Two weeks after my first visit of 2013 it was back to Gold Valley again for the Sunday open – this time the whole of the Middle Lake was included, along with the much fancied near bank of Syndicate Lake (which provided the first and second placed anglers in Wednesday’s 130 peg Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifier).
 |
| Welcome to Gold Valley! |
Just like last time the clubhouse before the draw was filled with top class southern anglers (including the likes of Will Raison, Paul ‘Tommy’ Hiller, Robbie Taylor, Mark Goddard and Linus Neale) – as a result I decided to keep the £5 winner takes all entrance fee in my pocket before spending it on a bacon sandwich and a cup of coffee!!! (In effect I was paying £20 for a pleasure fishing day with keepnets and the chance to rub shoulders with some of the people you only normally see in Match Fishing magazine and the Angling Times.)
 |
| Looking right from peg 92 |
Due to the leisurely consumption of the previously mentioned bacon sandwich I was last to draw – though when I dipped my hand into the famous Gold Valley bucket there were 3 wooden disks remaining – and lady luck presented me with peg 92. (This peg is on the far bank of the Middle Lake and three pegs closer to the clubhouse than my previous visit (when I was on 89).) This is a pretty average peg with no obvious features or form and to make things even tougher I found myself sandwiched between Eddie Green and Mark Goddard, plus I was in the same section as England regular and former world champion Will Raison!
 |
| Gear for the straight lead |
On first arrival at the peg I paid serious consideration to fishing on the deck at 14.5m and pinging pellets over the top – however after shipping out the pole to this length it simply didn’t feel right as it wasn’t even halfway to the central rope (which must’ve been 35 or 40m away). So I soon packed most of my pole away and instead set-up for the method feeder to the rope, the straight lead/pellet waggler for 25m and a margin pole rig for tight to the bank on my left at top kit plus a short number four.
 |
| The improved Preston method feeder |
On the whistle I started on the method towards the central rope, and started the relentless process of pinging 8mm in twos and threes to 25m. (Today I’d dropped the banjo feeder used last time and switched to a small 30g Preston Innovations method feeder – these have been slightly refined and now feature a first rib that is at an angle, in theory reducing the likelihood of a pellet or mini boilie hookbait becoming trapped. The feeder was loaded with the usual soaked 2mm pellets and Stiki Pellet binder, hookbait was a hard 6mm mounted on a hair rigged pellet band tied on 10cm of 0.19 Reflo Power with a size 16 Guru QM1.)
My tip remained motionless but amazingly Mark Goddard was straight into a good fish – a sign of things to come perhaps? In fact after 30 minutes I was still fishless, the only signs of life being a few twitches (probably caused by silver fish feeding over the feeder) and a massive liner (almost certainly caused by a big fish moving through the 25m line) – though things seemed a little tough generally as Mark Goddard was still only on one fish and I hadn’t noticed anyone bagging.
So half an hour into the match it was time for a change – 10 chucks on the pellet waggler didn’t produce anything but by the end of the first hour I had managed to winkle out a carp and a decent hybrid on the bomb with an 8mm pellet. (Gear for this rod was the usual 8lb Daiwa Sensor main line, 2/3 ounce Guru square lead and 30cm of 0.19 Guru N-Gauge to a size 14 Guru QM1 with a hair rigged band.)
 |
| Unusually this pouch didn't last long! |
The second hour was also fairly slow all ‘round, though I did manage to sneak out a carp out of the blue on the method and another on the bomb and pellet – in fact at this point I’m pretty sure I was leading both Eddie Green and Mark Goddard! (Don’t worry it wasn’t to last long!)
 |
| Groundbait for down the edge |
Hour 3 saw things start to improve and I managed two carp and a good skimmer on the straight lead – a decent return but I’d taken a battering from Mark Goddard who was now in full flow and seemingly playing fish after fish on the bomb!
Even though we seemed to be fishing in a very similar fashion I was clearly doing something wrong (or at least not as well as Mark) so it was time for plan B – consequently four jaffa-sized balls of Sonubaits Supercrush Green groundbait mixed with some dead maggots were swiftly launched onto my edge line!
 |
| My margin swim |
I started the fourth hour by impaling the two biggest dendrabenas I could find onto the hook of my edge rig, slapping them on the surface of the water three times (to stop them wriggling about) and praying the float would go under straight away – and as it happened it did! The float dipped immediately and I struck into thin air – a tiny perch biting-off more than it could chew perhaps? Second drop in and the same thing happened again! Fortunately it was third time lucky and this time I was attached to a proper Gold Valley margin munter!!!
 |
| Strong gear for the margin |
Since my previous trip to Gold Valley I’d made some tweaks to my edge rigs for this venue and a nice 8lb mirror was soon in the net thanks to a combination of a size 12 Guru MWG, 0.19 Reflo Power and some 17h Hollo elastic!!! (This is certainly as heavy as I’d go on the pole, but is tackle that I feel is appropriate when trying to land carp that run as big as 20lb.)
After re-feeding the edge line it was back to the bomb and pellet to allow it to settle – the rest had certainly done this line some good too as after casting out and having a look around the lake I glanced down to see my Preston Innovations 10’ Mini Carp rod doubled-up with an angry carp on the other end! Back onto the edge line and I was into another carp after 2 or 3 minutes – this one was even bigger than the first and as there were still 90 minutes to go for a split second I imagined making an impression on the frame with a sack full of edge dwellers!
 |
| Tommy Hiller and John Light on the far side |
Unfortunately it wasn’t to be and I didn’t manage any further fish from the edge, the only return from the final hour being 2 carp, a roach and a skimmer on the bomb and pellet. By the end of the match I’d managed 10 carp (2 on the method, 2 down the edge and 6 on the straight lead) and some silvers for a total of 51-0-0 – my biggest weight of 2013 to date, but 80 pounds behind Mr Goddard!
 |
| The final reckoning |
- Mark Goddard, 131-0-0
- Charlie Dalton, 128-6-0
- Jebb Attwood, 126-14-0
Second and third had indeed come from the fancied Syndicate Lake – in fact the average weight of the five anglers pegged between 113 and 118 was 109-1-0!!! Added to this there were two big 90lb weights that didn’t even win a bean today!
Conclusions: despite being bashed-up by the next peg I enjoyed the day and had a reasonable result – fourth out of 8 in a section that included Will Raison and (2013 Maver Match This finalist) Mark Goddard, plus I was only one margin munter away from third in section. (I beat Eddie Green to my left who didn’t weigh in.) Swapping to Preston 17h elastic for my edge approach also worked well – fishing with light elastics and pulla kits has its place when fishing for big fish (e.g. shallow into open water), but using stronger elastics for really big fish (ten pounds plus) gives you much more control as it prevents them from bottoming-out your elastic and talking a walk through your neighbours peg!
Until next time ...
 |
| Preston 17 Hollo worked well today |
Conclusions: despite being bashed-up by the next peg I enjoyed the day and had a reasonable result – fourth out of 8 in a section that included Will Raison and (2013 Maver Match This finalist) Mark Goddard, plus I was only one margin munter away from third in section. (I beat Eddie Green to my left who didn’t weigh in.) Swapping to Preston 17h elastic for my edge approach also worked well – fishing with light elastics and pulla kits has its place when fishing for big fish (e.g. shallow into open water), but using stronger elastics for really big fish (ten pounds plus) gives you much more control as it prevents them from bottoming-out your elastic and talking a walk through your neighbours peg!
Until next time ...
No comments:
Post a Comment