A Long Time Away!

I honestly hadn't realised it's been six months since I last sat down and updated my blog! So what's happened in that time?

Well, away from match fishing I've finally managed to catch my first 20lb carp, a common of 22lb 14oz. Alas, it wasn't from the river but I've still done it! The river campaign hasn't been a complete loss, but I had a while off it at the start of the season as I was just too busy. I've notched up a small common of just over 8lb but I was quite happy with that - a fish that perhaps had never been caught before. It certainly put up a hell of a scrap! I've still got one more session planned while the weather holds - you never know...

I've not done incredibly well in terms of matches, about half-a-dozen wins and a few frame places. There has however been a lot of could have / should have done betters. The best of the bunch was a win this Sunday just passed with 127lb 5oz - mostly taken on the short pole and meat/corn, either in the edge or just down the near slope. Thoroughly enjoyable as much for the beautiful weather as much as the fishing!

With the evenings well and truly drawing in, and the fact that I've actually got my home broadband in to the 21st century and got it wireless, I'll hopefully be bringing back a few regular updates!

Tight Lines!

Gavin

Winter League Final Round 23/3/14

And once again there's no picture! It's not that I forgot, it's just the weather decided to go back to winter and rain/sleet on us as I packed up, not the best conditions to get a camera out.

Before the draw the points were read out and I had a two point lead, however I knew I dropped more points as my worst result was a better result than the second placed anglers. However, it was impossible for me to finish outside of the top three so at the very least a placing was on the cards!

I had mixed feelings about peg 25 when I drew it - generally it's a decent peg, and one that's been kind to me in the past. However, in the last few matches the anglers there have struggled. To add a little spice to things my nearest rival in the league had drawn peg 27 - the next peg in to my left! I had three rigs up to approach the peg. A deck rig about 3ft deep which did both across at about 15m and in to the margins to my left at 6m, a shallow rig to fish at around 2ft deep across and a track rig in about 6ft of water fished at an angle to my left at 13m just where it started to shallow up. All the rigs had .14 hook-links to size 16 B611's and were matched to brand new Preston 12 Dura Hollo, which happened to be through brand new top-kits of my nice shiny new G-Max Super Match pole! A little birthday present to myself last week.

On the whistle I fed a small ball of dampened micro pellets and a few grains of corn on the track line before going across on the deck rig on corn. I spent the first half an hour having five minute drops along the bank in front of me looking for any signs. With no signs directly in front of me I fed a tiny sprinkling of micros and two grains of corn directly in front of me before picking up my shallower rig and baiting it up with a 9mm piece of punch. Dropping the rig that bit further down the peg than I'd already tried didn't work, so I went to the full 16m (no 17.5m extension, my old one doesn't fit!)

I'd say the rig had been in about thirty seconds before the float plinked under and it was fish on! A lively but brief scrap saw a common of about 3lb in the net - the first fish I'd seen anyone catch. The next drop down the same hole saw a small mirror of just over a pound in the net just as fast. Not wanting to push the fish away too fast I dropped a touch closer. After a minute or two I thought about dropping what seemed that crucial foot further along when again the float was gone. A slightly bigger fish of around 4lb was the culprit. A liner/missed bite followed next drop and it seemed that a decent weight could be on the cards. No sooner than that thought crossed my mind than the fish seemed to do the off!

I tried over the tiny bit of bait I'd fed across to see if the fish had come to that, but with no signs there I decided to leave the line to hopefully recover and I had a drop over the track line. No bites came on either corn or maggot, so I decided to try a bit of punch. I'd just decided that it was a bit early for that line to go when the float decided it was going to go. The trouble was, I missed it! I plugged away at it for a bit longer but it never moved again so I fed a tiny amount on it and left it.

I went back across on the punch but had no joy in the area I'd had my bites from before. I picked up the deck rig and started to search along the bank - if I didn't catch a fish on it then hopefully a liner would at least reveal where the fish were. The plan seemed perfect when I had two quick liners halfway between the feed and where I'd caught. It's just a shame the fish didn't agree as my piece of punch on the shallower rig surprisingly went untouched!

