It was time for another Christmas match for me, this time
I was off to Todber for and once again the weather forecast was awful. Now it had been just as bad the week before
when I had practiced on Ash Lake:
So after a bit of success that day I did fancy that lake
but with the weather forecast the way it was, a nicer day would have been had
on the lower lake at Whitepost as that should have seen some shelter from the
wind that was forecast. The draw was full
of friendly faces and there was an air of expectancy, especially after Pete had
done a ton off Ash the day before!
Hellos, Coffee and Mince pies done it was time for the
draw and Lower White Post 26 was stuck in my mit, I had done it again as this
one was 1 peg away from the end on the bottom lake at Whitepost and not a bad
draw at all.
There are lilies across at about 16m and even as I was
setting up there were numbers of fish moving through and behind them, so the plan
was simple, a micro pellet feeder for in the lilies at the start, a margin line
to my right and a 5m chopped worm and caster line. I decided on 5m for the worm
line due to the wind, although most of the lake was pretty sheltered it was
blowing in such a way that it was rebounding off the trees to my right and
blowing across me at it would have been tricky to fish tidily any further
out. I also set up the waggler just in
case I got the chance to fish it, plumbed at about dead depth for a start and I
would see how the day went from there.
I was ready for the all in and dropped some kit off at
the van before the start, on my way I picked up the normal abuse from Darryl
and Pez. So back to the fishing, the all-in was called and I fed 2 balls of
groundbait, worm and caster at 5m and then cast out the pellet feeder, the plan
was 10 minute casts and for the first 6 casts I had an occurrence that was
worth a strike, but the F1’s were playing hard to get. Mrs Britain to my right had a few roach on
the wag and since I had seen naff all else come in I thought that I would give
it a go fishing to the front of the lilies.
I started to lightly loose feed maggot making sure that I didn’t get any
going into the lilies and started casting the wag, after adding a floats depth
the float sat still long enough for a bite from a roach that was soon followed
by a couple more, I was catching at last.
On almost an hour I overcast slightly and the float went
into a small gap in the lilies, as I sank the line I hit into a carp (I thought
it was a snag at first!) and now I was cooking with gas.
The next couple of hours were made up of lots of casting
and a few carp and f1’s on maggot on the wag, I had one spell when I got them
going and managed 4 small carp and a couple of F1’s on the bounce but most of
the time it was working between the feeding and where in the swim I was casting
to try and keep a few fish coming into the net.
It wasn’t all plain sailing though and although I could keep the float
out of the snags, keeping angry carp out
of them was another matter and I got done a few times in the lilies, the worst
was losing a lump under the rod tip to a hook pull having done all the hard
work though. I had a few looks down the edge and on the worm line but it wasn’t
until about an hour from the end that I had my first indication on the pole. It resulted in a foul hooked five pounder but
the next look gave me a three pounder hooked in the mouth, I decided to treat
it a bit like a margin line as they seemed to come into the feed soon after it
went in so after every fish I would give it a small ball of the mix. This did the trick and I managed another 5 or
so carp in the last hour on the short pole line, although as I looked up just
about every time I saw elastic coming out somewhere and Darryl had managed a
few that I had seen.
John, Kia and Matt arrived to do the weigh in and I was
second on the bottom lake behind Ben who was on the narrows and had managed to
sneak out over 62lb. My weight was well
off that at 50lb 2oz.
Back at the shop for results and the tales of woe as a
lot of people had struggled with the wind on ash and lack of fish on areas of
the whitpost lakes, but it is winter fishing and that’s what you get I am
afraid. The top ten can be found at this
link as well as a mug shot of the top 3.
https://www.facebook.com/171663422847191/photos/a.171681679512032.45738.171663422847191/1222533171093539/?type=3&theater
I am looking forward to next years already as things are
changing at Todber Manor and there should be some exciting new match lakes
opening in the new year so watch this space.
As for me it is a bit of pleasure fishing, a late Christmas
match at a place called Watergate lane that is literally 3 minutes from my
house and a cheeky practice on the Dorset Stour with Pez and the rest of the
Nodders team hopefully.
What would I do different?
The loose fed maggot worked well as did the wagler in the
conditions, but I let myself down by feeding into the lilies with an hour and a
half to go and once I did that the third time my bites all but stopped. So that is one thing that I will try not to
do again. Also perhaps a second worm
line at 11m or so, but the wind was troublesome and behind me was a 10 foot
drop so I would have had to double break even at 11m.
Tackle used:
Pole short:
Elastic: White Hydro
Line: 0.13mm powerline to 0.12mm Cenex
Hook: 18 B911 F1
Float: 0.4g AS2
Pole Margin:
Elastic: White Hydro
Line: 0.15mm powerline to 0.14mm Cenex
Hook: 1 Tibertini 175
Float: 0.3g AS4
Feeder:
Rod: Daiwa Spectron 10/11ft feeder at 10ft, 1oz tip
Reel: Daiwa TDM 3012
Line: 8lb sensor 0.19mm hooklength
Hook: 14 QM1
Feeder: Guru Micro pellet feeder
Wagler:
Rod: Daiwa TD 11ft pellet wag
Reel: Daiwa TDM 3012
Line: 4lb sensor 0.13mm hooklength
Hook: 18 Drennan Red Maggot
Float: 3AA Dave Harrell thick Insert waggler.
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