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.
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