Sunday 19th June

Well, what a surprise, waking to the sound of the wind again! That said, we're lucky that the venue is pretty sheltered, and on walking round the wind was only periodically swirly in just some of the pegs. I have to say the lake looked nice, but in the back of my mind I knew that the Tuesday evening summer league match was a struggle with three or four people blanking.

I had two pegs in mind going in to the draw queue, and by the time I went in the bag one of them had gone. Once I put my hand in the bag the other one came out - peg 37.


On putting my nets in I actually spooked a carp in the right hand margin, so I knew there were fish present. I only had the two lines of attack for the day, one rig for the far bank and one for the margins. I had a good ten to fifteen minutes plumbing along the far bank, trying to find a nice depth tight to the island, but where there was a gap in the roots. In the end I settled for an area pretty much directly infront, at about 15m. Here I had about twenty inches of water and the rig was on .17 line to a .15 hook-link with a size 18 Fox Series 2 hook. Float was a Nick Gilbert XTM and the lakky was Preston 15h. The margin rig was originally intended for the left side under a tree, but after a good plumb round I actually preferred the depth and the bottom contours of the right side margin at about 6m. A .2gr DC5 float in 3ft did the job here, on .19 line to a .17 hook-link and a size 16 Fox Series 2, matched to purple Hydro.


On the whistle I fed a dozen or so 6mm pellets across, while the margin got a small helping of corn, meat and hemp. Quite negative feeding for the time of year but the recent results suggested the fish were still in a funny mood having not spawned yet. Going over on an expander I missed the first bite before hooking a rudd of about 3oz which came off halfway back. For about ten minutes I had odd indications from silvers before they died off, so I picked up the catty and started flicking in a few pellets hoping the noise would draw some carp.


I had nothing in the way of indications for a while coming up to the forty-five minutes mark, while 33 was the only other angler I could see and they had one carp. As they were playing their second I had a bite which led to me landing my first carp, a decent one too at a good 4lb+. A liner followed but then nothing more so while still flicking a few pellets with the catty I decided to get the casters out of the cool-bag, that I'd bought simply as it had been fishing hard. I topped up with a reasonable pinch of casters but swapping to them on the hook gave me just two small perch.


It was a good hour later before I had any signs of life again, before a decent mirror of about 5lb made a mistake. A bite next drop saw a smaller carp of 2lb quickly netted, and again a bite pretty much instantly after saw me play a decent fish for a few minutes before losing it near the net. It looked a good 6lb and on day when bites had been hard to come by I have to admit I said a few choice words! I topped up with a few casters again but the swim had predictably quietend off. I was just about to try the margins when a bite out of the blue gave me a common of a good 7lb, but next drop gave me a little perch! I had a quick lifeless try on the margins but didn't give it too long before going back across.


I had a lifeless spell across but kept plugging away as the fish were of a good stamp - I had one fish less than peg 33 but I was thinking we had a similar weight as mine were bigger. The next action of any note was a rather frustrating period, firstly I lost a good fish which charged miles along the bank to my left and through a huge weed bed. I got it out of the weed eventually and played it infront of me before the hook pulled. I got a glance of it under the water and it looked to be nearing double figures, although the angle it was swimming suggested it may have been hooked in the cheek rather than in the mouth. A few minutes later, after again topping up with casters I lost a fish of about 4lb near the net when the hook-link parted. That was bad angling on my part as it must have been damaged on the last fish and I didn't notice.


The swim died off for a while, and the margin had never shown signs of life. I could see peg 33 pulling away from me now after a run of fish from their margins. I kept flicking a few pellets across too, hoping the noise would attract some fish. An odd person walking told me that it was the same for everyone. Coming in to the penultimate hour I started to see odd fish cruising, and a switch to half a worm caught me a perch of about a pound and a half followed by a common of about 3lb. Then the next few drops all resulted in wasp perch on the drop so I topped it up and went back to the edge.


It was nearing the last hour when I had another bite, strait after my last spell in the margins. A mirror of about 5lb fell, and then next chuck I played a fish of about the same size to the net before the hook pulled! This again slowed the swim, while I could see peg 33 still nabbing an odd fish swapping between the edge and across.


With fifty minutes to go I decided to try something with the top-up feed, giving the 50/50 caster and pellet mix a good squirt of Dynamite Baits Swim-Stim Natural liquid. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, it's been in my bag for three years! Dropping strait over it produced a dumpy 4lb+ common, and another followed a few minutes after, again of about the same size or perhaps a touch bigger. The drop after that gave me gave me a fish that wanted to go through the same weed as the lump I'd lost earlier, it didn't make it though, and after a good tussle absolutely mint double figure common was in the net! I had twenty minutes left after that but the swim seemed a little lifeless, so it got another helping of pellet and caster through the pot, with the same good squirt of liquid!


With ten minutes to go I hadn't had any more bites, then with me wishing for one more I got it, panning a common of about 3lb with three minutes left by my watch..... Time for another one then? Rig back out, I flicked four pellets over with the catty and away went the float! Another 3lb'er was panned and I had the rig back in the swim again, but didn't manage to get a bite in the twenty seconds or so until the whistle!


I was the last to weigh (as the peg to my left had gone, but I couldn't see them) so I packed away and got to follow the scales all the way round for once. Infact, somehow I ended up on the scales which was supposed to be the first two pegs job! Going round the lowest weight put on the scales was just short of 20lb, with the weights pretty tight until peg 33. They had more fish than me and weighed in just over 40lb - I knew I had that! My silvers net (well, everything in it was green and stripy!) went 2lb 3oz, while my 11 carp bottomed out the 55lb scales! Not a bad thing as it happened as it meant I got to weigh the double seperate (thinking about it when I got home I should have got a picture of it!). The remaining fish went 46lb 13oz, while the biggy on it's own went 11lb 10oz giving me a total of 60lb 10oz.


What was noticeable after the match was that most had caught late on, so the golden hour wasn't just in my peg - did adding the liquid to my feed make any difference? Who knows, but it can't have done any harm to the peg so it's something I'll bear in mind to try again. Incidentally, when I left my peg to find the scales the swim was solid with carp feeding across, a good forty minutes since any bait had gone in. Everyone also suffered a few hook pulls, as I also did last time on the same lake. It's not something I've had before and I can only put it down to the fact they aren't feeding properly. I did learn one lession mind, be carefull if you buy cheap correcting fluid to mark the depth of your top-kits as it tends to be very runny and prone to dripping - I now have a blue bib and brace with white polka-dots on it!