Sunday 23^rd March – Whitehouse Farm Rover – The Answer Wasn’t Blowing In The Wind

Hi everyone and welcome to my latest blog. Last Thursday (20th March), I partook in a contest at Windmill Fisheries… once again. We had 12 eager and enthusiastic danglers in attendance and the main topic of conversation was… the sunshine! Yes, that’s right! The sun was shining and we were expecting a balmy 18 degrees today. Surely the carp would come out to play or at least bask on the surface, revealing their presence… yes or no?

I drew peg 3, which is one of my least favourite pegs on the lake, but at least there was nobody in pegs 2 or 4. So I had plenty of water to work with, which can sometimes be a good thing and sometimes a bad thing. Only regular match anglers would understand this. On peg 1, I had Sean Townsend for company and so he was the man to watch… like a hawk! As I surveyed my peg, I noticed the tell-tale signs of carp activity in the reeds against the island and so I set up a rig for that. Then I thought maybe the fish could be ready to feast on worms today and so I set up a rig for that. I looked at the inside lines, both of which have some sparse reeds to fish up to and so I set up a rig for that as well.

Finally, I thought I had better set up a bomb rod just in case, or for when I wanted to stop to make a brew and so I set up a rod for that. So, now that I was all set up, it was just a case of going through the motions. On the all-in, I cupped out some chopped worm and caster to the 10-metre line. I intended to leave this for at least 2 hours before going over it with a whole dendra. Next, I cad-potted a few micros and meat to my right-hand edge and some corn to my left. Then it was time to tackle those reed dwellers for some action. I connected my front pole roller, put together 16 metres of carbon tubes, baited the size 18 hook with a single red maggle and out I went.

At first, I stopped short of the reeds, fishing about 12-18 inches in front at full depth, which was about 4 feet. After 30 minutes I had no takers and so I upped the depth to 18 inches, and then edged closer and closer to the reeds until I was poking the tip of my top 2 right inside them. (That last sentence sounds almost pornographic! LOL). Okay, so the float dipped and I was in. I pulled the pole back as fast as I could to ensure I got the fish free from the reeds. I even managed to get it halfway across the lake before we parted company. He did leave behind his calling card by way of a large scale… so an obvious foul-hooker.

Undeterred, I shortened the rig to just 12 inches and went in again. After a lot of dinks and lifts, the float sailed away and I was in again. This one had no intention of stopping or coming out as it disappeared deeper and deeper into the reed bed. All I had to show after a lot of tugging was a dead reed stem. So, now I’m 2 fish down but meanwhile, Sean next door is 2 fish up. FFS! What was he doing? Well, he was fishing a long lash of around 4-5 feet and had his rig set up at about 12 inches deep. I couldn’t see what bait he was using, but he didn’t seem to be feeding anything at all.

I stopped fishing for a couple of minutes and looked all around my peg to see if I could spot any muggers or just any fish cruising in the top layer. I had a little slap for them too, but I had no response whatsoever. So, it was back out into the dreaded reed bed. A few minutes later and I was in again. This one made a heck of a splash as it quickly turned over, in a desperate attempt to get free, leaving my rig firmly embedded in the reeds. I had to pull for a break on that one. I was getting nowhere fast so I decided to take a look over the chopped worm line. There were no signs there, so a quick look down both edges next, and no signs there either.

The only place I could see signs of life was right in the middle of the reeds… and over in peg 1 where Sean was making short work of catching fish shallow on what looked like pellet. Word came round that everyone was struggling for bites and so that spurred me on to go back out into the reeds of doom and try to drag one of those beasts away from their comfort zone. This time I put on a serious margin top-kit, comprising 2 short reinforced sections and a size 20 bungee elastic. I changed the rig too, which now had a size 16 hook to 0.19 hook length. Nothing was getting away this time… right?

Well, the carp were up for a challenge too and it wasn’t long before yet another fish was lost in the reed haven… leaving me pulling for a break again. For fook sake! I was just never going to get anything out of this fooking reed bed. So, I spent the next hour drowning a worm in a vain attempt to entice any type of fish. I also spent a good 30 minutes down each edge, but it just wasn’t happening. By this time, a few anglers had decided enough was enough as they headed for the car park. Meanwhile, Sean is still catching on his shallow rig. With 90 minutes left on the clock, my Legion clubmate, Jason Pitman, paid me a visit to see how the match was progressing. Well, at that point, I was 4-0 down and just rolling out the 16-metre rig again as there was nothing else to do.

