ULC – Match 4, 15.06.13, Rosemary Wood – Island Pool

Weather: Sunnery Intervals, 12C, 18mph winds

Well this is the 4th club match of the season and I have not had the greatest of starts. A win was needed to stop Colin running away with the averages.

I have pleasure fished this venue twice this season and both times I have had alot of carp. The first time I caught about 25 Carp in 4 hours from peg 5 on pellet waggler and the second time I caught about 20 carp on pole UITW on peg 3. There had been a heavy down pour of rain the night before and with the drop of temperature, I was unsure whether the carp would feed well. I had been checking the weather forecast all week (as always) and because of the rain and drop in temperature and in case I get a bad draw, I had decided to give my self a solid plan B, which would be chopped worm and caster so I could target the skimmers and ide.

13 anglers turned up on the day so we decided to put in pegs 1-8 and 14-18. I wanted any peg except 8 or 14 and when it was my turn to draw I pulled out peg 3, the same peg I had fished the week before. Colin was on peg 15, Timmy 2, Brian Mitchem 4 and the missus drew the peg she hoped for which was 1.

I set up 3 rods : pellet wagger, small method for dead maggot and groundbait and a bomb with a 12 inch tail to P36 16 and band.

Four pole rigs:
1 dibber to .15 powerline and .13 P36 18 micro band to fish 13 metres
Malman F1 paste 4×12 B911 14, .15 to .13 powerline to fish 2+2 – 4ft
Maver pear shaped float 4×12, .15 to .13, 808 18, to fish worm and caster at 13 metres – 4ft
Garbolino DC12 4 X 12, .13 to .11, 808 18, to fish caster UITW at 13 metres – 2ft

My plan was to start off after the carp and if they were not on the feed I would revert to plan B and chase the skimmers and Ide and hopefully the odd bonus carp. It was handy having Brian on my left who would go all out for carp and Timmy on my right who fished more of a everything that swims approach as I could keep an eye on them and work out how the fish were feeding.

I went straight on the pellet waggler at the all in and gave this 20 minutes feedind 8ml pellets at about 30 metres, whilst feeding about 10 6mls every 2 minutes over my 13m swim. I continued this feeding patern but I did switch to bomb and then method with dead reds within the first hour of the match, during which time I managed 1 4lb carp on the method. After an hour I decided to have 15 mins UITW on pellet at 13m where I had been feeding steadily for an hour. Nothing came from this so I chopped up my worms and cupped in a big pot of worms caster and groundbait over my 13m swim and had another 10 minutes on the method whilst I let this settle. First two put ins with half a worm at 13 metres produced 2 skimmers of about 2lb each. After that the skimmers got smaller and I would get the odd ide of about 1lb. I decided that as no one was catching that much I would plug away with this and have the odd look on the pellet waggler and bomb every time I felt the swim needed resting, at which point I would pot in a full pot of worm, casters and groundbait. With 30 minutes to go I noticed Brian starting to get the odd carp on the method so I chucked out the bomb and 8ml pellet and managed 2 carp before the all out, one being nearly 6lb.

At the all out news came rouund that it fished even harder ion the other side of the island with Colin probably catching the most with no more than 15lb. On my side it was between me and Timmy and we both were admitting to between 25-30lb. I thought Timmy would win it. Timmy weighed in 27lb and my fish went to 39lb which was a bit of a suprise. On reflection I had about a dozen Ide in my net which probably made up about 15lb and and made the difference, whereas Timmy had not caught any Ide on soft pellet. I had fed about 1/2 kilo of worm and 2 pints of casters, which I think pulled in the Ide that won me the match.

On reflection I think I got the tactics right although maybe I was a little slow in realising the carp would not feed and reverting to plan B (worm and caster). I did notice the carp starting to switch on near the end and I reacted to it. The float I used on my 13m line was not heavy enough and didn’t cope to well with the wind and tow, but as I was catching steadily and making it work I didn’t change it.

Well it’s a relief to get my first win of the season and stop Colin (who got 4th) running away with the points.

Next Sunday we are on Lathom 1, so I am eagerly awaiting Matthews580’s blog who fished a club match there yesterday.

Tight Lines