Let It Snow!

Well they said it was going to snow, with severe weather warnings and all. When I got up there wasn't the slightest sign of snow! By 7.20am it had just started to snow, only a little though. That wasn't really my worry, it was the fact that it had been mild up until Friday and the sudden drop in temperature was hardly likely to be conducive to good fishing.

By the time of the draw it was snowing fairly heavy, although with quite a lot of sleet mixed in. With the onset of the cold I really wanted a peg in the open water where I could fish the bomb, partly as I thought a static bait would pay off (and it was windy) and partly as it's easier to keep my hands warm! Out of the bag came peg 66. I was fairly happy, it's a peg not quite on the end of the island, you can just get away with casting to the end of the island, plus it's wide so I had plenty of water to go at.

I decided not to fish a long pole to the island, the fish seem to move close to it on this peg, even though it's shallow, but they seem to spook from the pole. To search along the island I put up my 10ft Drennan puddle chucker. Set up just to fish a strait lead with either corn or hair rigged bread. A simple running lead stopped by a Korum quick change bead with a .15dia hooklength with a size 18 Kamasan Animal with a hair rig using the excellent Korum quickstops was the kit for this. I had a few hooklengths set up at different lengths and with different length hairs. I would use a catapult to feed if I wanted too, but intended to start off not feeding. I put up one pole rig to fish two lines in the deep water at about 9m at 1 o'clock and one at 11 o'clock. Elastic was a 12 latex, rigwise it was on .125dia line to an 18 hook and float was a .3gr DC6.

On the whistle one pole line was feed with just casters and the other was feed with hemp and corn. First cast clipped the island vegetation (whoops!), as I wasn't clipped up to allow me to search the swim! A new hooklength on and just as I settled down the snow turned totally to sleet and started to sting like hell so I had to get up to put the brolly up. Ten mins after casting with no indications and I wind in with a stick on the hook. Next cast drops a bit closer to avoid rubbish. After a couple of minites its time for a cuppa, so I reach round for my flask and round goes the tip! No more than 60 seconds later a very sleepy 4lb odd common is in the net, just as the sleet gets to it's heaviest, not that I care as I haven't blanked!

The next 30 mins passes with just one slight liner, so I try casting further along the island, nearer the point. Each cast I leave in for around 10-12mins but another 3 casts later nothing else has happend. Casting back in-front of me to where I caught my fish gives a quick dropback but tightening back up shows it was just a liner. Still, signs of fish meant I was happy to leave it longer and about 15 mins later the tip yanks round and again a very lethargic common comes in, smaller at about 3lb. A couple more liners but no proper bites on the next 2 casts, including trying some pineapple flavour corn made me try hair rigged bread. No sooner had I put the rod down than the rod went round and a livlier fish was on the end and after 3-4mins a 6lb odd common finds the net.

Just after recasting the sleet turned to rain and all the ice and snow on the bank thawed and all signs of fish dissapered. At this point the 4 other anglers I could see haven't had a fish. After a biteless hour on the tip the sun actually came out and with the tip being lifeless I tried the pole. Ten minites over both swims with corn was fruitless so I tried a single red maggot. After about 5 mins I had a bite, well, I think it was, it could have been a liner as I looked round and when I looked back the float was gone. The fish chugged gently into me, then just as it came to the net it came off, damn! I wasn't sure if it was foulhooked. It came sideways to the net but I think it may of just rolled over the line. Still, I'll never know!

The rest of the match was fruitless untill the last 30 mins when the angler next peg had 2 carp quick then his swim died. About 15mins from the end, casting to the tip of the island with a single grain of corn the rod goes round again a 4lb odd common nods it's way gently to the net.

At the weigh in one angler is admitting to 5 fish, but says they are all small. Other than my 4 carp the most was 2, so I knew I'd got 2nd! The 5 fish from the reed pegs went just short of 15lb, so I thought it was going to be close. On the scales I was suprised when my 4 fish went 20lb 6oz for 1st. And then it was off as quick as possible to get back into the warm! Winter is here!

