Sunday 27/01/2013 - Landsend Individual Winter League - Round Four - Specimen, Match and Walters Lake

After missing a weekends fishing and a couple of mid weekers it was good to be heading to Landsend Fishery, which I think is one of the most consistent winter fisheries in the South West. The reason for missing previous matches is self evident from the picture right of my Hazel nut tree in the front garden.

 

After the usual breakfast at Shipham it was time to unpack the tackle. Steve Seager had invested in a new trolley. Unfortunately for him he thought he had bought a two wheeler but realised he had left two of his four wheels of his trolley at home (pictured right Steve looking a bit puzzled by it all).

 

So it was time to stand in the draw queue for half an hour! With a free draw I was hoping to draw on Walters Lake (Lake Three). My Dad always told me to be careful for what you wish for Son. In to the draw box and out comes a peg on Walters Lake, it was now a question of whether it would be peg 50 or 51. It was the time for 51 again. Probably the worse peg on the Lake. That said I was happy enough to endure the tramp through the mud to get to the peg.

 

I set up exactly the same rigs as last match on peg 50. The upshot was that I struggled to get bites on anything I tried. After fifteen bite less minutes I put on a couple of Pinkies and caught two ½ oz Ronnie’s. That was it for four hours! I tried everything including fishing 13 metres to the island and every bait in my bag including worm. Then Mike West opposite shouted out to look behind me and what followed was a horrendous storm. Winds to 70 mph and heavy rain, fortunately for me because Mike had warned me I was able to unship the pole and huddle with my back to it all. However, Mike carried on fishing shattering his number six section!

 

After the Great Storm, I decided I needed to try and get some small fish feeding in the swim with the anticipation that they might draw in some of the inquisitive bigger fish. So I put in a ball of GB and spent the last 1 ½ hours catching tiny Ronnie’s finishing the match with 18 of them for a grand total of 9oz. It sounds worse than it was as I managed to beat two other anglers overall and finished 6^th in the Silvers!

 

I still enjoyed fishing this lake especially the last hour.

 

The match was won by Mark Brennan (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with 71lb 2oz from peg 13. Mark caught Carp and some Silvers on soft pellet over micro at both 13 metres and 16 metres into open water and later switching to maggot in his end margin.

 

The Silvers was won by Bob Gullick with 23lb from peg 17. Similarly Bob caught at 13 metres using soft pellet fished over micro.

 

Full Result:

 

1.      Mark Brennan 71-02-0 peg 13

2.      Tony Rixon 64-05-0 peg 11

3.      Mike Duckett 60-0-0 peg 32

4.      Bela Bakos 59-01-0 peg 22

5.      Clint Wojtyle 56-14-0 peg 33

6.      Mark Poppleton 48-05-0 peg 19

 

Top Silvers:

 

1.      Bob Gullick 23-0-0 peg 17

2.      Tom Thick 22-09-0 peg 15