With 10m to the island expanding to open water to my right i liked the look of it.
I also had a very good looking margin line to my right (anything to my right suits me fine as i'm left handed so i'm shipping across my body rather than away from myself)
One thing i have learned from past experience at tunnel barn during the colder times is to have plenty of options available during the match, so I spent plenty of time plumbing around to not only find features but find indenticle spots that i can move onto when a certain area has died off.
The plan for the day was to attack with pellet and maggot on various lines around my peg so i set the following rigs up: -
Rig 1 - 0.15 SP slim pellet pencil with 1.5mm tip. 0.14 Ultima Power Silk mainline, 0.10 Power silk hooklength to 20 G-Point Pellet. Shotted with No. 11 stotz that could be spread or bulked. Island Swim - Double 6-8 middy elasticRig 2 - 0.15 SP Slim pellet pencil with 1.5mm tip, 0.14 ultima power silk mainline, 0.12 Power silk hooklength to an 18 G-Point Pellet. Again shotted with No. 11 stotz that could be spread or bulked. Margin line - Double Middy 6-8 elastic
Rig 3 - 0.3 SP Silverfish, 0.14 Power silk mainline, 0.10 Power silk hooklength to a 18 B611. Bulk of number 10's with 3 Number 11 droppers. Deep water maggot rig - Double 3-4 Middy elastic
Rig 4 - 0.4 SP Slim Pellet Pencil with 1.5mm tip, 0.14 Power silk mainline, 0.10 Power silk hooklength to a 20 G-Point Pellet. Spread bulk of number 10's with 3 number 11 droppers. Deep water Pellet rig - Double middy 6-8 elastic.
Plumbing around i found a nice flat ledge at 2.5ft deep 1m off the island running all the way along the island so i could work my way along if necessary, with the same ledge going along to a bush on the point of the island.
The ledge dropped off to 5ft of water at the deepest and i found this consistantly around my peg at a 45 degree angle to right towards the open water, from 10 to 13m away.
The margin plumbed up slightly shallower than the island with just over 2ft of water, but there was plenty of colour in the water so i definately fancied 1 or 2 fish from it.
Bait for the day was very simple and kept (purposefully) very sparse, with 1/2 pint of red and white maggots, some 4mm expanders and some soaked TBF micros totalling no more than 1.5 pints of bait. This meant I had to make it last the whole 5 hours over a number of lines. It is so easy to overfeed a line a TBF so the lack of bait meant every bit of bait fed would have to count.
The starting plan was 3 lines: -
Number 1, up to the island under the bush fed with a few micros and 5-6 maggots.
Number 2 - Open water at 10m fed with a few micros and 5-6 maggots.
Number 3 - margin at 13m fed with 20-30 micos only.
The first 2 lines were going to be fished from the off but the margin line wouldnt be touched for at least 2 hours so this would be topped up with a maximum of 10 micros every so often.
First chuck to the island with a single red on and F1 number 1 was in the net. Great start which really got my hopes up. Next chuck, after topping up with 5 maggots and 10 micros i bumped a fish with my elastic not coming out very well.
QUICK NOTE - I've been using doubled elastic for at least 18 months and i'm totally sold on it. i've been using the middy stuff for around 6 months and find it performs (in my pole, maver 401) better than the usual preston original slip. But on this occasion the 6-8 elastic wasn't performing very well at all, with it being very juddery and sticky. It has been in my kits for maybe 2 months, with a 4 weeks off stored in my rod bag so i reckon its come the end of its life and got sticky or gooey in my kits. I've also never cleaned the inside of my kits, but at the same time never used any lubricants on elastics, always preffering lake water. the 3-4 elastic performed perfectly and was actually a lot more suitable for the size of fish i was catching. it has only been used on a couple of sessions so is well withins its life cycle.
The bumped fish seemed to kill off that line with no more proper bites for the next 10 minutes, so it was a quick change to the deep water line to see if anything was happening. I started on the maggot and managed an early fish but again the next 20 minutes i sat there for only a couple more indications and no more fish. After the first half hour the margin got a top up.
