Windmill open.

After sitting in the shade all day yesterday  and feeling very cold it was nice to see the sun out today and everybody would be sat in full sun. Into the draw box and out comes 28. Same peg I came second from last week so was pleased to be in the deep water again. Got to the peg and there was a stiff breeze straight into my face, and it was pretty nippy. A bomb rod was set up and three rigs. One to fish maggot in the right margin at 4 feet deep. A .75 slim to fish maggot over caster at 2+1 about half a metre up the shelf  away from the silt in about 9 feet of water. And another .75 slim to fish at 13 meters over groundbait and caster for anything that swims. Had a couple of carp from that line last week so was hoping for the same plus maybe silvers. Started on the short line dropping  in caster and fishing dead red and pinging 8mm to the island. After 15 minutes and no bites  I picked up the bomb rod and slung it out to the island. Pretty quickly I had. Couple of liners and drop backs. One drop back I hooked a carp for about five seconds before the hook pulled. Eventually a good pull round then drop back and the strike was met with a lunging run for about five minutes before a good foul hooked mirror found its way to the net. Next chuck and a 3 pounder. Then nothing. So out on the long pole line and I had a few small skimmers, but I bumped about 6. The 8-10 elastic was to harsh for the size of fish so a top kit change cured that. Had a few then it died so a re freed and started switching around my rigs trying to get bites. The wind was a problem with presentation and I even had to use a rod rest on the short line to hold it still. The bomb line only produced one more and the only place I could get bites was at 13 meters when I could keep the rig still. I then put groundbait on the short line and caught a couple of bonus skimmers. But it was hard going. Just kept switching looking for bites. I eventually had a carp on the short line but playing it killed that line. Then the rain started and I thought I felt cold before. I basically lost all feeling in my fingers, and after loosing a large carp from the margin line that snapped me off I tried to put another hook length on and couldn't cos I couldn't feel my hands. So I packed up with 20 minutes to go as I couldn't stop shivering. I recon it's the coldest I've ever felt fishing. At the weigh in I put  4-12 of mainly skimmers and 21-12 of carp for a 26-8 total. That got me top silvers by default. Happy days. First was Brian Shanks who caught mainly on long pole on meat for 77-14 on peg 2. Second was the ever consistent Mike Nicholls on peg 3 with a total of 51-11. Cheers for the silvers pool Mike.

1st, Brian Shanks 77-14
2nd Mike Nicholls 51-11
3rd Mark Summer 44-11, peg 22

Silvers
1st Mike Nicholls 6-02
2nd Stuart Barnett 4-12