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Diary Of A
Matchman Part 11
by
Giles Cochrane.
Docklow Winter Matches.
Match Lake; peg 30.
Throughout
the summer months I have ventured to woodland View and Moorlands farm but as the
weather has turned colder, I find it is better to steer clear of these venues
because the carp tend to shoal tightly. I am not saying that the same is not
true of Docklow but the advantages here are that you can frame by fishing for
silver fish. I have done a few articles through various publications and
Internet sites on the methods I use in the winter and I see no reason why the
same methods should not work again this year. I have had some relatively good
wins and placings by fishing for roach and chub shallow on the long pole in
previous years and I am fairly confident on this method in terms of rigs and
feeding patterns. It has taken some time to work out the best approach but the
results speak for themselves with wins of over 50lb of roach. The other point
here is that I think it is impossible to do that kind of weight by fishing at
depth which means that it is possible to frame from most pegs on the complex
with this approach. Some anglers still target the carp and at times I see
nothing wrong with this but they do tend to shoal and that means you can only
win when you draw right on them.
This first match was well attended which
mean that the majority of the pegs on the Match lake would be in and that would
mean that the carp would be pushed to some of the pegs around the islands. In
previous years when the pegging had been tight, the carp end up on either pegs
4, 6, 7 or opposite on pegs 31, 30 or 29. On the day I drew peg 30, which was
in the right area, but you never know until the match starts whether you are in
with a chance. To be honest I did fancy the peg as it has some form but if the
truth be known, the carp are not that hard to catch at this time of year and it
is a case of where they settle rather than any form of feeding approach, as it
is with most commercials when it gets a little colder.
I had one about 4lb first chuck on the
waggler and then another about 6lb two chucks later which usually means the carp
will move after a while so I shallowed up to see if there were any up in the
water to prevent foul hooking any this early on. They didn't stay long and I was
beginning to wait a while for bites, which is not good on the waggler. I think
the method is better suited to catching quickly as the line tends to sink too
deeply resulting in liners and foul hookers. Under these conditions I believe it
is better to fish the straight lead as a 'bolt-rig'. I have a lot of faith in
bolt rigs and anti eject rigs because every carp is self-hooked and in the
mouth. The other advantage is that you can feed the peg and wait for the bigger
fish to arrive and settle because they are often spooked by the constant casting
of a waggler. The match was becoming an unpleasant affair as the wind had
increased and the rain had got heavier so I was looking forward to the end of
this session. With 90 minutes to go I had eight carp on the lead and two on the
waggler and I was catching some of the bigger fish on hair rigged meat but the
bites had completely stopped for me. Richie Hoskins was opposite on peg 7 and he
had been catching throughout the match with increasing frequency so it was going
to be close between us if he kept on at that rate. I had much bigger fish but
that advantage was being cut down as I was not catching at all now. At the
weigh-in, Richie had 12 carp for 43lb and mine went 55lb and the best weight off
the other pools was around 30lb from the Day Ticket lake.
It was good to win the first event but I
was bored for most of the match sitting on the lead. The payout more than made
up for that though, which was nice!
Day Ticket lake.
The
second week of the winter series was hampered somewhat by a gale force wind and
rain, something that is becoming a regular feature at the complex this year.
Looking at the pegs before the draw it was obvious that the Match lake was not
where I wanted to draw because of the pegging and the fact that it is exposed to
the elements. First of all I should explain what I believe to be the problem
with the match lake because many anglers seem to be getting it wrong as to why
it does or does not fish. It has very little to do with temperature or wind
direction and although air pressure does affect it to a certain extent, that is
not the deciding factor here. It is all down to carp being creatures of habit
and the fact that they will move the entire length of the lake in the course of
a match. This is caused by the pegging and what you need to avoid is large gaps
because the fish tend to move to quieter areas. When there are no gaps in the
pegging the carp will end up on the pegs in front of the islands. It still
depends on whether every peg is in at that end of the lake whether the carp
settle on 6, 7, 9 or 10 but you can guarantee a good weight wherever they do
settle. The same is true of the pegs opposite because the shoal can be reached
from either side depending on the strength of the wind.
The match attendances were down on this
one because some of the anglers were fishing the Welsh National at Port Talbot,
which meant gaps on the match lake. I was hoping to draw the Day Ticket on the
day because the wind was going to affect everyone on the Match lake. As it
turned out I drew peg 3 on the island on Day ticket, which meant that I was out
of the wind. Peg 19 was the other side of the island where a lot of matches have
been won in the summer months but I didn't fancy it today. The water clarity
meant that I was not going to catch many roach shallow so I opted to fish long
and deep with caster for the roach and chub. The wind was increasing by the hour
and I reckon I had about 15-17lb of roach and chub when Mike brought the scales
down to me. I was not really into the idea of weighing everyone in on the day as
it was pissing down and I wanted to get home. I could see Simon Jones catching
on peg 6 on the stumps and thought that he would win the section because he had
around 5 carp for 20lb plus. This meant that by going home I would have lost £30
for the section if he framed. Judging by the conditions on the day I thought he
might finish top five as the Match lake was going to be well hard. When I saw
the result in the paper the following week I was disappointed to say the least.
Simon had won the match with 77lb and 19lb was second. I would have done that
comfortably as I tipped back with 90 minutes remaining but there is no point
bleating about it now. I made my choice on the day and the £70 I chucked away
was worth every penny under those conditions. I would have stayed had I not
drawn the scales but that is the unfortunate thing at Docklow.
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