09/03/14 - Viaduct - Match

Weight - 36lb 2oz (7lb 3oz - silvers)
Catch - 8 F1s, 4 Carp, 7 Roach, 6 Skimmers, 2 Perch, 2 Rudd, 1 Chub
Weather - Warm & sunny . Easterly breeze
Match - Winter League rd 5 - 33rd overall - 9th out of 19 section

The last round of the winter league was bathed in warm sunshine, which was very pleasant. So far the MFS team has had 4 poor team draws and as a consequence we were propping up everyone else, so a decent draw really would have been appreciated and Martin did the job with team draw 8, which meant Martin was on 118 (averaging 12.25pts this series), Fred on 85 (ave 16.75pts), Mike on 56 (ave 15.75pts), Richard on 12 (ave 6pts), leaving myself with 40 on Match Lake which has averaged 8pts, with the highest total so far being 11pts. So not a flyer, but at least it looked like it would be worth a few fish.

 

I haven’t fished Match Lake since it was drained a few years ago and wasn’t sure what to expect, other than F1, carp  skimmers, but at least I had an island chuck, unlike Tony Rixon on p39 who was already talking about being battered both sides with Fabio on the next peg.

Due to the warmer weather, I decided meat would be the way to go. So as well as a waggler and straight lead rig to fish towards the island, I also set up a maggot/caster rig (HB chump 0.3g > .12 > 18 silverfish pellet) to fish over groundbait, a light meat rig (Ackoo carbon carrat 0.3g > .12 > 16 B911) and a rig to fish down the margin (HB billybob 0.2g > .14 > 16 B911).

As the match started the wind picked up a little, blowing from the east which was coming across me, making any presentation on the waggler tricky. Initially I tried fishing 6mm meat, but soon cubed up some 8mm which sat better in the tow. Also the 8mm meat was easier to catapult when the cross wind picked up.

After 30mins I had a skimmer on the waggler, a quick try with the lead and maggot didn’t produce and already I was falling behind those on the left hand bank (p42-p45) and Fabio on p52 who with the wind behind was able to get tight to the island.

 

A switch to the 13m line slightly to the right where I had 3 balls of groundbait & caster produced another skimmer and a few smaller fish. I had also fed meat/caster at 13m to my left, but this only produced a couple of small fish. In fact the first 3hrs of the match was quite frustrating. The waggler produced a chub, whilst the lead produced a carp and a F1, all on meat, but I couldn’t put a run of fish together. The left hand meat/caster line failed to produce anything bigger than a couple of ounces, whilst the right hand swim did at least provide a couple more skimmers, but I wasn’t going any where fast.

Since the start I had been regularly feeding my margin at 6m with meat & caster. With 2hrs to go it was time to see if anything had settled over it, but nothing. So with nothing to lose it was time dump a pot of caster/meat at 14m by the p41 pallet. So far I had been reluctant to go this far due to some pleasure anglers on middle lake who insisted on walking around to the tree to feed. Since they had left I felt I could feed long without disturbance.

 

Having left that to settle for 15mins, it was time to see whether anything had moved over it. Toss potting meat/caster I had 2 perch on double caster, first put in with 6mm meat I had an F1. The next hour or so was very productive with mostly F1s and a couple carp all coming to the meat. The hook pulled out of 1 decent fish, but I had clawed my way back up the section.

 

15mins from the end I cast out the straight lead & meat to rest the margin and had a proper pull round. Unfortunately the hook pulled after a few seconds. Back down the margin produced another F1 before the all out.

 

Have to say I was left wondering whether I should have gone down the margin earlier, because another 8lb would have given me an extra 5pts. Also Phil had caught well on the waggler fishing corn or maggot, whilst I stuck with meat. Should have tried something different? I’m not sure, but at least it was an enjoyable day with warm sunshine.

 

As for the team we finished 8^th on the day, with Fred winning his section and Rich doing well from Spring. Mike & Martin struggled, but at least the team managed to jump 4 spaces to 15^th.

 

For me this series has been a challenge, with 3 very poor draws (p9, p131 & p94) in the first 3 matches, but at least I have had some decent fishing during the last 2 matches, where I finished with the highest weight & points total from p73 & p40.

 

1^st 110-10 – Martin Preston (Viaduct) – p115

2^nd 104- 2 – Steve Nadin (BVMG) – p119

3^rd 90-15 – John Moody (BVMG) – p42

4^th 88-10 – Clint Wotlyla (Avon Angling) – p116

5^th 73-14 – Craig Edmunds (Flip Flop) – p71

6^th 72- 1 – A Pritchard (Thatchers Vets) – p123

 

Silvers

1st 30- 3 - Dan Squires (Viaduct Select) - p16
2nd 26-15 – Dom Sullivan (Maver Cadbury) – p3

3rd 26- 4 – Bela Bakos (Silverfox) – p37

4th 24- 4 – Adam Palmer (Viaduct) – p1

5th 23-10 – James Knight (Somerset Angling) – p111

6th 23- 9 – Rich Wyatt (MFS) – p12