Partridge Lakes, Open Match, 08.08.15

Weather: Sunny, 23C, 6-10mph WSW wind, Air Pressure 1028

Peg: Covey 70

65 Fished

With it being a warm summers day for a change, I arrived at the fishery early and took a stroll around the lakes and even though it had only just gone 8am, the weather was already hot and I was regretting not wearing shorts.  The wind had been blowing from a westerly direction for the last few days and although the winds were forecast to be light today they would be blowing in the same direction. There was a lot of build up of scum on the east side of the lakes so I was hoping to draw on one of these; pegs such as 85,8,3,26,54 and so on.  The forecast was for the wind to slightly increase early afternoon but the lakes looked stagnant before the draw, with no breeze hitting them and with the high pressure on top of that I was guessing that some pegs would really struggle today, making the draw so important.  I obviously wanted a wind end peg but I also wanted to avoid Covey 2 as it did not have good current form and hasn’t framed much lately, except when Andy Bennett gets on it, but he can frame from most pegs!

We were to fish from 10.15am-3.15am today. I was one of the last to draw and when I did, I pulled out peg 70 on Covey 3 which was next door to the one I fished last week.  Although I had done well from peg 71 the week before I was disappointed with this draw as it was on the west side of the lake which I deemed to be the wrong part of the lake this week and I was also worried that peg 71 might be in and it would be tough to beat.  As it turned out peg 71 wasn’t in and my section for the day was to be only a four man one, being 68,70,73 and either 74 or 75.  They had left 71 and 72 out as peg 51 was included today. Even though 71 was out today I wasn’t able to exploit its waters as the bridge was too far away and even though I could reach it at 16M I felt I would be interfering with peg 51 on the other side of the bridge.  I couldn’t get at the margins of peg 71 as there was a large reed bed which prevented me from going any further than 3 sections to my left. On the plus side the split (72-75) hadn’t much form of late and I preferred my peg to that of 68. I felt the strongest peg in the section would be 75 as this might get some breeze to the right of the peg an it could possibly throw up a good weight.

Set up:

MW F1 Slim 14 X 11, 5.5ft, .11 to .10 powerline, B911 F1 18 – track

Malman thin, 4 X 12, 4ft, .11 to .10 powerline, B911 F1 18 – near side slope at 3 sections

HB Ratchatcher, .13 to .10 powerline,, B911 F1 18 – margins and far side

Small dibber, bungee, PR36 18 – banded caster

Bait:

3 pints casters

1/2 pint maggots

1 pint of Sonubaits F1 Suoercrush Dark

Sweetcorn

I had planned to use a lighter rig for the track as the water was still and calm but, over time, I have shortened my lighter rigs and none of them were deep enough (must sort out rig box!) and besides I didn’t expect the track to come into play much today as I was predicting that fish would be caught in shallower water.  I was ready to go at 10.13am, 2 minutes before the start and my plan was to start in the margins and then go across to the far bank, whilst all the time I would feed casters by hand at 6M.

