Sunday 16^th November – Alcove AC Winter League Round #1 – Whitehouse Farm – And Finally, I Have Something To Write Home About – A Windmill Win!

After the recent heavy rain, both lakes at Whitehouse Farm were well and truly topped up and both had a nice tinge of colour. But would the fishing be better or worse? That was the question on the lips of the 15 anglers who turned out to compete in the first round of the annual Winter League match held on Margaret’s Lake. Well, before we dive into that report, I fished a Windmill Costcutter match last Thursday with 18 turning out for that one. The water level on the match lake was also up by about 12 inches from the previous week and that was before the torrential rain we had on Friday. It’s probably lapping the top of the bank now.

Recent match weights had been quite low, with 30lb being enough to frame on the last 2 club matches and there was no reason to expect them to be any higher today. Well, that suits me… I’ve had so many low weights over the past few months, so it won’t come as any surprise to me. As usual, the chatter was about where the best place to draw would be and for me, it’s got to be in the deeper water. That takes in pegs 1, 2, 22, 23, 24 & 25. Any of those numbers would be welcome and so that’s what I got. It was peg 22 for me this time, which produced a 41lb weight for Paul Barnfield last week, caught on worm and maggles. However, looking at my peg, I thought we could be in for a difficult day. The sudden extra water could be off-putting for the carp and so I had to bear that in mind when setting up and feeding.

My main rig consisted of a 1-gram Guru diamond float for fishing worm out in front and over to my left at 11 metres. That also doubled up for a rig to fish at the same distance over to my left, which, at 8 feet deep, was pretty much the same all over at that distance. Hook choice was a size 16 Guru Super XS, suitable for both worm and meat, tied to 0.16, Guru N-Gauge. The elastic on this top kit was a 12-14 Slik. I also set up a light silvers rig with a 0.5-gram Chianti float, a size 20 LWG hook to 0.10 Guru N-Gauge. This top kit was fitted with a 6-8 elastic. My usual margin rig was also on hand for fishing meat or corn down the edge. On the all-in, I cupped out a very small ball of chopped worm, dead reds and Power Scopex groundbait to my left and some meat and groundbait to my right.

Then, as usual, I kicked off the session by lobbing out a bomb and maggle to the far side as close to the reeds as I could. I gave that 20 minutes without a sniff or a liner, although I could see the reeds moving opposite and so the fish were definitely there. So, it was time to try the worm line with a half a dendra and then 2 red maggles, but there was nothing on that line yet. A look to my right-hand line with meat was just as fruitless. Well, I spent almost 2 hours completely biteless and those around me were also struggling. Here we go again! I thought it best to try and get something in the net and so I cupped out about 10 maggles and groundbait to a new middle line. After a couple of put-ins, I caught a roach of around 2 ounces and then a couple more before it went quiet. So, I dropped the light rig over the worm line to my left, where I had been feeding both chopped worm and dead reds.

I had an instant bite from a roach and went on to catch about 10 more over the next hour. Then the swim died and I suspected a carp had moved in to investigate all the commotion. I wasn’t wrong. I foul-hooked a carp and lost it within a few seconds. I dropped into the swim again with my worm rig, but nothing. A change to the silvers rig with a single maggle brought a response from another carp. It seemed to take an age to land it, but it was well worth it as I reckoned it went at least 9lbs. Well, after that, I couldn’t get another bite on that swim, no matter what I put on the hook. So, I went onto my meat line, which was to my right. I did have a quick bite on the meat, but nothing followed up. So, I did exactly what I had done on the opposite swim. I cupped out some maggles and groundbait and went over it with the light silvers rig.

About 10 minutes later, I’m playing another carp, but it came off. I suspected it was another foul-hooker. I cupped out more maggles and groundbait and soon after, I hooked into another carp and yet another foul hooker was lost. I noticed Pete Greenslade over on peg 25 had also lost at least 2 carp and so I thought the fish were moving about but not really feeding today. A look down both margins produced zero indications. Well, there was just an hour left and so I carried on with the light rig searching all over the areas out in front until I hooked into another carp which, fortunately, was hooked in the mouth this time. After another long tussle, it was carp number 2 in the net. About 10 minutes later, I managed to find another one. This time it was a big fat mirror of about 8lbs. So that made 3 in the net and I began to believe I might win my section.

Well, with 30 minutes left on the clock, I didn’t get any more bites, but I was relatively happy with my performance on what was a really tough day all round. I knew the anglers to my left and right had struggled, but at this point, I didn’t know what had been going on down the bottom end of the lake. When the scales finally got to me, I was told I had 14lbs to beat for the section. I knew I had more than that and the scales confirmed it. My silvers net went 1-11-0 and my 3 carp went 22-9-0, giving me a total of 24-04-0. Well, it might have been a low weight, but to my surprise, it was good enough for a win today and not before time. Well fooking hurray yah! Patience and determination had finally paid off. I told everyone never to write me off as there seems to be life in the old dog yet… LOL!

