cruising about so I set up two shallow rigs for long, one for between 1-2ft and the other for less than that. My 2+2 line was only about two inches shallower than it was long, so I could use that for trying on the deck here. That rig was a .3gr NG Decker on .17 to .15 and an 18 Fox Series 2 in about 6ft of water. Terminal gear was the same for the two shallow rigs and lakky on all was Preston 15h. Last up was a margin rig for 6m to my right along the bare bank. In about 2ft of water the rig was a .2gr DC5 on .19 line to a .17 hook-link and a size 16 Fox Series 2. Lakky was purple Hydro.

On the whistle the 2+2 line had half a pot of hemp and corn, while I decided on a positive attack for the margin giving it a whole pot of the same. I started on the deeper of the shallow rigs and started pinging a few pellets in. I didn't expect to bag off this line, I was more hoping to get a few early mug fish before the other two lines hopefully came on. An odd fish started to look a little interested and I came up on to the shallowest rig. After about forty minutes I briefly hooked a fish but I'm not sure if it had just rolled in to the line.

On the hour mark without a fish I decided on a quick try on the other lines (I'd topped up the 2+2 line by hand, while I carried on attacking the margin with half a pot every half hour). I had no signs on the deep line so I baited the margin rig with double corn. It didn't take long for the float to vanish and I was in to my first fish.... which then came off! Not the best start, and with no more indications I topped it up and left it alone.

I had a brief try on the shallow line again, but now the pellet was getting knocked by roach so I gave that up and came back on the 2+2 line. I think by this point practically everyone I could see had caught, and peg 66 had five or six carp. With no joy I rotated between the two lines and it was just after the two hour mark when I had my first bite on the 2+2 line, which I missed! I didn't miss the next two mind and was off the mark, albeit with two small fish for about 4lb. The third came after stopping to top-up the margin line and was probably bigger than the other two put together! However, just as I was thinking of lining up a few fish the line died on me.

Dropping back in the edge I was pleased to get a bite strait away and from a decent fish too, a common of about 5lb. By now it started to rain, just steadily at first before increasing to a monsoon! I found that instead of toss-potting it was better to feed half a cup of corn and catch two fish before feeding again. Despite the rain (and a very noisy F15 jet doing aerobatics over the top for the Duxford display) I was putting a steady run of fish together. Bites were by no means fast but I was catching up on everyone I could see. I had to fish double corn to get a bite (and I was missing odd ones) and the one bite I had on a 10mm cube of meat gave me a mirror of about 1oz!

With an hour and a half to go I was on fifteen carp, with a few decent fish up to 7lb in the net too. Then the rain stopped, the sun came out and the wind dropped and I couldn't buy a bite! Fish would still come in down the edge, but they wouldn't settle properly. A spell on the 2+2 line gave me one small carp of about 2lb, but it seemed that everyone had stopped catching! I guessed that the only person I could see now with more fish was peg 70 opposite, but they looked smaller.

The last hour was hard work, I had one more fish down the edge of about 7lb again, but after that the only line I could get a bite off was an occasional one well away from the feed on the 2+2 line, and they were small fish of about 2lb each. I finished the match on nineteen carp, although perhaps I could have had an extra fish or two had I not kept chasing the odd fish that came in the edge to feed, but they always melted away when you put the pole near them!

I was the third person to weigh in, and when the scales got to me the two weights were 53lb 8oz and 49lb 12oz. My fish went just over 74lb, while those coming back from round the island were only admitting to four or five fish each. I carried on packing away (I was doing it slowly and leaving stuff in the sun behind my peg to dry!) and walked up just as the last angler weighed in. I was right about my fish being bigger than peg 70's as theirs totalled 54lb 3oz, leaving me clear at the top! The rest of the weights were close mind, and a few people were cursing lost fish who'd just missed out.

I think next week is back on the same lake again, so here's to hoping it keeps in good form and the fish are after a good feed up before the winter, which doesn't seem so far away now....

August 29th, Bank Holiday Monday

2011-08-29T21:34:00.006+01:00

Isn't it frightening to think the next Bank Holiday will be Christmas! That said, the summer Bank Holiday seemed to have a very Autumnal feel to it which nearly resulted in me lifting my fleece in the morning, and I actually wish I had!

Walking around before-hand I fancied the pegs around the back of the island, as while the wind was pushing round there they were sheltered from the wind by the island and felt a couple of degrees warmer. Those that are eagle-eyed enough may notice that I didn't get my wish as I ended up on the same peg as last week! While I caught last week off if it's really not the best peg, plus I wasn't looking forward to the ants! I didn't notice it last week, but the buggers had a bit of a feast on me and on Monday morning I counted over forty bites up my legs, not nice! Tuck trousers into sock time it was...

I only put three rigs up for the day - a far bank rig, a margin rig and a rig for the 2+2 line. It didn't take me too long to set up as I still had the tippex marks on my top-kits from last week and the three rigs were quickly checked and re-plumbed, exactly right first time as the lake level hadn't changed! The far bank rig was a NG XTM float in 16in of water on .17 to .15 and an 18 Fox Series 2 matched with Preston 15h. The 2+2 rig was on the same terminal gear and the margin rig was the normal stepped up .19 to .17 and a 16 Fox Series 2 hook matched to purple Hydro.

On the whistle and after feeding the far line with a pinch of pellet the both the margin and the 2+2 line were fed with half a pot of hemp and corn. My reason for feeding the margin early when I hadn't last week was that I expected it would be my main catching line, and I hoped to get more than one good hour off it.

Going across on an 8mm banded pellet and the float did it's usual small fish dance before plinking under, and like last week my first carp was about 4oz. The wind was a touch awkward, although at times it would be flat calm at times it was also a job to hang on. Lifting and dropping the rig would invariably get knocks as the pellet settled but they were from smaller fish. Wondering if a 6mm banded pellet would be able to catch me a few of those smaller carp I gave it a go. This meant the float actually went under more, and when I eventually hit one of the bites the result was a bitterling!

I was flicking a few pellets across via the catty as and when the wind let me, but after about forty minutes all the indications faded so I took this as a signal to feed again with the pot. I still wasn't getting many knocks after and I was contemplating trying one of the other lines (both were getting a few grains of corn by hand) when a better bite saw me hook and land a proper carp, a dumpy mirror of a good 4lb. I plugged away on the line for a bit longer and did hook another carp about twenty minutes later, this one ripping the lakky from the pole while I was lowering the rig in! Unfortunately, for whatever reason this one pulled off as I lifted the top-kit to net it.

Indications seemed to stop totally after that across so just over the hour mark I re-fed across with the cup and dropped in on the 2+2 line. I lowered the rig in slowly, and as the float touched the water it was away - this is what I was after! Or it wasn't, as after a couple of seconds the hook pulled again. I checked the hooks on all the rigs after, they were all freshly made rigs but you never know, but they all seemed to be fine (they went in to my thumb okay!). I plugged away on the line for another ten minutes but indications were iffy so I left it alone, after topping both the close lines up with a bit of hemp and corn via the cup.

When I went back across the far line was getting increasingly awkward to fish in the wind that was swirling in the trees, and with very few signs of fish I didn't give it too long, a decision helped by the tail patterns in the margin! Double corn dropped in here and the float was away, and a decent ghostie mirror of about 5lb was in the net. I hooked another fish after that, only a few minutes later, but that one pulled off too! I was not best amused and changed the hook-links on all the rigs regardless.

I left the margin alone for a bit and dropped in over the 2+2. I was getting signs of life there and was tinkering with the shotting and depth trying to make some hittable bites. The tow was fairly strong against the wind and the majority of my knocks were coming about 2ft to the right of where I was feeding, but my first hittable bite came when I lowered the rig right down the feed, and resulted in a crucian of about a pound. I'd had to spread the bulk out a bit to get that, but when the wind really gave it some the rig wasn't quite right. The odd knocks carried on and I went back to fishing just the bulk of shot, about 10in from the hook. Lowering the float slowly in down the tow got me another bite, and this carp too was a decent stamp at about 4lb.

After that last fish I decided to rest the swim and gave it a decent amount of corn and no hemp. From what I could hear peg 57 was catching very well, although nobody else I could see had a lot more than I did. In the margin I was getting signs of fish and a switch to one large grain of corn got me a bite and another decent fish of about 4lb, followed not long after by it's twin. I then bumped a fish down the edge so I decided not to push it and went back on the other close line.

Feeding just the corn here seemed to have done the trick and I started to pick up a few fish off this line. I was having to work the rig a lot, and most of the bites were coming just after the rig had been lifted a foot clear of the water and slowly lowered back. They were coming in one's and two's either down the tow or directly over the feed but they wouldn't settle on one place. Still, by fishing a single grain of corn I was steadily plodding along with fish averaging about 3lb, and hopefully I still had a last hour margin bonanza too! I did try a cube of meat every now and then in an attempt to nick a bigger fish but I never had a bite doing this.

With an hour and twenty minutes to go I found myself with fifteen proper carp and starting my second net. I'd still been feeding the margin by hand, and as the last few bites had took a bit longer to come by I gambled on having a look down the edge. I could hear talk of peg 57 already having 100lb, so was hoping on a bag-up spell myself down the edge! I did manage to nick one decent carp down the edge, but I probably spent more time than it was worth to catch it after missing a few bites.

With an hour to go and I dropped back in on the 2+2 line, but while I'd left it alone I'd carried on feeding it by hand. Unfortunately, the fish seemed to have faded away rather than come back and it took a few minutes to get something going again. The first fish came by fishing the wrong side of the bait in the tow. I then got distracted by a tail in the margin so dropped in down there, but only had a missed bite to show for it. I managed to get another carp, again fishing the wrong side in the tow, but both those fish that side were smaller. I then again got distracted by a tail in the edge, but this time I nabbed the fish on a single grain of corn. This led to me staying on the margin and while I was getting an odd bite here I was missing them. Just as I was lifting out the float went and I had another carp, but I decided just to feed the swim and go back to the 2+2.

This line seemed to show a few more signs of life and with twenty minutes to go I should have got my head down here. The wind had settled a bit so I spread the bulk out and it seemed to work. The fish were smaller at about 3lb each but twice I decided to have a sneaky look down the edge for two or three minutes, but only managed to miss a bite while going for a margin lump to catch 57. I finished the match on twenty-two carp, the last ones taken from the 2+2 line.

I could see a few other people had caught, and most of them had double figures of numbers in the 40's (the pegs I could see on the opposite bank in the open water, the best area last week) I knew I had more than all of them. As I got packed away quickly I went and followed the scales. Peg 57 was admitting to thirty carp so it was clear they'd win as everyone who could see them said they had 100lb. I'd guesstimated mine to go about 75lb. While walking up the other bank it was noticeable that it was much warmer out of the worst of the wind, I'd sat with a coat on all day and would never have said I was warm. It was a mistake to have left my fleece at home!

When the scales got to peg 57 the top weight was 47lb. They comfortably topped that, but didn't have as much as everyone had been suggesting when they put 88lb 9oz on the scales. Hmm, this was closer than I thought! When I'd finished my weighs I'd totalled a level 83lb. In the end, those were the top three weights.

On getting walking back I couldn't help but be a bit disappointed at being so close, even though I'd worked very hard at the swim to get that weight I'd perhaps chased the margin fish a bit much and it'd cost me. The wasted times towards the end in the edge perhaps would have given me the extra weight, but then so could have one more lump from the margin! And then there was those couple of lost early fish.... so near yet so far and I have to admit it's overshadowed what's a fantastic weight off that swim.

Next week my blog will be back at around it's usual time, and hopefully starting September in style!

Sunday August 21st

2011-08-21T22:00:00.004+01:00

No complaints about the weather today, it was pretty nice this morning! Not so happy about the spiders though, why do they always have to weave their webs at face height near the shed so I get a sleepy face full of web in the morning?

Walking round and the fish seemed to be all round the lake, but more so on the earlier numbers. On queuing at the draw-bag the person in front of me walked away from the bag as peg 64 was still in and they'd struggled off it last time. My hand goes in the bag and out comes 64.... I didn't really want it either! They promptly drew after me and got 66 and moaned about that too, some people are never happy!

I had four rigs up, two for across, one for 5m and one in the margins to my right at just 4m. The bankside vegetation doesn't allow you to fish much further on either side but the right was against some reeds and a touch shallower than the left. The far bank rigs were at about 13.5m, one to fish in 14in of water and one right up the bank in about 9in of water. Both were identical otherwise, being NG XTM's on .17 to .15 and an 18 Fox Series 2. Both were on Preston 15 hollo. The 5m rig was a .3gr NG Decker in about five and a half foot of water. Terminal gear was the same and the lakky was black Hydro. Last up was the margin rig. In about two and a half foot of water the float was a .2gr DC5 on .19 line to a .17 hook-link to a size 16 Series 2. Lakky was purple Hydro.

There were a few fish moving so I was confident I could catch a few fish. On the whistle the far line was fed with a palm-full of pellets, while the 5m line had half a pot of hemp and corn. I didn't feed the margin to start with as I could easily do that by hand at any point, plus experience told me that if that line goes it'll be very late - no point wasting bait feeding the small fish!

As per usual I went across on a 6mm expander which immediately gave me a roach. Not the usual micro one, but about 2oz - better, but not what I was after! A switch to a banded 8mm pellet and the float did it's dancing trick before vanishing. This gave me a little carp of about 4oz, so the right species, but the wrong size! I had two more carp of the same size in the next twenty minutes before I saw some movement very tight to the bank. I had been feeding pellets via a catty and some bait was going tight, so it was on with the very short rig!

Going tight over gave me a few knocks but no proper bites, and the tail I could see had gone as I shipped over. With no joy I decided to feed tight over with the pot and leave it, so a quarter of a pot of 6mm pellets went across before I had a quick try on the 5m line, but this gave no joy.

On trying up the island I had nothing there either, so I went back on to the original rig for a short while but all the happened here was the float danced around while the roach played head tennis with the pellet. When I shipped back in the pellet was round in the band!

On the hour and a half mark I decided I'd need the margin sooner rather than later. I could see those pegged on the opposite bank in the open water catching well. I'd had odd bubbles start on the 5m line and was fishing here on a cube of meat when I started to feed the margin by hand. I gave it one big handful of hemp, and just as I gave it one of corn the pole yanked as a carp hooked it's self! Off the mark with regards to proper carp, a lively ghostie mirror of about 5lb was the culpret.

Despite that one carp I couldn't raise any more bites off that line, but I was at least starting to get indications off it. On the two hour mark I decided to have a go in the margins where I'd been flicking about a dozen grains of corn every five minutes. A bite strait away saw me attached to a decent fish that charged out of the swim before pulling off! I fed it and rested it, going back to the 5m line. Here I hooked a decent mirror on corn that looked a good 7lb, and that pulled off just as I went to net it and fired my rig up a tree. A new hook-link was required after!

I couldn't get any more bites off the 5m line after so I dropped back in on the margin on double corn. A quick bite here saw me land a small common of about 3lb, and feeding just after I hooked it saw me hook a fish almost strait away after dropping in again. This did the same as the first fish I hooked down the edge and charged off and the hook pulled. This was not amusing and I have to admit I was rather peeved. I changed the hook-link, even though there was nothing wrong with the hook, but the bites stopped after.

I had a brief try over, where I had still been feeding via the catty but even the roach had got bored of mullering the pellet - probably they had a jaw ache! The match was passing by and frustratingly too. I fed a big pot of corn on the 5m line to try and boost it, as I could get odd indications on it. It worked to a degree as the float buried with a single grain of corn as bait, but the result was a crucian of about a pound. I carried on plugging away, changing the shotting to try and make hittable bites from the odd knock. I did manage to nab another small carp of about 3lb off the line, fishing well away from the feed but with two hours to go I had just three carp.

I found myself back in the margins and was getting odd bites but could not connect with them. I'm not sure if the missed bites were smaller fish or because the wind was blowing the rig back towards me a touch, as I do find then that having the float closer to you than the pole tip seems to result in missed bites for whatever reason. Still, the increase in movement was encouraging!

With an hour and a half to go I had a try on the 5m line again, and thought I had it sussed when when I managed two fish in a row, each taken by moving the shot well away from the hook in a much less positive spread-bulk and two droppers pattern, and then lowering the float in very slowly. It didn't work for a third time though! In fact, even the knocks lessened after.

With an hour to go I dropped in the edge on double corn and the float was away instantly and soon a slightly better fish of about 5lb was in the net. In fact I found myself going from relative inactivity to motoring! By feeding after I hooked a fish bites came very steadily. I'd like to claim it went like a dream and I hit them all but but I did still miss a couple. With just under an hour to go when I put carp number six in the net I found myself putting carp number fifteen in the net about twenty seconds after the whistle - what a complete change of a swim! The average stamp was good too. I did have two smaller fish, going about 5lb the pair of them, but the others were bigger and the best being number thirteen, a common of about 8lb.

When the scales got to me the other bank had fished very well, with weights of 92lb and 70lb being top and a couple of 40lb weights too. My fish went 61lb 2oz in total, and in the end that was good enough for third place, with nobody else challenging the frame after me.

In the end I was pretty pleased, as while the lost fish cost me second I got a result off a peg that nobody really likes. It's just a shame I packed all the action into one hour rather than spread it out!

Next weekend brings the August Bank Holiday, and while I won't be out on the Sunday I shall on the Monday, so the next update will be a bit later. Tight lines until then!

Sunday August 14th

2011-08-14T22:09:00.003+01:00

After last Sunday's fish filled day I was hoping that the new lake was going to fish a bit better than it had been.

When my hand went in the bag a few of the numbers I wanted were still in, but when 35 came out it wasn't the best option in the bag. In fact, I think I described it as the worst peg on the lake last time I drew it!

Plumbing up gave me 15in of water at 16m, but this was probably 2ft off the island. If I went any tighter the water was very shallow, just 3-4 in. This wasn't ideal as I like to get as tight to the island as I can to stop liners, but with the water low this isn't possible on some pegs now. On a more heavily stocked water I'd have put a rig up for it. The rig was normal for fishing across; a NG XTM on .17 to .15 and a size 18 Fox Series 2. This rig was matched to Preston 15h. The only other rig I put up was for the margin at about 8m down the bank to my right. I had a nice sloping area with 2ft of water near to the bank here. The rig was pretty much the same as for across but the float was a .2gr DC5.

On the whistle I fed a small pinch of pellets across, while the margin got a small pinch of hemp and corn. I wasn't going to feed a lot here and if it didn't go with half the match gone I had some groundbait to feed.

I had a liner more or less from the off, and after about ten minutes I started to drip a few pellets in via a toss-pot. Pretty much dead on the half-hour mark I had my first proper bite on a 6mm expander which gave me a carp of about 3lb. This wasn't the kick-start to the day I hoped and the fish that had been present started to fade away.

On the hour mark I decided on a change, as while there wasn't as many fish present there were still some. I had a few worms with me so took a small handfull plus some of the peat they were in and gave them a liberal dose of liquid worm before mixing them with a few pellets, casters and an odd grain of corn. The first drop feeding this via toss-pot gave me a small perch and the next half an hour gave me a couple more small perch before any activity faded. The next bite gave me another carp of about 3lb before the swim totally died on me.

On the halfway mark I'd had no more bites so I fed the margin with two pots of loose crumb with a few small cubes of meat in. I then noticed an odd movement under a tiny bush to my left. This needed me to just hold a top-kit and a foot of the no4 to reach. I decided to flick just an odd pellet here after I'd plumbed up to find it about two inches deeper than the other margin. After a fruitless try across another movement to my left saw me drop in on a pellet and the float went away as soon as I lowered it in. A carp of about 3lb was in the net before it even knew what was going on as I'd hooked it so close to me!

No more bites came so I tried both the other lines but with no joy. Another movement under the small bush saw me about to try there but just as I was going to the angler on the next peg (who'd not caught) threw all his bait in down that margin as he packed up. That was that down the edge after then!

I plugged away on the two lines I'd originally fed and with an hour to go I had two bites in two drops from across where I'd still been feeding the worm mixture. Both these fish were bigger at about 5lb each, but the last hour bag-up I hoped would happen didn't and the bites faded, funnily enough as the angler the other side packed up noisily....

I kept the bait going in and with about ten minutes to go I managed my sixth carp, a smaller one than the last two at about 3lb again. I hoped I'd had enough time for another but while I had fish in the swim I never managed to get another bite before the whistle.

The match had been hard for all those that I could see, with the four anglers I could see one having one, one having four and the other two were the pegs either side that had packed up carp-less.

Walking round following the scales peg 14 was the first person to put a weight on the scales around what I thought I had with a 20-14 total. A couple of other weights around that mark came to the scales with the best being 22-10, until peg 27 put their fish on the scales and totalled 32lb odd, with more fish than they'd admitted to! I knew I didn't have that so it was second I was hoping for but I knew it was going to be very close. A couple of double figure weights went on the scales before they got to me, and when I put my fish on the scales I totalled a level 24lb and narrowly pipping the last peg to weigh in who had 23-6 into second place.

In the end I was quite pleased with the result, and I'm not sure I could have scraped much more out of the peg in the end, certainly not through my own errors anyway, although I wasn't best pleased with the anglers either side and they way they packed up as I'm pretty certain they cost me fish. Still, next week is back on to the old lake and that's fishing much better!

Sunday 7th August

2011-08-07T23:55:00.006+01:00

I was looking forward to getting back on to the old lake after last weeks struggle, and with the warmer weather during the week it's fair to say most people were optimistic of a decent days fishing. I have to say I was too on walking round, as while the wind was on most of the pegs the water seemed much more coloured - hopefully due to fish feeding!

I did fancy a peg round the back of the island where the wind was pushing, as like most lakes the fish follow the wind. Pegs 57 and 59 were at the windward end but flat calm as the island sheltered them and seemed a perfect draw to me, but by the time I dipped my hand in the bag they were gone and 48 came out in my mitt.

I was fairly happy with the peg despite it not having great recent form as it's fairly shallow (4.5ft at the deepest), and therefore easier to concentrate fish on the bottom in. I put up three rigs for the day and first up was the rig for the island at 13.5m, which was manageable in all but the worst of the wind. In 16in of water the float was a NG XTM on .17 line to a .15 hook-link with a size 18 Fox Series 2 hook and matched to Preston 15h lakky. The second rig was for the 2+2 line. In just over 4ft the float was a .3gr NG Decker with the same hooks and line as the island rig, with the lakky being black Hydro. Last up was a margin rig, fished at about 5m to my left. Depth here was 2ft and a standard margin set-up of a .2gr DC5 float on .19 to .17 matched to a 16 Fox Series 2 hook. Lakky on this was purple Hydro.

On the whistle the far bank line got a palm-full of 6mm pellets, while the 2+2 line got half a pot of hemp and corn. Last up, the margin had a whole pot of hemp and corn. The first drop across on a 6mm expander and it produced a small roach after a host of knocks, so it was on with a banded 8mm pellet. The small fish still knocked the pellet but with a few carp milling about I was sure they'd settle so I started flicking pellets across with the catty.

On the hour mark I was just about to come off the far line as others were catching when a series of liners led me to stay on the line for a bit, but after another fifteen minutes I came off the line and dropped in over the 2+2 line. This gave me my first fish, a common of about 2lb that was hooked outside the mouth. When my next fish, a 4lb ghostie was also hooked outside the mouth I added another inch to the depth so I was on the bottom by about three inches as the wind was increasingly bad. This had the desired effect and by the end of the next hour I was on six fish, all falling to single corn.

Starting the third hour and I found I got bites quicker by fishing above the direction of the tow and was now catching steadily, feeding a whole toss-pot of corn each time. Again, all the fish were taken on single corn and I'd got myself into a good rythm of feed, bite and fish and by the half-way point of the match I was on thirteen carp with the fish all in the 3-4lb stamp. As tends to happen on "unlucky thirteen" I lost the next fish (the first one I'd lost) when it ran along the bank to my left and the hook-link parted on a root. This got even more frustrating when the next fish pulled off as I went to net it, putting the rig up a tree and requireing a new rig after I'd retrieved it.

The two lost fish slowed the swim a bit so I topped it up with half a pot of hemp and corn and dropped in down the margin. I'd originally intended to put half a pot in every 45 minutes but with the fish looking in the mood for some grub I'd stepped it up to feeding it every 30 minutes. It didn't take long to get a response from another chunky 4lb'er but no more bites followed so I gave it another pot of bait and left it.

Dropping back on the the 2+2 line and I picked off two smaller fish about 2lb each on meat before I found bites hard to come by so I dropped in down the edge again. This followed the same pattern as the first time with a fish falling strait away but no more bites following.

Going back on the other line again and I decided to feed corn by hand to increase the noise, so both the margin and 2+2 line were getting small pinches of corn every few minutes. With two hours to go I found that fishing right in the middle of the feed was better as it got me more bites, but I was missing a few of them so I put the bulk of shot right on the top of my six inch hook-link. This had the desired effect and I started to catch steady again and in half an hour I put four more carp in the net including one about 6lb before tails waiving down the edge got my attention.

Two drops down the edge on double corn gave me to fish quickly but they were smaller so I gave it a hit with the pot again and dropped on the other line. A couple more quick fish of that line saw me up to twenty three carp with an hour to go when bites went off. A switch to meat led to a flurry of missed bites before giving me a tiny carp of about 4oz.

The last hour in the margins gave me a steady run of fish down the edge, and a switch to meat down the edge seemed a better option than corn. The fish averaged about 4lb a piece until carp number twenty eight which was a ghostie mirror of about 7lb which I put in the net with just under ten minutes to go. In those last couple of minutes I put two more carp in the net but smaller, in the 2/3lb bracket to be on thirty proper carp with a minute or so to go. With the tails waiving at me I think had I dropped in again I'd have got another but I was at the net limit of fifteen carp per net. Had I any longer I'd have emptied the net with my roach and micro carp in it!

I was the fourth to weigh in and about 40lb was top weight when the scales got to me, my five weighs (one of them 5oz from the silvers net) totalled up to 114lb 10oz and comfortably enough for the win. The two pegs round the back of the island that I'd fancied originally filled second and third with a 70lb and 50lb weight. Not a bad days fishing in all!

Sunday July 31st

2011-07-31T21:28:00.003+01:00

I was optimistic of a decent day's fishing today, with a nice warm morning and decent weather forecast too! Hopefully the fish would be obliging....

I had a walk around before the draw and there were not many fish visible cruising, hopefully a good sign. Hand in the bag and out comes peg 40, a peg I've never drawn, and to be bluntly honest, one I didn't ever want! There were some mumblings about me drawing it but it's got no form what-so-ever this year. Being drawn out as the golden peg made the mumblers a bit more vocal too!

Sitting down on the peg it's a long way across, 17m or so to the island. I could get about 2ft off the island in about 18in of water, but no tighter due to roots and snags. I thought this could be a problem as I find when fishing to islands you don't want to leave room for carp to get behind the float. Standard rig for here - an Nick Gilbert XTM on .17 to .15 with a size 18 Fox Series 2 matched to Preston 15h. Second up was a 2+2 line fished to my left past the point I was fishing on. A .3gr Nick Gilbert Decker float was on the same terminal gear as the far bank rig, fished in about 6ft of water. Last up was a margin rig for the right side. I had to spend a while plumbing along here. In the end it was a touch closer to me than I wanted but the bottom had a better slope. The rig was a bit lighter than my standard margin gear in an attempt to get bites as the margins have been poor on this lake. Float was a .2gr DC5 in just over 2ft of water, terminal gear was the same as the other rigs.

On the whistle I fed a pinch of pellets across, while the 2+2 line had a third of a pot of hemp and corn. I decided to leave feeding the margins till later but had knocked up some groundbait to try feeding down the edge, being as my normal approaches hadn't worked and it seems to be the 'in' way of fishing the edge.

Trying a 6mm expander across gave nothing after ten minutes so I started to to tap in a few pellets via a toss-pot. I didn't want to feed with the catty across due to the water behind the float - I didn't want to feed the fish in to the roots. It took half an hour or so before my first indication, which I missed! I suspect it was a liner anyhow.

On the hour mark I decided to start introducing a few casters and a bit of crumb across via the pot. The only person I could see who'd caught was peg 33 and nobody else was getting bites. It took until two hours in before I got my first proper bite, a small perch on double caster!

On the half way mark peg 37 had a carp and 33 was still nabbing odd fish, and with the far side lifeless I decided to feed crumb down the edge, giving it two pots with a few small cubes of meat in. This was going to get another whole pot every thirty minutes in the hope of dragging some life in to the swim!

With two hours to go I saw odd signs of life across, and lowering the rig in saw the elastic streaming out. What I thought was a good fish turned out to be about 4lb and foul-hooked in the tail. How did it do that?

The next two hours was totally lifeless where ever I tried, and with the sun in my eyes fishing across (the picture is from after the match as I was ages getting ready) so in the last forty minutes I plugged away down the edge. With half an hour to go I had a liner down the edge, and with just a few minutes to go I could see a large mirror easily into double figures mooching over the groundbait. It wasn't really troughing though and despite my best attempts to trick it, it wasn't interested in either the large dendrobena or a couple of small cubes of meat and I finished the match with my one foul-hooker!

The front side of the lake where I was fished hard for everyone (one carp to my right and none to my left). the weights were close with the top three separated by not much more than 2lb, with just 31lb 14oz needed to win. Next week is back on the old lake, and hopefully it'll be much better!

Sunday July 24th

2011-07-24T22:30:00.004+01:00

The theme of my drawing lately seems to be deja vu, with not much variety in the pegs I draw! That said, I was quite happy with my draw of peg 66 on the end of the island on the old lake, it's got good recent form and it was off the worst of the wind (what's happened to summer!)

It was a pretty standard affair with regards to rigs for the day - the far bank rig, tight across at 16m was a Nick Gilbert XTM on .17 line to a .15 hook-link and a size 18 Fox Series 2 hook and Preston 15h elastic. The depth here was about 16in. The second rig was for the 2+2 line using a .3gr Nick Gilbert Decker in about 4.5ft of water. Terminal gear was otherwise the same for this as the far bank rig. Last up was a margin rig. This was fish about 12m to my left under some overhanging branches. Depth here was about 2.5ft and the rig was a .2gr DC5 on .19 to .17 and a size 16 Fox Series 2, with the lakky being purple Hydro.

