Final Round, Short Pole Series, Trinity Waters Sunday 9th August 2015

All to fish for in this match today, going into the league in 4th place, with a chance to climb a place or two if I could get a decent draw and get those above me in my section. Into the draw tin and out comes 28..... again FFS, not a happy bunny about that. it's been the worst section, some were commenting that it was the fairest section, but not when you look at the results on paper, as peg 24 won the section the first match (25 not drawn), peg 25 won the section the next two matches and 24 won the section this match, so maybe not so fair after all.  My draws for this series read 28, 17, 27 and 28, piss poor is one description and the fact that I was 100lbish behind on weight from those above and below me in the league made it virtually impossible to rely on weight to help me.

So going to my peg I wasn't very confident of gaining ground, although I had Paul Elmes who was in third place overall on the next peg, 29, which has been a shit draw as well.  I though the match might follow the pattern of the others which was a fish or two in the first hour, a tough middle and a fish or two in the last hour, no point in messing about with a multitude of baits, so pellets, paste and dead maggots on the side tray.  4 topkits, two to fish pellet at full pole length (topkit + 3) one with a band, one without. A paste rig and a margin rig, then as I was ready with 25 minutes to go, I set up a shallow rig, so all options covered.

My prediction of the pattern of the match was wrong, as I didn't hook or see any signs of a carp in the first hour (or second) just a couple of small skimmers on soft pellet, I wasn't alone, as Paul was in the same position, along with Clint to my right. I walked back to the van to get some GB to mix up and fish for skimmers, reminder to self, if you tidy the back of the van up, put the GB back in.....  So with that option out of the window, I fed one ball of GB that I had mixed up for the margin, and some dead maggot, this brought a couple of bigger skimmers to the net on dead maggot, but not at a rate to consider switching to fishing for the silvers money.

With half the match gone I fed some GB and maggots into the LH margin and had been feeding pellet into the RH margin, the RH margin didn't produce as much as a liner, so no more about that.  Clint on 27 had a fish after spending ages fishing shallow, so I did have a thrash around with the shallow rig and had a small parrot mouth fish, but that was to be it, apart from one decent roach.  I ended up switching between the margin and a paste rig in the last 2 hours, adding 5 more fish to the net, which I was confident had beaten Paul and Clint, but not so of the 'form pegs 24 and 25, so it proved, with bela on 25 beating me by a solitary lb as well, leaving me 4th in section.  My silvers went 7lb odd and 33lb of carp for 41lb and a bit.

Rod Wootten on peg 30 had not seen a carp all day, these middle pegs on this bank have not been the place to draw this series.

So my 4th was enough to consolidate 4th place in the league, my point better than Paul making us equal 3rd, with me knocked back to 4th on weight, as I knew it would.  Nice to go home with an payout, after not picking up once in the league, ending with 3 x 2nd in section and a 4th.  I was also in the knock out final and wasn't confident of getting a pick up in that and so it proved, the drawbag hasn't been kind this series.

Results.

Float Only League, Penultimate Round, Sedges, Sunday 2nd August 2015

Reading the blogs and hearing the tales from Thursdays practise match, I decided to just take pellets and paste to this match, not sure if limiting my options like that was a good idea, but I don't think anything but a friendly trawler going round the lake for me would have given me a chance of winning it.

It was a lovely day, but once again, the wind affected the fishing, making bait presentation very difficult, oh for the chance to have fished a straight lead......

Peg 4 was my home for the 6 hours, a noted skimmer peg I was told, but then recently, apparently the skimmers have come from the opposite side of the lake. I had two waggler rods with me, one shallow and one full depth, the rule about only one No8 shot on the bottom worked against the waggler today, as a string of 5 or 6 led on the bottom might have slowed the floats pace through the peg to a gentle trot, rather than the rapid gallop. Not a bite on either, although because of the wind and its affect on them, I didn't try them for too long.

4 topkits set up, two paste rigs, one to fish at 13m - which was wildly optimistic, a rare moment of optimism for me, no idea where it came from - and one to fish at 5m. two pellet rigs, one with a band and one without for soft pellet, I didn't have a bite on a hard pellet, so little more to say about that. Trying to fish at 13m was just frustrating and i gave it up as a bad job and concentrated on the 6m line.  This would only yield tiny skimmers on soft pellet and at least half a dozen missed bites for every 2oz blade landed.

If it hadn't been for the fact that the section was fishing hard and I had given Steve Evans a lift, I might have had an early end to the day and gone for a beer and watched the Charity Shield game.

In the 4th hour I stretched my legs and had a chat with Paul Faiers, going back to my peg at the start of the 5th hour, I was somewhat shocked to see the float go under and a proper skimmer take the paste hookbait, he was to be a solo act, as I never had another, but I did manage 5 carp in the 5th hour, all on paste at 5m.  I was just starting to think that this might be a chance to win the section, with a similar number in the final hour, but that was nearly as bad as the first four, I lost a foul hooker and I also lost a decent fish that was properly hooked, the line snapped, it was all rough and abraded, I can only assume from rubbing on the fish.

So another miserable day, beaten by Steve Tucker for the section, by 19lb, as he had 6 carp and a couple of skimmers for 62lb, whilst my 5 carp, Billy no Mates decent skimmer and his tiny offspring went 43lb, the lost fish and one other might have troubled Steve's weight but not the framers. Still looking on the bright side, it wasn't the lowest weight section as per usual for me, it was the 3rd worst weight section, so going in the right direction.......

Well done to Mike Walker, drew a fancied peg, but held his nerve and had 187lb to win by a comfortable margin. Whilst the weights are better, it does feel like venues are fishing more like the winter, with fish holed up in certain areas and not foraging round the lakes.

Full Result:

1. Mike Walker 187-04-0 peg 11
2. Nick Chedzoy 146-11-0 peg 10
3. Gary O’Shea 133-01-0 peg 31
4. Chris Davis  119-11-0 peg 34
5. Tony Rixon 114-09-0 peg 12
6. Tim Ford 88-03-0 peg 40

Top Silvers:

1. Vic Bush 33-05 -0 peg 14
2. Mike Nicholls 30-06-0 peg 19
3. Leon Hubbard 19-02-0 peg 15