With the All Winners Final (Silvers) coming up soon, I decided to use this as a practise match, going for silvers no matter where I drew. That said, I couldn't help taking some 8mm pellet and a waggler & lead rod to my peg, which was 127. I didn't touch the carp baits or rods, determind to find a away to get past them, especially as my first 2 put ins, resulted in 2 new hook lengths (along with the one I lost fouling a big carp shotting up a float!!) as carp took the caster intended for silvers,
So with Tom (I've discovered women & beer) Thick next to me on 126 and Rich Coles on 128 and either side again on 129 & 124 were Mike Nicholls & John Green, I expected a battle for silvers. I had caster, worm, dead maggot, a handful of live maggot, meat & pellets.
I set up three rigs one on 0.16, with an 0.14 hooklength on the rig to plunder tench from the margin, I also set up two MW diamonds, one 3 No8 and one 6 No8 to cope with the windy conditions, these had 16 63.13 on 0.14 & 0.12. I toyed with the idea of setting up a cage feeder for skimmers, but didn't, I think on reflection, I should have. Thankfully the wind was off my back, it got pretty windy during the match. I mixed up some groundbait, but didn't overdo it at the start, feeding 3 lines, meat on top two +1 to the left, some groundbait with CW&C at 11m and caster at 5m.
First two put ins, as mentioned, carp made off with the hooks, some groundbait introduced on the 5m line put an end to the carp problem and I caught skimmers on caster over the groundbait, it wasn't going mad, so I had a look over the 11m line, I may have well not have bothered, not so much as a bite - likewise with all my attempts to catch tench, short on meat.
Back onto the 5m line and a switch to double maggot brought a burst of decent skimmers and a couple of small perch. Tom had been catching carp, but a switch to a line at around 8m or so, saw him net a run of skimmers, decent ones, he was now overtaking me, the skimmers coming to his pellet approach. I stuck it out with the caster & maggot, earning myself a perch that wasn't far off 2lb. Tom's run of decent skimmers continueed and I walked down to sneak a look at his bait tray and rig.
I decided to try the pellet approach with 40 mins to go, so started a new line at 8m, it worked, I caught skimmers, but inevitably, carp as well - although I can't complain, apart from the two that took hooks at the start, I only hooked (and landed) two more throughout the day, they went back at the end without troubling the scales.
The scales gave me 34.11, but I knew Tom's pellet approach had beaten me on silvers, as well as giving him a decent carp weight, his silvers went 50.10 and caro 121.02. Would I risk emulating Tom in the silvers final? In honesty I'm not sure, I'd be concerned the pellet would attract and hold carp.
Temperature was 10°C on the way down in the car, same on the way back, with a dip to 8.5°C around Shepton Mallet. Looks like autumn is coming with a vengance.
1) Josh Garrett 215.07 peg 130 (On the lead)
2) Tom Thick 171.12 peg 126
3) Charlie Barnes 141.01 peg 132
4) Tica Williams 137.04 peg 118
5) John Green 120.13 peg 124
6) Dan Pither 117.01 peg 80
Silvers
1) Tom Thick 50.10 peg 126
2) John Bradford 34.12 peg 96
3) Chris Fox 34.11 peg 127
4)
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