Hordle Lakes, Hampshire

Hordle Lakes was somewhere I discovered whilst on holiday in the New Forest last year and had 2 really good days so when we decided to go back to the same caravan site this year, I was always going to go back. I chose quite a windy day to go and considering we had glorious weather for our 11 night stay, I chose the coldest and windiest day to go. Having wanted to fish Bob's Lake as I couldn't last year due to the Mrs not finding "a nice enough peg to sit at" I was put off by the number of carpers on the lake including one ignorant (insert insult here!) who had a bivvy on one peg and a rod on the peg to his left, in front of him and his right taking up the pegs and probably 5 pegs in terms of where his lines were!!! I decided on Long Lake as I had a good day there last year.

I picked a peg with an island at 13m to both the front on the right (2 different islands) and decided on a meat and pellet approach. I began by potting in a large cup of pellets on each line and began with a small cube of meat. It wasn't long before the float buried...and a 6oz roach was on the end, followed by another, then another - a change was needed. I changed hooklinks and fished a banded 8mm hard pellet and was immediately into a carp. So as not to waste the meat, I used this as feed as I alternated swims on pellet taking around 60lb between 8am and 1pm before packing up and heading back to the site. An eventless day really and also quite a cold one with only a T-Shirt on hence the early dart. The worst thing about it though was the quality of the fish. Everyone of them could have been straight out of a horror film. If it wasn't the twisted, deformed lipless mouths it was open wounds on the sides of the fish from birdlife or stunted tails. Not good quality and I think I'll give Orchard Lakes down the road a try next year.

Hayfield Lakes, Doncaster - Bob Nudd Masterclass - 18/04/2011

This was a day I had been waiting for since Christmas Day!!! The BEST present I have ever received - a days masterclass with Bob Nudd!!! As I am a little clumsy and the frailty of my pole, I decided to have the weekend off fishing as the last thing I wanted was to snap a section a day before a pole fishing masterclass. The day was arranged in February and was to be a general days pole fishing with me, my Granddad and Bob. I awoke to scorching conditions and had a trouble free drive to Hayfield and was greeted with a gorgeous water and somewhere I would love to visit again. Bob arrived 10 minutes after us and we were told that a whole bank had been reserved for us (felt like Royalty!!!) and it looked like the spot I would have chosen given the choice anyway. I rang up the day before to find out what I would be fishing for so I could balance my kit accordingly and decided I would try Hydro for the first time. I kitted 2 top 3's with Black hydro and setup rigs to 0.16 mainline and tied a load of Tubertini 808 size 16 and 14 hooks ready for a day of pellet bashing.

Bob provided all the bait (courtesy of VDE naturally) and it was decided we would start on the deck at 9m before looking at a long line shallow as the day heated up. Hayfield is a deep venue sloping down to around 10' and 9m and 12' at 14m where it was still sloping as I ran out of pole. I began by cupping in 2 large pots of 4mm and 6mm VDE hard feed pellets before going out with an 8mm Jellet on the hook. I waited 20 minutes for my first bite and in the meantime my Granddad had caught a roach in the margins on pellet. This bite proved to be the second largest fish of the day as a ghostie not far off double figures graced my net after a good 10 minute scrap. As I had never used Hydro before, I was over cautious playing the fish (plus didn't want to lose it and look an ar$e in front of Bob).

I waited 10 minutes without a bite before potting in another full pot of pellets and decided to try an expander on the hook. This led to 2 small skimmers so I reverted back to the Jellets. Meanwhile, Granddad was bagging up on the next peg with a diverse range of fish including roach, perch, skimmers, crucian and a lovely chub over 2lb!

Whilst I was fishing Bob sat at the back of me constantly firing in 4mm pellets over my swim and having a great chin wag about everything. What a top bloke!!! Nothing was too much trouble. He was frank and open and answered the list of questions I had which obviously will turn me into a matchman to be reckoned with (until the alarm clock goes off!!). Nothing was off topic and he went through a few things with his own kit showing me different ways to tweak my setup.

It wasn't long before I was into another fish a smaller carp of around 4lb - as the first the condition was superb. The fish looked like they had never been caught. The swim then went really quiet so we changed the depth and came 6" off bottom - this produced another fish. Then nothing. More feed went in before a large 12lb mirror took the bait. 