Be Carefull What You Wish For!

Well, after my mini rant two weeks ago after winter flyer peg 18 on the New Lake at Westside I actually went and drew it for the first time ever! However, just as I put my box down on my peg the heavens opened! I was also concerned that I was the only angler with someone next peg (I think) with peg 17 being in. Why does that happen to me, it never seems to be in otherwise! Could that be an omen of what the day was to hold?

The peg is quite wide (I'll try and get the pic up soon, my photo thingy is playing up!-update, I deleted the pic by accident! Oooops!). There is a small bay on the island, with the far bank steadily sloping up towards it. I decided to put up just two rigs to fish along the far bank, one just over 3ft deep and the other around 2ft 6in deep. It took just over 16m of pole to use the deeper rig on my side of the slope, and 17m the other side of the bay, and could just reach the shallow side of the bay next to some reeds with 17.6m of pole with the shallow rig, which I could also try over the deeper line. Both rigs were on .14dia line to a 16B611 on Preston 13h elastic. the deeper rig had a 4x12 Preston Somo float adapted to take a plastic tip, and the shallow rig was a 4x10 Preston Black in-line dibber.

On the whistle I cupped in a few casters and a couple of grains of hemp on the nearest deepr swim, I didn't want to feed further up and on the other side of the bay to start with, to give the fish somewhere to back off too, so I could hopefully rotate to keep odd fish coming. After 7 or 8 mins with a bit of corn on the hook and no bites I put on two red maggots and started to drip odd casters in with a toss-pot. The float settled and shot under and I was thinking 'here we go!', yet all that was on the end was a small perch, less than an ounce in weight. That proved to be the only sign of life for the next hour in my swim, then two ghosties cruised through my swim.

To cut a long and rater boring story short no matter what I tried, and where in the swim I tried it, nothing happend apart from an odd liner.That was until an hour before the end of the match. By this time peg 17 had just started to pack up, having not had a bite. I missed a bite on the nearest deeper swim and then had a 2lb common followed by one about 6lb next drop, both on single caster. By this time I could see one person (peg 20) with 4 carp and someone else with 2 so thought that a good last hour would give me a chance, but as soon as it had started it had stopped! The next bite gave just one tiny roach. Five mins before the end I missed a bite, then had a chunky 4lb mirror carp, then missed a bite seconds before the whistle. I have to say I was thoroughly gutted!

The match was won with 44lb from peg 33 (the peg in the corner I won from late in September) the peg to my left had 24lb for 2nd and 21lb was 3rd. My 3 carp gave me just over 13lb which was good enough for 4th. I sat and pondered the whole way home what had gone wrong, but I honestly believe I didn't have fish infront of me. Perhaps it was the rain, which felt very cold (and wasn't forecast!) but I don't know, I really don't. Two bad weeks in a row now, we can only hope for next week I guess!

Not The Best Of Days!

When I drew peg 45 on the Old Lake at Westside I was reasonably happy with the draw, after all the peg has features and is not too deep but I just had a feeling that the day was going to be hard. I had no reason to expect it as the weather had been settled and conditions were good, it was just one of those feelings.

Rig-wise I had three put up. The first was fished towards the small island on the slope leading up to it. This was in just over 3ft of water. The float was a .2gr DC6 on .14 dia line to a 16B611 to a soft 14 latex (due to the remains of a big lilly bed in the swim). I also had a rig to fish next to the remains of the lillies, the hook and line for this rig was the same as the other rig but with a larger .3gr DC6 float in around 5ft of water. Last rig was in the margins where there were a few straggly reeds in the edge in 3ft of water, float for this was a 4x12 Preston Somo with the same hook and line as the other rigs, elastic was a soft black hydro. This rig would also double up for trying shallow over the other lines. Bait-wise I had caster, corn, hemp and a few red and white maggots for the hook.

