1 of my 4 targets for the season met!!

Venue: Larford Lakes (Speci Lake)
Peg: 76
Weather: Cool, frost in the moring and a biting northerly wind that changed to a westerly mid day.
Result: 46lb, 4th and qualifed.

Well, as many of you know I have been chasing qualification for the Maver Larford Classic final when I have been out through the winter and spring. As Larford was a new venue and a whole new skill set I have had some indifferent results. This weekend was the last opportunity I had to qualify and it was all or bust for me. So, here goes.

I had researched methods that were working and had set my mind on bomb and pellet and pole and pellet for my two main lines with the pellet waggler if the fish were showing or intercepting the pellets on the drop. Andy Kinder was very obliging and gave me a heads up on phone to fish a lot shorter than has been the norm on the peg I drew this week, some top advise, I wouldnt have had the result was it not for this heads up.

So onto my peg, on looking at it I had 2 overhanging bushes both sides and was considering putting in a margin swim however due to the frost in the morning I thought this would not produce so put a line in at 6m if the big boys came close late on. This was going to be a throw away line as I didn't see it producing so was not going to put any faith into this line.

My first line of attack is the bomb and pellet fished at 30m. For this I set up my 11ft version of my powerlite feeder system with a 2oz tip. This was matched with a Daiwa Caprice 2500F loaded with 0.22 Daiwa Sensor. A 2/3oz Guru Lead was cliped onto a link swivel, I also attach my hooklength to this swivel, this was 0.17 powerline tide with a band 15mm from the bend of a size 16 B911.

To back up I set up a pole line at 12.5m to fish pellet for skimmers and any carp that may show up. As there was a slight breeze and ripple on I set up a 1g Sconezone Berweemz in 8 1/2ft of water. This was on 0.15 reflo powerline to the same hooklength size and a size 16 B911. This was matched to a soft set grey hydro.

On the all in I potted in a full 125ml pot of dampened 6mm pellet with 30 or so krilled red maggots. I then chucked the bomb and started to ping 4 8mm pellets over the bomb line every 30 seconds for the first 5 mins. The tip wanged around after 2 mins and a lenghty fight saw me pull out just before the net. I was furious with myself however I cannot loose my head this early on.

After 10mins the tip moved back and forth and a strike saw solid resistance and a 1lb skimmer came to the net. 10mins later another skimmer slightly bigger followed. I kept pinging for 5 lots of 1 min bursts of 4 pellets and then left the swim for 3-4 mins and then repeated. The tip went round for my 2 biggest carp of the day at around 12:30-13:00.

I then rested the line and went onto the pole line that I had been feeding with a big pot every 45mins. At this point Andy Neal to my right had started to catch skimmers at a real pace. I could not match this and spent a little too long trying to make this line work. I later found out he was having to use a 2g float to combat the tow and wind on the water.

I had contined to ping pellets over my bomb line, I had hoped the rest would see fish settle, and on returning the line was strong. I had 6 fish within an hour, they were all smaller carp but I was catching and a lot of people were not around me. I stayed on this line until the end, some of the bites were now ripping the rod off of the rest, so the fish were confident on this line. I tried for 5mins on my 6m line and even chucked bomb over long pole line to pick up a bonus fish but without fruition.

Roll on next week and the maver match this qualifer at Barston Lakes... praying for a good draw.

Getting back to old ways

Venue: Ockeridge Lakes Willow Pool
Peg: 7
Weather: Cool, westerly wind with heavy rain showers
Result: 50lb 2nd on lake, 3rd overall.

After fishing Barston last year a few times and thoroughly enjoying my time on there I had earlier decided to fish some bigger venues to challenge myself as an angler. Namely Larford lakes and in particular the specimen lake. I have had some mixed fortunes on there and narrowly missed out on qualifying for the classic final in may.

Well Sunday last I drew a great area and a corner peg. Unfortunately the carp had moved out of the area and were not feeding,  I fished for munters all day and had one bite in last minute down the edge which resulted in a scale the size of my fist coming back on the hook. I was desolated to have blanked on a peg that Neil McKinnon and Martin Churchill said I could win the match off today but then again that is fishing! To make it worse when packing away and chatting to the owner Phil my barrow decided to try and go for a swim and fell over nearly emptying its contents into the depths of speci lake. But a well done to fellow club man Gary Whatling for qualifying!

