There are two aspects of match fishing that never cease to amaze me - firstly is how often I end-up being pegged next to the same angler time after time (I'm sure Colin Underwood is sick of the sight of me on Godalming AS club matches); and secondly is how often I seem to draw the same pegs again and again - I've only fished the Old Lake at Willinghurst three times but I've now managed to draw peg one twice in a row!
 |
| Fun in the sun! |
With the benefit of having fished the peg before (and not managing a bite on the pole) I decided to stick to a two swim, two rod approach - the first line being into the deeper water straight in front at 25-30m, the second being into the rushes along the parallel bank to my right at about 20m where there was a nice looking indent.
In terms of the first set-up I went for my usual Daiwa Tournament Pro 10' tip rod and a Daiwa TDR 3012 reel (loaded with 8lb Daiwa Sensor) - the arrangement being completed with simple loop in the end of mainline to take the variety of Guru X-Safe weights and feeders I planned to try. The second set-up consisted of a Daiwa Tournament Pro 11' waggler rod and another Daiwa TDR 3012 reel, this time loaded with 4lb Daiwa Sensor - relatively light line but as I wanted to use the lightest floats I could get away with the drop in breaking strain seemed worthwhile. (Hooklength for the waggler was 25cm of 0.17 N-Gauge to a size 18 Guru Pellet Waggler hook and a hair-rigged pellet band.)
 |
| Guru X-Safe in-line weights |
In terms of the first set-up I went for my usual Daiwa Tournament Pro 10' tip rod and a Daiwa TDR 3012 reel (loaded with 8lb Daiwa Sensor) - the arrangement being completed with simple loop in the end of mainline to take the variety of Guru X-Safe weights and feeders I planned to try. The second set-up consisted of a Daiwa Tournament Pro 11' waggler rod and another Daiwa TDR 3012 reel, this time loaded with 4lb Daiwa Sensor - relatively light line but as I wanted to use the lightest floats I could get away with the drop in breaking strain seemed worthwhile. (Hooklength for the waggler was 25cm of 0.17 N-Gauge to a size 18 Guru Pellet Waggler hook and a hair-rigged pellet band.)
 |
| I was End Peg Billy again today! |
The first 90 minutes (1030-1200) of the match were OK with six carp hitting the net - one first chuck on a Hybrid feeder into the rushes and a total of 5 into the open water with a two thirds of an ounce Guru X-Safe in-line lead and a 30cm hooklength of 0.17 Guru N-Gauge to a size 14 QM1 with a hair-rigged pellet band.
 |
| Mainly pellets again today |
Unfortunately the next two hours (1200-1400) were rather slow because as far as I can remember I didn't have a single bite on bomb, feeder or waggler!!!
 |
| The Guru Hybrid feeder that did the damage |
Fortunately the final three hours of the match (1400-1700) just kepy on getting better and better with a total of twenty carp hitting the net - the action started to improve via the straight lead but some heavy feeding of 8mm pellets into the indent in the rushes along the parallel back eventually paid-off and towards the end it was literally one a bung on the pellet feeder, with most bites coming really quickly and the rod doubling-up within seconds. This good run of fished allowed me to weigh a total of 127-8-0 - enough for second on the lake and fourth overall in the match (which was won by England legend Stevie Gardener from a peg on the Top Lake).
Until next time ...
No comments:
Post a Comment