Sunday January 6th

Apologies for there being no picture again - my camera had been used over the New Year and when I went to use it the batteries were dead!

I was looking forward to a change of scenery with the lakes, as I'd not fished the new lake since early in November. It also meant I couldn't possibly draw peg 66!

I decided to join the queue earlier than I usually would, and had mixed feelings about the peg which came out in my hand. Peg 31 is perhaps best described as the lesser peg on the best side. It does produce occasionally, but it tends to be very hard on more occasions - I've struggled off it more than a few times.

I had a job to find a clear area across with the plummet at first, but eventually I found a clear area slightly to my left where I could push pretty tight to the island in 3ft of water. The rig for there was a 4x12 Preston Chianti (I'd replaced the tip with a plastic one, which are easier to see against an island). The rig had a .14 dia hook-link tied to a size 16 B611. I found that to my right on the island (where it goes in to a bay which takes in the rest of the pegs on this side of the lake) I couldn't push a deck rig in, but I made a mental note of where there were less obstructions so I could use a "dobbing" rig along there to search for fish. While I had a nice clear area on the point of the bay, I find you don't tend to catch on the front area on past times I've had the peg. The dobbing rig was a small 4x10 Preston PB2 float with the same terminal gear as the other rig. Lastly, I had a rig for fishing at 13m at the bottom of the slope in about 6ft of water. Rig was a 4x14 Preston Chianti, with the terminal gear again the same as the other rigs. The elastic on all was Preston 13h.

On the whistle I fed only the track line, giving it just three grains of corn and a tiny ball of wetted micro pellets. I then went across on the deck rig and a grain of corn, hoping to search out any signs of a fish. I had about a clear meter of bank where I could fish the bottom, and hoped that I could nab an odd fish should any pass the point.

I gave it half an hour without any signs, and the only action I could see was peg 25 having lost a fish. Time to search along the bank to my right with the shallow rig. After about fifteen minutes on this I actually had a liner, fishing about 2.5ft deep over about 4ft of water. I plugged away in that area for a while longer with no joy before trying a little further to my right. I had no signs on the float, but on a calm day I was sure there was a slight water movement caused by fish. No visible swirls, just a slight rocking of the water. I deepened the rig up, slipped a 9mm punch on the hook and shipped out. No sooner had the rig settled than the float dipped away and I was in! The culprit was a ghostie mirror of about 4lb, and a lovely looking first fish of the year.

I repeated the process next drop in, but this time I had to wait all of a minute for the float to go. A common of nudging 5lb gave a good account of it's self before joining the other fish in the net. It took perhaps five minutes on the next drop before the float plinked under again - this fish was much smaller than the others at about 1.5lb. I was wary of pushing the fish out of my peg early on, so the next drop in wasn't quite so far down the peg. I was surprised when only a few minutes later the float ducked away again. Another small common was the result, perhaps about 2lb this time.

After that fish as I was shipping out the angler to my right decided he wanted a piece of my action, and cast a lead as far down his swim towards me as he dared. While he didn't cast beyond the boundary of his swim, it did enter the water about two meters from where three of my bites had come like a house brick being thrown in. I was even less amused when he decided it wasn't tight enough to the island about a minute later (even though I wasn't that tight) and he re-cast it. Again, it landed with all the subtlety of a brick. I had a liner seconds after (it may have been the waves!) and that was that for a while!

I came away from the disturbance, hoping that leaving the area quiet the fish would settle again, perhaps even nearer to me away from the noise. I had a go down the track with no joy, before also trying the original deck swim on the island.

Perhaps three quarters of an hour later I ventured back along the bank to where my bites had came from, but no signs came for an hour or so (with about 90 minutes left) After that I could get odd signs on the float - definite liners, but no matter what depths (from 2ft to 4ft) or baits I tried I couldn't get a bite. With just ten minutes to go I shallowed my rig up to 18in deep, and went as far down my peg as I could fish but tucked the rig right in to the bank. The float was barely there for ten seconds before it plinked under. A lively common of nearer 6lb than 5lb was the result. I didn't have time to get another bite though!

In the end only one other carp had been caught in the favoured late 20's. I reached the scales as they got to peg 17 who put 17lb on the scales, and peg 11 was top weight with 26lb. Peg 18 put 27lb on to take the lead briefly until peg 20 put 31lb on to take the win. My fish went 18lb 6oz on the scales which in the end was good enough for 4th, and hard earned off a side of the lake that didn't fish well. I'm sure the next pegs noisy casting towards me cost me a fish or two - possibly even a frame place. I also wish I'd searched shallower and tighter to the island a bit earlier. I was wary of the snags and losing rigs though. All in all it was a decent effort on the day, but I still feel I was a little off the pace and didn't quite get it right and perhaps could have challenged a little more for a frame place. Still, at least the float went under! Hopefully I'll be back in to it proper in time for the winter league which starts at the end of the month.