the weeks leading up to the match had seen very warm muggy weather, and a few lunchtime walks around the lake had seen some very slow pleasure angler action. Arrow valley can be very fickle and switch off very quickly so i was little concerned but a break in the weather and a bit of rain put some hope in my mind.
I had a plan going into the match that if i drew on the Shakespeare bank I would solely concentrate on the feeder either in open water or to the island if i drew on it. The Shakespeare bank (named so because of the Shakespeare fishing tackle factory just over the road) has a reasonable depth of water off it, and a good number of pegs have an island chuck, but most importantly I've never really done very well on the pole line on this bank so the pole isn't the option in my own mind. If i was in the bay i would concentrate on the pole, giving them some gear at the start then having the feeder as a back up if required. The bay has a lovely 8-10 foot of water on the pole line on most pegs, so suits a positive pole attack and in recent history has been holding the bream with good pleasure bags.
Bait for the day was 4kg of groundbait (50/50 Super G green and gold and enough of it to give a pole line plenty if required), 1 pint of dead reads, 1 pint of caster, 1/2k of worm, and a couple of pints of soaked micros.
The draw was well organised with everyone having to split to different car parks dependant on the peg number. I left it a bit late to arrive and didn't get time for any breakfast!!!! Anyway into the bag, and peg 54 stuck to my hand. Now referring back to the plan, bay or Shakespeare bank, peg 54 didn't put me on either!!!!!! 54 was actually past the bay slightly round the corner and an area I've never actually fished. The peg had the island in front of it but it was a long way away. I didn't fancy the pole on this peg as I wanted to concentrate on the island and feeder lines and not spread my attention (feeding regime) to wide. So it was going to be a tip match for me.
1 - Middy X-Flex medium feeder, Daiwa Capricorn 3500 XTC loaded with 6lb Daiwa sensor.
2- Maver Powerlite feeder system @12ft number 3 tip, Daiwa TD-R 3012 loaded with 6lb sensor.
3 - Maver Powerlite feeder system @12ft number 4 tip, Daiwa TD-R 3012 loaded with 6lb sensor.
Rods 1 and 3 had a Preston Innovations snap link tied to a 8 inch twisted loop with a 1/2 inch loop above it. Rod 2 had the same but the twisted loop was 12 inches long. The idea of this set up is too loop the hooklength into the small loop and the feeder is attached to the snap link giving a paternoster rig. Rod 3 had a short paternoster link for a positive rig/short hooklength set-up and rod 2 had a longer link for a more sensitive rig/long hooklength set-up. Rod 1 was primarily to be used for the method but has the option of a hooklength and feeder being added if the method wasn't working. The middy rod is great for long chucking as it has nice big throughout and more back bone than the Powerlites so is my first choice for long chucks and big fish
With a 2oz lead attached to the middy rod, a chuck tight to the island in front of me gave 104 turns on the reel. The bush to my right was 110 turns but i had to give it some welly to get it there. The bush was do-able with a lead, and i fancied the feature, but wasn't sure about the cast with a method attached, but i would give it a try. The powerlite rods were clipped at a very comfortable 40 turns. So the plan was to chuck a method to the island and have a traditional feeder line shorter.
1st decision of the match 20 minutes in and i haven't actually fished yet - bin the bush, because i cant seem to get there or even keep it reasonably accurate and see how close i can get straight in front of me. First chuck 10 yards off the island, 4 second count and the feeder hits the deck, nice!!! re-clipped at 96 turns of the reel - if it works its gonna be a long hard day chucking!
The first hour was to be spent making very regular casts to build the line up and generate some interest. As soon as the method was cast and the rod set I'd prep a spare feeder, watch the tip for a minute then reel in for another cast, probably a 3-4 minute cycle. 3rd chuck on this line (my casting is pretty accurate, but the wind is causing some difficulties over such a big chuck) ,the tip moves, moves some more and starts rattling. a firm pull and I'm into bream number 1.
