Sunday 21^st December – Bitterwell Lake Christmas Match

I don’t fish Bitterwell much these days, but when I heard that the Christmas match was to be an all-in and not a silvers-only match, I had to have a go. Before that, though, I fished the Windmill Costcutter Christmas Match on the Match Lake. I had an amazing start, but then everything changed for some unknown reason. Here’s how it all panned out…

Windmill Costcutter Christmas Match – Thursday 18^th December

I thought there were 20 names down for this one, but only 17 made it on the day. Maybe it was because the weather forecast was for rain all day, but at least the first hour was dryish. Once again, I wanted to draw on any of the deeper pegs, but it wasn’t to be today. Instead, I drew peg 11 down the bottom end of the lake. When I got to my peg, I was pleasantly surprised by the number of carp topping here and there. One surfaced about a metre from my platform, as if to say, “hey, here I am”. Well, a waggler rod setup was essential with carp rolling just off the island and a 13-metre line on the pole with maggles would be my second option. I didn’t really fancy going down my right-hand edge as I have previously lost a lot of kit there, but what the heck… if needs must.

I had Kev Bush for company on peg 10, John Williams on peg 12 and Liam Reynolds on peg 14. Before the draw, Liam and I had agreed to a pound bet, but when he drew in-form peg 14, I was sure my precious quid was lost already. The only other person I could see clearly was Nick Sanders on peg 9. Well, on the all-in I chucked out the wag and fired about 10 maggles over the top. It couldn’t have been any longer than 3 minutes before the float positively dipped and I was in. I was a little slow on the strike as I wasn’t expecting an almost instant bite, but the fish was on and it was a good-sized fish too. I managed to get it all the way to the landing net before the hook pulled… WTF! Thinking about it, that slow strike probably contributed to the hook not being set properly or the hook being partly ejected by the fish. Either way, it was history.

On the very next cast, and about 5 minutes later, I was in again and this time I made no mistake, hitting the strike immediately. I could tell this was a big fish and so I had to take my time playing it. It must have been a good 15 minutes later that I finally slipped the net under a good 12-pounder! Well, what a great start, I thought. With just 30 minutes on the clock, I was in again and another fish, around 8lbs, was in the net. Then, about 15 minutes later, yet another carp of about 6 lbs graced my landing net. Fook sake! I can’t remember when I last had 3 fish in the first hour of a match on this lake. I thought maybe I should go back to the car and get another keepnet, as I could be in for one of those magical ton-up days. Then everything changed. After that little flurry, I couldn’t get a bite, but Kev on peg 10 began catching and so did Liam on peg 14. Then I noticed Nick on peg 9 land a good fish. WTF was going on?

The fish had completely disappeared and now everyone else was catching, so I had to try something else. My 13-metre line with maggles didn’t work except for a couple of tiny perch, so I had no choice but to go down my right-hand edge. On the very first put-in, I had a carp of around 5lbs, but I couldn’t get a bite there after that. So, out went the bomb and maggle toward the island. I was prepared to sit it out and wait for a fish to find my double red maggle offering and after about 20 minutes, one did oblige, only to come off a few minutes later. Undeterred, out went the bomb again and after 20 minutes, I did manage to get another one of around 6 or 7 pounds. And that was my lot for the day. Meanwhile, Kev on peg 10 was having a field day, fishing the wag at about two-thirds across on maggles.

Kev won the day with a total of 67-5-0. Very well done to him. Andy Greenham drew peg 25 again and finished in second place with 65-12-0 and Nick Sanders was third with 61-13-0. I finished up in 6^th place with a disappointing 38-10-0. However, I took a pound off Liam and that made my day. With it being the Christmas match, everyone got a prize and mine was a bottle of Jack Daniels, courtesy of Fishery Manager, Dave Haines… happy days!

Bitterwell Lake Christmas Match

There were 20 booked in for this “sell-out” match, but only 16 turned up. The day turned out to be quite chilly, but at least it didn’t rain. I wasn’t too bothered where I would draw today, although the better pegs are on the “sunny bank” below the car park, so any of those would be nice. I drew peg 24, which I was more than happy with. A few carp were splashing about before the start, which is always a good sign, as carp were going to be targeted by many anglers today, including me. My plan was to fish 2 lines at 13 metres, a short line at 9 metres and the inside edge on my left, which had a nice line of reeds. It was also 4 feet deep on this edge line, which was perfect at this time of year. On my side tray, I had live red maggles and dead reds, pinkies, worms and sweet corn. My groundbait choice today was Supercrush expander and Scopex in equal measures.

My rig choice for the 13-metre lines was a 0.5-gram Chianti float, plus a size 16 hook to a 0.15 hooklength. Elastic was a number 12. I’m thinking carp, but if I begin to pull out of skimbos, then this rig would be revised down. For my 9-metre line, I had a 0.4-gram bodied float and a size 18 hook to a 0.12 hooklength. I’m thinking silvers here, but who knows? For my edge line, I’ve got a 0.3-gram dibber to 0.18 mainline and a size 16 hook to o.15 hooklength. I’m only thinking carp here. I also had a waggler rod set up and this would be for fishing maggles and corn at around 30 metres. On the all-in, I cupped out some chopped worm and groundbait to a 13-metre line over to my left. I put some dead reds only on the same line over to my right. I also dropped in a small ball of groundbait only onto the 9-metre line.

My first line of attack was the waggler. Well, I gave it a good 45 minutes without so much as an indication, so that was the end of my waggler fishing for the day. I had Charlie Isaacs on peg 23 and up to this point, he was fishing the wag without success. Pedro McHarris was on peg 25, Gerry Welsh was on peg 27 and Liam Reynolds was on end peg 29. I kept a close eye on all of them all day. Well, with nothing on the wag, I tried fishing half a dendra over the chopped worm line, but there was not a touch. I didn’t get anything from the maggle line at 13 metres either, but I did manage to get a skimbo from my 9-metre line on double pinkie. I couldn’t see much being caught from anywhere, so it was time to try my left-hand edge with meat and corn. On the first put-in with corn on the hook, I got a positive indication, but the float didn’t bury and so after a few minutes, I changed to meat.

With meat on the hook, the float immediately dipped and I was in… to a bream of around 3lbs plus. Phew! I needed that, but I was expecting carp from this edge. Well, I didn’t get another bite there, so I closed that line. I also closed down my 13-metre maggle line over to my right as nothing was happening there. The 9-metre line only produced a further roach and a perch, so that one went too. My worm line was the only swim that was showing signs of life, so I focused on that one entirely, catching a few more skimbos on corm, maggle, worm and pinkle. Surprisingly, I didn’t get any enquiries from carp. Charlie had spent 3 hours on the wag without a bite, but then began to chuck out a method feeder to the vacant peg over to his left, picking up 3 carp for the win. Liam Reynolds had a good day on the skimbos, finishing in second place and recovering his pound from me. My silvers net went 9-04-0 and I was sure I hadn’t won anything, but then it transpired that it was good enough for a second-place silvers pick-up, being beaten by just 3 ounces by Ben “bagger” Brooks for the top silvers prize. So all ended well, with a little Christmas coin thrown in for good measure. More happy days!

Well, that’s it for the time being. My next match will be the Hangover Open on the Kennet & Avon canal around Bradford-on-Avon on 1^st January. So, all that remains is for me to wish you all a very happy Christmas, tight lines and bulging nets throughout the New Year.  Keep you posted!

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