4th February – George’s Lake, Whitehouse Farm – Cornered Into Submission

George’s Lake was the venue for the latest round in the Alcove Winter League and with a strong south-west wind forecast, I really didn’t want to draw a low number. Well, I did and I paid the price dearly, ending up a sniveling wreck! Here’s how it went for me…

Numbers were limited to 12 as some of the platforms are in need of a bit of work to make them safe, which was fine, as this lake tends to fish better with fewer anglers on the bank. I so wanted to draw a peg with the wind off my back today but the lake gods thought they would have a laugh and so they gave me peg 1. Now, despite the wind blowing directly into this corner peg, this is a carp peg. In the spring and summer, match anglers would kill to draw this peg but in the winter it can be really hard going here. That said, if you draw this peg in the winter you just have to go for carp anyway as one big double is all you would need to win a match.

When I got to my peg, the wind was already whipping up the surface, so I had no choice but to limit my options. I set up a 0.5-gram rig for fishing out in front at 8 metres, which had a depth of 6 feet. I also had a 0.3-gram shallow rig ready for fishing alongside a bush to my left and finally, a 0.3-gram margin rig set at 3 feet deep to tackle my right-hand margin. I mixed up some Thatcher’s Green groundbait and added a few micros, dead red maggles and dead pinkles. On the all-in, I cupped out a tangerine size ball of groundbait to the 8-metre line. I was hoping for a few decent skimmers from here.

While I was waiting for that to settle, I explored the right-hand edge and the corner with bomb and bread, bomb and corn, bomb and meat and also bomb and soft pellet. I spent an hour on this with no signs of life. A liner would have been encouraging but nothing, zilch, nada, sweet FA. So, it was time to try the 8-metre line. Well, the wind had picked up even more by now, making it virtually impossible to hold the pole out at just 8 metres. I had to come in closer at 6 metres to be able to present a bait with any degree of accuracy. After a few minutes, it was blatantly obvious that my float was too light so I changed it for a 1.5-gram Chianti-style float rig with a big bulk of shot about 2 feet from the hook and 2 no. 8 droppers. Crude but effective!

Okay, so this did the trick as far as holding the rig fairly stable was concerned but I was having to adjust the shotting so that I could see the float tip above the ever-increasing height of the waves, which were riding over the top. Well, after about an hour of faffing about with this setup, I had only caught 2 small roach so that plan was abandoned. Next, I tried the lighter and shallower rig, laying it in close to the bush on my left-hand side but after a couple of feeble attempts, the wind ripped it out of the water and embedded the rig firmly in the bush. I spent the next 10-15 minutes trying to free it, which I did but it was trashed. Oh! It was all going so well! So for the best part of an hour, I went back onto the bomb for another look around but still nothing doing.

Well, with 2 hours left and the icy-cold wind blowing relentlessly into my face, I resigned myself to seeing out the match by fishing at just 4 metres to my right-hand margin. I was tempted to fish fine for slivers here but you know how it goes… you fish fine and then hook a carp only to lose it. So instead, I used my margin pole complete with no. 20 elastic, 0.18 mainline and size 18 Guru LWG to a 0.15 hooklength. My bait choice was single and double red maggle. If I did hook a carp, at least I would have a fighting chance of landing it on this gear and if I bump off a load of silvers… there would be nothing lost really as I had no chance of winning today.

I started loose feeding down the edge in 3 feet of water and surprisingly, I started catching some roach, rudd and perch almost instantly. They were not big at 1-2 ounces each but were coming quite consistently. I only lost 3 small fish on this setup but there were still no signs of carp. Well, that was it… I finished up with just 3lb 2oz of small silvers and no coin to collect today. There were two 10lb weights, one 8lb and two 7lb weights, making the frame. I must admit I was glad when the match was over and even happier to get home in the warm… nose still dripping, soul destroyed and my will to live on the line.

However, it looks like I’ll have to revive my enthusiasm so I can live to fight another day because I’m back at Windmill Fisheries on Thursday for the Costcutter match. The weather forecast for that one is for rain all day… luvverrly. Next Sunday, hopefully, and fingers crossed, I’ll be back on the river at Bradford-on-Avon with the Kingswood RBL… keep you posted!

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