The lake had been fishing hard recently and with the temperatures all over the place we knew that a tricky and challenging day, but with roach, skimmers and possibly the very odd carp the target most were keen to get fishing. The day started a mild 9.5 degrees at 7am, dropping to 4 degrees by 3pm!!
The draw was done at the New Inn, Westerleigh. Where the majority had a full English style brekkie, not me though I manage just a banana and some crunchy nut!!
I drew my peg about halfway down and plucked out peg 17, that didn't mean much as the pegging was done by Steve Burgess on the day before. For company I would have Mike Welling on my left and Steve Wynne on my right. Pretty much everyone could see everyone given the lake's shape.
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| Overlooking \Bitterwell Lake |
I arrived at the lake after a 5 minute drive, on arrival Terry (who runs the place) said we'd have a tough day, but at least it would be fair.
I had hoped for a peg along the far bank from the car park, or perhaps a peg on the top right corner of the lake. My peg, I thought, was so-so and I wasn't either happy or unhappy.
At my peg I went about sorting my kit out, a simple day in store though with it being a pole only event.
Firstly I set up a 3.5m whip which was rigged with 0.14 mainline, a 4x12 Carpa Chimp and a 0.10 hooklength to a size 20 B511 barbless hook.
Secondly I set up an NG 0.6g Silverfish Caner float, 0.12>0.08>size 22 middy 9313 hook. The elastic for this was a number 8-10 solid set soft but on a pulla kit.
Lastly I set up a smaller 0.2g NG Silverfish Caner float on the same lines/hooks, but the elastic was a middy solid 4-6.
Both of the rigs were the same depth as the bottom pretty much stayed the same from 6m right out to 16m.
Baits I had with me were some liquidised bread for fishing the punch on the whip.
Some groundbait (sensas magic and roach mixed 50/50) to fish over on 1 line at just over 14.5m, using pinkies on the hook.
Lastly I had some micros to feed at 13m slightly to my right with the intention of fishing maggots or 4mm expander over the top.
I kept my 4mm pellets and corn in the holdall.
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| View from my peg. |
As I loaded my pole cup I looked across the lake to see Mark Radford into a carp immediately, with carp likely to be a rarity this bonus fish would likely see him take a framing position. As it turned out he actually had his plummet taken while checking the depth, he lowered his maggot bait on to the same spot and the carp took it straight away!!
Anyways I potted in a couple balls of groundbait laced with pinkies at just over 14.5m and some micros at 13m slightly to my right. The micros line never gave me bite all day!!
I began on the whip with bread punch, I stuck at this for 20 minutes as only a couple small roach had been caught (plus that carp). No bites were forth coming, in fact I never had a bite on the whip so no more on that!!
I went out onto the long pole line with single red pinkie on the hook. I was using the 'heavier' rig just in case I fluked a random carp..........I didn't!! I did hook a small roach which was bumped off soon after starting to ship back.
Talking of shipping back, I got lucky in the fact that behind me was a convenient hole in the hedge, thus allowing me to fish without having to double or treble ship like others on the lake.
Matt Taynton was shipping back by lifting his pole high up over the hedge behind him, so at least we would see when he was shipping in or out and whether or not he'd caught!!
I switched to the lighter rig, but with a decent, if not strong, breeze swirling around the lake I was struggling with it. I put the 0.2g rig back on the winder and transferred the 0.6g to the 4-6 elastic.
Back out over the groundbait and 20 more minutes passed before I had my 1st fish, a roach of 3oz saved me from a blank. A second roach of perhaps 2oz followed. I was doing ok compared to others.
Elsewhere it seemed that any fish were at a premium and even after 90 minute more people had yet to have a bite than those who'd got a fish or 2 in the net.
As we approached the halfway stage of the match I noticed that Rich Britton on peg 2(1st peg on the opposite bank) had a carp in the net along with a few silvers, Darren North and Colin Ellaway both had lost carp, so had young Ryan Radford.
I was on 6 roach and a small 2oz skimmer at this stage and was doing ok. I had tried to swing in a couple roach which fell off......schoolboy errors......would they be costly? I also bumped the odd fish when shipping, but this seemed pretty common across the lake, the awkward shipping possibly didn't help with poor hookholds.
Soon after this point we had the largest cheer of the day when Derek Lucas netted a nice carp, we were all hoping that he'd win the match with that as he doesn't have the best of luck/draws/catches. Well we all hoped that he'd win if it wasn't ourselves!!
