Willinghurst - Wednesday 22nd October

Well, I have to say that yesterdays Willinghurst Open wasn't exactly the most exciting match I've ever fished ! Peeking out from behind the bedroom curtains at 6.30am I could see the car windows were iced over and the lawn and shrubs completely white ! With Willinghurst being out in the Surrey countryside, it was likely to be even colder there and as we made our way to the draw in Don's car, the outside temperature gauge in his car started to drop from 2 degrees at home to zero degrees as we drove up the drive to the cabin at Willinghurst.

With 19 anglers present we decided to split the match between Top and New Lakes. I drew Peg 16 on New Lake, a peg I always fancy and despite little current form prior to last weekend, Keith Arthur did come second on the lake from it on Sunday in my winter league with 50lb+ and as we had chatted about how to approach the peg, I felt quite confident.

As we tackled up, there was not a breath of wind and with it being a wednesday (where I like fishing the methods I enjoy -which sometimes aren't necessarily the right ones!) I decided to just fish a few different lines on the pole and leave the lead rod in the holdall. I'd set up to fish three lines on the pole at various angles and also two edge pegs but as I shouted the "All In" at 10.30am the wind started to blow and got stronger and stronger, just like sunday ! With the wind and the sun on the water I couldn't fish two of the lines I'd fed as I couldn't even see the float. Ian Covey opposite me on Peg 6 had an early carp and God (Steve Gardener) , Don and Shaun Sylvester down the far end all had a couple of fish but apart from that it was very very quiet. Fishing worm I had a couple of rudd which proved to be very valuable later but apart from losing a foul hooked carp, that was it for me for the first couple of hours.

With the wind still blowing and the sun still shining, I could now only see my float in the edge pegs and as I hadn't had a sign of a fish either side, I decided to set up a lead. I know I should probably fish the lead more at Willinghurst but in individual matches where I'm just fishing for me then I like to fish the way I enjoy and just lobbing out a lead anywhere without feeding (as that is how you catch at this time of year) and waiting for the rod to go round is not my idea of fun. Anyway, out went two pieces of hair rigged corn and after ten minutes the rod went round and after a brief tug of war, I soon had a 9lb fish in the net. When the wind dropped I could see that a few fish had moved up our end of the lake and as the anglers to my left had all stopped catching, I assume the fish had moved up from their pegs. Next cast the tip sat motionless for 10 minutes before I decided to reel in and cast somewhere different. I picked up the rod reeled in probably 10 turns of the reel handle and foul hooked a big carp which then went absolutely berserk as it shot off round the lake with my reel drag screaming. Ian Covey opposite was on the phone when his tip went round and although I explained to him that it might have been my fish which had given him a bite, I don't think he really believed me. Anyway a couple of minutes later he reeled in both our rigs with no fish attached. When the wind dropped I went back out on the pole but having lost another foul hooker I decided that I'd stick it out on the lead for the rest and just have a look in the edge on the pole in the last half hour to see if anything had turned up. Peg 16 used to be one of the best edge pegs on the lake but nobody seems to catch on it at all nowdays. With only odd fish being caught I knew that if I could catch 2 or 3 in the last 90 minutes then I'd have a chance of winning the lake although we didn't expect to beat those on top lake so were really only fishing for the section especially when Gary Clifford came down and told us that Steve Lee on Top 6 had 10 carp already.

I managed to net another 3 carp on double sweetcorn, just lobbing the lead all around the peg, hoping to land it near a fish and when the final whistle sounded I thought it was going to be close on our lake. I grabbed the weigh sheet and took the scales round to Don to start the weigh in. Ian Covey was leading in the early pegs with 25lb, Bag Up Bob then weighed 4 carp for 33-10-0 and as I pulled my net out consisting of 4 carp, 2 rudd and a gudgeon, I knew it was going to be close between us. Don put the fish on the scales and the needle swung round slowly until finally settling on.....................33-12-0 - I love rudd ! Shaun's three fish were rumoured to weigh 36lb but finally went 32-12-0 and God on Peg 20 finished the weigh in with 28lb. I was therefore pleased to have won the section as at least it paid for my days fishing. I was even more pleased to find out that the top weight on top lake was Steve Lee with 34-4-0 (thanks Gary for the rubbish info) and I'd finished second overall !

In hindsight (yes, it is a wonderful thing), with the weather being bright and sunny and the lake being shallow, I should have just fished the lead all day and only fished the pole in the edge.

Result

Steve Lee Top 6 34-4-0
Dave P New 16 33-12-0
Bag Up Bob New 13 33-10-0
Shaun Sylvester New 18 32-12-0
Jeff Simmons Top 2 28-12-0
Steve Gardener New 20 28-12-0

This Sunday I'm on a club match at my local ponds - 200 yards from my house. I was really looking forward to it but have since heard that we have now got at least 24 anglers booked in for it which is far too many for two small ponds. Nevertheless, I just hope to get a decent draw and get a few more bites that I've had recently in matches.

Hope to see you all back here on Monday - tight lines.