And that's all I want to say about the football!
The weather was forecast to be the hottest day of the year, so my wish list for the draw was a peg with shade! And unusually, I drew the shadiest peg on the lake (11), under an acorn tree all day and out of the sun! It was a pretty strait forward approach to the day, with only 13m of pole needed to reach in to the back of the bay opposite. One rig was set up for here, on .18 line direct to an 18 Fox Series 2 hook. A small Preston Durafloat and 15h elastic completed the set up, fished in about 20in of water. A margin rig was put up for the left margin, same terminal gear but in 2ft of water with a .2gr DC5 and a 16 hook. I did intend to only have these two rigs up but with a few minutes left I decided to put up a rig for the deep water. As I was sitting on a point I had this 5m line at quite an angle to my right, keeping it well out of the way, but also well away from the bank. This was my pretty standard rig for deeper water, a .3gr diamond bodied float on .17 to .15 and an 18 hook. Depth here was about 5ft.
On the whistle I fed the far bank with about a dozen pellets, while the margin got a whole pot full of hemp, corn and meat. The 5m line was just fed by hand with corn, nice and easy with a handy reflection to aim at on the water! Going across on a 6mm expander bought instant indications and after lifting and dropping the rig the elastic was pulled out, only a small fish mind, with a carp of about 10oz finding it's way to the silvers net. The next chuck bought nothing so I started to top up with a few pellets via a toss-pot. This didn't really have the desired response with two perch and a roach the next fish to fall for the pellet hook bait. This was starting to go the same way as the last time I drew the peg, with a small carp strait away but fading instantly after.
In an attempt to draw the swim to life I picked up the catty and started to ping a few pellets across. This had the desired response as a few carp started to fall- not big, all around the same size as the first, or a touch smaller. On the hour mark I hooked something bigger, and had a lively tussle with a common of about 3lb. Indications faded a little after so I dropped in a slightly larger amount of pellets with the cup. Small fish started to fall again, with a couple of roach and even a small skimmer falling, then the return of the small carp, with one of about a pound and a half followed by a crucian. I was happy with the way things were going, as nobody else I could see had any more than me, plus I was getting bites!
On the two hour mark I decided to drop in on the margin, which I had regularly been topping up. I had a few liners and silly indications here on meat so I had a try on double corn. The float had barely settled here when it shot under, but my lift was met with no resistance! No more followed so it got another pot and I went back across. The rest, plus quarter pot of pellets had the desired effect as a couple of carp around the 2 to 3lb mark fell. I then hooked and lost a fish which charged under the tree trunk to the left. I topped the swim up with about a dozen pellets while I tied a new hook on, and could see a bright coloured carp feeding on the far bank. Dropping back over and I watched the bright coloured fish move strait on to the hook bait and bingo! on it was! After a lively fight a koi of about 5/6lb was in the net, a yellow and black one with a silver head that I recognised from catching in the pairs match at the start of May, when I was on the next peg.
The next hour or so continued in a similar vein, although bites were a touch slower. I'd get two fish and then have to rest the swim. I was dropping in to the margin in between but all I could catch here was 2oz roach on meat. The fish were probably averaging around the 2.5lb mark, but one lump of about 7lb did bulldoze it's way in to the action. With just over an hour to the swim started to fade away from me, with fish in the swim but distinctly wary. I decided to drop in over the 5m line for the first time, and instant knocks were followed by a proper bite that saw me attached to another pea in a pod common. Only knocks that looked distinctly roachy followed so I went back over. An instant bite say be attached to a small sausage chub, but no more. I rotated the lines for the last hour but only a 1lb common from across and a big fan-tailed goldfish from the 5m line added to the tally.
At the end I guessed I'd have a mid 40lb weight, with a dozen carp in the proper fish net, plus the smaller ones. As the scales reached me a low 30lb weight was top. My fish comfortably made that, going a touch more than I thought totalling 51lb 2oz. The rest of the weigh in was tight, with 38lb being second but with a host of weights around the 32-33lb mark making things tight.
I have to admit I enjoyed the day, with plenty of bites that did need working for. My one regret for the day was not bringing any groundbait, as I'm sure it helps in holding smaller carp in the swim rather than just loose feed. I also think the cloud would have helped with the fish being quite spooky, with the water being a little clearer than I'd expect for the time of the year. Unbelievably, the fish have still to spawn properly in the lake, even though those in the old lake have spawned twice!
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