Division 2 National, 28/7/12

How's that peg picture as a departure from the usual! About two months ago I had a text message from a mate asking me if I wanted to fish the Division 2 National on the Keadby Canal as the local team (Cambridge FPAS)were short. I did point out they must have been a touch desperate given that the last match I fished on a natural venue was in early 2006, but agreed anyway! It wasn't such an alien venue as some people may have thought mind, as I did grow-up fishing on the local rivers Cam and the Old West for silvers long before I moved on to commercial-style venues. Ten-twelve years ago I went for months at a time without catching a carp, believe it or not!

The information we had was that a kilo a man would be a good result, and having not got a chance to even walk the venue, let along fish it meant that e-mail's from a couple of locals were all we had to go on. The expense of a two hour plus trip to fish an open before-hand was a big no-no, so it was a case of going armed with a those e-mails alongside the pint of squatt's, half a pint of pinkies, maggots and casters and a sprinkling of hemp.

We made very good time to the venue, pulling up in Scunthorpe United's football ground two hours to the minute after leaving my house at 5.15am. While it was my first ever national, and I'm aware they're much smaller events than in the past (I've seen two much bigger nationals on my local rivers Cam and the Ouse in years past), having 300+ anglers at the draw was an experience to say the least, even compared to the 90+ anglers in the bigger matches I've fished in the past at the Glebe/Mallory park complex.

Peg F5 was the peg I was given from the captain, which I'll have to admit meant nothing to me! It wasn't too far from the draw venue, and soon I was setting eye's on the venue for the first time, not only only my first match on a natural venue in six years, but the first time I'd ever gone to fish a canal also.

One of the first things I'd noticed was that much of my section had lush far-bank rushes, me? well, I had some grass! Oh well! The canal is about twenty meters wide and to be honest, looked much nicer than I thought it would. Coupled with decent access, not far to walk and a nice level wooden stage to fish from, and with even the footpath behind only having a very occasional walker along it in the whole time I was there it was pretty pleasant. Very different as to my local river Cam which I stopped fishing due to the amount of cyclist's, walkers, and rowing/pleasure boats. Not to mention the dog poo.....

My first port of call was to set up my nearside squatt rigs as per the info. Fishing at about 9m took me not too far past the marginal weed and here I had about 7ft of water. I had two rigs for here, each plumbed individually to ensure they were marked correctly. The first was a 4x16 Colmic jolly, this was on .09 line to a .06 hook-link and a size 24 B511 hook. It was initially set up with a spread bulk and three no11 droppers. The second was a smaller 4x14 jolly on the same set-up for when things got a little harder, and both were matched to no3 elastic. I also had a lighter 4x12 rig using an original 4x12 Drennan Squatt float with strung no12 shot, but the rather keen left to right wind made me feel it wouldn't be a viable option. My next rig was to fish for skimmers at 14.5m, about a meter up where the bottom started to slope up again, Depth was about the same as the closer line, but the float on here was a much more stable wire stemmed Tubertini Delta in a 4x16 size. Line was .125 to a .10 hook-link and a size 18 B560, with the lakky being no6. Last up was an "ugly rig"! Trying to fish this at 16m was a no-no due to the wind so it was plumbed up at 6m in a hole in the near-side weed. It was a strong rig but one I didn't intend using unless I was desperate and felt the need to go for an eel or two. As it happened, I never picked it up. Lastly, I set up a 10ft bomb rod to chuck to the edge of the weed on the far slope, probably at about 17m. This had a small crumb feeder on coupled with a 3ft .10 hook-link and a size 20 B611.

On the whistle I fed four balls of crumb on the squatt line, a mixture of Van den Eynde Supermatch, Supercup, natural Super Roach with some damp leam added to give it weight. I put a good sprinkling of hemp and squatt's in too. The long line got a decent helping of chopped worm and caster, with a decent amount of soil in to give it weight. I started the match with two drops on the small crumb feeder across without a sign so came in on the squatt. The angler to my right had already had a skimmer of about 500gr off his squatt line (or just over a pound, but the final weight is in kilo's, so I'll have to do it that way!)

My first drop in was on a pinkie at dead depth, and when the float went it was met with a decent amount of no3 lakky. I had my own bonus skimmer, albeit about half the size of the next pegs! The first half hour was steady after that and I was more than keeping pace with the anglers around me on that line. By regular loose-feeding of squatt I was putting a few dumpy roach in the net including one of about 100gr (4oz). Then disaster struck, as the next decent roach was taken by a pike! And the next one after that... Damn it.

I tightened up the elastic a bit in a bid to get the fish out quicker, but the pike was still chasing everything I hooked, leaping clear of the water twice in a bid to get fish I was lifting. In the end I was having to lift the fish clear of the water and ship back with the fish hanging, unorthodox to say the least, but anything that wasn't lifted clear was taken by ol' esox and resulted in a lost hook! I stepped up to a 22 hook, and actually it made no difference to my bites, but made it less liable anything would drop off!

Despite the best efforts of my toothy enemy, I was still getting regular bites, normally in runs of three fish, albeit smaller than the ones at the start. The pike was still munching the bigger fish! On the hour the pegs around me all went to their long lines, but didn't catch initially, so I just topped that line up and plugged away closer. The wind was beginning to get awkward now and was hampering my presentation. I could get far more bites laying my rig in to the left (the direction of what little water movement there was), but often the wind wouldn't allow it.