I therefore decide to get my head back in the game and head to Ockeridge Pools just past Hallow. A lovely, well looked after and prolific venue of 4 small sized pools. Going back to this style of commercial pool fishing would surely get my confidence back in my fishing. It was also good to see fellow club man Dave Warren there and an added bit on inter-club competition to be had.

At the draw I pulled out Willow pool peg 7, which meant nothing to me as I had ventured to Ockeridge 5 times before now and drawn on Oak pool every time. Speaking to a couple of regulars they all said I would struggle to do a big weight there which was encouraging, or not, but I did not let this deter me. I am here to catch lots of fish and that is what I will do no matter what. Plan was to have them on pellet short and long and maybe a few shallow then plunder the edge for last 2 hours.

Map Showing peg and lines fished

On getting to my peg I had a good plumb around to try and find some features on this pool. First thing I always look for is the slope going away from me, usually found at around top 2 and 2, however I could only find the same depth around this distance. I came close to find a steep slope a top kit out from me this was no good for today as the fish are not coming in that close yet. I then found the same depth, just over 4ft, from this point on all the way to 13m. As this was the case I opted on fishing a top 2 and 2 line and a line at 11m as this gives plenty of space between the two swims. I didn't need to go the extra distance out on such a small pool. My other attack would be down the edge of the shelf about 2ft of depth under an overhanging tree and bush to my right looked very fishy as my left hand side was blocked off due to a tree next to me obstructing my pole.

As I had the same depth rigs could be the same although if the wind picked up I would have opted for a heavier float at 11m for added control. For the pellet I fished a sconezone piranha in a 0.2g on 0.15 powerline to a 0.13 hooklength and 16 B911 hook. This was matched to grey hydro. My margin line was a 0.1g Jubleez on 0.17 line with a 14 B911 hook and I matched this to purple hydro initially but after pulling out of fish I switched to black. I also set up a paste line with a sconezone 0.2g jadz on 0.15 to a 14 hook and a shallow rig with a 0.07 Wellardz to 0.11  hooklength for banded pellet.


Piranaz for pellet on deck



Jubleez for margins






Jadz for paste



Wellardz for shallow



Onto the session and I started off on my top 2 and 2 line hoping to mug some carp short early on. A medium cad pot full of 4mms went in and a 6mm pellet on the hook. After 30 mins and 4 skimmers I moved off this line as I was not connecting with the carp, opposite me an angler was just landing his 6th carp, so something needed changing.

I went out to 11m with around 20 4mm pellets and 8 krilled maggots in the pot, it is silty in this area, therefore too much feed would lead to lots of line bites and foul hookers as the fish forage through the silt for the feed. Lifting and dropping saw some interest but again there was something not right. I changed from my bulk at 12 inches and no droppers shotting pattern to a strung bulk with last shot at 8 inches and then shot at 2 inch intervals. This saw 3 more carp all around 1lb 8oz come to the net with a blast of 8 pellets over the top of that line every fish. I kept catapulting in the same quantity of loose feed every 4mins to draw fish to the swim and every 2 fish put another cad pot in over the rig. I was catching steady but the carp were small and the skimmers even smaller. The first 2 hours were hard for most, I had under 10lb and was beginning to sweat. 

Whilst fishing the long line I was always flicking pellets on my top 2 line and went over this line at times through the day, this produced the odd carp here and there, however they were not there in numbers so my long line was my most consistent bet. Constant lifting and dropping enticed bites from here but then out of the blue it died completely. I then had to focus on my short line in the 3rd and 4th hour of the match.

On going back to this line I changed to a much more positive shotting pattern of 1 no10 dropper at 6 inches and bulk at 12 inches. The carp here were of a bigger stamp and the skimmers when they showed would be caught in 2's and 3's before carp moved back in. I really upped my feed here and after hooking a fish would throw in a good 15 pellets. I followed this up by a full cad pot over my rig when going back over. With 2 hours to go I reckon I had 25lb-28lb and needed my edge line to produce. I had cupped in 125ml cup of krilled maggots into the swim from the start on every hour.

When initially going down the edge I got obliterated by roach so cupped in a large pot full and started to flick bunches down the edge. With just over an hour to go there were swirls in the edge and I went in with a bunch of 5 maggots on the hook. The float failed to settle before elastic was streaming out of my pole tip and the first edge fish was there. Usually I would big pit after every fish when on the maggot but as it had fished so hard in the day I flicked out bunches of maggots to try and imitate my hookbait when that hit the water.

