Friday 28 November 2014

27/11/14 - Harescombe - Match

Weight - 46lb 8oz
Catch - 25 F1, 10 Carp, 6 Skimmers, 4 Roach, 2 Chub, 2 Gudgeon, 1 Perch
Weather - Mostly cloudy, sunny later.
Match - Cost cutter Open - 2nd out of 7

I now have some time on my hands, well at least until 15 December when I start my new job, so plenty of time to go fishing, but next time I resign I'll make sure its in the summer.

I had considered fishing my club water, but following our club match at Harescombe 2 weeks ago I fancied another go at the place and knew they did a Thursday cost cutter.

One of the things I like about this venue is you can get bites from most pegs and with 7 pegs spread around I wasn't too bothered where I drew.


Peg 29 put me on the end bank next to the collapsed bank, with the fishery manager Andy Price next to me on p30. As you can see from the photos, there has been quite a land slip. Repairs are planned, but its a big job.

This week saw the first frost of the autumn, but at least it was a little milder today and still expected a few bites. Due to the landslip the deeper water was slightly to my right, whilst to my left I found an area at 13m that was the same depth as by the island. The rest of the left hand bank was very shallow and is normally a good area, but now it was colder I wasn't so sure.

The first 50mins of this 5hr match was spent at 10m (HB Frostie 0.3g > .10 > 18 silverfish pellet), tosspotting micros and 4s. Initially I tried 4mm expander, but found single maggot was best. I managed a couple of carp and F1s, but was getting bitted out by tiny skimmers and roach.

In the meantime I had been pinging 4s across to the island and since the 10m line didn't seem to be going anywhere I moved across (HB Frostie 0.2g > .10 > 18 silverfish pellet) with 4mm expander.

Over the next 2 hours I caught reasonably well, either on 4mm expander or corn. To get bites I had to keep working the bait, but as the swim was faded, I had to move to the left hand bank. As yet I hadn't fed here, just to leave area for the fish, but now my main swim was fading I started toss potting 4s/corn, continually switching between the 2 swims to keep the fish coming.

I also switched rigs to fish hair rigged 6mm pellet, which resulted in more carp and a few bigger F1s. Unfortunately the sun broke through what had so far been a dull day and coupled with the flat conditions the fish became very finicky.

In the last hour the sun dropped a little and by switching between rigs and swims I managed to keep catching. By the all out, I thought I was ahead of Andy, who had a slow start fishing the maggot feeder to the island, but had caught well during the 2nd half of the match fishing maggot down the right hand margin. Beyond that I wasn't sure, because everyone seemed to have caught a few fish.

Another enjoyable day and was pleased to claim 2nd place against the venue regulars.

1st 58-13 - Tim Allen - p14
2nd 46- 8 - Ken Rayner - p29
3rd 41-14 - Andy Price - p30
4th 32-10 - Steve Burford - p17

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