I was at the venue almost 2 hours early and it's only 5 minutes from my house....that's the excitiment of a match I guess! After the usual breakfast it was time for the draw and with 28 booked pretty much all of the pegs were in on canals 1,2 & 3. If it wasn't for the fact that there was a festival on at Witherington Farm canal 4 would have been included,something I am yet to have seen in the 15 months or so I have been going to the venue. Into the drawbag I went and out came peg 19. I was happy with this as I drew the peg a few weeks previous and managed 80lb on meat across so I knew it would hold a few fish. I had Andy Potter to my left on 18 who always does well at Greenridge. My main plan today was to be caster across with meat short in the deeper water. For the far bank I set up two rigs- a 4x10 Scone AM Wellardz on 0.18-0.16 and an 18 PR36. Shotting was a spread of 3x10's and elastic was 14 latex. I also set up a small drennan carp 4 on thew same terminal gear set at 6 inches. The Wellard rig was set at around 2ft to fish on the deck just down the shelf but would also be my shallow rig for coming away from the island if needed. For down the track I set up a 0.2g Nick Gilbert Decker on 0.18-0.16 and a 16 B911. This rig covered two lines,the first on a topkit+ short 4 and the second at 6 sections. This was shotted with a spread bulk of 10's and was again matched to 14 latex. For bait I had 6 pints of caster,a tin of hemp and 3 tins of 6mm meat.
The all in was called and I flicked a dozen cubes of meat on the short line before potting in half a pot of hemp and a handful of meat at 6 sections. I dropped in on the short meat line and kept flicking a small amount of bait over it. The catty was already in my hand and I was firing a pouchful of caster to the farbank every 30 seconds or so. After around 5 minutes I had a carp of 3lb in the net,with another following 10 minutes later. To be honest these were bonus fish as I was looking to put anything in the net while priming the shallow line. After half an hour I hadn't added any more so was soon on the far bank line on the deck rig with double caster. Although I caught odd fish it wasn't great but nobody was really catching and it was evidently going to be a pretty tough day. I cut back on the amount of loose feed but maintained the regularity feeding around 10 casters at a time. Andy to my left was foulhooking a few and getting some of them in but from what I could see most people weren't really catching. I knew my best chance would be to persevere with the shallow line and after around 3 hours the fish arrived and I started to catch. It was proper shallow fishing- feed,drop rig in,hook fish,feed,ship back halfway,feed,get down to topkit,feed,net & unhook fish,feed....
The fish were by no means crawling up the pole and I had to search about and switch between the two rigs to keep them coming. Occasionally I would drop short on the 2ft rig and find a fish before switching to the 6 inch rig and finding another. Crucially I wasn't foulhooking any which meant I hardly lost a fish whereas those fishing on the deck were losing plenty. I had one hairy moment where a fish tore through a clump of grass and snagged me but eventually I managed to get the fish out and and in the net. This happened again later on but this time I lost the fish and spangled my rig. I also smashed a topkit when about to net a fish-I'm pretty sure there was a nick in the no 2 and with a bit of pressure it soon went BANG! Every now and then I would drop in on the meat line and up the intensity of the casters long which would result in a quick fish when dropping back in. Unbelievably I couldnt catch on the track line which really suprised me. This was a bit disapointing as you can often pick up some 8-9lb fish here which are worth 3 of the far bank fish. When the all-out was called I had 25 carp,a 2lb chub,half a dozen small tench and the odd roach. Andy had caught a few in the last hour on a top 4 but I knew he wouldn't have as much as I did.
The scales started up the top on peg 12 and Andy Vane put 60lb on,followed by a few 30lb-40lb weights- it had fished very hard for most on canal 2. Andy Potter put 54lb on before my weight was totalled at 80lb something,enough for the win with 60lb being 2nd. The buzz after the match was that one of the two £500 golden pegs might have gone as Mick Howells was admitting to a ton+ on peg 7. He actually put 112lb on the scales which was enough for the overall win and a nice £500 bonus! I picked up £60 for winning canal 2 and canal 3 was won with 90lb. All in all it was a strange day as it fished quite hard. One things for sure,I'll be taking caster on my next visit!
Sunday saw the MFS match at Todber Manor. I fished this venue in April 2009 and had 66lb of mostly F1's for 3rd in section. That day I was told that my peg,28, wasn't in the best area as it was a bit of a nursery for the F1's and you needed proper carp to do any good. On my first visit I caught all day and beat those around me but was beaten by the 2 pegs at the top end of the section.
I was the first one in the carpark (as usual!) and had a quick walk around. 5 minutes later Pete Bailey pulled up and we had a quick walk around. We both agreed that anywhere in the lower numbers would be better and apart from 38 we didn't really fancy anywhere in the thirties or high twenties. Bit by bit everyone arrived and soon there were 21 of us ready for the draw. I pulled out 2 pegs,one for me and one for Pete. I opened mine to reveal peg 32 and Pete opened peg 12...doh! After trudging round to my peg the most obvious thing was the wind. It was already quite breezy and I felt sure fishing across to the farbank would be difficult. As I was picking my girlfriend up from Bristol airport straight after the match I had little room in the car so when Pete kindly offered to let me borrow his Colmic XT500 earlier in the week I jumped at the chance as it meant I could leave my rod bag at home,freeing up some space for a suitcase. I have to say it's a great pole and I was very impressed with it.