On the whistle I fed a palm-full of 6mm hard pellets across, while the 2+2 line got half a pot of hemp and corn. I didn't feed the margin to start with for two reasons, firstly I've never caught much in the edge off the peg, and secondly, I hoped I wouldn't need it! It didn't take long for a response on a hard 8mm pellet across and I can't have been in much more than sixty seconds when I was shipping back with a carp on. Not a bad start either, a fish of a good 4lb.

The next few drops were met by nudges, most likely from small fish so I started to flick a few pellets with the catty. The nudges eventually led to me catching a carp of about 2oz on the pellet so on the half hour mark I fed a similar amount to what I'd started with. This again had the desired effect and a common of about 3lb was soon in the net. Not wanting to introduce a large amount again early I carried on feeding with the catty but the next fish was a roach so after quarter of an hour I went across with the pot again. This again had an instant response and another 3lb'er was in the net, so I tried a small pot on the pole, allowing me to introduce a similar amount of pellets but not use the big cup. This didn't have the desired effect though and with the swirling wind plus the fact that I had to un-ship twice on the long pole it made things awkward.

Back to feeding with the catty with the occasional cupping of pellets to keep a tight base area of feed had fish in the swim, but I couldn't get a proper bite! Eventually a bite saw another carp on but this one charged down the island and the hook-link broke. The second hour was frustrating and saw me lose three more carp. I wasn't lifting into the bites either as they were yanking the lakky out, with two pulling off near the net and one more coming off halfway across. I'm sure people thought I was bagging, but in reality I was getting very frustrated! Especially when I had to do a monkey up the tree to get my rig back! At least one of the fish was foul-hooked but I don't think the others were.

On the two hour mark it was time to rest the long line try the 2+2 swim. It took a while to get a response here and the first fish was a big crucian, and then I had a small carp of perhaps a pound and a half. I gave the swim half a pot again (I had been feeding it by hand) and went back across. No sooner had the pellet hit the bottom than the lakky ripped out! Thankfully this one didn't come off and another 4lb'er was in the net, but no more followed.

With three hours gone (halfway) it was time to feed the margins, as it looked like I did need it after all! No messing here and a whole pot of hemp and corn went in. I then topped up the far line via the big pot, giving it half a cup to try and kick it in to life. I had a drop in on the 2+2 line but didn't give it too long as I could see tails waiving at me down the edge. First drop in on double corn and I missed the first bite almost instantly. The second bite wasn't long in coming though and a 6lb common gave a good account of it's self before going in the net. I got odd liners after but didn't want to push it so soon after starting the line so I gave it a hit of bait again and left it.

I couldn't really see anyone else unless I craned right forward off my box, but I could hear a fair bit of splashing from up the lake and the banter suggested someone was catching. I managed to nick another fish from the far bank but still frustratingly I couldn't line them up. The 2+2 line seemed a little better now with more indications. I had two 3lb fish off it on corn, then trying a large cube of meat hoping for a better stamp of fish (or quicker bites) gave me just a missed bite. I decided to drop the rig in the wrong side of the bait (up the tow) on single corn and this did get me a bigger fish, with a common of about 5lb being the result.

With just under two hours to go I was plodding on steadily, not ever lining fish up but nicking an odd fish across before nabbing one or two off the 2+2 line. The margin was weird as it was lifeless unless I gave it at least half a pot, but when the fish came in the were right in the bank in just inches of water, not on the feed! They were good fish too but I couldn't get a bite from them.

The last hour started with me getting two fish in a row from the far bank line putting me up to eleven or twelve carp, but then the fish went iffy so I left it again. The margin fish were still in a weird mood, mooching right into the bank so I found myself back on the 2+2 line. A small carp of about a pound came from here, then another chunky crucian but the next bite after that was a 2oz roach on corn. I gave it half a pot and went back across but for the first time after resting I didn't get a fish from the line.

Coming back on the close line and I started to put a run of fish together in the last thirty minutes, with an odd good fish in amongst them too. With ten minutes to get I found myself on either fourteen or fifteen proper carp in the net, so erring on the side of caution I went with the higher number and put the other net in. That last ten minutes was probably my best spell of the match too, with a 4lb'er and then a 2lb'er going in, then with about a minute to go I hooked a better fish and just after the whistle a fish nudging 6lb went in the net too, all falling to single corn.

When the scales got round to me just shy of 40lb was winning but the end peg was admitting to nineteen or twenty carp too, but apparently they were small fish. My couple of weighs totalled just over 68lb, with my last ten minute net contributing 11lb 12oz to the cause! I was humping my gear past the end peg just in time to see their weight tallied up to 52lb something, so they were all small fish.

The win was more than I thought I was going to manage to be honest, though it was that last thirty minutes really on the 2+2 line that sealed it. I also wasn't the only one to suffer from a few lost fish too, with two or three others getting the same and one person also having the bites pulling the lakky out but losing them. Interestingly, they were hair-rigging on the pole and all mine were on banded pellet, so in both cases the hook was exposed and I'm tempted to think that has something to do with it. I did find myself earlier thinking I'd probably have done better on expanders across when the fish aren't feeding properly, but with the amount of tiny fish it's just not really an option so I guess it's just plugging away as it was and hoping the weather picks up enough soon the get the fish eating properly.

Sunday July 17th

2011-07-17T21:30:00.004+01:00

Ahh, back to being able to to complain about the weather! The wind and rain gave the morning a rather autumnal feel and I have to say I was a little unsure about what the day would hold, both in terms of the rain upsetting the fish and with the forecast storms too.

I really wanted a peg in the open water where I find it's easier to catch short but I found myself on peg 62 in the corner round the island. I have quite fond memories of the peg as it's where I caught my first fish for two months back in mid/late January! Just as I was walking off with my gear someone told me I was also the golden peg, which is normally a curse to the days fishing...

Looking at the peg I was confident that I'd catch from it late down the margins where I had a few stick-ups. Fishing 13m down here I had just over 2ft of water, and the standard margin rig was set up for here - a .2gr DC5 float on .19 line to a .17 hook-link and a 16 Fox Series 2 hook, the lakky was purple hydro. The far bank rig was at 13m too, but I couldn't tuck this as tight to the island as I wanted due to the vegetation. In 2ft of water a NG XTM float was on .17 line to a .15 hook-link and finished with a 18 Fox Series 2 hook, while the lakky was Preston 15h. Last up was a rig for 5m. In 5ft of water I could get away with a .3gr NG Decker despite the wind. Terminal gear was the same as the last rig and matched to black Hydro.

On the whistle the far bank got a pinch of pellets while the 5m line had half a pot of hemp and corn. The margin line got a whole pot of bait - I had to attack this line as it's the one I needed to go for the best chance of taking the golden peg. Going across on a banded pellet small fish started to knock the pellet about. I started to flick a few 6mm pellets across with a catty to try and draw some fish.

In the first twenty minutes the next peg had two early from their margin, then my first proper bite saw me catch a crucian of about a pound and a half, before the next drop produced a tiny 1oz carp! With signs of fish in the margin I allowed myself a quick drop down the edge on double corn. It didn't take long to catch here with a fish of about 2.5lb falling. With no bites coming quick after I re-fed it with half a pot rather than push it too early.

I had a quick try on the 5m line but had only a liner to show for it. On going back over I again only had knocks from little fish, with the regular cattying of pellets failing to attract anything bigger. On the hour mark I dropped back in the edge and again had an instant bite but again from a smaller carp of about 3lb. Again nothing followed so I topped it up with half a pot again and left it alone.

The far bank wasn't going and I could only get liners down the edge. I carried on topping it up as I thought the fish would get their heads down at some point. On the two hour mark with the wind a bit gusty I bulked the shot up a foot from the hook on the 5m line and dropped in with a 10mm cube of meat. A sharp bite which took the lakky with it saw another smallish carp, followed by another about ten minutes later before that line faded, which led to me giving that half a pot boost what I'd fed by hand there.

I dropped across again and had an instant bite from an even smaller carp of perhaps a pound and a half before the mad indications (and the increased wind) led to me leaving the line again. Dropping in the edge saw me attached to carp number five, but this one led to a bit of a merry dance before I mugged a fish of about 4lb hooked in the tail. Nothing more followed so that was again topped up with half a pot.

On the 5m line I lost a fish on the meat but I think that may have been foul-hooked. With the wind dropping a touch I went back to a spread bulk and corn on the rig and this seemed to do the trick. The next hour gave me a run of fish, all in the 2-3lb bracket but they were coming steadily and with two hours to go I was into double figures of fish.

I'd kept an eye on the edge, and had been topping it up every thirty minutes and could see fish moving there. I gave the 5m a small pot of bait and left it to drop in the edge and was instantly into a bigger fish. A 5lb'er was soon in the net, but topping up via a large toss-pot didn't seem right so I gave it a quarter of a cup. This had the desired effect and soon another decent fish fell. Keeping to the pattern of feed, drop in and bite with just over an hour left I was on fifteen carp and motoring, with all the fish being twice the size of what I had been catching.

All the while down the edge I'd been keeping an eye on the dark cloud moving in ominously behind me, and with an hour to go a rumble of thunder was followed by a deluge of rain that made the frequent showers we'd already had seem like a misting! With my jacket on and hood up I plugged away but the indications were fading away. I did lose a fish from the edge that felt bigger still but may have been foul-hooked. Eventually the rain slowed and I then hooked another fish but the line inexplicably parted midway down the rig. Putting on a new rig I topped up the margin and left it.

A brief spell on the 5m line saw another small carp on corn before the wind picked up, so I bulked the shot up again and put on a big cube of meat and another small carp fell to that. Back in the edge and I was getting some indications and in the last ten minutes I managed another two carp, albeit much smaller than those I was catching.

I finished the match on nineteen carp, but very little idea of what others had caught. I packed my rain soaked gear away and went to find the scales just as they got to peg 53, which according to others was the only peg to challenge what I had. On pulling their net out they had less fish than me but all big, but on the scales when they went to 51lb something I knew it was looking good! My fish totalled 63lb 1oz on the scales and the best weight after I weighed was 32lb.

On reflection, given the weather it didn't fish too bad, we'd had over an inch of rain on Saturday, and a fair bit on the day too, but going home with soaked gear was a little less painful with a little bonus!

Sunday July 10th

2011-07-11T00:27:00.007+01:00

Well, what a change it makes not to whinge about the weather! This morning was about as near a perfect morning as you'd pick to fish; not to warm, a slight breeze plus a bit of cloud..... I have to admit I was optimistic! Walking round the lake beforehand and the marginal lilly bed looks wrecked and there were a lot of lillies drifting loose so it looked as though the fish had spawned too.

I wasn't overly picky with regards to pegs apart from the fact I didn't want pegs 15 or 40, so I was happy to see both of them gone before I got to the draw bag! I was very happy with the number that came out in my hand, I've a good relationship with peg 25! It's a peg I knew I'd be able to get right up in to the shallow water of the island, and while it's not the narrowest of pegs, it's one where I can leave the 17.5m section in the bag!

Nothing too complex for the day in hand tackle wise, I had two identical rigs for 16m to the island fished just to my right, plus a margin rig. The far bank rigs were Nick Gilbert XTM's on .17 line to .15 hook-links and size 18 Fox Series 2 hooks, both matched to Preston 15h lakky. Depth here was about 18in. The other rig was for the margin to my right at about 5m. I had to do a bit of gardening to be able to pull my rig right in to the bank into about 2.5ft of water. Float here was was a newer.2gr Nick Gilbert XT Series Margin float coupled to my normal margin gear of .19 line to a 17 hook-link and a size 16 Fox Series 2. Lakky on this was purple Hydro. Unusually I was ready well before the whistle so I also put up a rig to fish shallow against the far bank, but I never picked it up!

On the whistle I fed a small palm-full of 6mm pellets (about 25-30) across while the margins had just a small pinch of hemp and corn, plus I was going to flick corn there by hand too. On going across on a 6mm expander I had a carpy like indication that I think was from a fish spooking before catching a roach of about 2oz. The next chuck I again had a roach of the same size before the indications got a bit silly and then died away. On the half hour mark with the indications fading I cupped in the same amount of pellets that I started with and had a bite almost the instant the float settled which produced a carp of about 3lb.

With the first carp in the net I picked the catty up and started pinging a few pellets across but the indications were few and far between so on the hour mark the cup went back across. This again bought an instant response from a carp bigger than the first at about 5lb. That fish was quickly followed by a smaller carp of perhaps only a pound before the indications faded again. I expected that going across with the cup would bring a fish again as had been the pattern but it didn't, and the swim seemed to be going downhill rather than getting better with indications fading away.

On the two hour mark I started to introduce casters in with the cupped feed while still pinging pellets across in three's and four's every few minutes. I took the chance to have a quick drop in the edge as I'd seen signs of fish but all I had was a couple of liners. Going back across, but on double caster and at last there seemed to be a bit of life with an occasional indication. I managed to catch two perch before my first carp fell to the change, a dark koi of about 4lb. This was followed by a chunky mirror next drop of a similar weight. After that fish the indications again faded so I again fed with the bigger cup, about a dozen each of caster and 6mm pellet before having another quick try in the margins.

As happened the first time in the edge I only had a liner so I didn't waste too long there, and on dropping back across the lakky was ripped out as I lowered the float in, this resulted in another chunky dark coloured koi but this one was probably nearer 5lb. I was still getting indications after this so I held back from cupping in again and just flicked a few pellets in, and eventually carp number six fell. A quick drop in after that and the indications weren't really there so across went the cup again. At this point someone walked round and bought news that the lake was fishing hard, with the most anyone admitting to being three carp. The fish came back to the feed but were most definitely edgy, I suspect at least in part due to the walker!

The fish did come back, after I'd had another brief (bite-less) spell in the edge. Steady rather than fast I was getting two fish off a feed before having to cup in again. I did try toss-potting rather than catapulting and using the big cup but it wasn't right and I think the fish felt more comfortable grazing rather than with the feed super tight. The fish were worth waiting for, all about four pound mark.

With forty minutes to go I was on thirteen carp and steadily working towards a good weight when a hooked carp ran along the island to the left, much the same as the others had. This one however hit a branch and broke the hook-link off against it, but I did get the branch out! The lost fish seemed to upset the swim a bit and it took a while to get the fish going again. A change to half a worm managed to get me three more carp in the last twenty minutes, the first two a bit smaller than average but the last one, netted just on the whistle was a beautiful black, gold and silver koi of around 6lb.

I couldn't really see the other anglers but had heard a bit of splashing late, but when the scales got to me 25lb was the top weight. My fish comfortably topped that and went a bit more than I thought nudging the scales to a total of 70lb 12oz, comfortably finishing ahead of the second placed weight of 29lb.

Overall I have to say I enjoyed the day, I worked hard for the fish and felt satisfied with the result. It was also nice to be rid of the lost fish that have been a problem on the lake in the last few weeks too, not that I was doing anything different!

Sunday July 3rd

2011-07-04T09:28:00.007+01:00

Well, on getting up this Sunday it looked like it was going to be another scorcher! Thankfully, at least the new lake has shade on most of the pegs - I didn't fancy baking again like last week.

Walking around before hand I thought the earlier numbers looked better, the water seemed more coloured and there were more fish moving around. I'd have been happiest with any peg up to number 20 (15 in the corner excepted) but it wasn't to be with peg 33 coming out. A bit bitter-sweet, as I'd won of the peg a few weeks ago, but on the downside that was with just 29lb! I was hoping it would fish a bit better this time.

Only two rigs up this time, nice and simple! The far bank rig was in about 16in of water and the float was a Nick Gilbert XTM. Line was .17 to .15 with an 18 Fox Series 2 on the end and the rig was matched to Preston 15h lakky. The other rig doubled for two margin lines; one at 11.5m to my left and the other at 6m to the right. Typical margin jobbie for me with a .2gr DC5 on .19 line to a .17 hook-link and a size 16 Fox Series 2. Lakky was purple Hydro.

On the whistle I fed across with about a dozen 6mm pellets, while the left hand margin got just a quarter of a pot of hemp and corn. I elected to not feed the other side until later, and this was going to be fed a touch lighter still, unless of course the fish were showing that they wanted a lot of bait!

On going across I had signs of life instantly and just a quarter of an hour in I was putting my first carp in the net. It didn't take long for a bite next drop either, but totally in-explicably the fish came off as I was shipping back while under very little pressure. The swim slowed a little after this so I topped up with a similar amount of pellets to what I'd started the swim with. The signs of life returned instantly and carp number two was soon in the net, perhaps a touch bigger than the first at about 4lb. The next drop I had a very short wait for a bite but again, for no real reason the fish came off after a short while.

An hour in to the match now and the even feeding again failed to bring the fish back. I could see three other anglers and the end peg had suffered a similar fate, catching two fish early, then after losing a fish it died. I started to introduce a few casters a this point via a small pot, while also still pinging a few pellets across with the catty which has served me well lately, but the swim seemed totally barren of life after the early flurry which is something I always worry about after catching from the off.

On the two hour mark I decided on a look in both margins, trying the dump fed longer one first before starting to toss-pot a little hemp and corn into the other but neither showed any signs of life. Infact the going up to the halfway point in the match all I'd added to the tally was a single liner across and nobody near me was catching either.

With all the lines lifeless I decided to try something else in the long margin, giving it three whole pots of loose (damp) groundbait. Don't ask me what the mix was as I'd had a tidy out of the bait store in the shed on Saturday and put all the bottom parts of bags in to one big bag mixed together to use them all up!

Leaving the margin line alone for a bit I went back across on caster and the float barely settled before it went. This fish went along the island before again coming off! I was not amused, but the next drop the same happend and another 4lb'er was in the net. With no more bites in the next five minutes I topped the swim up with a pinch of casters and again went over on double caster. A short wait was ended when I hooked what felt like a much bigger fish which ran along the bank, down the shelf and strait in to a snag and left me without a hooklength.... It was definetly one of those days!

The lost fish spelled an end to the action so I dropped in over the crumb on a cube of meat. I had a couple of liners so decided to put a whole worm on, but this didn't bring a response so I topped up with more crumb and left it again. Going back across was lifeless so I made the decision to try feeding chopped worm across. Half a worm burried strait away and gave me a 2oz rudd and a similar sized perch before again going off, and no matter what I tried I couldn't raise a response again from any line.

The match finished with me in a line of five anglers who didn't weigh in, while the other side of the lake had fished a touch better and a later text message (I was long gone!) told me that 46lb had won, with 35lb second and 28lb third. I have to admit I'm very frustrated about the lost fish but everyone seems to be suffering the same, but it's no coincidence that once you lose a fish the rest seem to vanish! I saw the first fish I lost and that was hooked outside the mouth and lighter lakky may be an option, however, with the root's and lillies in the lake I like to have a measure of control. I really don't know! This fish still haven't all spawned in the lake (which I've never known to happen so late) and I think thats a big contribution to them not feeding properly. Nothing I can do about that!

Sunday 26th June

2011-06-26T21:57:00.007+01:00

Well, a Sunday without the wind... And no rain too! The forecast for the day was for it to be bright sunshine and hot so I was hoping for a bit of shade. Putting my hand in the bag and out came peg 70, with absolutely no shade at all!

When I got to the peg there were quite a few fish cruising around so my plan was to start on the deck at 13m, but to come up shallow. The two shallow rigs covered from just a few inches deep to about 2ft, both on quite long lines. The shallowest had a Korum Blob on it, while the deeper one was a Nick Gilbert XTM. Both rigs were finished with size 20 Fox Series 2's to .15 line and matched to Preston 15h lakky. The deck rig was in about 6ft of water and was a .3gr Nick Gilbert Decker float on .17 to a .15 hook-link and a size 18 Fox Series 2. Lakky on this was black Hydro. This rig was also for my 2+2 line fished at about 11 O'clock where it was about two inches shallower than out. Last up was my margin rig for 6m to my right under a tree. In two foot of water a .2gr DC5 float was on .19 to a .17 hook-link and a size 16 Fox Series 2 hook, matched to purple Hydro.

On the whistle I fed the long line with a decent pinch of 6mm pellets, while the 2+2 line got half a pot of hemp and corn. I didn't feed the margin as behind the tree the reeds were solid with carp, and I anticpated that as the angler on the reeds caught some fish would back away and hopefully sit there feeling safe.

Starting on the deck rig it was plainly obvious that nothing was on the bottom so after ten minutes I started to rotate the shallow rigs and flick them towards any fish that looked interested in the loose-fed pellets. At this point both pegs to my right had carp (the end peg had four in the first half an hour!) It took until about forty minutes into the match before I hooked my first fish, and by this time everyone I could see had caught. I wasn't best pleased then when it came off at the net!

On the hour mark I'd found that feeding bigger pouches of pellets less frequent seemed to spark more life from the cruisers, and with polariods on I could see odd fish stopping under the surface to eat. This led to me getting off the mark with two carp in the next twenty minutes, both taken by slapping the shallowest rig infront of them. Neither were big, the first about a pound and a half, the second about 3lb. I plugged away on this line until the two hour mark, but the cruisers seemed to have backed away and despite changing the feeding about it was plainly obvious they weren't going to have it.

I'd heard a fair bit of splashing in the two pegs to my right (I couldn't really see them due to the tree) so I baited up the margin rig with double corn and dropped under the tree, feeding just a toss-pot of hemp and corn there as I'd seen movement. Ten minutes with just a liner led to be giving it a hit of bait with the big pot before leaving it alone and trying the 2+2 line which I'd been loose feeding by hand.

I had ten minutes without joy here when, just as I was about to go on the shallow line again I missed a bite. Next drop in I started to get an odd liner then eventually had two fish in two drops, both from mirrors that would have been about 5lb each were it not for they fact they looked as though they had just spawned, and they probably went about 7lb the pair. Some tails waiving under the tree led me to try here on a cube of meat, and the float went instantly with the culprit a common of about 2lb, but after that the bait was getting mauled by roach.

The next hour was slow, adding two carp about 2lb each from the 2+2 line. With two hours to go I decided to be a bit more positive on that line, changing the spread bulk shotting to a more positive tight bulk just a foot away from the hook, fished with a cube of meat. This did the trick as the next three drops all produced positive bites, giving me two fish about 5lb each, plus one of about 3lb. Bites then went iffy after this so a change to a bulk and one dropper and going back to corn gave me two more carp, leaving me on twelve fish with an hour to go.

After that run of fish the line went off again, so I left it alone and had a brief try in the margins which I'd been topping up every 30-40 minutes. There were always carp in the swim but bites were impossible to come by and I can only assume that they were fish that had backed away from the next peg who'd been catching there, and they were frightened rather than famished!

Going back on the 2+2 and I started to loose-feed more by hand again, as the last hour the bulk of the bait had gone in via a toss-pot while I was catching. This produced odd fish, but they were of a reasonable stamp (3-4lb) so I plugged away. Quite often I'd get two fish before a change in shotting, or fishing else where around the feed was needed to get another bite. With ten minutes to go I was on sixteen carp and changed back to fishing with just the bulk a foot from the hook with a single grain of corn. I netted carp number seventeen with six minutes to go, a mirror of about 5lb, and thought to myself I'd have time for one more. Lowering the float through the loose corn and the float was away instantly with number eighteen, and with a minute to go I was out and the same trick repeated and number nineteen was duly netted a couple of minutes after the whistle!

It's not often while catching I'm pleased to hear the whistle but the heat was so fierce it was nice to find a bit of shade before packing up. As the third from last to weigh I was comfortably packed away and joined the scales two pegs to my left where I was enjoying my last bottle of cold drink under the shade of a large tree! At this point 31lb odd was top weight, and when the scales got to me I put 65lb something (I can't even remember my own weight, how bad!) on the scales to take the lead. I'd heard splashing from the reeds pegs but couldn't see them, so had no idea what they had. The first to weigh put 41lb on the scales, while the last had less than that and gave me the win.

You may have noticed that I've got a little piece on the left called tackle box now, and I just thought that every month or so I'll give a little write up on some of the bites and pieces I use. I'd like it to look a bit better than it is, so it may well get fiddled around with again. Oh, and you can feed those fish too, just left click over them with the mouse!

Sunday 19th June

2011-06-19T22:45:00.004+01:00

Well, what a surprise, waking to the sound of the wind again! That said, we're lucky that the venue is pretty sheltered, and on walking round the wind was only periodically swirly in just some of the pegs. I have to say the lake looked nice, but in the back of my mind I knew that the Tuesday evening summer league match was a struggle with three or four people blanking.

I had two pegs in mind going in to the draw queue, and by the time I went in the bag one of them had gone. Once I put my hand in the bag the other one came out - peg 37.

On putting my nets in I actually spooked a carp in the right hand margin, so I knew there were fish present. I only had the two lines of attack for the day, one rig for the far bank and one for the margins. I had a good ten to fifteen minutes plumbing along the far bank, trying to find a nice depth tight to the island, but where there was a gap in the roots. In the end I settled for an area pretty much directly infront, at about 15m. Here I had about twenty inches of water and the rig was on .17 line to a .15 hook-link with a size 18 Fox Series 2 hook. Float was a Nick Gilbert XTM and the lakky was Preston 15h. The margin rig was originally intended for the left side under a tree, but after a good plumb round I actually preferred the depth and the bottom contours of the right side margin at about 6m. A .2gr DC5 float in 3ft did the job here, on .19 line to a .17 hook-link and a size 16 Fox Series 2, matched to purple Hydro.

On the whistle I fed a dozen or so 6mm pellets across, while the margin got a small helping of corn, meat and hemp. Quite negative feeding for the time of year but the recent results suggested the fish were still in a funny mood having not spawned yet. Going over on an expander I missed the first bite before hooking a rudd of about 3oz which came off halfway back. For about ten minutes I had odd indications from silvers before they died off, so I picked up the catty and started flicking in a few pellets hoping the noise would draw some carp.

I had nothing in the way of indications for a while coming up to the forty-five minutes mark, while 33 was the only other angler I could see and they had one carp. As they were playing their second I had a bite which led to me landing my first carp, a decent one too at a good 4lb+. A liner followed but then nothing more so while still flicking a few pellets with the catty I decided to get the casters out of the cool-bag, that I'd bought simply as it had been fishing hard. I topped up with a reasonable pinch of casters but swapping to them on the hook gave me just two small perch.

It was a good hour later before I had any signs of life again, before a decent mirror of about 5lb made a mistake. A bite next drop saw a smaller carp of 2lb quickly netted, and again a bite pretty much instantly after saw me play a decent fish for a few minutes before losing it near the net. It looked a good 6lb and on day when bites had been hard to come by I have to admit I said a few choice words! I topped up with a few casters again but the swim had predictably quietend off. I was just about to try the margins when a bite out of the blue gave me a common of a good 7lb, but next drop gave me a little perch! I had a quick lifeless try on the margins but didn't give it too long before going back across.

I had a lifeless spell across but kept plugging away as the fish were of a good stamp - I had one fish less than peg 33 but I was thinking we had a similar weight as mine were bigger. The next action of any note was a rather frustrating period, firstly I lost a good fish which charged miles along the bank to my left and through a huge weed bed. I got it out of the weed eventually and played it infront of me before the hook pulled. I got a glance of it under the water and it looked to be nearing double figures, although the angle it was swimming suggested it may have been hooked in the cheek rather than in the mouth. A few minutes later, after again topping up with casters I lost a fish of about 4lb near the net when the hook-link parted. That was bad angling on my part as it must have been damaged on the last fish and I didn't notice.

The swim died off for a while, and the margin had never shown signs of life. I could see peg 33 pulling away from me now after a run of fish from their margins. I kept flicking a few pellets across too, hoping the noise would attract some fish. An odd person walking told me that it was the same for everyone. Coming in to the penultimate hour I started to see odd fish cruising, and a switch to half a worm caught me a perch of about a pound and a half followed by a common of about 3lb. Then the next few drops all resulted in wasp perch on the drop so I topped it up and went back to the edge.

It was nearing the last hour when I had another bite, strait after my last spell in the margins. A mirror of about 5lb fell, and then next chuck I played a fish of about the same size to the net before the hook pulled! This again slowed the swim, while I could see peg 33 still nabbing an odd fish swapping between the edge and across.

With fifty minutes to go I decided to try something with the top-up feed, giving the 50/50 caster and pellet mix a good squirt of Dynamite Baits Swim-Stim Natural liquid. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, it's been in my bag for three years! Dropping strait over it produced a dumpy 4lb+ common, and another followed a few minutes after, again of about the same size or perhaps a touch bigger. The drop after that gave me gave me a fish that wanted to go through the same weed as the lump I'd lost earlier, it didn't make it though, and after a good tussle absolutely mint double figure common was in the net! I had twenty minutes left after that but the swim seemed a little lifeless, so it got another helping of pellet and caster through the pot, with the same good squirt of liquid!

With ten minutes to go I hadn't had any more bites, then with me wishing for one more I got it, panning a common of about 3lb with three minutes left by my watch..... Time for another one then? Rig back out, I flicked four pellets over with the catty and away went the float! Another 3lb'er was panned and I had the rig back in the swim again, but didn't manage to get a bite in the twenty seconds or so until the whistle!

I was the last to weigh (as the peg to my left had gone, but I couldn't see them) so I packed away and got to follow the scales all the way round for once. Infact, somehow I ended up on the scales which was supposed to be the first two pegs job! Going round the lowest weight put on the scales was just short of 20lb, with the weights pretty tight until peg 33. They had more fish than me and weighed in just over 40lb - I knew I had that! My silvers net (well, everything in it was green and stripy!) went 2lb 3oz, while my 11 carp bottomed out the 55lb scales! Not a bad thing as it happened as it meant I got to weigh the double seperate (thinking about it when I got home I should have got a picture of it!). The remaining fish went 46lb 13oz, while the biggy on it's own went 11lb 10oz giving me a total of 60lb 10oz.

What was noticeable after the match was that most had caught late on, so the golden hour wasn't just in my peg - did adding the liquid to my feed make any difference? Who knows, but it can't have done any harm to the peg so it's something I'll bear in mind to try again. Incidentally, when I left my peg to find the scales the swim was solid with carp feeding across, a good forty minutes since any bait had gone in. Everyone also suffered a few hook pulls, as I also did last time on the same lake. It's not something I've had before and I can only put it down to the fact they aren't feeding properly. I did learn one lession mind, be carefull if you buy cheap correcting fluid to mark the depth of your top-kits as it tends to be very runny and prone to dripping - I now have a blue bib and brace with white polka-dots on it!

Sunday June 12th

2011-06-12T22:41:00.006+01:00

Firstly I'll start by apologising to everyone who checked here last week for a blog that never appeared - I had every intention of fishing when I wrote my last blog, but instead ended up at a barbeque in Milton Keynes!

