25/09/22 - Goodiford Mill - Match Lake

Weight - 66lb 2oz

Catch - 13 Carp, 5 Skimmers, 2 Roach

Weather - Chilly start, mostly sunny and flat, cloudy later.

Match - So Simple League - rd 8 (18 fished) - 11th overall (4th in section)

The last round of the So Simple league and I was lying 2^nd courtesy of a better weight advantage as 3 of us (Karl, Gary and myself) were all on the same number of points.

When I drew peg 1, I initially thought I would be able to cast to the island on my right with the willow tree, but when Chris Whitehead turned up on p51 I realised that wouldn’t be possible. With Phil Hart on peg 2, I had no features to fish to, just open water.

I was told there was a bar and to fish on top of this, although no one could tell me exactly where it was. Plumbing around revealed a very slightly shallower spot about 30m out, but no bar. I was also told it was a good peg for the pellet waggler, however it was a very chilly start, bright and there was no ripple. Other than fishing the open water I had very few options. I set up a pole line at 13m fed with 4s and a margin rig which I wasn’t hopeful about as the pegs either side were quite tight.

Well, the first 3 hours was a struggle, I only had 1 skimmer on the method, 3 carp and 2 big roach on the waggler and a few silvers on the pole. I was long way behind everyone in my section, as they all had shallow water or islands to target, which it soon became obvious the fish preferred to be and not on the deck in 5ft of water.

At the halfway stage, I was going nowhere and felt I had to force the peg, dumping a pint of 8s via a catapult in 5mins. This seemed to work, as I managed to pull in a few carp catching a further 5 carp on the waggler and 5 on the straight lead and red 8mm gonut up to 10lb. In total I fed 6pts of 8s, which was all I had!

I’m pleased I managed to pull back 2 section places, but I needed a further 35lb to claim 3^rd in section. Unfortunately, lost fish was a problem, either due to a snag or some of the carp had poor mouths resulting in hook pulls, which was quite frustrating.

In the end I finished 4^th overall, collecting £125. Karl managed to win his section, to claim 2nd, although there is a suggestion, he was coached all the way by Giff – lol. Gary had a similar match to me, and Chris Whitehead claimed 2^nd in section to finish on the same number of points as me and claimed 3^rd spot by 4lb. So, a tight finish and well done to Chris ‘Giff’ Ware who comfortably won the league.

It has been an interesting league due to the variety of venues; it was just unfortunate that Durleigh didn’t fish as well as expected. However, it was good to meet up with a good bunch of lads and an enjoyable league fished in good spirit, it was just a shame that Andy was unable to attend as he waits for a knee operation.

1.    161-10 – Elliot Faye – p7

2.    148- 8 – Karl Turner – p28

3.    134- 4 – Andy Bull – p36

4.    117- 3 – Simon Poynter – p16

5.    113-11 – Chris Whitehead – p51