The first thing I did was a bit of 'gardening' in the edge to my left as I wanted to get right in against the bank in the 2ft of water. I soon had a lovely little gap cut out that looked sock on. Next it was time to assemble my two rigs for the farbank. The first was a 4x12 Scone Jubleez on 0.18-0.16 and a size 3 Tubertini 175. This was shotted with a spread bulk of 10's and a backshot, matched to 14 latex. I found the standard 2ft of water on the shelf and also found the same depth on my inside line. I also set up a shallow rig- 4x10 AM Wellardz on 0.18-0.16 and an 18 PR36 with the same elastic. This was set at 8 inches deep. Finally I set up a rig for down the track at 6 sections- a 4x14 KC Chimp on 0.18-0.16 and a size 3 Tubertini 175. Shotting was a spread bulk of no:9's and matched to red vespe bi-core. I planned to fish meat on this line so the rig was set 3 inches overdepth. For bait I had around 3 pint of caster (left over from Greenridge) a couple of tins of hemp,a tin of corn and 4 tins of 6mm meat. I couldn't really see anyone from my peg,with Paul Law (JustinCase) 3 pegs to my left and magneticpauli two to my right. There were trees between us so it was to be a lonely old day for me!
The all in was called and I cupped half a pot of hemp and meat down the track,threw a handful of caster and some meat down the edge before going straight on to the far line with meat on the hook and a kinder of meat and hemp. After a couple of missed bites I connected with a fish and soon had a 1lb mirror carp in the net. In the next 10 minutes I put 4 F1's in the bag but the wind was increasing and making proper presentation a nightmare. After 20 minutes I was on the meat down the track line and after 3 or 4 kinders of bait I started to get a few signs and began to put a few fish in the net. I was catching all sorts- golden tench,skimmers,hybrids,F1's,the odd carp and I was being pestered by roach. Although they were decent fish averaging around 6oz they were not what I was after. I tried bulking my shot hoping to bomb the bait down a bit but this was certainly not the answer and the spread bulk was alot more effective. I played about with laying the rig in and feeding patterns and found the best way was to feed a kinder full of meat and hemp and then flick the rig to my left,keeping a tight line as the spread bulk registered. I caught plenty of F1's on the drop like this. I tried fishing a foot off the deck but this only resulted in skimmers and fishing a foot deep only saw roach. It was strange but I persevered with the deep spread bulk rig and was constantly adding fish to the net.
All the while I was feeding caster down the edge,a small handful every 2 minutes or so. After a couple of hours my girlfriend rang just as I dropped a fish into the keepnet. I quickly baited up the edge rig with a piece of meat and dropped in before answering. After a couple of minutes the float buried and I lifted into a decent fish. I hastily hung up the phone and a couple of minutes later had a fat 5lb mirror in the net...bonus! As soon as I hooked the fish I threw some more bait in but the next three drops saw roach so I gave it two big handfuls and came off it as it was still a bit early to be down the edge. I made the decision to feed it quite heavily and spend the last two hours on it,putting whatever I could into the net from the track line. Back down the track and I upped the quantity of hemp slightlyand cut down on the meat which saw my catch rate increase. I managed to find a few of the proper carp here and there but I couldn't get them lined up. Every now and then the wind died down and I'd nick a fish from the farline but presentation was so difficult due to the conditions. With 2 hours to go I fed a big pot down the track and dropped in down the edge- it was solid as I took 5 fish in as many put ins. Every time I'd hook a fish it would swim out of the peg and I would throw a handful of caster and a few bits of meat in which meant there was always a fish waiting for me. My only concern was the fact that I was rapidly running out of caster so I tried bulking it out with some hemp. This didn't have the desired effect and I could feel the margin going away from me slightly. Whenever it went a bit quiet I would go back down the track while feeding the edge quite heavily. After nicking the odd fish from the track line I would always get a fish pretty instantly down the side. I must have foulhooked a fish as it tore off and broke my hooklength so it was back on with an 0.18 bottom this time.
With an hour to go Paul thought the match was over and dumped a load of corn down the edge. When he found out it was actually a 6 hour match he quickly got some more bait and started to sack up! My edge wasn't as strong and I was only picking off the odd fish. In the last hour I only put 4 carp in the net which was disapointing. Redpaste (4 pegs to my right) put 16 in the net in the last hour after also feeding heavily with corn. When the all-out was called I felt sure it would cost me. The scales started to make their way around and after a few 50-70lb weights Redpaste put 104lb on the scales and I knew I didn't have that. Although I had caught over a hundred fish my weight was called at 90lb 14oz . Paul then put 92lb on the board which was closer than I thought as every time I looked up in the last hour he was playing a fish from the edge. The rest of the lake had fished ok with pretty consistent weights. Pete Bailey obliterated the match with 170lb on shallow meat...I knew I should have given him the other peg at the start! In all seriousness Pete is the best snake lake angler I've seen and he would have done that sort of weight from any peg-simply awesome. My 90lb was enough for 6th overall and I must admit I was a little bit disappointed as if I'd had a good last hour like most people I could have easily got the 106lb needed for 3rd. Running out caster had cost me dear and with another couple of pints I would have done alot better. In hindsight I should have fed alot more corn down the side as this is what both JC and redpaste did to great effect.
All in all it was a great day and a very well run match- a big thanks has to go to Mark Poppleton (Slider) for organising and running the day. Todber is a super venue and everyone caught plenty of fish. Most importantly of all I took a pound (well 2 x 50ps!) from Snooty Fox who had claimed that 'Welsh pounds are easy' hehe, Cheers mate!
I'm not actually going to be fishing for the next 2-3 weeks as I've got a load on with work and then I'm off to Tenerife with my girlfriend. Personally I'd rather be at Greenridge with a gallon of caster...but don't tell her that!
