This time we were on the left hand bank and with 20 odd anglers fishing, competition secretary Peter Turnbull had pegged it two pegs then a gap so that everyone had at least one blank peg next to them. Having drawn Peg 7 I looked down the draw sheet to see there were two anglers still to draw and three pegs remaining as there was one angler who hadn't arrived.
Fortunately for me nobody drew Peg 6 which meant that I had a blank peg to my left and TWO blank pegs to my right ! Thanks for not turning up Howard !!!!!
Whilst some like to fish a lead or waggler and then play "Try to pull the fish away from the island , I always fish paste on the pole at between 6 and 9 metres and also a margin swim if I can get to it properly. With the wind blowing strongly from left to right I set up to fish paste at 11 O'clock at about 8 metres and also at 2 o'clock just down the shelf at about 6 metres - I hoped this would be my banker line as it would be easier to fish being "Down the wind" and also not as far out. I also did a bit of gardening in the edge and cleaned out a lovely little margin swim.
My rigs were 0.20 G Line to a size 10 B911 hook, one with a maver paste float and one with a Hillbilly Pikey Paste float. Both rigs were fished on my H10 edge pole with red hydro in the tops.
My paste was made from Green Swim stim pelletts and dynamite baits meaty pellett ground bait in a tin - a mix I have used successfully at Stub Pond before. On the whistle I cupped in a big pot of hemp with a bit of paste on all the lines and started fishing the longer line. Whilst presentation wasn't easy in the wind I started to get a few bites and after an hour had 5 carp in the net which from what I could hear on the bankside grapevine wasn't doing too badly. I was desperate to catch on the shorter line as it was so much easier to fish but depite keep trying it, I didn't have my first indication there until nearly 2 and a half hours into the match. I then just rotated the two lines, feeding a pot of hemp as I left each one. With two hours to go I had 20 carp in the net but just as I was expecting to really bag up, the peg started to slow up, there were still fish about in the peg but they seemed a lot more cautious than earlier.
I was also a bit side tracked when a friendly cat arrived at my peg to shelter from the rain and hopefully find some food and I have to admit to missing a couple of bites whilst stroking it !
I finished the match with 28 carp, one bream a perch and a sort of F1 and a thoroughly enjoyable days fishing which made a pleasant change after a few tough matches lately.
The lake fished really well with 6 weights over 100lb which isn't bad considering that everyone keeps telling me that they have taken all the fish out !
Result
Dave Pearson...................159-2-0
Tony Plumbridge............127-0-0
Donald Garnish................124-0-0
Paul Taylor......................112-10-0
Ross Nursey....................112-1-0
Terry Harrison...............112-0-0
Pound WatchOnly Plummers to beat today with Simmons a "No Show". Despite finishing second in the match he still had to pay up and I'm going for the Hatrick on Wednesday at Willinghurst !
I popped round to my local club pond on Saturday where Leatherhead DAS were holding their annual "Fishing Day" where anyone can turn up free of charge and try fishing - many for the first time. Well done to everyone who helped organise it - especially Club Chairman Eric Vaissiere.
A brilliant day was had by all, the club got a few more members and hopefully a few more anglers were recruited to this great sport of ours. My mate Hathers brought his two girls along and they both caught so well that they wanted to go fishing again on Monday !
