Not knowing this venue very well, I didn't have any preconceived idea of where I wanted to draw, so I was neither disappointed or elated when peg 31 revealed itself. I had tried to keep things simple and had brought 6 and 8mm pellet, 8mm meat and some paste ( I did weaken as I was loading the car and put 2 pints of dead maggots in as well, but fed them to some grateful ducks).
I set up two wagglers, but in reality, for the second match running, a strong left to right wind was going to affect my fishing, so they saw little use and not a bite was had on them. 4 topkits set up, a MW diamond to fish pellet on a shelf which is just under 12" shallower than the lake bed, it's in front of a willow tree that comes out into the peg off the end bank at about 11m. A MW cookie for shallow, but that didn't get used, a Daiwa paste float, with a .75g olivette about 18" from the hook, as the wind was causing a considerable tow in the opposite direction and a rig to fish meat in the margins and right in under the willow tree, all of which were about 3' deep.
Meat proved useless, all I had to show from trying it was two tiny skimmers, I tried it regularly throughout the match, to no avail, likewise the margins, they produced nothing except the previously mentioned two tiny skimmers. I started on the shallow waggler out towards the aerator, but the wind rendered it a pointless exercise. I dropped in over the shelf in front of the willow with the pellet rig and a 8mm banded pellet and managed several small carp, before landing an eel which was well over 1lb, a first for me catching an eel on pellet. As the fish were up this shelf, I assumed they'd be in the shallower margins under the tree, but this was a lesson in not assuming, as I only had two fish from here, on a hastily assembled shallower paste rig, as meat was so unproductive.
I had a run of better fish up to 10lb on the bulk down paste rig, but the wind was making it difficult, I tried a couple of lines closer in, drawing a blank on all of them. With an hour and a half to go, I had 82lb on my clicker, so made the swim killing decision to put another net in...... For the next 35 minutes the wind increased and made presentation on the only line I was catching over, virtually impossible, I went back on the 8mm pellet and had another small carp, a wait and then another one touching 10lb, the wind dropped in the last 25 minutes and I managed one more small carp on paste, before hooking and losing one (which trashed the rig) right on the death.
I had clicked 95lb, which proved to be unusually accurate, as with 4lb odd of silvers, most of which was the eel and another first, a lb+ Perch on paste, my total was 100.11, which I think was 7th on the day, not managing a pick up, due to the quiet last hour and a half - a total contrast to the last couple of matches I've fished.
I didn't get the results, so it's Tony Rixons blog for the full details, but Craig 'Trigger' Edmunds won with 160ish, Des Shipp was second with a high 140 and Scott Puddy was third with a lower 140.
Most bites and fish of the day went to Dave Haines, who weighed in 23lb odd of tiny silver things, smaller than the lumps of paste I was using, he must have been busy!!!
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