We then came up to around 6' to get bites before giving the long line a go. Never have I had to work a swim so much and I wouldn't have done so without Bob telling me too!! 

Every fish we caught almost was at a different depth and to keep bites coming we were constantly changing and varying from 6' to 12' as the fished moved up and down in the water. The first attempt shallow with a poly ball rig produced a lovely common around 6lb but again after this it went quiet and even on the long line shallow it was a case of varying the depth between 18" and 4' to keep the bites coming.

 We fished until 4pm at which point I had around 100lb in total (had to start putting fish back after 1:30 as the keepnet was quite full) and around 60lb in the net. 

My Granddad ended up with one of the best days fishing of his life. Never have I seen the worlds best exponent of how to miss bites catch so many fish - a very happy man indeed including a large mirror later on in the day. 

  

Great day with 2 top fishing companions - and if the Mrs reads this...same again next year please!!!

 

 

 

Raygill Fishery, Lothersdale - MD War of the Roses Practice - 10/04/2011

 

Sunday 10th April was a scorching day and I spent it at Raygill Fishery in Lothersdale, North Yorkshire with a bunch of Maggotdrowners as we got in a practice for the War of the Roses on 15th May. This year would be my first fishing the match and we were looking to retain our title on Yorkshire soil. As soon as we arrived on site we were rumbled by the Cleggy (Yorkshire team captain) clan who were also having a practice - no sneaky practice then!!!

A scorching day with flat calm conditions didn't bode well for a day of bagging up with numerous submarines cruising just under the surface not the least bit interested in feeding. We all decided to fish different parts of the lake to cover off all eventualities and try a variety of methods to see which worked well. Me and my travel partner Big Dipper fished the bottom end of the lake on the house side where we had depths of around 6' from 6m out to 13m before it shallowed up.

Due to the narrow width of the lake at this end, we decided to fish pole and I chose 2 swims initially. A long swim at 13m which would be my pellet line, and a closer in line at 8m to try maggot/caster. I began by dumping in a medium sized pot of 4mm pellet long and a few maggots short and went straight in on the pellet line. I spent over an hour on pellet trying different things but couldn't get a bite so switched to the maggot line. I caught steady here all day (and closer in) on maggot and got roach to 6oz with the average around 4oz. Walking round the lake showed the rest of the boys were doing similar with the occasional better fish coming out.

I finished with probably 5lb of silvers over 5 hours which while not a world beating catch showed that once it came to the big day (where carp only count as 1lb) if we all got 5lb of roach we may be onto a winner...watch this space!

Wrightington Fisheries - Charity Match - NW MD Winter League Round 8 - 13/03/2011

After missing last weeks match at Martin Hall (where if you haven't heard - Breamcatcher came last!!) due to a life threatening dose of man flu, I was really looking forward to this weeks match. It was decided that this would be a charity match in aid of Wigan and Leigh Hospice, a very worthwhile cause for a great institution in Wigan looking after those with little time left here and what a great job they do to! Hopefully I will never require their services personally! So a great day was in prospect as we began at 7:15 at the White Lion on Mossy Lea rod for a cracking Fry Up - breakfast of champions. One nice thing was I believe all that committed to fishing turned up meaning no charity money was wasted covering for no shows. The match was at Wrightington Fisheries, a place I've never been today but is a lovely water - especially on a sunny winters day! The day was to end with a raffle and auction for plenty of fishing gear supplied by local shops and businesses! Great to see everyone chipping in during these strained times financially! Also before I carry on, a HUGE thanks to Dave for organising a great day.

I was always destined to leave the match an hour before the end to attend the Wigan v Hull game (Breamy told me not to bother as it would be a walkover...how wrong???). Anyway, the draw was made just after 8 and we were spread over 2 lakes. On one lake would be us MD'ers fishing for points and on the Horseshoe would be a few not in the lead and a delegation from Platt Bridge Tackle and Bait (68 Warrington Rd, Platt Bridge, Wigan WN2 5JA 01942 864777) who along with their 'leader' Gary Smith raised a huge amount toward a total - a HUGE thanks to them too! I drew peg 13 (I think anyway - I'm writing this a week later and my memory is a blur). I knew nothing of the peg other than I had the longest possible walk to get there - and when I got there discovered I had Breamcatchnowt (Wokkie christened that one and I like it!) was my partner.

