27/09/22 - Ivy House - Old Match Lake

Weight - 56lb 0oz (11lb 4oz - silvers)

Catch - 11 Carp, 17 Skimmers

Weather - Mostly cloudy. Showers and sunny periods, with a gusty wind.

Match - Open (13 fished) - 3rd overall

I    Decided to jump on todays costcutter before my holiday in Mauritius. With the match spread over the Old Match Lake and Kingfisher there would be plenty of space.
 
It has been noticeable the weights have started to drop off recently and a potentially difficult day was likely, particularly as the weather forecast was for cloud and a cool wind. The number of showers was an added bonus.
 
I ended up on p5 which is the shallowest on the lake and I quite fancied it, assuming the wind would allow me to fish 16m to the bottom of the island shelf.
 
As the lake had been fishing a little hard recently, I decided to start very cautiously so no big potting of bait and just feel my way into the match. I started on a mini method feeder and 6mm yellow gofter and had hooked a 4lb carp, but the hook pulled at the net!
 
With no more bites on the method, I switched to fishing a hair rigged 4mm pellet at 16m tapping in a few 4s and lost my 2^nd carp at the net – not happy! Fortunately, the next one was landed, followed by a skimmer and a couple more carp to get up and running.
 
A further carp and couple more skimmers on 6mm pellet or corn at 7m were welcome but short lived. After 2hrs the wind was now really tricky and presenting the bait at 16m was increasingly difficult. Therefore, I set up a new swim in slightly deeper water at 15m fishing a heavier rig, feeding nuggets of micros and groundbait, fishing a 4mm expander to try and get some bites. Over the next 90mins I caught more skimmers, plus a couple more carp.
 
With 90mins remaining I was hoping to catch down my margins. The right margin was too shallow in the cool weather, but the left side was slightly deeper, and this is where I fed mostly micros and corn.
 
I had tried fishing the straight lead over pinged pellet, but never had a bite and fishing 16m in the wind was becoming a real pain. So, I was relying on my short line to produce, which it did, catching a few better sized carp and more skimmers all on corn. The margin only produced an 8lber late on.
 

1.    115- 4 – Mick O’Brien - p8
2.      56- 2 – Alan Smith – p10
3.      56- 0 – Ken Rayner – p5
4.      55-12 – Val Murray – p43
Silvers
1.      20- 2 – Alan Smith – p10
2.      17- 0 – Pete Ziemniak – p1
3.      13- 0 – Sid – p41
4.      11- 4 – Ken Rayner – p5