AAF Gp2 Match 8, Witherington Farm 10/6/15

Somehow I had volunteered to run this match as Craig was away at Whiteacres… I had also covered for him a meeting earlier in the week so he had better bring me some rock!  My morning didn’t have the best of starts as I woke up at half six, thirty minutes after my alarm was supposed to wake me up, so a quick sprint to Salisbury to pick Tony up and then to the lakes to peg the inner and outer snake.  It turned out that we had plenty of time and thankyou to Tony for pegging the inner as it meant that we had enough time to grab a breakfast before I started the booking in.

It was good to see Dave back on the bank and there was plenty to talk about as everyone was booking in, again Kev and Adi came to my rescue to help out with some of the admin, leaving me to sort numbers and the other good stuff.

The match brief and draw went without a hitch and soon everyone was lining up on the banks of the inner and outer snake.  I had ended up on C11 and this turned out to be permanent peg 84 I think.

It looked really good with a blank peg to my left, two or three blank pegs around the corner to my right and the bridge leading to the outer in the corner to my right, but alas as I had seen Rocky and been asked how far to either side can we go I said to the first leg of the next platform, should have said it on the match brief as well but hey ho.  This however, shot me in the foot as it put me 8-10m short of where the fish could back off to, but everyone was in the same boat so off I went sorting my life out.

I was ready for the all in even after a trip back to the shop to get a tin of hemp and a drink and after calling it I fed 3 balls of groundbait onto a skimmer line at 11.5m down the track and went straight onto a paste line at 2+2 towards the gap to my right.  The rig for this was a 4X10 Big H paste float on 0.19mm mainline, a 0.18mm hooklength, a size 4 T175 and red vespe elastic.  It took all of 5 minutes until fish number 1 was on its way to the waiting landing net and at about 3lb it was a good start, but after that it was very slow, I went across to the far bank fishing paste again on the same rig as it was nearly 4 feet deep across next to the reeds.  This gave me another lost foul hooker and a carp before it went dead so with 45 minutes I decided to try the skimmer line, the result was not good as in twenty minutes I only had a couple of small skimmers to show for it. I went back on the short paste line and suffered a shallow foul hooker that dropped off again so I got off my box and set up a shallow paste rig, I also mixed some slop out of my groundbait with a lot of water.  I tried the 5m line with it to no avail and then shipped it across to the far bank, straight away I had another foulhooker at 18 inches so I shallowed up to a foot deep tried again.  A 2lb Carp and a goldfish quickly fell to the new tactic but again it soon dried up, but, the carp were moving around shallow so I quickly set up a standard shallow rig and stared firing 6mm pellet at it.  Th rig was a 0.2g Crystal dibber on 0.17mm mainline to a 0.12mm hooklength and a size 20 Guru Pellet wag hook with a bait band, the elastic started off a a yellow Colmic hollow but after a lost fish in the far bank reeds I geared it up to a blue Browning hollow elastic.  That sorted them out and over the next hour or so I was able to put another 4 or so carp and a couple of goldfish into the net, but then the wind picked up again so I started to look around my other lines.

It was slow until the last hour and a half when I shipped down the edge on a paste rig and lost two fish in 3 fish in short order before scaling up to a size 5 T175hook. This sorted them out and in the last half hour I had 4 fish from my edge and 2 carp from the skimmer line on paste after big potting softened 4mm pellet on both lines.  I had to call the all out straight after a small goldfish but to be fair I was happy that it was over, I managed to be largely packed up before the scales made it round and my 18kg odd was enough for 5^th in the section. John dewberry off the worst peg on the inner won the section with 25kg odd and Docs won the match from behind me on the outer.

The full results can be found here : http://midsectionblues.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/army-8-spawny-withy.html

Many thanks to all those who helped out and I am looking forward to going somewhere newish after a short holiday.

What would I do different

I think that I should have persevered on the shallow across line and I need to look at some of my elastic choices as I lost too many fish on too soft elastic.

I also think that I should have just fed hemp and pellet on the track line as the silvers I caught were considerably smaller than other peoples who did not seem to feed groundbait.

Army HQ individual open and Pairs, 29-30/5/15

It was another epic journey up north for this one but fortunately I had booked into the accomadation so had somewhere comfortable to rest my weary bones.  The first night was meeting up with a few of the guys down the local and trying to extract any information I could from them, I had also picked my bait up from Gaz so that was sorted ready for the morning.

