23/11/13 - Lands End - Match

Weight - 17lb 5oz (4lb 5oz - silvers)
Catch - 3 Carp, 4 Skimmers, 1 F1
Weather - Frosty start, Bright & sunny, light northerly breeze
Match - Open - 3rd out of 9

When I got into the car the temperature gauge read -1c and I knew today was likely to be tough for the 9 of us. We were on Match Lake today, but Mike has stated he will alternate Match & Speci for Saturday matches, which I along with a few others was pleased to hear.

 

I wanted to avoid a draw on the near end of the lake, because I have been down this end a little too often recently but drew p21, which used to be a flyer, but hasn’t been the best in recent months although it should be worth a few fish. Despite the northerly breeze being light it still felt cold and Wednesday match result suggested a hard day ahead.

 

For company I had Mark Poppleton who was on p19 again and Rod Wootton suggested (as he walked past to p15) he have a bench with his name on it. To my right was Mike West on p24, so plenty of room, but this normally works against you when its cold.

 

I didn’t bother setting up any rigs to fish the top of the shelf, because with the sun shining bright in the clear water I just felt it would be a waste of a rig. So on the all a pinch of micros was deposited to my right at the bottom of the shelf, plus some caster down by the p22 pallet.

 

Hoping for a few early carp, I started with double corn, fishing to my left into a quiet area and was soon attached to a carp, but the hooked pulled when I got it half way back – bugger. I thought it was properly hooked. The 2^nd fish hooked 5mins later was definitely fouled and that came off as well – double bugger.

 

I eventually landed a carp and that was it after an hour. In fact everyone was struggling which set the tone for rest of the match. Rotating between swims, I caught the rest of my fish on 4mm expander, as well as losing a few which I suspect were foul hooked.

 

Fishing maggot didn’t produce any bites and under p22 pallet resulted in 2 small perch, both of which the hook fell out. I think it’s fair to say the frost really knocked the fishing on the head and I was glad I made the decision not to fish Sunday.

 

1^st 37-12 – Rod Wootton – p15

2^nd 25- 9 – Andy Hembrow – p17

3^rd 17- 5 – Ken Rayner – p21

4^th 16-15 – Ray White – p7

5^th 16- 8 – Jim Jenner – p11

6^th 12-15 – Dave Wescott – p5

 

Silvers

1^st 9- 7 – Andy Hembrow – p17

2^nd 6-12 – Rod Wootton – p15

3^rd 6- 0 – Ray White – p7