I'm going start this entry off with a thanks to Ultima for some excellent customer service. i had noticed on a some spools of line in my box that the spool itself had a couple of defects where the spool hadnt been adequately frazed when the spool was moulded. i was concerned this may affect the line wound over this defect when being loaded onto the spool.
A quick email to ultima to highlight the point was greated with a pretty quick repsonse assuring me the problem had been recognised and had already been dealt with at the manufacturers. Also Ultima would send replacement line for those which i have in my box with defects, then on top of that they would sent some more line in dimaters i had yet to try!
Thank you very much Ultima, excellent service.
Cob House Open
Well after a long absence i finally made it back to Cob House to fish the Saturday open on Laugherne Island pool.
I was really looking forward to it as i'd been away for so long, the weather had dramatically improved in the previous week and Laugherne Island is my favourite pool on the complex (well prob my favourite pool anywhere)
As i've said the weather had improved from the arctic conditions we've been experiencing over the last few months and a walk round the open on wednesday on Wyatts confirmed the fish had started moving, with people even catching fish from the margins.
my preperation for this match started on my pole. i was pretty confident of a good day, so i raided the summer elastic store and rigged 3 kits with double slip 8 and 2 kits with some fresh middy Hi-Viz 6-8 latex. the weather for the day wasnt predicted as brilliant with blustery winds so i made sure i had some 1g rigs ready to go and plenty of hooklengths to 0.18 diameter to suit the hard fighting nature of the Laugherne carp to double figures.
Bait was going to be 3mm for feed with some 4mm for catapulting and 4 and 6mm expanders for the hook. i was going to take corn too, but forgot to put it in my bag! oops!
A very nice sausage and Bacon sandwich on my way to the draw got me ready for a good days hauling. With some extra advertisement through the online communities 19 anglers had turned for todays match.
The draw bag looked after me and took me to peg 1 for the day. its a peg i've fished before and managed a match win of it with 115lb, so my previous confidence was boosted nicely.
The predicted weather of high winds wasnt showing itself while setting up and all was reasonably calm. the peg is on the near end of the pool with no island cast but the whole end bank of the pool (up to half way obviously) available for use with a number of margin lines to be created. there were plenty of fish moving when we were setting up especially round the islands.
With plenty of options open to me i set up the following: -
Rig 1 - Margin 13m - 0.2 SP Margin, 2mm tip. 0.18 Garbo G line, 0.16 Genesis hooklength with a 18 B911.
Rig 2 - Margin 16m - 0.2 SP Margin, 2mm tip, 0.18 G Line, 0.16 Genesis hooklength with 16 B911
Rig 3 - Pellet deep - 0.4 SP Slim Pencil, 0.15 Ultima Power Silk, 0.14 Power Silk Hooklength to a 18 G Point pellet.
Rig 4 - Shallow - 4x12 Bristled preston float, 0.16 genesis direct to a 16 B911. set at 18" deep.
Rod 1 - Maver powerlite feeder system @ 11ft, TD-R 3012 with 6lb sensor, small inline preston method with 0.20 hooklength and 16 eyed B911 with korum quick stop.
The 13m margin line was 6 inches shallower than at 16m so i made a rig for each to ensure they were both perfect. The rod was clipped up at about 20m down the bank beyond pole range in the margin and would only come into play if i was struggling.
Plan for the day was to start in the deep water at 14.5m to see if there was anything moving there while the main margin lines settled. All lines recieved around 50 3mm's feed pellets and a few 4 and 6m expanders and the deep rig was despatched out to 14.5m where it settled beautifully, but stayed there and stayed there for half an hour. No amount of lifting and dropping tempted a bite and typically the wind had now decided to get up, and got progressively worse over the course of the match. Luckily being on the right end of the pool and the wind coming over my bank rather than into it kept my margin lines reasonably calm.
I really didnt want to plunder the margin lines too early and with no action in the deep water i decided to give the method a chuck to try and kick the account off for the day. i kept the casting tight too well within a meter of the margin but 5 casts later over the next 20 minutes only produced a couple of liners and locating a snag to which i lost a hooklength.
With around an hour gone and a fair few people with fish in the net i had to try and make things happen so the 13m margin line was the first margin to get some attention. first chuck the float barely settled before it was gone and lively 3lb mirror was in the net. i all of a sudden had a big smile on my face with images of 2 very full keepnets at the whistle! BUT they were short lived as i then struggled for another bite 20 minutes later. i was forced to move out to 16m to plunder the second line and fortunatley there were a few more fish there and i managed to put 4 fish in the net by the end of the second hour. i was by no means bagging but was certainly keeping up with those i could see braving the wind and putting some thing in the net.
i didnt feel like i was making the most of the margins at all, but perhaps i was remembering my last session on the peg a bit too much when i fished it in much better conditions.
the third hour brought another 5 fish, but smaller fish around 3lb each, much smaller than the laugherne average. i still wasnt happy the margin was producing to its potential and bites werent amazing. best hookbait by far was a 4mm expander with the rig bulked about 10 inches form the hook. there was a fair bit of rubbish in the peg and the bulk ensured the rig settled properly and gave the most positive bites.
i then made a decision with 90 minutes to go and force the peg a little and potted in 1/3 of a small preston pot of feed at 16m to try bring some fish in and get them to get here heads down. while that settled i had a look in the deeper water where i'd been pinging 4mm feed pellets since the early look on the line. i was suprised to see the float disappear and a 3lb common in the net! great! NOT - that was the only bite i had on that line. another quick chuck on the method didnt produce anything so with just over an hour to go i decided to concentrate on the long margin to make the most of it.
the extra feed had worked and a run of 8 fish in the last hour seriously boosted my weight and i was fairly happy. I had the best bites with bait held rock steady as tight to the margin reeds as i could get it, and sitting on the pole instead of it under my arm helped massively with that!
Swainy opposite me had been putting fish in the net fairly regularly over the coarse of the match and i thought it would be close.
Bob (nearly20mbob) had done very well last hour, so i wasnt overly sure how the final result would go, but i knew i'd done pretty well. i was first to weigh and put 56lb on the scales. i didnt follow the scales round as i had loads to pack up still but felt 56 wouldnt be enough to win.
Finally Scotty J made it back to the car park with the results and i found out i'd managed a match 2nd, with 62lb winning. the winner wasnt one of those who i'd thought with Swainy putting 50lb on the scales.
overall i was fairly pleased with the result but the win was well within the pegs potential. i had lost 5 fish over the match, all foul hooked as they came off within a few seconds but there isnt a fat lot that can be done about that. i think more positive feeding from the start may have unlocked the peg earlier. the double 8 slip and middy 6-8 have done the job again with all fish under total control from the strike to netting.
i also feel i shouldnt have fed the 16m line before i was ready to fish it as it choked the 13m. apart from the first fish i didnt have another bite at 13m and i think the fish never made it past the feed at 16m to settle shorter. All part of the learning curve i guess!!
Anyway Cob House again for me Bank holiday Monday with a rover with Oak, Wyatts and Laugherne available for use!
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