On the all in, I fed the right hand margin with a nugget of ground-bait (which was only on my top “) and I put 6 maggots in the tosspot and topped it with some sloppy ground-bait and went on my left margin at 3 sections.  I spent 20 minutes on the 2 margins and didn’t get a bite and for some reason I expected this – it just didn’t look right.  I then decided to go over and fed the same (6 maggots topped with some sloppy ground-bait) and after a few minutes I had my first F1.  I spent the rest of the first hour on the far line and I even dobbed my maggot along the reed line, which did bring me a bonus 2lb carp but things were slow and I only had 6lb on the ticker at the end of the first hour.  This wasn’t so bad though, as no one was bagging and I began to think that 30lb could win the section.  Things slowed right down after this point and I couldn’t get a bite from anywhere even though the odd fish was moving over my swims I couldn’t get them to take the bait.  I went the second hour without a bite and at the start of the third hour I decided to try maggot on the deck at 6M, where I had been feeding casters and I managed one Ide and then I lost 2 F1’s on the bounce, which I don’t think were foul hooked and maybe I lost them from using a blunt hook.  This swim died after that and I got to the half way point with still only 6lb on the ticker. Peg 68 had caught the odd one from his margin and was probably on about 12lb at this point so the section was still wide open (if the split wasn’t fishing well!).  I decided to have a break and a good think at this point as like I said the section was up for grabs, I just had to figure out how to get a few fish from my swim.  I must admit, I wasn’t that confident of catching many more fish today, the weather was really muggy and the water looked lifeless at times, but I wasn’t giving in!  I noticed that the right to left crosswind had put a ripple in front of peg 71 and on the odd occasion I would get a ripple in front of me, so I thought that maybe I could get a few fish shallow.  I also noticed that I did have fish feeding on my track line so I just had to figure out how to get them.  I told myself I must try shallow towards peg 71, but before I did I will try an exploit the track and do a bit of dobbing with sweetcorn skin along the far reed line and the margins at 11M to my right.  I managed one F1 from the track and before I knew it we had 1.5 hours to go.  I was a little annoyed with my time management here as I had been telling myself to go shallow in front of peg 71 for a while but I was slow to act on this.  When I did go shallow at 13m down the track, I immediately got an F1 and then another and then a third, and I began to get a little optimistic.  The fish backed of a little after the third but they were still there and I was getting the odd one and was steadily ticking along.  At times I found that by laying of the feed for a minute and tapping the water would bring the odd fish and also if I could accurately group my catapulted casters around the float this would sometimes result in an immediate take.  I started enjoying myself towards the end of the match and my only frustration was getting in the odd tangle from fishing the bungee method at 14M.  I found I had to use my top kit that had 10 inches of elastic hanging out of the end and this would help with shipping out and on most occasions prevent me from getting in tangles from tip bounce.

The all out was sounded and I was pleased with how I had finished as I had beaten peg 68, who I reckoned had about 20lb to my estimated 35lb.  It all depended on how the split had fished, but 2 minutes after the all out the first of the two anglers walked over the bridge and was not weighing closely followed by the other angler who was also not weighing in.  Peg 68 then decided to throw his 20lb back, conceding the section to me – happy days! I went on to weigh 38lb.

On reflection, this was a tough day and many anglers struggled to catch, just as I had predicted before the draw.  The high pressure plus a very light breeze led to the water looking stagnant and catching fish was hard.  I had a good reassessment of my situation at the half way point and did call it right by predicting I may catch shallow to my left in front of peg 71 but I was a little slow to act on this.  I do think I had the best peg in the section and thankfully I didn’t blow it.  Even more so than last week, the lake fished hard and when it does I think the split doesn’t produce and the bridge peg will be the best as the fish will take sanctuary under or around it.   Covey 2 actually fished better than Covey 3 this week, with the top 2 coming from it, but that was from top anglers Andy Bennett and Peter Tickle.  My lake, Covey 3, did have some good anglers on it including Steve Openshaw and Barry Bush and neither of them managed to frame today, so it just proves how tough the lake fished and 38lb wasn’t that bad a weight from it.

I must remember that when wanting to fish the bungee method on the long pole a jigga float would be the best option, as you can ship out much quicker and tangles will be prevented..

Well that’s 2 section wins on the bounce and I’ll be back next Saturday looking for the hat-trick.  I’m starting to think the recent good form is down to the bandana I now wear – it must be bringing me luck.  Since I started wearing it, I’ve had 2 section wins, been on Partridge Lakes Facebook page twice when I haven’t even framed and I also got on the Telly when I went the ashes.  The Bandana is definitely the way forward and I may even change my web name from Dangerous69 to “Bandana Bri”…….I’ll give it some thought.

Tight Lines.

Partridge Lakes, Open Match, 02.08.15

Weather: Sunny intervals, 20C, 12-16 mph SSE Wind, Air Pressure 1010

Peg: Covey 71

85 Fished

Besides the Maver Match This qualifier a couple of weeks ago, it’s been almost 4 months since I fished an open at Partridge.  With me running our club and there being a lot of matches, I don’t usually get a chance to fish the open-circuit between mid-April to November, meaning I miss out on the good fishing during the summer months.  However, this year we have a 4 week gap in our schedule and over the next few weeks I should be able to do 3 or 4 matches at Partridge.

