Viaduct Spring League Round 1, Sunday 26th April 2015

I'd been looking forward to this one, the first time I have fished this league, just wish I had not been working so much, as I haven't had a chance to get to Viaduct since the last round of the winter league at the beginning of March.

I drew 128 and wasn't at all upset by that, surely I could get some decent points from that peg, how wrong could I be, a frustrating day ensued.......

I slipped back into the bad habit of covering (or trying to) all the options, setting up a waggler to fish at depth and a lead rod. 4 topkits, one for fishing along the spit, a meat rig for 5/6m, a rig to fish banded pellet at 14m and a paste rig.  bait table should have been simply meat and pellet, but I did add paste for a line at about 8m towards the willow tree, dead maggot and worm for one area of the spit.  With hindsight, meat and pellet should have been the only things on the bait tray.

The wind was blowing up the lake, but I started on the waggler and had a fish about 8lb after 5 minutes, the wind then got stronger and the presentation was poor, so I switched to the pole, I struggled for bites, having one on the pole at 14m, one on paste and a couple of small carp from the spit, but I had to wait a long time for bites and caught more skimmers than carp from the spit.

There was no sign of fish over the meat line, whilst I could see (and hear) the new dream team of Trigger and Bobby G on 114 and 115 emptying it.  Tony Rixon on 129 had a few but it slowed up for him, with 4 hours gone I was extremely frustrated, over tired I think and every niggling little issue was making me more and more annoyed - a while back I would have packed up and gone in home in a huff, but I was determined to try and rescue something.

127 started catching a fish a bung on his short meat line with about 90 minutes to go, whilst I managed one bite, a skimmer that leapt out of the water and off the hook, at 16.10 with 50 minutes to go, I reckon I had about 35-40lb in the net, when I saw the first indication of fish on the meat line, I managed to catch steadily for the last 50 minutes, this made up nearly 2/3's of my total weight.
I am well out of touch with the fish on Campbell now, misjudging the weights of them, that and the fact that catching so well in the last 50 minutes compared with the rest of the match, saw met over in a net I though had about 60lb in, so with my net knocked back to 70lb, a lone fish in the other and some silvers, I weighed 90lb and a few ounces for last in section, a day to forget, but some lessons learnt (re-learnt in the case of too many options and baits.....) and I really need to get out on the bank more.

I have just seen that I scraped into last place in the knock-out, so a minor consolation, as I should and could have caught more from the peg, back to Viaduct Thursday, hopefully to put that bad experience behind me.

Short Pole Series Round 1, Trinity Waters, Sunday 19th April 2015

First match of the year for me on this venue and one I was looking forward to until the weathermen started forecasting the easterly winds. Speaking to match organiser, Tony Rixon, he told me there were 29 fishing, I did wonder if that might be too many on this lake, as some of the pegs need a space for the margins to produce.

Looking at the lake lake before the draw, the easterly wind was coming into the car park bank (pegs 22-34) and that looked to be an unpleasant place to draw.  I definitely fancied a peg on the far bank (6-15). I followed Rod Wotten into the draw bucket, he drew 29, I drew 28 and Paul Faiers behind me drew 27, not sure of the odds on that sequence happening!!  We were all a bit disappointed to draw with that cold wind in our faces and I said to Paul that catching some skimmers could be important come the end.

Tackling up was cold, bloody cold, whilst the assembled line-up on the opposite bank sat in T shirts taking the piss - fair enough, if I ever draw a peg that allows me to be in that position, I'll do the same. 4 Rigs, a long stable float because of the wind to fish banded pellet, the same model set up without a band that would cover soft pellet and meat, a paste rig and an margin rig, although I wasn't too confident that the carp would venture into the margin, due to the close pegging and the cold wind into the bank.

Plumbing up showed that topkit +3 sections was a section too short on my peg, Paul found the same, we just couldn't get to the bottom of the slope, by a short distance, with the wind blowing at us, flicking it out with a longer line was pointless as it was blowing back.

I started feeding slightly short of full distance and fishing past it to allow for the slope, starting on 6mm banded pellet, I had a couple of indications and then a skimmer was netted, but that was it for the banded pellet, I just couldn't get it to work, so switched to a soft pellet fished overdepth and that brought a run of skimmers and a solitary tench, before the peg went quiet and I landed a 4lb carp.  A little wait for a bite after that and another skimmer netted, but the liners, dinks and knocks on the float had stopped, it was if the skimmers had vacated the peg, I guess they had moved out, but unable to follow them I was a bit stumped.

