Partridge Lakes, Open Match, 26.10.14

Weather: Overcast, 13C, 25-45 mph SW wind, Air Pressure 1016

Peg: Covey 131

65 Fished

Back on Covey 5 today and I was well chuffed with my draw, it’s a good area and I was confident of catching more than I have in the last couple of weeks. That was until I spoke to the guy on peg 127 and he informed me that the lake had fished really hard the previous day with 35lb winning the lake and he also informed that Barry Bush was in our section around the corner in the low 120’s. So a section win was going to be tough but I was on a good peg and I was looking forward to the challenge. We were to fish 10.15am to 3.15pm.

Set up:

MW F1 slim 14 x 11, 6ft, .11 to .08 powerline, B911 F1 18, yellow middy shockcore – track.

MW F1 slim 12 x 11, 4ft, .11 to .08 powerline, B911 F1 18, yellow middy shockcore – 5m to left and right

Malman ST Secret 4×14, 5ft, .10 to .08 powerline, B911 F1 20, yellow middy shockcore – top 2

MW Pear 6 x 11, 2.5ft, .11 to .08 powerline, B911 F1 18, orange middy shockcore, far shelf and nearside margins

Bait:

3 pints maggots
Handful of Sonubaits dark Supercrush

I have recently started to keep my maggots in air tight plastic bags and they last about a week like this but they do take a good hour to come to after removing them from the bag. On the match I was a little late in doing this and the first hour of the match I had to fish with dormant / lifeless maggots. In future I will put them in bait tubs on the morning of the match.

On the all in I went on the usual top 2 to see what was there, feeding 8 to 10 maggots by hand every 30 seconds. After a few minutes I got a couple of F1’s, but they were the really small ones of about 6oz’s, which I deemed to be a bad sign as if they’re having it the bigger F1’s would be feeding confidently on this line. I had a look across and decided that my float wasn’t right in the now really strong cross wind so I upped it to a 8 X 11 float but even this was hard to present right in the pole breaking wind. For the next couple of hours I desperately searched the swim for F1’s but all I could seem to pick up was the odd one from the track and as they weren’t coming fast enough for my liking from this line I wouldn’t stay on it long and I would look elsewhere. I also got my small F1 rod out and chucked it across where I thought the fish would be and I did get one 2lb F1 in doing so, but again I was quick to come of this line when I went 10 minutes without a bite. For the first 4 hours of the match I would rotate between 6 swims and although I would pick up the odd F1 in doing so I had fallen a good way behind and I probably had less than 15lb in the net. The guy on peg 129 had patiently fished his track line all day and although he hadn’t bagged up and had no chance of winning the match he had given himself a chance of the section win (If he could beat Barry Bush) and he probably had over 25lb with an hour to go. The last hour the fish began to feed a little more confidently on the top 2 and the wind had dropped a lot, so by taking a couple from the top 2 and then resting that and taking the odd F1 or Ide from the far shelf before returning to the top 2, and so on, I managed to put a another 15lb in the net. I ended up with 31lb, but I didn’t do enough to catch the guy on peg 129 who weighed in 35lb and he was winning the section until Barry Bush weighed in 53lb. So I think I was 3rd in the section.

On reflection, I’m a little disappointed with my weight from a good area, although I have noticed of late that peg 129 has been framing a few times, so if I use that as the benchmark I didn’t do too bad. I’m beginning to get a little more experience now and I have realised that you need to accept that some days the first few hours can be tough and I need to be a little more patient on lines and be content on putting the odd fish in the net, making sure I stay on level terms with others in my section, as opposed to switching lines every 10 minutes frantically looking for F1’s. I think my feeding was a little aggressive and inconsistent today so I will make an effort on the next match to regulate my feed a little better. My far shelf rigs are not producing and I have had a thought on presentation which I will try out next week, hopefully producing a better catch rate from this line.

Got a club knock up next Saturday at Sixfields and then back to Partridge on the Sunday.

Tight LInes