It's a bit novel to get out twice in one weekend, and I have to say I was looking forward to it - despite the weather!
With only ten anglers showing for the open there wasn't really any pegs I didn't want as we'd all have a bit of space. The wind was pushing towards the car-park end so that looked favourable, so I promptly drew peg 48 which was the furthest peg away from the car-park that was in on my bank. Still, it was an end peg so you never know!
I put three rigs up for the day - a far bank rig at 13m on the corner of the island, a 5m rig and a margin rig. The far rig was tight to the island in about 20in of water, with a small NG XTM float on .15 line to a .13 hook-link and finished with a size 20 Fox Series 2 hook. This was matched to Preston 13h lakky on a pull-bung. The 5m line had a .2gr NG Decker (probably takes around .3gr really) The depth here was about 4ft and that rig had the same terminal gear as the far bank rig. Last up was the margin rig for 6m to my left. I had just over 2ft here and the rig was a 4x12 Preston Somo (I've replaced the cane tip for a slightly fatter plastic one) on .15 line with a hook-link of the same. This was finished with a size 18 Fox Series 2 hook and matched to Preston 15h lakky.
On the whistle I fed a small pinch of 6mm pellets and meat across, and then fed a pinch each of meat, hemp and corn at 5m. I decided to leave the margin line for a bit and see how they responded to bait before feeding it later in the day. In the first fifteen minutes I saw three or four other people catch carp while I hadn't had a knock. I was dripping in a few cubes of meat and an odd pellet in, and on the half hour mark had my first indication - I was lowering my rig down after feedin and the elastic pulled out! It came off a few seconds later mind, so not the best of starts!
It was about ten minutes after the lost fish when the next bite came, and that gave me a decent common of about 4lb, followed by a micro common of about 2oz! After a roach the next drop on meat I topped up with the big pot, giving it about a dozen pellets and half that of meat. A quick drop on the 5m where I'd been dripping corn and the odd bit of meat gave me just a liner, which led to be giving it a bit longer than I was going to without a proper bite.
Going back over on meat got me a response pretty quick, with a 2lb common being quite quickly followed by one slightly bigger. I topped up after each fish with a few pellets and three bits of meat, and when the next bite gave me a crucian of about a pound I thought I'd found a good rythem, only for the fish to fade away again. I topped up with a larger amount of bait again, but it didn't work this time.
With two hours gone I decided to start feeding the margin and gave it a modest pinch of corn, hemp and meat. I was going to keep some bait going in by hand too, albeit less often (but larger) amounts than what I was putting in at 5m. I had my first bite on meat at 5m too, which flew away but I missed it! A repeat on the next drop gave me a 2oz mirror so I gave it a quarter of a pot of hemp and left it alone.
Back on the far line at the halfway mark bought an odd indication but no proper bites, and peg 68 opposite started to catch a few fish in the open water. I topped up the far line with the big pot again, and had a fruitless try on both the close lines (apart from a foul-hooked bitterling in the margin!) The hit of bait and a rest seemed to do the line some good and two fish about 3lb each followed in pretty quick succession, before typically they backed away again.
Dropping in on the 5m line with two hours to go and a bite on meat, fishing just away from the feed saw me nab a common about 5lb, but no more followed. I upped the feed here slightly as they'd responded across to bait across, in the hope of a late flurry. I had fruitless try in the margin after seeing a swirl there, before going back across and nabbing two fish again in fairly quick time. Not big at about 3lb, but I was keeping bites coming! Next drop saw me catch a roach so I topped up again with the big pot.
Back at 5m I tried a grain of corn, which got me carp number seven after a very brief wait. Not as quick as number eight came as the stem of the float was just touching the water as I lowered the bait in with the loose-feed and the lakky ripped out! It was a decent fish too at about 5lb. The bites went iffy after so I topped that up and left it, having a fruitless try in the edge. By now the rain had really started, but it didn't seem to upset the fish as the far line gave me two fish again quite quick before I had to top it up, leaving me with ten carp with an hour to go.
I went back on the 5m line, and the next bite saw me land another crucian, this one a bit bigger than the first at about 1lb 4oz, before nabbing another carp of about 3lb. Again, it was corn doing the damage on this line. A brief spell of iffy bites led me to leave it and try the far line quickly. This gave me a bite and a small common of about 2lb before a spell of missed bites saw me land another 2oz carp. With little more than half an hour to go I decided to concentrate on the 5m line. This paid off as no sooner had I lowered my rig in than the float was away, and after a much more prolonged fight a lumpy mirror of about 8lb was netted.
After that fish I started to get indications that never developed so I swapped over to meat, missing two bites in a row on this. I changed the shotting from a spread-bulk to a much more positive tight bulk just 10in from the hook. This gave the desired response as the next bite was connected with, and resulted in a common about 3lb. After that a flurry of knocks that never went led me to try well away from the bait, and fishing above my feed (up the tow) saw me nab my last fish just seconds before the whistle, with me netting a 4lb ghostie in extra time.
Unlike last week, the rain didn't stop before the end, so I packed away slowly in the rain. I knew I'd pulled away from peg 68, and the only other peg that apparently had any number of fish was peg 64 but I couldn't see them. I weighed before both of them, and my fish went a touch more than I thought taking the scales to 56lb 7oz. I didn't follow the scales round as I still had stuff to pack away, but when I met up with them at the car park I'd finished first, with peg 68 totalling 36lb 12oz and peg 64 having about 28lb. Not bad for a day when the temperature never came above 7 degree's C!
Tomorrow brings the traditional pairs match, and in all likely hood I'll be on the other lake and I expect a much harder match. However, it's good to go in to it with a win, and hopefully I can keep the good form going! I'll be back with the blog from that either late Monday night, or on sometime Tuesday!
No comments:
Post a Comment