Catch - 14 Carp, 4 Roach, 3 Skimmers
Weather - Bright start, cloudy later
Match - Airsprung AC - 2nd out of 12
When we arrived a couple of us walked around the lake to select the best pegs and after seeing 30 or so carp in the shallow water of the inlet at the top end of the lake, peg 14 became the number everyone wanted. Alas I ended up on peg 3 at the bottom end, not a great peg, but it can produce down the margins later in the match. For company I had,ex tackle dealer (and happier for it) Steve Ince on peg 1 and
Mark Poppleton on peg 5 opposite the island.
Plumbing up revealed it got deep very quickly, it fact it was too deep for any rigs I had set up. However I didn't realistically expect to catch in the deepest water, so ended up setting a paste and pellet rig to fish at 8m left and right were is was a little shallower but still 6ft. A long line mugging rig was also set up, together with 2 rigs to fish down the margin, one for paste rig and the other the fish corn or meat.
The water clarity was a surprise (and a concern), because I could see the bottom of the keepnets as they settled in 2.5ft of water. It would mean the fish were likely to be very spooky.
Starting off on the mugging rig with meat and soon had a 10lber in the net, which would have been followed by another of 7-8lb had the hook not pulled at the net, catapulting the rig into the tree above - no one laughed.As expected the carp soon shyed away and became incredibly spooky. Unfortunately the light condition meant I had a lot of white water in front of me and spotting fish was a bit of a nightmare. Those fish I could see would turn for the bait when it was swung out, but wouldn't take the bait. Mark was having similar issues, however with the island being a natural fish magnet, managed to steadily put fish in his net, including a proper lump of 18lb 8oz.
As for me I was becoming increasingly frustrated. I was really struggling to spot any fish, so started to fish my 8m left and right hand swims to try and put some fish in the net, since Steve had managed a couple of carp on paste at 4m. Over the next hour or so I would fish the short line and when ever I spotted any fish coming into range switch to the mugging rig, but the fish more often than not disappeared before I could get the rig out. As for the short lines, I immediately lost a foul hooker then got unhittable bites either from small silvers or small carp who's mouth are so small they struggle to suck in a 6mm pellet (I'm not joking). A change to a pellet rig resulted in a few roach and skimmers, plus one of those small carp, however I wasn't going anywhere fast. With 3hrs gone I had 2 carp in the net, whilst Steve had 6 and Mark was closing in on a 100lb. All this meant I needed my margins to come to life. I had started feeding 4s and 6s down the right hand margin 30mins previously and the first 3 put ins with gonuts paste resulted in 3 fish.
I had also started feeding groundbait/micros down the left hand side. Initially I couldn't get a bite, but kept cupping in the groundbait until I saw my first swirl. Fishing double corn I caught fish up to nearly 15lb and was much happier, despite putting a 9lber the wrong side of the net. It went very quite either side of me, at least they gave it 15mins before taking the piss!
I thought I was on for a 100+ weight, but the last 45mins was a struggle again. In the meantime Mark's edge swim was getting stronger and stronger putting 80lb in the net during the last 45mins, whilst I could only manage one.
As it transpired I had done enough to come from no where to claim 2nd overall, however I should have caught more in that last hour. Whether it was coincidence or not, but I added a load more particles (hemp & micros) to bulk out the groundbait and shortly after struggled for a bite.
Well done to Mark who got his tactics spot on today to claim a lake match record.
1st - 268- 2 - Mark Poppleton (Colmic) - p5
2nd - 82- 6 - Ken Rayner (Colmic) - p3
3rd - 76-14 - Tom Ince (Airsprung) - p21
4th - 73-14 - Steve Musitano (Browning) - p18
5th - 52- 5 - Billy Turner (Airsprung) - p14
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