The draw started to take place at about 9.05am and we were to fish 10.30am to 3.30pm.  I was hoping to get a non-roadside/Spey side draw today as the wind was blowing towards this side and when I eventually drew at about 9.15am I wasn’t left disappointed, drawing peg 71.

Peg 71, Covey 3

I was quite positive with my draw at first, as it was wind end and I had the walk over bridge to my left which would surely hold some fish.  On setting up I began to think of all the negatives, being I was up against the split which had a lovely ripple and would be tough to beat and also peg 69, which was in our section also had a ripple whereas my peg was sheltered from the ripple. Peg 72 had come second the previous day with just under 147lb, but that was from venue expert Steven Openshaw.  On the positive side I was wind end and there was a build up of scum in my area and furthermore there was a lot of fish topping in my peg.

Section for the day was 69,71,72,73,75.

Set up:

MW F1 Slim 10X11, 5ft,.11 to .10 powerline, B510 18 – track

MW F1 Slim 8X11, 4ft, .11 to .10 powerline, B510 18 – top 2 and bridge track

Hill Billy Ratcatcher 1, 18 inches, .13 to .11 powerline, B911 F1 18 – margins

Small dibber PR36 18 with micro band – bungee, banded caster

Bait:

1 pint maggots

3 pints casters

Pint of sonubaits F1 Dark

My plan of attack today was to start on the margins whilst throwing casters over my track line at 6M where hopefully I would catch shallow. If I couldn’t get them shallow there I could move my caster attack closer to the bridge where it was 4 ft and I would also have the option of pushing my tip right under the bridge when fishing shallow.

On the all in I went on my left hand margin, close to the bridge with maggot on the hook and feeding 6 maggots and a nugget of ground-bait, via a tosspot.  I was able to rest and hide my pole tip on a tuft of grass which also helped me keep the pole steady whilst feeding casters on my track line. Within a few minutes I had my first F1 and another one followed as soon as I went back out.  Now at this point I began to think about my feeding and my swim management – should I feed again, should I rotate swims?  I decided to go back on the same swim without feeding and after a 3 minute wait I got another.  After waiting a few minutes for that third fish I decided I needed to feed again and although this produced another F1, I did have to wait a few minutes for this one. The fish were slowly backing off, so I decided to feed a little and leave it alone, whilst I had a look on my right hand margin, hoping that the fish on my bridge line would settle again.  I couldn’t get a bite on my near side right so I was quickly back on the left hand margin, where I managed another 2 quick F1’s before they backed off again.  An hour had quickly passed by and I had about 10 F1’s in the net, so not a bad start.  I decided to have a look on my other lines, firstly a quick look on my top 2, where I couldn’t get a bite and then a 10 minutes spell shallow which didn’t produce either.  I then had a look at full depth and this produced a couple of Ide and then 2 F1’s.  I was feeding my track line immediately after I had hooked a fish as I didn’t want to feed it when I went over it as this can produce foul hookers, but I think I was feeding too much as the next 2 drop-ins produced 2 foul hooked fish which I lost.  I decided to feed a little less and although this eradicated the foul hookers the swim had slowed and I managed one F1 in the next 15 minutes.  The second hour had passed by and my catch rate had slowed with me putting 4 F1’s and a couple of Ide in the net in this time.  I went back on my bridge side margin and took a couple of quick fish before leaving it alone and going back on the track where I got 1 F1 and I stuck with this routine for the next 2 hours and although I was having to wait a little for my fish, I was catching steady and in fact I had myself way ahead of 69 and I hadn’t seen a lot of action from up the split.  I did have a quick look at my 4ft line near the bridge but I didn’t really give it a chance and I did try pushing my pole under the bridge on many occasions but again this produced nothing.  In the last hour I did manage 2 F1’s from my right hand margin by feeding half a cup of ground-bait and then going over it 10 minutes later but that’s all I got from this side.  With 15 minutes left I decided to stick it out on my bridge side margin and I found that by slapping my rig out away from the bank I could tempt the odd F1 into taking the maggot and I managed 3 in this time.