My peg didn't look too bad. I had an island at around 30 yards, a pallet to my right to fish up to and plenty of open water in between. Early signs were good as while tackling up Breamy had a nice little carp stuck on top of his keepnet - thought he'd resorted to trawling early! Also I landed my plummet directly on a fish on my first put in - but first impressions can be misleading. I decided on a small pellet method feeder (cheers to the Big Dipper for the loan - mine were at home DOH!)  to the island in front. I then decided on 3 lines, 13m straight in front was a level bottom at just over 6' deep so I decided on a 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock swim fishing pellet and caster. Float was a 4x14 pencil float to 0.14 line to a 0.12 hooklength and B711 size 19 hook. At 7m I had 5' so decided on the same rig but a 4x12 float. I also had a swim 9m to my right in front of the next pallet at 3' deep with a small 4x10 margin float to 0.14 straight through.

I began by potting in 2 small pots of micro one the long line, a pot of maggot/caster on the short line and a cup of 6mm soaked expanders to the pallet next door. I then decided on 30 minutes on the long line on 4mm and 6mm pellet. Immediately to my left, Matty fishing long pole to the island had a small card first put in and a couple down the right hand side were bringing carp in on the bomb rod. After 30 minutes, I hadn't had a bite and all around me was looking slow. Those that were catching were close to the island so I decided to have a go on the method feeder with pellet hookbait. I stuck this out for an hour but only managed one liner. So I decided on going back on the pole and tried the short line on caster - nothing. Back out on the long pole fishing 4mm expander and feeding small amounts of micros wasn't working when I witnessed the strangest site in fishing I have ever witnessed. Bernard to my right struck into a fish that didn't move then took off in front and then went right. I then watched Martin next to him strike into a fish before one of them joked "we've got the same fish"...which they had!! I think Bernard had it through the dorsal but not sure where Martin hooked it. If it was through the mouth that is one dumb bream! Turned out to be a nice fish over 2lb I would have said.

In an attempt to get 10 points rather than 12 I put on a single red maggot and decided to go over the short line for some small roach. Which came but man were they small!! Breamy was also struggling and only managed to get 1 roach in the net of a similar stamp to mine. Around the lake there were pockets of pegs catching but on the whole it was slow all round. I packed up at 1:45 and left my net in for Breamy to weigh in for me. I finished with I believe 7 fish for 4oz! Not good and I have now dropped 25 points in 2 matches which after being in the top 5 is a little gutting! But you never know what lies ahead!!

I missed out on the auction but believe it was a great success with the overall total for the day over £1100!!! A great result for 40 blokes on a Sunday!! Congrats to all involved - a great day out! Off to Horns Dam next week a lovely 4 acre lake I have fished a few years ago and am looking forward to it! Lets hope this sunny weather stays in for then!!!

Hall Lane Fishery, Rufford, Lake 1 - 20/02/2011

No picture this week as although I believe this water has been open for almost 3 years, neither Google Maps or Bing Maps currently have the venue on their maps, just fields. But it's down Hall Lane between Parbold and Rufford on the left hand side (coming from Parbold) and consists of 3 (it may even be 4) match lakes all in the new commercial style of islands at 14m or just a canal length.

Well after last week's debacle, this week couldn't be any worse surely, an so it proved not to be and for me was definitely a match of 2 halves, or more realistically two thirds and a third!

I arrived at Hall Lane to be greeted by relatively calm conditions, with a slight tow (it was at this point) toward the car park, and the site of a Barn Owl flying low across the complex. Owing to last weeks broken pole, Wokkie brought his spare Exage AX as surely my BX tops would fit it...not a chance. The BX number 3 section is about the same diameter as the AX number 2 section - luckily Ray had been feeling generous the day before and elasticated some tops for me (cheers for that) which would prove crucial later on...or maybe not! Anyway,  The draw was made and I drew out peg 2 - at that point not having a clue which peg this was. I carted my gear off and was really pleased to have drawn a peg right between the islands with a bit of open water to fish to. A bomb rod was definitely going to be an option today. As I began to setup, the anglers opposite arrived and I discovered I would be fishing opposite Laurel and Hardy (Wokkie and Breamy) so a quiet, peaceful match was never on the cards :-)

