Whinwhistle Summer Series- Round 2- 24/5/09

Sunday saw the second round of the summer series at Whinwhistle and after winning the first round I was looking forward to it- especially as it was on what is generally the best lake- Keepers. After a night out in Southampton on Saturday I eventually got to bed at around 5am so wasn't in the best shape when the alarm went off around 2 hours later. After loading up the car I arrived at the fishery just before 8 o'clock and hoped a breakfast would sort me out. With bloodshot eyes and a bad case of the shakes I wasn't exactly as prepared as I should have been! After buying four bottles of water it was time for the draw and I came out with peg 23. I was planning on almost solely targetting the silvers and it was not a great peg for what I wanted to do. Unfortunately I left my camera at home so there's no pic but the peg has an island at around 13m and would be regarded more as one of the 'carp pegs'. The only trouble with that is the carp have not been playing ball lately and in a league match it would be very risky to put all your eggs in one basket. I decided that I would spend the first 15 minute's fishing to the island in search of carp and would then get my head down and fish for roach. I thought 15lb would be worth decent points and hopefully top 3 in the 15 peg section.
I set up one rig for fishing to the island- a 4x10 Scone Jubleez on 0.18 to a size 3 Tubertini 175 and orange wilkie hollow. I then set up 3 rigs for the silvers at 4m. The first was for the deck- a 4x12 KC Porth on 0.12- 20 Gama Maggot. Although I had a good 5 and 1/2 foot of water I opted for a lightish float as there wasn't a breath of wind and I was looking to catch through the layers with a strung out shotting pattern. The other two rigs were for fishing shallow and were a 4x10 Chianti on 0.12- 18 Drennan eyed barbless. This rig was set at a foot deep. I also set up a drennan carp 4 on the same line and hook but set at 6 inches. All 3 rigs were matched to double 5 slip. For bait I had two pints of casters, a few pellets and a tin of corn.
The sun was absolutely blazing down and it was flat calm- far from ideal fishing conditions. The all in was called and I flicked a few casters at 4m and shipped out to the island with a cad pot of pellet. The first 15 minute's were unventful and apart from Andy Shanks on flyer peg 27 catching a foulhooked carp to the island there wasnt much happening. I dropped in with a single caster and soon had a few roach. I was feeding two or three casters every five seconds as I knew to do a weight I would have to catch shallow. A few fish on the foot deep rig including one or two 6oz samples had me thinking I would do OK but they weren't really coming fast enough. I lost a decent 8oz roach at the net which was frustrating but sometimes happens. After 1 hour I had 26 fish in the net. The next hour was a lot slower although I had a couple of 8-10 oz roach I found myself fishing on the deck and waiting for bite's. After two hours I had 35 in the net. It was clear how hard it was fishing as I could hear a lot of moaning as most people were staring at motionless floats. I knew I just had to keep putting whatever I could in the net as every ounce would be important on a day like this (I didn't realise just how important at the time). Over the next few hours I put a few more fish in the net,although I found myself fishing shallow caster at 13m to the island which was slow but it was the only place I could buy a bite. With an hour to go I had 51 fish in the net for around 7-8lb which was OK compared to most others. In the next 30 minute's I failed to put any fish in the net as the whole place had dried up and I didnt see anyone catch in this time. I heard that one or two people had caught a carp so with nothing happening on the silvers I put a small pot of pellet out at 13m and went straight over the top. After 5 minute's I lifted the rig and a few inches of elastic came out of the pole as I lifted into a snag. The 'snag' then tore off to my left as it was clearly a foul-hooked carp. After a few seconds the rig pinged back which was frustrating but expected when you foul hook a fish off the deck. The remainder of the match saw no signs and most people were relieved when the all-out was called at 3pm. A call of 'fish-on' went out and I looked up to the top end of the lake to see Phil James on peg 8 slip the net under a decent fish.
After packing up most of my gear the scales made their way around and Andy Shanks was winning with 7lb 13oz when the scales got to me. My net of silvers then went 7lb 15oz- talk about close! This proved to be top weight on my bank but Phil on peg 8 had two carp for 8lb dead- beating me by a single ounce! This was then beaten by Mike Smith on Peg 6 with two carp for 9lb- leaving me in 3rd place on the day. I would have taken that at the start but it was annoying knowing that I lost one or two roach that would have easily given me 2nd place and first place was only a pound ahead.
After taking the gear back to the car I picked up £30 and headed home. After two rounds I am still top of the league on 4 points, although Mike Smith also has 4 but with slightly less weight.
I'm off on holiday next week so wont be fishing for a while, although I'm secretly hoping I can squeeze in an evening match tomorrow night.