Catch - 14 Carp, 5 Crucians, 5 Skimmers
Weather - Frosty start, bright, sunny & cold
Match - Open - 2nd out of 12
I was pleased to find this match would be on Johns (no3) Lake, because its a lake I like, however this morning was the first where I had to scrap ice off the car.
Driving through rush hour traffic is never easy, but a journey that normally takes me 40/45mins, took me over 90mins. As a result I had to miss out on a shipham breakfast and making do with a McDonalds instead.
There was a decent turnout for a mid week match, bolstered by those wishing to practice for the forthcoming winter league. I drew p55, which can be very good, but I have never done any good from the peg, much preferring p58 opposite which is one of my favourites on the lake.
Must admit I was little concerned to see the lake being so clear and thought 30-40lb would be a good weight. Mark opposite was a little more optimistic, but then he had a few fish showing themselves to his right by the brambles.
After the disappointing results over the weekend I really wanted to make sure I fish a tidier match and keep it simple. Plumbing up revealed the depth was the same all over which was handy. I did set up 3x rigs, but only ended up catching on one (HB Frostie 0.3g > .10 > 18 silverfish pellet).
On the all in 3s & 4s with a few bits of corn where fed in open water at 15m and to my right towards the island. Caster was also fed under the tree to my right. Starting with double corn hoping for an early mug fish from the end of the spit where I hadn't fed didn't produce a bite. Mark in the meantime already had 2 carp from his open water swim.
A switch of rigs, fishing 4mm expander and I started to catch, by toss potting pellet on the end of spit and in open water, plus I started pinging pellet towards to the island.
As the match progressed the open water & right hand swims proved to be the most productive. However I didn't have Marks luck, although he is trying to say it was down to fed and presentation. After shipping back, he left his rig in the water on his top kit whilst he catapulted pellet down his margin. When he picked up his top kit, there was a 7lber fairly attached in the top lip. A few swear words where said!After 2.5hrs we both had 7 carp. By continually swapping between all 3 swims I managed to keep the fish coming, but in the last 90mins it really slowed down for the both of us.
I had been feeding caster all match under the tree, but only had a tiny perch, which fell off. So I persevered with my long lines, moving to 16m in the open water and pinging pellet to the point of the spit, I managed a couple more carp.
In the end quite a straightforward match and I was surprised to finish 2nd, because I expected the deeper pegs at the other end of the lake to catch.
1st 69-14 - Mark Poppleton -p58
2nd 65-15 - Ken Rayner - p55
3rd 55-13 - Rod Wootton - p68
4th 55- 0 - Steve Tucker - p61
5th 51-14 - Adrian Clarke - p66
6th 44- 1 - Tony Rixon - p41
Silvers
1st 13-11 - Rod Wootton - p68
2nd 9- 4 - Bob Gullick - p70
3rd 6- 7 - Ken Rayner - p55
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