Well, the weather has finally allowed the winter league to start, albeit I now believe it's shortened down to five matches instead of six. That said, despite the lack of ice it was still a bit on the cool side! A walk around the lake before hand didn't show any groups of fish visible, but it did show some pegs would be sheltered from the biting wind!
When my hand went in the bag peg 63 came out - I don't seem to be moving far on this lake, I keep getting to look at the same piece of island! I did mutter "at least I'm out of the wind", which turned out to be something which influenced the day quite a bit in the end....
I had a good plumb along the island so I knew where the line of the shelf dropped to around 3ft along the island. I had a rig up to fish on the deck for this, trying in various places until I hopefully found some fish. A 4x12 Chianti (with a plastic tip) on .14 mainline to a .125 hook-link and an 18 hook was for this. A "dobbing rig" to fish punch was also put up for this line, set initially about 10in off the bottom. A 4x10 Preston PB2 was on this rig, with the lines being the same as previous. The hook was a larger size 16 to allow for a large piece of punch. Last up I had a rig to fish two lines down the track at 11m, one to the left and the other to the right, just where the bottom started to slope up. A 4x14 Chianti was used here, same lines as the other two rigs and an 18 hook. The idea was to feed slightly more on one line and not top it up and see if one worked any better. All the rigs were matched to Preston 11h elastic.
On the whistle I fed my two track lines, before baiting up with just a corn skin and trying it along the far bank. I had about half an hour doing this with no joy, but in that time the pegs either side of me had both had a carp. I baited up the punch rig and started the searching process with that. I'd tried all along the bank and it wasn't until I got to the far right edge of my swim that the float went! A lively fight saw a ghostie of about 5lb in the net and that was one decision made right on the day - I hadn't set up a roach rig!
While baiting up again I noticed some slight movement in front of me, so rather than go right down the peg and risk pushing any fish away I tried there. The float had been in no more than a few seconds before it slipped away and carp number two was on. This fish was much smaller at about 1lb 12oz, but two in as many put-in's banished any thoughts of trying for roach!
I carried on searching the peg, and bites seldom came in two's from the same spot. It probably looked like I was merrily bagging from the same spot, but in fact I was working hard at searching out the fish that were constantly moving around the peg. Looking for what my friend Carl (very aptly I think) calls "nervous water" was the key to regular bites. A very subtle movement that many I think would discount or not even notice! The fish were of varying sizes, but it was noticeble that those I caught close to me were smaller - the bigger fish were obviously hanging away from noise / bankside presence.
By the halfway point in the match I was up to eight carp before signs of fish decreased. I had a drop down the middle over both lines and while they produced no signs of fish the rest to the far line worked. Back across and the next hour was steady if not spectacular with another six fish falling. I found that presentation wasn't quite right at one point and adding a string of small back shot helped keep the longer line in check and hit the bites that weren't quite as confident as the earlier ones.
After that run predictably the fish backed away again. Another spell down the track produced no bites but the signs of life came back across. The fish were noticebly wary now and despite obvious signs bites weren't forthcoming. With a cold rain falling for most of the day I wondered if the fish had dropped down a bit. Deepening the rig a couple of inches bought me carp number fifteen - my biggest of the day at about 6lb coming from right in front of me, but further from the bank. It looked like the fish had dropped out of the shallower water, especially when a 2lb'er fell next drop, but no more bites came.
Shallowing up and odd roach started to have a go at the punch - the carp were certainly backing away. I hooked another carp which felt a big fish further down the peg but disaster struck when it came off near the net. I didn't get a good look at it but it appeared to be 5lb+, and not foul-hooked. I checked the hook (which I'd changed after the last fish landed after I bent it with the disgorger) but it appeared fine. With about twenty minutes to go I hooked another carp, not so far down the peg and that one came off after a few seconds! While nothing appeared to be wrong with my hook, I changed it again - it seemed odd that I'd only lost fish after the hook change. I didn't get to find out if that was the answer as I never hooked another carp.
With sixteen carp in my net and nobody else having more than eight I was well clear of second place - my fish totalling 62lb 9oz, with 31lb being second and 24lb third. What was noticeble when I walked away from my peg was the wind - it was a cold day anyway, but that wind was bitter and the carp had obviously moved away from some of the more favoured pegs and out of the wind - second place was next peg to me while third and fourth both had the wind off their backs. After the struggles of the last few months it was nice to catch some fish, and they couldn't have came at a better time!
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