Sunday 23^rd February – I Should Be So Lucky… – Margaret’s Lake, Whitehouse Farm

Lady luck shone her illustrious bright light on me last week. With a wry smile and a nod and a wink she made it happen on both Windmill and Whitehouse Farm, bless her. So, it was Windmill again last Thursday for the next qualifying round of the Cosctcutter 500. It was another dismal affair to be honest, with the wind and the rain knocking seven bells out of us throughout the day. I can’t believe I drew peg 16 for the second week running, and so I wasn’t exactly jumping for joy as I trundled my way along the squidgy top path. Even more bizarre was that Kev Bush, who had been shadowing me around this lake like some kind of grim reaper, was drawn next to me again on peg 18.

As I arrived at my peg and looked over at the reeds opposite, I had an overwhelming feeling of Déjà vu. Anyway, last time I started off well by catching my first carp within 15 minutes and then I had to wait until the hour was up before I got my second fish. My great expectations then fizzled out only to become reignited in the last hour with 2 more fish but ending up with just 30lb for 6^th on the day. So, how would today pan out? I set up a feeder rod for fishing the maggle feeder or bomb and maggle just off the edge of the reeds, as before. With the wind getting up, I opted for a short 8-metre line, as before. Groundhog Day had begun… once again.

On the all-in shout, I chucked out a small Drennan Black cap maggle feeder rig, complete with a 12-inch, 0.17 hooklength and a size 16 Preston KKM-B hook. I started with 2 maggles on the hook, as before. A couple of chucks later and I’m slipping the landing net under a 7-pounder. A quick look at the time revealed… 10.15am. WTF! Scary! I did get a couple of liners after that but no more proper bites until I changed to a single red. Then another carp of around 7lbs was netted right on the hour, as before… weird! Then nothing…

I cupped out a small amount of micros, probably about a thimble full plus about 10 maggles to the 8-metre line. I gave it 20 minutes and nothing. I dropped in a couple of grains of corn but still nothing. So I faffed about, going through all the usual motions, until I gave up on the pole line altogether. The wind and rain were now getting serious and it was time to put up my new Guru brolly. Wow! What a great piece of kit. Windproof, rain proof and nosey angler proof! With about 90 minutes left on the clock, the rain had eased off, so I took down my jolly brolly and lobbed out a straight lead with a single maggle on the hook.

I dropped it right in the middle of the “catchment area” and the tip went straight round. Well! I wasn’t expecting that! A 2lb plus skimbo and the first I have caught on this lake since last November. I reckoned I already had the silvers pool in my pocket with that one fish. Then about 10 minutes later another carp showed up. This was followed by 2 more in the last half hour, giving me a total of 31-11-0, which was just over a pound more than the week before. So, I didn’t really do anything different from what I did last week, except I think I spent less time on the pole. Well, it was a really tough day and a few DNWs graced the weigh sheet yet again but I fared a little better… Lucky!

I finished up in second place overall and I was top silvers too but you can only pick up one payout so Sean Fillingham went home happy collecting the top silvers pool for just one 2-ounce roach. Well done to John Williams who put in a fine performance from peg 10, returning 46-13-0 and qualifying once again for the final.

Whitehouse Farm Winter League Final

It was the battle of Whitehouse Farm on Sunday as Winter League contestants fought for a place on the podium. Match secretary, Jason Pitman, and Top Rod bender, Andy Brookman, pretty much had the first 2 places sewn up, so realistically, there was only a third place up for grabs. The final match was held on Margaret’s Lake and tbh, I was really looking forward to getting home even before I had left the house! The weather forecast was for strong gusty winds and persistent rain, and they weren’t wrong. So, another 5-hour match to endure with severe weather warnings ringing in my ears… luverrly!

Well, unsurprisingly, we were down on numbers for this one. The original number of 14 entrants had plummeted to just 8 on the day. Illness and weather were the main issues. This time, Jason asked Andy Brookman to draw for both him and Julie. If you have been reading my blogs regularly, you’ll know that something fishy seems to be going on with these draws, especially with Jason landing a plum peg every time and today was no exception. Andy picked out peg 6 for Jason and peg 8 for Julie. Well, I’m lost for words……….

