Sunday 7^th December – A 4-Match Seasonal Roundup Including… Billy Gets Sectioned At Windmill & Whitehouse, Plus Rejoicement and Much Merriment After A Silvers Win At Windmill And A Kingswood RBL Xmas Match Report. It’s All Here…

So, the run-up to Christmas is proving to be quite busy both at home and on the bank. However, I finally managed to find some quiet time and put together this 4-match report….

Thursday, 27^th November – Windmill Fisheries Costcutter Open

Only 13 anglers turned out for this one, which is a good number for this time of year and also allowed for some of the shallow pegs to be left out. The weather was kind to us, with light winds and even a bit of sunshine thrown in halfway through the match. Once again, I wanted to draw one of the deeper pegs, having won from peg 22 in the previous match, which was 2 weeks ago. The match had to be cancelled last week due to excessive rain and flooding. The weather is playing havoc with matches all over the country right now. So, into the drawbag of hopes and dreams I go and out pops… peg 22. Bingo! That’ll do nicely.

Setting up was simple as I had the same rigs I used on this peg last time, but I still had to check the depth after all the rain and found I had to adjust to an extra foot of water. Last time, I fished at 11 metres slightly to my left and then over to my right. I caught carp on the left-hand line only, with a single maggle on the hook. I didn’t get a bite on the right-hand line with either worm or meat. Also, I didn’t get any indications from either of the margin swims and I tried meat, corn, soft pellet, worm and maggle over the course of the day. The fish are just not coming into the margins for some reason, even though my margins were almost 5 feet deep! My only other rig was my trusty feeder rod with a bomb and maggle approach.

On the all-in, I cupped out a very small ball of Scopex groundbait with a few dead red maggles and a few pinkles to my 11-metre, right-hand line and a bit of chopped worm to my left-hand line. Then I chucked out the bomb with a double red maggle hookbait, right over to the edge of the island. After a couple of chucks and 20 minutes later, I foul-hooked and subsequently lost a carp. The same thing happened 10 minutes later and so I abandoned the idea of catching right over and began to concentrate on getting bites from my two 11-metre lines. Last time, I caught a few silvers on my left-hand line, but I didn’t get any bites at all from this line today. I did, however, begin to get some indications on my right-hand line with a single maggle on the hook. I missed a couple of very tentative bites and so I changed hook size from a 16 on 0.15 hooklength to a size 18 on a 0.12 hooklength.

The change did the trick as I was soon into a feisty carp of around 6lbs. With a no. 8 elastic, it took some gentle persuasion and perseverance on my part before the fish finally succumbed to my determination. I knew fish were going to be hard to come by today and so every fish was precious, even if it did take an age to land them on such light gear. In the summer, I’d be fishing this peg with a no.18 elastic, size 12 hook to 0.17 hooklength and a big lump of paste on the hook. In these cold and fluctuating conditions, you have no option but to scale right down if you want to give yourself half a chance of getting bites. So, a quick look down each edge produced nothing, as expected, and another quick look over the 11-metre line to my left was fruitless too.

So, for the last 2 hours, I focused all my attention on the one line to my right, which produced 4 more carp and a couple of foul hookers. Single red maggles were the only bait I could get bites on and loose-fed maggles proved to be the best way to get some feed into the swim. I found the fishing a little slower and tougher than it was on this peg 2 weeks ago and I finished up with just 5 carp for 27lbs, which put me in 3^rd place and gave me the section win. On reflection, I don’t think I could have done much more. Well done to Pete Greenslade, who put together a nice net of waggler-caught carp from peg 14. Andy Greenham did well to put 46lbs on the scales from ‘orrible peg 3, and John Smith’s 4-14-0 was enough to lift the top silvers prize.

