12/02/22 - Todber - Hillview

Weight - 83lb 10oz

Catch - 20 Carp

Weather - Sunny, cloudy period. Strong southerly wind.

Match - Open (28 fished) - 10th overall, 2nd in section.

28 of us over Hillview and Ash, but after a mild week, it was cold yesterday and today it was blowing a bit.

I am due a draw on a few fish and when I opened the ticket to see 46 staring back at me again, I did think oh FFS! I was prepared to fish for silvers, but when I got to my peg the cold southerly wind was blowing straight into my face and I didn’t fancy battling the wind by fishing the pole. During the week a few fish had been caught in the area, although most seemed to be hanging around 47 & 48 between the islands, so I settled on the idea of fishing the straight lead or feeder. I had set up one pole rig to fish meat short, but never had a bite on it.

On the all in I fed 3 large cage feeders of micros and corn (boosted with baninion) at 16m. I started off fishing the straight lead with either 8 or 10mm punched meat in the deeper water off the island and 20mins later caught a 4lber. After 2hrs I only had 2 carp in the net, whilst those around me were catching and I felt the writing was on the wall again, I then had a run of 5 carp up to 10lb from the island which made me feel happier.

On the 16m line I had been fishing a pellet cone and corn to try and concentrate some feed in the same area, and it started to work as I began to put a run of fish together, switching to the island whenever it went quiet.

With 45mins remaining the 16m line seemed to dry up and I switched to feeding meat catapulting 2 pouches every cast which resulted in a couple more fish.

I was glad when the match finished as my hands were freezing and I was surprised to finish 2^nd in section. However, I was also a little annoyed at myself, as I lost 3 carp over the short line which snapped the hooklength by having the clutch set too tight and another where the hook pulled out on the whistle. Either of those fish would have given me the section win and with a little more care 4^th overall was a possibility.

1st: Trigger 106lb 8oz (60 HV)

2nd: Dwayne Seed 103lb 8oz (49 HV)

3rd: Martin McMahon 99lb 8oz (59 HV)

4th: Rocky 98lb 2oz (70 Ash)

5th: Pemb Wrighting 94lb 8oz (61 HV)

Silvers:

1st: Pete Neate 22lb 2oz (36 HV)

2nd: Paul Holland 19lb 8oz (67 Ash)

3rd: Jack Jones 17lb 4oz (62 Ash)