Kippax Lakes, Leeds - Osprey Lake

Robin Hood AC were on Osprey Lake at Kippax Lakes, Leeds.

There were a couple of questions on the tip of my tongue...

1.  I wonder if Lurch Moorhead will turn up with my £1.00 from last week
2.  A sweepstake was underway regarding how long Lurch stays before he decides to pack up and go home.

My first question was answered within 2 minutes of Lurch getting out of the car.  He said 'Here Mick, here is your quid' and promptly threw it in Rainbow Lake.  Frontrow Harrison asked him for his quid from last week also to find that another quid was on it's way to Rainbow Lake.  Lurch must have thought that he was at the fountains of Tivoli and making a wish.

He had 2 wishes now and I bet they went something like, I wish that I could stay for the full match today and 'I wish, I really really wish, I really really really wish that I could win today'.

Before the start of the match, Michelle went to the onsite portaloo (Dumptruck Aveyard must have dropped it off) and Frontrow and Lurch almost did a 'Jackass' and all but pushed it over.

I was up against John 'Macca' McCall in the 2nd leg of our club knockout.  This was for a place in the last four. Upon Macca's arrival, he came over to me for a word.  He grabbed hold of me in a strangle hold and once I had passed out he jumped up and down on my fingers.

The Draw

It was time for the draw.  I put my hand in the bag and drew peg 23.  As I had not seen the lake before, I was a bit indifferent.  My nemesis (Macca) for the day was on peg 29.  Frontrow was on peg 15 (16 being the empty corner peg), Donkey Waterhouse was on peg 13.  I had Paul Wilson to my left on peg 21, Lurch was within piss-taking talking distance on peg 19 and Mark Wright was to my right on peg 25.

Peg 23

Osprey Lake is basically a rectangle lake with a central island between 14 - 17m away.

17m across!

I had some sedge cover down the edge.  I went over to the island and was about half a metre short of touching the far side with 16m of pole.

Left hand margin swim - 2.5ft deep

Rigs

I set up my Shimano Speedmaster CX at 9ft with a little groundbait feeder on with a 12" hooklength to fish with either worm or corn on the hook.

I then set up 3 pole rigs as follows:

Two 4x12 Carpa Chimp floats, both on .16 mainline with .13 Preston Powerline hooklength.  One was plumbed up down the edge in 12" of water to my right, the other was to fish as far over as I could get where I had about 18" of depth.  The margin rig was attached to Green Preston 13h elastic and the across rig was attached to Daiwa white hydro elastic.

My third rig was a 4 x 14 Carpa Chimp set to fish in 2.5ft of water down the edge to my left.

Bait

Following a conversation with Andy Stonner, I bought 3 pints of casters, one large tin of corn, 1/2 kilo of worm and I had some Sonubaits F1 groundbait, which I mixed in with the caster, chopped worm and corn mix.

Casters, corn, pellets and worm

At the all in, I cast the feeder over to the far side and fed a potful of bait to my left and right hand swims.

I was getting the odd 'plink' on the rod tip. After a couple of minutes or so, I reeled in and re-cast back out. I repeated this process for the next 20 - 30 minutes or so.  After 30 minutes, I was fishless.  I was getting liners and the 'plink' on the tip.  I decided to go down the edge to my left.

I baited up with half a dendrabaena worm and dropped in down the edge.  After a couple of minutes, the float slid away and a tench about 6oz was soon in the net.  I dropped in again and managed to snare a tench about 1lb. Another little tench followed.  I put another pot of bait in and then swapped rigs and went to my right hand swim with worm on the hook.

I saw a boil near the float.  The float dipped, went sideways, then went under slowly.  I struck and almost immediately the fish was in the middle of the lake and the margin swim was full of cloudy water, boils and vortexes from the movements of the fish.

After a brief battle, I put a carp about 4lb in the net.  I continued to swap lines between both margin swims.  The wind was easing all the while.

I looked to my left and thought I saw a mirage - Lurch Moorhead was still at his peg.

