So it was back to the Glebe for this year’s Corps Champs
and in all truth I had done next to no prep on the run up to this match, all my
rigs had been stored in my box since last year’s champs so I was hoping for a
quiet week in all honesty and was looking forward to seeing some of the older
faces. I might as well start at the
beginning so…..
Practice day 1
This was an out and out practice day for me, just to see
if the old tactics were still working, it was the only day of the week that I
set up a corn rig and I didn’t have a bite on it. I drew peg 96 on lake 6 and I was just out of
the corner in the lee of the wind so not ideal.
Long story short I tried feeder, pellet wag, shallow at 13m, corn and paste
short and paste down the edge for a middle of the road 48Kg but I had learnt a
lot. Namely that they were not eating much corn, they were responding to noise
and that if you left the feeder in for longer than about 20 seconds if you had
a bite most of the time they were foul hooked or just dropped off. I was hoping that this information would put
me in good stead for the next day.
Practice day 2
I managed to draw peg 22 on Lake 1 for this match an area
of the lake that I really enjoy fishing.
It was time to hone the plan, so feeder for the first stint whilst
feeding the short line every 20 minutes with half to a full pot of 6mm pellet,
corn and hemp. Then I would swap to the
short line and paste which I was fishing at 2+3 in this swim to find a suitable
area of bottom and I also plumbed up both margins and found two areas that were
about the same depth so I could fish the same rig on both. The match started well with me getting a few
fish from behind the tree on the far bank on the feeder early but I soon
noticed that even with my very rapid casting I was getting runs of 3-4 carp and
then quiet spells. This told me that they were coming in in groups, clearing
out the bait and moving on, I tried increasing from a small to a medium feeder
but to no avail so I decided to have a look on the paste line. It wasn’t solid bit it was quicker than the
feeder line and I started to prep my margins at just over half way through the
match. I was feeding my groundbait mix,
that I was also using for the feeder, it consisted of 1 part groundbait: 1 par
pellet: 1 part water, all chucked into the bucket as soon as I got to my peg
and then left to sort itself out until I would ruffle up the mix about 20
minutes from the all in and then add a handful of hard 4mm pellet. Anyway, I was balling 2-4 balls in on both
margin lines and it didn’t take long for signs to start, I still waited a bit
longer to build their confidence and this seemed to work as in the last hour I
had a very good run of fish. (so good I tipped out 10lb of silvers as I thought
I might be getting close to being over the net limit in both my nets and
started using the silvers net for carp)
At the all-out I knew that I had a half decent weight and my net went
88Kg 300g (194lb 10oz) which was enough to comfortably win the section.
Master Clubman Match
I was paired up with Maggsie for this match and we drew
pegs 17 and 18 on Lake 1, it looked like a good area and there was a big
overhanging tree in the middle of us that looked good for a few fish, I let Maggsie
have peg 17 as it looked like the better margin peg, whilst I sat on peg
18. The plan was the same again and I
showed Maggsie a few things and then we got down to business, the day panned
out pretty much the same as the day before with the exception that I only had
one margin line and this was down to my right away from the tree. The fish turned up strongly in the last 30
minutes or so and I fed a handful of 8mm pellet after every fish to try and
ensure that I did not have to wait long after landing the fish and shipping
back down the edge. It worked as most of
my bites were coming within 30 seconds of the rig settling proving that I was
doing something right again. My feeder line had been less strong in this match,
I think it was because I was aiming down the lake slightly to give Maggsie some
room and the wind was proving troublesome when I came to trying to be accurate. This was academic however as I managed
another big weight of 80Kg 550g (177lb 9oz) for a section win, Maggsie had
about 50Kilos I think but in the grand scheme of things we were well off the
Pace as Chris and Ritchie on lake 5 had
a great day to win the Master Clubman trophy.
Well done gents.
Royal Sigs Champs day 1
So it was time for the main event, I was drawn in B
section and tis meant that I had managed to avoid all the other ex-corps champs
and the majority of the army team, still if I wanted to do well then I would
need to get 2 section wins and catch a lot of fish in the process, due to this
I wanted to avoid lake 4 at all cost as it had been providing the lowest weights
of the week. Evo was tasked with drawing
for me as I was sat behind a board and he did me proud, not that I knew it at
the time as he put me on peg 76 on Lake 5.
This saw me sat in the peg that had provided the master clubman
champions from the day before and as soon as I looked at the peg I could see
why, there were loads of fish in the swim, I had a cheeky looking margin off to
my left that was also the windward end of the lake so it was looking very good
for a few. The plan was the same again
with the feeder across for the start and then paste short and down the edge
later, there was a pipe on the far bank and Ritchie popped down as we were all
setting up and he told me that he had caught most of his fish from there so I
ran around and did a little bit of gardening to make my life easier and hat was
that line sorted. I plumbed my short
line up at 2+2 straight in front as it was a good depth and I would not be
winding my feeder over the top of it, I also tried to resist the draw of the
left hand side of the peg as the reeds had a few rigs in them and I didn’t
fancy a frustrating day of losing fish.
My margin line, however, was plumbed up to the left again at 2+2 short of
the reeds, the fish in the lakes were hungry so I was hoping to draw them away
from trouble with a bit of grub.
