Weight - 301lb 1oz
Catch - 47 Carp, 2 Rudd, 1 Roach, 1 Eel
Weather - Hot & sunny, later thundery showers and humid
Match - Club - 1st out of 7
Well Sue had some good news on Friday, which should make life a little easier and allow me to relax more on my fishing. Its been fair to say I have been a little distracted over the last couple of months.
Due to holidays, we only had 7 today (plus 2 pleasure anglers) for this afternoon/evening match. With so much space I was happy to drew anywhere, although peg 6 was top of my wish list due to the shallow left hand margin and duly I drew it.
The plan for today was to keep it simple with paste and pellet. A paste and pellet rig were set up to fish the 2ft deep margin, a deep water paste rig to fish to my right and finally a long line shallow rig to hopefully catch some of the fish that were showing themselves on what is the hottest day for a few weeks.
On the all in a 1/2 pot of 6s was deposited into the left hand margin and started on the shallow rig at 13m. After 5mins there were carp already showing themselves in the margin and with no indications on the shallow rig, a switch to the paste rig resulted in a fish straight away. Unfortunately the elastic snapped at the side slot.
Sticking to the left hand margin I managed 9 carp in the first hour all on paste, feeding a small handful of 6s. The swim was slowing a little and a switch to the shallow swim which had been fed from the off with 8s, produced a further 6 or 7 carp, but in the bright flat conditions the fish were difficult to tempt despite fishing with a long line.
Back on the paste down the left hand margin and the fish had settled again, catching most put ins including a couple of double figure fish up to 13lb 5oz. When I felt the swim needed a break a switch to the shallow swim would produce a few more fish.
With 90mins left the skies became darker, there was a flash of lighting and the heavy rain started, which slowed my catch rate. After the main part of the storm passed the rain became lighter, but a breeze had picked up and the fishing the shallow long line proved a little tricky. I could have set up a conventional shallow rig, but instead decided to pot pellet to my right, which produced a few more carp, plus a decent eel on paste. However it was the left hand margin that produced the bulk of my fish.
Come the weigh in I was left a little red faced. The net limit at the lake is 100lb and the whole net is discounted if it goes over 110lb. My first net weighed 109-10, which was knocked back to 100lb. My 3rd net was completely empty!!! God knows how I managed that but was relieved to get away with it.
1st 301- 1 - Ken Rayner - p6
2nd 179- 1 - Andy Lord - p22
3rd 142- 8 - Paul Lewis - p12
4th 93- 0 - Chris Davidge - p15
Sunday, 23 August 2015
Monday, 10 August 2015
09/08/15 - Trinity Waters - Woodlands
Weight - 16lb 1oz (13lb 0oz - silvers)
Catch - 62 Roach, 4 Skimmers, 4 Perch, 2 Hybrids, 1 Tench, 1 F1
Weather - Mostly cloudy and light winds
Match - Short Pole Series rd 4 - 2nd out of 28 - silvers
The final round of this short pole series and looking at the league table I was lying 9th, 2pts behind a payout position in 5th, which meant I had a very outside chance of a pick up. It would mean those above me blowing out and me winning my section with a big weight. Peg 13 gave me decent chance.
Before the draw I was chatting to Paul Faires who said he was going to target the silvers regardless of where he drew and he ended next to me on p12. Because he was solely targeting the silvers he wouldn't be targeting the margins between us, leaving them free for me to attack.
The other side of me was Trigger, who lets be honest is probably the best angler on our circuit at the moment. Fortunately he was in the next section, so I couldn't worry about what he was doing.
With a positive mind set I decided not to set up any silvers rig, leaving them for Paul to catch. I also decided to feed positively for the carp and unfortunately I think that was my undoing.
Starting on paste I had a big skimmer after 45mins, but nothing else. Trigger in the meantime had 2 fish on paste and started to catch down his margins. A switch to meat failed to produce as well. Things weren't going according to plan, although other than Trigger no one was catching much. Everyone's peg were fizzing like a Jacuzzi, but very few bites.
