The matches are well spread with 1 a month in may/june/july and august. The venues (as it stands) are to be Plantation's Horseshoe (aka match lake) and Acorn's Back pond. 2 matches on each, but could change to all on Horseshoe if we get double fisgure of entries for each match.
To win in the series you count 3 results from 4.
Firstly:
Until this week I had not seen the venue let alone fished it, so on Friday I had a 5 hr session on there, mostly to make a couple rigs and familiarise myself with the lake.
I fished halfway up the far bank, I tried for the silvers for 90 mins, maggot and caster over groundbait at 6m and a cw&c line at 11m to my left, I didn't have a bite, so figured that they will not be a viable option for the match.
I then managed to break the same section of my pole that was damaged last week (by being a wally trying to lift the pole from the wrong end), only this time it was snapped in half. Still I telescoped it for now as I wait for a replacement.
I then baited the swim for carp, which I was informed/read averaged a couple pounds. I had a shallow line over the sunken bar, a line at the bottom of said bar and a margin line in close to the next swim to my left.
Over the next 3hrs or so bites came in fits and starts and I finally tipped back around 28 carp, the smallest was a couple pounds, but most were around 4 or 5lb, I also had a few around the 7 or 8 pound mark.
I couldn't get a bite at the bottom of the bar, and the shallow rig was iffy thanks to the wind blowing up the lake (R to L) and I was fishing banded 8mm, really 6mm would have been better as I bumped a few. Alas I did mug a few fish as they were cruising.
Most of my bites and fish came from the margin, mostly on 8mm meat over 6mm pellets.
So I took my 'knowledge' with me today hoping for something similar.
Today:
I arrived early for the draw as I was bored at home, I had re-elasticated the wife's pole in case my telescoped sections didn't like to play (but they were fine really) on mine. I duly arrived at the lake around 11:30, the draw was 12:30.
I took a walk around as I was the only soul present, and saw a lot of fish along the short bank near the entrance, where the wind had been blowing, also a lot of fish were present around the end of the sunken bar on the far corner of the lake and I would like a peg in those sort of areas (if pegged).
A stiff wind was blowing, stronger than yesterday, and it did seem that presentation could be difficult, we had also had a few showers this morning, which I figured may have pushed the fish lower in the water.
A short while later Kev Perry arrived, we said hello's and then he trotted upto the café for some grub.
A new lad arrived aswell, it was his 1st outing with the club I think, Tom Duckett is his name. Mike Lilly arrived (he fished here a lot it seemed) shortly, then everyone else arrived except Glen who was running late.
A bit of chit chat and piss taking, Mike went and done the pegging for Adie and insisted pegs 9-14 were on the island, well there were on 13 fishing and he wrote the numbers(1-13) on the flags himself...!!
Anyways we paid our dues and the draw was made, I went 1st, picking p5 for Adie and 1 for myself, which gave me the scales, which is the 1st time ever I have drawn the scales...... We were fishing 1:45 to 7pm.
For company I had Kev Perry to my left, I could see Rod Wotton on the 'hot peg' across and to my right on p9. Mike Lilly was on 11 across and to my left. Glen Calvert was the opposite side of the mini island in front of me.
Approx. Layout of Today's match
Looking at my swim, I had island rushes in front of me.
I set up 3 rigs, a shallow rig for either mugging or spraying 4mm pellet, this had a banded 6mm pellet on the hook. This never game me a bit despite several tries, so wont be mentioned.
My 2nd rig was for in the slightly deeper, but not deepest, parts of the swim, which was at topkit in front and 6ft off the island at 10 o'clock position. For this I would fish dead reds over micro.
Lastly I had a rig for against the reeds on the island, which would multiply up for fishing in front of the swim to my right and just off the point of the island where I had the same 2.5-3ft depth. Baits were meat over 4mm or 6mm pellet with few free bits of meat in all 3 spots.
The wind was rather strong, so after 9m it was hard to hold the pole, but I needed 11m to reach the reeds on the island and the swim to my right, so i'd have to cope.
The whistle went and I cupped my free offerings in the appropriate spots and catapulted some loose 4mm pellets into open water which is where I spent the first 15 minutes, without response. Glen, in this time, had landed 4 carp and Rod on p9 had also had a couple.
