Welcome to my fishing blog… December 2022

December 4th – Georges Lake, Whitehouse Farm

The Kingswood RBL should have had a match on the river last week at Staverton but it was cancelled due to flooding. Instead, I opted to join some of the Alcove lads and fish a knock-up at Whitehouse Farm. I wasn’t too concerned about the match as such, with only a £2 pool, instead, I decided to use the opportunity to test a few rigs, baits and ideas in preparation for today’s match, which was the second round of the Winter league. I had already had a poor start so I needed to up my game. Easier said than done!

It was a very cold day with a north-easterly wind blowing across the lake, so I didn’t really want to draw on the hedge side of the lake but, as lady luck seems to be thumbing her nose at me lately, I drew peg 12. I would have to contend with a bitterly cold wind in my face all day… luverrly! I had “superstar” Andy Brookman for company on peg 13 and John Treasure, who turned up late, nursing a hangover, on peg 11. Ideally, I would have liked to fish the waggler right out but the wind wouldn’t have allowed this. A 16-metre pole was also out of the question, so I decided on a 13-metre line and a 10-metre line with a pop at the inside edge to my right-hand side as desperation measures. I opted for a 0.5gm chianti style float for the long line, with a size 20 fine wire guru hook to a 0.10 hooklength. For the 10-metre line, I set up a 0.4gm pencil float rig with a size 20 fine wire hook to 0.8 hooklength.

At the all-in, I cupped out a marble size ball of groundbait laced with red squats on the long line and a pinch of micros on the 10-metre line. While I was waiting for that to settle I dobbed some bread around the margins but there were no takers. Andy on my left had the benefit of casting a straight lead to the floating pontoon in the middle of the lake. It’s a great holding area at any time of year and he didn’t have to wait too long before he netted a decent F1 on bread. About 10 minutes later he had another followed by a 16lb carp and then an 11lb carp for about 30lb of fish in the first hour. The rest of us could only watch with disbelief.

It was nearly 2 hours before I had my first bite, which turned out to be a one-ounce roach on the 13-metre line to a single red pinkie. I topped up after that with a little more groundbait and squatts. Meanwhile, I kept trying the shorter line with soft pellet but nothing. I started loose-feeding maggots on the inside and taking a look every now and then but nothing on that either. With 3 hours gone I decided to focus on the longer line, dropping in a few red pinkies and fishing a single red maggot on the hook. Finally, I hooked a skimmer, which was probably just over a pound. Andy had another 2 F1s by this time and was running away with it like a man possessed.

I hadn’t seen much else caught on my side of the lake but a few fish were caught on the opposite bank, which was sheltered from the wind. I plugged away on the 13-metre line and caught another good size skimmer, which went about a pound and a half, followed by a few more small roach. With about 20 minutes to go, I hooked into a carp. Immediately, I knew I was going to lose it on such light gear and sure enough after a few minutes it broke me. A size 20 hook to a 0.8 hooklength was no match for what seemed like an 8-10 pounder. Andy was still catching and had also lost a carp. John to my right was packing up having only had one bite all day.

Well, it was a very tough and frustrating day for me, finishing up with just 3lb 5oz for all my efforts. Andy won easily with almost 37lb. A 6lb weight was next followed by a 5lb weight from the opposite bank. Sh*t happens, and so even more pressure now to do well in the remaining 4 winter league matches. Hopefully, I’ll do better in the Kingswood RBL Xmas match next week on Bitterwell Lake, although the temperature is not expected to rise above freezing 🙁

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December 2022

   4th – Winter League#2 – Georges Lake – Whitehouse

   11th – RBL Xmas Match – Bitterwell Lake, Coalpit Heath

   18th – Alcove Xmas Match – Whitehouse Farm

   28th – Windmill Fishery – Westerleigh

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