I tried worm, in various sizes, to no avail and then picked up the paste rig hoping a bigger target bait might attract some of the bigger carp than hang around these pegs. A 8lb fish straight away and i thought that was it sussed, but no, a long, long wait between bites for two more fish in the last couple of hours, I tried a 5m meat line, margins fed left and right, one with meat, one with maggot, not a sign of a carp or a bite on any of the three lines, so back to sitting it out on the paste, which did, as mentioned, produce another 8lb fish and a 10lber. I wasn't sure what my silvers went and at the end whilst waiting for the scales, Paul and I had a look at his net and mine, both concluding he'd beaten me.

The scales proved us both wrong, Paul's silvers going 15.13 and mine 16.05, which gave me second in the silvers and a pickup and my 4 carp for 30lb gave me second in section with 46.11, I wasn't too disappointed with that result from there, as I really didn't fancy the draw.  At least the series isn't blown on the first match, thankfully....

1: Mike Nicholls  117.09 peg 15
2: Tim Ford 96.05  peg 32
3: Paul Elmes 94.13 peg 10
4: Bela Bakos 88.00 peg 12
5: Trigger 84.03 peg 20
6: Tony Rixon 77.00 peg 30

Silvers

1: Dave Evans 18.04 peg 19
2: Chris Fox 16.05 peg 28
3: Paul Faiers 15.13 peg 27

Landsend Open, Saturday 11th April 2015

Only one day off this weekend and with my failure to secure a Fishomania ticket for Viaduct, it was a toss up between a first visit to Hillview or Landsend.  Landsend won, partly due to a late finish Friday night and an early start Sunday and partly due to me needing to get the better of the venue, rather than the other way round.

16 or 17 booked in, so Mike spread the match over two lakes, with six on lake 3 and 11 on Match lake, paying the lakes as separate matches.  I fancied a draw in the high teens on Match lake or lake 3, I wasn’t sure how the overnight rain and the water Mike has been pumping into Match lake to raise the level, would affect the fish.

I managed to draw myself peg 7, which was the opposite side to where I fancied, but it should be worth a few fish, especially as the next peg in was 11, with first time visitor to Landsend, Mike Walker sat on it.  There were a few carp showing themselves, but not showing any signs of feeding.

 My silvers fishing is over until next winter, so it was pellet and meat on the bait tray, with plenty of time to set up I, assembled 4 topkits, a AK47 margin float to fish up to the pallet of peg 8, I did mix up a bit of groundbait and had some dead maggot to try in the margin. A rig to fish banded pellet up the far shelf, which is now 18” – 2’ deep with the extra water, a rig to fish banded pellet at about 7 sections and a rig for meat short.

Starting on the banded pellet across, I had a small carp first put in, next drop in saw and F1 netted, that was it before the bites stopped, I upped the feed a bit and had one more fish, but they wouldn’t settle.  A switch to the 7 section pellet line was equally unproductive, a long wait for a bite, before a big skimmer was the first to fall to the 6mm pellet.  After a couple of hours I got off my box and pumped a few expanders, as the action was so slow, first drop in with an expander saw another big skimmer netted, my one and only roach and a carp, before the bites dried up.

I had already had a biteless look over the meat line, before dropping on it with about 2 ½ hours to go, it produced a couple of big skimmers and a tench, but no sign of a carp.  It was a long wait for a bite, then the tell tale sign of a bubble or two approaching the float before a bite.  By now there was a few fish in the margin over the GB and I spent (with hindsight) too long trying to catch them.  I had several, also losing a couple which took the line against the scaffold tube pallet leg and this caused it to part both times.

The fish weren’t really getting their heads down in the margin, no tails on show, so liners were an issue, they seemed attracted to the feed, but weren’t in the feeding frenzy normally associated with margins.  I spent too much time into trying to make them feed, whereas had I just fished the pellet and meat lines, I am sure I would have picked up the silvers money, as I was just two fish away from beating serial whitebait thrasher, Nigel Bartlett.  Then again, another couple of lumps from the margin, would have seen me sneak into the overall lake money, which I was one out of as well….  My fish went 22.04 of silvers and 49.03 of carp.  So an enjoyable day, with a bit of frustration at the poor decision making,  that went far too quickly, roll on next week,  the start of Tony Rixon’s short pole series at Trinity.

