Sunday 22nd August

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday 15th August

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday August 8th

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday 1st August

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday July 25th

It has to be said that I'm always eager to get on the bank on a Sunday, but this week I was a little extra eager! Why? because after six years of good service I've retired my trusty Superlegion and had a new toy to play with, a nice shiny new G-Max 800. I can't be the only one who's like that with new fishing gear, can I?

After walking around the lake I really fancied a draw around the island, but by the time I got to the draw bag the island pegs were gone. That said, I was happy enough with peg 75, the end peg on the lake, which means you can fish in to the corner. While the wind wasn't pushing in to the corner there were a few fish milling about (some big buggers too) and I fancied it to produce.

Plan of attack was three lines; a throw away 11.5m line to start with (I didn't want to drop on the others too soon) a 5m line, and 11m down the edge. The long deck rig and 5m line used the same rig, a .3gr diamond bodied float, in about 5ft of water. This was on .17 line to a .15 hook link and an 18 Fox Series 2 hook, lakky was Preston 13h on a pull bung (something I'm trying instead of latex for deeper rigs) I also put up a shallow polyball rig to try over it, using .18 direct to the same hook as the deck rig. Elastic on this was Preston 15h. Last rig was for the margins. Depth here was just over 2ft, and the rig was a .2gr DC5 float on .18 line direct to a Fox Series 2 hook in a 16. The elastic on this (as correctly predicted by Tom Legge!) was purple Hydro.

On the whistle the margins had half a big pot of hemp, corn and meat, while the 5m line had a decent pinch of corn. The longer line had a small pinch of hemp and corn. I dropped in longer to start with and instantly had silly knocks from roach. To cut the first two hours short I thought that the new pole was cursed! Topping up the margin with quarter of a pot every 30 minutes, feeding the 5m line by hand, all I had to show was a tiny roach that I'd had up the side on meat. I'd even been flicking pellets long and fished shallow. It was dead on the 2hr mark when I had my first carp, on meat down the edge, a lively common of about 3lb. Next drop in I went back to daft indications from small fish and the next bite was from a small skimmer- something of a rarity on this lake! Dropping on to the 5m line on corn and a proper bite, an elastic puller, gave me a small mirror of about 2lb, but again no more followed.

Dropping back on the rested margin gave an instant bite again, another small common of about 2lb. The next drop on meat produced another small skimmer! I topped up with half a pot of bait again and dropped back on the 5m line. Having caught on theses two lines I abandoned the longer line, choosing to rotate the 5m and margin lines. It was a good half an hour before any more proper bites were forthcoming, then I had two fish in two drops on the 5m line. Not big fish, both mirrors of about 2.5lb. Going past the half way mark I dropped back in the edge on meat. I could see some fish moving in the corner but a couple of drops on meat only produced some 1oz roach. I switched to corn and it seemed to have the desired effect, and the next hour produced half a dozen carp. All were small again, around the 3lb mark, but very lively and a good test for the pole! I did lose two fish, one just pulling off and the other snagging me.

After that flurry of fish the line faded away and the next hour saw me catching one fish from the 5m line, then one from the margin, and I was un-able to settle the fish properly in front of me. With just over an hour to go I was on 14 carp and as I could see others catching I decided to gamble on upping the feed down the edge and gave it a whole pot of bait. Carp number 15 was the the biggest fish of the day, a ghostie of about 5lb. I kept up the heavier feeding in the last hour, giving half a big pot of bait after each fish and was steadily catching again. With only minutes to go I was on 22 carp and to trick just one more I fed just a large toss-pot of hemp and dropped in on double corn, hoping that it would stand out over the top. It had the desired effect and shortly before the end a common on about 4lb was in the net. I didn't have enough time for another, as just after slipping 2 grains of corn on the hook the whistle went.

I could see that others had caught well, but was guessing my 70lb odd would hopefully be enough to frame, although I was last to weigh in so I had a wait to find out. A host of 40-50lb weights were weighed before peg 62 put 70lb 15oz on the scales, this was going to be close... A few more decent weights went on the scales before I was to weigh in. My few bits and carp eventually tipped the scales at 72lb 9oz, giving me the win, and a good first result with the new pole!

Sunday 18th July

As ever, after a weekend off, I was very eager to get back out on to the bank. Walking around the lake before the draw made me even keener, as there wasn't really anywhere that I wouldn't have minded drawing.

My hand came out of the peg clutching number 23, which had a feeder chuck to the corner of the island, plus the nice looking bay pictured above as a margin line. A simple approach was order of the day, with my trusty 10ft Drennan Puddlechucker for the 25 yard chuck to the island with a small in-line method, and the pole at 13m, in to the bay. Standard stuff really, 8lb line to .20 hook links on the tip, and .18 strait through on purple hydro on the pole. Bait was simple, hemp, meat and corn for the pole and pellets for the method. Easy enough!