Sunday, 30^th November – Whitehouse Farm Winter League – Georges Lake – Round #2

Halloween brings out some of the scariest people, many of whom turned up for the next round of the Alcove Winter League, held on Georges Lake at Whitehouse Farm… LOL! Well, I desperately needed a good draw for this one and by that I mean a peg where I could at least have half a chance of catching a carp. I was hoping to draw peg 1, 6, 10, 17, 18 or 19, but… it just wasn’t to be. After a quick fumble in Jason’s drawbag, I pulled out peg 13… Yuk! C*ap!.. B*llocks! With no features, I would have to fish long for skimbos or a short whip for any roach and rudd. I certainly had it all to do.

As with any open water, the plan was to start short at 8 metres and then move out to 13 or even 14 metres as the day progressed, if necessary. As there was little hope of catching a quality bonus carp, the target species were skimbos and roach. I had angling maestro, Andy Brookman, to my left on peg 15, who would do the same thing, and I had Julie Taylor on peg 12. Quite often, Julie manages to find a carp wherever she’s drawn, but I thought she might struggle to pull that off today. So, with just over 5 feet of water in front of me at 13 metres, I set up a 0.4-gram Chianti-style float. 0.15 mainline and a size 18 Guru LWG hook to a 0.11 hooklength. For my 8-metre line, I set up a similar rig except for the float, which was a 0.3-gram. I also set up a 5-metre whip and a bomb rod.

On the all-in, I dropped in a small ball of Black Lake groundbait with a few dead reds to the 8-metre line and then chucked out the bomb with a 10mm disc of bread on the hook. I gave that 10 minutes before changing to a maggle feeder with 2 live reds on the hook. There were no takers on that, so out went the pole with a single pinkle on the hook. It was a good 20 minutes before I had a bite on pinkle and that turned out to be a tiny micro-perch. I persevered, alternating between a single red maggle and one or two pinkles and eventually got a small run of roach going. It was hard work and a high degree of patience was required. I found that if I fed groundbait, then the bites would die off for about 10 minutes. So, I stopped feeding groundbait and started loose feeding a few maggles or pinkles only, through the cadpot.

After about 2 hours, I finally managed to tempt a skimbo, but at around 12 ounces, it was no prize winner. Then a few more followed, but they were even smaller. I decided to give the swim a rest while I searched around with the whip. I finally found a small pocket of fish, mainly roach and rudd, lurking near the bank by the empty peg to my left. I must have had about a dozen fish from there before that swim completely died. So, back onto the 8-metre line, but that was dead too. Well, I added a couple more tubes and pushed out to 13 metres with loose-fed reds and a single red on the hook. That brought a spasmodic response from a few small roach, which saw me out until the end of the match.

I finished up with a pathetic 2-05-0 net but surprisingly won my section with that. Well done to angling legend Alan Oram, who drew peg 17 in the corner. Alan had 2 big carp in his catch for a clear victory over Andy “Badass” Brookman, who finished second with 7-09-0. Andy had a couple of quality skimbos in his net. The weights dropped away substantially after that, with just over 4lb needed for third and a 5lb weight for Jason Pitman was enough to secure the top silvers prize. The other section winner was Steve Sewall, whose single chub saved his day.

Thursday, December 4^th – Windmill Fisheries Costcutter Open

Here we go again! Still dining out on my section win last week, I was now looking forward to stepping up a gear and getting onto the podium. All that stood between me and a place in the spotlight was the draw. I needed another good draw, preferably in the deeper water, which included pegs 1 & 2, 22, 23 and 25. So, into the drawbag goes the trusty hand of fate and out comes… drumroll… peg 25. Yeehah! Who’s your daddy? And WTF is that all about? Really? 3 good draws in a row? Oh man o man! Am I going to pay big time for all this good fortune. Yeah, I was well happy with my peg, but I still had to find the fish and then catch ‘em. Only problem was… I had “superstar”, Liam Reynolds, on what is probably the best peg on the lake at the minute… peg 1.

