05/08/12 - Sedges - Tile Lake

Weight - 27lb 14oz (18lb 0oz - silvers)
Catch - 21 Bream, 5 Carp, 1 Roach
Weather - A lot of rain to start, drier later
Match - Tony's Float Only rd 5 - 28th out of 40, 4th out of 5 section

This series has been really poor for me and the last time I was here I tipped back 3lb failing miserable having tried something different. So today I just wanted to fish positively and was hoping for a draw on Brick Lake. Alas I ended up on p32 on Tile.

On the drive down the motorway you could see the black clouds over Bridgewater and when I arrived there was a few huddled around Tonys van, whilst most sat in their cars & vans waiting for the rain to ease. We kept waiting until about 1pm. A proper drenching - cant wait until September for it to warm up!

Back to the match, I had an island opposite with a few carp showing themselves. However Andy Lloyd turned up on p32 and as we all know he can fish the pellet waggler a bit.

Following advice received, meat had started to work well and I had cubed 2 tins into 6mm, plus a few 8mm cubes. On what little I know of the lake, the fish on tile lake are a smaller stamp than brick.

I started on the waggler with 8mm pellet and after 30mins had lost 1 carp. Andy in the meantime had 3 or 4 carp next to the aerator. I had fed a 1/2 pot of pellet with a few cubes of meat at 13m at the start and I started regularly feeding meat at 5m. The intention was to catch a few early carp on the waggler, which didn't happen and was hoping the 13m line would be my main catching area, with my 5m line producing late.

A 4mm expander produced a few small skimmers, but changing to meat produced better skimmers, including a 4lb bream. By toss potting pellet & meat, I enjoyed a good couple of hours, but no carp and I felt I was falling behind those around me, who had caught a few carp. Fabio  even managed 3 eels, including a proper snake of 4lb.

My catch rate slowed down when the wind picked up. I had kept feeding the island with 8s, but now with the wind was blowing my waggler away from island. Andy had stopped catching by the aerator and started catching tight to the end bank. I did manage to hook another carp on the waggler, but that fell off.

My 13m line continued to produce a few more skimmers, plus a couple of carp, but my 5m line didn't produce anything, which was a real disappointment, because I had hoped this line would produce a few late carp.

John Thompson to my left started to catch on paste at 13m, so I tried it over my 13m line but other than 1 proper bite it wasn't right, so I switched back to meat and the last 30mins of the match ended up being my best with 3 carp and a couple of decent skimmers.

In the end I was disappointed not to caught more carp. I felt I fished it well, just a little unlucky to have lost 5 carp (1 was definitely a foul hooker, but the other 4 where just simple hook pulls. Some of the carps mouth have been damaged by the method boys. Bearing in mind some of the strict rules at Sedges about nets and the fish welfare, I find it strange they allow method feeders which are obviously damaging the fishes mouths). Also surprised my 5m line didn't produce, nor did my margin which I had feed regularly with pellet. Had either my 5m line or margin produced I only needed 14lb of carp to clinch the section from Tom Mangall, so very tight.

1st 104- 4 - Craig Edmunds - p8
2nd 86- 9 - Neil Mercer - p21
3rd 85- 9 - Shaun Townsend - p19
4th 79-12 - Martin Rich - p40
5th 74-13 - Vic Bush - p14
6th 72- 9 - Eric Fourarce - p11

Silvers
1st 39- 7 - Craig Edmunds - p8
2nd 37-12 - John Baker - p7
3rd 31- 9 - Bob Gullick - p17