5/11/23 - Ivy House - Kingfisher

Weight - 37lb 14oz

Catch - 14 Carp, 8 Skimmer, 1 Perch, 1 Roach

Weather - Mostly sunny, showers later. Cool NW breeze

Match - Winter League - rd 1 (48 anglers) - 5th in section

The first round of the Winter League and one I look forward to, not least because I have come 6^th and 2^nd in the last 2 years.

This year we had 48 anglers and with some very good anglers fishing it was likely to be very competitive. Unlike previous years, there would be 6 rounds instead of 5, so 6 sections of 8.

The section draw was held on Friday evening and my rotation would be Kingfisher, Old Match Lake, Heron A, Moorhen, Willow and Heron B.

I wasn’t sure how Kingfisher would fish as it had been affected by flooding when the brook that runs parallel to the lake burst its bank. I had expected it to be heavily coloured following the weeks rain. However, Andy had increased the height of the bank along the brook which meant the lake wasn’t at as coloured as expected.

At the draw, I pulled p37, which I was pleased with, although a little concerned with all the groundwork along the far bank to prevent future flooding. Also, the peg can be a bit hit and miss in the winter.

On the all-in I started off dobbin bread and maggot along the far end bank, apart from a couple of nips from roach I didn’t catch. A switch to fishing corn over micros at the bottom of the far shelf, only produced a skimmer, which was a concern.

I eventually found my first carp toss potting maggot sprayed with U-Zit P-Nut down the end bank, catching 2 more before that dried up. After 2 hours I switched to a 2+2 line, where I had been feeding maggot from the start and caught 4 skimmers up to 1.5lb and then a carp, but I couldn’t catch again until much later in the match when I had a couple more skimmers.

The rest of the match was spent trying various areas of the swim. I had 2 carp dobbin bread, none dobbin maggot and the best area was down the end bank toss potting in maggot, but I couldn’t catch more than 2 carp before they backed off.

I had fed my margin for later in the match and pinged pellet to my left at the bottom of the far shelf without success. I had a chat with Jason on p39 and Neil on p46 who were 1^st & 2^nd in section and they both caught on dobbin maggot across, so I’m not sure I did too much wrong, I just feel there were not too many fish in the swim.

So, a disappointing first round result, finishing 5^th in section, but at least I have 5 more matches to pull myself up the league.

1.    144-  1 – Matt Hamilton – p16 (Heron)

2.    133-11 – Neil Morgan – p46 (Kingfisher)

3.    112-  7 – Andy Dixey – p6 (Heron)

4.    110-  6 – Rob Guppy – p13 (Heron)

5.    100-  0 – Simon Duke – p21 (Heron)

6.      89-  0 – Steve Martin – p2 (Heron)