Each line was fed at the start with a pinch of bait but with no casters on the deeper line to keep any fish down (as the hemp and corn sink fast) Starting on the far line and it was awkward to see my float in the mottled light but the first half an hour gave me just one liner before a bite on double white maggot gave me a small carp of about 2lb. Absolutely nothing followed in the next hour, even trickling casters on the far line via a toss-pot failed to get a response. The angler next peg had struck at odd bites fishing to the other side of the lilly bed, then had a fish there so I decided to drop in there. An instant bite on corn produced another 2lb common but nothing else, not even a liner. Odd fish had started to top by this point but the next hour produced nothing except one missed bite on the shallow rig next to the lillies. Out of the blue an hour after the first fish next to the lillies another 2lb common finds it's way to the net.

With an hour to go and nothing else was happening, but other anglers on the opposite bank had started to catch odd fish; all of those were sat with the sun on the water, I was in the shade. I decided to get the catty out to flick a few casters to the long line while I was fishing the deeper line, as this was were I thought I had the best chance of a few fish. I had one bite next to the lillies with half an hour left which stormed strait through the lillies and I lost, though I'm almost certain it was foul-hooked. This led to me going on the long line and an instant bite on maggot gave me another 2lb common. Next drop and I was strait in again but this fish stormed towards me and into the lillies, then pulled off. After that hoards of floating leaves came through and it was practically impossible to fish.

My four carp gave me just over 9lb which was good enough for 4th, 48lb had won, from peg 48 on the end of the island. This peg is shallow on the island (2ft) and had been in the sun all day. 21lb was second (5 fish) and 13lb was 3rd (4 fish). I was left a bit peeved with the day, I got home feeling that I hadn't fished well. I'm not sure if catapulting the bait over the long line had helped or if it was just that last 30min spell you get on commercials, but I should have tried it earlier, but even then my peg wasn't good for near 50lb but I really should have framed. Never mind, always next week!

Winter Begins.....

Actually, this morning wasn't too bad! the rain had just about stopped when I got up, and the wind had dropped to nothing. It was also a lot milder than previous mornings, and certainly nowhere near the -2 and -3's that we have had. Even the carp in my pond were quite happy to feed so I was hopeful of a few carp feeling the same in Westside!

I had a walk around the lake when I got there as I hadn't fished that lake for around a month or so. Most people wanted to draw an early peg (1-18) as thats where all the fish were caught last time. I have to admit I wasn't so sure they would be the best from looking, they had a distinct black / grey colour to the water up to about peg 15, which I think comes from rotting leaves.

My usual place two thirds down the queue and I was quite happy with peg 31, although there were quite alot of floating leaves that I thought could be a pain! I set up two rigs to fish along the far bank, in two areas of the same depth, as I didn't have a great area to fish in the margin and I've never done that great fishing the deep water on this lake. I did have to chop some lillies that were infront of my peg first though! Both rigs were on .14 dia Garboline with 16 B611 hooks. The first rig up was for fishing on the bottom in near 4ft of water, on the far slope. This used a .2gr DC6 float, while my other rig was to fish about 14-16in off the bottom and used a 4 x 10 in-line Preston Pink dibber. The two areas were at 16m in front and at about 16.5m to my right in a slight bay on the island. Both rigs were on a soft Preston 13h elastic.

At the whistle I elected to only feed the swim directly in front, leaving the fish somewhere to back off. Three grains off corn, about ten casters and a small pinch of hemp went in, then the full depth rig went across with a grain of corn on the hook. A liner after five mins gave hope of a quick fish, but the only other action was a lost fish that I foulhooked as I lifted up. Nothing else followed in the first 15 mins so I started to drip a few casters in and try one on the hook. Just an odd liner was all that happend in the next half hour, in that time the peg to my right had a perch (later weighed at a level 2lb) and a small carp, while the peg to my left (33, which I won off last time I fished this lake) had 2 small carp from the margin. A brief try on the shallow rig was fruitless (apart from cursing at the floating leaves!) so I tried double white maggot. A quick dob saw me strike and soon net a small 2lb common, at least I hadn't blanked!

