Sunday 28th July – Windmill Fisheries – This Place Is Driving Me Round The Fooking Bend!

I really do feel like I’m going a bit crazy and it’s all down to this fooking fickle fishery. I kid you not… you just couldn’t make it up. I fished the Costcutter 500 on Thursday and then the Bonanza 1000 on Sunday. I drew the same peg both days but the way it fished was totally insane. Read on to find out how I managed to tear all my hair out, bite my fingernails down to the bone and end up on a course of Valium…

Thursday 25^th July

It was a lovely warm, dryish and sunny morning. I arrived in plenty of time for the 8.30am draw and had my usual fishy chat with Legion club mate Kev Murch. The typical frivolous banter was openly exchanged as we all queued excitedly for another Windmill draw. Well, maybe not too excitedly… Then in goes the hand that feeds me and out comes peg 2. WTF! I hate peg 2! I always struggle on peg 2. This peg has a thick bed of reeds directly opposite at 16 metres and it’s full of carp. It’s also full of rigs… most of them mine!

Well, I trundled off to my peg and I had a good look around. I said to myself, “There’s no way I’m fishing at 16 metres all day today, I’ll do something else instead.” So, I set up a rig for fishing paste on the deck at just 6 metres. I also set up a rig for fishing down both the left and right-hand margins but it’s so deep here at 4 feet or more. Ideally, you want about 12-16 inches at this time of year. The feeder rod is now a mandatory piece of kit for this venue but I wasn’t sure at this stage whether to fish a maggle feeder or a method feeder or whether it even mattered.

So, I was getting all set up when a number of carp started crashing about right in front of the reeds opposite. I knew I shouldn’t have but I just couldn’t stop myself from setting up a shallow rig for right over… A couple of slaps and who knows. It might be worth a few early carp, right? So, I’m all set up and we get the all-in shout, loud and clear. I’m straight out on the shalla rig and 3 slaps later I’m into my first carp… and my first lost rig of the day. FFS! I’ll never learn!

Well, that top kit went back onto the roost and so I reached for the feeder rod. The maggle feeder was preferred and so I loaded a small black cap feeder, baited the size 16 hook with 3 red maggles and cast out toward the reeds. I hadn’t put any bait in anywhere yet as I wanted to feel my way through the session. I didn’t get any indications on the feeder, no liners and no bites but I decided to be patient and give it an hour. A couple of casts in and still no sign so I made a nice cup of tea.

I always prefer to make a proper brew with milk, tea bags and hot water and whenever I’m waiting for a bite I can almost guarantee that halfway through making my brew… I’ll get a bite. Yep! That’s exactly what happened. The tip wrapped right round just as I was pouring in the hot water. The result? Half my maggles were scalded to death. It was horrible! They were already having a tough time of it in the blazing sun! Well, I managed to get the carp under control and I netted it. One hour gone and one carp up.

After that, all I caught on the feeder were 2 small skimmers so it was time to pile in some pudding. I had Scopex and micros again for my feed, which had been working well of late so why change? I dumped out a large hard ball on my 6-metre line and a small ball to each of my margins. Next, I baited my size 14 Kaizan hook with paste, popped it into the cadpot and then dropped it in over my feed. I did this for a full hour with nothing to show. I changed to fishing soft pellet on the hook, but nothing. Then I began fishing maggle on the hook… nothing. Corn… nothing.

A look down both edges proved fruitless. Well, I’ve so been here before… and so many times too. It’s soul-destroying, it’s mind-numbing and it’s totally frustrating… so what do you do in this situation? Nothing… you just keep plugging away, keep feeding and hoping. Well, with less than 2 hours left on the clock, my 6-metre line began fizzing. It suddenly came alive! I put a large lump of paste on the hook and dropped it in over the bubbles. Moments later I’m in! During the next 60-70 minutes it was absolute mayhem as I hooked into a fish at every put-in.

I ended up with 9 carp in the net with 3 lost. However, once again it was all too little too late as I ended up weighing 58-6-0 for 5^th place. Geoff Francis was on the next peg and taught me a lesson with worm. I should have baited up earlier and put more groundbait in and then maybe the carp would have turned up earlier… maybe… who knows.

