Sunday July 17th

Ahh, back to being able to to complain about the weather! The wind and rain gave the morning a rather autumnal feel and I have to say I was a little unsure about what the day would hold, both in terms of the rain upsetting the fish and with the forecast storms too.

I really wanted a peg in the open water where I find it's easier to catch short but I found myself on peg 62 in the corner round the island. I have quite fond memories of the peg as it's where I caught my first fish for two months back in mid/late January! Just as I was walking off with my gear someone told me I was also the golden peg, which is normally a curse to the days fishing...

Looking at the peg I was confident that I'd catch from it late down the margins where I had a few stick-ups. Fishing 13m down here I had just over 2ft of water, and the standard margin rig was set up for here - a .2gr DC5 float on .19 line to a .17 hook-link and a 16 Fox Series 2 hook, the lakky was purple hydro. The far bank rig was at 13m too, but I couldn't tuck this as tight to the island as I wanted due to the vegetation. In 2ft of water a NG XTM float was on .17 line to a .15 hook-link and finished with a 18 Fox Series 2 hook, while the lakky was Preston 15h. Last up was a rig for 5m. In 5ft of water I could get away with a .3gr NG Decker despite the wind. Terminal gear was the same as the last rig and matched to black Hydro.

On the whistle the far bank got a pinch of pellets while the 5m line had half a pot of hemp and corn. The margin line got a whole pot of bait - I had to attack this line as it's the one I needed to go for the best chance of taking the golden peg. Going across on a banded pellet small fish started to knock the pellet about. I started to flick a few 6mm pellets across with a catty to try and draw some fish.

In the first twenty minutes the next peg had two early from their margin, then my first proper bite saw me catch a crucian of about a pound and a half, before the next drop produced a tiny 1oz carp! With signs of fish in the margin I allowed myself a quick drop down the edge on double corn. It didn't take long to catch here with a fish of about 2.5lb falling. With no bites coming quick after I re-fed it with half a pot rather than push it too early.

I had a quick try on the 5m line but had only a liner to show for it. On going back over I again only had knocks from little fish, with the regular cattying of pellets failing to attract anything bigger. On the hour mark I dropped back in the edge and again had an instant bite but again from a smaller carp of about 3lb. Again nothing followed so I topped it up with half a pot again and left it alone.

The far bank wasn't going and I could only get liners down the edge. I carried on topping it up as I thought the fish would get their heads down at some point. On the two hour mark with the wind a bit gusty I bulked the shot up a foot from the hook on the 5m line and dropped in with a 10mm cube of meat. A sharp bite which took the lakky with it saw another smallish carp, followed by another about ten minutes later before that line faded, which led to me giving that half a pot boost what I'd fed by hand there.

I dropped across again and had an instant bite from an even smaller carp of perhaps a pound and a half before the mad indications (and the increased wind) led to me leaving the line again. Dropping in the edge saw me attached to carp number five, but this one led to a bit of a merry dance before I mugged a fish of about 4lb hooked in the tail. Nothing more followed so that was again topped up with half a pot.

On the 5m line I lost a fish on the meat but I think that may have been foul-hooked. With the wind dropping a touch I went back to a spread bulk and corn on the rig and this seemed to do the trick. The next hour gave me a run of fish, all in the 2-3lb bracket but they were coming steadily and with two hours to go I was into double figures of fish.

I'd kept an eye on the edge, and had been topping it up every thirty minutes and could see fish moving there. I gave the 5m a small pot of bait and left it to drop in the edge and was instantly into a bigger fish. A 5lb'er was soon in the net, but topping up via a large toss-pot didn't seem right so I gave it a quarter of a cup. This had the desired effect and soon another decent fish fell. Keeping to the pattern of feed, drop in and bite with just over an hour left I was on fifteen carp and motoring, with all the fish being twice the size of what I had been catching.

All the while down the edge I'd been keeping an eye on the dark cloud moving in ominously behind me, and with an hour to go a rumble of thunder was followed by a deluge of rain that made the frequent showers we'd already had seem like a misting! With my jacket on and hood up I plugged away but the indications were fading away. I did lose a fish from the edge that felt bigger still but may have been foul-hooked. Eventually the rain slowed and I then hooked another fish but the line inexplicably parted midway down the rig. Putting on a new rig I topped up the margin and left it.

A brief spell on the 5m line saw another small carp on corn before the wind picked up, so I bulked the shot up again and put on a big cube of meat and another small carp fell to that. Back in the edge and I was getting some indications and in the last ten minutes I managed another two carp, albeit much smaller than those I was catching.

I finished the match on nineteen carp, but very little idea of what others had caught. I packed my rain soaked gear away and went to find the scales just as they got to peg 53, which according to others was the only peg to challenge what I had. On pulling their net out they had less fish than me but all big, but on the scales when they went to 51lb something I knew it was looking good! My fish totalled 63lb 1oz on the scales and the best weight after I weighed was 32lb.

On reflection, given the weather it didn't fish too bad, we'd had over an inch of rain on Saturday, and a fair bit on the day too, but going home with soaked gear was a little less painful with a little bonus!