Weather: 4C overcast and drizzle.
Water: Completely covering platform, had to fish from bank.
Peg: 54 (under water)
Baits: 4mm fishery feed pellet and 4mm expanders. Krilled reds.
Weight: 51lb
Having a free week from rugby commitments I decided to get out on the bank. Where better than to larford, my favourite, as it has been fishing very well recently. I had planned to get out on the Sunday also to fish the Whitehall silvers match, however with the forecast set to ruin a good day out a sensible decision was made to postpone this.
So onto Larford, I got there quite late but had time to have a little chat and the obligatory banter from 'jules' in the cafe. A decent turn out with MMT winner Les Thompson and 2 internationals in the field proves the point that Larford is always a test of your quality.
Into the draw bag my hand goes hoping for a 20 something, having seen 20, 24 and 28 go it looked grim. Out came 54 in the middle of the burr bank, not a noted peg so I wasn't best pleased trudging my gear through the mud with a niggling doubt this was going to be hard.
I started setting up and decided to have a good plumb around to find the deepest part of my peg. Just off to the right at 1 o'clock 14.5m out I found a deeper hole about 9'6" deep. I had 9' at 10 o'clock so used the same rigs but marked the 2 depths on my top kit. I also then looked for some depth shorter and found 8m out to my left 6ft of water.
My long lines were set up with 2 rigs to cover changing conditions; a light and heavy rig both on 0.13 powerline and 0.11 hooklengths with size 18 B911 F1 hooks. The light rig was a hillbilly billybob 0.5g set to dead depth and shotted to a pimple. I shotted this with a bulk at 12inches and one no10 dropper at 6inches from the hook. The heavy rig was a 0.75g hillbilly dweezil set 2inch over depth shotted so 15mm of bristle showing using a 0.5g olivette and 2 no10 droppers. Short line was 0.13 powerline to a 0.13 hooklength with a 16 B911 hook.
Others were setting bomb rods and method rods up. Due to the depth I had on pole I felt this was probably uneccessary and my confidence was in the fact I would catch on pole. The peg I was on is one of the deepest and known in summer as a pole peg really with bomb not working as much as on the shallow bank opposite.
I started the match straight out on the long pole line feeding with 10 4mm pellets in a kinder pot and after a couple of minutes the first skimmer of the day. I started feeding 6-8 4mm pellets every fish whilst fishing an expander and had 1 early f1 carp with another falling off just before the net. This led to a few liners and missed bites, it became clear the fish had come up in the water. I thought about setting a dropper / deep shallow rig but tried first to change feeding to dictate the fish's behaviour. I started feeding 15-20 pellets when bites slowed and this seemed much more productive.
Throughout the day I was picking up skimmers at fairly regular intervals with quick spells of F1's in 2's. The problem I had was the F1 carp were not settling and there seemed not to be enough of them. I experimented with 6mm expanders and krilled maggot but wouldn't get a touch on these, with a 4mm expander on the float would go every time. I dabbled in the last 2 hours on my short line but this didn't produce a touch. I fed krilled maggot and pellet on this line I just kept plugging away on my long line all match, varying feed towards the end to feed a little heavier to get some last gasp fish into the peg. 30mins to go I had a larger carp of around 4lb that was a welcome addition.
The all out went and I wondered where the 5hours had gone. I hadn't found enough carp or F1s to win but I thought I may well sneak a place in the frame. It turned out I comfortably beat everyone on the burr bank however the pegs I wanted at the draw threw up some weights with Fran O'Reilly taking the honours on 20 using banded pellet throughout the match. Something I considered swapping to within the match. This put me in 4th place which I was very happy with baring in mind how miserable I was about my draw. A DNW to my left and 9lb to my right was all the more pleasing.
My weight was 22lb of skimmers and 29lb of F1s and carp, which was a good days winters fishing. Shame the weather had spoilt the prospect of hammering some of those big old roach within the Whitehall pool on the Sunday. Check back to see reports of my attempts to crack the Whitehall pool.
