Sunday 14th March (W/L Rd 4)

Well, I think a few days of warmer weather seems to have made everyone happier, with the craic in full flow before the draw! That said I still knew that the water would be very cold, but I, along with everyone else at least hoped that a glimmer of spring might just encourage the fish to move about a bit.


I actually was quite happy with my draw (peg 37), even though it wasn't one of the pegs mentioned by anyone before the draw as being favourable. It was however out of the quite cool breeze and one that catches a reasonable amount of sun at this time of year. It's also a more comfortable reach across than some pegs, with 14.5m of pole being enough to reach where I needed.

I had four rigs up for the peg. The two far bank rigs were a 4x12 Preston chianti, set to fish at not quite four feet, on the slope up to the island, while the other was a 4x10 Preston pb2. This was set at 3ft to try both off the bottom and also I could use it to push tighter to the island with a half extension if the fish really wanted to be there. I had a track rig up, to fish at 11m at an angle to my left, next to some weed. I have to say though I wasn't that confident about this line, as not only is it one I only occasionally catch from, but the plummet felt absolutely freezing coming from the deeper water un-warmed by the sun! This rig had a 4x14 Preston chianti in about six foot of water. Last rig up was a margin rig that was pretty much identical to the far bank deck rig, to fish at 6m to my left under a tree. Line on all was .125 dia to a 16 B611 (as I intended to fish caster or corn) with the track line being on a 12 latex, the deck and margin rigs on Preston 13h and the shallow rig on grey Hydro.



On the whistle I fed the margin and track lines, the track got just a pinch of hemp and three grains of corn while the margin got the same plus a pinch of casters too. I decided to try the far bank line without feeding it first. I gave it five minutes on corn and five minutes on maggot with no joy so I fed half a dozen casters with a big pot before trying maggot. The float dithered and dipped a lot before slipping slowly under and when I lifted a tiny roach was on the end which came off on the way back. I tried caster too, and this gave much the same except it never went under! After about 40 minutes the float did dip, in a much slower and deliberate way suggesting the presence of something bigger. I tried the shallow rig on a single caster and the float dinked under almost instantly but I missed it. After dropping the rig back in it sat for perhaps a minute before vanishing. Lifting gave a sluggish but heavy resistance. I managed to trick the carp, with little pressure it came in easy until I lifted the top-kit when it livened up but after a few minutes a carp of a good 4lb+ was in the net, result!



I had a quick drop in again without feeding and just as I was about to re-feed it the float went again, but this time it was obviously not a carp and soon a perch of about a pound was in the net. I decided to top up with half a dozen casters, and top up the other lines before dropping in again. Probably only five minutes passed before the float dinked under again and a repeat of the first time happened, with the fish being very sluggish until I tried to net it, although this one was smaller at about two and a half pound. I again gave it a quick minute without topping up but no more bites came so I repeated the process and again a response was not long in coming, this time with a mirror of about 5lb making it's way in to the net. I have to say at this point I was quite pleased, with good points assured just over an hour in to the match.

The next drop didn't go quite to plan however, as the next bite took a while in coming and after having the carp on for only a few seconds it came off. I'm pretty sure it wasn't foul hooked too. I took this as a cue to rest the line so I gave it half a dozen casters and left it alone, trying the track line for about ten minutes but with no indication what so ever. On going back across it seemed that the rest had done the job and a bite came pretty quickly, but after having the fish on for a short while a funny jagging sensation came up the line. Feeling much like an eel it was obvious that it was hooked in the tail. I did manage to coax it very near to the waiting net by applying as little pressure as I could but just short of the net the hook pulled and pinged my rig into the bush next to me! A few casters were dripped in before a new rig went on....

It was a while before my next bite, and by this time I'd started to have occasional drops further along the island (I'd plumbed up a fair distance both ways so I knew what was where if I needed to chase the fish) Again the next bite was shallow, and over the feed. I was beginning to think that the I'd ruined the swim by losing two fish just as this one made it's mistake, and after a few minutes carp number four was nestling in the net, this one again a decent fish about the 5lb mark. The next hour or so produced very little, the occasional bite I did get I was missing. They were all coming at the same time, just as the float settled. I did start to hit odd ones after moving the shot much closer to the hook and they all produced dumpy perch of about 2oz.

