02/07/23 - Ivy House - Old Match Lake

Weight - 61lb 2oz

Catch - 14 Carp, 2 Skimmers

Weather - Sunny, stong westerly

Match - Steve Martins Summer Series (15 fished) - 8th overall, 3rd in section

The 3^rd round of this summer series. As I was lying 2^nd, I wanted a decent draw to consolidate my position. However, when I pulled p13 I wasn’t happy, as it struggled in yesterday’s match and it rarely features other than for silvers, plus I was in the middle of 3, with Tony Gilbert on p12 and Martin Pettifer on p14. Chatting to Martin we realised we drew the same pegs last year in this league and struggled then, so today was about damage limitation.

After having a chat to myself, I decided to be positive and focus on just 2 swims. 3+2 to fish paste and the feeder by the island. I did try the margins, but with pegs in either side I didn’t waste too time.

I started on the method, feeding micros, casting every 2mins to build up some bait. I caught my first carp, all 8oz of it after 30mins. With an hour gone I had a proper carp, quickly followed by another on a 6mm yellow wafter, before 3 ducks turned up and I couldn’t get another bite. I had no choice but to stop feeding, whilst I tried the short line without success.

10 mins later the ducks had had their fill, so I started back on the feeder and the bloody ducks returned. This time however one of them snaffled the wafter, which provided some amusement for those around me. It eventually broke me, but at least I never had any more problems with ducks!

At the halfway point (of a 5.5hr match) I probably only had 10lb. The feeder line took a little time to get restarted after the duck invasion and by casting every 2mins started to get a few fish.

I occasionally switched back to the paste line where I kept feeding 4s, hoping the carp would rock up like they did last week. Although I caught a couple, the short line was disappointing and I reverted back to the feeder.

Tony managed to catch late down his margin on dead maggot to maintain his lead in the series. As for me, coming halfway in the match was probably the best I could have hoped for as the majority of the weights came from the opposite bank. Fortunately, I’m still 2^nd in the league, so damage limitation achieved.

1.    149-10 – Steve Martin – p6

2.    112- 8 – Nigel Reeves – p18

3.    111- 7 – Andy Eagle – p8

4.    100-14 – Dave Martin – p9

5.      92- 1 – Tony Gilbert – p12