Weight – 18lb 4oz (7lb 0oz – silvers)
Catch – 17 Roach, 9 Perch, 2 Carp, 1 Rudd
Weather – Mild, blustery showers, windy.
Water Temp – 8.3c – 8.3c
Match – Avon Angling Open – 9th out of 16 (3rd overall)
Today it would have great to fish the Stafford Moor Christmas match, but the funds wont stretch that far yet, so Lands End it was and for the 3rd time on the bounce I drew peg 5.
With the recent mild weather I was surprised to see the lake was still quite clear. With 16 fishing 12 were put on match lake and 4 on speci, with p33 being the one everyone wanted. So no surprise when Mark drew it! The only issue today would be the wind. For the 1st couple of hours there was a slight breeze, but as the day progressed the wind got stronger, making presentation difficult.
I had a carp first put in on corn, without any feed in front of the gap, however other than a couple of dinks no more followed and when I put on a maggot I had a roach which told its own story.
For the rest of the match I never really got going, which was made more difficult by the wind. Also with John Bradford on p19 and Mark Walsh on p18 not fishing long the fish had plenty of room to hide away and I probably tried too hard to pull the carp to my side of the lake.
In reality I should have concentrated on the silvers, since I only needed another 3lb to pick up 2nd place, although getting the 22lb of roach and perch Anton had from peg 3 would have proved more of a challenge! Most of my fish came from the bottom of the far shelf mostly caster, plus some big perch from under the platform on peg 6.
In the end most of the weights came from the sheltered part of the lake.
1st 36-10 Mark Poppleton – p33
2nd 34-14 Jim Jenner – p15
3rd 31-12 Dave Sawyer – p13
4th 31- 0 Alan Oram – p16
5th 28- 2 Steve Seagar – p11
6th 24-10 Mike West – p25
Silvers
1st 22-12 Anton Page – p3
Thursday 29 December 2011
Thursday 22 December 2011
21/12/11 - Avalon
Weight – 20lb 3oz (9lb 3oz – silvers)
Catch – 14 Roach, 11 Skimmers, 1 Carp, 1 Rudd
Weather – Mild, cloudy, windy.
Water Temp – 6.5c – 6.8c
Match – Avon Angling Silvers Open – 6th out of 16 (3rd overall)
Finished work yesterday and I won’t be back until the New Year. Fortunately work has been really good this year and I have managed to turn things around financially, which is a huge relief.
With some free time I decided to book in with Tony’s silvers match. This is only the 2nd time I’ve fished Avalon, the 1st time was 10 years ago and there has been a few changes since. When I drew peg 12 it meant very little and feedback suggested it had some form for skimmers, although it was helpfully pointed out that the match could be won from anywhere.
Although this was a silvers match, there was still a payout for carp, because someone was bound to have a few, but to be honest I just wanted a day’s fishing and was looking forward to trying a new venue (and one I expect to be fishing more in the future).
The information gleaned for today was fish long for the skimmers and you won’t catch much short. Despite for the strong wind, it was blowing directly from behind so at least fishing the pole would be comfortable.
I set up 3 rigs, Jean François 0.6g, 0.10 – 18 silverfish maggot (changed to a 20 after 30mins), HB Frostie 0.4g – 0.10 – 18 silverfish pellet and a jolly 4x16 - 0.08 – 22 silverfish maggot to fish short.
For company I had Nigel Bartlett on p12, so at least I could gauge how I was doing. On the all-in I cupped 2x balls of Black Lake/Mussel & Squid, with a pinch of caster and pinkie. With a spare peg to my right I also potted some micro pellet and caster 14.5m to my right, despite regular top-ups I only had 1 small skimmer from here, so no more about that.
Whilst I let the groundbait settle, I started by the reeds to my right and had a 4oz roach straight away, then nothing which, considering the depth and colour of water didn’t make much sense. In fact that was the only fish I caught here all match, so no more about that either!
I would have preferred to let the 14.5m line settle for longer, however since the short line didn’t produce I switched to my long line after 30mins. After trying different bait combinations, double pinkie seemed to be best producing a run of small roach & skimmers for an hour, but I was concerned about the lack of sensible sized skimmers, when I had a proper skimmer of 2½/3lb and with 2 hours gone the grapevine suggested that Tony and Alan were both catching and the 3-4lb I had was doing ok.
