Rd 1- Lodge Farm - Thistle - 1.11.2025

[Leo Martin]

Big Bash Winter league round 1 Lodge Farm Thistle 1.11.2025

Round 1 of the 2025 Big Bash winter League and we welcome back our cold weather stalwarts Jacko and Gav into the club. The campaign starts alongside changeable w and it eather we have had some rain and cold nights however Friday night was an almost tropical 10 degrees. A day forecast of clouds, potentially some rain, some afternoon sunshine and a morning blustery wind. The blustery wind was an understatement, almost galeforce blowing off the SandMartin bank and towards Peg 43 in the corner. Bringing back last years memories of Smiler struggling with his brolly in storm Darragh and trying to replicate Mary Poppins.  The wind was cool, fierce and gusting leaving 4 inch waves on the waters surface. It also changed directions numerous times as well to add to the irritation and judgement issues casting. The afternoon ended in lovely autumn sunshine, the wind had dropped and the water was mirror like flat. What a difference in the days weather.

9 winter league members and 3 welcome and familiar guests made up the numbers which on the 22 pegs lake I would class as its maximum due the shape of the lake. Everyone has to respect others in their casting and with the central aerator a target for some pegging is also crucial to try give everyone room. The group chose from a selection of pegs and the spinning wheel was set for the Friday live draw. Despite the added pressure of a record audience, the IT worked and things went well so no re-draw or manual old-fashioned tallies in a bag method was required, Leo was smiling.
Everyone arrived in good time, nets dipped and during our set up Mr Nigel Cooke visited everyone to give out 4 of  his home made floats, such a nice gesture, Thank you.

Early start was on the cards and Gino Lanelly blew his whistle for a 9:45 all in with the finish time scheduled for3:30.

There were quite a few fish caught from the off, Foxy, Jasper, Nige Cooke all dipped in their landing net. Around the lake, some chose rods but the majority chose their poles, some went long, others went short. The wind a major influence on their choices.  During the day there was lots of swapping of changing as anglers fought the conditions and searched out the fish and or a method  that brought them to feed.

Peg 34 Richard Cooke 66-2 . An eventful day for Rich as he continues to shed his Dockow Blues. Rich had a good run on his favoured feeder rod chucking into open water to his left. He also chucked it down the edge and to the vacant platform as well.  Pole short, Pole long, even long pole shallow. Also he tried his pole in the margin in a busy day swapping and changing as he searched for bites which was to give him a section win. Well done Rich. He also had a strange bite which fought hard has he wound in his feeder rod to find a full tip kit, including float and rig. Hooked behind the elastic it kept stretching and tensioning the elastic as he wound in before the elastic would then de-tension inside the topkit and the kit was retrieved. Unfortunately, it did not have any maggots still on the hook and we would not allow it to be weighed in.

Peg 35 Mark Radford 54-0. Mark previous approach has been double maggot on short top kit which served him well in knock ups last year in the same pegging area.  Mark persevered with his chosen method and swapped on and off all the match. The fish finally turned up in the last hour when he started to top up his nets with regular decent fish. Prior to this, Mark had to try long pole, feeder and bomb in his quest for bites and fish. The aerator chuck gave some fish but nothing consistent enough to keep pursuing it.   If the fish had arrived on his short maggot line earlier the result would have been so much different.

Peg 37 Keith Smith 32-3. A struggle for Keith who also tried his full armoury. Keith had most of his success in the last coup0le of hours and I think it was corn his successful bait. He also suffered a broken 4 section on his pole so an expensive day for  Keith.

Peg 38 in the corner was home for John Lanelly and 48-14 was his return. John fair to say struggled at the beginning of the match but got to grips fishing down the edge of the lake on 6mm hard pellets coming on strongly towards the end of the match.  Well done, John.

Peg 40 Steve Jackson 45-3 Another angler who tried long, short pole as well as rods  and his catch rate also improved in the latter half of his match. Steve Issue was losing fish which has cost him. He lost his majority on his pole which he struggled to come to terms with an understand. The difference in his finished weight could have been so much more.

Peg 41 Tracey Benson 58-10 and a second in section. On the back of a good run of form at Steve Gregorys Hall Farn and Beehive lakes Tracey brought is expander approach to Thistle Lake. Similar to our last matches on this lake, his success came from fishing down his edges where the second half of the match his expanders regularly brought fish to grace his landing net.