With perhaps an hour and a half to go the swim seemed totally barren, even in the margins which I had expected to give a bite or too with the good cover. I'd regularly tried down the swim too and surprisingly this gave nothing. I decided to try feeding a new swim, a bit further down plus moving my original swim a bit tighter to the island (it was fed to the tree nearly growing out of the water if you look at the pic) My first drop further down on the deck produced a liner so I tried shallow over it but nothing more came. Trying the original swim but tighter gave a bite pretty quick. After a power full fight though I lost the fish near the net, a common probably about 7lb that looked to be hooked in the pectoral fin. After this the swim faded away again so I decided to try dripping in a few maggots instead of caster. It had some effect in a sense as odd bites came, but again from just the dumpy perch. Odd tries on the other lines were lifeless and nothing else happened until ten minutes before the end when I had a liner over the original swim and then a bite next chuck when I had my biggest fish of the day, a common of about 7lb netted about a minute before the end of the match. Needless to say I didn't have time for another!

I was guessing I'd have about 24lb, which I knew would be good for decent points but was surprised to find that as people went back past me to the car park that a lot of the favoured pegs had struggled, with the most anyone admitting to being three carp for 20lb. The scales gave me 24lb 11oz for the five carp and with my perch I had a 27lb 1oz total, good enough for first with the next weight being a little over 18lb.

With two matches now to go in the league I've at least moved myself up a bit. I was in eighth place before but with three of the top four finishing quite low I should have shifted myself up towards the top four or five hopefully, but more importantly, I actually caught a few fish! Hopefully the weather will now stay on the up and give us all a break and some better fishing!

Sunday March 7th

Well, I have to say it's no surprise that the weather has done it's usual turning colder at the weekend trick, again! With the Saturday night being the coldest night for a bit (according to the weather forecast I just saw it was colder than most of the February nights) I was surprised to find the lake free of ice on arrival, especially as the temperature in my back garden was a dizzy -4 degrees C in the sun at 7.30am.

I decided to take an earlier draw this week, although most of the fancied pegs in the 20's were again gone when I got to the draw bag! I was quite happy with my draw, peg 31. Being on the same side of the lake as the favoured 20's I was sure it would be good for a few fish, although it's fair to say I expected it to be a slow start after such a cold night. Still, it wasn't raining and in fact it was quite pleasant to be sat in the sun, as it almost felt like (dare I say it!) spring was just making it's arrival.

I had four rigs up, three for fishing across (one deck rig on the slope and two shallow) plus a rig up for the margin, which I fancied I may be able to nick a fish from late on as it would be in the sun all day. The deck rig across was a 4x12 Preston chianti in not quite 4ft of water, while the two shallow rigs were both 4x10 PB2's, one set at 3ft and one at two and a half foot. While those were meant to try shallow they could also be used to push tight to the island (which I could touch at 16m, even with a short 4th section) should I see fish there later. I had found a couple of areas to fish there, although not to the left near the point of the island as the slope is kind of like a shallow beach nearer the point and the depth was shallow close to the island. Line was .12 dia on all three rigs, and with size 18 hooks on all too. Lakky was Preston 13h on the deck and deepest shallow rig and grey hydro on the shallowest. Last rig up was a 4x12 Preston somo set to fish in about four foot of water at 5m to my right, under some overhanging branches. Gear was a slightly more robust, using .14 line to a 16 hook and a soft 12 latex elastic.

On the whistle I only fed the margin line, giving it just two grains of corn, a small pinch of hemp and half a dozen casters. I wanted to see if there were any signs of fish across before feeding so I set about searching the far bank using a single grain of corn. I gave this half an hour, trying in various areas without a sign so I fed half a dozen casters directly in front hoping to attract something while still allowing me to search down the peg. With no sign on the deck on maggot or caster I tried the deepest of the shallow rigs. After perhaps another ten minutes I had a bite directly over the feed and missed it- I'm not sure if it was a liner or a small fish but no more followed.

With an hour and a half gone the pegs further up (in the 20's, the area I and the other framers were in the last match on this lake) started to catch odd fish where as the pegs either side of me were still bite less. I had a quick try in the margins on maggot and caster but with no joy so I went back across on the deck on a single caster. This gave me a slow bite and the lift gave me the familiar 'jag jag' sensations of a perch, and a decent one too, probably nudging the pound mark. No more followed so I started to drip feed maggots across, trying to get a response from anything but even the normally plentiful small perch were only conspicuous by their absence!