I had been toss potting a pinch of caster and micros every put, but after 3 hours I couldn’t get a bite from anywhere. Another ball of groundbait hadn’t worked and I even resorted to casting out a light lead rig beyond the pole line without success.
I decided to leave my original swim alone and potted 2 balls to my left, which again didn’t produce all match, although seeing the float was nightmare due to the reflection of the tress opposite. Eventually by continuing to toss pot caster & micros I had my best run of skimmers from my original swim, including an 11lb carp on double pinkie.
With 30mins to go, it was very close between Nigel & I, but a bumped skimmer which spooked the fish and I could get another bite. I decided to pot a small soft ball of groundbait, which in hindsight I think was a mistake, I should have been more patient. Nigel in the meantime landed 4 skimmers to take 3rd – bugger.
By 11lb carp nearly stole the money for the carp, but Mike West had 3 for 14lb. Overall quite pleased and I had an enjoyable day, just a shame about the last 30mins.
1st 24- 1 Alan Oram – p17 (also had 7 carp – total weight 59-3)
2nd 18- 4 Tony Rixon – p9
3rd 13- 6 Nigel Bartlett – p13
4th 10-11 Chris Davis – p30
5th 9- 7 Stu Foale – p26
6th 9- 3 Ken Rayner – p12
Catch – 14 Roach, 11 Skimmers, 1 Carp, 1 Rudd
Weather – Mild, cloudy, windy.
Water Temp – 6.5c – 6.8c
Match – Avon Angling Silvers Open – 6th out of 16 (3rd overall)
Finished work yesterday and I won’t be back until the New Year. Fortunately work has been really good this year and I have managed to turn things around financially, which is a huge relief.
With some free time I decided to book in with Tony’s silvers match. This is only the 2nd time I’ve fished Avalon, the 1st time was 10 years ago and there has been a few changes since. When I drew peg 12 it meant very little and feedback suggested it had some form for skimmers, although it was helpfully pointed out that the match could be won from anywhere.
Although this was a silvers match, there was still a payout for carp, because someone was bound to have a few, but to be honest I just wanted a day’s fishing and was looking forward to trying a new venue (and one I expect to be fishing more in the future).
The information gleaned for today was fish long for the skimmers and you won’t catch much short. Despite for the strong wind, it was blowing directly from behind so at least fishing the pole would be comfortable.
I set up 3 rigs, Jean François 0.6g, 0.10 – 18 silverfish maggot (changed to a 20 after 30mins), HB Frostie 0.4g – 0.10 – 18 silverfish pellet and a jolly 4x16 - 0.08 – 22 silverfish maggot to fish short.
For company I had Nigel Bartlett on p12, so at least I could gauge how I was doing. On the all-in I cupped 2x balls of Black Lake/Mussel & Squid, with a pinch of caster and pinkie. With a spare peg to my right I also potted some micro pellet and caster 14.5m to my right, despite regular top-ups I only had 1 small skimmer from here, so no more about that.
Whilst I let the groundbait settle, I started by the reeds to my right and had a 4oz roach straight away, then nothing which, considering the depth and colour of water didn’t make much sense. In fact that was the only fish I caught here all match, so no more about that either!
I would have preferred to let the 14.5m line settle for longer, however since the short line didn’t produce I switched to my long line after 30mins. After trying different bait combinations, double pinkie seemed to be best producing a run of small roach & skimmers for an hour, but I was concerned about the lack of sensible sized skimmers, when I had a proper skimmer of 2½/3lb and with 2 hours gone the grapevine suggested that Tony and Alan were both catching and the 3-4lb I had was doing ok.
I had been toss potting a pinch of caster and micros every put, but after 3 hours I couldn’t get a bite from anywhere. Another ball of groundbait hadn’t worked and I even resorted to casting out a light lead rig beyond the pole line without success.
I decided to leave my original swim alone and potted 2 balls to my left, which again didn’t produce all match, although seeing the float was nightmare due to the reflection of the tress opposite. Eventually by continuing to toss pot caster & micros I had my best run of skimmers from my original swim, including an 11lb carp on double pinkie.