The venue for the next two days was Forest lane fishery and as I arrived on the Friday morning I was met by a few friendly faces, the breakfast was fantastic and quickly dispatched. Then it was off for a walk around the venue, I fancied a few areas on Don especially after a briefing from Mark, he was going to be my partner for the pair’s event so was keen on getting me clued into the venue. I went around the Furlong and Oaklands as well and again fancied them for a few fish as they were moving everywhere on the lakes. Back at the draw and it was the individual competition first, I pulled peg 11 on Don out of the bag and pushed my kit into the back of the peg, I had an island at about 14.5 m in front of me and also due to the pegging there were about 3 pegs blank to the next guy to my left on the other side of the corner.

I was spoilt for choice but decided to fish pellet to a bare bank on the island, chopped worm and caster at 6 sections in line with a tuft on the island, a barbel line on a top 2 to my left and finally I plumbed up under the pallet to my left at 6 sections again.  I wasn’t ready for the all in as I had spent a while faffing around and I wasn’t really in the game to start off, still as soon as I was ready I fed a pot of Bombay mix on the chopped worm line and then shipped out to the island. As I was expecting mainly goldfish I had set up a 5-11 MW rattie on 0.16mm mainline and a 0.12mm hooklength. A size 16 B911 was balanced to yellow colmic hollow and a 4mm expander hid the hook and was fished over softened 2m pellet, it took about a minute and the float buried with a skimmer of just under a pound coming easily to the net.  Then the fun and games started as I was getting a few indications but no real bites so I after a small goldfish I came off the line to try and find something better. I went onto the chopped worm line and had a couple of fish quite quick, I decided to fish the first pot out and managed about 10 small fish before I felt as though I needed to top it up so I pot a Frenzee soft pot on the end of the top kit and started to feed some of the worm mix.  This actually had a detrimental effect to the swim in hindsight and I started to struggle, it was at this point though that I had a few liners so I set up a shallow rig and potted in the mix again, 3 minutes later I had a small carp in the net, I tried it again but that was it.

Knowing that the fish were coming up though changed my plan and I quickly set up a shallow rig to fish a worm head at 13m to the left of the island, it was again set on yellow Colmic hollow elastic with the same lines as the pellet rig, the hook was a 20 Guru pellet wag and the float was a MW pea. I started to loose feed caster and had another look on my chopped worm line and the inside barbel line whilst building the swim, but after another lack lustre 20 minutes I went on the shallow rig. It wasn’t frantic but I was soon getting the odd bite, this included a carp of about 8-10lb on a 0.12mm bottom. A rain shower passed through and I lost a big fish around an aerator over to my left so I decided to rest the swim by going down my left hand edge for a few minutes to see if anything had moved in under the platform.

Nothing was the answer and I had been using a pole protector butt in my no.6 section to protect the section if I did have to ship back quickly, and all of a sudden this was stuck fast.  I was distraught as now my best swim was out of reach and I could see carp moving through the swim, try as I might I could not budge the stuck sections.

I kept looking down the edge and on the barbel line, started to feed shallow as far as I could reach with the pole but the fish would not come towards me, in the last hour and a half I had only a couple of small fish and was not a happy chappy.

The scales came around quickly and I put 11Kg odd on them beating 1 in my section, the guy to my left had 12kg, then it was 14kg and 16kg for the section win, so 2 more carp. I was not best pleased, it got worst as well when as I was packing my kit into the van I found a nice pile of dog mess under my trainer!!!

It took a while but three of us got the section undone in the end but it may have cost me the section at least and with the match being won with 24kg who knows as it was getting stronger all the time. The food was good at the venue and the night was spent chatting in the bar with Mark and Grant.

Day 2 the Army pairs.

 Was teamed up with Mark for this match and we had been chatting about it for months on various media, the draw came and I put Mark on Oaklands 3 and I had Furlong peg 4, this meant nothing to us and we just went about our jobs for the day, we knew that we would both need a section win to stand a chance of winning.

Looking at my peg my approach was going to be simple with pellet across, a choppy line at ¾ towards the left side of the swim as there was an aerator there and a blank peg, a choppy line next to the aerator and finally the maggot line on a top kit.

