Welcome to my fishing blog… August 2026
Sunday 23rd August – A One Up And One Down Kind Of Week
Let’s start with Windmill Fisheries and the weekly Costcutter 500 open match held on Thursday 20th August. It was just the ‘dirty dozen’ for this one as there were plenty of other distractions going on in the area. However, less is not more on this venue. You still have to do the business no matter how many turn up and no matter what peg you draw. So, last week I messed around a bit, but with the Costcutter 500 final looming, it was time to get some serious practice in before the big one. I didn’t really mind where I would be drawn today because a practice session is just that, whether it’s an inform peg or a complete no-hoper. As it happens, I drew peg 10.
I’ve drawn this one a few times and had mixed results, but with the water level so low at the moment, my usual method feeder approach to this peg was a non-starter. Instead, I opted for one line out in front at 9 metres and the 2 edge lines. For my 9-metre line, my rig consisted of a 0.5-gram (4×16) Chianti float. Anything lighter and the wind would have been bossing my presentation. My mainline on this rig was 0.17 Guru N-Guage and hook choice was a size 16 to 0.15 N-Guage. For my edge lines, I had the usual 0.2-gram (4×12) dibber to 0.22 N-Guage and a size 14 Preston KKM-B. These hooks are super STRONG!
So, on the all-in, I cupped out some Scopex groundbait together with a few grains of sweetcorn and some micros. Then I went sniping all over to see if I could snare an unsuspecting lump. This tactic usually works for one or two, but not today. After 20 minutes, I went out over the 9-metre line for a look, but there was nothing there yet, so I began to trickle some 6mm cubes of meat into the margins. So, with nothing coming in the first hour, I chucked out the bomb and pellet to see if I could tempt one of those that were thrashing around by the island. There was no interest at all there and so I had another look on the 9-metre line. Nothing, nil, nought, nada or diddly squat there. Well, my first bite eventually came on my left-hand margin, but the fish was lost almost instantly.
I lost a further two fish in the left-hand reed bed before deciding to give
up on that line altogether. My only focus now was my right-hand mud line. I had put some meat and hemp on this line and finally, I saw a sign of a carp. Minutes later, I had my first fish of the day in the net. It was exactly 1.25pm. That was almost 3 hours of the match gone already and I had only just got off the mark!FFS! It was slow… but things did begin to improve. More and more carp arrived down my right-hand edge and I had to back off the feed area for fear of foul-hooking them. As much as I tried, I did lose quite a few, but instead of them just disappearing each time I lost one, more turned up. Well, the swim was absolutely alive with fish and I was picking them off at will.
I reckoned I should have had over 200lbs in the nets today, but I had to settle for 99lbs. Still, that’s not too shabby for 3 hours’ work and was enough for second place on the day. I learned a few tricks too, so it was all worthwhile, even the loooong wait. Oh, and it was a real pleasure to take a quid from Liam Reynolds for a change… LOL!
Sunday 23rd – Georges Lake, Whitehouse Farm
We had a full contingent for this one, which is the maximum 14 anglers. There had been a carp-only match on the lake the day before, but I reckoned the way carp anglers fish, it would have no bearing on the day’s outcome. So, the peg everyone wanted to draw today was peg 1. Why? Because that’s where the club record was set just a couple of weeks earlier, by Kev Murch. Kev put 155-14-0 on the scales and could have had a lot more if it wasn’t for him getting bored with catching carp… LOL! So, we were all sure that whoever drew peg 1 today would be the winner and… it was drawn by club treasurer Tony Welsby.
Well, I drew peg 17. This corner peg almost always throws up at least one big fish, but it didn’t produce on the previous match, so it was anyone’s guess what would happen today. This peg is also directly opposite peg 1 and so I had a clear view of Tony. My main line of attack was to be under the trees to my left with my trusty margin pole, fishing in just over 2 feet of water. I also set up a line at 11.5 metres right out in front to fish worm for any skimbos that might be about. That just left the edge line on my right, which has an overhanging bush. Sometimes carp can show up here and so I had to have a rig ready for this.
However, the problem with the right-hand swim was the sunlight peeking through the canopy, which left the water looking speckled with dark and light patches. This made it virtually impossible to see a float of any colour. I tried red, black and yellow float tips but could hardly see a thing, so I abandoned this line after about 20 minutes. On my 11.5 metre line, I had fed worm groundbait and fished a half dendra on the hook over the top. This brought just 3 small skimbos and 4 roach during the first 3 hours of the match. I was getting worried! I kept looking in on the left-hand edge under the trees, but there was just nothing going on there. It didn’t help that the sun was also penetrating the water right in the spot I was fishing.
Meanwhile, Tony was having it all his own way. He began catching right from the start and didn’t look back. Steve Brown on peg 3 also had a big carp, as did Steve Sewell on peg 5 and Jason Pitman on peg 6. It was all happening on the other side of the lake, FFS! With very little action on my side of the pond.
Finally, on the left-hand margin again, my float shot under and I was in… to an F1. It was very welcome but fell way short of what I was hoping for. Then, with just 90 minutes left on the clock, I had a very tentative bite. I struck hard and latched onto a biggie. At last, I was brawling with a carp. It was a big fat mirror and took a little while to tame. As it was well over the 15lb limit for keepnets, I had to have it weighed and released. It went 18.07.0. About 5 minutes later, Andy Gard, who was on peg 18, came round to weigh a common, which weighed 18.08.0. Well, with less than an hour to go, I desperately needed another big fish, but it just wasn’t to be. I finished up halfway down the field with just 22.03.0. Needless to say, Tony won hands down with a total of 123.09.0.
Well, I’ll be back to Windmill on Thursday 27th for another serious practice session. With heavy rain, thunder and lightning forecast, it could prove to be a very lively day. Then on Sunday 30th, I’ll be back at Whitehouse Farm for some more frivolities… keep you posted!
Correction! In my last blog post, I mentioned that Andy Greenham had foul-hooked several carp. Apparently he didn’t. Ooops!
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Hey guys! I really appreciate you all reading my blog and thanks for all the positive comments. It’s nice to know you enjoy reading about my rants, my ups and downs and my general take on events. Please keep those likes coming and don’t be shy in sharing, as all this stuff helps to keep my blog on top of the Google rankings. Cheers!
NOTE: If reading this blog on a PC, you can enlarge the images by right-clicking on them and selecting “Open link in new window” – Or you might be able to just click on the image if you’re using Windows 11.
If you enjoyed reading this blog, then be sure to join the Fish Wag Facebook group HERE for blog updates. Also, please Like and Share… It’s very much appreciated! Check out the links to my older blog posts below…