With 30mins to go, it was very close between Nigel & I, but a bumped skimmer which spooked the fish and I could get another bite. I decided to pot a small soft ball of groundbait, which in hindsight I think was a mistake, I should have been more patient. Nigel in the meantime landed 4 skimmers to take 3rd – bugger.
By 11lb carp nearly stole the money for the carp, but Mike West had 3 for 14lb. Overall quite pleased and I had an enjoyable day, just a shame about the last 30mins.
1st 24- 1 Alan Oram – p17 (also had 7 carp – total weight 59-3)
2nd 18- 4 Tony Rixon – p9
3rd 13- 6 Nigel Bartlett – p13
4th 10-11 Chris Davis – p30
5th 9- 7 Stu Foale – p26
6th 9- 3 Ken Rayner – p12
Sunday 18 December 2011
18/12/11 - Cuckoos Rest
Weight – 2lb 3oz
Catch – 48 Roach, 2 Skimmers, 2 Perch
Weather – Cold, mostly sunny. Cold breeze.
Water Temp – 5.3c – 5.4c
Match – Wests Tackle Christmas Open – 9th out of 20
This match was always going to be tough with heavy overnight frost, which covered ½ the lake with ice. With 20 booked in space would also be at a premium, so I was more than happy to draw the end peg at the top of the island on the right side, plus there was no ice to break.
As well as setting up 2 lead rods, 1x in case there was some carp about and another was a 10ft wand for scratching for bites, I was originally only going to set up 2 pole rigs, 1x 0.4g Jean François and a thin wire stem float shotted shirt button, both with 0.08 bottom and 22 hook. However, when plumbing around most of the swim was 4ft, except for a 6ft deep hole at 15m to my left towards the end bank, so a 3rd rig was required which was a 0.6g Jean Francois.
The first 15mins of the match was spent fishing the lead and bread in the “hole”, hoping for the rod to be pulled off the rest, but didn’t even have a liner. A switch to the 13m line didn’t produce, in fact my first fish came at 6m on punch bread after 45mins. For the next hour I had another 26, all be it very small, before that line dried up.
The remainder of the match was spent swapping between my 13m line and fishing in the hole, but I couldn’t get any decent fish. Of the anglers around me I thought I was doing OK, which actually gave me a false impression.
With approximately 20mins left the eventual winner caught 5 big skimmers to add to his handful of roach to steal the match with 13lb. 2nd place was only 5lb 4oz, with 4lb 9oz needed for 3rd. Most weights were made up of roach, with the odd better fish, so the frost had done its job.
A number of the anglers I was fishing against today fish a lot of canals and rivers which showed today. Some were using 0.06 bottoms to get fish. I don’t even own 0.06 and that experience probably counted against me. I should have spent more time fishing shorter, however on the flip side the fish I was catching short were very small and I was sure I would at some point pick up a better fish by fishing longer, which didn’t happen.
Catch – 48 Roach, 2 Skimmers, 2 Perch
Weather – Cold, mostly sunny. Cold breeze.
Water Temp – 5.3c – 5.4c
Match – Wests Tackle Christmas Open – 9th out of 20
This match was always going to be tough with heavy overnight frost, which covered ½ the lake with ice. With 20 booked in space would also be at a premium, so I was more than happy to draw the end peg at the top of the island on the right side, plus there was no ice to break.
As well as setting up 2 lead rods, 1x in case there was some carp about and another was a 10ft wand for scratching for bites, I was originally only going to set up 2 pole rigs, 1x 0.4g Jean François and a thin wire stem float shotted shirt button, both with 0.08 bottom and 22 hook. However, when plumbing around most of the swim was 4ft, except for a 6ft deep hole at 15m to my left towards the end bank, so a 3rd rig was required which was a 0.6g Jean Francois.
The first 15mins of the match was spent fishing the lead and bread in the “hole”, hoping for the rod to be pulled off the rest, but didn’t even have a liner. A switch to the 13m line didn’t produce, in fact my first fish came at 6m on punch bread after 45mins. For the next hour I had another 26, all be it very small, before that line dried up.
