I quite fancy a job at the Met-Office! Yesterday a frost was forecast in the morning that we never got, last night wasn't supposed to drop below 6-7 degree's C but it was 2 degree's at 6.30am! And it gets colder out in the countryside where Westside is than in my garden near the town centre. I doubt I'd be any worse than them.
The normal plan of action is that I fish the new lake in the pairs, and pegs 23 on the new lake and 46 on the old lake came out in my hand. Someone must have told my partner that peg 46 DNW'd yesterday as he immediately declared that he'd like peg 23! So the old lake it was for me! I wasn't too fussed to be honest, as at least I wouldn't be getting the tip rod out.
I quite like peg 46 to be fair, but it's not been the greatest peg for a while. But with plenty of open water to draw fish from I fancied being able to nobble a few fish. I had four rigs up for the day, one for 13m, one for 5m, a shallow rig in case I saw cruising fish and lastly a margin rig. The long and 5m rigs were pretty similar, with about 6ft 6in of depth long and 6ft short, and both had Nick Gilbert Deckers on with a .4gr long and a .3gr short. Both were on .15 line to .13 hook-links and finished with size 20 Fox Series 2's, with both matched to Preston 13h with a pull-bung. The shallow rig had the same terminal gear with a small Nick Gilbert XTM float with a long line above it. Hook was a Kamamsan Animal with a hair-rigged band. Last up was the margin rig, the exact same one I didn't catch on yesterday!
On the whistle I fed a pinch of meat, hemp and corn long, while the shorter line got a more generous amount. I again left the margins till later. I could see a few cruising fish so started on the shallow rig, pulling the band through a cube of meat. I was pinging odd cubes with the catty out and after about ten minutes I had a proper bite which I missed. This led me to try it for a bit longer but I had no more signs on it.
Going on the deck with corn got me indications strait away and after about ten minutes I was off the mark with a small common of about 2lb. By this point nearly everyone I could see already had carp! Another bite a few minutes later saw me nobble another small carp, but they are the usual stamp of fish for the open out long. I was hoping to get a few bigger fish later at either 5m or in the margins.
I had a short bite-less spell after but the regular trickle of hemp and corn saw two more fish in quick succession fall to corn before the indications stopped again. On the ninety minutes mark I saw a fish cruising along the edge and as the temperature was rising nicely I decided to feed it, giving it a quarter of a cup of bait before having a sneaky look on the 5m line. I didn't expect bites on it so early and I wasn't disappointed when none came!
I had a long spell with no signs so decided to up the feed out long, giving it a decent helping of hemp and corn before leaving it. I had a brief try on the other two lines before going back on the long line. A missed bite saw me bulk the shot down again making the rig more positive, and this done the job as the next two time the float went under my lifts saw the lakky come out. As had been the norm out long they were fish around the 2.5lb mark, before the next bite I had saw the fish come adrift.
After the lost fish the indications slowed so I topped the line up again and dropped in on the 5m line on meat. I had a bite that saw the float fly under at a huge rate of knots, but the lift was met with thin air! No more bites came so I gave it a hit of bait similar to how I'd kicked it off before having a brief try in the edge.
Back out long and I could get silly knocks on corn so I tried a cube of meat which got me a bite, but that fish came adrift half way back. I couldn't get a bite again on meat but switching back to corn saw me nab a better common of about 4lb and then another smaller fish before the line faded again, so I topped it up again.
I tried a grain of corn on the 5m line, and this saw me nab a fish of about 3lb but no more bites followed, despite me trying all around the feed, and trying meat too. I decided to up the bait by hand here - a few other people were catching well and I needed this line to give me a good late run. The margin got a big pot too - it hadn't showed any signs so I wasn't going to kill it!
Back out long and there wasn't the signs that there was before, but I managed one more small carp by fishing a cube of meat away slightly from the feed. Back at 5m and a bite right away saw me hook a fish bigger than all the others, with a plump 5lb mirror being just what I wanted. With an hour to go I hoped it would kick in to life but it didn't. A quick try in the margins was fruitless, as was out long. With nothing to lose I slapped half a pot of bait in at 5m and managed a carp right away over it - a common of about 4lb. I plugged away over it for a bit, not wanting to feed like that again but the line was totally dead with no indications at all. I eventually gambled on slapping the bait in again but I couldn't raise an indication from anywhere in the swim.
When the scales got to me the peg to my left was top with 37lb 4oz - I thought it was going to be tight and it was, with me just pipping them with 37lb 8oz! My weight was only good enough for third on the lake though, with two pegs round the island producing weights of 59lb and 56lb - both from pegs with cover in the margin.
On returning to the car-park it was obvious who'd won with the one pair having a lake win and a fourth, but with my partner having a lake fourth we managed second pair with a few points to spare. I honestly don't think we could have done any better from those pegs, and while my partner was only 5lb off second on his lake we'd have still lost out on weight unless he'd had another 30lb+ in weight, while I needed 20lb to get another point. Still, it wasn't a bad weekend!
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