Sunday 2nd September – Windmill Fisheries – Just When I Thought I Had It In The Bag

I’ve been getting a little behind schedule lately with my blog reports. The bank holiday threw me a bit and then I had to deal with other commitments like club meetings, work, nervous breakdowns etc. All the usual stuff. So 2 matches to catch up on, the first one being a silvers-only match at Windmill on the Top Lake, August 29^th.

I had never fished this lake before and had only ever seen it once when nobody was fishing on it, so I didn’t have a clue what to expect. I had to ask around on the morning of the draw because I didn’t know how deep it was, what fish were present and which were the best pegs. I was still no wiser. So, 10 anglers turned up for this one, which is the limit for this lake. I drew peg 10, which is a corner peg. I was able to drive through the field to within about 30 metres of my peg although there was still a steep bank to climb. When I got to my peg, all I could see was carp.

There were carp all over my left-hand margin so that was going to be out of bounds. I plumbed up out in front at 7 metres and found 6 feet of water. At 11 metres there wasn’t much difference, so I decided to fish those 2 lines. I also set up a whip for fishing maggle up in the water to my right at about 5 metres from the bank. My rigs were nearly identical, with 0.3-gram pencil floats, 0.12 mainline, a size 20 hook to 0.8 hooklength for fishing at 7 metres, and a size 18 hook for fishing at 11 metres. My elastic choice today was number 6 for the shorter rig and a number 8 for the longer rig. Baits were maggles, worm and corn.

On the all-in, I cupped out some Pro Thatchers Original to both lines and then started on the 4-metre whip. I began catching small fish right away, which were mainly rudd and small roach but after about an hour this tailed off. A look over the 7-metre line only produced a small roach for 30 minutes of trying. I moved onto the 11-metre line and had a few slightly better specimens on double maggle but had to wait an age for a bite. I changed to corn and immediately hooked a carp that took me straight into the left-hand side reed bed. FFS! I’d been trying to avoid them but hooking and losing them was inevitable.

I dumped some more groundbait on this line and went back onto the whip. It wasn’t the same as when I first started. I had very few fish and the lightning-fast bites were virtually impossible to hit. Meanwhile, Kev Winstone on the next peg to my right had found some nice big skimmers so I had to go back out onto the 11-metre line and try again. This time I put a single red maggle on the hook but once again I had a carp. This one was only about 3 lbs and I managed to land it. I hooked and lost 2 more soon after. Well, I didn’t know where else to go. There were carp on my long line, nothing on my short line and just a few finicky rudd on my whip line.

I spent the rest of the match just probing about and I did manage to find a skimmer of around a pound and a half but it was too little too late. I finished up with a pathetic 5lbs odd for last in the match, I think. Nice lake though. Well done to Hughie Evans who put an impressive 22-14-0 on the scales for first place.

Sunday 1^st September

It was another Windmill match for me today and this time I was having yet another desperate go at trying to qualify for the Bonanza 1000 final. I think there’s one more chance left. Well, I had already decided that today I was going to qualify one way or another… as long as I had the right draw. There were 18 anglers on this one including all the famous names and faces… lol. Wherever I ended up today, my approach was going to be 3 lines. One on the worm, one on the paste plus a margin swim. I had drawn peg 25 on the last 2 previous matches and didn’t want to draw that one again as I really, and I mean REALLY struggled. So I hung back and waited for someone else to draw that peg.

Well done to Nick Sanders who saved me from a fate worse than death… or so I thought. So into the draw-bag, I go and out comes peg 8. Yes! That’ll do nicely, I thought. When I got to my peg, the first thing I noticed was that the wind was blowing up the lake toward peg 25. FFS! It had been blowing down the lake in the last 2 matches. I would have been more than happy to sit it out on peg 25 today with the wind in my face as undoubtedly, the carp follow the wind. Nevermind, I was still relatively happy with my lot although peg 9 had been throwing up some fabulous weights recently.

