After last weeks adventure on the Keadby canal for the Division 2 National it was back to normal this week. Incidentally, my team finished 23rd from 34 teams. We had a few good results, but a couple of stinkers too! Four anglers only managed single figure points scores which is a shame, but can't be helped. I finished in 12th place in my section in the end - respectable, but I could have done better!
I was one of the few who arrived at the venue earlier to help thin a few of the self seeded tree's out along the margins of the pegs in the 20's, allowing a bit more light in, and also allowing people to fish tighter in to the bank. This led to me getting a shoe-full of water and a wet leg to just below my knee after treading on what I thought was bank but was just grass hanging over in peg 25!
At the draw I did point out to people that I'd had a paddle in their swim if they drew it and apologised, I then went and put my hand in the bag and drew it myself - the first time I've drawn in the 20's on the lake for a long while, but a draw I was very happy with as I've a good record off the peg.
Setting up for the day was nice and simple rig-wise, as I only had two up - one for the margins and one for across. The far bank rig took a bit of plumbing as I tried to find a shallower area to fish. The water must have been lower the last time I had it! In the end I managed to find around 22in in a small area to fish. I'd have preferred a touch less, but that would have to do. Float was a .1gr Nick Gilbert XTM on .17 line to a .15 hook-link and a size 18 Fox Series 2, while the lakky was Preston 15h. My margin rig was actually fished the other side of me to where I'd stuck my foot in (to the left), and only required one small twig to be snapped as opposed to the severe pruning saw action the other side had got ninety minutes earlier, and I hadn't taken a paddle in there either! I had a few reeds in the edge here at 4m, but ended up fishing just past them where I had a slightly better slope to fish. The depth was about 3ft here, and the float was a .2gr XTM on .19 line to a .17 hook-link and a size 16 Fox Series 2. Lakky was Preston 17h.
I didn't feed the margin from the off, and across I started with just a small amount of 6mm pellets fed via a toss-pot. It took about twenty minutes of trickling in pellets before I started to get knocks, and I missed the first proper bite before connecting with a 3oz roach on a pellet - not a great sign. It was dead on the hour mark when I had my first carp which was about 4lb, and two more followed each at twenty minute intervals, both about the same size.
On the two hour mark I was getting frustrated at the far line as there were more carp present than I could get bites from. I don't know if the thunderstorm just before the match which was followed by an hour long deluge of rain was the cause, but I wished I could find water a few inches shallower to fish in. A change to worm which I tend to find work when fish are in that mood just caught me a few perch, albeit chunky ones. It was looking like I was going to need the margins to produce as I could see peg 17 nabbing a few fish, so I gave the edge line a kick-start with a whole pot of hemp, corn and meat.
Back across the fish were still iffy. I tried various feeding patterns from big potting bait, very little via toss pot and using the catty to spread the bait about, but the result was the same. If I didn't feed regular the fish didn't stay, but when they were there they wouldn't feed properly. I managed to nab two more in the next hour, both on a 6mm expander, but one of them was very small at only a pound or so. I then lost a fish through no fault of my own, with it just coming adrift as I shipped back. The lost fish seemed to make the problem worse, with more liners and even less of the very iffy bites I had been getting.
I had my first try in the edge, but with no joy so I carried on topping it up every 40-45 minutes with a pot of bait while trying to catch across. I managed to nab one more fish over, and a touch bigger too at about 5lb, but with two hours to go I was needing the edge line to go.
Baiting up with double 8mm meat I was dropping the rig so the bait pulled the bristle right down on the float, before dragging it up on to the slope so the bristle sat clear. I missed the first bite I had as it came from out of the blue, but the next one I didn't and a good lump made off. After a hefty tussle a common of about 8lb came to the net. Topping up with a decent pinch of bait (perhaps quarter of a cup) I managed to nick two more fish from the edge, both times it took about 8-10mins to get a bite. Neither were as big as the first one, but very welcome all the same.
I'd carried on pinging a few pellets across, and a few fish were visible over. With the margin having followed a set pattern for times for a bite I wondered if I could nick a fish across in the time it took to settle? I decided to stick a whole medium dendra on the hook (head nipped of) and lowered in across, and bingo! It was away instantly. The result was a ghostie of about 3lb, and it came so quick I decided to see if I could nick another, which I did! A smaller fish again, with a mint mirror of about 2lb falling.
After nabbing those two quick fish my waiting time for a margin bite was up, so I dropped in on the double meat again, and away it went instantly! Timed to perfection or what? A decent common of about 6lb was the result. From that point on I never picked up the far bank rig again. Feeding quarter of a pot of bait after each fish kept the bites coming steady, and with an hour to go I found myself up to fifteen carp, and time for another net.
The last hour carried on just as steady too. I tried feeding by hand while I was playing fish on the top-kit as I was fishing close, but while it worked in bringing the fish back it led to a few missed bites and liners as the bait was a bit more spread on the slope, so I went back to using the big pot after each fish. I also found that rather than just lowering the rig in and then pulling it up the slope, if I swung the hookbait in further out, and held the float tight to the pole which swung the bait strait on the slope bites often came almost instantly. That said, despite fishing with probably just 5in of line between pole tip and float to allow me to tuck the pole in nice and tight, I had to lift in to every bite rather than having lakky pullers.
Carp number sixteen was a proper munter of a common, probably nudging the 12lb mark, and by the end of the match I was up to twenty two carp. With just two rig to pack away I was able to follow the scales round, and up to me peg 11 was top weight with 70lb+, and peg 17 had about 50lb. I honestly thought I had about 90-95lb until I lifted out my first net. My seven last hour fish totalled just over 45lb, and with eight more (albeit smaller average) fish in the other net I began to think I may just reach the ton. With two weighs from that net, plus my 1lb 9oz of bits my weight tallied up to 107lb 1oz and a new best match weight from that lake, by just 5oz over my last one! All in all a decent day after a frustrating start across, just a shame about the mozzies - I must have splatted about fifteen of them trying to land on me, but two got through my guard and had a go on my right hand, leaving it rather swollen now. Gits!
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