With space at a premium and yesterday's and night's rain we had, plus Saturday's match fishing alright, the big 150lb+ weights were somewhat lowered on the expectation level, that said you can never be sure of anything with fish and fishing.
I arrived early, dipped nets and had a chatter with a few guys before getting on with the draw, I fancied anywhere from peg 1 round to 12 and maybe 33, 34 and 35. Peg 12 has been in form the last 2 weeks with weights to 237lb coming off it.
I drew around halfway down the line and plucked peg 5, a nice peg on the point of the smaller island, for company I had Ray Cooper on peg 4, and I could watch regular venue framers on pegs 9 and 10 in the 2 Bobs, Feltham and Smith respectively. Lee Waller had drawn peg 12 and he had Eddie Wynne and Steve Sewell to his left.
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| Acorn peg 5, lhs |
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| Acorn peg 5 |
A rig for 2+1 in front using expander over 6mm pellets.
A rig for banded pellet around 1m off the far bank in 3ft of water.
Also an unused method feeder was set up.
Bait was 6mm pellets, some 8's for the band, 2.5pts of maggot, 3 small tins of corn, some groundbait and some 6mm expanders.
I began fishing off the island, toss potting 6mm pellets and using an 8 in the band, I had 2 fish in the first 15 minutes, only 3lb fish but a start......then I lost a couple foul hookers before it died properly.
The 1st hour had lapsed with just 2 carp in the net, but I was still ahead of some who hadn't had a fish after 60 minutes.
The second hour was a little better, I managed a couple carp from my left margin on corn over groundbait and then I had 1 from the deeper water on expander. But I was getting a few foul hooked fish, annoyingly they would only come off at the net, I wasn't the only one suffering this though.
It really was slow going......in fact the next 2.5hrs saw me struggle properly and I am unsure if I actually put a fish in the net. There were fish showing in open water but could not be tempted despite trying various tactics,
I had binned the pellet line off the island as I was only getting liners and they wouldn't take bait shallower, they seemed to be just roaming the area. I had also switched to varying what I was feeding across in the shallow water, I began to figure it was a matter of trying to snatch the odd passing fish, try and grab their interest.
I worked out that sometimes a helping of corn would get me a couple fish, then it would die, so a pot of maggots would do similar. Groundbait and 6mm pellets and even 8mm pellets being fed over the same spot would all pick me 1 or 2 fish before dying.
I also had a couple fish from the 2+2 line on expanders.
Into the last hour or so and my 1st net's clicker showed 44lb. I had seen 1 or 2 swirls down over the left edge and managed a couple 5lb fish from here, but still I was getting a few foul hookers or they were not taking the bait properly as I pulled out of a couple fish.
I wasn't taking much notice of others really, but Chris Szacaks on peg 7 was losing a few at the net from peg 7 and the 2 Bobs on pegs 9 and 10 were doing well enough.....Lee Waller had gone by now off peg 12..!!
I also could see that someone around peg 33 or so was using their net often, though those behind me from pegs 40 back to 36 hadn't had too much in their nets, including venue regular Mark Walsh in peg 36.
The last 60 minutes were simply spent fishing across varying the baits while keeping an eye on edges, only dropping in when I could see fish were present. I did mug a couple as they left the margin, dropping a bait in front of them as they departed.
I finished with my 1st net clicked at 54lb and my second was 23lb.
I packed up and loaded my car before following my half of the weigh in, rumour had it that Matt Williams on peg 33 had caught well but that half of the lake (peg 40 back to 22) has struggled.
Also I knew the two Bobs had done fine and that Chris Szacaks had a late run of fish from peg 7.
Peg 1 dnw'd before Dave Stephenson had 12-09 of assorted silvers including a few goldfish!!
Peg 4, Ray Cooper caught a few edge fish late on and had a little over 48lb.
Next up was me and again my clicking has been accurate enough in that my 2 weighs went 26lb 2oz and 51lb 6oz....finishing with 77-08. I got told that'd be in the frame. I didn't expect it to be honest.
Next was Ryan Radford and Chris S. They had 42lb and 44lb respectively.
Bob Feltham's late run of fish gave him 44lb+ then regular venue winner Bob Smith had 69lb 5oz.
Peg 12 dnw'd. Then we saw Eddie Wynne put his silvers on the scales, it settled at 12-08 before it was noted there was a roach in his net.....he pipped ahead of Dave with 12-10.....lucky lucky.
Steve Sewell then had 48lb 6oz. There were a couple more dnw's along these pegs before I left them to it.
A quick look at the 2nd sheet saw Matt Williams had a couple pounds more than me from peg 33 but that was it from that half, so I had finished 2nd. Not too bad really, we both had lost fish so I cant really say that it was lost fish that cost me the win, maybe it was the fact I managed to knock my bait tray everywhere and spent 10 minutes faffing around with that when I knew there were fish to be caught.....all hindsight though!!
Results:
1. Matt Williams. PSV 79-05. p33
2. Lee Williams. PSV. 77-08. p5
3. Bob Smith. Over 50. 69-05. p10
4. Steve Sewell. PSV. 48-06. p15
5. Ray Cooper. Over 50. 48-02. p4
6. Bob Feltham. Over 50. 44-14. p9
Silvers
1. Eddie Wynne. Over 50. 12-10. p13
2. Dave Stephenson. Over 50. 12-09. p2
So the venue did have a bit of an off day, but there was still plenty of bites to be had if you worked hard to tempt them. By varying things a bit on the day bought me a few bonus fish I think.
So in the last few weeks I have managed 3 seconds and a third from 6 matches, just need to get over that final hurdle, haha.
So in the last few weeks I have managed 3 seconds and a third from 6 matches, just need to get over that final hurdle, haha.
Not sure where or if I am fishing this week, maybe I will have an afternoon over Apex. Maybe try to fish Summerhayes on Weds and Shiplate on Thursday.
But next Saturday we have Pawlett's day out over at Mathern Mill, a new venue for all of us I believe.
Until then, Take care.
Lee
Lee
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