Emerald Pool Silvers Match.

Traveling with Steve(Peanut)Howell and a trip to the wooden spoon for a spot of breky before heading to the fishery to peg the match out and with 13 fishing I managed to space them so we could see each other, We did have the legend Des Shipp fishing though he had to cancel due to a Dorking Match which was a shame as it would of been interesting to see how he went about it, Paying the top two and two sections to make it fair I let Kev Jeffries do the honours for me today and he handed my peg 7 on the far bank of the lake which has been producing the top weights of late so I was happy enough for starters, For company to day I had Ray Wickham on peg 8 and my good friend Darren (Bigbird) Greenwood on peg 6 so a quid was struck with him and peanut before the start. I caught at around 6mts last time I was in this area so chose two lines to target my attack around one just off to my left and the other 10mts down the swim, rigs were 0.13-0.09 and 18 63-13, one being a 0.3g PB2 for catching on the deck and the other a 4x12 chanti strung out rig for catching through the water. Depth wise I had around 3ft of water on both lines so I also set up a small 4x8 chanti if the fish were to come right up shallow.

Bait wise caster was going to be my main feed and I had some red maggot and worms as a change of bait for the hook and mixed some wetted Thatchers groundbait and ran it back through the riddle to fine it down before the start, At the all in I cupped some minced worm and caster on the line in front of me and a small ball of groundbait with worm and caster in on the swim further down the peg, starting on over the groundbait with single caster was slow to start but with there being a frost and bright skies I wasn't expecting a fish a chuck to start with, I kept trickling caster over the close line by hand and didn't feed the longer line again as I wanted to gauge the reaction to how much bait I should be feeding to keep bites coming, After about 30mins and around 4lb in the net bites were slowing so a re-feed with another small ball containing the same as I kicked the peg off with saw me switch to single caster on the closer line but after a couple of quick fish they didn't seem happy to settle over the loose feed so by adding another section and fishing beyond my feed I caught a slightly better stamp of fish including a bonus tench of around 3lb until they began to shy off so I kept feeding it and by taking a couple of fish over the loose feed before going out futher and nicking a few I kept fish coming for the next hour, swapping the bait around on the hook also seemed to make a difference and double maggot gave me a couple of smaller tench and crucians, the longer line was producing a couple of better skimmers again on the maggot so I added a small ball onto my shorter swim to try and fool some bigger fish.

Looking around the lake the two swims on the island were catching well though the pegs opposite seemed to be slower, Ray was doing ok below me catching over nuggets of groundbait although Darren next door was struggling to put anything together , I know he put more chopped worm in at the start than me and I had a feeling they weren't that keen on it as I didn't catch well with it on the hook.

After 3hrs I estimated I had close to 25lb but it was a case of having to rotate after a couple of fish to keep them coming and although some were on the small side at least I was putting something in the net regularly and the ones who were catching seemed to be having them in spells so I kept at it without trying to force them to have it as it was clear they didn't want to settle over the loose feed at all as it was surprizing how far off the feed I was catching, I mainly put this down to the bright skies causing a shadow from the pole but I was fishing a longer line to lay the rig beyond it and a lot of the bites came as the rig settled in the last few inches of the swim, I did try the shallow rig a couple of times without any luck. At the all out I thought I would have around 50lb and from what I could see some others had caught up until the all out so it was going to be close on the outcome.

Starting the weigh-in on the car park bank it had fished harder as expected with Kev Jeffries winning the section 35lb 4oz though still a great days fishing, Onto the island swims and Martin Heard took the lead with 61lb                        

 Martin Catch.

over to are bank and first to weigh was Peanut totalling 51lb 12oz

Part of  Peanuts catch.

Harry Muir had a great net of mainly hybrids all caught short on the maggot to take the lead with 64lb Though he was camera shy so I let Charlie Barns show of his 48lb of mainly tench on maggot.

  Darren had a hard day but caught a few fish later in the match after he came and saw me having a few to total 18lb odd so it was down to me but my 58lb fell just short though good enough to take the section win and a £30 return, And a nugget off of Birdy And peanut to boot"

Part of my catch.

Full results

  1st Harry Muir (Over 50s) Peg 5, 64lb 2oz.
  2nd Martin Heard (Tiverton) peg 1, 61lb 15oz.
  3rd Dom Sullivan (Maver/Cadbury Angling) 58lb 5oz.
  4th Steve Howell (Shiplate Farm) 51lb 12oz.
  5th Charlie Barns (Over 50s) 48lb 1oz.