The 5 remaining teams were all elligable for the 3rd and 4th spot and the money to go with it, so everyone was up for the last match!!!
Our team preperations were all about focusing on what was needed and nothing else - beat the Corkys lot angler!! We were back up to full strength on the last round and order was restored, so i was back on Wyatts, Pete on Oak, Darren on Laugherne and John on Laurel!
Onto the draw, with me running the league and draw, with Pete and John recording the sections it has been up to Darren to do the do's in the bag of dreams - the final draw saw me on peg 9 with the corkys lad on 28 (flyer), John on laurel 5 with the corkys lad on 8 (good area), Pete on oak 7 CL on peg 3 (good area) and Darren on Laugherne 10 and Cl on 29 (good area) - to be perfectly honest heads were down a bit coming away from the draw. Anyway a job to and 5 hours to make it work for us!!!!!!!!
So to my own match and peg 9 hadnt been the strongest, although it an end peg its at the wrong end form where the weights have been coming from over the previous rounds - i did hear though the open on the day before the fish had up the pool slightly. Peg 28 had produced some serious weights previously and won the section the previous couple of rounds the Jake Cork was sitting pretty and i was worried - onto the tackle front and with plenty of time to set up i wanted to ensire i covered all my bases - i'd drawn peg 9 before and knew there was a hole in it at 16m around 10 inches deeper and 2m wide then even depth either side and in fornt.
From left to right
1- Shallow rig - 0.1g Sconezone Jubleez, 0.14 mainline, 0.12 hooklength and an 18 g-point pellet to double middy 4-6 latex
2- Paste at 6m rig - SP paste float, 0.18 mainline, 0.14 hooklength, size 14 B911 to double 6-8 middy latex
3- Margin Rig - 0.2g Garbo DC11, 0.14 mainline, 0.14 hooklength, size 16 g-point pellet to double 6-8 latex
4- Light Maggot Rig - 0.2g Sconezone Piranahz, 0.14 mainline, 0.10 hooklegnth, 20 T213 to middy double 4-6 latex
5- Pellet Rig - 0.5g Jason Elwell Slim, 0.14 mainline, 0.12 hookength, 18 g-point pellet to middy 6-8 latex
6 - Heavy Maggot Rig - 0.4g Sconezone Munkeez, 0.14 mainline, 0.10 hooklength, 18 T213 to middy double 4-6 latex
Home for the day - the paste rig was plumbed at 6m straight in front of me. the margin rig was at top 2 plus 2 in front of the reeds to my right in 3ft of water. the piranahz and pellet rig were plumbed at 16m to my right next to the hole and the munkeez plumbed slightly to my left in the hole.
I also set-up an 11ft powerlite feeder rod, with a shimano aero 4000 loaded with 0.23 Aiwa-Shima Ion reflector mainline and 2 hole micro cage feeder and 18 inch 0.14 hooklength with a size 15 B711 finishing the rig - i'm new to the Aiwa Shima line but it has been recommended b a couple of people so thought i;d give it a try - its very strong for the diameter and casts beautifully with virtually no memory of the spool and silky smooth - so far so good, so if anyone is looking for a robust, strong feeder line id highly recommend giving it a try.
Bait table consisted of 2 pint of soaked micros with a dusting of Old Ghost Silkworm Chrystalis Meal on them, 2 pints of 4mm pellets for pinging, 1 pint of reds with Old ghost Krill meal, some 4mm expanders, and 1/2 kilo of Old Ghost Green Algea groundbait mixed up and a ball of Old Ghost cereal carp paste.
Finally got to the fishing!!!! So on the whistle (well shout) out went the pot with smattering of maggots and micros on the shallower maggot line, the same in the hole. A handfull of micros with a couple of nuggets of paste went in at 6m and half a put of groundbait and some maggots went into the margin line.
the margin line was going to be fed every hour with a cup of groundbait, same with the paste line - the long lines would be fed with a micro cad pole on the top kit.
First chuck and the light maggot rig was sent out to the 16m line so see what going on - not a lot was the answer. i'd shotted the rig with number 11 stotz ove the last third of the rig and was hoping it would grab the attention of anything in the area. the piranahz is a great float for searching and scrapping for bites as its so sensitive. 10 minutes in and Jakey on 28 catches a fish!!!! thats me down on my pool. Chris Cork on Laurel catches from his margin line (this early), Johns down on his pool. i then hear the Corky lad on Oak has caught early, thats Pete down!!!! the dperession starts and its only 1/2 hour into the match!!
Corky on Laurel is bagging down his margin and John can only get Silvers - i finally get a touch on the light maggot rig after an hour and rotation around the lines and a roach is in the net - saved the blank - but Jake now has 2 carp in the net. the munkeez rig in the hole isnt prompting the slightest of interest and i'm not happy with it (i reckon the cold water is sinking into the hole and pushing any fish out of the feature) - so i start pinging over the line to see if anything shallow can help me out. Another roach and a skimmer on the light rig give me a bit of weight and prob worth one of Jakes fish - John is now well down to Chris on Laurel and looking for snookers but section point are valuable so any fish is worth points to us for damage minimalisation!! i've no idea whats going on on Oak on Laughenre but know Daz and Petes will be working there hardest.
