Sunday September 11th

Well, Autumn has arrived with a bang! The wind has been blowing all night and I was woken at 6am by the rain lashing down. Not a good combination for a days fishing.

With another near sell out there were a couple of pegs I fancied as they had room; pegs 66 and 68, which also had no wind in them, and peg 44 which also has a large lilly bed in it that always holds carp. I really didn't want to draw round the island as all the pegs were in, although at least the ones round the back of the island were out of the worst of the wind.

When my hand went in the bag I was very disappointed that 55 came out- a seldom used peg with no form. I've sat on it before and am yet to catch a carp from it! Still, at least it was out of the worst of the wind.

The first rig up was for the bay in the island in front of me at about 15m. A Nick Gilbert XTM on .17 to .15 with an 18 Fox Series 2 matched to Preston 15 hollo was the gear for that line. Second up was a rig for the 2+2 line. In about 5ft of water I found that I could get away with a .3gr Nick Gilbert Decker. Terminal gear was the same as for the far bank rig but matched to black Hydro. Last up was a margin rig. At 5m to my left I had a nice marginal shelf with just over 2ft of water. A .2gr DC5 float was matched to .19 line to a .17 hook-link and a size 16 Fox Series 2 hook, with the rig matched to purple Hydro. Despite not having loads set up, I wasn't ready at the start for some reason, so I apologise for the hashed picture taken after the match just as it started to rain again!

When I started I fed the 2+2 line with half a pot of hemp and corn, while the margin got the same. I went across with a toss-pot on the pole and sprinkled a few 6mm pellets on the float. I carried on doing the same every few minutes but strangely even knocks from roach were few and far between. On the half hour mark I started topping the pot off with groundbait. This led to a few more knocks from small fish but no sign of any carp.

On the hour mark I dropped in on the 2+2 line. At this point the only fish I'd seen caught was a small roach. After about five minutes I had a bite on a single grain of corn which produced a carp of about 3oz, but no more bites followed. I went back across (but carried on feeding the closer lines by hand), and had a liner across but from a fish that was visibly cruising.

I had a while across but with no joy so I dropped back in on the 2+2 line, but had nothing here. I decided to have a brief look in the margin and had a bite pretty quick on double corn but from a pastie carp of about a pound. The activity was short lived and I couldn't get another bite here so I went back across.

On the half-way mark, and with no joy from either of the other two lines I dropped in the margin and promptly missed a bite on double corn. The next drop gave me another bite and I connected with this one, a carp of about 3lb, but again no more bites followed.

With just over an hour and a half to go nobody I could see had a 'proper' carp, so with nothing to lose I upped the feed in the edge, while giving the 2+2 line a quarter of a pot of hemp. I dropped in down the edge and hooked a fish that felt decent, but after twenty seconds or so the hook pulled. I topped the swim up and left it alone for a bit but I couldn't raise any signs from anywhere.

With an hour to go I lowered the rig in over the first bubbles I'd seen from the 2+2 line and as I lowered the float in it carried on going! Joy! I managed to do the same for about thirty-five minutes, taking my tally from one carp up to nine. A mixture of sizes from 2lb up to about 5lb but I wasn't concerned, the float was going under and I never missed one!

After the fast run the bites slowed a bit, and my attention was taken by some large fish grubbing in the edge. I lowered my margin rig in and it buried quickly, followed by lots of elastic! What looked to be a big ghostie roared around, and while it didn't look foul-hooked the lack of control suggested it wasn't hooked in the mouth. I'll never know for certain as after two or three minutes the hook pulled. The next drop down the edge the float goes, and my lift is met by a 4lb common leaping clear of the water and through the marginal brambles, leaving me hanging up the marginal cover! That was the last action in the margins but I managed one more carp off the 2+2 line.

At the end of the match I'd only seen two other carp caught so was pleased with how I'd plugged away and caught a few. When the scales came round it seemed that while peg 44 had bagged up, putting a level 80lb on the scales, the only other peg to have caught well was 66. My fish totalled 35lb 6oz and was good enough to scrape in to third place behind a near 50lb weight from peg 66, a result far beyond what I thought I could manage.

I believe next week is on the new lake, so it's a change of scenery!