I had feed some meat and hemp down the deeper left hand margin under the tree, but again no bites. With just over an hour gone and still only one skimmer in the net I quickly setup a caster rig (jolly 4x14 > .12 > 18 silverfish maggot) to fish under the tree as I had seen some swirls when I feeding the meat.
Taking me up to the half way point of the match I probably had 8lb of silvers including a tench and a couple of 1lb perch, but really needed some carp to show. Whilst catching the silvers I kept flicking 6s out long to draw some fish in and catch shallow, plus groundbait down the shallower right hand margin.
I only caught 1 3lb F1 shallow and nothing from the right hand margin or my left margin which I had fed quite heavily with more groundbait. Looking down my section I started to see carp being caught along with any hopes of doing well enough in section and league.
I hadn't seen many silvers being caught, so decided to spend the last 90mins concentrating on them to hopefully pick up 2nd place, because Paul was already streets ahead catching mostly skimmers on worm.
Another 5lb of silvers meant my 13lb did indeed claim 2nd in silvers, so at least I managed a pick up on a difficult day.
Talking after the match, those that caught well had been fed fairly cautiously which probably explains why my very positive approach didn't work today. The fishing this summer has been difficult as the fish just don't seem to have settled down, probably due to constantly changing weather patterns.
Congratulations to Trigger for winning the league and giving me proper battering off the next peg.
1st 135- 6 - Craig Edmunds - p14
2nd 81-14 - Kev Molton - p17
3rd 64-13 - Tom Mangnall - p7
4th 56-10 - Tim Ford - p24
5th 52-12 - Mike West - p4
6th 51-10 - Glenn Bailey - p25
Silvers
1st 22-10 - Paul Faires - p12
2nd 13- 0 - Ken Rayner - p13
Catch - 62 Roach, 4 Skimmers, 4 Perch, 2 Hybrids, 1 Tench, 1 F1
Weather - Mostly cloudy and light winds
Match - Short Pole Series rd 4 - 2nd out of 28 - silvers
The final round of this short pole series and looking at the league table I was lying 9th, 2pts behind a payout position in 5th, which meant I had a very outside chance of a pick up. It would mean those above me blowing out and me winning my section with a big weight. Peg 13 gave me decent chance.
Before the draw I was chatting to Paul Faires who said he was going to target the silvers regardless of where he drew and he ended next to me on p12. Because he was solely targeting the silvers he wouldn't be targeting the margins between us, leaving them free for me to attack.
The other side of me was Trigger, who lets be honest is probably the best angler on our circuit at the moment. Fortunately he was in the next section, so I couldn't worry about what he was doing.
With a positive mind set I decided not to set up any silvers rig, leaving them for Paul to catch. I also decided to feed positively for the carp and unfortunately I think that was my undoing.
Starting on paste I had a big skimmer after 45mins, but nothing else. Trigger in the meantime had 2 fish on paste and started to catch down his margins. A switch to meat failed to produce as well. Things weren't going according to plan, although other than Trigger no one was catching much. Everyone's peg were fizzing like a Jacuzzi, but very few bites.
I had feed some meat and hemp down the deeper left hand margin under the tree, but again no bites. With just over an hour gone and still only one skimmer in the net I quickly setup a caster rig (jolly 4x14 > .12 > 18 silverfish maggot) to fish under the tree as I had seen some swirls when I feeding the meat.
Taking me up to the half way point of the match I probably had 8lb of silvers including a tench and a couple of 1lb perch, but really needed some carp to show. Whilst catching the silvers I kept flicking 6s out long to draw some fish in and catch shallow, plus groundbait down the shallower right hand margin.
I only caught 1 3lb F1 shallow and nothing from the right hand margin or my left margin which I had fed quite heavily with more groundbait. Looking down my section I started to see carp being caught along with any hopes of doing well enough in section and league.
I hadn't seen many silvers being caught, so decided to spend the last 90mins concentrating on them to hopefully pick up 2nd place, because Paul was already streets ahead catching mostly skimmers on worm.