On the all out I had 38 F1’s on my ticker, but surprisingly no bonus carp.  I knew I had beaten peg 69 but I was sure the pegs from the split would have beaten me.  When it came for me to weigh in I was told I had 44lb to beat from the split, which I was confident of doing and I went on to weigh just under 58lb giving me the section win.

The venue had fished a lot harder than expected today with no weights over the ton and I was told that the best weight from Covey 4 was 52lb.  I think the fish being off the feed a little played into my hands as I had the bridge and the fish seemed to take sanctuary under this.  I’m sure if the fish were on the feed, the split would have produced (probably shallow) and I wouldn’t have had a chance.

On reflection,  I did OK and won my section, but I can’t help feeling there was a big weight to have from my peg as there was a lot of fish under that bridge.  I’m sure one of the venue experts would have taken that peg apart.  I’m learning to rotate when needed but I still think this needs improving as I think I’m taking too many fish from one swim before they back right off.  I neglected my right hand margin a little today, mainly because I didn’t get a bite from it early doors, but if I had fed this a little more routinely and included this a bit more in my rotation, not only could I have got more fish from here but I would have got more fish from my other 2 main swims (bridge side margin and track) as I would have let the fish settle and regroup by resting them more.  If I fished it again I would put my track swim near the bridge at 4ft and also fished shallow over this as I think I would have got more from fish venturing out from under the bridge. I also didn’t go across and this would have given me another rotation option.  I think when fishing these matches you need to work out when to come off a swim and you will know this by seeing what other anglers are catching and by how many you take from your swim before you go in and remain bite-less.  For example, today many anglers were struggling and it was obvious the fish were backing off a little, so 2 fish from a swim before rotating between 2 to 3 other swims would have been better, giving swims a good rest.  On other days the place fishes better and you can see anglers catching a lot of fish and you will find that you can keep them coming on your swims for much longer, meaning you can take 5 or 6 fish from a swim before rotating to just one other line.  There will also be red-letter days where you can bag up all day from just one line – I don’t have many of them!

I’m back at Partridge next Saturday, so watch this space!

Tight Lines

Partridge Lakes, Open Match, 07.03.15

Weather: Sunny, 12C, 25mph SW wind, Air pressure 1018

Peg; Covey 53

64 fished

The weather had warmed up this week and it looks like spring has arrived with temperatures into double figures.  There had been some warmish winds a couple of days before this match and today was to be the same with a strong south-westerly, 13C wind hitting the water.  Considering this my approach and preparation had changed a little for this match and the ice breaker and thermal wellies were left at home and my summer shallow rigs, pellets and a third keep net (wishful thinking) were packed into the car.  I had decided on a positive approach to this match and if I was to get a peg with a good breeze on the water I fancied I could catch shallow on hard pellet and I would also fancy them at 5ft on my top 2 with maggot.

I was reasonably happy with my draw today, pulling out peg 53, as I had once done well from peg 54 fishing towards the corner and I would be able to fish that same corner again today.  On arriving at my peg I was a little surprised to see that it was sheltered from the breeze, although I don’t think that was a bad thing as the wind had generally been blowing into that corner for the last few days.  I had pre-planned to set up a shallow pellet rig but I put this on the back burner as I felt the water was too flat in my swim and the lack of ripple would not give the F1’s the much-needed cover under the pole tip. I did however include expanders and micros in my approach as with the warmer weather and tow on the water I anticipated the fish would seek out the bait today and that they would home in on micros to get their protein fix. My section for the day was to be 51,53,55,57,59.

Peg 53, Covey 3

Set up:

Malman winter wire 4X14, B510 20, orange middy shock core – track

MW F1 Slim 10×11, B510 20, orange middy shockcore – 5ft top 2

MW Pear 6×11, B510 18, yellow middy shockcore

All above on .10 to .09 powerline

Malman snake 4×10, B911 F1 18, white hydro – dobbing

I did initially set up a MW F1 slim with a  B911 F1 hook for fishing pellet at 3ft but as the wind and tow became strong I changed the float but I did not have any B911 F1’s tied up at 6 inches so I made do with the B510 size 18.

