22/11/14 - Emerald Pool

Weight - 9lb 13oz
Catch - 26 Skimmers, 2 Tench, 2 Hybrids, 2 Roach, 1 Rudd
Weather - Wet start, but mostly sunny
Match - Silverfish League - rd 4 - 7th out of 8

Not much to write about in this blog. The 4th round of this silverfish league and with 3 of us sat on the same points for 3rd in the league a decent draw would be required. The weather this week has seen colder, wetter conditions moving in and on the drive down the motorway the rain was so heavy I had to slow down. Fortunately by the time I arrived the storm had pasted, however the aerator was on and all this was doing was circulating the cold water. So a draw well away from the aerator would be required.

Only 8 of us today, because the 9th man decided not to fish the rest of the league and Dom decided to leave out peg 2 which was the closest the aerator. I really fancied peg 3, 7 or 8, but found myself on peg 1 again, which I wasn't happy about

The tow created by the aerator wasn't too bad if I fished to my right, but a combination of the light and constant waves created by the aerator meant I had to choose carefully were I fished so I could see my float

The first half of this 5hr match proved to be OK, I had a few fish at 4m on maggot over caster and the most productive swim was 11m towards the overhanging tree on the other island. After initially cupping in a ball of groundbait and then toss potting caster I picked up a number skimmers. On the opposite bank Barry on p3 had a few tench and was ahead of me, but I felt I was on par with Kev and Tim on p4 & p5.

The 2nd half of the match proved to be very difficult with very few silvers, but I did catch carp and fantails. I even set up a swim at 13m in open water and still managed to catch carp. With so many carp in the swim it unsettled the skimmers and ended up tipping back 7 carp & 8 fantails for about 30lb, as well as a few lost carp, which was to be expected when using 0.08 bottoms.

All this meant my league is effectively over with 2 rounds to go. Whilst its tempting not to bother with the next 2 rounds I have committed to fishing. Its not fair on the organiser who has taken time out to set things up and its not fair on the other anglers, since it makes it harder for those with an outside chance of picking up

Overall the venue fished quite hard and the big weights of last year seem to be a distant memory. It could be the weather or it could be the fish have wised up, although its noticeable I haven't caught nearly as many hybrids I did last year. Today I don't think it was any surprise that the top 3 weights came from the pegs closest to the aerator. I'm not bitter, honest! 

1^st 27- 4 – Dom Sullivan – p9
2^nd 25-11 – Andy Gard – p8
3^rd 22-13 – Barry Fitchew – p3
4^th 18- 8 – Kev Jefferies – p4