On arriving at the lake the drizzle started but I had a walk around anyway. There wasn't really anywhere I didn't want to draw, and when my hand went in the bag and came out with 66 I was quite happy, being as it has good recent form, and I was a second off the peg a few weeks ago.

I had three lines of attack on the peg; a rig for tight across, one for 5m and one for the left hand margin at about 10m down the bank. The rigs were standard fayre and anyone who reads regularly will know them! Across was a NG Floats XTM in about 16in of water on .17 line to a 6in hook-length of .15 tied to an 18 Fox Series 2. Lakky on this was Preston 15h. The 5m line was in about 4.5ft of water, float was a .2gr Ng Decker. Line and hooks were the same as the previous rig, while lakky was black Hydro. Last up was a margin rig, a .2gr DC5 float in about 3ft of water. As per usual for the margins the gear was stepped up with line being .19 to .17 and a 16 Fox Series 2 and matched to purple Hydro.

On the whistle I fed about twenty pellets across via cup, and then half a cup of hemp and corn on the 5m line. I elected not to feed the margin yet as it's a line I've never caught that much off in the past, and also with the match being a later start than usual I wanted to keep some bait back just incase the fish moved in numbers in the early evening!

Going across on an expander pellet produced a small roach, and then the next drop the pellet was shredded by small fish. This led to me slipping a band on the hook and trying a hard pellet. I still got knocks from roach but at least I wasn't losing my bait quickly. I picked up the catapult and started to feed pellets across. At 16m across I was having to break the pole down twice, and didn't fancy a pot on the end! Also, I hoped the regular noise (easy to feed more often with the catty than a pot!) would draw some fish.

After about forty minutes the drizzle turned into rain and with no proper bites I decided to make an unusual decision for me and put my brolly up! I didn't fancy sitting in the rain (probably due to the late night before!). A switch to the close line didn't produce and nobody I could see had caught a carp. I rotated the lines and on the 2hr mark I decided to feed the margin line to give me somewhere else to drop in on, while carrying on feeding across with the catty.

Not long after feeding the margin I started to get signs of life on the 5m line and carried on on this line, dripping corn in by hand over it too. I missed the first bite on this line but the next three drops all produced carp quite quickly. Nothing big, all about 3lb. The swim started going strange and the I had lots of indications and no bites. After playing with the depths a fourth fish fell, a little bigger at perhaps 4lb. I started to see signs of fish across but dropping over all that happened was that I spooked a fish.

No more fish came for a while, with no signs of life at all in the edge. I changed to fishing meat on the 5m line which is something which I've often found works, but all that gained me was a missed bite. Eventually a fifth fish fell on the 5m line to corn, but no more bites came after. I started to up the feed on this line but that had a negative effect as indications slowed down, so I backed off on the bait, while still keeping it dripping in.

With two hours to go the catty-fed pellets seemed to have drawn a few fish across, so slipping a pellet in to the band I went over. This time the fish didn't spook and I found myself playing a fish. The next hour produced a steady run of fish. I put a small Cad-Pot on the pole in an attempt to tighten up the feed and get bites faster. All this done was produce more line bites so I took the pot off and carried on with the catty, which was so much easier in the rain too!

I got up to nine carp before losing the tenth when it ran behind a bramble rooted in the water. A new rig saw me carry on catching fish steady, and many of the bites didn't need me to lift! None of them were big, fish averaging 3lb. I was up to fourteen fish with half an hour to go when I lost another fish in the bramble, even the lakky was in the bramble, meaning I lost the whole rig (and a precious float!) in process. The next fish I lost when it went under my net! Something that wouldn't have happend had I not had my umberella up! To be honest it was in the way when playing fish but with the rain now lashing down I wasn't taking it down.

The two lost fish seemed to slow the swim a little and I finished on sixteen carp and then had to pack up in the peeing rain. I could see that a few people had caught late but I was ahead of everyone I could see. When the scales got to me top weight was 38lb, and my estimate of having just about 50lb was close when they totalled 50lb 10oz and good enough for the win, and a reward for spending the day out in probably the grottiest June day's fishing I've known! Infact, the fish felt warmer than I did....

Sunday 29th May

2011-05-29T21:22:00.006+01:00

Well, what a mad dash the morning turned out to be! For whatever reason my alarm didn't go off when it was supposed to, leading to me getting up at great speed at 7.15am. Oh, and it was windy, still....

With a near full house again there would be a few pegs in that I wouldn't want, that said, the wind wasn't that bad on the lake considering. I was pretty happy with my draw, with peg 33 offering a decent margin plus shallow water over. It's also a peg I've done well on in the past, although it's quite a while since I last had it.

Rig-wise, I had three tops set up. The first was for tight over to the island at 16.5m, right on the point of the island in about 16in of water. The second was for at 16m on the slope up to the island in about two and a half feet of water. The last was for 11m along to my left margin. Depth was the exact same as the slope rig as the margin, so that would double up as a lighter rig for the margins too. Terminal gear for the far-bank rigs was .17 to .15 and an 18 Fox Series 2 with Preston 15h. Float on the shallowest rig was a NG XTM, while the deeper one was a .2gr DC5. Margin rig was a .2gr DC5 on .19 to .17 and a 16 Fox Series 2 matched to purple Hydro. Typically, carrying on with the rushed theme to the day for some reason I managed to not be ready at the start and was only pumping my expanders as the whistle went, hence why the picture is from after the match.

When I was eventually ready I cupped out a pinch of pellet to the island on the slope, electing not to got too tight immediatly. As I was shipping the cup back the angler on the next peg was netting a skimmer of a pound. I put a quarter of a cup of hemp and corn down the margin, then as I baited up to go across the next peg was netting another skimmer of about 2.5lb!

My first half an hour only produced a single liner, although I could see odd fish coming along the island just short of where I was fishing, and then turning back and running along where people weren't fishing tight over. I fed a small pinch of bait right in to the island and started to fish there. I was feeding a few pellets with the big cup every twenty minutes or so to keep something going in, as well as topping up the margin line every forty-five minutes. I'd like have fished with small pot on the pole but the wind being a bit swirly it was unmanagable, and the last thing I wanted was to snag the island at that distance on summer gear!

On the two and a half hour mark I was getting worried, not only was I still biteless but along with my neighbours two skimmers I'd only seen one small carp caught! The fish still most definetly have spawning rather than eating on their minds. With nothing to lose I got the casters out of my cool bag that I buy every week and most often feed the birds in the garden with - nothing to lose by trying! I started introducing them 50/50 with the pellets and noticed that it started to bring odd signs of life to the swim. I was also happier in the conditions as it allowed me to lay some line on the bottom fishing double caster, something that doesn't really work (for carp anyway) with pellet. Just after the second top-up with caster I hooked a fish and then lost it, then on the third go, dead on the three hour mark and halfway in to the match I landed my first fish, a common of about 4lb.

The swim had definetly seemed to benefit from introducing caster, with more knocks and indications. I even foul-hooked a carp when the wind gusted and yanked the pole round! There were odd fish there, but most definetly not interested. With two hours to go I dropped in down the edge and had two very positive liners, but a spell trying both meat and double corn, and single corn on the light rig failed to get a bite. Quite surprising really, as before I'd always caught down the edge on this peg, even if they were smaller fish.

With an hour and a half to go and still being no better off I had a plan! I needed to do something, I could see peg 35 now catching a few fish but word had come round that it was slow everywhere. I'd put in my carryall all the bit bags of groundbait we all have, so I mixed the lot together so it was quite damp and dumped the lot down the edge via the biggest cup I had, with the intention of fishing a whole worm over it. A right motley mix of Dynamite, Sonubaits and some Marukyu crumb went in, and five big pots of it!

I left the edge to settle and with an hour to go, just as I was going to drop in on the edge, I had a small mirror of about 2lb across and then I lost two fish on the bounce - one of which looked a good 6lb too. I took the hook-length off and changed it, even though the hook seemed fine. I then topped up the far bank and had a look over the margin line, but it produced nothing.

With a little over half an hour to go I was back across and instantly had a small black, gold and silver koi of about 2lb, followed not long after by a common of the same size. Topping up a small amount with the cupping kit was slowing me down a touch, but the wind at times was just making it awkward enough that I didn't want a pot on at length. The next fish was definetly much bigger, and after a lively fight a ghostie of about 7lb was panned. With only peg 35 catching from what I could see I reckoned with one more decent fish I'd probably make the frame, and with ten minutes to go I got my wish! It's not often I've wished I was using a pull-bung on lakky as strong as 15h but I'm sure I'd have got it's head up quicker (or lost it!), but eventually a common of about 12lb was panned. I literally had time to bait up, ship across and lay the rig in. I immediatly had signs of fish but the whistle went! Still, not a bad ending to an albeit slow day.

I was one of the last few to weigh and when the scales got to me 22lb was winning and 19lb second. My mostly last hour frenzy totalled 29lb 3oz on the scales, but I was sure peg 35 would have that. I was wrong however, as the fish I could see them catching must have been small as they totalled 21lb for third leaving me in first.

With the weather set to pick up during the week hopefully the fish will spawn and get munching on the new lake, it's frustrating as there are fish there that just aren't interested at the moment. Everyone who had carp also lost fish that weren't foul-hooked, and I think it's just that the fish are not feeding properly at the moment. Still, I may not be on that lake next week as the first Sunday in June is the blind pairs match. Hopefully it wont be so blooming windy!

Sunday May 22nd

2011-05-22T20:06:00.004+01:00

Sundays just lately seem to have developed a distinct theme - wind! For the third Sunday in a row I was greeted by the sound of the wind when I got up at 6.30am.

I hadn't walked round the lake before the draw, but I fancied any of the pegs in the open water as they were the least affected by the wind and also I feel offer the best chance of catching short should the wind get worse. There were a few of those pegs left when I put my hand in the bag too, but instead I drew 59, one of the pegs in the line round the island that really struggled last time.

When I got to the peg the wind was blowing down both arms of the island and into me, but I was shielded from the worst of the wind by the island with just a bit of ripple coming round the corner. The wind didn't prevent me from fishing across, and 14.5m was enough to reach tight to the island in about 16in of water. I wasn't going to place too much faith in this line, if the island produces it does so early on. The two main lines were a 2+2 line, in about five and a half foot of water a .4gr NG Decker was the choice, a very stable pattern and plenty up to the tow I had. The last line was the one I hoped would go, the margins. The peg has a long margin to the right to draw fish from and while there was nothing moving in my peg I was confident the wind pushing my way would move some in. This line was at about 9m down the bank into a nice bay in the bank in a little over 2ft of water, using a .2gr DC5 float. Lines on the far and middle rigs was .17 to .15 with an 18 Fox Series 2 hook, while the margin rig was on .19 to .17 to a 16 Fox Series 2. Lakky's were 15h on the far and 2+2 line and purple Hydro for the margin.

On the whistle I fed a pinch of 6mm pellets across, while the 2+2 line had a pinch of hemp and corn. The margins had half a pot of hemp and corn. I'd elected not to feed any meat on the margins due to the tow, keeping to heavier baits to keep the fish on the deck. On the first drop roach shredded the expander so I went over to a banded pellet and started to drip pellets over the top. On the forty-five minute mark I'd only had roach knocks across so I topped up the margins (the pegs either side had a fish each from their edges) and went on to the 2+2 line, where I'd been dripping corn.

I'd spent half an hour on the closer line with just one line bite from a fish I could see cruising, which was the first carp I'd seen in my peg, so I went back across. I had around twenty minutes across with just roach nudges on an expander to show so I dropped in on the 2+2 line again. I had an odd liner which was encouraging, then as I looked up at the next peg to see them net a fish I felt a tug as a fish hooked it's self. The result was a common of around 3lb or so, and was followed with similar sized fish on the next two drops. Predictably, as it was early for the line to produce it faded away, so I topped it up with a decent pinch of hemp and corn and had a drop in the margins, although this never produced.

A fishless forty-five minutes saw me half way in to the match so I decided to push the margins a bit by feeding a bit more often via the large cup. With just over two hours left this paid off with my first bite down the edge on double corn, although the fish was my smallest at about 2lb! Topping up with a large toss-pot of hemp and corn the next three drops all produced carp around the 4lb mark before the fish seemed to back off. I topped up with half a pot and dropped back on to the 2+2 line where I lost a fish before a spell of liners with no bites led me to nudge the float up a bit to give a little more stability to the bait, plus trying double corn. This had the effect I wanted as a fish fell strait away, and another the next drop before a large tail waving over the margin led me to want to try that again!

Over the edge the fish drifted off as soon as I dropped over them, and while I'd just pulled away from the pegs either side I had no idea what anyone else had caught, I decided with just over an hour to go it was time to force the margins! A whole pot of bait was noisily slapped in to the edge and then I dropped in over it with a lump of meat. The next fifty minutes or so gave me a steady run of fish, and if a bite didn't follow after I topped up with the toss-pot a whole big pot worked! Not massive fish but they were coming steady. With twenty minutes to go I put my fifteenth carp in the net, and then on the next drop hooked a fish which felt much bigger than all the others. I carefully played it back to the top-kit when the hook pulled! The last spell of the match was frustrating as I missed five bites down the edge, the only bites I missed all day.

I had no idea what others had apart from those either side but I guessed I had somewhere between 50-55lb. When the scales got to me 30lb was the top weight and my fish went 52lb 10oz, almost dead in the middle of my guess! This was comfortably top until peg 70 pushed me very close putting 51lb 4oz on the scales. I didn't see the others weigh in but those weights were enough for a Spurs fan 1-2, with I think that 30lb weight from the first peg being third.

I have to say, the win aside, I enjoyed the day! I felt I worked hard at the swim and made the right decisions with the feeding and even though it took me a while to put a few fish together I was always sure I would get a few should I keep plugging away, and it was nice to be able to influence the swim and get a result from a peg that, to be honest, I didn't want! Next week is a bank holiday weekend so I'm not sure what day I'll be fishing next weekend, but I will be out!

Sunday 15th May

2011-05-15T21:50:00.008+01:00

With a full house again this Sunday I wasn't really sure where I wanted to draw on the New Lake, my only request was a peg out of the wind! When peg 23 came out of the bag in my hand I was well happy, as not only was I off the worst of the wind but I also had a fair bit of room! I've tried to upload the picture of the peg but for some reason it won't (I will try again later!) but it's the same peg I drew on my first blog, should you want to look!

Obviously the first line of attack was a small method to the island. Normal gear here was my trusty 10ft puddle-chucker and a small 30gr Preston in-line method. Normally I'd use Dynamite Swim-Stim for the groundbait but I'd decided to pick up the bag of Marukyu something or other that I was given by a mate to try - it's been in the shed for ages so I thought I'd use it! Standard fayre otherwise, with size 16 Kammy Animals on .18 hook-links completeing the set-up. I had two lines ear-marked for the pole; a 5m line and a margin rig in to the bay to my left at 13m. The 5m line was in 5ft of water using a .4gr NG Decker. Line was .17 to .15 and an 18 Fox Series 2 on black hydro. I had two rigs for the margin in 2ft of water, both .2gr DC5's on .19 line, just one with a .17 hook-link and 16 Fox Series 2, the other with a .15 hook-link and an 18 hook. The stronger was on purple hydro and the other on Preston 15h. I wanted a lighter option as sometimes the fish are smaller in the peg, or so I've found.

With the whistle blowing I started off by feeding both the pole swims, both a bit lighter than perhaps normal for the time of year in the cold north-westerly wind. Starting on the method to the corner of the island it was a good twenty minutes before I had any indications, with the next two chucks also giving liners before the tip finally yanked round with a fat 4lb+ common, funilly enough on the first cast after I'd buried the bait right in the feeder instead of leaving it on top of the mould. Thinking I had it sussed I did the same again, but I most definetly didn't as no bites followed on the next two drops so I had a brief (biteless) spell on both pole lines.

Pretty much first chuck back on the feeder and another bite saw me attached toa fish that felt bigger, but it wasn't really much bigger, just one of the black and gold/silver koi that inhabit the lake and fight like stink!

As seemed to be the theme for the last few weeks the swim totally died, and I coudln't get a bite! I'd bought worm with me and started to introduce choppy and caster to the margin in a bid to draw some lif e in to the swim, but it just didn't work! And it was the same for everyone, apart from peg 27 who I could see was nicking an odd fish.

With an hour to go a brace of big commons started to cruise in and out of the bay to my left so I abandoned the feeder and plugged away more on the pole in the edge. I decided to feed whole cups of loose groundbait to give a fair amount of attractant with little feed. Fishing a fair size dendra over the top I started to get an odd liner with half an hour to go, then with just ten minutes to go the float went and the lakky followed! After playing what was obviously a lump for about five minutes the hook just in-explicably pulled.... And I swore very loud.

As the scales came round 20lb was top weight with 16lb second. I tipped back 9lb with two fish and the late lost fish was most likey a double costing me definetly third and in all likelyhood second, with 32lb winning and that 20lb being second. The only saving grace was listening to van der Vaart smash one home from 2o yards as I was packing up, then Modric stabbing in a (dubious) penalty as I left the peg on the radio as Spurs completed the league double over Liverpool (sorry Carl!) Still, it enlightened my day when everything in the fishing seemed to want to go against me!

Sunday 8th May

2011-05-09T21:13:00.004+01:00

Having little time to sit at the laptop and write this weeks update will be a bit brief!

With a near full house I wanted to draw a peg in the open water with a bit of room. What I actually drew was the narrowest peg around the island, peg 53! It can be a good summer peg as it has a long margin, but my hopes there weren't great as peg 55 was in, which is seldom used.

To save the boredom I'll not drag out my two carp and three roach for about 9lb! I sat in a row of six pegs where only two people weighed in, and to be honest I don't know why they bothered. The days frustrations weren't helped by the angler on the next peg firing pouches of corn down the margins into my peg and words were had, although in truth it probably had very little effect as the fish just wearn't there to catch! The open water pegs fished fairly steady with a few close weights and 47lb winning.

With a bit of luck the fish will spawn soon and spread out looking for some grub - allowing me to try and make something happen. It's frustrating sitting in summer weather catching less than I was in February.

May Bank Holiday Pairs

2011-05-02T20:25:00.003+01:00

Well, the year is certainly rolling in! May already, bringing with it the annual May Day pairs match.

As per usual I fish the first lake in the pairs and was sent to draw the pegs, coming out with pegs 70 and 20, which we were happy with! On sitting down at the peg just one thing concerned me - the wind! Walking around the lake it was the windiest area of the lake, blowing right to left and then hitting the big tree's behind the lake and swirling back.

First line of attack was the pole at 16.5m in to the bay in about 15in of water, this rig was on .15 direct to an 18 Fox Series 2 to Preston 15h lakky, with the float a Nick Gilbert XTM. I also put up my 10ft Puddle Chucker to fish a small method as the wind was so bad. My second line was at 5m, using a .4gr NG Decker on .17 line to a .15 hook-link and an 18 Fox Series 2. This was in about 6ft of water. Last up was a rig for 10m to my right in the margins in about 2ft of water. This was on .18 direct to a 16 Fox Series 2 and matched to purple hydro with the float a .2gr DC5.

On the whistle (well, not quite as I was catching up with a mate who I'd not seen for a while) I fed the 5m line with half a pot of corn and hemp, while the margin received a whole pot of meat, hemp and corn. Shipping across and the wind was a bit of a hand full but it didn't take long to start getting signs of fish. On the half hour mark I got fed up of hanging on for grim death in the wind and quickly knocked up a bit of crumb for the method. I'd seen others catch in their more sheltered swims and didn't want to fall too far behind!

I had a quick try on the 5m line while waiting for the crumb to soak up the water but it was lifeless (I wasn't surprised so early) so I topped up the margin and loaded up the method and flicked it across to were I'd been fishing. It didn't take long for the tip to yank round and in four chucks over about twenty minutes I had four carp in the net for about 14lb. My thinking I had it sussed didn't last long as the next few chucks met with no response.

A brief try on the two closer pole lines wasn't met with any joy so I made the most in a lull in the wind by dropping in on the long pole. I was just toying with bringing it in and trying closer when a bite saw me playing a fish bigger than the others I'd had. After a lively fight an 8lb mirror was in the net and the day was looking much more interesting, especially when it was followed by a 5lb common next drop. Then however, the wind intervened and I couldn't hold the pole still across again.

The next hour was frustrating, I couldn't hold the pole still enough to get a bite but the fish were most definitely there, while the method seemed to make fish back away. The wind carried on picking up and got to the point where I didn't dare put the pole across (it bought down a large tree not too far away with an almighty crack!) and the fish totally vanished from across. I couldn't get a bite from either of the two lines and upped the feed in the margins in the attempt to bring it to life but I ended the match on the six carp I'd caught early. The only movement of note later in the match was when I had to get up and put my coat on as the cold north-easterly wind was making me rather cold!

On the scales I totalled 28lb 3oz for fifth on the lake, just 5oz off fourth with the two top weights coming from the two most sheltered pegs on the lake. My partner had managed a lake third and overall we managed third pair, two points behind 2nd and three points behind first, saving what had been a frustrating day where there had been fish there that I wasn't able to fish properly for. In hindsight I wished I'd bought worm to fish choppy, something that I think fish hang on to for longer and lets you fish over depth, both a help in rough conditions! Next week should be back to normal Sunday matches and will hopefully see me in to a few fish.

Monday 25th April

2011-04-25T20:14:00.003+01:00

After a hectic few weeks it was nice to get back to relative normality, I even managed a few days relaxing in the garden! Perhaps I should have made a few rigs up, as making up the rigs on the bank meant I was late starting.

With a full house I didn't really know where I wanted to draw, but I was happy with the peg I drew (66) as I had a bit of room. First line of attack was at 16m to the island up the side of a small clump of reeds, fishing in about 20 inches of water. The rig was a NG Floats XTM on .15 line direct to an 18 Fox Series 2 hook with Preston 15h lakky finishing it off. The Margin rig was about 10m down the edge to my left in 3ft of water, a .2gr DC5 float on .18 line direct to a 16 Fox Series 2 and purple hydro, proper summer gear! Last up was for the 2+2 line. In about 5ft of water float was .3gr NG decker on .17 line to a .15 hook-link and an 18 Fox Series 2, with black hydro the lakky.

The margin line was fed with a medium pot of hemp, corn and meat while the 2+2 line had half a pot of corn with a small amount of hemp. I then baited up the far bank rig with a 6mm expander and filled the toss-pot up with 6mm hard pellets. It didn't take long to get a response, but unfortunately it was from bait robbing small roach! A switch to a banded hard pellet saw me briefly hook a fish but it came off after a few minutes. I could hear that others were catching but it took 45 minutes until my first carp fell, a common of about 3lb. I topped up the margin line after (I was loose feeding with corn on the 2+2 line)

No more bites followed long on the hard pellet apart from odd roach knocks so I decided to top up the long line with a quarter of a pot of pellets. I had brief tries on the two closer lines but had no response even though I could see fish cruising so I went back across. I had an instant response with another common of about 3lb but again the swim went quiet again. The next hour and a half produced two more carp of about 3lb, both times after resting the long line but I couldn't raise a bite from either of the two other lines.

With just over two hours to go I dropped across and had three carp in three drops over half a pot of pellets (I'd abandoned the toss-pot due to the wind), all three about the 4lb mark before the swim totally died. I topped it up but the bites didn't come back so I had a brief try on the 2+2 line, which produced one missed bite that was suspiciously roachy. I'd fed a pot of bait in the margin before trying the 2+2 line and when I dropped in the edge with a cube of meat it'd been in for about 5 minutes before the float buried and a sluggish fish chugged out of the swim. After 5 minutes (in which the fish woke up) a common of about 8lb was in the net. A brief try after gave no joy so I topped up the swim again.

The next hour was barren where ever I tried so with nothing to lose I fed a whole pot of bait on each of the two closer lines. I tried a cube of meat on the 2+2 line and this quickly got a response from a mirror about 5lb, and next chuck a common of about the same size fell too. No more bites followed so I kept rotating the two closer lines but had nothing to show but a liner from the margins until 10 minutes before the end when another common of about 5lb fell to meat on the 2+2 line.

With 11 carp at the end for a weight I'd guess to be in the early to mid 40's I thought I'd done well until I heard that one angler was admitting to 17 and two people had 13. When the scales got to me 35lb was top weight. My fish went a level 44lb and I didn't follow the scales after as I expected a few others to beat me and I still had stuff to pack away. When I got to the car park it turned out that my weight was good enough for 2nd and I was just 3lb 6oz behind 1st. The weights were close, with just 12lb separating the top 5.

I have to admit I enjoyed the day, I had to work the bait a lot to get bites and coming second was a result much better than I thought, but being just one fish short of first makes me think I could have perhaps sneaked out one more!

Next week is the May Bank Holiday pairs match, we came joint first last year, this year we're hoping not to share that honour!

A Quick Update!

2011-04-20T21:12:00.003+01:00

This is the first time I've had a chance to sit down and write an update, albeit only a quick one! I did fish Sunday, drawing a peg I didn't really fancy. In short, I struggled, starting on pellet after the warmer weather but it just didn't happen. A second half switch to caster saw me catch four small carp and a crucian for about 8lb in total which I tipped back, a couple of low 3olb+ weights made up the top three. I'll be back on the bank Monday, much better prepared and will hopefully see a few fish in my net!

Sunday 3rd April (W/L Rd 6)

2011-04-03T20:48:00.004+01:00

Well, it seemed that the final round of the winter league was to be fished in spring! A quick check of the board and a little maths revealed that although I was lying second in the league finishing in the top three would guarantee me first place regardless due to the fact I would be dropping less points than the leader (the best five results from six count). Walking around before hand I still wanted a late draw - anything past peg 20 would do me but when my hand went in the bag I couldn't have got further away as I drew peg 1!

Putting my box down I was a bit dismayed, the lake is basically a "Q" shape with the island in the middle, with only one peg in the tail of the "Q", and that was where I was sat! I could see an odd fishing moving but I was sure they'd go as soon as I either caught or waved the pole over them. You have no far bank to fish as such, the bank you can see in the picture was my own where the bank goes round as the lake finishes. I decided to treat it like I would the island and after a fair amount of plumbing I found a reasonable slope to fish at about 15.5m where the tree is in the picture. Depth here was about 3ft with the rig being a 4x12 Preston Somo on .14 line direct to a 16 B611. The same rig also doubled as a margin rig for 9m to my left along the bank, under where the inflow pipe comes into the lake. With the far line being very up and down along the bank I also put up a shallow rig to fish punch, a 4x10 Preston PB2 with the same line and hook as the previous rig. Last up I set up a rig to fish at about 11 o'clock at 13m into the open water. The depth here was just over 6ft, with the rig being a .4gr NG Floats decker on .15 line to a .14 hook-link and a 16 B611. Lakky on all the rigs was Preston 13h on pull-bungs.

On the whistle I fed the open water line with a pinch of dampened 4mm pellets and three grains of corn while the left margin had the same but with a pinch of hemp on top before I tried the furthest line with just a grain of corn, looking for any signs of fish. After a few minutes without an indication I put on a small cad-pot and dripped a few pellets on the line. After half an hour without anything I saw a sign of a fish a bit more into the corner so I put the shallow rig on with a large punch and dropped it in where I'd seen the movement. It took about thirty seconds before the float buried and after a lively fight a ghostie of about 6lb was in the net. What I thought was a good start got even better when the next drop the same happened and a smaller common of about 4lb was in the net. Any thoughts of bagging up soon went as the next twenty minutes were bite less.

A try on the open water line gave nothing on corn so I tried a pellet (I'd been flicking a few 4mm pellets over it by catapult) and this produced a tiny roach so I went back on the shallow rig towards the corner. After dropping the rig in various places along the bank I eventually had another bite on the punch which produced a very long lean common of about 5lb but no more followed. Going back onto the open water line again only produced knocks from roach so I decided to try the margins to my left. I had ten or so bite less minutes here before topping it up, deciding to put a few casters in too. The next half an hour produced nothing from either the long line or the open water line so I found myself back in the left margin on double caster. I had a liner pretty soon after dropping in which gave me some encouragement and the float slipped away shortly after, but the resulting carp was barely more than a pastie! A bite on the same line about twenty minutes later produced a dumpy 6oz perch but no more followed.

The rest of the match can be summed up pretty simply, as I never had another fish! Much as I thought it would happen the fish moved out of the bay I was in and I could see other people catching fish in the last few hours. I tried upping the feed in the margins, and also starting a new swim at 16m on the point of the bank but I never saw a sign of a fish in my swim until a carp swirled in the corner where I had caught five minutes before the end. I dropped the punch rig over it and the float dipped but I missed it! And that was that... I could see the leader had caught more than me, plus one other angler who'd had a couple of lumps and with someone admitting to a few carp it looked like I'd finish 4th on the day and second overall in the league.

As first to weigh (and drawing the scales) my fish went 17lb 11oz. I was pushed down into second by the leader who had 38lb odd but stayed in that position until the last angler to weigh in put 20lb something on the scales pushing me down into third on the day. I'd endured a frustrating day but as I dropped less points than the leader after my second round disaster I finished a single point ahead of them with my best five results being two firsts, a second and two thirds to win the league!

No blog next week I'm afraid, as I'm up stupidly early in the morning to go to Belfast for the week but it's back to normal after that. Hopefully in a fortnight the fish should be eating and I'm looking forward to being able to put a bit of grub in to make things happen!

