Willinghurst Top Lake

With nothing much on this week, it was off to Willinghurst agian for me, as (1) Transport is easy as John Radford kindly agreed to give me a lift and Mrs P was happy to collect me after the match and (2) Although the fishing isn't brilliant (a bit of an understatement), the fishery is a nice place to go, the cabin and food side is now well run by Sue and all the anglers who fish there are a good bunch of chaps.

Whilst the Top lake has 28 pegs on it, like most commercials, it fishes a lot better with less anglers on it, the optimum number I always say for the best pegging is 18 as this gives everyone a bit of room and a chance to catch a few fish. When I spoke to John on Saturday evening he had 19 booked in, which wasn't perfect but no need to worry ! However, by draw time on Sunday morning we had 25 fishing and the possibilty of some right rubbish pegs being in the hat.

With most of the main lake being in (3-21) the pegs I really fancied were 1 and 2 in the bomb hole and 22-26 in the back spit. However, for the second match running on the lake I drew Peg 19, which to be fair can be a decent lead peg but not one I really fancied fishing. After a cold frosty start, and the day turning sunny with a cloudless sky and virtually no wind, plus the fact that I didn't catch a lot on the pole last time, I decided to concentrate on the lead and just try the pole lines occasionally to see if anything had moved over the feed.

I spent the day switching between an 8mm pellett and a conker and I think I had 6 carp and a tench for 37lb to win the section. Nothing I could do would up the catch rate, I'd pinged a few 8mm's over one line but caught as much away from that line as on it and when the surface was flat calm I could clearly see signs of fish over half way but the anglers opposite spent most of the day fishing the pole. The frustrating thing was that I caught most of my fish whilst the majority on the main lake were struggling then when the fish started to feed properly in the last hour and a half, I hardly had a bite. To be honest I don't think I was watching when I had any of my bites as I always find myself looking round the lake to see what is going on. Although when using a hair rig, the fish hook themselves anyway so you don't need to strike at bites.

Whilst the fishing wasn't particularly brilliant, we still had a laugh, especially when Martin White at the next peg hooked his first carp and played it to the landing net, only he didn't as he hadn't actually set one up ! and I thought I was forgetful sometimes ! The other humourous moment was when Plummers netted a fish that must have easily been a Barney Rubble and he then let it jump out of the landing net and back in the lake.

Within an hour of the start we knew where the main money was going as Robbie Taylor on Peg 1 in the Bomb Hole was catching well and so to a lesser extent was Tony Yakanarni on Peg 2.

I can't remember the exact final weights but the results went something like this.

Robbie Taylor.......Peg 1..........160lb
Dave Sandford ......Peg 22........78lb
Tony Yianni..........Peg 2............66lb
Dave Bacon..........Peg 17...........62lb
Ray (whose surname I always forget) Peg 9 51lb

Sections

Windy Ben........Peg 10......Didn't hear his weight
Pikey.................Peg 19............37lb
Simon Duke......Peg 24...........50lb

Although the weights don't look bad, what you have to remember is that it was a 6.5 hour match and a lot of the fish are 8-10lb+ so you don't need many for a weight.

Anyway, next week I'm off in the search of some more MFS Champions League points at yet another venue I've never fished before, Billhook Lake at Odium, wish me luck cos having never even seen the lake before, I think I'm going to need it.