I saw an interesting tweet from Pole Fishing magazine editor Jon Arthur the other week – it essentially suggested that some people only posted details of matches they’ve done well in. Read-on for evidence that this is not always the case!!!
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| The Big Lake at Furnace Lakes |
Today’s match (only my third of 2013 and the first where I’ve been able to get on the bank on two consecutive weekends) was a three-way club match between Godalming AS , Dorking DAS and Woking DAA at Furnace Lakes
This time last year Furnace was the place to go in winter with local legends such as Steve Gardner, Jimmy Bullard and Steve Sanders smashing-out huge bags of skimmers on a weekly basis – in fact prior to this match I re-read the Will Raison e-magazine from February 2012 where he absolutely bagged-up on the long pole with pellets! However word on the Match Fishing Scene website (special thanks go to Mark Hathaway) and results in the angling press suggested that those days were over with winning catches as low as 20 pounds with some very poor back-up weights …
This time last year Furnace was the place to go in winter with local legends such as Steve Gardner, Jimmy Bullard and Steve Sanders smashing-out huge bags of skimmers on a weekly basis – in fact prior to this match I re-read the Will Raison e-magazine from February 2012 where he absolutely bagged-up on the long pole with pellets! However word on the Match Fishing Scene website (special thanks go to Mark Hathaway) and results in the angling press suggested that those days were over with winning catches as low as 20 pounds with some very poor back-up weights …
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| Peg 14 on the Big Lake at Furnace |
Today’s match was on Furnace Lake, which is essentially a long rectangle with a dam at one end and platforms/pontoons on both banks – however it is pretty wide with probably 100m from bank to bank so the anglers on one side of the lake don’t really affect those on the other. My homework suggested that the target fish were skimmers in the 12 ounce to 2 pound bracket.
Despite the terrible weather forecast (more of which later) we had a decent turn-out of 29 anglers and my draw saw me on peg 14 on the far-side of the lake, next to one of the four end pegs on the day. (This saw me nearly as far from the dam wall as it was possible to be on the day, something I was fairly happy with as presumably the lake becomes shallower the further from the dam you go.)
Despite the terrible weather forecast (more of which later) we had a decent turn-out of 29 anglers and my draw saw me on peg 14 on the far-side of the lake, next to one of the four end pegs on the day. (This saw me nearly as far from the dam wall as it was possible to be on the day, something I was fairly happy with as presumably the lake becomes shallower the further from the dam you go.)
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| Drennan stainless cage feeders |
Prior to the match I’d settled on a three pronged attack – a traditional open-end feeder approach, coupled with two long pole lines (one with groundbait and dead maggots, the other with pellets). My feeder rig was very simple – the usual Preston Innovations 10’ Mini Carp rod and 8lb Daiwa Sensor main line coupled with a Drennan stainless cage feeder and a ready-tied Preston Innovations hook-to-nylon featuring a size 20 hook and 18 inches of 2.5lb line. The feeder in question was the micro version – this is a very small feeder that normally only carries a 10g loading. Whilst I’m more than happy with the size of the feeder I don’t think it is heavy enough for accurate casting, so as you can see from the photo above I’ve added an additional 5g in the form of a stick-on feeder weight.
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| Today's pole gear |
It was pretty deep at 14.5m (6-7’) and given the fairly strong right to left cross wind I settled on 4x16 KC Carpa Chimps with a spread bulk of 5 number 8 and 3 number 10 stotz positioned between 20 and 40cm from the hook. Main line was 0.11 Reflo Power and the elastic was pink hydro – the rig for the groundbait/dead maggot line featured a 0.10 hooklength and a size 20 Gamakatsu Black, that for fishing over pellets a size 20 Kamasan B911 with a hair rigged micro pellet band.
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| Another view of peg 14 |
By the time the all-in was called at 1015 the weather had already started to deteriorate (it had been raining since at least the time I peaked through the curtains at 0645) and things looked set for a grim old day, but I was happy to be on the bank so I set about feeding 2 balls of Marukyu EFG120 and some dead maggots on my left-hand pole line and slipped two dead red maggots on my feeder hooklength before casting to about 30m with a tiny load of the same groundbait and 4 or 5 freebie maggots.
No indications on the tip so I reeled-in after the predetermined 5 minutes to find a two ounce skimmer had attached itself without bothering to give me a pull that I could see – well at least I hadn’t blanked and perhaps I was going to bag-up after all? To cut a long story short that wasn’t to be and except a few liners I had a very uneventful following three hours wondering if was possible to get any colder/wetter!
During this time I did have a couple of goes on the pole but I’d actually packed it away by 1300 – not because I didn’t think it was going to work, but because holding in the freezing rain made my hands so cold I couldn’t feel them properly!!! With 2 hours to go I was being royally bashed-up from the anglers either side (Ian Covey to my left and P Worsfold to my right) – they were hardly bagging but were doing well on the day taking the odd skimmer here and there whilst I was left pulling my hair out (not that I have much to spare these days).
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| My mini 'spods'! |
Desperate tactics were needed to avoid a blow-out so I removed my hooklength and slipped-on a large Drennan open end feeder and ‘spodded’ 6 feeders worth of groundbait, dead maggots and 2/4mm pellets. Half an hour later I was still wondering if I’d done the right thing when the tip pulled ‘round and I was into a decent skimmer – in fact I hooked five skimmers in six casts and put four in the net. Losing a fish led to another quiet spell so I repeated the ‘spodding’ effort, and with fifteen minutes to go I latched onto the first of three more fish in a row.
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| Ian Covey |
So like the rest of the field I’d been battered by the weather but at least my 8 skimmers was a reasonable return and my final 7-13-0 was a significant improvement on the 2 ounces I had in the net with 90 minutes to go! However I hadn’t done enough to trouble those next to me and I’d been well and truly banjoed, with both anglers weighing 14-3-0, enough for joint second just behind the winning 14-6-0. My weight was good enough for fourth in section and as the fourth place overall (Ian Farmer) came from my section I just missed out on an unlikely triple default section payout as they only paid the top 3!
Final result – congratulations to those that made the frame, and to all of those that braved the elements:
First: G Whitting (14-6-0)
Joint Second: P Worsfold and I Covey (both 14-3-0)
Fourth: I Farmer (10-14-0)
As a footnote I’d like to add that today was the first time I’d fished a lake where the water-level had noticeably risen during a match – it must’ve risen 6 inches and the sluice between the Big Lake and the pond below resembled the weir at Buscot I used to fish when I was at school!
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