I arrived at the fishery at around 8:20, and there were already 20-odd guys and girls in the car park nattering away. The highlight of which was Chris Ware amusing us with stories of Frankfurt and all the 'delights' on offer. Hilarious.
The weather was, according to my phone, due to be sunny early then clouding over with a chance of a drop of the wet-stuff, warm-ish temps and the wind coming from the north-east and initially south-east. Well it was only a light breeze, but an awkward, swirly one, for those unfortunate to get a 'windy' peg at them.
Well, I paid my dues, made my way to the draw bag and pulled out peg 35, the right hand bank, around half way along, in the main gap, though I did have a chuck to the corner of an island at the 10 o'clock direction. In-form Chris Ware had last peg on the same bank (p42) and Vince was up towards the top corner area, who was unlikely to get any problems from the breeze.
Next to me on peg 37 was Brian G, he was possibly going to try for silvers. On peg 33 I had Philip Clapp, alas I had his twin opposite me (Keith).
My peg.
I had with me for bait, 6 and 8mm pellets for the pellet wag and lead. Also I had some 8mm meat and some paste. I did have some caster, 6 and 4mm expanders, all of which remained untouched for the duration of the match.
I set up a pellet wag, clipped up to fish the corner of the island, the lead was to be fished in the same area.
A margin rig for meat was set up to fish along the edge to my left, but all the crap (scum, loosed reed and twigs etc) was built up here. I also knocked up a paste rig for around 8m in front.
Lastly a silvers rig was put on a lighter top kit (13m at 1'oclock), just incase the pellet wag line was dire, also a shallow banded pellet rig was made, for 13m in front
All the 'carp' rigs were on 0.18 hooklengths to B911 hooks in a size 16 (12 for paste). The silvers was a B611x attached to an 18 on 0.12 hooklength.
There were plenty of fish showing all over the lake and I did expect plenty of action.
On the whistle I cupped some micros on the silvers line, fired some 8mm pellets to the island and dumped a couple of pots of meat in my margin swim. 4 or 5 lumps of paste were chucked on that line.
I started on the wag, expecting bites right away it took a while to get a bite, then when it came it was a roach of a pound or so, one or 2 silvers had been caught and only a couple carp were landed from the pegs I could see.
It was difficult to get close enough to the island with the wind, feeding wasn't easy either, but I stuck with it and was rewarded after an hour with a carp around double figures, a smaller 5lb fish soon followed, but presentation was hard.
Brian had landed a few skimmers on peg 37, Phil on 33 had a carp as had Keith opposite. So I was doing ok I guessed.
I did give the paste 15 mins and other than 1 bite, nothing happened, nothing also happened in the edge and I never even bothered looking on my silvers as Brian was catching a few skimmers. As the club only pays 1 silvers, I deemed it unlikely to get me anywhere to change what I was doing.
A couple of hours in and I had a look on the lead over where I had been feeding the pellet wag, but this bought nothing, not even a knock. So back on the wag and 15 mins later another fish of 6lb or so was netted, as was a 3oz rudd.
Bites came as soon as i got close enough to the island, but as I had witnessed, the vegetation was being rather unkind and Keith was very busy pulling his tackle out of the assorted reeds and trees, sometimes with success and others he managed to lose floats, leads and feeders....
Things were slow going as we headed in to hour 4, I had managed to lose a couple of hooklengths when I caught a stray reed or 2. I had managed a couple more carp and a skimmer, but it seemed that most people were not getting regular action, though the grapevine pointed to Vince catching well from his sheltered peg.
Another couple miss-haps and a few wind knots were definitely not helping me and I had to untangle or re-tie my pellet wag a couple times. So as the last hour came about I think I maybe had 40lb of carp. A couple quick fish followed, but both were nice sized of 8lb each, so I chucked my 3rd net in, which was a bad idea and the 3rd net curse struck, I managed to lose 3 carp(up to this point I hadn't lost one), 2 hooklengths, 1 float and loads of mainline(windknot...thanks) in the last hour.
The final whistle went, a few had already packed up and by the looks of some of the islands, plenty of tackle had been lost. I reckon I did have maybe 55lb. All caught on the wag.
I packed up my kit and wandered down to chat to a few guys, they reckoned Vince had nearly a tonne also John Dursley had near to that mark too, with a few others admitting to between 25lb and 40lb,
Brian, next door, looked good for the silvers from where I was sat, as nobody looked like that they'd tried for them, but I could only see half a dozen anglers.
By the time the scales had arrived on my side of the lake, John Dursley (p6) weighed in 95lb+ with Keith having 54lb and a couple 45-50lb weights it looked close for 3rd and the section payouts.
Vince was soon weighing in, his catch totalling 101lb 11oz and taking 1st spot. Will Puddy weighed 29-14 from peg 28, but 17-2 was silvers and he looked close to what I think Brian was due to weigh,
Eventually (well 2 weighs later...dnws a plenty) it was my turn, my silvers went 2lb 8oz. (1 roach, 1 3oz rudd and a 12oz skimmer). My carp totalled 57lb 3oz, so my total was 59lb 11oz. This took me to 3rd spot at this point, at least the section looked safe as only maybe Chris Ware on 42 admitting to a few carp, but he did say he'd only weigh 35lb or so.
I wandered my kit to the car and loaded my gear away. Mark was busy totting up the amounts so I took a photo of the weigh sheets, which incidentally shows my weight as 57-3, but in fact it should be 59-11 as they forgot to add my silvers..!!
Weigh Sheets.
As it turned out, my weight was enough for 3rd overall, so a few more pence to my holiday pot.
I guess that I should have done better today, but whether or not I would have got near to the top 2 weights is unlikely, but there are 1 or 2 things that were noted, firstly that I found I caught better if I fed 2 or 3 pouches of 8mm pellets and waited for a bite I would get a better stamp of carp to those around me also when I fed consistently bites were not coming at all, whether this was due to the carp not really having it (they were in the reeds sucking up roach spawn methinks) or the fact presentation was hard. Also, if I never got in tight to the vegetation I would struggled for a bite.
The lead proved slow for everyone and shouldn't be spent too long on.
Lastly, it seems I only draw pegs with the wind come at and across me, never from behind (and all the winners of recent matches I have fished have all had wind behind them or none at all).
I also need some practice on the paste fishing and pellet wag fishing too, I get carried away trying to fish a float which is probably too light.
Results:
1st, Vince Brown, peg 26, - 101lb 11oz
2nd, John Dursley, peg 6, - 95lb 12oz
3rd, Lee Williams, peg 35, - 59lb 11oz
Silvers, Brian G, peg 37, - 17lb 6oz
Section 1- Keith Clapp, peg 14 - 54lb 6oz
Section 2- C. Pike & Kev Lock, - 21lb 2oz each
Section 3- C. Ware, peg 42 - 40lb 10oz
So all in all a tricky day, which at least stayed dry and warm-ish, just a shame that the fish wouldn't venture too far from the island vegetation.
Next up is a Clevedon match on Shiplate Main Lake on June 9th.
Maybe I will find something before, but we shall see.
Take Care and Tight Lines
Lee
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