04/09/22 - Ivy House - Heron

Weight - 229lb

Catch - 125 Carp, 87 F1s

Weather - Cloudy start, sunshine and showers later.

Match - Open (5 fished) - 2nd overall

I decided to book in on the open on Heron Lake to put into practice some of the things learnt from 2 weeks ago. Sadly, there were only 5 fishing. There was supposed to be 8, but 3 didn’t turn up and the Old Match Lake was fully booked.

One of those that turned up was Glen Picton, so we were all fishing for 2^nd again – lol. Jason Robinson was also fishing, who has had over 200lb in the last couple of matches so I really wanted to see whether I could beat him.

Peg 8 was a good start, as it is in the right area for the F1s. Unlike the last time I set up 3 shallow rigs, plus a rig to fish tight in the margins. I also set rigs to fish on the deck, but these never got used.

Starting down the margin resulted in some tiny carp that had to be put back, so I didn’t spend too long here as there was already signs of fish shallow at 2+2, which is where I spent most of the match. Initially at 12in deep, before settling at 7in, feeding 4s with a hair rigged 4mm and occasionally a 6mm.

Whenever the shallow line went a bit iffy, usually indicated by fewer F1s and smaller carp I would switch to fishing the top kit in the right-hand margin fishing corn over 6s and corn. I caught quickly, including a couple 2lb carp, before the tiny carp reappeared and I moved back to the shallow line.

Overall, I was happy with how I caught, although further practice will be required to get closer to Glen who won with 241 fish.

1.    276- 8 – Glen – p4

2.    229- 0 – Ken – p8

3.    226- 6 – Jason – p2