At this point I wasn't unduly worried, I'd only seen one other small carp caught, but I started to trickle a few casters in along the edge - if I didn't catch any carp here it could hopefully throw up a few chunky weight building perch. I tried down the middle and at least the float went under a few times, but only from tiny perch taken on double maggot.

After a few "wasps" I searched back along the far bank with absolutely no joy, while the only other action I'd seen was the last peg along my bank had a carp. Back in the edge and double maggot on the hook bought another tiny wasp-like perch so I tried double caster. After a minute or two the float slowly slid away and the lift was met with the slow head shaking of a better perch, perhaps of about 12oz. However, no more followed.

With time running out I knew I was ahead of everyone I could see. A quick try down the track and then back in the margins gave no bites at all. I went back across on punch, set just off the bottom. Unlike the last few tries I just had a feeling - a sixth sense if you like that I was going to get a last fish or two off this line. A bite after about a minute still came as a bit of a surprise mind! This fish felt better than the others and after a decent tussle a common of about 5lb was put in the net with twenty minutes to go. The next drop saw a missed bite so I shallowed up to 2ft. The next drop in saw the float away again after a short wait and again this fish felt bigger than the last and was reluctant to leave the far bank. After a while he slid in to the net, a decent common of about 7lb - things were looking good! The next drop over things looked even better as the float barely settled before plinking under. An even more sluggish and heavy fight than the previous one ensued, and it saw me slip the net under a mirror every bit of 10lb with about a minute of the match left! I did think there may just be time for another (how greedy!), but despite my willing the float didn't slip away again before the whistle. But with the angler next peg (who was second in the league) packing away fishless it was job done.

When I caught up with the scales 8lb was top weight, and the only people admitting to more than one carp yet to weigh both said they had five - the last two pegs to weigh. My baby carp plus a perch went 2-12 on the scales, while my five "proper" carp went 30-10, most of which came in that last late spell! The final two pegs both fell short, with both weights going just shy of 20lb.

I have to say I think that was the hardest match of all five in the league, certainly in terms of how much I put in to it, so it was nice to wrap up winning the series with a win - especially on a day where the weather was most definitely back to winter, with thunder and lightening, rain, hail and even a bit of sleet thrown in! A far cry from the last round two weeks previous where we sat in t-shirts in the sun and I caught all my fish on meat! It was also nice to christen my new pole, and to catch some decent sized fish on it gives extra confidence. I'll be the first to admit I had some decent draws in this league (makes up for last year!), but you still have to catch the fish.

I'll try my best to keep a few blogs going up for you to read, so until next time, tight lines!

Winter League Update

Right-o, I have to start with an apology for not updating this blog with round four of the winter league, I've just been busy!

I had another 4th place last week, but with my closest competitor finishing second there is very little gap between us - and my worst result to drop is better than theirs meaning I drop more points, what a bummer! I also lost a fish at the net when a new lot of Preston 13h broke as I stripped it through the pull bung, which cost me a place. I've used the stuff since it came out in the late summer/early autumn of 2004 and never had a problem with it until now - but once is enough and it's all been stripped out and replaced with the new Dura Hollo 12.

I had hoped to give said new elastic a run out yesterday, and it looked promising at the draw with a decent peg (one that I won off a couple of weeks ago!) but it fished hard - very hard! There were three good weights in the frame but then very little caught - I tipped back two big crucians, a 3lb bream and some perch, not exactly the test run I hoped for it. I was going to write a blog as I've a few free days this week, but I think that time is better spent rig tying rather than writing about a match where I never saw a sign of a carp in my swim.

I'll definitely have a write up of the final round for you at some point next week, hopefully with a write up of a good match!

Winter League Rd 3 23/2/14

Well, I remembered to take the batteries out of my camera, recharge them and put them back in - but I still forgot to take a peg picture for you! Must be getting old I reckon...

The previous Sundays practice on the new lake went well, for me anyway. The lake fished hard all round (as did most places looking at the results quickly in the paper) I drew a well noted winter peg (27) and had seven carp and two big skimmers for 31lb - second weight was 8lb and I was the only angler who had more than one carp.

This weekend was different - it had been relatively mild for the week, and the Saturday night wasn't clear, cold and with a full moon. My draw saw me sat on peg 18 - I don't really mind the peg as it tends to be okay in the winter, although the week previous it was in the middle of three blanks.

