Windmill carp lake experiment

After a nightmare game at BCFC yesterday I was glad to get away from all that crap with a day on the bank. So Windmill it was. Got to the carpark and there were only 4 of us that turned up. This fishery has a reputation of being a bit windy at times so I expect the weather forecast put alot off. But!! As it was a bit nasty and such a low number two decided not to bother and left. Soft cocks lol. So after a chat with Brian Shanks and the fishery guys we decided to fish the carp lake as it has places that were a bit sheltered. Plus they wanted to know exactly what was there to catch. I didn't mind. These guys are doing a great job and working bloody hard to turn this fishery around from the shambles it was. The carp lake will soon be the new match lake and there is alot of work going on getting pegs dug out and ready for the coming summer. Brian and myself headed off to the bay at the top end of they lake where the wind was off our back. Not long after Martin McMahon turned up and sat down with the gale force winds battering him in the face. Hard as nails he is lol. After being told there are alot of small carp I decided on a groundbait and maggot approach. Not sure what Martin did. Brian only had meat and 4mm pellet so that was his approach. I set two rigs up. One to fish 2+2 in 3 1/2 feet over maggot. And another to fish at 9m with maggot over groundbait. Funnily it was 6 inches shallower at the longer length. Brian caught short on pellet before I had put a rig on. A small carp around a  pound. Nice start. I caught after about 15 minute's short. But even trying several times it was the only bite I had there. So it was out on the longer line. I had a bit of success taking 4 fish to around 3lb on that line. Martin was struggling with the horrific wind bless him lol. Brian carried catching steadily. I struggled for any bites for a while. Brian stopped catching so went to around 11m and started again on meat over pellet. So not to be outdone I did the same. Potting in 4mm pellet. It wasn't long before I picked up a couple but bites were a long time coming. Then the wind change direction a bit and presentation in front was really suffering. So I turned 45 degrees to my left and fed 4mm again. Good move. I could sort of hold the float still and i started catching. But it was a bit of a struggle landing them. When ya got a silvers rig on to catch pasty size carp and then you start hooking fish up to near 20lb, then it got a little difficult lol. The biggest I landed went 15-8. I had another double but lost 3 more huge things including one I had at the net before it broke me that I guessed at near 20lb. It was quite a bit bigger than the one I had in the net. At the end the fishery guys brought scales over and mine went just over 50lb. I was pretty happy as conditions for most of the day were terrible. Brian lost his fish and struggled for the last 2 hours but had over 20lb of small carp. Martin had one good double and a few pasties. Give him his due, he worked really hard in that wind to catch. So the conclusion is there are loads of carp to catch. How you go about it could be tricky when your catching small stuff and a huge lump comes along. Tackle choice could be Interesting. Next Sunday's match is gonna be on that lake so if you fancy a few fish it could be worth a go. I'm at Landsend so can't make it. But the fishery is now in good hands and I recon it's gonna be a great venue when they have finished with it.

Windmill open 26/2/17

Not done a blog for a couple of weeks as I've caught bugger all to talk about. Didn't fish yesterday so was looking forward to it. Only 7 today, but by the new fishery rules it meant the golden peg was in. Into the draw and out comes 22. Wasn't too displeased as that side of the island had a bit of recent form. Even though it was from peg 25 winning the last two matches. I had the end peg today so only Dave Haines next to me on 24. Strangely, even though he was next to the form peg, he never went across all day and just fished his top two for silvers, even though there was no silvers pool. Ah well, it left the far side for me to exploit. 4 rigs and a bomb rod set up. A .1 Shalla slim to fish 16 meters to the island straight in front on pellet. The bomb rod would take care of searching the island in other spots. But the pellet rig never got used as at the all in the wind picked up alot and made it impossible to go that far. A meat rig to fish at 10 meters. A silvers rig incase it was hard. And a margin rig to fish corn to my left in a big gap in the vegetation that plagues this place. At the start I fed my lines and went over to the island with 8mm pellet, waiting for the wind to drop. But it never all day. After half an hour and no indications I came in on the silvers line. I had a few but they were tiny roach. So after a while I went back over casting around. Another half hour before the tip went round, and it was a good skimmer around 2lb. Not what I wanted but no one else was catching so it was a welcome addition to the net. I tried the meat line after two hours but it was impossible to hold the float still so that didn't last long. Back over and I managed  two carp in two chucks for about 14lb. So I was now well ahead of anybody else. Dave was catching regularly but it was mainly whitebait. I came back on my silvers line and there were quite alot there but they were mainly very small. And even at two plus two line it was very hard to present the bait still in the hard wind. So I decided to concentrate on the bomb and just hoped to pick up a couple more. But it didn't happen. With an hour to go I came into my margin line. In 20 minutes I landed three small carp. And I mean small. They probably went just over 3lb between them. A quick re-feed and back over to the island to try my luck and I finally got a few pull rounds landing 4 in the last half hour. At the end I was guessing on around 35lb. My silvers went over two and my carp took it to 37lb something for the win. I didn't get the result sheet photo and I'm not too sure who got second as I wanted to get away for the rugby. But second was around 7lb. Sorry it's a bit vague. It really did fish hard and I consider myself a bit lucky to find a few that wanted to feed. Remember I said the golden peg was in, well I had it , so a nice little bonus pick up. Happy days