The anglers either side of me hadn't had a bite yet and were struggling. Matt Taynton seemed to be catching a few though and Chris Gay was also beginning to string little spurts of fish together from peg 15 to my left.
I just kept my head down and stuck at my long line, feeding regularly with loose-ish groundbait, fighting against the wind and seeing the float in the un-favourable light conditions was my biggest problem.
At 2pm I did hook a better fish, which fortunately didn't fall off, it was a skimmer of 6oz or so, followed up by a perch of 4oz. A couple welcome bonus fish of sorts.
The last hour was soon under way and I thought that perhaps I had 1lb 4oz in my keepnet, I kept plodding along hoping for a better skimmer to come along, or a decent perch perhaps.
With a few minutes to go Mike, next door on p16, had a bite over the rather large helping of groundbait he potted in at 2pm, a nice skimmer saved him from a blank. Something 5 anglers had to endure!!
I ended the match with a couple 2oz roach and I did bump a better fish which pulled a few feet of elastic out for a couple second, but generally I wasn't sure how I'd done in the scheme of things.
Perhaps I had 1.5lb or so.
The all out was called to ironic cheers and I began to pack up and went and loaded the car.
I caught up with a few of the guys, Chris Gay reckoned he had 1lb, similarly Lee Waller. Only 3 carp had been caught, so the top 3 spots were taken by Mark, Derek and Rich Britton. But 4th and lower, including section payouts would be close!!
I soon caught up with the scales after Chris Szacaks had not weighed, Rich Britton had amassed 8lb 7oz and looked already to have won. Steve Burgess plopped a couple ounces on the scales, Ryan Radford 1lb 11oz. Darren North had 1lb.
Mark Radford's carp plus a couple roach gave him 5lb 11oz and 2nd spot thus far.
The back bank looked to have struggled with a few 2oz to 5oz weights. When we got to Adam Caswell, he suggested that I had perhaps 4lb......I told him what I thought, 1lb 7oz. Chris Gay suggested a quid on who's closest. I refrained from that.
Chris Gay was soon weighing in, I was convinced he'd beaten me thanks to an hour spell where he had plenty of small roach on punch or squatt. He put a few ounces over a pound on to the weigh sheet.
Mike's single fish was worth 6oz before my net was hauled up the bank. It looked around 2lb, not 4lb!! Onto the scales went the fish, 2lb 3oz was called, I should have taken that quid bet, I was temporarily into third, though Derek's carp was larger than that and Matt had a good few more fish than me, and so it proved as we moved on to the last few nets.
Steve Wynne didn't catch from peg 18, Derek's peg 19 carp (plus 1 dram roach) gave him a weight of 5lb 8oz. Lee Waller had 1lb before Mr Taynton's squatt caught fish amassed 3lb 3oz, relegating me to 5th. Mike Wilson, the club chairperson, blanked off the peg next to Matt.
So that was the end of the weighing in process.
The presentation and results would be done at the Midland Spinner pub in Warmley at around 6:30pm.
At the presentation there was plenty of banter, some nice food and some decent prizes for all that fished. Thanks to PSV for that, I am sure everyone appreciated this.
Results:
1. Rich Britton .... 8-7
2. Mark Radford ... 5-11
3. Derek Lucas ... 5-8
4. Matt Taynton ... 3-3
5. Lee Williams ... 2-3 (section winner)
6. Ryan Radford ... 1-11 (section winner)
The other 2 section winners were Lee Waller and Ron Hardiman (I think!!)
So I feel I did fair enough for my weight, the top 3 all had a carp each, but I was glad to win my section outright as no carp was caught along my 6 pegs. Perhaps I should have taken squatt, but to be honest I never considered that. I may have had a few more fish if I could have seen my float better (or at all) at times, plus the wind made it hard work with 16m of pole out.
Most of my fish came after feeding and as the bait settled, so I had to lift and drop a fair bit.
I did bump one or 2 fish, and a few minutes before the all out I did hook into a better fish but the hook bumped out, perhaps a skimmer?
I do enjoy the fishing when it is tricky/challenging/hard going and re-ignites my enthusiasm, which has been waning.
Next up for me is Pawlett's Xmas match at Sedges, next Sunday, I would guess bites may well be a little easier to come by..............famous last words!!
Until then, take care.
Lee
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