Catch - 12 Carp, 10 Roach, 4 Skimmers, 1 F1, 1 Hybrid, 1 Rudd
Weather - Strong southerly wind. Cloudy and occasional light rain
Match - Winter League - rd 6 - 6th out of 36, 2nd in section
The final round of the Winter League and I really hoped for a decent draw, since I needed a section 3rd to guarantee a top 4 league position. When Craig Edmunds drew p1, which has been poor so far this series, it meant the league title was no longer certain. That was until Mark Poppleton pulled p11, which has been the most consistent peg on Match Lake. Adrian Clarke who was 4th had p55, which so far has been a boom or bust peg and Paul Elmes who was 5th drew a flyer in the shape of p34. As for me, so far this series I have waited to last, taking the last peg. Except for the first round it has worked. Today with 2 tickets left, Clayton Hudson pulled p45, leaving me with p68, which was a relief!
To be honest I’m not a fan of p68, because I have struggled from it before, as did the angler in yesterdays match and so far this series it has been a little inconsistent, with only 1 section win and a 2nd, but normally it’s worth a few fish. The island sheltered me from the worst of the strong southerly wind, so fingers crossed for a good result.
Since pellet worked yesterday, I decided to stick with it today and hoped I would get my feeding right over the short meat line. Rigs were similar to yesterday, but heavier due to the increased depth at this end of the lake as well as the increased wind.
- HB Chump 0.4g > .10 > 18 silverfish pellet (open water)
- Carbon Carrat 0.2g > .12 > 18 silverfish pellet (tight to the island)
- Carrat 0.3g > .14 > 16 B911 (meat short)
After feeding micros & 4s, by the weed bed, 13m in open water and by the island, I started by the weed bed and soon had a little roach on 4mm expander. In fact I had a few roach and nothing else. The 13m open water did produce a couple of small skimmers and an F1, but after 2hrs it wasn’t looking good. Dave Hodgson (p70) & Shawn Kittridge (p66) both had carp and I was sure Gary O’Shea on p58 were I was yesterday would have caught. I did manage a small carp in open water, but the swim wasn’t showing any signs of improvement. Because the wind was blowing the rig back towards me, I felt it was effecting presentation, despite a few rig adjustments and I couldnt find any quality fish.
The meat line had yet to produce anything, which meant I was relying on the island swim to produce. Fortunately it did. By toss potting 4s tight to the island, lifting & dropping I soon had a few carp, which put me on par with Dave & Shawn.
I was beginning to wonder whether it would be my day, when a carp took the bait as I reconnected my top 4 to the rest of the pole and then continued shipping out, only to see loads of orange elastic. I thought I had caught a snag, but no it was a 5lber, hooked properly in the top lip!
I must have overdone the feeding, because I started suffering from liners, losing 3 fish on the bounce, before the fish buggered off. Shawn had seen me catching across and was soon doing the same, hooking a couple of fish, probably overtaking me. Feeding a small cup of micros & 4s by the island and further small cup a few metres to my right along the island. Whilst that settled I looked over my meat line, which produced nothing. I had also been feeding caster/meat into my left margin. Double caster produced roach, whilst meat didn’t produce a bite.
Fortunately the carp returned to the island, but not before catching a couple more silvers. The only issue was the average stamp of carp was between 1½lb & 4lb and was concerned that anyone catching a few decent fish would soon overtake me.
With an hour to go I felt I was just ahead of Dave, but wasn’t sure about Shawn because I couldnt see the size of carp he was landing. After another carp from the island, it was time to try the short lines again. The margin failed, but I had my first indication over the meat line and was soon attached to a carp hooked in the wing.
Next put in I was attached to proper fish, which eventually broke me after 10mins. I may have sworn, because I thought I had blown my chance. Decision time. Stick with the short line, hoping the disturbance hadn’t unsettled any remaining fish or fish across to the island. I decided to stay short, because I really needed some proper carp. Almost immediately the float buried and a 5lber was soon netted. I had to wait for the next bite, which came with 2mins left and I missed it. Quickly rebaiting I had 60 seconds left. 20 seconds from the all out the float buried again and was attached to a 7lb carp, which I played rather gingerly, landing 5mins later.
Shawn said he only had 6 carp (he lost a couple), but they were decent fish. Shaun Townsend on p62 was admitting to 40lb and apparently Gary had caught, so the required 3rd in section was uncertain. Fortunately that last fish pushed me up from 4th to 2nd, overtaking Shaun’s Townsend 46-12 & Shawn Kittridges 45-13. So a really tight finish to the section. Turns out it was really tight finish for the league as well, as that last grasp fish was worth £120 pushing me from what would have been 4th in the league to 2nd.
Craig struggled from p1, dropping to 3rd in the league. Mark did what everyone expected winning the lake to claim top spot in the league. Adrian Clarke unfortunately had a tough time on p55, dropping out of 4th spot, which was claimed by Paul Elmes who won the match with 166-5.
Really pleased to have claimed 2nd in the league particularly after the first round disaster and today I felt I had to work hard to figure out how best to catch, as well as getting a bit of luck along the way.
1st 166- 5 – Paul Elmes – p34
2nd 110- 3 – Mark Poppleton – p11
3rd 81-10 – Adrian Jefferies – p33
4th 62-12 – Gary O’Shea – p58
5th 55-10 – Mark Brennan – p50
6th 51-15 – Ken Rayner – p68
Silvers
1st 36-12 – Bob Gullick – p5
2nd 22- 3 – Tom Thick – p32
3rd 18- 2 – Mike Duckett – p13
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