Sunday 28th February (W/L Rd3)

I can't be the only one who looks forward to the days fishing only to be thwarted by the weather seemingly everytime out...

With a severe weather warning in place for the wind and rain it was typical really, as the weather had been cracking during the week, still, at least there was no ice!

The day took a further blow when my hand dipped in to the draw bag and peg 55 came out, I couldn't have drawn further away from where I wanted to be, in the lovely sheltered 70's where there was fish moving.

Putting my box down on my peg it wasn't as sheltered as I'd hoped it would be, and the rain was tipping down (which is why there is no picture) The wind was blowing in at me from about 10 o'clock in front and even with the brolly up I was getting a soaking, and with a lot of pegs in round the island I wasn't optimistic, and neither was anyone else nearby.

Despite my fishing the venue now for near three years peg 55 is one of the few pegs I'd never fished before. Putting a rig on and shipping over to the island I found very little water near the island at 14.5m and had to come back a good meter to get 3ft of water. I earmarked two areas to try towards the island, one to the left and one to the right. This rig was on .125 line to an 18 hook and grey hydro. Float was a 4x12 Preston Somo with a plastic tip. As per last week I thought my best chance of a carp would be in the deeper water so I had a good plumb around and earmarked a where the bottom of the shelf was; I'd feed two areas here but I wanted to be able to explore the whole of the area looking for bites. This rig had the same hook and line as the last rig but with a 4x14 chianti to a 10 latex. I also put up a heavier rig in case the wind got any worse (at this point it was gusty but I could get the presentation I wanted with it) this had the same terminal gear but a more stable diamond bodied .5gr float. Lastly, I had a few brambles hanging in the water at 4m to my left, giving quite an overhang. Depth here was the same as on the far bank line so it was a last option!

On the whistle I fed the two track lines, one with just three grains of corn while the other had three grains of corn and six casters. Trying the left far bank swim with corn gave no joy so it got a small pinch of maggots before trying the other, which also gave no joy. I tried maggot on that line for a while but with no joy so topped that up with a few maggots and came in to the track lines. Now the wind and rain got a bit worse, and I was beginning to question my sanity not to mention the fact that I'd manage to get a couple of sections jammed together (my fault entirely!) so had to fish with sections behind me when fishing the track lines. With the hour mark coming up I'd had no sign of a fish and neither had any of the other four anglers I could see. I have to admit my hands were as cold as they've ever been and I could now only hold the pole across on odd occasions with the wind. It was time to get the bomb rod out....

With two hours gone the others I could see had followed suit and gone on the lead and still not even a liner had been had, or any small fish. I'd tried flicking the lead around most areas of the swim and nothing had came of it so I started to flick odd casters to the nearside overhang when not fishing the pole. I even put a smaller (size 20) hook onto the track rig to fish maggot but still nothing.

As the third hour came somebody I could see actually caught a fish, a small roach which they foul hooked! At this point the highlight of the day was that I'd got my radio working so I could listen to the Spurs game! I dropped in to the nearside caster line without any response so I started flicking maggots there instead while I tried the far bank and track lines with no joy (apart from Spurs being 2 up at half-time!) With an hour and a half left I slipped a single white maggot on and flicked the rig in the edge, and just after the float settled it slipped away and a few seconds later I thankfully wasn't looking at another DNW with a 1oz roach in the net! Next drop produced a roach of about 2oz so I tried a caster. This took longer to produce a bite and didn't have the desired effect as it gave the smallest fish so far! Another try on maggot gave a similar size fish before the bites went iffy so I fed a few more maggots. I'm not sure if this unsettled the fish or the fact that people were walking about but I never had another bite until right near the very end, managing another two small roach.

I have to say I was pleased to be packing up, and I can't have been the only one! My few plips went 4oz, the best weight of anyone without a carp! The only other fish I saw caught was the one foul hooked roach and I was surprised to find I had a mid match finish with six anglers blanking and me beating the single roach. The pegs I wanted to draw in the 70's were the place to be as those four pegs filled the top four with 28lb winning and I think 17lb needed for 4th.

I think it's fair to say half way in now that any chance of defending the trophy have gone, although a decent placing is not beyond reach and a top three or four finish is what I'm aiming for now. I just need a change of luck at the draw bag! And a change in the weather would be nice too, it's not too much to ask for is it?