Another 5lb of silvers meant my 13lb did indeed claim 2nd in silvers, so at least I managed a pick up on a difficult day.
Talking after the match, those that caught well had been fed fairly cautiously which probably explains why my very positive approach didn't work today. The fishing this summer has been difficult as the fish just don't seem to have settled down, probably due to constantly changing weather patterns.
Congratulations to Trigger for winning the league and giving me proper battering off the next peg.
1st 135- 6 - Craig Edmunds - p14
2nd 81-14 - Kev Molton - p17
3rd 64-13 - Tom Mangnall - p7
4th 56-10 - Tim Ford - p24
5th 52-12 - Mike West - p4
6th 51-10 - Glenn Bailey - p25
Silvers
1st 22-10 - Paul Faires - p12
2nd 13- 0 - Ken Rayner - p13
08/08/15 - Lands End - Speci
Weight - 25lb 15oz (18lb 0oz - silvers)
Catch - 42 Skimmers, 6 Roach, 2 Perch, 1 Rudd, 1 Carp
Weather - Warm, sunny, flat calm
Match - Open - 3rd out of 13 silvers
With a club match on Match Lake, all 13 of us were on Speci Lake, which wasn't going to leave much room, but it would at least mean fewer spaces for the carp to hide.
Peg 29 definitely wasn't my first choice, but on arrival there were a few carp showing themselves along the island which raised my hopes a little. So the plan was to target the carp at the start and see were we go from there. With Bryan Hadley on p28 and Dave Wescott on p30 I didn't think the margins would be worth the effort.
On the all I went across with paste and got a few swirls, but no proper bites. It was the same with pellet and caster. In fact I wasted 90mins chasing carp, foul hooking 2, only landing 4 small fish. In the meantime Lewis Jones on p32 and Andy Hembrow on p31 had already started catching, including some proper munters.
In an effort to start catching something, softened 4s, micros and groundbait was fed at 11m to my right and softened 4s to my left. Fishing 4mm expander (SM Chimp 0.3g > .12 > 16 silverfish pellet) I started catching hand sized skimmers. By regular toss potting and alternating between the 2 swims every 2nd or 3rd fish I managed to keep the fish coming.
As the match progressed I gradually went longer and longer finishing the match at 14m. I was enjoying my day, with plenty of bites, but in the flat bright conditions I only caught 1 decent skimmer, plus a couple of 1lb fish, with the majority being 4-6oz fish. Trying 6mm banded pellet it only took longer to get a bite for the same size fish, so I stuck with expanders.
As a back up I cupped some caster by the island but with no shade I don't think the fish were keen to settle in the shallow water, as it was taking ages to get a proper bite. I also started feeding caster to my left at 3m late on, which can throw up some bonus fish, but double caster only produced small roach.
By the all out I was left a little frustrated. Despite the number of fish caught I really needed at least one or two more decent skimmers, although I think I may have pulled out of 1 - doh! Everyone loses a few fish, but the really frustrating was the time wasted at the start. I really should know better and switched 30mins earlier I would have probably at least claimed 2nd in silvers. Instead I was 1 out of the money for the 5th time recently. Not a great habit to get into. Rich Lovering included a couple of chub, an ide and a few decent skimmers in his winning silvers net. As for Ricky he had 6 or 7 decent skimmers, so the better fish seemed to prefer the other side of the lake today.
Taking the positives out of the day, it was nice to see so many skimmers growing on and at least I had a few bites.
On the drive back I got caught up in the Balloon Fiesta traffic. I think I may have been a bit grumpy by the time I got home!
1st 131- 1 - Andy Hembrow - p31
2nd 130-12 - Lewis Jones - p32
3rd 124- 3 - Ryan Shipp - p40
4th 73- 2 - Vince Shipp - p37
5th 67- 2 - Rod Wootton - p26
6th 64- 2 - Dave Wescott - p30
Silvers
1st 21-10 - Rich Lovering - p34
2nd 18-10 - Ricky - p36
3rd 18- 0 - Ken Rayner - p29
Catch - 42 Skimmers, 6 Roach, 2 Perch, 1 Rudd, 1 Carp
Weather - Warm, sunny, flat calm
Match - Open - 3rd out of 13 silvers
With a club match on Match Lake, all 13 of us were on Speci Lake, which wasn't going to leave much room, but it would at least mean fewer spaces for the carp to hide.