With an hour and a half left I was at a loss as to what else to try- I couldnt buy a bite doing anythin, and the pegs in the 20's were still catching odd fish. The peg to my left was still bite less and the peg to my right had only had one bite, a perch that weighed in at 2lb 1oz at the end! I came in to the margins again, on double maggot and this time the float slipped away. I was then attached to something that felt pretty substantial. I'm not sure if it was foul hooked as after a few minutes it snagged me in my own margins and I lost it. When I hooked the fish it obviously also moved something as every time I dropped in there after I got snagged!

I spent the rest of the match searching along the far bank, trying both of the shallow rigs and the depth rig all along the bank as far as I could see but with no joy. With nothing to lose I decided to feed further down the peg too, giving it a fair amount of maggot but with no joy. With ten minutes to go I had a definite liner, fishing on the deck in front of me. I tried the deeper shallow rig again and with five minutes to go I foul hooked a carp, just lifting the rig to lower it in again. Needless to say I lost the fish so I decided to do something that I seldom do and I packed up before the whistle!

I didn't bother to weigh my perch, opting to try and dry my nets instead. I can't remember the exact weights but about 22lb won, 18lb odd was second (with one fish of 13lb 1oz) and there were a couple of low double figure weights. I can only think that the very cold night had knocked it on the head, the peg I drew, although not the most favoured is pretty decent. I never saw a fish move in it all day, which is pretty unusual. The peg to my right had just the one perch and the peg to my left finished bite less too so it wasn't just me that struggled.

Although the we are supposed to lose the hard frosts in the week coming it doesn't look like it'll be warm enough to change the fishing much, so next weeks winter league is looking like it may be a peg lottery. I hope I'm wrong, as I don't do very well in any kind of lottery!

Sunday 28th February (W/L Rd3)

I can't be the only one who looks forward to the days fishing only to be thwarted by the weather seemingly everytime out...

With a severe weather warning in place for the wind and rain it was typical really, as the weather had been cracking during the week, still, at least there was no ice!

The day took a further blow when my hand dipped in to the draw bag and peg 55 came out, I couldn't have drawn further away from where I wanted to be, in the lovely sheltered 70's where there was fish moving.

Putting my box down on my peg it wasn't as sheltered as I'd hoped it would be, and the rain was tipping down (which is why there is no picture) The wind was blowing in at me from about 10 o'clock in front and even with the brolly up I was getting a soaking, and with a lot of pegs in round the island I wasn't optimistic, and neither was anyone else nearby.

Despite my fishing the venue now for near three years peg 55 is one of the few pegs I'd never fished before. Putting a rig on and shipping over to the island I found very little water near the island at 14.5m and had to come back a good meter to get 3ft of water. I earmarked two areas to try towards the island, one to the left and one to the right. This rig was on .125 line to an 18 hook and grey hydro. Float was a 4x12 Preston Somo with a plastic tip. As per last week I thought my best chance of a carp would be in the deeper water so I had a good plumb around and earmarked a where the bottom of the shelf was; I'd feed two areas here but I wanted to be able to explore the whole of the area looking for bites. This rig had the same hook and line as the last rig but with a 4x14 chianti to a 10 latex. I also put up a heavier rig in case the wind got any worse (at this point it was gusty but I could get the presentation I wanted with it) this had the same terminal gear but a more stable diamond bodied .5gr float. Lastly, I had a few brambles hanging in the water at 4m to my left, giving quite an overhang. Depth here was the same as on the far bank line so it was a last option!

On the whistle I fed the two track lines, one with just three grains of corn while the other had three grains of corn and six casters. Trying the left far bank swim with corn gave no joy so it got a small pinch of maggots before trying the other, which also gave no joy. I tried maggot on that line for a while but with no joy so topped that up with a few maggots and came in to the track lines. Now the wind and rain got a bit worse, and I was beginning to question my sanity not to mention the fact that I'd manage to get a couple of sections jammed together (my fault entirely!) so had to fish with sections behind me when fishing the track lines. With the hour mark coming up I'd had no sign of a fish and neither had any of the other four anglers I could see. I have to admit my hands were as cold as they've ever been and I could now only hold the pole across on odd occasions with the wind. It was time to get the bomb rod out....

With two hours gone the others I could see had followed suit and gone on the lead and still not even a liner had been had, or any small fish. I'd tried flicking the lead around most areas of the swim and nothing had came of it so I started to flick odd casters to the nearside overhang when not fishing the pole. I even put a smaller (size 20) hook onto the track rig to fish maggot but still nothing.