The all-in was called and out went the feeder, I sat on
this line for about an hour too long as I had been watching Pete and Ivan to my
right catching carp on their short lines from the start, I was struggling to
put any numbers of fish together, so with only about 30lb of fish on my nets an
hour and a half into the match I had a look on the short line. It was a master stroke and I have to say that
it was all down to Ivan catching on paste early, the next 2 and a half hours or
so saw me click 150lb of fish into my keep nets, the bites when it was good
were happening within 5 seconds of the bait hitting the bottom!!
With 2 hours to go I put in my 4th keepnet and
over the last 2 hours which saw the swim slowing I still put about 80lb of carp
into the final net. Most of the fish had
come on the 2+2 line but I did have a few from the edge when I was resting the
short line, feeding was key this time and the fish were responding to loose fed
6mm pellet, once I had a bite and hooked a fish I would put in 2 lots of 20-30
pellet, if the swim slowed drastically I fed half a pot of pellet, corn and
hemp from a height. This saw me feed 6
pints 6mm pellet, 4 tins corn and 3 pints of hemp on the short line alone. It
was worth it though as I weighed in 126 Kg 550g (278lb 15oz) for a new PB match
weight that I think may take a while for me to beat. Pete had caught well all day and had also
managed a double ton and a new PB but it was enough for me to win the section and pick up the super pools for
the day
Royal Sigs Champs day 2
It was back onto lake 1 for the final day of the champs
and as I was sat on the boards again my Evo my team mate drew for me again, he
had managed a second in section on day 1 so we were in a strong position for
the team champs going into the second day, but to be fair I was only looking at
winning the corps champs back again after the day before. Evo pulled peg 28 out of the bag for me and I
knew that I was in with a chance, I had Adi and Alfie for company to my left
and Ritchie was tucked away in peg 30 to my right. Plan was the same again, I clipped the feeder
up next to some overhanging Purple loosestrife and then plumbed my short line
up in 4ft of water in front of an overhanging tree to my right. I also put in a
margin line to my left but in all honesty I was hoping that I would not need
it. I started on the feeder again
casting every 20 seconds and it was actually quite good, I had 40lb after an
hour and the pace continued for the second hour. I was suffering a bit from liners and foul
hookers but I was soon able to sort that by changing from a wafter hookbait to
a 8mm pellet. All the time I was watching to my left as Adi could have ruined
my party from his swim but fortunately for me I was the only person on the tip
for about 5 pegs!! At about the 3 hour
mark the feeder line had become very iffy, I also could not get a bite on the
short line so I had another quick look shallow at 13m as there had been a few
fish cruising but nothing happened so I de3cided to try and force the short
line. I fed half a pot of bait and went
straight on it, I had indications almost straight away and that was the start
of a fluffy of fish, again I was feeding pellet after every fish was hooked and
I was getting an indication every 20 seconds or so once the bait had settled on
the bottom. I wasn’t hitting all of them
which was making me think that they were off the deck slightly, but by being
patient they soon settled back on the deck and turned up in numbers. The last hour was going very well until the
elastic which had been in my pole for a year parted about 8 inches up from the
stopper bead, a quick re rig of the margin top and I still managed a few fish before
the end of the match. I had also put m,y
4th net in with an hour and a half of the match remaining as I had
been catching well and was struggling to guess the weight of the fish well, it
was just as well. I put 97KG 675g (215lb
5oz)of fish onto the scales for another section win and second in the match, to
say that I was chuffed was a huge understatement, nearly everyone else in the section
also managed over a ton so the venue had fished brilliantly
As we all grouped up for a cold drink waiting on the results
it became clear that I had won the title for the 5th time, Well done
Daz and Ian for keeping me honest in 2nd and third respectively, all
of us on 2 points and overall weight decided it at the end of the day.
Overall
1st Ben 2
pts 224.225Kg
2nd Daz 2
pts 174.900Kg
3rd Ian 2pts
138.825Kg
On the team front Evo and I managed runners up in the
Team cup behind Daz and Ian.
Many thanks to Louis and his team for running the event
and also to Roy for allowing us to use his fanastic fishery, I look forward to
seeing everyone next year back there.
I used the same rigs every day:
Feeder 1:
Rod: Drennan S7 10ft Carp Feder with 1.5oz tip
Reel: Daiwa TDM 3012
Line: 8lb sensor, 0.19mm powerline hooklength
Hook: 12 QM1
Feeder: 20g Guru cage
Feeder 2:
Rod: Drennan Matchpro medium feeder at 11.5ft, 2oz Glass
tip
Reel: Daiwa 4012 TDM
Line: 8lb Daiwa sensor, 0.19mm powerline hooklength
Hook: 12 QM1
Feeder: 20g Guru Cage
Waggler:
Rod: Drennan ultralight 12ft
Reel: Cadence CS10 4000
Line: 4lb sensor,
Hook: 18 Guru pellet wag pre tied to 0.17mm
Float: 3g Drennan pellet wag or 2 swan Guru pellet wag.
Pole Paste:
Elastic: Preston 17H
Line: 0.21mm to 0.19mm Powerline
Hook: 5 T175
Float: 4X10 Big H Paste
Pole Margin Paste:
Elastic: Preston 17H
Line: 0.21mm to 0.19mm Powerline
Hook: 5 T175
Float: KC Carpa Margin 4X10
Pole shallow:
Elastic: White Hydro
Line: 0.19mm to 0.15mm Powerline
Hook: 18 Guru pellet wag
Float: 0.2g Drennan crystal dibber
