Catch - 29 Skimmers, 5 Tench, 3 Roach, 1 Eel
Weather - Mostly cloudy, windy
Match - Silverfish League rd 6 - 4th out of 7
Yes, my blog is a little, but to be honest after suffering one of the worst weekends fishing, not because of the fishing itself, but the context of missing out on 2 leagues, I didn't have much enthusiasm. Although having said that I haven't had much spare time, since starting my new job, which is going really well.
So Saturdays match and the fact I was still in contention for an overall payout was a surprise, particularily after the 4th round when I caught very few silvers, but plenty of carp. However a win in the last round and a few results going my way, meant that Tim Lewis, Kev Jefferies and myself were all on the same number of points, although I had the lowest weight aggregate, which meant 1 of us was going to missed out, because Dom Sullivan already had the league sewn up.
Its a shame that Dom could only muster 9 anglers for the league, however getting anglers to fish Saturday proved difficult. Unfortunately only 7 turned up for today.
Drop outs seems to be a real problem at the moment regardless of who is running the league. Its usually the same people, which is why I didn't invite 2 anglers to the Lands End winter league this year. There will always be very good reasons why an angler cant attend a match at short notice, but not to attend because you aren't doing well, is unacceptable. Personally I think its disrespectful to the other anglers who are committed to fishing and unless the organiser can get a replacement, it means the numbers are down, which reduces the pay outs and makes it harder for those in the "chasing pack" to get into the pay out positions. I think some anglers, just need to consider the consequences of their actions and how it affects others, because the amount of effort to set-up and manage a league is considerable, which is made harder when people don't turn up. Just remember without match organisers who volunteer their own time there wont be a match or league to fish in the first instance.
Anyway, having got that off my chest! Back to Saturday match. We were all surprised to see the aerator was on when we arrived. Fortunately it was turned off, but since there was only 7 of us, Dom decided not to include pegs 1 & 2 on the island, because they haven't been the best and the carp seem to be in resident in the area.
I fancied either 3 or 8, but ended up with p9, on the left hand shallow end of the lake, which wasn't ideal. Tim drew p8 and I immediately thought he would be difficult to beat. Kev in the meantime was on p6 so at least I could keep an eye on them both.
I had set up 3 rigs, but only ended up catching on 1 (jolly 4x12 > .08 > 22 silverfish maggot). As I was setting up a robin was very eager to take advantage of any free offering. Also Alan the owner came round and said I would struggle from the peg, due to the cold week - great, thanks for that.
Plumbing up revealed the deepest part of the peg was to my right, which received a golf ball of groundbait and pinkie, as did the 13m line, which was shallower. I also started feeding maggot at 5m.Tim had already landed a tench, before I finished feeding. After a slow start I began catching on single pinkie, toss potting pinkie, whilst keeping the right hand swim topped up. Over the next 2.5hrs, by rotating swims I kept putting fish in the net, including some better fish on double pinkie or maggot.
The short line only produced 1 tench, but plenty of ineligible fantails, so I didn't spend too much time here. I also started feeding to my left in the corner, but never had a bite.
The 4th hour was interputed by carp and a busted rig that pinged up into the branches, slowed my progress. Everytime I thought I had caught up with Tim, he would catch a couple tench. Kev looked like he was struggling, but beyond that I couldn't how everyone else was doing.
An improved last hour saw me land some better sized skimmers and to be honest thought I done OK from the peg, only just being beaten by Tim. Dom completed his dominance of the league winning the match. Unfortunately whilst I beat Kev, todays match proved to be his dropped result and Andy Gards late run of tench meant I finished 4th in the match and 4th in the league on weight count back.
Looking back I should have done better in the earlier rounds, however well done to Dom who showed us all how to fish for silvers.
1st 23- 4 - Dom Sullivan - p5
2nd 19- 9 - Tim Lewis - p8
3rd 18- 6 - Andy Gard - p4
4th 17- 9 - Ken Rayner - p9
Final League Position
1st Dom Sullivan - 7pts
2nd Tim Lewis - 17pts
3rd Kev Jefferies - 19pts (116-0)
4th Ken Rayner - 19pts (111-15)
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