Acorn Individual League Rd 4.

Round four of this popular 30peg league and with a total re-draw for the sections and the pegs meaning we were all hoping for a good draw and would be interesting to see who we would be drawn against for the three remaining matches. First up was the draw for the knock-out and today I was paired up with John Osborne which turned out to be quite spooky as not only did he draw the same peg as he had last match so did I peg 32 again! Most class this as the harder but fairer section of the three although it did hold some good pegs in the shape of two bridge pegs and 38, and 36 Which Mark (Bunt) Bromsgrove had also managed to draw again", I did manage second in the section last week so was really hoping to get in the top 3 if I was to hold onto a good position in the league so I planned to fish along the same lines in search of the lakes larger size fish meaning not to many bites but trying to convert them to fish in the net.

Rig wise I had a shallow 4x10 Chanti to fish in the bulrushes on the far bank in 18 inches of water on 0.11-0.10 and an 18 808 hook, A rig to fish on the deck at 5mts with a big expander or whole worm and a rig at the bottom of the inside shelf at 8mts down towards the empty pallet which was closer than last time as I planned to feed it by hand, For company I had Tom (Another Bridge Peg!) Thick on peg 33 next to the bridge so was always going to get neck ache as its had form all through the series so far and Charlie Barns on peg 30 who was going to fish for silvers from the off which some say is a good thing leaving me with the far bank but the fish can wise up to this and back off into the safe un-fished water.

Starting the day I feed some hard 6mm pellets on 5mt swim, some 4mm hard pellet down my inside swim with a few 6mm expanders added, Starting over on the long line in the rushes where I caught last week with a whole worm on the hook cad potting some damp micros and hemp over the top, With no signs after 5mins I switched a 4mm expander on the hook and was beginning to worry when out of the blue my first fish of 3lb was in the net, Two more followed in the next 30mins but I could tell already I needed to start a new line as bites were none existent, moving two meters to my right I began to feed the swim with just micro to start with via the cad pot but only had two skimmers in the next hour, I did try the 5mt line with a 6mm Expander but only managed another skimmer and by now looking around the lake those I could see were also struggling to catch in my section.

I new from last week that after 90mins the peg seemed to shut down and I found it best to feed and wait for bites as the fish were of better stamp so after swapping between maggot, worm and corn on the hook without success I stuck with the 4mm expander on the new started swim across, my plan did seem to work as I had two more 4lb fish in the next hour and a couple more skimmers which was more than some in the section, Another try on the 5mt line with worm saw me foul hook and loose a fish but they weren't settled so sticking to the far bank swims for the remainder of the match saw me end up with 9 carp and some silvers, I did try my short edge line a couple of times in the last hour but had no indications which surprised me as I expected some late fish from there so next time I plan to change the feeding pattern on the nearside swims,  At the weight-in the best weight on the opposite bank in my section was Andy Thick From Bridge peg 21 with 29lb odd so I was hoping for more when it came to my turn and I wasn't disappointed to muster 42lb leading the section with the two more fancied pegs to weigh and with Bunt having 51lb to go into the lead before Glen Calvert was last to weigh and ended the day with 40lb meaning I had managed 2nd in he section again so good points to end the day as well as the £40 bonus. First on the day went to fellow blogger Mike Nichols on peg 7 catching on paste short to end the day with 91lb odd with a couple of nice back up weights of 80lb plus in the same section, The next round for the knock-out was drawn after the match results and with 4 of us remaining I've only gone and managed to draw Tom Thick again" although I did manage to Knock him out in the first round for him to get back in with the heaviest losing weight! jammy git" lol, Still all to play for as far as the league goes so look forward to the next round in 3 weeks.

Full Results -

1st Mike Nichols (Avon Angling) peg 7, 91lb 10oz.

2nd Russ Peck (Thatchers Tackle) peg 12, 87lb 15oz.

3rd Tom Thick (Thatchers Tackle) peg 33, 81lb 15oz

4th Brian Slipper (Sensas Thyers) peg 9, 69lb 8oz

5th Mark Broomsgrove (Sensas Thyers) peg 36, 54lb 14oz.

Silvers - Chris Fox  (Sensas Thyers) peg 17, 13lb 6oz.  

 

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