100 Not Out!

Doesn't time fly! And for my 100th post it was back on the same lake as I started this blog just over two years ago.

Walking around the lake and thankfully the tree's were sheltering it from the worst of the wind, with barely a ripple on the surface despite the wind howeling through the tree's. I quite fancied peg 14 as the leaves were gathering in the corner in 15 and, providing it stayed fishable, I thought long down the edge would be a good bet. I didn't draw it though! I had mixed feelings about peg 20- it used to be a proper flyer but it's recent form hasn't been great and it hasn't done a weight above 20lb for a fair time.

My first line of attack was at 16m just to my left on the island, on the edge of the bay visible in the pic. In previous times on the peg I've caught tight in the bay in a foot of water but the colour has dropped out slightly so I fished in about 2ft of water here. Rig was a NG Floats XTM on .15 line direct to an 18 Fox Series 2. Lakky was Preston 15h. Second rig up was for the margins to my right at about 9m. I had near 3ft of water here and gear was a .2gr DC5 on .18 direct to a 16 Fox Series 2, again with 15h lakky. Last up was a rig for 5m. In not quite 5ft of water rig was a .3gr NG Decker on .17 line to a .15 hook-link. Hook was an 18 Fox Series 2 and lakky was black hydro.

On the whistle I fed the far line with about twenty 4mm pellets and a pinch of loose crumb, while the 5m line had a quarter of a pot of corn with a pinch of hemp. Lastly, the margins had a third of a pot of hemp, meat and corn. Dropping across on a 6mm expander and I had a bite after only a minute or so. I played the common of about 4lb to the net before it got stuck round a straggly lilly in the edge and pulled off, trashing the rig in the process! Not a great start! On with a fresh rig and it didn't take long to get another response, and a solid 3lb common was soon in the net. Topping up with half a dozen pellets and a pinch of crumb saw another solid common join the first in the net in a matter of minutes before a spell of missed bites ensued as the rain started.

The rain heralded the start of a very frustrating spell where I was still getting bites but missing them. I tried corn on the hook, changing depths and the shotting and cutting out feeding the crumb, but in the next half an hour I probably missed ten bites. Eventually I caught a tiny roach on pellet but I'm sure they weren't the cause of all the bites! The swim faded after this and the bites died totally. I had a brief drop on the 5m line but ten bite-less minutes here saw me back across. I decided to try some choppy to kick-start the swim but all this bought was a few 2oz perch before that too faded.

It was the half-way mark in the match before any signs of life appeared. I saw a fish cruising in the very shallow water in the margins to my right so I dropped in on a cube of meat. It didn't take long for a bite and soon a nice chunky 5lb common was in the net but no more followed, and for the next hour I couldn't buy a bite anywhere. Eventually, a single grain of corn in the margins tricked another chunky 5lb'er. I missed a bite next drop and that was the end there for a while.

With just under two hours left I decided to feed a new swim on the far bank, half a section further to my left, and using just a tiny amount of crumb and a few grains of corn via the toss-pot. I'm not sure if it was this or the end of the rain and a lift in the temperature but after a two drops I had signs of life and the third drop gave me a bite. After a rather crazy fight a stunning looking silver/gold koi of about 6lb was netted, and almost immediately next drop it was followed by a mirror of about 4lb. The next few drops saw odd indications and just as I was about to give it a rest a bite produced a beautiful almost pure white ghostie which weighed about 2lb and fought like it was 22lb.

A lack of indications on the next drop led me to rest the swim and come in, and a try on the 5m line was useless so I found myself back in the edge. I missed the first bite, again on corn, and the second was a while in coming although again a decent fish of about 5lb. With nothing on the next drop I went across again, but bumping a fish saw the end of any action there and I spent the last spell of the match alternating across and the margins looking for bites. Just ten minutes before the end I had a decent common of around 7lb down the edge, and sticking it out there saw me miss a bite just before the end that I probably hit a touch too quick!

When the scales got to me there were weights of 36lb and 33lb. I had a level 1lb of bits and my nine carp went exactly 42lb for a nice and easy piece of adding up. I knew however that it would only be enough for second as peg 37 had spent the second half of the match bagging, putting not quite 63lb on the scales. In hindsight that was probably an achievable weight off my peg on the day (only three or four more fish at the stamp I had) and catching early probably led to me going at it a touch to much. What I didn't know also was that my peg was fished the day before in a match, something that would have led me to hang back a bit. I also think a more delicate rig, both across and in the edge would have given more hit-able bites. Time to put the summer gear away!