Pole Only Series Round 1, Acorn, Sunday 10th March 2013

A bitterly cold east wind greeted us on arrival at Acorn, for the first in this years Pole Only series. Thankfully Paul pegged the Match lake out, whilst I tucked into a breakfast, which was a nice plateful, not too greasy.

We had at one stage over 40 names and some waiting, by the time it came to part with the cash we ended up with 32, so a quick revision of the pegging and the four sections reduced to 8 pegs each.  I think that the lesser number will give better fishing, once the weather warms up and the fish decide to swim and eat properly.

I wasn’t too bothered which section I drew, as there is no overall payout on the day, just top two and top silver in each section, but I did think that C section and part of D would be the hardest and that was how it turned out.

I got Mike Nicholls to draw for me, a bridge peg, No.33, he can draw for me again!!!  Having watched Mike Owens catching from 34 last Tuesday, at least I thought I’d get some bites, I couldn’t believe it, when arriving at my peg I saw Mike Owens sat on 34 again – and he wasn’t looking disappointed.

Today started off badly, I always pick up my pole and move it rather than stepping over when its on the V rollers, for whatever reason, today I didn’t and clipped the No6 section with my boot, snapping it where I clipped it and where it sat on the front roller. Luckily I did have a spare one, so could still fish across.

I set up 4 topkits, two for up the shelf and two for down the track, one of each with 0.10 hook lengths and 20 hooks, one of each with 0.14 and 16 63.13 hooks to fish soft pellet.  I had brought some 4mm meat, but didn’t open the bag, as it was so cold.

On the all-in I cupped in some micros up the shelf, towards the bridge and straight in front, then some maggot down the track, again, by the bridge and secondly just of to my right at about 8m ( this line did not produce a bite, so no more about that). I started on maggot up the shelf and had a lively 12oz carp first put in, then missed a bite, had a skimmer and a F1.  Not wanting to plunder the line and fish it out too early, I switched to the deeper rig and had an F1 next to the bridge.

I switched to soft pellet as Mike Owens was sneaking ahead, this brought about an instant response and I had a run of a few fish and swapping between the two lines up the shelf, I kept them coming for an hour or so. Then the hook came off in a fish twisting and turning in the landing net, that’s when I discovered my fingers did not want to bend, or do anything as precision as tying on another hook. It took two attempts before I was satisfied with the knot.  I was just feeding micros and it went a bit quiet on both lines, Mike Owens was still catching, I tried maggot and had a couple. A look back in the deep water by the bridge brought a couple of skimmers and a carp, before that too went quiet.

The last hour they came back, but at no time could I catch at a rate that would allow me to catch Mike on 34. who I thought was anything from 33-50% in front of me.

Even though I was catching, calling the all out was not a hardship due to the extreme cold and it started snowing as we weighed in. I think it fished like most expected, the fish were in certain areas, not really having a banquet and certainly not moving looking for food.  The end of D section that fished worst, did throw up a few unseasonal Tench, but they didn’t make up for the lack of other fish in the area.

Although there wasn’t an overall payout, this is what the frame looked like:

1)      P Bartlett 68.02 peg 9

2)      M Owens 63.099 peg 34

3)      L Jones 52.10 peg 7

4)      C Fox 44.08 peg 33

5)      M Tomes 44.04 peg 38

6)      M Nicholls 36.12 peg 12

(All pegged on Paddock Lake)

Silvers

1)      N Vigus 14.06 peg A8

2)      T Ford 12.00 peg A7

3)      N Bartlett 8.08 peg A6

(All pegged on the Match (Top) Lake)

Sections:

A: 1) L Tucker 25.08 peg A4

     2) N Vigus  18.13 peg A8

Silvers: N Vigus 14.06

B:  1) P Bartlett 68.02 peg 9

      2) L Jones 52..10

Silvers: M Broomsgrove  7.12 peg 1

C:  1) M Nicholls 36.12 peg 12

      2) D Wride 17.02 peg 19

Silvers: G Calvert 7.02 peg 13

D:  1) M Owens 63.09 peg 34

      2) C Fox 44.08 peg 33

Silvers: M Tomes 8.04 peg 38