Well, it's been pretty hard to escape the weather lately, or to be more precise, the wind! It's definitely been more a case of "flaming weather" than flaming June....
Walking round the old lake there were a few pegs out of the wind, and I particularly fancied pegs 62, 59, 57 and 53, as they were at the windward end of the lake but unaffected by the wind. It turned out due to the smaller turn out (with the river matches now started) that 57 wouldn't be needed, meaning I really fancied 59 and 53 with all the extra space they had. I didn't get them though! I had 64, on the arm of the lake and probably the worst affected by the wind. Don't be fooled by the picture, I took it after the match when the wind had dropped as I wasn't quite ready in time!
Three rigs up was the order of the day. The first was for the far bank, with a .2gr Nick Gilbert Ghandi for the 16in of water tight across at 13.5m. I knew the wind was going to be a pain (hence the size of float), but I hoped to nick an early fish or two here, as the swim is always a slow starter. Rest of the gear was the standard .17 to .15 and a size 18 Fox Series 2, with the lakky Preston 15h. Next was a rig for 5m, with a .4gr Nick Gilbert Decker just being enough to hold in the 5ft of water. Line and hooks were the same as the far bank rig, but the lakky was black Hydro on a pull bung. Last up was the margin rig. Peg 64 has a tree at about 4m to the left which seems to draw everyone to it, but not me! I find it's too deep and littered with debris. To my right, at a distance of the top-kit and short no4 is a small iris. A bit of trimming allowed me to see the float through it, with a much better depth of about 2.5ft here. It was facing in to the wind, but the actual swim to me is much better that side. Typical margin rig here - a .2gr Nick Gilbert XTM on .19 line to a .17 bottom and a size 16 Fox Series 2 on the end. Lakky was Preston 17h.
On the whistle I fed both the margin and the 5m line with half a pot of hemp and corn - no meat due to the tow! I then fed a few pellets across with the cupping kit too. Normally I'd just use a toss-pot or similar, but given the wind it was bad enough without adding a wind-catcher to the end!
It took a while to start getting indications, and it was a job at times to have any sense of good presentation, but at times the wind settled (or turned a touch) enough to allow me to hold the float nicely. I also took advantage of those spells to ping a few pellets across with the catty. It was just on the hour mark when I had my first proper bite, with a common of about 2lb falling to an 8mm hard pellet. I hooked a fish very quickly on the next drop but that came adrift after a few seconds, although it felt as though it may have been foul hooked.
Typically, the indications faded so I took the time to re-feed the margin line with the cup (I was lose feeding corn by hand at 5m). I had another half an hour struggling with the wind across but had just one missed bite to show for it. I was going to have a drop at 5m but a swirl in the margin caught my eye, so I had a drop in there on double corn. It took a few minutes, just as I was going to leave the line when I had a bite which saw the lakky following the float! A short while later a 4lb common was in the net. I had one missed bite a few minutes later, but decided not to push the line too early so give it a small amount of corn by hand and left it alone.
I spent the next hour chopping between the lines without any joy. I could see a few fish getting caught in the open water, and peg 68 in particular was steadily putting fish in the net. I wasn't too worried about it, despite being a fair way behind - it's a late goer is peg 64!
It wasn't until two and a half hours in before I managed to muster my next fish - a common of about 3lb from the 5m line on corn. I was starting to get a few bubbles and the odd liner here, so I started to concentrate my efforts here rather than across. I also started to feed the margin by hand with a reasonable pinch of corn every 20-30 minutes, in preparation for a late charge!
The next spell was a steady plod, and with seventy minutes to go I'd had eight carp, I'd nicked one more from the edge but the others were taken from the 5m. One slightly better fish had fell to a cube of meat, but the rest were 3lb fish taken on corn. I had to deepen the rig a touch and just nail the bait to the bottom and wait. If I lifted and dropped I didn't get bites, which I find odd for that line given the regular feed. The wind had eased too, making presentation better.
With just a little more than the last hour left fish were clearly feeding well down the edge, and lowering double corn in I was soon away! It was a bigger fish too, at about 6lb. I'd like to give you a blow by blow account of the last spell but I can't - I was too busy enjoying myself! I found that I was missing more bites than I liked by fishing double corn, so one big grain of corn was going on the hook.
With one hour to go I had nine carp, I finished on nineteen! I lost number twenty about a minute before the whistle, through no fault of my own I may add, it just came off! It was the only fish I lost down the edge in a frantic last hour, and the fish were of a bigger stamp too, with just one 3lb'er managing to get it's nose in ahead of the others that tended to be in the 5-6lb bracket, with one nudging 8lb. It was a case of hook a fish, then feed as it left the swim. If I didn't get a bite within a minute or two of dropping back in a big handful of bait going in would ensure they came back! Unlike the 5m line, working the bait here was the way to go, with a few fish taking the bait as I lowered it in, giving me lakky yanking bites! Lovely job!
I could hear the claims that someone on the other arm of the island had twenty-three carp, which led the peg to my left to tip his eight carp back. That turned out to be a slightly foolish thing to do, as it turned out they were trying to wind others up! I didn't know until the scales reached me with a shade under 30lb winning! That weight turned out to be enough for third, but they'd almost certainly tipped more than that back as they'd had one fish of about 12lb. Ooops! Still, it was of no concern to me! My fish tipped the scales to 78lb something, with only peg 68 to worry about now. They'd caught, but smaller fish fish and totalled 52lb odd for second. Some of the others ran that 29lb weight close, but nobody threatened the top two weights.
The best part for me was getting the win off that peg, as I had it a few times in the past and framed of it, yet never won! Staying confident that it would produce late paid off with a blistering last hour which left me wondering what might have been had I tried to push it a bit earlier. Still, mustn't grumble!
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