03/12/22 - Todber - Homeground

Weight - 193lb 14oz

Catch - 50 Carp

Weather - Cold, cloudy, north easterly breeze

Match - Open (11 fished) - 2nd overall

I decided to have a practice at Todber in preparation for next week’s Christmas match and I’m glad I went as I learnt a few things after nearly messing up a very good peg in the shape of p91.

There were only 11 of us, so we were all put on Homeground and it was nice to see the water levels back up to normal.

I started on the lead & bread to the island and had a carp straight away, netting a 2^nd after 20mins. I tried the pole and expander over micros and 4s at 14m, but lost 4 in 4 put ins, and wondered if it was going to be one of those days.

I tried catching at ¾ depth, without success and went back down on the deck eventually catching a couple but falling behind Ben Bentley next to me who was catching well at 14m, so quite frustrating.

I also tried the maggot feeder across to the island and caught 2 immediately, but again struggled. So, after 2hrs I probably had 10 fish for 30lb and was a long way behind most.

Fortunately, I managed to get it sorted and started to catch well at 5m on meat. As a back-up I potted ½ pot of micros and meat down the left margin. 5mins later I could see the water clouding up and first drop in resulted in a 9lber. This place is just bonkers.

The rest of the match was a case of rotating between the margin and 5m line, switching when ever 1 line needed a rest.

In the end I was pleased to have come 2^nd, but to be honest had I switched to meat sooner I could have won the match, so plenty of lessons learnt for next week. However, looking at the weather for this coming week it’s going to be very cold.

1.    214-  8 – Greg Welsby – p78

2.    193-14 – Ken Rayner – p91

3.    191-  0 – Sam Williams – p89

4.    163-  8 – Simon Stacey – p87