I had four rigs up - one for on the deck across at 16.5m in about 3ft of water, one for dobbing along the bank, one for the track (14m angled left with the wind gusty) and a silvers rig for fishing at 5m.

With the match starting I fed the silvers line and the track line before going across on the deck rig with corn. No liners led me to try the dobbing rig, both left and right along the island (needing 17m of pole) but still with no joy. I could just see my peg from last week catching well from the off, and the peg to my right had a small carp too. Time to try and make something happen!

I fed across, just a tiny pinch of crumb and a few micro pellets, before having five minutes down the track on corn. I didn't expect it to go, and it didn't! Back across and a missed bite that may have been a liner was followed by what was certainly a liner. I picked up the shallow rig (set at about 2ft) and went across. The float only sat for a few seconds before plinking under and soon my first carp was in the net, a baby of about 1lb 12oz! I had an even smaller one next drop (small enough to go in the bits net) before I lost the next carp which felt much larger than the other two. I had a high tuft of grass behind me, and had to lift the pole high to ship back - it was awkward to play fish for sure!

I thought it made no difference when it was perhaps only two or three minutes for my next bite ( a common of about 3lb), but no sooner had the fish arrived than they vanished. I tried all over the peg but with no joy, so I re-fed a tiny amount and left it again.

Down the track gave no joy, so I went back across. Nothing where I'd had the first couple of bites, but a bit further to my right I had another bite and put another common of about 3lb in the net. After that bites became scarce again! I could still see peg 27 catching, and then the peg to my left had a run of three decent fish down the track. I couldn't make that line work though, despite it being the only line that produced for me the week previous!

It was simply a case of going through the motions - I had an odd try on maggot which gave me a few perch, before missing a bite across on the deck. Dropping the shallow rig in gave me a quick bite but that fish (it felt like a small carp, like the one I'd put in the silvers net of 1lb or so) came adrift, again as I had to lift the pole high to get it over the grass behind.

With perhaps three-quarters of an hour to go I saw a fish move well down my peg to my left. Going the full 17.5 down there the float plinked under instantly. After a lively tussle a common of a good 4lb went in the net, and perhaps ten minutes later his twin brother joined him. A missed bite after got me thinking of a late bag up, but the next bite gave me a roach of about 2oz, as did the next three drops! Too much like hard work at 17m+. I dropped in down the track, but with no signs I had a last drop across but no more carp came, just another small roach.

The lake had fished much better than the week previous, and in the end my 19lb 15oz was only good enough for fourth place, with weights of 21lb, 24lb and a runaway 62lb. The pegs either side had 9lb and 15lb.

With two rounds to go I'm narrowly leading the league, although with the worst result to be dropped it's far from over. I promise next time I'll get a pic, and try to find a bit more time for a better write up. Back in a fortnight!

Winter League Rd 2 9/2/14

Back again, like I promised! I did forget to take a peg picture - I'm out of the habit now, but I'll try and remember next time.

So, on to round two of the league. The previous Sunday's practice match I won with 38lb odd, consisting of eleven carp down the edge in the first three hours, mostly on caster. The peg then died a death but with just 12lb being second the damage was done.

The wind was a bit wild (still, we've been very lucky in my area compared to many others) and I skilfully managed to avoid the reeds pegs where I drew the week previous! Peg 44 was to be my home for the day - a peg with little or no recent form. Actually (the wind aside which was left-to-right and slightly at me) I wasn't too upset with the peg, being in the bowl of the lake and having the small island to fish too.

First up was a bomb rod - unsurprising given the weather! I then had a good plumb around trying to see if I could find the remains of any lillies but there seemed to be little there - in the summer the peg has a huge lilly bed in. With nothing to find I settled on a line at 9m which was as much as I dared get out in the wind, and even then I couldn't hold it all the time. Last up was a rig to fish for a few silvers - this was at just 5m.

With the match started I had a few chucks on the bomb, trying to find signs of any carp - none were had, although the pegs opposite had no such trouble and were in to carp pretty quick! On the forty minute mark I decided it was best to put something in the net and picked up my light rig. I'd been flicking odd casters here but my first drop was on a single red maggot. It didn't take me long to get off the mark as two small roach fell on my first two drops. At least it was the dreaded "nil points" avoided!

