Silverfox Match Angling: Sunday 06/11/2016 - Windmill Open

Sunday 6 November 2016

Sunday 06/11/2016 - Windmill Open - Match Lake

Nice breakfast in the Beefeater you can’t beat dining around a circular table. I attendance today was Joe, Geoff, Bela and me. Joe’s still looking for a pole I suggested he cash in his £6000 honeymoon in two weeks time and buy a decent pole – she will understand.

Looking at my rig as I packed it away it looked fine and to be fair it worked well against the odds today. However, under the microscope it looked worse for wear. The 0.14 hook length is tied direct to the 0.16 main line with a Surgeons knot and the shot are all number 11’s. Surprising how the line builds up with slime and water borne solids (pictured upper right). Some mistake this for the float taking on water.

Thirteen fishing today including newbie Brian Shanks. Into the draw box and out comes peg 3. Umm, at least it might be a bit sheltered from the elements. On next peg 6 was Trev and on the other next peg 2 was newbie.

I set up two rigs but only used one all day a 4x16 Jolly fished at top-set plus two down the inside shelf where I found six foot of water. Bait tray held pellet, 4mm expander and dead reds.

Started by feeding a smidgen of pellet and with expander on the hook I had a decent first hour catching four small Carp (less than a pound) and two decent Carp, everyone appeared to be struggling. I re-fed and was left wondering for a long time whether I should have done this. Meanwhile Brian who had also been fishing short had now switched to 16 metres over to the island with 8mm meat hook bait and started to catch Carp regularly. I decided to try triple dead reds on the hook and had another decent Carp, so I switched to feeding dead reds which helped put a few more Carp in the net. However, The wind had increased and I started to tow into fish which resulted in losing five foul hookers three pulled out one broke me and one straightened hook, the latter two I should have got nearer the net! The Silvers just weren’t feeding having just one Crucian and a few tiny Skimmers, but luckily I had a 2lb plus Perch (pictured right) which would be significant today. The last hour was diabolical due to the wind and rain causing the air temperature to plummet. With fifteen minutes to go I threw the towel in as I lost the feeling in my hands.

I finished the match with 6lb 2oz of Silvers for Silvers first and 45lb 9oz of Carp for a second overall weight of 51lb 11oz. Happy with this.

The match was won by newbie Brian Shanks (pictured below with a 14lb Mirror Carp) with 77lb 14oz from peg 2. Brian caught most of his fish at 16 metres to the far island using 8mm meat fished over 8mm loose fed meat in 24 inches of water. Well done matey.