AAF Gp2 Match 6, Todber Manor

It’s that time of year again when all the AAF Commercial matches start, there is always an air of expectation on the first one as we are all back in the mix on the commercial knock out that we are all trying to win. Todber was the venue for the day and we were split over 4 lakes again, one section on Ash, one on Hill View and a section split over the two Whitepost lakes.  I fancied Whitepost for the individual win although Ash is a fair lake and Hillview was my last choice as I had only managed a quick practice at the weekend but the weather had been pants and I had not learnt a lot. John had helped me to peg the match in advance so Craig and I had a pretty easy morning to be fair, a nice brekkie at Skevvys and then the draw.

The draw was an interesting affair with me having to remove pegs from the tins as people were again not turning up after booking in, for my team Pez ended up on Whitpost, Pete Ash and that left me with Hill view peg 40. Craig was on White post peg 6, I had pegged it with pegs 5 and 9 left out but thyen due to people not turning up pegs 7 and 8 also were not drawn!!!!  This gave him most of the lake to himself so he was a very happy bunny.

I dropped him off and then got to my peg, my plan was simple, a method and wagler to the island, a long pole line at 13m because the depth was no different at 11 or 16m and finally I plumbed up a couple of margin lines in 2 feet of water both to the left and right of my swim, although I mainly planned to fish to the right as there was more room to the next angler that way.

At the all-in I fed the long pole line and started on the method, over the next 5 minutes or so I had no indications so I started to loose feed with pellet, 6mm would not reach so it had to be 8mm that I was not too happy about but a swap to the waggler soon saw me landing carp number 1.  The waggler line became hard after this so a swap back to the method was called for but that was cut short by Rikki catching shallow on the pole opposite me.

I decided to have a go on the pole line, but on the deck I managed 2 small fish and I didn’t even have a bite shallow so after 20-30 minutes of faffing about it was back onto the method as I was well off the pace at the time.

Fortunately things started to happen on the method and I was soon starting to put a few fish together, by loose feeding pellet I was able to draw fish into the area that I was fishing the method and I was able to pick up a few F1’s and small carp. I tried the waggler intermittently and I also tried to mug some fish from time to time as there were some decent sized fish cruising around, I failed for quite a while.

With a few hours left to go I started to feed micros and meat down the edge to my right and I was soon having the odd look down there with mixed results, it might have been the changeable weather or the fact that I fed too much but I had a few runs of Carp mainly around 3lb but with a couple of lumps thrown in for good measure and some silvers and small carp.

As the last hour started I was struggling, the margin had become iffy, I could get the odd bite but there was no size to the fish, the method had also died off as the fish seemed to have moved up in the water, but I did manage to mug a carp on the pole off to my right where there were numbers held up and I also managed an F1 on the pellet wag.

I called the all-out and there was a collective sigh, a quick pack up and then I had to wait for the scales, Carl Dave and the lad to my left had all struggled with less than 10Kg each, my 2 nets went 36Kg and change so I thought that I was in with a chance of a frame but I had been watching a few people catching well around the lake and it sounded as though Docs had managed a few again.  As it turned out it was enough for second, Docs on peg 55 had managed to line some of the better carp up down the edge to his left for an impressive 51Kg weight.  As for the team, we had two seconds and a third I believe that gave us second on the day….again, I am off to Larford At the weekend for a 48Hr Carp match so tha should be fun…watch this space J

I did manage to get a bit of video and it can be found here:

What would I do differently?

I fished a hard pellet on the pole line, perhaps a worm line would have been a better option for the middle period when I was struggling on other lines.

Not a lot else to be honest, I think it went ok.

Tackle used:

Pellet Waggler:

Rod: Team Daiwa 11ft pellet wag

Reel: Daiwa TDM 3012

Line: 4lb sensor to 0.18mm hooklength

Hook: 18 Guru Pellet wag

Float: 4g Drennan stumpy pellet wag

Pellet Waggler:

Rod: Drennen Ultralight 12ft

Reel: Daiwa TDM 3012

Line: 0.18mm reel line 0.11mm  hooklength

Hook: 20 Guru Pellet wag

Float: 5BB Dave Harrell insert

Method:

Rod: Drennan Series 7 10ft carp feeder

Reel: Daiwa TDM 3012

Line: 8lb Sensor and 0.19mm hooklength

Hook: 14 QM1

Weight: Various Guru feeders

Long Pole Deck:

Elastic: White Hydro

Line: 0.17mm to 0.12mm

Hook: 20 Guru Pellet wag with Bait band

Float: 0.4g AS5

Long Pole Shallow 3ft:

Elastic: White Hydro

Line: 0.17mm to 0.12mm

Hook: 20 Guru Pellet wag with Bait band

Float: 0.3g Crystal dibber

Long Pole Shallow 1ft:

Elastic: Pink Vespe

Line: 0.17mm to 0.12mm

Hook: 20 Guru Pellet wag with Bait band

Float: MW pea

Long Pole mugging:

Elastic: Blue Colmic

Line: 0.17mm to 0.16mm

Hook: 18 Guru Pellet wag with Bait stop

Float: 0.4g Crystal Dibber

Pole Margin:

Elastic: Blue Colmic Hollow (17H later)

Line: 0.19mm to 0.18mm

Hook: 3 T175

Float: 0.3g Drennan Carp 4