Unfortunately I could not get to Larford for the first few weeks of the classic qualifiers due to club commitments and having my knee operated on. I wanted to get myself qualified before Christmas as I found the matches much more enjoyable without the added pressure last year. The first match I fished was on Specimen Lake but I drew out of it on peg 24 and my knee hurt, surely a valid excuse, the results were good for some though:
| Position | Name | Peg | Method | Weight |
|---|
| 1st | Dean Dickinson (Colmic) | 77 | Method feeder | 127-03-00 |
| 2nd | Tony Higgins (Storey's) | 8 | Margins | 121-06-00 |
| 3rd | Andy Kinder (Maver / Marukyu) | 71 | Method feeder | 120-13-00 |
| 4th | Mark Johnson (Bait-Tech) | 75 | Pole and pellet / margins | 108-09-00 |
| 5th | Chris Bradney (Maver) | 28 | | 108-03-00 |
| 6th | Thomas Hanson (Barnsley Bait) | 67 | | 100-10-00 |
The next qualifier match I fished was a couple of weeks after this match, due to club commitments, on the 2nd November it was onto the match lake in gale force winds. I drew peg 10 that I have had three times and not done well on it. I fished quite a tidy match on the short pole at 5m-7m chasing the F1s around and then catching a few down the edge. My rigs for my short lines were both Sconezone V8's in 0.2 on 0.15 and 0.13 hooklengths. The 0.13 was to a band and an 18 B911 with the 0.15 going to a 14 B911 for a 6mm expander. All was looking well before... disaster!!
I was feeding Old Ghost Krill groundbait with dead reds to the back of a clump of reeds to my left, just out of picture, at 11m in 10" of water. It was solid with fish and I was about to go onto this line when a gust of wind blew over my rollers and saw carbon splinter everywhere. A nightmare of broken carbon lay behind me and I couldn't reach the fish!! I had a top 5 to fish to the other side of reeds but the fish did not venture around there in numbers. A big chance missed, although I don't think I would have caught up with Matt on the end peg.
| Position | Name | Peg | Method | Weight |
|---|
| 1st | Matt Greening (Woody's) | 28 | Pole and pellet | 112-06-00 |
| 2nd | Brian Jones (Maver) | 19 | Pole and pellet | 99-12-00 |
| 3rd | Andy Kinder (Maver / Marukyu) | 4 | Method feeder | 92-03-00 |
| 4th | Matt Blackmore (Maver) | 22 | Margins | 90-10-00 |
| 5th | Matt Barnes (Whitehall) | 10 | Pole and pellet | 83-10-00 |
| 6th | Paul Cook (Maver) | 16 | Margins | 67-04-00 |
I had a small enforced break due to the breaks in my pole but returned to the Match lake again on 16th November. I drew possibly the worst peg on the lake, well any peg next to Blacky is crap. At least I could give him a lesson in how to catch.
The match started really slow; I started with 2 method chucks and was flicking 4mm pellets at 6m. I thought I might catch a few short early so went on the 6m line and found it was not to be... An hour passed and one skimmer had been caught on the entire lake. It was grim.
I chucked the method again after sprinkling a few 4mm pellets on my 13m line and the tip wanged around before I got the rod on its rest with a 2lb F1 being the culprit. It then went stone cold dead on me. I chucked a bit longer but no good.
I caught all my fish between 13m and 14.5m on 4mm expander pellet over 4mm feed. I used a heavy and a lighter rig and found the lighter rig caught more fish on the day. Both were 0.15 to 0.13 to a 16 B911. The heavier rig was a 0.3g sconezone V8 and the heavier was a 0.6g hillbilly billybob. Feeding was funny and I couldn't get into a regular pattern and stay with it to keep the fish coming they were very scatty in how they wanted it.
I needed a more consistent catch rate or for my short line to come good to get anywhere near qualifying from this match. Anyway I gave Blacky a goo hiding!!
| Position | Name | Peg | Method | Weight |
|---|
| 1st | Paul Cook (Maver) | 48 | Pole and pellet | 108-10-00 |
| 2nd | Jordan Holloway (Browning) | 16 | Pole and pellet | 84-05-00 |
| 3rd | Matt Barnes (Whitehall) | 22 | Pole and pellet | 64-07-00 |
| 4th | Steve Prophet (Larford) | 50 | | 61-07-00 |
| 5th | Rob Cox (Wyre Forest) | 24 | | 59-14-00 |
| 6th | Matt Blackmore (Maver) | 20 | | 46-09-00 |
I was starting to get some stick about not getting qualified so I had to pull my finger out and how better that to return to Specimen lake where I qualified from the previous 2 years. 1st December was quite mild and the fishing had been up and down on the venue. I drew particularly well on 16 which is my favourite area (14-20) of the whole complex. I qualified off of 17 last year!
The match was pretty straight forward for me. Especially when I wanged the feeder out to 55 turns and it went round straight away. I then chucked back and was rewarded with another carp so 20lb in first 10mins. Groundbait was old ghost krill and match carp mixed 60/40 with a sprinkling of protein binder due to the depth I was fishing in. I played with micros but the groundait was what they wanted. I then had to chase the fish about a bit. I went onto my 13m line when it went quiet on the method and had 10lb of skimmers in 20mins before a carp ran e around and eventually smashed me up thus ruining that line. No fish in the last 45mins cost me the match but I qualified so am happy with that.
| Position | Name | Peg | Method | Weight |
|---|
| 1st | Ray Lamb (Maver) | 63 | Pole and pellet | 99-07-00 |
| 2nd | Matt Barnes (Whitehall) | 16 | Method feeder | 93-11-00 |
| 3rd | Brian Jones (Maver) | 12 | Pole and pellet | 77-06-00 |
| 4th | Andy Kinder (Maver / Marukyu) | 66 | Feeder | 68-03-00 |
| 5th | John Skidmore (Maver) | 10 | Bomb and meat | 59-12-00 |
| 6th | Rob Cooksey (Maver) | 22 | Pole and pellet | 49-08-00 |
