Whinwhistle Summer Series- Round 4- 28/6/09

Saturday night saw me out in Southampton for a few drinks....which turned into a few more and a few more after that! Although I stopped drinking at midnight I finally got home at about 4am so wasn't in the best shape when the alarm went off at 7am on Sunday morning! Nonetheless with round four of the summer league at Whinwhistle I made the effort and dragged myself out of bed before loading the car and heading off to the fishery. I was feeling decidedly rough and fishing was the last thing I felt like doing if I'm honest. I sat down for a breakfast and for the first time ever I couldn't finish it as I had a bad case of the shakes! A quick look at the league table confirmed that I was in joint 1st place with Andy Shanks as we were both on 9 points after 3 rounds.

Come 8.30 and we were ready for the draw with today's match on The Islands. Once again peg 8 was the peg everyone was hoping for, with 3 and 15 the other two traditionally good pegs. Into the bag my lucky left hand went and out came....peg 12. Not a peg I would have immediately chosen but one that I fancied when I got there. There is an island running across the entire length of the peg at around 13-14m straight out and this was to be my main point of attack. Next door on peg 11 I had Richard Allin who is a very tidy angler and he had fished peg 11 three times in the last few matches. Andy had drawn peg 15 which used to be a great peg but hadn't been so good lately. After setting down my box and almost falling in (twice!!) I began to assemble a few rigs.

For fishing across to the far bank I set up a 4x10 Scone Gaze (a bespoke pink Jubleez made just for me!) on 0.16 to a size 2 Tubertini 175. This was shotted with a bulk of four no:10's and a no:12 matched to red vespe bi-core elastic. I plumbed all over the peg and it was like a snooker table which made things easier. I plumbed all along the far bank and had 2 & 1/2 feet of water everywhere so earmarked a few swims although I would only feed one at the start. Although I hoped to fish the far bank for most of the match it was a league where points win prizes so set up a few more rigs to cover my options if the carp weren't playing ball. Firstly a pellet line at 8m- 4x10 KC Chimp,0.12-18 Gama Pellet and yellow drennan bungee. I also set up a caster line at 5m slightly to my left- 4x12 KC Chimp 0.12-0.12 and a 20 Gama maggot to double 5 slip. Finally I set up a 4x10 Chianti on 0.10 at 12 inches in case there were a few silvers shallow. For bait I had a tin of 6mm meat,a tin of corn,a pint of caster a bit of worm and some damp micro pellet.


The all-in was called and I cupped in a pinch of micro pellet,around 10 cubes of meat and 3 grains of corn straight across at 14m. I kicked off on a single piece of meat and after a couple of quick bites I soon had an 8oz skimmer in the net. I went back out with a grain of corn which stopped the lightning quick bite's from the silvers. Richard to my right then hooked a carp followed a few seconds later by my float (or one of them anyway,as I could see atleast 3 and they were all blurry!) disapearing and carp number 1 was on. After a few minute's I slipped the net under a scrappy 3lb mirror. I went straight back out with a pinch of micro and two grains of corn in the pot and after 10 minute's or so had carp number two-this time around 2lb. I hooked my 3rd carp about 10 minute's later after repeating the process and I got it right to the rim of the net before the line broke. The fish was a good 4lb which was gutting as every ounce is usually vital at Whinwhistle and I can only put it down to there being a nick in the line-either that or bad angling!! I cupped a pinch of bait on the line and after setting up a new rig went back out with a single piece of corn. After 10 minute's or so I had a bite and another carp was hooked. Again I got it right to the net before the hook pulled out! I was now getting really frustrated especially as Richard had caught two quick carp in this time. I reasoned that the fish wasn't hooked properly so cut out the micro pellet and fed just 10 grains of corn on this line. I also fed half a pot of meat and corn at 14.5m slightly to my right as not only would it give me somewhere else to try but I hoped it would pull a few fish away from Richard who was now catching well. After 15 minute's over my first line without a sign I switched to the right hand line and a quick bite saw another carp hooked. A few minute's later and a 4lb fish was in the net which settled me down a bit after losing the previous two. No more bite's off either line was suprising so I cupped a pinch of bait on both and dropped in at 5m where I had been constantly feeding 10 casters every few minute's since the start. First drop saw a dumpy 3oz roach followed by a couple more. A piece of worm saw a skimmer followed by a 6oz perch before I picked the shallow rig up and took a rudd of some 8oz first drop. A few 1/2oz fish followed which were definitely not what I was after so I decided to go back to the island. I quickly cupped a small ball of micro's at 8m before searching both of the long lines with little joy.