A fruitless hour followed, while peg 33 had two more small carp. No liners even followed so I tried and fed the other line. All of a sudden the sun broke through and at the same time a group of carp came swimming round the corner of the island up in the water and into my peg. Out with the shallow rig and under goes the float... ooops, missed it! Back in and under again goes the float and out comes a couple of yards of lakky! a couple of minutes later and a 5lb common is in the net. Strait back out, half a dozen caster are tipped out of the pot onto the float and it buries again! A few min later a maniac 5lb ghostie is in the net, this is fun! Next drop in and the pattern is repeated, this time with a smaller carp of about 3lb, and a slightly longer wait next chuck gives another 3lb'er.

This spell of action was short lived however, and as soon as the action had started it had stopped, not a disaster as nobody near me had caught anything else. The next hour was fruitless whatever I tried, over either line, failed to produce. One lone 4lb common came out of the blue on the shallow rig so I tried pushing the rig slightly closer to the far bank. An over enthusiastic strike at a bite I missed however saw me attached to a tree on the otherside, damn! (or words to that effect!, and yes, it's still up that tree!)

Back slightly closer and odd liners started again on the shallow rig. For some reason I decided to drop the rig in way to the left and it instantly went under (should have tried that earlier!) this fish ran all along the far bank and got stuck on a branch and a load of line under a tree quite a way to my right. I could see the tree moving, and when I pulled a big branch with a load of line lifted out of the water, eeerm, now what! I was convinced I wasn't getting this fish out so just pulled and I felt something give. I was sure I had just the branch attached (and said so to the angler next peg) till it swam past me when shipping back! In the net and it was a ghostie of no more than 3lb that had caused so much trouble! I had to cut a load of said line off my rig, it must have been at least 8lb line, with a hook tied knotless knot style with the hair stop still in the loop, and it had been in the water a while!

I had one last common of around 4lb that was in the net just before the whistle, but didn't have enough time to get another. I reckoned that my 8 carp would go around 32lb, way more than anyone else I could see. It was only when the scales can round I found out that someone had 50lb off peg 18, now I hate that peg, mostly 'cos its a winter flier, and I never draw it, EVER! That peg (with the same angler normally!) beat me a few times last winter, hence my dislike of it! I will draw it one day!

I was only reasonably happy with my 2nd (14lb was 3rd off 33 to my left) I do feel if pushed I could have had a bit more from my peg, but not enough to win. It's just a bit of a bummer when there is one peg that seems to beat you (as opposed to the angler), and more so when the same lucky swine seens to draw it. He even had the balls to complain about it as he said it was too far to the island!! Some people are never happy!

Another Wet Sunday!

It's never a pleasure to wake up on a Sunday to the sound of torrential rain outside, but this Sunday it's what happened! Still, I'd not been fishing for two weeks so couldn't wait to get out. Outside it wasn't cold, and the carp in my pond, which I always look at to try and get an idea of how they may behave at the venue I'm going to, were feeding heavily as there had been no morning frost unlike most mornings during the week.

At the venue the turnout was quite low (only ten), due to winter leagues starting, and probably in no small part due to the rain. My priority at the draw was to not draw at the back of the island, and preferably in the open water. My spirits were lifted when I was told that back of the island pegs had been so bad recently that they were not in, and that only one peg around the island was in (64), guess which peg I drew! I've drawn this peg before (it was tipping it down that day too!) and knew that you tend to only catch an odd early carp across before having to search other areas for bites.

