05 June 2016

Fosters of Birmingham Charity Match, Barston Lake

Firstly sorry for the delay but here is the first of the catch up blogs:
Craig and I had an early start so that we could get to the fishery in time for this match, but the journey was an easy one and although we have both vowed never to have breakfast at burger king again, we arrived ready for the day.  There were loads of friendly faces at the draw and soon banter and raffle tickets were flowing.  I missed the start of the draw queue and ended up at the end, unfortunately this saw me on peg 87, this may not mean a lot to many of you but a few years ago I was part of a Club Angler of the Year final at Barston, and I blanked from peg 87 ish, along with everyone around me.  Today the conditions were better with a light breeze off our backs and some nice colour in the water I had higher hopes than last time. 


I was still without a pole so a long range method, short range method and waggler were the tactics for the day.  I had Colin to my left ad Bob to my right for company, an empty peg between Colin and myself was negated by us both facing towards the same water as he was on a point.
I was ready for the all-in and as soon as it was called my feeder was heading towards the middle of the lake at about 70 yards, not a lot happened for the first 40 minutes and then out of the blue I had a bite.  My first fish was a carp of about 3lb taken on a trimmed down white wafter.  I then had to wait another hour or so for my next bite, again on the long method and that was an F1 of about 3lb.  Then with an hour and a half to go I had my thrid bite and this was a bream of about 3lb, this was my last real bite, I had a few liners, spooked a fish out of the margin but other than that not a lot played ball. 
Colin had struggled to my left, Bob had caught a few skimmers and a decent bream on the pole for around double figures, and Craig kept on walking down to check on us as he had managed a couple of better carp and a few bits on the method from further down to my right.
Here is the section board:

I had managed to get forth in section with no long pole so it wasn’t too bad, back at the clubhouse the match had been won with 99lb and second had been sat right next to him in the teens by the 18th green…. So the other end of the lake.  The raffle was well received and mny drawing hand had let me down again, and then the long trip home… Avoiding Burger King.

What would I have done differently?

Not a lot really, the tactics I fished are all match winners at Barston on their day, I just didn’t have enough carp to go at with my positive tactics.  I may have gone further on the tip later but I was almost past halfway as it was!! So that isn’t really cricket.

Tackle used:
Feeder Long:
Rod:  Browning Black Viper 13ft
Reel: Shimano Ci4 Ultegra 5500 XTC
Line: 8lb sensor mainline, 0.19mm hooklength
Hook: 14 QM1 with a baitband
Feeder: 45g Guru Hybrid with black hydro

Method Short:
Rod:  Drennan series 7 10ft Carp feeder
Reel: TDM 3012
Line: 8lb sensor mainline, 0.19mm hooklength
Hook: 14 QM1 with a baitband
Feeder: 24g Guru Hybrid with black hydro

Wagler:
Rod: Team Daiwa 11ft pellet wag
Reel: Daiwa TDM 3012
Line: 4lb Sensor to 0.18mm hooklength
Hook: 18 Guru Pellet wag
Float: 6g Preston pellet wag

Bomb Short:
Rod:  Drennan Matchpro 10ft Bomb
Reel: TDM 3012
Line: 8lb sensor mainline, 0.16mm hooklength
Hook: 16 QM1 with a baitband

Feeder: 12g ollivette

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