Winter League Final Round (7/4/13)

Well, after what seems an age the weather seems to just be turning a corner! That said, despite the nice days we were still getting snow as recently as Thursday, plus the nice sunny days with temperatures just in to double figures were punctuated by nightly sharp frosts - not very good for fishing.

I was hoping for a good result as a top five finish was possible as the points were very close. It looked set to be a hard match with last weeks open on the lake being won with just under 4lb - and no carp were caught. For what seems like the first time in an eternity I was quite happy with my draw with peg 14 coming out in my hand. I wasn't in the flyer 20's, but I fancied I could catch from it.

It's quite a wide peg, with a half-butt needed in the 16m section to tuck up tight to the island in front of me (I also got out my old Superlegion extension which goes up the back of my G-Maxx 800 to allow me to try further down the bank) There is a good depth tight to the island here, with a good 3ft right in tight. I didn't plumb up here, I just put up two rigs to dob punch along the bank - one to fish between just off the bottom and 2ft, and one to fish between 2ft and 18in. With the sun warming up nicely (the pic was taken after the match) I figured that shallow would be the way to go with the sun being on the far bank most of the day. I also set up a rig to fish at 13m at a slight angle to my left towards a weed bed, with 6ft of water here. Last up was a margin rig. Peg 14 has a very long margin with a corner of the lake to my left, so I set up a rig here for fishing in about 3ft of water. It was purely a gamble for a lump or two, but worth a go. I had a feeling the water wasn't quite warm enough for that yet though! All the rigs were finished with .14 dia hook-links and matched up to Preston 13h lakky.

On the whistle I fed a tiny ball of softened micro pellets and three grains of corn down the track before baiting up the deeper dobbing rig with punch - I was going to wait until midday to feed the edge when the day had got to it's warmest. It took a while before I started to get any signs, and my first fish was a small dumpy roach. I could see peg 11 (last weeks winning peg) catching roach, and they also had an early small carp of about 1lb 8oz, but nobody else I could see had caught.

It was just over half an hour in when I had my next bite, taken on the shallower rig pushed as tight in to a small bay in front of me as I dared. A small carp of about 1-12 was the culprit, but very welcome as it was the first carp I've caught for about six weeks! No more followed, and I just carried on catching an odd small roach.

Midday arrived and I decided to feed the edge - nothing ventured, nothing gained! A pinch of caster with two grains of corn and two pieces of meat were introduced. I had a drop in at 13m with a 4mm expander pellet and had a small roach instantly, but no more bites followed so I topped it back up with a tiny ball of micro's and went back across.

With the 17.5m section on I tried a little further down the swim, at first to my left (with no joy) and then to my right. Getting to the limits of my peg to the right I missed a bite, and with the bait still on I lowered the rig in again and it sank away. Carp number two sleepily chugged it's way in to the waiting net, again only a baby at around 2lb, but still welcome. A liner next drop led me to drop in on the shallower rig and a much more lively 3lb ghostie was the result.

After the two-fish flurry I went back to getting just an occasional roach. I had fruitless tries on the other two lines, with a even a switch to worm failing to get a bite from a perch. Back out long and a slight breeze had picked up, taking the edge off the temperature of what was a very pleasant day (I'd taken my fleece of before the match started, and my Thinsulate hat was replaced by a baseball cap!) so I tried the deeper of the two shallow rigs again. A bite saw me connected to another carp for a few seconds before it kited round and picked up a sunken stick and came off - a disaster on a hard day! I thought I'd gotten away with it next drop when I had a small common of about 1lb 8oz, but that proved to be the last I saw of any carp in my peg and the last hour was spent nabbing just an occasional roach on punch, while watching as others started to catch an occasional carp late on, and it looked like a good place may just slip away from me.

When the scales got to me end peg 5 was top weight, with four carp and a bream for 21lb. My four baby's and bits went 9lb 12oz, which in the end turned out just enough to be third, beaten my the other end peg (40) who had two late carp for 13lb.

A slightly better end to the league after my poor middle part, but at least it was a cracking day to be out in! A quick check on the board and my third on the day should be enough to get me in to fifth overall, and may just be enough to scrape me in to fourth - I'll let you know for certain next week. In the end it was a respectable finish considering my draws have been pretty appalling away from drawing an okay peg on the right day in the first round. With us set to lose the frosts now hopefully the water temperature will start to rise and the fish start waking up and spreading out - it'll be nice to be able to influence things a little with feeding as opposed to playing aquatic bingo!

