Sunday 24th June

I wasn't surprised with the day starting with rain again - it had rained most of the night! In fact, it seems like it's done very little else lately.

The rain did stop briefly before the draw so I could have a bit of a wonder about. I didn't see much in the way of fish moving about, but I still fancied an early draw as I dipped my hand in the bag. Now, I did something I never do in the bag - I always take the first peg my hand touches, but this time I dropped that peg back for some reason and rooted in to the corner of the bag, coming out with peg 11. That'll do! It's normally a busy peg, with a lot of smaller fish and very few if any big fish, but I'd take a busy day.

Peg 11 is the narrowest peg on the lake, and has a large tree stump in front that seems to attract most peoples attention, but I chose to ignore that and fish to a small patch of bare bank just visible towards the very right of the picture. I had a gap of about 2ft in the roots and brambles with about 14in of water in - perfect! The rig was the standard .1gr Nick Gilbert XTM on .17 line to a .15 hook-link and finished with an 18 Fox Series 2. The rig was matched to Preston 15h lakky. My next rig was for at 5m, fished off at quite an angle. Peg 11 is sat on a point, so fishing like this meant the line was well out of the way, but still at a decent distance from the bank. It was a little over 5ft here and the rig was a .4gr NG Decker, with the same terminal gear as the other rig, and the lakky was black Hydro on a pull bung. Last up was a margin rig, in 2ft of water in a small bay to my left. A .2gr XTM was on the typical stepped-up margin gear, but I didn't expect to use it.

On the whistle I fed a whole pot of hemp and corn on the 5m - it was an all or nothing positive approach here! The margin I was only going to feed if I felt I needed it, so I put a dozen hard 6mm pellets in to the toss-pot, baited up with an expander and went across. It took perhaps only a minute or two for my first bite, and I soon had a chunky 4lb common in the net - normally a good stamp of fish for that peg! The first fifty minutes were pretty fast, and in that time I'd put eight carp in the net - three were small, at around a pound, and the others were smaller than the first, but I had near 20lb in the net in less than an hour! A good catch rate that.

The wind started to become a problem, as despite peg 11 being one of the narrowest pegs it also seems to be the windiest, with the wind funnelling through the trees. The bites faded and I was beginning for fear the worst after a fast start - a blinding first hour followed by precious little else, it's happened many a time! The reason for the bites fading was soon revealed when the next bite saw me hook a much bigger fish, and after a bit of a tussle a common of about 8lb was in the net. Bonus!

After that fish the wind really started to give it some, and I had to resort to taking the toss-pot off the pole and feeding via the cupping kit as the wind allowed. I missed a bite or two and really started to struggle at times with the wind, so I topped up the line with a larger helping of pellets and left it alone.

The 5m line gave me a chance for a respite, fishing down the wind meant it was quite comfortable, despite the heavy squally showers that had started! I was getting an odd liner, so that and the wind led me plug away on it perhaps longer than I would have otherwise, and this was rewarded with a fish that gave me a right ol' tussle! Because I was sitting on a point I spent a fair amount of time playing it with the fish behind me, with it enjoying the sanctuary of the fishery boat moored out of the way. Eventually I got it back to the top-kit, and a bit of persuasion with the pull-bung led to me panning a fish that only just went in to the landing net! A lean fish, probably about 11lb but with the capacity to be much bigger when it's fed up again. I gave the line half a cup again before dropping over it on single corn again. After a five minute wait the float was away again and another good fish was on. Again, after a good tussle a common of about 9lb was panned. That was three fish for around 28lb - not bad off what is normally the nursery peg!

My thoughts of a proper munter-hunting day were then dashed by the wind, which picked up to such force at times that it was a job to control anything on the 5m line, and had I not started so well I may have contemplated packing up. In the next hour and forty to two hours I added just one pasty from the far line on pellet, while watching peg 5 catching quite steadily from across in their flat calm swim! In the odd times I could get across I'd get indications from fish, but the presentation wasn't good enough, despite a heavier rig going on.

With two hours left I decided to feed the edge line as it looked like peg 5 was in danger of overtaking me, so I gave it a whole pot. The wind started to turn a bit, meaning I could get better presentation across. I'd get bites here on pellet but miss them. A change to worm saw me hook a fish which did a great impression of a monkey and somehow managed to put my rig up the far-bank, so dropped in at 5m again while I left it to settle. I got a few nudges here so stuck double corn on just to see, which resulted in a bite which saw me attached to another beastie! After a good fight a common that looked the twin of the first brute was panned, but no more bites followed. I had a brief try in the edge, but with no joy so I gave it another pot in hope and went back across.

I still got knocks that I couldn't hit, so rather than using the tippex marked depth I decided to re-plumb, finding that the marked depth was out by about 7-8mm. I re-set the float to dead depth, went across and was away again! Only small fish, but I was putting weight in the net. I had three carp for about 4lb before the swim went quiet again, and in a repeat of the first hour the reason was that a lump had muscled in! A mirror of about 8lb came in surprisingly easy until it was mugged, and then it decided to beat the life out of me in the landing net!

After that bigger fish I topped the swim up with the cup, but the bites seemed to go a bit iffy again. I did hook another fish, but lost it as it charged unstoppably along the island, breaking the rig as it ran through the cover and depriving me of one of my much loved XTM's! It may had been foulhooked, but I'll never know!

With an hour to go the bites were still a bit iffy so I decided to wrestle with the wind and put the toss-pot back on to feed less but more regular again. I also slipped an odd cube of meat in the pot with the pellet, to offer me a change bait from the 6mm expander.

The change of feeding worked, and I started to plod along again. The fish were worth waiting for, but not in the same beastie class as before, averaging 4lb or so. With twenty minutes to go I was on eighteen proper carp, plus my pasties, when the swim faded again. I topped-up with the cup and had a brief try in the edge and at 5m with no joy. Going back over on meat gave me a missed bite, so I switched back to pellet. This change worked and I hooked another big fish, which unlike the others made a dash for the big stump and all the roots! After a bit of heaving and tugging it came out and a common of nudging double figures was in the net.

After the commotion in the swim it was understandably a bit iffy again, and it wasn't until very near the end when I had my next bite, and I netted the pastie of about a pound right on the whistle.

When it came to weigh in peg 5 was top with a low 50lb weight, I'd guessed I'd have a big 80 to low 90 weight, but when my five biggest fish went on the scales at 47lb I began to think I may just make the ton! The other fourteen carp totalled 49lb and with 10lb of pasties I totalled 106lb 12oz, beating the lake match record which I set at just over 104lb in September of 2010. I was understandably pleased with the day, but I can't help wondering what would have been had the wind not slowed me down so much in that middle spell....