Now that the dust has settled on my so-called '2020 winter campaign' (a series of matches at Gold Valley including the 2020 Rushmoor League and the All Winners Final) I thought I'd try and capture some of the highs and lows ...
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| Time for some prep |
Rushmoor League Rounds 1, 2 and 3: Not exactly a great start to this blog as for one reason or another I had to miss the first three rounds of the 2020 Rushmoor League! Anyway, this meant plenty of time for some much needed prep, and keeping an eye on the results I could see that the fishing was tough (we are talking about fishing in January after all) but there were well deserved individual victories for Paul Garrett, Jeb Attwood and Pete Arnold.
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| Peg 47 on Gold Lake |
Rushmoor League Round 4 (26/01): My first match for a couple of months so it was all I could do to actually set-up my box facing the water! Things actually started quite well with a nice F1 first cast on the hybrid feeder, but normal service soon resumed as the next four hours were biteless. The final hour saw a tiny skimmer and a bigger sample hit the net from a long pole line, but a lost carp from the same line in the dying seconds pretty much summed things up. My 4-2-0 did actually generate 2 points for my new Home Counties team, but that was only because one of the pegs in my section wasn't drawn. (Congratulations to one William Raison for taking-out the match with 78-4-0 from peg 138 on the Syndicate Lake.)
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| Peg 110 on Syndicate Lake |
Rushmoor League Round 5 (02/02): Peg 110 on the Syndicate Lake, a decent but not spectacular draw, but at least I had the wind off my back. My pre-match plan was to nick the odd carp on running line tactics in the first three hours before bagging-up on some nice juicy skimmers on the long pole towards the end - well so much for that plan! The first two hours whizzed by without so much of a liner, so taking on board some good advice from team-mate Steve Doyle I decided to have a quick look down the edge for some silvers. First drop saw a nice four ounce roach in the net (blank avoided), second drop saw me attached to something a bit bigger, but a lifetime and 6 miles of yellow Hydro later I was staring at a fin perfect 15lb mirror carp!
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| Say hello to my little friend |
Next drop led to a nice 8 ounce hybrid, quickly followed by a few smaller roach before carp number two entered the fray – this one decided to bottom me out before shredding my hooklength, so it was time to step-up my gear a bit. Over the next 90 minutes I went on to land five more big carp, though I certainly lost control of this line in the final hour, losing at least three more, no doubt due to overfeeding and possibly (ironically) having too many big fish in the swim.
In the final 10 minutes I dropped onto my long pole line and I was into a seventh and final carp immediately – with hindsight I really wish that I’d switched to this line as soon as the margin line went funny, but it still amazes me that you can catch a fish so quickly from a line that you haven’t fed for 4 hours and 50 minutes!!!
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| Maybe lightning does strike twice |
In the end my 7 carp and 2-12-0 of silvers went an even 84-0-0, ahead of Ian Dixon’s 70-12-0 and Jon Radford’s 54-4-0, enough to claim the day and a second individual Rushmoor League victory in 3 years.
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| Peg 136 on Syndicate Lake |
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| Peg 121 on Syndicate Lake |
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| Peg 128 on Syndicate Lake |
Sunday Open Match (01/03): Yet another windy day, once again on the far bank of Syndicate (peg 128 to be precise) and once again the wind was in my face all day long!!! Much to my amazement I actually caught a carp on running line (bomb & big meat) tactics second chuck, though even more amazingly that carp and another caught down the edge in the final quarter of an hour went 13-4-0, enough to get me second overall on a very, very tough day. (Stefan Gent winning the match by miles with 28lb.)
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| Peg 134 on Syndicate Lake |
2020 All Winners Final (08/03): With this match being spread across Gold, Middle and Syndicate lakes I was either hoping to draw on Middle Lake (as I thought the match would be won from here) or on the near bank of Syndicate Lake (as I wanted to escape a fourth match in a row in a face-on gale) - so obviously I drew the far bank of Syndicate once again! Peg 134 isn't really that great, but I had a bit of room and a nice looking margin to the left so you never know. Unfortunately there were no signs of carp on running line or from that margin, but at one stage I did get into a nice run of skimmers on the long pole - disappointingly they soon came and went, though when I weighed 9-0-0 I thought I had an outside chance of scraping third place in the silvers pool, but that wasn't to be as on the day you needed 15lb plus for that. (Congratulations to Paul Holland on winning from Middle Lake with 75-8-0.)
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| Pointless selfie |
So there you go - one blank and two other blow-outs, but a couple of framing places and another individual victory in the Rushmoor League. The weather has been pretty rubbish (well windy anyway) but you have to be in it to win - see you on the bank sometime ...
