Well, how nice it is to be returning! Was I excited to be getting back in to the swing of things? well, the fact that I was awake at 6am making hooklenghts and sorting bait suggests so! The only downside was when I went out to feed the fish - it was rather chilly with quite a sharp frost. I went and checked the outside thermometer on the side of my shed and it was reading -4C! Brrrrrrr.
The lake looked good when I arrived - a nice colour and very little wind on it, although unsurprisingly there was no movement after such a cold night. With a low turn-out there wasn't a peg in the bag I wouldn't have taken - we all had a nice amount of space so I couldn't understand some of the moaning! I was quite happy with my draw, as peg 41 gave me the shortest walk possible and an end peg.
The peg is in a corner, so I had the bank to fish too, plus the open area in front. I was also happy that it was fairly shallow, with no more than about 4.5ft of water even going out to 13m. The night may have been cold, but with a bit of sun and temperatures forecast to (just) make double figures the water would warm up nicely.... I hoped!
I set up four rigs for the day; a margin rig for 12m in to the corner, a 5m rig, a rig for 13m in front and a shallow rig to try both in the margin and over the long line. With no snags (there is a lilly bed in the corner, but dragging the plummet around showed I was plenty far away from it) I opted for 13h lakky on three of the rigs, with a slightly lighter grey Hydro on the shallow rig. All the rigs were on .14 main-line with hook-links of the same, with 16 B611's completing all bar the margin rig, which had a size 20 Fox Series 2. Depths were roughly 4.5ft long, just under 4ft at 5m and 2.5ft in the margin. The shallow rig was set about 2ft. For bait I had corn, hemp and a little meat, with a couple of slices of bread should I be really struggling. I did have a few pellets but these were left in the carryall up the bank.
On the whistle the margin had about ten grains of corn and a pinch of hemp, while the long and 5m swims slightly less of the same. I started on the long line, dripping in a few grains of hemp and corn, a tactic that had worked for me last winter. The going method the last few weeks had been dobbing bread in front of visible cruising fish, but I prefer to leave the fish alone that are cruising until an absolute last resort - if I'm going to stalk fish they'll be bigger than match carp!
I wasn't expecting a fast start, but with an hour gone and only the odd roachy looking knock I was getting a little worried - I'd expected an odd fish, even if they were small. There had been a few fish caught on the other bank in the sun, but it was much cooler still my side! I'd seen odd fish moving to give me hope and dropped in on the margin and spooked a fish. On the hour mark I tried punch on the shallow rig in the edge which got me of the mark... with a roach!
I was no better off nearing the two hour mark and I was surprised that my drip-feeding approach long hadn't got me of the mark. Odd fish were visible in the edge, and I even had a liner or two on the odd quick drop on corn. Deciding something wasn't quite right I fed just two cubes of meat in the edge before having one quick foray over the long line on the shallow rig, but that didn't work.
Dead on the two hour mark I slipped a cube of meat on margin rig and lowered it in. It can't have been in the swim much longer that a minute before a positive bite saw me attached to my first carp - a common of about 3lb. Topping the swim up with just two grains of corn and two cubes of meat after I managed to get three more bites in the next forty minutes. Not fast, but worth waiting for as all three led to a carp in the net with the biggest perhaps 5lb - the others the same size as the first.
After that run of fish the bites just started to get iffy and I missed two in a row. I wasn't sure if it was due to the pressure on the swim or the fact the sun had increasingly started to vanish behind some dark clouds, causing the temperature to drop a bit. Just as I was about to leave it I connected with a much smaller carp of about 8oz, perhaps the cause of the missed bites. I elected to top up the swim and leave it anyway, giving it a small pinch of hemp and two pieces of both meat and corn.
I was happy now in that I'd pulled away from those I could see (albeit there were a couple I couldn't, but I try not to worry about those until after the whistle!), but I needed to put fish in the net from another area of the swim instead of relying on just the one area. I'd been dripping odd grains of corn at 5m since the start of the match and three hours in seemed a good time to try it. A single grain of corn was slipped on to the hook and lowered in. Odd signs on the float were encouraging, but it took a few minutes and dragging the float away from where I was feeding (there was very little, if any tow) to get a positive bite. It was worth the wait mind, and a dumpy 4lb common was the result. I gave it a few more minutes, but with no more bites I topped up with a pinch of hemp and left if alone for a try on the margin swim.
Slipping a cube of meat back on and the rest seemed to have done the swim some good, although it wasn't as strong as it was with the temperature dropping away a touch still. The next hour saw me nab three fish from the edge, a ghostie nudging 4lb the best of them, before the swim died as the temperature dropped enough to warrant me putting my hood up!
I tried the long swim which I had carried on topping up via the pot with the odd grain of corn but I really was surprised it wouldn't come good. The 5m line produced an odd indication on corn, so I chanced my arm with a small cube of meat as it had been so good in the margins. I'd barely lowered it into the swim and the float went - worth a try then as carp number nine graced the net. The next drop on meat produced a 2oz skimmer - something of a rarity on this lake!
After that fish I went through a barren spell as the cooling down took effect, and even the cruising fish vanished from my swim, while I watched others further up the lake start to catch odd fish. The margin and long swims were totally lifeless, so with the 5m swim producing odd knocks I was beginning to pin my hopes there.
With about forty minutes to go my faith in the line was retunred, with the dripping in of corn rewarding me with four bites and three carp in the next twenty-five minutes before disaster struck and I lost a fish. I'm not sure of it was foul-hooked or not as it ran towards me - it was a proper indication but something didn't feel right. I had a quick look in the edge while resting the line but I was never confident that it would go so I finished the match up at 5m, missing two bites on corn in the last five minutes. This left me to finish up on a dozen "proper" carp, one small carp plus my two bits.
Packing up and word came that of the anglers I couldn't see someone had fourteen carp, including some lumps, while another was admitting to nine for about 34lb. I figured I'd have in the region of 35-37lb, so it looked close for second with an obvious winner - those that could see all of us told me I'd be second - a result I thought considering my six month sabbatical.
With me being the first peg on the lake I was the first to weigh, putting a total of 43lb 5oz on the scales - a bit more that I'd thought. When the angler a couple of pegs up who had fourteen came to weigh it looked closer than maybe others had suggested, with a few smaller fish in their net. Their two weighs were read out and my quick maths gave me just ahead of them, and this was confirmed by the organiser who read out a total of 42lb 12oz - just 7oz in it! The next weight after that scare was a low thirty, but considering the very sharp frost it had fished much better than anyone would have imagined.
So, a winning return to match fishing, but I do have to admit I felt a bit rusty! I was slow to react to things to make bites - a change of baits worked in the edge, while a change in shotting worked at 5m, but I really didn't do them quick enough and could have nabbed another fish or two. Still, it's something that will come back with time on the bank, which I will now again have! It's back to the weekly Sundays out from after this weekend, and I'll do my very best to keep the blog updated as quick as I can. Tight lines all!
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