Water: Completely covering platform, had to fish from bank.
Peg: 54 (under water)
Baits: 4mm fishery feed pellet and 4mm expanders. Krilled reds.
Weight: 51lb
Having a free week from rugby commitments I decided to get out on the bank. Where better than to larford, my favourite, as it has been fishing very well recently. I had planned to get out on the Sunday also to fish the Whitehall silvers match, however with the forecast set to ruin a good day out a sensible decision was made to postpone this.
So onto Larford, I got there quite late but had time to have a little chat and the obligatory banter from 'jules' in the cafe. A decent turn out with MMT winner Les Thompson and 2 internationals in the field proves the point that Larford is always a test of your quality.
Into the draw bag my hand goes hoping for a 20 something, having seen 20, 24 and 28 go it looked grim. Out came 54 in the middle of the burr bank, not a noted peg so I wasn't best pleased trudging my gear through the mud with a niggling doubt this was going to be hard.
I started setting up and decided to have a good plumb around to find the deepest part of my peg. Just off to the right at 1 o'clock 14.5m out I found a deeper hole about 9'6" deep. I had 9' at 10 o'clock so used the same rigs but marked the 2 depths on my top kit. I also then looked for some depth shorter and found 8m out to my left 6ft of water.
My long lines were set up with 2 rigs to cover changing conditions; a light and heavy rig both on 0.13 powerline and 0.11 hooklengths with size 18 B911 F1 hooks. The light rig was a hillbilly billybob 0.5g set to dead depth and shotted to a pimple. I shotted this with a bulk at 12inches and one no10 dropper at 6inches from the hook. The heavy rig was a 0.75g hillbilly dweezil set 2inch over depth shotted so 15mm of bristle showing using a 0.5g olivette and 2 no10 droppers. Short line was 0.13 powerline to a 0.13 hooklength with a 16 B911 hook.
Others were setting bomb rods and method rods up. Due to the depth I had on pole I felt this was probably uneccessary and my confidence was in the fact I would catch on pole. The peg I was on is one of the deepest and known in summer as a pole peg really with bomb not working as much as on the shallow bank opposite.
I started the match straight out on the long pole line feeding with 10 4mm pellets in a kinder pot and after a couple of minutes the first skimmer of the day. I started feeding 6-8 4mm pellets every fish whilst fishing an expander and had 1 early f1 carp with another falling off just before the net. This led to a few liners and missed bites, it became clear the fish had come up in the water. I thought about setting a dropper / deep shallow rig but tried first to change feeding to dictate the fish's behaviour. I started feeding 15-20 pellets when bites slowed and this seemed much more productive.
Throughout the day I was picking up skimmers at fairly regular intervals with quick spells of F1's in 2's. The problem I had was the F1 carp were not settling and there seemed not to be enough of them. I experimented with 6mm expanders and krilled maggot but wouldn't get a touch on these, with a 4mm expander on the float would go every time. I dabbled in the last 2 hours on my short line but this didn't produce a touch. I fed krilled maggot and pellet on this line I just kept plugging away on my long line all match, varying feed towards the end to feed a little heavier to get some last gasp fish into the peg. 30mins to go I had a larger carp of around 4lb that was a welcome addition.
The all out went and I wondered where the 5hours had gone. I hadn't found enough carp or F1s to win but I thought I may well sneak a place in the frame. It turned out I comfortably beat everyone on the burr bank however the pegs I wanted at the draw threw up some weights with Fran O'Reilly taking the honours on 20 using banded pellet throughout the match. Something I considered swapping to within the match. This put me in 4th place which I was very happy with baring in mind how miserable I was about my draw. A DNW to my left and 9lb to my right was all the more pleasing.
My weight was 22lb of skimmers and 29lb of F1s and carp, which was a good days winters fishing. Shame the weather had spoilt the prospect of hammering some of those big old roach within the Whitehall pool on the Sunday. Check back to see reports of my attempts to crack the Whitehall pool.