After about 2 hours of the match, I heard a couple of boy racers tearing up and down the main road.  It sounded as though they were wheel spinning and doing donuts.  I shouted across to Lurch 'Hey Lurch, you still here?  I thought that you had just driven out of the car park with your wheel spinning'.  His retort is unprintable.

I decided it was time to go across to the farside swim.  I could see both Macca and Dave Horsfall catching across and Wrighty to my right was getting one or two fish.

I baited up with worm and put a small bit of worm/caster mix in a little Tosspot and went over to the farside. The float settled, then shot under and 10ft of white hydro was scooting off to my left.  A carp about 1lb was soon in the net.  Over the next hour or so I continued to catch the odd carp across whilst continually feeding both left and right swims.

About three quarters of the way through the match, I reminded Lurch that he still owed me a quid.  He replied 'Here is your quid and then threw another quid in the lake in his peg'.  He could have bought his own wishing fountain.  More money than sense springs to mind.  His 3rd wish must have been along the lines of 'Please, please let me beat Mick Herrington'.

For the last hour or so of the match, I decided to concentrate my efforts fishing my margin swims.

I caught 1 carp and a skimmer from my left hand swim.  Whilst fishing there, I could see the odd boil in my shallow swim to my right.  I swapped rigs and sides and dropped in the rig baited with half a worm.  Nothing.  Could not get a bite. I tried corn, I tried pellet and I tried casters and various combinations.  I still could not get a bite.

In desperation, I knocked up a small blob of paste.  I could see that the fish were coming into eat the groundbait, so I decided to fish with a blob of paste over the top.

On my first drop in, the float had barely settled when another carp about 4lb was soon in the net.  Over the remainder of the match, I managed to catch another 5 carp for about 25lb or so.

That was it, match over.  TIME!!.

I reminded Lurch that he still owed me a quid.  He checked his pockets and did not have anymore loose change to throw in the lake. LOL.

The scales had arrived and Donkey Waterhouse was leading with 83lb (gulp, looks like I was going to be owing him a quid), Dixy was 2nd with 42lb 8oz.  I watched Lurch weigh in (for once) 34lb odd.  The scales arrived at me and I put 42lb 10oz on the scales with about 4 more left to weigh, including Macca.  Wrighty had 30 odd pounds as did Dave Horsfall.  I watched as Macca lifted his first net out and then his 2nd for a combined weight of 36lb odd.  Stuart Wilson had 2 weighs and put 56lb on the scales and pushed me into 3rd place.

Full Result

1.  Stuart Waterhouse (peg 13), 83lb odd
2.  Stuart Wilson (Peg 30), 56lb odd
3.  Mick Herrington (Peg 23), 42lb 10oz
4.  Ray Dix (Peg 6), 42lb 8oz

Thank you for reading and tightlines until my next instalment.

Back to Barnburgh Lakes

I booked Frontrow and I onto the open match at Barnburgh and we were on the middle lake.  Both Donkey Waterhouse and Lurch Moorhead had also booked on.  Maybe I will get me £1.50 back from Lurch and Donkey wanted to do a double or quits with the quid that he owed me.  I was fishing for mega bucks today.

The usual reprobates were in attendance, Rosie and Jim Stonner, Les 'War and Peace', Pete 'The Main Man' Gosney (who was sporting a new Jigga floats hoodie) to name but a few.

Talk at the draw was that a weight had come from peg 10 the day before (167lb or thereabouts), but you needed to draw pegs 1 - 6 due to the change in wind direction.  I put my hand in the bag and drew peg 9. Frontrow was next to me on peg 10, Lurch was on peg 14 and Donkey was on peg 19.  Stonner was on peg 12, Mick Owen on 1, War and Peace on 2 and Paul Jenkinson was on peg 4.

The Peg

I was in a corner with the wind blowing off my back towards pegs 21, 1 and 2.

For bait, I had the obligatory pellet, pellet and more pellet.

I set up 2 Jigga rigs, one to fish between 6-12" deep and one to fish between 6"-2ft deep.  I also set up a standard shallow float rig and also a rig on top 2 +1 down the margin. All of the shallow rigs were attached to red Preston Innovations 11h elastic and my margin rig was attached to white Daiwa hydro elastic.

