Emerald Silvers League Rd 1.

Finally it was a return to Emerald Pool to have another crack at the silvers, Not Quite ending up with the numbers I had hoped for but with 9 of us after my miss count of people in the morning! saw me change the format slightly instead of me thinking I had 8 and would base the series on a two sections of four I decided to keep the six match series to a simple 9 peg section, Receiving 1pt for winning the section down to 9pts for last place although the best 5 of 6 matches to count dropping your worst result. After a very welcome breakfast at hilltops with traveling partner and good friend Darren Greenwood  as I was starving" and didn't even save the extra sausage for the dog! We were all keen to get on with it and after the usual run though the rules and regulations I let Andy Gard draw for me ending up on peg 7 on the far side of emerald pool near the end of the lake,

 

I planed to catch as short as possible ideally my top kit plus one and just my top kit although I had notice the colour had dropped out slightly from two weeks ago so I didn't plan my faith in catching shallow at this range, I had A 4x12 pencil float to fish on the deck in 4ft of water on 0.13-0.10 and an 18 808 hook on my top kit with a long line and another the same with a short line, a 3x8 chanti on 0.11-0.09 and an 20 808 just in-case they did come off the deck. Both my lines were in the two clear shadows you can see in the pic, One to my right and one next to the tree to my left.

 I had Barry Fitchew On peg 6 and Tim Lewis on peg 8 which was the end peg on are bank but couldn't really see anybody else because of the trees, At the all in I put two balls of groundbait and casters by the tree and a pot of loose groundbait on the other line, starting on my long line rig on single caster on the hook to my right I didn't take me long to start catching some small skimmers and roach, after 20mins I tried to my left by the tree and had a 1lb skimmer first dob in and some 8oz hybrids followed, I was feeding both lines by hand with caster and by swapping between the two after the first hour I estimated to have around 10lb, It was a case of the same in the second hour but things slowed down some what and after catching a 2lb tench after the 3lb hour I had around 28lb, My main concern was there was a big head of carp on the surface further out in the lake for the first few hours which had disappeared and I felt they were bullying the silvers away" I Wasn't Wrong!" After a great start to the match to say I got carped out was an understatement" landing 22 in the last 90mins! I even tried the 3x8 chanti out towards the middle of the lake with a single caster on the hook where I had fed nothing and had a carp as the rig hit the water" I estimated I had put 10lb of silvers in the net in the last 3hrs but I just couldn't go anywhere without being plagued with carp but it had to be expected as apart from a few showers it was a mild day again.
First to weigh was Darren on peg 1 who had a great day catching lots of small fish on caster to weigh 51lb and after a few high 20lb weights and Barry having 30lb it was my turn and after two weighs my total went 41lb, Tim had done well and after a miscount of weight by fellow blogger Ken Raynor" lol his total ended up with 42lb which was enough to take second place on the day ahead of myself, didn't get Tim's pic as the mistake wasn't noticed till we finished (sorry Tim). I was paying the top 3 on the day so snuck in to pick up £25. Darren's weight was enough to win by 8lb earning himself £50.

Well a great start to the league though be it more of a knock-up was enjoyed by all and until the cold weather hits the carp will still be active but it was the same for most but still a great day of silver fish for all of us.

 Winner Darren (Big Bird) Greenwood with part of his catch.

 Part of my catch.

 Full Results -

1st Darren Greenwood (un-attached) peg 1, 51lb 11oz.

2nd Tim Lewis (Shiplate) peg 8, 42lb 8oz.                                                                     

3rd Dom Sullivan (Maver /Cadbury Angling) peg 7, 41lb 3oz.  

4th Kev Jeffries (PSV) peg 9, 40lb 10oz.