Sitting my box down at the peg I noticed that the water had it's winter colour, like weak tea with only a little milk added I suppose, and I could see the bottom tight over. First rig was to fish on the far slope in about 3ft of water, at about 1 o'clock to my left, which I hoped would give me enough depth for fish to settle. Float was a 4 x 12 Preston Somo, adapted to take a plastic bristle. Line was .14 dia Garboline and the hook a 15 B711, with the elastic being a soft black hydro. The next rig was the one I was pinning most of my hopes on, down the track. This was in just over 5ft of water, at about 9m infront just where it had started to shallow up (to avoid the silty bottom). Float for this was a .3gr DC5 float, as there was little tow I could get away with a lighter float, and the diamond shape makes it very stable. Line and hooks were the same as the other rig and the elastic was a soft 14 Preston latex. Lastly I had a small tree overhanging in my left margin about 4m so put up a similar rig to fish under this, same float and hook as the far bank rig but on stronger .16 line in case there were any roots right under it.

It was as I sorted my bait I spotted my first mistake of the day, the corn, caster, maggots and hemp were all in order, but the only expanders I had were dark Vde RS Elite 3mm rather than the lighter colour Ringers I prefer when the water is clearer. On the whistle a dozen casters and 3 grains of corn went across. Half a dozen grains of corn and about 20 grains of hemp went down the track and the same under the tree to my left with a few 3mm pellets too. First drop across with a grian of corn and the float burried quickly, though my initial excitement faded when it was only a 2oz roach. Odd liners and silly indications followed so I tried caster which just produced odd roach. That said, I could see a few other anglers from where I was and nobody else had caught and at least I was putting something in the net!

After around an hour the roach died out, probably spooked by the odd carp cruising through, but they were only inches deep and most definatly not feeding. Then the next peg (66 which I won off 3 weeks ago) had a carp down the track and started to strike regularly but wasn't getting anything. I had also seen the peg past him catch 2 or 3 fish from the margin (I could only see the end of his pole when he had a fish on) I didn't want to try my other lines yet, I like to leave them longer to settle so started dropping in further along the far bank without feeding hoping to drop a bait on a carp prepared to eat and get an early carp or two but after another 40 mins of just an odd liner I came away from the far bank.

A single grain of corn down the track gave me a quick liner than a proper bite resulted in a common of about 5lb but nothing else followed, not even a liner. A quick try under the tree in the margin was fruitless so I went back across, and as I did so the next peg had their 2nd fish, again down the track, and I'd seen he peg past that catch 3 or 4 now but had yet to see anyone else catch. After a fruitless 20min across I went back down the middle and instantly had another common, this time about 3lb. Odd liners after this encouraged me to stay on this line and shortly after the next peg had their 3rd carp I also hooked had another, again about 3lb but foulhooked, but this resulted in the swim fading off again.

Fruitless spells 10-15min spells in both other swims led me back down the track. The next hour was frusrating for me, losing three carp (two at the net and they were definatly foulhooked) and bumping another. No matter what depth I fished at I couldn't avoid foulhookers, I even had a foulhooker 4in off the bottom on maggot. At this stage I could see the that 2 pegs up was catching fairly steady now, but the next peg had added no more. The only thing I could think of was to take a shot off to try and avoid striking to early. I re-fed the swim and rested it and on return 10mins later I had 2 quick fish about 2lb a piece.

With only an hour to go apart from the 3 carp at the next peg and the 7 or so further up I had only seen odd other fish so was still in the running. The last hour gave me 8 bites and 5 more fish, 4 about 4lb and the last about 6lb, and I have to admit to swearing when I missed a bite just before the whistle! Each carp was follwed by at least a bite (sometimes missed) then a quiet spell, a distinct pattern.

When the scales got to me just over 20lb was top weight, my first hour roach catch was not quite 2lb and my ten carp for not quite 43lb gave me a near 45lb total and a comfortable lead, although I knew the angler 2 up would beat me, and so he did, his 13 carp going 54lb. Next weight after that was a mid 30 so I had to make do with 2nd. Still, at least it stopped raining just before the end so I got to pack up dry!

