Overtaken in the last furlong – Kingsland Small Carp Lake

Ten of us fished on Kingsland Small Carp Lake, with bright sun and hardly a breath of wind – not a good start. But I had a good start - being presented with £32 for taking our Golden Peg with a win the previous week. 

I drew part-way along the Southern side bank, but would have preferred Peg 1 on its own, a corner swim 2 or 8, , or one of the two pegs on the other end bank, 9 and 10. Still, a job to do. I hoped to be able to catch close in on meat or corn, but took some expanders in case the fish were willing to feed on the surface. Within a minute of the match starting a carp cruised along a few feet  in front of me supping the surface, and I dropped an expander right into its mouth.

No wind all day - not ideal conditions. But the margins are very nice, 

I waited a second as it turned away...and pulled the bait straight out of its mouth; and I never had another chance as good as that all match. So the plan was to feed corn and hemp to the left and meat (luncheon and cat) and hemp to the right.

The corn worked quickly – a 2 lb carp, then an 8 oz fish. I wasn’t unhappy with that, reasoning that as fish were moving around under the surface it was likely that some would dive down to see what the smaller fish were feeding on. Sure enough, minutes later a six-pounder came in.

                                                                 Luncheon meat worked well

Callum followed the plan I had outlined last
week (meat one side and corn the other)
and didn't have a bite for the first two hours!

Then a lull, and I had a look to the right with a small cube of luncheon meat, and this found four or five carp in the next hour. The rest of the match saw me moving from one side to the other, alternating between corn, luncheon meat and cat meat,  taking a fish every ten or 12 minutes, mainly on cat nmeat, with about four coming off, most of which were definitely foulhooked.

Fish were cruising around all the time, and it looked to me as if they were preparing to spawn, as a lot were swimming along in twos.  I’d put some floaters into the margin, but never saw any fish take them.

With two hours to go I went for a third net – the first to do so, but instead of sport picking up, it seemed to slow. To my left Dave Garner, fishing his usual waggler, with cat meat, had been catching in bursts, and he went for a third net a little while later. I kept on catching the odd fish, mainly around 4 lb, with one about 9 lb, but with 30 minutes left Dave had a real purple patch. I reckon that in that last half-hour he landed 40 lb of carp! He was getting a bite within seconds of his bait hitting bottom and landing  4 lb fish within 30 seconds – I was mesmerised, as I was taking much longer that to land mine. I should have taken a picture.

I finish second

Dick is one of our weighers-in, and smart
with it! He took all his catch on rod and line.

Kevin Lee went for a third net about an hour before the end, and I thought that as I had had such a poor last hour, he might beat me. In fact he didn’t, and I was runner-up with 129 lb 5 oz to Dave’s 141 lb 14 oz – and his last net went almost 60 lb (cut back to 50 lb as is the club rule). Kevin was third just one good fish behind me, with 122 lb 6 oz.

I wasn’t unhappy with second place, as I’d had an interesting, but challenging match. Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, as they say! Mel, on my right, stuck with feeder all day and said his best spell was when he cast in parallel with the bank into the margins, late on. 

Winner Dave Garner, 141 lb 14 oz,
and he was 10 lb over in his last net.

My Problems.

I lost one carp about 6 lb in the weed right next to my platform – my problem as I broke down to my top two too soon. I fished about with my long-handled hook and it clanked against something big and metallic, which I lifted a little way before its sheer weight took it to the bottom again. Goodness knows what it was – I worried for a minute that I had hooked into the lake plug! Anyway I got back the entire rig, minus fish, but it wouldn’t have been enough to beat Dave anyway.

Kev Lee is our other main weigher-in. Gotta
 keep on the right side of the weighers-in!

I also had a problem with the third net. The only one I could find with a lock which worked was round...but when I got back to the peg I realised my landing net wouldn’t go into the keepnet top. This creates enormous problems, of course, transferring big carp into the keepnet. So I took it off my adapter  and wandered back along the bank for a square-topped keepnet, which took the landing net, but wouldn’t lock into position, and that created different problems transferring the fish. I suppose I wasted ten minutes there, but as Richard, the owner, is not an angler, it’s a cross we are going to have to bear for the forseeable future, I guess.

At no time did I have a good spell – fish were in my swims all day, giving liners,and I wonder if I needed to have fed as much as I did. Two tins of corn, one of cat meat, and half a tin of hemp went in, which is not a lot for six hours. I wonder if, in fact, any feed was necessary, as Dave didn’t seem to feed much. Next time I may try not feeding in one swim – just potting in water, which I always do anyway, after feeding.

   

The result - pegs 2 to 8 were on the side bank.

Coming Up

 My next match is on Damson at Decoy on Wednesday. Sunday’s match was won with 255 lb, slapping, but apparently some anglers were still biteless after two hours. If it’s hot, sunny and windless we may have a grueller. Next Sunday is our Handicap match on Six-Island, when sport will depend on the wind. On the whole I’d like peg 9, which gives a lot of options, including fishing the margins along the end bank; failing that peg 17 would be fine – I’ve drawn it only once and won.

My next match is on Damson at Decoy on Wednesday. Sunday’s match was won with 255 lb, slapping, but apparently some anglers were still biteless after two hours. If it’s hot, sunny and windless we may have a grueller. Next Sunday is our Handicap match on Six-Island, when sport will depend on the wind. On the whole I’d like peg 9, which gives a lot of options, including fishing the margins along the end bank; failing that peg 17 would be fine – I’ve drawn it only once and won.