Acorn Individual League Rd 1.

The start of this popular league which is well attended with 29 fishing with the format of 3 sections which we were all going to fish twice rotating around the lake, with the forecast of rain and strong winds we were all hoping for a draw with a bit of shelter but for me it wasn't to be as I ended up on peg 16 on the straight bank and being further across to the island than the pegs around me I new I was going to have my work cut out just to present anything properly.

For company I had Lance (ten more minutes') Tucker on 15 who had two more meters less to reach were we expected the fish to be although I could see as we were tackling up Lance had a job to plum up in the already gusting wind, I planned to fish a line at the bottom of the far shelf in around 5ft of water at 13mts which was plenty far enough to fight with' A rig to fish big expanders over hard 4mm's at 6mts to my right and a rig to fish against the inside shelf with dead maggot or worm on the hook over caster, for across I assembled a 4x12 chanti on 0.13-0.11 and an 18 808 to fish across, a 4x14 chanti to fish the 6mt line again on 0.13-0.11 to an 16 808 and a 4x10 chanti for my inside swim to an 18 PR36.

After Drawing Tom Thick in the Knockout for the first round starting next week we had a quid on today only for him to draw below me on peg 13 meaning we will in the same section next week for start of it and who knows we could draw next to each other which would keep it interesting."

At the all in I cupped in half a pot of casters down my inside, and palm full of hard 4mm's and a nugget of micro onto the 6mt line, starting at the bottom of the far shelf with a 4mm expander on the hook I fed over the top of the float with a tiny freeze cad pot attached containing a couple of hard 4mm and about 15 micros, 20 minutes later and not a sign despite re-feeding a couple of times with the same amount had me thinking the carp wanted to be up in the shallower water tight to the island as tom had 3 carp in his first 3 put-ins! as well as Mark Bartlett having a couple on peg 18, The problem I had was by now the wind was blowing so much I new it would be nearly impossible to hold the pole let alone put the rig in amongst the stick ups so I opted to plum a new rig tighter in front of them in two and half of water but I felt I had missed the boat a little as by now those I could see having early fish were now struggling for bites.

I gave the 6mt line a quick try but without success so went onto the new line across and had a bite first dob in but a 3oz skimmers wasn't what I hoped for, 5 minutes later and a slightly bigger skimmer saw a swap to a 6mm expander but after small skimmer number 3, I new it wasn't right and I was being blown around on my box by the wind so a rest and re-think was in order,

I popped up to see how Mark was fishing as he was hooking a few and noticed he was fishing tight into the bank with worm or maggot on the hook about 10 inches deep, now this seemed to be doing the trick but the problem I had was it meant adding an extension to 16mts was needed for me to get this far! Back to my peg and after trying all the lines I had running I had no choice but to dig my rig box out and find a suitable rig to get tight to the bank for my sins".

Starting on triple dead maggot two mins later I had my first carp of 3lb but ten more minutes bite less and struggling to stay on my box I hooked a bull rush and saw my pole bend at an angle I had never seen before" so not fancying dropping numerous sections for repair I had to give up on this line as a bad job as sometimes its just not worth breaking expensive tackle. The inside lines never worked for me today with a change of baits producing nothing so I spent the rest of the match swapping between 4mm soft pellet and maggot on the hook when the wind allowed in front of the far bank rushes and it wasn't until the last hour I had some bites adding four more carp to the one I had earlier for a total of 15lb odd, Tucks finished with 17lb odd and the guy to my left also had 15lb so after breaking my back for most of the day we ended close, Mark did well to fishing in the rat hole all day winning the section with 38lb, Top weight on the day went to Andy France with 43lb also catching across in the shallow water on expanders over a sprinkling of micros and 4mm's, The weather ruined it for most today and numerous breakages were heard so back for round two next week praying for light winds".

Full results -

1st Andy France (Cadbury Angling) peg 25 , 43lb 8oz.

2nd Bob Gullitt (BVMG) peg 40 41lb 15oz.

3rd Kev Perry (Thyers) peg 20 39lb 2oz.

4th Lewis Jones (Thyers) peg 23 38lb 7oz.

5th Mark Bartlett (Matrix) peg 17 38lb

Top Silvers - Andy Gard 14lb 8oz.