On the ninety minute mark the anglers either side of me started to get odd quality skimmers over their long lines, so that was the signal for me to feed a small ball of crumb on the now slightly fading squatt line and have a look. A segment of worm bought me no bites so I tried a single red maggot which got me a bite that I missed. My excitement was tempered when the exact same kind of dithery bite next drop got me a milk bottle-top skimmer! And no more bites followed it either, so I topped it up again and left it.

The rest had bought a few fish back to the squatt line, but now the roach were all small, and with the odd bottle top skimmer in there too, and the pike was still performing acrobatics in an attempt to get my fish! The one better fish I did have on again it took, and I very nearly got it to the net before it bit me off! It wouldn't have counted, but I'm sure landing it and handling it would have subdued it somewhat!

I could see a few skimmers getting caught, and the peg next to me then managed a tench (later weighed at 1kg 300gr I think from memory) which gave up ever so quick as a small amount of weed had covered it's eyes. My return to the far line caught me.... another bottle-top skimmer! And no more bites after. The wind was making a pain of it's self now, and I had to change the far rig to a 1gr float to hold it still, but it made no difference.

I came back on the squatt line, which I largely had to myself now as everybody had seemed to go long looking for skimmers, but not everybody was on them. I was still nabbing odd small fish on the squatt, having moved my bulk up again and fishing with an extra dropper down and holding the rig tight. They were small fish now, a mixture of tiny roach, those pesky skimmers and an odd rudd. I also managed a perch of about 50gr which the pike nabbed, but let go off! It was the only fish and hook I got back from the pesky jack, which had nabbed a lot considering it was hardly more than a foot long!

I'd tried the lighter squatt rigs, but in the wind I just had no control over them, and at times could barely hold the heavier one. I'm sure given the conditions they would have nicked me a few extra fish given how I was getting the odd one, but the weather just didn't allow me!

With the squatt line pretty much faded away by the third hour I topped it up with some crumb again and went long. The wind was a pain and in the end I had to add some line above the float and fish with three backshot to get decent presentation but the float would just sit there! I wasn't doing anything radically different to those either side who were still getting those odd big skimmers, but my only bites were from those bottle-tops if I put double pinkie on.

Eventually I had a very slow, lazy bite on the worm long and was very happy to see a few feet of yellow no6 elastic coming out. At last! The fish kited round much like a big bream before waking up a little as it neared the marginal weed. The extra fight made me wonder if I'd managed a rouge tench too, especially as it came to the surface easily when a small bit of weed covered it's eyes. It broke the surface and revealed it's self to be...... Another bloody pike! This one much bigger at about 6lb, and with my worm clearly visible hanging from it's gob. It woke up again and I played it for a few minutes before it weeded me just out of reach of my landing net, and then it bit me off! I rather turned the air blue...

I was just about to top up again with worm when a boat came through (the only one during the match) and that seemed to spell an end to every ones skimmer fishing as it had passed right over that line. The trouble was, the pike disturbance had killed the squatt line for me too. The next hour was pretty dire, and all I managed was a small roach on the squatt, and a small skimmer and tiny perch on maggot long, but nobody I could see was catching now.

With half an hour to go the peg to my right had another skimmer, so with nothing to lose I put two balls of my roach groundbait out long, laced with pinkies, squatt's and casters. I had a few biteless minutes on the squatt before deciding to spend the rest of the match out long. I bit the size 18 hook off and put a smaller 20 on, and sat over the top on single red maggot. My first bite came pretty quick from a small bottle top skimmer, and with ten minutes to go I had another bite. A nice, slow bream-like one. And it was! well, a big skimmer anyway, as a fish of about 500gr plodded it's way in to the net. Bingo, just about three hours too late! I had a proper liner not long after dropping back in, but didn't have enough time to get a proper bite.

It took the scales a while to reach us, and chatting it was apparent according to bank runners that I was the only person to have had pike trouble! Gits! I always used to get that on the Cam too. Interestingly, the angler to my left had fed his worm neat, while the one to my right had put it in groundbait. Both different ways but with the same results.

When the scales eventually got to us just over 10kg was winning my section, with a few decent weights behind it. It hadn't been that good for everyone though as it looked like the skimmers were in pockets, and there were more weights about the 1.2k mark, and even some under the kilo. The peg to my left had 4kg something, while I had a bit more than I'd thought with 1kg 830gr. From what I could make from a quick glance at the weigh board that may have got me as high as seventh or eighth at a guess (I couldn't get a good look) but three of the last four to weigh all beat me too, pushing me further down.

In all honesty I'd actually really enjoyed the day, and considering I'd never seen the venue and not fished for silvers for a long while I felt like it was pretty respectable. I'd be lying if I said I couldn't have done better, but I was a bit rusty to say the least, and fishing it again I'd do better, but as I said earlier, it was just too far (and expensive) to go fish a practice match. I wouldn't change how I approached the squatt line, in fact I was pleased I held my own on that line. As for the long line? Well, I'd have done that very different, but that's easy to say now! I wish I'd taken a skimmer-based groundbait (just Supercup and brown crumb would have done, perhaps with a bit of leam for weight) I'd like to have fed that with six or so balls with casters, dead pinkies and dead maggots, with perhaps only a small amount of choppy. Much like how I used to fish for skimmers on the Cam. Heck, I may have even balled it rather than cupped it too! I also thought I'd never say it, but a bump-bar would have been very useful too in the wind, but I'd always thought they'd get in the way while on my usual commercial venues, so I don't own one! It would have helped in the strong wind we had at times for sure, and may have got be an extra bite or two long. Still, we're all better with hindsight, and it's those who know at the time who are the ones to beat! As for the pike? well, it probably had the best part of 400/500gr of fish off me, but that can't be helped really. It's just a shame they happened to be in my peg!