On thinking about the day I'm certain I'd have won had I fed a 2nd track line, I certainly had enough room to, and I was a bit daft not to really given as it was the area I expected to catch best from. I'm sure a lighter fed line to swap between when the other wasn't giving me bites would have given me the 2 or 3 extra fish I needed for a win. I probably should have twigged taking a shot off earlier when I had the run of foulhookers too. The peg was easily good enough for another 15lb+ really so although having had a days fishing (unlike the other week) I still went home a little dissapointed. We live and learn don't we? Well, I hope to! I was also dissapointed not to get an odd carp across, they were definatly there but maybe they wouldn't feed with the recent loss of water colour. Who knows?

Next week looks a different proposition, the forecast for the week is cold nights and cool days which should put the fish into winter mode, so now I'm off to hunt for thermal gear and bootliners, then there is the matter of taking out the 16 latex's and replacing them with 12's and changing the purple hydro's for Preston 13h hollow in readyness for the cold! Hope it's worthwhile!

Well, I Did Say It Last Month!

Well, the delay is not because I had a bad day, simply because I've been away without access to a computer!

Sunday gone's match was again on lake 2, unbeknown to me untill I saw there was nobody in the lake 1 car park when I got there! still, at least it wasn't raining this week. A larger than normal presence before the draw convinced me of one thing, I didn't want to draw a peg around the back of the island, as pegging would be a little tight (o.k, nowhere near as bad as alot of other commercials, but when you get used to having the room). Needless to say, I wasn't the happiest when I drew peg 57, dead smack in the middle around the back of the island, a peg that I've had a couple of times before. My preveous experiance of the peg was the same on both occasions, a good first hour, next to nothing in the middle and a decent last hour. However, the next peg (59, 58 isn't used in matches) has never been in when I've drawn it, but I had noticed, as have many others, that it doesn't fish when 59 is in as it seems to stop any fish coming around the island, so I wasn't filled with optimism.

I had one line at 14.5m to the island at about 11 o'clock, about 2ft short of the island in just under 3ft of water, after that I thought it was too shallow for the time of year at about 18in. The middle is a afir bit deeper here than where I was the previous week so I fished at 13m at 1 o'clock to where it had just sarted to shallow up from the deepest point. Here I had about 6ft, slightly more than I wanted but I didn't want to go too near the other line. Last rig was a margin line, this was awkard to find as it's very shallow in tight, on quite a steep slope but eventually I found an area a bit more managable in about 4ft of water. Line on all rigs was 0.16dia Garboline and size 16 hooks on all, while elastics were a Preston 15h for across and 14 latex for the other 2 lines. Bait was the usuall corn, pellet and hemp.

To cut a long and quite boring story short, apart from 1 foul hooker across in the first hour it was as dead as can be, apart from the odd tiny (half ounce!) roack on pellet, and one huge in comparision (2oz!) carp on corn. There just wearnt any carp there, no liners, nothing, and it was no better for the other 4 anglers I could see either, 2 of them having smallish carp (well, at around 2lb huge compared to the one I'd had) and the other 2 without. That was untill the last hour when 59 next door had a run of about 6 fish down the middle on cat meat for 13lb odd. I managed one bite down the track, with half an hour to go and managed to land a carp of about 6lb, hooked in the belly!

I have to say I expected a struggle, but knew I was in for it after the fishless first hour, I never even saw a carp cruise through my peg untill 2pm, something that is very unusuall! It wasn't all famine though, 70lb odd won the match, and the golden peg, from the open water, and there were a few other reasonable weights too. I'd like to say 'ahh well, there's always next week' but there isn't as I'm going to be away so unable to fish, doh! The clock's will have gone back then, a depressing thought, I hope the shorter matches and days bring a bit more action!

It Wasn't Just Wet In The Water!

Like most of the country I woke up on Sunday morning to the sound of rain, and a bit more rain! I was a lot milder out than the last few mornings, no frost for a start! I wasn't sure how it would affect the fishing, as the fishery doesn't normally respond well to the rain, but it had livened up the carp in my pond, perhaps it would do the same to the carp in Westside!