Sunday March 27th (W/L Rd 5)

2011-03-27T20:02:00.011+01:00

I'll start with an apology, as no matter how many times I re-edit this and save it, blogger keeps removing all my paragraph spacing andlumping it all into one long piece of text. I hope you can bare with it! With the weather on the up now I was looking forward to the penultimate round of the winter league, with the hope of a few fish! Walking round before the draw it was noticeable that the water was colouring up nicely. As usual there seemed to be a fair amount of fish present in pegs 72 (the reeds) and pegs 59 - the two winter flyer's. There were also two pegs in that I didn't want (53 and 64). Fortunately, when I drew the two pegs I didn't want were gone, but so were the two flyer's! The league leader (2pts ahead of me) had also drawn peg 59, while I fully expected the angler drawn on 72 to make the most of it too. I was reasonably happy with peg 46 as I've always done okay off it, but it was pointed out that the peg has only had one carp caught off it since Christmas.... Realistically then it looked like I was probably fishing for third, hoping nobody finished between me and the leader to keep the gap as slim as I can. I had a couple of areas in mind; a 13m line, a 2+2 line plus a margin rig and a shallow rig for long. The depth difference between the 2+2 line and 13m was only about 4in so I used the same rig for both. Float was a .3gr NG Floats Decker on .15 line to a .14 hook-link in about six-and-a-half feet of water. Hook was a 16 B611. The shallow rig was a 4x10 Preston PB2 on .14 direct to a 16 B611. My margin rig was a 4x12 Preston Somo in two-and-a-half feet of water fished 7m along the bank to my right. Line here was .14 direct to a 16 B611. Elastic on all was Preston 13h on pull-bungs. I also had a duplicate margin rig with a larger size 20 Fox Series 2 hook and matched to Preston 15h lakky in case big fish started showing in the edge. Perhaps very optimistic, but you never know! On the whistle I fed three grains of corn and a pinch of hemp on the long line, while the 2+2 line had a few more grains of corn and the same pinch of hemp. The margin also got the same bait as the closer line. Slipping on a grain of corn I had a liner early and I could see a few fish milling about. I shipped back every few minutes to allow me to use a small Cad-Pot to drip a small pinch of hemp and two grains of corn in. Predictably peg 72 was off to a good start but after twenty minutes I had a proper bite on corn and put a small common about 2lb in the net. Keeping up the same pattern of dripping in small amounts I missed two successive sharp digs on the float (perhaps from roach as they were topping) so I pushed the spread bulk together a touch and nearer to the hook to try and get more positive indications. This did the trick as the next bite saw another 2lb common find it's way into the net. After the two fairly early fish the line seemed to dry up so I topped up the margin line with a small pinch of bait and had a quick drop on the 2+2 line where I'd been dripping in grains of corn in ones and two's by hand. Nothing materialised here, though it was a touch early for it so I went back out long. An hour and a half in and no more bites had followed despite fish cruising about so I picked the catapult up and started flicking a few casters in between pot feeds. After a liner ten minutes or so later I picked up the shallow rig and baited it with double caster. Initially I had a few dinks from roach before a proper bite saw me land a common that was the weight of the two fish already in the net, but after that it went back to knocks from roach. Going back on the deck was fruitless long so I carried on dripping a few casters in while I tried the margins quick, hoping that fish would be happier in the shallow water but nothing came of it. With nothing showing long I spent more time on the 2+2 line, expecting it to come good at some point (it got me out of jail on the same peg last time I drew it, ironically the last time the clocks were changed!) With two-and-a-half hours to go I had two fish in a row quickly off the line, unfortunately they only went about 3lb for the pair of them. Back out shallow I saw a carp turn under the water when I loose fed so I stopped flicking any bait in and the fish made a mistake and soon found it's self in my net! Like the other shallow fish, this one was also a bigger stamp of fish about 4lb. After the last shallow fish the roach returned so I had a quick try in the edge, but again with no joy. On to the 2+2 line and an instant bite saw another small carp of about 2lb fell to corn but no more bites followed. In the scheme of things it was hard going to make bites, but beside the two favoured pegs (which were well ahead) nobody else was catching much and I was keeping my nose clear in third, but I wanted a few more fish just to make sure! With just over an hour to go the margins started to show signs of life and I had a liner. I fed a tiny pinch of bait on it and left the fish hopefully to settle. Going back on the 2+2 line I hooked what I felt was a better fish but after not long the hook pulled leaving me with a scale on the hook. Double disaster came when as I was going to go back down the edge two geese decided to have a massive ruck right over my bait.... With the huge disturbance plus the lost fish my swim was totally barren of life. I kept the bait trickling in on all the lines but I couldn't craft a bite from anywhere. I risked upping the feed on the 2+2 line but nothing worked and as odd fish started showing for others I found myself in the edge. With twenty minutes to go I had a bite on a grain of corn up the side and my biggest fish of the day was mugged before it really knew what was going on! A common of about 5lb. I topped up with a pinch of bait and saw a tail wave just past my feed, but I didn't manage to trick that one and finished with eight carp. The weigh in started and I knew third was the best I could manage, I just hoped that peg 72 could win! They did, with their fish going 55lb odd, 11lb ahead of the league leader. My fish went 24lb 15oz for third, just over 10lb ahead of the next weight. In all I was happy as I did about as well as I thought I could off the peg, and go into next weeks final round three points off the lead but with a more favourable result to drop (best five results count). I'll be doing my best to get the result I need, that's for sure!

Sunday March 20th

2011-03-20T22:48:00.003Z

I know I must be getting old when I can turn up on my birthday and not be hungover or suffering! Still, now I've reached the ripe old age of 30 I've decided to behave - the last time my birthday fell on a weekend I finished fourth in a match I should have won as I had to keep going for a walk to wake myself up.....

I'd not walked round the lake before the draw, but with a near full house I fancied anywhere away from the island for the chance of a few fish being as the island took the extra anglers present. As it stood I couldn't have draw any further away from the island, drawing peg 75 in the corner, and the shortest walk to boot!

The peg has a long margin to the right as it's the end of the lake, and I fancied it to produce a fish or two as it has done recently. The rig for there was simple, a 4x12 Preston Somo for fishing in just under 3ft of water at 12m along the bank. Line was .14 direct to a 16 B611 and on Preston 13h elastic. My second and third target area were at 12m in front and a 2+2 line. Depth on both was identical at about 5ft so the same rig would suffice for both lines. With the extra colour now in the water this was also on .14 line direct to a 16 B611. Float was a 4x14 Preston Chianti and lakky was again Preston 13h. Lastly I also put up a shallow rig to try with a longer line above it just in case fish came up cruising in the open water should the sun come out. A 4x10 Preston PB2 with the same terminal gear as the other rigs was the get up for this.

On the whistle I fed a pinch of micro's with a few grains of corn and a little hemp, where as the 2+2 line got half a dozen grains of corn. I then filled a small cad-pot with three grains of corn and a small pinch of hemp and went out long. I started to see odd fish cruising about, and even move along the margins. It didn't take long to get an occasional liner and I could see that peg 72 in the reeds had caught. I carried on dripping the odd grain of corn and pinch of hemp long to try and attract fish but on the 45 minute mark I got fed up of watching fish swim along the margins and with four or five people having caught I wanted in on the action! A single grain of corn was lowered in the margins and after a minute or two the float slid away, the culprit not one of the eight or nine carp I could see within feet of my float but crucian of about 2lb. Nothing followed after, so with not even an indication I topped it up with a pinch of bait and left it.

I carried on dripping a little bait out to the long line, and flicking the odd grain of corn to the short line. An odd liner on the long line led me to have a brief try on the shallow rig but with no joy. Odd fish again showed in the edge and nearly everyone else I could see had carp now, including someone with one fish well into double figures. I had a brief look in the edge again but the fish again done a disappearing act. I was getting a little frustrated now, but told myself that on the last time I drew the peg it was a slow starter and today could well be the same. No need to panic... yet!

On the two hour mark my perseverance on the long line was rewarded with a bite and my first carp, a common of about 3lb. It was perhaps ten minutes later and carp number two was in the net, again on corn. The swim faded after so I left it alone and had another try in the margins. Again the fish that were moving there vanished as soon as the pole went over them. I also had a quick try on the 2+2 line, but this also didn't produce.

Back out on the long line and bites were coming but I missed three or four before a mirror of about 4lb fell. Again when I went back out I missed a run of bites so I decided on a change to the shotting, swapping the the bulk and two droppers into a more positive spread bulk starting about 14in from the hook. This seemed to have the desired effect and in the next hour I hardly missed a bite and found myself on eight carp and two cruicians with an hour and a half to go. At this stage I thought I'd edged ahead of everyone apart from peg 72 in the reeds, but the peg had faded and I decided on resting it.

A try on the margins gave me no joy whatsoever, as the fish that had been present there had faded away. Going onto the 2+2 line gave me hope when a liner came my way, then an indication which led to bumped fish. I left the line alone after that, hoping to let the fish settle so I could hopefully plunder it late. Back out long and the rest hadn't had the desired effect as bites weren't coming. Trying further out is the normal answer but this didn't work. Trying a couple of feet to the left of my feed (the opposite way to the tow) got me a bite from a carp that was a touch bigger than the others, but it didn't work again, and neither did trying down the tow.

The last hour was a total disappointment, and the warmest part of the day seemed to coincide with mine and everyone else's swim that I could see become barren. Nothing happened what-so-ever and I couldn't even graft out a liner. Looking at it I thought I'd finish second behind 72 in the reeds but as the last to weigh in it would take a while before I'd find out!

When the scales got near me 23lb was top weight, and a host of close weights behind them. Watching peg 72 pulling their nets out there was less in there than I thought and there fish went 25lb and it looked like I'd over estimated what others had! My two crucians went 4lb exactly and my nine carp totalled 30lb 11oz for a 34lb 11oz total (easy maths that!) for a birthday win!

With the larger attendance I think it's hard to draw many conclusions for next weeks winter league as there will be less pegs in, but hopefully I can pull of the same result!

Sunday March 13th, (W/L Rd 4)

2011-03-13T21:32:00.008Z

Well, my moan last week about the weather seems to have worked! Granted, it's not t-shirt weather but at least things are heading in the right direction.

Walking round the lake before hand it was noticeable that the water had more colour to it than last week, that said, I still wanted a higher number draw and preferably in the 20's. By the time I reached the draw-bag every number up to 17 was gone (except 14) so I was fairly happy with what was left in the bag. When last weeks winning peg (25) came out I was happy, although I did bare in mind that just because it won last week doesn't mean the same will happen again.

As I was setting up groups of fish could be seen cruising about, and with the presence of carp I decided to abandon any silvers line. A deck rig for 16m in front to the island was first up, a 4x12 Preston Chianti to .14 line to a .125 hook-link and a 16 B611. This was in 3ft of water. The second rig I put up was to fish off the bottom for the cruising fish. A 4x10 Preston PB2 was initially set to fish six inches off the bottom. Terminal gear was the same as the other rig and both were matched to 13h Preston hollo on pull-bungs. I'd seen odd fish making their way along the edge so I set up a margin rig for 5m to my right. The far-bank deep rig was the perfect depth for here too but I also put up a stronger rig on .14 direct to a 20 Fox Series 2 hook and on Preston 15h Lakky. I wanted the option of the stronger rig as my previous experiences with the peg had showed me it has a habit of throwing up a lump or two!

On the whistle I fed the margin with a pinch of softened micro pellet with half a dozen casters and three grains of corn before baiting up with a grain of corn on the deck rig and shipping across. After spending ten minutes without a bite I started to drip in a few micro's via a small cad-pot on a regular basis, and swapped between corn and 4mm expander pellet. It took half an hour to get my first indication but it wasn't followed by anything else. On the three quarter of an hour mark I decided to try the shallow rig as I'd seen an odd sign of fish moving along the bank. Baiting up with a 9mm bread punch I laid the rig in-between the drifting debris about a meter to the left of the feed and after no more than thirty seconds the float was gone! Carp number one, a common of about 4lb was soon in the net. Explaining up until the two hour mark is easy as every drop produced the same and I never had to wait long for a bite, and never missed one either. In a "purple patch" of 75 minutes I'd put eight carp in the net for about 32lb in weight. That's not a bad start!

It came as no surprise to me that the fish started to become less accommodating after that spell and I had to start searching about the depths a bit more, and I started to miss odd bites too. This slower spell coincided with rain, but after a short while the rain started to feel warm. I decided to shallow up by a few inches and a mirror of about 5lb was the result before the fish seemed to back away. Not wanting to press things too hard I decided to have a quick try in the edge where I'd been flicking a few casters regularly, but I had no joy here. Going back across I hooked a fish that I had on for a minute or so before it came off. A fair part of the reason for this was the drifting rubbish it had picked up around the rig, although I'm not sure it wasn't foul-hooked too. The next carp I landed was foul-hooked in the pectoral fin, fishing a bit further along to the left.

Bites then went a bit iffy again, and the rain got heavier (or I noticed it more as I wasn't catching!) and I had to put a waterproof jacket on. I had a quick try on the deck rig over the bait but this gave me just a liner so I topped it up with a pinch of micro's and went back on the punch. It didn't take me long to get a bite, but my tenth fish wasn't what I expected - well, you don't catch many 2lb skimmers two foot deep on punch in March! The surface debris was easing now, along with the rain so I decided to spread the shot out now. A 3lb ghostie quickly fell before I missed two bites in a row so I shallowed up a touch again. This did the job and I was into a fish that felt a fair bit bigger than the others. After a good five minutes when I never even saw the end of my elastic the fish eventually showed signs of tiring. A quick bit of playing with the pull-bung once I'd got the better of it had a cracking looking common in the landing net which required a bit of a double handed heave to get the net up to my lap! I'd guess it went about 12lb and it looked every bit like it had never been caught before!

With two hours to go I started to miss bites, before connecting with one which produced a little baby carp of about 1lb - one of the newly added ones from the stock pond. I had a quick try on the deck again after as bites faded but both pellet and corn failed to produce. Back on the punch I tried just a bit further along the bank. While I was probably only hitting half the bites here (shallowing up more bites totally stopped) I found that I could keep odd fish coming. So much so that with an hour and a half left I found myself walking up to get another net! I do have a spare that I bring in the summer, but bare in mind that 32lb is the best weight off the lake this year and that I won this match last year with about 28lb I never imagined I'd need it!

I don't know if it was me going walkabout or just that the swim had faded away but bites were impossible to come by across after. With just over an hour to go a slight movement caught my eye in the edge so I baited the lighter rig with a large punch (I'd caught all my fish on it up to now so why not I thought!) It took about five minutes and then the float slipped away. The culprit was a mirror of about 6lb that I managed to mug before it even realised it was hooked. I topped it up with a few casters after and went back across. The last hour was hard graft to make bites, the first one coming after I'd deepened up again and was actually the first (and only) bite I had over the bait across, a lively silver and gold koi of about 3lb. I'd kept trying down the peg, putting the 17.5m section on but bizarrely the fish hadn't backed away from me and the last forty minutes gave me three more bites, all between the feed and where I had been catching. All on the punch and after I'd shallowed up again and pushed the rig tighter into the far bank, meaning I finished the match with twenty "proper" carp, and the one baby which went in the silvers net with my skimmer.

I have to admit had little clue what anyone else had caught, my pre-occupation and spending half the match with my hood up in the rain had seen to that! When the scales got to me the league leader was winning the match with 15lb, my bits went just over 3lb and my last five carp went 26lb. It was only when I went to lift the other net out I realised that there was a lot more in there than I thought, with two more weighs giving me a total of 96lb 1oz, just one fish short of a ton! If only I'd bought my own spare net...

In the end I was a comfortable first, with 18lb from the next peg being second, keeping me in second place in the league but closing the gap to two points with two rounds to go, and with the worst result to be dropped I'm in a good position, I've just got to keep it up!

Sunday 6th March

2011-03-06T18:47:00.007Z

I've always thought of March as spring, indeed I have many memories of sitting out without a fleece on and even on odd occasions in just a t-shirt in said month! Not in the last few years mind, still, I'll take typical January weather now over the weather we actually had in January...

After walking round before the draw nothing changed my mind over where I wanted to be, with the higher the number the better as far as I was concerned - anything of 18 or above would do me! I had mixed feelings really when I pulled peg 11 out of the bag, as it's a consistent peg in terms of getting bites so I knew I'd catch a few fish, but on the downside it's not really a peg you'll win off in the cold due to the stamp of fish. Still, in terms of a practice the chance of a few bites would do me nicely.

As you can see from the picture it's not a wide peg (the narrowest on the lake actually) with 13m of pole direct in front being enough to touch the far bank. I had three rigs up to start the day, the first at about 12.5m in front, about a meter or so to the right of the big tree stump. Experience tells me that going closer to the stump means more bites but also a lot of expense and lost rigs! It's a jungle underneath and I wanted to see how far away I could get away with fishing from it and still pick up a few bites. This rig was a 4x12 Preston Chianti on .14 line to a .125 hook length and a 16 B611 hook matched to Preston 13h lakky. This was in about 3ft of water. This same rig also doubled up to fishing on the other corner of the bay in front of me, about as far to the right of the picture as you can see. I also set up an obligatory shallow rig with the same terminal gear as the previous rig but with a 4x10 Preston PB2 set to fish between 6 inches and a foot off the deck. Last up was a rig to see how fast I could catch silvers as this is the area where they seem to school up the most. Fished off to my left at 8m so I wouldn't bring anything back from the far bank over it I set up a 4x14 Preston Chianti in five and a half foot of water. I wanted this rig to be carp capable so it was actually on the same lines as the other rigs but with a smaller (18) hook and on very soft 11h elastic. I planned to try pellet here to see if I could catch any skimmers or crucians to be honest, especially as the peg was fished on Wednesday (the only day that the lakes are pleasure fished) and they had a few crucians off a similar line.

On the whistle I fed a tiny ball of softened micro pellet with half a dozen casters on the silvers line before baiting up with a grain of corn to try along the far bank to search for any fish before I fed over. It wasn't long before a fish was on, but not in my swim! I'd been out no more than thirty seconds before peg 17 was playing a carp. I gave it about quarter of an hour on various spots on the far bank (it's a nice slope for the most part along) before electing to feed a tiny pinch of micros strait in front, which was as close to the big stump I was going to feed. There are a lot of snags under the stump that aren't visible but believe me they are there! (and it is a stump, just a tall one as it's cut off not far above what you can see in the picture!)

Slipping a 4mm expander on and going on to the silvers line didn't take long to get a response as the first four or five drops all produced fish, with three roach and two skimmers falling pretty much as the rig settled. None of the fish were big, all between 1-2oz but coming quick enough to nab a few pounds between trying for a carp. I tried pushing the well spread bulk down and together to try and find some bigger fish and also combat the rather cold breeze that was causing an awkward skim and pushing a lot of floating debris past that the geese have created. It didn't really work, as I had to wait a bit longer for bites from the same fish. Bites started to slow a touch shortly after so I decided to try maggot but that just produced tiny fish. Topping up with three casters and a tiny ball of micro's again bought the bites back and a pellet even produced a slightly bigger roach among the ten-to-the-pound ones. Although I was catching steady my mind started to wander to carp when the peg to my left had one about 3lb and I could also see a group of fish cruising in the empty peg to my right. I carried on with the easy bites on pellet and when they started to fade on the hour mark I nudged the float a touch over depth and slipped on a caster to try for something bigger. I was just about to give up on that after five minutes when the float slowly slid under and the strike saw a little more elastic come out, with a perch about 8oz the result. I again fed a tiny ball of micro's and a few casters before leaving the swim.

On going back across I decided to try the shallow rig on the right hand limit of the swim with punch due to the fish cruising in the empty peg that way, which were now taking leaves and bit's of weed off the top! I could actually of reached them with about 15m of pole but the match rules state you can only fish up to the next peg and in doing that I'd have been in the next peg. There are one or two that would have chucked a lead up there I bet though! First drop on the punch and the float went strait away and I missed it. Strait out and it did the same again but I didn't miss it this time, and with the carp cruising about I had a 2oz roach! On a 9mm piece of punch.... Another missed bite there led me to try in front of me where I'd fed. A grain of corn got me a bite pretty quick from a roach about 3oz but no more followed until a liner led my to try the shallow punch rig which produced another roach about 2oz.

I plugged away across until the two hour mark when I decided that I'd go back onto the short silvers line if all I could catch across were roach. Bites were not quite so easy to come by now, perhaps a result of the cold wind which was funneling through the peg, touching only my peg and the next along. Pellet seemed to be the best bet as maggot was only giving me tiny perch so ten-to-the-pound roach seemed a better bet, even though frequent shotting changes were needed after every other fish to keep them coming. The wind was actually making my hand near numb every time it got wet from a fish but I was happy plugging away with probably two and a half pound of small fish in the net I'd got the weight of the peg to my lefts carp, that was until the two pegs to my right both had carp in quick succession, and word came round that peg 20 had three carp including one that looked double figures. Time to look for a carp then!

Back on the punch rig to my right as the fish were still in the next peg was fruitless so I decided to feed three grains of corn in the hope that any fish on the way past would spot the bright grains and be encouraged to stop. I slipped on a grain of corn on the deck rig and went back to the other fed far line, lowered the rig in slowly and no sooner had it settled than the float dipped and the lift saw me shipping back fast as the elastic went for the tree stump! It didn't make it though and a carp of about 3lb was in the net soon after. I had ten more minutes on the line without response so I topped it up with a tiny pinch of micro's and a grain of corn and went onto the line furthest to my right. Again I lowered the rig in slowly, and again it carried on going! Carp number two was in the net pretty soon after, again only small (as they tend to be on the peg) probably nudging three pound.

No more bites followed so I had a quick drop on the silvers line. Again it was slow and maggot was the best bet for bites with odd 1oz roach in between the tiny perch. With an hour and a half to go I decided I'd leave the dying silvers line (but I'm tempted to think I just needed to put another section on and I'd have caught again) and plug away for another carp or two as I wasn't going to get anywhere with silvers in an open, and others were starting to catch odd carp too, with everyone I could see having at least one. I decided to try punch on the deck rig and just as I shipped out the sun peeped through onto the far bank. I lowered the rig in slowly and missed a bite, not unconvinced it wasn't a roach I lowered the bait back in and commented to the next peg that the sun may trigger one or two fish into feeding. No sooner had those words left my mouth than the float went and carp number three was on! This one felt a bit livelier but came off as I un-shipped my top-kit, although a scale on the hook told me why. I went strait back onto the far line on punch, lowered the rig in slowly and the float blinked strait under! A smaller carp this one, I debated putting it in with my silvers before deciding it was nearer a pound and a half than a pound and put it in with the other two!

I didn't have a bite next drop so I fed a tiny pinch of micro's and went onto the other far line on corn. I lowered the rig in here and it also went strait under but I missed it! I had a few more minutes here without a bite and decided to top this line up with two grains of corn and leave it. We were just into the last hour now and the cold breeze vanished, and with no awkward surface skim and the fact that all the floating debris had blown into the corner I spread the small bulk right out giving the rig a "shirt button" style of shotting. This seemed to do the trick as the last fifty minutes or so gave me three more carp and a 4oz roach, all taken just as I finished lowering the rig in. One carp was on punch, again only of about a pound and a half, while the other two were on corn and a touch bigger. The last one went into the net with twenty seconds to go. I did miss one more bite on the right hand line but otherwise all the fish came from in front.

As the scales came round talk was that pegs 20 and 25 had caught five or six decent carp a piece so it looked as though first and second were sewn up. When the scales got to me 11lb was the top weight and when pushed on my weight I said I may just have 17lb. Not a bad guess as it happened as my six pasties and bits went 17lb 4oz. Peg 20's five carp went 23lb (including an 11lb'er) while peg 25's "six small carp" went considerably more than my six small carp as they totalled 31lb for the win.

I was quite pleased with a third place of the peg, it's a consistent peg all year but in the cold it doesn't win very often as the stamp of carp are small compared to the pegs in the 20's. Mostly I was happy to not only have had plenty of bites but to have a bit of a plan in my head should I draw in the group of pegs where the silvers are still holed up in next weeks winter league.

Sunday 27th February (W/L Rd 3)

2011-02-27T17:54:00.003Z

After last weeks match I was looking forward to this round of the winter league as the fish seemed to be spreading out at last. I did walk around the lake before the draw and it was noticeable that the water was starting to colour up, hopefully from fish moving around! Peering into the reeds on peg 72 they were solid with carp and it looked like it would be the peg to draw. Other than that the only thing I noted was that I didn't want to draw peg 53 in the corner as the cold north-easterly wind was blowing strait into it. I also have a love / hate relationship with that peg, largely hate!

I drew in my customary late position and thankfully 53 was gone (normally saying I don't want a peg guides it into my hand in the bag), although 72 was also gone. When peg 70 came out in my hand and I was pretty happy with that as it gives you the option of shallow water in the edge under a small tree, deeper water in the open plus the small island to fish to, although the bottom is very up and down near it and not the best for fishing.

Putting my box down on the peg it was noticeable that there were a lot of small roach topping and I figured that may mean that the maggot approach that's worked well lately may be a no-goer. I didn't plumb up too close to the small island, experience told me it's about four and a half foot deep in front of it, and that also there is a root or similar snag halfway along it! I set up a rig to try shallow against it early at 14.5m, hoping to snare a fish on punch early. This was a 4x10 Preston PB2 set at about two and a half feet deep. Line was .14 to .125 to a 16 B611 and 11h lakky. The rig I thought would be the main line of attack was at about 12.5m were the bottom was shallowing up. The rig here had the same hook and lines as the shallow rig but the float was a 4x14 Preston Chianti in about five foot of water. Lakky here was also 11h. My margin rig was at 6m to my right just under the edge of the tree, in not quite 3ft of water. This rig was on .14 direct to a 16 B611 and on 13h elastic. Float was a 4x12 Chianti. I'd like to have used a lighter float but fishing that way was facing into the wind and the heavier float held the rig better in the skim. Lastly, with the colour back in the water I figured it was worth a gamble having a 2+2 line again, hoping it could be worth a bonus fish in the last half an hour or so. This was just my side of the deepest water in near 6ft of depth. Float was a .3gr NG Floats decker, but with the same line, hook and lakky as the margin rig. Bait-wise on my tray I had corn, caster, maggot and some softened micro pellet, with some 4mm expanders for the hook.

On the whistle I fed the 12.5m line with a tiny ball of micro's and four maggots, while the margin line had a small pinch of caster and micro's. Baiting up with a large piece of punch I shipped out to the small island. It didn't take long for the float to bury but I missed it! I suspected small roach as they were topping out there. Dropping the rig back out and the same happened, while the two anglers opposite had both had small roach on maggots. I baited up with a tougher (and bigger) double punch and the roach seemed to leave this alone. After ten minutes without a sign here, trying it along the island I came in and swapped for the main rig. With double maggot on the rig it went strait away and a roach of about 1oz went in the net. I was already a long way behind peg 72 mind, as they had three carp already! In fact at this time I'd seen six carp caught, all to my right off the increasingly stiff and cold breeze.

I plugged away catching small odd small roach on maggot, introducing tiny balls of micro's with odd maggots when after 45 minutes I decided to slip on a pellet. A longer wait for a bite gave me hope the roach would leave it alone but when it did go it was an even smaller roach! At this point I decided to introduce odd grains of corn so something that the micro roach wouldn't eat was left in the swim. I also topped the margin line as in all probability the (now annoying, where were they when we had the ice!) roach had eaten all the bait there. I had another try on the long punch rig, and on corn on the main line but with no joy. With peg 72 running away with it easily now on the hour and a quarter mark I dropped in under the tree to my right on double maggot, hoping that their catching had pushed odd fish out of the back of the reeds towards my margin line - no such luck! I had ten bite less minutes here before going back to the 12.5m line.

The wind had got quite bad and swirly now and corn or small balls of micro's were all I dared feed with the tow picking up. I'd moved all the shot down to keep the rig stable now and was having to plug away on either corn or pellet as maggot wouldn't touch the bottom for the tiny roach, although the odd one still managed to hang it's self on a pellet! With near half the match gone I decided on a double change, reaching into my bag I got some hemp out and decided I'd feed just that and odd grains of corn long to discourage the micro roach. In the margin I put another section on and plumbed down to the limit of my peg in the hope that 72 had pushed odd fish down (they had about a dozen by this point) I was never going to catch up with them, but no-one else I could see had more than three carp. I didn't feed the extreme margin of the peg, just put a large grain of corn on which would sink the float and dragged it up the slope. The float had been there less than ten seconds when I found myself attached to a carp of about 3lb. The next two drops were the same, waiting less than a minute for a bite! With three carp in the net it didn't do it a fourth time but I'd dragged myself up into the running. I risked a tiny sprinkling of hemp in the swim and left it alone. Up until that point 72 had slowed up, so they must have pushed the fish out of the reeds and behind them. I must have pushed them back ( I know, generous of me!) as they started catching quickly again after!

With just two hours left I decided on a drop on the 2+2 line where I'd been regularly dripping single grains of corn. I wasn't overly surprised when I didn't have a sign on it so I fed a small punch of hemp with the cup on it and carried on feeding it as I had, keeping it in mind for a late fish. Going back on the longer deep swim I had my first sign of a carp there when I had a definite liner. It had started to warm up just a touch now and the wind had eased slightly and was no longer a problem to my presentation, allowing me to spread the shot again. I was hoping that a combination of that and the regular drip feeding would bring a late burst out of the swim, and not long after the liner I had a proper indication on corn. I have to say that for all the world it looked like a proper bite, but the fish that I lost after a minute felt suspiciously foul hooked! Back out and a few minutes later I had another bite on corn and this one wasn't foul hooked, a ghostie of about 3lb joining the others in the net. I topped up with just four grains of hemp and one of corn and five minutes later found myself attached to another carp which felt bigger than the others, and a few minutes later a mirror of about 6lb was in the net. I repeated the trick and perhaps ten minutes later another bite saw a common of about 4lb in the net.

The indications faded after, so with forty minutes left I rested the swim hoping for one last flurry off it. I was almost certainly ahead of everyone I could see now, with the exception of peg 72 who had about twenty carp by this point! No indications came off the 2+2 line, and I had one bite in the margin which I lost and I suspect was foul hooked. The sun peeped through as I shipped back out to the long deep line, and I didn't wait long for a bite with carp number seven joining the others in the net, again it was a common of about 3lb. Next drop and again I had to hardly wait as another pea-in-a-pod common was in the net. The last twenty minutes didn't produce a proper bite, but it did produce a few liners as the warm sun bought the fish up. In hindsight I should have tried the shallow rig over the line, but never mind!

I didn't walk round at the weigh in, and had gathered a small crowd behind of people listening to the Carling Cup final on my radio! Surprisingly the island pegs hadn't fished, even the ones out of the wind and it had been much patchier than the week before with some people not having carp. Just 15lb was top weight when the scales got to me, with my fish going a few pound more than I thought, totalling 28lb 1oz. Weighing in peg 72 was a formality really as they were run away winners with 73lb, but nobody else managed double figures after them.

In terms of the league I was surprised to see that even after my round two disaster I was in fifth (not counting this result), but I finished ahead of everyone above me and closed the gap up, and with three rounds left and the worst result to drop it's still all to fish for. Hopefully now as we just nudge into March and hopefully spring we should see an end to barren pegs and hopeless draws!

