08/05/11 - Todber Manor - Park Lake

Weight – 63lb 0oz
Catch – 84 F1, 7 Roach, 3 Rudd, 2 Carp, 1 Tench
Weather – Windy, in fact very windy. Mostly Sunny
Match – MFS website – 18th (out of 23)

Got a bit of battering today and not just from the wind.

25 were originally booked in, but as usual there were a number of late drop outs, mostly for genuine reasons, however Mark was on the phone the night before, filling 3 of the spaces with local anglers or should I say venue baggers.

Drove down with Tim Ford (Clucker) who enjoyed his first visit a few weeks ago so much he wanted to get back and promptly drew another flyer! Me on the other hand found myself on peg 32, which I felt was at the wrong end of the section (28-38) and then as the other anglers arrived I realised I was really up against it when Mark Brennan settled on p35, Dave Brittain on p34, Will Bohne on P29 and Phil Powell on P28.

I was told my area is a noted F1 hotspot, however on my few visits here I have been told to avoid them, since carp generally were needed to win. With the wind blowing left to right up the lake, fishing the far side at 14m was a non starter, so decided to fish as long as possible shallow, 6m at angle to my right and down my right hand margin towards the spare pallet. Bait was 6mm’s (fed 9pts) and paste.

Started at 5m out in front on paste, feeding just a few 6mms and I had a carp 1st put in, but it didn’t take long for the F1’s to home in and I started getting silly bites. A change to a pellet rig produced a few F1s, but the opening 30mins was a struggle.

Time to try the shallow line. Initially the wind wasn’t too bad so I could fish 13-14m and after a bit of messing around with the rig, found the fish wanted it really shallow (15cm). For the next couple of hours I was regularly catching F1’s and gradually came shorter to 10-11m, a) because the wind was becoming a nightmare and b) I wanted to catch quicker. I did experience some quiet spells, but this was simply because it was difficult to hold the pole (even at 10m) in the wind and feed at the same time.

Fishing for F1s is new to me and I have found a rival to the perch for hook pulls! I could see local expert Will Bohne catching shallow, so at least I had the right idea but Will was giving me a lesson on how to catch F1s quickly.

I was conscience of the need for carp and had been feeding handfuls at 6mm’s at 6m and down the margin, but frustratingly I only had 1 carp.

By the end I knew I was off the pace, but I simply couldn’t get any carp. Both Mark Brennan and Will Bohne caught on meat short, so perhaps I should have had some meat with me. But, Phil Powell and Mark fished paste and also caught. There were only 2 DNW’s and they were both either side of me, which probably told its own story. Steve Martin to my left had stuck on a short line all day, whilst Dave to my right struggled until the final couple hours when he found some carp on meat at 6m. Speaking to Dave afterwards he said if he fished to his left (i.e. towards me) he could only catch F1’s and skimmers, but if he fished to his right he caught carp.

On the day for what ever reason the carp didn’t seem to be in my area. In hindsight I could have tried the method feeder to the far bank, which both Tim Ford and Mark Brennan successfully used and possible had some meat with me, although I’m confident had there been carp in the swim I would have caught a few more.

At least I had regular bites and learnt a few more things about the venue.

1st – 172-01 – Will Bohne – p29 (F1 shallow, then carp down the edge on meat)
2nd – 151-10 – Mark Poppleton – p21 (paste)
3rd – 151-06 – Mark Brennan – p35 (method feeder to start, then carp at 6m on meat)
4th – 144-09 – Phil Powell – p28 (5m – paste or corn)

Even with 2 DNW’s 2164lb of fish was weighed in, averaging 94lb per angler with 12 tons weights.