Match lake:

1: Rob Watts 91.13 peg 17

2: Martin Pettifer 88.13 peg 19

3: Darren Vowles 83.07 peg 1

4: Chris Fox 71.07 peg 7

5: Mike West 65.09 peg 21

6: Mike Walker 54.08 peg 11

Silvers

1: Nigel Bartlett 26.01 peg 1

2: Chris Fox 22.03 peg 7

Lake 3

1: Rich Lovering 95.13 peg 68

2: Rod Wootten 88.14 peg 61

3: Mark Walsh 65.06 peg 70

Silvers

1: Mark Walsh 18.12 peg 70

Charity Pairs, Larford, Friday 3rd April 2015

Larford for Good Friday, the annual Charity Pairs match, my first time fishing this and with getting on for 80 fishing, I was looking forward to it.  A good drive up, after picking up Mike Walker, so all seemed to be on track for a good day.

The format was that the pairs were drawn, first one out of the bag going on Speci lake, second out on Match Lake.  I would have preferred Speci lake, but had to be content with match lake, the draw wasn’t kind and all the locals advised me that I was in a poor area and a poor peg, 64.

I had come to try and win, I wasn’t going to mess about scratching round for small fish, so set up a straight lead to fish 8mm pellet, a method to chuck towards the aerator - surely that would yield a few fish – a rig to fish 6mm banded pellet at 14m, another for meat at 5m and an edge rig.

Starting on the method, the tip remained stationary, even though I was clipped up and virtually touching the aerator as the method went into the water, I’m not renowned for my patience on the feeder/bomb, so it wasn’t too long before that went up the bank.

I had been pinging a few 4 and 6mm’s on the 14m line and first put in a near 3lb carp graced the net, then two skimmers about 8-10oz, cracked it…… but unfortunately the fish thought other wise and the match turned into a real slog to keep bites coming, I had one fish from the margin, a hybrid about 1lb, nothing on the meat or bomb, all my fish (which weren’t many) falling to 6mm banded pellet at 14m.  I tried reducing the feed, upping it and double pouching, I tried cupping in some micros on the 14m line and it seemed best to just keep a few going in with the catapult, lifting and dropping and wait for a bite, a sign I think, that there just weren’t too many fish wanting to feed.

 A few small carp and F1’s and skimmers gave me 17lb, which was more than double the weight off the next peg (62) but unable to beat those further down the section, or end peg 65 who had a big rush bed and tree feature to fish to.  I had been advised that meat wasn’t working, but gambled on it, as it will surely switch on up there soon, I don’t think meat on the 5m line was the reason I struggled, genuinely think it was the draw.

Pleased to hear that Matt raised £1000 for the charity, but the fishing was grim for many, Mike had two fish, he was on Speci and that fished really hard.  Shame the fish weren’t as charitable as the anglers, that’s several matches on Larford that I have struggled to catch (each time I wasn’t alone in that) and with it being 81 miles away I can’t see me rushing back, as it’s 33 miles to Viaduct and even less to Landsend.   It’s easy to moan, but I think we should be thankful for the quality of the fishing in our area, we’re just missing a really consistent winter venue, but the rest of the year we’re spoilt for choice.  

Major projects going on at work for a couple of weeks, so not much chance to get out, looks like Landsend on Sat 11^th and the first of Tony Rixons’ short pole series at Trinity on Sunday 19^th, looking forward to that, as its one of my favourite venues.

Landsend Winter League, Final Round. Sunday 29th March 2015

Final round of the Landsend Winter League, thanks to Ken Rayner for organising it and being the butt of much piss taking, all of which he took in the good humour it was intended.

My intention this year had been to have a decent attempt at framing in the overall table, after last years second place in the silvers.  The first couple of matches and the lack of carp put the mockers on that and left me with the silvers to pursue in the hope of an envelope at the end of the series.

Going into this last match, I was leading the silvers league by 1 point and a fairly decent weight advantage, but if the decent skimmers/bream in the match lake fed in the forecast windy conditions, that weight advantage could be easily wiped out.  I was on lake 3, which is probably the toughest lake to be on when trying to gain a silvers section win, as a couple of the pegs hold F1’s which count as silvers on this venue and there are not the bonus big perch, tench and bream that show up in the other lakes.

