And once again there's no picture! It's not that I forgot, it's just the weather decided to go back to winter and rain/sleet on us as I packed up, not the best conditions to get a camera out.
Before the draw the points were read out and I had a two point lead, however I knew I dropped more points as my worst result was a better result than the second placed anglers. However, it was impossible for me to finish outside of the top three so at the very least a placing was on the cards!
I had mixed feelings about peg 25 when I drew it - generally it's a decent peg, and one that's been kind to me in the past. However, in the last few matches the anglers there have struggled. To add a little spice to things my nearest rival in the league had drawn peg 27 - the next peg in to my left! I had three rigs up to approach the peg. A deck rig about 3ft deep which did both across at about 15m and in to the margins to my left at 6m, a shallow rig to fish at around 2ft deep across and a track rig in about 6ft of water fished at an angle to my left at 13m just where it started to shallow up. All the rigs had .14 hook-links to size 16 B611's and were matched to brand new Preston 12 Dura Hollo, which happened to be through brand new top-kits of my nice shiny new G-Max Super Match pole! A little birthday present to myself last week.
On the whistle I fed a small ball of dampened micro pellets and a few grains of corn on the track line before going across on the deck rig on corn. I spent the first half an hour having five minute drops along the bank in front of me looking for any signs. With no signs directly in front of me I fed a tiny sprinkling of micros and two grains of corn directly in front of me before picking up my shallower rig and baiting it up with a 9mm piece of punch. Dropping the rig that bit further down the peg than I'd already tried didn't work, so I went to the full 16m (no 17.5m extension, my old one doesn't fit!)
I'd say the rig had been in about thirty seconds before the float plinked under and it was fish on! A lively but brief scrap saw a common of about 3lb in the net - the first fish I'd seen anyone catch. The next drop down the same hole saw a small mirror of just over a pound in the net just as fast. Not wanting to push the fish away too fast I dropped a touch closer. After a minute or two I thought about dropping what seemed that crucial foot further along when again the float was gone. A slightly bigger fish of around 4lb was the culprit. A liner/missed bite followed next drop and it seemed that a decent weight could be on the cards. No sooner than that thought crossed my mind than the fish seemed to do the off!
I tried over the tiny bit of bait I'd fed across to see if the fish had come to that, but with no signs there I decided to leave the line to hopefully recover and I had a drop over the track line. No bites came on either corn or maggot, so I decided to try a bit of punch. I'd just decided that it was a bit early for that line to go when the float decided it was going to go. The trouble was, I missed it! I plugged away at it for a bit longer but it never moved again so I fed a tiny amount on it and left it.
I went back across on the punch but had no joy in the area I'd had my bites from before. I picked up the deck rig and started to search along the bank - if I didn't catch a fish on it then hopefully a liner would at least reveal where the fish were. The plan seemed perfect when I had two quick liners halfway between the feed and where I'd caught. It's just a shame the fish didn't agree as my piece of punch on the shallower rig surprisingly went untouched!
At this point I wasn't unduly worried, I'd only seen one other small carp caught, but I started to trickle a few casters in along the edge - if I didn't catch any carp here it could hopefully throw up a few chunky weight building perch. I tried down the middle and at least the float went under a few times, but only from tiny perch taken on double maggot.
After a few "wasps" I searched back along the far bank with absolutely no joy, while the only other action I'd seen was the last peg along my bank had a carp. Back in the edge and double maggot on the hook bought another tiny wasp-like perch so I tried double caster. After a minute or two the float slowly slid away and the lift was met with the slow head shaking of a better perch, perhaps of about 12oz. However, no more followed.
With time running out I knew I was ahead of everyone I could see. A quick try down the track and then back in the margins gave no bites at all. I went back across on punch, set just off the bottom. Unlike the last few tries I just had a feeling - a sixth sense if you like that I was going to get a last fish or two off this line. A bite after about a minute still came as a bit of a surprise mind! This fish felt better than the others and after a decent tussle a common of about 5lb was put in the net with twenty minutes to go. The next drop saw a missed bite so I shallowed up to 2ft. The next drop in saw the float away again after a short wait and again this fish felt bigger than the last and was reluctant to leave the far bank. After a while he slid in to the net, a decent common of about 7lb - things were looking good! The next drop over things looked even better as the float barely settled before plinking under. An even more sluggish and heavy fight than the previous one ensued, and it saw me slip the net under a mirror every bit of 10lb with about a minute of the match left! I did think there may just be time for another (how greedy!), but despite my willing the float didn't slip away again before the whistle. But with the angler next peg (who was second in the league) packing away fishless it was job done.
When I caught up with the scales 8lb was top weight, and the only people admitting to more than one carp yet to weigh both said they had five - the last two pegs to weigh. My baby carp plus a perch went 2-12 on the scales, while my five "proper" carp went 30-10, most of which came in that last late spell! The final two pegs both fell short, with both weights going just shy of 20lb.
I have to say I think that was the hardest match of all five in the league, certainly in terms of how much I put in to it, so it was nice to wrap up winning the series with a win - especially on a day where the weather was most definitely back to winter, with thunder and lightening, rain, hail and even a bit of sleet thrown in! A far cry from the last round two weeks previous where we sat in t-shirts in the sun and I caught all my fish on meat! It was also nice to christen my new pole, and to catch some decent sized fish on it gives extra confidence. I'll be the first to admit I had some decent draws in this league (makes up for last year!), but you still have to catch the fish.
I'll try my best to keep a few blogs going up for you to read, so until next time, tight lines!
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