I know I must be getting old when I can turn up on my birthday and not be hungover or suffering! Still, now I've reached the ripe old age of 30 I've decided to behave - the last time my birthday fell on a weekend I finished fourth in a match I should have won as I had to keep going for a walk to wake myself up.....I'd not walked round the lake before the draw, but with a near full house I fancied anywhere away from the island for the chance of a few fish being as the island took the extra anglers present. As it stood I couldn't have draw any further away from the island, drawing peg 75 in the corner, and the shortest walk to boot!
The peg has a long margin to the right as it's the end of the lake, and I fancied it to produce a fish or two as it has done recently. The rig for there was simple, a 4x12 Preston Somo for fishing in just under 3ft of water at 12m along the bank. Line was .14 direct to a 16 B611 and on Preston 13h elastic. My second and third target area were at 12m in front and a 2+2 line. Depth on both was identical at about 5ft so the same rig would suffice for both lines. With the extra colour now in the water this was also on .14 line direct to a 16 B611. Float was a 4x14 Preston Chianti and lakky was again Preston 13h. Lastly I also put up a shallow rig to try with a longer line above it just in case fish came up cruising in the open water should the sun come out. A 4x10 Preston PB2 with the same terminal gear as the other rigs was the get up for this.
On the whistle I fed a pinch of micro's with a few grains of corn and a little hemp, where as the 2+2 line got half a dozen grains of corn. I then filled a small cad-pot with three grains of corn and a small pinch of hemp and went out long. I started to see odd fish cruising about, and even move along the margins. It didn't take long to get an occasional liner and I could see that peg 72 in the reeds had caught. I carried on dripping the odd grain of corn and pinch of hemp long to try and attract fish but on the 45 minute mark I got fed up of watching fish swim along the margins and with four or five people having caught I wanted in on the action! A single grain of corn was lowered in the margins and after a minute or two the float slid away, the culprit not one of the eight or nine carp I could see within feet of my float but crucian of about 2lb. Nothing followed after, so with not even an indication I topped it up with a pinch of bait and left it.
I carried on dripping a little bait out to the long line, and flicking the odd grain of corn to the short line. An odd liner on the long line led me to have a brief try on the shallow rig but with no joy. Odd fish again showed in the edge and nearly everyone else I could see had carp now, including someone with one fish well into double figures. I had a brief look in the edge again but the fish again done a disappearing act. I was getting a little frustrated now, but told myself that on the last time I drew the peg it was a slow starter and today could well be the same. No need to panic... yet!
On the two hour mark my perseverance on the long line was rewarded with a bite and my first carp, a common of about 3lb. It was perhaps ten minutes later and carp number two was in the net, again on corn. The swim faded after so I left it alone and had another try in the margins. Again the fish that were moving there vanished as soon as the pole went over them. I also had a quick try on the 2+2 line, but this also didn't produce.
Back out on the long line and bites were coming but I missed three or four before a mirror of about 4lb fell. Again when I went back out I missed a run of bites so I decided on a change to the shotting, swapping the the bulk and two droppers into a more positive spread bulk starting about 14in from the hook. This seemed to have the desired effect and in the next hour I hardly missed a bite and found myself on eight carp and two cruicians with an hour and a half to go. At this stage I thought I'd edged ahead of everyone apart from peg 72 in the reeds, but the peg had faded and I decided on resting it.
A try on the margins gave me no joy whatsoever, as the fish that had been present there had faded away. Going onto the 2+2 line gave me hope when a liner came my way, then an indication which led to bumped fish. I left the line alone after that, hoping to let the fish settle so I could hopefully plunder it late. Back out long and the rest hadn't had the desired effect as bites weren't coming. Trying further out is the normal answer but this didn't work. Trying a couple of feet to the left of my feed (the opposite way to the tow) got me a bite from a carp that was a touch bigger than the others, but it didn't work again, and neither did trying down the tow.
The last hour was a total disappointment, and the warmest part of the day seemed to coincide with mine and everyone else's swim that I could see become barren. Nothing happened what-so-ever and I couldn't even graft out a liner. Looking at it I thought I'd finish second behind 72 in the reeds but as the last to weigh in it would take a while before I'd find out!
When the scales got near me 23lb was top weight, and a host of close weights behind them. Watching peg 72 pulling their nets out there was less in there than I thought and there fish went 25lb and it looked like I'd over estimated what others had! My two crucians went 4lb exactly and my nine carp totalled 30lb 11oz for a 34lb 11oz total (easy maths that!) for a birthday win!
With the larger attendance I think it's hard to draw many conclusions for next weeks winter league as there will be less pegs in, but hopefully I can pull of the same result!
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