Anyway, the day fished better than I'd thought. As a team I don't yet know where we finished, but I do know we weren't in the top 15. We had one bad weight we knew of, plus one angler never came back to the presentation, which is never a good sign! Perhaps I may allow myself to get talked in to doing it again, but for the time being it's back to my usual stomping ground!

Sunday July 22nd

Sorry for the later than usual update - been a bit busy again lately! I'll also apologise for the lack of picture, as I took my camera out to charge the batteries and forgot to put it back in my box. I blame the sun, we're not used to it, are we?

Anyhow, with the nice weather and the start of the summer holidays the attendance was lower than previous weeks, meaning there would be a little space for everyone. I wanted an early number as walking round there were obviously more fish there. I didn't get it mind as peg 17 came out in my hand - the same peg I had a few weeks ago and it was a bit of a struggle to be honest. Perhaps the only saving grace was that I had a little more space as the pegs either side weren't in as per last time.

I'd had a good session during the week tying rigs and hook-links, yet still somehow managed to be not quite ready on the all-in! I had the usual three rigs up; far bank at 16m, a 5m rig and one for just short of the sleeper in the margins to my right, towards peg 16. I'm pretty sure you know what they are by now so I won't bore you with the details!

I had quite a steady first hour and actually had seven fish by the end of that hour - all had fallen to a 6mm expander across. The trouble was the same as the last time I had the peg, in that they were small. The biggest was about 3lb, while I'd deemed three of them small enough to go in the silvers net!

After that flurry the indications started to fade away, so I started to feed my margin line in the hope that I could pull one or two of the lumps away from the corner (peg 15) where some big fish were visible mooching around in the sun. Peg 14 (one of the form pegs of late) was starting to plod along now catching some decent sized fish, and while the had less than me, they were much bigger than mine!

I'd just contemplated coming away from the far bank when I had another fish, again to pellet, and again about 3lb. I could get odd liners, so I re-plumbed to see if I could get a little closer to the bank in to shallower water. I could, but there were a fair few roots and overhangs in tighter, and I had only a very small area I could present the rig, and possibly decimating my supply of Fox Series 2 hooks! I decided to introduce a bit of crumb with the loose pellet, as that had seemed to get me an odd extra fish last time off the peg. My first fish was a hybrid of sorts - it looked to me like a goldfish/carp cross (an F1 then, I guess?) of about 2lb. I carried on getting knocks but no proper bites, and I wasn't happy with the presentation of the pellet. Not only was I fishing on a slope up to the island, but it also sloped away to the right, making fishing a pellet at dead depth awkward. I decided on a change to worm, meaning I could lay a little line of the bottom and not worry about it!

The change worked, and the next two fish were a little bigger too, with a brace of 4lb commons falling to the worm. Disaster struck when the next fish I hooked went left instead of right, as it took me behind a branch that looked like it was impossible to get behind! Needless to say I lost the whole rig, but I did manage to get my drifting float back a bit later. That spelled and end to the swim, and the sun also came round, mottling the far-bank in a manner that meant it was near impossible to see my float.

I topped the swim up with a bit of loose crumb and a few pellets via the cupping kit before having a fruitless try on my other lines. I could see fish longer down my edge, but the fishery rules state you can only fish up to the next peg, so I had to feed and fish short of them and hope they'd move. I could see peg 14 nabbing odd decent fish, rotating from their much longer margin swim, and fishing the deeper water. I could also hear a fair bit of splashing from my left, but I couldn't see what they were catching.

With around ninety minutes to go the sun came round enough so that I could see across again, and also gave me a bit of welcome shade. While fish were present across they were very wary now, but I did manage to add another small carp to the silvers net. With a little over an hour to go I had my first sign of life in the margins. I'd kept up the feeding here, not huge amounts but a pinch of hemp, meat and corn every forty minutes or so. My first bite on two cubes of meat in the edge saw my excitement slightly dampened as a crucian of about a pound somehow managed to wolf the bait down!

With nothing to lose, I gave it half a pot, cutting out the hemp now. It was desperation time as I knew I was behind peg 14, while the splashing to my left suggested I was behind them too. The other two lines were dead, so I soon found myself back in the margins. I hadn't been long in the edge on double meat when the float went away, and it was definitely no crucian this time as the 17h went away. After a decent tussle, big lump of a common that was every ounce of 12lb in weight was panned! A couple more of those would be nice....

The next drop in the edge didn't give me a bite, so I again cupped in half a pot - mostly of corn as I wanted the meat to stand out over the top. It worked in getting me a bite, but it was only a baby at not much more than a pound. I didn't want to feed a big amount again as I'd had that bite so quick after feeding, so I slipped on a large toss-pot and filled it with corn, and again fished double meat over the top. It took a couple of minutes to work, but after a few liners the float was away again! After a bit of a tussle a long lean common of about 7lb was panned. A quick glance at my phone showed me I had a little over fifteen minutes to go - hopefully time for a couple more.

I'd slapped in another half-pot of corn and it took a few minutes before the tell-tale liners started again, before the float again vanished under. It was another decent fish, and after a good fight a big plated mirror that I'd seen swim past a couple of times during the day was panned. It was probably about 8lb in weight too. With five minutes to go I hoped I'd have time for one more, but it wasn't to be. I'd fed the peg again as I'd had to for each big fish. I'd just started to get those liners again when the whistle blew, damn it!