The peg I had gave me the point of the island at 14.5m to the front left and open water dead centre with rushes to the right between the islands. I decided to plumb up 3 pole swims, swim 1 would be to the point of the island in 3' of water to a 4x10 homemade float, 0.14 mainline and a 0.12 hooklink with size 19 B711. Swim 2 would be 14.5m out into open water between the islands at 6' deep with a 4x10 homemade pencil float to the same line and hook. This rig would also suffice for swim 3 which would be between 9 and 11m dead centre down the track. I would also set up a 1/4oz running lead to fish between the islands to the rushes. By this point I had got all my bait out my bag to a little oversight, I thought I had maggots left from last week so didn't buy any...then remembered I threw them in as there was only a few left - major faux pas it turned out to be!

The all in sounded at 9:16, it would have been 9:15 had Dave not tried to signal the all in by blowing into a matchman hook tyer instead of his whistle - surprisingly there was no noise so back into the box to find the whistle! By now the wind had picked up, especially on the side opposite me however it was still bloody freezing! I potted in a small cup of corn and wetted micros to the island, and a small cup of wetted micro and caster to swims 2 and 3 with 1 or 2 grains of corn on and decided to sit out the first 30 minutes on the bomb. Now I must confess, having not done much fishing at all over the past 3 years (until October last 2010) and then mainly fishing pole it has been around 4 years since I really attempted some accurate casting (give or take the brief stints I have done over the past few weeks). So it took me a fair few casts to get where I wanted, but after 30 minutes I hadn't had even a liner. I could hear from across the way that Dave Matty was into them from the start on the same peg Norman bagged up last time...not a good sign, especially as more than one person had claimed I had drawn the winning peg.

After 30 minutes I went to swim 1 with a 4mm expander pellet and waited...i lifted and dropped and waited...then waited some more but not a touch! By now Dave across had started to catch one or two, and I believe Wokkie had something in the net (hard to know really as he seemed to be claiming only 4 fish in the net from about ten past 9 to ten past 2!). So I decided to switch to swim 2 (dead opposite where Dave was catching steadily - funny how this started to happen about 15 minutes after he 'borrowed' some pinkies off Wokkie, not that I'm suggesting anything...) and started on caster - nothing. I stuck it out on caster for around an hour, trying to tempt the fish with little helpings here and there. Changing shotting, raising the rig, going overdepth, lifting and dropping but I couldn't buy a bite and was now getting concerned. Further down I could see Matt and Martin had both had a carp and I knew something had to change but here was my mistake. I went to swim 3 when in hindsight, I should have gone straight on the bomb rod and searched around as there was clearly nothing in front of me. To my left, neither Chippy Dave nor Arky had had a touch and Don to my right had a couple of small roach in the net. It was now approaching 12:30 and Arky got a carp followed by Chippy Dave at around 1. Shit. I was blanking and it appeared everyone else had a fish when Tel came down to say him, Noah and Stewart were also biteless so maybe I wasn't doing THAT bad (but I was!).

At 1:30 after far too long wasted on the pole I decided to spend the remainder of the match on the bomb rod. After a fair few casts to get exactly where I wanted I put the rod on the rest and relaxed when the tip moved slightly. Was it a liner?? It moved again and I thought it wa sseeing things as it rattled round and I was into a fish. As I netted it, I could see it was a better stamp than any others I had seen come out around 4lb, and whilst I knew Dave had at least 15lb or so, had images of a mighty shoal of carp just waiting to be plucked out one by one over the next  hour and a half. Next cast in at 1:45 and I got too lcose to the reeds, I pulled on the rod and the line was singing when it finally came free of the reeds...followed by that jerking thud thud motion. How had I got a fish on?? And in true Wokkie style, I hadn't hooked it through its mouth! Must have lnaded right on top of it and had it through the dorsal but hey, they all count and at around a pound and half it boosted my weight. My spirits had lifted now (as noted by Chippy Dave) and I was hopeful of more but it wasn't to be. Save for a liner just on the all out. The last hour was the strangest I have known, as by 1:45, almost all my bank had packed up or were in the process of packing up, and across the way people seemed to be packing up early but I had kept going just in case.

At the weigh in, I was hopefull of a top 5 finish to help my points, but my 5lb 13oz got me 6th, as Ray finished 5th, with Mick C in 4th with Mark the Chub (way to go Partner!!!) in 3rd, Dave Matty 2nd with 8lb 15oz and a brilliant 26lb 8oz first for Breamy!