Winter League Rd 4 (24/3/13)

Well, on my last update I finished by hoping it would be a bit warmer and more spring-like. I put the mockers on that one, didn't I! Thankfully we haven't had anywhere near as much snow as most of the country and quite luckily (or not!) the winter league was able to go ahead.

True to my current (lack of) draw bag form I found myself sitting on peg 56, so I'm not moving too far around the lake at the moment! I knew the peg only had a very slim chance of giving me a carp - in fact I was about as far away from where I wanted to be as possible. On the plus side, I was out of the worst of the wind.

I had three rigs up for the day - a rig for across where I had 3ft of water tight to the point in front of me. With that bank being under cut I did think there was a chance it may give me a rouge carp. I also had a corn line fished at 11.5m at an angle away to my right at the bottom of the slope. Both these rigs were matched to .125 hook-links and fished on 11h lakky. Lastly, at 6m to my right there was some straggly brambles hanging in the water with near 4ft of water on the edge of them. I could clearly see in the last match that this was the only place the angler who had it last time could get a bite (from roach), so I set up a lighter rig here. I hoped that a solid no8 lakky matched to a .10 hook-link and an 18 hook would give me a chance with a carp in the cold.

On the whistle the snow started again (and carried on for most of the day, thankfully not settling) and I fed a tiny pinch of hemp and caster in the edge, while the track line got three grains of corn and a tiny pinch of hemp. I tried across on punch off the deck without feeding and had nothing for the first ten minutes or so before I started getting knocks off roach.

A change to caster didn't work as the fish must have been tiny, so I fed a tiny pinch of hemp and caster across and went to the full depth. Odd bites started coming to this, albeit from roach of less than an ounce. Still, I was off the mark and the three others I could see hadn't caught anything.

On the hour mark, with perhaps half a dozen micro roach I decided to have a drop on the corn line. I'd been in no more than a couple of minutes before the float blinked away, a better 2oz roach being the culprit. I plugged away at this line for a while, dripping odd grains of corn and hemp in. I carried on catching the odd roach, all a bit smaller than the first one. I was missing half the bites, even when cutting bits of corn in half, but I plugged away simply because I didn't want to be catching tiny roach at 13.5m, plus I figured plugging away on corn would be my best bet for a bonus.

I kept having odd tries on the closer line but surprisingly, I couldn't get a bite there on the lighter gear. On the two hour mark I was perhaps hitting one in four bites now, and the roach were getting smaller. I decided to make a change and get my head down for the roach. I swapped the top-kits and put the softer no8 lakky, and changed the hook-link too, with a .10 to an 18 B611 going on. I also started another line at 6m in front where the depth was the same as at 11.5m.

Back out on what was the original corn line with caster on the hook I started most of my bites. The roach were small, mostly around an ounce but an odd 2oz fish came. It was steady rather than fast, but I was getting then quicker than the others I could see who were now all fishing for roach. I kept trying the closer line but it wasn't until just over an hour before I had my first bite there.

The last hour the fish came nice and steady at 6m. It was a case of feed a pinch of hemp and just 4-6 casters and fish it out. When the fish got tiny it was time to feed again! The average size was perhaps ten-to-the-pound, but an odd bigger one came with one perhaps going a huge(!) 4oz.

I actually really enjoyed the last part of the match, and I even stopped caring that the odd gust of wind resulted in me getting pelted with snow off the trees behind me! I actually wish I'd gone for roach from the off, starting long and trying to feed them closer, but never mind!

I knew a couple of people sat in the open had caught fairly well, and two pegs sat next to each other and the last two to weigh put weights of 44lb and 42lb on the scales, with 17lb good enough for third. I had a little more than I thought when my roach went 5lb 4oz, but it wasn't until someone said after that I'd done well off the peg that I looked and saw that I'd done enough for 5th, just one ounce off 4th! They'd had a couple of pasty carp in with their roach. It's a shame I didn't switch to them a bit earlier, just for that extra point as a lot of people have had poor results and blow-outs and a top 5 place may (just) be achievable with a very good result in the last round. I think overall there is a clear winner now who will struggle to be caught with two 2nd places, a 4th and a 5th, but everyone who has won a round has suffered very poor results. I must have been a bit of a draw-bag the last few winter leagues I fished, but I'm certainly paying for it this year!

I'm not sure what my plans are for next weekend with it being Easter, but if I am out it wont be until the Monday in all likely hood. Looking at the weather forecast, I'm tempted to have the weekend off and have a good few rig making sessions and re-lakky some tops instead. We'll see.

Winter League Rd 3 (10/3/13)

Well, I had to open my mouth last week and say about the weather improving, didn't I? I should have known that was only during the week! After a glimpse of spring I woke up Sunday morning to find (as much of the country probably did) a dusting of snow. Deep joy.