Peg 29 definitely wasn't my first choice, but on arrival there were a few carp showing themselves along the island which raised my hopes a little. So the plan was to target the carp at the start and see were we go from there. With Bryan Hadley on p28 and Dave Wescott on p30 I didn't think the margins would be worth the effort.
On the all I went across with paste and got a few swirls, but no proper bites. It was the same with pellet and caster. In fact I wasted 90mins chasing carp, foul hooking 2, only landing 4 small fish. In the meantime Lewis Jones on p32 and Andy Hembrow on p31 had already started catching, including some proper munters.
In an effort to start catching something, softened 4s, micros and groundbait was fed at 11m to my right and softened 4s to my left. Fishing 4mm expander (SM Chimp 0.3g > .12 > 16 silverfish pellet) I started catching hand sized skimmers. By regular toss potting and alternating between the 2 swims every 2nd or 3rd fish I managed to keep the fish coming.
As the match progressed I gradually went longer and longer finishing the match at 14m. I was enjoying my day, with plenty of bites, but in the flat bright conditions I only caught 1 decent skimmer, plus a couple of 1lb fish, with the majority being 4-6oz fish. Trying 6mm banded pellet it only took longer to get a bite for the same size fish, so I stuck with expanders.
As a back up I cupped some caster by the island but with no shade I don't think the fish were keen to settle in the shallow water, as it was taking ages to get a proper bite. I also started feeding caster to my left at 3m late on, which can throw up some bonus fish, but double caster only produced small roach.
By the all out I was left a little frustrated. Despite the number of fish caught I really needed at least one or two more decent skimmers, although I think I may have pulled out of 1 - doh! Everyone loses a few fish, but the really frustrating was the time wasted at the start. I really should know better and switched 30mins earlier I would have probably at least claimed 2nd in silvers. Instead I was 1 out of the money for the 5th time recently. Not a great habit to get into. Rich Lovering included a couple of chub, an ide and a few decent skimmers in his winning silvers net. As for Ricky he had 6 or 7 decent skimmers, so the better fish seemed to prefer the other side of the lake today.
Taking the positives out of the day, it was nice to see so many skimmers growing on and at least I had a few bites.
On the drive back I got caught up in the Balloon Fiesta traffic. I think I may have been a bit grumpy by the time I got home!
1st 131- 1 - Andy Hembrow - p31
2nd 130-12 - Lewis Jones - p32
3rd 124- 3 - Ryan Shipp - p40
4th 73- 2 - Vince Shipp - p37
5th 67- 2 - Rod Wootton - p26
6th 64- 2 - Dave Wescott - p30
Silvers
1st 21-10 - Rich Lovering - p34
2nd 18-10 - Ricky - p36
3rd 18- 0 - Ken Rayner - p29
Monday, 3 August 2015
02/08/15 - Sedges - Tile
Weight - 38lb 15oz
Catch - 6 Carp, 3 Skimmer, 1 Eel
Weather - Sunny, but very windy
Match - Float Only rd 5 - 22nd out of 39, 3rd in section
Well after a very stressful 10 days with Sue who had 2 ambulance visits to the hospital with a suspected stroke/seizure the good news is it doesn't appear to be quiet so sinister, although a MRI scan has been booked just to make sure. Pretty scary at the time and it does help put things in perspective, not even Paul Elmes attempt to wind me up for the umpteenth time with his PB joke bothered me.
Mike Walker followed me down to the fishery, because he had never visited the venue and didn't trust his sat nav not to dump him in the middle of a field. A quick walk around the lakes with Mike and Chris Fox and we all wanted to draw the windward end of the lakes where a strong wind was blowing. Personally I fancied attacking the skimmers on Brick again.