I felt I needed to draw 41, 42, 68 or 70 to compete, but the forecast of gusts up to 65mph might level things up a bit, I wasn’t disappointed to see 41 on the draw ticket when I extracted it from the bucket, so in with a chance of holding onto top spot.

I set up 3 rigs, a 4x12 sensas pencil float to fish topkit or topkit +1 to try and catch roach, rudd  and perch, this had a 0.10 hooklength and a 18 6313. A NG Gimp with 0.10 hooklength and a 16 6313 for pellet in case the skimmers had a go, and a float whose name eludes me to fish worm, caster or maggot over some GB , this had a 0.10 hooklength and a 18 6313 as well.

The forecasters weren’t wrong and it was a thoroughly unpleasant day to be pole fishing, I only got out topkits and 4 sections and at times, just fishing the topkit was bad enough.  On the all-in I fed some micros and 4mm’s on a line off to my right at about 7m, this produced one tiny skimmer on a 6mm expander, so little else to say about this, the GB line was fed with two ‘jaffas’ and left to settle as I started on the topkit+ 1 and managed a few small roach and perch.  After wasting time not getting any bites on pellet, I dropped a worm head onto the GB line and had a small skimmer, but the float was far too light in the windy conditions, so took it off and on went a 0.5g rig, this saw two skimmers (3-4oz, so nothing to get excited about) in two put ins before it went quiet again.

Rotating round the lines and just getting odd small fish I was concerned when I saw what looked like a big F1 landed on the feeder from peg 42, if it was an F1, it had just wiped out all my tiny fish in one cast.  I decided I needed to try and catch some F1’s, so set up a 9’ lead rod with a small cage feeder and had a few casts to the spit, this produced one unwanted carp and 2 small roach, no sign of an F1.

By now the wind had swung round a little and was blowing into me from the left, making things even more tricky and unpleasant, especially as I could see Tony Rixon and Paul Faiers catching carp quicker than I could catch tiny skimmers. 

I had to improve my catch rate and decided to stick with fishing a topkit to hand and feeding maggot/caster.  I upped the hook size to a 16 and started centre hooking the maggot to improve bites hit ratio ( and the maggots last longer) and just got my head down, its not something that I find particularly enjoyable, but it was a means to an end and it paid off, with 10.02 of whitebait for a lake silvers win and the silvers league by one point from Gary O’Shea, who had been pushing hard. I dropped 2 points weighing 68.15, Gary dropped 3 points weighing 42.13.

A nice way to round off the week, with a couple more envelopes, well done to Tony Rixon for winning the overall league only dropping one point and with a huge weight advantage of 200lb+.

Bait Tech Festival, Whiteacres, 2015

The eagerly anticipated Bait Tech festival has come round again and with all the arrangements taken care of by my lodge companions, it was just a matter of turning up and fishing.  I had got some nice fresh caster, 30 pints of it from Veals and some worms, so it amounted to 10 pints each and 2 kilos of worms each, for myself, Paul (Faiers) and Glenn (Calvert).  The fourth lodge resident was, as in previous years, Chips Rafferty, Pauls Father-in –Law, many thanks for all the chalet maid duties he carried out during the week and for his company and stories.

We arrived midday on Saturday, it was too nice a day to waste, so onto Jenny’s for some practise, we all caught fairly well, although the F1’s and carp were fairly conspicuous by their absence.  Saturday night was a trip to the bar to meet up with a few faces not seen since last year, but a fairly quiet night ensured we were ready for another practise session on the Sunday.  This was a matter of some discussion and it ended up with us going to Twin oaks for a walk round and then onto Trelawny for a few hours, we caught, but not huge weights, mainly skimmers rather than carp and F1’s although several barbel showed as well, although they would just be bonus fish, not viable to target.  

First day for me was to be Jenny’s/Trelawny and I managed to draw myself peg 19, the same peg I had fished on Saturday afternoon, so I had an idea of what to do and it would mainly revolve around fishing caster/worm short and meat at 7 or 8m, as on Saturday fishing longer had proved no better and peg 19 has an island fairly close, so an easy feeder chuck, but it didn’t produce a single fish on Saturday.  As there was so much time I set up a feeder and a straight lead, the wind was really skimming the surface, so the waggler rods stayed in the bag.  As the time drew closer to the 12.00 all-in and no one appeared on peg 20, I realised I would have an end peg, but decided against setting up a margin rig given the lack of carp in the area on Saturday.

