The weather was due to be mostly dry, with the venue likely to miss the showers predicted for parts of the region, however the wind was likely to be blustery and cause hindrance as the day progressed, but it was from the south-west and coupled with the air temps of around 13 degrees it wasn't too uncomfortable.
I arrived early enough and had a chat with various peeps, alas PSV had a match on Lodge Lake today, so I left their scales/tripod/sling/mat with Lee Waller. The pegs I fancied were, on Cary, pegs 74, 85, 86 and 102. On Campbell, I would take any from 110 to 115, 123 to 128. Peg 114 is THE draw to get at the moment, winning more than it's not, sometimes more than 80lb+ ahead of second spot on the lake. When it was drawn as a golden peg, whoever drew it would have more than a good chance of an extended pay-out.
I waited until the last peg was left and had that, peg 112 would be my home, not so bad really and I wasn't too unhappy. The lucky angler was a decent angler and one of my Teams of 3 teammates, Steve Fouracre. I had Mark Watts down on peg 110.
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| Peg 112, looking up at the 'hot area' in front of p114 |
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| peg 112, Campbell......ooooo look, peg 130 is over there (gggrrr). |
When I got to the peg it seemed like there was a few fish in the area, fish were occasionally boshing in front of pegs 113 and 114, plus a few skimmers were showing out in front of empty peg 114. I had the wind blowing in and across at me from roughly peg 132 (the 10'clock direction).
I had decided to generally fish for the carp and set up a lead rod and a waggler (which never got used in anger). 3 pole rigs assembled, one on light kit for silvers and 2 for carp (1 in front and 1 off in the 2 o'clock direction).
The bait tray had some live maggots, some meat and a few pieces of corn, caster and bread.
At the all in I potted in a few bits of meat on 2 lines at 6m along with a few maggots. Some caster and corn went in at 14m, which was wasted as after the first 20 minutes the wind was too strong to reach that area, plus some meat went in at 14m off in the 1 o'clock direction.
I started on the lead and went an hour or so watching Steve and Kev on peg 128 catching a few carp on their lead rods.
I then took a look over the long meat line and had a 4lb carp, but that was a one off as no more were forthcoming all day from this spot.
So back on the lead and the next half an hour gave me 2 carp, one on meat, the other on bread. Then it died and I went ages without a bite on any of the rigs.
Behind me on Cary I could see Derek Beards catching a few typical Cary lumps, I fully expected pegs 85 and 86 to be having a few. But pretty much all day it seemed Derek was doing well.
It was soon 1pm and I had altered my light rig to fish for a few roach down to my right on caster, this was ok as I put a handful of roach in the net before I lost 2 carp on the bounce, they took a liking to a solitary caster....I had maybe hoped for a tench, but a few more roach, only small 2oz jobbies, were popped in the keepnet before the area died.
I switched to feeding 3 or 4 pieces of meat and a few casters on both of the shorter 6m lines, hoping a few decent skimmers had made an appearance, I was pleased enough to hook and land a few in the last 90 minutes or so, I was annoyed I hadn't actually targeted the silvers properly and earlier as I was getting a few skimmers from 4oz to 3lb, a bonus 10lb carp was also landed, I was surprised not to get anymore carp off these lines, but the silvers were welcome. Most other anglers on the lakes seemed to be generally struggling, especially the 4 of us at this end of the lake, below the spit.
It was the last hour or so that Steve on peg 114 started motoring and he was getting plenty of carp after he'd gone a good while without much action, but he was already winning the lake before we got to the final stages, I did tell him to get another net as I was sure he'd be close to the 70lb limit....hmmm
The last half hour became slow for me and I only managed a solitary 4oz skimmer and a roach.
Soon enough the all out was called and we all began packing away, I reckoned Steve had 140lb+ but he said 130lb, but he was certain Derek would win from his Cary peg.
The silvers would be up for grabs, but I hazarded a guess that Rob Dodd, who was on Cary would have fished for them all day and would have a nice net, Phil Hembery on peg 116 had a few so had Phil Clapp on peg 131. Anyone else I wasn't sure.
Soon enough I caught up with the scales and saw that the crafty Chris Higgs had 27lb of skimmers and tench, that was more than I had for sure, I also heard Phil Clapp had 15lb of silvers and Rob Dodd over 16lb....I thought I maybe had 18-20lb. Overall it was Kev Hunt with 78lb+ (knocked back)leading with a few 19lb to 41lb nets.
We got to Steve Fouracre and I found the board in my hands....odd that with bigger nets!!
Anyways he had a 7lb 8oz carp in his landing net as he didn't want to put it either of his carp nets as he reckoned he was close to the 70lb figure.
The 1st net was just under 4lb over the 70lb level so that was knocked back to 70lb, his second net was closer to 76lb and again knocked back to 70lb, plus a 3oz roach....!!
So he had 147lb 8oz, he was lucky he never popped that last gasp carp in either net as he would have been knocked back totally and lost the net..!!! Golden Bollocks methinks....haha.
Though one or 2 did wind him up saying that Derek had 150lb and that he'd missed out due to the knock-backs......Derek did indeed weigh 130lb+ so Steve did win, and pocketed £100 on top with the golden peg pot. Well done him.
At my peg I popped my 4 carp on the scales, 31lb was their weight, coupled with my 21lb 8oz of silvers boosted me to 3rd on the lake with 52lb 8oz. I just, in hindsight, wished I had fished properly for the silvers instead of a half arsed effort in the last 90mins or so.....
Back at the lodge I caught up with the PSV guys, they'd had a tricky day in the wind but from what I could gather Steve Sewell won their silvers with around 28lb and Will Dearlove had 80lb+ to win overall.
The results for Pawlett were done and I managed to pick up my section money as Steve and Kev had finished in the top 3 and Chris Higgs had the silvers pot tied up. Jason King won the Cary section with 53lb from peg 96.
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| Weights.........!!! |
Results:
1st, Steve Fouracre, p114, 147lb 8oz (g.p)
2nd, Derek Beard, p102, 134lb 4oz
3rd, Kev Hunt, p128, 78lb 6oz
4th, Jason King, p96, 53lb
5th, Lee Williams, p112, 52lb 8oz
Silvers
1st, Chris Higgs, p125, 27lb
2nd, Lee Williams, p112, 21lb 8oz
So not too bad a day really, maybe my peg was worth a few more carp, but I defo think I could have caught a lot more silvers if they had been my target.....hindsight, ho hum.
Next weekend I am on Shiplate main lake, hoping for peg 15 or 1, but fancy silvers if I am honest, we shall see.
Until then, take care.
Lee
P.S. I still have a good few places left for my Summer Series, which looks like it should be a good one.
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