I'm using the standard large Kobra method feeders with 25g weighting on them, but felt before the match if I were to draw in this area or the weather not be brilliant some more weight might be needed aid casting. So a cry for help on Matchfishing-scene.co.uk saw Pete Bailey tell me he had some stick on lead i could have a go of. These are foam backed chunks of lead with a 5g weight. So i gave my feeders a good clean and stuck 2 on 2 feeders, and 1 on 2 feeders. On the match i was using feeders with 2 extra weights on and they were brilliant. i tried a method with no extra weight on and couldn't get it close to the clip!!!! The glue on the weights was superb too because they didn't budge all match and they were getting some abuse at the range i was casting!
Second the second and third hour passed by nicely with regular casts seeing fish being winched back and after 3 hours i had 13 bream in the net. I was now leaving the feeder in for 5 minutes at least as a bite usually resulted and there were obviously fish around. I was loving it. I could see the top half of the Shakespeare bank and nothing was really happening so i was well in front of what i could see. I'd heard of 5 carp in the bay and 2 others catching fish so i had to keep the concentration up, and casting accurate.
Some times the breeze would get up (always when you've reeled in and about to cast) so on a couple of occasions i sat there for a minute waiting for it to drop before i re-cast. If the breeze stayed up i made my method feeders on the small side so i could put more energy into the cast, keep them more aerodynamic and hope fully hit the clip every time. I'd caught all my fish up to now on either 2-3-4 or 5 dead reds on the hook, but the action noticeably slowed in the 4th hour. worried the fish had moved off, i upped my casting again to waiting no more than a minute after the rod was set to get more bait in. i also upped the size of my methods to help on the bait front. i had to really push the cast with a heavier feeder but I felt the swim needed it. Signs of fish returned but bites were still absent. I then tried a big chunk of worm tipped with a maggot as a change and first chuck the tip pulled right round and i thought I'd got my first carp on, but eventually another bream popped up in front of me!
End of the 4th hour saw me with 19 fish in the net. I never felt like i was bagging at any point, but i never stopped doing something. Casting and winding at such range takes time, especially with a fish on!
The last hour approached, and the 5 carp rumour turned out to be untrue, but there were definitely 2 people catching fish regularly in the bay, and 1 angler on the Shakespeare had 9 skimmers and a big carp. The wind dropped for the last hour so i put 2-3 extra yards on the clip and pushed the cast a bit closer to the island, which worked nicely as 2 big chunks of worm on the hook pushed my tally up to 26 fish on the whistle!!! What a brilliant days fishing! i was tired though as i hadn't really stopped all day. I did keep the short line topped up every hour with 5 big feeder fulls, but never tried it as i didn't want the long line to fade or allow the bream to move off!
Quickly packing up (put the rods back in the ready rod bag and tidy up) i moved my gear round the bay where the other anglers were and got ready to weigh the section in. One of the guys in the bay was saying he had 30 fish, so i was a bit gutted after my hard work. I was first to weigh and after 2 weighs registered 74lb 3oz. I was chuffed to bits. The guy with 30 fish weighed 59lb as he had some much smaller fish mixed in with his bream. i pretty much knew now I'd won it!!! there were 4-5 more 30lb weights in my section and everyone had had a brilliant days fishing and were asking when the next match was to be!! 39lb won the Shakespeare bank, but back up weights weren't brilliant with 12lb winning the 3rd section.
The only down side of the day was my Preston shuttle wheel collapsing on me when i started walking back. i was moving off the bank onto the path and it tipped slightly putting all the load onto 1 wheel which collapsed. i loaded myself with my box and rods and walked it back, then walked back again and loaded the rest of my gear onto the 1 wheel trolley and slowly and care fully walked that back! i was proper knackered by the end of it, but the winning in my back pocket eased the pain slightly.
Not sure where i am next, put I'll let you know how i get on!!
