Witherington Farm Open- Sellwood 31/1/09

Well after finding out late on Friday night that there was an open at Witherington Farm on Saturday I made a couple of quick phone calls and managed to book in. I had only planned to pleasure fish so it was nice to find a match local to me. I set off at around 8am and was at the lakes by 10 past. The draw wasn't until 9 so I popped into the shop for half a pint of red maggot and came out with 40 quid's worth of bit's and bobs! I had a quick walk around Sellwood and there was a strong wind blowing into the car park bank. I fancied either peg 9,12 or 15. In to the bucket went my hand and peg 12 was stuck to my mitt. I was happy enough with this as despite being a corner peg it had the wind howling into it so I fancied it for a few fish down the edge. Now I've only fished Sellwood 3 times,all in the teams of 4, and every time I felt way off the pace. My biggest problem was chopping and changing too much,where a simple approach would have been better. With this in mind,I planned to fish the margins throughout. As you can see in the picture I had some grass/rushes at about 7m to my left,where I had around 3ft of water.















I then plumbed at 14.5m at 10 o'clock against the other bank and found a spot with the same depth. These would be my main two swims,with a back up right up into the corner where it was around 2ft6. My main rig was a 4x10 KC Chimp on 0.16-18 B911. This was matched to a doubled 8 latex with a fruitshoot pot on the pole. Shotting was a small bulk of 10's 18 inches from the hook with one no.10 dropper and a backshot due to the wind. The rig for the shallower swim was all the same except for a 4x10 chianti replacing the chimp. I also set up my 11ft6 carbonactive,with 8lb MatchWinner to 0.18 and an 18 PR36 for flicking in front of me if I was struggling. For bait I had 4mm and micro pellets,some red maggot,a few hook pellets and a small tin of corn. The all out was called and I went straight onto the 7m margin swim with double red maggot and fruit-shooted 4 maggots and a pinch of micro pellet in. After 5 minutes the float disappeared and I lifted into solid resistance. I coaxed the fish in and before it knew what was going on I panned an 8lb common-a nice start! I repeated the process and the same thing happened after around 10 minutes,although this fish was foul hooked and I pulled out! I decided to rest this swim and put a pinch of bait onto my two other lines. I went back onto the 7m line and after around 20 minutes of lifting and dropping another positive bite saw me catch another decent fish-again around 8lb. By this stage no-one had caught so I was pleased with how I was doing,and knew I just had to keep my head down and try to pick off odd fish. No more bites came in the next half hour on the 7m line so I cupped in a pinch of micro's and 4 maggots and moved onto the 14.5m line. A missed bite on double maggot prompted me to try corn and within 10 seconds of laying the rig in the float vanished and a lift was again met with solid resistance. 5 minutes later I slipped the net under another decent carp of around 7lb. No bite's came over the next hour,and the guy on peg 10 decided to pack up as he had no bites. He skylined my peg a bit as he left and I couldn't buy a bite off either swim for the next half an hour. I had a couple of casts on the bomb and corn to rest my swims but as expected I didn't even manage a liner. I had only seen odd fish come out around the lake so knew I was winning and just had to try and keep in front. I tried the shallow corner swim and missed a bite on corn- this was to be my only bite off this swim all day. I went back onto the 7m line with single corn and had an instant bite and soon netted a 4lb mirror. Another pinch of bait went into the swim after 10 biteless minutes and I moved back to 14.5m. No bite's were forthcoming so it was back to 7m on double maggot and another quick bite saw me land another small carp of around 3lb. With two hours left I had about 29lb in the net,and no-one else had more than one carp. A few silvers were coming out but not enough for me to worry about. However Colin Sellwood on Peg 9 then had two carp on the waggler over the next half hour and they were lumps. To go with the one he had I knew he had over 20lb so was one decent fish away from me. With 90 minutes to go I had another bite on double maggot at 7m but the fish snagged me and bust my rig! I thought this could prove costly,especially when despite trying all over my peg I couldn't buy a bite anywhere! My good mate Pete Bailey turned up with an hour to go and sat behind me. I still couldn't buy a bite from either swim so with 20 minutes to go I cupped 10 grains of corn and a pinch of pellet on the 14.5m line. I went over the top and as the corn touched the deck the float vanished and I soon had latex streaming from the pole. A few minutes later I slipped the net under my 6th carp of the day,a nice ghostie of about 4lb. I had one more sail-away bite at 14.5m with 10 seconds to go that I duly missed before the all-out was called. I started packing away and followed the scales round. Peg 1 and peg 2 both had 22lb odd,then there were a few single figure weights. Colin on Peg nine had 3 carp for 24lb,before my six fish went 34lb 4oz. This was enough for the win,with 24lb coming second,followed by a few weights around 20lb. I was delighted with the result,as I felt that what I had learned in previous matches helped. By keeping things simple and feeding negatively I was able to win the match with 10lb to spare. Back at the cafe I pocketed £60 for my troubles and after a quick cup of tea headed home. Tomorrow I'm at Whinwhistle for round 6 of the winter league,praying I don't draw The Rail!!