With two wins in a row under my belt on the new lake I was looking forward to this Sundays match, especially as we're entering the time of year I find the best for fishing- early Autumn, where the fish hopefully are feeding up for the winter which is creeping up upon us!
I fancied an early number, any of the pegs between 5 and 14 would have done me nicely (the pegs I won the last two matches on) but I have to admit I was very disappointed to draw peg 27. Not only have the 20's not been in decent form, but I can't remember the last time 27 was in the bag! Must have been a while, as I had to clear a lilly bed from the front of the swim that had grown right over it, plus two branches that were in the way!
By the time I had my box levelled on the peg everyone else I could see were plumbing up, so I was slightly hurried to set up from the start. The 2+2 line was ruled out as there were still straggly lilly stems to about 6m, so I had a long line where the bottom just started to slope up at 14.5m. Depth here was 6ft and float was a .4gr NG Decker on .17 to a .15 hook-link, an 18 Fox series 2 finishing the rig off. I also put a shallow rig up for this line, just in case but didn't imagine using it. I eventually found a gap in the nearside roots in 3ft of water where I would have my margin line. Usual gear here for the edge really, with .18 line direct to a 16 Fox 2 and Purple hydro. Float was a .2 gr DC5. Lastly I put up the tip rod for trying the method to the island (too wide for the pole at about 19m), although a few casts with the bomb just seemed to hang up in the water chucking tight, meaning that it would be dropping short to get the feeder to the bottom, not ideal I find.
On the whistle the long line got half a pot of hemp and corn, while the margin had a whole pot of the same, plus a little meat. I started on the long line and regularly toss-potted a few grains of hemp and corn over the top. After about half an hour I started to get indications, although they seemed from small fish. Just on the hour mark I had my first proper bite on a single grain of corn, giving me a common of about 3lb. No more bites followed so I picked up the catty and started pinging pellets over the top. Odd fish were cruising so I had occasional fruitless tries on the shallow rig.
On the two hour mark I had a few chucks on the feeder. It didn't seem right with it dropping just short so I tried chucking it closer to no avail as it seemed to hand up on roots every time (and once it hung up the island too!) To cut the rest of a long boring story short until the last hour I never had another bite, and by this time the angler to my right had packed up bite less. I hooked a fish on the long line on meat which came adrift halfway back. I then dropped in the margin and had a mirror about 5lb on double corn. I foul hooked a fish next chuck and that was that! The two anglers to my left also had two fish a piece, all caught in that last hour.
The first and second weights were next to each other (pegs 12 and 14) with 66lb winning and 50lb+ second. All in all a disappointing day from a peg that I'd run to from November to March, but have struggled from both times I've drawn it in warm weather.
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