After this initial carp I put the rig in and a little dip made me think another carp was around andthen 2 more dips and on the 4th dip I grew impatient and struck into a wobbly thing. Decent chub I though, nice change. Next put in the same again a little dip and a strike sees purple hydro again wobbling all over my swim and a huge mouth come up. A decent looking chub, or so I thought, of 3lb+ which most likely would not have been caught on corn or meat down the edge. It turned out at the weigh in that they were indeed Ide, and not chub, which easily gives me a new pb for that species.

Stupidly I had opted for purple hydro for the edge, not sure what I was planning on catching, which led to two hook pulls late in the session so I changed this to black hydro and did not suffer the same again. With 5 mins to go my margin had seemingly gone dead. I kept flicking maggots down the edge and lowering my hookbait in. I was looking around at Dave Warren sacking up in the last half hour when all of a sudden my pole tip was being pulled down and around my swim. Black hydro was streaming out and I had finally hooked into one of the lumps. After having to use the pulla on my black hydro and shouting fish on at the whistle (2 things I haven't done for a while) a lovely 7lb- 8lb lean common was in the net on the whistle.

I thought I might sneak 2nd on the pool and get my section but be beaten by the guys on the pool behind me who caught all day. Turns out their carp were a much smaller stamp just averaging over 1lb so I ended up doing a little better than I thought.

Next in line is Barston the next 3 weeks with a Matchfishingscene.co.uk match on good Friday, Barston Masters on the 14th April and Maver Match this on the 22nd April. Along with this I will hopefully have 2 more bites at the cherry with qualification to the classic final at Larford. Keep looking on as I will be updating my goings on on here more regularly now the season is starting in full.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

When it all starts going wrong

Venue: Larford lakes speci lake
Peg: 80
Weather: freezing cold, rain and wind!
Result: 6th with 12lb 1 place out of qualifiers

Well I've already blogged on my recent woes at Larford. To cut a long story short they continued on my recent outing to the speci lake on a classic qualifier. I was feeling a little more confident this week and pinned my hopes on catching on a groundbait feeder and maggot.

I had been keeping an eye on the results from the silvers festival held on speci during the week and groundbait feeder and pole and pellet was coming up in many winning results. This tied with the strong winds meant that this approach may win over pole tactics. I was always going to set up the obligatory method feeder as well.

Onto the day and the weather was abhorant, temperature had dropped 10*C in 2 days, so was going to make the fishig tough. Banter was as usual about my drawing hand and once again it didn't disappoint, peg 80, end peg flier which was also the golden peg.

The match didn't go my way until the last hour where I extracted 11lb of skimmers from my 13m pole and pellet line. Not a sign of a carp down the edge despite 2 being caught opposite me from down there. Also not a bite on groundbait feeder. I had a F1 and a skimmer on the method and lost a carp to a snag. That cost me.

I have learnt some lessons the hard way unfortunately. I knew the pole line would best be plundered in the last 2 hours. However I should have chucked the method all day as fish were not settling over feed during the day because of the cold conditions. All that was needed was one carp from the method to have qualified or to have framed!! Chucking the method throughout the day would leave a small feeding area for fish to settle over in last hour when they feed hard. The method is also an area I would say is a strength rather than a groundbait feeder approach do I should have fished to strengths. I also spent an hour down the edge looking for a carp, I managed 1 perch on this line.

So to take a few points forward:
- listen to what's working but make that work to my strengths
- do not have a Pre-determined plan in winter conditions
- just chuck the method and leave it

My plans for 2012

Hi to all of my regular readers, would love to update you on some good news but I haven't been doing too well as of late. I thought I would also share my plans for this year so you can see what is in store for the blog in 2012.

Firstly I have been visiting Larford during a spell of injury stopped me playing rugby, I usually stop angling as much in winter but have managed 3 more of the Maver Larford Classic Qualifiers. I had a terrible draw on match lake and with only 18inches out to 16m it was a wonder I caught anything. Managed to get 28lb of skimmers and F1's with 3 anglers around me blanking I was pleased but 108lb won the match. I then fished arena on a rock hard day, only 1 fish with the rest of my bank blanking... Yes in arena lake at larford. Winners had 30lb odd. Finally I drew peg 18 on speci lake a right flier. Well for 3 hours all that had been caught was a number of skimmers on the method at range, I had 3 and then went on my 14.5m pole line. Well I bagged up for an hour for 17lb then they disappeared and I couldn't do anything to get them back. What made it worse was next peg caught for last hour and half and bagged 30lbs skimmers on his pole line. I also had an enjoyable day on laugherne island and finished 4th with 37lbs and 7lbs separating 1st and 7th place, this was one of the tightest matches I've ever heard of let alone fished. What made it worse I lost 2 fish with the strong wind blowing my pole the other direction to the fish causing a pull out and a h/l break... My language was a little blue after this to say the least!!