On the whistle a whole pot of hemp with a pinch of corn and meat went in the margins before the method was dispatched to the island. I don't mind admitting that after a break from fishing (and not having used the tip for a while) that the first few chucks weren't as I'd like, and it took a few goes to get it bang on! A few fish were moving about, but nothing was really happening. Just after topping up the margins on the half hour mark I had my first bite on the method, totally out of the blue. With one fish about 4lb in the net I was hoping that it would be the start, but it proved not to be, with the only person I could see catching being peg 20.

It was an hour and a quarter later before anything else happened, just as I was toying with dropping on the margins. An 8mm white boilie proved to be the downfall of a common about the same size as the first, followed about twenty minutes later by a lumpier fish of about 8lb. Quite a few fish appeared on the island line now, but they weren't feeding, just laying in the sun. I wasn't getting liners either, just watching fish sunning themselves! I tried dropping the feeder shorter but they only result on this was a skimmer of about 4oz. I was hoping that by keeping the bait going in that eventually the fish would start feeding, and carp number four following about half an hour after number three led me to think they might, but no matter what I tried; tight to the island, short, leaving the bait in longer or casting every minutes, nothing seemed to work.

Half way in to the match I decided it was time to try in the edge. First drop on meat led to a missed bite almost instantly, but the next took a while in materialising and led to a perch of about an ounce! I topped the swim up with half a pot and gave it a few more minutes, and just as I was about to leave it I had another bite, albeit from a crucian of about a pound. Back on the tip it was then! The rest seemed to have done the trick as I had carp number five instantly, but no more followed! The fish were there, but not feeding properly. I tried changing the baits, burying the bait, leaving it on top of the feeder or just leaving it hanging, but nothing worked!

With just under two hours left I dropped in the edge again, but this time the swim seemed a little more lively. After ten minutes of liners I decided to drop the bait in away from the feed, and had a proper bite instantly. After a good tussle, another decent lump of a carp was in the net, again about 8lb. Topping up after I dropped in again but the fish weren't really interested, just odd liners from fish moving out of the bay... like they were backing away from the feed. I tried corn and had another crucian, but the swim wasn't right.

I had another go on the tip, but again the fish over weren't interested in eating, so with an hour left I decided to stay on the pole. After a wait carp number seven was in the net, a smaller fish of about 3lb. I hardly fed a thing after this, dropping in just three grains of corn and a few grains of hemp, and it seemed to have done the trick as instead of liners I had a five minute wait for a proper bite, producing a decent carp of about 5lb. I repeated the trick twice more, both decent fish again of about 5lb before I lost a fish of about a similar size at the net with quarter of an hour to go and I never had a bite after! While I knew I hadn't won, as peg 20 had caught all day, I just had that sneaking feeling that the lost fish would cost me....

When the scales got to me 81lb was top weight, with 54lb 11oz second. My ten carp went 52lb 4oz and third was where I finished! I just knew it would be that way! I was kicking myself a bit, not just with the lost fish, but I really should have worked out the margin swim earlier, although 80lb would probably have been pushing it, I really should have been second and pushed first place closer than I did. Still, it was good to be on the bank after missing a weekend!

Sunday 4th July

Halfway through the year already eh? Must be getting old but I don't know where it's gone!

Walking round lake two before the draw I fancied a peg around the island (for once!), with a lot of fish present in the pegs in the late 50's and 62. Putting my hand in the bag it came out with peg 53, probably my least favourite peg on the lake! Still, it was in an area where there seemed to be a few fish.

The main area of interest is the margin of the peg, which looks good for a few fish! A good plumb around was needed to find a clear area on the bottom with a lot of roots in the water. In the end I plumped for an area nearer the furthest lilly bed, between that and the bank at about 11.5m. It was a touch deeper here than I'd like with about 3ft of water but I was still sure it would produce Rig was .18 direct to a 16 Fox Series 2. The float was a .2gr DC5 and it was on purple hydro. Second rig was a track line at 5m, slightly to the right too, keeping my back to the wind that was picking up strongly. It was about 4ft deep here, with the rig being a .3gr diamond bodied float on .17 line to a .15 hook-link with an 18 hook. Last up was an island rig, in about 18in of water, but I wasn't expecting it to produce, plus the wind was starting to funnel through strongly.

