Wednesday 02/06/2010 - Carps AC - Cider Farm - Dabinett Lake

We were booked to fish Yarlington Mill (Match Lake). However Mark moved it Dabinett. Not a problem as I have heard that there are plenty Skimmers to be had, plus Mark has stocked quite a few 3 ounce Skimmers. I had a walk around the Lake before the draw and there were plenty of signs of feeding fish particularly in peg 1 even though the wind had been blowing in the opposite direction. Mark informed me that pegs 1 and 28 were the shallowest pegs on the entire venue with about 4 foot.

I drew peg 28. I wasn’t disappointed as I would have been happy with any of the pegs. With Colin only paying one overall and one in the Silvers a decision had to be made. Mike Owens was on peg 20 and I thought this might be a hard peg to beat for Carp from peg 28. So I decided initially to keep my options open by starting on the Silvers and fish them out before going for Carp, keeping an eye on Mike and Dave Bacon who was on peg 21. I set up a 0.4 gram paste rig, a 4x12 Jolly for maggot and pellet at 7 metres in to open water and my usual Ronnie 4x14 PB14. I started by potting in about 70ml of maggot with a dash of wetted micro pellet at 7 metres, but started on the Ronnie rig over loose fed maggot with single red maggot on the hook. I also started to feed the RH margin with 4 mm pellet to keep the Carp at arms length from my Silvers peg. I started well catching 3 oz Skimmers, Ronnie’s to 4oz and Hybrids to 8oz. However, I was having difficulty with the fry that has recently hatched attacking my float. After 90 minutes I decided to have a go over the micro with double red maggot. This resulted in a couple of bigger Skimmers to 2lb. At least the maggot appeared to be keeping the Carp away. I re-fed this line with a big pot of micros and went back on the Ronnie rig until two hour to go. At this stage Mike Owens had been catching Carp regularly as had Steve Dawson on peg 1. There was no way I thought I could catch either of them on the Carp. As for the Silvers Colin had been catching Skimmers well on peg 7, but the Carp had moved in. So I thought I would have a dabble on the paste over my Ronnie maggot line, in the anticipation that I might catch some bigger Skimmers. In fourteen put in I had thirteen Carp to 4lb and one 2lb Skimmer. Not a good ratio. I dropped the paste in to the RH margin and a Carp on the drop, then a 1lb Hybrid, followed by another Carp. So back out on the Jolly with soft pellet and the ratio of 3oz Skimmers to Carp was two to one so I decide to stick with this to the end. I had 23 carp which weighed in at 58lb 15oz (not one was lost in reeds) and 25lb 12oz of Silvers for a combined total of 84lb 11oz for first in the Silvers and third overall. On reflection I think this peg could be an overall winning peg, albeit it a bit risky especially if only paying the one overall. You really need to keep options open taking the best rout for you to coin.

My Silvers weight today is a record match weight for Dabinett (pictured right – thanks Mark you take a photo on a decent camera), so I now hold both Silvers records with my 44lb on Yarlington Mill. Come on Mark start having a Silvers pool on your Sunday Opens. I am sure the regulars would welcome it.

The match was won by Mike Owens (pictured right with some on his catch) with a personal best weight of 137lb from peg 20. Mike caught all his fish at 5 metres in to open water using either paste or pellet. Mike caught steady all day. Mike also didn’t lose any fish in the reeds.

I really don’t understand why anglers feel the erg to feed the Carp in the weeds, and then moan when they get beaten up. I think the fish that show themselves through reed knocking are fish that are not prepared to feed properly with many Carp being foul hooked.

Full Result:

1. Mike Owens 137-0-0 peg20
2. Steve Dawson 112-14-0 peg 1
3. Mike Nicholls 84-11-0 peg 28
4. Dave Bacon 77-02-0 peg 21
5. Colin Golding 67-08-0 peg 7
6. Andy Gard 17-0-0 peg 6

Top Silvers:

1. Mike Nicholls 25-12-0 peg 28 (Lake Record)
2. Colin Golding 17-15-0 peg 7