Monday, 16 January 2023

14/01/23 - Todber - Hillview

Weight - 47lb 8oz
Catch - 12 Carp, 3 Skimmers, 1 Tench
Weather - Wet & windy start. Dryer later, but colder and still windy.
Match - Christmas Match (71 fished) 

Today was the rescheduled Christmas Match and although 90 booked in, 71 turned up. I was with Tony Gilbert and Matt Banks in the draw queue. Tony drew 51, Matt 53 and I was on 52 again. How does that happen?

Must admit I wasn’t particularly happy, as the wind was blowing into the arm of the lake, and it rarely fishes well when all pegs are in. Whilst that is the luck of the draw, pegs 42 and 48 weren’t drawn thanks to the no shows.

Having drawn the peg only 2 weeks ago I at least knew the contours of the peg which is one of the deepest and with the wind blowing strongly left to right, presentation was going to be challenge.

I decided to start on the method to far bank which didn’t produce and neither did the straight lead and meat towards the pipe or the 2+2 line.

I eventually caught a carp on the method after 45mins and it was slow going for most, probably as a result all the recent heavy rain. After 90mins it stopped raining and the wind had dropped. Since I was struggling to catch, I quickly set up a rig to fish at 13m fishing corn over micros. A couple of skimmers, then a carp and the signs were promising, however after 15mins the wind picked up again I couldn’t fish this line for the rest of the match. Fishing the straight lead and corn over the top resulted in a couple more carp, but I couldn’t feed the line properly due to the wind.

I kept rotating lines, picking up the occasional fish and going into the last hour I was ready to pack up, as the wind moved slightly to a north westerly direction, and it was becoming increasingly colder.

The last 45 minutes was my best period when the 2+2 line kicked into life as the wind dropped a little and I probably had over half my weight in that period.

A disappointing day and I think Tony and I were probably close to last on the lake, so just not the right area on the day.

1st: Simon Stacey 184lb 2oz (90 HG)
2nd: Steve Organ 176lb 1oz (84 HG)
3rd: Phil Hardwick 175lb 14oz (58 HV)
4th: Lee Jan 171lb 0oz (80 HG)
5th: Ash Tomkins 160lb 2oz (83 HG)
Whitepost Top Lake Section: Greg Welsby 140lb 2oz (8)
Firs Section: Mark Wynn 95lb 0oz (33)
Hill View Section Low Numbers: Gary O'Shea 133lb 0oz (38)
Hill View Section High Numbers: Richard Wyatt 144lb 12oz (54)
Ash Section: Simon Dimment 132lb 8oz (69)
Homeground Section: Dwayne Seed 154lb 4oz (89)


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