Onto the final match of 2012 for me - the Godalming AS Christmas match. This one was due to be held on the River Wey but after a week or so of heavy rain it was moved to Marsh Farm - this disappointed a few of the regulars, but in reality there was little option as the river had burst it's banks, and we still had 37 optimistic anglers at the draw in the Old Leathern Bottle.
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| A stormy looking Richardson's Lake, Marsh Farm |
Having blanked at Marsh Farm on my last two matches I was also a little apprehensive, but at least by drawing peg 4 on Richardson's Lake I was close to the tackle shop so I could pop in for a coffee if the fishing was poor!
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| Peg 4 |
Today was actually fairly warm (12 degrees) and there was a nice south westerly wind blowing towards my end of the lake so things were looking positive as the fish tend to follow the wind here and it fishes much better with a ripple on the water.
As a result I decided to start positively and I did so with a small 30g Preston banjo feeder cast towards the bottom of the far shelf with softened 2mm pellets in/on the feeder and a hard 6mm pellet on the hair rigged pellet band. I'm sure these feeders will have a time and a place but today they only led to line bites (which in itself was a relief as I hadn't had a sniff of a fish in nearly 14 hours of match fishing).
So at about 1100 I dived into my rod bag and set-up a more traditional feeder (a small 20g Guru model) and a 18" hooklength with 2 dead white maggots on the hook. After 2 minutes the tip finally went right 'round and I was into my first fish - which promptly fell-off at the net!!!
Luckily the next two casts saw 2 small (12 ounce) crucians in the net so at least I hadn't blanked again!
No more fish on the tip so it was onto the pole with the 4x14 KC Carpa Chimp rig shown above fished at top kit plus 4 straight in front where I'd been feeding a little micro pellet and maggot between casts on the feeder.
Amazingly the first 6 casts on this saw 5 crucians and a 3lb skimmer in the net! This line died after the skimmer but was more than happy to see a run of fish at last, and as far as I could tell I'd rocketed up the leader board in a matter of minutes.
A switch to fishing the same rig at an angle to the right saw a very unseasonal 3lb tench, another crucian and a further skimmer, and I also added a second tench on the maggot feeder where I'd caught the first 2 crucians.
During the final hour I didn't have a bite whilst Ian Dixon to my right and Colin Underwood to my left continued to catch small (2-4 ounce) skimmers at an alarming rate, but in the end my 16-5-0 was enough to win the match by nearly 5lb - a very satisfying victory that made-up for the previous blanks!
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| The banjo feeder |
As a result I decided to start positively and I did so with a small 30g Preston banjo feeder cast towards the bottom of the far shelf with softened 2mm pellets in/on the feeder and a hard 6mm pellet on the hair rigged pellet band. I'm sure these feeders will have a time and a place but today they only led to line bites (which in itself was a relief as I hadn't had a sniff of a fish in nearly 14 hours of match fishing).
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| More traditional feeder gear |
So at about 1100 I dived into my rod bag and set-up a more traditional feeder (a small 20g Guru model) and a 18" hooklength with 2 dead white maggots on the hook. After 2 minutes the tip finally went right 'round and I was into my first fish - which promptly fell-off at the net!!!
Luckily the next two casts saw 2 small (12 ounce) crucians in the net so at least I hadn't blanked again!
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| Today's pole rig |
No more fish on the tip so it was onto the pole with the 4x14 KC Carpa Chimp rig shown above fished at top kit plus 4 straight in front where I'd been feeding a little micro pellet and maggot between casts on the feeder.
Amazingly the first 6 casts on this saw 5 crucians and a 3lb skimmer in the net! This line died after the skimmer but was more than happy to see a run of fish at last, and as far as I could tell I'd rocketed up the leader board in a matter of minutes.
A switch to fishing the same rig at an angle to the right saw a very unseasonal 3lb tench, another crucian and a further skimmer, and I also added a second tench on the maggot feeder where I'd caught the first 2 crucians.
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| The moment of truth! |
During the final hour I didn't have a bite whilst Ian Dixon to my right and Colin Underwood to my left continued to catch small (2-4 ounce) skimmers at an alarming rate, but in the end my 16-5-0 was enough to win the match by nearly 5lb - a very satisfying victory that made-up for the previous blanks!