Bait:

2 pints maggots

Micros

4ml ringers expanders

Sweetcorn and bread for dobbing.

I was ready with a couple of minutes to spare and it was at this point that I noticed a change in wind direction and that I now had a good ripple on my swim.  I told myself, that at some point, I would have to get out a shallow pellet rig and also that my MW F1 slim for the 3ft pellet lines would have to be changed to a MW pear, but as we were about to go in at 10.15 I decided I would do this as I went along.

On the all in I started off dobbing bread but after half hour and with only one missed bite I trashed my rig and had to put another dobbing rig on and I decided on a slightly heavier 4×12 rig that I would set at 3ft and switch to sweetcorn.  This change brought a little success and in the next half hour I caught a 3lb mirror and a F1 before again I trashed my rig!  At this point I decided not to put another dobbing rig on but take the opportunity to put my F1 Pear on and I would have a look on pellet at 3ft.  I had a good run in the second hour with about 12 F1’s from, at first 1 O’clock across and then a switch to 1.5 metres to the left directly across. I was feeding 10 micros and 2 expanders every put it, about every 5 minutes.   I struggled for the next 2 hours but I had myself ahead in the section as although peg 55 had started well with a few F1’s, his swim had died and no one else in the section was catching much. I had been feeding 2 track lines positively, with about 50 maggots on one and 20 on another every half hour from the off and I did not plan to touch them until 90 minutes to go, but even though I was expecting these lines to produce a few fish I couldn’t get a bite when I eventually went on them.  It was with 90 minutes to go I noticed that peg 51 was starting to catch steadily from fishing maggot at 3ft towards the pallet of 52 and he was using the sensible tactic of turning his back to the wind and giving himself more control of his swim.  I however continued to frantically search for F1’s by either struggling fishing across and battling with the strong cross wind and I also tried turning into the wind and fishing towards peg 52 myself where there seemed to be plenty of F1’s but this was  too difficult in the strong wind.  I did manage a couple more F1’s but with 15 minutes to go I felt the section had slipped away from me and it was at this point I decided to turn to the left at 11M and fish into the corner with the wind off my back and I put a quick run of 4 F1’s in the net, again on pellet feeding micros, but as the all out sounded I felt I hadn’t done enough and that I would be beaten by peg 51.  That was the case as peg 51 won the section with 25lb 6oz, I was second with 22lb 10oz, peg 55 DNW, peg 57 15lb and peg 59 18lb.

On reflection I am little disappointed I didn’t win the section as I should and could have done it. Why I didn’t turn and fish to the corner a lot sooner when the wind had got up I don’t know.  I had tried this corner a couple of times in the first half of the match but I only gave it a quick few minutes try on both occasions and I never gave it a good go until the last 15 minutes.  I had said a few times before the match that I thought they could be caught shallow on pellet and I was informed after the match that peg 75 had over 100lb on pellet shallow to win the match, so why I didn’t get my shallow rig out, again I do not know. I know things are always easy to say in hindsight but the opportunities and the obvious approach was staring me in the face – my peg was crying out shallow! With more experience these judgments and acting on them become second nature and you do them without thinking and they are then never spoken of in hindsight, so hopefully I can learn from these mistakes and slowly but surely improve my swim management and the timing of my decisions.  I got one F1 from my top 2 line which makes me think it is still not right for it yet and maybe it will be April before it comes good.  Overall, I think I had the best peg in my section and I should have done 30-40lb.

Hopefully back next Sunday and I’ll draw another decent peg by using my never fail tactic of drawing towards the back of the queue.

Tight Lines

Partridge Lakes, Open Match, 15.02.15

Weather: Cloudy, 6C, 10mph SE wind, Air Pressure 1012

Peg: Covey 72

58 fished

After last weeks good draw I decided on a similar tactic of drawing near the back and my recent good drawing arm didn’t le me down as I drew peg 72, a good area on the split on Covey 3, that had framed the previous day.  On arriving at my peg I was a little disappointed to see that both pegs 73 and 75 were also in on the split, along with peg 71 on the other side of the bridge and peg 51 to my left, the second peg on the lake that along with me could reach the corner of the island.  Didn’t get too disheartened as I was in a good area and had plenty of room to the left.

