Well, what a brilliant day that was..........apart from the fact that it rained nearly all day, the wind was cold, my hands were freezing, I drew a crap peg, left my roach elastics at home, dropped my pole and damaged the 6th section, caught hardly anything and came last !
Anyway, here's what happened !
With 21 anglers fishing this round on the match lake at Sumners pond, the crucians and chub you really wanted to catch were mostly being caught in the pegs around the islands and 9-16 looked like the draw you wanted. The pegs I really really really didn't want to draw were 20 and 21 as they were in the big bay on the right hand bank with very little silvers form at all.
God and Terry Harrison went off to peg the lake and I said I'd help out doing the draw. Surely by doing my good deed for the day and helping out with the draw I would be rewarded with a decent peg wouldn't I ? WRONG I drew Peg 20 !
Arriving at my peg which is set right back in the bay, I started setting up only to find that I had taken my "silvers tops"out of my holdall last weekend when fishing a carp match and left them at home in my tackle room ! This wasn't the ideal start as it now meant that white hydro was my lightest ealstic so fishing properly for roach was now a bit of a no no. I then dropped my pole when plumbing up and the sixth section caught the front of the platform and chipped a bit out of it and cracked a bit. Whilst plumbing up I lowered the rig into the water at about 4 metres and the bulk shot was still out of the water which isn't too condusive to catching silvers close in !
If I am now beginning to sound a little depressed.......I was ! Having come second in Round 1 of the league, I really wanted to do well this week just to prove that it wasn't just a fluke result !
I finally settled on the following plan of attack:
* One line at 5 metres just in case the fish wanted to be in the shallow water.
* One line at 11 metres at 10 o'clock to fish for crucians, tench, skimmer etc with pellett
* A paste line at 8 metres at 2 o'clock - just as something different.
Anyway, here's what happened !
With 21 anglers fishing this round on the match lake at Sumners pond, the crucians and chub you really wanted to catch were mostly being caught in the pegs around the islands and 9-16 looked like the draw you wanted. The pegs I really really really didn't want to draw were 20 and 21 as they were in the big bay on the right hand bank with very little silvers form at all.
God and Terry Harrison went off to peg the lake and I said I'd help out doing the draw. Surely by doing my good deed for the day and helping out with the draw I would be rewarded with a decent peg wouldn't I ? WRONG I drew Peg 20 !
Arriving at my peg which is set right back in the bay, I started setting up only to find that I had taken my "silvers tops"out of my holdall last weekend when fishing a carp match and left them at home in my tackle room ! This wasn't the ideal start as it now meant that white hydro was my lightest ealstic so fishing properly for roach was now a bit of a no no. I then dropped my pole when plumbing up and the sixth section caught the front of the platform and chipped a bit out of it and cracked a bit. Whilst plumbing up I lowered the rig into the water at about 4 metres and the bulk shot was still out of the water which isn't too condusive to catching silvers close in !
If I am now beginning to sound a little depressed.......I was ! Having come second in Round 1 of the league, I really wanted to do well this week just to prove that it wasn't just a fluke result !
I finally settled on the following plan of attack:
* One line at 5 metres just in case the fish wanted to be in the shallow water.
* One line at 11 metres at 10 o'clock to fish for crucians, tench, skimmer etc with pellett
* A paste line at 8 metres at 2 o'clock - just as something different.
In hindsight I should have set up a maggot feeder to fish to the point of the island for chub and carp (carp were worth 8 ounces) but as my feeder rod was also sitting in my tackle room it was unfortunately impossible ! What a muppet eh.
I started on the pellet line by feeding a small quantity of micros and 4mm pellets and fished a 4mm expander over the top and although Ian Covey and Dave Bacon either side of me were catching a few roach, I was still fishless after an hour. I then switched to fishing caster overdepth on the pellet line, cupping in 8 or 9 casters each put in and started to catch a few roach before loseing a big carp that I think may have been foulhooked.
I continued to catch the odd roach and a bonus 1.5lb chub before catching two carp in the last hour. Both carp counted 8 ounces which was a bit frustrating as one was about 9lb !
I was certainly right about the pegs to draw as if you remember I fancied 9-16 and just look where the weights came from.
Oh yes, if you wonder why the weights are odd, SG didn't bring any scales and had to borrow the digital ones off Simon (the owner) unfortunately they didn't come with instructions and he end up weighing in in pounds and parts of pounds !!!!!!!
Result
Pete Growns Peg 11 31.6
Steve Gardener Peg 14 21.4
Dave Sandford Peg 16 21.15 (including 22 carp)
Terry Harrison Peg 15 20.9
Donald Garnish Peg 13 20.6
Steve Sanders Peg 7 18.35
Adam Lee Peg 17 16.15
Chris Love Peg 5 15.6
Mark Sandford Peg 10 14.1
Bob Poulton Peg 8 13.05
Dave Bacon Peg 21 12.95
Ian Covey Peg 19 9.65
John Holt Peg 1 9.35
Brian Wharton Peg 9 9.3
Mick Keeper Peg 12 9.15
Derek White Peg 18 9.15
Rob Draisey Peg 3 8.5
Dave Lewis Peg 4 8.5
Terry Maddox Peg 2 6.45
Jim McDowell Peg 6 4.85
Dave Pearson Peg 20 4.55
Fortunately you can drop one result in the league - so that might be mine ! Round 3 is in two weeks time on Sumners silvers lake where I very rarely catch much - yippeeee do.
But before then I have another round of the Willinghurst Masters and the weather forecast says 1 degree and 20 mph winds. I do sometimes wonder why I do this winter match fishing.
I started on the pellet line by feeding a small quantity of micros and 4mm pellets and fished a 4mm expander over the top and although Ian Covey and Dave Bacon either side of me were catching a few roach, I was still fishless after an hour. I then switched to fishing caster overdepth on the pellet line, cupping in 8 or 9 casters each put in and started to catch a few roach before loseing a big carp that I think may have been foulhooked.
I continued to catch the odd roach and a bonus 1.5lb chub before catching two carp in the last hour. Both carp counted 8 ounces which was a bit frustrating as one was about 9lb !
I was certainly right about the pegs to draw as if you remember I fancied 9-16 and just look where the weights came from.
Oh yes, if you wonder why the weights are odd, SG didn't bring any scales and had to borrow the digital ones off Simon (the owner) unfortunately they didn't come with instructions and he end up weighing in in pounds and parts of pounds !!!!!!!
Result
Pete Growns Peg 11 31.6
Steve Gardener Peg 14 21.4
Dave Sandford Peg 16 21.15 (including 22 carp)
Terry Harrison Peg 15 20.9
Donald Garnish Peg 13 20.6
Steve Sanders Peg 7 18.35
Adam Lee Peg 17 16.15
Chris Love Peg 5 15.6
Mark Sandford Peg 10 14.1
Bob Poulton Peg 8 13.05
Dave Bacon Peg 21 12.95
Ian Covey Peg 19 9.65
John Holt Peg 1 9.35
Brian Wharton Peg 9 9.3
Mick Keeper Peg 12 9.15
Derek White Peg 18 9.15
Rob Draisey Peg 3 8.5
Dave Lewis Peg 4 8.5
Terry Maddox Peg 2 6.45
Jim McDowell Peg 6 4.85
Dave Pearson Peg 20 4.55
Fortunately you can drop one result in the league - so that might be mine ! Round 3 is in two weeks time on Sumners silvers lake where I very rarely catch much - yippeeee do.
But before then I have another round of the Willinghurst Masters and the weather forecast says 1 degree and 20 mph winds. I do sometimes wonder why I do this winter match fishing.
