Unfortunately only 10 anglers turned up, after 25 had initially expressed their interest, which was disappointing, however on the positive side it was 2 more than last year, so hopefully as time goes on the numbers will improve.
Day 1 - Monday 5th - Match Lake - p13
Weight - 141lb 6oz
Catch - 32 Carp, 2 Skimmers, 1 Roach, 1 Perch
Weather - Damp start, mostly cloudy and muggy
In retrospect it seems a bit churlish to say I struggled having just weighed 141lb. However after 2 hours and only 2 carp in the net, whilst Steve Seager on p11 and Mike Duckett on p15 had 7 or 8 carp, I was a little concerned.
I tried across by the island at 17m, but that was hard work for little reward. An 8m line along the left hand bank fed with pellet produced a carp straight away on paste (Gonuts red), but I couldn't get a proper bite, so switched to pellet for a roach and a perch! An hour into the match I started feeding the right margin with 4s and 6s, fishing paste over the top. Throughout the match I could only catch fish in 1s and 2s down here, but at least I was catching. I also nicked a few fish tight to the left hand bank and slowly catching Steve and Mike.
The 8m line was still a source of frustration, as there definitely fish there, but couldn't get them to settle, so with 2 hours left to go decided to dump a full pot of pellet. Well that had the desired effect, as I managed to pick up a better stamp of carp on paste and probably put 80lb in the net in the last 2 hours.
1st 209-13 - Craig Edmunds - p5
2nd 141- 6 - Ken Rayner - p13
3rd 125- 7 - Nick Duckett - p19
4th 121- 9 - Lewis Jones - p22
League
1st - Craig Edmunds - 5pts (209-13)
2nd - Ken Rayner - 5pts (141- 6)
3rd - Nick Duckett - 4pts (125- 7)
Day 2 - Tuesday 6th - Johns Lake - p42
Weight - 65lb 12oz
Catch - 12 Carp, 17 Skimmers, 2 Rudd
Weather - Warm and muggy
Weight - 65lb 12oz
Catch - 12 Carp, 17 Skimmers, 2 Rudd
Weather - Warm and muggy
A walk around lake revealed a lot of fish at the top end of the lake and to be honest I would have been happy with any of the middle pegs, where the bigger fish tend to reside.
I drew peg 42, which is a great silvers and winter peg, but hasn't been great during the summer. My section today ran from peg 41 (Chris Fox), p46 (James Withers), p51 (Steve Seager) and p55 (Trigger)
The lake had fished well on the 2 previous matches and we were all expecting a bumper day, however it turned out to be a struggle for most.
My attack revolved around paste again. Starting on the point of the island I had 3 carp in the opening 30mins, before it went quiet. A 6m line by the weed bed failed to produce a carp, which was a surprise and since I struggled to get a proper bite on paste, switched to fishing 6mm pellet and caught mostly skimmers, during a period when the lake appeared to have switched off.
Back over by the island fishing on top of a narrow shelf, I caught a number of carp on paste including an 11lber.
The frustration today was how spooky the fish appeared to be. I was expecting the action to pick up in the last 2 hours. Instead things just became more difficult. The fish didn't want to feed in the deeper water (and p42 is one of the deeper pegs on the lake), which meant I had to rely on catching in the shallow water of the island and down the margin. Getting the fish into the swim was fine, but they disappeared when the pole came over the heads.
As the match progressed, Steve was catching lumps down his margin and looked like he would win the section. Trigger said he was struggling as well and I thought if I could get a couple more fish I should secure at least 2nd in section, but in the last hour struggled to get a bite. The big disappointment was hooking a decent fish down the margin 10mins from the end, but the hook pulled. I knew it would cost me and it did, losing 2nd in section to Trigger by 1lb. Have to say I was little gutted.
In hindsight the top 3 weights came from the top half of the lake, which meant I had the best weight in the bottom half, but cant shake that feeling I should have down better.
1st 105-15 - Lewis Jones - p62
2nd 79- 0 - Steve Seager - p51
3rd 67- 1 - Craig Edmunds - p55
4th 65-12 - Ken Rayner - p42
League
1st - Craig Edmunds - 9pts (276-14)
2nd - Lewis Jones - 9pts (227- 9)
3rd - Ken Rayner - 8pts (207- 2)
Day 3 - Wednesday 7th - Speci Lake - p27
Weight - 55lb 12oz
Catch - 8 Carp, 6 Chub, 2 Roach
Weather - A little cooler. Cloudy & sunny periods
After the disappointment of yesterdays match, I really needed to get back on track. Speci Lake can be really peggy and of the pegs in the draw I really fancy 25, 27, 29 or 40. Unfortunately I found myself on p27, which is on the widest side of the lake and an area that can appear quite barren. Usually if I drew here I'll fish for silvers, but today I didn't image that would be possible. My section included p29 (James), p36 (Lewis), p38 (Steve) and p40 (Russ) and I fancied either Steve or Lewis to win the section.
The match turned out to be hard work. I caught all my carp at 16.5m by the island on paste. it was just a case of waiting for the carp to swim around and pick up the bait. When the sun came out the carp became really spooky and difficult to tempt.
A short meat line, a 14m pellet/paste line and right hand margin by the p28 pallet were I had fed pellet all didn't produce, other than 2 roach.