As the third hour came somebody I could see actually caught a fish, a small roach which they foul hooked! At this point the highlight of the day was that I'd got my radio working so I could listen to the Spurs game! I dropped in to the nearside caster line without any response so I started flicking maggots there instead while I tried the far bank and track lines with no joy (apart from Spurs being 2 up at half-time!) With an hour and a half left I slipped a single white maggot on and flicked the rig in the edge, and just after the float settled it slipped away and a few seconds later I thankfully wasn't looking at another DNW with a 1oz roach in the net! Next drop produced a roach of about 2oz so I tried a caster. This took longer to produce a bite and didn't have the desired effect as it gave the smallest fish so far! Another try on maggot gave a similar size fish before the bites went iffy so I fed a few more maggots. I'm not sure if this unsettled the fish or the fact that people were walking about but I never had another bite until right near the very end, managing another two small roach.

I have to say I was pleased to be packing up, and I can't have been the only one! My few plips went 4oz, the best weight of anyone without a carp! The only other fish I saw caught was the one foul hooked roach and I was surprised to find I had a mid match finish with six anglers blanking and me beating the single roach. The pegs I wanted to draw in the 70's were the place to be as those four pegs filled the top four with 28lb winning and I think 17lb needed for 4th.

I think it's fair to say half way in now that any chance of defending the trophy have gone, although a decent placing is not beyond reach and a top three or four finish is what I'm aiming for now. I just need a change of luck at the draw bag! And a change in the weather would be nice too, it's not too much to ask for is it?

Sunday 21st February

I had to go and curse it didn't I? After starting last week saying I could get used to not breaking ice predictably this week the lakes were frozen again! The only saving grace was that the ice was only two or three millimeters thick and easily breakable.

The draw bag was also unkind to me this week, with my hand coming out of the bag with peg 64, a peg which hasn't produced a carp (if my memory is correct) since the Christmas match or just before! First job at the peg was clearing the ice, easily done at first using a long landing net handle specifically carried for such duties. With a weed cutter on the end of the near six meter handle the narrow peg was mostly done, with the pole used to break the little ice past that as it wasn't frozen right up to the island. After that it was time to put the brolly up because as much as I hate being under it if I'm going to sit with hardly a bite then at least it would keep the slushy snow off of me which was coming down in droves by then! The day then got worse as the pillock next to me decided that instead of clearing the ice with a pole like everyone else he'd use the boat, going out and rocking it and smashing the ice between us to smithereens. It stayed where it was for the time being....

With the ice clear the first area I plumbed up was down the track as this was the area I believed I'd catch best from (or have the best chances of catching from!) I had two lines at a 45 degree angles, both on the edge of the ice, one at 10m and the other at 11m, both just where it started to shallow up towards the island, being about an inch shallower than the deepest water I could find. Rig for here was a .3gr Preston Classic 10. The depth was about four and a half foot. Line was .125 to an 18 B611 with he lakky being a soft number 10 latex. The far bank of this peg is very shallow with erratic depth variations so I set a rig at 3ft and had a plumb around to see what I could find. Eventually I had two areas, one dead in front about a meter off the island, at about 12m and the other at 13.5m further down to the right, nearer to the island and with a few twigs overhanging, which I thought may just hold a fish or two. This rig was a 4x10 PB2 with the rest of the terminal gear the same as the other rig.

On the whistle I fed three of the four lines, leaving the most promising of the far bank lines until after I'd tried it. The left hand track line got just four maggots while the right hand line had three grains of corn. The island line in front got just six casters before I slipped a maggot on the far bank rig and went across. No joy here on either maggot, caster or corn led me to feed just three maggots on it and leave it, trying the other far bank line. I could already see that one angler in the open water had a fish, and could hear others saying about people catching so with the fed far bank line barren I went down the track. Trying both of these lines in rotation, and also dropping in along that line in between where I hadn't fed gave nothing, not even a roach which on the previous times I'd had the peg had always been there!

Just after the hour mark the wind picked up slightly and all the ice kindly smashed to pieces by the eejit further up started to drift in front of me and the next hour was fruitless as I just couldn't fish. The ice sheets were small so it was a case of trying to clear them as I could neither cut a hole or just shove them under the ice to my left. In the end I just gave up and sat on my box with a coffee and it was near an hour before I could fish again as the ice started to melt. I With no bite still coming however I decided to top up the maggot line in the track with four more maggots before trying the other three lines in turn. With nothing on those though I went back on to the maggot line in the deep. After about ten minutes the float slowly sank away and I lifted, expecting a tiny roach to be the culprit but I was wrong and what was almost certainly a foul hooked carp charged off to the right until I could follow it no further due to a dining table sized piece of ice floating up! Predictably it came off....

