I was umming and aahhing about coming back to Windmill simply because the carp appear to be balled up at either end of the lake, so very Peggy. However, I thought maybe third time lucky, surely a carp peg would come my way? But this time I took some casters , maggots and worms just in case.
When I got to the fishery car park it was a pleasant morning and the air was alive with bird song. I paid my pools to Dave Haines and soon it was draw time. I was gutted when I pulled out peg 18 which is the middle of the lake. I had peg 19 a month ago and struggled to catch much then. When I got to the peg I had a look at the usual anglers on the carp pegs 😂, and decided there and then I was going to fish for silvers for the full 6 hours.
I set up a 4x12 chianti with 0.10 to 18 SFLB for top set and casters. A 4x16 with 0.11 accupower to 16 SFLB for fishing at 11m, a 4x12 with same gear for fishing at 14m. All these lines were going to be fished left and right so 6 areas to fish. We started at 10:30 and I cupped a few balls of Sonubaits Thatchers and F1 dark on one 11m line, worm and caster on the other, I did the same at 14m. Started on the top set with casters, but after 20 minutes I only had 1 tiny Rudd. Out to 11m over the gbait, where I had a couple of roach and then a few 4oz skimmers. I then had a nice 2lb skimmer but then lost one when the hook bait went over the hook. Managed another skimmer but then all quiet. Onto the worm line but this was not good with just small fish. Back on the gbait and could only get bits on maggots and no bites on a worm. I topped it up and went out 14m over the gbait, this was rubbish! But over the worm I had 2 skimmers and then lost a fouler which ended the activity.
Back to 11m and on double red maggot I had a a steady run taking 6 skimmers all about a pound. But when this died it was a struggle to catch anything on these long pole lines. I was doing well though at this stage I guessed, with Mat Tainton on my left on 20 having a few skimmers. The carp were showing at the far end and I was happy with my choice of target species. Onto the top set with caster on the hook, it was actually quite difficult to get a bite but the roach and Rudd were decent 4oz fish. I kept at it knowing I was putting something in the net, but eventually it went as all I could get was the odd tiny dip on the float from micro roach. Unfortunately the rest of my areas were non responsive and to make matters worse Mat was now catching big skimmers from right across.
Resting the caster line did it good, with an 8oz roach and 10oz perch plus more roach. But Mat was getting away from me and I couldn’t beat him just on the top set. I copied Mat and fed some gbait further across my peg and heavily topped up my 11m gbait line. After 10 minutes I went across with caster on the hook, it didn’t take long to get a bite and it was a skimmer, nearly 3lb and my best fish. Next few drops I had roach, so I put a piece of corn on and had another skimmer. Of course it died on me and never had another skimmer here. In the last 20 minutes I caught 2 more skimmers off the 11m line which were welcome but not enough to get back at Mat.
Mat weighed in first and his silvers went 35lb 14oz, good weight and he had some big fish compared to me. He fished a good match, 16m with meat mainly over gbait.
Me next and I was a bit surprised to weigh 27lb 10oz, Mat commented that I had a lot more fish than him and he didn’t realise I had that much. The weather was much better than forecast but typically it started to pee down as we weighed in!
The match overall was won by John Fuidge from peg 12 with 154lb 8oz. He caught on hard pellets in his LH margin.
2nd was Mat Challenger on peg 3 with 117lb 6oz also on pellets. 3rd Gerry Welsh 116lb 4oz on peg 14, and 4th Tom Baker 115lb 6oz peg 11. Just 1 fish in it from 2nd to 4th!
I’m actually pleased I got things a bit better today, and I thoroughly enjoyed the day keeping busy and spotting lots of birds and even my first orange tip butterfly I’ve seen this year. It was a good day to be on the bank.
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