What bloody awful weather dark, damp and chilly today which heralded
the first round of the Amalgamation “Summer” League to be fished at both
Tockenham Reservoir and
Tockenham Reservoir isn't a Commercial type fishery but a natural venue with a big head of large slim hard fighting Carp and Bream.
A couple of no shows plus some on holiday so attendance not
as expected. Three sections all fair I thought so I didn’t mind where I drew,
shorter walk the better and no scales please.
In to the draw bag and out comes a brown envelope with swim
card inside with scales written on it and yes a long walk to peg 35 on the Dam
wall.
I haven’t fished the Dam wall before with Peg 35 being the
first peg. For company I had Doug “The Lead” Sutton who as per normal just set
up a small feeder. Also I had a Tiger Moth I think (pictured right) sat next to
me. From previous matches I knew that the winner usually came from along this
bank and was told it was deep (bottomless more accurate). The main plan was to
fish GB laced with worm with worm hook bait fished as long as possible. So I
got out my heaviest Jolly a 1 grammer and plumbed up. Well at top set plus two
I had 14 foot with it still sloping off – god knows how deep it is, but my
guess was 20 foot and 20 foot. I decided to stay at this distance as this was
really the limit for the 1 gram. I should have taken some 3 and 4 grammers –
next time me thinks. I also set up the Ronnie rig for fishing shallow Umm. I
always carry some GB binder which was definitely needed today. So fed four big
balls of GB laced with worm. Out went the rig with a whole Dendrabena with the
expectation that it would immediately slide away, it did but was a small Perch,
followed by a Ronnie. I was finding the bottom very stony and uneven. I then
had three small Skimmers on the trot, that’s better, but it didn’t last long
due I think to Carp moving in over the feed. I could buy a bite, it was fishing
hard, but to check I walked the section and yep it was fishing hard. The fizz
had stopped so re-fed four more balls of GB and picked up the Ronnie rig
expecting to catch immediately on caster over caster – I didn’t. I tried the GB
again and had one more Skimmer this time 2lb before the fizzing started with
only the odd pull from small Perch. This line was abandon spending the next half
hour messing with the depth on the Ronnie rig. The line was getting hot from
all the ups and downs! I finally settled for 6 inches off bottom which was
nearing 7 foot deep on the top-set. I had a run of decent Perch and Ronnie’s
before the sound of the casters brought my first Carp (Silvers only league). Of
course with 3 foot high Sedges each side it wasn’t too long before I was tying
a new hook and repairing the rig. As I was fishing so deep I decided to pot in
some GB laced with caster and reduced the dinner gong caster loose feeding.
This appeared to improve things catching three 2lb Skimmers and decent Ronnie’s
quicker. Then along came another Carp. The upshot was I hooked a total 14 Carp
through out the match landing one tiddler of 1lb which was put back. After
every Carp I would feed a ball of GB, catch a few fish until another Carp
arrived. The Carp seemed so active today which really ruined my days fishing
because otherwise I reckon I could have done a big weight of Silvers today.
Doug Sutton stayed on the feeder and didn’t hook one Carp!
I weighed 26lb 8oz with Doug weighing exactly the same for
us sharing joint second overall and joint section win. Well done Dougy got it
right today with the bloody Carp.
The match was a tight one with only a few fish separating
the frame, which is ideal.
The match was won by John Smith from peg 25 with 28lb 12oz.
John explains in the short video how he caught today.
Full Result:
- John Smith 28-12-0 peg 25
- Mike Nicholls 28-08-0 peg 35 Joint: Doug Sutton 26-08-0 peg 36
4. Mike Jones 24-03-0 peg 19
5. John Osborne 21-07-0 peg 18
6. Bill Ferris 19-0-0 peg 40
Weigh Sheets:
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