I have to admit although I'd lost it having had a sign had renewed my enthusiasm a bit, but five minutes on the same line gave no more signs of a fish so I topped it up with four more maggots and slipped a grain of corn on to try the other line. I doubt the float had been in for much more than a minute before a sharp dink saw me attached to decent fish and after a bit of a tussle a common of around 5lb was in the net. I had another five or so minutes on the line but nothing came of it so I gave it three more grains of corn and left it, but that was the last sign of a fish I was to have all day.

The sun stayed out and it got quite warm but I couldn't buy a sign of a fish, even with the ice gone allowing me to try much further down the peg well away from any feed, trying every bait I had on all the lines. I even got the pinkies out of my bait bag and tried them! In the last hour and a half I upped the feed, dripping half a dozen maggots every ten minutes over the maggot track line and dripping odd grains of corn over that line down the track. I'd largely given up on the far bank lines, giving them the odd try but they've never gone for me on that area of the lake before so I didn't expect them too then! I could see most the the anglers in the open water catching odd fish now yet nobody on the island was getting anything other than an odd tiny roach.

Normally with no points up for grabs I wouldn't have weighed my Billy-no-mates carp in but as I worked that hard for the bugger I did, giving me a total of 5lb 4oz. The match was won with just a few ounces over 20lb and with two 19lb weights and two high 17lb weights just 3lb or so separated the top five so while nobody bagged up it was fair for those lucky enough to be out there. Lets just hope that's where I can draw next week!

Winter League Rd 2 (Sun 14th Feb)

Well, what can I say? Two Sundays without ice! I could get used to this....

After my lottery prediction at the end of last weeks blog the weather during the week perhaps wasn't as bad as it looked as though it was going to be. The chat before the draw was about which pegs to draw and I stated that I'd be happy as long as the first number on my ticket was a 2, although there was only one of those pegs left in when I took my usual late place in the queue, with the first round winner taking one of them and last weeks open winner drawing the same peg. It came as some surprise then that the last remaining "twenty something" came out in my hand, given my draw bag form of late!



I was pretty happy with my draw, it's the peg I won the first round of last years winter league off, although it's shoulder-achingly wide! I had a plan about trying to catch in the deepest water which went out of the window on drawing where I did as on the few pegs in that area I've never done any good at any time of the year doing so. The peg it's self is probably just over 18m wide so the first rig up was on the shelf up to the island at 17.5m. Here it was just over 5ft deep and the rig was a 4x14 Chianti on .125 line to a 13h Preston hollo. Second rig, for the same area of the swim was set at three and a half foot deep. This rig had the same terminal gear as the other rig but the float was a 4x10 PB2. I also put up a third rig for this line, using the more or less the same gear as the other shallow rig but with a smaller 4x8 float and a slightly softer grey hydro as the rig was set to fish a little shallower, about two and a half foot. I wanted a margin line on the peg but it was either two foot or five foot with no real depth in between and I didn't fancy two foot in the edge with no cover and the water clarity, so the deeper far bank rig was used on a line at 6m to my right, just down the near ledge. Lastly I also put up a bomb rod to fish on the far line too.

On the whistle I decided not to feed the swim at all, hoping to not scare any fish that may have been present. The pegs in the area all caught late last week and I think it may have been due to them not being used to the pressure. I started across on a grain of corn on the deck and I'm sure that after a few minutes the float had a slight dip but I didn't connect with it. After that I tried caster and a couple of minutes on that gave no bites but just as I was considering feeding I had a definite liner, so I put on the deeper of the shallow rigs and went out on a single caster. Laying the rig in (with the shot spread out at it was flat calm) the float settled nicely and blinked under. The gentle lift saw the elastic come out a few inches before the fish gently nodded and than slowly swam off, probably still half asleep in the very cold water! After a bit of very delicate playing I found myself with my first fish of the winter league, a 2lb common. Shame it took until the second match!

I gave the far bank another quarter of an hour after but no more indications followed so I risked a bit of bait in the swim, feeding a measly four caster across while cupping in three grains of corn and a small pinch of crumb on the close in line. The tiny pinch of bait seemed to encourage signs of fish, plus I could see two people who had fed quite a bit from the off and they both had a carp a piece. The frustrating part was that although I could get indications I couldn't manage a proper bite. I even had a liner on the shallowest rig. Changing baits from caster to single and double maggot red or white maggot made no difference, and I had occasional liners from depths of four foot up to two foot both over and away from where I had fed. I could even see a ghostie cruising about behind my rig occasionally!