My third drop took longer to get a bite, and when I struck the slow chugging and copious amounts of number 8 lakky suggested it wasn't a roach! The fish chugged around for a minute or so before charging off and snapping me - DOH! In all honesty, I do think it may have been foul hooked.

A new hook link on and I decided to have a quick look on the corn line, but with no joy. That said, I didn't give it long with the wind making any sort of decent presentation very hard, even with a long line and well back-shotted  rigs.

Back on the silvers line and a slightly better roach gave hope that I could at least keep up with any one-carp weights with silvers. The next drop didn't produce the hoped for better stamp roach though - it saw quite a bit of number 8 lakky streaming out again! A very lively 2lb ghostie was subdued so I decided against scaling up. Perhaps a bad choice when the float was instantly away again with another carp on - this one felt bigger and plodded to my right and eventually found a snag (most likely a lilly stem, further along from where I plumbed as it was further right than the boundary of my swim). So another rig back without a hook-link! Enough was enough and I got off my box to get a top-kit with 11h in it to give me a better chance.

Predictably, scaling up proved the end of the action so I went back on the tip, this time much closer to the small island. It had been out about  five minutes before the tip flew round and a common of about 3lb joined the smaller ghostie in the net. Next cast and after a similar amount of time the rod absolutely flew round again but to my disbelief there was nothing on the end when I picked it up! No way could that have been a liner. I did however get a liner next cast, but the next half an hour was wasted on the tip for no more action.

With an hour and a half left I started to get odd silvers again on maggot. Caster didn't seem to produce at all so I plodded away on the small roach. I had an odd try longer on the pole on corn but nothing came (and the wind was still a pig!) and I also tried bigger baits on the closer line. Nothing came on corn, while a big punch yielded roach that were smaller than the ones on maggot!

With half an hour left the roach seemed to fade a little, and briefly so did the wind. With all the carp bites coming just as my bait had settled I took the brief lull in the weather as a chance to spread the shot out to get a slower drop on the rig. It turned out to be a good decision as two drops in a row the float zipped under just as it was settling, and two more 3lb commons found their way in to the keepnet!

No bites came after that quick flurry, so with twenty or so minutes left I had another chuck on the bomb and corn. Barely had I put the rod down when the tip hurtled round - it wasn't a carp, but a crucian of about a pound was welcome all the same! I had another cast on the bomb, but I wasn't convinced it was going to go again so I finished up on the close in maggot line, putting two better roach about 3oz a piece in the net, but no more carp.

It was clear that the two pegs opposite were first and second (weights of 55lb and 25lb they had), but third looked a tight run thing. Two other people had three carp that looked bigger than mine, and actually they did weigh more than my four smaller carp. Lucky I had the crucian and a few roach then, and my 3lb of bits meant I just snuck in to third with 14lb 4oz! From memory the next two weights were 13-4 and 12-6, but I do know without the bits I'd have finished fifth or sixth.

The third place means that after two rounds I'm leading the league, although there are still three rounds to go with the worst result being dropped. Still, it's a nice position to be in - hopefully I can still be there after round five!

Tight lines all, and if I don't manage to report on the weekends practice I'll definitely report back in a fortnight on round three.

Winter League Rd 1 26/1/14

Right, I promised a friend I would blog for my winter league, so here it is! I can't promise that every update will be early, but I will do it for all five matches fortnightly from now on. I may even manage to fill the weeks in between too, if I can.

The weather was forecast to turn wet and windy after the draw, but thankfully lake one is quite sheltered. In terms of pegs, as long as I avoided the front of the lake (2-9 and 34-40) I wasn't too fussed. When peg 13 came out I was quite happy - it's normally a bit of a nursery peg, but bites are the name of the game really in the winter league!

