Emerald Pool, (Ruby & Sapphire lakes)

Tony Rixon's match today over both lakes and after another nice breakfast at hilltops I was off to the fishery in plenty off time for the draw and to get my kit on the trolley ready for the off and I did remember my wheels today which help', I haven't fished the lakes in question for years so was only going off the information from the match Tony had on Wednesday although I did make up some paste as they used to love it on sapphire so was willing to give it a try should I be lucky enough to draw there? With 30 fishing today it meant I had a 50/50 chance in the draw and when it came to my turn I ended up on Ruby peg 20 on the back of Emerald pool itself so I wasn't sure of the paste attack? so planned to fish hard pellet and meat on a couple of different lines, for company I had Craig (Trigger) Edmund to my right on 19 with his traveling partner Paul Elms on 18 so new they would be giving each other some stick' I forgot the camera after putting new batteries in again so couldn't take a view of my swim but had an island in front of me at 10mts and had a 4x12 chanti on 0.13-0.11 and an 18 808 to fish at the bottom of the shelf in 4ft of water, A rig the same was used to fish at the bottom of the shelf on the inside at 5mts to my left and right, one to be fed with 6mm meat and the other with 6mm hard pellet.

On the all in I cupped a palm full of meat to my inside left and the same of pellet to my right and started towards the island with a hard 6mm on the hook, the first twenty mins saw me hook two carp of a 1lb each which both shed the hook at the net' and by now Trigg and Paul were both catching short on the pellet and I felt I was falling behind and with the stamp of fish averaging up to 2lb I had to try short to catch up, starting with a 6mm cube of meat it didn't take long for me to get a better fish of 3lb but then I started to get iffy dinks on the float with small fish attacking the meat so cupped another palm full of meat in and tried a 6mm pellet to my left but getting ragged out I soon gave up and had to make a change so a banned 8mm was shipped out to the island swim and straight away I had a couple of carp to 2lb without feeding but then got a few foul hookers so decided to re-plum a swim closer to the island, with a 4x10 Chanti rig I found a flat spot in around 2ft of water so starting with an 8mm on the hook I decided to add a cad pot and cup in around five 8mm's  over the float once it had settled which seemed to work as the foul hookers stopped and with the average fish being 2lb I was making an inroads on Trig & Paul as there short lines had dried up along with Tim Fords swim opposite who started really well.

Every time the swim went quite I switched to the short meat swim and although they were of better stamp to 3lbs I would only catch one or two as they didn't seem to settle so by having most of my indications across in the shallower water I had to concentrate on this line, I caught as much as I could before resting it for ten mins and slowed to cad potting 4-5 8mm's after every fish, it wasn't fast but I did seem to be putting fish in the net as some anglers swims had totally died and had them starting new lines to follow the fish, I did try meat and 6mm pellet across but nuisance fish were a problem so I stuck to the hard 8mm for the rest of the match across and a couple more fish on the meat short pushed my weight up but I wasn't sure what weight I had thought I was sure Trig and Paul still had more than me. at the weigh in Paul was first to weigh and put 67lb on the scales followed by Trig's 76lb and was more than surprized when I took my first net out as it weighed 73lb but with the limit being 70lb I had 3lb deducted which was only me to blame, added with a few fish in the other net my total went 78ld odd which was ok until Matt Tomes weighed in 80lb on the far bank to win the lake  meaning I was to end up second due to my miss counting" It wasn't all bad as Tony paid the top Two on each lake and two sections so I ended up with £45 which paid for my weekend, the days top weight was off sapphire with Gordon Canning's taking 87lb so it turned into a very close match and a couple of fish either way could of swung things which is nice to see.

Full Results-

1st Gordon Cannings 87lb

2nd Bela Bakos 86lb

3rd Tom Thick 85lb

4th Matt tomes 80lb

5th Dom Sullivan 78lb

6th Craig Edmunds 76lb.