I started by feeding some worm and caster in GB, short, then some meat at 7m, before trying the feeder, which as Saturday, was a fruitless exercise.  I came in on the meat line and it was very slow, so a look on the short line with worm produced a run of fish, but a smaller stamp than I had on Saturday.  I could see that the guys on the pegs to my left were struggling, but a bank walker told me Paul Holland on peg 15 was catching well.  The 5 hours passed very quickly and by swapping between the meat line and the short line I managed to keep fish coming, no sign of a carp or the F1’s again.  The scales started at me and I put 43lb odd on the scales, which was top in the section until Richie Hull who weighed 68lb and Paul Holland who had 140lb, so a third in section and with no carp showing I am not sure I was capable of catching another 26lb of silvers to take a second, so have to be reasonably satisfied with that result.  Keeping an eye on the results for the rest of the week, I had top weight from the peg.

On to Tuesday and Trewaters, I drew peg 22, which is the peg or very close to where I practised last year and this may have clouded my rational thoughts, as on that day I caught plenty of F1’s on meat down the track, then even more on maggot short.  Again the wind would render a waggler useless, so it stayed in the bag again, a straight lead and three pole rigs would suffice for my confident approach. One pole rig to fish maggot short, another would cover meat at any distance past about 6m where the depth was within an inch or two, the same all over.  A margin rig, in case the carp would venture in there, as peg 21 was not in.  My confidence in catching F1’s as last year was sadly misplaced and I spent far too long trying to make it work, whilst the correct approach seemed to be fish 16m and very, very lightly feed meat through a tosspot and sit it out for carp, the margins gave up a skimmer and a roach and I was left with egg on my face and an embarrassing last in section, I would say it’s a day to forget, but  some important lessons learnt, which whilst painful, shouldn’t be forgotten.

Day three and a chance to redeem myself, Bolingey, I managed second on the lake last year, so hopefully I could regain some credibility and put yesterday behind me.  Into the drawbag and out came 27, which won the lake the day before with 200lb – no pressure then…….. 

Apparently the bomb had been the killing method the day before, so I set one up and then a spare one, just in case of disaster.  A waggler followed, as there were signs of fish moving in the upper layers of the water, all round the lake and three pole rigs.  One to fish at 5m, another for 14m and a margin rig, to target the area on the opposite bank where a tree trunk is in the water. 

I started on the bomb and bread, but it was slow going and I had to search around for fish, they didn’t seem to be in the deeper water, I had 3 or 4 on this before switching to meat, which was even slower.  The lead rod went up the bank and I had a run of fish on the waggler, fished about 3’-4’ deep, all the fish coming to meat.  I had some dead maggor and GB to put down the edge and with just over an hour to go I fed this into about 2’-2/12’ of water.  There were immediate signs of fish over the bait so I went straight over it with 6 maggots on the hook and caught for the last hour, an expensive decision not to go down that edge earlier, as I weighed 147.04 coming 4^th on the lake, with the top three weighing155.10, 155.02 and 150.12. One fish, the last one I netted was 14lb+, disappointing to have missed out on a frame placing, managing second in section and section money by default.

Penultimate day for me was to be Pollawyn, which hadn’t been fishing as well as it can and a poor draw on peg 2 was home for the day.  Tackled up with plenty of time, had a chat with some of the anglers on the end of the spit, Adam Wakelin was on 24 and he said “try and enjoy it mate, that’s a shit draw……”  The wind was whipping down the channel that peg 2 is in and creating a heavy undertow back towards the main lake, so once again the waggler rods stayed in the bag, two topkits for the open water, one for topkit+1 and one for 9m, no point in going further in the wind. Also a margin rig as Alex Nadin had drawn the peg the day before  and had two carp down the edge, but still was at the wrong end of the section.

I did set up a bomb rod to fish right across and first put in on bread hooked an F1, which shook its head when it popped up in front of me and shook the hook out….. great start!!  Nothing else forthcoming on the lead, so I adopted a similar plan to fishing Jenny’s, worm and caster short, meat long, no GB with the worm and caster this time.