Well on to my plans for 2012;
- Qualify for Maver Classic Final on the 6th and 7th May through opens on larford
- Barston Masters on Saturdays of April 14th,May 12th, June 9th, August 11th 2012 and The Final Saturday - September 8th.
- Maver Match This qualifier on Barston 22nd April
- Maver Match This qualifier on Larford 30th June
- Larford Summer Festival 30th July - Friday 3rd August
- All of the Whitehall matches 20/05/2012 Sunday Whitehall Club Pool
10/06/2012 Sunday Trevor Smiths Reddings Pool
24/06/2012 Sunday Greenhills Fishery  Kingfisher Pool
01/07/2012 Sunday Whitehall Club Pool
08/07/2012 Sunday CLUB MEMORIAL MATCH
14/07/2012 SATURDAY Tirley Court. Pete’s Lake
29/07/2012 Sunday Willow Pool Broadheath Fishery
12/08/2012 Sunday Hallow Pool’s
19/08/2012 Sunday Elmbridge Heron Pool 25 Pegs
02/09/2012 Sunday Greenhills Fishery  Kingfisher Pool
08/09/2012 SATURDAY Tirley Court. Pete’s Lake
30/09/2012 Sunday Oak Pool Ockeridge
21/10/2012 Sunday Whitehall Club Pool


So all in all a busy match calendar when I add a few opens as well as evening matches on Thursday at larford and at the Whitehall. I will endeavour to let you know exactly how I do in all of the above matches. I can't wait for the spring and summer!

Winter sort out...

...A slightly different entry...

As we are well into winter, even though the weather has been quite mild I tend not to be out fishing as much. It is a very busy time for me at work and with my Rugby playing commitments on a Saturday it leaves little time for fishing on the weekends.

Instead of just neglecting my gear in the garage to collect cobwebs and dust I use my time on the evenings and occasionally sat in front of some Rugby or Football on a Sunday to organise my gear for the spring. This includes sorting rigs, tying hook lengths and generally making sure bits and pieces are clean and tidy.

First on my list of "to do's" was to clean my pole; not an easy job and a job that is best done when the woman of the house is out shopping. I do this by getting the sections out and standing them up in the bath, I then use some car shampoo with wax mixed with some warm water to wash down sections. Then with the shower head a blast down the section to remove any loose dirt or grit. These are then towel dried and stood up to dry on top of an old towel.

Secondly my carryall, I could not believe the state of the bottom of my carryall. I was very tempted to bin it and start again!! Bits of pellet, paste and all manner of sludge had found its way to the bottom of the bag, even though I use a separate bait carryall. I had to empty this and get in it with the hose pipe, even the dog turned its nose up at it. Was then a case of simply hanging this out to dry.

The labour recently has been on my pole rigs. I have checked old rigs, re-tyed, tyed new rigs, changed some patterns and have managed to amass this lot of rigs that cover the styles of fishing I have started to hone and hope to start to get better at over the next year. These rigs are made to cover everything I will want to do on a fishery and therefore won't cover every style of fishing perceivable. Here they are in all there glory:



... Next up is my hooklengths and feeder / waggler stocks watch this space...

Christmas Matches - Manor Farm Ash Pool and Whitehall Open

Manor Farm 28th December

Weather: 4C-8C clear and windy.
Water: Unbelievably still quite a lot of colour in the water
Peg: 6
Baits: SDP Nori 1mm feed pellet, 4mm ringers cool water pumped with SFA 430, Marukyu EFG 130 and red maggot.

Weight: 16lb 10oz (Section win)

I got asked to fish a match on one of manor farm's pools, I have seen and heard a lot about this venue. It is solid and the results during winter are consistently high. Unfortunately the pool we fished didn't really have enough room for the anglers fishing which made the fishing tough.

I set up on my peg and first of all found the bottom of the near side slope, I fished half a metre up the slope at just under 6m in 5ft of water. For this line I used a hillbilly billybob in 0.2g to 0.11 powerline and a 0.10 hooklength to a 18 drennan silverfish maggot.