When I arrived at my peg, I remembered why I really do like this one. I’ve got an island chuck… I’ve got a lot of open water out in front of me… I’ve got really deep margins left and right and… I’ve got the wind off my back and I can virtually see everyone. Being able to see how others are faring during the course of a match is a big advantage because you can gauge how well you are doing yourself and you can see what they are up to. If someone’s catching and you’re not, then just copy them. Simples! So, it was time to get set up and it may come as no surprise that I have several readymade rigs just for the Windmill Match Lake. The wind was going to be light today and so the waggler rod was an essential bit of kit and would come into play if the pole lines didn’t produce.

I also had a bomb rod set up for fishing maggles tight to the island. My 2 main pole lines were at 11 metres. One over to my left and one over to my right, both in 8 feet of water. The margins haven’t been producing on most of the pegs on this lake, but I still had a margin rig set up to fish at 4 metres to my right and at 11 metres to my left. Both edge swims were 5 feet deep. So, I had all options covered and all I had to do next, was catch. On the all-in, I fed a small pot of chopped worm and Scopex groundbait to the 11-metre line on my left. To my right, I fed a small ball of Scopex and a few dead reds. Then I chucked out the maggle feeder toward the island. I had a couple of liners but no takers on that, so I changed to bomb and maggle. Once again, I had a few indications and a few liners, but nothing positive.

It was time to try the worm on the pole line over to my left. I had a couple of micro perch, but not much else. So, I tried a single maggle on my 11-metre line to my right, but nothing on that. Liam had caught his first carp on pellet at 14 metres and so I needed to try something different in order to try and stay within touching distance. A double pinkie offering over my worm feed got a result and a 5lb carp was duly netted. However, Liam was getting into a few fish now and he had 2 more in quick succession. I also noticed John Osborne on peg 23 catch a carp, which helped pile on the pressure, but I was struggling for bites and needed to try something else. With my 11-metre worm line not working and unhittable indications on the maggle line, it was time to try the margins.

First, I tried my right-hand margin with meat and then maggles, but nothing… and then I had a look down my left-hand margin with corn and maggles. There was nothing doing on either swim, but in the meantime, Liam had caught another 2 carp, putting him 4 ahead of me. FFS! I picked up the waggler rod and cast to within a metre of the island and then sprayed about a dozen loose maggles over the top. Within 10 minutes, I had my second carp in the net. 10 minutes later, I had another. Meanwhile, Liam’s bites had stopped as the carp began to move over to my loose feed. I then had another carp on the wag, followed by 2 big skimbos and then it all went a bit quiet. I put down the waggler rod and tried the pole again over the worm line with a single dead red and had an immediate bite. It turned out to be an unseasonal but very welcome tench of around 2lbs.

Well, with nothing else on that line, I went back out on the waggler only to lose the next 2 fish before finally netting a 5lb ghostie in the dying seconds of the match. That gave me 5 carp in total, 2 skimbos and a tench. I was pretty sure Liam had just pipped me on the carp, but I was confident of getting the top silvers with my 3 big specimens. At the weigh-in, Liam had 36-15-0 and I had 33-04-0 (the result sheet shows 33-1-0, but someone got that wrong). My 2 silvers went 7-06-0 and proved to be good enough for the silvers pool… happy days. However, Liam didn’t have it all his own way as the “dark horseman of the apocalypse”, Steve Mundy, put 53-01-0 on the scales for a decisive victory. Liam did collect a section payout for his troubles. Simon Shilton picked up the other section payout with 33-02-0 from peg 21. I obviously spent too much time on all my pole lines, so a vital lesson was learnt there. We’ll do it all again next Thursday!

Sunday 7^th December – Kingswood RBL AC Christmas Match – Bitterwell Lake, Coalpit Heath

We had a dozen brave men booked in for this annual Xmas match held on Bitterwell Lake. The weather forecast was for heavy rain and strong winds all day, but as it turned out, the weather wasn’t anywhere near as scary as the forecast had suggested. However, the fishing was rock hard and that was expected. Fishery Manager, Paul Isaacs, invited us to have the draw under cover next to the Tuck and Tackle shop, and provided us with free teas. Having not fished the lake for a year, we didn’t know what to expect, although Paul had told us that the pegs in the high 20s would probably be best. Pegs 23 to 29 and peg 1 often feature in the top results of the Tuesday matches and so that’s where everyone wanted to draw.

