13/07/25 - Hillview - Canal 4

Weight - 122lb 10oz (17lb 8oz - silvers)

Catch - 31 Carp, 12 F1s, 30 Ide, 5 Perch, 3 Rudd, 1 Tench

Weather - Warm & sunny. Breezy early, but most calm.

Match - Tackle Den - (22 fished) - 1st in section, 4th overall.

A good turn out for todays match, meant we were spread over canals 2,3 and 4. 7 anglers on canals 2 & 3 and 8 anglers on canal 4. I drew p92 on canal 4, which meant I was at least in the shade to start the match, but also p92 & p91 (Kev Parry) were the only pegs without a spare peg either side.

I had what I thought was a simple plan. Fish short early, whilst priming a caster shallow line and finish on meat down the margins.

Starting on meat at 3m, produced a carp, an F1 and a couple of silvers for what was a slow start.

When I switched to the shallow line I started catching Ide, but I could see carp and F1 in amongst the feed, which was frustrating as I thought I was falling behind Kev who was catching on paste.

I tried various shallow rigs (overshotted isn't allowed) to try and catch those carp/F1, I even tried fishing a full depth rig tight the far bank fishing worm, toss potting caster, but very few carp or F1.

After 2 hours I only had 20/25lb, of mostly Ide. In the end I found the best rig was a RW1 dibber set at 8in with a short lash and gradually the ide were replaced by F1s, then carp.

In fact, I had a lovely couple of hours catching almost immediately as I dropped the rig in, after feeding 2 pouches of caster. I even managed to mug a couple of fish as I shipped out.

With 45mins remaining the shallow swim was slowing down, and I fully expected my margins to be solid. 2 quick fish on meat from each margin had me expecting more. However, it wasn’t as easy as I had hoped. In hindsight, I think I was fishing too deep at 3ft but I couldn’t get into any shallower water due to marginal weed. This prompted a return to the shallow swim, but it wasn’t the same.

On the all-out I was expecting John Drew on the end peg (p84) and Kev to have beaten me. However, I was pleasantly surprised to have won the lake, but a little annoyed I wasted time at the start trying to work out how best to catch properly, as I could have claimed 3rd or even 2nd overall. 

There was no beating Steve Broadhurst today easily won today.

1.    189-  5 – Steve Broadhurst – p72 (canal 3)

2.    140-  2 – John Brady – p76 (canal 3)

3.    127-10 – Cliff Dutton – p82 (canal 3)

4.    122-10 – Ken Rayner – p92 (canal 4)

5.    104-  3 – Brian Duckett – p70 (canal 3)

6.      99-  2 – Kevin Parry – p91 (canal 4)

Best weight on canal 2 was Andy Burns with 66- 6.