Chiltern Trinity Open (Woodlands Lake)

Another change of scenery for a me today as its been over a year since I last visited the venue and after picking up some fresh bait on Friday but not get around to fishing yesterday due to the weather I was keen to use it up, After a good bit of banter with a few others in hilltops at breakfast we were keen to give it a try, Only 12 of us fishing today the match was spread over both sides of the lake with 6 on each side, Not to familiar with the pegging I found myself on peg 8 which turned out to be near the top end of the far side being the second peg down on the match, For company I had Simon Ryall on end peg 6 of my bank in the sheltered corner who informed me it was a good area for carp as was Mark Walsh's peg on the opposite bank being the other end peg, With this in mind it suited me as if I didn't get any early carp I could switch to the lakes good head of silvers.

First up I set up a straight lead to fish popped up bread to start the match on, 5lb main line to an 0.17/12inch hook-length, This venue has a fair depth being around 8ft so I used an 0.8g Skimmer float on 0.13-0.10 and an 18 PR478 hook. that was it rig wise so plumbed up two swims one at 13mts to my left and one at 12mts off to my right where the depth was the same.

At the start I cupped in 4 balls on the 13mt swim with casters and dead maggots added and one ball on the 12mt line with dead pinkie's in. I began the match on the bomb and bread hoping for a quick couple of fish but after 40mins and my flask diminishing fast" I had only had one liner but I could see Walshy' had already taken 4 carp along with a few skimmers on the pole fishing up towards his end bank so it was time to look on the pole. Starting on the positive swim with double dead red maggot on the hook I was surprized not to get a bite quite quick and it wasn't until I gave the 12mt swim a try I had my first fish being a skimmer of about 10oz. by swapping between both swims trying different baits I did have the odd skimmer but wasn't getting anywhere fast but opposite me Jonny (Slaphead) page was catching skimmers twice as fast so I decided I had to try starting another swim at 8mts where I fed half a pot of dead maggots and pinkies. I left it to settle for 30mins but all I could manage was a few small skimmers and blade roach, I wont drag on how the rest of my match went but my long pole lines got worse not better despite topping them up in different ways and john was still catching regularly, So I decided to have another go on the bomb and bread whilst at the same time sort my net-bag out, all was going ok and after 30mins I just got up to pack away my pole roller when the rod flew around! Like a prat the reel I was using was my near £200 bait-runner but I had forgot to flick it on" I managed to grab the butt of rod but disaster struck and I slipped on the pallet causing me to momentarily let go of the rod .." I couldn't believe it as I watched it go straight in the lake only to disappear out of site!!.

Well' After a bit of quick thinking Ray Bass on the next peg lent me his rod and I began in vain to chuck his bomb rig around the lake hoping to hook the rod??? after 30mins I was about to give up when I was hooked up to something so began to reel back slowly only to find I had hooked the line but the fish was still attached"  The Rod surfaced about 20mts from the bank as the fish swam towards me and with Rays help managed to grab the line but the fish bolted and snapped me in a snag and I had no idea where the rod was!? so it was back to chucking his bomb around again but I didn't have much hope and after another 20mins and losing Rays bomb in the same snag I lost the fish I began to pack all my kit up before it got dark and the match finished.

After a few minutes I found the bomb on the platform along with the line and as I began to wrap it up to throw in my bucket the line began to head back towards the edge of the pallet slowly tightening and I could not believe my eyes when the tip of my rod surfaced about a 1ft from the edge giving me enough time to get hold of it!" I couldn't believe my luck  somebody was looking down on me today I'd say'.  At the start of the match there was a heron stalking fish from the end bank for fish in the margins but he was a bit disappointed and took off not long after' 

Well that was a eventful end to the day to say the least but lessons learnt hey"? as expected the first two places went the way of Walshy with 77lb including 10lb of silvers taken on the paste" followed by Simon with 52lb also catching down his inside edge on pellet. Silvers went to Jonny Page With a good 29lb of skimmers taken on expanders over micro pellet so my choice of maggot and casters over ground-bait was certainly the wrong choice today but I was just thankful of retrieving my prized rod and reel back!" Off to Viaduct next Sunday for the start of the popular teams of 5 so hoping for a nice start.

Full results -

 1st Mark Walsh (Acorn) peg 32, 77lb 4oz.

2nd Simon Ryall (Weston) peg 6, 52lb 2oz.

3rd John Page (Weston) peg 30, 35lb 5oz.

Silvers - John Page 29lb 12oz.