Sunday July 1st

Well, the common theme of the strong wind seems to be continuing, and mostly at the weekend!

I didn't get a chance to walk around the lake before the draw, although from the car park most of the lake looked largely calm. I dipped my hand in the bag and out came peg 44, which I had mixed feelings about! The peg has a large lilly bed in it, which while it holds fish it also means lost fish and rigs - it's not uncommon to hear people who've drawn the peg to have lost as many as they've got out!

My approach to the peg and it's lilly bed was simple indeed. I wasn't going to fish next to it! I had two rigs up, one for 5m fished at around 11 O'clock so it was away from the lillys, and a line just down my left margin, a touch closer than 5m. The first rig also doubled to fish at 12m just at the bottom of the slope up to the small island. At 5m the depth was about 5ft, and a .3gr Nick Gilbert Decker sufficed in the tow here. Line was .17 to a .15 hook-link and a size 18 Fox Series 2 hook. Lakky was black hydro on a pull-bung. The margin rig was in about 2ft of water, with a .2gr NG XTM on .19 to a .17 hook-link. Hook was a 16 Fox Series 2 and lakky Preston 17h. Bait was simple, with just meat, corn and hemp!

I held of feeding the margin line initially to keep a bit of bait back to attack it later, so the 5m line was fed on the whistle, with half a pot of hemp and corn. I went out to 12m and fed just a toss-pot of corn there. I started to get knocks and liners pretty much instantly, and after a few minutes a bite saw the lakky streaming out. After a short tussle I landed a small common of about 2.5lb.

After that first fish I started to get a lot of liners, even foul hooking one fish as the wind gusted and took the pole. I decided to quickly get up and set up a shallow rig and try pinging a few pellets to see if I could nab an odd fish like that. It didn't work and with the wind playing havoc with the longer pole, on the forty-five minute mark I took the bold decision to sack that line off completely! It was all or nothing close in.

Before dropping on the 5m line I fed three quarters of a pot on the margin - mostly hemp and corn, but with a few cubes of meat too. I was pleased to get indications pretty quick so was happy to plug away on the 5m line. I had my first fish on it after about ten minutes, a small fish of less than 3lb.

The second hour proved a bit more steady, with regular bites coming to corn at 5m. I topped the margin up again via the cup on the ninety minute mark, as the fish were responding to bait. By the end of the second hour I was up to eight carp, but all of 3lb or less, but still a good steady start. I had to vary the presentation to keep them coming - some came to the dropping bait and took as it settled, while at times holding the bait still on the bottom was better, which normally coincided with the stronger wind.

After two hours I topped the margin up again and had a cheeky drop in on it, taking a 4lb common the instant the double corn hit the bottom. No more bites came after so I left it alone and went back to the 5m line, but started to chuck a few grains of corn by hand over the top. Strangely, the brief drop away from the 5m line seemed to slow the line (I'd carried on drip-feeding it by hand). I did nobble one fish off the line that was a bit bigger when changing to a cube of meat, but it wasn't as strong as it had been, and the only other fish to fall was a small 8oz crucian to corn. Had I committed a cardinal sin in coming away from a line with feeding fish on it?

I plugged away for a bit, but after a while I started to see odd signs of feeding fish in the margins. Initially I was just getting liners and missed bites, but a change to stopping the loose feed by hand and just feeding a large toss-pot of corn and sitting tight over it worked. The fish weren't any bigger on the whole, about 3lb with an odd slightly larger one, but it was steady.

After nabbing two or three fish off the margins I got it to the stage where I could tip the corn in, lower the bait in after a few seconds and the float would be away! With three hours to go I was on twenty carp, and while none were big, the numbers game was ensuring I was ahead of those I could see. The fish did back away for a bit, but a big pot of bait bought them back, and I managed to get another five carp from the line before it went a bit iffy again.

I big potted in the margin and left it, having a brief drop on the 5m line. I hooked a fish here, but that charged in to the lilly bed and left me with a mangled rig! Dropping back down the edge saw me hook a fish that despite me fishing in the margin away from the lilly's, slowly and VERY powerfully it made it's way right through the bed, totally trashing the second rig in as many drops!

The two lost fish had an adverse affect on the swim, so instead of relying on the toss-potted corn down the edge I started to throw just a few grains in more regularly to make some noise. It seemed to bring a few fish in but with no proper bites, so I spread the small bulk of shot out and baited up with just one large grain of corn. By working the rig rather than waiting I started to plod along again, and with an hour and three quarters to go I was up to thirty carp. With only three nets with me, and a fifteen carp to a net limit there was only one thing to do... release the crucian from the net it was occupying on it's own and carry on!

After the slight disturbance from releasing the crucian I topped up the margin and had a go at 5m. The last spell of the match was steady but a case of rotating the two lines, nicking an odd fish from 5m to rest the margins which was slowing. That said, in with the small average stamp fish for the margin came a dirty great big ghostie of about 12lb!

The fish were much warier down the edge - I was having to keep up the feed, either making noise by hand or with the big pot, as they just didn't respond to the toss-potting. I was starting to miss bites too, and lose an odd fish from the less confident bites. As frustrating as it was, I just plodded on and put it down to the swim having been well plundered. Bulking the shot down and fishing just inside my feed seemed to be better. I'd wait longer for an indication, but hit more of them. I'd only get one though before a switch back to 5m to rest it was in order. I did nobble one bigger fish of about 5lb from 5m, before losing one hooked there that just made the lilly bed. After a bit of a tussle the hook-link parted and with just fifteen minutes to go I chucked it up the bank! I managed one more small carp of about 2lb from the margin as the fish there got wise to even the pole over their heads in the last few minutes. I wasn't too fussed as the damage was done - the last small carp being either number forty, or forty one - I couldn't remember!

I knew I'd finished well ahead of those I could see, and was the second to weigh in, with 50lb odd being the first weigh. I had three weighs (one for each net as they weren't big) and totalled 135lb 9oz, which not only is my new PB match weight (by 9oz, but I did tip back that small crucian!), but it also set a new record for the old lake too, meaning two records in two weeks! Nobody came close to what I had by the end, but it has fished pretty steady all around, with 64lb and 63lb completing the frame weights, and a couple of other 50lb weights too.

All in all a good day, and I felt I worked hard for it, having to change about a fair bit to keep the fish coming, followed by a rush to catch the finals of the football!