As you can see from the pic, I had four rigs up - three for the far bank (two identical shallow rigs, but one with 11h lakky and one with 13h) both were finished with .12 hook-links and 16 B611's. I had a deep rig up too, with 4ft of water tight to the vegetation on the far bank. This was a .3gr Nick Gilbert Power Finesse, with a .12 hook-link to a size 18 Drennan Wide Gape Match, paired with 11h lakky. Last up was a roach rig and somewhere to drop on to if the wind got too much! I had a little over 6ft of water here (at 11m), and the rig was a .4gr Nick Gilbert Power Finesse. Hook was a size 20 Drennan Wide Gape on a .10 hook-link. Matched to original no8 Preston lakky, it was light enough for roach, but enough to give a fighting chance should a carp show there!

On the whistle I fed a pinch of hemp and caster on this line, before going across on the punch on the lighter lakky shallow rig. A few knocks showed there were some fish present before the float went away and a tiny roach was on the end! After a few missed bites I tried caster on the shallow rig and had a couple of slightly better roach (twelve-to-the-pound) before a few tiny fish muscled their way in.

As the rain started I went on the deck across and the first bite was from a better roach of about 3oz, before again the fish turned tiny. I decided to try a corn skin on the hook, and it had barely been in the water a minute before the float burried and the lift was met with lakky streaming out. The fish tore off to my left  before coming off. That said, I'm sure it was foul-hooked.

Predictably it slowed the swim so I decided to have a drop on the roach line, after feeding four grains of corn across. It was slow to begin with, and I was just toying with leaving the line when the float slipped away. A slightly better roach was the result, and a three or four followed, including one about 4oz that needed the landing net!

As the line faded I topped it up with half-a-dozen casters and went back across on corn. I had a near instant bite which I missed, before a much slower and dithery bite bought me a 2oz roach on corn. No more bites led me to try caster, both on the deeper and shallower rigs but any bites were just tiny roach. I came back on the deeper line and had two reasonable roach before the rain got even heavier and the line seemed to die.

About two hours in and having had enough of the rain, I relented and put my brolly up! I hate sitting under the thing, but the trees were keeping the worst of the wind off and with bites hard to come by now (even on maggot) it was a bit of welcome shelter. Odd carp had been caught to my left, so increasingly I plugged away on corn hoping for a carp.

Eventually, with a little over two hours to go the float plinked under in the manner that you just know is a carp, and the lift was met with a sluggish chugging on the end as a 2lb common that looked as cold as me made a mistake! No more bites followed, so I topped up with four grains of corn and had a look on the roach line, but nowt was doing.

Back over on corn but I had no more more bites. I plugged away for about twenty minutes when the slightest movement about three feet to the left of my float caught my attention. Even as I write I'm not entirely sure it was a fish... Anyway, in for a penny and all that, I picked up the lighter shallow rig and baited it with a 9mm punch. I laid the rig in, the float cocked and then simply wasn't there! The lift saw the lakky stream out as carp number two made it's mistake. Again, a small one about 2lb, but a fish all the same!

The next three drops all did the same, except the last fish was about 4lb instead of 2lb. A change to the slightly heavier rig didn't make any difference (well, the fish don't know what lakky is on it!), but the 13h just helped me get the fish away from the brambles hanging in the water! The last part of the match went pretty smoothly and odd fish kept coming. I had a tiny area between two yellow brambles at 16m where if I could hold the rig nicely I got bites. I missed a few, and as tends to happen when I was on thirteen carp the next one came off - five minutes before the end. I did manage to get one more after, so I must not grumble! I had one mirror of about 4lb, while the others were all between 1lb 12oz and 3lb.

I guessed my fourteen carp would go around 40lb, which as it turned out was pretty accurate as they totalled 40lb 12oz. My bits went 1lb 14oz for a total of 42lb 10oz. A decent days fishing given the weather, and more so as it was good enough for first place(and my first win in three months!), with peg 20 having 25lb odd for second. A good start to the winter league, even if it'll probably take until the next round for my gear to dry out!

Ending The Year With A Whimper!

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

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

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

Gavin

Sunday December 22nd

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Autumn/Winter Update

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Autumn Update!

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

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

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

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

Tight Lines

Gavin

A Quick Update!

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

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

August Update!

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

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

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

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

Sunday July 21st

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday 14th July

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday July 7th

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday June 30th

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Not Much To Report!

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

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

Sunday June 2nd

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blind Pairs 27/5/13

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday May 19th

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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