The remainder of the match was spent swapping between my 13m line and fishing in the hole, but I couldn’t get any decent fish. Of the anglers around me I thought I was doing OK, which actually gave me a false impression.
With approximately 20mins left the eventual winner caught 5 big skimmers to add to his handful of roach to steal the match with 13lb. 2nd place was only 5lb 4oz, with 4lb 9oz needed for 3rd. Most weights were made up of roach, with the odd better fish, so the frost had done its job.
A number of the anglers I was fishing against today fish a lot of canals and rivers which showed today. Some were using 0.06 bottoms to get fish. I don’t even own 0.06 and that experience probably counted against me. I should have spent more time fishing shorter, however on the flip side the fish I was catching short were very small and I was sure I would at some point pick up a better fish by fishing longer, which didn’t happen.
Monday 12 December 2011
11/12/11 - Lands End - Match Lake
Weight – 34lb 6oz
Catch – 8 Carp, 9 Roach, 6 Perch
Weather – Mostly cloudy, heavy rain late on.
Water Temp – 7.1c – 7.8c
Match – Lands End Christmas Open – 8th out of 38
At least the frost stayed way last night, but I still didn’t want to draw Speci Lake because I didn’t fancy fishing 16m for the 2nd day on the trot. So was more than happy to draw peg 5 on Match Lake, where I came 2nd 4 weeks.
Today was likely to be a case of fish for bites, since the water was still very clear. I set up 4 rigs, 1 to fish shallow/top of the shelf on a long line and 3 rigs for fishing the deck to cover all options from fishing single pinkie to corn/soft pellet.
Having only fished the peg 4 weeks ago, I was hoping to catch carp at the bottom of the shelf towards the gap and this is where I started on corn with no feed. Other than 1 liner I had no fish after 20mins, so switched to double maggot and I had an 8oz roach, plus another smaller one.
A switch to the island where I had previously potted some chopped maggot and caster, produced some small roach but decided this was a nonstarter and went down the shelf, toss potting caster. This produced some more small roach, plus a couple of perch.
I had also fed caster under the platforms either side of me, which produced 3 decent perch in a 15min spell, but nothing else all match.
By the ½ stage I had caught all my silvers, but as yet no carp, although I lost 2 foulhookers, which meant I was behind Kev Molton (p7) and Steve Seagar (p11) to my right, as well as Dave Westcott (p18) and Tony Rixon (p19) who was foul hooking fish for fun. Solid comes to mind.
The pegs to my left were struggling, which was true on the other side of the lake from p20 to p24. I kept flicking the odd caster towards the island, as well as 4mm to the bottom of the shelf to my right.
My first carp was a foulhooked 2lber. I was starting to get the occasional liner, so the carp weren’t really settling, although they didn’t appear to be being put off of the pellet being catapulted in so I upped my feed from 4x pellets to 6x pellets a little more regularly. To combat the liners I tried my shallow long line rig and had 1 carp, but no more followed.
I then had 2 carp on double maggot in 2 put ins on the deck, before another foul hooker unsettled the fish. With 45mins to go I was still flicking the pellet in and switched to corn and had 4 carp, all a little too late to catch up those around me, plus I had the smaller stamp of fish.
Not too sure what I could have done differently, other than possibly switching to corn sooner, but I got the impression I was on the edge of the fish. This peg has some recent form, but there generally better pegs on the lake.
At the end of the match, Mike’s family produced loads of hot food which was gratefully received by most after the rain came down hard 30mins before the match for an hour. Also everyone walked away with something, with the top 3 winning hampers.
1st 89- 9 Scott Puddy – p33
2nd 51-12 Tony Rixon – p19
3rd 49- 8 Kev Molton – p7
4th 45-11 Nick Duckett
5th 44- 9 Steve Seagar – p11
6th 36-15 Dave Wescott – p18
Catch – 8 Carp, 9 Roach, 6 Perch
Weather – Mostly cloudy, heavy rain late on.
Water Temp – 7.1c – 7.8c
Match – Lands End Christmas Open – 8th out of 38
At least the frost stayed way last night, but I still didn’t want to draw Speci Lake because I didn’t fancy fishing 16m for the 2nd day on the trot. So was more than happy to draw peg 5 on Match Lake, where I came 2nd 4 weeks.