With the slight increase in temperature over the last few days and the drop in air pressure along with a nice manageable cross wind giving a nice ripple and some cover for the fish, I was expecting the weights to be a lot higher than that of late, so I set myself a target weight of 40lb.  We were to fish 10.15am to 3.15am.

Set up:

MW F1 Slim, 6 X 11, 3ft

MW F1 Slim, 8 X 11, 4ft

MW F1 Slim, 10 X 11, 6ft

All above to .10 powerline, .08 bottom, B510 20, orange middy shockcore

Malman snake 4 x 10, 3ft, .11 to .10 powerline, B911 F1 18, white hydro – dobbing rig.

Bait:

1 pint maggots

1 Slice of bread

Sweetcorn

On the all in went straight out at 10m and began to dob bread at 3ft, with no bite after a couple of minutes I went a little left and laid my rig in again and after a minute the float buried and I was rewarded with a 2lb common.  Out again and with no bite coming from where I had got the carp I went a little further left and I was rewarded with two quick F1’s.  10 minutes gone and I had 5lb in the net.  At this point I began to get a little excited as no one else was catching and I was hoping I had all the fish in front of me and that they would stay there, but it wasn’t to be and I went the next hour without a fish as I continued to dob bread to the left of my swim, including towards the bridge. It was on the hour mark that peg 73 over took me by landing a carp and he went on to catch steadily from this point and throughout the match. He was mainly fishing to his right, far side, towards peg 74 and he was fishing sweetcorn at 2.5ft.  Peg 75 was also fishing towards peg 74, but he was fishing at 4ft towards the spare peg 74. I could see a lot of fishing topping to my right and they seemed to be mainly in front of spare peg 74 but the odd one would top in front of my neighbour on peg 73. As I hadn’t seen any fish top to my left and I had only put 2 F1’s in the net in hour 2, from maggot at 3ft at 1 O’clock across, I decided at this point I would need to concentrate either straight out or at 1 O’clock across, which was just under half way between me and peg 73.  I altered my dobbing rig to 2.5ft and reduced the line between float and tip as the now fresh cross wind was offering some cover for the pole tip, this would help in hitting the F1’s.  I started to get more bites and I managed to put about another 20 F1’s in the net before the end of the match, mainly from the 3ft swim across between me and peg 73, but I couldn’t compete with pegs 73 and 75 who were catching twice as much as me and giving me a right spanking!  The guy on peg 73 even threw a maggot feeder across towards the end and he was rewarded with a 6 lb common and a few F1’s before he trashed his rig and had to go back on the pole.

I weighed in 26lb 6oz for 3rd in the section; peg 75 51lb, peg 73 41lb, peg 71 18lb and peg 69 looked to have about 15lb.  Peg 51 to my left had managed to get a late run of fish to get 16lb and he seemed to be dobbing in open water to his right at 2 O’clock.

On reflection I don’t think I did a lot wrong and it was obvious from the constant topping of fish that they were sat to my right in between 73 and 75.  I did neglect the bridge to my left and I should have had a swim there that I could switch to when the F1’s had become unsettled across.  In fact someone did tell me afterwards that it is how many anglers fish the peg with some success, but having said that the water to my left had no signs of fish and whenever I did venture over there I didn’t get many bites.  I am a little disappointed I didn’t get more out of a good draw, but I did learn a lot about the peg and the area.

