Today’s open match on the Middle Lake at Gold Valley saw 13 anglers spread around both banks of the lake (which must hold a good forty pegs), so if nothing else we all had plenty of room! The weather on the day was pretty decent (mild for the time of year, mainly foggy will some welcome sunny spells), though the lake would’ve been frozen solid during the week and the water was very, very clear – something I’m kind of used to from fishing at Marsh Farm but something that is unusual for a carp filled commercial such as Gold Valley, even in the depths of winter.
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| Rather foggy at times today |
My draw saw me on peg 89 for the day – not a noted peg (which would be the corners and the pegs where the island used to be), but one with potential given the spare pegs either side. Prior to the all-in I once again settled on a single rod, carp only approach with no plan B (more of which later), the tactic that served me pretty well on my previous visit to Gold Valley just after Christmas.
To this end I set-up my usual 10’ tip rod (the chuck to the central rope was no more than 30m, much less than the distance I had to cast on Gold Lake previously) with 6lb Daiwa Sensor and 90cm of 10lb Drennan fluorocarbon (to hopefully disguise the part of the rig immediately above the lead or feeder). The main plan of attack was to fish this with a Guru 19g inline lead (fitted with a short X-Safe stem and black Hydro) to 30cm of 0.19 Guru N-Gauge to a size 12 QM1 with a hair-rigged pellet band – the main hookbait was going to be some of the 10mm Ringers chocolate orange wafters that worked so well last time out.
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| The sun did come out now and again |
The first hour of the match started really well - after casting straight in front, 5m short of the central rope (so I could go a bit closer later if I needed to), I had a big liner first cast (that I was absolutely convinced was a properly hooked fish until I picked-up into nothingness), then a real bite just over a minute into the second cast. This saw a nice 10lb carp in the net, a Ringers chocholate orange wafter doing the damage once again, and I was off to a flying start! The third cast saw more liners, followed by a proper pull after six minutes and a 6lb carp in the net - ding dong!!! No indications on the next cast (all casts so far had been on the straight lead, no feed) so I switched to a 24g small Hybrid feeder with a PVA bag of 6 & 4mm pellets and a dash of tutti frutti Goo - this was the effective combination from my last match at Gold Valley but with the water being so clear I soon decided that this wasn't the way to go today as the feeder must've been standing-out like a sore thumb. I then tried casting further to the left with the straight lead rig, but there were no signs of any fish there either.
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| Tried the pellet cone today |
As things moved into the second hour I continued casting (infrequently) to the left without indications, then first cast after switching back straight in front to the original spot the rod doubled-over after 3 minutes and following a spirited battle another 6lb carp was in the net by about 11:30. Unfortunately the following 90 minutes then whizzed by without absolutely no signs of any fish action, despite trying the pellet cone with a 6mm hard pellet hookbait and trying various spots left, right and straight in front.
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| I eventually got the pole out of the bag |
All the while I was sitting twiddling my thumbs waiting for a pull on the tip I could see bagging machine Giovanni Barbato opposite landing skimmer after skimmer from his long pole line - the longer things went on the more I regretted not covering the same option from the off myself until I eventually got the pole out of the bag with 90 minutes to go. I knew it was probably too late but I fed some micros and dead maggots at 13m after setting-up a rig suitable for skimmers (yellow Hydro, 0.13 mainline, 4x14 Chimp, 0.10 hooklength into a Tubertini 808 size 18). Unfortunately, despite rotating between the straight lead and the long pole, I couldn’t generate a bite on either so the final three and a half hours of my match was fishless!!!
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| G with his winning bag of skimmers |
In the end my three carp went 22-12-0, just out of the money as I was pipped for the section by Chris Bessant on peg 87 to my left (who landed four carp for 26-12-0). I was also fourth overall, miles behind G's winning 53lb, but in theory only one carp (or a few good skimmers) behind the 35lb that took second place. (For a write-up of Giovanni's match see the Apollo Guildford Match Team Facebook page here.)
Until next time ...
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