For the second week in a row I drew one of the pegs that I wanted pre-draw (66), although one of the pegs round the back of the island (53) was apparently heaving with fish. First job at my peg was to put my brolly up (even though I hate sitting under it), fortunatly the wind was quite behind me and with the high tree's I was well sheltered from the gusty wind. The peg is quite wide, being a full 16m to the island, although it has the advantage of being the last peg on the end of the island before the open water swims. There is a small reedbed on the island but it's very shallow next to it. With the cooler temperatures the colour had dropped out slightly so I decided to fish on what was quite a steep slope in 3ft of water, about half a meter short of the island. Float was a 4x12 Preston somo that I'd adapted to take a 1.5mm plastic tip, on .16 diameter line to a 15B711 hook and matched to a 15h elastic. a similar rig was set up to fish tight to the bank to my left at about 6m under a small bush but using a 16 latex lakky. Setting the third rig up lead me to being late starting but was to fish at about 9m, just my side of the deepest water down the middle. Float was a .3gr DC5 float in about 5ft of water with the same line and hooks as before and was fished on a 14 latex lakky.

Five minutes late I fed a pinch of 3mm swim-stim pellets and a couple of grains of corn across, a pinch of hemp, caster and corn down the middle and the same in the margins. I'd elected not to feed caster across to try and avoid roach across. Starting on a 4mm pellet across I was suprised not to get any indicactions, not even from small fish. After 10 mins I started to get odd liners, then when the float burried a 4oz roach found it's way to the net, next drop was followed by a micro carp so I tried a piece of corn. Five minutes later all that was happening were liners so I decided to push the rig up the shelf slightly with instant response as mirror of around a pound fell to the trick, followed up by a brown goldfish slightly larger. The following drop produced a lot less indications, followed by me hooking a much better fish which came off after a few seconds. I'm quite certain it wasn't foul hooked, just not feeding properly.

The loss of that fish made the swim in-active so I started to feed a few grains of hemp and a few pellets every five or so mins through the toss pot and after a few drops odd 3oz roach started to show, then another brown goldfish, all to pellet, then after trying a grain of corn to try and get through the bits a 5lb common gave a lively scrap before finding it's way into the net just after an hour. This co-incided with a destinct darkening of the already grey sky as the rain got heavier and the temperature seemed to drop, as did the activity in my swim, however, the two other anglers I could see wearn't catching either. After a biteless half hour I tried both other swims but with no joy but I carried on topping them both up. After a while odd small fish started to appear across but I was missing a lot of bites due to the size before another small carp of around a pound found it's way in.

With two hours to go another try down the track gave an odd liner but just as I was about to give up on it the float went and a carp of around 2lb came in. The next two drops gave instant bites and a 3lb'er and another 'brownie' found their way in before it slowed up with 2 carp in amoungst alot of knocks in the next 20mins led me to rest the swim for 10 mins but with only a missed bite in the margin to show I went back down the track. A finniky bite again led me to try dotting the float down a bit more and adding a backshot to the rig as the wind had become a bit swirly now. This had the desired trick as after this I caught steadily for the rest of the match, with bites coming best fishing 2ft either side of my feed, even though there was no tow. This carried on for the rest of the match, feeding the same place and alternating either side of the feed to keep bites coming, and for the second week in a row I hooked my best fish just before the whistle and I needed over-time again to get it into the net, a common about 6lb. It even stopped raining 10 minutes before the end so we could pack up in the dry!

As the scales came round peg 53 had just over 50lb for top weight (it was solid then, never is when I draw it!) but I was confident of beating that, and my 8lb 15oz of bits and small carp followed by the 16 proper carp gave me a 66lb 10oz total and a second win on the bounce, a nice feeling! I must be heading for a fall soon then! I'll tell you about it next week.