Yet another battering from a harsh easterly wind - but at least I caught one this time! Today's session wasn't a match, but instead it was a practice for the upcoming Jack Frost Tackle versus Godalming AS head-to-head in the Angling Times/Bait-Tech Clubman Supercup competition to be held this coming Sunday on the More House Farm Fishery (which is found near Haywards Heath, East Sussex).
 |
| Canal, More House Farm Fishery |
There are three different lakes on this complex: a specimen lake, an interesting looking snake lake and a match lake - the latter (known as Canal) is the venue that has been booked for the Supercup.
 |
| Aerial view of the venue from Google Maps |
This lake is a long, thin rectangle with 20 pegs - similar to the high numbered Twin Oaks at White Acres, but only about 16m wide. In theory it should be possible to reach the far margin with a pole, but the wind was so strong (and bitingly cold) today that I didn't even get it out of the bag!
 |
| Looking left from peg 11 |
On arrival we had a quick walk along the lake - however as there are no visible features and each peg basically looks the same I decided to randomly set-up on peg 11 with Dave on 10 and Perry on 9. Given the strong, freezing wind and the fact that the bankside vegetation hasn't had a chance to regrow after it's winter haircut the place had a pretty barren look to it - though there was plenty of colour in the water and my initial research had shown that there are plenty of small (2-4lb) carp to be caught - so as ever I started with high expectations!
 |
| The method! |
Given the high winds already mentioned the best bet seemed to be some form of legering device so I opted for a small 24g Guru method feeder on one rod, and a running set-up on the other that could be swapped between a straight lead and a small cage feeder as required.
 |
| Pellets, corn and dead maggots |
Baits for today we some soaked 2mm pellets (with added Cell stick mix liquid and Stiki Pellet binder) for the feeder with dead maggots, corn, 8mm fluro pop-ups and 6mm hard pellets for the hook.
 |
| Ready for that tip to wang 'round! |
I started on the method and my first three casts (to about six feet from the far bank) each lasted 5 minutes, but even though I rotated through 6mm pellet, white boilie and dead red maggot hookbaits no indications were forthcoming. On the fourth cast I returned to the 8mm white boilie and decided to leave the rig in place a little longer - this did the trick and after 9 minutes the tip did go 'round and a 2lb ghostie was soon in the net.
Unfortunately this proved to be a false dawn as it was my only bite of the day and we only managed to catch 3 carp between the three of us! However we gained some valuable information on the venue and it looks like a small cage feeder with a little fishmeal groundbait and 2 red maggots on a light 12" hooklength cast towards the far bank is going to be the team plan.
If the weather stays the same then it is going to be a hard match and there are going to be some blanks. However the Supercup is an interesting format as effectively there are 8 head-to-head mini matches between an angler from each team so it's all to play for - roll-on Sunday!
Why not follow me on Twitter? @philip_r_morris
No comments:
Post a Comment