On my own again today with Bela by now down at Stafford Moor
waiting to start his first match on Monday.
Arriving at the fishery the outside temperature was again 4
degrees, which did climb to 11 degrees by time I left the fishery.
Sixth into the draw coffee tin and out comes peg 21. Has
been a match winning Carp peg, so not where I would have chosen to fish today.
That said Rupert won the Silvers from it a few weeks ago before the Carp moved
in. So this decided me to stick to the Silvers and try to avoid the Carp. I
have to accept that venues are pegged for Carp rather than Silvers. However, if
the Carp wanted a go at me I was prepared to have a go back!!
No GB today this was replaced on the bait tray by some dead
red maggot. I set up the Ronnie rig, a 4x14 Jolly for the Skimmers and a 0.15
gram Silverfox PC with a 16 hook tied direct to 0.18 G-Line for the margin in
12 inches of water.
On the whistle I fed some hard 4’s at 6 metres at 1 o clock
for the Skimmers and started to loose feed caster at 4 metres at 2 o clock. Finally
I put a pot of caster/dead reds in the margin at 9 metres.
I started on the Skimmer line with soft pellet whilst I
built up the Ronnie line. I started well catching various sized Skimmers. This
lasted about 30 minutes after which I could not get I bite. I was also having
presentation problems by now because of a skimming wind which kept changing
direction left to right, right to left and straight in at me. I could also visualised
18lb Common Carp sat up in the water not feeding properly. I decided it was time
to try the Ronnie rig with single caster. After 30 minutes I had just the one
indication, plus the wind had blown a lot of flotsam and jetsam in to my peg
preventing any further use of this rig.
I thought I would try the Carp margin rig which I did to the
count of twenty seconds and abandoned in for the remainder of the match.
So back out on the Jolly the one rig left. The next bite
resulted in a foul hooked big Common Carp which finally broke me. I sat there
for the next hour bite less trying various baits without success. During this
time I kept thinking I should change lines, I should change line, I should
change lines…and try somewhere else. I wish I had done this the first time I
thought of it. I foul hooked another big Carp this time in the tail which
trashed the rig. Time for a total change, so on went a new 4x14 Jolly more sections
went on the pole taking me to 9 metres this time at 2 o clock where I found it
6 inches deeper. What was also surprising that the presentation felt better in
the skimming wind, but the surface flotsam was still a nuisance.
I wasn’t long before I had a couple more Skimmers. I then
had two Stockies which were in pristine condition and a bloody nuisance to get
in the landing net. A few more Skimmers followed and with half hour to go I had
three better Carp which just don’t know when to give up. My last fish was
another Skimmer.
I was surprised that my Skimmers pulled the scales around to
16lb 2oz which I thought would be good enough for a Silvers pick up. So I was
disappointed to find it was only good enough for third by 8 oz! However, I was
amazed that my total weight of 50lb 8oz was good enough for second spot
overall!!
The match was won by Joe Thompson (pictured right with the
Silvers winner) with 68lb 12oz from peg 3. I am uncertain how Joe caught.
The Silvers was won by Mick Gale from peg 38 with 18lb 14oz.
Uncertain how Mick caught.
Full Result:
- Joe Thompson 68-12-0 peg 3
- Mike Nicholls 50-08-0 peg 21
- Chris Davis 43-07-0 peg 18
- Rupert Garner 37-02-0 peg 24
- Brian Meaden 35-03-0 peg 5
- Jamie Compton 32-08-0 peg 32
Top Silvers:
- Mick Gale 18-14-0 peg 38
- Alan Oram 16-10-0 peg 27
- Mike Nicholls 16-02-0 peg 21
Weigh Sheet:
No comments:
Post a Comment