14/02/2010 - Lands End - Johns Lake

Weight – 39lb 9oz
Catch – 8 Carp, 6 Roach, 3 Crucian, 1 Perch, 1 Rudd
Weather – Cold & mostly bright. Chilly breeze.
Water Temp – 5.0c > 5.0c
Match – Lands End Winter League – rd 4 – 3rd overall, 1st in section

It was my turn for Johns (no.3) Lake and after a poor draw on Match Lake needed a decent draw to get back in the running for the league. So I was more than happy with 42, at least I would get a few fish. When arriving at the lake I was surprised to see at how clear the water was and by all accounts it was clearer yesterday! So a difficult day was likely.

With the water being so clear, a cautious approach was required. The deepest part of the peg was at 11.5m in front, so a small amount of micro was deposited, but for the moment decided not to feed anywhere else. I started on corn by the bush on the island and a few liners suggested there was carp about, but no real bites materlised, even double maggot. A switch to the pellet swim after 30 minutes didnt produce either.

By this time Mark Leeder on peg 50 had a double figure carp and Mike “I've never seen him on a bad peg” Nicholls opposite on peg 68 had a couple of carp & a few silvers. With no bites from the pellet swim, time to try the bush again, but this time I set the spread bulk 30cm from the hook to allow a slow drop and it worked, with a 4-5lb carp on triple pinkie. The fact I was catching on triple pinkie brought some amusement from both Mike and Clint on peg 41, but when I replied with "bits of caster" when asked what I was feeding, brought further good natured ridicule.

At the half way stage, I had 7 carp (6 by the bush and 1 at 11.5m on maggot) and a crucian, but started to struggle. Since I was comfortbly leading the section, I decide to stick with the carp to try and win the lake. Mike had gone for a walk and discovered Adrian Clarke on peg 58 had 9 carp, so decided to concentrate on the silvers, but he still managaed a couple more “vermin” before the end of the match. Well you would from the best peg on the lake.

For the rest of the match I set up another swim at 14.5m up & down the shelf and rotated all my swims. I picked up 1 more carp, a couple more crucians and a near 2lb perch. With an hour to go I havent caught for about 45mins, so when I landed my 8th carp from the 14.5m line I hoped for a strong finish, however the swim now seemed to full of little roach, which was a little frustrating.

At the all out, as expected I won my section and Mark on peg 50 was 2nd with the single carp he caught after 5mins, but at 11-8 it was worth having. Adrain only managed 1 more carp, but still won the lake with 44-4. I was expecting to come 2nd, so was surprised when Mike weighed 41-15, which included 15lb of silvers on caster. Fair play to him though he fished a very tidy match and managed to catch some the better quality roach, along with a few skimmers & crucians.

As for the league I've moved from 11th to 6th, but as you can see below its all quite tight, except for Nick who has managed 4 straight section wins

1st Nick Collier 24pts
2nd Vince Shipp 21 (229-12)
3rd Dave Hodgson 21 (139-0)
4th Matt Tomes 19 (206-11)
5th Garry Wall 19 (172-0)
6th Ken Rayner 19 (109-7)
7th Adrian Jeffrey 18 (111-13)
8th Martin Pettifer 18 (100-11)
9th Rod Wootton 17 (159-9)
10th Mark Poppleton 17 (151-3)