Thursday 27/06/2019 - Windmill Cost Cutter Open - Match Lake

Arrived a the fishery full of porridge and baked beans. I had a walk round the Lake and noticed a lot of Butterflies which I thought were Duke of Burgundy - nice to see. Got back to the car park and had a chat with Steve Shaw, Steve asked why there was a Donkey in the car park. I had to explain that in England we called them Goats. Steve in his defence had up to now only seen Sheep.

There was a right stiff wind on the Lake coming from the NNE - What's new. Last into the draw bag and found milk bottle top 6. Umm, would have the wind straight in the face with it blowing at me between the two islands. Due to the wind I could hear the two visitors from Wales talking. I think they were conversing in some sort of code so that adjacent anglers couldn't understand how the were catching!

I really wanted to fish for Silvers as it's equal payout however, I set up a 0.3 gram paste rig which didn't get wetted. The Ronnie rig and a 4x16 Winter Titan were my main rigs. I started on the Titan at top-set plus three barrels with single LR over GB laced with LR's. The wind was horrendous and although the float was going with the wind the tow back was strong with the feed being one metre from where it was fed! I was soon losing a foul hooked Carp, then another - towing into them. Next put in I had a 2 1/2 lb Common Carp in the mouth. I then had a run of small Skimmers and a better one of about 2 lb. I then got battered by year one Ronnies. I just couldn't get through them. So time for the Ronnie rig which I fished down wind. I could catch a year one Ronnie - 1 oz every put in, with the odd year two. I did have a 12 oz Skimmer plus a real bonus - a 2 lb 7 oz Perch (pictured right) which I thought was another Carp. I stayed on the Ronnies until an hour to go hoping for some better Skimmers. I did have four about 6 ounces before I got battered again by the year one's.

My Silvers weighed 16 lb 3 oz for second Silvers coin, and with the one small Carp took me to 18 lb 11 oz.

A few visitors to my peg today - Gary Bowden who was to fish but had to work, expect to see him fishing here soon. Then Mark Haskins who part delivered my paste float order - excellent floats - male jewelry - pictured right - I know they all look the same. Then Tim Ford sneaked down behind me and had been watching me for 5 minutes before I spotted him - scared the life out of me. Nice to see them all.

The match was won by Nikki Miller (top right) with 78 lb 10 oz from peg 14. Nikki caught at 13 metre at full depth using 7mm banded Coppens pellet over 6's. Nikki fed about 1 1/2 pints. The pictured - top apparently shows an ancient Welsh hunting ritual for those that catch the most fish. It consists of bearing the bottom and making strange noises from the back of the throat.

The Silvers was won by Enigma (pictured right) with 18 lb 8 oz from peg 8. Steve also struggled until the wind subsided where he was getting wind protection from the island and was able to fish further out using his current favoured corn bait.
Result:

1. Nikki Miller 78-10-0 peg 14
2. Dave Haines 73-13-0 peg 2

Silvers:

1. Steve Dawson 18-08-0 peg 8
2. Mike Nicholls 16-03-0 peg 6
Weigh Sheet: