03/01/22 - Todber - Homeground

Weight - 87lb 12oz

Catch - 22 Carp, 1 Bream

Weather - Grey and cloudy, with a light breeze.

Match - Open (46 anglers)

The last match of the festive break and the first match of the new year. 46 anglers turned up over Hillview, Homeground and even Firs was included as there was a club match on Ash. What this would mean was some tight pegging and poor draws.

I drew 79 on Homeground, which is Ok, but honestly just the wrong end of the lake. During the pairs match on Friday the fish had spread out and I hoped they still were as it felt a little cooler today.

Tactics were the same as Friday, straight lead and baninion boosted corn to the island, pellet/corn at 14.5m and meat short, this time at 3+2, rather 2+2. However, plumbing up revealed it was about 9in shallower this side of the lake and probably explained why the fish preferred to vacate this area of the lake in the winter.

Starting on the straight lead I had my first fish after 20mins and it was noticeable that it was slower than Friday for most, except for the high 80’s and p90.

Coming onto the 14.5m line which was primed with 4s and corn, only produced a couple of fish to corn and this line failed to produce for the rest of the match, which was a surprise, as I caught so well on it last match.

After 90mins some people had started to catch, including Pete Neate to my left who was catching short. As I was struggling to catch anywhere in my peg, I dropped in on my short line earlier than I wanted and promptly caught 7 carp up to 11lb in 45mins, before it died.

The rest of the match was a case of catch a couple of fish short, rest it, try to nick a fish either at 14m or on the lead (not always successfully), then catch another 1 or 2 fish short.

The short line improved a little for the last 45mins with another 6 fish, but I was falling further behind Nick Chedzoy to my right who caught on pellet long and meat short, who did well to win lake with 166lb. Seen it happen before on this lake, it sometimes feels like there is brick wall between the pegs.

As expected, the pegs to my right generally did better than the pegs to my left. To be honest, I may have and should have fed micros over my long line, when I realised that pinging 4s wasn’t working, however felt I needed to be positive and draw fish into the swim as I was in a poor area.

That said, I had a nice day. It’s not often you catch 87lb in winter and still come nowhere, as I finished 9^th (out of 15) on Homeground and 17^th overall.

1st: Trigger 202lb 14oz (49 HV)

2nd: Nick Chedzoy 166lb 14oz (78 HG)

3rd: Matt Rowe 151lb 10oz (90 HG)

4th: Dwayne Seed 149lb 0oz (88 HG)

5th: Dave Griffiths 139lb 2oz (48 HV)

6th: Roland Lucas 133lb 6oz (86 HG)