A weight just shy of 50lb was top when the scales got to peg 14. I knew they'd top that, and they did, taking the lead with 64lb 9oz. I tipped my bits in the net and had 8lb odd in there, but the surprise came when I lifted the other net out - there was a bit more in there than I thought! Agonisingly, I fell just short with my fish totalling 64lb 2oz - more than I thought, but it was hard not to be disappointed. The peg to my left where I'd heard all the splashing totalled 55lb odd, but I didn't follow the scales after that. When I got back to the car park peg 29 had just pinched it with 67lb 6oz, so I had to make do with third.

With the benefit of hindsight I should have pushed the margins a bit earlier - just one more fish would have been enough for at the very least second. In all honesty though, I've never caught down the edge on that peg before, and the margins haven't produced that well on the new lake for me unlike on the old lake, so I didn't approach it with the same confidence that I would have otherwise. Still, I'd had a decent days fishing, and sat out on a cracking summers day (shame about the mozzies!) and I think I've learnt a bit with regards to the margins on the new lake. It'll be a fortnight until I'm back on that lake to test the theory, and next week will bring a blog with a difference, it looks like squatt's and number three elastics will be the order of the day!

Sunday July 15th

Well, it was a bit novel not to be dodging rain in the morning! (it's back now as I write though) It had apparently rained during the night, but being as Saturday night was my sleep catch-up night after working at night during the week I didn't hear it. And by the time I was up and about for the later 11am draw any sign had long since gone! Infact, the sun even came out.... for a bit!

I had a bit of a wonder round, but didn't really fancy anywhere on the lake over any other. When my hand came out of the bag I had a double take at the number, 51. On all the occasions I've fished matches on the lake, I've never drawn it (or 50, which is more usually in, but underwater at the moment)

I had the typical three rigs up, with the first for the island. At 15m, with the gusty wind it was going to be awkward (I took the picture after the match, as I wasn't ready until five minutes after the whistle) It was my typical far-bank rig really, with a small .1gr Nick Gilbert XTM on .17 line to a .15 hook-link and a now rather rare size 18 Fox Series 2 hook, lakky was Preston 15h. Depth was about 16in. My second rig up was for the margins, and I had a small bay just 5m to my left with a perfect looking 20in of water in, spot on that! My normal beefier margin approach matched .19 line to a .17 hook-link and a size 16 Fox Series 2 hook, while the float was a .2gr XTM. Lakky was Preston 17h. It was when plumbing up for the 2+2 line I had a surprise - it's very shallow compared to the rest of the lake! A .3gr Nick Gilbert Decker held nicely in the skim in around 4ft of water. The rig had the same terminal gear as the far-bank rig, but the lakky was black hydro on a pull-bung.

I left the margin line alone at the start for a bit, feeding half a pot of hemp and corn on the 2+2 line, before dropping a few 6mm pellets in to a small cad-pot to feed across, hoping to nick an early fish or two before the other lines kicked in. It took about half an hour of dripping in pellets before I got a response, and in that time I'd seen peg 55 catch three or for fish dobbing in the scum that had collected there. My first fish was a small carp that looked about 8oz, but it came of as I went to net it! I got the feeling it wasn't going to be my day when the next fish, which was much better came off for no reason too!

Losing that fish slowed what indications I was getting, and to be honest the gusty wind was making things awkward too. With signs of odd fish moving further along the margin to my left I fed half a pot of bait in the edge here, and then started to flick the occasional few grains of corn in by hand too, less frequently than I had been at 5m though.

On the hour mark I came away from the island and had a drop on the 2+2 line. There were very occasional signs of fish there, but no proper bites, so that led me to rotate between that line and the far bank. With a few fish visible I was sure one of the lines would start to produce soon, so it was just a case of keeping on plugging away.

On the two hour mark I was rewarded with my first proper bite on corn off the 2+2 line, and soon a decent common of about 4lb was panned. I managed five more in the next hour off this line, with one fish being a smaller 2lb'er and the rest around the 3lb mark. All fell to corn fished slightly down the swim from where the bait was going in. It was noticeable that working the bait didn't get me bites, and I just had to sit with the bait dead on the bottom and wait, which meant that changing the shotting to just a tight bulk a foot from the hook was best, resulting in clearer indications.

After that steady spell I started to notice odd fish swirling over my margin, and with the fish on the other line backing away down the peg a little I topped it up with a quarter of a cup of bait and had a go in the edge. No sooner had the double corn hit the bottom than it was away! A slightly better fish than what I had been taking from the 2+2 line too, at about 5lb. No more follwed in the next few minutes, so I topped the line up with half a cup of bait (hemp and corn) which bought the fish back. Much like the other line had been, the action here was steady rather than furious, but with two hours of the six to go I was on a fourteen carp. After the initial two carp I found I could catch by feeding a big toss-pot of bait instead of big potting, a move which seemed to bring a bite quicker when the fish came back - presumably due to there being less bait in the swim.

As tends to happen, after that decent run off the swim it started to fade, and losing a fish didn't help too. I topped it up with the big cup and went back on the 2+2 line. Initially, I tried down the peg but that didn't bring bites. I was getting more indications right on the bait, and spreading the shotting and shallowing up to just an inch over depth started to turn the knocks in to odd bites. Thankfully, the wind had eased a bit to allow me to do this!

I was plodding on with odd fish from the 2+2 swim, and every now and then I managed to nick one from the margin, although I found I had to fish single corn in the edge to get bites now. It was much slower than it had been, but the fish were of a decent stamp now, averaging 4lb. For some reason, with forty minutes to go the swim seemed to die a death, although none of the other anglers I could see were catching too. I couldn't see how those in the open water were getting on, but I was fairly well clear to those I could see, with twenty carp. Peg 55 was the nearest to me, with about a dozen.