Still, the winter league continued, as did my bad run in the draw-bag! I was not best pleased to find peg 53 in my hand again. There was no need to take a picture of the peg as it's the same one as last week.

I had a secret weapon this week after only being able to catch roach last week - after seeing the rapid temperature change I had a clutch of my leftover squatt rigs from the Div 2 national in the summer, plus a top-kit that still has a no3 lakky in it. It's just as well I did, else I fear it would have been a DNW next to my name.

Unlike last week when it was quite pleasant after a cold start, this week it was just cold! I had the wind pushing occasionally in at me (when we had it) and with it wet snow blowing in at me for much of the day. I struggled to eek out five tiny fish on small bits of punch for a massive 1oz! (two tiny roach and three even smaller bitterling). The only place I had a bite was long down my right margin where there were a few roots and sticks in the edge.

The day was finished up nicely when the next peg started packing up noisily with ten minutes to go. They chucked their made up bomb round down the middle while they stood up packing their pole away and had a last-gasp carp on it. The highlight of my day was finding I hadn't drank all of my flask so I could have a coffee while I was packing up..

I actually fared slightly better than the last round of the winter league beating two anglers who never had a bite all day, and tying with the peg to my right who also eeked out a few tiny fish to stave off the dreaded DNW.

In terms of winning the winter league my chances are all but over now (unless others start drawing as bad as me in the last two rounds!), as even with a change in fortune I've still a bad result to carry.

There's no blog next week, looking at the weather for the week I've decided on an early birthday / St Patricks day celebration next Sunday instead (my wife is Northern Irish, so it's a legitimate excuse for me!), and it seems a better prospect than sitting in the cold catching nothing. Hopefully given that it'll be near April the weather will be at least a little more favourable next time!

Sunday March 3rd

I always see March as the beginning of spring (the Met Office tell us the same too), so it's about typical that after a pretty settled week with a few milder days I wake up on Sunday morning to find a sharp frost and that it's -2 degrees outside!

Walking around the lake there was no signs of life - normally a sign that the open water is the area to draw as opposed to an island peg. Most of the island pegs were gone when my hand went in, apart from 53 that is - and that's what had came out when I looked in my hand!

Long term readers will know I have a love/hate relationship with the peg, and it's more of the latter on the whole. It's really a summer peg, but it does occasionally fish in the cooler months during mild spells as it's shallow. I guess the morning of a sharp frost isn't the time to draw it.

Still, with a task still to do I set up three rigs - one for the long margin to my right at 12m in 3ft of water, one for 8m down the track in 4.5ft of water, and one for just under 3ft of water pretty tight to the far bank at 13m. The floats were Preston Chianti's on the deeper lines (a 4x12 and a 4x14) with a small Preston PB2 for across where I planned to search the peg with punch. All the rigs had .125 hook-links, with size 16 hooks for the near and far rigs, and an 18 for the track. All the rigs were matched up to Preston 11h elastic.

On the whistle I fed a tiny pinch of bait down the track (hemp and corn) before starting across on punch. I decided to leave the margin to my right until later - there was quite a high attendance but I had a lot of space here where the corner is. I hoped by leaving it quiet a few fish may move here out of the way. Optimism, eh!

The peg to my left had a carp pretty much strait away (their only fish), where as I could only get the occasional knock on the punch before I managed to get of the mark with a tiny roach of less than 1oz. How the hell do they take a 9mm bread punch? I tried a small bit of corn on the deck across and had a proper dig on it almost strait away but missed it. I never had another bite across all day after that!

I chopped about trying to get a bite on corn or punch, both across (where I'd started to drip odd bit's of feed too) and down the track but it wasn't happening. On the half way mark in the match I tried down the edge, hoping against hope really. I managed two small roach there, one on a tiny piece of corn and one on a caster which I hadn't even fed there.

With two hours to go I decided that it wasn't going to happen with carp so I started feeding odd caster on the 8m line with the intention of catching a few roach. It wasn't a winter league match but I figured it was better to get a few bites and at least have something to keep me interested - there was no football on until 4pm to listen too!

Initially, the roach were tiny and I was missing a lot of bites. Even with the dotted down float I had to watch it after it went under and wait until it moved sideways - if it went under out of sight nothing was there when I lifted! The fish were all under an ounce for the first hour, and I had to keep changing the depth to even get regular bites. I had odd quiet spells which I hoped were carp, but none materialised, and feeding a small pinch of hemp again bought the roach back.

