Chiltern Trinity Open (Woodlands Lake).

With the weather being on the verge of most venues at risk of being frozen over traveling Partner Don Sutherland & Myself decided to give the venue another try today. After the normal hilltops breakfast we made are way to the fishery to find the lower end of the lake froze over but with only 11 booked in today there were enough pegs available without having to use Don's new ice breaker' After a nice warming free cuppa it was time for the draw and I found myself on the near bank peg 27 in the middle of the lake which I thought was as good as anywhere with the conditions being the way they were. I planned to keep things pretty simple today as I didn't expect big weights to be on the agenda more of a case of catching what you could in the hope of a few bonus fish hopefully along with a few silvers.

The first thing out the bag was the already made up bomb rod which I happy to say I still own after having it dragged in on my last visit here! (Not a mistake I was keen to repeat today") which I felt would give me a few fish on popped up bread?. Next up was an 1g pole rig on 0.11-0.09 and an 18 PR434 hook to fish in around 8ft of water at 13mts were I plumbed two lines at 10 & 2'oclock one to fish maggot over ground-bait and one to fish expander pellet over micro's. With plenty of time left before the start I decided to set up a loaded waggler to an 0.11 hook-length and an 16 808 hook I case I saw signs of fish up in the water layer.

For company I had Simon Ryall on peg 29 & and Dave (didnt get 2nd name sorry) on end peg 26 with Kev Perry just up from me on the end peg of the opposite bank. At the all-in I cupped 3 balls of ground-bait with some dead red maggots added onto the left hand 13mt swim and a ball of dampened micro on the right hand swim along with a few 4mm expanders. I started the match towards the middle of the lake on the bomb and 3 disc's of punched bread on a hair rig,

 After an Hour the only signs I had were two small liners despite casting around the peg but with other people switching methods I kept my faith and after 90mins I was rewarded with a carp around 5lb after adding some scopex spray to my hook-bait' (Fluke?) who knows but at least I had caught this week". I gave it another half hour before deciding to have a look for some silvers on my pole lines as Kev opposite had already started to put a few together,

 Kev Perry in action.

 

I was surprized after trying both lines for about 15mins each not to have a bite on either a 4mm expander or dead red maggot so decided to try the waggler starting about 6ft deep with a single grain of corn the breeze was playing havoc with the float so it wasn't long before I was back on the bomb and sprayed' bread as it looked like a couple of carp would make all the difference today and felt it was my best chance of catching a few more? Another bite-less 30mins and the flask diminishing at a rate of knots saw me try the pole again with a single dead red over the ground-bait line. First dob-in I had a lift bite which resulted in a 2lb skimmer' followed by two 8oz fish but then I bumped a better fish and couldn't get a bite so topped it up with another ball again with some dead reds added and tried the bomb again. with around two hours to go out of the blue I added another carp of similar size again on the bread and word on the bank was Dave next to me was the only other person to have caught a carp on the pole so there was all to play for. I did try the pole lines a few times before the end of the match but all I added were a few small roach and I was having to wait to long for bites so put my faith in the bomb which proved worth while as 4lb carp was added in the last hour. As a whole the lake fished hard today but had to be expected and it turned out my 3 carp added with my silvers was enough for top weight on the day with a total of 17lb odd picking up £45 which more than paid for the day,

 My Carp.

 

It turned out Kev's weight of silvers was enough to take 2nd place on the day with 13lb odd meaning the silvers pool of £35 went the way of Donald by default giving us bubble in the van" A hard but enjoyable day as this venue has a good depth it gives you plenty of options and my patience proved worth while today, Just".
Back to Viaduct Next Sunday for the teams of 5 and my turn to fish Lodge lake with an overspill of 5 pegs on Cary but no bomb rod needed as this is a float only section so we will see what happens?.