On the whistle the margin line got a whole pot of hemp, meat and corn, while the 5m line had a quarter of a pot of corn. I went across with a dozen pellets in a toss-pot but the wind was already starting to become a problem. I came back in and took the toss-pot off but again the wind was still a problem and a gust caught the pole (only 13m too) and left me stuck on the far bank. I managed to retrieve the rig intact and decided to drop in on the 5m line, as despite there being fish moving over the margin area I didn't want to drop in on it just yet.

With a single grain of corn on I was surprised to get a quick response, with the float dipping away almost instantly. While it was only a crucian of about a pound and a half I was pleased to be off the mark. I carried on over the line for the next half an hour, flicking in grains of corn over the float every few minutes but the only signs were odd liners from fish much higher up in the water. With forty or so minutes gone I decided to have a look on the margin line and had liners instantly. It was only thirty seconds or so before the float went and I was attached to a fish that went round the furthest lilly bed, leading me a merry dance before coming off and leaving me with a scale on the hook! I topped up and left it alone for a few minutes, not wanting to ruin it before it started.

I had a brief try on the other two lines without joy, and could see peg 59 catching so I went back down the edge. Again I had liners from the moment it settled, which wasn't for long! This fish was properly hooked, a mental lean common of only about 2.5lb which had a good tour of the lillies! Next drop in, and after emptying the toss-pot of bait the swim was alive again. It didn't take long for a proper bite and another mental small common did a tour of the lilly bed. I decided to have another plumb around to see if I could find a suitable area to fish a bit closer. In the end I found a small area a meter closer to myself, in water a few inches shallower. Perfect! it was in a small gap in the tree roots and could prove to be fun..

I re-fed the margins and had another bite less go on the 5m line, although I was still getting liners. I gave the new line only ten minutes to settle before dropping on to it, with it producing instantly. The next hour and a half gave steady action, with a fish most drops. If feeding a large toss-pot of bait didn't produce a fish, feeding half a large pot of bait did. None of the fish were big, all only in the 2.5-3lb bracket, but they were coming steadily. Towards the 3rd hour, with eleven fish in net the fish started to fade a bit. I was topping up with half a pot after each fish now, and while the bites were further apart the fish were a little bigger, with the next four fish all around the 4lb mark.

With fifteen carp in the net what I worried about, going on the margins early happened, and the swim had faded away from me. After waiting an age for a bite I decided to leave the margin, topping it up with a whole pot before dropping on the 5m line, which I had kept topped up with corn fed by hand. I started to get a few liners from fish that were much deeper down. I had a bite shortly after dropping in on the line, with the elastic yanking out at the same time! Another small carp of about 2.5lb was in the net. The excitement was short lived though as no more followed, with the liners fading away considerably.

The next hour and a bit was very frustrating. I'm not sure if it was that I'd over done it, or that the weather had changed. The wind had dropped and the sun came out and bites came distinctly hard to come by. I managed to only hook two fish in this time, both in the margins, and losing them both. The first was on for only a few seconds and the other made the roots, and I had to play the fish to the net with a large root on the line! Unfortunately, the line parted as I went to net it!

The lost fish had moved a lot of the roots again, and the plummet had to come out again to look for a suitable area to fish. Eventually I settled on an area only just past the nearest lillies. I fed it then left it alone, dropping on the 5m line. The rest seemed to have done the trick as I had a bite instantly. Unfortunately after a few seconds the fish came off! The wheels were well and truly coming off!

Going in to the last hour I suspected I was well behind peg 59, but was still ahead of the two others I could see. I dropped on to the margins and thankfully the fish had returned. I had three more on meat, but again I didn't have any big fish with them all being about 3lb. I started to get lots of roach knocks on the meat, causing me to have to re-bait a lot, so I went on to corn. I had my last two carp on this, although bites were much longer in coming on corn, and I found myself wishing I had some bigger cubes of meat rather than just the 6mm's from the cutter.

With 21 carp in the net I'd had a decent day, although I knew peg 59 was ahead of me. Waiting for the scales and peg 70 was admitting to 27 carp, and third place was looking likely. With 40lb odd being top when the scales got to me I took the lead, with my bag of midget carp going 67lb 12oz. The lead was short lived with peg 59 weighing in 104lb. Following the scales round to peg 70 I was expecting to be knocked down to third until they pulled the nets out, with there fish being smaller than mine. Going a total of 61lb I managed to hold on to second, with a weight of 59lb also coming to the scales. What was noticeable was that apart from a 13lb animal and odd bigger fish caught by the winner, nobody had any fish much over 4lb! The fish were starting to spawn again and I think the bigger fish were perhaps eating the eggs. Still, I was pleased to put the horror for me to bed that had in the past been peg 53, as my best weight off it before was 16lb on a day it snowed!

Lastly, just to let you know there will be no blog next week, as I shall be away in Belfast, but it's business as usual the weekend after.