Forest Lane is currently Scott's regular fishery as he has been doing quite well on the venue with numerous wins and placings from various matches. Whilst in his shop, on one occasion, he challenged me to a fiver side bet on this match. I accepted. GULP!!! I reminded Big Nose about the fiver and he was still up for it. Gulp, Gulp!!!. I told him that IF I win the fiver, I want a fiver note, not five pounds of credit in the shop, LOL.
Donkey Waterhouse was also here and the obligatory quid was up and running. Robin Hood AC were well represented as Macca and Stuart 'Castaway' Wilson were also in attendance. A face that I had not seen for quite a while was also here - Catkiller Hawkins LOL.
Gary Bennett is a fella that I have been helping out, who goes into the shop, with his pole and getting it elasticated correctly and cutting it all back to the same length top kits was also in attendance.
The Draw
Due to running the match, 'Big Nose' was first to draw and got one of the lads to draw for him. Gaz Bennett said that he would do it as he usually draws crap. He put his hand in the bag and promptly drew him one of the best pegs on the lake - Peg 31. Gaz then drew his own peg which put him on one of the other best pegs - Peg 8. Donkey drew peg 33. It was now my turn. I put my hand in the bag and drew peg 16. As I had only fished one other match here (when I drew peg 2) this year, the peg was a bit indifferent to me. Macca was a couple of pegs away on 19, Castaway was on peg 21. Catkiller was also on flyer peg 11.
Peg 16
I arrived at my peg to find that I had peg 17 empty and Daz 'Tattoo' Ans was on corner peg 15. Due to the empty peg to my left, I had a tasty looking margin swim to the next platform. The wind was blowing left to right and was quite squally.
And a over-hanging tree to my right margin swim.
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| Left Margin Swim |
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| Right Margin Swim |
It was about 20m to the island straight in front of me.
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| The Island |
Rigs & Tackle
I set up a 9ft Shimano CX rod as a bomb rod and the same rod in 11ft as a method feeder. Both with Shimano DL 2500 (for 9ft) and 4000 (for 11ft) reels.
I also set up 4 pole rigs as follows:
Rig 1 - Shallow Rig - Frenzee FD200 pole float set to fish about 18" deep. The main line was .15 Preston Powerline with a 4" .13 Preston Powerline hooklength.
Rig 2 - Margin Rig - .3g teadrop float set at 12 - 18" deep. This was on .17 Preston Powerline to a 6" .15 Preston Powerline hooklength.
Rig 3 - Top 2 + 2 rig set to fish about 4ft deep at the base of the near slope. This was set up on .17 Preston Powerline to a 6" .15 Preston Powerline hooklength.
Rig 4 - Shallow Rig 2 - was a 'Jigga' float set to fish between 6" - 2ft deep by working the bait up and down. This was set up on .15 Preston Powerline with a 4" .13 Preston Powerline hooklength.
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| Rigs 1 - 4 |
Bait
For bait, I had a 50:50 mix of Sonubaits F1 Fishmeal and Sensas Crazybait Gold groundbaits with 2 handfuls of micro pellets mixed in. I also had 2 tins of 6mm and 1 tin of 8mm meat mixed together. Some 4mm and 6mm hard pellets, 1 large tin of corn and a handful of 6mm BaitTech Expander Pellets.
I have also just invested in a new Steve Ringer Pellet pump. In a word - Awesome. About 4 or 5 pumps and they all sink. I have also just invested in a shallow landing net and opted for the Preston Latex Shallow Spoon (as seen in the picture below).
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| Bait 1 |
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| A right old mixture |
The Match
At the start of the match, I baited up the method rod and cast it over to the island, then potted in some bait to left and right margins and threw a handful of meat and corn on the top 2 + 2 line and started to catapult a few 4mm pellets out to 14.5m on the shallow line.
After a couple of minutes, I rebaited the method feeder and cast back out again, and I catapulted a few 6mm pellets over to the island.
After about 20 mins on the method, nothing was forthcoming so a quick change to the pole shallow at 14.5m was next on the list of things to try.
I picked up the Jigga rig and baited up with a 4mm pellet on a hair-rigged band and shipped out to 14.5m. I lowered the rig in and catapulted some 4mm pellets over the top, which given the wind took two or three attempts lol.
I worked the rig a couple of times and all of a sudden the elastic shot out of the pole. Fish on. I was fishing with Diawa White Hydro elastic. After a brief tussle, my first carp of the day was soon in the net, at about 4lb it was a welcome first fish. I catapulted some more pellets out before unhooking the fish.