Off to Croft in Adlington next week, a totally new venue for me and I have no idea what to expect - other than to take maggots!

Bannister House Farm, Old Match Lake - 13/02/2011

So after an unhappy match last week, I wished away all of last week waiting to put things right this week. The weather said rain, but no hurricane force winds, the results from the match lake in the AT have been OK, so I was hoping the old match lake would be similar and also Wales won on Saturday (however Wigan did throw away a 16 point lead in 15 minutes against the scouse shite!!!) so all in all life was rosy. What a match it would be, I couldn't wait, nothing could go wrong and surely I was about to set a new match record for the lake...or so everything went in my head. In reality, I woke up to hurricane strength winds, driving rain (in Wigan anyway) and after 3 hours shut eye due to watching said Wigan game after a night out things hadn't started as planned!

I arrived at the complex with around 2minutes to spare to draw time and had a look at the lake. We had 18 pegs and I would have taken any from 1 - 13 with the win at my back. The other 5 I really wanted to avoid, as it would either be a strong left to right wind (14 - 16) or a gale straight in my face  (17 - 18) and a surface ripple akin to the Bay of Biscay in the depths of winter! After a draw I didn't want at all last week, surely the gods would be looking down on me this. I put my hand in the bag and it turned out they were looking down on me...doing evil laughs and a little dance as I drew peg 15! A force 10 left to right wind and only 13m of water to fish at to the island which would make presentation a bit of a challenge.

I got to my peg (20 feet from my car), setup my station and decided on my game plan. I would choose a swim near the island on the far shelf, a swim at around 8m at the bottom of the far shelf, I would feed short under the trees to my left and right if the weather got too bad, and would also setup a small bomb rod where I could try to the head of the island however casting would be difficult due to the trees. I plumbed my chosen swims and found around 3' on the far shelf at 13m(swim 1) which I would fish with a 4x12 margin float to 0.16 main, an 0.12 hooklink and a size 19 B711. I found just shy of 6' where the shelf dropped off at 8m (swim 2) and this was flat all the way in to around 6' from the bank. For this I chose a 4x12 pencil float with the same line and hook. I also used the same for swim 3 as swim 1 as there was only around 4" difference in depth. My plan was to feed a small cup of wetted micros, corn and caster into swim 2 at the all in, then spend 30 minutes dobbing around swim 1 with corn and pellet and also trying a small pellet cone to the head of the island trying to mug an early fish whilst swim 2 settled down. I also decided to target small silvers close in and so decided to loose feed pinkie and maggot throughout the match just throwing in a few now and then and only try it after a few hours.

The all in sounded and I began executing my plan. After 30 minutes, I had had no indications on the long pole in swim 1 or on the bomb rod so baited up with a small 4mm micro and shipped out to swim 2. One thing I had noticed with swim 1 was that the water close to the island was quite calm and sheltered, however the wind was really blowing through the middle of the peg and holding the pole straight was hard enough. Immediately I thought I had a knock, but missed it if it was one so dropped it back in and within 30 seconds the float dipped and I was into a nice skimmer of around 1lb 10oz. I was pleased with this, as I had only seen 2 fish caught at this point, both small carp from pegs  14 and 12 to the rushes. I was buoyed by the early skimmer and decided to cup in around 6 micros before shipping out again. The wind was that strong, I wasn't convinced I would get my pole out using a cad pot and have anything left in so cupped in via my main cupping kit. Baited my hook again and started to ship back out when CRACK!!! Not for the first time since I bought it in August, another pole section cleanly snapped in 2 just above where the insert from the section below finished. It happened on number 5 section and my heart sank! I tried to make it telescopic, but it wouldn't go, so I trimmed it down a little got it through, taped it up but it was just too weak - the wind was bending it like crazy so immediately I thought my chance had gone!

