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
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