Weight - 26lb 9oz
Catch - 16 Carp, 14 Skimmers, 6 Roach, 2 Rudd, 1 Crucian
Weather - Mostly bright and sunny, windy later
Match - Qualifier - 4th out of 6
After a much needed week off, I was looking forward to getting back out on the bank and decided to try again to qualify at Windmill.
Have to say, it was surprising to see only 6 anglers turn up, so at least the odds of qualifying had reduced. Looking at past results there is a definite 'hot' area to draw at the moment, namely p22-p28 and p10. However, my drawing arm failed me again with p6 being my home for day.
Setting up I was a little more optimistic, because the island was 15m away and with a light wind I could at least present a bait for a change, although watching the geese wading a metre off the island was a concern.
Plumbing at 5m revealed a sensible depth of 5ft, so the really deep rigs would stay on the winders today.
Initially started across feeding 6s left and right, fishing a couple of metres away from the island in 2ft of water, but the fish were taking advantage of the sun and wanted to be in the really shallow water. I tried 6mm & 8mm pellet, as well as meat, but couldn't get a bite although I could see the carp moving along the island.
Rather than wasting time chasing shadows, I switched to my short meat line at the bottom of the slope and had a bite straight away from a carp, just a shame it only weighed an ounce. There was obviously a few fish around, because I kept getting little dinks on the float, but they were only small fish nibbling away at the meat. A change to a lighter elastic, because I kept bumping fish, meant I was now landing a few fish, but nothing bigger than 3oz.
I decided to keep going, feeding 8mm meat, with 4mm expander on the hook to at least get into a rhythm of catching and hopefully get rid of the small fish, whilst drawing in the proper carp. Occasional try's with meat on the hook, only resulted in more small fish which was becoming increasingly frustrating.
Moving back to the island, I could see the fish, but couldn't hook them, until I tried paste, which resulted in 2 carp, which then scattered the remaining fish. No problem I thought, I'll switch back to the short line to let the fish settle again. However the wind picked up and as the regulars know, it doesn't take much of a breeze for it to become difficult to hold 14m of pole, particularly with paste on the hook.
My margins proved to be a waste of time, with small roach attacking the double 8mm meat. My swim just seemed to be full of small stuff.
The last throw of the dice was a big pot of pellet at 10m as it starts to slop up to the island. This produced my best fish of the day a 9lb common on paste, but then started getting little dinks from more small fish before landing a decent skimmer.
Another disappointing day at Windmill and to be honest, I've grown to dislike the place. I don't mind the fact I haven't qualified, because I haven't drawn that well and/or the wind has played its part. But I go fishing to at least have a days fishing and enjoy myself. Of the 24hrs of fishing I have endured I have only enjoyed 3hrs. Someone asked would I fish the venue if it wasn't for the qualifer and the answer is no. I have no doubt the fish will grow on and to be fair they are in very good condition, but as a purpose built match lake, it is grossly unfair, with huge differences in depth, no shelf's and variable distances to the island.
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