So, as I mentioned earlier, I was only going to set up 2 lines out in front. One was at 7 metres slightly to my right and one at 10 metres slightly to my left. I favoured my right-hand margin over the left, as it had some bankside cover. My usual paste rig was to come into play on the 7-metre line with a reverse shotting pattern for my worm rig on the 10-metre line. That just means the bulk of shot was nearer the hook for this one and nearer the float for the paste rig. On the all-in, I didn’t put any feed in, although in hindsight I think I should have. Instead, I spent the first hour on both maggle and method feeders fishing right across for just 2 small skimmers.

In the second hour, I fed both lines out in front but had to wait an hour before I caught my first carp. Meanwhile Jason Crump on peg 9, had already caught 2 carp on the method feeder from under the tree opposite him. It was only when we had slipped into the third hour that the carp arrived properly. I hooked 2 more on the paste line before losing 4 in a row. FFS! I always expect to lose a few but I fooking hate it when that happens. So, I decided to rest the paste line and take a look on the 10-metre line with worm. I had already dumped in 2 big pots of chopped worm here and now it was fizzing like a Jacuzzi.

I started getting indications straight away and soon after I hooked one of about 8lbs. Then I had another about 6lbs followed by a couple of foul hookers before it went quiet. A look over the paste line didn’t produce so I dumped out another large potful of chopped worm and went over it with 2 dendras on the hook. Bang! Straight in! It seemed the longer line with worm was working well and the paste line had now died. So, I kept topping up with more chopped worm and they kept coming. I had about 40 lb in one keepnet so I put out another net in anticipation. A quick look at the time revealed there were only 90 minutes left and although I was doing okay I felt I was still 2 carp behind peg 9 and 2-3 behind Adrian Davies on peg 10.

I put 2 more into the new net within 20 minutes before the unthinkable and totally unexpected happened… I had a positive bite… I struck… and my no. 8 pole section snapped. WTF! As the majority of my pole was now on the surface of the water and slowly slipping away, panic set in. I grabbed my landing net and managed to stop it from drifting farther out but I was thinking there might be a carp attached and if there was then my pole could just disappear from view at any moment. After a few minutes I managed to get a good angle on the pole with my net but I had to get down on my knees to be able to grab it. For a few seconds, I thought I was going in… again.

Well, I somehow managed to grab the broken end and pull the pole toward me. Thankfully, the carp had gone, otherwise, I’m sure I would have lost the pole completely. Well, that certainly shook me up and to some extent it also fooked up my swim. I wasn’t able to continue fishing at 10 metres now. I had to come back to about 8.5 metres and the carp were still out there at 10 metres… all queuing up. All I could do was dump another load of choppie onto my now shorter line and hope they would come in closer. Well finally they did, but I had lost the momentum and more importantly, a vital 30-40 minutes, during which time pegs 9 and 10 had surged ahead. I caught 2 more in the last 10 minutes but they were both smaller fish at probably 3-4lbs each.

Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, something is going to push you right back. All you can do is take it on the chin and keep going. WTF! I thought I was on my way today. That’s not the first time my kit has let me down and I don’t expect it will be the last. Peg 8 has now become a bit of a bogey peg for me. I fell in on this peg last year just as the match was about to start. I had no choice but to go home and get into some dry clothes. So, today I ended up with 58-3-0 for 5^th place. Jason Crump on peg 9 had 67-1-0 and qualified by default. The 3 others above me had already qualified, so it was a close call and I’m sure I would have nailed it if my pole hadn’t broken at such an inopportune moment. Sh*t happens!

Well, I’ve got another busy schedule coming up. I’ll be fishing at Windmill again on Thursday the 5th then the Riverfest Qualifier on the Bristol Avon on Saturday the 7th and then an RBL club match on the river at Staverton on Sunday the 8th. Then it’s back to Windmill on Thursday 12^th and then back again for my very last chance to qualify for the Bonanza Final on the 15^th. Phew! Keep you posted.

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