It was the last match in this very well run series today, but after a terrible nights sleep, thanks to chronic reflux, I got up to be greeted by a blanket of snow outside. It was looking pretty bad so I thought id make a couple of calls to see if it was still on. After a reassuring message from Ken and Tony saying the roads were good around the venue, I packed the car and set off. My street was the worse part of the journey with a bit of a slide but once id driven carefully to the motorway at Magor it was ok the rest of the way.Got to Landsend and there was only 5 other cars there. Quite a few soft cock no shows today, but as the Match was prepaid it wouldn`t effect the payouts. I had already sewn up the series last round but today I was in the final of the knockout against Tony Rixon. And to be honest, with him on Match lake and me on Lake 3 I didn`t think I had a chance, but with the severe weather change it was impossible to say how things would turn out. A very nice hot breakfast was consumed. And it was draw time. Only 5 on my lake out of the usual 9, so plenty of room. I pulled out peg 51. Not a bad peg so I was told, but not one I`ve fished before.
its 3/4`s the way up the left bank just passed the island gap. The other 4 anglers in my section all drew the first 4 pegs on opposite banks. So it was a lonely day for me apart from the odd call out to Rod Wootton who was my closest angler on 43. It was still snowing hard so first thing I set up was the trusty bomb rod. At least that gives you a chance to have a bait in and your hands warming at the same time. Three pole rigs. .2 Shalla Slim to fish tight over to the island in about three feet. A welcome depth on such a cold day. A .3 Slim to fish the track in several places. And a .3 SS Margin to fish both both side margins against overhanging branches. Bait wise it was easy today. All I had in my sights was beating Tony so it was all out for carp were ever I drew and I only had meat and pellets to fish on my side tray. No need to go for silvers. It was still snowing and It didnt take long for everything to be covered in a sprinkling of the frosty stuff
At the start Fed all line sparingly and started on the bomb, as my hands had got wet and were freezing so they needed to be wrapped around a hot cup and stuck in my pockets for a while. Nothing happened for 30 minutes so it was time to push the pole out to the island. I slipped a 6mm banded pellet on and dropped it in. It took a while but i finally got my first bite, that I duly missed. I dropped it straight back in the same spot and after about two minutes it went again. this time I connected to a nice skimmer. Blank saved. The next 15 minutes I hooked and lost two carp. And one destroyed my elastic by bottoming me out and letting the cold freeze it in the stretched position. The only thing I can describe it as was a pile of silly string down by my feet lol. A short while after and carp number one was netted. At this time a very nice surprise happened as two deer walk along the bank and stopped and starred at me. Not something I`ve seen before.As it turned out that was the start of a very nice, If cold day. I stuck on that line for the rest of the day on 6mm banded taking 19 carp in short spurts between quiet patches. The guys at the end of the lake all struggled. I was first to weigh in and I was pretty sure I had just topped the ton mark. And I was spot on with my guess as I weighed 106-03. the rest of the lake was tough with Lee Williams taking a couple of lumps and silvers for 27-10. As for the knock out, Tony had a hard day on peg 22 and lost every carp he hooked, but did get top silvers with 27-00 which gave him the silvers titled for the series. So that gave me the knock out win as well as the series overall, only dropping two points. Nick Ducket won Specie Lake section with 59-00. So to say I was happy is an understatement. My first win in a series for many years and against very good quality opposition. But saying that, I did have a golden arm and drew good pegs every round, but ya still gotta catch whats there. Full match results below. Ken Raynor will post the series results on his page and blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment