March 24th – A Bit Of Slap & Tickle For Two Fat Ladies And A Place In The Final!

Another 2 match reports this week, with the first one covering the Thursday Costcutter 500 at Windmill Fisheries. This is the one everyone wants to win so they can qualify for the big money pot final in September. My second match of the week was a rover held at Whitehouse Farm on Sunday 24^th.

21^st – Windmill 500 Costcutter Qualifier

There were 21 anglers booked in for this one, which proves how popular this match has become. I was hoping to draw down the bottom end of the lake today on either peg 10,11, 12 or 14 as it seems the carp have moved down to the shallower water. However, with a cold wind blowing down the lake I wasn’t sure whether they might have changed their minds and moved back up to the deep water again. You never can tell with these Windmill carp. So, into the drawbag goes the hand of hope and out comes peg 11. That’ll do nicely! Tim Ford drew this peg on the previous Sunday Open and caught well, fishing up in the water on pellet. So, that would be my main approach today.

When I finally arrived at my peg, after trudging through the Windmill mud, the wind was blowing right down the lake and into my face. I had to put my hood up, which stayed up all day. I couldn’t see any movement in the reeds to right but a carp did roll out by the island, so at least there was one carp to go for. My plan today was to fish 15 inches deep with an 8mm banded hair-rigged pellet. Plan B was to try both edges, one at 10 metres to my right and the other at 5 metres to my left with meat, corn and pellet over micros. Plan C was to fish maggles out front at 9 metres. With that said, I was hoping I wouldn’t have to venture any further than plan A, as I was out for a win with carp today, nothing more nothing less.

On the all-in, I cupped out a small pot of micros, meat, corn and pellet to both edge lines. I didn’t intend to top up these 2 swims unless I caught from them. Next, I started slapping my shallow rig alongside the reeds to my right. After 15 minutes, I decided to leave this line for a while as there were no signs of life. Instead, I had a go on the 9-metre line with a single red maggle, fishing at full depth but with only 4 no. 11s down the line. The idea was to see if I could pick off any fish as the rig fell slowly through the water. That would have given me some idea about what level the fish were at. I didn’t loose-feed anything, I just rang the changes from maggle to corn to soft pellet and hard pellet. After about 30 minutes, I had caught 3 small roach on this method but no sign of any carp.

Meanwhile, Ray Bazeley, who was on peg 10, caught a carp on the bomb, right over toward the island, which made me think about chucking out a bomb and pellet. However, I resisted and decided to go back to slapping my right-hand margin at 13 metres. With about 90 minutes on the clock, I had a quick look down the edges but there was nothing doing on either of them. I then noticed the reeds moving to my right and so out went the slapping rig again and finally … bingo! With my first carp in the net and 2 hours gone, I was relieved, to say the least. I carried on slapping my 8mm hard pellet and within a couple of minutes, I was in again. By now there was much more activity going on in the reeds. The swim had finally come to life!

For the next 2 hours I caught steadily, losing a couple in the reeds and foul hooking one that took an age to get in. Then it was like someone had flicked a switch. I had no more bites for 10-15 minutes and there was no longer any movement in the reeds. I put on an extra tube, pushing the rig out to 14 metres but still nothing. So, I upped the game to 16 metres and although I was just in touch, I was unable to hold the pole against the strong side wind so the bait presentation was pretty woeful. With the fish out of reach, I turned my attention to open water. By now a few fish were rolling all over the place so they were definitely hugging the top level. All I had to do was tempt a few. I resisted the temptation to start firing out loose feed, which might just send them down so I carried on from where I had left off.

After about 15 minutes of persistent slapping out in front at 13 metres, I connected with a 12-pounder and the best fish of the day. So, I continued to slap, right, left and centre, picking off fish here and there over the course of the rest of the match. I actually caught 6 carp on the same pellet! Ray had caught well on the bomb but I didn’t see much else being caught during the day so I was confident I had done okay from my peg. The scales confirmed I had 88lb 13oz, which was enough for a win today but more importantly, a place in the final. I can now carry on fishing the Thursday Costcutter matches without any pressure.

24^th – Whitehouse Farm Rover Match – Both Lakes

19 anglers turned out for this one, which was fished across both lakes. I had previously made a note of the pegs I wanted to fish but it all depended on whether they would be available when it got to my turn to choose. Into the draw bag once more and out comes number 5, which meant I had 5^th pick of the pegs. My first choice would have been peg 6 on Margaret’s with peg 5 being my second choice. I got peg 5. My thinking was that as the weather was getting warmer, the fish would be moving into shallower water. This peg also has 2 cracking margins, lined with reeds and are usually good holding areas for carp and F1s. I also had an island chuck plus it was sheltered from the wind. What more could I want? Well, some fish would be nice!

So, having selected this peg, my focus would be on carp down the edges. Corn, meat and pellet would be the choice of baits for these margin swims, both of which were 4 feet deep. A little too deep if I’m honest but I’ve had some great days on this peg in the past and I was feeling quite positive. The island would be my first port of call with a maggle feeder for the chub, although they haven’t been showing in any numbers recently, so I had to have a backup plan. This was to be at 11 metres, fishing full depth at 6 feet for skimmers with maggles, pinkles and worm. I also had some 4mm soft pellets as a change bait. Groundbait choice was Thatcher’s Original and a few F1 micros.

On the all-in. I cupped out some groundbait, maggles and pinkles to the 11-metre line and then lobbed out the maggle feeder toward the island, stopping about 6 feet short at first. I then moved closer with each cast until I was about 2 feet from the edge. All I managed from here was one roach during the first 40 minutes… I was not too impressed with that! Next, I cupped in some micros and meat to my left-hand edge and some micros and corn to my right-hand edge. While I waited for that to settle I dropped a rig over the 11-metre line, baited with a single maggle. A few small roach obliged before I netted a skimmer of around 12 ounces. I then struggled for bites on this line so tried the edges. Sometimes you instinctively know when it’s not going to go well. There were no signs down the edges and no carp moving on the surface anywhere.

Andy Gard had chosen to fish on peg 3 and was catching small silvers on the waggler. He was having a day’s fishing, keeping busy and dodging the geese and ducks. Tony George was on peg 6 and he too was struggling although he did get one chub and an F1. However, it just wasn’t happening up our end of the lake today for some reason. I chucked out the maggle feeder once more and landed a big goldfish, which must have been almost 2lbs but several more casts didn’t produce any more bites on this line. I added a few more small roach from the silvers line and I could have spent the whole day going for them but felt it would have been a waste of time. I wanted carp! So I spent the last 2 hours working the 2 edge swims, varying the baits and moving all along the reeded perimeters. During the whole time, I never had a single indication. I ended up with just over 3lbs and a virtual kick up the backside for being such a plonker and choosing a crap peg! The overall winner was Mike Nichols from peg 10 on Georges Lake with 32lb 7oz of mainly chub from the island. Well done Mike.

Well, you win some and you lose some… There’s no Windmill match next Thursday as the lake is booked for a club match. The next one is the week after, which is already fully booked with 24 names and 6 more on the waiting list! I’ll be back there for the Sunday open on the 31^st… keep you posted!

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