Yes, you did read that right as last Sunday saw us fishing the rearranged Leatherhead DAS Xmas match, and I have to say that I'm all for having Xmas matches in March as the weather was superb !
Regular readers will know that the favoured pegs to draw on the two lakes just 5 minutes walk from my house are 1,3,4,5,7 and 12 on the favoured top lake and pegs 13 and 18 on the bottom lake. With 12 pegs on the Top lake and only 4 on the bottom lake plus the fact that I'd drawn the bottom lake in the last two matches, the chances are that I would find myself on my favoured top lake where the bigger carp just LOVE paste wouldn't they ? Well I left it late to draw and with only 4 pegs left in the bag, and with 4 or 5 still waiting for me, I rummaged around in the bag for a bit before finally emerging with................................Peg 14 ! The same peg number I had last match on the bottom lake, although it had been pegged a little further round.
I know there are far more serious things in life to worry about than the pegs we draw in matches but I love the top lake with it's bigger carp which are just the right size for my paste approach and with this being the third match in a row I had drawn the bottom pond, I wasn't a happy bunny.
With Hathers drawing Peg 18 on the same lake, I was sure he would win the lake as not only has it been a consistent peg in the last few matches but he is also a very good "Silvers" angler and the lake with it's stocking of small carp, crucians, Goldfish and roach suited him down to the ground.
I'd had little time to sort my gear and bait out prior to the match and was relying heavily on a paste attack and a peg on the top lake but had also prepared a few expanders just in case. The biggest mistake I did make was getting any micro pelletts to feed as I always like to feed them on the bottom lake when fishing a small expander.
Having fed a couple of "Small fish" long lines at 14 metres, I dropped a piece of paste against the rushes to my left and the float disappeared within seconds as I had an early 2lb carp. Things were looking up but unfortunately didn't last as although I had fish in my edge peg, they were small and were just knocking the paste about and not taking it properly. I switched to the long lines and found that by fishing corn instead of expander, I could catch small carp instead of the smaller crucians but I still wasn't catching fast enough. As I wasn't really taking the match too seriously I went for my first walk after 90 minutes to find that Haydon Woods on Peg 12 and Pete Turnbull on Peg 5 were both catching well and Nick Kenward in the corner Peg 3 had caught a few bigger carp.
Back at my peg and despite feeding the long lines before I left, I now had to wait ages for a bite and was clearly going nowhere, so decided to sit it out for bigger carp fishing paste. Walk number 2 took me round the whole of the top lake, including Nick Kenwards peg where he told me he'd had a few on paste so I stopped to watch for a few minutes. After seeing him lift the rig complete with paste attached out of the water 3 times with the paste still in place I'd seen enough !
I finished the match with a late flurry when a few fish turned up on my inside line to the right and my catch pulled the needle round to 17-14-0 which was enough for 7th place and although I think I could have finished 5th, I wouldn't have got near Hathers who finished 4th overall with 33lb.
Result
Haydon Woods........Peg 12.............62lb
Peter Turnbull........Peg 5...............49lb
Nick Kenward.........Peg 3...............43lb
The good news was that being the Xmas match everyone got a prize and as per usual I managed to select my usual jar of pickled onions from the array of prizes on offer !
Before I go, I just need to add the following picture of Delbert who won the recent match on Willinghurst Top Lake with 5 carp for 25lb from Peg 2 but due to lack of time, I didn't have time to complete a blog.