Sunday 28^th

So, I still haven’t qualified for the Bonanza 1000 but it hasn’t been for the want of trying and I can only fish one or two more of these qualifiers due to club match commitments. So here goes…

The most notable difference today was the weather. It was much warmer than it was on Thursday and the fish were defo going to be in the top layers. You know, it’s funny… I’ve noticed that when I book in for this one, there are like 18 names down already and when I’m fishing a club match on a Sunday, there are only about 6 names down for this one. Very strange! So, generally, there’s a different bunch of characters in this match, most of them seasoned matchmen with lots of experience. Not sure why I’m here then… lol.

Well, it’s draw time and Paul Barnfield can be heard saying he doesn’t want to draw peg 14 again… but he does! I’m thinking, I really don’t want to draw peg 2 again… and I do! FFS! Great start… Well, I’m just going to do what I did in the last match only sooner and for longer and that’s fish paste at 6 metres. When I get to my peg it’s already alive with fish. They’re everywhere but mainly right over in front of those dreaded reeds. I set up my usual paste rig, a maggle feeder and a rig for fishing down the edges although I didn’t have much faith in the latter.

So, what about all those carp cruising around in front of the reeds? Oh go on then I’ll have a little go for them. Out comes my top kit and shalla rig with an 8mm pellet offering. On the all-in, I’m right over but stopping short of the full 16 metres. After about 10 minutes of slapping I hooked one and yep… I lost it in the reeds. Why the fook do I bother? So, I pulled back to 13 metres, which is a nice safe distance and would give me the upper hand should I hook another. I did! And I got it in the net but I couldn’t get any more and I defo wasn’t going out any further to get them so that was that.

With about an hour gone, I began feeding Scopex and micros down the 6-metre line. This time I put 2 big balls in and 2 big balls down each margin. I also dumped out a big pot of corn to my left-hand margin and some meat to my right. Time for tea! I spent the next few minutes watching the carp as they sped around and splashed about. I knew I needed to get them down on the deck to feed but I also had a rig set up that could take them out from half depth to just 12 inches deep… yes I had set up a jigger!

Well, it didn’t take long for the swim to begin fizzing and so I was onto them right away. After about 15 minutes, I hooked and landed a nice carp of around 9lbs, which bumped my weight up to 14lbs. I could see fish being caught all around but quite a few were being lost too. My next fish was foul-hooked in the tail and although I tried my level best to net it, the hook pulled after 10 minutes and he was gone. I lost my next fish too… another foul hooker. Then I managed to land one, which went about 6lbs but we’re halfway through the match now and progress was way too slow.

Then it just went from bad to worse as I lost every fish I hooked. It didn’t seem to matter whether I hooked them on the deck, at half depth or right up in the top 12 inches. They were all foul-hooked and lost. I counted 11 in total… it was absolute carnage! At this point, I was at a loss as to what to do next. I tried changing baits from paste to corn to pellet and maggle. Even my worms had an outing but it made no difference. I could not hook a fish in the mouth at any price.

So, with only 3 carp in the net and time fast running out, I had to do something… anything! I mean, imagine the humiliation of coming last or not weighing… and what would my blog readers think? “Oh that Billy Blogger, he’s a right old plonker. He can’t even catch a carp in a lake… full of carp. Some matchman eh?” Paranoia was setting in! What should I do? Well, I did what I usually do in these circumstances… I started fishing for silvers. I desperately needed to salvage something from this match or face ridicule so I plumbed up a new line. I went out to 9 metres and a long way to my right.

So, now my new swim is far enough away from the frenzied carp and hopefully, I could get a few silvers interested. I chopped some worm, added some maggles and a few 4mm soft pellets plus a few small balls of paste. I cupped it in and went straight over it with half a worm on the hook. It was about 10 minutes later when a small 6oz skimbo turned up. I changed to fishing small balls of paste on the hook and started getting bites right away. A few minutes later and a 2lb skimbo was safely netted. This was followed by 4 more in the final hour with just one lost after it leaped out of the water.

Well, that did the trick. I finished up with 3 carp for just 20lb but my silvers net went 9lb 10oz and to my relief was enough to win the silvers pool. Phew! That was tough! It was like a fooking rollercoaster ride today and I didn’t really enjoy it but you know what? I’ll be back there again on Thursday. I’m hoping for a less stressful day but you just never know what is going to happen on this fishery. Next Sunday, I’ll be competing in an inter-club match at Whitehouse Farm. It’s the Kingswood RBL against Alcove AC and I’m the chairman of both clubs… Hmmm… who should I fish for? Keep you posted!

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