I drew peg 20, which is a little shallow at 4.5 feet deep but can produce a good weight… in the summer months. I had Leigh Wakefield for company on peg 19 and then a long gap to peg 23, where Jon Amato was stationed. So, the plan was to start short at 8 metres and then move out to 13 metres if the fish disappeared. I fancied fishing the waggler, but I was positioned under an oak tree and later, I had to put up a brolly, so unfortunately, waggler fishing was out of the question. As this was a silvers-only match, I opted for a top-kit with a no.5 elastic. 0.15 mainline, a 0.4-gram Chianti-style float and a size 20 hook to a 0.08 hooklength. That was for the 8-metre line. For the 13-metre line, the rig was slimier except for a 0.5-gram float to help combat the wind and a size 18 hook to 0.11 hooklength.

My groundbait choice today was a 50/50 mix of Black Lake and Scopex. On my side tray, I had pinkles, maggles and worms. On the all-in, I cupped out a very small nugget of chopped worm and groundbait to an 8-metre line at 10 o’clock and a nugget of groundbait laced with dead pinkles to an 8-metre line at 2 o’clock. Then I cupped out a golfball-sized nugget of groundbait only to the 13-metre line straight out in front. The inside lines, as such, were way too shallow, but I couldn’t help notice that a steady stream of coloured water was coming into the lake from the inlet over to my right. I thought it might be worth a try later, if all else failed. Bites were very slow in coming and it must have been a good 30 minutes before I had my first fish, which was a tiny perch, caught on a single pinkle. After about 2 hours, alternating between both 8-metre lines and catching very little, I went out to 13 metres with a single red maggle on the hook. I spent 20 minutes on this line without any indications whatsoever. So, as the wind was picking up, I decided to ditch this line.

Back onto the 8-metre line to my left and there was an immediate response from a skimbo of around 12 ounces. I desperately needed that, especially as Leigh had already bagged a couple of good skimbos. I hadn’t seen much else being caught, though. Next, I thought I’d try the coloured water to my right with a single red maggle on the hook and I latched onto a carp straight away. Needless to say, it broke me, which was fine as they didn’t count anyway. Thinking it was a one-off, I did exactly the same thing on the very next put-in with exactly the same result, broken up again. I didn’t go back there again. Instead, I spent the last 90 minutes plugging away on the two 8-metre lines. The line that I had originally put the chopped worm in suddenly sprang into life and I was soon playing a lovely tench of a round 3.5 lbs.

The last I saw of this magnificent fish was when it shot under an old tree stump, which was jutting out of the water on my left. FFS! I also pulled out of a couple of bigger skimbos soon after. Then I had a few roach and another couple of small skimbos going right up to the final whistle, but I knew for sure that I had been well beaten by Leigh on the next peg, who I had seen net a couple of good quality fish. So, next was the weigh-in and then we were heading over to The Millhouse Pub for a hot meal and a beer, plus everyone would be picking up a festive prize. My catch went 3-04-0 and Leigh “Longshanks” Wakefield had 7-13-0 for the win. New kid on the block, Tom Kildea, found some form by fishing the method feeder all day, bringing 7lb to the scales for second place. Jon Amato on peg 23 was third with 3-10-0, pushing me into 4^th position. That also meant I would be 4^th in line to pick a prize, so I was happy with that. Well done to the framers and everyone else for turning up and making the event a resounding success. The highlight of my day was taking a quid from Jason… finally… LOL!

Phew! All caught up on the blogging now, but there’s more to do. I have another Windmill match coming up on Thursday, 11^th and another Christmas match at Whitehouse Farm on Sunday, 14^th. It’s pretty hectic at the minute, but the show must go on… keep you posted!

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