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!
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