March 3rd – Alcove Rover – The Clamp, Nr Westerleigh – At Least It Was Dry & Sunny

2 match reports again this week but first a mention about my blog website. The site went down a few days ago due to a technical issue, which still hasn’t been fully resolved. I’m working on a fix but in the meantime, I’m still able to continue to post blogs. The pages just look a bit different due to a problem with a web page editing program.

29^th February – Windmill Fisheries, Nr Westerleigh

So, I fished at Windmill again on Thursday, which is becoming a regular pastime for me now that I’m “semi-retired.” Once again we had 9 anglers turn out and once again it rained… FFS! My kit still hasn’t dried out from my last outing. Anyway, I drew number 2 and opted for peg 14. This peg has been on form in recent weeks and I was feeling brave enough to trudge through the swamp to have a go. It was treacherous getting down to the peg and the last thing I needed was to fall in… again! Needless to say, it took an age to get ready as I had to carry only a few things at a time down to the bank and platform. Legion clubmate, Kev Murch decided on peg 16.

So, my plan was to fish down the right-hand margin up against the reeds with corn and meat. Also, I would have a look on the left-hand margin with pellet. The far bank, at 16 metres, was definitely going to be explored with maggles and my silvers line would be at 9 metres. On the all-in, I dropped in a large pot full of Thatcher’s Original… groundbait not cider… together with some dead red maggles. On my left-hand margin I cupped in some micros and 6mm expander pellets and on my right-hand margin, in went some corn, meat and micros. I then pulted out about 30 maggles to the island. As I had noticed a couple of carp swirling just off the edge of the island, I started there with a bomb and bread/corn/meat/maggle but after 30 minutes I had no takers. Not even any liners, which tells me they were up in the water.

So next, I lowered my usual 0.4-gram pencil float rig in over the 9-metre line. It wasn’t long before I had a small roach, which was quickly followed by a decent skimmer of about 2lbs. I carried on fishing this line for the next hour, catching a 5lb carp and another 2lb skimmer before it went a bit quiet. I then took a look on my left-hand margin with pellet but nothing doing there. It was the same for my right-hand margin which was a bit worrying because I had pinned my hopes on a big catch from this line. The last time I drew this peg I had 98lb from the right-hand margin but not a sniff this time around. I topped up the silvers line and dropped in my rig, this time I baited the hook with double maggle and I had another big skimmer within seconds of the rig settling. That made 3 big skimmers, which is mega for this lake at any time of year.

I carried on firing maggles out to the island as this would be my sniper line for the last hour should the silvers line go dead again. Anyway, within the next 90 minutes, I had 3 more skimmers and 2 more carp from this line before it died. Wow! 6 skimmers in one session is the most I’ve had anywhere from this lake. So, I was sure I would be in with a shout for the slivers pool today. Well, after a quick look down the edges again and another 10 minutes on the 9-metre line, with nothing happening, it was time to go out long. I rigged up my trusty front-end pole roller, baited the hook with a single maggle and then pushed out my rig to within 6 inches of the island. I didn’t have to wait long before the elastic was out and I was playing a big carp.

In the last hour, I kept firing out more bait and then quietly dropped my rig in over the top. I lost 2 very big fish… or maybe foul hookers, although I was only fishing 12 inches deep here. Anyway, I had 3 more carp before the all-out. I thought I hadn’t done quite as well as I should have on the carp but I can’t really pinpoint what I was doing wrong… if anything. When it came to weigh-in, I had 11lb 6oz of silvers and 34lb of carp, giving me a total of 45lb 6oz. This was enough for second overall and second in the silvers. Well done to John Williams who won the match with 80lb 8oz of carp from his favourite peg 20 and well done to John Osborne for winning the silvers with 13lb 5oz.

3^rd March – Alcove Rover Match, The Clamp, Nr Westerleigh

Well, this was a strange one in some respects. There were 11 or 12 names down for this one originally but gradually over the course of a week we had only 4 names left, including me. With such a low turnout, the payouts would be for first and second. I drew number 2 and plumped for peg 12. This is my favourite peg on the lake, which produced about 20lbs of quality silvers for me back in November, during a very rewarding pleasure session. Kev Murch chose peg 11 and silvers ace, Steve Dawson went for peg 10. Match secretary, Tony Welsby opted for peg 6 on the opposite bank, which is another flyer of a peg.

I wanted to keep everything simple today, so I decided on a 3 line approach. One at 11 metres, slightly to my right and toward the island, one at 6 metres out in front and one at 2 metres down my left-hand margin. Baits were maggles, pinkles and 4mm soft pellets. Groundbait was Thatcher’s Green. I actually started out on 3mm punched bread on the short line and had 2 very small roach before switching to the 11-metre line where I caught an early skimmer of about 8 ounces on a dead red maggle. Well, bites were slow in coming and I had to be very patient, which is difficult for me. I always feel as though I should be doing something different, trying something different or experimenting with psychedelic drugs… well, perhaps not the last one.

Instead, to prevent boredom, I started dropping my rig in away from the baited area as there was a gentle tow moving from left to right. This paid off as I caught a handful of small skimmers from about a metre away from where I had been feeding. However, eventually, this line died completely so I focused on the 6-metre line for a while where I caught a steady run of small roach and a couple more skimmers. My right-hand edge line did produce but not as profusely as in previous sessions. I only had about 4 or 5 fish from here. At the weigh-in I had 3lb 2oz for second and a few more beer tokens. Tony won convincingly with some quality skimmers, totalling 9lb 11oz from peg 6. Moments to note: it was a lovely dry and sunny day.

Well, I’ll be back at Windmill again on Thursday but this time there will be a full house… On the announcement of a new qualifying competition, with £500 for the winner, £400 for second, £300 for third and many other fabulous prizes… names on the list have shot up from 9 regulars to 21. Each week, the winner or next best weight will qualify for a MoneyFest final later in the year… Money eh? A great motivator. Keep you posted.

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