At the all in, I fed some 4mm pellets out to 11.5m and dropped in on the jigga rig.  After a couple of lifts the elastic came out of the pole tip and the first F1 carp was soon in the net.  every time I fed 10 - 15 4mm pellets, there were boils and swirls at the surface.  It was solid.

Over the next hour, I had about 35lb of little F1 carp and ide in the net and could see that I was probably leading the match.  Daz to my left had about 10/15lb,  Lurch and Donkey seemed to be struggling.  Pete Gosney was getting one or two.  Stonner was fishing caster short and was waiting for bites.

Then all of a sudden......

That was it. I stopped catching.  I could not get a bite on anything.  Eeeek, I still had 5 hours to go and I had gone from bagging to nothing.

I tried at 13m, 14.5m - it made no difference, I could not get a bite.  I went down the edge.  The float shot under and I caught a roach about 1oz.  Crap!.

I got another rig out  of my box and plumbed up at 13m on the deck where I had about 2.5ft of depth.  I baited up with corn on the hook, lowered it in and waited.  Some 5 minutes later, the elastic got dragged out of the top kit.  After a short battle a carp about 4lb was in the net.

That was it.  I could not get another bite on that line.  In desperation, I even got a blob of paste off Frontrow and managed to get a small skimmer on it.  It must have spent about 10 minutes nibbling it until it got it to mouth sized.

I went back down the edge and caught a (flying) skimmer.  it jumped out of the water about 4 times as if it was a trout.  That was another 10oz in the net.

That was it time over.

How had I done.  Not very well.  Oh well, there was the cumulative quid to play for.

The Weigh In

Stonner was first to weigh and put 40lb on the scales.  Lurch had 30lb odd.  Pete Gosney tipped back about 40lb ish.  Mick Cunliffe on peg 15 had 92lb on worm.  Donkey put 37lb on the scales to take the lead for the quid sweep.  Then the weights got interesting...  Mick Owen on peg 1 had 70lb, War and Peace had 84lb, Paul Jenkinson had 110lb.  The lad next to me had 55lb on peg 6.  I put a total of 46lb on the scales for 6th overall, Frontrow weighed in 34lb odd.  LURCH HAD COME LAST IN THE QUID SWEEPSTAKE.  HAHAHA. TO FUNNY. :-)

Full Result

1. Paul Jenkinson - Peg 4 - 110lb
2. Mick Cunliffe - Peg 15 - 92lb
3.  Les Peace - Peg 2 - 84lb
4.  Mick Owen - Peg 1 - 70lb

Tyram Hall Fisheries - Island Lake

This week Robin Hood AC were at Tyram Hall Fisheries, Doncaster on Island Lake.

I had not fished the lake before and rang a couple of people up to get an idea of what I need.  I need a method feeder for the chuck to the island and pole and pellet shallow at 14m and finally meat at 5m.

I had been badly all night with an ongoing stomach problem and had gone to bed at 11 on Saturday night and then woke up at 1.19am Sunday morning and never managed to get back to sleep.  I took 6 Ranitidine tablets in 4 hours (I am supposed to take 8 in 24 hours), so I was feeling a little bit tired.

As I had not seen the lake before, I decided to go for a walk around the pegs that we had (1 - 20).  I liked the look of pegs 1, 3, 5 - 16, then 19 and 20.  Wonder where I will be??!!

I was on the next leg of the club knockout and this week I was fishing against Macca.  Macca is a staunch Leeds United supporter and I decided to get first blood by showing him a picture of my son who won a junior fishing match the day before.  The only thing was that my son Thomas, is a staunch Manchester United and Barcelona and Celtic fan, and in the picture that I showed Macca, Thomas was wearing his Man United top.  Macca was spitting feathers LOL.

Lurch was not here again.  I am going to have to send the debt-collectors and their rottweilers round to pay him a visit.

As a club, we were advised to leave out pegs 1 (unfair advantage only about 10m to the island) and pegs 4 (too overgrown).  I put my hand in the drawbag and looked at my peg number.  Crap!, I was on peg 18.

