Sunday 7th August

I was looking forward to getting back on to the old lake after last weeks struggle, and with the warmer weather during the week it's fair to say most people were optimistic of a decent days fishing. I have to say I was too on walking round, as while the wind was on most of the pegs the water seemed much more coloured - hopefully due to fish feeding!

I did fancy a peg round the back of the island where the wind was pushing, as like most lakes the fish follow the wind. Pegs 57 and 59 were at the windward end but flat calm as the island sheltered them and seemed a perfect draw to me, but by the time I dipped my hand in the bag they were gone and 48 came out in my mitt.

I was fairly happy with the peg despite it not having great recent form as it's fairly shallow (4.5ft at the deepest), and therefore easier to concentrate fish on the bottom in. I put up three rigs for the day and first up was the rig for the island at 13.5m, which was manageable in all but the worst of the wind. In 16in of water the float was a NG XTM on .17 line to a .15 hook-link with a size 18 Fox Series 2 hook and matched to Preston 15h lakky. The second rig was for the 2+2 line. In just over 4ft the float was a .3gr NG Decker with the same hooks and line as the island rig, with the lakky being black Hydro. Last up was a margin rig, fished at about 5m to my left. Depth here was 2ft and a standard margin set-up of a .2gr DC5 float on .19 to .17 matched to a 16 Fox Series 2 hook. Lakky on this was purple Hydro.

On the whistle the far bank line got a palm-full of 6mm pellets, while the 2+2 line got half a pot of hemp and corn. Last up, the margin had a whole pot of hemp and corn. The first drop across on a 6mm expander and it produced a small roach after a host of knocks, so it was on with a banded 8mm pellet. The small fish still knocked the pellet but with a few carp milling about I was sure they'd settle so I started flicking pellets across with the catty.

On the hour mark I was just about to come off the far line as others were catching when a series of liners led me to stay on the line for a bit, but after another fifteen minutes I came off the line and dropped in over the 2+2 line. This gave me my first fish, a common of about 2lb that was hooked outside the mouth. When my next fish, a 4lb ghostie was also hooked outside the mouth I added another inch to the depth so I was on the bottom by about three inches as the wind was increasingly bad. This had the desired effect and by the end of the next hour I was on six fish, all falling to single corn.

Starting the third hour and I found I got bites quicker by fishing above the direction of the tow and was now catching steadily, feeding a whole toss-pot of corn each time. Again, all the fish were taken on single corn and I'd got myself into a good rythm of feed, bite and fish and by the half-way point of the match I was on thirteen carp with the fish all in the 3-4lb stamp. As tends to happen on "unlucky thirteen" I lost the next fish (the first one I'd lost) when it ran along the bank to my left and the hook-link parted on a root. This got even more frustrating when the next fish pulled off as I went to net it, putting the rig up a tree and requireing a new rig after I'd retrieved it.

The two lost fish slowed the swim a bit so I topped it up with half a pot of hemp and corn and dropped in down the margin. I'd originally intended to put half a pot in every 45 minutes but with the fish looking in the mood for some grub I'd stepped it up to feeding it every 30 minutes. It didn't take long to get a response from another chunky 4lb'er but no more bites followed so I gave it another pot of bait and left it.

Dropping back on the the 2+2 line and I picked off two smaller fish about 2lb each on meat before I found bites hard to come by so I dropped in down the edge again. This followed the same pattern as the first time with a fish falling strait away but no more bites following.

Going back on the other line again and I decided to feed corn by hand to increase the noise, so both the margin and 2+2 line were getting small pinches of corn every few minutes. With two hours to go I found that fishing right in the middle of the feed was better as it got me more bites, but I was missing a few of them so I put the bulk of shot right on the top of my six inch hook-link. This had the desired effect and I started to catch steady again and in half an hour I put four more carp in the net including one about 6lb before tails waiving down the edge got my attention.

Two drops down the edge on double corn gave me to fish quickly but they were smaller so I gave it a hit with the pot again and dropped on the other line. A couple more quick fish of that line saw me up to twenty three carp with an hour to go when bites went off. A switch to meat led to a flurry of missed bites before giving me a tiny carp of about 4oz.

The last hour in the margins gave me a steady run of fish down the edge, and a switch to meat down the edge seemed a better option than corn. The fish averaged about 4lb a piece until carp number twenty eight which was a ghostie mirror of about 7lb which I put in the net with just under ten minutes to go. In those last couple of minutes I put two more carp in the net but smaller, in the 2/3lb bracket to be on thirty proper carp with a minute or so to go. With the tails waiving at me I think had I dropped in again I'd have got another but I was at the net limit of fifteen carp per net. Had I any longer I'd have emptied the net with my roach and micro carp in it!

I was the fourth to weigh in and about 40lb was top weight when the scales got to me, my five weighs (one of them 5oz from the silvers net) totalled up to 114lb 10oz and comfortably enough for the win. The two pegs round the back of the island that I'd fancied originally filled second and third with a 70lb and 50lb weight. Not a bad days fishing in all!