PSV match, Plantation Main Lake 23-03-14

Sunday's match saw me fishing a PSV match on the Main Lake at Plantation Fishery. 

I was looking forward to this as I like the lake, it can be challenging but the rewards are there.

18 of us fishing saw the pegs well spaced,  they can be awkward at times with people facing each other etc.

Anyways at the draw I stuck my hand in towards the end of the queue and out popped peg 32,  an okay peg with an island chuck if I can avoid the trees above and a bay to my left and set behind me.

Arriving at my swim the odd rudd were topping but it didn't look great as the wind was pushing from behind me across to the low number pegs.

 

In front of peg 32, Plantations Main Lake

The margin to the left p32, Plantation Main Lake

Baits were simply 6mm meat,  a few maggots and pinkies left over from last weekend,  some micros,  6mm and 8mm pellets and some expanders. I never had more than a half pint of each pellet and only 1/4pt of the maggots. Some groundbait was mixed for the method feeder.

 

I set up a method rod for close to the island and 3 pole rigs.
The first rig was for the silvers and was an NG Caner float,  0.4g> 0.10 hooklength> b611 size 18. Solid 6/8 elastic completed the set up.
Next I had a margin rig consisting of an NG Margin HD, 0.2g on 0.20> 0.16>b911x size 14. Solid 18/20 was my laccy choice.

Lastly i set a rig up to fish at 13m towards the island.  It was an NG Power Pencil in 0.5g. Line and elastic was the same as the margin rig, I never had a bit on this rig so no more on that!!

 

On the whistle I cupped in some micros and a few maggots at 13m at the 11th clock line.  Some meat went in at the same distance toward the island,  I never had a bite here other than some trailing line,  so no more on that.
Lastly I cupped some wet 6's and meat down the edge to my left.

I started on the method feeder to the island but an hour of boredom set in and the rod was laid to rest for 5hrs.
Around me I could see the angler next door in peg 31 landing a few roach and odd better skimmer.  Also peg 28 had caught one or two carp and Mark Radford on peg 19 at the top end of the lake had began ok. But that is about it from what I could see.

 

The next hour or so saw me trying the pole lines,  I even tried a short line for some roach,  but all I could muster was 4 rudd and a roach.
By 1pm I decided to get the waggler rod out as a few good people were getting odd fish on pellet shallow, this was set up with a loaded Preston dura wag and I attached a size 18 b911 to a 0.14 hooklength and a banded 6mm or 8mm pellet would be the hook bait. 
I had a problem in that I had plenty of ducks in the swim and they were mopping up the loose fed pellet and generally being a nuisance.
Anyways I could Brian Shanks down on p28 doing ok on the pellet wag so i gave it a go.  Casting was awkward with the trees above and side wind but I soon got the hang of it and caught a couple carp.

 

By now it was around 2:20 and I was happy the edge swim which I had been feeding would give a fish or two, in a previous match I had two mid doubles in the last 30 minutes by fishing the same edge but from p33.
I checked with Si on peg 31 as to what time we finish, 4pm was the reply.

I only wanted to give the edge 30-40 minutes so I kept on the wag for another hour. It was still difficult to get regular bites as there was a duck sitting where I could get bites, only when it left an I could get into the gap was I expecting an immediate response.
I had also switched to feeding and fishing with an 8mm pellet, all i had dampened to get them to sink quicker. This helped as i had another 3 or 4 carp to 4lb, though I had to cast into a little spot in some reeds to get bites. I was pulling out of a few as the combination of dodgy mouths, iffy bites and the fact I couldn't let them have line didn't help.

 

Meanwhile over on peg 1, Steve Burgess had landed a few carp in the tip from what I could see and the lad in about peg 4 was also picking up odd carp on the pellet wag. Peg 38 (Darren North) was also getting bites from his margin. Brian Shanks had slowed down on p28.

By now it was 3:30 and I decided to look down the edge as the wag had died.  At this point i had maybe 20lb in the net.

My first look down the edge with meat saw me miss a bite but the second saw me connect with a carp and the 6lb fish was soon netted.  Next drop saw a similar result.  Third drop gave me a slightly bigger fish of maybe 8lb. A forth fish soon followed before my last one was around 10lb. I only fed 2 cubes of meat with each drop, nothing else.

So five carp in the last half hour more than doubled my previous 5 and a half hour's efforts.

 

The all out was called but I was sure I had around 40 to 50lb, from those around me I suspected that peg 28 had done well but other than that I knew I had done ok.

I loaded the trolley and put the kit in the car.
Catching up with the scales saw Steve on peg one have 30lb+ then we saw Ryan Radford put 73lb on the board from peg 11 but he doesn't do the pools, he caught well down the margin using corn/meat combo. Following on there was a 57lb weight from Mark Radford(p19) and a 15lb silvers net from peg 24. We soon got to Brian on p28 and he weighed in 62lb+. He had plenty of carp but no real brutes.
Si on p31 saw his silvers weigh 13lb.

Next up was me. My few silvers weighed ounces before my two weighs took my total to just over 66lb. It looked like I had come second on the lake but won the pools as Ryan doesn't enter them. 

 

A chat with a few of the guys showed that meat was the best bait for the carp and I am surprised I never had any on it on the long pole line. But with the weather all over the place it's hard to find any rhythm.

