With the team having an outside chance of sneaking into the frame with a good performance and the stars aligning, I was looking forward to my turn on match lake, usually good for a few bites. Paul's turn to draw and he used an unusual style, not taking the pegs from the lake draw tins in order, as every other team does. Well it seemed to work, 130, 85, 66, 51 and 16, not one draw you could reasonably complain about there.
51 for me and it had the wind pushing from L to R and occasionally swinging round a little to more face on, this was likely to make the waggler a non starter, but I did set one up just in case. Two lead rods, one with a little cage feeder and one with a bomb, for bread. Topkits, it was a pretty even depth, so no need for loads of rigs, a Malman Roob for meat short and long and a NG slimpattern whose name eludes me for caster.
Starting on the bread across, I was fully expecting bites, Clayton on 52 had an early fish (first cast) and I was expecting it to go round, well it didn't, I tried at various places along the island, tight in and short. Trigger on 50 was also in the same boat. I switched to the pole, having fed GB and caster at 9m and 6mm meat at 14m, nothing over the meat, but a few bites from skimmers roach and perch over the GB and caster.
I was aware of odd carp being caught and the fact I had a couple of better skimmers made me think if I could keep them coming, I'd be in with a chance of beating anyone with 2 or even 3 carp. I had the occasional look back to the island on the bomb, Trigger had a fish from across there, a 10lber, my first bite saw a real savage pull round turn out to be a 3oz hybrid..... the thought it wasn't to be my day set in there and then...
I was getting some liners over the GB and foul hooked a skimmer, the water was pretty clear and only 2.5' deep, so they seemed to spook off and I was waiting too long between bites, I tried to force it a bit with some more bait and get them down, that was a mistake, it killed it off. I wasn't convinced that starting a new line would be worth it, the longer meat line was dead, I had one bite, one roach.
I did go back on the lead, but my hearts not in it, I haven't got the patience or the confidence in it and I don't enjoy that style of fishing, where you feed nothing and sit watching a tip... That showed in the result and what had been a good day on Saturday declined into a bit of a disaster on Sunday. I did have one F1 that was over 4lb on the bomb and meat, but it was nowhere near enough, as the skimmers had disappeared far too early in the match.
The venue fished harder than I expected, the draw we had should on paper have been a real flyer, but we failed to capitalise and slipped a couple of places, rather than gaining as we'd hoped.
Time for some reflection for me on this for next year, its a big match, its a good atmosphere and plenty of banter, but I only enjoyed one match from 5, this sitting on the lead waiting for a bite an hour isn't really for me, no kneejerk reaction, but I will be giving it some thought, there are a couple of other leagues, including a silvers league that could be fished in place of this one.
Well done to the framers and to those who have the patience, confidence and ability to sit on that lead and know its going to go round.....
On the day:
Overall
1. Gary Coton - 99lb 7oz - peg 131
2. Andy Power - 94lb 5oz - peg 111
3. Ivan Oakey - 77lb 8oz - peg 59
4. Steve Nadin - 74lb 2oz - peg 2
5. Matt Culpin - 72lb 15oz - peg 132
Silvers
1. Vince Brown - 22lb 9oz - peg 112
2. Rob Jones - 20lb 12oz - peg 1
3. Shaun Townsend - 19lb 1oz - peg 10
Teams overall:
1. PI Thatchers - 308
2. Thatchers Vets - 275
3. Team Keyford - 251
4. Trig’s Team - 243
4. Guru Viaduct - 243
6. Garbolino - 238
7. Parsigns - 238
8. Sensus 88 - 233
9. Future Networks - 233
10. 2nd Time Lucky - 231
11. Moaning Maggots - 231
12. Fishing Tackle Warehouse - 223
13. Silverfox - 199
14. Wyvern Anglers - 194
15. Team Amigos - 175
16. PR Floats - 159
17. Viaduct All Stars - 156
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