Broadlands Lower Lake- 21/03/09

A few weeks ago Andy Ford (or Fordy off the telly as he's known) put a post up on MFS asking if anyone was interested in fishing a match on Broadlands Lower Lake which had apparently been fishing very well. There was a lot of interest and a date was set for Saturday 21st March. In the weeks leading up to the date there were reports of anglers catching 150lb+ of mainly bream with a few carp so it's fair to say we were all looking forward to it. Although I had never fished the lake before my good mate Nick White had fished it the week before and absolutely sacked up on poled pellet at 13m- well over 100lb of bream and a few carp in four hours. I arrived at the fishery at a little after 8 and after chatting to the owner (who I have to say is one of the nicest fishery owners I've ever met) I had a walk around the lake. It wasn't how I imagined,far more mature and I have to say it looked nice. Nick arrived soon after and as we chatted we both decided that we would rather be on the bank nearest the main lake as opposed to the river bank opposite. This side has a shorter chuck to the island and was apparently where the skimmers had been showing,with more carp showing on the river bank. Soon after a few of the lads started to arrive and it was good to finally put a few face's to names. Eventually 23 of us were ready for the draw and I went into the bag hoping for somewhere between 19 and 25. Out came 26 which I was reasonably happy with as I felt I was on the right bank but would have preferred to be a couple of pegs to my right. We had almost 2 hours to set up with an 11am start so I made my way to the peg and decided I would aim to keep things as simple as possible. The pegging was very tight,and with anglers either side I thought it might be a bit tough. I decided to fish one line on the pole at 13m and a method feeder to the point of the island which was around 40m away. The lad on my left fished at 10 & 2,with the 2 being about 5/6m from my swim which I knew would have an effect on my catch rate. I set up two rigs for the 13m line,one quite light and one a bit heavier in case it was a bagging match or the carp showed. Both rigs were 4x14 KC Chimps,with the first on 0.14-0.12 and a 16 Gama Pellet matched to a doubled 5 slip. This was shotted with a spread bulk of no:10's and set to fish just touching bottom. The second rig was on 0.16-0.14 and a 16 B911. This was set an inch over depth and shotted with a double bulk of no:10's. The method rod was an 11ft Shimano Beastmaster with a 15g small inline method feeder and a 3 inch 0.18 hooklength. For bait I had a few pints of soaked micro's,a few pints of 4mm's,a tin of corn,4.5 & 6mm hookers and a handful of dead red maggots. I was ready with plenty of time to spare so had a wander along the bank to have a chat with Nick who was on the end peg 18. It was hard to guess what sort of weight would be needed with the pegging so tight,but we both agreed that 60-70lb should make the frame. The all in was called and I put a pot of micro's and a pot of 4mm pellet with a pinch of corn in at 13m before casting the pellet method to the island with double dead maggot. 5 casts in the first 15 minutes saw one small liner but not alot else which wasn't what I expected to be honest. I went on to the pole line with the light rig and a 6mm pellet and after a further 15 minutes I still hadn't had a bite! I immediately regretted putting in so much bait at the start- that's what happens when you listen to the hype about a new water sometimes,it's easy to get carried away. I scaled the hook down to an 18 Gama Pellet so I would be able to fish the 4.5mm pellets as it was harder than expected with no-one really catching much. I changed hooklength on the method to 5 inch with a band and slipped on a 6mm pellet. Two minutes after casting in the tip rattled round and a minute later a 1lb skimmer was in the net. With nothing to show for the next few chucks on the tip I was now an hour in with just one skimmer in the net. Chris on my right had caught two carp on the method and the odd skimmer on the pole. Out on the pole line with a 4.5mm expander and after 5 minute or so the float slid under and a 2lb skimmer was soon in the net. I then had 3 in the next 3 chucks before it went a bit quiet so I fixed a small pot on the end of the pole and started to feed a pinch of micro's and a couple of 4mm's every put in. This brought the peg to life and I was now catching very well,usually waiting 2-3 minutes for a bite but I wasn't missing any and was starting to put a few in the net. After a while I lost 3 or 4 fish on the bounce,all foulhooked so I decided to cut the micro's out and just feed six 4mm pellets after every fish. This seemed to work as although I was waiting longer for bite's every fish was now nicely hooked in the top lip. Every now and then I would have a spell of 15 minutes or so without a bite, but feeding didn't seem to be the answer so I would just trickle in a tiny amount of bait and patiently wait for them to return. After 3 hours I probably had about 20lb in the net. In the fourth hour I was flying,with 10 fish in as many put-ins,I couldn't get the pole out fast enough. At around five-to-three I had a decent slab of about 5lb just before the owner came round for a chat. I had a skimmer of about 1lb when he was there at 3 o'clock and I reckoned I had about 35-40lb in the net with an hour to go. Unfortunately this was to be my last fish,as despite trying all the usual tricks and even throwing the method to the island I didn't have a bite in the last hour. The two lads either side of me also didn't catch in this time,the fish had obviously moved on. The all-out was called at 4pm and I was a bit disapointed to have such a bad last hour. After packing up the scales made their way around and when they got to me the top weight on our side was Nick with 46lb 11oz. Chris on my right weighed 31lb odd before my all skimmer net went 36lb 10oz for a section win. I knew the last hour would cost me and as Nick was second I only needed to pick up a few in the last hour to make the frame but I ended up 6th overall. Myles Levy put in a great performance to blitz the match with 78lb from the other side,he had a similar net of skimmers but crucially added 39lb of carp on the method. Awesome performance-well done mate.



Earlier in the week Nick had asked me if I wanted to start splitting our winnings and I'm glad he did! He picked up £60 for 2nd and I had £30 for the section which gave us £45 each. All in all a very enjoyable day on a smashing venue that will no doubt go from strength to strength. The owner is very passionate about the place and is keen to see it become a top match water. I think 20 is the most that should fish as the pegging was a bit tight in places but at the end of the day we all caught fish on a gorgeous day-you can't ask for much more than that.