With nothing to lose, I lashed a couple of hand-fulls of bait down the edge - it was worth a go! I gave it five minutes, before lowering in two grains of corn over the top. Before the bait had touched the bottom the elastic pulled out and after a hefty fight I netted my best fish of the day - a common of perhaps 7lb. I had just one more bite in the remaining twenty-five minutes or so, which gave me a mirror of about 5lb from the 2+2 line, but I couldn't raise a response off either swim again after that.

When I packed up a few people were admitting to around a dozen fish, while peg 72 in the reeds had twenty-four carp - two more than me. I just hoped that they would be of the smaller stamp that the reeds normally produce. My fish totalled 79lb 2oz on the scales. I pushed my barrow back up to the car park and wondered back up the lake just in time to see peg 72's weight being totalled up, with a weight of 76lb 14oz being called. That late desperado attempt for a last margin fish had quite possibly won the match for me! And the day was made better by the fact that, for the first time in a while, I sat for an entire day fishing and it didn't rain. Novel that lately, isn't it?

Wet, Wet, Wet!

Just a brief update this week, as I've been a bit busy with work and other stuff and time to sit down has been a bit limited to say the least!

Sunday's match was a later draw than usual, which I thought was a bit of a bonus being as I'd been working nights during the week - I could have a lay-in and catch up on some sleep! I'd also been out the day before and joined in the Olympic Torch celebrations, and the few beers and lack of recent sleep meant I was grateful of the extra time.

As per the usual pattern of late it was raining (hence no picture), but I still had a quick wonder around. A fair few of the pegs had been heavily pruned back along the far bank that morning, so I wanted to avoid those pegs, but no such luck! Peg 35 had had a large tree removed that morning, and I wasn't optimistic that the chainsaw, boat and the working party that went with it would make for a good day. All work that needed doing mind, but perhaps we'd have been better off on the other lake to leave it to settle.

To cut the long story short, the only fish I put in the net in the first two hours was a roach on pellet across. After the two hour mark it rained like I've never experienced while fishing - I swear it made a monsoon look like a light shower!

During that heavy rain I had my best spell of action, taking three carp in a row from across on pellet. After that the indications died away, so I dropped in down the middle and had a carp instantly, albeit only a small 2lb'er. That proved to be the only bite I had there!

The rest of the match proved to be just scraping around for bites, and I nabbed two more carp on worm across, plus a couple of small perch. The fishing was hard for those of us along that bank, and my day wasn't helped by having to un-ship twice to fish across due to the stock-pond behind being extended. Especially as this led to me getting my 11.5/13m sections stuck together! Fortunately, they were easily freed after the match with the help of the pegs either side.

I finished up weighing in a little over 28lb, narrowly beaten by the corner peg to my right who had the same number of fish as me, but their two late margin lumps were just enough to pip me as they had 30lb. The peg to my left had 25lb, and a little less past them too.

The match was won from peg 20 with a little over 70lb, with peg 14 second with 62lb. It was noticable that the water was more coloured round that corner, plus it hadn't had any work done in those pegs that morning. Third place had 34lb, so I was only one good fish off the frame, but it was just one of those days to be honest! And perhaps a bump back to Earth after two ton+ weights. Still, there's always next week!

Sunday July 1st

Well, the common theme of the strong wind seems to be continuing, and mostly at the weekend!

I didn't get a chance to walk around the lake before the draw, although from the car park most of the lake looked largely calm. I dipped my hand in the bag and out came peg 44, which I had mixed feelings about! The peg has a large lilly bed in it, which while it holds fish it also means lost fish and rigs - it's not uncommon to hear people who've drawn the peg to have lost as many as they've got out!

My approach to the peg and it's lilly bed was simple indeed. I wasn't going to fish next to it! I had two rigs up, one for 5m fished at around 11 O'clock so it was away from the lillys, and a line just down my left margin, a touch closer than 5m. The first rig also doubled to fish at 12m just at the bottom of the slope up to the small island. At 5m the depth was about 5ft, and a .3gr Nick Gilbert Decker sufficed in the tow here. Line was .17 to a .15 hook-link and a size 18 Fox Series 2 hook. Lakky was black hydro on a pull-bung. The margin rig was in about 2ft of water, with a .2gr NG XTM on .19 to a .17 hook-link. Hook was a 16 Fox Series 2 and lakky Preston 17h. Bait was simple, with just meat, corn and hemp!

I held of feeding the margin line initially to keep a bit of bait back to attack it later, so the 5m line was fed on the whistle, with half a pot of hemp and corn. I went out to 12m and fed just a toss-pot of corn there. I started to get knocks and liners pretty much instantly, and after a few minutes a bite saw the lakky streaming out. After a short tussle I landed a small common of about 2.5lb.

After that first fish I started to get a lot of liners, even foul hooking one fish as the wind gusted and took the pole. I decided to quickly get up and set up a shallow rig and try pinging a few pellets to see if I could nab an odd fish like that. It didn't work and with the wind playing havoc with the longer pole, on the forty-five minute mark I took the bold decision to sack that line off completely! It was all or nothing close in.

Before dropping on the 5m line I fed three quarters of a pot on the margin - mostly hemp and corn, but with a few cubes of meat too. I was pleased to get indications pretty quick so was happy to plug away on the 5m line. I had my first fish on it after about ten minutes, a small fish of less than 3lb.

