Sunday 08/12/2019 - Tony Rixon Open - Todber Manor - Hillview Lake

Breakfast in the Riverside Cafe with Bela and others - efficient service.. Arrived at the fishery to find Paul Elmes and Trigger travelling together again (evidence pictured right). Has the counselling worked or is it a marriage of convenience for the day?

Originally Tony had planned to use Ash Lake which in my opinion if the weather is going to be bad everyone will have very similar conditions to contend with. Tony moved it to Hillview to accommodate additional anglers. The weather was forecast to be horrendous, and it was which meant certain pegs would be reasonably sheltered and poleable, whilst others would be almost impossible to fish. The weigh sheets show which were which.

Chatting with Trigger, Bela and Paul we all wanted peg 60 or close by, failing that anywhere on the near side as the wind would be off the right shoulder. Well three of us got our wish Trigger peg 60, Bela peg 59 and me too far away on peg 56. I didn't care I just wanted to survive the day.

Mark Wynne on end peg 55 thought it best we fish for Silvers as a frame or section was unlikely. So I set up the Ronnie rig and a 4x14 Winter Titan to fish at 10 metres at 10 o'clock down wind. I fed the Ronnie line with GB laced with Pinkie and the long line which I started on with kindered LR's with double DR's on the hook. First put in I missed a bite but caught a Carp dropping back in. For the first hour all I could catch was Carp. So fed some GB with Pinkie on this line and tried the Ronnie rig and caught two more Carp losing a sizable one which straighten the hook. I did hook a 2 lb Skimmer which came off and two small Tench and four Ronnie's. It was obvious the Silvers weren't going to play today. Back out on the long line with Pinkie and had more Carp one was close to 18 lb. Just into the last two hours and we had a right storm leaving anglers in less fortunate areas running for cover - first time I've seen Tony Rixon run. Unfortunately I was playing a fish at the time and couldn't save four of my bait boxes blowing into the Lake. The wind must have been near 80 mph. Losing my bait didn't worry me as once the storm stopped I couldn't get a bite on anything/anywhere.

My Silvers weighed 1 lb 10 oz and my accidental Carp 51 lb 4 oz!!

The match was by Bela (pictured right with his catch) with 165 lb 13 oz from peg 59. Bela fished the straight lead using 8 mm punched medium slice hair rigged cast into open water. He baited up with either three or five rings. He had Ryan Jordan confused by what he was feeding. Bela was catapulting pouches of nothing whilst Ryan was watching for the splash to see what he was feeding. Bela fed four bags of nothing throughout the match. Bela got the method right on the day - well done matey nice to see you kick Triggers ass off the next better peg.

The Silvers was won by Mark Wynne from peg 55 (pictured right) with 9 lb. Mark caught most of his Silvers at 13 metres using Pinkie hook bait fished over loose fed Pinkie. Well done matey. Both qualified for the King of the Manor finals.

We celebrated Bela's win in the usual way in Bar-Gar-Age.

Result:

1. Bela Bakos 165-13-0 peg 59
2. Dave Willmott 139-14-0 peg 48
3. Joe McMahon 135-08-0 peg 39
4. Craig Edmonds 118-04-0 peg 60

Silvers:

1. Mark Wynne 9-0-0 peg 55
2. Dave Willmott 8-05-0 peg 48
3. Martin Rayet 7-08-0 peg 36

Weigh Sheets: