Whinwhistle Winter Leage- round 5

Sunday saw me travelling to Whinwhistle fishery near Romsey. It is a stunning place,with 4 lakes, and a small stretch of the river blackwater. The owner John Hardeley is a top bloke and it is the venue I fish more than any other these days. I have always done well there,picking up in more matches than not as it suits my style of fishing down to the ground. The first lake you come to is 'the square',which was joined to the 'islands' lake until this autumn when they were separated and most of the big carp were removed and placed in the islands lake. The second lake is the rail,which has 15 pegs and is long and thin,between 11-16m wide. This lake has a decent head of small carp,i won the first round on there with 33lb,but it's been fishing hard lately. The final coarse lake is called 'Keepers',and is the most prolific on the complex. I fished the summer league here this year and came joint third,largely due to the fact that I missed the penultimate round as I was on a lads holiday in Malia,but that's where I met the mrs so cant complain!My worst result in that series was 3rd in a section of 9 so I was quite consistent and learned alot along the way and was raring to go for the winter series.
On arrival at the fishery I was disapointed to see all three lakes frozen,especially as I didn't have an ice-breaker with me! Nonetheless I tried to be optimistic as I needed a good result to stay in contention. In the first four rounds I had a section 1st,2nd,3rd and 4th,so could do with a win to get back on track. The one lake everyone wanted to avoid was the rail,as it had been fishing really hard of late,and as it requires fishing tight to the far bank the ice would make things difficult. I was therefore relieved to draw peg 17 on The Square. This lake is shallow at around 3-4 feet,fairly flat and with no features,the fairest of all the lakes. It was won the week before with 4lb of squatt fish,so my first target was just to catch a fish! I had top-angler Richard Allin to my left,Tony Burge on the end,Derek Pickard opposite (he won the section from the same peg the week before),Oscar Wylde next to him and Bob Mapes on peg 29. Job number 1 was to break the ice,and after breaking the margins with my net pole I managed to blag an ice-breaker and set to work. I eventually had an area out to around 10m clear,so opted to fish just two lines at 10 oclock and 2oclock. I had the same depth on both lines, so set up a 4x10 KC Speed on 0.14 (due to the ice) to an o.10 hooklength and size 20 Gama Black to a 6 latex. Shotting (or should that be stotting)pattern was a bulk of 10's with 3 no:12 droppers. I knew I wouldn't keep up with the squatt anglers so opted for the more positive approach. I also set up a rig with the same hook line and elastic for half depth. I fed a tiny nugget of groundbait with three pinkies at 10oclock,and 20 micro pellets and three dead maggots at 2oclock. I started on the 10oclock line wih a single pinkie,and despite occassionally dropping over the pellet line an hour in I was biteless. I thought this would be the case, but knew I had to stick to my guns and keep my head, despite the others catching the odd small fish. I re-fed both lines with the same as the start and dropped straight over the 10 o'clock line with double squatt at half depth. The float buried immediately and I had a 3oz skimmer and was relieved to avoid the blank. Richard and Tony to my left were still blanking,so it was in important fish. I then dropped over the pellet line at depth with a single dead read maggot and after 2 minutes the float dipped and I had another small skimmer of the same size. Straight back out and the float dipped and I lifted into something more substantial. In the clear water I could see I had a bream of about 3 lb,so I gingerley played it through the ice and was delighted when it hit the net. Moans came out from all around, as no-one had more than ounces at this stage. Straight back over the same line and the float dipped again,and a similar thing happend, with this one being around 2lb. 5lb in 5 minutes, normally enough to win the section on here! Cries of 'get the coffees in' and 'that's that then' rang around the lake. I knew I had secured good points so could now relax a bit! I fed another 10 micro pellets and 3 dead maggots over the line after a biteless fifteen minutes. I continued to take the odd small fish off the 2oclock line,but didnt have a bite over the groundbait swim! Despite Richard on the next peg catching four late skimmers for 6lb to give me a scare, I recorded a section win with a level 7lb. 4lb 4oz was third on the squatt, then there were a few 2lbs and a few ounces. I had also drawn Tony in the knock-out cup,so progressed to the semi-finals- Happy Days!!
Back at the lodge and it emerged the rail had been won with 12oz of plips,with 2oz and 1oz 2nd and 3rd respectively! The other 4 anglers blanked!! Keepers also fished hard which is to be expected when you have to break the ice I suppose! The lake was won with a single carp for around 8lb,with 5lb odd coming second,followed by a few blanks. Anyway, as it was the Christmas match we were all treated to a gorgeous meal of roast pork,apple sauce,roast potatoes,all the veg and gravy,with home-made apple pie and ice-cream for afters! It was superb, I told you John was a top-man and his wife Mandy is a brilliant cook!
So all-in all a mixed weekend,but that's winter fishing I suppose! A good result has put me back in contention,as I am now right up near the top (didnt see the exact results but by my reckoning I'm now in second place) as there were a few blow-outs which was nice!

I won't be fishing until January as family/girlfriend commitments take over until then unfortunately!

For more information on Whinwhistle Coarse Fishery check out www.whinwhistlefishery.co.uk