After last week’s debut for Team Bagger at Marsh Farm it was back to the Guildford Angling Centre summer league today – round three (of six) on the Middle Lake at Gold Valley.
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| All the gear ... |
My draw saw me on permanent peg 80, 5 pegs from the far corner in a reasonable but fairly narrow area. Today’s match was supposed to feature 20 anglers but two failed to turn-up (despite confirming during the week) leaving us with only 18 – this meant a last minute reduction to the pay-out, but was something I benefited from greatly as one of the pegs left in the bag of dreams was permanent peg 79, giving me a bit of extra room and an all important vacant platform to fish to on the pole!!!
(It is also worth noting that whilst our match was on the causeway bank there was an open match on the far side and as a result virtually every peg on the lake was taken today. This can have both a positive and a negative effect: on the downside this can mean the fish feel highly pressured and switch off; or on the plus side it can prevent the fish backing-off to the other side of the central rope never to be seen again!!!)
Prior to the all-in I set-up my usual 3 rod attack of pellet feeder (to be fished tight to the central rope), pellet waggler and straight lead (for up and down at 25m over loose fed 8mm pellets).
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| Different edge floats for different depths |
I also set-up a rig for fishing in front of the vacant platform to my left at 10m – given the variable margin depths at Gold Valley I’ve taken to using the same line and hooks (0.21 Reflo Power straight through to a size 12 MWG), but selecting a float based on the depth and amount of wind/undertow.
My current choices are:
My current choices are:
- 0.2g SconeZone V6 (for depths up to 18”)
- 4x12 KC Carpa Power with stem trimmed to 65mm (18” to 2.5’)
- 4x12 KC Carpa Power with stem trimmed to 85mm (anything over 2’ and/or strong winds)
Both of these patterns are super strong with line through body designs and very strong eyes – the SconeZone V6 has a lovely short stem ideal for shallow water, whereas the KC Carpa Power takes a little more shot and has a longer stem more suited for deeper water. (Out of the box the stem on the Power is 110mm and hence too long for typical margin work, but trimming with a pair of pliers makes them perfect for the deeper margins at Gold Valley.)
As the depth in front of peg 79’s platform was a good 2.5’ I selected the 85mm Power – this float choice also give me good stability given the fairly strong wind today. I’d normally fish with red Hydro for margin munter hunting at Gold Valley – however as I was fishing fairly long I opted for black Hydro instead, giving a little more leeway when shipping back and not putting too much pressure on my number 7 section (which has already been repaired once and has a nasty crack at the male end from a incident of extremely bad angling at Trewaters earlier in the season).
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| Looking right from peg 80 to the far side |
The first part of the match (1100-1215) went reasonably well with four carp and four skimmers falling to the pellet feeder to rope for about 20lb. These fish fell to a variety of hookbaits with 6mm pellets and brightly coloured 8mm pop-up boilies all scoring – as did a dash of Tutti Frutti Goo which resulted in a carp and a skimmer as things started to slow.
Whilst fishing the pellet feeder I’d also started to feed the 25m line heavily with 8mm pellets – however despite trying the straight lead on several occasions the only action was a single aborted take (I think carp anglers refer to it as ‘getting done’ when a carp sucks in then rejects your hookbait).
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| At least the sun shone for a bit! |
The middle portion of the match (1215-1400) can only be described as desperate as I never had a bite!!! I tried swapping the pellet feeder to a groundbait method feeder (in order to try and tempt more skimmers) and swapped back as it didn’t work! I kept feeding the 25m line but nothing was doing on the bomb or pellet waggler. I even set-up a perch rig for close to an old tree stump and fed chopped worms and dead maggots to try and tempt some silvers – and that failed as well!
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| The vacant platform to my left |
Luckily the final two hours (1400-1600) got off to a flying start with two carp in a row on the straight lead over the 25m line – however normal service soon resumed as I didn’t have so much as a liner in the next half an hour!
As per usual I’d been holding back my edge line for as long as possible but by 1430 it was clear my 25m wasn’t going to spring to life so it was time to feed four full cups of Sonubaits 50:50 groundbait, dead maggots and to corn to the spare platform to my left. This line got off to a slow start with just one lost foul-hooker and some serious wild fowl issues early on!!! (Its not only carp that have wised-up to the idea of a free meal at the end of a match – who’d have thought that swans would’ve evolved to recognise an angler’s cupping kit?) As a result I kept feeding the 25m line and trying the bomb plus the pellet feeder to rope but no further bites materialised from either of these lines. Luckily with more feed and the constant shooing of the local bird population my margin line came good in the final forty five minutes with four decent carp landed (plus another foul-hooker lost). (The only hookbait I used down the edge was 8 dead red maggots.)
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| Bagger being weighed-in by Gareth Phillips |
Being in the section furthest from the clubhouse I was one of the last to weigh and by the time the scales reached my peg Luke Sheriff was winning the match with a hard earned but surprisingly low (given the venue and time of year) 56-12-0, with back-up weights of 53-14-0, 53-4-0 and 51-4-0. Having clicked 45lb of carp and allowing 4lb for the four skimmers I was expecting to come nowhere in the overall standings and second in section behind Richard Hicks on the end peg. As a result I was amazed when my 5lb of skimmers and 56lb of carp totalled 61-4-0 for a surprising section and match win!!! (Richard’s fish went 46-0-0 and I need to work on my estimating!)
Overall top 4:
- Phil Morris, 61-4-0
- Luke Sheriff, 56-12-0
- Shaun Sylvester, 53-14-0
- Pete Franklin, 53-4-0
Today’s section winners:
- Shaun Sylvester, 53-14-0
- Luke Sheriff, 56-12-0
- Mick Keeper, 51-4-0
- Phil Morris, 61-4-0
League standing after round 3:
- Pete Franklin, 4 points, 330-13-0
- Phil Morris, 4 points, 309-10-0
- Shaun Sylvester, 5 points, 272-4-0
- Mick Keeper, 6 points, 204-3-0
- Dan Cooper, 7 points, 173-0-0
- Martin Johnson, 8 points, 254-1-0
(Don’t forget that the final league position is based on the best 5 results from 6, so those that have already missed a match but will fish each of the final three are in something of a false position at the moment.)
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| The final reckoning … |
Conclusions: I remember writing the other week (after drawing the ‘best peg in Surrey’ at Willinghurst) that it is ‘better to be lucky than good’ and the same applies today. Whilst I feel I fished a decent enough match the deciding factor was almost certainly the undrawn peg to my left. On a day when virtually every peg on the lake was taken this was a massive advantage as 1) it gave me more water from which to pull fish onto my long and 25m lines; 2) it gave me one of the best features to fish to on any commercial fishery – the water right in front of a vacant platform!!!
Until next time …
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