Weight – 30lb 3oz (13lb 12oz – silvers)
Catch – 27 Roach, 21 Skimmers, 5 Carp, 1 Perch
Weather – Frosty start. Mostly sunny and flat calm.
Water Temp – 10.8c – 11.3c
Match – Plantations/Acorn Pole Only Series – 9th out of 30 overall, 3rd out of 10 section
I decided to book myself into Plantations/Acorns Pole only series run by Paul Faires and Chris Fox. Although Plantations Main Lake is a venue I have never match fished and today was the first time I have actually seen Acorns, I really wanted to get back to more competitive angling and I do like to fish in a league. The other attraction was it being pole only, so no chucking the plastic pig.
With 2 sections of 10 on Plantations and 1 section of 10 on Acorns, I was really hoping for a draw at Plantations, which I did pulling p38. This also gave me some time to have a practice at Acorns prior to the next round. I have to say I was quite impressed with Acorns. Paddock Lake is proper snake lake with decent width and depth, unlike the narrow shallow hole in the ground at Bullocks.
Back to my peg and I was initially happy, being on the point of the spit, but the advantage I thought I had was reduced when an angler turned up on p32 on the other spit, which according to the locals isn’t normally put in, this meant I couldn’t realistically fish to my right.
My section ran from p39 behind me to p24, so basically the whole of the right hand bank, which was just as well, because there were loads caught down the left hand side.
A frosty start to the day, combined with flat, bright conditions was hardly classic skimmer weather, but still they were my main target with hopefully some carp. A small amount of 3mms was deposited at 14.5m in front, then 14.5m to my left at 45 degrees. Whilst I let that settle I started at 6m, fishing maggot over a ball of groundbait, but I had a real struggle, losing 3 of my first 6 fish, which included a skimmer and a decent roach.
I really wanted to give the long lines time to settle and after 40mins my short line was a struggle, so time to try my long lines. I had a skimmer straight away on 4mm expander and I kept them coming for a couple hours by toss potting a pinch of micros & 4mms every put in. Whenever the roach turned up a small cup of food brought the skimmers back.
Over my left hand swim I had started to catapult 4mm regularly, expecting to pull in a few carp, but this swim never really took off, I had a couple skimmers and a carp, but it was mainly roach nipping at the bait. As the match progressed the roach were becoming a real nuisance and the last 2hrs was very frustrating with very few skimmers or carp. I even tried 6mm hard pellet and was still catching roach in both swims, which really tells its own story – there wasn’t many decent fish in the area. The guy on the other spit had very few skimmers and I just had a gut feeling they moved away into more open water.
Despite the last 2 hours I enjoyed my match, picking up 1st in silvers in section by default. In hindsight I should have re-started my 6m line, but I was convinced the better fish would come back, particularly over the left hand swim where I feed 4mm’s all day. I did try going to 16m, but still more roach, as was my margins.
The weigh in was interesting, with it being in kilos on what was a shoddy set of scales. After every weigh, the question was “what was that in old money?” (2.2lb per kilo).
Overall quite pleased with the result, particularily since I was against a number of regulars. The next 2 rounds are rotated, which means Acorns at the next round, then back to Plantations (p1-p22).
Weights are in kilos
C section
1) Mark Bromsgrove 18.880 peg 25
2) Rich Lovering 18.350 peg 31
Silvers
1) Mark Bromsgrove 8.250 peg 25
2) Ken Rayner 6.230 peg 38
Overall
1) Lewis Walker 31.910 peg 7P
2) Dave Wride 27.840 peg 12P
3) Nick Harvey 19.460 peg 8P
4) Paul Faiers 19.170 peg 5A
5) Mark Bromsgrove 18.800 peg 25P
6) Mike Owens 18.340 3P
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