After a record breaking eight weekends in a row without fishing it was about time I got back on the bank – and what better way to do so than with the highlight of the season that is the Godalming Angling Society Christmas match!!!
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| 3 blanks and 2 victories in the last 5 years |
My record in this match over the last five years reads: 2009 blank, 2010 blank, 2011 winner, 2012 winner, 2013 blank so I went into today’s match knowing that a conclusive result was almost certainly on the cards! In all fairness a lot of people expect to finish this match with a dry net but some great prizes and a raffle in the pub after the match normally guarantees a good turn-out – today’s event saw 36 keen anglers grace the bank of Richardson’s Lake at Marsh Farm, the match having been moved from the River Wey due to some heavy rain during the week.
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| Not the number I wanted to see!!! |
Marsh Farm is a decent enough venue, but the nature of the stocking means that it only really fishes properly from late spring through to early autumn. At this time of year very few anglers fish here, and those that do tend to sit on the single digit pegs opposite the car park/tackle shop at the entrance to the venue and to a certain extent create a virtuous circle between themselves and the fish.
In complete contrast the pegs at the far side of the venue don’t normally see an angler for months and as a result are devoid of feeding fish! As a result I inserted my hand into the bag of dreams looking for a nice low number – so you can imagine my feeling of doom when 31 stuck to it! (This peg is in the middle of ‘Cyanide Straight’, two along from where I (and the rest of the section) blanked last year.) To say I wasn’t happy was the understatement of the year!!!
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| Like a mill pond ... |
Despite stating otherwise after the draw I did actually go to the peg and was pleasantly surprised to find that compared to the rest of the venue the Johnson’s bank was very sheltered – whereas it was blowing a gale on the rest of the venue, the pegs in the 30s were like a mill pond. The fish at Marsh Farm famously follow the wind in the summer, so perhaps the polar opposite would be true in the winter?
Before the all in I set up two rods – a 1/3 ounce straight lead with an 18 inch tail of 0.13 Guru N-Gauge into a size 20 LWG and a 3g loaded insert waggler with a similar 20cm hooklength (down the line I just had a tiny micro swivel and tow number 9 stotz). The intention was to ping a few white maggots towards (but not tight to) the far bank and to rotate between the waggler and bomb in the unlikely anticipation of avoiding yet another blank!!!
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| Sensible gear for the tip and waggler |
Just before the 10 o’clock I dived into my bag for my phone and took a few quick photos of the peg – in doing so my battery went from fully charged to empty in a matter of seconds. I was now faced with the prospect of blanking and not even having Facebook to keep myself amused – shocker!!!
On the whistle I fed a few maggots and flicked out the waggler – I repeated the process every few minutes and before I knew it 45 minutes had passed without so much as the faintest dip of the float. However, even though I was feeding towards the far bank, on a couple of occasions I’d thought I seen a little dimpling down the middle. With nothing to lose I reeled my waggler to the midpoint of my peg – and it only went under! I can honestly say I’ve never been so happy to slip the net under a rather emaciated two ounce skimmer in my entire life!!!
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| Looking to the left from peg 31 |
Thinking it must’ve been a one-off I tried the trick again – and the float dipped for a second time! As the spot I was dropping on to was only about 12/13m out I decided to abandon the waggler and hastily set-up the pole. Whilst doing so I decided to flick my straight lead rig with a single maggot onto the area that I had been feeding – yes, you’ve guessed it, whilst I was putting my seventh section into the sixth the tip flew ‘round and am unexpected 2lb skimmer was soon in the onion bag!
To make things even better the first two casts on the pole saw two more 2lb skimmers in the net (one might’ve been foul-hooked in the fin but keep that to yourself) and things were getting serious!!! (The pole rig in question consisted of a 0.2g SconeZone v8 shot with 5 number 10 stotz on 0.11 main line to a hooklength of 0.10 with a size 22 Tubertini 808. Elastic was yellow Hydro.)
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| The SconeZone v8 |
Following this frantic action things did slow a little with only small roach, hybrids and skimmers falling to the pole – however given the time of year it was nice to be getting (fairly) regular bites. In an attempt to keep pace with Brian Stevens on peg 33 (who was absolutely motoring with a constant stream of big skimmers) I kept trying the tip – I did manage another big skimmer on the bomb and 6mm pellet, plus another smaller one on the pellet feeder – but with 45 minutes to go I decided not to gamble and sit it out for big fish but stuck to catching small fish on the pole in an effort to consolidate a place in the frame.
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| All the gear ... |
In the end my fish went an unexpected 15-4-0, good enough for third overall behind Brian’s whopping thirty plus pounds and Chris Kampa’s excellent 18-13-0.
Top 6:
- Brian Stevens, 31-4-0
- Chris Kampa, 18-13-0
- Phil Morris, 15-4-0
- Dave Woolgar, 9-5-0
- Ray Carter, 8-0-0
- Nigel Calverley, 7-12-0
Interestingly all of the anglers in section where I had wanted to draw blanked apart from John Wilkins who managed a solitary fish – just goes to show what I know!!!
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| The Team Bagger AGM |
Conclusions: The obvious point I have to make here is that fish do have fins and the pegs that the so-called ‘venue experts’ think are the fliers aren’t the best pegs every day – though having said that I’m looking forward to sitting on Twin Oaks 16 a couple of times next year!!!
Until next time ...
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