This time I was ready for the all in and as the call went out I fed a small ball of choppy mix on the ¾ line and then shipped across with the pellet rig, this  time my rigs looked like:

Line	Far bank pellet	3/4 choppy	Aerator worm	Maggot	Shallow
Float	MW F1 Pear 12-11	0.3 g MB Diamond	0.7g Frenzee FP500	0.6g prototype	0.2g Drennan Clear Dibber
Mainline	0.16mm	0.16mm	0.16mm	0.18mm	0.16mm
Hooklength	0.12mm	0.12mm	0.12mm	0.14mm	0.12mm
Hook	B911 16	B911 16	B911 16	T175 size 2	20 Guru PW
Elastic	Pink Vespe hollow	White Hydro	Yellow Colmic Hollow	Blue Colmic Hollow	Yellow Colmic Hollow

It didn’t take long to get a response and I was soon netting carp number 1 and he was followed in short order by another 4 within the first 30 minutes or so, but it was soon obvious that they would not stay there all day and I started to vary the feeding, this didn’t help so I moved onto the ¾ line.

This was a good choice as again I had another quick run of fish, Barbel this time at around 3 to the pound they were all demented and great fun to play on the light tackle but again that swim was soon on the wane.

My day progressed and the best line was the ¾ line, the inside maggot rig gave me 1 barbel, the aerator line gave me a few small barbel but in the last hour I hoked a better fish and it snagged me on the aerator and as I pulled for a break I moved it so it covered the area that I had been feeding!

I had a go feeding caster into the shallow water across and dapping a rig over it for 1 small carp and a couple of barbel but my best line by far was the ¾ worm line as even at the whistle I put the net under a 1lb carp from it, which was handy as Boris on the end peg had been catching small tench and barbel consistently for the last 3 hours and Bouldy on the peg to my left had managed to snag a few small carp fishing pellet into the very shallow water across.

The scales took a while this time and Bouldy had 9kg, I had 11.250, Martin had 8 or so to my right and Boris had snuck 10kg of small fish in, so I managed a section win, Mark beat everyone on the lake bar the guy opposite that turned out to be in his section so he had a second.  The chat at the results was that we would be second as Gaz and Scott both had a section win to win it and the other pair on 3points, Craig and skins had a slightly lower total weight for third.

And so it turned out, I had a section win and second on the lake, Mark had section second and second on the lake and our score was enough for us to be the runners up on the day.

Gaz and Scott won it with a perfect score but it was a good end to a trying couple of days, thanks to Gaz and his team for running the event as it really is a thankless task, I am on withy next so I may need a check practice to sort some things out.

What would I do different

1.       I am going to try some candle wax on my pole sections to prevent them from sticking together.

2.       I need to work on my chopped worm and caster fishing and also need to look at my edge fishing as I feel I am doing something wrong at the moment.

3.       I feel that If I had put in a second chopped worm line on the Furlong day in the other direction at the same depth then I may have had more weight and then would not have needed the aerator line that was more hassle.

4.       I would put my short line slightly further out next time as it was not working on just a top kit.

AT Commercial National, Garbolino Lakes, 23/5/15

Once again it was a big day out for Fosters team army, I had travelled up on the Friday night and stayed in one of the cabins at the lakes so I was well rested come the morning, certainly better than driving up on the morning.  We all met up before the draw, the bait was sorted, breakfast was eaten and then the wait for the pegs began. Gaz came back and gave me K1, this was on Bennies lake in the far Corner furthest from the car park.

 I had loads of room as 3 pegs on either side of me were under water, but I had the wind off my back and all I had heard was that I would need to be in the wind to do any good today. As I was setting up more and more cars drove around the lake and started to park behind me, I will remember that one next time I am there as I lugged my kit on the barrow from the other side of the lake. This however seemed to push what fish I had in front of me as I turned up further and further across the lake away from me.

The plan was pellet at 2+2, this rig was 0.16mm mainline to a 0.12mm hooklength, a B911 in size 16 and a 4X14 MW F1 Carbon, my elastic was a yellow 2.1mm Colmic elastic which is lovely and forgiving for the stamp of fish that I was expecting.

I decided to concentrate on the left margin as it looked spot on for a few fish so I plumbed up a corn and a paste rig to fish against the reeds both of these were on proper lines and hooks, and finally I also set up a couple of shallow rigs but they gave me nothing so enough about those.