After 3 hours I guessed I had around 10lb in the net with Richard surely having 25lb+, although he had lost a couple of fish. I couldn't actually see him because of the trees but could see his pole with elastic out with alarming regularity! I knew I had to make something happen as the fish were not responding to the softly softly feeding approach. At the start I had plumbed right across my peg at 16m to my left where there was a bit of grass hanging in the water. With nothing to lose I started to ping three cubes of meat across every 15 seconds or so. After 10 minute's I went on this new line with corn on the deck while continuing to ping meat over the top. After 5 minut'es I had a liner followed by the float burying a few minute's later. A lift was met with a dead weight before it slowly moved out of the peg. I immediately thought it was foul-hooked but 15 minutes later I slipped the net under a big lean common that I guessed was 10lb. A quick look at the watch showed there was 80 minutes to go and suddenly I was interested again-my hangover soon evaporated,especially as Richard had stopped catching! All the time I was playing the lump I had been pinging meat across and after rebaiting I immediately took a carp on the drop,this time a smaller fish of around 2lb. I repeated the process and after 2 missed bites I quickly got a shalllow rig out of my box and went over the line. No bite's saw me get another shallow rig out with a longer line and I went out with a corn skin on the hook. After the 3rd lift and drop the float dipped and a lift was followed by elastic exiting the pole. Again this fish was small for the lake at around 3lb but it was most welcome. Richard added another fish and after no bite's shallow I was back on the deck. With an hour to go I started to ping meat over my right hand line if only to draw some of his fish away.


Back on the deck at 16m to my left and after a bit more pinging I had a bite and another carp was on it's way. Frustratingly the hook pulled at the net and it wasn't foul-hooked. I decided to cut right back on the feed and went back out with a single corn skin. After plenty of lifting and dropping the float buried and another carp was on. This one was slightly better at around 4lb which I guessed gave me in the region of 30lb with 30 minute's to go. Richard then added another fish making my task even harder and I had to try and force the peg a little. I started to feed caster heavily to my right towards Richard and it seemed to work as he didn't catch another fish where I added one more from the left hand line at around 2lb. With 5 minute's to go I lifted into my final fish but after a few feet of elastic came out the rig pinged back as the fish was almost certainly foul-hooked-not that I would have complained if I'd got it in....

The all-out was called and I reflected on the match. I was pleased with the fact that I would have good points but was very frustrated at losing fish as I felt sure they would cost me. Richard wandered over for a chat and the usual 'you've got more than me' started between us. He admitted to 20lb (yeah,right!) and I admitted to 31lb (thanks to my clicker). I felt sure he would have closer to 40lb although he did tell me that he lost 5 fish inclusing a lump under his feet. The scales made their way around and peg 8 put 25lb on the scales so that was the real danger peg out of the way. Richard then tipped 37lb 6oz on the scales which I knew would beat me. My fish went 32lb 6oz, some 5lb short and the lost fish had cost me big-time. The only consolation was the fact that Richard had lost fish (as had everybody around the lake for some reason). This was enough for 2nd on the day with 25lb 3rd and Andy Shanks weighing 14lb odd for 4th. he beat the anglers either side by ounces as well as a few others. I could have dome with him dropping more points but it wasn't to be. After heading to the lodge to pick up £40 and a cup of tea it was time to head home for a lie-down! A quick look at the lead table shows that I am now out-in front by 2 clear points on 11 with Andy on 13. The nearest to us after this is on some 23 odd points so it's a two-horse race at the half way stage. There's still a long way to go however and a coupleof bad draws could make everything wide open.