In the last hour I found it was better to feed a reasonable pinch of hemp with six casters in an fish it out rather than drip odd casters in. The average size of fish got to an ounce, with an odd two ounce fish thrown in too. I was getting less bites than I started with, but was hitting more of them. Fishing away from the feed slightly helped too. I finished the match with about thirty-five roach which went 2lb 8oz on the scales for absolutely nowhere, but I actually quite enjoyed it! I wish I'd tried it earlier to see if the size of roach carried on increasing - they are in there.

I wish I'd got of my box and set up a lighter roach rig - I've put a top in my holdall with a soft single no8 elastic in (not ideal for small roach, but a lot better than the 11h I was using, and would still give me a chance with a carp in the cold). Hopefully it doesn't come to that for next weeks winter league with the weeks weather looking quite promising. The lake on the whole fished hard with just 30lb winning and two 18lb weights making the frame - weights taken from in the open water. Come on spring, get rolling in!

Winter League Rd 2 (24/2/13)

Well, I think it would be a struggle to be any colder without having ice on the lakes!

Despite talk of the match being moved on to another lake it went ahead as originally planned on the new lake. With it being very peggy last week a good draw was going to be vital - the lowest and the highest numbers wanted to be avoided as these place you on the front of the lake. Peg 34 wasn't what I wanted to see in my hand when it came out of the bag - on the front of the lake it, and one of the two pegs that blanked out right last week - my optimism waned somewhat upon seeing that as it has no recent form what-so-ever!

With plenty of time to set up I had a variety of rigs to try and scrape a few fish from the swim. I have to say I wasn't optimistic though! Whilst in the last winter league round I had the fortune to be out of the wind, this time I wasn't so lucky - what wind there was blew strait in to my face, and while it barely touched the water it was absolutely bitter! I don't very often sit with my jacket on, normally as fleece on top is fine, but I had it on and done right up such was the chill. Fingerless gloves were worn too - and I never fish with those on!

I had two lines down the middle, well away from each other (one fed with a tiny amount of dark groundbait, one with just loose feed) A deck rig for across which doubled for a margin rig for the long margin to my right, plus two shallow rigs for across. Plenty to try and search the peg, and that's what I did...

For four hours and forty five minutes I searched the peg - in the end I was even on size 20 hooks and .10 hook-links in an attempt to catch anything! (no point in going lighter on a commercial). It wasn't until that very end spell when I managed to catch four little perch down the edge to my right, doing nothing different to what I did all day. Other than those I never saw a sign of a fish all day. There was only one carp caught on my bank, while last week there were three, so it was fair to say it was hard. Still, the others didn't have to sit and watch (as I did) peg 29 catching on and off for much of the day as they put 50 odd pound on the scales.

My four micro-perch didn't do much for me - I think I was second from last! They only really saved me from a blank, the points won't matter as this will have to be the result dropped. It's not great, but not a disaster - always seem to get one cess-pit of a draw in a winter league series, yet still manage to have a good record in them. (it's funny how those that seem to christen me as a draw-bag when I do well are quiet though!) Here's hoping for both a change luck at the draw bag, and the weather. It will after all be March next week, and that's meant to be spring!

Sunday Feb 17th

I'm sure you're all beginning to detect a theme here - rather brief updates! Yes, unfortunately there is not a lot to write about again as the weather seems to conspire against us every week, with a few mild days leading up to the weekend and then a sharp frost on Saturday night / Sunday morning.

I have to admit, despite the draw (I had peg 5, which has no real winter form, but it does on occasion throw-up a surprise) I had a little confidence that a few fish could be had. With the sun slowly creeping higher in the sky the far bank of the peg would be in the sun most of the day, and I hoped a few fish would take advantage of that fact.

I had two dobbing rigs up for the far bank, plus a deck rig at just over 3ft which also doubled as a margin rig for 10m to my right. I had one bite all day across on punch on the shallowest (18in deep) dobbing rig which gave me a common of about 6lb. This was about twenty minutes in! I never saw a sign of a fish across, either visably or in terms of liners, and the same can be said for the pegs around me with either side having one carp each. At least they saw their bites mind - I looked away briefly and my carp announced it's presence by hooking it's self, even on the longer line used on my shallower rigs!

Peg 11 was the victor on the day with eight or nine small(ish) carp for about 22lb, two fish for 16lb was second I think.

With the Winter League set to continue next week there is talk the round will be moved on to the other lake which is at least providing a few more bites for everyone. The weather again looks set to be against us again though with another cold snap predicted.

