Firstly I had the Fishomania qualifier at Maver Larford Lakes near Stourport, this would be the 1st time I saw the venue.
I left the house about 5:45 for the almost 2hr trip, I was shattered as a car alarm was going off regularly through the night, meaning less than 4hrs sleep was achieved.
An uneventful trip saw me rock up at the lakes at 7:30, I wasn't the 1st there so a cuppa was grabbed from the café before chopping some meat etc.
Shortly after 8am everyone started to arrive including a few locals in the form of Jacko (Steve Jackson), Andy Power and Steve Tucker. There was a buzz in the air as the 9am draw got closer.
I had a chat with a nice chap from Bath who gave me a few tips on the Speci lake. Plus I got chatting with Richard Wyatt who organises the MFS matches at Viaduct.
The draw arrived and myself and Rich were unsure of where to queue, fortunately a table was put in front of us and we ended up drawing about 4th and 5th in the line, behind Jacko and Andy Power.
We were told the Burr bank between Speci and Match lakes was boggy after loads of overnight rain, plus the Match lake pegs on the far side were under a few inches of water.
Into the tub goes my hand and pulls out peg 59 on Match, Rich had pulled possibly the best peg on the lake with Peg 42. I was told that it wasn't a great are by a couple anglers, but with the wind pushing down the lake you never know, Andy Kinder reckoned the 2 end pegs of the match lake should do ok.
I arrived, sweaty, at my peg, and there were plenty of skimmers and F1's topping, plus odd carp. I did hope for a few fish. Here a couple pics of my peg, note the pallet under water, there were others that had floated further out, including peg 58!!
I set about sorting my kit, I put my micros into soak, mixed some groundbait, put the box on the platform and assembled the bait brolly as the weather was due to be dire with heavy rain, thunder, hail and freshening winds predicted.
While setting up I was chatting to a nice guy on peg 58 and we had a great bit of banter through the day. The angler who had drawn peg 60 had also turned up, minus his kit, and proceeded to say that pegs 55 onwards were poor pegs and he wasn't going to fish...great!! But I did have an empty peg.
I set up a method rod for 30yrds out, a bomb rod and 3 pole rigs. Two pole rigs were for 7m out, one for meat and one for banded pellets. The 3rd rig was for a cut back in the margins almost into peg 60.
I shall not mention the pole rigs again despite trying all day, I only had a 3lb carp on the banded pellet line and that was hooked in the belly. The rig was pushing through with the tow at a rate of knots. The margins never gave a bite for me or peg 58.
The whistle sounded and the method feeder was lobbed out, 5 seconds in and I had a fish on, a 3lb carp was duly netted. A skimmer of 12oz followed soon after. Then it went quiet.
The next three hours saw me put a few F1's and small carp in the net and I had around 25lb.
A few guys opposite had packed up, but I was leading my section from what I could tell.
The angler on 58 had slightly less than me and lost a decent-ish carp. The angler on peg 61 only had a solitary F1 and a small carp. Over on peg 3 was Warren Martin who was catching reasonably consistently by now and doing well by the sounds of it.
Word came down that Rich was probably winning from flyer peg 42, fair play to him.
As we approached the last hour I had landed a couple more skimmers and another carp, but it was very slow for us at this end on my bank. Me and the guy on p58 seemed close on weight, peg 57 had struggled but had landed a couple decent fish, not much else. Peg 56 had given a few carp to the angler earlier on, but he wasn't in my section.
Peg 60 had landed 3 carp from his close in line, all decent carp, but was possibly a few pounds behind me. The rest of the pegs in my section had struggled, but the guy who was fishing the method on the second to last peg had began to catch.
The last hour was spent between the margins and the method, but I only had another 2lb F1.
It was a similar story for peg 58, peg 57 had a couple more carp. However peg 60 had a few lumps, the last 20 minutes saw him put 2 decent doubles in the net having lost a couple foul hookers. I shouted down to him that he'd won the section, he never believed me, but I reckoned on him having 50lb to my 30lb or so.
The hooter sounded and the all-out called. I began packing up, enjoying the banter with a few of the other guys. Jacko had landed 6 carp from his speci lake peg and Tucks, who was sort of behind me, had done well from his peg, he was defo top 10, maybe as high as 6th.
Rumour came down that Richard had lost out by 2lb or so, he did lose a fish at the net, but anglers always lose fish.
The scales arrived at my peg and I tipped 14kg 480g on the scales (32lb), peg 58 had 12kg (25lb-ish), then came peg 60, his 2 late fish put him to 20kg (44lb) before there were weights less than mine before the 2nd to last angler pipped my weight by 600g (2lb) thanks to a late carp of decent size.
I headed back to the car, loaded off and set off home after an enjoyable day.
I never stayed for the results, but it turned out Richard Wyatt had come 2nd, losing out to Andy Geldart by a couple pound. Unlucky mate.
Results:
1st Andy Geldart, Match peg 22, 50kg 620g
2nd Rich Wyatt, Match peg 42, 49kg 612g
3rd Warren Martin, Match peg 3, 36kg 720g
4th Ritchie Hull, Match peg 19, 35kg 160g
5th Craig O' Brien, Speci peg 14, 33kg.
So overall I enjoyed the day though I am a little gutted that I never had a margin fish or 2 which would have won me the section, especially given the empty peg next to me, but that's life, maybe I should have set up a line at topkit plus 1 section.......all hindsight...!!
I shall defo go back to Larford, maybe next Saturday for the Maver Match This qualifier. If not later in the year, it's not too far really and a nice drive.
I am a little gutted for Rich, but he did bloomin well to finish second and well done him for that.
That is it for my Fisho qualifiers this season, but will have another bash next year for sure.
Until next time, have fun.
Lee
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