I rebaited and shipped back out. A few more pellets over the top. A couple of 'Jigs' and another fish was on. Another carp, albeit a bit smaller at about 1.5-2lb. After about 30 minutes of me fishing shallow, Tattoo then set up a shallow rig and decided to have a go. He dropped in and slapped his rig a couple of times, then the black hydro shot out of his pole and he had his first fish of the day. A carp about 8lb. Why couldn't I get one like that LOL.
I carried on in this manner for the next couple of hours catching carp between 1lb - 4.5/5lb.
The wind was horrendous. I was really struggling to hold the pole at times. Due to the wind, I was swapping between the Jigga rig and the standard Frenzee shallow rig. Sometimes I could get a bite working the bait up and down and other times the fish wanted a static shallow bait.
I was now about halfway into the match and had about 40lb or so. The fish were backing off and I was waiting up to 10/15 minutes between fish, but given that I seemed to be the only one catching I was persevering but it was hard work given the wind etc. At one point, I had hooked a carp on the Jigga rig and it bolted off and snapped me, ON MY MAINLINE...aaarrggghh. My Jigga float was being carried away from me on the wind. I must have got a knot or something in the line.
I decided to give the pole a rest and went back on the method for 10 minutes. Nothing but a couple of liners. I cast a few times to the island and also over the pole line.
I decided to have a chuck on the bomb rod. I baited up with a 6mm pellet and cast over to the island. Just as I was sinking the line, the rod tip flew round. Carp on. It was a welcome 3lb extra in the net.
Catkiller was struggling to catch. Tattoo had about 3 fish shallow but was struggling fishing the pole shallow. Gaz Bennett was getting one or two fish down the middle. Eddie, the pond owner came round and asked how I was getting on, I said that I had about 40lb or so and if he speaks to Big Nose to tell him that I was struggling.
I chucked the bomb back over to the island and had a couple more fish when this line seemed to go quite.
I dropped the bomb short, onto the pole line and caught a few fish off that line also.
We were now into the last hour or so of the match and Tattoo had gone down the side and was catching the odd 6/7lb fish to the platform in peg 14.
I had been potting in groundbait with a few bits of meat and corn down the edges periodically throughout the match. It was time to have a look. After about 5 mins each side. Nothing extra was added to the net.
I had also been chucking in a few bits of meat and corn on the top 2 + 2 line and decided to have a look there. After a couple of minutes, the float sailed under and a bream about 1lb was soon in the net. No carp then.
Eddie came round and asked what sort of weight I had and I said about 70/75lb or so. He said that he wanted a good last hour and for me to 'do the ton'. After he left, I only had about 3 or 4 small carp. Talk about the kiss of death.
That was it. Time. End of the match.
I had caught about half my weight shallow and about half on the bomb. Nothing down the margins or short and nothing on the method.
Weigh In
The scales arrived at Tattoo's peg and Gaz Bennett was leading with 38lb 3oz from peg 8. Catkiller weighed in 31/32lb. Tattoo lifted his net out and also had a weight of 38lb 3oz, to (currently) tie for 1st place.
I lifted out my first net and plonked 49lb 14oz odd on the scales. My second net weighed in at 37lb 10oz for a total of 87lb 8oz, which put me into first place for now. Peg 18 had about 25lb or so. Macca was a a DNW, which given his recent run of form was a suprise. Stuart 'Castaway' Wilson also had two weighs for a total of 93lb odd, pushing me into 2nd place.
Reports were coming back to me that Big Nose had also caught a few fish. The scales arrived at his peg and he lifted out his first net. This one went 45lb odd. He struggled to lift out his second net and there were lots and lots of splashing around. He then stopped kidding about and lifted it onto the scales for a 2nd weigh of 34lb odd giving a total of 79lb odd. 'Hey Big Nose, you are crap AND YOU OWE ME A FIVER' or words to that effect came out of my mouth.
Donkey was next to weigh with 36lb odd, that was another quid coming my way. Over the final few pegs there were also a few 30lb+ weights. I had come 2nd overall.
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| Big Nose was not a happy teddy bear - LOL |
Full Result:
1. Stuart Wilson - Peg 21 - 93lb
2. Mike Herrington - Peg 16 - 87lb
3. Scott Dodsworth - Peg 31 - 79lb
Jt 4th Gaz Bennett (Peg 8) & Darren Ans (Peg 15) - 38lb 3oz.
Thank you for reading and tightlines.
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