I arrived early enough to see a few of the others unloading their kit and a bit of a chit-chat began.
A quick look at the lake saw the levels lower than expected, which suited me as I hadn't got round to making any deeper rigs.........phew!!
The 9am draw was soon upon us at 9:15 and we all wanted to get our hands on Steve Burgess' new balls, he had his family writing numbers on table tennis balls the evening before.
The golden peg was picked before peeps got their mitts in, I musty say I fancied pegs 17, 19 and 15 in that order, maybe 21 too, I didn't want a corner as I don't like corners!!
I got my hand in the bucket about halfway down the rabble and plucked peg 19, nice enough.
I made my way round to that peg and surveyed the water, there was a decent amount of fish mooching in the upper layers all the way along from peg 24 upto 13, so I was happy enough, even if they didn't look like feeding fish.
To my left on peg 16 I had Derek Lucas and to my right was my opponent in the knock-out, Steve O'Toole down on P21. But I couldn't see either of these due to vegetation. Opposite I could actually see Chris Gay (p7) and Reg (p6). Further down to my left were Chris Davis and Steve Burgess on pegs 17 and 15 respectively.
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| Landsend Match Lake peg 19 |
Rig wise I set up:
Shallow Rig: 0.2g NG inline Ghandi on 0.20>0.18>B911 size 16 with a band
2+2 Rig: NG Margin 0.4g on 0.20>0.18>14 B911
I plumbed up the short 2+2 line and had a feel around across and at topkit down to my right, but decided against my margins, the bottom across was very up and down with 8" in some spots up to 4" in others and down to 2ft in others, nothing consistent.
The all in was called at 10:15 and I deposited 2 cups of meat and hemp on that line, I pinged some 8mm pellets and 6mm pellets across towards (but just short) of the island. There was odd swirls here, but the fish generally didn't look too interested.
I started across at just over 14.5m and waited, and waited, and waited. There was fish in the swim, but I was only getting line bites from the tails that were waving away at me.
It took me 40 minutes to get my 1st fish, a 3lber from across. In this time I could hear Chris Davis and Steve B. had landed some carp as had Chris Gay over on p7.
We were soon into the 2nd hour and the short line was fizzing, so I decided to leave it longer, only flicking the odd bit of meat and hemp over it every now an then. I am not one who likes fizzing, preferring less bubbles and I find I get more positive results with less fizz.
I stayed long for a couple more hours, in this time I picked up 3 or 4 more carp, it was slow for myself. Derek on p16 hadn't had a fish, he'd lost a couple, but it was hard, he ended up tipping back at the end after only a few silvers and a solitary carp were in his nets.
Steve O'Toole on p21 had a few carp I think, I couldn't be sure but there was some commotion every now and then. Chris Davis, Steve Burgess and Chris Gay were picking up plenty of fish too, with Chris getting the odd one on a pellet feeder across to his bare bank.
As we went into the 4th hour I had around half a dozen carp for 20lb-ish. I decided to look on my short line, 1st drop I hooked a fish, which was soon netted, a nice 5lb carp. This was followed by something more substantial and a mirror approaching 10lb was landed.
A further 15 minutes passed with only a couple small silvers taking the meat, so I re-fed and went long again. I immediately hooked a nice fish which I got to within netting range, a ghostie looking creature of at least 15/16lb....it decided to head towards the tree to my left, but all was fine, or so I thought. As I lifted my topkit I saw the fish had come off....I was now hooked to 6ft of line that was at least 15lb, a braided hooklength and a size 6 hook. This line had obviously become a disgorger and had pulled my hook from the carp....bugger!! Could this cost me?
Back onto the short line saw me net 3 or 4 small carp as we headed into the 5th hour, my weight was maybe 40lb. But I could tell I was plenty behind Steve B. and the two Chris's.
By this point my long line had become iffy, I was finding it best to feed 3 lots of 10 pellets and watch the fish come in then drop my rig in 20 seconds after, I was also fishing 6" deep. So I spent the next couple hours picking a fish from long before swapping to the short line for a fish/bite, then going back out and picking up another fish. My feeding had to be spot on to get this right. So it was a matter of being efficient and hooking a fish from each line, each drop in. Which I did well enough.
By the end of the match I had put a few more small carp in the net and I suppose I had around 50lb or so.
I was soon packed away and ready to watch the weigh in, I was sure Chris Davis had won, he'd chucked his silvers back, which was around 15lb by all accounts.
Chris Gay may push him close and maybe Steve Burgess had done well. Most others were admitting to 40-60lb, so pretty consistent.
I followed the scales, which began with Chris Szakacs on peg 1 weighing 67lb 11oz. We then had a few weights between 41 and 56lb before Chris Gay plopped 106lb 11oz on the board. A nice weight. Si Belcham (p9) took the top silvers weight at this point with a little over 10lb
Ryan Radford and Rich Jones weighed in around 37lb and 77lb respectively before Mr Burgess went into 2nd with 82lb 7oz off peg 15.
Next up was Chris Davis, his 4 weighs gave him the lead with 140lb 12oz, he'd lost a few too.
Derek on p16 didn't weigh so it was me next. My few silvers weighed a pound or so before my 2 weighs of carp boosted my total to a rather surprising 94lb 2oz, that last 90 mins boosted my weight without me thinking I had caught much.
Next was Steve O'Toole on peg 21, I knew he'd done me as the last hour or so had given him a good few fish and it wasn't a shock to see 106lb 1oz on the sheet, pushing me one out of the money. Lastly Mark Radford on peg 23 weighed in with 56lb 10oz.
Back in the car park Steve B. gave me my quid, which made up for my mishap last weekend where I gave him a quid.....but I did sort of feel bad as I thought my actual weight was around the 50lb mark.
It had fished hard but fair as a whole and I think most peeps enjoyed it.
Result:
1. Chris Davis (17) ... 140-12
2. Chris Gay (7) ... 106-11
3. Steve O Toole (21) ... 106-1
4. Lee Williams (19) ... 94-2
5. Steve Burgess (15) ... 82-7
6. Rich Jones (13) ... 77-6
7. Chris Szakacs (1) ... 67-11
8. Alan Healey (3) ... 56-14...
9. Mark Radford (23) ... 56-10
10. Rampant Reg (6) ... 48-5
11. Steve Wynne (5) ... 41-10
12. Simon Belcham (9) ... 40-9
13. Ryan Radford (11) ... 37-14
Silvers:
1. Simon Belcham ... 10-14
2. Alan Healey ... 3-7
So to surmise, that fish that got away thanks to the trailing carp anglers line had cost me, no I don't mind losing fish due to natural snags or even platforms, but trailing line of an excessive strength does annoy me. Other than that, I lost just 2 foul hooked fish and 1 I pulled out of.
I was also glad I got my feeding ok for the shallow fishing to work, this proved pivotal in boosting my weight, but maybe I should have stayed on the short line or perhaps gone on it earlier?
All if's and maybe's though.
I did get through 6pts of pellets and 2 tins of meat and 2 tins of hemp.
I am not sure where I am fishing on Sunday.
So until next time, take care.
Lee
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