The next match saw me draw canal 2- the place to avoid with just 60lb being the best weight for weeks and weeks. I drew peg 16 and fished maggot across and corn short for 76lb and the win with 40lb second. Two days later saw me back at Greenridge for a charity match in aid of Help for Heroes and I drew peg 19,again on canal 2. I fished maggot across and corn short,but also mugged some big fish down the middle early on maggot and eventually put 144lb 7oz on the scales. This easily won the canal but there was a 151lb from canal 1 so I finished up second overall. I picked up some cash,had a nice trophy,a new best 5 hour match weight and most importantly of all took a shiny pound off Pete Bailey who drew canal 3 and put 89lb on the scales. Pictured is Mark Richardson (centre:winner with 151lb) Mark Cannings (right:3rd with 136lb) and myself
The following Saturday I again drew canal 2,this time peg 20. I wasn't too happy with the draw but by fishing maggot across and to the parrallell bank (endpeg) and then corn short I put 103lb on the scales for the lake win with 86lb second. Yet again it was only good for 2nd overall as Dave Hydes put 112lb on the scales from canal 3. I actually had a fish-on at the whistle but it went under my platform and broke me. It was only about 6lb so didnt cost me but bad angling nonetheless! This match was the first time they had done an optional superpool at Greenridge and as Dave hadn't gone in it and I had I pocketed an extra £60 for my troubles which was nice!Over the course of the summer I had also managed to finish in 7th place in the Hampshire region of the Angling Times County Champs with 80 points. The semi-final was at Gold valley and I decided to give it a go. It was a bit of a baptism of fire as I had Will Raison next peg to my left and Tommy Hillier next peg to my right. They both fished brilliant matches and qualified with 130lb and 103lb respectively,all caught on the tip. I just missed out in 7th place with 62lb,70lb odd was needed to get through so one decent carp could have seen me OK. I fancy Hampshire's chances with William,Tommy,Pemb Wrighting,Myles Levy and John Light. Good luck boys!
Finally I have had my full sponsorship with Romsey Bait and Tackle extended to April 2011 so I would like to give a big thanks to John and Amanda for continuing to support me. It's a very well stocked shop and all of their livebait comes from Gold Valley and the quality is second to none.
The reason I decided to pick the blog up again is because this weekend saw the first match in the winter series at Greenridge Farm. The format is simple- there are 20 matches (every Saturday except the first in the month) and your best 12 results count. There are 10 points for a canal win so the maximum score available is 120. It's usually one with 115 points + so it's not easy to win. I would have had a decent chance of a pick-up in the summer league with 4 x firsts, 2 x seconds and a third but unfortunately I only fished 9 out of 12 matches so didn't qualify. I will be fishing the majority of the winter series so will hopefully be up there come March.
Unfortunately match organiser Mick Kenny has had to have an eye operation so will be out of action for a few weeks. I wish him a quick and speedy recovery and hopefully he'll be back at Greenridge very soon. Andy Potter took over and would organise the match. With just 16 fishing we were split into two sections of 8 and canal 1 and 2. I really wanted to be on canal 2 as I have won it in my last 4 matches on there. I wasn't too disapointed however when peg 11 stuck to my hand. I drew this peg on my first visit in April 2009 and came 2nd with 96lb,then came 2nd again with 42lb through the ice last February so I was hoping to make it third time lucky. The only other peg I've drawn 3 times is peg 19 and I came 2nd the first two times before winning it on the third. Hopefully the pattern would continue!
Peg 11 can be a bit hit and miss as with all end pegs. Pegs 8,9 &10 were usually better but I felt sure I'd have a chance. I decided on a 4 pronged attack,a maggot line to the farbank,a maggot line to the side bank towards a small pipe,a maggot line in the deep water at 11m and my usual short corn line at 4m. The short corn rig was a 0.2 Hillbilly Billybob on 0.16-0.14 and an 18 B911. I plumbed this on a top 2+2 at an angle to my left,just at the base of the near slope. Shotting was a spread bulk of 10's and elastic was yellow bungee on a pulla. The 11m deep line was a 4x14 KC Chimp on the same gear as the short line. For the farbank I had two lines,one up the shelf and one down it. Both rigs saw a Hillbilly Billybob on 0.16-0.14 and an 18 B911. The top shelf rig was a 0.1 and down the shelf was a 0.2. Both rigs were matched to double 8 slip. The top shelf rig also doubled up as the rig for fishing to the pipe along the bank to my right at just over 13m. For bait I had 2 tins of corn and 4 pints of maggot.
The all in was called and I potted in a pinch of maggot on the top shelf line,a full pot of maggot on the 11m deep line and threw half a dozen grains of corn onto the shortline. Kicking off on the top shelf I started to catch the odd small roach so continued to cadpot in half a dozen maggots every put in. After around 35 minutes I hooked my first carp which was soon safely in the net,despite being foul-hooked. Dave Hydes on peg 10 to my left was spraying bait about (as he always does to good effect) but he was also feeding his short line with handfuls oif maggot,less than a metre away from my short corn line. Despite always looking to fish 'away' from corners when on an end peg I quickly plumbed a short corn line to my right and started to feed here instead as I knew I would struggle on the left hand line with the amount of feed in close proximity. Nonetheless I would continue to feed the left hand line just in case.
The top shelf line didn't seem to be working so I dropped down a shelf and added 2 quick carp,giving me 3 after an hour. It was hard work though and I didn't feel like there were masses of fish in front of me,as I was getting very few signs. After two hours I had 7 fish in the net and felt it was now time to feed the pipe line. A pinch of maggot was cupped in and first drop saw a 6lber in the net with another of around 4lb next drop. This line then also went quiet. Dave next door was catching regularly by spraying maggot so I soon got the catty out and started to loose feed the pipe line. This worked to a degree as I added a few more fish but I couldn't keep them coming. I had a large tree to my left so couldn't see the rest of the canal so it was hard to know how I was faring. I was having a few quiet spells but kept rotating my lines picking off the odd fish. I had 2 carp on the deep maggot line but it didn't seem right for some reason. I even set a new line up at 17m into the corner but this didn't work, nor did trying a shallow rig as there were a few fish mooching about. I then started feeding the far line with a catty which had some effect as I found a few more fish. The short corn line gave me a couple of quick fish before it went quieting but by regularly feeding I picked off a few more. With 40 minutes left I had 23 carp in the net,taken off 5 different lines and then the peg just died! That can be the trouble with end pegs sometimes,if the fish move out there's not alot you can do. The all out was called and I felt very deflated as I felt sure that last spell would cost me. I thought I had around 70lb and I felt sure that Dave next door had 90-100lb.
After packing away the scales made their way to my peg and I tipped 81lb 14oz on the scales- more than I thought. Dave then totalled 76lb odd which really surprised me. There were then a few 40-50lb weights before Jamie Payne tipped 79lb something on the scales- a bit too close for comfort! I was a bit surprised to have won as I felt sure the quiet spell would prove costly but I was fortunate to get away with it on this occasion. Pete Newman won canal 2 with 74lb odd which meant I had won the superpool for the 2nd match out of 2.
After a swift beer after the match I pocketed £90 but most importantly had kicked off the winter series with a maximum 10 point score. I'm back at Greenridge again this Saturday hoping my run of good form (fliers) continues!