Today was likely to be a case of fish for bites, since the water was still very clear. I set up 4 rigs, 1 to fish shallow/top of the shelf on a long line and 3 rigs for fishing the deck to cover all options from fishing single pinkie to corn/soft pellet.
Having only fished the peg 4 weeks ago, I was hoping to catch carp at the bottom of the shelf towards the gap and this is where I started on corn with no feed. Other than 1 liner I had no fish after 20mins, so switched to double maggot and I had an 8oz roach, plus another smaller one.
A switch to the island where I had previously potted some chopped maggot and caster, produced some small roach but decided this was a nonstarter and went down the shelf, toss potting caster. This produced some more small roach, plus a couple of perch.
I had also fed caster under the platforms either side of me, which produced 3 decent perch in a 15min spell, but nothing else all match.
By the ½ stage I had caught all my silvers, but as yet no carp, although I lost 2 foulhookers, which meant I was behind Kev Molton (p7) and Steve Seagar (p11) to my right, as well as Dave Westcott (p18) and Tony Rixon (p19) who was foul hooking fish for fun. Solid comes to mind.
The pegs to my left were struggling, which was true on the other side of the lake from p20 to p24. I kept flicking the odd caster towards the island, as well as 4mm to the bottom of the shelf to my right.
My first carp was a foulhooked 2lber. I was starting to get the occasional liner, so the carp weren’t really settling, although they didn’t appear to be being put off of the pellet being catapulted in so I upped my feed from 4x pellets to 6x pellets a little more regularly. To combat the liners I tried my shallow long line rig and had 1 carp, but no more followed.
I then had 2 carp on double maggot in 2 put ins on the deck, before another foul hooker unsettled the fish. With 45mins to go I was still flicking the pellet in and switched to corn and had 4 carp, all a little too late to catch up those around me, plus I had the smaller stamp of fish.
Not too sure what I could have done differently, other than possibly switching to corn sooner, but I got the impression I was on the edge of the fish. This peg has some recent form, but there generally better pegs on the lake.
At the end of the match, Mike’s family produced loads of hot food which was gratefully received by most after the rain came down hard 30mins before the match for an hour. Also everyone walked away with something, with the top 3 winning hampers.
1st 89- 9 Scott Puddy – p33
2nd 51-12 Tony Rixon – p19
3rd 49- 8 Kev Molton – p7
4th 45-11 Nick Duckett
5th 44- 9 Steve Seagar – p11
6th 36-15 Dave Wescott – p18
10/12/11 - Lands End - Speci Lake
Weight – 1lb 14oz
Catch – 4 Perch
Weather – Mostly cloudy with showers. Overnight frost.
Water Temp – 5.8c – 6.3c
Match – Open – 3rd out of 5
Only 5 today which was disappointing, however 3 dropped out on the morning and today was also Viaducts Christmas match, so attendance was always likely to be low.
It was decided to use Speci Lake today and normally I would be happy to have drawn peg 31, opposite the point of the island. However last night’s frost seemed to have knocked the colour out of the water, which was now very clear.
The first 30mins was spent on double corn at 14.5m, under the far shelf, but no bites. So a switch to fishing tight to the island resulted in 3 lost foul hooked carp and that was the only carp action I saw. I was getting occasional liners and tried fishing shallower, but no indications. In fact only 1 carp was caught between the 5 of us, which fell to Beany on peg 33.
With 90mins to go, Mark Walsh on p29 was catching big perch at 8m, which meant Mike West on p32 was in line to pick up silvers with just 3 tiny perch. Beany had managed to lose a 2nd carp at net.
I had only caught 2 tiny perch and decided it was time to try something different, by chopping up some maggot, which has got me out of trouble on more than one occasion. Today was no different with 1 decent perch from down the track, followed by another tight to the island, to take the silvers by default.
Some days there is nothing you can do. A sharp overnight frost killed the fishing today and with only 5 anglers on the lake, the fish had far too many places to sulk away.
1st 11- 2 - Mark Walsh – p29 (big perch)
2nd 4- 8 – Dave Wescott – p33 (1x carp)
3rd 1-14 – Ken Rayner – p31
4th 0- 2 – Mike West – p32
5th 0- 0 – Mark Poppleton – p36 (1st blank in 6 years)
Catch – 4 Perch
Weather – Mostly cloudy with showers. Overnight frost.
