Todber Christmas Match, 20/12/14

Once again I had been looking forward to this match for ages and I was not disappointed as some of the best anglers in the area turned up to try and win a hamper that had been lovingly put together by Linda.  I was met at the draw by the rest of the Azi anglers as we had descended on the venue in force, we had also managed a cheeky practice on the Tuesday previous so we knew roughly what to expect.  We knew it was going to be hard as 46 people had booked in and this saw the lakes being split over the three main match lakes, I wanted to be in a corner or wides on the top Whitepost lake, or in the golden triangle 5-7, 37,38 on Park.

Left handed I managed peg 5 on the top Whitepost so I was in the right area, what I hadn’t counted on was nearly every peg being in on the lake so I had a restricted far margin to chuck a waggler at, since this was my banker tactic I was already in trouble.

I also set up a groundbait line to fish at 14.5m and a margin rig just off the bush to my left as this is usually good for a couple of fish, finally I set up a scoop feeder as well if I was desperate.  My day was a bit of a non starter if I am honest and in the first 3 hours I had 6 small fish on the pole, I was moaning by text to a mate at this point and I got hit in the leg by my rod butt on the feeder for my first carp.  I tried starting a new maggot line at 13m but this produced a few small roach and a perch before drying up, then a run of 15 roach on the wag in the last hour saw my day peter out.

The fishery staff did the weigh in and I had gone a quid with Pez on the flyer peg 7 and Jim on peg4, Pez had 2 carp and a skimmer for 7lb 14oz, Jim had 6lb 2oz with 2 carp and a few bits, My 1 carp and bits went 5lb 1oz.  I had guessed 5lb so I was happy with that, I was the lowest weight from all of the Azzi anglers and Pez ensured the maximum amount of people saw me give him a quid.

It was a brilliant day and I am looking forward to next year already, although a few more fish would be nice.