Acorn Individual Series Rd 3.

Back to acorn today for round three of six hoping for a nice draw after winning the lake last time around, with 30 fishing the match is spread over three, 10peg sections, I was in what is meant to be one of the harder sections on paper although I fancied a draw on 36 or 38 or a peg next to the bridge being 21 or 22 and after a good chat at the café before the draw there was a bit of a banter toward Bob Gullick today as seeing he had drawn a bridge on the first two rounds we all agreed he'd been at home making one up for this round"

Into the draw and peg 32 was my reward although not where I wanted to be this section can be close as far as the weights go so there was all to play for, Company wise I had Brian (Anteater) Slipper on peg 30 and Lewis Jones next to the bridge on 31 although he wasn't in my section so I needn't worry to much how he got on.

There was a breeze picking up at the start but with the peg being no more than 13mts to the far bank I shouldn't have to many issues with presenting the rig so set up a 4x10 Chanti on 0.11-0.10 and an 18 808 to fish the gap in the bulrushes where it was about 18inches deep.

My next line of attack was down towards the pallet on my right with a depth of around 3ft just off the bank where I had a 4x12 rig on 0.13-0.11 and an 18 PR478 to fish against the inside shelf,

And finally a rig to fish in the open water at 6mt in 5ft of water with a 4x14 diamond bodied float again on 0.13-0.11 and a 18PR478, I planned to feed my open water swim by hand with hard 4mm and 6mm hard pellet and fish either a 6mm expander over the top or a whole worm. the fish in this area tend to be off a smaller size so was hoping to pick some bigger fish of this line later in the match.

The next rd of the knock-out was draw before the match and this time around I had Pete Bartlett who won the series last year so I new I had a hard battle on my hands though we agreed to have a quid on it along with my usual nugget with tom thick. At the start I cupped in half a pot of hemp and some hard 4mm pellet down towards the pallet and a few grains of corn, half a 250ml pot of 4 and 6mm hard dampened pellet and a few 6mm expanders onto the open water 6mt swim, I started the day fishing tight into the rushes on the far bank with half a worm on the hook just touching the bottom (The small dark shadowed bit in the centre of first picture) feeding a small amount of micro and hemp via a cadpot attached right on the end of the pole. It didn't take long for my first fish of the day being 3lb and a good start so I repeated the process and hooked another after 2mins only for the line to catch around the end of the pole and no elastic to come out with the result snapping my hook length within seconds" A new one added and back over with worm again resulted in a foul hooker which came off and another the next put in saw me add some hard 4mm pellet long with some hemp and switch to a 4mm expander on the hook carp no2 was soon added before I lost another at the net around 5lb' followed by another even bigger dispite taking my time not to bully them knowing every fish would count today, A cupper and a re-feed of my other lines before going back over on the 4mm expander saw me up to 5 fish in the first 90mins before things slowed and I couldn't get a bite so I started a new swim further to my left and had one straight away before this was void.

I had a try on the open water swim where I had been flicking some pellet in by hand and after one lightning bite which I missed?? on a 6mm expander in ten mins saw me top in up with more pellet via the larger pot, A try to the pallet didn't produce so back over to where I had started with a worm saw another added but I couldn't get two bites in a row on it for some reason so switched back to 4mm expander on the hook.

From what I could see Tom Thick was doing the best from the opposite bank in are section catching on a few lines although Brian next to me was struggling, I found by filling the tosspot with hemp and micro and cupping it in right over the float and waiting was the best way forward which added a few more fish to 4lb in the next hour, With over half the match gone and despite trying the other far bank swim without success it was time to try the shorter line again, Two more fast missed bites on the 6mm expander saw a change to a whole worm on the hook and first put in and a 5lb fish was added before losing a foul hooker then nothing so another top up later and I decided to work the two lines for the rest of the match as my inside pallet line didn't produce a bite so far and a couple of people had also tried without success.

The fish seemed to come back on the far line and I managed to string a few together all over 2lb with another 4lb fish off the short line on worm ending the day with 12 carp and a rouge chub, I new Tom had done well and from what I could see a few others in the section had caught later in the day so I didn't know have I would do in the section? I caught up with the scales and 29lb was winning the section before Tom weighed a good 56lb, Brian managed to catch a few fish shallow in the last hour down the edge for a late run weighing 34lb, And when my weight went 47lb it was enough to take second in the section ahead of Lance (Two More Minutes) Tucker off more fancied peg 38 with 43lb, A great points result and knocking out Pete in the process was a result' Picking up £40 on the day was a bonus so back next week for round Four meaning a complete re-draw for the sections and the anglers you will fish against so I could be on any peg next week but looking forward to it. Russ Peck took the top weight on the day with a good 82lb catching mainly across on expanders over micro and a few fish down the track.

my section.

 

Full Results -

1st Russ Peck (Thatchers Tackle) peg4, 82lb 2oz

2nd Glen Calvert (Maver/Cadbury Angling) 68lb 12oz

3rd Lewis Jones (Sensas Thyers) peg 33, 61lb

4th Tom Thick (Thatchers Tackle) peg 25, 56lb

5th Dom Sullivan (Maver/Cadbury Angling) 47lb 9oz.

Silvers -

Eddy Wynne (Over 50's) 12lb 4oz.