On the hour and a half mark I tried the strait lead with corn, one cast on the line of the feed and one as tight to the island as I could realistically cast. I gave each cast fifteen minutes but surprisingly I never had a liner. With the two hour mark just in I put the deeper shallow rig on and laid the rig in about three foot to the right of where I had cupped in the tiny amount of caster. The rig followed the same pattern as the first time I'd tried it, slipping away just as it settled. This fish felt a bit bigger than the first and after a few minutes a ghostie common of about 4lb was netted. I'm guessing it was the one that I'd seen cruise past me four or five times because I never saw it again! I tried again without feeding after that fish, dropping the rig in along the island, giving it a short while in one place before lifting and dropping it in further along trying both sides of where I'd fed but to no avail.

Being near half way through the match I decided to try and bring things on a little by introducing loose feed a little more regular via a toss-pot. Three caster went in the pot and as before the tiny amount of loose feed seemed to stimulate a response, with odd knocks within a short time. I didn't have a proper bite until I again tried a few feet to the right of where I fed but I missed it! A liner instantly after had me reaching for the shallowest rig but nothing came on it so the deeper rig went back on. Same pattern, three casters in the toss-pot dripped over where I had fed before and swing the rig in to the right of the feed. An instant bite followed and I missed that one too! Frustrated by the missed bites I had a quick try down the edge but I never had a sign there. Going back across bought a similar response to before, feed, lower in rig but this time I had to wait a few minutes before I missed the bite!

I have to admit I was cursing a bit to myself and tried the one thing I could think of, take the toss-pot off as I didn't miss any of the bites before! I cupped in three casters via the cupping kit before going across. Trying over the bait gave just silly knocks before I dropped my rig in to the right of the feed and guess what? as soon as it settled I had a bite and this time I didn't miss it! Carp number three joined the other two in the net, this one again about 4lb. The indications definitely slowed after so I fed three casters, again via the cupping kit and with an hour to go carp number four found it's way into the net. Again about 4lb and also taken to the right of any feed. After this fish the temperature dropped and a bit of drizzle started and the indications really faded away. I had another quick try on the bomb but was never really confident of it going. A try on the deck rig gave me just another liner.

With half an hour to go I slid the rig up four inches and again carried on searching along the island. The next proper bite I had came to the left of the bait in an area that hadn't given me any indications before. This fish was a maybe a touch bigger at about 5lb. With only a short amount of time left I re-fed strait after this fish and after a short wait the next bite came, again to the left of the feed and this one was again about 4lb. With hardly any time left after that fish I didn't feed again but perhaps that was a mistake as I didn't manage any more in the last remaining minutes.

After packing away I managed to find the scales about four pegs away from me with about 7lb being the top weight. That was until last weeks winner (on the same peg remember) pulled their net out. While they only had four carp they were much bigger than mine and went 25lb 5oz, which I was sure would beat me. I was knocked back a bit more when the next peg to me put three fish on the scales for 25lb 7oz! My fish went on at 23lb 4oz but I have to say I was a bit despondent as I'm sure I missed a decent chance to win. Who knows, if I had have fed quickly after my last fish I may have managed that one last fish that would have won it. I really perhaps should have taken the little pot off earlier, or not even put it on in the first place. With it not being a race I wouldn't have been at any loss to have just fed with with big pot. Still, I've never had that happen (to such a degree, I won't argue that at long distance the little pot does make a difference to the response time to a bite) before. I perhaps shouldn't be to hard on myself, I still worked hard to get what I had on a day when many would have just sat and waited. Interestingly, on the odd times when a slight breeze picked up and I had to bulk the shot up I had noticeably less indications than when the shot were spread. It's also a bit strange that I had to feed to get bites, but never had a fish actually over the feed! Still, I managed to catch some fish which must make reading my ramblings a bit more interesting! And also with round one's winner blanking, and round two's winner blanking in the first match nobody is really running away with the league so who knows!

Sunday 7th Feb

This Sunday I found myself on lake one at Westside, in a practice match for the up coming second round of the winter league. Nobody really knew what to expect as the lake had hardly been fished in the last few weeks because of the weather. The last match was before Christmas and it was frozen then. With hardly anyone pleasure fishing it since then I expected it to be hard as the fish weren't used to to people being on the lake. Incidentally, those that pleasure fished lake two on Wednesday bagged up!