Water Temp – 5.8c – 6.3c
Match – Open – 3rd out of 5
Only 5 today which was disappointing, however 3 dropped out on the morning and today was also Viaducts Christmas match, so attendance was always likely to be low.
It was decided to use Speci Lake today and normally I would be happy to have drawn peg 31, opposite the point of the island. However last night’s frost seemed to have knocked the colour out of the water, which was now very clear.
The first 30mins was spent on double corn at 14.5m, under the far shelf, but no bites. So a switch to fishing tight to the island resulted in 3 lost foul hooked carp and that was the only carp action I saw. I was getting occasional liners and tried fishing shallower, but no indications. In fact only 1 carp was caught between the 5 of us, which fell to Beany on peg 33.
With 90mins to go, Mark Walsh on p29 was catching big perch at 8m, which meant Mike West on p32 was in line to pick up silvers with just 3 tiny perch. Beany had managed to lose a 2nd carp at net.
I had only caught 2 tiny perch and decided it was time to try something different, by chopping up some maggot, which has got me out of trouble on more than one occasion. Today was no different with 1 decent perch from down the track, followed by another tight to the island, to take the silvers by default.
Some days there is nothing you can do. A sharp overnight frost killed the fishing today and with only 5 anglers on the lake, the fish had far too many places to sulk away.
1st 11- 2 - Mark Walsh – p29 (big perch)
2nd 4- 8 – Dave Wescott – p33 (1x carp)
3rd 1-14 – Ken Rayner – p31
4th 0- 2 – Mike West – p32
5th 0- 0 – Mark Poppleton – p36 (1st blank in 6 years)
Monday 5 December 2011
04/12/11 - Ivy House - Match Lake
Weight – 53lb 2oz
Catch – 7 Carp, 10 Roach
Weather – Mostly cloudy, bright later. Cool westerly.
Water Temp – 7.6c – 7.8c
Match – Club Christmas Match – 1st out of 13
As well as being our Christmas match, today was also the last match in our club series, as well as the final for the knockout. With 2 matches to go I had a comfortable 11pt lead, but lost 7pts to Andy on the Little Lake last month. As for the knockout, I hoped it would be 3rd time lucky, because the 2 previous times I reached the final I fell at the last hurdle.
Reports suggested the fish were shying away from too much feed and looking at the results from yesterday’s match showed a winning weight of 51lb (Vince Shipp), but half the field, which included Des Shipp, didn’t weigh and the best silvers weight was only 6lb.
I found myself on peg 31, which initially I wasn’t impressed with. It’s situated on the island opposite the road bank, which we decided not to include it, because it had been fishing awful, with only one weighing in from yesterday match, so I wasn’t optimistic. However the big consolation was I had loads of space, with the next peg being around the corner of the island on peg 35. So I was billy no mates and couldn’t see anyone.
With so few silvers showing, I decided to ignore trying to catch any roach and only set up 1 pole rig (0.4g HB frostie, .12 bottom, 18 silverfish pellet) to fish soft pellet and maggot. I also set-up a lead rod to search the swim and a 3AAA Crystal Insert Waggler.
5mins before the all in a carp topped about 35m out. At least there was some in the area, which was confidence booster. On the all-in I went straight out at 12m on 4mm expander without feeding to see whether there was any fish close in. After 10mins I missed a bite, before connecting with the next 10mins later, landing a 5lber.
So with the blank avoided, I cast the lead with double hair rigged corn to where the carp had previously topped. In the meantime I toss potted a pinch of micros, plus a couple of maggots over the pole line, as well as a big toss pot of bait 13m to my left and finally started to catapult caster almost at right angles to my right, in front of peg 32.
For the next 30mins I was getting loads of liners on the lead but no fish. I had a gut feeling the waggler might work, so I cast it as far as I could with double maggot. Over the next 90mins I had 4 carp, including a near 10lber which decided to kite right around the island, which meant I had to stand on my seat box in attempt to hold the rod as high as possible to avoid getting snagged on the platforms (I couldn’t walk round due to the shrubby).