The Peg

Peg 18 had no island to go to.  No real margin to fish to.  The only saving grace was that upon arrival at the peg, there were loads of carp swimming around between peg 18 and peg 20.  To my right I had Penfold Wesbter on peg 19 and the next angler was about 100 miles away (slight exaggeration as he was about 50 metres away) further round the corner on peg 20.  Their margin swim would have had another 4 anglers on it on other venues :-).  To my left I had Craig 'Budgie' Thompson and my main adversary for the day, Macca was on peg 16 and was therefore within piss-taking distance...if I dare, GULP!!  Frontrow was on peg 11, Slug Aveyard was on peg 2 and Pid Farley was on peg 3.

Rigs

Rig 1. was a Jigga rig on .17 Preston Powerline to a .13 Preston Powerline hooklength attached to Preston 13h green elastic.  I was going to fish between 6" - 18" deep with this rig.

Rig 2. was a standard dibber rig set up as above to fish about 12" deep.

Rig 3 was a 4 x 14 Carpa Chimp set to fish 6.5ft deep on the top 2 + 2 with meat on the deck.  This had on a .14 hooklength and was attached to Preston Blue 15h elastic.

I also set up a method rod.

Bait

For bait I had some 6mm and 8mm hard pellets. Sensas Crazybait Gold groundbait and 2 pints of 8mm cubed meat.

TIME

At the all in, I cast out into open water about 30m out with the method to see if there was an fish on the deck.  Whilst doing this I was feeding pellets at 14m.

Paul 'Castaway' Wilson had caught 3 carp in the first 15 minutes shallow and Penfold had caught 2.  I had not had a fish on the method.  Best go shallow and see what happens...

I went out with the jigga rig, slapped the rig a couple of times and 'worked' the pellet up and down.  The float shot under and carp No 1 was soon in the net.

I managed to snare 7 carp over the next hour, but was getting battered by Castaway, and Penfold was always 2 fish in front of me.  Everytime I caught one, he caught one.

Then...THE WIND CHANGED DIRECTION.....after the first 60 - 90 mins I would estimate that I had 30lb ish and Penfold had about 40lb and Castaway had about 60-70lb ish.

I never had another bite for the rest of the match.  Pid and Dumptruck in pegs 2 and 3 then started to catch......

I wish that I could write more and say that I bagged on meat short or that I emptied it on the method late on or that the elastic was getting dragged from the pole every 10 minutes or so..but alas no.  I could not get a bite on anything else, no matter what I tried.

TIME - thank god for that.

Dumptruck managed to put 62lb on the scales (must have been solid), then Pid had 81lb.  Daz was winning the first section with 24lb from peg 11.  Macca put 17lb odd on the scales.  Budgie had 24lb after a late surge in the margin on worm hookbait.  I put 32lb odd on the scales.  Penfold had 46lb and Castaway went on to win the match with 88lb (all caught in the first 90 minutes or so).  The top 4 had come from either end of the lake.  I was 5th overall.

Full Result

1.  Paul Wilson (Peg 20) - 88lb
2. Paul Farley (Peg 3) - 81lb
3.  Mick Aveyard (Peg 2) - 62lb
4. Dave Webster (Peg 19) - 46lb

Well done all.

Tightlines until next week.

Yarnbury Junior's Fishing Match

I took my son Thomas, on a junior's fishing match with Yarnbury Angling Club which was held at Weeton Lakes, Leeds.

He pole fished 4 maggots over groundbait tight over to the island...

Looks like a pro!

One that did not get away.  :-)

19lb 12oz of carp for a match-winning haul. 

The Champ.

Top 3 on the day.

Woodlands Lakes, Thirsk

The next round in our club match saw us at Woodlands Lakes, Thirsk.

The usual suspects were booked on, Lurch Moorhead, Frontrow, Charlie Filofax, Barry 'Alaaan, do you want a sandwich' Hunter, Dumptruck Aveyard were all booked on.  Maybe I will get the £1.50 that Lurch owes me after packing up early last week.