Landsend Saturday open 11/2/17

Didn't do a blog on last weeks Winter league at Landsend cos I forgot. Not much to say anyway. I drew 25 on special, and spent the day loosing nearly everything I hooked. Didn't help when the only place I could get a bite was amongst the snags along the end bank and I'd basically lost them before I could do anything. Ended up landing just two carp and a a couple of silvers for 10lb and last but one in the section. That's my series over.
Back to today and it was bloody hard. It was clear after one hour that the top two would come from 11 and 13 as usual. If ya don't draw at that end of the lake you ain't got a chance. I had my first fish from peg 3 after over 3 hours and basically just scratched around for the very odd bite. Had one small carp and seven roach. With fifteen minutes to go it was clear I wouldn't come anywhere and not catch anything else  as long as I had a hole in my ass. So I packed up early. The few I had probably went just over 3lb. Didn't wait for the results. And with the rugby and football on I made a quick getaway. .

Windmill sunday open 29/1/17

Not been here yet this year and as the weather was looking horrid I left it untill I got up before deciding I was gonna bother. First time here under the new regime. Glad to see the place might be in good hands. They are open to suggestions and mine was to shoot all the friggin ducks. You cant fish to the island anymore as its just a duck smorgasbord when you feed. The match here Thursday was a grueller so I was hoping today would be better as it has warmed up a little bit. Into the wooden box and number 1 comes out. Not a bad draw as its in the deeper water. There was around a dozen fishing and I really didn't fancy a draw in the shallow end. For company I had Jerry Welsh to my left on 3, Dave Wilmot the other side of the bowl on 28. And Scott C, sorry didn't know his last name but he was a northerner on the golden peg so all guns were aimed at him not getting it lol.Three rigs and a bomb rod today. A rig to fish in four feet as close to the margin as the out of control reeds allow. A silvers rig to fish caster over groundbait at 2+1 length. And a meat rig to fish at 13m in the deepest part of the peg. At the start I went straight to the island on 8mm pellet on the bomb, but as soon as the first pellets hit the water all hell broke out as the ducks homed in on it and it was like a diving comp to see which would vacuum up the most. f-----g things. so after 20 minutes of that I came in on the silvers line. At this point Dave had already had a good skimmer plus a carp, and Scott had two as well. 15 minutes and bite less I decided to go on the meat line. Well that was a good move. Straight into fish. A bit small but I was catching. To keep it reasonably short I stayed on that most of the day. Dave and Scott were keeping ahead of me in the fish count for the first half of the match but I was close. Then the wind got too much and I tried the bomb on the pole line with haired meat and took 4 in 30 minutes. It just happened that the bigger fish had moved in and they had doubled in size. Dave slowed right up at this point when he was probably ahead. Scott continued to catch but a lot of his fish were small. I went back on the pole with 90 minutes left as the wind abated and I continued to catch well up to the end with some big fish. at the all out I was sure id be near 100lb. I was first to weigh and my 22 carp went 101-08, and that got me the win for today. Scott had out caught me but he was stuck with mostly smaller fish and got second with 76-10. Dave`s fish dried up with an hour to go but managed third today with 61-01, including top silvers with 8-09. A few realy struggled with a couple of blanks so it was all down to the draw really. Below is the weigh sheet plus a couple of pictures showing how the pools pay outs will be from now on. But as its new management they will see how things go and if changes are required they will be, but I'm sure the anglers will be happy with how it will be done. The new guys look like they know what they are doing. Sorry, but photos are a bit dodgy but you can make it out.

