Sunday 03/03/2008 Carps AC Hunstrete - Withypool

Practiced on peg 48 the the previous Thursday with Bob Warren and Terry Bruton. During practice I had about 23 lb of Skimmers averaging 4oz. On match day I drew peg 43, which is a peg I have pleasure fished landing an estimated 120lb of Carp. Bob drew peg 48! I intended from the start to fish for silvers as the Carp were absent during practice. The wind was blustery and blowing into my bank at 11-o-clock. Plumbed the depth to fish about 2ft up the slope towards my bank (to avoid silt and better bait presentation) which was about 10 metres of pole. The depth was 7ft (just over a power top set), so a 4x16 Jolly was just right. Fished a 20 Tubertini 808 on 0.14 G-line, with 0.18 main line.

The night before I mixed 3 pints of ground bait consisting of 50% brown Lake and 50% Gimps Gold fish meal. Fed 4 tangerine size balls through the cup at the start. I also included some 3mm soft expander pellets. I fished 4mm Ringer expander's on the hook, which accounted for all my fish. At the two hour mark I fed the same again. Then later switched to kinder potting 8 - 3mm expander pellet every fish.

I Lost two - 1lb Skimmers and one Tench due to striking in the direction of the tow (this was necessary due to bait movement, as holding the line above the float caused a static bait).
I weighed 16lb 9oz for 3rd in silvers but picked up 2nd (£35) by default (thanks to Tom Thick who came 2nd in the match). John Bradford won the silvers with 18lb 4oz of Roach from peg 41 using caster.

Full Result:

1. Terry Green 52-15-0 Peg 58

2. Tom Thick 36-7-0 Peg 56

3. Colin Golding 28-12-0 Peg 52

4. Bob Warren 26-12-0 Peg 48

5. John Bradford 18-4-0 Peg 41

6. Mike Nicholls 16-9-0 Peg 43

Top Silvers: John Bradford 18lb 6oz - Peg 41 Roach on caster