Alcove AC Winter League Round #1 – Margaret’s Lake, Whitehouse Farm

Match secretary, Jason Pitman, had decided to extend the number of entries to this series of 6 matches to 15 anglers, which meant it was tight for some and maybe a little too shallow a peg for others. Well, over the series, I guess it’s ‘swings and roundabouts’. I wanted to draw any of the pegs in the deeper water and the lake gods must have heard my pitiful cry for help, as I picked out peg 14. I have won and framed from peg several times over the past few years, so I knew it had potential, but today, the lake didn’t look like it was willing to give up any of its skimbo residents easily. For the first time this year, the water level was back to normal after torrential rains over the last few days and that would put some fish off for sure.

I decided to fish 2 lines at 13 metres, one in front and to my left and one in front to my right. I had a depth of almost 10 feet of water, which I was happy with and so chopped worm on one line and corn on the other was the main plan of action. I also set up a light rig for a short 6 metre line, where I would target small silvers, if all else failed. I had a nice overhanging bush to my left and this would be my main area for targeting carp later on in the match. However, my first choice of rigs was the trusty old maggle feeder for the chub, about a metre or so from the island. The chub in this lake go about 4lbs and average about 2.5lbs. They will often feed when many other species just switch off, so you really have to have a go for them if you have a peg with an island chuck.

On my bait tray today, I had worms, dead and live red maggles, pinkies, corn, meat and bread. Well, I didn’t have a clue what bait was going to work, if any, after all the cold rain had gone in, so I had to bring a variety of baits to ensure I had all options covered. On the all-in, I cupped out a small ball of choppie, including dead reds and Scopex groundbait to the 13-metre left-hand swim and then about 10 grains of corn and micros to the right-hand swim. Then I chucked out some loose maggles over my 6 metre line. Next, I lobbed out the maggle feeder to within a metre of the island. Thinking that the fish were probably not going to come to the bait, I would have to put the bait in front of them and so I cast along the edge of the island over a length of about 5 metres. I gave it 50 minutes and 6 or 7 chucks without a single sign of a fish… not good.

So, it was onto the worm line with half a dendra. A tiny perch obliged almost immediately, but not much else during the 20 minutes I spent on that line. A look over my right-hand line with corn didn’t produce either. A quick look over the short line produced a roach of around 4 ounces, but nothing else during the 20 minutes I spent on that. I could see everyone was struggling a bit, although I had noticed that someone had brought a carp round to Jason for weighing, which meant a possible 15-pounder already for some lucky beggar. As it turned out, it was Tony Welsby who was on peg 18.

I could also hear Steve Sewell (and so could everyone else!) from corner peg 11. He was catching a few silvers and losing a few carp all at the same time, it seems… LOL. And although I couldn’t see him, Andy Brookman on peg 15 to my left, was quietly catching a few carp down his edge. Well, I reckoned there might be a chub or two mooching around the island by this time, after that bit of bait went in earlier, so out went the maggle feeder again. A small roach soon followed. Then I had a series of very odd bites, all of which I missed. The tip didn’t wrap around or even quiver, it just slowly bent a little and then stopped. I didn’t fully realise it at the time, but these bites were from chub. They were just picking up the bait but not moving away with it.

Anyway, I eventually cottoned on and after a couple of chucks later, I struck into a very tentative bite and it was chub on. I netted a nice, much-needed fish of around 2lbs and so out went the feeder again. It was about 20 minutes later that I had another smaller one of around 1.5lbs. I then decided to try stopping short at about 3 metres from the island to see if there might be anything in the deeper water. Sure enough, there was… my next fish was a carp of around 5lbs, which took a liking to my double maggle offering, giving me a nice weight boost and putting me back in the game. However, I still had a lot of ground to make up as Andy was running away with it at this point and now Jason had just landed a big double. With carp showing more readily, I had to abandon all my silvers lines and go down my left-hand edge just under the overhanging bush. I needed a couple more carp to stay up with the big boys… LOL!

I reached for my margin pole, baited the hook with 2 dead reds and fed some dead reds and some 4mm cubes of meat as tight to the bush as I could. With just an hour left on the clock, I was desperate for some more quality fish, but I missed the first 2 bites, having waited 10 minutes for each one. A change to meat on the hook brought an immediate response from a carp of around 8lbs… epic! But soon after, Alan Oram on peg 13 to my right had just landed a big double. FFS! With only about 15 minutes left, I was in desperation street and needed just one more carp… but it wasn’t to be, despite getting another definite carp bite, which I fooking missed… typical! And so with the match over, the outright winner was Andy Brookman with an incredible 58lbs, followed by Alan Oram with 24lbs. My 17lbs was simply not enough to frame, but I know I could have and should have done better.

[Sorry! Forgot to take a photo of the peg.]

Well, next week I’ll be back on the river, hopefully. I have a RBL club match at Monkton Park in Chippenham and I need a good weight for the pairs aggregate. After a poor start, I also need some mega points to help me climb back up the leaderboard. It’s getting a bit squeaky bum time… keep you posted!

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