The second hour proved a bit more steady, with regular bites coming to corn at 5m. I topped the margin up again via the cup on the ninety minute mark, as the fish were responding to bait. By the end of the second hour I was up to eight carp, but all of 3lb or less, but still a good steady start. I had to vary the presentation to keep them coming - some came to the dropping bait and took as it settled, while at times holding the bait still on the bottom was better, which normally coincided with the stronger wind.

After two hours I topped the margin up again and had a cheeky drop in on it, taking a 4lb common the instant the double corn hit the bottom. No more bites came after so I left it alone and went back to the 5m line, but started to chuck a few grains of corn by hand over the top. Strangely, the brief drop away from the 5m line seemed to slow the line (I'd carried on drip-feeding it by hand). I did nobble one fish off the line that was a bit bigger when changing to a cube of meat, but it wasn't as strong as it had been, and the only other fish to fall was a small 8oz crucian to corn. Had I committed a cardinal sin in coming away from a line with feeding fish on it?

I plugged away for a bit, but after a while I started to see odd signs of feeding fish in the margins. Initially I was just getting liners and missed bites, but a change to stopping the loose feed by hand and just feeding a large toss-pot of corn and sitting tight over it worked. The fish weren't any bigger on the whole, about 3lb with an odd slightly larger one, but it was steady.

After nabbing two or three fish off the margins I got it to the stage where I could tip the corn in, lower the bait in after a few seconds and the float would be away! With three hours to go I was on twenty carp, and while none were big, the numbers game was ensuring I was ahead of those I could see. The fish did back away for a bit, but a big pot of bait bought them back, and I managed to get another five carp from the line before it went a bit iffy again.

I big potted in the margin and left it, having a brief drop on the 5m line. I hooked a fish here, but that charged in to the lilly bed and left me with a mangled rig! Dropping back down the edge saw me hook a fish that despite me fishing in the margin away from the lilly's, slowly and VERY powerfully it made it's way right through the bed, totally trashing the second rig in as many drops!

The two lost fish had an adverse affect on the swim, so instead of relying on the toss-potted corn down the edge I started to throw just a few grains in more regularly to make some noise. It seemed to bring a few fish in but with no proper bites, so I spread the small bulk of shot out and baited up with just one large grain of corn. By working the rig rather than waiting I started to plod along again, and with an hour and three quarters to go I was up to thirty carp. With only three nets with me, and a fifteen carp to a net limit there was only one thing to do... release the crucian from the net it was occupying on it's own and carry on!

After the slight disturbance from releasing the crucian I topped up the margin and had a go at 5m. The last spell of the match was steady but a case of rotating the two lines, nicking an odd fish from 5m to rest the margins which was slowing. That said, in with the small average stamp fish for the margin came a dirty great big ghostie of about 12lb!

The fish were much warier down the edge - I was having to keep up the feed, either making noise by hand or with the big pot, as they just didn't respond to the toss-potting. I was starting to miss bites too, and lose an odd fish from the less confident bites. As frustrating as it was, I just plodded on and put it down to the swim having been well plundered. Bulking the shot down and fishing just inside my feed seemed to be better. I'd wait longer for an indication, but hit more of them. I'd only get one though before a switch back to 5m to rest it was in order. I did nobble one bigger fish of about 5lb from 5m, before losing one hooked there that just made the lilly bed. After a bit of a tussle the hook-link parted and with just fifteen minutes to go I chucked it up the bank! I managed one more small carp of about 2lb from the margin as the fish there got wise to even the pole over their heads in the last few minutes. I wasn't too fussed as the damage was done - the last small carp being either number forty, or forty one - I couldn't remember!

I knew I'd finished well ahead of those I could see, and was the second to weigh in, with 50lb odd being the first weigh. I had three weighs (one for each net as they weren't big) and totalled 135lb 9oz, which not only is my new PB match weight (by 9oz, but I did tip back that small crucian!), but it also set a new record for the old lake too, meaning two records in two weeks! Nobody came close to what I had by the end, but it has fished pretty steady all around, with 64lb and 63lb completing the frame weights, and a couple of other 50lb weights too.

All in all a good day, and I felt I worked hard for it, having to change about a fair bit to keep the fish coming, followed by a rush to catch the finals of the football!

Sunday 24th June

I wasn't surprised with the day starting with rain again - it had rained most of the night! In fact, it seems like it's done very little else lately.

The rain did stop briefly before the draw so I could have a bit of a wonder about. I didn't see much in the way of fish moving about, but I still fancied an early draw as I dipped my hand in the bag. Now, I did something I never do in the bag - I always take the first peg my hand touches, but this time I dropped that peg back for some reason and rooted in to the corner of the bag, coming out with peg 11. That'll do! It's normally a busy peg, with a lot of smaller fish and very few if any big fish, but I'd take a busy day.

Peg 11 is the narrowest peg on the lake, and has a large tree stump in front that seems to attract most peoples attention, but I chose to ignore that and fish to a small patch of bare bank just visible towards the very right of the picture. I had a gap of about 2ft in the roots and brambles with about 14in of water in - perfect! The rig was the standard .1gr Nick Gilbert XTM on .17 line to a .15 hook-link and finished with an 18 Fox Series 2. The rig was matched to Preston 15h lakky. My next rig was for at 5m, fished off at quite an angle. Peg 11 is sat on a point, so fishing like this meant the line was well out of the way, but still at a decent distance from the bank. It was a little over 5ft here and the rig was a .4gr NG Decker, with the same terminal gear as the other rig, and the lakky was black Hydro on a pull bung. Last up was a margin rig, in 2ft of water in a small bay to my left. A .2gr XTM was on the typical stepped-up margin gear, but I didn't expect to use it.