The next pole line I set up to fish was a long line at 11m-14.5m, I found a uniform bottom here so plumped on starting at 11m due to a cross wind making things difficult. I set up a maver invincible series 7 in 0.6g to 0.13 powerline and the same hooklength and hook as above, this was to white hydro on a pulla.

Finally I set up a feeder/bomb line in case the fish were not coming within reaching distance for the pole. It turned out that this was the only thing I could fish due to the cross winds and then the sun reflecting so brightly in my peg I couldn't see anything, let alone a dotted down float even with polarised glasses on. I used my brand new 11ft maver powerlite feeder, with a snap swivel attaching either bomb, cage and 8inch-12inch hooklengths.

I started off the session by potting in around 20 micros and 4-5 expanders on my pole lines and then chucked a small drennan grip-mesh feeder out with a 8inch 0.11 powerline hooklength to a size 18 drennan carp feeder hook for maggot and another with a quickstop on a hair rig for Jpz or fluro boilies. I chucked out every 8mins at the start and had 2 liners but no proper takes.

The lack of action on any ones tip lines prompted me to switch to the pole I noticed people opposite me catching on the long pole. I went out to 11m for 30mins without a bite. The wind was picking up which meant I couldn't hold my pole at 11m at all. The 6m line was not producing but I kept frugally feeding this swim.

I switched back to my feeder line and after 4mins and just over an hour gone the tip wanged around and my first f1 of about a pound found it's way into the net. The next hour produced a couple of skimmers and small F1s. However the bites were finicky and I was getting lots of knocks which made me think they were attacking the groundbait. I switched to the method and managed a carp of 3lb on the first chuck.

The final hour was the most producted for me, I caught 2 carp of around 3lb each and 2 more F1's all back on the groundbait feeder and dead red maggots.


Whitehall Open 30th December

Weather: 4C-6C overcast in morning then pouring down in afternoon.
Water: Colour has dropped completely
Peg: 8
Baits: Micros, 4mm expanders, caster, maggot, Sensas Roach 3000 80% mixed with 20% Sensas Lake Black .

Weight: 10lb 8oz 4th (best non carp weight)

I decided to run an open on the club pool between christmas and new years, it was down to be a match fished by MFS however with lack of numbers I ran it as an open.

I drew peg 8 slap bang in the middle of the pool and towards the deeper water that the larger fish tend to move towards in the winter.

I set up 3 lines, the fist was for catching a number of silvers quickly at 5m with maggot and casters over groundbait. I found just over 7ft here so fished a 0.4g homemade pencil float with stung out shotting, I also set a rig up at half deck here on a 0.07 SconeZone Bitz. Both of these lines were 0.10 to 0.08 and a 20 drennan silverfish maggot hook.

At 13m I wanted to fish pellet and pick up everything that swam here. I set up a 0.06 SconeZone Berweemz in just over 8ft of water here  and at about 8 1/2 ft at 10'oclock line for a back up if the fish move from my feed. This was on 0.13 powerline to a 0.11 hooklength and 19 Drennan Silverfish Maggot hook. This was matched to a solid latex size 8 on a pulla bung.

The session started with me potting in a tangerine sized ball of groundbait on my 5m line along with around 15 caster for fish to graze over. I then went out to 13m with 20 micros and an expander on the hook. First 10mins didnt give me any signs so 20 more micros went in through a cad pot and a maggot was tried on the hook. This time 3 roach came to the net but after a long time between them. I changed the shotting on this rig to have 4 droppers below the bulk instead of my usual 2.

On returning out to the 13m line with more droppers I let the rig settle and the bristle buried and a lovely crucian of 10oz came to the net. Then 3 more brown goldfish followed all around the 8oz mark, I reckon that these were sat above the feed and just followed the feed down and thus the pellet falling slower and took them as they hit the deck.

After this short flurry I lost the fish so moved onto the short line where I had now potted in 3 balls of groundbait. I went over with a caster and 2 small roah followed straight away and then a load of liners. I moved the shotting but againg just hit liners. I put the half depth on the drop rig over with a single maggot and had 2 rudd and a good roach of 6oz-8oz. This line was producing small fish but they were of no size. I had to gamble on the pellet line.

On returning to the pellet line it soon ame clear that it was solid with brown goldfish, I took 10 brown goldfish, 2 goldfish, 5 roach and 2 large fantails in the last 2 hours. I could have taken more however I had issues with my float; I had dotted it down to see the finicky bites which was fine. The water turned white which made things tricky so I coloured my bristle black which made it look like a rain drop so I kept losing sight of it. I had to then take some shot off and look for dinks so I must have missed 8-10 bites.

