28/07/24 - Ivy House - Heron

Weight - 192lb 0oz

Catch - 154 Carp, 33 F1s, 1 Gudgeon

Weather - Warm and sunny

Match - Open (11 fished) - 1st overall

Today was going to be a warm one and we were all hoping for a few bites.

More than happy to draw p10 as its my favourite peg and usually a good area for F1s, however the match didn’t go as expected.

I started on Uzit GLM paste at 1+1, whilst priming a shallow caster line. After 25mins I had 16 fish and the F1s were already showing themselves shallow at 8m in the shade of a tree.

A switch to the shallow line resulted in a run of F1s which were a bigger stamp than the paste fish, switching between 2 conventional shallow rigs (4 & 8 inches), both of which were better than the overshotted rig. As the sun got higher the shallow line became worse with the F1s being replaced by small carp.

In the 3^rd hour my top kit plus 2 sections detached as I threw the pole back. The F1 that was attached took the whole lot to the far bank, which meant I had to go in for a swim!

To rest the shallow swim, I switched to the left margin on paste, initially feeding fishery micros and then 4s boosted by Uzit GLM pellet soak. I had a run of decent stamp carp, before the little ones appeared and this became a pattern for the rest of the match.

I kept the shallow line going and when I returned, I would catch a couple of F1s, before the small carp reappeared. I also opened up the right margin feeding caster, where fishing 8in was better than 4in.

As the match progressed, I just rotated around the 3 swims, trying to stay in touch with the bigger stamp fish. With 90mins remaining, I was just wasting my time with the shallow line as the F1s became really difficult to catch, so I just concentrated on the 2 margin swims and the stamp of fish slightly improved towards the end.

Come the weigh in I thought I might have 200lb and knew I had beaten the anglers I could see, but Tony Gilbert and Mick O’Brien were on the other side of lake. Unfortunately, the stamp of fish was below average, so I didn’t make 200lb and fortunately I just beat Tony and Mick to claim the win.

1.    192-  0 – Ken Rayner – p10

2.    187-  8 – Tony Gilbert – p21

3.    182-  8 – Mick O’Brien – p19

4.    172-  0 – Simon Duke – p4