On the whistle I fed a whole pot of hemp and corn on the 5m - it was an all or nothing positive approach here! The margin I was only going to feed if I felt I needed it, so I put a dozen hard 6mm pellets in to the toss-pot, baited up with an expander and went across. It took perhaps only a minute or two for my first bite, and I soon had a chunky 4lb common in the net - normally a good stamp of fish for that peg! The first fifty minutes were pretty fast, and in that time I'd put eight carp in the net - three were small, at around a pound, and the others were smaller than the first, but I had near 20lb in the net in less than an hour! A good catch rate that.

The wind started to become a problem, as despite peg 11 being one of the narrowest pegs it also seems to be the windiest, with the wind funnelling through the trees. The bites faded and I was beginning for fear the worst after a fast start - a blinding first hour followed by precious little else, it's happened many a time! The reason for the bites fading was soon revealed when the next bite saw me hook a much bigger fish, and after a bit of a tussle a common of about 8lb was in the net. Bonus!

After that fish the wind really started to give it some, and I had to resort to taking the toss-pot off the pole and feeding via the cupping kit as the wind allowed. I missed a bite or two and really started to struggle at times with the wind, so I topped up the line with a larger helping of pellets and left it alone.

The 5m line gave me a chance for a respite, fishing down the wind meant it was quite comfortable, despite the heavy squally showers that had started! I was getting an odd liner, so that and the wind led me plug away on it perhaps longer than I would have otherwise, and this was rewarded with a fish that gave me a right ol' tussle! Because I was sitting on a point I spent a fair amount of time playing it with the fish behind me, with it enjoying the sanctuary of the fishery boat moored out of the way. Eventually I got it back to the top-kit, and a bit of persuasion with the pull-bung led to me panning a fish that only just went in to the landing net! A lean fish, probably about 11lb but with the capacity to be much bigger when it's fed up again. I gave the line half a cup again before dropping over it on single corn again. After a five minute wait the float was away again and another good fish was on. Again, after a good tussle a common of about 9lb was panned. That was three fish for around 28lb - not bad off what is normally the nursery peg!

My thoughts of a proper munter-hunting day were then dashed by the wind, which picked up to such force at times that it was a job to control anything on the 5m line, and had I not started so well I may have contemplated packing up. In the next hour and forty to two hours I added just one pasty from the far line on pellet, while watching peg 5 catching quite steadily from across in their flat calm swim! In the odd times I could get across I'd get indications from fish, but the presentation wasn't good enough, despite a heavier rig going on.

With two hours left I decided to feed the edge line as it looked like peg 5 was in danger of overtaking me, so I gave it a whole pot. The wind started to turn a bit, meaning I could get better presentation across. I'd get bites here on pellet but miss them. A change to worm saw me hook a fish which did a great impression of a monkey and somehow managed to put my rig up the far-bank, so dropped in at 5m again while I left it to settle. I got a few nudges here so stuck double corn on just to see, which resulted in a bite which saw me attached to another beastie! After a good fight a common that looked the twin of the first brute was panned, but no more bites followed. I had a brief try in the edge, but with no joy so I gave it another pot in hope and went back across.

I still got knocks that I couldn't hit, so rather than using the tippex marked depth I decided to re-plumb, finding that the marked depth was out by about 7-8mm. I re-set the float to dead depth, went across and was away again! Only small fish, but I was putting weight in the net. I had three carp for about 4lb before the swim went quiet again, and in a repeat of the first hour the reason was that a lump had muscled in! A mirror of about 8lb came in surprisingly easy until it was mugged, and then it decided to beat the life out of me in the landing net!

After that bigger fish I topped the swim up with the cup, but the bites seemed to go a bit iffy again. I did hook another fish, but lost it as it charged unstoppably along the island, breaking the rig as it ran through the cover and depriving me of one of my much loved XTM's! It may had been foulhooked, but I'll never know!

With an hour to go the bites were still a bit iffy so I decided to wrestle with the wind and put the toss-pot back on to feed less but more regular again. I also slipped an odd cube of meat in the pot with the pellet, to offer me a change bait from the 6mm expander.

The change of feeding worked, and I started to plod along again. The fish were worth waiting for, but not in the same beastie class as before, averaging 4lb or so. With twenty minutes to go I was on eighteen proper carp, plus my pasties, when the swim faded again. I topped-up with the cup and had a brief try in the edge and at 5m with no joy. Going back over on meat gave me a missed bite, so I switched back to pellet. This change worked and I hooked another big fish, which unlike the others made a dash for the big stump and all the roots! After a bit of heaving and tugging it came out and a common of nudging double figures was in the net.

After the commotion in the swim it was understandably a bit iffy again, and it wasn't until very near the end when I had my next bite, and I netted the pastie of about a pound right on the whistle.

When it came to weigh in peg 5 was top with a low 50lb weight, I'd guessed I'd have a big 80 to low 90 weight, but when my five biggest fish went on the scales at 47lb I began to think I may just make the ton! The other fourteen carp totalled 49lb and with 10lb of pasties I totalled 106lb 12oz, beating the lake match record which I set at just over 104lb in September of 2010. I was understandably pleased with the day, but I can't help wondering what would have been had the wind not slowed me down so much in that middle spell....

Sunday 17th June

Well, it's been pretty hard to escape the weather lately, or to be more precise, the wind! It's definitely been more a case of "flaming weather" than flaming June....