By the time of the draw, there were 20 of us booked on (Lurch did not arrive - I will have to send Dumptruck and Frontrow round for my £1.50), therefore 10 anglers on each bank.  The general rule of thumb is that you want to be from about peg 12 - 25 which are all at the bottom end of the lake.  I put my hand in the bag and drew peg 8.  I was quite happy with that.  I have won a club match from this peg before.

Dave Horsfall was on peg 1, Dave 'Penfold' Webster was on peg 19 in the corner, Paul 'Pid' Farley was smiling for once (he wasn't later on LOL) as he had drawn sock on, peg 23.  I had Eric the Viking at the side of me on peg 6 and Frank 'Crook' Brook on peg 12 to my right.  Frontrow and Dumptruck were opposite me on pegs 27 & 29 and Paul 'Woofer' Clough was on peg 31.

Rigs

Rig 1 was a Ian Heywood Jigga rig, set to fish between 6" - 12" deep.  I put on a .12 hooklength with a baitband on a hair.

Rig 2 was a .1g Frenzee FD200 float set to fish about 12" deep.  This had on a .13 baitbanded hooklength.

Rig 3 was a .2g Frenzee FD200 float set to fish about 2ft deep.  This also had on a .13 baitbanded hooklength.

All of the above rigs were attached to Green Preston 13h hollow elastic set soft on pulla kits.

I also set up a margin rig, which was a .2g Cralusso float.  This had on a .17 mainline with a .16 hooklength and a size 14 Colmic 501 hook.  I plumbed up to the next platform and found that I had about 2-2.5ft deep. I attached this to yellow Preston 17h elastic set soft on a pulla kit.

I also set up a 9ft method rod to fish down the margin and also to the middle of the lake.

Bait

For bait today, I had some hard 11mm pellets (Method hookbait only), 8mm pellets (for feeding to the middle of the lake), 6mm pellets (for feeding at 14.5m shallow), a bag of Sensas Crazybait Gold and micros for the method.  I also had some of the Sonubaits 'Band Ums' in White Chocolate and Yellow Pineapple and a large tin of corn.

That it.  I was ready.

TTTTIMMMMMEEE.

That's it. we were underway.  I baited up the margin rig with double corn and shipped out to 6m down the edge and waited.  Whilst I was waiting I was catapulting a few 6mm pellets out to 14.5m in front of me.  There was a slight breeze blowing from left to right.

After a fruitless 20 minutes or so down the edge, I had not had an indication whatsoever, so I decided it was time to go shallow.

I baited up the .2g Frenzee float with an 8mm pellet and shipped out to 14.5m.  I dropped the rig in and catapulted a few 6mm pellets around the float.  The float dipped and swirled.  They were there.  The float shot under and the elastic shot off to the middle of the lake.  I started to ship back slowly and the hook pulled out.  Probably foul-hooked.  I dropped back in again.  The same thing happened.

I decided to change over to the jigga rig.  I baited up with an 8mm pellet and dropped that in and started to work the pellet up and down whilst loose feeding 6mm pellets over the top.  The float went under and I shipped back slowly.  My first carp about 5lb was soon in the net.  I shipped back out and caught another.  I then had to wait about 15/20 mins for my next fish or two.

About 1.5hours into the match, I had 8 carp for about 35lb or so.  I could see the odd fish coming out around the lake.  From peg 8 you can see all of the opposite bank and down to the corner peg 19 on my bank, but could not see the low numbers on my bank.  I would estimate that I was just in the lead.  Woofer opposite me was starting to string a couple of fish together on bomb and pellet and Penfold Webster in the corner was getting one or two fish.  Pid hooked into a big carp that he said was about 20lb and got it into his landing net,  and as he was shipping back, it came back out of his net and broke him. PHEW!!!. >:-)

I proceeded to fish shallow with the jigga rig at 14.5m and continued to catch a couple of fish before they spooked again.

About halfway through the match, Dumptruck was applying suncream to his arms.  I shouted over to him 'Hey Mick, what is that suncream, is it Piz Buin or Adonis Bronzer?  No it is not is it.  It is lard!!!'