Anyway, I managed to pluck out peg 17, which is one of my favourite pegs on this lake so I was happy with that. Apart from trudging through the mud and sliding down the slippery slope, I managed to get set up with plenty of time to spare. Taking into consideration the wind and rain that was expected later, I decided to fish a maggle feeder toward the island and two 8-metre pole lines. One line was out in front and the other was well over to my right, which was to be my “throw-away line”. Both swims were about 7 feet deep. I did consider an inside line on my left but I didn’t set up a rig for it… just yet.

So, on the all-in, I cupped out a ball of F1 Sweet groundbait, laced with a few dead reds and some live pinkles straight out in front. Then I cupped out a half pot of chopped worm to my other line. I was kinda hoping they would have the worm today as this usually sorts out the better fish but I was also thinking maybe it’s still a bit too cold. That’s why this was my throw-away line. So, onto the maggle feeder with 3 maggles on the hook and over toward the island we go. I was hoping for a chub or two but after a few casts and 30 minutes later, there were no signs of any interest whatsoever. I changed to 2 maggles, and then one maggle and still nothing doing. In the meantime, Kev Murch, who was opposite me, had landed a carp. Boll*cks!

So, I tried bread, corn and worm on the hook and… nothing, nothing and nothing. Well, we were now over an hour into the match and not a single sniff yet. It wasn’t looking good. Onto plan B… The wind began picking up and raindrops were falling on my head, so it was time to set up my lovely new Guru brolly. I anchored it down and attached a guy rope to a small tree behind me. There it stayed for the duration of the match and hardly moved an inch in any direction. I’m well impressed with this brolly. Mike Reid was on peg 14 and the wind and rain was blowing straight at him. I couldn’t blame him for packing up and taking an early bath.

Well, it was time to look over the worm line but as expected, there was nothing happening there. So, with only my main pole line left to try, I put 2 maggles on a size 18 hook and out it went. I had an indication right away but missed it. I was probably getting too tensed up and defo struck too early. On the next put-in, I waited for the bite to develop properly and finally had a micro perch in the net for my troubles. Phew! What a relief. On the next put-in, I had a small roach, so things were looking up LOL! I cupped out a bit more groundbait and a few more maggles and went over the feed with a single red on the hook and bingo! A very welcome skimbo of around 12 ounces graced my landing net.

I had a couple more roach followed by another skimbo, which went about a pound. Then the bites got a bit iffy and I missed a few before latching onto a good 2-pound skimbo. Well, I was made up! Then I had a couple more small skimbos before it went completely dead. As carp were being caught I thought I had better take a look down my left-hand edge. So I set up a margin rig and baited up with a few grains of corn plus some chopped worm and a few micros. I spent about 30 minutes on this before giving up and going back onto my main pole line. With just 15 minutes left on the clock, all I had was one tiny roach and then it was game over.     

I was a bit disappointed with not catching off the island but that seems to be the way it is lately. Once upon a time, it was chub a chuck on the maggle feeder with the odd skimbo and even the odd carp were thrown in but just lately, the island hasn’t really been producing. Well, I was the first to be weighed in and my net weighed 5-6-0. I was winning! Jason said he had 4 carp and one of them was over 16lbs. FFS! That man can catch fish! He also said Andy Brookman had a couple of carp too and so I resigned myself to accepting a complete whitewash at Whitehouse. Back at the car park some time later and it was revealed that I had actually won the top silvers prize… Wow! That was lucky!

Then came another surprise… I finished up in third place in the Winter League and picked up some more wonga! That was lucky, lucky! So a lucky week for me, which makes up for all the unlucky weeks I’ve had recently. Unfortunately, I won’t be fishing the Costcutter 500 next Thursday as I have a dental appointment but I will be fishing the next Alcove Club match on The Clamp, near Westerleigh. That’s on Sunday 2^nd March… Oooh, bring it on… Keep you posted!    

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