Into the draw queue. Nick Chedzoy ahead of me pulled p10 (corner), I drew p27, Mike behind me was on p11 (corner) and then I think Tim Ford went on to p40 (another corner). Oh well never mind.
Speaking to Bob Gullick he said P27 was a decent draw, so hopeful of a good day, although the strength of the wind blowing down the lake was a concern.
For company I had Billy Grover on p26, Kev Molton p28, Tom Mangnall p29 and Nick Ewers in the corner on p30. So a tough section to get a result from.
After Thursday's match I decided to focus on paste at 5m, instead of meat. In hindsight this may have been a mistake. After feeding 4 balls of groundbait at 13m, I started at 5m fishing paste, which brought little dinks on the float but no fish. I suspected skimmers, so switched to a soft pellet and caught an eel.
A skimmer from the 13m line was the only fish from here purely because the wind was too strong to provide any presentation. Back on the 5m line I added another 2 skimmers on worm, but still no carp. In fact those around me were all struggling.
I kept feeding the 5m line, hoping to catch later, but it never happen and was left wondering whether I should have switched to feeding meat. Looking at the weigh sheets, the better weights on each lake came from the right hand banks, so perhaps it was simply a case the fish preferred to be that side of the lakes.
In the end I caught all my carp shallow on 8mm pellet at 14m. To be honest I was disappointed I couldn't catch a few more shallow, because I could see Chris Davis opposite catching well shallow. At one point a gust of wind was so strong it spun me round nearly knocking out Kev on the next peg!
As for the margins they were a complete bust and very little was caught in the margins on my side of the lake.
I was glad to hear the all out, because my back was in pieces. Back at the car I was pleased see Mike had won the match on his 1st visit, he certainly had a red letter day. Well done mate.
1st 187- 4 - Mike Walker - p11
2nd 146-11 - Nick Chedzoy - p10
3rd 133- 1 - Gary O'Shea - p31
4th 119-11 - Chris Davis - p34
5th 114- 9 - Tony Rixon - p12
6th 88- 3 - Tim Ford - p40
Silvers
1st 33- 5 - Vic Bush - p14
2nd 30- 6 - Mike Nicholls - p19
3rd 19- 2 - Leon Hubbard - p15
Catch - 6 Carp, 3 Skimmer, 1 Eel
Weather - Sunny, but very windy
Match - Float Only rd 5 - 22nd out of 39, 3rd in section
Well after a very stressful 10 days with Sue who had 2 ambulance visits to the hospital with a suspected stroke/seizure the good news is it doesn't appear to be quiet so sinister, although a MRI scan has been booked just to make sure. Pretty scary at the time and it does help put things in perspective, not even Paul Elmes attempt to wind me up for the umpteenth time with his PB joke bothered me.
Mike Walker followed me down to the fishery, because he had never visited the venue and didn't trust his sat nav not to dump him in the middle of a field. A quick walk around the lakes with Mike and Chris Fox and we all wanted to draw the windward end of the lakes where a strong wind was blowing. Personally I fancied attacking the skimmers on Brick again.
Into the draw queue. Nick Chedzoy ahead of me pulled p10 (corner), I drew p27, Mike behind me was on p11 (corner) and then I think Tim Ford went on to p40 (another corner). Oh well never mind.
Speaking to Bob Gullick he said P27 was a decent draw, so hopeful of a good day, although the strength of the wind blowing down the lake was a concern.
For company I had Billy Grover on p26, Kev Molton p28, Tom Mangnall p29 and Nick Ewers in the corner on p30. So a tough section to get a result from.
After Thursday's match I decided to focus on paste at 5m, instead of meat. In hindsight this may have been a mistake. After feeding 4 balls of groundbait at 13m, I started at 5m fishing paste, which brought little dinks on the float but no fish. I suspected skimmers, so switched to a soft pellet and caught an eel.
A skimmer from the 13m line was the only fish from here purely because the wind was too strong to provide any presentation. Back on the 5m line I added another 2 skimmers on worm, but still no carp. In fact those around me were all struggling.
