After a nice days fishing at Broadlands the day before I was looking forward to the second round of the winter league at Whinwhistle. I was less enthusiastic when I was woken up by the sound of rain pounding my roof at 5am! A 3rd in section in the first round wasn't a bad start but I was hoping to improve on that this time around. I must say,if it wasn't a league match I would have stayed at home as the weather was atrocious! The rain was torrential and with high winds a grim day was in prospect. Arriving at the fishery at around 8 I paid my pools and stayed under the cover of the sheltered patio area with everyone else,sheltering from the downpour. I wasn't really fussed where I drew to be honest. The end pegs would obviously be an advantage as always but anywhere on keepers would do me as my light pellet approach scores on all pegs. I wouldn't have fancied a draw on The Square if I'm honest as since the changes it is still a bit of an unknown quantity. I was therefore happy to pull out peg 20 on Keepers,the same peg number as the day before at Broadlands! Could I go one better this time around?
As I was unloading the car Andy Shanks came over and informed me that he had drawn next to me for the second week running on peg 21. After taking a nice shiny pound off him last time I gladly wagered another this time. When I got to the peg the rain was lashing down and the wind was gathering strength. I soon found out that my peg returned 11oz in the first round-great! After setting my box down I started to formulate a plan. The two end pegs in the bottom bay always hold carp and with Phil James on endpeg 25 and Bob Wackrill on 24 I felt sure they would find a few carp and would be the ones to beat. Peg 20 has a good depth in close which would be an advantage with the conditions so I was going to initially target an area at around4-5m,where there was a good 6ft. I set up 4 pole rigs as follows:
4x14 KC Chimp- 0.16-0.12,18 Gama Pellet,bulk of 10's with 1 dropper and double 5 slip
4x14 KC Speed-0.14-0.10,22 Tubertini 808,spread bulk of 10's and double 4 slip
4x16 KC Chimp- 0.16-0.12,18 Gama Pellet,bulk of 10's with 1 dropper matched todouble 5 slip
4x14 KC Speed- 0.14-0.10,20 Gama Black,bulk of 10's and 2 droppers,double 4 slip
The first 3 rigs were for fishing pellet. The first was for standard,the second was if it was tough/3mm pellet. These were both plumbed just touching bottom whereas the 4x16 was set 6 inches over depth in case the conditions detiriorated. The 3 pellet rigs all had a small fruit-shoot pot on the topkit. Finally I set up a straight lead (usual set-up) that I would spend the first 10 minutes on or would sit on if carp were needed.
I plumbed up my first line on a top 2 + 2 straight out. I then plumbed up a second line a further 2 sections out. I always plumb a second line as in my experience you can never keep the first line going all match. Once it goes quiet it's time to move onto the second line. I never feed this second line at the start,waiting until I am just about to fish it. My other line was groundbait and maggot and was on a top 4 at an angle of 2 oclock
For bait I had 1 pint of damp micro pellet,1 pint of wetted crushed pellet,3mm&4mm hookers,a pint of maggot and 1/2 kilo of dark groundbait. Target weight was 10lb for a top 3 finish,but with odd carp likely to be caught I felt that 20-30lb would be needed for the section win.
The all-in was called at 10am and I cupped in 3 balls of groundbait to my right,a golf ball of crushed pellet with a pinch of micro at 4m and cast out a straight lead with double dead maggot towards the lillies on the far bank. 8 minutes without a sign was disapointing but not unexpected so I was soon on the pellet at 5m. Within seconds of the float settling it was gone and a 2oz skimmer was soon swung in. Two more came in the next two drop ins before I dropped in a marble sized ball of crushed pellet through the fruitshoot. 30 seconds later and the float dipped and yards of double 5 slip was streaming from the pole. Two minutes later and a little 2lb stocky carp was in the net- bonus! After this the skimmers were coming thick and fast. Although they were small averaging around 2-3oz they were coming regularly,with all the fish falling to a 4mm pellet at 5m. I was feeding a marble of crushed pellet almost every put in unless bites went iffy when a marble of micros would go in and be fished out. After 90 minutes or so it went a bit iffy so I fed another golfball of bait and dropped in over the groundbait with maggot. 3 quick fish of a similar size were all I could find here before this died. I re-fed with 1 ball of groundbait which was the kiss of death as depsite trying it once or twice more through the day I didn't manage another bite here!