Results.(PSV's blog page may have the full results)

1st- Ryan Radford, 73lb - p11

2nd- Lee Williams, 66lb 8oz - p32

3rd- Brian Shanks, 62lb 2oz - p28

 

Sections.

Steve Burgess (p1), Mark Radford (p19), Darren North (p38)

 

Silvers.

Chris Davis, 15lb 10oz - p24

 

Overall I enjoyed the match and the confidence I had for my late run of fish in the edge definitely helped me, I had at least 35 to 40lb from those half dozen carp. There was a couple things I do regarding my feeding down the edges, but I think I will keep it under my hat for the time being.

 

What I will mention is the amount of snags/debris in the water, some guys were pulling branches out even on the 5m pole line. Also I hooked at least 5 lots of line being trailed by fish, which I found frustrating at the least.

However I am definitely looking forward to fishing more matches with PSV.

 

Next up for me is a week at White Acres for the first time as myself and James Withers take on the Dynamite Baits Festival. Then the Saturday we head home, we have an early departure from White Acres as I have a Fishomania qualifier at Viaduct......

 

Until next time,  take care.
Lee

Avalon Teams of 3 , final round, 16-03-14

Last Sunday was the last round of the Avalon Teams of 3 and with the top 2 teams pretty much securing their winnings, it was the match-day prizes that were up for grabs.
With the weather looking to be less windy, and any wind coming from the opposite direction to what it has been all winter, results and favoured pegs may be different, but again it'd depend on who drew where.

I had commented to my team mate, Paul, that I would like peg 23 or 24, he replied James could have peg 10 and he'd be stuck on peg 40 again...!! I really thought that one of the far end corners would be the peg to be.
Alas on the morning of the match I had let Paul do the draw, he drew 24, 40 and 10....bonus. But he'd put James on the top of the name sheet meaning that I would be on the same peg as the previous round, peg 10. Paul would be on p40 and James up in the corner that is peg 24.

After heading to the series' worst peg (or nearly worst), I waddled off to my home for the next 5 hours or so. I wasn't in the mood to fish the 'tip, surprisingly, lol, so I never bothered setting one up.
I did set up a waggler with banded pellet in mind, but nothing happened on that, 1 bit and a lost set-up which became entangled in an unseen reed.
I also set up 3 pole rigs, 1 for carp for down to my left and right in the margins, 1 rig for skimmers/roach at 14.5m slightly left and another rig to be fished in the direction of the point of the island with meat the chosen bait.

Peg 10, Avalon Fishery

This will be a short write up, my match basically consisted on trying everything I could (except the 'tip). I had a couple of early roach as Dave Allen to my left landed a carp on the feeder.
The 3rd to 4th hour gave me a couple skimmers, one over the groundbait at 14.5m line, this one was around 1.5lb, the second gave me a proper bit over the long meat line, I had hoped it'd be that carp that everyone needed, but it wasn't!!
The last hour gave me a couple more roach and a look down to my right hand margin actually saw me hook and land a carp of around 4lb. I also managed to hook, but lose, another carp down to my right and that was it for me.
All the while in peg 11, Dave Allen had bagged around 8 proper skimmers and he'd done well, he did lose a couple too, but looked to have a decent net of silvers, around 10lb maybe. The angler on my left had maybe 4 skimmers and his weight would be similar to mine.

As I packed up rather quickly, I had heard James had bagged a good few fish from his peg and looked like a contender for the match. Paul on the other hand, had done his usual peg 40 job, 1 carp and a few little silvers.
At the scales, my carp weighed around 4lb and my silvers topped my total to 8lb 4oz. Mid-way in section I guessed.
Dave had weighed over 11lb of silvers and looked to have won that pot.
I loaded the car and took a walk to the far side, rumour was James had nearly 50lb and unless somebody had hid a couple carp, he'd won the match.

The presentation and results saw Dave Allen win the silvers, James won overall with 47lb+ from the peg I thought I'd have, lol, but fair play to him he had to catch them.
Weston won the match on the day, Jon Page coming 2nd, I think, from peg 13, a peg I had warned him was full of snags, and that I'd had a couple sets of elastic break there earlier in the season, alas he did hook the snag (strong line, leads, feeders etc, attached to the fallen tree on the island) a couple times, breaking at least one set of elastic.

In the series, Sedges won overall, pretty much dominating from the 1st round, Fish and Field were a good second. My team came 6th and I am pleased enough with that given the lack of recent match fishing practice by James and Paul. But we all had a pick up or 2 in the series so we were quite happy.
Keith Clapp won the knock out and the individual prizes to boost the Sedges prize fund.
So well done to all that fished and congrats to Sedges and Keith Clapp.

Vic is taking bookings for next years Teams of 3, limited to 12 sides, to book in contact him on 07977 210078.

It was an enjoyable series, if not a little peggy, but that's cool water fishing and it was good to meet a few guys I've not met before along with some familiar faces.

Next up for me is a match on Plantations Main Lake tomorrow, 23rd March. This is a PSV match and should be good......but again it looks windy, I wish it'd do one!!

After that I have my 1st ever White Acres festival from the 31st March, I am travelling with James Withers, it is his 1st fest as well, so it'll be interesting. I also have the Viaduct Fishomania qualifier on the day we leave Newquay, so an early start there and a very good draw will do me!!

Until next time, take care.

Lee