I was ready well before the all in and my only regret is that I didn’t set up a feeder rod for if I had a breakage but a bit of banter with the RAF lad in the next peg and then it was away we go.

I fed a quarter of a cup of groundbait and some corn down the edge, flicked out half a dozen 4mm pellet and then shipped my pellet rig over the top with a 4mm expander on the hook, it took all of a minute for my first bite and a 12oz f1 was soon in the net and was followed by a couple or smaller samples within the first 5 minutes. It was at this point the wheels started to fall off as I started to have to work really hard for bites and considering this was supposed to be a fish race I was falling behind.  After an hour I had 15 fish so I was eyeing up the margins already, I went on them and started loose feeding caster onto the short pole line to see if I could get some silvers or if something different would work, I managed a few fish from down the edge and they were of a good stamp compared to the rest of the lake but I needed something to start working quickly.

I went back onto the short line over the caster and nothing happened at all! Now I was worried, so I fed a small ball of groundbait with some pellets on the 2+2 line and went back down the edge for a couple more fish and then I started chopping and changing between the 2 main lines after every 2 fish, as it was all I could get from 1 spot.

My swims died off more and more over the last couple of hours, I landed a barbel so put a maggot line in at 10 off to my right, I had no bites over that or indications!!  I managed 6 fish in the last hour and that included putting my paste rig into the middle of the reed bed, I didn’t lose a fish!

The all out was called and it was obvious that everyone on my side of the lake had struggled, as the scales came round I had 16.8kg, the RAF guy to my right had 10kg! There were a line of 12-15kg weights up the bank to my right until there was a small pocket of the small fish that a couple of guys shared half way up the bank to my right and they had 20Kg + each.  As the scales moved into the wind and around the spit though the weights were all over 20Kg of the small 6-10oz stockie F1’s, this was capped with a few upper 30Kg weights and a 40kg weight.

I went back to HQ and it was a tale of woe with Gus having the top points score from the worst section.

I didn’t hang around for the results but heard later that we were 22^nd out of the 24 teams, Dorking won it and Adam Richards had top weight on the day.

What would I do different

1.       I should have set up the feeder and also plumbed up a line at 13m+, although it wasn’t in the plan it may have caught me some more fish, I needed 10lb to get another point and 15lb for a few more points so I just needed a run of fish to make that happen.

Land command next let’s hope that that’s a bit better.

AAF Gp 2 Match 7, Viaduct. 13/5/15

Fate is a funny thing, and in the middle of a really busy period personally with moving house and working away from home I was supposed to be on the Royal Signals Carp Championships at Todber Manor. I had managed a practice session the week before that resulted in 16 fish to 22lb 6oz, and since only 23 fish had come out of the lake whilst I was there I thought that I would be in with a chance, given a decent draw.  I also have a link to the video on the right hand side of this page.

 

An early morning double

Little Hayes

22lb mirror

17lb Common

As I have already alluded to though fate is a funny thing and it was never to be as I was involved in a bit of a crash on the Monday night heading down to the fishery when a not so young lady decided to see how close she could get to my bumper at a roundabout… the answer – 2 inches.  Not a problem I hear you say as most of the damage was on the bumper and that was what it’s for ….well the safety belts fired their safety’s so I could not drive anywhere.

My Van was recovered to Blandford.. From Stonehenge?? And Sarah picked me up from the side of the road, this meant that all my kit was in the wrong county and I had no idea as to when I would get transport so I would miss the draw the next morning. Due to this I cried off the Carp match.  Monday night and Tuesday morning saw my phone in meltdown with calls to and from insurance companys and just after lunch on the Tuesday new wheels were delivered to me…as I thought that the carp match would be out of reach by now I phoned Craig to see if there was any room on the Viaduct match the next day, especially as it would give me a chance to concrete my third place in the league. I was in luck as someone had dropped out so plansd made I drove to blandford to collect my carp gear, drove to todber to take some photos and then got home and prepped my kit the best I could in an hour.

The morning arrived and I drove to meet up with the rest of the team at Maccy D’s, banter in full flow and brerakfast done it was soon to the venue for the all important draw. Azi Red was myself, Daz and Ben so I was volunteered to do the draw, it was not good news as once again I pulled 94 out of the bag, this time Daz was sat on it, Ben had 114 and I was stuffed on peg 60.  Team wise it was an alright draw, 94 should have had a few fish in front of it and 114 is always decent the only real bogey was 60 but I decided that a good days fishing is still better than a day at work so I got on with it.

