19/10/08 - Lands End - Johns Lake

Weight – 33lb 9oz
Catch – 15 Roach, 6 Carp, 2 Crucians, 2 Bream, 1 F1, 1 Rudd.
Weather – Bright, sunny & flat calm start. Later became cloudy & cooler.
Match – Veals Winter League – rd 3 (23rd overall, 4th in section)

Everyone wanted to draw Johns or Sydneys Lake and I found myself on peg 68 on Johns Lake. Pressure on! Peg 68 is 1 of the better pegs on the lake and prompted Mike Duckett to say this could be my year to win the league the way I was drawing!

The problem with drawing a good peg is to making sure you take advantage. Initially I set up 3 swims. 6m to my right feeding caster & hemp for silvers, 9m to my left next the reed bed and 14m at the bottom of the shelf by the point of the island.

On the whistle I fed 4mm expanders & corn at 14m and started fishing next to the reed bed with double corn without feed. After 10 mins I caught a 4lb carp. A switch to the long pole line resulted in another carp and a F1, but the action didn’t last long.

A switch to the silvers line only resulted in small roach and I found myself going no where whilst Vince Brown on peg 70, Andy Lloyd and Vince Shipp opposite were catching all be it crucians with the odd carp.
90mins to go and I’m still behind those I can see expect Clayton to my right. I kept rotating baits and managed to snare another couple of carp, but I needed a change.

I had left the island alone so far, but decided to cup a small amount of feed tight to the point of the island and slightly to the right next to a small bush. There was a good depth tight to the island so I was confident of catching, but like on my other lines the bait (pellet or corn) was being nipped by small roach, which made fishing caster pointless.

10 minutes to go, I really needed a carp. A switch back to the point of the island and the float eventually buried, carp on & landed. 5 minutes to go, try the weed bed or back to the point of the island? I decided on the point of the island and the float buried again and I landed a near 9lb carp, which was my biggest of the match.

14lb in last 10mins was a big bonus and proof if needed that you should never give up. The weigh in started with Andy on peg 41, who weighed 30lb, next was Vince Shipp who won the lake with 53lb. As the scales moved round I realised I had done well and wondered whether I would have enough to beat 30lb. When the scales arrived my silvers net weighed 3lb 5oz, which meant I needed my 6 carp to weigh more than 27lb, which they duly did. Vince Brown was last to weigh and missed out on beating Andy by 8oz.

As a team, we continue to struggle, but individually I am now lying 2nd overall, and perhaps Mike was right?

1-Chris Davis-Westerleigh 40
2-Ken Rayner-Maver Veals Red 37
3-Ryan Shipp-Westerleigh 36 (159-5)
4-Mike Nicholls-Charlies Angels 36 (65-9)
5-Rod Wootton-Sartan Club AC 34 (128-7)
6-Eric Fouracre-Sedges Mosella 34 (80-12)
7-Julian Heaven-Norfolking Good 33
8-Vince Brown-Sedges Mosella 31 (108-6)
9-Dave Downton-Team Veals 31 (69-3)
10-Tim Pallant-Maver Veals Blue 30.5