Walking round the old lake there were a few pegs out of the wind, and I particularly fancied pegs 62, 59, 57 and 53, as they were at the windward end of the lake but unaffected by the wind. It turned out due to the smaller turn out (with the river matches now started) that 57 wouldn't be needed, meaning I really fancied 59 and 53 with all the extra space they had. I didn't get them though! I had 64, on the arm of the lake and probably the worst affected by the wind. Don't be fooled by the picture, I took it after the match when the wind had dropped as I wasn't quite ready in time!

Three rigs up was the order of the day. The first was for the far bank, with a .2gr Nick Gilbert Ghandi for the 16in of water tight across at 13.5m. I knew the wind was going to be a pain (hence the size of float), but I hoped to nick an early fish or two here, as the swim is always a slow starter. Rest of the gear was the standard .17 to .15 and a size 18 Fox Series 2, with the lakky Preston 15h. Next was a rig for 5m, with a .4gr Nick Gilbert Decker just being enough to hold in the 5ft of water. Line and hooks were the same as the far bank rig, but the lakky was black Hydro on a pull bung. Last up was the margin rig. Peg 64 has a tree at about 4m to the left which seems to draw everyone to it, but not me! I find it's too deep and littered with debris. To my right, at a distance of the top-kit and short no4 is a small iris. A bit of trimming allowed me to see the float through it, with a much better depth of about 2.5ft here. It was facing in to the wind, but the actual swim to me is much better that side. Typical margin rig here - a .2gr Nick Gilbert XTM on .19 line to a .17 bottom and a size 16 Fox Series 2 on the end. Lakky was Preston 17h.

On the whistle I fed both the margin and the 5m line with half a pot of hemp and corn - no meat due to the tow! I then fed a few pellets across with the cupping kit too. Normally I'd just use a toss-pot or similar, but given the wind it was bad enough without adding a wind-catcher to the end!

It took a while to start getting indications, and it was a job at times to have any sense of good presentation, but at times the wind settled (or turned a touch) enough to allow me to hold the float nicely. I also took advantage of those spells to ping a few pellets across with the catty. It was just on the hour mark when I had my first proper bite, with a common of about 2lb falling to an 8mm hard pellet. I hooked a fish very quickly on the next drop but that came adrift after a few seconds, although it felt as though it may have been foul hooked.

Typically, the indications faded so I took the time to re-feed the margin line with the cup (I was lose feeding corn by hand at 5m). I had another half an hour struggling with the wind across but had just one missed bite to show for it. I was going to have a drop at 5m but a swirl in the margin caught my eye, so I had a drop in there on double corn. It took a few minutes, just as I was going to leave the line when I had a bite which saw the lakky following the float! A short while later a 4lb common was in the net. I had one missed bite a few minutes later, but decided not to push the line too early so give it a small amount of corn by hand and left it alone.

I spent the next hour chopping between the lines without any joy. I could see a few fish getting caught in the open water, and peg 68 in particular was steadily putting fish in the net. I wasn't too worried about it, despite being a fair way behind - it's a late goer is peg 64!

It wasn't until two and a half hours in before I managed to muster my next fish - a common of about 3lb from the 5m line on corn. I was starting to get a few bubbles and the odd liner here, so I started to concentrate my efforts here rather than across. I also started to feed the margin by hand with a reasonable pinch of corn every 20-30 minutes, in preparation for a late charge!

The next spell was a steady plod, and with seventy minutes to go I'd had eight carp, I'd nicked one more from the edge but the others were taken from the 5m. One slightly better fish had fell to a cube of meat, but the rest were 3lb fish taken on corn. I had to deepen the rig a touch and just nail the bait to the bottom and wait. If I lifted and dropped I didn't get bites, which I find odd for that line given the regular feed. The wind had eased too, making presentation better.

With just a little more than the last hour left fish were clearly feeding well down the edge, and lowering double corn in I was soon away! It was a bigger fish too, at about 6lb. I'd like to give you a blow by blow account of the last spell but I can't - I was too busy enjoying myself! I found that I was missing more bites than I liked by fishing double corn, so one big grain of corn was going on the hook.

With one hour to go I had nine carp, I finished on nineteen! I lost number twenty about a minute before the whistle, through no fault of my own I may add, it just came off! It was the only fish I lost down the edge in a frantic last hour, and the fish were of a bigger stamp too, with just one 3lb'er managing to get it's nose in ahead of the others that tended to be in the 5-6lb bracket, with one nudging 8lb. It was a case of hook a fish, then feed as it left the swim. If I didn't get a bite within a minute or two of dropping back in a big handful of bait going in would ensure they came back! Unlike the 5m line, working the bait here was the way to go, with a few fish taking the bait as I lowered it in, giving me lakky yanking bites! Lovely job!

I could hear the claims that someone on the other arm of the island had twenty-three carp, which led the peg to my left to tip his eight carp back. That turned out to be a slightly foolish thing to do, as it turned out they were trying to wind others up! I didn't know until the scales reached me with a shade under 30lb winning! That weight turned out to be enough for third, but they'd almost certainly tipped more than that back as they'd had one fish of about 12lb. Ooops! Still, it was of no concern to me! My fish tipped the scales to 78lb something, with only peg 68 to worry about now. They'd caught, but smaller fish fish and totalled 52lb odd for second. Some of the others ran that 29lb weight close, but nobody threatened the top two weights.

The best part for me was getting the win off that peg, as I had it a few times in the past and framed of it, yet never won! Staying confident that it would produce late paid off with a blistering last hour which left me wondering what might have been had I tried to push it a bit earlier. Still, mustn't grumble!