Furnace Lake - Sunday 6th December 2009

I have to admit that when I woke Sunday morning and the wind was howling and rain battering against my bedroom window, I could quite easily have turned over and gone back to sleep. However, I knew that the nocturnal Plummers would be arriving soon (twenty minutes earlier than we arranged) so I had to get up.

We arrived at the fishery after a hearty breakfast at the Wooden Bridge Cafe in Guildford and found that the large lake was overflowing and running down the waterfall into the small lake that we were fishing. I'd actually never seen a scene like it on a fishery infact it looked just like a River Thames Weir pool as the water cascaded down the stepped over flow, thorugh the lake and out the other end. With only twelve of us fishing, we were lucky that we could leave out the part of the lake that looked like a washing machine and just peg the far end. The majority of us had never seen the lake before (apart from Jason and Dan Cooper who'd fished it Friday and Sunday a couple of weeks ago) so most of us weren't worried where we drew.

I quite fancied my Peg 8 at the far end of the lake as despite Andy Ryan (who we met in the cafe) telling us that you didn't wasnt to draw in the bottom bay, it was tucked away out of the wind and rain. The only worrying thing was that it was a "Pole Only Silvers Match" and within minutes of arriving at my peg, I'd seen signs that there were a few carp about !

I set up a rig to fish in front of me at 10 metres and an edge rig both on 0.12 line which might seem heavy for skimmers but the lake was chocolate brown and I couldn't see it making any difference. After a while the water started to tow quite heavily and as I noticed nearer the island at 14 metres looked like it wasn't moving, I plumbed up and fished there. I then started to get a few indications and the rest of my match went like this:-

Fish 1 - After a biteless first hour, I lifted into my first bite on a small piece of corn and 2 foot of white hydro emerged from the pole tip. As I shipped back to the top three, I lifted the pole expecting to have a big skimmer come to the top. However, as I lifted up, the fish stayed on the bottom and more elastic came out. A couple of minutes later I netted an 8lb carp, which would have put me firmly in the lead had it counted.

Fish 2 - I hooked this one about 5 minutes later and the report went something like Fish 1 but this one went about 12lb !

Fish 3 and 4 - Both carp, one of 6lb and the other about 4lb.

Fish 5,6,7,8 - Hurray, the carp finally buggered off and let the skimmers play as I had four fish over a pound in a little spell of bites, before......................

Fish 9 - Another pig with fins put in an appearance, this one about 8lb.

Fish 10 - My only bite in the last hour, a skimmer of about 2lb.

Result

Jason Morgan....... Peg 2.........27-2-0
Donald Garnish.....Peg 7..........24-6-0
Bob Poulton...........Peg 6..........23-8-0
Tony Kent.............Peg 5..........21-12-0
Tony Yianni..........Peg 3..........21-10-0
Dan Cooper...........Peg 12........21-8-0

So, once again a frustrating day, I shouldn't have listened to Jason who told us that we'd only need pellett and corn as the framers nearly all caught on maggott and I was a bit unlucky to have a few carp in my peg as they seemed to push the skimmers out.

Nevertheless, it was an interesting lake and I'd quite fancy going back when the weather has been a bit drier and there wont be thousands of gallons of water running through the lake.

Sunday sees us back at Willinghurst for the final round of my Winter League and it looks like unless they have a nightmare match, nobody will be catching Don's Foxy Five team.

Oh yes, I nearly forgot Plummers had 16lb and easily beat my 7-4-0, although I claimed a moral victory having caught 5 carp as well !