29/04/12 - Plantations - Horseshoe Lake

Weight – 10lb 3oz (3lb 3oz silvers)
Catch – 2 Carp, 2 Skimmers, 1 Perch
Weather – Rain, rain, rain and a cold NE gale!
Water Temp – 13.0c – 13.0c
Match – Pole Only Series – rd4 – 15^thout of 25 (8^th in section)

If it wasn’t for the fact that this was a league match, I won’t have bothered going and 5 no shows agreed. High winds and heavy rain meant some roads were partially flooded and branches of varying sizes littered the road.

No one wanted Paddock Lake today, because with very little cover it really was exposed to the elements. In fact of those that drew the lake, only 3 stayed to the bitter end.

It was back to random draw today and I certainly found myself in the section of doom. It was like a Thyers convention, with the majority of the league leaders present, so a big opportunity if you did well.

I drew a sheltered peg half way down the right hand side of the island and when I saw my peg I thought great, at least I can fish, with a large group of trees/bushes providing quite a bit of shelter, although the wind was still too strong to put up an umbrella. I did try, but after 5mins took it down again in case I did a Mary Poppins. The conditions were truly appalling. I wasn’t expecting to fish a winter league match at the end of April.

Looking at my peg, I was set back from the peg to my right, with the trees/bushes providing enough shelter for me to fish 10m to my right. I could also fish under the nearside branches, where I hoped to catch a few carp later, although I was concerned whether the fish would really want to come into the shallower water. To my left was a nice long margin, but due to the wind initially I could only fished at 5m.

After 3hrs fishing I was blanking, I had fed a short line with caster, hoping for some roach, but never had a bite and gave up feeding after 2hrs. The only line that was showing any signs of life was my right hand 10m line, where I had lost a little fish as I was shipping back, as well as what felt like a skimmer. Initially started on a 0.4g HB chump, but due to the tow switched it to a 0.75g polar ice. On this line I had started feeding micros and 4s, but when it became obvious there wasn’t any carp about so I switched to cupping in caster looking for anything.

My right margin was fed with caster, whilst the left margin was fed with meat, which I thought would be my banker for late on. However I was trying my margins a lot sooner than anticipated and eventually managed a carp from the right margin on meat, then had another carp on maggot from the 10m line, before the action stopped again.

Going into the final hour, by persisting with cupping in caster I managed 2 skimmers and a perch, but lost a big skimmer at the net. With the wind easing, I was able to go longer down my margin only to pull out of a decent carp. It’s fair to say I was annoyed at myself, because I probably lost 7-9lb, which would have catapulted me up what was a very tight section.

With 2hrs to go I also set up a new swim 8m at an angle to my left feeding caster & meat, but never had a bite.

A very frustrating, wet and miserable day. For whatever reason I couldn’t pull in any volume of fish. On reflection I may have forced the peg a little too much, but with no fish after 3hrs felt I had no choice. Also being set back the fish had plenty of room to back away from me and they weren’t really in a feeding mood.

The only consolidation was my 3-3 of silvers picked up the silvers by default.