I set up a pellet wag, a meat rig for 14.5m, a margin rig for the platform of 61 (Which H on 62 also plumbed) and a dobbing rig. I started on the dobbing rig having fed half a pot of bait on the 14.5m line and straight away I knew I was up against it as I was sat in the shade and all the fish were enjoying the sun.  I swapped to the pellet wag to try and make some thing happen and in short bar 1 bite at about half way through the pellet wag was a damp squib. I managed to mug 2 fish through the course of the day but I never had them in numbers in front of me, H was catching on the bomb so I set one up and lost a foul hooker (or an eel!) and I managed a small tench and a rudd on a short meat line, and a foul hooked roach complete with egg sac on paste down the edge, I changed to paste as there were skimmers and roach spawning down the edge under the trees to my left.

The end could not come soon enough especially as every match angler I spoke to went unlucky and every pleasure angler went that’s a really good edge peg. I really didn’t want to talk to any more people after the match.

My 2 carp and bits went 23-8 enough for 13^th in section, the team was 12^th out of 16 I think in all a not so good day. The rest of the fishery was quite fair with a few tons and good back up weights.  Ben managed 80 odd pound but Daz had a mare as well.

Moving house this week then the commy national then the land command… better dust my hook tier off.

What would I do different

1.       I tried everything at viaduct to no avail so apart from concentrating on silvers that were conspicuous by their absence I was stuffed.

2.       I am going to have to bite the bullet one day and pack up everything bar the dobbing rig to see if it is viable, although I think a bigger hookbait like an 8mm punch of polony would be a better option.

Waldens Farm, 5 From 5 Challenge, 24/4/15

It was back down to Walden’s for another overnighter, this time I was going to try and do a 5 from 5 challenge so I started on Deacons the match lake, Stu the Bailiff was fishing there as well and he led the way with 4 carp to my 1 missed bite. 

We were both fishing floaters and they definitely preferred his bigger dog biscuit. I decided to move to the other side of the lake and it took about 10 minutes to put fish number 1 on the mat, at 3lb is was very welcome.

This saw me move straight onto Popes, and since it had taken me 2 hours to get one from the match lake I was not too confident of an early bite, I moved my kit to a spot between Popes and Monks and fed a few margin spots on Popes and fed some floaters into the rushes on Monks.  I failed miserably, I got the fish pac manning in the edge but they were very spooky and after I missed one they ghosted away and my chance was gone.

There were no signs of fish feeding on my edge spots so I decided to cut my losses and moved onto Bishops after a big ghostie.  No sooner as I was settled in with a bit of bait into the swim than it started raining so moving again was cancelled and the 5 From 5 would have to wait for another day.

I put a rig next to a lilly bed and another down the edge to my right, had some food and decided to get my head down nice and early. Due to the proximity to the snags I was fishing locked up, this is when you have your drag tightened up so that you CANNOT take line from it, using butt grips this isn’t usually a problem but as I was about to find out, the ones I use at the moment don’t work in the rain!

I got three beeps as the lie pulled tight and just as I swung my feet towards my trainers the rod lurched forward and jammed on the alarm…. Needless to say I was on the rod in an instant now just stood in my socks.  The fight was quite cheeky as the carp had made it into the lilies but steady pressure saw me win the day and it was soon in the net. At about 10-12lb I was happy with the result.

This was the successful rig.

It had managed to bend my rod ring on the alarm though.

That was it for the night, I had a few liners on the margin rod but nothing significant so come mid-morning I decided to move onto Monks for the last couple of hours.  This was a good idea and by casting tight to the reeds and Lilly's I had 5 bites, but due to my hooks being a little on the large side I only landed 2.

In all it was a nice session and I will be back next week to try and bag a better fish from Abbots.

What would I do different?

1.       Back to the flat method and I am back on Abbots trying for a better fish.

Waldens Overnighter 17/04/15

I am aiming to increase the size a few of my PB’s this year and the first job is to get happy with my kit and rigs, so it was off to Waldens Farm for an overnighter after work as I knew I should be able to get a few bites from there.  I managed to get to the lakes by 2pm and I was soon walking around the main carp lakes looking at loads of carp that were cruising around enjoying the sunshine, I was soon hot footing it back to the van to get my gear.