A switch to the deeper rig and 3 dead reds bought a small carp of 1lb or so, and that was that for that line for the day, despite trying varying depths and feeding, I never had a sniff again over micros in the deeper spots.
The 1st hour had passed and 1 carp was my tally, Mike had yet to catch, and I am sure Kev hadn't caught either. Glen and Rod had landed a few though. There were fish showing over the sunken bar in front of the swim to my left, but at a distance which I couldn't fish with the pole.
The next hour did bring me a run of 4 carp, 2 from against the island weighing a couple pounds each and 2 from in front of the swim to my right which were of a slightly better stamp. I also lost 2 fouled fish from over the margin swim.
So by now we were just over 2 hours in and my swim had died, Kev had landed a couple lumps from his margin swims and Rod was still catching. Glen had stopped catching though. Also up the far end I couldn't see much action in Adie's swim.
The last 3 hours of the match was dire really, I lost 1 rig in a tree when a gust of wind took the rig into a branch/twig, another rig did the same but I got it back minus the hooklength. I did land a skimmer of 1lb 2oz (my only silver in 2 days). The wind was a pain for most. I also missed 3 bites down the edge to my left, a new swim I started with less feed as maybe they were backing off the freebies? The last hour's sunshine meant I couldn't see much in front of me with the glare etc hurting my eyes.
Kev was catching consistently now, fishing down the edge, mostly to his left, and his fish were a decent stamp. Rod was doing ok too, especially the last hour where I guess he had about 8 carp, but most were a couple pounds, but I think he was possibly winning, he was for sure on my side of the main island.
My island swim never gave me a bite once it was shaded, maybe it was the shade which prevented Mike Lilly from doing well as it looked like his swim, although had little in the was of wind, was shady thanks to the trees behind and to the side of him.. Also the wind had altered direction a touch and had swung slightly towards me, resulting in calm water in the right hand margin, which resulted in less bites, but more ducks and geese visiting that area.
The shout for the all out soon came and I guess I had around 16lb, Rod would be near the ton, Glen had double or so what I had and Kev had a good last 90 mins with some lumps, he would weigh around 60lb I did think to myself.
I packed up and assembled the scales etc, and Kev came and weighed my catch, my 1lb 2oz skimmer and the carp tallied up to 21lb 6oz. Not enough, but maybe be ok in the scheme of the series.
Next up we weighed Kev's catch, with both weighs totalling 70lb 4oz, Mark B weighed 47lb+, then the far end swims never weighed anything of note with 15/16lb weights, Tom Duckett fished the peg next to where I fished on Friday, he had a handful of carp for 18lb-ish.
Onto the island, Rod weighed in, less fish than I thought, but a decent 81lb bag of carp, fishing mostly 6m to the bank/stems to his left, no doubt fishing hard pellet. Mike DNW'd while Glen and Brian Slipper had weights of 40lb 8oz and 49lb 13oz respectively.
Results:
1st - Rod Wotton - 81lb 8oz on peg 9 (1st peg on left over footbridge)
2nd - Kev Perry - 70lb 4oz from peg 2 (halfway along 1st bank)
3rd - Brian Slipper - 49lb 13oz on peg 12 (point of island)
I finished 7th, which I am a little disappointed with, but the wind didn't help my cause making presentation difficult and given very few fish were actually caught from deep(er) water perhaps I did ok from my swim.
Weigh Sheets (not in peg order)
Overally I quite like this little venue, the carp certainly know how to pull back and is reasonably fair as everyone has a feature or 2 and should catch a few. Saying that, I would suggest that if a match is held on there then 18 would be the most I would want, also the lake could perhaps do with an influx of silvers, roach, skimmers or tench, but only around 5lb of bits were caught in total by 13 of us.
I look forward to the next outing on there.
The next weekend match up for me is a match on the 19th when I have a choice of Avalon or Trinity Woodlands. 50/50 which I will go for.
I may fish this bank holiday Monday, but will see if the family want to do stuff, especially as it looks like a nice warm and sunny day is due.
I will probably fish the next Sedges evening match on the Thursdays in between. This weeks was poor for me, a dnw while a few decent weights on pellet wag won the monies (96lb+ won) in 2.5hrs on Thursday just gone.
Until next time, take care and happy angling.
Lee
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