landsend saturday open 28/1/17

As i hadn`t had a two match weekend I thought id kick this weekend off with a trip to Landsend. after a delicious breakfast cooked by the fry up Queen di, it was into the draw bag. 14 fishing and ten were on match, and four on Speci. I drew 32 on Speci and was pretty pleased. Joe Mcmahon had fish it last week and was top weight on the lake with 52lb. it was milder today and quite sunny but after dipping my hand in the water it was clear the water temp was freezing. Not a good sign.three rigs today. one to fish 16m tight to the end bank in 3 feet of water on maggot. it would also do for fishing infront of empty pallet 31. a .4 slim to fish meat at 16m in open water. and a silvers rig to fish maggot over micros for anything silver if it was hard. opposite on 33 was Ken Raynor and matty Baber on 34. I was the only angler on my side of the lake. started against the end bank, but after 15 minutes and no signs I switched to the short silvers line. nothing there either so it was back to the end bank. after a short while I had a little perch followed by a decent carp. then nothing for ages. in fact nobody was getting any bites. and it stayed that way for a long time.ken got his first bite and fish after three hours. Matty was biteless. 4 hours in and I got my second car, after switching to pellet. Ken had  big perch of 2lb +. but that was all he had apart from a losy fouler. I did manage one more 15 minutes before the end but that was my first bite in two hours. Matty remained biteles untill the end.top honours on the day went to Allan oram, on peg 19 with a nice net of silvers that went 12-12 and three carp for a total of 29-12. my net went 19-15 for nowhere today. Gotta admit I `d like to say it was realy hard today but it wasn't that good lol

!st. Allan Oram, 29-12, peg 19
2nd Eric Foreacre, 25-00, peg 21
3rd Rich Lovery, 21-04, peg 40

Landsend winter league round 2

Off to Landsend for round 2, hoping to make amends for the first round disaster. During a lush cooked breakfast, as it was too hot, I managed to draw out peg 41 on lake 3 today. It was fished yesterday so the ice had been broken and not re-frozen over night. Very low weight off of it yesterday but I wasn't too worried as I was hoping  everybody else breaking there Ice would spook a few my way..

For company I had Steve Seager (above) opposite on 68, doing his best to be the worlds worst angler with an ice breaker, so there was no peace and quiet for us today. Rob Watts on fancied peg 70, and Rich to my left on 42. Adrian Jeffery was in ear shot so Steve could be in for some abuse again today. 3 rigs today. A .1 Shalla slim to fish maggot across to the spit (below)

in 2 1/2 feet of water. A .2 diamond to fish maggot or caster down both margins. And a .4 slim to fish maggot at 11 meters, in open water, as far as the ice was broken, on maggot. At the start I cupped in maggot and caster down the margins. Maggots and soaked micros to the spit. And just 4 maggots and. Pinch of micros at 11 metres. After 16 minutes, and two F1's down to Rich, I had my first bite at 11 metres and hooked a decent skimmer, but the elastic went around a hidden piece of ice and the hook pulled out. Next drop in a good carp on but it bottomed out my  number 5 elastic as it headed for the island and snapped my .010 hook link. Next drop in a roach dropped off. Aaargghhh. Not good. Then no bites, so it was a small refeed and a switch to the spit. But nothing happened there. So it was back to the 11 metre line were I took a few skimmers and managed to hook and loose some carp. As the day went on it was a case of feed at 11 meters, get a fish refeed then change lines. The spit line produced a right lump half way through at about 12lb. But it was the same there. Feed, get a fish then move. If I didn't feed I got no bites. 5 carp found thier way to my net during the match , which was looking for pretty good on the day. But I lost 5 carp in total thanks to snags and fish just snapping my silvers rig. The margins s produced nothing apart for two tiny fish. Rich on my left struggled after a good first hour, and Steve had a good finish with two carp in the last 20 minute's so it was going to be close. At the end I was guessing at 20lb of carp, and 3 1/2 lb of silvers. I was first to wiegh on the lake and my carp wiegh was spot on but my silvers went  5-9, for 25-7 total that got me top spot on the lake. Rich had a total of 16-14. Steve managed 23-8. Mike Ducket had second wiegh with 24-4. So I redeemed myself today. Needed that Bradley as I can't drop any more points. The match was won by Craig Edmonds, doubt g what he does best and emptied it on peg 13 on Match lake for 151lb. Well done Trigger. Your a star. Too many wieghts to show so check the photos for full results.

Landsend Saturday open 14/1/17

The weather forecast for this weekend was supposed to be terrible but was nowhere near as cold as expected when I left home. Got to the lakes nice and early only to find the cafe was close today. Bloody great. No food on me and only a bottle of water. I pulled out peg 15 which I thought was a half tidy draw. I won't bore you with any details as it fished terrible. 6 bites all day for one big skimmer and one carp. Also lost a foul hooked carp, but that was all for me. Packed up with 15 to go as I couldn't see any point t in sitting there to the end. Didn't get the results, but im guessing Beanie won as he was the only person catching. Was gonna go to Windmill tomorrow but think I'll give it a miss. Fed up of sitting In the cold scratching around for a couple of bites.