Sunday 23rd June – Windmill Fisheries Bonanza 1000 Qualifier – Got a good pasting!

Well, as I mentioned on the FishWag page I had a bit of a hectic week last week and it’s likely to be that way for a little while yet. A few weeks ago, the big “C” came calling on my long-time partner, which left us both shell-shocked. However, thanks to the powers that be at the NHS, she was fast-tracked into surgery last week and is now recovering. Time will tell if she is fully clear, plus there will be many weeks of post-op treatment to come. So, fingers crossed…

Moving on… I managed to get a day out and fish the Bonanza Qualifier at Windmill Fisheries last Sunday, where I had a quiet word with the match organiser about… you know what. Surprise, surprise… a full set of up-to-date match rules have now been made available for all to see on their Facebook page. (See. It wasn’t too difficult)

Well, my intention (not a plan) today was to fish paste and to go for carp all day regardless of where I would be drawn. Of the 17 anglers competing, at least 4 of them had already qualified so that meant I only had to beat 13 of them lol! Well, I drew peg 12 and I wasn’t sure whether to be delighted or distraught as this can be a very fickle peg. Last year it consistently threw up winning weights but so far this year it has failed to produce anything worthy of a place on the rostrum. The only positive was that a new platform had been installed.

When I finally got to the peg, I couldn’t see anything moving in the reeds to the left-hand side and nothing moving out in front. I had Gerry Welsh for company again on peg 11 and his right-hand reed bed was alive with fish. So it had all the makings of another Groundhog Day! I set up a paste rig for fishing out in front at 6 metres and another for fishing my left-hand margin shallow on a top kit plus one. My right-hand margin was 4 feet deep so I decided I would fish meat over hemp here. I also set up a maggle feeder/bomb rod for chucking out toward the island.

Well, that was it. All set and ready to go. I started slapping an 8mm pellet out in front of the reeds to my left but after 20 minutes I didn’t see any signs of fish. Next, I slapped around the open water out in front for another 20 minutes and again… nothing. Gerry was fishing paste out on a long pole and hooked one so I tried my paste line but nothing for me. So, it was then a case of trying all the lines… as you do. ‘Flogging a dead horse’ is the saying that springs to mind! Anyway, that said, I didn’t see much being caught anywhere so I knew it was defo going to be another one of ‘those days.’

Gerry had a couple now on his long line and later he had a couple more from his right-hand margin. As usual, I couldn’t buy a bite on any bait and from any of my swims. It’s sooooo frustrating when this happens and maybe I should have chucked out the waggler or gone for silvers but I didn’t have a wag rod set up, so I chucked out a maggle feeder instead. I caught 4 small skimmers and 4 small perch on this method before I gave up and went back onto my 6-metre paste line. With 2 hours left, I decided to stay on the paste come what may.

Then with just over an hour to go my swim sparked into life. Wow! The cavalry had arrived! I hooked and lost 2 carp in a row before finally hooking and landing one about 8lbs. Then after I lost another 2 carp, with scales on the hook indicating some foul hooking going on, I dumped in a load of groundbait to get the fish down onto the bottom. A few minutes later I had another carp in the net, which was probably about 7lbs. Then with about 5 minutes to go I hooked and lost another. FFS! And there was fooking paste everywhere!

It was all too little too late for me and with just 2 carp and less than 2lb of silvers to show for my efforts I chucked back before the scales arrived. Peg 12 turned out to be very disappointing for me today and getting beat by Gerry again off the next peg is beginning to give me an inferiority complex. The match was won easily by Sean Townsend again, making it 4 wins on the Bonanza qualifier for him now. His 82lb was more than enough to settle any arguments. In second place was Kev Bilder with 64lb and me ol’ mate Gerry, squeezed into third place with 54lb.

Well done to all who framed on what was a really difficult day. Well, with all the excitement over, it was back to reality. No mid-week match for me but I should be okay to fish next Sunday’s match on Margaret’s Lake at Whitehouse Farm. I had a few carp there last time so I’ll be putting the same tactics to the test again, once I’ve removed all the baked-on paste from my pole sections, seat box, landing net handle… keep you posted.

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