| Wednesday 6th December.
These Wednesday matches are becoming a habit and are being attended by more anglers each week. Due to the way in which the Match Lake has been fishing it as decided to put this event on the 'Day Ticket' lake but unfortunately there are not enough pegs on the pool to accommodate all the anglers. We decided that it wouldn't be fair to split the anglers over the Match Lake and the Day Ticket Lake so the 'Figure of eight' was used.
This is a small pond, which is connected to the day ticket pool by a narrow channel, and nobody knew where the fish would be on the day. The famous 'Stumps' pegs on the Day Ticket are always a fancied draw as they hold lots of chub and carp so I was hoping to draw one of them and catch a few but it wasn't to be. Peg 15 on the Figure of Eight was my draw.
I didn't really know what to expect from the peg so I went there with an open mind. It looked as though there might be some fish here, with all the features in the peg. There was a deep channel running down to the bridge of around four feet at about 6 meters, an over-hanging willow at 14.5 meters and another channel against the far side running along the far side to the start o the bridge, which was the same depth as the channel in front of me. Good! I only had to put up two rigs (Lazy type)\
When the whistle went for the all in (usually when the match organiser is ready with a pot of bit hanging over his swim) I potted in some caster and corn at 14.5 meters against the bridge. Another pot went out against the willow and one in the open water to my right. I didn't really know where the fish were going to be so I covered every eventuality. I caught some decent chub from the right hand swim straight from the off on corn but no carp. I tried to get a few shallow but they don't seem to respond to it on this lake for some reason, so after an hour I went out against the bridge. I caught some more 2lb chub there in the first few drops and then a carp of about 3lb, so I reckoned I got about 8 or 9lb in the first hour.
I put a pot of caster in after every fish and this seemed to be right on the day. I was catching chub and odd carp but not really emptying it yet but at least there was a few there now. I could see Mark Jones on peg 13 on the island catching a few and Paul Evans on peg 7 on the stamps catching too. I was having to wait for bites, which at 14.5 meters in a crosswind isn't easy. In addition I had to pot it too, after every fish, it was the only way to get the bites. I decided to put some more feed in to see what would happen, you never know until you try! I started to feed with the catapult; a couple of pouches of caster each time and then a few pieces of corn over the top as a change bait. I was getting more indications doing this although some of which were 'liners'. Whenever the bites slowed I could get a few fish by 'blasting' some bait at them. I caught a lot of carp and chub on double caster but not many on the corn. The other lines were unproductive with just one or two fish off each so I stayed with the long line until the end of the match.
I was hooking carp against the bridge but they were going through to the other lake. I found by just holding them there, rather than trying to drag them out, they all came back without any fuss. I used Middy Hi Viz. 10-12 elastic, through top threes with .14 Ignesti direct to a Kamasan B610. I only had trouble with one carp, which went double-figures that too came in eventually. I hooked three carp where the elastic came out about a foot and then the hook pulled out. I am not sure whether these fish were foul hooked or not, they weren't on long enough. When I started to feed it heavier, there were more fish in the peg so I came up six inches to avoid foul hooking them and it seemed to work. I wanted to try the other line under the willow but I was reluctant to change from the bridge swim. I had been spraying some maggot over in an attempt to catch some chub. I eventually went across with double maggot under the willow and caught five chub up to 2lb, followed by a 6lb mirror carp. I never had another bite there for the rest of the match but it was worth feeding it for what I did catch. I had two more carp from the bridge and then the whistle went (the match organiser must have a fish on I thought)
I weighed 55lb exactly to win the match, apparently that is a new match record for the 'Figure of Eight' pool. Which was nice! Second was Mark Jones from peg 13 on Day Ticket with 28lb 14 and third was B. Protheroe from peg 4 on the Figure of Eight with 21lb 9. Paul Evans weighed 20lb of roach and small chub on the waggler from peg 7 on the stumps, a really good performance on the day for fourth in the match.
Saturday 9th December.
Match lake, Number five
Well another good draw, when is it all going to end? I managed to get peg 4 on the match with the wind blowing the right way for once, slightly over my left shoulder towards the island. The only down side was the fact that the lake was really coloured with all the rainwater that had gone in there and fishing was likely to be difficult on the day.
I started on the waggler with the intention of catching shallow but I couldn't even catch at depth, the chub were either not there or not feeding but it took about two hours to start getting regular bites. I caught on maggot but avoided feeding it because of the bits there, preferring to feed caster for the better stamp fish in the peg. I had a chub of about ten ounces on the drop on the wagglers but failed to get them on the pole even though I fed the line for the duration of the match. A three pound chub hooked itself as I cast in an dragged the rod round, they don't do that very often these days so I thought there must be a few shallow. I stepped up the feed but failed to hit the bites, which were increasing with the feeding approach. I decided to persevere with the pole, as the waggler was a waste of time. I put the shallow rig out at 16 meters and fed it the same as I did on the waggler hoping to get them to come away from the island. It took me about twenty minutes and a pint of caster to get the first one, which was about a pound. Another about two pound followed this but I think there were a few more there. I was getting liners so I came up to about ten inches and bagged up. I managed to feed them short for a while and caught at 13 meters but they didn't stay long. There were a few anglers stood behind me watching and there was a pheasant shoot going on too which probably contributed to me having to fish at 16 metres for the rest of the match. It was easier to catch at 13 meters but as long as you are catching I suppose you have to be grateful. The best way to catch them shallow was to feed it constantly with casters. It is hard work but the results speak volumes. You need to put in about twenty- thirty casters every couple of seconds to catch these chub and when you get a few in front of you start to get liners on the waggler, which is why the pole is better for hitting the bites. I used the same set up as the previous week to catch those chub, but substituted the number six elastic for a Middy Hi Viz 8.
At the weigh in Andrew Murphy had caught about thirty chub on the feeder and two big carp in the last twenty minutes, which I thought might push my weight. They were the only two carp caught on the day, which took his weight to 25lb. I weighed 28 lb. 6 of all chub to win the match, which I thoroughly enjoyed even though it takes it out of me fishing 16 meters.
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