I have to say (last week being the exception) that this winter has become more than a bit of a chore, and I can't help looking at the calender now as we approach the end of February and longing for those longer and hopefully warmer spring days!

Winter League Rd 1 (10/2/13)

Well, the weather has finally allowed the winter league to start, albeit I now believe it's shortened down to five matches instead of six. That said, despite the lack of ice it was still a bit on the cool side! A walk around the lake before hand didn't show any groups of fish visible, but it did show some pegs would be sheltered from the biting wind!

When my hand went in the bag peg 63 came out - I don't seem to be moving far on this lake, I keep getting to look at the same piece of island! I did mutter "at least I'm out of the wind", which turned out to be something which influenced the day quite a bit in the end....

I had a good plumb along the island so I knew where the line of the shelf dropped to around 3ft along the island. I had a rig up to fish on the deck for this, trying in various places until I hopefully found some fish. A 4x12 Chianti (with a plastic tip) on .14 mainline to a .125 hook-link and an 18 hook was for this. A "dobbing rig" to fish punch was also put up for this line, set initially about 10in off the bottom. A 4x10 Preston PB2 was on this rig, with the lines being the same as previous. The hook was a larger size 16 to allow for a large piece of punch. Last up I had a rig to fish two lines down the track at 11m, one to the left and the other to the right, just where the bottom started to slope up. A 4x14 Chianti was used here, same lines as the other two rigs and an 18 hook. The idea was to feed slightly more on one line and not top it up and see if one worked any better. All the rigs were matched to Preston 11h elastic.

On the whistle I fed my two track lines, before baiting up with just a corn skin and trying it along the far bank. I had about half an hour doing this with no joy, but in that time the pegs either side of me had both had a carp. I baited up the punch rig and started the searching process with that. I'd tried all along the bank and it wasn't until I got to the far right edge of my swim that the float went! A lively fight saw a ghostie of about 5lb in the net and that was one decision made right on the day - I hadn't set up a roach rig!

While baiting up again I noticed some slight movement in front of me, so rather than go right down the peg and risk pushing any fish away I tried there. The float had been in no more than a few seconds before it slipped away and carp number two was on. This fish was much smaller at about 1lb 12oz, but two in as many put-in's banished any thoughts of trying for roach!

I carried on searching the peg, and bites seldom came in two's from the same spot. It probably looked like I was merrily bagging from the same spot, but in fact I was working hard at searching out the fish that were constantly moving around the peg. Looking for what my friend Carl (very aptly I think) calls "nervous water" was the key to regular bites. A very subtle movement that many I think would discount or not even notice! The fish were of varying sizes, but it was noticeble that those I caught close to me were smaller - the bigger fish were obviously hanging away from noise / bankside presence.

By the halfway point in the match I was up to eight carp before signs of fish decreased. I had a drop down the middle over both lines and while they produced no signs of fish the rest to the far line worked. Back across and the next hour was steady if not spectacular with another six fish falling. I found that presentation wasn't quite right at one point and adding a string of small back shot helped keep the longer line in check and hit the bites that weren't quite as confident as the earlier ones.

After that run predictably the fish backed away again. Another spell down the track produced no bites but the signs of life came back across. The fish were noticebly wary now and despite obvious signs bites weren't forthcoming. With a cold rain falling for most of the day I wondered if the fish had dropped down a bit. Deepening the rig a couple of inches bought me carp number fifteen - my biggest of the day at about 6lb coming from right in front of me, but further from the bank. It looked like the fish had dropped out of the shallower water, especially when a 2lb'er fell next drop, but no more bites came.

Shallowing up and odd roach started to have a go at the punch - the carp were certainly backing away. I hooked another carp which felt a big fish further down the peg but disaster struck when it came off near the net. I didn't get a good look at it but it appeared to be 5lb+, and not foul-hooked. I checked the hook (which I'd changed after the last fish landed after I bent it with the disgorger) but it appeared fine. With about twenty minutes to go I hooked another carp, not so far down the peg and that one came off after a few seconds! While nothing appeared to be wrong with my hook, I changed it again - it seemed odd that I'd only lost fish after the hook change. I didn't get to find out if that was the answer as I never hooked another carp.

With sixteen carp in my net and nobody else having more than eight I was well clear of second place - my fish totalling 62lb 9oz, with 31lb being second and 24lb third. What was noticeble when I walked away from my peg was the wind - it was a cold day anyway, but that wind was bitter and the carp had obviously moved away from some of the more favoured pegs and out of the wind - second place was next peg to me while third and fourth both had the wind off their backs. After the struggles of the last few months it was nice to catch some fish, and they couldn't have came at a better time!