Sunday 20th February

2011-02-20T18:38:00.005Z

After the disappointment of last weeks winter league I was eager to catch a few fish and get back on track, nothing worse than not catching when others did! I didn't walk round the lake before the match but I saw a fish top in the open water, while those that looked said there was little movement in the favoured reed pegs, but some fish showing around the back of the island (peg 59)

I was one of the last to draw and hadn't taken any notice of who'd drawn where, but I wasn't best pleased when peg 48 came out in my hand! Regular readers may notice that it's a peg I've drawn twice in recent times and haven't had a bite off it in ten hours fishing. I wasn't best pleased it has to be said, and did let some people know!

Putting my box down on the peg I was weighing up my options and decided on just two lines, one for near the island and one somewhere else! In what is a shallow peg I decided to plumb long and round to the left and try and find somewhere with a better depth than the 4ft in front. After a long while plumbing I found the bottom of the island slope at 13.5m to my left, fishing in the reflection of the biggest tree reflection on the left of the picture. I had about five and a half feet of water here. This rig was a 4x14 Preston Chianti, while my island rig in about 3ft of water was a 4x10 Chianti. Both were on .14 line to a .125 hook length to an 18 hook and on Preston 11h elastic. Lastly I had a rig to try punch shallow over the island line. Set initially about two and a half foot, the float was a 4x10 PB2 on the same line as the others but with a 16 hook and on grey hydro.

Just after the whistle (I spent that long plumbing up I wasn't ready!) I fed the left hand swim with two grains of corn and four casters, then I baited up with a large piece of punch and tried the island line. After establishing that nothing was hiding along the island I fed it with a tiny pinch of crumb and four pinkies before trying a grain of corn in the deep swim. Five minutes here and no signs so it was on to maggot, a single red on the hook and just three maggots into a small cad-pot. I'd been in the swim no more than to or three minutes when the tiny speck of float blinked under! After a surprisingly lively fight a common of about 2.5lb was in the net. Repeating the process I gave it ten minutes without a bite before I decided to swap lines, not wanting to push it.

Shipping out to the island I was optimistic of a bite as odd fish were now starting to cruise round the island. The only response I had after tipping out the tiny pinch of crumb and pinkies was a liner approaching the hour mark, while the nearly everyone I could see had a carp now, while the peg opposite had three! Back on the deeper line and the three maggots were tipped on the float. Only a matter of minutes later and the single red maggot done the job again, a small common the twin of the first was in the net. Ten minutes later and again the tiny speck of float dipped under again and a bigger common of about 4lb made an appearance. The next bite barely took a minute and a small ghostie of about 2lb joined the others in the net.

Predictably the flurry of activity slowed so I left the swim alone and went back to the island. The next hour was slow and the only sign of life was a liner closer to the island despite rotating the swims. I did keep seeing good sized mirror cruise along the margin to my left. It would reach my nets and then cruise off. I decided to have a try in the edge, and a quick plumb up revealed that under the end of one piece of overhanging vegetation the depth was identical to the far bank area I'd plumbed up. I fed a pinch of casters and three grains of corn and left it alone while I had fruitless tries on the other two lines.

After leaving the two long lines I topped up each one, a tiny pinch of crumb and pinkies to the island and just three maggots on the deep line. I slipped a grain of corn on the rig and dragged it up the marginal slope. I have to admit despite seeing fish down the edge I was surprised when the float went after about thirty seconds! The amount of lakky showed it was a much bigger fish than the others I'd had and after a few minutes the same pale (well, I'm certain it was!) mirror that I'd seen cruising up the edge was in my net. A useful lump of about 8lb! By now I was getting a fair amount of stick, generally along the lines of "not bad for a (insert your own choice of four letter word!) swim!" I didn't expect to get another bite down the edge so I fed the same small pinch of casters and corn down the edge and left it.

It was a slow response now, with the island line giving no bites. With just under an hour and a half left I had another bite off the deep line, again to single red maggot. This was a decent fish too, a common of about 6lb which required the use of the pull-bung! Bites weren't coming fast and the next forty minutes gave me just two more bites. Feeding just three maggots every few minutes red maggot again done the damage and a common of about 6lb and a mirror of about 5lb gave me eight carp with about thirty minutes to go.

Sadly for me the last spell of the match didn't produce and I had to watch others catching odd fish. I missed two bites on maggot which led me to try past my swim, which very unsurprisingly didn't work. Back over the bait gave me a small roach so a switch to corn was tried. I missed a bite on this too before the match finished. I guessed my weight to be in the low to mid thirty's, but with someone else having eight fish and another having six including a double it looked like being close.

Being the third to weigh in 14lb was top when the scales reached me. I comfortably topped that, with my fish going 38lb 1oz. After finishing packing away just over 30lb was the next best weight, with a twenty and some high teen weights also going on the scales. In the end the lake fished quite well in the cold and the fish were spread out with everyone catching carp apart from the one angler who went home halfway through the match as they were getting beat both sides! With the weather looking to warm up in the week it's looking good for the winter league next week. Here's hoping for a repeat of the result!

Sunday 13th February (W/L Rd 2)

2011-02-13T18:46:00.004Z

Why is it the weather on days leading up to the weekend are lovely, yet when Saturday night arrives so does the frost! After last weeks match I wanted a reasonably high number from the draw, anything from 14 (okay, but preferably higher!) would do me. I wasn't best happy then when peg 5 came out of the bag in my hand, the lowest number in......

Putting my box on the peg the only saving grace was that the water looked a touch more coloured than the previous week, but on the down-side no silvers showed in the area last week so it really was carp or bust. It was also in a rather cold easterly wind, but thankfully it was behind me. It was definitely colder than the other side of the lake that was more sheltered mind. The peg weighed in near 10lb last week, but that was mostly one fish on practically the last drop!

In the absence of silvers showing here my plan changed slightly- I had planned a rig for down the track in search of skimmers and roach, but as they were not there I figured I'd be better spending the time in search of carp. Two rigs were up for the far bank 15m away, a 4x10 Preston Chianti on .14 to a .125 hook-link and a 16 B611 in 3ft of water. This was on Preston 13h lakky. I also had a shallow rig for searching (or dobbing, as it seems to be known now) the far bank. This was on the same terminal gear as the other rig, but the float was a 4x10 Preston PB2 set about 2ft deep. Lastly I had a rig for the margins. This was really an all or nothing throw of the dice, but if I caught here they'd be big fish! My far bank rig was the perfect depth for here but I also had a heavier rig put up too, on .14 direct to a 20 Fox Series 2 hook and 15h lakky, just in case the big boys showed!

On the whistle I fed the margins with a pinch of micro pellets and casters with four grains of corn, before going across with a grain of corn, mostly in search of indications of fish! After ten minutes with no signs I decided to feed a tiny amount (four maggots) dead in front and then go on the shallow rig and search the far bank with punch. After near an hour of "dobbing" along the far bank with no signs I baited up with a single maggot on the deep rig and went across. I'd barely been in a minute when I had a liner, which was promptly followed by a large ghostie swimming out of my swim! For the next hour I plugged away on the far line deep, trickling in three maggots every few minutes in an attempt to make something happen. With the second hour coming in the lack of life was beginning to concern me, with not even a little perch or roach to show. I then decided to feed a tiny pinch of crumb in the hope of kicking it into life and then have a look in the margins.

I was just baiting up the margin rig with a grain of corn when disaster struck! The fishery boat was moored in the next peg, and just as I was going to drop in the edge someone walked up the bank and promptly dragged the boat out as they'd left there top-kit hanging up a far bank tree, not the disturbance I wanted! I carried on searching the far bank with the shallow rig, trying both punch and maggot, even going as far as 17.5m along the bank to my right where I had the most room. I was just going to drop down the edge again when somebody else walked along the bank. I have to admit I wasn't best amused, especially as words were had before the draw about not walking due to people being disturbed!

I decided to get a lighter rig out to fish the far bank, dropping down to an 18 hook on .12 and 11h lakky in the hope of getting a response, and going back over the fed line I actually did get a bite with an hour and a half to go.... a tiny perch! Working along every area of the swim I'd tried it was dead as can be, and even the angler next peg who was fishing just for silvers was struggling for bites. If they were catching I'd have considered doing it as catch-up, but they just weren't there! I'd tried everything I could think of to get a bite and was really just going through the motions when, with fifteen minutes to go I had a bite on punch long to my left (an area I'd dropped over a dozen times!), which I missed! I shallowed the rig up a bit, dropped in again in the same place, and just as I was thinking it wouldn't go again it did. This time I bumped it, putting my rig up the tree in the process. I didn't swear..... much! Predictably that was the last sign I had and to rub salt in the wounds the angler to my left who spent the whole day struggling for silvers (they had 4oz of them on the scales) caught a small carp about 3lb on their silvers line right at the death.

I was rather down on packing up, having struggled for so long then blowing my chance right at the death, losing a rig in the process. Twenty four pound (five carp) won from the peg furthest away from mine on the lake (peg 20) but just three 8lb weights made the next few frame weights (all in late numbers!), followed by a 6lb weight of silvers. I finished second from last with 1oz, ahead of one DNW. Other than not bumping that fish I'm not sure what else I could have done. Perhaps if I'd plugged away on a silvers line I'd have caught more (not hard) but there just weren't enough silvers present (I'd have had bites across if there were, I'm sure) to make it into a weight that was good enough for anything so I gambled on a carp to get a top 5/6 place. In the league you can drop your worst weight so this one will have to be it and I now need good results in the last four matches for a respectable finish. That's the plus side to the day, but it doesn't take away the fact that I packed up disappointed!

Sunday 6th February

2011-02-06T18:51:00.004Z

It'll be nice to not be looking at the weather forecast for the weekend without having my fingers crossed, that's for sure! Fortunately, the worst of the gales seemed to subside and with much of Westside fishery being sheltered it didn't look too bad this morning. Nobody really knew what to expect mind, as it was the first match on lake one since the ill-fated Christmas match. This lake really seemed to suffer this winter, with it freezing as the leaves dropped. Thankfully the owner kept breaking the ice every day and the colour has now gone to it's normal winter look instead of the blackness from the leaves, and with the milder weather I was looking forward to fishing a different lake!

With no recent match form to go by no-one really knew where would be the place to draw, but I was happy when I pulled out peg 29 as it's generally a good winter peg. The wind wasn't too bad, although it did swirl round in the tree's a bit. The awkward thing was the rafts of floating debris that had been blown off the tree's and were drifting left to right and then back. I had three rigs up, two for the island at 16.5m and one for 12m down the track at 1 o'clock just where it had started to shallow up. All the rigs had 16 B611's to .12 hook-links, with the track rig having a .4gr NG decker in near 7ft of water. Lakky on this was grey Hydro. The far bank rigs were a 4x12 chianti in just over 3ft of water (I'd plumbed right along the far bank and had a few areas set to try along he bank), while the second rig was a 4x10 PB2 set to fish a foot off the bottom. Lakky on both these rigs was Preston 13h. Lastly I also put up a bomb rod just in case the wind got bad.

On the whistle I few a small ball of crumb with half a dozen casters and three grains of corn in down the track. I then went across to the far bank with a grain of corn hoping to snare an early mug fish. Ten minutes later I had no mug fish! A cupped across a pinch of loose crumb and four casters dead in front, and then tried caster on the hook. After about half an hour I was just toying with the idea of putting a small pot on to feed across regularly when the peg to my right had a carp. Pot on and double maggot on the hook and I had my first bite, from a tiny perch! Next drop produced an equally tiny roach before a switch to caster gave me a chunky perch.

Just over an hour in and the swirling wind was awkward so I had a chuck on the bomb while I set up an identical deck rig with a longer line above it. I didn't give it too long on the bomb as the floating debris was a pain catching the line. Back on the pole and I had a definite liner so I switched to the shallow rig. I missed a bite on caster but no more followed so I had a drop on the track line on double maggot. The float had barely settled when a small roach nabbed the bait. Another next drop so I tried a grain of corn but ten minutes later with no indications it was time to go back across.

With two hours gone going and no bites across I slipped on a grain of corn, and after a few minutes a definite liner was followed by a bite that I knew I hit late, which led to me having a merry dance for a minute or so with a foul hooked fish before it came off. Switching baits gave no response, even away from where I'd fed so on the halfway mark I decided to try something different, picking up my shallow rig and baiting it with a 9mm piece of bread punch (from a home-made copy of the old image bread punches that I made 18 years ago!). I dropped this in about two meters down from where I'd fed. The float had only settled for a few seconds when it ducked under and I had my first carp from lake one for nearly four months! Not a big fish at about 3lb. The next half an hour produced three more the same size before I had a spell where I missed three bites in the next twenty minutes, so with an hour and a half or so to go I left the swim, not wanting to push it.

A brief spell down the track on corn gave me two liners but no other joy so I shallowed the rig up four inches and dropped back across on punch. I had two 3lb'ers in as many drops before I hooked a fish that felt much bigger but disaster struck when the fish went under a big raft of drifting debris. After a minute or so of playing it with a large twig on the line it came off. I was really expecting that to spook the fish but it didn't take long for another carp to fall, again about 3lb. I then had a spell of two missed bites again before carp number eight fell with forty minutes to go. With no bites for ten minutes in the hot-spot I dropped the rig a meter further down the swim and the float buried instantly with the biggest fish of the day, with a ghostie of about 5lb falling.

I had no more bites further down the swim and the last spell of the match was spent searching the swim trying to find a bite, and with ten minutes left the original hot-spot again produced a fish. I was hoping for one more but with about three minutes to go the wind, which had become increasingly swirly, caught the pole as I was lifting the rig and put me up the far bank! With the rig wrecked I didn't bother to go back out with so little time and started to pack up as word round the bank was nobody had more than three carp.

When the scales got to me 12lb was the top weight, but while the lake had fished hard for carp everyone had caught fish which wasn't bad considering it was the first match for two months on the lake! There was even a near 7lb weight of roach. My fish went 32lb 14oz for the win, something I can hopefully repeat in next weeks winter league second round!

Sunday 30th January (W/L Rd 1)

2011-01-30T17:05:00.006Z

With the first round of the winter league approaching (which was weather delayed!) I don't think I was the only person nervously looking at the weather in the run up to the weekend. Thankfully, Friday nights sharp frost didn't happen again Saturday night as the cloud increased in darkness. It didn't totally stop the ice though, with a small amount of cat-ice covering the top end of the lake from pegs 44 across to 75.

At the draw most people wanted a peg round the island, given that they were the most consistent pegs of late (and still more coloured too), but by the time I drew last weeks winning peg (59) was gone. I was quite happy with peg 72 in the reeds that came out in my hand though! Even though it was the shortest walk of the day I decided to take my gear in two trips, and when I came back to the car park to get my carryall I was told that for the second week running I'd drawn the golden peg - now that normally ruins the day!

In terms of setting up it didn't take long really (I'd made piles of rigs during the week in the evening, and filled my hook-length box too, no messing on the bank for once) as I only had one rig to plumb up. This was at 13m, where I swished the pole tip in the water to disperse the cat-ice that you can see in the picture. In the flat calm a 4x14 Preston Chianti in near six feet of water was my preferred float, on .14 line to a .12 hook link and an 18 hook. I also had a 4x12 Chianti set on the same terminal gear set to fish about 16in off the bottom. Both these rigs were matched to Preston 11h elastic. Lastly I had two rigs up for the edge, both Preston pink floats in 4x8, one set to fish a foot deep and the other to fish about 16in deep. Both were on .14 to .12 but with size 16 hooks and Preston 13h to steer the fish away from the reeds, which had started to knock once people had made their way around the lake. I was even ready a good quarter of an hour before the start, unusual for me!

On the whistle I left the margins and went out long with a grain of corn to see if anything was present before I fed. After five biteless minutes or so I cupped in four maggots long before picking up the shallowest of my margin rigs and dropping in the edge on an 8mm bread punch. I gave it ten minutes or so but with no signs I swapped over for the deepest margin rig, again with punch. This didn't take long to produce with a small common of about 2lb falling to the punch just as it settled. Not long after I netted this fish someone just along the bank also netted a fish, taken on the bomb and corn. About ten minutes after the first bite the punch on the same rig again produced, and a similar sized common joined his brother in the net. The next drop was again an instant response to the punch, but this fish was a touch smaller at about a pound and a half, but at least I was catching! At this point I also saw someone on the other bank take a fish that looked a good 6lb+, again on the bomb and corn. Just nudging the fifty minute mark my fourth bite gave me another small carp on punch, again about 2lb, before the swim again went quiet.

I had a bite less half an hour down the edge before deciding to try out long with maggot, pouring myself a deserved coffee before I shipped out! No sooner had the float settled to the pimple that I had it (held up only by grease and fished dead depth) than the faintest bite saw a typical winter brown goldfish fight, one long charge off before plodding like a bream, but at near a pound and a half (and after the last few weeks!) it was a welcome fish none-the-less. Nothing followed next drop so I potted in three more maggots and missed a bite on that drop, but no more happened despite working the rig so heading towards the two hour mark I came back to the margins.

Despite fish being present I couldn't get a bite on punch so I swapped to a single caster and quite quickly had a bite on this, again only a small fish of about a pound and a half but still welcome! I couldn't get a bite after this on either of my margin rigs, despite going back to punch and even trying maggot, so after a fruitless half an hour here I went back out long. Again fishing single maggot and not long after dripping three maggots over the float I had a very delicate bite just after I'd lifted the rig and left it to settle again. This fish felt much bigger than the others and after a sluggish fight a common of nearer 4lb than three was in the net. I again missed a bite next drop before nothing else followed, so not wanting to push the swim I came back in the edge.

Nothing fell fishing to the reeds to my right, as they'd seemed to have backed right into them, but I saw a group of fish to my right in the edge, so fishing left handed to reach into where they were I dropped in on punch. I could see some big fish swimming here, including a couple of sizable ghosties so I was thinking in terms of a bigger fish when the float plincked under, but the lively fight gave me another 2lb'er! Still, I was happy with the progress considering the cold, and the most I'd seen anyone else catch was two (albeit bigger) on the bomb and corn. I had no more bites down either side, trying both punch and caster and the shallower rig, and even dropped in further down the edges but after no bites I again went out long.

As had been the pattern here I laid the rig in, tipped out the three maggots and lifted the rig through the falling bait again, and this again produced a bite. This fish again felt bigger but the fight was livened up by the fact that it was hooked in the pectoral fin! In the net it was again nearer to 4lb than three. No more bites followed so with two hours to go I came back in the edge. I missed a bite on punch to my left but no more followed and then again I saw a group of fish to my right, tight in to the bank. Fishing left handed again the punch fooled another fish but despite the presence of the larger fish that I could see it was again a fish of about 2lb!

That last fish in the edge spelled the end to bites for a while inside, while going long I missed a bite but I'm sure that was a liner. With an hour to go I had a bite on the deeper rig in the left margin on punch, and I played a lively mirror of about 2lb to the net before it pulled off! That proved to be the last bite I had down the side, but rotating the swims each time I went long I had a carp, all of that slightly bigger size, and all on single red maggot. I never had two bites in a row but each time I rested it, it produced a fish! The bites were very delicate but I never missed any and finished the match with eleven carp and the brownie / crucian.

As the scales came round it was evident that it had fished very hard for everyone and as the last to weigh in the best anyone had managed was 12lb odd. A fair few people had caught one carp late but the cold had really knocked it for six. My fish totalled 32lb 10z on the scales for a perfect start to the winter league, oh and the golden peg! It wasn't a bumper pay-day though, as the winter league golden peg is separate to that of the opens, and of course it's only the first match! Still, it's nice to be catching some fish!

Sunday 23rd January

2011-01-23T17:19:00.005Z

With this weeks open being the last match before the winter league I was rather keen to get on the bank and actually catch a fish- I really didn't want to be going in to the league without having caught a fish for over two months!

I didn't walk too far round the lake in the morning, just as far as the reed pegs which, as per usual, were solid! The water looked to have a touch more colour to it too. Normally in the winter the reeds or the open water are the place to draw but just lately the island pegs seem to have thrown up odd fish and the deep water hasn't. Apart from in the reeds peg 59 was the one most wanted as there were a lot of fish present round the back of the island last week, when it wasn't pegged! The fact that all the reed pegs and 59 were gone by the time I drew perhaps showed the merit of an early draw (drawing early doesn't work for me though!) but I was pretty happy with 62, a peg that tends to produce fish in the winter. It's also the first time I've drawn the peg in four years at the venue and been able to fish it properly, as the one time I drew it before it was frozen solid. On the downside, just I was was walking off it was drawn as the golden peg! A sure-fire kiss of death......

My optimism lifted a touch when I put my box down as the water seemed to be a touch more coloured round the island. The peg has a lot of room, with the point of the island in front but a long margin to the left with a few stick-ups. With so much room I had five rigs up to allow me to experiment with the swim and find some fish. First up was for the side of the island at 13m in just over 3ft of water, which also usefully doubled up for about 12m down the edge, in a gap of some stick-ups. I also had two shallow rigs for the edge, although they would also be tried across. I also had two rigs up for fishing in the deep water, about five feet at 11m to my left and at 10m in the deepest water I could find out to my right, about 6in deeper. All the rigs had .12 hook-links with the shallow and right hand track rigs having 16 B611's, for punch on the shallow rigs and corn on the track rig. The other rigs had 18's on to fish maggot or pinkie. From where I was sat I could see a lot of fish swirling and moving in front of peg 59, but nothing had moved where I was!

On the whistle I fed a tiny pinch of crumb with four pinkies in across, while the left and right track lines got four maggots and three grains of corn respectively. I slipped an 8mm piece of punch on to the deepest shallow rig and dropped in down the edge on the hope that I could get a mug fish from the marginal cover at 13m. I had about ten minutes down the edge with no indications, lifting and dropping the rig and, with a longer line above the rig, flicking it away from the pole. I was just thinking about changing when peg 59 hooked a fish, which when netted looked a good 4lb+. Time to try across then!

I baited up with two pinkies and went across, and was pleased when I saw a group of fish cruise through, even though they were heading towards peg 59 who was now playing their second fish! After a few minutes I had a liner which lead to nothing so I re-baited with a single red maggot and put a tiny pinch of crumb with three pinkies into a tiny pole mounted cup. I tapped the bait out across, laid the rig in over the top and as it settled the float dinked under and I found myself in the unusual situation (of late) of being attached to a fish. It plodded across the lake like a bream, hardly fighting against the 11 hollo and keeping the pole low a common of about 4lb promptly came off just as I reached for the net. AAAAARRRRGGGH! How I didn't turn the air blue (or jump in after it!) I don't know. I hadn't put any pressure on it and my first fish for two months just slipped away! Back across on maggot and nothing more followed so I swapped to double pinkie and again filled the pot with a tiny pinch of bait. As I shipped out I saw a group of fish cruising up the island towards me and like before I tapped the bait out, laid the rig in over it and the float dinked under as it settled! After a very nervy fight (from me) I slipped the net under a common of about 3lb, and my whoop of joy was heard around the lake! I was really in strange territory when I repeated the process next drop in and found myself into a fish again, but around half the size this time.

After a very quick flurry I was wary of feeding too much so dropped in after without feeding but had no luck, so again I put a tiny pinch of crumb with three pinkies in the pot and went across. No instant bite this time so I reached for a well earned cup of coffee when the float dinked again, lifting one handed into the bite was no problem, but in the split second delay in putting my coffee down to enable be to ship back the fish came off. This time the air did turn blue!

No more bites in the next two drops and I decided it was a good idea to rest the swim, dropping onto the left hand track line on maggot. In the ten minutes or so I spent here peg 59 had another two fish, and I was just toying with going back across when I saw movement and a group of fish in the margin to my left. In with a shallow rig and punch and the fish cleared off as soon as the pole got anywhere near them, despite a longish line on the rig, so after a few fruitless minutes I decided that I would risk feeding the margin in the hope of encouraging the odd cruiser to go down. Just four casters found their way into the swim before I had a quick (and lifeless) drop back across, before trying the other track line.

The next couple of hours was a going through the motion exercise really- I never saw any signs of fish across, let alone having any indication. Peg 59 continued to catch odd fish, until the last hour when they started catching faster! Bankside gossip was that apart from 59 nobody else had more than two fish so I kept my head down tryng to craft a bite from the swim. Odd fish would cruise into the margin when I wasn't fishing it, but never came into the edge when I was fishing it, no matter how long I waited. I tried to the very limit of where I could fish to the point of the island, trying both on the deck with maggot / pinkie / corn or punch, and with the shallow rigs on punch or caster but never had (or saw) a sign of a fish there. I could however, see all the fishy movement in peg 59!

With twenty five minutes to go I had a bite over where I'd started on the island, again on pinkie and again laying the rig in over the tiny pinch of feed. A common of about 4lb graced the net before I missed a bite next drop and found myself attached to the far bank vegetation. I removed the rig without disturbance to the swim but after putting a new identicle rig on I never had another sign of a fish in the swim and I finished on three.

As the scales came round the opposite corner of the island to me had the top weight, with two fish for 7lb odd. Peg 59 comfortably topped that with seventeen carp for 52-10 and my three carp went 8-12. I was eventually pushed down to fourth with someone having four carp for 12lb odd, catching two fish late, and end peg 75 having two carp for 10lb something. Surprisingly, the favoured reed pegs in the 70's both blanked, even though fish were there.

So a mixed day really, I managed to catch a fish for the first time in two months, ending my worst ever run of blanks (five) but I didn't fish well, the two lost fish probably costing me second place. I never had enough fish in front of me to do anymore than that, I walked round to 59 after the match and there were loads of fish present along the whole back of the island, I saw more in a minute than I'd seen in my peg all day! The winner never fed a thing all day, yet I never had a bite unless I fed, albeit in tiny amounts. It won't be so easy next week on that peg in the first winter league round mind, as more pegs round the island will be in and they won't have all the space to themselves. Hopefully I've worked the rustiness (and all the blanks) out of my system and can have a good start to the winter league next week!

Well, At Least The Ice Has Gone.....

2011-01-17T12:09:00.008Z

Well, the ice was gone last week too! I have to admit though that after spending another bite less session on the bank I didn't really want to write about it!

I was a little optimistic this week, as the weather had been mild for five days before this match meaning that although without doubt the water would still be very cold, it would have at least been rising in temperature. Arriving on the Sunday most of the lake was wind free, although you could hear the very strong wind whistling through the trees. There were two pegs in that I really wanted to draw; peg 72 in the reeds (it won last week, albeit with just 6lb, but the reeds were heaving on the day, as there were again) and peg 62 in the corner, with the (warm) wind blowing down in to it and with signs of fish moving. When I went into the draw bag there were only a couple of pegs left, including 62 and 69- both I'd have been happy with. What I wasn't happy with was peg 48, which has bad cold water form, and I'd already blanked off it not long ago!

Putting my box down I wasn't the most optimistic- it's a shallow peg and the lack of colour meant I could see the bottom in a good 2ft of water. With this in mind my rigs were kept away from the island a touch. A 10m rig fished at an angle to my left found the deepest water I could on the pole at about four and a half feet. I aimed to fish corn here and the rig was a .2gr NG Decker on .14 line to a .12 hook-link with a size 16 B611. I had two rigs up for the island (well, to the left of it rather than the front) at 13m. One to fish in not quite 4ft of water and the other for a bit further up the slope set at 3ft, which could also double up to try shallow over the deeper lines. Lines and hook-links were the same but with smaller size 18 hooks to fish maggot (a 4x12 chianti and a 4x10 PB2 were the floats). Lastly, I had a bomb rod up, both to cast a bit to left towards the open water and also to use over the island lines if the wind got too bad (it did at times during the day before dieing, I took the pic after the match) and also if fish were present on the shallower areas but wouldn't tolerate the pole over them.

Shortly before the start of the match I was buoyed by two things; firstly a group of fish cruised through my swim, following the island, and secondly the sun came out and was not only nice on my back but it also was on the water near the island, leading me to hope that any fish moving in the shallower water here may actually be able to be tempted to feed. Having seen movement I fed the 10m corn line with three grains of corn and four casters before dropping the bomb just past where I intended to fish the pole, hoping to nick a fish there without feeding and perhaps spooking them. I had a proper liner after ten minutes but it didn't develop so after near twenty minutes I changed hook-links and tried a couple of bits of punch. Again the swim showed signs of life in the sun so after twenty minutes without a proper bite I wondered if feeding something may encourage them to get their heads down. By this time peg 69 had two early carp from the deep water, and 72 in the reeds had one, as did 62!

After feeding just three maggots and the same of casters on the long line I had one more chuck on the bomb with corn, a bit further away from the island. Again I had liners but nothing that developed so after twenty more minutes the tip rod went up the bank and a single red maggot went on the long rig. With the pole going out it seemed to stop any signs of life, with no liners and no visible fish moving, even with a fairly long line above the float. I trickled odd maggots in hoping for some sign but it never happened so after half an hour I had a quick drop on the corn line, but this gave nothing. Buy now the sun had gone in and despite my best attempts at making something happen I never had so much as another liner for the rest of the day! Even searching the swim with punch on a long line rig and casting the bomb about failed to produce signs of anything. I still stuck it out to the whistle mind! With no sun on the peg the fish just went away...

For the last hour and a half I watched peg 72 steadily catch to comfortably win the match with 30lb 14oz. Peg 69 was second with three fish for 12lb and 62 was third with one fish of 6lb odd. In the last twenty minutes or so the two end pegs on my bank both had a carp each but the block of pegs in the middle of the lake (where I was) were just blanks. I have to say that the last few sessions now have really knocked by confidence and with a fortnight until the winter league I'm now really questioning myself and the way I've fished. I'm not sure I've done a lot wrong, just wrong place at the wrong time but I'm now toying with either trying something different or not fishing until the winter league starts.

The hunt for a fish continues........

This Wont Take Long

2011-01-03T19:57:00.002Z

After a couple of weeks away from the bank I was, as usual, itching to get out on the bank- ice or no ice!

Without wanting to spend too much time explaining the day I got a wet foot in the edge breaking ice (not even in my swim! why do people turn up at a frozen fishery expecting to fish without an ice breaker or being prepared to help? With 2 breakers and a boat and 12 turning up we cleared the number of swims and then drew) Fortunately I hadn't changed into my boots so I had dry footwear. I then had a chunk taken out of my thumb when clearing my own swim, as the butt of the cheap telescopic net pole I use for weed cutting and ice clearing slid down and chopped me. I spent the rest of the day with a fetching tissue and black electrical tape plaster on my thumb! Lastly, I blanked! I had some bites but missed them all. They were only on maggot on a 20 B611, and fishing smaller baits, down to slivers of maggot or pinkie or tiny pieces of punch on a 22 B511 didn't get a sniff. I wasn't the only one who had the same problem. There were large shoals of small bitterling in the edge and I'm sure they were responsible.