Back on the pellet at 5m and the skimmers had returned. After 2 hours I dropped my 40th skimmer into the net for around 6-7lb and with the carp to go with it I was already not far from my target weight. Around this stage Bob Wack had a real lump of a carp on the tip that must have been around 10lb-great! My 5m line was slowing down a bit and I was reluctant to start the new line just yet as I like to wait until the second half of the match. After 2hrs 15 mins I fed at 7 sections with a golfball of crushed pellet and micro and left it for 5 minutes while I dropped in at 5m. The short line was dying fast as expected and I just hoped I could keep my catch rate ticking over. It took a few minutes to get a bite but I was soon catching a few similar sized skimmers,along with a better fish of around 6-7oz. With around 2 hours to go I hit into a better fish that tore out of the swim-clearly a 'proper' carp. I got Andys attention but the big grin on my face was soon gone as the rig pinged back. However on closer inspection the rig had gone! It had somehow pulled free from the dacron connector. This was the first time it had ever happened to me and I was absolutely devastated as that fish would have been worth mega points. I re-fed a large marble of crushed pellet at 7 sections before getting a new rig out of my box and making sure it was 'just right'. I then went 10 minutes without a bite...it's funny how the rig can seem exactly the same yet for some reason it isn't quite like the one that's been trashed. After a bit of gentle feeding I managed to find a few more skimmers but with an hour to go the line was fading. In the next 30 minutes I only managed a couple more fish and with Bob Wack on one carp and a few bits and Phil James on 1 proper carp and 2 pups I felt it was close between all of us.
I kept an eye on them as at worst I was 3rd in section and if either of them had another carp I would be tempted to sit on the tip for the remainder of the match. Phil was losing a few in the pads....we don't like to see that! I had plumbed and fed a new line at 7 sections at an angle of 2 oclock but despite one quick try I felt it would be best to put anotherpinch of bait in on the original 7 section line and try and eek out a few more skimmers as I thought every ounce could be crucial. With 15 minutes to go I lifted the rig a float length out of the water and as soon as it settled the float buried. The amount of elastic that shot out of the pole made it clear that this was no skimmer.....
With a gallery watching from the hut opposite I hung on for dear life. My arse was twitching like a rabbits nose as this fish would almost certainly be worth the section. After more than 10 minute's and with 5 sections of pole in the air I finally slipped the net under an 8lb common carp,hooked plumb in the middle of the top lip-WOOHOO! 60 seconds later and the all-out was called and the insults started flying in my direction. I've never heard the word 'spawny' used so much in such a short space of time.....
Vic to my left was the first peg in my section and he put 8lb of skimmers on the scales. These were 1lb+ fish all taken on the worm early on...food for thought? My 61 skimmers went 9lb 8oz and the two carp went 10lb 2oz giving me a 19lb 10oz total. Andy then put 6lb something on the scales and duly handed over a quid. I really should start investing these....
There were then a few low weights before Bob Wack put 14lb on the scales and Phil James had 18lb something-more than I thought. That last fish had snared me the section win,what a bonus!
The other Keepers section was won by Roger Clacey and The Square was won by Nathan Fox off end peg 8 with 35lb odd-6 carp on the maggot feeder. So after 2 rounds I'm in the mix with a section 1st & 3rd although there is still a long way to go. Unbelievably I'm not fishing for the next 2 weekends and wont be out again until November 21st. It's my girlfriends 21st this week so I've got half of Ireland staying at mine this weekend and then family stuff the weekend after.
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