Tactical change number 1 - with me being end peg and having the rest of the pool to myself to my right i decide to plumb a line at 16m far to my right at 45 degrees and give it a sprinkling of just micros and plan to just fish the pellet rig over there
Back to the light and long line and not a lot going on so i want to make something happen. It gets a decent handfull of just maggots to promt a response and a rest - over to the new pellet line and 4mm expander over the top sees a bite after 2-3 minutes and carp number 1 is on!! 2 minutes later and very gingerlyi slip the net under a 2lb common - yes!! back on level ground with Jakey and i'm happier - its now 2 hours in. everyone else on the pool has caught fish so no blanks, but a couple of anglers have only a silver fish. out again onto the pellet line and nothing - i cant muster another bite from it - i give it a few pellets and leave it - out light and long and an instant bite and carp number 2 is on and in the net! so thats 5 fish and i;m happy im doing my team job - Jake hasnt had another fish. the light and long rig produces another 2 carp over the next 40 minutes and i'm now looking rounf the pool and doing ok in the section overall - Payno opposite me has 4-5 carp in the net and seems to be the main contender.
Tactical change number 2 - i decided to re-plumb the monkees rig out of the hole tothe left away from my other line and find a flat spot coming out of it - i feed it with a good handfull of maggots with a few micros mixed in - quite a positive amount of bait. I've tried the paste rig a couple of times over the first half of the match with no signs, its just to cold so decide to bin that line and not waste any time on it. Another 2 fish on the light and long line see me take the lead on the pool and i'm much happier as i'm cancelling out the result on Laurel pool behind me - Chris is still bagging from his margin - John is getting his head down and earning as many points as he can catching anything that swims.
2 hours left and payno has nicked a couple of fish and we're level pegging - Time to try the margin line and 3 maggots go on the hook and the rig is laid up the slope where the groundbait has been going in - as it settles it slides under and the strike is met with a very solid resistance!! the pole is swung round rapidly and i guide the fish out - 3 minutes later a 7lb mirror is in the pan!! Proper bonus! back out to the margin line and the same happens and a 6lb common is in the pan - i'm now feeling very settled after an extremely slow start!
I dont want to ruin the margin so its topped up with a pot of feed and go out light and long - a quick bite is rewarded with a small mirror - i swap straight over the to the new long line and decent skimmer comes my way - it seems they dont want small regular feed but a less frequent bigger amount of bait.I take the toss pots of my kits and look at either catching a couple of fish or give it 20 minutes between top-ups. the margin gives me a couple more fish arounf the 4-5lb mark and really bumping my weight up giving me the section.
rotating between rigs and the 2 long and margin lines see's me finish on 6 proper fish and around 10 small carp and 4-5 silve fish!! a very happy chappy!!!!
With only 1 set of scales available my team weighs the whole match in and its a nervous time as im packing up as i have absolutely no idea how Pete and Daz have done on the other pools - i just know John and I have cancelled each other out on our sections.
ready to go we start the weigh in - Chris Cork puts a brilliant 77lb on the scales all from his margin in February!!! John puts 12lb on the board put 6th in his section. I'm first to weigh on my pool and put 40lb in the sling - it comes as a suprise to me and the others around me as i didnt think i had that much!! Jake puts 5lb on the scales for 5th in his section, 20lb is second on my pool - so they're a point up on us. By this time Pete and Daz have joined us, and they have smiles on they're faces!!!! (secretly inside i'm already buzzing) Pete is confident he's done very well on Oak, and Daz has caught a few and is confident but cant see all the pool so unsure.
We get to Oak and Pete puts 47lb on the scales to win the pool!! the Corkys lad is 4th on the pool, so we're up!! Walking round to Laugherne and the Corkys lad puts 37lb in the sling, this puts him in front on the pegs we've weighed - Daz doesnt know what to say as he thinks its close!! 2 weights push the corkys lad to 3rd as we come to weigh daz in - his first net goes 30lb, good start. he then puts another 30lb on the scales to win the pool with 60 odd pounds - the tinker was having us on!!!
We'd done it, and done it well in the end with 3 section wins and a 6th - it won the match on the day and secured the league overall!! we took 5 points to the final league standings with 3 wins and a second. Corkys lot second with 8 points. Solhampton All Stars (Paynos rabble) came third, and Smithies Colmic stole 4th in the league and the final paying place!!
We were all chuffed to bits and very pleased with our performance!! well deserved pint was had on the way home
So Whats next - we've got a pairs spring league starting end of March at Brockamin fisheries, Petes with Daz and I'm with John so we're hoping for an Old Ghost 1st and 2nd
Tune in next time and i'll let you know how we're getting on!!!
Scott
