24 Hr Session on Peg 7 - Supercast Wed 14/5 - 15/4

Well, "Light My Fire!" If anyone had told me in advance, that my first ever session on the Supercast Peg (or more appropriately, the 'Noddycast' Peg, in my case), would have turned out as it did, you could have knocked me down with a piece of 10 lb floating braid! It was certainly a 'bag-up' session of unusual proportions, for me, at least!

It all got off to what seemed like a bad start on Wednesday morning when my alarm clock failed to waken me at 5.15 am, as intended. Instead, I woke up naturally an hour later and rushed around like a demented soul, in an attempt to win back some precious minutes. The fact that at Sutton Cum Lound railway crossing, I had to wait for 4 trains to cross before the reluctant gates lifted, only added to the tension. However, much to my delight, when I did eventually enter Wetlands Park, the Supercast was actually free and opportunity beckoned.

I have to say that the prospect was initially a little daunting. Many potential spots to place a bait and not a lot to guide the choice. In the end, I opted to put one in the little bay directly ahead, and the other two deeper into the main bay that leads to the Capybara Peg. I soon found out that a carp hooked deep into that bay, will do its best to make it through the gaps either side of the terminal island, or travel backwards and round the back of the mini island on the RHS. Either way, excessive pressure is required in a tortuous effort to steer them away from danger. Hence, the first two hooked carp were lost and the morning eventually gave way to a hot and sultry afternoon. By now it was evident that carp were appearing in the margins, so one rod was withdrawn from the main bay and used to explore alternate LHS or RHS margin areas and some exciting close combat situations duly ensued. The little bay directly opposite also began to produce the odd carp. Furthermore, by fishing the main bay rod a bit closer to me, and walking it backwards at the slightest hint of a bite, the hooked to landed ratio began to improve. A steady catch rate unfolded as the day progressed and so it continued, even accelerated, as darkness fell. By 6.00 am, 15 carp had been banked and 6 lost. Unusually, the action continued as I went through the morning motions of a slow 'pack-up', with a gorgeous partially scaled mirror of 18 lbs gracing the net at 08.10 am and the last carp of the day being a 14 lb 2 oz mirror at 9.00 am.

However, I'm still somewhat disconcerted about the numbers of fish being lost to hook pulls. I've been comparing different wide gape hook patterns (Korda, Fox & Nash etc) on different rods and have come to the conclusion that the Nash Barbless Gaper in Size 6 gives me the best results. Having said that, I have noticed that early daylight hours seem to produce more than their fair share of hook pulls - maybe the feeding at this time is less confident and the hook takes hold in a less favourable position. Anyway, here's the session log:

[11.00 am - Lost carp to line breakage (main bay)].

[12.00 - Hook pull (main bay)].

13.50 pm - 11 lb 8 oz Scaly Mirror (20 yds - small bay).

15.50 pm - 15 lb 0 oz Mirror (small bay).

16.50 pm - 11 lb 12 oz Mirror (RHS margin).

18.50 pm - 13 lb 12 oz Common (LHS channel).

20.00 pm - 13 lb 4 oz Common (main bay).

20.25 pm - 8 lb 8 oz Mirror (main bay).

21.20 pm - 12 lb 12 oz Common (RHS margin).

[21.45 pm - Hook pull - LHS channel]

21.55 pm - 5 lb 4 oz Mirror (20 yds - small bay).

[22.55 pm - Hook pull (main bay)].

23.00 pm - 7 lb 0 oz Linear Mirror (small bay).

[23.20 pm - Hook pull (main bay)].

[23.30 pm - Hook pull (main bay)].

00.25 am - 14 lb 0 oz Common (main bay).

01.05 am - 13 lb 2 oz Leather (LHS channel).

02.15 am - 7 lb 2 oz Mirror (RHS margin).

03.50 am - 15.lb 12 oz Common (main bay).

03.55 am - 11 lb 6 oz Mirror (LHS channel).

06.00 am - 12 lb 0 oz Leather (LHS channel).

[06.20 am - Hook pull (main bay)].

06.45 am - 10 lb 12 oz Mirror (main bay).

[07.20 am - Hook pull/Snagged (main bay)]. Boat used

08.10 am - 18 lb 0 oz Mirror (main bay).

[08.15 am - Hook pull (LHS channel)].

[08.20 am - Hook pull (main bay)].

09.00 am - 14 lb 2 oz Mirror (main bay).

Final tally was 18 carp banked and 10 lost. Total weight 215 lbs 0 oz.

Yet another sleepless night, but who needs sleep when you're having fun?

Best fishes,

Kelvin