Sunday July 3rd

Well, on getting up this Sunday it looked like it was going to be another scorcher! Thankfully, at least the new lake has shade on most of the pegs - I didn't fancy baking again like last week.

Walking around before hand I thought the earlier numbers looked better, the water seemed more coloured and there were more fish moving around. I'd have been happiest with any peg up to number 20 (15 in the corner excepted) but it wasn't to be with peg 33 coming out. A bit bitter-sweet, as I'd won of the peg a few weeks ago, but on the downside that was with just 29lb! I was hoping it would fish a bit better this time.

Only two rigs up this time, nice and simple! The far bank rig was in about 16in of water and the float was a Nick Gilbert XTM. Line was .17 to .15 with an 18 Fox Series 2 on the end and the rig was matched to Preston 15h lakky. The other rig doubled for two margin lines; one at 11.5m to my left and the other at 6m to the right. Typical margin jobbie for me with a .2gr DC5 on .19 line to a .17 hook-link and a size 16 Fox Series 2. Lakky was purple Hydro.

On the whistle I fed across with about a dozen 6mm pellets, while the left hand margin got just a quarter of a pot of hemp and corn. I elected to not feed the other side until later, and this was going to be fed a touch lighter still, unless of course the fish were showing that they wanted a lot of bait!

On going across I had signs of life instantly and just a quarter of an hour in I was putting my first carp in the net. It didn't take long for a bite next drop either, but totally in-explicably the fish came off as I was shipping back while under very little pressure. The swim slowed a little after this so I topped up with a similar amount of pellets to what I'd started the swim with. The signs of life returned instantly and carp number two was soon in the net, perhaps a touch bigger than the first at about 4lb. The next drop I had a very short wait for a bite but again, for no real reason the fish came off after a short while.

An hour in to the match now and the even feeding again failed to bring the fish back. I could see three other anglers and the end peg had suffered a similar fate, catching two fish early, then after losing a fish it died. I started to introduce a few casters a this point via a small pot, while also still pinging a few pellets across with the catty which has served me well lately, but the swim seemed totally barren of life after the early flurry which is something I always worry about after catching from the off.

On the two hour mark I decided on a look in both margins, trying the dump fed longer one first before starting to toss-pot a little hemp and corn into the other but neither showed any signs of life. Infact the going up to the halfway point in the match all I'd added to the tally was a single liner across and nobody near me was catching either.

With all the lines lifeless I decided to try something else in the long margin, giving it three whole pots of loose (damp) groundbait. Don't ask me what the mix was as I'd had a tidy out of the bait store in the shed on Saturday and put all the bottom parts of bags in to one big bag mixed together to use them all up!

Leaving the margin line alone for a bit I went back across on caster and the float barely settled before it went. This fish went along the island before again coming off! I was not amused, but the next drop the same happend and another 4lb'er was in the net. With no more bites in the next five minutes I topped the swim up with a pinch of casters and again went over on double caster. A short wait was ended when I hooked what felt like a much bigger fish which ran along the bank, down the shelf and strait in to a snag and left me without a hooklength.... It was definetly one of those days!

The lost fish spelled an end to the action so I dropped in over the crumb on a cube of meat. I had a couple of liners so decided to put a whole worm on, but this didn't bring a response so I topped up with more crumb and left it again. Going back across was lifeless so I made the decision to try feeding chopped worm across. Half a worm burried strait away and gave me a 2oz rudd and a similar sized perch before again going off, and no matter what I tried I couldn't raise a response again from any line.

The match finished with me in a line of five anglers who didn't weigh in, while the other side of the lake had fished a touch better and a later text message (I was long gone!) told me that 46lb had won, with 35lb second and 28lb third. I have to admit I'm very frustrated about the lost fish but everyone seems to be suffering the same, but it's no coincidence that once you lose a fish the rest seem to vanish! I saw the first fish I lost and that was hooked outside the mouth and lighter lakky may be an option, however, with the root's and lillies in the lake I like to have a measure of control. I really don't know! This fish still haven't all spawned in the lake (which I've never known to happen so late) and I think thats a big contribution to them not feeding properly. Nothing I can do about that!