I have to start off with a bit of a double apology - the first one for being a bit late with the update, and the second one for not having a picture of the peg. I wasn't ready at the start of the match, and then totally forgot after the match that I didn't have a picture!
As last week, there was a bit of a working party on the new lake as a few more of the self seeded tree's were cleared from some of the pegs. I have to admit, and hour and a half of that on a boiling hot Sunday morning saw me absolutely knackered before we'd even had the 11am draw!
I wasn't overly happy with the peg I drew when 72 came out in my hand. On such a hot day I wanted some shallow water, and that peg doesn't have it! It's the infamous reeds peg on the lake, and is an absolute flyer when it's cooler as the fish get in to the reeds - but it was the hottest day of the year!
It was pretty much a two-pronged attack for the day as it was either catch shallow long, or catch at 5m. I had a shallow rig up for the reeds, and a margin rig too for my right where it was a little shallower than along the reeds, but I didn't really use them and caught nothing on them. The main two rigs were the long shallow rig, which was a small Nick Gilbert XTD, a small dibber that would hold up an 8mm hard banded pellet. It was set at exactly a foot deep, with a fairly long line above it to keep the pole tip away from the fish, or allow me to go a touch deeper - not that I anticipated it in the heat! Normal gear here with .17 line to a .15 hook-link, but the hook was a size 16 Kamasan animal, tied with a pellet band in the loop on a hair rig to take my pellet. Lakky was Preston 15h. The 5m rig was a .3gr Nick Gilbert Decker fished in about 4.5ft of water. Lines were the same as the shallow rig, with the hook being my normal Fox Series 2 size 18, and the lakky was black Hydro on a pull-bung.
Like I said, I wasn't ready at the start as I was fiddling about making sure I had enough shallow rigs. I fed the 5m line quite positively as I figured it was my best chance with other on more fancied pegs. The line had 3/4 of a pot of hemp and corn before I eventually picked up my long shallow rig six or seven minutes in.
I could see a few fish milling around with my polaroids on, but they didn't seem interested in the loose pellets I was flicking in. The only real interest was from a phenomenon that perhaps only regulars at this venue will recognise - the big, black ball of bitterling! Once those bait robbers appeared I knew my chance of catching well shallow had gone, so I stopped loose feeding long just twenty minutes in to the match. I'd seen a few others "mug" fish on their shallow rigs, and by the end of the hour I'd mugged three myself by slapping the rig in front of cruising fish in front of me. Not big fish, but they got me off the mark with about 10lb in the first hour.
I have to admit, it's not a way I like fishing - in a match anyway (I much prefer to be stalking bigger carp, not that I get to do it much these days), so I had a word with myself for fishing in a way that is a perfectly legitimate match tactic, but made me feel like a bit of a noddy doing it! On to the 5m line then!
I started to get knocks on the 5m line instantly so I plugged away with it - having signs there early is a good thing I've found on the venue. I stopped loose-feeding by hand here and used just a pot on the pole to keep bait tight - plus the it's a less noisy way of feeding and keeps the bitterling away, as the ball of them had now moved in to the reeds to my left, making that a waste of time targeting for carp. I hadn't seen any in there anyway, so it was make the 5m line work, or else!
I'd probably plugged away at 5m for about twenty minutes before my first proper bite, which I missed, but the second one resulted in a fish in the net. Not a big fish, but we were away on this line. Bites started to come fairly regular, but I was missing a few. Changing the shotting from a spread bulk to just a plain bulk only 8in above the hook helped a bit, and I finished the second hour on six carp, but I was still missing a few bites.
Just in to the next hour carp number seven came, pretty much seconds after dropping in and I thought I had it sussed, especially as it was a bigger fish as a ghostie mirror of about 5lb went in the net, but afterwards I went on a run of silly indications with very nothing hittable. Changing the rig around didn't work either. I was tipping the bait out of the pot once when a swirl appeared in the feed, so I picked up my shallow rig and stuck a pot on the end. Feeding again got the same swirl, so I slapped my rig in to the swirl. No sooner had the rig settled than the lakky pulled out! It was a decent fish too, probably around 5lb, but the tactic didn't work again.
I decided that it was worth feeding a decent amount on the 5m line again with the big pot, so it got half a pot of hemp and corn again. I left it for a bit and had a quick drop in the reeds - it took the bitterling about thirty seconds to steal the pellet from out of the band! I managed to mug another small fish out long to reach the three hour mark on nine carp, but it wasn't happening out there.
Back on the 5m line and the rest and re-feed had done the job. I was still missing the odd bite, but shallowing up to just touching the bottom, and fishing a spread bulk with the last shot just 7in from the hook solved that - as did fishing just off the feed. With very few missed bites I was plodding along nicely. Again, I was feeding just via the small pot when I was fishing the line. Bizarrely, I didn't get bites as the bait settled, I just sat with the bait on the bottom and waited for a bite, yet when I hooked a fish they came right up in the water which suggests to me they were only dropping down to feed. None of the fish were big, but I was catching fast enough for me to not worry about that!
After an hour catching steady the bites went a little "iffy" again, but I found that dropping the rig right in over the feed solved that, and the fish were a touch bigger that way too - not huge, but nearer 4lb than 3lb. With an hour to go the line faded dramatically with me on twenty-seven carp. Cutting down on the corn and putting hemp in the pot so my hook-bait stood out more tricked a couple more fish, but again I had to fish away from the feed. With twenty-five minutes to go I was up to thirty carp, but struggling to get a proper bite. I was getting indications that carp were still there, but managed just one bumped fish and a missed bite right on the whistle in that last period.
I actually wasn't the only one to suffer the same, as three other people who were catching in the open water said the same - once the sun dropped off the water their bites stopped. Strange when you consider how hot it was! I packed away and managed to get round to watch the weigh in, only missing the first weigh - I was the last to weigh in!
The island pegs where I'd have much rather been hadn't done as well as I'd expected, with the exception of peg 62 in the corner who'd weighed in 77lb. I can't remember the weights exactly behind them when the scales got to me - I think there was a low 50, and certainly a few 40's. I knew I had that, and my couple of weighs totted up to 102lb 3oz for an exhausting days fishing in the heat! Am I glad it's a bit cooler now.
Next week brings the bank holiday weekend, and I'm pretty sure I'll only be out on the Monday, it'll probably be Tuesday again before the next blog. See you then!
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