After the last group match that had seen me break my pole
and come nearly last in section, to say that my mojo is on the wane was an
understatement. We were off to Orchard
lakes and since the last time that I have fished here apparently the fishing
had changed with it being more off the far bank rather than top kit fishing.
The booking in and pegging was easy for me today as Craig
had everything under control and the fishery supplied the pegs and sorted the
pegging, I was soon in the draw queue and
Evo pulled Main lake peg 9 out for me.
Having never fished the main lake I had no idea what to
expect but I had an island at about 20 meters in front and a blank peg to my left so that was my main
2 areas sorted. I decided to set up a
method for the island and down the edge and a pellet wag for the island, I also
set up a conventional wagler as well to fish meat on the deck if it looked at
being that sort of a day. Funnily enough I was ready well before the all in and
on the call I sent the method tight to the island…. Nothing happened and as I
went to retrieve it the feeder was in a snag, I decided to drop shorter after
that. It took about half an hour for my
first bite and I lost that one as it just pulled for the island at 100mph, I
also lost the second under the rod tip for no reason. However before long I had
a couple of carp in the net but the size of them was not what I was expecting
after being regaled with stories of doubles and high singles. I swapped between the wag and the method for
the next while trying to put some bites together but for every carp I landed I lost
2. It was turning into a trying day as
the carp where piling through snags before I could do a great deal most of the
time. I ended up with 6 carp and 2 chub
for about 6kg, this was enough for 6th in section but with H in the
corner landing 18Kg in the last couple of hours I didn’t feel as though I ever
got the swim going to be fair.
Craig won the match with 54kg, Pez was second with 51 both
on the match lake and both caught short on the pole.
What would I have done differently?
In hindsight I wish that I had had more room but I was quite
hemmed in from my left and right, a shorter skimmer feeder line may have been a
good idea as Shippers on the next peg did me by a kilo and had caught skimmers
on the pole, possibly mag and wag for the chub may have been an option.
Tackle used:
Method :
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: 4g Preston pellet wag
Conventional wag:
Rod: Drennan Matchpro 12ft ultralight
Reel: TDM 3012
Line: 4lb sensor mainline, 0.16mm hooklength
Hook: 18 Guru Pellet wag with a baitstop
Float: 3aa Dave Harrell thick tip insert wag.