I kept feeding the 5m line, hoping to catch later, but it never happen and was left wondering whether I should have switched to feeding meat. Looking at the weigh sheets, the better weights on each lake came from the right hand banks, so perhaps it was simply a case the fish preferred to be that side of the lakes.
In the end I caught all my carp shallow on 8mm pellet at 14m. To be honest I was disappointed I couldn't catch a few more shallow, because I could see Chris Davis opposite catching well shallow. At one point a gust of wind was so strong it spun me round nearly knocking out Kev on the next peg!
As for the margins they were a complete bust and very little was caught in the margins on my side of the lake.
I was glad to hear the all out, because my back was in pieces. Back at the car I was pleased see Mike had won the match on his 1st visit, he certainly had a red letter day. Well done mate.
1st 187- 4 - Mike Walker - p11
2nd 146-11 - Nick Chedzoy - p10
3rd 133- 1 - Gary O'Shea - p31
4th 119-11 - Chris Davis - p34
5th 114- 9 - Tony Rixon - p12
6th 88- 3 - Tim Ford - p40
Silvers
1st 33- 5 - Vic Bush - p14
2nd 30- 6 - Mike Nicholls - p19
3rd 19- 2 - Leon Hubbard - p15
Saturday, 1 August 2015
30/07/15 - Sedges - Brick Lake
Weight - 19lb 8oz
Catch - 29 Roach, 10 Skimmers, 10 Rudd, 2 Hybrids, 1 Perch
Weather - Sunny all day, cool breeze.
Match - Open - 3rd out of 19 silvers (13th overall)
With the next round of the Float Only series at Sedges, a practice match was organised and 19 anglers were booked in on Brick lake.
This is my personal favourite of the lakes at Sedges and after catching 46lb of skimmers last year I was looking forward to hopefully more of the same. Peg 17 put me in the right area and the plan was to look for an early carp, catch some skimmers and then catch some late carp.
For company I had Steve Tucker on p16 and Dave Bacon on p18, not that I could see them thanks to the tall reeds.
On the all in 5 balls of groundbait with some casters and 4mm pellet were deposited at 13m, plus 1/2 cup of meat and hemp at 5m. Starting on the meat whilst the 13m line settled I quickly had a 1.5lb skimmer, which was half the size of the one Tucks netted. This was followed eventually by a small hybrid, but that was it for this line all match despite feeding it all match. Tucks did manage a decent carp over this line, but it was strangely quiet.
After 45mins it was time to try the 13m line with worm on the hook and the float soon popped up with a flying skimmer attached. A second followed, but it was hard going which was a little surprising, because there was a decent ripple, although the ups and downs of the recent weather is enough to upset everyone including the fish.
The pattern for the match was catch 1 or 2 skimmers, before they disappeared , feed then catch another 1 or 2, but there was long periods between bites. Other than Tucks I couldn't see anyone else catching silvers and by the mid way point I stopped catching completely. So I got off my box to set up another rig to catch roach on caster from the margins, which was going well until I hooked a decent fish which was either a big skimmer or tench, but felt the line grating against something eventually snapping me above the hooklength, which could prove costly.
Another rig was set up and soon catching more roach and rudd. A switch back to the 13m line only produced one more skimmer, so decided to go for broke. 3 more balls were deposited at 14m to my left, plus a cup of caster.
I also decided to try and catch carp. Since the 5m had failed, decided to dump groundbait and caster down the margin. In hindsight this was a mistake. I should have concentrated on the silvers, but I did it with Sundays match in mind. I hooked 3 carp and all 3 came off. Again I felt them grate against something in the margin, so a little disappointed.
The final 15mins was back out on the 14m line, as was tucks who managed 3 skimmers to my 2. On the all out we both felt we had at least 15lb, but beyond that it was difficult to say since some of the skimmers are a little hollow. Top silvers weight by the time the scales arrived was Tony with 17-10. This was going to be close and so it proved. Tucks weighed 20-10 to my 19-8, although there was still Allan Oram who was also admitting to 15lb. Thanks to a couple of big eels he put 21-4 on the scales, relegating me to 1 out of the money for the 4th time in 6 matches.
