Billy's Fishing Blog » Billys Fishing Blog June 4th

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Welcome to my fishing blog… June 2023

June 4th – Windmill Fisheries, Westerleigh – Woeful Windmill And The Tale Of The Bummer Draw

I was kinda looking forward to this match on Windmill, thinking I had an opportunity to restore some self-esteem after last week’s disappointing result. I spent a couple of hours on Saturday tying some new rigs and checking over all my kit, especially my top kits. All my elastics are fitted with Brivel connectors, including the original prototype, which has been in operation for just over 18 months now. That one is connected to a Matrix 12-14 Slik, which still looks okay thanks to regular treatment with ‘Son of a Gun’. I’m also testing the Nufish Zipp elastic, size 12-14 but so far, I’m not too impressed with its performance. It doesn’t seem to power up but I’ll stick with it a bit longer.

So, I arrived at the draw at 8.15am and Jason Pitman, Tony George, Kev Murch and Kev Swanston (the Alcove and RBL contingent) were already there, along with many others, making it a 21-pegger. From the past couple of match results, a lot of fish seem to be congregated around peg 25, so I was hoping to be in that area or at least higher up on either side and towards that end. So a draw on pegs 1 to 5 or 21 to 25 would do nicely. However, the wicked hand of fate gave me peg 11. Now, a few weeks ago, I would have killed for this peg but today… I didn’t fancy it.

I drove around to my peg, which was a good start, and had a look around. I could see carp spawning around the island and to the left, on peg 12. There didn’t seem to be much going on in the reed beds to my right, aside from the odd reed moving, which was a sign at least that some carp were present. This reed bed goes way back and from what I have seen with other anglers who have drawn it, many carp are painfully lost here. It’s just too deep with reeds but I would still need to have a go regardless. The wind was blowing up the lake so I had the wind off my back… and a mill pond right in front of me.

The carp follow the wind in this lake so right from the off I was feeling a little disheartened but I had a job to do. I set up a feeder rod for fishing the method feeder and, or straight lead to the island. I also set up a pellet waggler rod as I had anticipated the carp coming right up in the water as the day went on. Then, a rig for fishing hard on the bottom at 11 metres. This one was for pretty much anything that swims. Next, I set up a strong margin rig for fishing both left and right. This would be used for probing the reeds to my right. Then a shallow rig for slapping and a shallow rig for fishing up in the water, half depth at 6 metres.

I figured I had covered all my options. Baits today included corn, meat, hard pellet, paste, maggles and expander pellet. I also had some bread… just in case I got bored, in which case I could feed the ducks. On the ‘all-in’ I cupped out a small ball of groundbait with a few red robin micros and a couple of 6mm expender pellets on the 11-metre line. Then a few micros and about 5 pellets of meat to my right-hand margin and a few micros and about 5 grains of corm to my left-hand margin. I also fired out some 6mm hard pellets to the island.

I started off on the short line at 6 metres with a red maggle on the hook just to get a fish in the net. After 15 minutes there were no signs of life, so I gave up on that and then picked up the pellet waggler. I cast out toward the island and pinged a few pellets over the top. I gave that about 20 minutes without any enquiries, so now it was time to go out on the 11-metre line with expander pellet. I also tried maggle on this line but after about 30 minutes I didn’t get a sniff. There were no signs of life anywhere other than over on the edge of the island. So, next, I selected a 30-gram bomb for the feeder rod and baited up with a 6mm banded pellet.

After casting this out to within inches of the island, all I got was liners. I changed to meat but still no takers. It was all going so well… not! The guy on peg 14 had a couple of carp fishing 16 metres out to the edge of the island and yet I couldn’t buy a bite there on the bomb and pellet. I changed to a method feeder and continued to target the island with vengeance but still nothing, nothing, nothing. Kev Murch was drawn on peg 12 to my left, which is a cracking peg and a good indicator of how the lake is fishing. He had caught a couple of carp fishing tight to the reed beds so that was my next move.

I baited up with a 10mm pellet of meat and lowered it into my right-hand margin just inches from the reeds. After about 15 minutes there was no sign of a carp and nobody was catching up on the right-hand side of the lake either, not even Jason the Slapper who was drawn on peg 9. Meanwhile, the guy on peg 14 had now landed a couple more carp and lost at least one. Kev plugged away at it and got a couple more too. Meanwhile, I was trying everything in the margins both left and right but could not get a bite. It just seemed utterly devoid of fish. I then spotted a carp cruising at around 13 metres so out went the slapping rig. I dropped a pellet right in front of its nose and it just turned away and disappeared from sight. This happened another 3 times over the course of the match.

Despair was fast setting in now as I rang the changes on all the lines. No matter what I did, I could not induce a bite not even from a tiny roach on a single maggle… for FFS! I hadn’t even turned the cameras on today, as there was simply nothing to film. I just couldn’t believe how exceptionally bad the fishing was on this peg today. I remained biteless all day and should now be known as ‘Billy No Bites’ until I start catching again. Even 7 DNWs didn’t make me feel any better but as I said in my last blog post, you get the full, true story here, warts and all.

How different it would be if I was on fishing on venues like Paddock at Acorn Fisheries week in and week out but I’d only get bored with catching 200lb nets of fish…lol. I can’t wait until the river season starts again in a couple of weeks. Well, at least I did come away with something… a lovely sun tan that many people would willingly pay good money for. Anyway, well done to Sean Townshend for pulling out an incredible 99lbs from peg 25, and well done to Legion club mate, Kev Murch for coming third with 42lbs. It was the first time Kev had used a Brivel connector in his setup.

So, that was that and whoever said blogging about fishing was easy should take note. Now next week, I’m only going to be fishing on Margaret’s Lake again… oh no! So, if you enjoy reading about my fishing adventures, filled with suspense, intrigue, drama and no fish… watch this space! LOL! Well, this is going to be another opportunity to fully redeem myself… if I can only get a decent draw. (no pressure)… Whatever happens, good or bad… as usual, I’ll keep you posted!

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