It was also about this point that I told woofer to put his 2nd net in as I estimated that he was getting close to 50lb+ and was pushing me for the lead from what I could see.

I had been catapulting a few 8mm pellets out to the middle of the lake all the while.  I decided to see if they were queueing up out there.  I baited up the method rod with an 11mm pellet and cast out to the middle of the lake.  As I was slowly pulling on the line to sink it, the rod tip shot round and my first carp of the day on the method was soon in the net.  They are there....or so I thought.

Some 5 chucks and 20 minutes later, I had not added to my tally.

I decided to go back shallow again and managed to catch another fish.

Going into the last hour, I estimate that I had about 18 fish for about 75/80lb ish.  I never had another fish going into the last hour.  I tried shallow again, method down the edge, corn to the next peg, nothing.  Nothing seemed to work.  I could see that Penfold Webster was getting the odd fish down the boards on the end peg.

TTTIIMMEEE. That was it match over.  Had I done enough?

The scales arrived and Dave Horsfall was leading from peg 1 with 39lb odd.  Eric weighed in about 25lb ish.

I put my first net on the scales and weighed in 34lb odd.  This was my small net.  I lifted out my 2nd net and tipped it all in, it bottomed out 52lb scales.  I took 3 fish out and weighed the rest.  They went 45lb odd.  My last 3 fish went 11lb odd for a total of 90lb 12oz.  I was the new leader.  Crook on the next peg DNW'd.  Charlie Filofax put 43lb on the scales and was chuffed to bits.  Michelle was on the first leg of her knockout and put 8lb on the scales.  Penfold was next to weigh and was admitting to 13 big fish.  After a couple of weighs he had a total of 73lb odd, putting him into 2nd place.  The scales arrived on the opposite bank and there were a couple of DNW's.  Pid had 2 weighs for a total of 69lb odd (thank good that big munter came off).  There were a few weights between 20 - 40lb.  We then arrived at Woofer's peg.  He lifted out his 2nd net and put 24lb on the scales.  It all depended on how much he had in his first net.  He lifted it out and I knew that I had won.  His 2nd net went 47lb for a total of 71lb.

Result

1.  Mick Herrington - Peg 8 - 90lb 12oz
2. Dave Webster - Peg 19 - 73lb odd
3. Paul Clough - Peg 31 - 71lb odd
4. Paul Farley - Peg 23 - 69lb odd

TIghtlines until next week.

Oaks Lakes - Cedar Lake

The club were at The Oaks Lakes, Thirsk and we were fishing Cedar Lake at the complex.

Daz 'Frontrow' Harrison found a little present for Michelle 'Splash' Webster and we decided to give it to her before the start of the match.

I called for everyone's attention and then presented Splash with her present.....

Splash and her new fish finding equipment

I was on the 2nd leg of the knockout today, fishing against Craig McKenny.  I was carrying a 39lb 12oz (he wouldn't let me have 4oz to make it up to 40lb) advantage, so in theory, I could sit and watch him until he caught 40lb then start fishing.

We had pegs 1 - 25 and there were 20 of us on the match.  I had a feeling that it was going to be hard going today.  I wanted to be on pegs 1-3, 6-12, 17 - 20 and 24, 25.  I put my hand in the draw bag and drew peg  15, right at the end of the arm.  Frontrow was on peg 7.  My main competition for the day, Craig, was on peg 11.  Lurch Moorhead was on peg 19, Pid on peg 20 and everyone else dotted around.  Lurch owed me 50p from the last match and paid me £1.  The additional 50p was an advance on the £2 for today's match. 

I arrived at my peg to find that I had Dave 'Mr Soft' Horsfall on peg 13, 14 empty, 16 empty and new recruit 'Young Alex' on peg 17.

Peg 15 - 14m across to the far bank.

Top 3 Margin swim

 I set up the following rigs today:

Rig 1 - was a little 4 x 12 Colmic float with a little bristle. This was on some .15 Preston Powerline mainline with a small .12dia 4" hooklength to a size 16 Colmic B501 hook for fishing with 3 or 4 maggots on the hook.  This was set to fish about 12" deep on the mudline across.