The match was won with 1 carp and a few small roach, with two small roach being second and nobody else caught. I've come to the conclusion that while there is still ice on venues now I'll not bother. The only saving grace to the day was winning a reel in a prize draw on Matchfishing-scene website- I'd been toying with a new reel for the bomb rod!

Thoughts on 2010....

2010-12-29T23:56:00.003Z

Well, it seems the year has ended in the same way it started, with ice covering everywhere! Being as I've not been fishing for a couple of weeks (and it's been even longer since I caught a fish!) my withdrawal symptoms have led me look back on the year fishing wise.

The year didn't start on the best note, I blanked on the first weekend of the year, and also on the first round of the winter league, both times through the ice. I managed to save the winter league in the end, dropping the blank as my worst result. I was very pleased with a second place as in three matches on the old lake I never drew a favourable peg in the conditions, but managed frame placings in all three rounds on the new lake to have a respectable result.

The early spring brought a respite from the frosts and a few more fish but it still wasn't great with no real stand out results but at least an end to blanks or scraping out a few tiny roach! As the weather warmed into late spring and early summer my results started to improve as the frame places went away from being a bit of a lottery and more to those who sussed out the feeding!

As the carp got into the feeding habit my results picked up markedly, and this also gave a rise in confidence which always helps when fishing. I had an enjoyable summer really, winning a match first time out with a new pole will always stick in the mind but perhaps the most enjoyable was the two occasions I finished second on the old lake fishing long pole shallow in the open area of the lake. The lake really isn't known for producing weights shallow but when the island pegs were dominating the frame places I was by a long way doing the best from the open water and sneaking into the envelope places! I find it easy to work hard (if that makes sense!) when fishing shallow, and while I admit a slight rustiness at it perhaps cost me a few fish it's a way of fishing I really enjoy.

As Summer turned to Autumn I perhaps managed my highlight of the year in breaking the match record on the new lake, notching up my first match ton for five years in the process with a weight of just over 104lb. It bucked a trend a touch too in that most people were shovelling in corn down the edge to catch where as the majority of my fish came across to pellet where I fed about a pint of bait. This was followed up with a win the weekend after on the old lake with a catch of 59-5 taken predominantly from the 2+2 line (perhaps the tactic that has dug me out of more holes than any this year) although I'll always remember the day for it being the wettest I've sat in for a long while!

With the onset of the cooler weather the weights took an expected drop but I still found myself doing well, more so on the new lake where I seemed to have found it a lot easier to win on this year! One of the more memorable days (on the old lake) would have to be at the end of October when I struggled for much of the day until the 2+2 line produced five very late lumps to leave me just short of first and second place who'd caught all day. Just goes to show you should never give up as with an hour left I was nowhere. Into November and the start of the month was a struggle with me notching up a 2nd place with just 18lb odd. I missed a weekend and getting back onto the bank the 21st of November is quite a memorable date, as it's the last time I caught a fish at the time of writing, nearly six weeks ago! A narrow win that day with 43-2 on maggot taught me the merit of having a hook-length box stocked with plenty of identical hook-lengths as a quick change near the end led me to go strait back out quickly and a late fish won me the match. I'd only bought the box (the small blue Preston one) the day before too!

After that memorable day the ice has arrived and I've only been out twice since then, my longest spells without fishing since the winter of 96/7. Both times have been blanks but the lack of others catching has led me to stay off the bank. I don't mind breaking the ice if there are fish to be caught, but it seems there aren't! I was going to go on the river but even the Cam has been frozen over too so at the moment I'm sitting climbing up the walls! Looks like I'll manage the coming Sunday but the frosts are coming back after it looks like, so what happens is anybodies guess..

So what have I learnt this year? As mentioned not long ago the hook-length box paid for it's self on the first time out, although I admit I still don't use hook-lengths on my shorter rigs. Maybe more experimenting in the summer will see a change to that? Fishing to my strengths is an obvious one (or not following the crowd) I'd consider myself a competent shallow angler and really enjoyed the days I caught on it, considering the venue isn't known for it. I didn't win, but I done considerably better than the sit-and-wait paste and cat meat heads drawn in the same area. I like it as it keeps me busy! I also had a run of results fishing slightly different ways on the same venue, having good days not only fishing pellet, or meat and corn but also a result on the worm in the summer. Perhaps I'd have done just as well fishing exactly the same each time but something told me something slightly different was needed and it done the job for me doing it! I like to feel I can switch to something else if plan A doesn't work and I have to admit I have a bit of pride in myself for being able to pick up fishing different methods and baits rather than being an angler that only does well at one way of fishing! Lastly the 2+2 line has been a good line for me, only trying it after watching Tommy Pickering fish it on a free Preston DVD given out in tackle shops! I only won one match outright off that line, but it gave me valuable extra fish on other days and got me a frame place from nowhere in the last hour on two occasions! That said, I had days where it was deader than a dodo too- you can't have it all! It's one not to give up on and I find it's so easy to keep topped up as feeding it by hand you don't have to stop what your doing!

Right, I guess that's enough of my ramblings, anyway I'm not sure if thinking so much about fishing has helped or made my withdrawal symptoms worse. Like I said I hope to get out this weekend and hopefully the arctic weather won't hang around too much longer so we can all get our fix. I hope you all had a good Christmas and tight lines all for 2011!

Sunday 12th December

2010-12-12T18:22:00.005Z

After last weeks hard slog I was hoping that this week I'd manage to catch a fish! Despite some warmer weather we didn't manage to get rid of the ice though, with quite a sharp frost in the morning following a very pleasant day on Saturday- the weather really is against us at the moment!

With the typical low post Xmas match turnout (only 8 stayed) the ice was partially cleared quickly with the boat. Seven pegs on one bank in the late number pegs and peg 48 on the other bank- all pegs that weighed in last week. The one peg I didn't want was peg 48 as it's by far the shallowest peg and the sun barely touches the water on it. I suppose it's no real surprise then that it's the number I drew! Still, the one time the sun touched it was when I was taking the picture!

The ice was fairly well broken as the boat had been taken across to the other side from here so it took just two chucks of the ice breaker to clear the ice a touch to my left and let me fish in deeper water, and then my swim was pretty much ready. Two rigs were the order of the day, the first at 13m but towards the corner of the ice rather than the island. This was a 4x10 Preston Chianti in just over 3ft of water, on .12 line to a .10 hook-link and an 18 hook. Lakky was Preston 11h. The second rig was at 10m, again to my left on the edge of the ice. The water here was the deepest I could find at about 10cm deeper than the far line! Rig here was practically the same except on .12 direct and lakky was grey Hydro. The idea was corn here and maggot long. I was fishing pretty much just for a carp (but wouldn't complain at roach!) as a couple showed last week and the others also had holes cleared to allow them to fish long and I figured someone would catch one! Probably from the noted reed pegs as there were signs of carp there.

On the whistle I fed just two casters and the same of corn on the shorter line before trying long on an 8mm piece of punch without feeding there (yes, punch is now allowed again, hooray!) The punch gave no response so I switched to single maggot and set about dripping the odd maggot in long. To cut a long story short I grafted every bit as hard as last week, changing the shoting, trying different baits, working the rig, fishing up and laying line on the bottom but I never had a bite! Nobody else had a bite either until fifteen minutes before the match finished when one of the reed pegs actually had a fish- a bitterling! They went on to be the only catcher out of everybody with a haul of three bitterling and a roach in those last few minutes. We didn't bother t weigh them but my guess is less than 2oz for the lot of them! The only improvement over last week is I know I had a fish in my swim this week, as while fishing corn on the shorter line I'm sure I felt a fish brush the line as I lifted the rig, and this was followed about ten seconds later by the venues notorious monster ghostie swimming lazily past my keep net without a care in the world!

I'm not sure now when the next blog update will be, as to be honest I've had enough of ice breaking then working hard for no reward, and with the weather not looking like offering us a respite until the New Year I may skip the still water matches for a bit. If I need a fishing fix (no doubt I will!) between now and then I shall put some number 4's and 5's in my pole and visit some old river haunts with a few slices of bread and some punch crumb (now the collages have finished so there aren't thousands of rowers, grrr!), and yes, I do know how to catch a few fish from a river! So if I don't update this between now and then I'll wish everyone a great Christmas and a Happy New Year, and hopefully I'll pick up again with a hopefully un-weather interrupted winter league!

Fur and Feather- Eskimo Style!

2010-12-05T20:31:00.006Z

I'll start off by apologising to those who checked last week for an update when there wasn't one! It wasn't because I done badly, I just didn't go because of the weather. It seemed I made the right choice as I enjoyed the Tottenham game where as the match was won with sixteen perch for 80z! 7oz and 4oz completed the frame weights and on a day when the temperature never got above -2 I think I made the right decision.

On the Saturday a few people had gone to the venue with ice-breakers and used them and the boat to clear a little of the ice, and with the temperature holding above zero overnight coupled with a little rain too it kept the venue fishable. On arriving an area of the new lake was actually ice-free (it had been for a few days) and some carp could be seen cruising near the surface, but they most definitely didn't look like they were in a mood to eat! Still, it's where everyone wanted to draw. I actually fancied a draw on the old lake as the masses of tiny roach would give a busy day, even through the ice but I didn't get my way and drew peg 18 on the new lake, where the ice was!

As I mentioned, the day previous some of the ice had been broken and I (like the others in the ice) had a small hole to about 5m out. I took off a few layers and set about making the hole a bit bigger! I cleared the ice to about 9m but struggled to chuck my ice breaker much further. Still, at least my breaker went through as someone else two pegs up was doing bouncing bomb impressions with a 7lb breaker. My breaker found it's self being used by a couple of others (it even made it to the other lake!) but not one person by way of thank-you took it back to the car park for me, just to my peg! They ALL had barrows too, where as I lug my gear on my back- think I'll be wanting a small usage fee for it next time.....

I decided to keep things simple as the only species I've ever caught on this lake through the ice are small perch which tend not to be tackle shy. Indeed the last time through the ice on that lake was just before Christmas last year on the same peg! I had one rig set up for two areas of my peg, at 9m on the edge of the ice as far as I could get, and one section closer but to my left and again on the edge of the ice. A slim 4x14 DC9 float was on .10 main line to a .09 hook-link and a size 20 B611. Lakky was Preston 9h. I found in the past I got just as many bites of the small perch on that gear as I did on anything lighter, while red maggot had been as good a bait as any
so I stuck with that in the hope that it would also cope with a bonus fish should one happen along. These would most likely be a skimmer or big perch above anything else given the conditions. Others were fishing much finer with pinkie or punch (allowed again for this match) but I was confident enough on maggot! Bait-wise I had red and white maggots (including some older ones that would hopefully still have some life in the cold water) a few casters and a small amount of Sonubaits F1 groundbait darkened down with black dye, hoping it may bring in a skimmer.

On the whistle I fed the furthest line with a marble sized pinch of crumb with just two maggots and casters in, while the closer line had just four maggots. I was going to drip odd maggots over the longer line to try and provoke life, while just leaving the other line. Normally it takes perhaps half an hour to get a bite in similar conditions so I played around with the rig over the longer line, trying just on or off the bottom, red or white maggot, lifting and jigging the rig or leaving it still. On the hour mark I have to admit I was worried about not having had a bite, and none of the four or five others I could see had either. I had a drop on the other line and tried the same things to provoke a bite but with absolutely no joy. Word came round that someone on the favoured reed pegs on the other lake had a carp, while the early pegs on my lake (where it was ice free and fish seen) had lost odd foul hookers.

On the two hour mark a carp had been caught in those early pegs, but again everyone I could see was bite less and odd people started to walk about. I decided to chop up a half a dozen maggots and feed them on the closer line but this failed too. I could see no point in scaling down as people fishing squatt or pinkie on much lighter gear were all bite less too! I kept up the rotating of the two swims, dripping an odd maggot on the far line while tinkering with the rig in an attempt to make a bite happen, but despite working hard to get a response I couldn't find it. I have to admit I was worried as I'd never blanked on the lake before, but it was looking likely!

With an hour to go the temperature dropped and cat-ice started to form around the edge of my ice hole. I got up and went for a bit of a walk to get the circulation going again and saw one of the early pegs dropping their second carp into their net before walking back and joining the ranks of the bite less (those that were still there) in the Eskimo holes. I gave it till ten minutes before the end before doing something I rarely do and packed up early! The sausage rolls and mince pies in the barn were calling me.......

In the end out of the sixteen or so drawn on my lake there were only three to weigh in, one angler with two carp (who won overall), one with one carp (second overall) and one with one carp and a small perch, beaten by two anglers on the other lake who'd had carp. Incidentally, all the carp on my lake were foul-hooked, meaning that just the one small perch was the only fish caught "properly" on my lake! There were a few catchers on the other lake- three anglers had caught a single carp while most of the others had a few small roach so I was right in wanting a draw on that lake! To cap the day off my peg number came out late in the peg raffle so my choice was a little limited, and had to "make do" (ahem!) with twelve cans of Carling-the brightest part of the day!

I have to admit that's the hardest I'd ever worked for a blank, but in the end I just had the feeling that there wasn't a fish in front of me to catch, and like I said even those fishing finer on my lake also failed to get a bite. It was just one of those days and I think that had I had bloodworm and joker it would have been no better. The weather is forecast to stay cold for a bit, albeit with a slight improvement by the weekend. Fingers crossed that will be the end of it!

Sunday November 21st

2010-11-21T19:16:00.004Z

It has to be said that after not fishing last Sunday I was very eager to get out on the bank, although I didn't have my normal pre-draw walk round as I was engaged in something else that brought me much joy- gooner baiting! As you do really when your a Spurs fan and you beat them at their own place after giving them a two goal start.

With the Christmas match coming up in a fortnight some pegs went in the bag that generally ain't used, so that they're clear and have been fished beforehand. I drew one of those pegs (67) and I was pretty happy with it as the pegs either side that are normally used are both decent winter pegs. I was slightly tempered by the fact that the pegs in that area of the lake all blanked last week mind!

Plan of attack for the day was simple; a bomb rod and two pole lines. I was going to fish the bomb more to my left towards (but not on) the point of the island. This was standard winter bomb gear, using a 1/3oz Guru square pear lead running on 6lb line and stopped with a Korum quick change bead. I had a few hook-links to try on it, all tied on .15 line using either size 16 or 18 Kamasan Animals. The different hook-links allowed me to try various length traces and different multiples (or just a single) grain of corn. I plumbed around and at 13m found an area where there was a pronounced kink in the bottom. Peg 66 to the left is a fair bit shallower than 68 to the right and the bottom sloped away gently left to right but at about 11 o'clock there was a sharp difference of about a foot so I settled on fishing just away from this. Depth was just over 6ft and float here was a .4gr NG Decker on .15 line to a .14 hook-length and a 16 B611 hook, which looks tiny compared to the Fox hooks I use when it's warmer! A similar rig was put up for the 2+2 line but fished to my right a bit where it's a touch deeper, being as closer in was shallower and the colour has dropped from the water. This was in about 5ft of water and used basically the same rig as the long line but with a .3gr float, both set to fish at dead depth. Lastly I had a shallow rig set at 3ft for trying over the long line. This was on .14 direct to a 16 B611. All the pole rigs were matched to Preston 13h elastic.

On the whistle I fed the long line with four grains of corn and a small pinch of hemp, while the closer line received the same of corn and a tiny ball of softened micro pellets. I then cast the bomb at and angle between me and the point of the island, but about four or five meters short. I had a liner pretty quick so I was sure the tip would go but after fifteen minutes nothing had happened so I re-cast a bit shorter. Again I had signs of fish but again after near twenty minutes nothing came of it. I tried double corn this time, and again a touch shorter but also more in front of me. Again I had a liner but after another fruitless fifteen minutes the occasional liner failed to produce. I decided to try a small pellet cone to try and make a bite, and this was cast towards the point but about six meters short. Again I had a liner, but again a twenty minute wait failed to produce a bite. Still, nobody else I could see had caught either!

With over an hour gone I decided it was time to try the pole line, so I slipped a smallish grain of corn on and shipped out. Nothing came of this after quarter of an hour so I decided to try dripping a few casters over the long line every few minutes via a small pot to try and provoke a response. After two more fruitless drops on corn I slid the float up 1cm and decided to try double maggot. After a few minutes I was sure I had a slight movement on the float which was shotted to the merest pimple. After another minute there was the slightest of dip's under the water and a lift was met with the sight of elastic. I have to admit I played the fish very gingerly and after a few minutes a decent common of about 6lb was in the net. Baiting with double red again and putting just four casters in the pot I shipped out long again. It took a few minutes again but there was again a definite but very delicate sideways movement on the float. A minute or so after that the float ever so gently just dipped under the surface tension. Again the lift saw elastic out and after a much more comfortable fight a small common of perhaps 2lb was in the net. The next drop again gave me a very slight movement but it never developed, so conscious that there were still three hours left I decided to rest the swim, topping it up with just four casters and three grains of hemp.

I had a fruitless spell on the bomb again, but with no liners at all. During this time I saw peg 42 on the opposite bank catch a carp, then news came round that peg 59 round the island had five, including a double figure fish! And they'd moaned like billy-ho about the peg too! After wasting fifteen minutes on the bomb I went back on the pole but disaster struck when I foul-hooked a fish lifting and dropping the rig, with it coming off after two or three seconds. On cold days I've often had that be the end of the swim so I dripped in just three maggots and then left it alone. I had a five minute try on the close line (which I'd flicked very occasional grains of corn too) but nothing came of it, so I had another drop on the bomb. I had every intention of giving it fifteen minutes before trying the long pole again but after only five or six minutes I saw peg 42 catch two fish in quick succession so I dropped back on it a bit earlier.

Again, after a short wait a tiny sideways indication indicated the presence of a fish, with the (very delicate) bite following shortly after. A plump common of about 4lb was followed about ten minutes later by a small mirror of about 3lb. A ten minute wait with no signs led to me cupping in just four maggots and three grains of hemp before I had another fruitless try on the close line which I'd started to drip maggots on. I also had a quick try on the bomb but I'd lost confidence in it so only gave it five minutes. At this point news got round that peg 59 now had seven carp, while others started to catch odd fish too.

Back on the pole and the most positive bite of the day followed when after lifting and dropping the rig the float actually "dinked" out of sight! After a ponderous fight a common of perhaps nearer 7lb than six was in the net. Next drop followed the usual pattern of slight movement and very delicate bite. The bad news is the same slow steady pull of the last fish was followed by the fish coming off! The sky may have been dull the whole day, but the air certainly turned blue then I can tell you! I gave the line a quick rest, again topping up with just four maggots. I was never confident of the other two lines going so didn't give them long, and with just an hour to go I was back on the long line.

A missed bite led me to nudge the rig up to dead depth (the fish had all been hooked just inside the mouth) and the desired effect was had as the next three drops all produced fish. Nothing big, all being around the three pound mark. Again the same pattern happened, a very slight movement being followed by a very delicate bite shortly after, and each time I topped up with just three maggots. I then missed two sharper bites in quick succession so I decided to nudge the float up a tiny bit and the next bite produced a very un-expected crucian of about a pound and a quarter! The steady nature of the swim continued to the end with three slight indications all being followed by a fish, a chunky 4lb mirror and a brace of equally chunky commons, both around the 4lb mark, finishing the match on a nice round ten carp. The ninth carp showed the value of having plenty of the same length hook-links tied when the hook went in the net and bent, as I bit it off and very quickly replaced it with an identical one, allowing me to drop back quickly without checking the depth again. The last carp went in the net with five minutes to go and given the bites had all taken a touch longer than that I dropped in for the last minute expecting not to have enough time for another. I didn't!

While packing up news of peg 59's catch seemed to vary between seven and ten carp, although all said about them having one big lump. When the scales got to me peg 59 had weighed in just over 40lb, with the lump being a ghostie of 13lb 2oz! My crucian went 1-7 on the scales and pulling my other net out it looked as it would be very tight for first. I didn't look at the scales but I knew I had around 40lb, with the weight being called at 41-11, giving me a 43-2 total and a very narrow win. Just 9lb something was third although someone threw back four carp and almost certainly third place as someone had apparently told them that everyone was bagging up! Oops.

Next week is back on lake one, and given that it hasn't had a match on it for a while I'm expecting it to be very hard. The weather forecast doesn't exactly look promising either.....

Sunday November 7th

2010-11-08T10:23:00.004Z

I'll start with my now customary weekly moan about the weather! After a lovely mild week why do we have to get a days cold rain at the end of the week and then a sharp frost Saturday night. Still, I wouldn't want to be sitting out there right now in that wind.....

While waiting for the draw and chatting about pegs someone mentioned about peg 42 being no good. I kind of sprang to it's defence saying that it's pretty consistent all year round and nearly always produces fish, then putting my hand in the bag I was given a chance to prove what I had said (or eat my words) as that's what I drew! I was fairly happy with that, and it's a nice short walk!

Approach for the day was pretty simple really, three pole rigs for two lines and a bomb rod! The 13m and 5m rigs were practically identical, using a .3gr NG Floats Decker in about 5ft of water. the depth was about four inches difference but a separate rig allowed me to keep a nice short line above the float when fishing short. I also had a half depth shallow rig too, using a 4x10 PB2 float. All the rigs were with .13 hook-links (direct on the shallow rig) and had size 20 Fox Series 2 hooks, and all on Preston 13h elastic. The bomb rod was my trusty 10ft Drennan and was to be my starting gambit.

On the whistle the long line received three grains of corn and a pinch of hemp, while the close line had half a dozen grains of corn. I baited up the bomb with a single hair rigged grain of corn and used a tiny Guru pellet cone the give a little bait to the area. This was cast just short of mid-way but to my left. I did this as nobody was that way on the lake so it was a nice quiet area and hopefully somewhere the fish would move too out of the way of noisy anglers walking around before the start! It had been out no more than a minute when the tip nudged as if a fish was near, then only a few minutes later it pulled round with a fish on! Not massive at about a pound twelve but a quick start. I had a liner next cast but nothing on the cast after so on the three quarter of an hour mark I swapped to the pole.

I could see odd fish cruising around, but all were on the opposite side of the lake in the sun - as per usual I had drawn the cold side of the lake, and sat in the shade all day and was quite cool. I missed a bite first drop on corn but no more followed, so on the hour mark I started to toss-pot in odd grains of hemp and a few casters in an attempt so spark some life. Probably fifteen minutes after I started to get odd indications that I suspected were from roach, as some were topping in my swim. I gave it a short while on the shallow rig in case they were from carp higher in the water but nothing came of it, the showing fish were all still on the sunny side of the lake! Going back on the deck I decided to try maggot, and low and behold a small roach fell to double white, but fell off as I un-shipped. Back out on maggot and no quick bite, instead it was five minutes before the float slid under and lifting in to what I thought would be a roach wasn't a roach! Only a small carp, not much over a pound, but everyone was struggling with the exception of 46 in the deep water (where I was last week) who'd had three carp off the same short line I caught late from last week. A few minutes after that carp another slow bite saw me lift in to a fish, but after a second or two it came off and left me with a scale on the hook. Nothing came in the next ten minutes or so, so I cupped in two grains of corn and a few casters and left it.

My next try was on the close line, which I had been throwing grains of corn in ones and two's on, but I had no joy on this so I had two casts on the bomb, leaving each for about fifteen minutes but I didn't even have a liner. Dropping back on the longer pole line on maggot and a quick bite saw me catch a roach of an ounce. I switched to corn and a response was pretty quick in coming and saw me attached to a bigger fish. After a few minutes a chunky mirror nudging 5lb was in the net. It didn't take long next chuck to get another bite, albeit from a much smaller fish of about 2lb, again on corn, but any thoughts of a run of fish soon went as the next few drops were bite less.

I had a fruitless spell trying the bomb and even a short spell on the shallow rig but they came to nothing so with an hour and a quarter to go I found myself on the 5m line. I had a liner lowering the rig in so that gave me some confidence and after a short while I had my first bite here which produced another small fish just nudging the 2lb mark. I gave it a while longer although the swim showed occasional signs of life I couldn't get a proper bite, even trying away from the feed a touch, a trick that normally works. A quick try on the bomb to rest it gave me a small carp of not much more than a pound after a near ten minute wait, so I had another cast which saw the rod near pulled of the rest not long after setting the tip. This led to me playing a 3lb'er to the net with the spare hook-link that I was baiting up stuck in my hand! I didn't get a bite next drop so with half an hour left I came back to the 5m line. I had a bite here quickly and a fish that I'm sure wasn't foul-hooked powered off and then came adrift. I plugged away here for the rest of the match for nothing, but close to the end it did show signs of fish. In hindsight I should have tried the long line or gone back to the tip after losing that fish really.

As first to weigh in my fish went 18lb 11oz on the scales, while the next peg (same angler on the same peg that won last week) had just over 12lb. Peg 46 then put 36lb 9oz on the scales for a comfortable win. A few weights of 10-11lb was about the sum of all the other people weighing, leaving me in second, but I saw two people tip back that may well have had enough for 3rd! A bit daft really.

Last of all, just a quick note to say I wont be blogging next week as I shall be away over the weekend, but I'll be back raring to get out on the bank the week after!

Sunday 31st October

2010-10-31T18:43:00.006Z

You have to wonder if the fish know what's going on, after two weeks of frosts the last few days have been mild with temperatures up to 16 degrees C!

Walking around before the draw it was the first time I didn't think the pegs around the back of the island would be the place to draw, with leaves being out in the main bowl of the lake and carp, loving floating leaves, being underneath them. Pegs 44 and 70 with the little island between them looked to be where most of the fish were. When I went to draw pegs 66, 68 and 70 were left, I'd have been happy with any of them. It was only when I noticed that 46 was still in that I saw it was in my hand, I've been wanting that all summer! I was fairly happy with it mind.

I decided on three areas to target, 13m long in the open water, a 2+2 line and down the edge. With the colour dropping out I wasn't expecting the margins to go, but it was still an area to target just in case. The rigs for the long line and closer line were near identical, both with .3gr NG Floats Deckers on .15 line to a .13 hook-link and size 20 Fox Series 2's. The longer line had a 13 hollo elastic while the closer line had black hydro. The depth difference was only four inches (about six and a half feet) but having different rigs meant I could keep the line nice and short above the float on both with the calm conditions. I had a shallow rig for the long line, set about three feet it was a 4x10 Preston PB2 on .13 line to a 20 Fox Series 2. Elastic was 13 hollo. Last up was a margin rig. I fished this at 8m down the edge, a touch further than I would normally due to the water clarity. In three feet of water it was a 4x12 Preston Somo on .15 direct to a 20 Fox Series 2 and fished on 15 Hollo.

On the whistle the long line had half a dozen grains of corn and a small pinch of hemp, the 5m line a dozen grains of corn and the margin had the same as the long line plus a few micros. Unsurprisingly, no indications came quick and after a few minutes I started to toss-pot in grains of corn in ones and two's with a few grains of hemp. By the time I started doing this I'd watched the three anglers opposite all catch a fish, plus peg 44 to my left fishing to a lilly bed. It was forty minutes in to the match when I had my first liner, this was followed next chuck by another liner which I left and for a split second it pulled on the end before coming off! There were signs of fish cruising and on the hour mark I picked up the catty and started flicking odd casters over the long line.

I gave the deck rig a few more minutes but with no bites I picked up the shallow rig. I wasn't feeding a lot with the catty, just casters in two's and three's every minute or two just so something was falling through the water. I missed the first bite I had but after ten minutes a bite saw me connected to a fish and after a brief scrap a common of about 3lb was in the net. I gave the shallow rig another half an hour after, trying it up and down in depth and past the feed but all it produced was a small roach. Going back on to the deck rig and I had a bite almost instantly on corn and soon another 3lb common was in the net. Topping up with two grains of corn and six of hemp it took perhaps five minutes before another bite saw me attached to another fish identical to the first two. The next drop and as I was lowering in the rig something grabbed the bait and wrenched the elastic out but within a couple of seconds it came off.

The lost fish saw an end to bites so I had my first drop on the close line which I'd been dripping odd grains of corn on to by hand. A ten minute spell on this produced nothing so I also had a brief go in the margins, giving it just five minutes without any indications. I topped the edge line up and again tried the long line. No bites on the deck so I dropped the shallow rig over it (I'd been dripping casters over it still) but the only bites were from 1oz roach which tended to come off! Pegs 48 and 70 were both catching steadily and were well ahead of anyone else but behind them nobody was running away with it and nobody else I could see had more than four carp.

Nothing followed for a spell and with two hours to I decided to stop feeding casters long (I find it works earlier, plus we'd had some cold showers too so I decided catching 'up' was unlikely) and gave the swim a decent pinch of hemp and corn to try and kick-start it. The margin was lifeless so I gave that a decent pinch of bait too. With an hour and a half left I had the first sign of life on the 5m line and a few minutes after that I had a lively 3lb'er. Odd indications followed after but no bites so I rotated round the other lines but had no signs. With an hour to go 44 and 70 had slowed but were still getting odd fish and were well ahead, but with 3rd looking up for grabs I decided that the 5m line would be the best chance, especially with the light dropping, and it had been the only line to show signs of life for a while too.

With just forty minutes left others had started nabbing odd carp, and I then missed two bites in a row on the close line. I decided to nudge the float up an inch to try and hit them, and it worked with the float burying next drop and a better fish being on the end. After a decent fight a ghostie of about 5lb was in the net. With half an hour to go I put a small pot on the pole to keep the feed tight and the last spell of the match produced four more carp, all of that same decent stamp. The last one was in the net with four minutes to go but I didn't have enough time to get another to let me finish up with an even ten! I just needed a few more minutes.....

When the scales got to me peg 44 was top weight with 40lb 12oz, a bit less than most people thought they would have. Pulling my nets out people were saying it looked close but I knew there wasn't enough, with my fish going 37lb 4oz. This was comfortably second until peg 70 opposite weighed in 39lb 2oz and I had to settle for third, close, but no cigar!

I was quite pleased in the end, despite being just one fish off a win. I didn't realise I'd be so close but my late larger stamp fish pushed them near and just goes to show that you shouldn't give up. Perhaps I could have nabbed a fish on the bomb in the long dead spells but with anglers opposite chucking feeders to the middle it wasn't the quiet area I like beyond the pole to fish it, as I would barely have been casting past the pole line. You can't win them all!

