Sundays just lately seem to have developed a distinct theme - wind! For the third Sunday in a row I was greeted by the sound of the wind when I got up at 6.30am.I hadn't walked round the lake before the draw, but I fancied any of the pegs in the open water as they were the least affected by the wind and also I feel offer the best chance of catching short should the wind get worse. There were a few of those pegs left when I put my hand in the bag too, but instead I drew 59, one of the pegs in the line round the island that really struggled last time.
When I got to the peg the wind was blowing down both arms of the island and into me, but I was shielded from the worst of the wind by the island with just a bit of ripple coming round the corner. The wind didn't prevent me from fishing across, and 14.5m was enough to reach tight to the island in about 16in of water. I wasn't going to place too much faith in this line, if the island produces it does so early on. The two main lines were a 2+2 line, in about five and a half foot of water a .4gr NG Decker was the choice, a very stable pattern and plenty up to the tow I had. The last line was the one I hoped would go, the margins. The peg has a long margin to the right to draw fish from and while there was nothing moving in my peg I was confident the wind pushing my way would move some in. This line was at about 9m down the bank into a nice bay in the bank in a little over 2ft of water, using a .2gr DC5 float. Lines on the far and middle rigs was .17 to .15 with an 18 Fox Series 2 hook, while the margin rig was on .19 to .17 to a 16 Fox Series 2. Lakky's were 15h on the far and 2+2 line and purple Hydro for the margin.
On the whistle I fed a pinch of 6mm pellets across, while the 2+2 line had a pinch of hemp and corn. The margins had half a pot of hemp and corn. I'd elected not to feed any meat on the margins due to the tow, keeping to heavier baits to keep the fish on the deck. On the first drop roach shredded the expander so I went over to a banded pellet and started to drip pellets over the top. On the forty-five minute mark I'd only had roach knocks across so I topped up the margins (the pegs either side had a fish each from their edges) and went on to the 2+2 line, where I'd been dripping corn.
I'd spent half an hour on the closer line with just one line bite from a fish I could see cruising, which was the first carp I'd seen in my peg, so I went back across. I had around twenty minutes across with just roach nudges on an expander to show so I dropped in on the 2+2 line again. I had an odd liner which was encouraging, then as I looked up at the next peg to see them net a fish I felt a tug as a fish hooked it's self. The result was a common of around 3lb or so, and was followed with similar sized fish on the next two drops. Predictably, as it was early for the line to produce it faded away, so I topped it up with a decent pinch of hemp and corn and had a drop in the margins, although this never produced.
A fishless forty-five minutes saw me half way in to the match so I decided to push the margins a bit by feeding a bit more often via the large cup. With just over two hours left this paid off with my first bite down the edge on double corn, although the fish was my smallest at about 2lb! Topping up with a large toss-pot of hemp and corn the next three drops all produced carp around the 4lb mark before the fish seemed to back off. I topped up with half a pot and dropped back on to the 2+2 line where I lost a fish before a spell of liners with no bites led me to nudge the float up a bit to give a little more stability to the bait, plus trying double corn. This had the effect I wanted as a fish fell strait away, and another the next drop before a large tail waving over the margin led me to want to try that again!
Over the edge the fish drifted off as soon as I dropped over them, and while I'd just pulled away from the pegs either side I had no idea what anyone else had caught, I decided with just over an hour to go it was time to force the margins! A whole pot of bait was noisily slapped in to the edge and then I dropped in over it with a lump of meat. The next fifty minutes or so gave me a steady run of fish, and if a bite didn't follow after I topped up with the toss-pot a whole big pot worked! Not massive fish but they were coming steady. With twenty minutes to go I put my fifteenth carp in the net, and then on the next drop hooked a fish which felt much bigger than all the others. I carefully played it back to the top-kit when the hook pulled! The last spell of the match was frustrating as I missed five bites down the edge, the only bites I missed all day.
I had no idea what others had apart from those either side but I guessed I had somewhere between 50-55lb. When the scales got to me 30lb was the top weight and my fish went 52lb 10oz, almost dead in the middle of my guess! This was comfortably top until peg 70 pushed me very close putting 51lb 4oz on the scales. I didn't see the others weigh in but those weights were enough for a Spurs fan 1-2, with I think that 30lb weight from the first peg being third.
I have to say, the win aside, I enjoyed the day! I felt I worked hard at the swim and made the right decisions with the feeding and even though it took me a while to put a few fish together I was always sure I would get a few should I keep plugging away, and it was nice to be able to influence the swim and get a result from a peg that, to be honest, I didn't want! Next week is a bank holiday weekend so I'm not sure what day I'll be fishing next weekend, but I will be out!
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