Whinwhistle Summer Series- Round 6

After a nice result at Withy farm the day before I was looking forward to the sixth round of the summer league at Whinwhistle- so much so that I was up half an hour before my alarm was due to go off! I arrived at the venue at around 7.30 (it takes 8 minutes from my house!) and duly sat down to the obligatory breakfast. Going in to this round I was 3 points clear of Andy Shanks at the top,with 3rd place quite a way off around 10 points behind 2nd. Come 8.30 we were ready for the draw and I pulled out peg 16. There are atleast 5 or 6 pegs I would have chosen before peg 16 but there were certainly one or two pegs I really wouldn't have wanted! Andy had drawn peg 10- not good. With it only being about 6m wide in places it is a bit like fishing in a broom cupboard and he would have his work cut out from there. To my right on peg 15 was Phil James and a £1 side-bet was soon struck up. I have only ever fished peg 16 once before and that was an evening match a few weeks ago. I managed to win that by fishing the method feeder to the island in front of peg 15 (it wasn't drawn) with 3 carp and a few skimmers for 15lb odd. With Phil on 15 I obviously couldn't fish the same area so had to alter my approach. The first thing I set up was a method rod for throwing up the side of the near island hoping to snare a carp or two. Despite having a side-bet with Phil he kindly lent me an extension off his Tourney-Pro allowing me to reach the small island at 17.5m. (I've got my own extension on order!) The peg was like a snooker table from under my feet right the way across which meant things were kept simple.

I set up 3 rigs to cover my various lines. Firstly I set up a 4x12 Chianti on 0.14-0.12 and an 18 Gama Pellet matched to double 5 slip. This was for fishing pellet and caster if it was quite tough and was set just touching bottom. My 2nd rig was similar but stepped up slightly- a 4x12 KC Chimp on 0.16-0.14 and a 16 B911 matched to yellow drennan bungee. This was set 2 inches over-depth as the wind was steadily getting worse. My final rig was for in case the carp were showing- a 4x12 KC Chimp on 0.16- size 2 Tubertini 175 matched to red vespe bi-core. I had a swim at 5m slightly to my left for fishing meat. This was a bit of a throway line and I didn't actually have a bite here. My 'main' line was at 16m straight in front and my back-up line was to the island at 17.5m. I plumbed all over the peg and had about 3 foot everywhere. For bait I had a pint of caster,a tin of corn,a tin of 6mm meat,some damp micro's,4mm and 6mm pellets along with some 4.5mm expanders and some mini white boilies for the method.

The all-in was called at 10am and I cupped in some pellet and a few casters at 16m before flicking a few bit's of meat to my left at 5m. I then baited up the method feeder and cast to the front of the far island some 25m away. After a couple of minute's Phil was into a carp fishing at long range up the side of the other island and although he lost the fish he was into another on the next cast. Meanwhile after 5 casts in twenty minute's all I had to show was a small 'rattle'- probably from silver fish. I came off the method and shipped out to 16m on the lighter rig as the wind had eased a bit. I was getting instant bite's on 4mm expander but they were mostly 2-3oz skimmers and 16m is a long way to go for fish of that size,especially as 1 in 2 would fall off. After an hour I had less than a pound in the net and despite the wind now howling from left to right I had been pinging the odd cube of meat at 17.5m. It was time to go over the long line with the 0.16 rig and a single grain of corn. First drop saw a skimmer of some 6oz and next drop-in the float barely settled before disappearing and a 3lb carp was soon in the net. I decided to clip on a small cad-pot and fed 4 bits of meat and shipped back out. The wind was making things difficult and at times I actually had to float the pole on the surface in order to keep the rig still. In the next 15 minute's I added a 2lb carp and a 1lb tench but I was finding things increasingly difficult in the wind.

After around 2 hours I added a small 1lb mirror and a couple of skimmers but I felt the line was going away from me. I fed half a pot of pellet and meat at 17.5m but had great difficulty presenting a bait there. With the method not working for me I switched to the straight lead with a 12 inch hooklength,16 GURU QM1 and an 8mm pellet. With 2 fifteen minute casts producing nothing it was decision time. By this time Phil must have had getting on for 20lb and the quid was looking like it was already his. However,I had to focus on the league and ensure I got good points so fed half a cup of micro pellet and caster at 10m as I wouldn't be able to catch the small skimmers fast enough at 16m. After spending 10 biteless minutes at 5m on the meat I baited up with a 4mm expander on the chianti rig and shipped out to 11m. I was pleased to see the float settle and disappear straight away and a 3oz skimmer was soon on the way. At this time I also started to loose feed caster at 5m to my right. In the next 35 minute's I caught 28 skimmers and although they were small they were coming quite fast and by feeding a pinch of micro pellet every 3rd fish and shortening the line rig down to two inches I was hitting almost every bite. I could hear that the venue was fishing very hard so kept plugging away. I hooked a lump of a fish that tore off at a rate of knots before the rig pinged back- almost certainly foul hooked and better it come off straight away then waste a load of time playing it on light gear. With an hour to go the wind dropped slightly so I cupped in a pinch pf pellet at 10m and went out to 17m where I didn't manage a bite.

It was now decision time, do I spend the last 50 minute's sat on the lead with my fingers crossed or do I keep putting the small skimmers in the net? I chose the latter as although I knew I wouldn't catch first place I hoped that I could make a top three finish. The trouble with peg 16 is I could only see two other anglers so it was a bit of a gamble. A quick try with meat saw a longer wait for a bite from a similar sized skimmer so I stuck with the expander. I kept picking off the skimmers and also managed a few dumpy roach at 5m on the caster. The all-out was called at 3pm and I reckoned on having around 12lb in the net.

I was first to weigh and my net of silvers went 8lb 4oz with the three carp only going 6lb giving me a 14lb 4oz total. Phil then put 25lb odd on the scales to comfortably take the lead. I decided to follow the scales round and soon realised it had fished hard for most with mainly low single figure weights. We got to Andy and his 8lb 12oz took 3rd spot before Nigel on golden peg 6 had two lumps fors 18lb odd,knocking me into 3rd. There were no more weights until Jumper Collins on peg 3 put 10lb odd on the scales to take 4th spot,crucially knocking Andy into 5th.

I was happy with 3rd place and would have gladly taken that if it had been offered when I drew peg 16. The decision to target the small skimmers with 2 hours to go proved to be the right one as although I might have snared a carp on the lead it would have been risky,especially as I didn't even manage a liner when trying it occasionally throughout the day. After eventually packing away I made way to the lodge to pick up my winnings. With just two matches to go I am now 5 points clear of Andy as I am on 15 points with him on 20,although we can both drop our worst result( both 5 points). I also have a weight advantage of some 40lb or so which could prove decisive overall. I'm not fishing atall next weekend as I'm in ireland but if the weather isn't too bad I'm hoping i can sneak in an evening match on Wednesday.