Emerald Silvers League Rd 3.

Traveling with good friend Darren today we had the usual hearty breakfast at hilltops, Well he did" ploughing through the Over The Hill' breky without leaving a trace! Before making are way to the fishery to do the usual pegging out, I new Barry couldn't make it to day but also had another no show who didn't let me know so we decided to leave all nine pegs in and left it to the luck of the draw,

The forecast today wasn't good with a lot of rain due through-out the day on top of all the rain they had in the area last night so I was expecting the fishing to be a little harder this week. I let Darren draw for me this time around handing me peg 6 which is next to the peg I've draw the first two matches so no change in the area for me then" I had Tim Lewis on peg 5 and Kev Jeffries on peg 7 who I was doing my best to egg-on' telling him no pressure to perform after doing well off the swim last time, Something was telling me it would be hard to catch on the short line today and by now the heavens had opened and the light was really poor so although I did plan to feed it with casters I wasn't going to put to much faith in it, My main line was to be out in the open water at approx. 9mts so set up a 4x12 wire wonder float on 0.13-0.09 and an 18 63-13 hook in around 4ft of water, and a 0.3g PB2 on the same line/hook to fish off to my right where it was a few inches shallower although I wasn't going to feed this line from the off but would give me the option of starting a new line if the case arose. the last rig was for the shorter loose fed line on the deck at 5mts off to my left by the over hanging willow tree being a 4x10 chanti on 0.11-0.09 and a size 20 PR34 hook.

At the all in I cupped two small balls of ground-bait on the 5mt line with casters and chopped worm added and began on the 9mt line with single dead red maggot on the hook just cupping a nugget of ground-bait over the top via a cad-pot, It was a slow start to say the least and after 15mins I hadn't had a bite' And looking around the lake it was pretty much the same for everyone else? A switch to single white maggot saw my first fish being a 10oz skimmer but after a smaller fish the next put-in again it seemed void? I decided to feed a slightly bigger ball on this line with some mushed worm and a few dead red and white maggot to try and draw some skimmers from a wider area, A quick try on the short swim again with maggot on the hook only gave me a 4oz hybrid so went back on the longer line with a small piece of worm which I had freshly chopped and picked out of the mix, As the rig settled it shot under and a 1lb skimmer was added followed but 5 on the trot up to 10oz, it didn't last though and a while I added another nugget of neat ground-bait, A couple of minutes later again I had a run of fish before it slowed up so it became clear to me to catch what I could before being to hasty to add more bait, From the rest of the anglers I could see including Tim & Kev nobody was catching much so stuck at it whilst feeding casters by hand on the short line hoping to catch a few towards the end.

After a couple of hours the rain had eased and there were odd spells of sunshine and it became clear I was waiting longer to get indications, I was fishing a short line between the pole and the float so re-fed the swim and assembled a copy of the rig I was using but on a longer line and a heavier 4x14 float just to have a bit more control, This made a big difference with the bites being positive with the pole not right over their heads and I spent the rest of the match just trying to keep the swim ticking over swapping between the two rigs on the long line using the lighter rig when the sun went in. The lake in whole had fished harder as had to be expected with the weather so up and down, The best results oddly enough have came when the weather is consistently very cold so the best could be to come' At the weigh-in the leading weigh was from Ken Raynor on peg 1 with 11lb before it was my turn so was pleased to end up with 27lb of skimers/hybrids on small bits of worm or white maggot, last to weigh was John Barker on peg 8 who took the spoils with 29lb of mainly Tench caught on caster over loose fed casters down his inside margin,  Picking up a handy £35 for 2nd as we agreed just to pay the top two on the day although they didn't give there-self's up easily I enjoyed working hard for the bites and getting the timing right as when to re-feed made a big difference.

 Winner John Barker.

 

 My Catch. 

 

 

 

 

                                        Full Results -

1st  John Barker (Over 50's) peg 8, 29lb 11oz.

2nd Dom Sullivan (Maver/Cadbury Angling) peg 6, 27lb 14oz.

3rd Ken Raynor  (S.W.M.G) peg 1, 11lb 6oz.

4th Kev Jeffries (P.S.V) peg 7, 9lb 8oz.

                    Overall standings after 3 matches (Worst Result Dropped)

1st Dom Sullivan 3pts

2nd Tim Lewis 4pts

3rd Kev Jeffries, Darren Greenwood, Ken Raynor 7pts

4th John Barker 8pts.