I spent the next hour on the bomb rod and had one liner but no proper takes - accurate casting was an absolute nightmare due to the trees overhanging my peg. I decided to switch to the waggler for an hour but that brought nothing, even when fishing swim 2 where I had thoughts of a hug shoal of skimmers just waiting for my bait (they are my thoughts - they are hurting nobody). I tried close in to no avail and noticed that nobody in my eye line was catching either. Martin had taken a couple of small carp and Dave Matty had taken a small carp from peg 13 whilst the 2 unlucky sods on pegs 17 and 18 were only taking small silvers I was beginning to be thankful for my skimmer! I wandered round the lake to see what was happening and also to pass a bit of time to the all out as I was pretty p****d off to say the least! A few carp had come almost all against the stick ups, and a few had been lost but beyond the reeds it was mainly silvers - oh and a pretty goldfish for Breamy!

I went back to my peg with 90 minutes to go, and decided to stick my top 5 on (I could fish up to half way on my number 5) and fish 3 swims at 10 o'clock, 12 o'clock and 2 o'clock close in and hope to add to my bag. It was slow and I could get nothing on pellet, corn or caster but did manage to add 3 roach and what looked suspiciously like a bitterling - no weight in it but still counts more than Norman's crayfish which would had made a nice snack!

At 2:15 the whistle blew and I knew it was a second consecutive 10 point match for me! And still no sign of a carp in 2011! Stuart took the match with 13lb 12oz from the Dolly Peg, Matt took a good second place with 10lb 14oz in open water (I think he was beyond the stick ups from memory anyway) and 3rd went to Martin with 8lb 5oz. I can't help wondering what could have been, and now have a week to either get Shimano to swap out my section FOC (AGAIN!!) or buy another before Hall Lane next week. Otherwise the Wokkster has very generously offered to loan me his Exage AX should I be struggling! Top man!

Anyway, as me and Breamy have forgotten what a carp looks like - here you go Dave:

Tight Lines.

High Heyes Farm (Cattery) Lake 2 - 06/02/2011

As much as I was looking forward to the Coppull Mill match that was cancelled, I was hoping this match would also follow the same fate! Now granted, maybe if I'd caught a carp I would now be writing what a wonderful place this is...but I didn’t - so I won't be! I have always struggled when fishing High Heyes Lakes 2 and 3 but have had some good days on lake 1 - pity this was on lake 2!

The day started with a 6:45 alarm clock and an extra 15 minutes sleep than usual due to food being available at the lake (more on that later). So flask was made, waterproofs out and I stepped out of the front door and nearly got blown back in. Oh joy, and seeing as High Heyes is about as sheltered as a North Sea oil rig, I knew conditions would be tough. I arrived at the lake 15 minutes before the draw and had a wander round the lake - which in parts didn't look too dissimilar to the North Sea, especially at the far end. A decision was made to only peg the left bank (1-17 as 17 of us fished) as the wind was so strong that sitting into would have spelled all sorts of trouble - especially if the rains came which was a definite possibility. The draw was called and I was second into the bag hoping for anything above peg 5 and below 14 so was delighted when I drew out peg 2 - honest! The narrowest part of the lake, near the car park (the only saving grace) and what I had been informed was very shallow (Bob - never quote me a building job with those estimations after we had almost 6' in front of us!!!).

I arrived at the peg via the quagmire that was the path having had to dig my barrow out twice and knew I should have carried the stuff but my box is just too bleedin' heavy. I assessed the peg and had an island at 14m and a gap to the left of the island between it and another island. Then peg 3 arrived and I noticed it was Breamy - my heart sank as that could only mean one thing - I was in an area where plenty of pairs of eyes would be present as I have noticed pommiecatcher (I mean Breamcatcher, slip of the tongue there) has a knack of catching these!! I decided on setting up a straight lead for between the islands, a swim up to the island (well, 2' off it) and one 6 sections out. My 6m swim would be a 4x12 diamond bodied float with 0.14 mainline to a 0.12 hooklink and a Kamasan B7111 size 19 hook. The island swim would be a 4x12 pencil float to same line and hook. I plumbed up and found close to the island was around 2' deep so moved a little left to where it dropped off to 4' and decided this would be my first approach. I plumbed up the 6m line and found close to 6' which I thought would produce a few fish. After a 15 minute delay (which I welcomed as it took me 5 minutes alone to tie a 3 loop boom on my bomb rod as the wind was blowing the line all over the place) Dave blew his whistle and we were off!

