Sunday 23/10/2022 - Windmill Open - Match Lake

Some welcome heavy rain throughout the night which not only filled the car park but also helped put some flow in the river Avon, turning the fish on for the two leagues fishing the upper and lower parts - some nice nets of fish coming out. Only a small impact on our lake today with it fishing a tad better.

Kev Winstone arrived in his new van, very nice. With limited visibility with vans I gave him two weeks before it had go care white post strips!!

Only 13 fishing today - leagues and rain not helping fill the pegs. Hoping for peg 25 today so again waited until nearly last before going tub dipping hoping that peg 20 had gone. Couldn't believe to find 20 had stuck to my hand for the fifth time. The milk bottle top was dispensed toot sweet. 

Got my mind round it, there must be a hundred ways to fish any commercial peg - not tried that many yet.

Decided on fishing the waggler and maggot just over middle to stop antagonising the common carp which live in the shallows on the far bank and a 4x13 Roob to fish top set plus 1 and half barrels up the inside shelf. 

The plan was to fish for Perch using the Sonubaits worm fishmeal with bits of worm and once this dried up convert it to a carp line with micro and loose fed maggot, switching to the waggler until the last 2 hours before trying the carp line.

The Perch certainly liked the GB but were very small and tugging off the worm so switched to single live red maggot which accounted for 20 Perch  for about 1 lb before drying up. On to the waggler over minimum feed hoping for some silvers. First cast a foul hook carp which wasn't suppose to happen. Third cast another lost fouler - bugger. I then had one in the mouth. Over the next three hours caught 6 small Skimmers to 10 oz a few Ronnie's and a bonus 2 lb Hybrid. Two hours to go dropped in on the now converted carp line with worm and had a 8 lb carp first try. Now thinking might be lined up, alas not just tugs from small Perch. Any chance of coin would be the silvers so stayed on the waggler for the remainder of the match adding 2 more carp and taking my foulers tally to 5. With just four more small silvers added to the net.

My silvers weighed 5 lb 10 oz for the silvers win taking the total to 29 lb 1 oz. Much better average to carp fouled to carp hooked properly of 5 - 4 to the carp! It's the same odds of drawing peg 20 next time.

The match was won by Nick Saunders (pictured with the silvers winner) with 71 lb 12 oz from peg 1. Nick caught about half his weight in the first half of the match slapping around with pellet. The second half Nick switched to worm over micro at13 metres. Well done matey.

Result:

1. Nick Saunders 71-12-0 peg 1

2. Gerry Walsh 57-06-0 peg 16

3. Matt Tainton 53-05-0 peg 8

4. Lionel Legg 52-05-0 peg 4

5. Kev Winstone 49-07-0 peg 25

6. John Osbourne 35-02-0 peg 21

Silvers:

1. Mike Nicholls 5-10-0 peg 20

2. Dave Haines 5-07-0 peg 18

Weigh Sheet: