Sunday 12/06/2011 - Carps AC - Summer League - Round Two - Campbell and Carey

The weather forecasters promised a soaking and that’s exactly what we got – torrential rain all day – draught worries are now forgotten.

I was hoping for any peg on Campbell, there are worse pegs. In to the draw box and out comes peg 94 on Carey. The peg has some Silvers and Carp form so hopefully I had both to go at. I was surprised to see peg 95 in the hat which the occupant Lee Werret wasn’t happy with either. That said we were both sheltered to some extent from the wind by the trees on Lodge Lake as it was more of less off our backs.

I set up a paste and corn rig for the margin to the start of the trees and a 4x14 blue Jolt for out in front at 6 metres. We can forget the margin as I didn’t have a bite all day down there. So my main hope was the Silvers. I started by feeding some wetted micro and hard 4’s at 6 metres and started on the 3mm soft pellet, which resulted in one lost foul Carp and I tint skimmer. I persevered with the soft pellet trying 6’s whilst keeping a few 4’s and micro going in through the kinder pot. After two hours (having messed about in the margin) I could only add another blade. The swim appeared to be completely void of fish. So I decided to mix up 2kg of Gimps Gold and put the feed it in one go – 16 balls! After which I decided to go for a walk to warm up.

This was when Lee Werret (pictured right with his specimen) was trying to get a 23lb Carp in his landing net; luckily Paul Faiers came to Lee’s rescue changing his landing net head for a larger one.

After a chat with John Green who was also struggling on peg 109, I went back to my swim with great anticipation, which lasted for one more blade on the soft pellet. With two hours to go I decide to feed the three pints of caster in my bait bag. So I put two pints straight in. The swim came alive with feeding Bream. All I now had to do was get them in the keep net – easier said than done. I tried all the hook baits I had and managed to land five – four on 3mm pellet and one on 8mm meat. All the bites were very fast which caused me to miss two. Very frustrating match, as I knew the fish were there grazing over the caster but they wouldn’t take any hook bait. I must say that it left me thinking about feeding casters in this way. My five Bream weighed in at 21lb 6oz which was 5th overall in the Silvers and another section second.

I think this swim has the potential to have a massive weight of Silvers, if and when they start taking the hook baits. PS: I didn't try red maggot - next time though!

The match was won by the Dude (pictured right) from peg 114 with 188lb 2oz. Dude caught down the LH margin (113 was not drawn) on meat and on the long pole shallow with pellet. The following shortcut takes you to his swim!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=x3Bf0WhvsNk&vq=medium

The Silvers was won by Paul Faiers (pictured bottom right with half his catch of Skimmers) on peg 96 with 59lb 13oz. Paul caught on the GB feeder fished at 25 metres. Paul fed ¾ Kg of worm in F1 GB with a smidgen of caster and red maggot. Double red maggot hook bait accounted for the vast majority of his catch.

Full Result:

1. Dan “Dude” Squires 188-02-0 peg 114
2. Ray Hayward 133-0-0 peg 128
3. Steve Skelton 114-15-0 peg 97
4. Steve Jackson 103-11-0 peg 132
5. Andy Neal 98-05-0 peg 100
6. Larry Burns 96-05-0 peg 135

Top Silvers:

1. Paul Faiers 59-13-0 peg 96
2. Bob Gullick 52-05-0 peg 121
3. Tim Pallant 34-08-0 peg 103