Shiplate Farm Open, Hawthorns lake.

This Monday was supposed to be a pairs match but with lots of other matches on in the area we didn't have enough to use both lakes so had it as an open instead, After a nice breakfast to soak up some of the alcohol from the night before, We had a late draw today with the fishing being 11-5 so we all expected the last couple of hours to be the most productive so on with the draw and I let owner Carol draw for me and she handed me peg 4, I was hoping to be a bit further up the lake but with no gaps today it should keep things fair as we had a couple in the name of Nick & Maria Green who were going to fish the match but not enter the pools for a bit of experience so after they drew both the end pegs we all had the same room.

There was quite a strong breeze as we were setting up but I chose a 4x10 rig to fish in the shallow water tight to the far bank, Another heavier 4x12 rig to fish about a meter off the far bank in around 4ft of water and finally a 4x14 rig to fish at 5mts to my left and right with meat or big expander on the hook, for company I had young Lewis Jones on peg 5 which also happened to be the Bonus Peg and Darren (Big Bird) Greenwood on peg 3 so at least we would have some banter along the way as well as the quid side bet I had with him, At the start I cupped in some meat and hemp to my Right and around five 6mm cubes on the same line to my left, Starting  across in the deeper off the far bank with a 4mm expander and feeding some damp micro over the top I gave it all of ten minutes as the skim on the lake was pushing the float through to much to hold it still for long enough to induce any bites even though I tried back shotting the rig.

A switch to a single 6mm cube of meat over the short line I had just fed a few cubes saw me have a fish right away of 4lb so a good start but 5mins later I had switched to my left hand short swim as no more signs were had but after 20mins and one missed bite it was time for a change, By now Louis had hooked a couple of carp tight to the far bank but was struggling to hold it still tho I felt I had to try and follow suit as nothing else was working, I managed 1 carp of 5lb but 30 mins of wrestling with the pole I chose to try and make my shorter swims work and expecting them to produce in the last couple of hours.

Despite having the early signs on the meat I couldn't get bites on it so chose to keep topping them up with same amounts of meat and hemp and start a new line at 6mts feeding hard 4mm pellet, cupping out half a big pot with a few 6mms added I let the line settle for 20mins before trying a 4mm expander over the top, this resulted in three 12oz skimmers on the trot and I was putting fish in the net but the fourth being slightly bigger slipped the hook right where I was catching and killed it dead" I re-fed the line and tried my meat swims again with know luck and wasn't going to struggle over as Birdy next to me had tried all match without much luck but lots of swearing".

A couple more skimmers on the new pellet line before it died again made me spend the last hour trying to make the meat line work as there were the odd blows coming up and I wasn't getting liners so I new they weren't shallow which proved right as I took two more off each line as well as one more across when the wind dropped in the last 30mins. Louie did really well today to stick it out across for most of the match and had some nice fish ending the day an easy winner with 64lb so fair play to him, As for the rest of the lake it fished hard today probably due to the drop in temperature over night and my total weight of 28lb was enough to take second spot on the day picking up £50, Spare a thought for Maria though as she managed 37lb from the end peg 2 so it goes to prove anyone can compete which was nice to see and I saw her beat her hubby before at acorn not that he needs me to remind him' so she can catch fish". Louis had the added bonus of picking up the golden peg today and added to his winnings walked away with a nice total of £175 so well done mate and he did offer us a pint on the way home, And it was the only time we saw Darren smile all day as he got a spanking from both sides by myself and Maria" 

 Louis Jones.

 Myself.

 Darren Greenwood.

Full Results -

1st Louis Jones (Sensas Thyers) peg 5, 64lb 4oz.

2nd Dom Sullivan (Maver/Cadbury Angling) peg 4, 28lb 10oz.

3rd Gordan Jones (Shiplate) peg 10, 23lb 12oz.

Silvers -

Julian Pinkett (Bristol post office) peg 11, 7lb 8oz.