I really wanted to draw in the 20's as these are the most consistent pegs on the lake. I didn't get one but I was quite happy with peg 17 which I found myself on. With a fair bit of room around me I was sure I could nab a fish or five! The island in front is about 15m away then runs away into a very snaggy corner. My first target area was in front where you can see the dark area on the island, leaving me a slight area to let any fish back off into before experience of the peg tells me that a lot of vegetation is under the water. I had four and a half foot of water next to the island and had three rigs up for there. The first was for on the deck using a 4x12 Chianti, while I had rigs at three and a half and two and a half foot, both using 4x10 PB2's. Line on all three was .125 with size 18 hooks on all three. Lakkys were Preston 13h on the deeper of the two rigs and grey Hydro on the shallowest. Lastly I had a rig up for about 9m slightly to the right next to a weed bed. This had the same hooks and line as the other rigs, the float was a 4x14 Chianti in six foot of water and the lakky was a 10 latex. I did toy with putting the bomb rod up to chuck as tight to the snaggy bay as I dared but I've spent enough time staring as something that wont move as it is lately! Plus I didn't want to lose sets of gear either.

On the whistle I fed a small conker size ball of green swim stim with a few casters in it on the deep line while I decided to try across without feeding at first. On with a small grain of corn and after about five minutes the dotted down float vanished but I missed the bite! I didn't swear... much. No more followed so I went on to swapping between maggot and caster on the deck but half an hour in and nothing happened. I was just about to feed when I'm sure I had a slight liner. I took this as a time to try the deeper of the shallow rigs and after five minutes on this with a caster the float slipped away. On lifting I didn't feel the fish but then the rig drifted to the left and the lakky came out. That will be foul hooked then, and predictably it came off.

No more signs of fish followed so I cupped in three maggots and three casters across and went back on the the deck rig on caster. After a few minutes I went on to single red maggot and the float plinked under and a small roach found it's way in to the net. At least I hadn't blanked! Nothing else followed so I came up in the water on caster. Not long on this and the float plinked under again but my excitement was short lived when a tiny perch came in. With nothing else following and just over an hour gone I came on the the deep line but either maggot or caster failed to get me a bite so after quarter of an hour I found myself back across. I couldn't get a bite on the deck here so I started to drip in casters in three's via a toss-pot. I started to get a response with small (under an ounce) roach falling to caster on the deeper shallow rig, hard work at 15m when they hardly weigh! I tried pushing tighter to the island and going up the side a bit but this produced nothing.

With two hours gone word came round that only 1 carp had been caught and hardly anything else. A short try on the deep line again gave nothing so I put another small ball of crumb in and went back across. Here I could only get odd indications, and while some of them were liner like I think they were just small roach or perch messing with the bait. I decided to go back on the deck with corn and again after only a few minutes the float vanished but again I missed it. Lowering it in again and after a short wait it did the same again. This time I made contact with it, a fat little perch of about an ounce! My optimism started to fade away now as it had started to drizzle and the temperature had definitely started to drop.

With an hour and a half to go I tried the deep line but again had no joy so I decided to feed a dozen maggots on the line, after all I had nothing to lose. Going back across on the shallowest rig and pushing as near the vegetation up the side of the island as I dared I had a dumpy ten-to-the pound roach followed by a run of fat little perch but after for or five fish bites faded away and couldn't get a bite on any rig across. I came back in to the deep water on a single maggot and pulled the rig as tight to the weed as I dared. After a few minutes the float slid under and I have to admit I was expecting a small perch on the end but the four feet of latex out suggested otherwise! After a sluggish but careful fight a small common nudging three pound found it's way in to the net, hurrah! Unfortunately no more followed so I fed half a dozen maggots on the line and went across.

After finding nothing over and with less than an hour to go I decided to concentrate on the deep line. By fishing red maggot over depth I was catching dumpy little 'wasp' perch quite regular, although I did miss a very slow bite on caster. If I came up to dead depth I couldn't get a bite. I decided to risk putting in a marble size ball of crumb. Dropping in over it and I seemed to have scared off the perch, or maybe it was the lump that I foul hooked when I lifted the rig up! I didn't have it on for long as it made it's way into the weed and I could feel it on in the weed for a few seconds before any hope of getting it out were extinguished by the rig pinging upwards! The last spell of the match I just plugged away on wasp perch.