I dumped the majority of it in a swim that controlled a lot of open water and then proceeded to start doing laps again around the lakes, this time carrying a bucket of pellet and corn mix, after a lap feeding a few good looking spots it was time to try and catch one.  It was a 1 rod job with a method feeder on a foot of leadcore and a proper hook baited with pepperami and fake corn.

As you can see from the picture I was fishing a few tight swims, but I managed 1 in the afternoon session from close to the hut in the form of this small common.

I was glad for my rod and line choice as I hooked it close to an overhanging tree, and guess where it headed on the bite…….

The rod was a 1.5lb 11ft Drennan series 7 specialist and I was fishing it with 12lb reel line as it was what I had on the reel at the time, I am looking at lightening it up to 10lb as I think that will balance the outfit more.  Anyway, after the excitement of the first fish I was soon on the move with all my kit in tow to a swim in a back bay where I had seen numbers of fish cruising through a gap between two islands.  I put a zig amongst them to no avail and after about an hour of them mugging me off they all ghosted away. It coincided with the air temp dropping a few degrees so I decided to put the method back on both rods.  I put the first down the edge to my left where something was bubbling and the other went tight to a snag where I locked the rod into the buzz bars. I managed two carp from the snag and a pike and two skimmers from the inside line.

As you can see the Pike took a piece of pepparami and corn and I was not really happy in the swim as I was having to fish locked up to the snag which meant that I could not sleep and fish it, fortunately a few fish started crashing on the next lake along so just after dark I decided to move onto the next lake.

I fished the two methods, one towards an island and the other close in by an overhanging tree that was not touching the water.  I had 3 skimmers on the open water rod and then at half three in the morning I was awoken by this:

A low double common that looked and fought like it was half ghostie.  That was it for the night until the dawn chorus woke me up and a few carp started crashing on the pond directly behind me.  I had my breakfast with a rod laid on the floor and I gave it until mid-morning but nothing else happened.  I decided to try for tree carp from three lakes so with about an hour until I had to depart I moved again onto my third lake and put two rigs into likely spots, the fish had been bubbling and clouding up as I arrived but they soon stopped after my bait hit the water.

I gave it an hour but then had to pack up and go home,  still 4 carp to low double, 4 skimmers and a pike is not too shabby for my first go at the proper fish on the complex.

What would I do different?

1.       Next time I am going for 5 from 5, one carp from each lake.

2.       I saw one other angler on the carp lake and he was fishing the method, I am going to try something different next time, maybe a corn stack on a pop up rig?? Might be enough to trip up one of the biggies.

AAF Gp2 Match 6, Todber Manor 15/04/15

I Had managed a few practices for this match over the last few weeks with mixed results, I had managed a reasonable session on Park in the cold rain on maggot but a lack lustre session on Whitepost had me wondering about tactics for those lakes, but there were a couple of lakes that I had not been able to get on, not for the want of trying, and they were the new match lakes out the back of the shop.

Anyway back to the day of the match and I was obviously a little late getting to the draw location as it seemed as there was a lack of parking and a decent queue to the till.  I had a few rods and bits that had upgraded recently that I found the respective new owners for then I was able to enjoy the wait and the final eating of my breakfast.

It was the last match that Kev was organising but the draw as ever was slick and well run, I was on drawing duty for Azzi Red and managed to put Ben on Whitepost, Daz on Park and that the new lakes for me, peg 10??  The brief that I had received for this lake off John the owner was along the lines of- there are loads of fish and they have been fed pellet by scoop from the bank with the pegs, there are also a number of bigger carp in there that are waiting on a speci lake to get filled.  This instantly got me thinking that it would be a short pole fish race and that I would also feed a shallow line at 13m as it was close enough to catch F1’s quick and just far enough out to catch bigger carp shallow.

I parked in the shop car park and pushed my barrow up to peg 10, this was 2/3 of the way along the lake away from the shop on a track that would have been easy to drive on. I got to my peg after much ‘Chuffing’ , set up my box and surveyed the scene.

I knew from looking at the peg that I was not far off with my plan so I went about plumbing up a pellet and a paste rig for the base of the near shelf that in this case was 2+2.5 sections out. I also set up a shallow mugging rig that I would also use for deep shallow, a jigging rig and a slapping F1 rig all for the long line before pulling my 11ft pellet wag rod from the bag, just to try and mug one of the submarines that could be seen from time to time cruising along the far bank.

