After a few weeks of really rather dull weather things have really picked-up as of late and with the forecasters predicting a balmy 14 degrees Celsius coupled with a nice southerly breeze it was about time to book in for my first trip of the year to Gold Valley ...
I've not been for so long they've had time to build a brand new tackleshop!
Having checked my diary I can see that my last visit to Gold Valley was back in August of last year - a fatal blow-out on Gold Lake in the 2013 Guildford AC summer league where I was given a battering by Paul Williamson and Pete Franklin. (For some reason when I look back on previous matches it is always the times I get a hammering that stick in the mind more than those days where I've been successful - I'm sure you amateur psychologists out there can draw your own conclusions from that statement!)
Anyway with the improvement in the weather noted at the top of this blog it was time to pluck-up the courage to dial those fabled digits - 0.1.2.5.2.3.3.6.3.3.3. - and book-in for the Saturday open match on Middle Lake. Today's dip into the bag of dreams (or in the case of Gold Valley a silver coloured ice bucket on rather long legs that certain vertically-challenged anglers often struggle to get their hands into) yielded peg 93 - not a hoped for corner but a rather average looking swim on the far bank of Middle Lake, somewhere in centre of the bank just as it narrows-up towards the A331.
Time for a tune on the banjo?!?!?
Today's plan of attack was to be a battle fought on three separate fronts - a small banjo feeder fished to the central dividing rope, the bomb & pellet at 25m and the pole down the edge to my left with groundbait/dead red maggots. (The banjo feeder was one of the small 30g Preston jobbies, but slightly modified as I'd cut-down the stem to about half of the original length - out of the box these feeders have rather long stems which are great for distance fishing, but rather obtrusive if you're faced with an average chuck.)
All the gear ...
After a slow start (and a lost carp whilst filming the video you can see above) the banjo feeder to the rope eventually yielded two carps and two skimmers - some on simple 6mm hard pellet hookbaits, some to brightly coloured 8mm pop-ups.
Looking slightly to the right from peg 93 on Middle Lake
Throughout the match I'd been pinging 8mm pellets over the 25m line so after a couple of hours of hardly hectic action to the rope I decided to drop my banjo feeder over this part of the swim and was rewarded with a quick carp and another skimmer. Whilst this tactic would no doubt have continued to produce, a switch to the straight lead rig with 8mm pellet hookbaits saw six decent carp in the bag - including three in three casts during a real golden spell just after lunch (a tuna mayo roll and a packet of Quavers if you're interested).
A photo of some keepnets (satirical or what?)
In the end the pole down the edge didn't produce any bites, but my 9 carps and 3 skimmers dragged the dial 'round to a satisfying 74-0-0 - enough for third behind venue regulars Myles Levy and Jeb Attwood. Final scores:
Myles Levy (Bag'em Matchbaits), 111-14-0
Jeb Attwood (Gold Valley), 85-12-0
Phil Morris (Team All the Gear, No Idea), 74-0-0
Lynas Neale (Gold Valley), 61-8-0
Conclusions: well that's more like it! After a disappointing trip to MBK Coloured Ponds last time out today's match was much more like it - much better weather and a few pulls on the old quiver tip. Long may it continue!!!
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