Peg 43 Jasper 79-3. With the wind blowing in and fish topping in the area as a dirtier than normal Kermit the fishing wagon pulled up, Jasper must have fancied It. Unusually Jasper started off on his pole and not favoured rods. As he searched for regular fish the rod followed the pole, using his measuring sticks he adjusted his casting length to try locate the fish however his main returns came in the second half of the match. Feeding copious amounts of ground bait and a worm hook bait the fish started to grace his landing net on a regular basis. Long pole towards the edge of the reeds in the corner was his target location. He had tried the area several times but in the latter end of the match they showed up and were looking for his bait offerings giving him a match winning weight.

Peg 45 Paul Whitehouse 49-13. Another "rod man" chose to fish his pole before it goes into storage for the winter.  Majority of Pauls match was on long pole "fighting the wind"  with top kit and 4 sections out as he searched for his quarry. Started slowly with small skimmers then the occasional small carp would show up. His rods did come out in frustration of slow progress but he kept returning to his pole. The last hour the carp showed up in numbers and fish after fish were landed to bolster his weight.
 
Peg 46 Gavin Cooper 35-5. Short pole start, rod, then long pole, and back on rod. Gav's downfall in the beginning was lost fish. With him loosing 4 before  he managed to land his first carp. Not to be beaten Gav swapped and changed, rods to aerator, rod chucked short, pole in front and also  in margin. When others had a good run, they were not in Gavs peg in the same numbers and the last couple of hours bitres were hard to come by. 

Peg 48 Leo 55-0 second in section. I set up method and bomb rods, maggot and pellet lines at 2+2 (5 feet deep) and a margin rig although is was a foot deep 3m from bank. I set off chucking method to aerator and after 5 minutes the tip wrapped round however I lost the fish when it swam towards me. Second cast and a  fish was in the net. The morning session went well, the fish kept coming a I had  25lb on the counter. Second half of the match started well but I really struggled from 13:30 to the end of the match where I landed only about 6 fish. I had been feeding a short line all day and kept dropping on it for a fish or two whilst resting the aerator area. I fed pellets and corn hoping to get them on the bomb however never had any indication. I  was to catch a few on the method in this area and they were a better stamp but the planned bomb rod never produced. My top kits never came off their roost as I pursued the rods approach. Possibly a difference could have been made with a short pole line, one of those decisions made not to switch onto it so I will not know. Everything was going well till the last couple of hours which has cost me. Should I have gone on my pole on a close in line, hindsight is a wonderful thing, The fish I was catching were of a good stamp, they just went elsewhere. Hey ho onto the next one.

Peg 50 Dave Fox 64-13 and a section win.  Dave also rotated lines in his quest for regular bites, a few early ones on aerator chuck, short pole line tried in front, pole to right hand side about 2m from bank in slightly deeper water looking for the fish. He finally settled in early afternoon with fish coming from this latter line. Feeding maggots over the top and maggot as his bait of choice the stamp  of fish gradually improved and he was able top up his net to pip me and a section win. 4 pints of maggots  fed to enable this. He was disappointed that he had set up to fish a waggler line however the wind made this impossible until late afternoon when the wind died down leaving a mirror like surface. Major disaster of his own bait box dropping in the drink and he was unable to salvage his chocolate digestives and fruit loaf. Everyone who knows Dave is aware of the calorie consumption and his Tardis of his snap tin getting wet was a major upset. Well done on the section win Dave

Peg 52 Nigel Cooke 41-2. Christening his new pole Nigel was to fish his most success also adopting a magot approach. Again after rotating his lines, short pole, long pole, margin line towards corner and feeder chuck also he had a good second half of the match to bring some quality carp to his net. Well done Nigel. Many  thanks for the special gift as well, yum yum.

We did have a welcome visitor during the match as Indian dropped in to see us all. Fresh back from Portugal and preparing to go to Fuerteventura, nice to see you. I could say you brought a rain shower and I also lost my fish but I'm not bitter as it may cost me my breakfast eggs in the lodge 😊. Safe travels  my friend and see you on  our and feather.

Around the lake there was a general feeling of how well it fished in the changing weather and under the pressure of 12 anglers. This doesn't sound a lot, but you have to understand the lake shape and its pegging. Everyone  had bites, caught and also lost fish.  Several different baits resulted in fish also.  We are back there for round 6 on January 17th again.

Many thanks to Gavin assisting with the weigh in and also Mr Lanelly for  his timekeeping

Round 1 over and we move onto round 2 which is on 15th November at Lindholme Lakes on strip. Confirmations and payments now being taken. Any views from those who fished, baits, tactics, lake and pegging please share

[Leo Martin]

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