Well if the beginning of a match sets out your stall for entire duration - the signs were not good! I shipped out 14m to the left of the island with a small cup on my cupping kit containing a small ball of groundbait and a few maggots and casters and 2 grains of corn. Slowly tipped it in and watch the cup fall off the end of my kit!!! Araldite failed me on this occasion! I watched it bob along upturned to the far bank before promptly turning over and sinking. So from now on in it would be feeding everything via a medium carp cad pot. Things started slow for me, and I noticed Bernard to my left on peg 1 was also suffering. It was about 45 minutes before I saw a fish as Pommiecatcher hooked his first pair of eyes - but to be honest it lifted my spirits as it proved there were actually fish in this lake. I had started on a single piece of corn to hopefully mug an early carp and after 15 minutes switched to caster. Breamy was into another roach that looked a little bigger so I decided to switch to single maggot. This produced a pair of eyes immediately which I bumped as my VERY softly set doubled 5 latex was way too big for this stuff. So I promptly switched to a single number 6 and began to hit the pommies. It was now 11am, and after having no breakfast and with no sight of the "food lady" who we were promised would be coming round to take breakfast orders, I was beginning to become like a bear with a sore head!!! I had been consistently feeding the 6m line with half a dozen casters every 10 minutes or so in the hope of building a swim. The owner had said that 44lb had come out the day before so I decided on a positive feeding approach on this line as the fish were obviously enjoying a bit of food. 11:15 and I could take no more - I reached for a barm out my bag!!!

By now, the increasing presence of pommies was driving me mad!!! I was catching them one a chuck no matter what bait I tried, maggot, double maggot, caster, double caster so decided to have a go on the 6m line. After around a 10 minute wait the float disappeared and I struck into what I immediately knew was my best fish of the day so far and it proved to be so as a roach of 1oz came swinging in!!! I decided a quick stint on the bomb rod was required to rest my swims and hopefully nick a carp as news was filtering down that a few lads were into the carp further down. The first cast between the islands brought back a leaf, the second a twig and some line, the third another leaf so I decided to stick it out on the pole as I didn't want to sit for half an hour on a bait that was hidden by a leaf. To my right Bernard was into a carp and I was beginning to think I was the only person on the lake without one! Then in the distance, approaching a bit gingerly on the slippery path, like an oasis in the middle of Sahara was the lady I knew would bring me some scran!!! Things were looking up as I ordered a bacon and sausage on toast. To my left Breamy was consistently hitting some decent fish with roach and skimmers coming regularly and I too was enjoying some sport from slightly bigger fish.

The wind was making life difficult though. My pole roller wouldn't stay upright for 2 minutes without blowing over, my slices of bread for punch had already joined my cupping kit and I just knew my pole was going to break at some point -it just had to (but it never did!!!). We were now past the halfway stage and I probably had just over 1lb of bits in the net as the food approached (Bernard was still trying to haul Nessie in). Whilst munching away on my scran I hooked my nicest roach of the day as a fish of around 12oz came to the net - I was feeling a little better about things until Dave shouted that Mick on peg 5 had already banked a double figure carp!!! I just wanted it to end and if it wasn't a league I probably would have done. With 90 minutes to go my only hope now was that my doubles partner was bagging up on carp further down the lake - and even this hope was dashed when he suddenly appeared with all his kit on his way home!! Beltin!!! Cheers for that one - there's no I in TEAM is there :-) oh well - this was just going to have to be written off as bad job. As the all out sounded, things hadn't changed for me word had however filtered down that Ray had foul hooked a 2lb bream with around a minute to go - could have only happened to him!!!! I had fed off the pairs of eyes with over half a pint of casters and was consistently hitting roach of a few ounces but at the weigh in I was lucky enough to finish bottom of all those who weighed - but at least I weighed in and only had 1- points against my name and not 12! Mick finished first with an incredible 41lb dead of carp - a well deserved win in those conditions. Matty was second with 12lb odd and I think 3rd was somewhere around the 9lb mark. I finished with 2lb 9oz of silvers and severe wind burn to the face - we actually cooked a couple of lamb chops on my cheeks when I got home they were that hot! After Wokkie posted the scores, I am now lying 4th after 2 rounds - a position I would have gladly taken before the league began.

[The Winning Net]

Off to Bannister House farm next week. A venue I have only fished once back in December through the ice where the match was abandoned after 3 hours with 2 perch, a gudgeon, 2 penguins and an arctic fox the only things caught! Hopefully we will fare a little better next week.