April 7^th – Windmill Fisheries Bonanza 1000 Qualifier – The Long Day Of The Short Poles

Here’s another double match report to catch up on, with both matches held at Windmill Fisheries. First, I fished the Windmill Costcutter 500 on Thursday 4^th, with a plan that totally backfired. I then had to engage in a damage limitation exercise during the Windmill Bonanza 1000 match on Sunday 7^th… Read on to find out how it all panned out…

April 4^th – Windmill Costcutter 500 Qualifier

I went into this match feeling a little smug and ‘cock-a-hoop’ because I had already qualified and so I was under no pressure to produce a result. However, I still had a plan of action, which was to hammer the silvers and walk off with the spoils. I should have learned by now that you just never know what is going to happen on these Windmill matches and so you should NEVER stick to a plan as they almost always backfire. Well, that’s exactly what happened today. At the draw, I wasn’t too bothered where I ended up as long as there were silvers in residence. I drew peg 9.

Peg 9 is only one of two pegs on the lake that has a tree literally on the opposite bank, the other being Peg 16. I don’t know if this has any significance but both of these pegs can produce some big weights of carp… on the right day… for the right angler. Anyway, carp were not my quarry today, despite them rolling all over my peg on arrival. I set up 2 similar rigs with the only difference being the shotting patterns. (The technical stuff)… Both rigs consisted of 0.5 gram (4×16) pencil floats, 0.15mm (5lb BS) Guru N-Gauge mainline and a size 20 Guru LWG hook to 0.8mm (1lb BS) Guru N-Gauge Pro hook length. One rig was bulk-shotted and the other had the shotting well-spaced out. My choice of elastic today was a 4-6 Daiwa Hybrid. So, with everything perfectly balanced, I was absolutely sure I would be able to land every silverfish I hooked… If only I could hook some.

My choice of baits consisted of maggles, both dead and alive, and 4mm expanders. Groundbait was a 50/50 mix of Thatcher’s Dark and Sonubaits Black Lake. On the all-in, I cupped out a large ball of pudding to the 8-metre line and again to the 11-metre line. Both swims were just over 7 feet deep. While I waited for everything to settle, I started short and shallow with a single maggle, fishing 3 feet deep at about 4 metres. So, my carefully laid plan was now beginning to unfold. 30 minutes later, with no bites on the short line, it was time to have a dip on the 8-metre line with a single dead red. It must have been 20 minutes before I had my first bite from a small roach. Meanwhile, the carp were still rolling out in front, waving their fins at me and no doubt shouting something like, “Hey knobhead, we’re over here!” Well, I just ignored them of course.

So, for the next 3 hours or more, I relentlessly plugged away at trying to catch silvers on all 3 lines, but despite all my efforts and stubbornness, I had only about 3lb of fish in the net. By the end of the 4^th hour I felt I had endured enough self-punishment and humiliation so put the pole down. I quickly set up a feeder rod complete with maggle feeder and lobbed it out toward where the carp were obviously enjoying themselves. After about 10 minutes and several liners, I landed my first carp, which went about 5lbs. With my carefully laid silvers plan in tatters, I was now fishing to get even or at least restore some self-esteem. Over the next 90 minutes, I put another 6 carp in the net before the final whistle put an end to my onslaught.

I weighed in just 35lb of carp and 3lb 8oz of silvers. More importantly, I learned a very valuable lesson.

April 7^th – Windmill Bonanza 1000 Qualifier

Still smarting after my pitiful effort on Thursday, I decided that today’s approach would be very different. Not least because today the wind was screaming down the lake like a banshee from hell! I had drawn peg 22, which dare I say it… is a good silvers peg. Pegs 22 down to peg 16 generally throw up some quality skimmers but that’s only nice to know if the carp don’t show. This being a qualifier, I’m gonna need carp and lots of ‘em if I hope to qualify. So, today I was kind of acting out a role reversal to my last encounter. However, the wind was a major factor of consideration with gusts up to 50MPH to contend with. That meant short poles and feeder rods would be the only weapons of choice for carp fishing.

I had 2 feeder rods set up, one with a maggle feeder, based on what happened on Thursday, and the other with a method feeder. I had a rig set up for fishing down my right-hand edge and one for fishing out in front at 5 metres. On the all-in, I started off with the maggle feeder cast right across toward the island. I gave it a full hour before I changed to the method feeder but I didn’t get any signs of life out there… not a single indication whatsoever. So, as it was all going so terribly well, I decided to cup out some groundbait and maggles onto my 5-metre line. It was beginning to look like I was going to need some silvers after all. As I waited for that to settle, I dropped some corn and micros into the margin and followed up with a grain of corn on the hook. After 15 minutes and no signs of fish of any kind, I changed to an 8mm banded pellet. That kind of did the trick, as I hooked into my first carp of the day. The only problem was it was hooked in the tail and led me a merry dance all over the lake.

After I finally netted it, I went back down the edge again with an 8mm pellet and caught a 2lb skimmer. WTF? So, I gave it another 15 minutes but with no more bites and time ticking away, it had to be an all-out attack on the silvers. This was to be my damage limitation action plan… lol. I cupped out more groundbait and maggles onto the 5-metre line and continued to top up through my cadpot at every put-in. I had to make a few adjustments to the rig as the wind was howling from left to right and the lake was towing from right to left. As a result, I hooked a few and lost a few over the next 3 hours. I had a couple of decent size skimmers and quite a few roach but for every roach I landed I must have lost 2 off the hook.

I had to net everything no matter how small. So, I continued knocking them out right up to the final whistle and I felt as though I had once again given my all in trying to put together a worthy net of silvers. I was assisting on the scales today so I was first to weigh in. My single carp went 5lb 8oz, which was useless and my silvers net went 9lb 9oz, which I was happy with. My clubmate Jason Pitman on peg 20 also had a nice net of 4 skimmers for 7lb 7oz. Peg 16 threw up the winning weight with 114 lbs for Ian Barker. Peg 14 wasn’t too far behind producing a 100lb net for Steve Venn. Angling legend, Tim Ford, was third with 73lbs. Luckily, my silvers net was enough to win the silvers pool. So, I collected a few welcome beer tokens and managed to save my blushes this time around. Andy Gard was second in the silvers with 8lb 8oz from peg 12.  

My day was later marred by hearing the news of the death of an angling colleague and clubmate. Glynn Sage used to read this blog and so I dedicate this one to him. Goodbye my friend RIP.

I’ll be at Windmill again next Thursday but this time around, I’ll be a man with NO plan… let’s see how that works out…lol. Next Sunday, I’m in for a complete change of scenery as I head out to the Kennett & Avon Canal at Barton Farm, Bradford-on-Avon… Keep you posted!

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