Catch - 13 Carp, 1 Perch
Weather - Wet start, sunny later
Match - Winter League rd3 (14 fished) - 2nd section, 6th overall
The 3rd round of the Winter League and we were
down a man, however they had paid their pools which is appreciated.
I drew p3, which to be honest I wasn’t overly excited about,
particularly as it came last in section during the first round. Plumbing up
revealed why it’s not the best area of the lake in the winter, as its little narrower
(14m) and shallower. That said, I would have been disappointed not to get at
least 2nd in section.
I had intended to start the match dobbing bread or maggot,
however the far bank plumbed up like a scrap yard and was much shallower than
expected. So, I decided to try the lead and bread off to my right where a fish
had shown itself whilst setting up, however without success.
I eventually caught my first fish after 45mins, fishing a metre
off the far bank slightly the left in 3ft of water where it was flatish,
initially feeding a small ball of groundbait (Top G:Crushed Expander) and then
tapping in maggot (covered with So Simple Red Dye) and a few baninion micros, with maggot on the hook. A further
3 followed and I was leading the section, with Tom Driver on p1 being the only
other angler to have caught in my section.
After that burst of fish, the swim slowed and I tried the
straight lead and maggot off to my right where I been pinging maggot but never
had a bite all match over this line. Returning to my ‘3ft’ swim produced another
2 fish before the swim died again.
So far, I had ignored fishing tight to the far bank, trying
not to put any fish that were in the swim under too much pressure, but I now
felt I had no choice. After feeding a little groundbait and maggot I caught 2
carp quite quickly on maggot, but again the action didn’t last. In the
meantime, Tom’s peg had sparked into life, and he was catching a better stamp
of fish.
I had fed a 2+2 line with groundbait, loose feeding maggot
over the top. With an hour to go I dropped in on this line and caught 2 carp
straight away and thought here we go but couldn’t catch another.
I had another 2 fish from a new ‘3ft’ water swim to the left
of the original, but that was it. During the last 15mins I had another carp
over the short line on maggot but couldn’t get another.
By the all-out I knew Tom had one more fish than me, so I
was looking at 2nd in section. Fortunately, the rest of my section
struggled with 8lb being the next best.
So, at the halfway point I’m lying 4th in the
league and after having 2 ‘iffy’ draws, I am at least still in with a shout
making the top 3, although Chris Cameron now has 3pts and is proving difficult
to beat.
1. 60- 1 – Chris Cameron – p21
2.
59- 7 –
Nigel Reeves – p22
3.
51- 5 –
Simon Duke – p26
4.
49- 3 –
Tom Driver – p1