The carp seemed to have sulked away, because I started to catch the occasional roach. Whilst fishing the waggler I kept the pole line topped up with a pinch of bait, as well as continuing to catapult caster to my right, where I had a few roach, but they weren’t really coming regularly.
With an hour to go, I was wondering where my next carp would come from, when a carp topped to the right of where I had previously caught. 15mins later I had a carp on double corn and my final carp came on the pole with 10mins remaining.
I thought I only had 35-40lb, so was a bit surprised to weigh 53lb. As it turned out it really didn’t matter, because the rest of the lake really didn’t fish well, with the next best weight being only 9-14. In fact the rest of the field only weighed 44lb in total, so this was probably my most convincing win.
Being the last club match, meant I am now the club champion, the club lake champion and the knockout winner.
1st 53- 2 – Ken – p31
2nd 9-14 – Don – p15
3rd 9- 2 - Kevin – p11
4th 9- 1 – Andy – p13
Catch – 7 Carp, 10 Roach
Weather – Mostly cloudy, bright later. Cool westerly.
Water Temp – 7.6c – 7.8c
Match – Club Christmas Match – 1st out of 13
As well as being our Christmas match, today was also the last match in our club series, as well as the final for the knockout. With 2 matches to go I had a comfortable 11pt lead, but lost 7pts to Andy on the Little Lake last month. As for the knockout, I hoped it would be 3rd time lucky, because the 2 previous times I reached the final I fell at the last hurdle.
Reports suggested the fish were shying away from too much feed and looking at the results from yesterday’s match showed a winning weight of 51lb (Vince Shipp), but half the field, which included Des Shipp, didn’t weigh and the best silvers weight was only 6lb.
I found myself on peg 31, which initially I wasn’t impressed with. It’s situated on the island opposite the road bank, which we decided not to include it, because it had been fishing awful, with only one weighing in from yesterday match, so I wasn’t optimistic. However the big consolation was I had loads of space, with the next peg being around the corner of the island on peg 35. So I was billy no mates and couldn’t see anyone.
With so few silvers showing, I decided to ignore trying to catch any roach and only set up 1 pole rig (0.4g HB frostie, .12 bottom, 18 silverfish pellet) to fish soft pellet and maggot. I also set-up a lead rod to search the swim and a 3AAA Crystal Insert Waggler.
5mins before the all in a carp topped about 35m out. At least there was some in the area, which was confidence booster. On the all-in I went straight out at 12m on 4mm expander without feeding to see whether there was any fish close in. After 10mins I missed a bite, before connecting with the next 10mins later, landing a 5lber.
So with the blank avoided, I cast the lead with double hair rigged corn to where the carp had previously topped. In the meantime I toss potted a pinch of micros, plus a couple of maggots over the pole line, as well as a big toss pot of bait 13m to my left and finally started to catapult caster almost at right angles to my right, in front of peg 32.
For the next 30mins I was getting loads of liners on the lead but no fish. I had a gut feeling the waggler might work, so I cast it as far as I could with double maggot. Over the next 90mins I had 4 carp, including a near 10lber which decided to kite right around the island, which meant I had to stand on my seat box in attempt to hold the rod as high as possible to avoid getting snagged on the platforms (I couldn’t walk round due to the shrubby).
The carp seemed to have sulked away, because I started to catch the occasional roach. Whilst fishing the waggler I kept the pole line topped up with a pinch of bait, as well as continuing to catapult caster to my right, where I had a few roach, but they weren’t really coming regularly.
With an hour to go, I was wondering where my next carp would come from, when a carp topped to the right of where I had previously caught. 15mins later I had a carp on double corn and my final carp came on the pole with 10mins remaining.
I thought I only had 35-40lb, so was a bit surprised to weigh 53lb. As it turned out it really didn’t matter, because the rest of the lake really didn’t fish well, with the next best weight being only 9-14. In fact the rest of the field only weighed 44lb in total, so this was probably my most convincing win.
Being the last club match, meant I am now the club champion, the club lake champion and the knockout winner.
1st 53- 2 – Ken – p31
2nd 9-14 – Don – p15
3rd 9- 2 - Kevin – p11
4th 9- 1 – Andy – p13
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