I had a decent run of fish on the worm, big roach, skimmers and perch, before switching to the meat line, this produced a couple of hybrids, but was much, much slower than the caster and worm line.  I kept plugging away and trying to keep warm as the peg is shady and windy.  The margin line was no good for carp, three skimmers being the sum total for my efforts there.  For entertainment I had Adam Wakelin on peg 24, fishing the wrong side of a big tree for the last few minutes, he hooked a fish and proceeded to add pole sections until he could lift the pole over the tree and bring it round for netting, a barbell, he then repeated the exercise with a carp – very soft hollow was the order of the day.  I was last on the lake to weigh and fully expected my carp-less net to give me another lowly section placing, even though I had had an enjoyable days fishing, I was surprised when my weight of 25lb odd was enough for second in section, maybe I could have caught the 6lb I needed had I not spent time in the margins.   Got back to the lodge to find that Mr Silverfish Faiers had had a second on Bolingey from peg 7 with 118lb, he’s now a carp convert……

Last day, the week seemed to go by very quickly, with fishing in the day and some good company in the evenings.  Twin Oaks, I have only drawn this lake once before on my first visit, so know very little about it.  Peg 15 stuck to my paw from the drawbag, apparently it can be a good peg in the right area and carp are the target, not F1’s.  Some advice from lodge companions Paul and Glenn, along with some more from Des (Shipp) and I went off to the peg feeling confident I would catch.  All the bait in the bag, with the exception of the meat and bread could have been left in the lodge fridge, as they were the only two to grace my sidetray.

I set up two bomb rods, a waggler rod (on Des’s advice) and a pole rig for 5m, I did set up a margin rig, just because I had so much time, but it was put away unused and the margin remained unfed.  For company I had Adam Wakelin to my left on 13 and Paul Holland on 16, who was looking for a section win to keep up his chance of the festival win.  Starting on the bread I had three fish inside the first 20 minutes, which I clicked at 19lb, so a good start. The bread stopped producing bites so I went onto meat, feeding 8mm cubes across and kept the odd fish coming, if I went too close to the far bank, I got liners and nothing else, so I had to drop it 3’-4’ short and wait for a bite, that reduced the liners.  That was indicating the fish were sat up in the water, so as soon as the wind allowed I dropped over with the waggler and caught on that 2^nd cast, when I hooked my second fish on it, there were wagglers flying out from the pegs either side, but the wind once again picked up and made it very difficult to present.

I went back on the bomb and tried to grab a couple of casts with the waggler when there was a long enough lull in the wind, but the fish had slowed down now, going into the last hour I was ahead of the pegs either side, but not by much, as Paul had struggled to catch on the bomb, but had managed some on the long pole.  The last hour was my undoing and handed the festival win to Paul, as he managed 8 or 9 fish from his 5m line, whereas my 4 or 5 from the same line, meant that he had overtaken me.  The scales proved that to be the case, with Paul winning the lake with 146.11, my fish went 125.10 for second spot and Adam with 120.10 for third.

Had a long chat with Paul after the match, he had worked so hard to catch up and admitted that after 90 minutes he wanted to cry and pack up, as he couldn’t catch, suffice to say he didn’t and he fished well all week for a much deserved festival win.

I ended up 39th, but for a couple of dropped points I would have had a solid top 20 finish which would have been good, the last in section cost me top 30, its so tight on these festivals, a dropped point or two is a real blow.

Some thoughts on the festival are that taking all that worm and caster was a waste of time, meat was the way to go.  Its very difficult to compete with the top guys who are fishing most days of the week, the better strategy might be to go and fish every match to win it, rather than worry about section points.  Its imperative to try and get some good information on the pegs as 5 hours seems very short when you are used to 6 hour matches on venues you know.

I did loads of prep and only used a few hooks and a couple of rigs….. 

It was nice not having to take waders, platform, different rods and microbarbed hooks for Porth.  

Already looking forward to next year, although my Preston Festival Invite has just landed in my inbox, tempted, very tempted..... anyone want to share a caravan?

Landsend Winter League, Round 5, Sunday 15th March 2015

Last Tuesday it seemed like spring had arrived, before the temperatures fell again, but I did decide to man up and leave the merino base layer off today and it wasn’t too bad, so the spring, hopefully isn’t too far away.

My turn to draw on Match Lake, leading the silvers table and nowhere to be seen in the overall standings meant I had little choice but to target silvers for the full 6 hours, no matter where I drew.  It was disappointing to see so many empty pegs round the lakes, even though Ken had done his best to get stand-in’s.