Sunday 24th October

2010-10-25T12:28:00.006+01:00

While I'm sure this time last year it definitely only seemed like Autumn, this year there has certainly been a touch of winter! Looking out at 11pm Saturday night revealed a clear, cold night and a full moon, and together I find they don't make the best conditions for fishing. What turned out to be a very slight touch of frost at 7am in my back garden got harder the nearer we got to the venue too, making me fear a hard day.

I was very surprised on walking round to find that the lake held a decent colour, and all round unlike the last time when it seemed patchy. I was fairly pleased with my draw, with peg 12 in my hand. It seems to be a peg that holds smaller fish, but on a cold day they are often more reliable. It's also an area that's been in decent form of late too.

I had four rigs up for the day, two for the island (14.5m was enough to reach into the small bay), a track rig at 6m and lastly a margin rig. I was going to fish quite light across but plumbing up revealed a fair size obstruction coming out from the bank to the left of where I decided to fish, while to the right are some submerged tree stumps, which point towards the near bank and to the left, meaning you're fishing behind them to reach the island. The main rig was a 4x10 Preston Chianti in not quite 3ft of water, on .15 line to a .13 hook-link (I was using a hook-link because of the snags) A size 20 Fox Series 2 hook and Preston 15 Hollo elastic finished the rig. Quite strong considering, but I wanted to get them out! The other rig for across was a 4x10 Preston PB2 set a foot off the deck. Line was .13 direct to the same hook as the last rig. I had a softer 13 Hollo elastic on this, to stop the fish splashing but would scale it up if I was losing fish. The middle line was a .3gr NG Floats Decker on .15 line to .13 and the same hook, again on 13 hollo, while the margin rig was the same as the far line deeper rig. Depth down the track was about five and a half foot, with three foot down the edge.

For some reason or other I wasn't quite ready at the start, so I fed the track line with a golf ball of crumb with a few micro's in, while the margin had a pinch of hemp and pellet plus four grains of corn. Some six or seven minutes later I shipped across on a 4mm expander with a tiny fruit-shoot lid pot filled with a few micros and a tiny pinch of crumb. It was probably only a minute before my first bite and a mirror of about 14oz was in the net, after freeing it from the snag which it bolted strait into!. After that fish no bites were forthcoming, and I began to have bad thoughts over the times I've had a fish first drop and it's proved to be the only one.....

Half an hour after starting, while I had been dropping in tiny amounts of crumb with just three or four micro's in, I slipped a grain of corn on the hook. I had a liner almost instantly before foul-hooking and losing a fish a few minutes later as I lifted the rig up. Another foul-hooker a few minutes later, which I again lost, led me to try the shallow rig. I did eventually get a bite on this fishing caster but from a fat perch about 4oz in weight. I went back on the deck after that and on the hour mark I had a slightly bigger carp of around a pound and a half on pellet, followed a crucian of about 10oz. Bites again faded after this and despite plugging away for another half an hour all I managed was two missed bites.

With just hour an hour and a half gone I decided to drop in on the track line on pellet. I waited only short while before a bite led to a sluggish resistance from a (very welcome) skimmer of about a pound and a quarter. No more followed so I topped the line up with another small ball of crumb, topped the margins up with a small amount of bait and went back across. A flurry of missed bites on the deeper rig led to try shallow again, and I missed the first two bites on that before shallowing up and connecting with a plump crucian nudging a pound in weight. This was followed shortly after by a common of about half a pound before bites tailed off for a bit, leading to spells on all three lines which didn't produce. I took the maggots (you know it's getting cold now!) out of the cool bag but all they produced were tiny wasp-like perch so I gave that idea up.

On the midpoint of the match I decided to try caster on the deck across, as I had dripped a (very) few in while using the shallow rig. I deepened the rig up to lay 3cm of line on the deck but this gave no joy, so with nothing to lose I slipped a pellet back on without changing the depth. That proved to be a good idea as a run of three carp, all about 2lb a piece followed, before predictably the bites slowed. The next fish coming took three times as long for the bite and it resulted in a crucian of about 8oz. With the sun on the far bank there were signs of fish moving shallow over the bait so I dropped in on the shallow rig, but I was very surprised to have no response at all on this. In the end I dropped it as far left as I dared, near the brambles growing behind the tree in the water visible in the pic. I eventually had a bite here and after a bit of a tussle my biggest fish of the day, a common of about two and half pound was in the net.

The next hour was somewhat slow, with just an odd small crucian or carp falling to pellet, nothing bigger than 8oz falling. The two closer lines were totally unproductive, even on maggot so I plugged away across. With just over an hour to go, with the sun (and temperature) dropping bites really started to fade away. I decided to slip on a grain of corn and a sharp dink on the float saw me attached to a very sluggish resistance which I expected to wake up any second. Halfway back and I realised it wouldn't as what seemed something very breamy plodded around and them surfaced, a skimmer of about 2lb! That proved to be the last proper bite, and I plugged away across due to lack of bites from the other lines. I had two liners which led to me alternating between the deck and shallow rig but I finished the match without adding anymore to the nets.

I was pleased to have had a few bites, as the three anglers I could see had all struggled, while I guessed I'd have around 18lb. However, one angler on the 20's was admitting to three decent carp, while another admitted to three carp and end peg 40 was admitting to three lumps. Given that one of those pegs weighed in three fish for 28lb in the last match I wasn't sure of framing. I was one of the earliest to weigh and was surprised lifting out my silvers net with it going 11lb 8oz, a couple of pound more than I thought. I was Damn close with my other net prediction of five carp for 10lb mind, as they went 10lb 1oz! As it turned out my 21lb 9oz total was enough to win, with peg 40's three fish going 18lb 2oz and 16lb odd being third.

Yes, winter has definitely arrived!

When Jack Frost Comes Knocking!

2010-10-18T12:30:00.003+01:00

With the first frost forecast I wasn't really sure what to expect on Sunday, but I did know that from walking around the lake I fancied a draw from 62 to anywhere in the 70's, with the sun facing them from early, and the fact that they would be in the sun all day I reckoned on those being the pegs to draw. The other side of the lake was distinctly cooler, with a touch of frost present on the ground between pegs 48 and 51.

For some reason I found myself in the draw queue about half-way down, earlier than I like to be, and when my hand came out of the bag I was somewhat disappointed to find peg 48 in my hand! In to the fridge it was then! Peg 48 has been somewhat a strange peg for me in the past, but generally it does one of two things; fishes well, or fishes hard!

With plenty of time to set up I decided on four rigs. I had two for the island, the first a 4x10 Preston Chianti on .15 line direct to a size 20 Fox Series 2 hook. The second had the same float and hook but on lighter .13 line. The stronger rig was matched to Preston 15h lakky, while the lighter was on a 13h. Depth here was not quite 2ft tight at 13m. The third rig was for 5m. Depth here was about 4ft and in the flat calm conditions a .2gr NG Floats Decker was plenty. Terminal gear was the usual .17 line to a .15 hook-link and an 18 Fox Series 2 hook, fished on black Hydro. I was reluctant to scale down on this line as when it goes on this peg they tend to be big fish. Last up was a margin line for 6m along the bank to my left. In not quite 3ft of water a 4x12 Preston Somo (I've changed the bristle to a plastic one) was used on .15 line direct to an 18 Fox Series 2 hook. Preston 15h finished this rig.

Just before the whistle I had the sun on my peg (not the water though!) to make a nice picture, but by the time I started I was most definitely in the shade again. The far line got just a pinch of 4mm pellets, while the 5m line had the same but with a few grains of corn. The margins had a pinch of hemp, a few grains of corn and just six small cubes of meat. I was reluctant to feed more at the start with the cold, after all, I could always step it up if I needed.

It took about five minutes for me to get the first indication on a 4mm expander, but I missed it. Strait back in and my suspicions were confirmed as a roach of about an ounce nabbed the pellet. I slipped on a grain of corn and started to drip a few pellets in to try and make a response. By this time everyone I could see opposite had a fish (carp) and some were even in t-shirts! With no sun on me I had my fleece zipped right up! After forty minutes or so a liner led to a bite on corn, and after a short but spirited fight a small mirror was in the net. Size-wise, I debated on which net to put it in (carp under a pound and silvers in one net) before decided it was just over a pound and put it in the big net. At least then both nets had fish in them! I tried dropping in without feeding next chuck, but after five minutes without sign I went back to dripping pellets in, but with no joy unless I went back to a small expander which produced an odd 1oz roach.

On the hour and a half mark I decided to come away from the island and drop in on the 5m line which I had been flicking odd grains of corn on to. I had a liner here which led to me staying on it a bit longer, but with nothing else after another ten minutes I abandoned it for the far line, after topping up the margins again. Practically on the two hour mark on the dot, the sun reached the island where I was fishing and the result was near instantaneous! Shame I missed it! Next drop and this resulted in another pasty mirror, a touch bigger than the first. I was starting to think about putting a few fish together but but that was the end of that with the next hour bite-less, and the sun once again left the island.

I felt upon leaving the island that I had nothing to lose in upping the feed, so I cupped in a quarter of a pot of pellets before dropping in on the margins. This was fruitless too so I decided that with an hour and forty or so to go to give that a decent pot of bait, giving it half a pot of casters and some come (something different) before dropping in on the 5m line. I had a bite instantly here and a common of about 2lb was the result, but no more followed. Going as I had with the other lines, with nothing to lose that too got a bigger amount of bait.

I decided to go down the edge on corn, and this produced knocks so I decided to switch to caster. Two small roach in as many drops were followed by and identical bite next chuck which saw considerably more elastic come out. A lively fight saw a ghostie of about 6lb in the net and the end of the bites here. Thinking that as caster had given the best fish smaller biats may be the way I put a quarter of a pot of choppy and caster in, but the only sign I had until the end here was a tail waving at me ten minutes before the end, which promptly disappeared when I lowered half a worm in front of it. The only other action of note was a flurry of missed bites on the 5m line. This led to me both deepening up and shortening the line above the float and when I did then hit one, it was a fully scaled mirror that weighed all of about 2oz! After this the tail waved at me and when that done it's disappearing act I did something I seldom do- packed up early!

As it happened in the end, for those that sat in the sun it fished quite well, with corner peg 62 winning with 60lb odd, with some near 40lb weights behind and quite a few 30's. I wasn't the only one who struggled and the others in the shade to my right mustered (I think) seven carp between three of them. Still, there's always next week!

Sunday October 10th

2010-10-10T21:06:00.004+01:00

With the weather being pretty decent all week I was hopeful of a decent days fishing, although walking round the lake before the match it was noticeable that the colour had dropped out of the water in certain areas. I was happy with the draw when number 14 was in my hand, with a nice long margin and the water still holding a reasonable tinge of colour compared to the later numbered pegs.

Plan of attack was the usual areas- a rig for across at 16m (a 4x10 Preston Chianti with a plastic tip in 3ft of water), a 5m line (using a .3gr NG Floats Decker in 5ft of water) and a margin rig for 13m to my left towards a corner ( a 4x12 Preston Somo, again in about 3ft of water) The margin and far bank rigs had floats with finer tips than those I've used of late with the water cooling down. The rigs were all on .15 (hook-link in the case of the deep rig) with 18 Fox Series 2's on them. Elastic was Preston 15h on the two shallower rigs and black Hydro on the deeper. With a few minutes to go I also decided to put up a shallow rig for using against the island, a ploy that works well for me when it's a bit cooler. A 4x10 PB2 float on .13 line direct to a 20 Fox Series 2 and Preston 13h was the lighter set up for this. Putting this rig up meant I wasn't ready at the start, hence why the pic is after the match!

I fed the margins with a pinch of hemp, corn and meat, while the 5m line had about a dozen grains of corn. First drop across was when any bait went in, with three grains of corn and half a dozen 4mm pellets topped off with a little groundbait. I started to get odd signs after a minute or so and after five minutes by first bite produced a skimmer of about 2oz. The next drop resulted in the pellet being shredded by small fish. A switch to a grain of corn produced a missed bite before giving me a small common of about a pound and a half. Floating leaves started to be a problem then and I had to re-plumb a little further along to get past where they were gathering!

I missed two or three bites on corn in the new area before I connected with one, and after a very lively fight a common of about 4lb was in the net- hooked neatly in the tail root! Bites faded after so I took the opportunity to top up the margin line before trying the shallow rig as odd carp were browsing among the drifting leaves but it bought no joy, and the same happened with a five minute try on the 5m line. Back across and a quick bite on corn on the deck produced a common of about 3lb before bites totally faded.

I plugged away across until the two hour mark when I had a try on the two closer lines. The 5m line produced nothing while a liner on the margin line led to to give it longer than I was going to for no reward! A spate of knocks that never developed on the deck across led to try the shallow rig again, shallowing it up to a foot deep before slipping double caster on the hook. I missed a sharp dig first drop, but a few minutes later another bite led to a ghostie of about 3lb. The next drop produced an almost instant bite and a better fish was the result with a chunky 5lb'er making it's way to the net. The next drop didn't go to plan though and a missed bite saw me attached to a snag in the water. As I shipped back to try and free the rig I heard a muffled "pupf" as I reached the no5 section and looked up to see the no2 section of the top-kit broke! The first time I'd used that top on the pole too, and while I'm aware the match-lite kits are only rated to a 12 I don't think a 13 hollow elastic was overdoing it!

I couldn't get a bite across after this so I decided on a drop in the margins. I missed a bite before the next one resulted in a crazy fight from very old looking torpedo shaped 3lb'er. I missed two or three more bites after before a switch to a small cube of meat had an instant result and produced a carp of about 5lb. I did have a few liners after so I topped up with a pinch of bait and went back across. Two carp in two chucks on the shallow rig (now with heavier 15h elastic after the miss-hap!) was the result, both shallow on caster and both around the 4lb mark. Bites faded on this after, and with the sun off the water now due to the tall tree's behind I decided to try the on the deck. With no joy on this I had a drop on the 5m line, but this was strangely quiet so it was back in the edge with an hour and a half to go.

I had a frustrating spell of missed bites here, both on corn and meat, which led to much rig tinkering. In the end I took a shot off the rig and waited a bit longer! This produced two good fish in a short while, the biggest perhaps nudging 7lb before I started to miss bites again! Eventually, with an hour to go carp number twelve fell, although smaller than the last two at not much more than 2lb. I then had to sit the last hour out as I couldn't get a bite off any line on any bait, and I have to admit I got quite worried as the peg to my right had six carp in as many drops from their margin swim before that died too with twenty minutes left.

On waiting for the scales I knew peg five had a few, and the main danger apart from that was peg twelve who'd had that late spell of what looked to me good fish. When the scales got to me those two had weighed in 34lb and 30lb, and my dozen fish went just over a pound more than my guess of 47lb, nudging the scales to 48lb 4oz. With nobody else having much more than 20lb it was enough for the win, but despite that I have to say I was still a little frustrated over the amount of missed bites! I wont fret too much over the busted top-kit, hopefully my tackle dealer and Garbolino will deal with that nicely for me!

100 Not Out!

2010-10-04T07:24:00.005+01:00

Doesn't time fly! And for my 100th post it was back on the same lake as I started this blog just over two years ago.

Walking around the lake and thankfully the tree's were sheltering it from the worst of the wind, with barely a ripple on the surface despite the wind howeling through the tree's. I quite fancied peg 14 as the leaves were gathering in the corner in 15 and, providing it stayed fishable, I thought long down the edge would be a good bet. I didn't draw it though! I had mixed feelings about peg 20- it used to be a proper flyer but it's recent form hasn't been great and it hasn't done a weight above 20lb for a fair time.

My first line of attack was at 16m just to my left on the island, on the edge of the bay visible in the pic. In previous times on the peg I've caught tight in the bay in a foot of water but the colour has dropped out slightly so I fished in about 2ft of water here. Rig was a NG Floats XTM on .15 line direct to an 18 Fox Series 2. Lakky was Preston 15h. Second rig up was for the margins to my right at about 9m. I had near 3ft of water here and gear was a .2gr DC5 on .18 direct to a 16 Fox Series 2, again with 15h lakky. Last up was a rig for 5m. In not quite 5ft of water rig was a .3gr NG Decker on .17 line to a .15 hook-link. Hook was an 18 Fox Series 2 and lakky was black hydro.

On the whistle I fed the far line with about twenty 4mm pellets and a pinch of loose crumb, while the 5m line had a quarter of a pot of corn with a pinch of hemp. Lastly, the margins had a third of a pot of hemp, meat and corn. Dropping across on a 6mm expander and I had a bite after only a minute or so. I played the common of about 4lb to the net before it got stuck round a straggly lilly in the edge and pulled off, trashing the rig in the process! Not a great start! On with a fresh rig and it didn't take long to get another response, and a solid 3lb common was soon in the net. Topping up with half a dozen pellets and a pinch of crumb saw another solid common join the first in the net in a matter of minutes before a spell of missed bites ensued as the rain started.

The rain heralded the start of a very frustrating spell where I was still getting bites but missing them. I tried corn on the hook, changing depths and the shotting and cutting out feeding the crumb, but in the next half an hour I probably missed ten bites. Eventually I caught a tiny roach on pellet but I'm sure they weren't the cause of all the bites! The swim faded after this and the bites died totally. I had a brief drop on the 5m line but ten bite-less minutes here saw me back across. I decided to try some choppy to kick-start the swim but all this bought was a few 2oz perch before that too faded.

It was the half-way mark in the match before any signs of life appeared. I saw a fish cruising in the very shallow water in the margins to my right so I dropped in on a cube of meat. It didn't take long for a bite and soon a nice chunky 5lb common was in the net but no more followed, and for the next hour I couldn't buy a bite anywhere. Eventually, a single grain of corn in the margins tricked another chunky 5lb'er. I missed a bite next drop and that was the end there for a while.

With just under two hours left I decided to feed a new swim on the far bank, half a section further to my left, and using just a tiny amount of crumb and a few grains of corn via the toss-pot. I'm not sure if it was this or the end of the rain and a lift in the temperature but after a two drops I had signs of life and the third drop gave me a bite. After a rather crazy fight a stunning looking silver/gold koi of about 6lb was netted, and almost immediately next drop it was followed by a mirror of about 4lb. The next few drops saw odd indications and just as I was about to give it a rest a bite produced a beautiful almost pure white ghostie which weighed about 2lb and fought like it was 22lb.

A lack of indications on the next drop led me to rest the swim and come in, and a try on the 5m line was useless so I found myself back in the edge. I missed the first bite, again on corn, and the second was a while in coming although again a decent fish of about 5lb. With nothing on the next drop I went across again, but bumping a fish saw the end of any action there and I spent the last spell of the match alternating across and the margins looking for bites. Just ten minutes before the end I had a decent common of around 7lb down the edge, and sticking it out there saw me miss a bite just before the end that I probably hit a touch too quick!

When the scales got to me there were weights of 36lb and 33lb. I had a level 1lb of bits and my nine carp went exactly 42lb for a nice and easy piece of adding up. I knew however that it would only be enough for second as peg 37 had spent the second half of the match bagging, putting not quite 63lb on the scales. In hindsight that was probably an achievable weight off my peg on the day (only three or four more fish at the stamp I had) and catching early probably led to me going at it a touch to much. What I didn't know also was that my peg was fished the day before in a match, something that would have led me to hang back a bit. I also think a more delicate rig, both across and in the edge would have given more hit-able bites. Time to put the summer gear away!

Sunday 26th September

2010-09-27T15:29:00.004+01:00

First of all, I'll apologise for the use of a "library" picture, but with the rain for the entire day I didn't want to get the camera out! We were back an lake two this Sunday, and while the last few days had been cooler I still fancied the island pegs to be the area to draw, although with a rather cold wind anywhere out of that would do. As you can seen from the (old) picture I didn't have an island in front of me! My home for the day was peg 68. I wasn't sure really what to expect from the peg- it's about the deepest on the lake (the same as 46 opposite) but it doesn't have the nice shallow margins that 46 has, with a good 5ft of water next to the reeds. It's a peg I've had a few times before and either had decent days off it or struggled.

Rig-wise for the day I started off with a deck rig for 13m. This was a .4gr NG Decker float, a nice stable pattern that would hold still in the skim in the six and half foot of water. This rig also doubled for the 2+2 line where it was about five inches shallower. This rig was on .17 line to a .15 hook-link and an 18 Fox series 2 hook. Elastic on this was black hydro. I also put up two shallow rigs on this line, but whether they'd be any good would remain to be seen. I also put up a tip rod to try if I was struggling. I'd elected to ignore the margins as they're so deep, I had the 2+2 line close to me and didn't think I needed another line so close to me in water not much shallower.

On the whistle the long line had a quarter of a pot of hemp and corn, while the 2+2 line had a third of a pot of corn. Starting on the long line on corn and very little was doing, and even toss-potting small amounts of hemp and corn every few minutes failed to get a response. On the half hour mark odd fish could be seen cruising, despite the rain, occasionally rising for a leaf. I decided to pick the catty up and flick a few pellets in, but stick on the deck rig for the time being. The rattle off loose pellet seemed to have an effect on some fish as I started to get odd nudges on corn, so I tried a pellet but this was just shredded by small roach. I went back out with a piece of corn and a bite which saw the lakky streaming out followed. I played the fish to the net and the moment I lifted the top-kit the common of about 3lb came off!

The swim carried on in the same vein after this, and even trying the shallow rig was fruitless, unless I tried and expander which was shredded whatever rig I tried it on. After an hour and forty I decided to have a drop on the closer line, which I had been regularly feeding by hand. First drop on a grain of corn gave me a common of about a pound and a half almost instantly, but no more bites followed. I had a last few minutes after on the long line which I had put half a pot of bait in before leaving but that failed to bring it to life so I decided to abandon the line and try a small method feeder about 16m out. I had a few casts on this and I was just beginning to think it wasn't going when the tip pulled round and a cruician of about a pound was in the net. Next cast saw a carp of about 3lb fall, both to corn before this line slowed and odd nudges were all the next couple of casts produced. With the pegs on the opposite bank catching in their shallow margins, and the match at the halfway mark I needed something to switch on for me!

Dropping back on the close line seemed to be the answer, as the next hour saw seven fish fall on this line all to single corn fished just over-depth. I'd shortened the line right up on this rig and just a gentle lift saw me connect with every bite I had in that hour, and topping up with a few grains of corn after each fish kept them there. None of the fish were big, all about 3lb, but it was fish going in the net none-the-less. The swim seemed to slow a bit after, although I was still getting indications, so I potted in about twenty grains of corn and left it for about twenty minutes while I had another go on the tip, although this was fruitless.

Going back over the close line saw bites coming, although not quite as fast and I started to miss odd bites. I was still catching though, but having to search the swim. Previously I was catching just to the right of where I was loose-feeding, where I guessed the feed was landing in the tow but I was having to fish around it to keep bites coming. I also found it better shallowing up and fishing at dead depth. The next hour saw seven more carp fall, and while the average stamp was the same 3lb'ers, the only two bites I'd had fishing right to the left of the bait in that time (above it with the tow direction) produced two bigger fish, one about 5lb and one about 7lb, with the biggest fish falling with an hour to go exactly.

The last hour proved to be very slow going, with bites hard to come by on the close line, and despite tinkering with the rig and depth, and trying both double corn and small bits of meat I seemed to be missing any bites I got. A spell back on the tip gave me another crucian and carp number sixteen before trying back on the close line. This produced only a small carp of about a pound and one fish that I bumped and I didn't manage to add to my net in the last twenty minutes, only missing two bites. In hindsight I wish I'd spent the last spell on the tip.

When the scales got to me the top three weights had come from the two pegs opposite, and peg 53 in the corner round the island. With 59lb 2oz being top, 57lb 9oz second and 47lb third the top was close. I honestly thought I'd be settling for third with about 55lb in the nets. With the weights being totted up after my three weights (two for carp and one for my two crucians) I really thought I was narrowly second but it turned up that I was narrowly first with a total of
59lb 5oz, which made a whole day sat in the rain seem worthwhile in the end! Looking at my gear after you'd have thought it had been in a lake all day, not beside one!

Sunday 19th September

2010-09-19T21:52:00.006+01:00

After last Sundays struggle on lake 1 I was looking forward to going back on lake 2, except that lake 2 had a club booking so the open was on lake 1 again! Still, at least peg 27 wasn't in, so all I needed to do was avoid the other pegs in the 20's and I'd have been a happy man at the draw. I was somewhat miffed then when my hand came out of the bag with peg 25 in it, as not only did it DNW last week, but the angler on it actually blanked!

Having walked around the lake before the draw there was very little sign of movement anywhere on the lake, with the early morning rain seeming to have put everything down. I had won of the peg the two previous times I'd drawn it so while it had no recent form, fish do have fins and swim! First job up was finding a suitable area to target across. After a fair bit of plumbing around to find an area clear of roots I eventually had a small area, perhaps two feet wide tight to the island to target, where the slope was nicely manageable, at 16m and just to my right. Depth here was about 2ft. Simple rig set up was a small NG Floats XTM on .15 line direct to an 18 Fox Series 2 hook. Lakky was Preston 15h. Second rig up was for the 2+2 line. Depth was just over 6ft here, but I wasn't that optimistic on it going as I never seem to catch on it in the 20's! Last up was a margin. I had to do a bit of bank side trimming to allow me to drag the rig in to the only area I could find suitable- a tiny area about the size of a shoe box at a distance of my top-kit plus the short no 4 to my left. Rig for here was the standard .18 line to a 16 Fox Series 2 hook, with purple Hydro. I'm sure regular readers will know the form by now with regards to rigs!

On the whistle I fed across with just a dozen or so pellets, while the two closer lines both had about a third of a pot (hemp, meat and corn) I was being a little more cautious after the slow form of the area and one or two colder nights. Starting across on a 6mm expander and it took ten minutes for before any movement appeared, slight dinks almost certainly from small fish. I started to trickle a few pellets in via a small pot after, and this produced a liner which was followed up by a roach of about 1oz. The next couple of drops gave more knocks so I tried a grain of corn over. This done the job of avoiding the roach and after a short while gave me my first carp of the day, a small common of about a pound and a half. Topping up with a few pellets each drop the next two put-ins also gave me carp, both around the two and a half pound mark. Bites weren't coming fast by any means, at around a seven or eight minute wait, but I was pleased to be off the mark!

Predictably, after that flurry bites faded away so I topped up with about twenty pellets and had a look on the 2+2 line. First drop in on a single cube of meat gave me a dumpy perch so I sat on corn for a few minutes, but with no joy. Going back across on corn gave no joy, just liners so I went back on pellet. Three fish in three drops (all about 3lb) followed the pattern of the last spell on this line to a tee; bite and fish, drop in and re-feed, wait a couple of minutes and repeat! It also went off again after the third fish! I topped up again with the bigger pot and tried both the other lines, but again no joy followed here.

Going back across and the next spell of the match followed the pattern again, where I'd catch two or three fish before they would back off. Topping up and waiting (on another line) they always came back. The fish all looked to be averaging 3lb, with an odd one a touch bigger and with just over two hours left I found myself on twelve carp. The most frustrating thing was not having a productive second line to dip in on while resting the far bank. I wasn't feeding a lot across so followed that on the other two lines; small amounts regular, but with nothing to lose I dumped a whole pot in the edge. After a wasted five minutes on the 2+2 line I dropped in the edge on double corn and soon found myself playing something a bit bigger. A common of about 7lb graced the net but (unsurprisingly, as I hooked it so close to myself) no more bites followed, so I gave the line half a pot and went back across.

Resting the far line had done the job and with fifteen carp in the net with ninety minutes to go I put another net in (fishery rules, max fifteen carp in a net) and found myself thinking about getting the lake 1 match record back! The far bank line was seeming to fade a bit and for the last spell of the match I found myself catching in ones or two's before it needed resting. I was at least managing to nab odd fish from the margins now, but only ever one before needing to rest that too. Meat seemed to get a quicker response here, and the fish were bigger there aswell, averaging 5lb. A steady run of rotating lines saw me finish the match on twenty four carp, missing a bite on the last drop in across and wasting the chance for twenty five fish (I did lose one fish, so I could have done it!)

I was guessing I'd have in the region of 80-85lb (with the match record being 84-10 I think) so I had a funny feeling that the lost fish would stop me breaking it. Despite my steady day I was surprised to find that the form pegs of the last few weeks had struggled, and 20-25lb weights seemed to be the norm. After weighing my two "plips" for 3oz I lifted my second carp net out and was surprised when the scales went to 47lb. With six more fish (albeit smaller) in the other net it I began to wonder what I might have. With definitely more weight in that net two weighs were done and with the first one going just over 30lb it looked like I'd not only do the record, but may also do the the first ton weight too. Looking at what I had left mind, it was going to be close. I wasn't going to look at the scales but couldn't help peeking, seeing a figure of 27lb something and meaning that I'd done it, not only breaking the record but also doing the first ton on the lake, and my first in a few years too! I can't remember the ounces but a total of 104lb something was WAY beyond what I thought I would ever have had off the peg!

Sunday 12th September

2010-09-13T14:13:00.006+01:00

With two wins in a row under my belt on the new lake I was looking forward to this Sundays match, especially as we're entering the time of year I find the best for fishing- early Autumn, where the fish hopefully are feeding up for the winter which is creeping up upon us!

I fancied an early number, any of the pegs between 5 and 14 would have done me nicely (the pegs I won the last two matches on) but I have to admit I was very disappointed to draw peg 27. Not only have the 20's not been in decent form, but I can't remember the last time 27 was in the bag! Must have been a while, as I had to clear a lilly bed from the front of the swim that had grown right over it, plus two branches that were in the way!

By the time I had my box levelled on the peg everyone else I could see were plumbing up, so I was slightly hurried to set up from the start. The 2+2 line was ruled out as there were still straggly lilly stems to about 6m, so I had a long line where the bottom just started to slope up at 14.5m. Depth here was 6ft and float was a .4gr NG Decker on .17 to a .15 hook-link, an 18 Fox series 2 finishing the rig off. I also put a shallow rig up for this line, just in case but didn't imagine using it. I eventually found a gap in the nearside roots in 3ft of water where I would have my margin line. Usual gear here for the edge really, with .18 line direct to a 16 Fox 2 and Purple hydro. Float was a .2 gr DC5. Lastly I put up the tip rod for trying the method to the island (too wide for the pole at about 19m), although a few casts with the bomb just seemed to hang up in the water chucking tight, meaning that it would be dropping short to get the feeder to the bottom, not ideal I find.