Yes, I was a little disappointed, however plenty to consider for the match on Sunday.
1st 122- 6 - Glenn Bailey - p11
2nd 93- 0 - Steve Jackson - p6
3rd 83- 4 - Tom Mangnall - p1
4th 62- 9 - Gary Flinders - p15
5th 58- 1 - Dave Bacon - p18
6th 53- 2 - Tony Rixon - p7
Silvers
1st 21- 4 - Allan Oram - p19
2nd 20-10 - Steve Tucker - p16
3rd 19- 8 - Ken Rayner - p17
Catch - 29 Roach, 10 Skimmers, 10 Rudd, 2 Hybrids, 1 Perch
Weather - Sunny all day, cool breeze.
Match - Open - 3rd out of 19 silvers (13th overall)
With the next round of the Float Only series at Sedges, a practice match was organised and 19 anglers were booked in on Brick lake.
This is my personal favourite of the lakes at Sedges and after catching 46lb of skimmers last year I was looking forward to hopefully more of the same. Peg 17 put me in the right area and the plan was to look for an early carp, catch some skimmers and then catch some late carp.
For company I had Steve Tucker on p16 and Dave Bacon on p18, not that I could see them thanks to the tall reeds.
On the all in 5 balls of groundbait with some casters and 4mm pellet were deposited at 13m, plus 1/2 cup of meat and hemp at 5m. Starting on the meat whilst the 13m line settled I quickly had a 1.5lb skimmer, which was half the size of the one Tucks netted. This was followed eventually by a small hybrid, but that was it for this line all match despite feeding it all match. Tucks did manage a decent carp over this line, but it was strangely quiet.
After 45mins it was time to try the 13m line with worm on the hook and the float soon popped up with a flying skimmer attached. A second followed, but it was hard going which was a little surprising, because there was a decent ripple, although the ups and downs of the recent weather is enough to upset everyone including the fish.
The pattern for the match was catch 1 or 2 skimmers, before they disappeared , feed then catch another 1 or 2, but there was long periods between bites. Other than Tucks I couldn't see anyone else catching silvers and by the mid way point I stopped catching completely. So I got off my box to set up another rig to catch roach on caster from the margins, which was going well until I hooked a decent fish which was either a big skimmer or tench, but felt the line grating against something eventually snapping me above the hooklength, which could prove costly.
Another rig was set up and soon catching more roach and rudd. A switch back to the 13m line only produced one more skimmer, so decided to go for broke. 3 more balls were deposited at 14m to my left, plus a cup of caster.
I also decided to try and catch carp. Since the 5m had failed, decided to dump groundbait and caster down the margin. In hindsight this was a mistake. I should have concentrated on the silvers, but I did it with Sundays match in mind. I hooked 3 carp and all 3 came off. Again I felt them grate against something in the margin, so a little disappointed.
The final 15mins was back out on the 14m line, as was tucks who managed 3 skimmers to my 2. On the all out we both felt we had at least 15lb, but beyond that it was difficult to say since some of the skimmers are a little hollow. Top silvers weight by the time the scales arrived was Tony with 17-10. This was going to be close and so it proved. Tucks weighed 20-10 to my 19-8, although there was still Allan Oram who was also admitting to 15lb. Thanks to a couple of big eels he put 21-4 on the scales, relegating me to 1 out of the money for the 4th time in 6 matches.
Yes, I was a little disappointed, however plenty to consider for the match on Sunday.
1st 122- 6 - Glenn Bailey - p11
2nd 93- 0 - Steve Jackson - p6
3rd 83- 4 - Tom Mangnall - p1
4th 62- 9 - Gary Flinders - p15
5th 58- 1 - Dave Bacon - p18
6th 53- 2 - Tony Rixon - p7
Silvers
1st 21- 4 - Allan Oram - p19
2nd 20-10 - Steve Tucker - p16
3rd 19- 8 - Ken Rayner - p17
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