I dipped into the plastic bucket marked up Match Lake and on opening the swimcard, saw 3 staring back at me, I wasn’t too disappointed, although I would have preferred  5  – often the home of a few F1’s, maybe 15 or 17 as I’ve seen big skimmers come from there and 11 has won the silvers in amongst a decent weight of carp on the last 3 occasions I’ve been on this lake. It turned out peg 5 wasn’t drawn and for company on peg one, I had Tony Rixon, who would be doing his best to keep the carp to himself.

The water wasn’t as coloured as I’d like for skimmers, but clear enough for the perch to feed, the level is down and I didn’t set up a rig to fish right up the shelf, I thought the water was too clear for it to work.  I did set up a Hillbilly Chump on 0.16, with a 0.10 hooklength and a 18 6313, to fish down the track, this with a standard bulk and two droppers.  I also set up a MW F1 slim wire, with spread N011’s, in case the fish were off bottom, this on 0.14 with the same hook and hooklength as the first rig.

I also set up a rig to fish just at the bottom of the far shelf, this was a NG Gimp (just because it had a yellow tip and was easy to see), again on 0.16, with the 0.10 hooklength and a 18 6313.  Finally, a rig to fish down to the brambles and pallet of peg 2, this didn’t produce a bite, so no more keyboard effort explaining that one. 

The rigs for down the track would be good for two lines, one at 9m at 10 o’clock and also at 2 o’clock at 6m.  The 9m line was fed with a mixture of micros and 4mm’s with just a little fishmeal GB to coat them.  The 6m line was fed by hand with caster.  After feeding these lines I started across at the bottom of the shelf, toss potting caster in and it wasn’t long before I had a bite, a 4oz rudd opening my score.  I carried on tos potting the caster and had a run of rudd and perch up to 8oz, before a couple of slightly better perch were netted.  The bites weren’t savage, so I had the float dotted right down to see them.  I then lost a couple of fish and started missing bites, liners I suspected, although I think one of the lost fish was a decent perch.

I tried dragging the rig up the shelf slightly and this didn’t improve matters, I had tried feeding heavier and less often to keep the fish down on the deck, but this didn’t work either.  I got of my box and set up a rig to fish up the shelf in 18” of water, after losing a big F1, but this only produced 2 bites, one of which was a 1oz rudd.

I had been topping up the pellet line and watching out for signs of fish over it, as they usually give themselves away with the odd bubble, but it appeared devoid of fish after 3 hours.  I managed a couple of big skimmers on the caster line, and by rotating between here and the bottom of the far shelf I kept the odd fish coming. 

Finally with a couple of hours to go, I saw a solitary bubble on the 9m line over the pellet, slipping a 4mm pellet on the hook and dropping it in, saw the float settle and almost immediately bury, a 3lb bream was gratefully netted.  I managed a few more decent skimmers over the last two hours, but once I caught one, occasionally two in two put ins, then I’d have to wait a while for a bite, I think that was just down to the clarity of the water spooking the others when one was hooked.  I only lost one bream, a decent fish that leapt out of the water, heading straight back towards me as I lifted into the bite, he was successful in his endeavour to shed the hook.

For the second Sunday running I could have easily fished on at the all-out, a nice contrast to some of this winter’s matches, that I wouldn’t have minded had the all-out come within a couple of hours of the start.

Ideally I needed a silvers section win to keep my hopes of winning the league alive, as the draw will be crucial next  match on John’s Water.  Stand-in Nigel Bartlett pipped me to it, with a nice net of silvers from peg 11 ( that s three matches in a row I’ve been beaten by that peg….) weighing in at 30.06, my lost fish proved expensive, as the leaping bream would have done it, as I weighed 28.02.  That was enough to keep me one point clear at the top of the silvers table, with a decent weight advantage – just praying for a peg with some silvers in on the last round!!

Next up for me is the Bait Tech Festival at Whiteacres, looking forward to that, trying to get ready but working until 10pm every night this coming week, bound to forget something.......

On the day:

1: Adrian Clark 114.09 peg 13

2: Craig Edmunds 110.01 peg 15

3: Ken Rayner 100.09 peg 20

4: Mike Duckett  100.01 peg 37

5: Tony Rixon 88.02 peg 1

6: Sean Townsend 67.12 peg 7

Silvers

1: Nigel Bartlett 30.06 peg 11

2: Chris Fox 28.02 peg 3

3: Gary Ethridge 17.4 peg 39