Weight – 14lb 2oz
Catch – 14 Bream, 10 Roach, 7 Carp, 2 Rudd.
Weather – Bright & sunny, breezy.
Water Temp– 11.5c > 11.5c
Match – Lands End Winter League rd7 – 19th overall, 5th in section
I don’t normally get home in a mood after a match, but to be honest I was gutted after a difficult day, because I realised my chances of finishing in the top 7 were now remote.
Today I was on Sydney’s lake, which is the shallowest (2½-3ft) of the lakes at Lands End and I was looking forward to plenty of bites from stockie carp and silvers. When it was my turn to draw, the 2 best pegs (74 & 94) on the lake were still in, however I found myself on peg 84 at the other end of the lake. Initially I was pleased, although I managed to find myself in the section of "death" with Rod Wootton (8th in the league), Mike Duckett (3rd) and Nicky Collier (2nd).
Peg 84 is an end peg, so at least I had a chance of doing well. Peg 94 wasn’t drawn, which meant Nicky on peg 92 was now the end peg and with the wind blowing into that end of the lake, I fancied him to win the section. My peg on the other hand was sheltered and flat calm, which in the very bright conditions was a concern.
As the match started, surprisingly bites were hard to come by for everyone, but I managed a few small carp, plus 3oz skimmers on expanders at 14m at 12 o’clock and 11 o’clock. I had been feeding micros & 4mm pellet, via a tosspot. I found it best to feed 1 swim then fish the other, continually rotating. I tried maggot but only caught tiny roach, so I struck with fishing pellet, hoping for carp, but was frustrated with small skimmers plucking at the bait giving false bites
I also kept flicking 4mm pellet down the right hand bank, catching my 2 best carp on pellet, but the margin was only a foot deep and persuading any carp to stay was proving difficult, particularly in the flat conditions.
At the half way stage I was holding my own and actually fancied my chances on coming 2nd. However with 2 hours to go, the wheels started to fall off my match. I knew Nicky on the end would win the section, but Mike Duckett started to catch after only catching a few roach in the 1st 2 hours, as was Phil Cooper next to him.
I could have stuck with catching the silvers, but they weren’t weight builders, therefore I needed carp. As well as the bright flat conditions, my problem was the end peg opposite, which hadn’t been drawn. Any carp that hadn’t followed the wind had sulked away into peg 83 opposite. I had set up a waggler & managed 1 carp, plus a few silvers, but the carp had moved too far into the peg and I had to be careful about casting too far and infringing with Mike West on peg 81.
With an hour to go Rod had a good 45 minute spell overtaking me and I was now desperate for a carp, however I simply couldn’t get a bite. At the all out, I knew I had blown it. I kept wondering if I could have done any better. If I struck with the pole and tried to draw the fish to me, rather than chasing them with the waggler, may have worked. However I had switched to the waggler, because I couldn’t catch carp on the pole, although 2 lost carp in a 15 minutes spell probably didn’t help.
Overall I only picked up 2 points from 6 and as a consequence slipped to 9th overall. This is also the 5th match without a pick up, which is my worse run this season. Just feel I’m not getting the rub of the green at moment. I don’t think I am fishing badly and catching 91lb at my local lake yesterday demonstrated that. With 1 round left I need at least a section 2nd to get back into the top 7.
1st Adrian Clarke 41pts
2nd Nicky Collier 37
3rd Anton Page 33 (244-7)
4th Andy France 33 (142-2)
5th Mike Duckett 32
6th Rod Wootton 30
7th Alan Oram 29 (202-0)
8th Kev Molton 29 (140-10)
9th Ken Rayner 29 (106-0)
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