I have had some after thoughts on the feeding and have I have come to the conclusion that I should have fed more.  This winter I have settled on feeding 4-6 maggots every 10 minutes for most days but today I upped it to 8 as I thought they would feed better, but I don’t think that was enough.  Taking into consideration the conditions, including the right to left breeze and also the slightly left to right tow, I think the fish wanted to feed more than they have of late.  I did in fact mix a little sonubaits F1 mix in the last 2 hours and when I was fishing maggot I fed a pinch of this along with 12 maggots and this seemed t0 get a better response, but when I went on the dobbing sweetcorn rig I didn’t feed anything.  The guy on peg 73 fed a lot more than me and he was cupping in sweetcorn and groundbait so maybe he was pulling fish away from me or is it the case of that’s just where the fish wanted to sit between pegs 73 and 75 – not sure!  He did cup out directly in front of him, but he would only get the same amount of bites as I was getting and it was only when he went right towards 74 that he got a much better response.  I’m gonna conclude that more fish wanted to sit in front of spare peg 74 but I could have fed more to draw more fish into my swim, as the fish where moving about more today in search of food.  So another valuable lesson learnt!

I’m back next week and might even do a double header, let’s hope my good drawing arm keeps up the good form and hopefully I can make a better job of the good pegs I’m drawing.

Tight Lines

Partridge Lakes, Open Match, 04.01.15

Weather: Sunny, 2C, 8mph SE wind, Air Pressure 1035

Peg: Covey 58

63 fished

I was hoping to draw on Covey 1 or 3 today, as I haven’t drawn on them yet this winter, and I got my wish and drew 58 Covey 3.  I was in a 6 man section today, being 51,52,54,55,57,58 but only 5 anglers would contest it as peg 57 was a no-show.  I later found out that Andy Bennett had drawn 57 but had decided against fishing it.  This meant that there was 2 spare pegs to my right but it was an area I could not venture into as I has the aerator rope a few metres to my right so I could either go straight out in front or to the left.

Set up:

MW F1 Slim, 6 X 11, 3ft

MW F1 Slim 10 X 11, 4ft

Malman winter wire, 4 x 14, 6ft

All above to .10 powerline, .08 bottom, B510, orange middy shockcore

Bait:

1 pint maggots

1 Slice of bread

I plumbed up 3, 3ft swims across and I decided to put my track swim directly in front as it was 8 inches deeper than the aerator that was slightly to my right.

On the all in I went across on my 3ft swims and my plan was to feed 4 maggots every 10 minutes on 2 of the swims and have one swim with no feed and try to work out how much feed they wanted as I went along.  20 minutes in and 1 missed bite and I had watched the guy on peg 60 take 2 good carp from dobbing bread down the track towards peg 59, so I quickly got my dobbing rig out and put it on my white hydro kit.  I also began to dob bread towards peg 59 and after a few missed bites I finally hit something which turned out to be a 2lb F1 and in the next hour another 3 followed, all F1’s of about a pound,  I was dobbing at 3ft and missing a few bites from F1’s and this was probably because I had 3ft of line between float and pole tip, but if I put my F1 rig, which only had 8 inches of line between float and tip, over the same spots I didn’t get a bite.  The bites dried up in the area around peg 59 for both me and the guy on peg 60.  After an hour I had 5 lb in the net and it was at this point I went back on my 3ft swims but after an hour of persevering at this depth and rotating 3 swims I couldn’t muster a bite. I had been feeding 15 maggots every 20 minutes on the track line so I gave this a go but I couldn’t get a bite here either and I remained biteless until the last 10 minutes of the match.  Towards the end of the match I had noticed a lot of fish topping in front of spare pegs 56 and 57 and they seemed to be getting closer to me but I couldn’t go after them because of the aerator rope.  For the last half hour I decided to concentrate on a track swim under the aerator, hoping that the F1’s would move in from the right, and with 10 minutes to go I began to get bites, from which I managed 2 F1’s.  Peg 54 won our section with 22lb, peg 55 second with 12lb and I was next with 6.5lb, peg 51 and 52 had packed up early.

On reflection, I don’t think I got a lot wrong except for not setting up a dobbing rig at the start and ignoring the aerator swim.  I ignored the aerator track because it was a good 8 inches shallower than in front and to the left, but with there being 2 spare pegs to my right giving the F1’s plenty of room to back off to, I should have guessed it would come good towards the end of the match.  Hopefully I will be back next week and with a bit of luck I will draw one of the flyers.

Tight Lines