20/04/13 - Fishponds

Weight - 138lb 10oz
Catch - 18 Carp
Weather - Bright sunshine and a light breeze
Match - Club (2 + 3 short pole) - 2nd out of 8

Today was the first match of a Saturday series at our club water, fished over various disciplines and this match would be short pole. Fishing 2-7pm, meant a nice relaxed morning, walking Sapphire around the park, which was a bit chilly. Fortunately the day warmed up and the afternoon turned into a lovely day.

Only 8 booked in, so plenty of room and I drew p3 which I wasn't disappointed with. The initial game plan was to fish at the bottom of the shelf, left & right on pellet or paste, then target both margins later in the match.

After 20mins I hooked and promptly lost my first fish, but with no more after a further 15mins I got the feeling that fishing in the deep water (7ft) wasn't right. When I landed my first carp from the margin, it felt cold, which meant the water still hadn't warmed up properly. So most of my match was spent in the margins.

After the first hour I had 3 carp, adding a further 5 in the second hour and 4 in the third hour. Most fish came from the right hand margin on paste. Up to this point I thought I was leading, because Andy on peg 1 had 9 fish and I heard that Glenn on p12 had caught a few.

Unfortunately the carp disappeared for me to be replaced by loads rudd and I only caught 1 carp. In the meantime Andys margin came alive and come the end of the 4th hour was 6 carp ahead. Eddie on p19 was also catching well from his margin, however unfortunately for Eddie with 30mins left of the match the platform he was sat on gave way. Fortunately Eddie didn't receive a soaking, but it took a while to recover his kit from the pallet that had come loose.

Going into the 5th hour by continually feeding 8s the fish returned and I added a further 5 carp on hair rigged 8mms.

1st 175-10 - Andy - p1
2nd 138-10 - Ken - p3
3rd 121-13 - Eddie - p19
4th 111- 1 - Glenn - p12