All in all an enjoyable match and its just good to get some bites this time of year.

Whitehall Fur and Feather - 20th November 2011

Weather: 6C overcast, foggy and cold.
Water: Colour had dropped completely out of first foot or so
Peg: 22
Baits: Casters, worm, mircos and 4mm expanders
Weight: 3lb 0oz

The weather is no where near the harshness experienced last year so the fur and feather should fish O.K. and the fish should respond even though there were a lot of anglers on the pool right... right... wrong.


I pulled peg 22 out of the bag which I thought could have been worth a few fish, I had said prior to the match pegs 12-19 would be my favoured draws today I wasn't too far out of the area I wanted. My approach was to catch anything and everything today as the time of the year means the carp would be reticent to feed and I cannot sit and do nothing in a match, it is not the way I fish. I plumbed a line at 13m and 14.5m to be the same depth at 8 1/2 ft and also a line short at 8m just 2 inches shallower so the same rig was used for the deck. I also set up on the drop rigs at 5ft and 3 ft to search the water for bites if things got hard.


My deck rig was a sconezone berweemz in 0.6g to 0.13 powerline and a 0.10 powerline hooklength with a size 18 drennan silverfish maggot hook. This was shotted with a bulk 2 feet from the hook and 4 no10's stotz spaced 6 inches apart. I matched this to white hydro, which although a little heavy for small silvers would ensure I get any bream, chub or proper carp in using the pulla.


My 'drop' rigs were on hillbilly billybobs the 3ft rig on a 0.1g and the 5 ft rig on a 0.2g both were on 0.10 powerline to 0.08 hooklenghts with a 20 drennan silverfish maggot hook both to a number 5 latex. Shotting was strung out 10's at 6inches apart for both rigs, the reason for the 6 inches is that this is the same size as my hooklength so the rig is falling evenly through the water and at no point is the line sinking faster than the hookbait, this also allows you to read any bites at any point on the rigs fall through the water. If there was a bulk then you cannot read any bites on the drop until the bulk has settled unless the fish hooks its self.


On the all in I potted in a tangerine sized ball of micros, worm, caster and peat that the worms came in on my 13m line and went over the top with the 5ft rig to pick out any fish cruising and intercepting the bait on the drop. I had a tiny nudge on this rig in 5mins so went onto the deck. I was feeding 8-10 casters every 30seconds to draw fish into my peg.


The first hour saw me blank completely on the deck and after 30mins I potted in again which had no result so at 11:00 I potted my 3rd ball in. 5mins later the bristle lifted and then buried, a strike saw white hydro streaming from my pole tip and unfortunately into Keith Holt's peg and his rig. This resulted in the carp becoming unhooked and lost (I still believe Keith purposefully sabotaged me!!!!).


After this I started to get liners on my rig so I slapped the 5ft rig on to the surface, again a couple of liners and then the float stayed sat proud of the water I struck into a lovely 2oz golden rudd... the dreaded blank was avoided. Again I was getting liners so I got the 3ft rig out and first put in the float cocked and then buried aggressively and a strike saw elastic zig zagging across the surface, a lovely 10oz-12oz perch was the victim.


All the time I was pinging in caster 10 at a time. The next couple of drops resulted in small 5 small roach looking things upto 1oz. I was contemplating going a foot deeper with my other rig when I layed the rig on the water and the float scooted across the water and a lift saw my tip get dragged under the water, the result a lovely chub of nearly 1lb. After this I went to the deeper rig after the 3ft rig did not produce.


First 3 put ins saw rudd come to the net all at around 2oz, a few fruitless drops then saw another chub to about 8oz come to the net. Next thing I know I am half an hour from the end of the match, I spend 15mins on the deck for 1 roach at about 4oz, until finally the drop rig produced an ide of about 8oz.


3lb went the scales, i had guestimated a bit more at 3 1/2lb which would have catpulted me up a couple of places but the prize I had my eye on was still at the table when I got there in 6th place. A huge bucket of continental style groundbaits and some pellets and additives will help my already clustered shelves of bait. A well ran match and well enjoyed, well by me anyway, well done Whitehall angling club and all involved for a great year.


In other news I have been to Larford fishing the classic qualifiers on sundays on the speci lake, I have had 1 good draw and 1 average draw and have done equally pants on both, narrowly missing out on a section win beaten by Grant Albutt and a 3rd in section all on the method at distance and some skimmers at 16m on the pole and pellet...