11/10/09 - Lands End - Sydneys

Weight – 37lb 11oz
Catch – 27 Carp, 9 Roach, 7 Rudd, 3 Bream.
Weather –Rain to start, becoming windy.
Water Temp– 13.5c > 13.5c
Match – Lands End Winter League – rd 1 – 21st overall, 2nd in section

I had every intention of fishing Ivy House-Match Lake today for the Glenfall V Abbotswood match, however the 1st round of Mikes Winter League was due and Mikes was getting tough with anglers. If you agree to fish the league, then you are committed to pay the match fees, even if you don’t turn up, unless you can find a replacement. Personally have no issues with this policy, because last year a number of absentees buggered up the payouts.

I found myself on peg 92 on Sydney’s. Initially I was reasonably happy, but a quick word with a few suggested the peg could be a bit hit or miss. As I was setting up, it appeared my 6 peg section was reduced to 5, because the end peg 84 hadn’t been drawn, which meant even more space for peg 86. Also there was loads of fish topping in the end peg 94, in fact there appeared to be fish topping everywhere, except in front of me! Which was an obvious concern and 4pts (out of 6) was looking like a good result.

Decided on a 4 pronged attack, 4m was fed with micros & caster in case I needed silvers, I would also catapult 4mms into the gap and towards the island on my right (in front of peg 91). On the all in I decided to start at 12m, using a large toss pot feeding 4mm, a few bits of corn and micro pellet. I caught straight away on expander, but I was getting ragged by silvers, so I cut out the micros and used corn on the hook, which worked. After an hour I had 5 carp and a handful of silvers, but the swim was dying.

The 2nd hour flew by, but other than a handful silvers I was struggling. My short line was a waste of time with only tiny roach and my island swims weren’t producing either.

Time to have a word with myself. I was in danger of cocking up a good start, because after the first hour I was matching everyone else, but slipped during the 2nd hour. So a switch back to my 12m swim, produced 10 carp over the next hour, still using the tosspot, which put me firmly back in contention.

Going into the 4th hour the rain was now replaced by an ever increasing wind and my 4x10 Chianti rig was no longer up to the job. I tried fishing against the island but as well as having difficulty keeping the rig in place, I was also struggling to see the float due to light conditions. A short spell on the waggler fished into the gap, produced a couple more carp, plus a few roach on corn, but the wind was increasing and the rig was getting dragged about a bit too much.

A change of rig was required for the 12m line, so on went a 4x14 Jolly, with a longer line and I started to catch again. Corn was definitely the bait, proving too big a mouthful for the little roach, although it didn’t stop them trying!

By the end of the match I knew the section would be tight and I honestly thought I might be close to bottom in the section, because everyone seemed to be catching more than me in the 2nd half of the match. Chris was 1st to weigh in our section with 30.10, which was less than I thought. Dean was next with 39.8, which included 10.4 of silvers and Jamie had 33.0. I was pleasantly surprised to weigh 37.11 and with Pete last to weigh in 34.9 I was delighted to get 2nd in section.

I think largely ignoring the silvers proved ultimately to be a shrewd move, because I had the best carp weight in my section, although the other bank was won with 60.10 and 53.14 was 2nd.