Today was the first part of a rare fishing double-header – an 18 peg open match at Gold Valley. As ever there was the usual mix of angling superstars and venue experts in attendance today – I’m not sure I have much chance fishing against the likes of Tommy Hiller (Daiwa Dorking legend), Mark Goddard (2013 Maver Match This finalist), Terry Harrison (another Daiwa Dorking legend) and Perry Stone (2013 Fish’O’Mania finalist)!!!
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| Gold Valley schematic |
Today’s match was on the far bank of Syndicate Lake – as it is all pretty uniform I was hoping for an end peg or a bit of room, so I obviously end-up right in the middle of the bank on peg 129 sandwiched between Mark Goddard and venue export Malcolm Bond!!! (This is only my third visit to Gold Valley in 2013 and I’ve now drawn next to Mark twice – regular readers will remember that last time was a close run thing with Mark just sneaking past my 51-0-0 with a match winning 131-0-0!!!)
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| All the gear ... |
Expecting the end pegs to dominate, and given the fact that the pay-outs at Gold Valley are good (in fact I think they are still waiving the pegging fee on Saturday opens) but limited to a few anglers, my strategy today was to try and pick-up the odd big fish here and there (as opposed to putting gall of my eggs into one basket).
As a result, prior to the start I set-up the following rods/rigs:
As a result, prior to the start I set-up the following rods/rigs:
- Preston Innovations 10’ Mini Carp tip rod, 8lb Daiwa Sensor mainline, 1/3 ounce Guru square bomb free running to a 30cm hooklength of 0.19 N-Gauge with a size 14 QM1 and a hair-rigged pellet band
- As above but with a small 24g Guru method feeder and 10cm hooklengths of 0.19 to a size 14 QM1 (for an 8mm pellet or a Ringers Banded Allsort) or a 16 (for a 6mm pellet)
- Preston Innovations 11’ Mini Carp pellet waggler rod, 6lb Daiwa Sensor mainline, 6g Preston Innovations Dura pellet waggler (with disk) to a 25cm hooklength of 0.19 N-Gauge to a size 16 Guru Pellet Waggler hook with a hair-rigged band
- Red Hydro top kit, 0.19 Reflo Power direct to a size 12 MWG, the float being a 0.3g SconeZone V6 shotted with a bulk of 5 number 9 stotz 20cm from the hook
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| An early look down the edge |
Normally I like to start long and move closer to my own bank as the match progresses – however in order to try and sneak an early bonus I fed 2 pots of Sonubaits 50:50 groundbait tight to the bank to my left at top kit plus 1 on the whistle. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be and after five minutes I’d had absolutely no interest in my double-dendrabena hookbait.
Next up was a quick go on the method at 5m, over which I’d fed about two thirds of a pint of 6mm pellets in order to make some noise and hopefully draw a fish into the area. Again after five minutes I’d had no indications so it was rapidly time for plan C!
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| Looking left from peg 129 |
Whilst fishing the method I’d been blasting 8mm pellets to 25m and as it was nice and sunny with only a light breeze it was time for the pellet waggler. My constant pinging of pellets had by now pulled 8 or 10 ducks into my peg and after about 15 minutes of feeding and casting the inevitable happened and I managed to hook one!!!
I’d not had any indications on the pellet waggler (not from a fish anyway) in this period so it was time to try the method feeder cast tight to the central rope. Unfortunately this only led to a fairly chunky roach and a small skimmer (hookbait was a 6mm pellet and the feeder mix was a combination of 2mm pellets and groundbait), and when the bomb with an 8mm pellet at 25m only yielded another small skimmer I started to fear the worst!
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| Looking across to the far bank |
Luckily a switch back to the method feeder to the rope with yellow Ringers Banded Allsort led to a carp out of the blue on the hour mark – however almost immediately after landing it I managed to bounce my Guru method mould into the lake, never to be seen again!!! (Why don’t they make them buoyant?)
As I don’t carry a spare this mishap forced a switch to a small 30g Preston Innovations method feeder (their moulds do float), and after another slow spell the peg came to life between 1230 and 1330 with a carp, 2 crucians and 6 better skimmers hitting the net. Sadly the following 30 minutes only saw one more carp in the net, and by 1400 it was time to give the 25m line that I’d been feeding for 3 hours a proper go. Sorry to say half an hour later all I’d managed was one carp on the method from this line – though some really bad angling had seen another smash my 0.19 hooklength!!!
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| 0.3g SconeZone V6 for the edge |
The method feeder to the rope yielded another carp between 1430 and 1445, but entering the final quarter of the match I was now heavily reliant on my margin swim producing to make any impression whatsoever on the match.
Unfortunately I stubbornly stuck with this line (which was fed heavily with Sonubaits 50:50 groundbait and dead maggots) even though it didn’t really take off – of the 2 carp that I did hook one fell-off for no reason after being on for 2 minutes and the other snapped my 0.19 line on its way to the centre of the lake!!!
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| The final reckoning … |
To make matters worse Mark Goddard landed some nice carp in the lat hour on the tip and pellet waggler to beat me with 55-0-0 to my 50-8-0!!! This put me in a disappointing fourteenth place (out of 18) and a lowly next to last in section – ‘the only way is up’ as they say!!!
Overall top 4:
- J Attwood, peg 121, 108-0-0
- H Marsh, peg 132, 106-2-0
- C Dalton, peg 126, 101-0-0
- P Stone, peg 124, 93-8-0
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| The view to the right |
Conclusions: whilst my final position in the match was less than I’d hoped for it was a small victory of sorts as I was only one half decent carp behind Mark Goddard on the next peg, and only one proper fish behind 3 others in my section. (I could point out again that I lost a carp on the feeder and two proper jobs on the pole, but I’m the first to say that talk of lost fish in the car park after the match counts for nothing …) Other than that it seems that the method feeder to the central rope is still the banker approach on many pegs at Gold Valley, and arguably I’d have been better-off just setting-up this one rod!
Until next time …
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