Well, after what seems an age the weather seems to just be turning a corner! That said, despite the nice days we were still getting snow as recently as Thursday, plus the nice sunny days with temperatures just in to double figures were punctuated by nightly sharp frosts - not very good for fishing.
I was hoping for a good result as a top five finish was possible as the points were very close. It looked set to be a hard match with last weeks open on the lake being won with just under 4lb - and no carp were caught. For what seems like the first time in an eternity I was quite happy with my draw with peg 14 coming out in my hand. I wasn't in the flyer 20's, but I fancied I could catch from it.
It's quite a wide peg, with a half-butt needed in the 16m section to tuck up tight to the island in front of me (I also got out my old Superlegion extension which goes up the back of my G-Maxx 800 to allow me to try further down the bank) There is a good depth tight to the island here, with a good 3ft right in tight. I didn't plumb up here, I just put up two rigs to dob punch along the bank - one to fish between just off the bottom and 2ft, and one to fish between 2ft and 18in. With the sun warming up nicely (the pic was taken after the match) I figured that shallow would be the way to go with the sun being on the far bank most of the day. I also set up a rig to fish at 13m at a slight angle to my left towards a weed bed, with 6ft of water here. Last up was a margin rig. Peg 14 has a very long margin with a corner of the lake to my left, so I set up a rig here for fishing in about 3ft of water. It was purely a gamble for a lump or two, but worth a go. I had a feeling the water wasn't quite warm enough for that yet though! All the rigs were finished with .14 dia hook-links and matched up to Preston 13h lakky.
On the whistle I fed a tiny ball of softened micro pellets and three grains of corn down the track before baiting up the deeper dobbing rig with punch - I was going to wait until midday to feed the edge when the day had got to it's warmest. It took a while before I started to get any signs, and my first fish was a small dumpy roach. I could see peg 11 (last weeks winning peg) catching roach, and they also had an early small carp of about 1lb 8oz, but nobody else I could see had caught.
It was just over half an hour in when I had my next bite, taken on the shallower rig pushed as tight in to a small bay in front of me as I dared. A small carp of about 1-12 was the culprit, but very welcome as it was the first carp I've caught for about six weeks! No more followed, and I just carried on catching an odd small roach.
Midday arrived and I decided to feed the edge - nothing ventured, nothing gained! A pinch of caster with two grains of corn and two pieces of meat were introduced. I had a drop in at 13m with a 4mm expander pellet and had a small roach instantly, but no more bites followed so I topped it back up with a tiny ball of micro's and went back across.
With the 17.5m section on I tried a little further down the swim, at first to my left (with no joy) and then to my right. Getting to the limits of my peg to the right I missed a bite, and with the bait still on I lowered the rig in again and it sank away. Carp number two sleepily chugged it's way in to the waiting net, again only a baby at around 2lb, but still welcome. A liner next drop led me to drop in on the shallower rig and a much more lively 3lb ghostie was the result.
After the two-fish flurry I went back to getting just an occasional roach. I had fruitless tries on the other two lines, with a even a switch to worm failing to get a bite from a perch. Back out long and a slight breeze had picked up, taking the edge off the temperature of what was a very pleasant day (I'd taken my fleece of before the match started, and my Thinsulate hat was replaced by a baseball cap!) so I tried the deeper of the two shallow rigs again. A bite saw me connected to another carp for a few seconds before it kited round and picked up a sunken stick and came off - a disaster on a hard day! I thought I'd gotten away with it next drop when I had a small common of about 1lb 8oz, but that proved to be the last I saw of any carp in my peg and the last hour was spent nabbing just an occasional roach on punch, while watching as others started to catch an occasional carp late on, and it looked like a good place may just slip away from me.
When the scales got to me end peg 5 was top weight, with four carp and a bream for 21lb. My four baby's and bits went 9lb 12oz, which in the end turned out just enough to be third, beaten my the other end peg (40) who had two late carp for 13lb.
A slightly better end to the league after my poor middle part, but at least it was a cracking day to be out in! A quick check on the board and my third on the day should be enough to get me in to fifth overall, and may just be enough to scrape me in to fourth - I'll let you know for certain next week. In the end it was a respectable finish considering my draws have been pretty appalling away from drawing an okay peg on the right day in the first round. With us set to lose the frosts now hopefully the water temperature will start to rise and the fish start waking up and spreading out - it'll be nice to be able to influence things a little with feeding as opposed to playing aquatic bingo!
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