15/03/26 - Harescombe - Doughtnut

Weight - 32lb 15oz

Catch - 11 Carp, 1 Perch

Weather - Sunny start, cold and showery later. Windy!

Teams of 4 (40 fished) - 4th in section, 9th overall

The last round of the Teams of 4 and once again the weather was doing its best to ruin the day, with more wind and rain. Just feels like every round of this league the weather has deteriorated.

To win the league we (Tackle Den) had to overturn an 8pt deficit from Team 1,2,3,4, which was unlikely. So, we just wanted to maintain our 2^nd place from Maver Harescombe Green who were just 2pts behind.

We also had to recruit a super sub in the shape of Chris Cameron as Alistair was on a stag do, somewhere hot and sunny. So, thank you Chris.

The draw put me on p4, which hasn’t been great with 2x 9pts in the last 2 rounds.

Setting up the sun was out, but the wind was already gusty. On the all-in I tried dobbin maggot tight to the far bank, but the wind was making it difficult. A switch to fishing maggot at 13.5m and presentation was poor as the rig was pushing through the swim too quickly. Although I did catch a micro perch, I didn’t bother fishing long for the rest of the match. Instead, I switched to fishing the straight lead and double maggot (boosted with baninion and red dye), pinging maggot over the top, immediately resulted in a carp.

After 2hrs I had 5 carp all on the straight lead, but the following hour I couldn’t get a bite, In the meantime, both Cliff Dutton (p6) and Rob Kerslake (p8) started catching from their short maggot lines, with Rob doing the best.

Other than 1 lost foulhooker I couldn’t get a bite on my short maggot line. In hindsight (and after speaking to Cliff and Rob), I probably didn’t feed heavily enough.

Fortunately, I caught a further 2 carp on the straight lead, but both Cliff and Rob were now ahead of me. As I was struggling for bites, I decided to set up a new rig to fish meat down the right margin, a metre off the bank where it was 2.5ft deep, feeding 6mm meat and baninion micros, fishing an 8mm cube on the hook to help keep the rig as still as possible in the wind and tow.

I managed 1 carp soon after feeding, but it wasn’t until the last 15mins that they arrived, netting 3 carp for 10lb. This gave me 4pts and a section pickup that I was very happy with and a good finish to what has been a tough league for me.

As for team, we finished 2^nd on the day and finished the league as runners-up. Well done to Team 1,2,3,4 who comfortably won.

1.    71-14 – Luke Fothergill (Future Network) – p15 match

2.    67-13 – Mick O’Brien (Swinetown) – p13 meadow

3.    39-  7 - Rob Kerslake (Fintastic) – p8 doughnut

4.    37-  9 – Allan Oram (Future Network) – p16 doughnut

5.    35-  8 – Matt Shepherd (Future Network) – p9 field

6.    34-  9 – Simon Collins (4 tops) – p14 doughtnut

Teams on the Day

1.    Future Network – 9pts

2.    Tackle Den – 17pts

2.    Maver Harescombe Green – 17pts

4.    Team 1,2,3,4 – 18pts

4.    Fintastic – 18pts

Final top 4

1.    Team 1,2,3,4 – 9pts

2.    Tackle Den – 15pts

3.    Maver Harescombe Green – 17pts

4.    Future Networks – 21pts