I had decided to go positive on this match as this match was my first real chance of a section win, but seeing Bri on an end peg of the holiday lake to our left then Carl and Neil were at the windward end of the lake which seemed to have a lot of fish in probably due to the sound of construction machinery at the other end of the lake.  Pez was a couple of pegs to my left with a blank peg next to him, then Gary on the other side of the blank peg, to my right I had Tree with another blank peg to his right and further up was John so it was a strong section.

I was ready for the all in and as soon as it was called I cupped about 100 pellets onto the short line from a height and then cast out the wag, 5 casts later the wag was put up the bank as fish had started coming in on the short line for people already. I lowered my banded 6mm to the deck and had to wait all of 30 seconds for fish number 1, number 2 wasn’t far behind and so started a first 3 hours that saw me putting a fish in the net almost every minute, however at 4oz apiece with the odd slightly larger one I was going nowhere fast.  This was compounded by the odd lump coming out to the method all around me, and then at 3 hours, probably due to the heat the lake apart from the first few pegs just shut up shop.

I tried everything apart from a method to get a bite in the last few hours and managed a few F1’s on my long line mugging rig with no feed, but with an hour and a bit to go whilst melting in the 20 degree heat I decided to go to the shop for a cool down.

Before I left I fed a few handfuls of pellet onto my short line, but on my return this obviously hadn’t worked, I even tried a light pellet wag.  As time was ticking down a few more of the larger carp that had been conspicuous by their absence in my swim started to cruise through so with 30 minutes to go and nothing to lose I started concentrating on mugging one of them.

The first pod of fish saw a bite and then the hook pulled out as the hair had wrapped around the hook.

The next pod saw a bite and a skimmer of 12oz being the culprit, wouldn’t have been too bad but all the carp were doubles.

5 minutes to go and another pod move through quite quick left to right at 16m, I dropped the 8mm pellet on one of their noses and the float dinked. I remember striking and then watching helpless as meters of 2.1mm Colmic hollow elastic tore off through Trees swim.  Thank you to tree at this point as he had been able to keep putting some fish in his net by fishing at 3ft deep over his 7m line but my carp destroyed this. I got a grip of it after what seemed like an age and soon had it under the pole tip on the puller. I managed to net it as soon as it came into range and it was a 5Kg Ghostie, which explained a lot. I got the fish in the net and tried to ship out as quickly as possible, but the all-out was called just as I was adding my last two sections.

We had all watched Neil filling hs boots from the end of the lake but as for the rest of us it would be close as Tree, John and Pez had all caught well at the start, John had managed a couple of bonus fish, Pez had bene catching a good stamp of fish and Tree had caught better than most in the last 3 hours.  The scales finally got top me and Neil was top with an impressive 52 kilos and change, Pez was next with 26.53Kg, then I weighed 27.32Kg, Tree 27.22Kg,  Martin( the other side of blank peg) 22.98Kg and then John with 23.86Kg.

Those eagle eyed of you will notice from these results that I managed to squeak 2^nd by 100g and if I had not landed that carp I would have been at least 3 places further down the pack. Needless to say that no-one mentioned how spawny it was or that dobbing shouldn’t count and Tree didn’t call me any names at all.  I took my quid off Craig and Pez and went back for the results, the rest of the team had not fared as well but we still managed to beat baggers A, granted it was on countback and was for 4^th or 5^th place, but we beat them.

I needed those points as I am now sat 3^rd in the league with about 15 points with a 6^th, 3^rd and 2 seconds to drop, unfortunately I am missing the next group match as I am trying my hand at a Carp match, but considering the venue the pellet wag and paste down the edge may come into play especially as the fish average upper double, should be fun.

What would I do different

1.       The short line worked well until it got too hot, then perhaps concentrating ion trying to catch shallow there like Tree may have caught me a bit more weight but I would have never caught up with Neil unless….

2.       I perhaps should have sat on the dobbing rig for the last hour hindsight is the best angler but they were moving through the swim after my trip to the shop.

3.       Waggler wasn’t right at all and after the first time I should have put it away in the bag rather than flogging a dead horse, perhaps a method across into the shallow water may have got me a bite or more likely a zigged bit of foam. (its what I would have done sat in my bivvy!!)