Landsend League

I was guesting again today and as this match was a random draw I could be on any of the first 3 lakes. I arrived after the draw time (mainly to being behind a big queue of other anglers having brekkie at the fountain cafe) and there were 4 pegs left in the hat 2 good and 2 not good, I pulled out 34 which I was happy with. However, Tony Rixon reckoned I might find it tricky due to the wind.

I walked down the steps to peg 33 and immediately noticed not only the "landscaping" but also the howling wind. I set up a straight lead using a Preston 10ft mini lead rod, and 0.14 to 16 PR36. Pole rigs were limited to just two today, a 0.6g Preston PB Inter float (round bodied wire stem) which would do for most of the swims I could fish, and a 0.3g PB Inter for across if the wind dropped. I used 0.12 and 18 hooks.

I decided to feed two lines at 9mtrs, one with casters and one with soft pellet. I did the same at 13mtrs hoping the wind my drop to try here later. Over the 9mtr caster line and I hit a perch first drop in, which came off halfway back in! A couple of small roach were then followed by a 7lb carp which got me thinking there could be a few about. This line went dead so I refed it and tried the pellet line but this never produced a bite. Very quickly 90 mins had gone by and I was struggling on the 9mtr lines with no bites and strong wind. The guy on 33 had taken a few on the feeder and so I put the straight lead out, first over the 13mtr lines, and then right over and up the side of the island. All for 1 small liner!

Until about an hour to go I had not had a bite since the first 90 mins, but I then missed a bite on soft pellet at 9mtrs. I had earlier fed some more casters over to the point of the island at 14.5mtrs and tried this with no success, though I could only try it for a few minutes due to the wind. However, as Mike Duckett on peg 31 was catching across (and the wind snapped his pole) I stuck to this long line and as luck would have it the wind started to ease off. In the last 30 mins I had a perch, a double figure carp, and got snapped. I dropped the rig in after the whistle to see if they had turned up and a 8lb carp confirmed it, bugger!

It had not been a good day and my total weigh of 20lb 4oz was not good enough for an coin. Tony Rixon peg 32 won the lake just beating Mike Duckett (who had been blank after 3 hours) and read all about it on Tony's blog because there was a lot of laughter going on over there! Phil (Fabio) Harding won the silvers with 21lb from peg 38, mostly skimmers on soft pellet.

I can already feel the shoulders and back aching, bloody wind!