Monday, 7 April 2014

05/04/14 - Docklow - Snake Lake

Weight - 4lb
Catch - 14 Roach, 9 Perch, 5 Ide, 2 Chub
Weather - Mostly cloudy
Match - MFS - 12th out of 13

Today’s match was organized via MFS (Match Fishing Scene) and the initial notification stated it would be silverfish only on a stock lake that isn’t often match fished. Now I have always fancied fishing Docklow, because its where final of the Match Fishing knockout cup is held and I imaged we would be sat on an open lake with a bulging bag of silvers by the end of the day.

The stock lake turned into a snake lake, but was assured it was full of silvers, mostly roach, with ide, skimmers, and chub and since I had already paid my money decided still to go. Chris Fox picked me up and we arrived in good time to have a quick walk around a very mature fishery and some familiar pegs from the magazines. We then found the snake lake, which was spilt in 2. One half was nicely coloured, whilst the other side was very clear. We were on the clear side.

The match was originally for a max of 20, but as the date got closer numbers dwindled to 13, which was disappointing, but speaking to an angler who practiced yesterday my enthusiasm was fired up again with tales of catching 200 fish for about 40lb, despite the clear water.

With the pegging complete the draw put me on p32 and to say I was disappointed when I got to my peg is an understatement. Most pegs were 13m wide, mine was on a corner and only 11.5m wide, with another angler to my left.

Needless to say we both struggled to catch and I was pleased when the match finished, in fact I was ready to go home after 2hrs. Herbie won the match from a wide end peg with 26lb – I wasn’t jealous at all. There was some lovely fish caught, including some roach in excess of 1.5lb, but generally most struggled. I would be happy to return, but on one of the other lakes.

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