It was all to play for today between Paul 'Woofer' Clough and I as we were fishing the 2nd leg of our knockout competition for a place in the final. I had a 6/7lb advantage over Woofer. Bring it on.
Dave Horsfall and Mark Wright were also fishing the 2nd leg of the knockout and Dave had a 20lb advantage over Wrighty.
The Draw
I wanted a peg in the middle of the lake as the end pegs tend to be too much of a hit or miss. I put my hand in the bag and pulled out ....... Peg 19. That was OK, providing that I had no one to my left on corner peg 20. I checked the peg sheet and Dave Wath had drawn peg 20. Damn. Woofer was on peg 13, Donkey Waterhouse was on corner peg 11, Macca and Webster had drawn 7 and 8 respectively. Mark Wright was in corner peg 10 and Michelle Webster was in corner peg 1. The habitual moaner, 'Pid' was the next angler to my right on peg 17. There were 14 of us on a 20 peg lake, which considering the moods of the lake, it was too many anglers to be honest.
I have done two prior club matches on this lake and won them both, one from peg 7 and one from peg 19 (when peg 20 was empty). We will have to see how today goes...!!!
The Peg
As mentioned above, the lake is about 50/60m wide and has not distinguishing features.
 |
| Peg 19 - Woodlands Wagtail |
 |
| The Left hand margin - the pole in the next peg is actually about 7/8m away. |
 |
| My Right hand margin swim - all 2m of it. |
Bait
Today I was going to keep things simple, all I had was some venue 6mm pellets for pinging at 14.5m, some 8mm pellets for the middle of the lake to catapult over the method, some 11mm pellets for the method hookbait and a 50:50 mix of Sonubaits F1 Fishmeal groundbait mixed in with some Sensas Crazybait Gold. I also had some white chocolate and pineapple Sonubaits Bandums for the baitband. I also had some 6mm and 8mm BaitTech expander pellets.
Tackle and Rigs
I set up my Shimano Beastmaster CX at 9ft to fish the method feeder. When fishing the method I like to use the Shimano DL Baitrunners and put the freespool on and wait for the line to peel off.
I then set up the following pole rigs:
A shallow 'Jigga' rig. This was attached to .15 Preston Powerline mainline with a 4 inch .13 Preston Powerline hooklength.
A standard Frenzee FD200 shallow rig as above.
My margin rig was a .3 Garbolino DC6 float set up on .17 Preston Powerline mainline with a 4 inch .15 Preston Powerline hooklength.
My final rig was for the top 2 + 2 line straight in front of me. This was a .5g Garbolino float on .17 Preston Powerline straight through.
My Match
At the start of the match, I spent about the first 20 mins fishing short both at top 2 + 2 and also down the margins with double 6mm or single 8mm expander on the hook tryng to snare a margin fish early. None were forthcoming. I had about 5 or 6 bites and caught 3 skimmers and a roach. All the while, I had been pinging 6mm pellets to 14.5m and 8mm pellets to the middle of the lake.
I decided to chuck the 'thod out to the middle of the lake to see if the carp were lining up after my pre-baiting.
After about 30 mins and 7 or 8 chucks, nothing. I was nearly an hour into the match and no carp yet.
I could see that Wrighty had caught 3 or 4 decent carp and Macca and Webster were getting one or two fish up in the water lifting and dropping their rigs.
I decided to have a look shallow so baited up the jigga rig with an 8mm pellet (basically to deter the silver fish) and went out to 14.5m. I was feeding 6 - 8 pellets all the while, whilst working the rig up and down in the water.
All of a sudden, the elastic shot out of the pole and the fish carried on going to the middle of the lake, and carried on and on. I did not know that white hydro elastic could stretch that far LOL.
Eventually, I think the hydro elastic finally decided enough was enough and the fish turned and came back to me. After a 5 - 10min battle, the fish was in the landing net. It was a mirror carp about 6lb. I was off and running, although I had a bit to make up on other people.
Michelle opposite me was chucking the method down the edge and was getting the odd fish and had about 4 or 5 fish. Wathy on the next peg was only catching skimmers and roach on pellet. It was obvious to both of us that the carp were not here in any numbers. A club match the day before was won with 150/160 from about peg 7 or something.
I went back shallow again and some 20 minutes later I had not added any more carp to the net. I went back out on the method feeder and managed to snare a little common carp about 1lb. I was feeding some pellets to the middle of the lake and could see some fish boil and swirl.
I decided to set up the pellet waggler. I set the rig to fish about 2ft deep. On my first cast, the float dipped, I struck into it and the reel started screaming as it shot off to the other side of the lake. Then the hook pulled, probably foul-hooked.
I re-cast about 5 or 6 times, then the float connected with another carp. I managed to get this one out. It was a mirror carp about 4lb or so.
Macca and Webster were miles in front and Michelle was still in front. I was playing catch up and getting nowhere. I would get a couple of liners/bites on one method, then not another so would have to change to something else. The fish were spooking everytime you hooked one.
I went back on the shallow pole rig and hooked a fish some 5-10mins later and played it back to the keepnet. It was about 9 or 10lb with a big broad back. It kited to my right margin swim, then came back at me and run into the keepnet. Then the fish was gone and I was attached to the keepnet. BAUBLES or words to that effect.
I was not a happy teddy bear.
I was now into the last hour or so of the match and had 7 carp for about 28 - 30lb or so. I decided to have a go down the margins as I could see Macca emptying it from peg 7 in the margins fishing towards peg 6. Wrighty had not managed to snare many more fish. I was not aware of what Woofer had caught. Wathy was now starting to get the odd fish short.
I big potted some groundbait in at 2 +2 and also down my right margin swim. I baited up the 2 + 2 rig with an 8mm expander pellet and lowered it in. The float settled, then after a bit of sideways movement, I struck into a ...carp about 7lb. I dropped in again and foul-hooked one.
Wathy was now attached to a fish that was doing it's best to run through my peg and get diagonally across the lake to Macca's peg. Some 10 minutes later, he had a fish in his landing net that needed a saddle it was that big and we both estimated it to be best part of 14/15lb. Why oh why, couldn't I get one like that. Mine run into the keepnet and shed the hook. :-(
I got my margin rig and dropped in to my right. The float settled, then shot under and I managed to put another carp about 6lb in the net. I snared another couple of carp before that was it. Match over.
I would estimate that I had about 45lb - 50lb or so. Michelle put 48lb on the scales from peg 1, Charlie Filofax had a good 30 odd pounds from peg 2. The scales arrived at Macca's peg and after a couple of weighs, he had plonked 108lb on the scales. Webster put 62lb the scales. Wrighty had 35lb or so from peg 10. Donkey was next to weigh and after a couple of weighs, put 78lb on the scales - damn another pound down. Now it came to the crunch. I watched expectantly as Woofer pulled his first net out and put 32lb on the scales. I asked where his 2nd net was. He didn't have one. :-) Stuart Wilson on peg 14 had 59lb and was currently in 4th place. Dave Horsfall had 45lb odd. Pid was a DNW. I was next to weigh. After 2 weighs I managed to plonk 54lb odd on the scales for 5th overall and Wathy had ended up with 38lb odd.
I had won my end of the lake, but not won any coin. My main objective today had been achieved. I had beaten Woofer. :-)
Full Result
1. John McCall (Peg 7) - 108lb
2. Stuart Waterhouse (Peg 10) - 78lb
3. Dave Webster (Peg 8) - 62lb
4. Stuart Wilson (Peg 14) - 59lb
5. Mike Herrington (Peg 19) 54lb
Thank you for reading...
Tightlines.
No comments:
Post a Comment