27/03/22 - Todber Manor - Hillview

Weight - 201lb 3oz

Catch - 58 Carp, 3 Skimmers

Weather - Easterly breeze. Bright & sunny.

Match - So Simple League - rd 2 (18 fished). 2nd overall & 2nd in section

The 2^nd round of the So Simple League and it fell on me to sort out the pegging (so it was my fault if you didn’t catch 😊).

At the draw there were 3 pegs left, 42, 47 & 58. I really didn’t want 42, and I drew 42! Leaving Andy on 58 and Elliot on 47. With the easterly wind blowing off my back and being flat calm in front of me I was a little concerned, as the bigger fish in particular follow the wind. My section ran from 34 to 43 so at least I could keep an eye on everyone, particularly the 30s where there was a nice ripple.

Like yesterday I wanted to keep it simple, and it was the same plan of attack, i.e. feeder to the island, short meat line and meat down the margin.

On the all-in meat & micros was fed at 2+2 and I started on a small method, with fishery micros boosted with ‘sludge’ and a 6mm orange gofter or 6mm kriller pellet on the hook. 

In the 1^st hour I had 9 carp and to keep them coming I had to swap from the right side of the island to the left, and back again. Trying my short line didn’t produce and I felt sorry for Will to my right who was struggling as he didn’t have an island chuck and there didn’t seem to be any fish on our side of the lake in the flat conditions. I was just thankful I was able to catch on the feeder.

Fortunately, I stayed on the feeder for another 2hrs putting about 90lb in the net, but I noticed the anglers in the 30s catching, particularly Chris on p36 who had some big fish down the margin.

I could have kept on the feeder, but the average stamp of fish was 3lb and I felt I needed my short line and margins to work, and hopefully some bigger fish.

Disappointingly my short meat line only produced 1 carp. A couple of metres off the left-hand margin in 2ft of water I found a few more carp on meat, but it just didn’t seem right.

In the meantime, I had been feeding micros tight in the right margin and noticed the water clouding up. Fishing paste (50:50 mix of Blue Ice & Kriller) I caught my first paste fish of the year. With 2hrs remaining I took a gamble and big potted micros tight down both margins. Initially I struggled to catch properly but found it best to feed the right margin and fish the left, catch a carp, then feed the left and fish the right.

The last hour was particularly good as I caught some better fish and probably fed about 8-9pts of micros down my margins.

In the end I was pleased to have caught what I did and fortunate my feeder line kept me in the running during the first half of the match.

Well done to Chris for winning the section and match from what is regarded a poor peg, it just proves those fish have fins and will follow the wind.

1.    217- 2 – Chris Ware – p36

2.    201- 3 – Ken Rayner – p42

3.    176-10 – Eliott Fay – p47

4.    169- 9 – Chris Whitehead – p56

5.    164-10 – Andy Seery – p58