After about 15 minutes, I finally hooked and netted my first carp of the day. Sometimes, persistence pays, even though it was only about 4lbs in weight and no match for my heavy gear. So, I carried on with this method and with about 30 minutes left to go, I landed another, smallish carp. I’m sure if they had been 8lb plus fish, I wouldn’t have got them out. That was confirmed in the last 10 minutes when I hooked into a much better fish that simply parted the reed bed and disappeared into oblivion. Game over!

Well, a really frustrating day for me and most of the other anglers too, but every cloud… My 2 fish went just 8-6-0, which was enough for a section win… oh happy days!

Whitehouse Farm Rover

We had 18 turn out for this one, which was spread across both lakes. After my pleasure session/practice the week before, I had already made my mind up to fish peg 6 on Georges Lake if possible. This peg has lots of options with a small island to fish to, a tree on the left-hand edge for carp, lots of open water and a nice whip edge to fish to on the right-hand side. I pulled out number 7 on the draw, which meant I was number 7 in line to pick my own peg. When it got around to me, peg 6 Georges was still vacant and so I got the peg I wanted.

When I got to my peg, I was pretty optimistic about catching around 20lb of silvers, mainly skimbos, roach and rudd. Also, there was always a chance of a big chub or two from the island and a carp from under the tree later on in the day. So, I set up 2 pole lines at 10 metres, left and right, for skimbos. One for fishing with worm and one for fishing maggles. I was hoping my whip line would produce some quality roach and rudd, as in previous matches, and maybe even a bonus F1 or Goldie. As 10 o’clock approached, the wind began to pick up, which I feared would hinder my whip presentation, but I wasn’t unduly worried at that stage.

So, on the all-in, I cupped out some chopped worm with a few casters mixed with some Sonubaits So Natural Black Bream groundbait to the left-hand swim. Then some groundbait and maggles to the right-hand swim. Next, it was out with a maggle feeder to the island for a chub. Well, I spent 30 minutes on the feeder with not so much as a fish fart to indicate any signs of chub or anything else. Hmmm… not looking good. So, next, it was out over the chopped worm with half a dendra, which was snaffled up by a small skimbo of around 6 ounces. I then had to wait at least 10 minutes before I had another very tentative bite, which I missed. So onto the maggle line for 3 small roach and then nothing. By this time, the wind had picked up considerably and I was having to put on my woolly hat.

For the next 2 hours, I alternated between both the left and right hand swims for a few more skimbos and small roach. The left-hand swim was much more productive and so I ditched the right-hand swim altogether. Then it was time to put the whip into action on my right-hand edge. I had been loose-feeding here all day and so an immediate response was expected. I began catching small roach steadily, but they were not the usual stamp of fish from this swim, which was disappointing. The bites tailed off quickly and they became very few and far between. The icy-cold Northwesterly wind was really getting up now, forcing me to put up my hood over my hat.

I think it was around this time that I began to realise that I had made a big mistake in choosing this peg today. The wind was killing it stone dead and it wasn’t at all pleasant sitting out in it. I was now wearing my coat over my hoodie for extra warmth! Well, I really did give the edge a good bashing but it just wasn’t happening there. That was a shame as this was my ‘ace in the hole’, my ‘cunning plan’ and my ‘last chance saloon’ all rolled into one! So, with an hour to go and with a couple of carp caught on the dam wall by Tony Welsby and Mike Reid, I had to have a go for a carp.

I had already fed some micros and a few pellets of meat under the tree branches to my left and so I gently lowered in a baited rig with my special margin pole and waited. This pole is an old Garbolino fitted with a 28 elastic and will stop a train. The carp in this lake go to well over 20lbs and you need some serious kit to get them out. I have landed carp to over 23lbs on this gear. Well, time just ticked away and all I had during 30 minutes was one very fast bite, which I missed. I spent the last 30 minutes back out over the worm line, where I had a couple more bigger skimbos before the all-out shout went out! Well, I ended up with just under 6lbs and I have nobody to blame except myself because I chose the peg. I chose it for a reason and I would do it again, only next time, I would check the wind direction.

So, well done to Mike Reid, who finished in top place on George’s with 14lb, which included a carp of 8-3-0. Very well done to also to Jason Pitman, who finished in first place overall with 44-8-0 from peg 5 on Margaret’s Lake, which included 5 carp. Jason wanted peg 6 on Margaret’s, but I pulled out his number, which happened to be 17, so peg 6 was long gone. However, peg 5 still remained and from that he made no mistake in demolishing the opposition. What a class act!

Well, my next match will be on the Doughnut Lake at Harescombe Fisheries near Stroud on Tuesday 25^th and then back to Windmill on Sunday 30^th for an open. Will the fishing improve? Keep you posted!

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