After the whistle while packing away word came round that the angler who I was told had one carp in the middle of the match had five (and lost as many), plus three or four others had caught late carp. They'd have to wait though as I was on the scales and had loads to pack away! My one carp was 2lb 15oz and I had 10oz of bits which was good enough for about 5th. A few ounces short of 30lb won where as second was just 6lb 2oz was second (one carp) and two of the three others that had one carp had fish that were bigger than mine.

Next weeks winter league is looking like a lottery at the moment now, with the weather forecast to be cold all week (it's snowing out as I write this) and as lottery's ain't kind to me (I've never even won a tenner on it) I shall not hold my breath!

W/L Round 1 (Jan 31st)

Well, typically the weather all week hadn't been that bad but come the weekend and the snow and frosts were back! A cold Friday night with a dusting of snow, plus an even colder Saturday night meant that the start of the winter league was shaping up to be a hard one indeed.

Arriving at the venue and a layer of ice about 1/4 inch thick covered most of the lake, apart from a few pegs which must have had the wind on them overnight. A quick walk around and there were still fish in the reeds pegs, the fish clearly visible not only knocking the rice but swimming through them. Obviously I fancied drawing one of the three pegs in them but by the time I got to the draw bag they were all gone! I was torn about the peg I'd drawn (66) as it's a peg I've done well off whenever I've drawn it. It was also one of the pegs that had no ice on it. On the minus side it's recent form has been terrible, hardly producing anything in the last few matches. Also while it didn't have ice in it that did also mean it had been exposed to a cold wind and as it's a relatively shallow peg I didn't think that would help.

Looking at the peg after putting my box down and I did think it may produce but I really wanted the sun to break through as it would be on the shallow water on the point of the island all day and hopefully encourage a few carp to move in. With the peg having no roach form it was looking like a carp or bust day which was not what I really wanted on a day when you really need to be weighing in. First line up was for the pole at about 14m towards the island in about three and a half feet of water (the bottom slopes up rapidly past there and the water is quite clear so I didn't want to go shallower) This comprised a 4x12 Preston Chianti on .125 line to an 18 B611, lakky was a soft 10 latex. The second line was for down the track just where the bottom started to slope up. Fished at an angle to my left at 11m float in about four and a half feet of water float was a .3gr Preston Classic 10 while the rest of the rig was the same as the last. The far bank rig also doubled up as a margin rig at 11m to my left in the margin towards a small overhanging tree. Last up was the bomb rod to fish towards the point of the island.

At the start I elected not to feed across, at least to start with, while I started on the lead hoping for an early carp. I did feed a tiny amount of casters on the other two swims, but the track line got four grains of hemp too. A single grain of corn was hair rigged and then cast nearer the point of the island to the right, landing about two meters short in around four foot of water. Unsurprisingly no liners were forthcoming so after quarter of an hour I bought it in and re-cast it, a little nearer to me but a little closer to the island. Just as I was settling down with a cup of coffee the angler next peg up, in the open water lifted into a fish on the pole. It looked a good fish too, about 6lb. Not long after this I had a liner, twice the tip pulling round a good four inches. I left it a few minutes but nothing materialised so I re-cast it a touch shorter. At this point I could see another angler in the open water (on the peg I had last week) playing a fish. While I was watching this the angler next peg fed a big cup of pellets where he'd had his fish. I kid you not after only minute the oil 'plinks' from the pellets were visible clearly in my swim!

As you'd expect that was the end of his swim, where as mine was a similar story and I have to say I finished the same as two of the last four people (if my memory is right) had from the peg-fish less! I was sure that if the sun came out some carp would have moved in to the shallow water by the island but the sun didn't come out - in fact it even snowed a bit. I finished the day fishing pinkie on a small hook under the marginal tree to my left hoping to avoid the dreaded DNW but other than the one liner I never had the slightest sign of a fish, and finished dry as did three other people. What an awful way to start the campaign! While the worst result from six can be dropped after just one match it's now going to be near impossible to retain the trophy. Not only that but now on two of the four occasions I've fished this year I've finished bite less, not a good start.

The match was won from the reeds pegs (surprise!) with 27lb something on corn, and that peg now has won the last three matches now. 13lb was 2nd, from the next peg and two 6lb weights (one carp each) were next. Unfortunately from now bread has been banned (it was allowed, as long as it was punched) so one deadly winter method had been ruled out.

Nest week should be an open on lake one in preparation for the 2nd round on there the week after. How it will fish is any ones guess as it's been hardly fished since before Christmas due to the weather. I'm expecting it to be hard, which is a shame as I really could do with a nice days fishing and a few bites having successfully avoided drawing a winter flier so far! Roll on summer.....