Rig 2 - was a 4 x 12 Carpa Chimp set to fish about 2ft deep down the edge.  This had on a .14 hooklength and a size 14 Colmic B501 hook for fishing meat and corn down the edge.

Rig 3 - was a .2g Frenzee FD200 float set to fish 12 - 18 deep in case the fish came shallow on pellet.

I also set up a method rod to fish into the empty pegs with pellet on the hook.

With the above rigs in mind for bait I had 3.5pts maggots, 1.5kg Sensas Crazybait Gold groundbait, some 4mm and 6mm hard pellets, some meat and some corn.  I was intending to pot in maggots and groundbait and fish bunches of maggots over the top, whilst feeding some meat and corn down the edge.  The pellets were there in case the fish came up in the water and I wanted/needed to fish shallow.

A mixed bag today!!!

At the 'ALL IN', I filled a big potting cup half and half maggots and groundbait and potted it in over to the far side.  I then cast the method rod over to the far side to my right and fed a bit of corn and meat to both left and right margin swims.

A couple of minutes late, I reeled in and then recast the method over to the far side again.  I waited about 2 minutes, the tip went round a an F1 carp about 2lb was in the net.  I recast again, a couple of times, no more fish were forthcoming.  I was not seeing signs of carp milling about on the mudline where I had potted in the bait earlier.

I baited up the mudline rig with 4 maggots and shipped out to the mudline.  The float settled, then dipped and went sideways and I struck...

Roach number was soon in the net. damn!

I re-baited with a bunch of maggots and went back over to the mudline.  I waited about a minute watching the float as it dipped, went sideways, bobbed then finally it went under.  I struck and the white hydro did it's best to leave the pole.  I played the fish (or more to the point, it played me).  I finally got it back and it was an F1 carp about 3lb.

I went back over to the far side and caught a couple more F1 carp before I got bitted out by roach again.  I re-potted in some maggots and groundbait and caught a couple more carp.  I was by now flicking a few pellets out to 11m in order to try to get a couple of fish shallow.

After a couple of hours or so, I rang Frontrow to find out how he was doing. He was admitting to approx 7lb or so.  I admitted to about 20lb of F1's and silver fish.

I was now starting to struggle to get bites on the mudline although I could still see the odd fish milling about.

I went shallow and ..... NOTHING. NADA. ZIP. ZILCH. ZERO.

I went back over to the mudline and managed to catch a couple more...roach and a perch.

I was now into the last hour of the match and I was really struggling.  I saw a carp about 5lb swimming around, so I dropped 4 maggots in it's path and whoooosh.  The elastic shot out.  After a tense battle...I won.

I decided to try my well fed margins.  I baited up with a piece of meat and dropped it in to my left.  A roach about 3 oz was soon in the net.  I went to my right margin and got a couple of liners.  I decided to put a grain of corn on the method rod and drop that in the right margin.  After a couple of minutes the freespool on my reel whirred away and fish on.

A very welcome common carp about 1lb was soon in the net.  I managed to get another 2 carp before that was it.  TIME.  It was finally over.

I was admitting to about 31/32lb.  I was not sure how I had done.  I went to see Craig to see if he had about 70lb.  HE HAD GONE.  LEFT EARLY.  Well, at least I am through to the next round in the knockout.  I went to go see Lurch Moorhead to see where the 50p was going in addition to another £1.50 and he had also gone.  Today was working out quite well. So far.

Mr Soft wasn't sure what he had.  Everyone was asking what I had and I said about 31lb or so.  They all said 'we know your 31lb, you can double that easy'.

The scales arrived and 39lb was winning (Baz Hunter), then there was a 32lb and 31lb.  I plonked 30lb 12oz on the scales for about mid table.

Full Result

1. Paul Farley (Peg 20) - 45lb
2. Barry Hunter (Peg 10) - 39lb
3. John McAll (Peg 5?) - 37lb
Jt 4.  Dave Webster (peg 3) and Mark Wright (peg 24) - 36lb 10oz.

Oh well, there is always next week.

Tightlines.