I have to say I was quite looking forward to the last round of the winter league. I'd walked round before the match and the colour had increased in the water and in most areas there seemed to be a few fish moving. Going in to this match the leader couldn't be caught but second place could be- they were five points ahead of me on equal third but with the worst results being dropped after I had an advantage, as my worst result was nil points!
I took a late place in the draw queue and was getting a bit worried as all the fancied pegs seemed to be going. Peg five was the one I fancied the most, but that was gone! When my hand went in to the bag I was quite happy when peg 29 came out, a decent peg all year round. I also had the league leader (winner!) on the next peg, to add extra encouragement to do well.
Plan for the day was four pole rigs, two for the far bank, one for on the near ledge and a margin rig. It's a fair reach over, about 17m to get in to the shallower water I thought I'd need to be in. The first rig was for in three feet of water, keeping my options open to go that touch tighter later. This was on .14 line to a 20 Fox series 2, using a .2gr Garbolino DC5 and on Preston 15h elastic. The second rig was a shallow rig, set at 2ft deep. Terminal gear was .14 line to a 16 B611 and a 4x10 PB2 float. Elastic was a softer Preston 13h. Third rig was for down the near ledge. This was on the same line as the other two, with a .4gr diamond bodied float in 6ft of water. Hook was again a 20 Fox series 2 and lakky was a 12 latex. Last rig was for my right margin. This was practically identical to the far bank rig. Bait was 4mm expander's, corn and caster with some hemp, micro pellets and a small amount of crumb. I also had some meat which I thought may come in to play later.
On the whistle I fed a small pinch of micros and three grains of corn across, the same but with a pinch of hemp in the edge and a dozen grains of corn on the ledge. I slipped a grain of corn on and went across. It didn't take long to get a bite, I reckon I'd been in no more than twenty seconds when the float buried, but I missed it! I had a liner not long after and my next bite came after about six or seven minutes. This saw me attached to a decent fish and even on the stronger lakky than of late a fish of about 4lb gave a good account of it's self before being netted. Next drop didn't bring much, so I decided to re feed with a pinch of micros and two grains of corn. This bought a near instant bite but after a few seconds this fish came off. This was the start of a frustrating twenty minute spell where I hooked two more fish and lost them both. I'm sure two of them weren't foul hooked too. After this spell the fish seemed to fade off, but nobody else I could see had caught.
Going in to the next hour I was feeding a few micros and an odd grain of corn by toss-pot as each lost fish had come after feeding, and when I didn't feed I didn't get a bite! I decided to try pushing that but tighter over, pushing the half butt in and taking me in to water four inches shallower. It took about ten minutes to get any sign of fish and when the float did dink under it was met with a very solid resistance. After a few minutes of the fish sluggishly trying to explore the peg to my right a ghostie around the 10lb mark surfaced and after a short while longer it met the landing net. Definitely one worth waiting for! I topped up after this but no more fish followed so I left the line and had a quick try on the the other two, but with no response.
On the two hour mark I decided to try a 6mm cube of meat across. I cursed as I missed a bite almost instantly, but the next drop was met with a bite that produced a perch of an ounce! Hard work at 17m+! I was surprised at how slow it was, as at this point I'd yet to see anyone else catch a carp. I had another quick try on the track and the margin lines (the margin was getting small pot's of bait every 40 Min's, while I was just flicking corn by hand to the track line) but neither gave a bite. With the half way mark passing I decided to try something different with the feeding, deciding to still feed pellet and odd grains of corn via toss-pot but to top it off with ground bait.
I was surprised at how quick the response came, with a bite coming on the first drop trying it. A common of about 3lb was followed next drop by a mental (but cracking looking!) ghostie of about 2lb. The next drop gave what looked to me every bit an F1 of about a pound and a half. While no F1's have been stocked in to the lake there are both carp (obviously!) and crucians so it could quite possibly be a naturally occurring hybrid of the two. After the flurry of fish the swim faded somewhat. The next hour produced two more fish about 3lb a piece, both to corn on the deck. Strangely I was getting no liners, just the odd bite out of the blue. I was having odd drops down the peg, to the small point on the island visible in the pic, trying both on the deck and shallow but nothing happened.
Going in to the last hour I was comfortably ahead of those around me but was concerned that the swim had faded and people were starting to catch odd fish. I'd given up on the other two lines as I'd not had a bite off either and the fish I had seen caught were from across. I did prick a fish down the peg trying caster so I fed a few casters via toss-pot and then, as I laid the rig in I had the pole yanked in to the water summer bite style! I had the fish right to the net when the hook pulled! I couldn't get another bite there so I went back to the original line. This produced another carp of about 4lb with half an hour to go, again on corn. With just over ten minutes to go a gust of wind caught the pole (there had been a good few during the day) and after having the pole swung round I found myself stuck up the far bank! One trashed rig later I decided to have the last few minutes on the shallow rig and caster. This gave me another fish with five minutes to go, a crucian/brown goldfish of about a pound and a half, but I didn't have time for another.
Listening to the after match chat it looked as though I'd finish second as my favoured pre match peg (number 5) had walked the match, putting 14 carp on the scales for 57lb. A few other decent weights had been put on the scales, with 28lb being the next weight. My bits net went 3lb exactly and my seven carp went 31lb 6oz, which was enough for second with that 28lb being 3rd.
My good result was enough to push me up in to second overall in the final standings- not a bad result I think, although I had three framing weights on lake 1 two of my three draws on lake 2 were (on the day) terrible. In the end I was four points behind first, and two ahead of third. I was pleased with the day- I had to work hard for my fish and really after the third round second was about the best achievable really barring a miracle. I must have got something right as the pegs either side didn't catch a carp! With the winter league out of the way now, I'm looking forward to a bit of summer bagging now!
No comments:
Post a Comment