On the whistle the long line got half a pot of hemp and corn, while the margin had a whole pot of the same, plus a little meat. I started on the long line and regularly toss-potted a few grains of hemp and corn over the top. After about half an hour I started to get indications, although they seemed from small fish. Just on the hour mark I had my first proper bite on a single grain of corn, giving me a common of about 3lb. No more bites followed so I picked up the catty and started pinging pellets over the top. Odd fish were cruising so I had occasional fruitless tries on the shallow rig.

On the two hour mark I had a few chucks on the feeder. It didn't seem right with it dropping just short so I tried chucking it closer to no avail as it seemed to hand up on roots every time (and once it hung up the island too!) To cut the rest of a long boring story short until the last hour I never had another bite, and by this time the angler to my right had packed up bite less. I hooked a fish on the long line on meat which came adrift halfway back. I then dropped in the margin and had a mirror about 5lb on double corn. I foul hooked a fish next chuck and that was that! The two anglers to my left also had two fish a piece, all caught in that last hour.

The first and second weights were next to each other (pegs 12 and 14) with 66lb winning and 50lb+ second. All in all a disappointing day from a peg that I'd run to from November to March, but have struggled from both times I've drawn it in warm weather.

Sunday 5th September

2010-09-05T22:02:00.004+01:00

Well, it seems that I fished the wrong day last weekend, as the bank holiday Monday open on the old lake was won with 105lb and the back up weights were decent too! When my hand went in the bag it came out with form peg 53, the peg that won on Monday and has framed in the last four or five matches. I was quite happy with that, until I found out that the peg had been fished the day before on a private booking- meaning that you don't know whats been thrown in the peg, including floating baits.

On putting my box down there were a few fish moving about and it looked like a good day may be in the offing. The plan of attack was easy enough, I ignored the far bank totally and decided to concentrate on two margin lines (left and right) and a 2+2 line. The left margin was a touch deeper than the right, with 2ft to the right and a few inches more to the left. I used one rig for both, but used the extra time gained from the quick set up to tie loads more margin rigs in case I needed them! The margin rig was a NG floats XTM on .18 line direct to a 16 Fox Series 2, with purple Hydro completing the set up. The 2+2 rig was a .3gr diamond bodied float in 4ft of water. Terminal gear was .17 to .15 and an 18 Fox Series 2, with black Hydro.

On the whistle the right margin got a whole pot of hemp, meat and corn, while the 2+2 line had half a pot of corn. I didn't feed the left margin to start with, waiting to see what happened on the other lines. I had half an hour on the 2+2 and had nothing to show for it apart from a liner. With odd fish showing in the edge I decided to have a drop there. It didn't take long to get a bite on double corn. I played the fish, which looked a good 6lb to the net before I lost it! It felt weird playing it and the reason why was revealed after, as I had a float and a length of line (complete with stonfo and a short piece of elastic) wrapped around my rig! I decided to feed the other margin with a small amount of bait after this, and ended up dropping in on this soon after as the right margin didn't give me anymore bites.

The left margin was quick to show life, and two bites in two chucks on double corn saw me off the mark. Neither of the fish were big, both about 2lb. After this bites faded so topped it up with half a pot and dropped back on the 2+2 line which I had been regularly loose feeding. No joy here in about ten minutes saw me back in the right margin. After a wait of about half an hour the steady toss-potting of bait saw a flurry of action with two quick fish falling to double corn. The first was about 5lb and the second about 3lb. The swim then started to fade away, although this seemed to coincide with the start of the Duxford Flying Legends airshow!

The next few hours were very frustrating, as while fish were present in the swim they really didn't want to feed, no matter what I tried! I did lost two fish in the next two hours, both probably foul-hooked! Still, at least the planes gave everyone something to watch, with the Red Arrows tree top skimming above us, rattling my footplate under my feet! Just as the display started to subside carp number five fell to meat in the right margins, at about 4lb in weight. Any thoughts of the fishing starting to pick up again was scuppered by the Battle of Britain memorial flight buzzing over the top of us, with the Lancaster looking low enough to near take the tops off the trees! Actually, I quite enjoy seeing them, and anyway, everyone on the lake was in the same situation.

Eventually, with just over an hour to go the fish started to settle in my right margin. Two fish of about 6lb a piece fell to meat, before I lost one which bust the hook off in the roots further along the bank. On with a brand new rig (and float) and another fish fell, this one about 4lb. The next bite saw another fish that went under the roots and broke the rig, and trashed the float! Who says hand-made's are tough? just one fish on that float then! Just as well I made up plenty of margin rigs before the match. I topped the swim up with the big pot and had a drop in the other margins, and an 8mm cube of meat got me a bite which gave me a little tiny common of 1oz! The rest of the match went fairly steady in the right margins, finishing up with a dozen carp, including a ghostie of about 8lb plus a couple of 6lb fish. Most of the bites came on a whole toss-pot of bait, and if this didn't give a bite in a few minutes than dropping half a cup of bait in seemed to do the trick.

When the scales got to me a weight of just over 70lb was top, with two close 49lb weights behind, all from the open water. My proper carp went 50lb exactly on the scales, and my little carp 1oz for a total of 50lb 1oz (easy maths that!) for comfortably the best weight from the island pegs, but only just good enough for second! Typical, I draw the island and the fish preferred the open water! The planes definitely effected the fishing, and I'm sure some good weights would have been had if it were not for the disturbance!

Sunday August 29th

2010-08-30T10:41:00.006+01:00

I have to say it seems Autumn has arrived earlier than usual this year, with the weather being a little on the rough side! On walking round most of the pegs on lake 1 were fairly well sheltered from the wind, although some more than others. When I drew peg 5 I have to say I was more than happy as not only was I in an area with a lot of room but it was also one of the more sheltered pegs, although every now and then the wind did seem to catch in the tree's and swirl heavily in front of me.

The first line of attack was for the island at about 15.5m, just in the small bay visible in the pic. It was in about 16in of water here and the float was a small NG Floats XTM. They are designed as a margin float but the nice fat plastic top means they are easy to see at distance, plus they are nice and compact for shallow water. With big fish the norm on this peg the rig was on .18 direct to a 16 Fox Series 2 hook and lakky being Preston 15h. This was going to be a worm line as it served me well last time! Second line of attack was the 2+2 line. This area of the lake is the deepest down the track so it was fished at an angle to my left (11 O'clock) were it had started to shallow up, probably by ten inches compared to directly in front. With the wind a nice stable NG Decker float in .4gr was set up in about six and a half foot of water. The float may seem light for the depth but they are very stable! Usual terminal gear here; .17 line to a .15 hook-link and an 18 Fox Series 2 hook. Last line up was the margins to my right. As the lake is narrowing here (to the left) by fishing to my right I was actually sitting on the side of my box and fishing behind me! I'm sure you know the margin rigs by now, purple Hydro and .18 line direct to a 16 Fox Series 2. Float was a .2gr DC5 in about two foot of water. I wasn't going to feed worm here at the start, firstly wanting to see how the fish responded to meat, corn and hemp.

On the whistle the far line received half a pot of choppy and caster, while the 2+2 line had quarter of a pot of corn, and lastly, the margins had a whole pot of hemp, meat and corn. Predictably, the first few fish across on single large pieces of worm were small perch. I was topping the swim up every few minutes with a toss-pot of choppy every few minutes (or every perch) and on the twenty minutes mark I had my first carp, a small one of not much more than 2lb. Bites seemed hard to come by after this so I topped up again with half a pot of choppy. The swim was slower now, but at least when I had a bite on worm they were from bigger perch. The downside was that the wind was picking up and making presentation harder. I tried a piece of corn to try and avoid perch and it was taken on the drop- by a perch! I topped up the margins, while I had been loose-feeding the 2+2 line anyhow. On the hour mark the wind had got sufficiently bad that I had to take the toss-pot off.

On the hour and a half mark I decided to give myself a break from the long line in the wind and dropped in on the 2+2 line. The float didn't settle properly and I was just about to lift the rig up when the float went. I lifted up and had a sluggish resistance for a second or two before everything went slack. Just at the moment when I thought I had lost the fish a skimmer of about 2lb came flying out of the water! With that in the net I had some knocks the next drop but they didn't develop so I potted some more corn on top and left it. I'd seen a decent carp cruising along the margin but didn't want to drop in on the margin that early so I kept it topped up and went back across.

The wind had got awkward now and at times it was impossible to hold the pole still, and the only bites were from perch. I made the decision that as the chop wasn't working, and that in the wind I wouldn't be fishing across a lot, that I would feed pellet and corn over. This hopefully would stay around longer to hold any carp instead of being eaten by perch! I dropped back on the short line and after a minute or so I had a bite on corn that gave me a small carp of about 10oz. I decided to start feeding a few pellets too with small carp about, and after a few minutes tried an expander on the hook. My first bite on this was met with another skimmer of about 2lb! Not that I was fussed as I couldn't see a lot else being caught.

After that skimmer bites seemed hard to come by so I potted in a decent pinch of corn with a few pellets and dropped on the island line with a pellet. I missed a bite on this instantly which saw a carp spook out of the swim, and no more bites followed. The wind had got really quite bad at this point and decided to drop on the margin line, saying to myself that if I got bites here I'd abandon the far line in the wind. First drop in the edge was on double corn, and it took no more than a minute or so to get a bite. After a hefty fight a chunky ghostie of about 8/9lb was in the net, that'll do! I topped up with half a pot of bait and had an instant bite over that, again on corn. This fish was a bit smaller at a chunky 4lb. As I'd had that bite so quick I dropped over it with just a few grains of corn in the small pot. Just as I was considering giving it a bigger amount again my third bite here gave me a decent common of about 5lb. Due to the time this one took I topped up with half a pot again but with no bites in five minutes I decided to rest it. There was still two and a half hours left- no need to push it!

Back on the deep line and a missed bite on corn saw me try a small cube of meat and this gave me a small common of about 12oz, which was then followed by a bigger one of about 2lb. I started to see tails in the edge again and dropped in over them. This saw a frustrating time with tails around the float but no bites! I decided to try some choppy (it was raining now) and I'm not sure if it was the rain or the introduction of the worm but the fish disappeared! Dropping back on the 2+2 line saw me catch a roach on meat so I topped it up with half a pot of corn and tried the edge again, but this seemed lifeless. With an hour and a quarter to go I decided to try something positive in the margins and gave it a whole pot of meat and corn, followed by a whole pot of hemp!

Back on the 2+2 line and a bite on meat saw me hook something much bigger than the other carp that had fallen on this line. After a few minutes a chunky common of about 6lb was in the net. I dropped back in after and had a few roachy knocks so decided to top the line up with half a pot and drop back in the margins. With an hour to go I had a few tails waiving at me here anyway!

The last spell down the edge went quite well, with steady bites to meat. Each time I had to top-up with a decent amount of bait and wait for a fish to come back, but they always did! I finished the match with eleven carp, and the last few edge fish were all good stamp fish, all being in the 4-6lb bracket. One did outwit me, as it spent the last five minutes waving it's tail at me, eating everything in sight apart from my bait!

I was happy with the outcome of the day, especially with the weather being so rough (I was actually cold, and had to fish most of the afternoon with a coat on) and the wind had most definitely made things hard! One person was admitting to nine carp, and somebody else to twelve but I was hopeful that the good average stamp of fish would do the trick for me, which they did, going 63lb 12oz on the scales. 51lb 6oz was second and a couple of big 30lb weights were next, not bad considering the conditions on the day and the amount of water that had gone in (the lake was about 8in higher than last week) Things could most definitely have been much worse, as a tree came down in the wind on the same swim on the old lake that I was on last Sunday!

Sunday 22nd August

2010-08-23T18:50:00.007+01:00

Well, Sundays of late seem to developed a theme- we gets lots of rain in the early hours! I have to admit to being somewhat tired on arrival in the morning after being woken up good and properly by a thunderstorm at 4.45am.

As usual I had a walk around before the draw and while there were a large group of fish cruising in front of peg 46, I fancied a draw around the island, in what had been the form pegs. What I drew instead was an in-between peg (48) on the end of the island. I was pretty happy with it to be honest as while it doesn't have the greatest form of late (nowhere near what the pegs on the back, where I spent all winter and now can't draw when you want them!) have, but all said it's decent later summer peg in my experience.

Plan for the peg was pretty simple, a 4x10 Preston durafloat was put up for fishing in about 18in of water next to the island at 13m. Terminal gear was .15 line direct to an 18 Fox Series 2 with Preston 15h lakky. A 2+2 rig was next up, with a .3gr diamond bodied float on .17 line to a .15 hook-link. Hook was the same as the previous rig and lakky was a shorter length of black hydro. Last rig up was for the margins, and you'll probably know the drill here! In 2ft of water in the left margin I used a .2gr DC5 on .18 line direct to a 16 Fox Series 2, with the lakky being purple hydro.

While I was setting up there were quite a few fish cruising around the point of the island so on the whistle I hardly fed the long line, giving it just six pellets (enough for a bite, hopefully!) while the margins had a whole medium pot of hemp, meat and corn. Lastly the 2+2 had half a pot of corn. My hopes of an instant bagging session went almost immediately when dropping in against the island a tiny roach mullered the pellet, a bad sign in my experiance on island pegs. The next couple of drops gave me another small roach and then a tiny carp so I decided to feed half a pot full of 6mm pellets to try and get the carp to get their heads down. Another small roach after led me to try a banded pellet instead and after a few knocks on this it had the desired effect as my first carp of the day fell, albeit a smallish fish of about 2lb. The next bite gave another small 1oz carp so I topped up with a toss-pot of pellet. I thought I'd got it sussed when the next bite gave me another carp of about 2lb but the roach returned after and no matter how I increased the feed it bought just roach. In fact, once the roach were back the more I fed the more the roach drove me mad!

I took this as the cue to drop in on the 2+2 line and a quick bite saw me connect with a fish that was on for a few seconds before it came adrift. After this the only bite I had was a small roach that fell to meat so I gave the line half a pot of corn and left it. I had a drop on the margins on meat but the amount of roach that knocked the meat about led me to top it up and leave it alone. A drop on the long line gave me just a small carp so I dropped in on the 2+2 line. After a couple of minutes I had a carp of about 3lb, and dropping the rig in again, followed by a few grains of corn got his (or hers) twin! Trying the same routine again didn't produce, and even the bubbles that had been present had gone.

I had a fruitless try on the other lines and with two hours to go my fifth carp fell to me slapping my margin rig in front of it as it nosed among some floating weed drifting about! No more followed, and despite occasional signs in the edge I could only get knocks from roach. With an hour to go I topped the margin swim up and dropped strait on top of the bait with double corn. After a few seconds a tail pattern appeared behind my float then it buried! Carp number six was about 4lb, but topping up with a whole toss-pot bought another carp quickly- all 3oz of it that took double corn! I gave the line half a pot and tried the 2+2 line again but with no joy. With just over half an hour to I dropped in the edge again but nothing fell, so thinking along the lines of "nothing ventured, nothing gained" I put a whole pot of bait, full to the brim in the edge. Carp seven quickly resulted, but topping up with the big toss-pot didn't have the desired result. Another whole pot went on and carp eight followed! So in again after a pot of bait and number nine followed, and then again for number ten! all about 4lb. With not much more than ninety seconds to go I just filled the toss-pot with hemp hoping for a quick bite, and it worked but the fish, which felt a bit bigger came off.

I have to say I was a bit disappointed in sussing it too late- I'd guessed that after the rain the fish wouldn't really be that hungry, especially as those cruising looked un-interested. The thing was the last few weeks they wanted grub and I didn't get it right. Maybe I should even gone down the worm route that worked for me on lake 1 last week. My ten carp went just over 34lb, but was only good enough for 5th behind a 50lb winning weight and three weights of 44lb, all weights that were probably achievable had I got it right. Best try better next week hadn't I!

Sunday 15th August

2010-08-15T20:33:00.003+01:00

Longer term readers may remember that nearly a year ago after an indifferent match on lake one I predicted that a choppy approach would be the way to go, and the next week (back on the same lake) I didn't bring any worm and the match was then won by somebody who did! I wasn't doing the same again so this week I came armed with half a kilo of worms too after saying I thought worm would be the way last week. I did forget to order more casters during the week mind, so had to make do with just a pint, DOH!

I walked around the lake before the draw and had a few pegs in mind that I'd like; 5, 7, 11, 20 and 37. I didn't manage any of those but was fairly happy with peg 14, as while it's quite a wide peg (just over 16m) it also has a long margin with plenty of overhanging cover. I meant to take a picture of the margins too but forgot! Just as well mind, took ages to load the picture now I have treated myself to a proper camera instead of using my phone.

Plan of attack was two rigs for across, firstly a 4x12 rig for just over 2ft of water across at about 16.5m. I couldn't fish any tighter over due to the roots in the water. Second rig was a shallow rig set to fish at foot deep, and maybe to chance shoving right in to the bank if I was brave! Both were on .15 direct to an 18 Fox Series 2 hook. Float on the shallow rig was a 4x10 PB2 where as the deck rig was a Durafloat that I can't remember the number of. Lakkys were 15h on the deck rig and black hydro on the shallow. I also had a rig for the 2+2 line fished slightly to my right, downwind. This was just behind a lilly bed too, in about five and a half feet of water. I'm sure you know the rig for this by now! Last up was a margin rig. After a good plumb around I settled for a line at about 12m to my left, in just over two foot of water. This was a 4x12 Malman float, I don't know which pattern it is as I've had it since a tackle review for Midland/Southern Angler magazine three years ago. The most important thing (apart from it's strength) was that it has a yellow top! (why are they so hard to come by?) Rest of the rig was standard margin gear; purple Hydro with .18 line direct to a 16 Fox Series 2.

I was a bit late starting today (making rigs on the bank!) so about five minutes after everyone else the far line was few with half a pot of chop and caster, while the 2+2 line had quarter of a pot of hemp and corn. Lastly the margins had half a pot of meat, hemp and corn. Unsurprisingly the wind had also taken the whistle as a signal to start, making me glad I'd left a long line above the float. A missed bite on a 2in piece of worm was followed by two micro perch. Topping up with a toss-pot after the second perch I decided to try double caster. This had the desired result as lifting resulted in lakky streaming out! A common of about two and a half pound found it's way in pretty quickly. Next drop gave another tiny perch so I tried a grain of corn out of the choppy mix. This also gave a quick response and a common that was the twin of the first was soon in the net. The next drop however saw me foul hook and lose a fish and this seemed to slow everything up.

I took the lull as a chance to top up the other two lines before going across again on worm. The tiny perch seemed to have disappeared and the odd bite that followed in the next half an hour or so gave chunky perch in the 4-6oz bracket. They weren't coming fast, and the odd liners in between lead to me trying the shallow rig but to no avail. I kept topping the swim up with a toss-pot of choppy mix every few minutes and just after the hour mark carp number three fell, a ghostie of about 2lb on a 2in long piece of worm. The swim definitely felt like it was going away from me at this time, and the wind was picking up too. The peg to my right was starting to catch now, but they looked like smallish fish.

The next two hours were very frustrating, I foul hooked and lost a fish across, while also missing a couple of bites on the shallow rig. I gave the 2+2 line a go and had a quick bite on corn but that only gave me a pastie of about 10oz, but no more bites followed. A drop in the margins where odd fish were starting to move gave me just one missed bite on meat. I plugged away for a bit but nothing else came so I decided to put a big pot of choppy in the edge. I rested the line for ten minutes before dropping in again. I gently lowered a 2in piece of worm down and it just carried on going, followed by the elastic! A chunky 4lb common was soon in the net, but the next few drops gave only perch. I decided to try two small cubes of meat which had been in the worm mix (I'd thrown meat, hemp and corn in with the worm to bulk out the particle content as I was rationing the casters) This gave a pretty quick result with a fat mirror of about 5lb before I lost a fish next drop and predictably bites slowed. I topped up with a whole pot of choppy mix and had ten minutes on the 2+2 line but only a liner followed on it.

The last hour and a half was quite steady in the end once I'd worked it out; the small toss-pot was changed for a large one and fed after every fish, even the micro perch! Normally two or three perch would then be followed by a carp (or two or three) before the swim faded. This would then be the signal to feed a large amount with the big cup and start again. None of the fish were big, 4lb'ers being the average stamp but with an odd smaller one thrown in. One or two two inch pieces of worm were doing the damage. With twenty minutes to go I was on fourteen carp when my steady rhythm went to pot when the wind blew at the same time as I bounced a perch off, leaving my rig up the marginal bush! Resting the pole on the bank I had to walk along the bank and crash through the cover to get it back, only sitting back on my box I found I'd snapped the wrong branch! Ooops! Back in again and the rig was free, except no self respecting carp would come back, right? wrong! After two perch (feeding on top as I was) the third bite was met with yards of elastic. Until it got stuck in the lillies past where I was fishing! I got it out, played it to the net where it got stuck in the lillies just to my right and I lost it! And the rig..... With just a minute or so left I didn't bother to start again, but could clearly see two or three big fish feeding in the margins. Guess they knew what time it was!

Top weight when the scales got to me was about 25lb, and the most anyone was admitting to was about 40lb. I was sure I'd have just over 50lb, and with not quite 5lb of bits thrown in too I totaled 58lb 10z. Following the scales round saw a 35lb weight followed by a 46lb and a 41lb weight leaving me first! I was happy enough with the result, but I do think had I fed the edge with worm from the off I could have had a bigger weight, as fish were there pretty quick but I couldn't catch when I dropped in. Still, I enjoyed the day and it's given me something to work on in the future when the fish don't seem to be feeding so well.

Sunday August 8th

2010-08-09T12:17:00.005+01:00

I have to admit this weekend I was a little concerned as to how Lake 1 would fish, there hadn't been a match on if for three weeks leading up to this Sunday, plus we'd had a fair amount of rain (including a lot early that morning) and as most of the regulars will tell you, the fishery tends not to respond very well to rain!

Walking around before the match no areas seemed to look anymore favourable, so my wish was to not draw one of the wider pegs that saw me needing beyond 16m of pole. Now this wish is probably why I found myself drawing peg 18, because as 27 wasn't in, it was the widest peg in the bag at a good 17m wide. To add to the day it was then drawn as the golden peg as I was lugging my gear away from the car park, a sure kiss of death for me! And it's my luck to draw it when it's only worth about £30...

Plonking my box on the peg and a few fish could be seen moving in the small bay in the island, and this was my first line of attack. A full 17.5m to the corner of the small bay found about 20in of water. Rig for this was a small Preston Durafloat on .15 line direct to an 18 Fox Series 2 hook, with Preston 15h lakky completing the rig. I decided to neglect the margins as I'd have to fish very close to myself so the other line was at 5m, or the 2+2 line as it's commonly becoming known! Rig for this was standard fayre, a .3gr diamond bodied float in 5ft of water. This was on .17 line to a .15 hook-link. Hook was also an 18 Fox Series 2. Elastic for this line is something I've been playing with as I seem to lose fish on latex close as they charge off. I decided to try a shorter length of hollow lakky, with a 6ft 6in length of black Hydro hopefully cushioning the run but not being awkward to net fish on.

On the whistle I decided to feed the close line with a pot of hemp, corn and a few bits of meat, and then drop strait on the long line just feeding it with a toss-pot as fish were present. It didn't take long to get signs of fish and after no more than a couple of minutes I foul-hooked a carp lifting the rig but it came off. The next half an hour turned out very frustrating, if I didn't feed I had no signs of fish (apart from a 2oz roach on pellet) yet feeding just six pellets led to five minutes of tails around the float before the fish then buggered off! Laying the bait on, trying it a few inches off the bottom and even banding a feed pellet made no difference. Eventually a fish did fall to a 6mm expander and a common of about 3lb was in the net, after I left the rig in ages after the fish seemed to have gone.

The next two hours were very frustrating, with the same pattern happening, not only to me but to others too. I tried a longer line above the float but it made no difference. Dumping half pots of bait and leaving it seemed to take the fish longer to respond but with the same result. Out of frustration I had half a dozen chucks with a small method feeder but all that resulted were liners, and I was sure it would give me a fish! After this spell I decided to have a drop on the 5m line, corn only gave a liner so I tried meat and had another 2oz roach in the net.

With two hours to go I was dropping back on the long line with a grain of corn when the pole was nearly pulled from my hands, and a crazy fight saw a ghostie of about 2lb in the net, a fish that definitely had more energy than it's size suggested! No more on corn led me to top up with a few pellets and a bite on pellet saw me attached to another carp and saw me thinking I had it sussed. With another 3lber in the net and not much else I could see being caught things were looking up but no more followed. With just over an hour left, and my back suffering a bit I was back on the short line. A quick bite saw me attached to a bigger carp that fell to a grain of corn, this one about 5lb. I then lost the next one about ten minutes after by doing something I never normally do fishing- I was on the phone, and I normally ignore it!

I decided to rest the swim after losing the fish, topping it up with half a cup of hemp and corn. nothing showed long (after they ate the loose pellet!) so I was soon back in close. The first bite saw a baby crucian of about 8oz in the net, but in the last half an hour I added three more carp, all about 4lb, with the last one being hooked no more than than a couple of seconds before the whistle!

Word before the scales got to me was that peg 25 had caught well late on, and any hopes of the golden peg were gone anyway when the scales got to me with 36lb being top. My guess of 30lb proved to be pretty accurate with my fish going 30lb 14oz! Peg 25 then had 46lb odd to take the match, leaving me in third. I think afterwards it's fair to say that I spent far too much time chasing the fish that were feeding up the island, although with the water being cooler from the rain I think that a chopped worm and caster approach would have scored, but I'm not one for carrying £15 quids worth off bait with me just in case! On the plus side, I did tweak a few things that I did with regards to the 5m line and it's the best result I've had off the line so far on that lake. I'm also happier with the elastic choice for the line now. I think next weeks match is on the same lake again so I guess that I'll get a chance to see!

Sunday 1st August

2010-08-02T20:12:00.004+01:00

I was surprised to find that this Sunday was back on the old lake, guess I should have asked really! Would have saved me carrying groundbait and micro pellet that I didn't need for a start.

Walking round I fancied a peg round the island, as last week, and like last week drew near as far away as I could get from the island! Peg 73 was in my hand, a great winter flier which I never managed to get anywhere near over the last winter. The reeds in both margins are great for holding fish in the winter but I tend to think that the fish aint in them when they're hungry.

I had to put a rig up for the reeds, which I prefer to fish shallow in. Before the match there wasn't a lot of movement in the reeds but I thought that fish may move in to them if they were feeling pressured. A 4x10 Preston pink on .20 line to a short .18 hook-link with an 18 Fox Series 2 hook and Preston 15h lakky was for the here. With a few fish cruising in the open it would also double as a shallow rig for out in the open water, along with a polyball rig I put up to fish very shallow. This was set up on the same terminal gear. Last up was a 5m deck rig, normal gear here, a .3gr diamond bodied float on .17 to .15 with an 18 Fox Series 2. Playing around with things again this was on a 14 latex.

On the whistle I fed the 5m line with half a pot of hemp and corn, and electing to leave the margins to see what happened there I went out to 13m shallow. I gave it about twenty minutes with no joy with the fish clearly staying clear of the feed. With odd fish showing in the margins I dropped in on the deeper rig but the only sign of anything was constant dobb's on the float from small fish. Dropping in the right margins instead I missed a quick bite but nothing else materialised. Figuring it was too early for the 5m line I went back on the shallow line with the deeper rig. Odd knocks from roach were the only sign for a while so approaching the hour mark I came back in to the edge where a group of carp were mooching. I had no proper bites but after topping up the 5m line I managed to mug a mirror of about 6lb in the left margin by lowering a pellet on it's head!

With nothing else doing in the margins after I did have a brief go on the 5m line but the only thing doing there was a few liners. I had another brief go on the shallow line but was roached out again. In the next half hour I rotated the two closer lines but apart from liners on the 5m line nothing was happening. The margins seemed very lifeless and I elected in the end to sit on the 5m line which made it a lot easier to feed the shallow line, which with the cruising fish seemed best bet to me. At this time nobody was really catching- the angler opposite had three small carp where as the next peg had four or five but they looked very small. I had about thirty minutes on the 5m line with nothing but liners so I went back on the shallow line.

The regular feeding while not fishing had seemed to have done the trick for the shallow line as the next hour or so gave me five more fish, not big fish, mostly about two and a half pound, but fish none the less! Predictably the swim slowed down after the flurry so I dropped back in on the 5m line. After lowering the rig in no sooner had the grain of corn touched the bottom than the elastic pulled out, it's just a shame that after a minute or so the the hook pulled out too! I did manage a carp on this line about five minutes later,but again it was small at about 3lb and no more followed.

The lack of bites here was a signal to go out shallow again, but nothing was happening. After about twenty minutes I decided try and force matters a bit and rather than just changing the rates of feed I upped the amount of bait considerably. This seemed to have the required effect with regards to drawing fish back as activity increased, but it was probably another quarter of an hour before a fish made a mistake, falling during a gap in the feeding when fish were swirling. The next half an hour two more fish fell, again all smallish fish averaging about 3lb. The fish after predictably got wary again and backed away. I had a quick drop on the 5m line and hooked a fish here but this stayed on for only a few seconds before coming off.

With the last hour approaching I more or less abandonded the closer lines and found that by having spells of feeding very regular and fiarly heavy followed by lulls seemed to trick some fish, and even had two slapping the water with the pole. Average size was small again with the exception of the twelth carp which was perhaps nudging 5lb. With half an hour to go again the fish went wary and I found that more regular and frugal feeding seemed better and I managed four fish in the last twenty minutes, again all in the two and a half to 3lb mark. The last was put in the net just three minutes before the end and I tried to starve one last fish out by hardly feeding and tapping the pole but it wasn't to be.

After packing away I joined the scales half way around the island and peg 53 (the furthest corner behind the island) was top weight with 56lb. I was pretty sure I wouldn't have that, guessing I'd just scrape 50lb. I definatly didn't have the 60lb and a few ounces that the other corner peg behind the island (62) had. When I eventually weighed in my fish went 51lb 6oz which was enough for third, although comfortably the best weight in the open water. I was happy enough with that as I felt I'd worked hard for what I had, but on the other hand had I gambled on forcing the swim a bit earlier I may have made up the difference. The two lost fish on the 5m line may have also have pushed me close, especially to second. Losing two from three here was dissapointing so I think I'll play with hollows again for the deeper lines. What was also noticable was the lack of bigger fish in the open water, where as those round the island had a few bigger fish. Unusually, even the fish I have very shallow were small, still, you can only catch whats infront of you!