With 2 hrs to go, a kilo of groundbait was deposited in my left margin, fishing double corn all I caught was chub.
As expected Lewis & Steve caught to come 1st and 2nd in section. It also meant my run of 7 straight pick ups at Lands End had come to end.
1st 124- 9 - Craig Edmunds - p31
2nd 115-10 - Nick Duckett - p34
3rd 104- 8 - Lewis Jones - p36
4th 81- 5 - Steve Seager - p38
League
1st - Craig Edmunds - 14pts (401- 7)
2nd - Lewis Jones - 14pts (332- 1)
3rd - Steve Seager - 11pts (271-14)
Day 4 - Thursday 8th - Match Lake - p15
Weight - 106lb 10oz (24lb 12oz - silvers)
Catch - 19 Carp, 12 Skimmers, 2 Roach, 1 Ide
Weather - Cloudy & sunny periods
When I drew p15 I was really happy, because I had a chance to get back into the running. Having won the Garry Wall Memorial match from here 9 days ago I was confident of catching a few. However, my section included Trigger on p18 and Lewis on p19, plus Steve was p11, so 4 out of the top 5 were in the same section.
Well my match didn't go according to plan. I struggled to catch across by the island either on pellet or paste and was falling further behind Trigger, Lewis and Steve early on. The left hand margin were I caught really well 9 days ago was a struggle and in fact caught a few skimmers instead on either paste or 6mm pellet.
By the half way point I had 30lb in the net and really couldn't see how I was going to catch up. A new swim was set up to my right by the p16 platform, feeding 4s and 6s. I decided to concentrate on the left and right hand swims hoping to catch some proper carp, rather the squeakers by the island.
Whilst I started to catch more carp, I had very few over 6lb, and I was catching more skimmers, which I was too disappointed about, because there was £125 up for grabs for the highest total weight of "accidental" silvers over the week.
A strong finish to the match, but effectively my festival was over.
1st - 185- 4 - Craig Edmunds - p19
2nd - 146- 9 - Steve Seager - p11
3rd - 124- 5 - Russ Peck - p5
4th - 122- 1 - Lewis Jones - p19
League (after dropped result)
1st - Craig Edmunds - 15pts (519-10)
2nd - Lewis Jones - 14pts (332- 1)
3rd - Steve Seager - 13pts (306-14)
Weight - 43lb 9oz (2lb 9oz - silvers)
Catch - 10 Carp, 2 Skimmers, 1 F1
Weather - Showery, then sunny
My only chance of a pick up was the accidental silvers prize, which thanks to yesterdays net of skimmers meant I was leading with a total weight of 45lb 12oz. Nick Duckett was 12lb 3oz behind and James Withers was 24lb 10oz behind. Nick was lying 4th in the festival and had a very real chance of picking up in the overalls, so I was hoping he would target the carp rather than silvers, but when he drew p41 which is a good silvers area and I drew p66 which is a crap silvers area I knew my 12lb safety margin was in doubt. James drew p62 which is a carp area and to be honest I couldn't see him making up nearly 25lb in silvers, although he did suggest he would catch 30lb of silvers today, which prompted Trigger to state he would jump in the lake if he caught 30lb of silvers!
Back to my peg and Nick said the reed bed to the right is a carp magnet, because when he fished it Tuesday a lot of fish dived straight into the reed bed. My intention was to fish for carp, but I could keep an eye on Nick just in case he did target silvers.
Starting my the point of the island I hooked a fish straight away on paste and initially the carp was behaving itself steering it away from reeds, before it bolted eventually snagging itself in the reeds in peg 65! Not happy. Rather than pull for a break and potentially cracking a section I waded in to recover my rig. Needless to say I fished commando for the rest of the match.
As the match progressed everyone seemed to be struggling for bites. I could see Nick had caught a few silvers, so decided to try myself, catching a skimmer and F1 on 6mm pellet, before hooking a carp, then losing a foul hooker, which unsettled any silvers in the area.
I did manage another skimmer from the point of the island, but the lake was fishing really hard. So far I had avoided fishing next to the reed bed, but since I couldn't catch anywhere else decided it was time, so a paste rig with tighten 19h elastic was set up. I only lost 2 fish but didn't enjoy dragging fish out of their lair. 10mins from the end I had to go wading again, rescuing a carp which had wrapped itself around the reeds. Mike assured me the reeds will be removed before the Winter League starts.
As expected Trigger won from the in form peg 51 and there was no danger of him taking a dive into the lake as James only managed 3lb of silvers. Nick on the other hand caught 13lb 14oz, finishing only 14oz behind me overall!
1st 157-14 - Craig Edmunds - p51
2nd 130- 7 - Chris Fox - p42
3rd 77-14 - Lewis Jones - p55
4th 60- 2 - Steve Seager - p58
League (after droppers)
1st - Craig Edmunds - 20pts (676-15)
2nd - Steve Seager - 18pts (367- 0)
3rd - Lewis Jones - 17pts (454- 2)
Leading up this week I had a good run of results and hopeful of a top 3 position. However, after such a good start my week fell away. In hindsight I probably over fished the paste rather than fish pellet, also my fishing pellet shallow along the island let me down.
Overall a good week, with plenty of laughs, plenty of good fishing with an average weight over the week of 82lb per angler.
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