It was back to the Top Lake at Willinghurst for me again for the Leatherhead DAS club match last sunday. Following wednesday's disappointing result and having seen the saturday open won with 60lb and loads of people with only between 2 and 4 carp, I wasn't really looking forward to the match despite the fact that the lake usually fishes much better on a sunday.
I arrived with Don who was fishing the open to find that only 10 club members had turned up so at least we'd all have some room ! With the pegging well spread, I really just wanted to avoid the 3 pegs on the back spit, so when I put my hand in the hat and drew Peg 10 on the main lake I was more than happy. The peg hasn't really produced for a while but with the next peg to my right being Peg 4 I had loads of room and was confident of catching in the edge late in the match.
With nobody else fishing the lead near me, my plan of attack was to start off on the straight lead with pellet or meat on a hair rig and feed a few pellets over the top. Unusually for me, I also decided to fish a long pole (14 metres) with catfood . I also had a short line at 6 metres (no suprise there then) and either side in the edge.
On the whistle (well it would have been if we'd had one) I fed a pot of catfood pushed through a riddle on the long line, half a pot on the short line and some hemp (courtesy of Mick The Bookie - Thanks Mick), pellets and cubes of luncheon meat in the edge. After about 30 minutes of fishing the lead with a variety of baits I'd not seen a sign of a fish but as there were fish blowing on my long line, I threw the rod up the bank and picked up the pole. Fishing a small piece of catfood on a size 14 hook, I soon had my first fish, a "baby" carp of about 3lb in the net, I then kept switching between the long and short lines and managed to add a couple of bigger carp to my bulging keepnet ! Every now and then I'd have a look inthe edge pegs but a number of roach bites revealed that no carp had yet moved in over the feed.
With about half the match gone, I'd still got three fish in the net but to be fair, that was up with the leaders as nobody seemed to be catching. At two o'clock I had another look in my right hand edge peg next to the rushes and after a minute or so the float shot under and with the fish being no match for my H10 and red hydro, I soon added another 7lb to my weight. What followed was one of the best couple of hours I'd had at Willinghurst for a long time as by feeding a pot of hemp, pellet and luncheon meat every now and then and kinder cupping some feed every put in, I managed to catch fairly consistently until the end fishing two cubes of luncheon meat on a size 14 B911 to 0.18 G Line. I just kept switching between the two edge pegs and ignored the other lines as depite having fish blowing over the feed, I still struggled to get a proper bite if I fished over it.
Tony Plumbridge had been catching well opposite (Peg 18) on paste and Ross was sneaking in a few late fish on Peg 15 but I knew I had over 100lb which I thought would be enough. Isn't fishing a funny old game, all it takes is one decent result and you can't wait to get out again soon.
Result
Dave Pearson Peg 10 126-8-0
Tony Plumbridge Peg 18 78-0-0
Ross Nursey Peg 15 77-0-0
Peter Turnbull Peg 12 64-0-0
Woody Peg 26 60-0-0
It's back to Willinghurst on wednesday for the open and I can't wait !!!!! I expect it will be back to normal though and the weather looks rubbish. Come back here Thursday to see if my excitement was warranted.