Back to the island line and another quick fish gave me some hope of a few arriving. Another fish 15 minutes later gave me 4 in the first 90 minutes.
Next door to my left was on 5 fish and he had no open water and the guy to my right was easily beating me with at least 10 fish. I was still feeling ok though and my head was still in it. I was working my peg, moving lines, not forcing it with feed and keeping my rigs working to provoke a response.
Maggot had definately got me the most bites and caught me all of my fish so far but i'd definately had indications on the pellet, and my margin line had had 2 top ups since the start with pellet only. Just before the second hour had elapsed i decided to give it try, earlier than i wanted, but if it didnt produce anything at least i could concentrate on my other lines.
I was also going to start flicking maggots straight in front of me 9m away to the shelf off the island. Last year i fished a match on the canal pool and had a great hour fishing a similar line with hand fed maggots just off the island. Every time i shipped in the new line would get 10-15 maggots, quite a lot of feed compared to everywhere else i'd fished so far today, but felt is was worth a try as it was a good 10 metres away from any other line started during the match.
First chuck down the margin and my unperfected rig for that line was sitting a bit high with 1/2" of bristle showing and a bit of a long line above the float, but 30 seconds later the float disappeared totally and fish number 5 was in the net. With the potential for things to improve i promply fine tuned my rig, and was back out in no time. 4 more fish in as many chucks and i was a lot happier and the guys around quickly started they're own margin lines!!
I was very conscious not to over do this line and the last fish took its time in coming, so 20 micros were fed and i spent 10 minutes on one of my deep water lines to give the margin a rest. I'd now been feeding the new maggot line for half an hour but didnt want to try it yet. I didnt have a touch in the deep water, and was now prepared to sack it off if the margin line kept producing and i could find somewhere else to keep something going in the net when the margin was being rested.
Back to the margin and the fish were still there and i put another 5 fish in the net in the next 20 minutes. We were now into the last 2 hours of the match. I'd easily caught up the guy to my right who had slowed considerably and pulled away from the guy ot my left. The guy on the end of my bank to my left was catching fairly consistantly and i was definately behind, but my head was in the right place and i was considering all the feed going into my peg to make sure i didnt over cook it.
The next rest period took me over to the island on the new maggot line. First chuck and the float shot under with a small F1 and i had a big smile on my face when it did. My 2 main rigs in the shallow water, maggot and margin, were now attached to the doubled 3-4 because it was definately the better set up with no bumped fish and plenty of elastic coming out but the fish still under complete control. I managed 3 fish from this line in 15 minutes with bites taking longer to come by after every fish.
This pretty much set the routine for the last hour and a half with a maximum of 3 fish coming off each line before it was rested. I did have to put another section on the margin line to follow them closer to the reed cover to keep bites coming but the gusty breeze was easily manageable. I had to finish on the maggot line as the margin was really slow even though there were fish present, and a fish just before the whistle meant i'd had a nice day.
I was happy with my performance, I'd caught more fish than my last few matches combined and knew i'd easily beaten those around me who i could see, so i just hoped the rest of the pool had fished as hard it did round by me.
When the scales arrived 31lb was winning and i didnt think i had that as i caught the smaller stamp of F1's present in new pool, but the scales went round to 33lb 4oz. I was chuffed but knew there were some very good locals left to weigh in so i didnt build my hopes up just yet.
I finished packing up in no rush and made my way round to the cafe and found out i'd won the match overall. 31lb second with 25lb third and the rest of the weights in the high teens. i was pleased with my performance because i'd thought about my actions and based my decisions on what was happening in the water rather than what i wanted to happen, consequently the peg repsonded in a psositive fashion and i kept some weight going into the net.
I'd lost 8 fish over the match (8 fish too many in winter) and i blame that on myself for not changing the old elastic in my kits, which wont happen again. it certainly hasnt put me off doubled elastic, and hasnt put me off the middy stuff, i just know now to change it regularly. i also need to think about cleaning my kits out, but not sure how to do that yet - any suggestions welcome!!!
Big test this weekend with the final round of the Manor winter league with another appearance on boundary. a good result there will get me right back on track and looking forward to a productive summer!!!!
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