Shiplate Farm Open (main lake).

Their were 22 of us booked in for this match on the main lake, Skipping the normal fry up I got there in plenty time for a free brew with owners Steve & Carol Oliver. There was a match on this lake yesterday with the top weight of 110lb odd coming from fancied peg 1 which has a habit of throwing up good weights along with noted end peg 15 which can also produce the goods so when it came to the draw we were all hoping the draw bag would produce one of these pegs for all of us, Pools money today was £25 as Steve was paying the top 3 and top 2 silvers weights but good pick-ups if you were lucky enough to make the frame, I got into the draw quite early but wasn't best pleased to end up on peg 7 which just so happened to be the same peg I had last time I fished this lake' I don't know what it is but I cant seem to get away from this area after drawing peg 6 last year for most of the matches I fished on it!

With the attendance up it also meant I had Andy France on peg 8 which could make a difference to anything I may have of catching down the edge? but we had a quid on it just to make it interesting'. 

I knew from the last match that I had to fish a good metre or so off the bank as to avoid the rocks so set up a 4x12 Maver Invincible on 015-013 and an 18 PR434 hook in around 4ft of water. Next up was a 0.3g PB2 float on 0.13-0.11 and again a 18 PR434 hook to fish out in the open water at 14mts, There are some big fish in this lake but fished with a white hydro elastic if I hooked a big bonus I had a good chance of landing it. 

 

Last up was a bomb rod to fish over towards the far island with banded hard pellet with an 0.16 hook-length onto a hair rigged size 16 hook. At the start I cupped in four large balls of fishmeal ground-bait with some micros and 4mm pellets added onto the open water swim and fed a small amount of corn and 4mm pellets down the edge. Starting on the bomb and an 8mm hard pellet I had a skimmer around a 1lb after 10mins and despite a liner soon after that was it in the first hour' Andy had managed to snare a carp first chuck to the island so even my £1 was looking bleak' I decided to have a look down the edge with corn on the hook to start with but after 15mins I was soon trying the long pole line again with a single grain of corn on the hook.

Two hours in and things hadn't improved much only adding a small skimmer from the long pole line on a 4mm expander pellet, My inside line was yet to produce a bite and even after trying different baits on the bomb I still couldn't catch. Word on the bank was pegs 1 & 15 were having a fish battle as expected' but apart from that just the odd carp had been caught and a few silvers, I seemed to be just going through the motions to try and get a bite the guy on peg 6 had a carp on the method feeder but from those who know me this is a no-no to me as I don't even own one" Its just a method im not that keen on as I prefer to work a rig and induce bites rather than sit there and let them snare themselves, although it wasn't quite going to plan" With about 90mins to go I had to stretch my legs and it seemed most on are bank were also struggling, it seemed that todays bright conditions had made a difference from yesterdays match which fished better being overcast, still determined to see the match out I returned to the long pole line with an 8mm banded pellet on the hook and had an 8lb common straight away! followed by a smaller carp which was foul hooked and shed the hook by my keepnets" That seemed to be it so I topped it up with a small amount of 4mm pellets and had a try down the edge again on 8mm pellet cad potting 4mm pellets over the top as well as feeding a few with the catty over the top, it wasn't long before I had my first fish from here but I was running out of time, a quick look on the long line again didn't produce so the last few minutes I managed to land my 3rd carp from down the edge just before the all-out, Well a bit of a carbon copy of my last match from this peg to be honest as that day I had a couple of fish from the edge late on. As expected pegs 1 & 15 dominated with Alan Healey from peg 1 ending the day with 106lb of carp ahead of Tim Lewis on peg 15 taking the runner-up spot with 89lb odd, The silvers weights were down with Rich Hawkins taking the top spot with 16lb odd from the far bank. It turned out Steve (Peanut) Howell over on peg 11 managed to end up 3rd in the frame by default with 23lb so the lost carp could of made all the difference for 50 notes'. I did stay on for an hour but could only fish the long pole as the sun was on the water down the edge and with the ripple I couldn't see it but apart from one missed bite that was that. It wasn't a good day as 30mins from the end I dropped my phone In the lake, and to top it off I lost the nut from one of me brand new seatbox leg meaning I have to try and find one before using it next! the only consolation was the late carp saw me take Andy's quid along with Jonny Page and Not forgetting my bank Nick Harvey who failed to pay up but I'm sure he wont forget... 

Full Results -

1st Alan Healey (Bristol) peg 1, 106lb 6oz. £150.00

2nd Tim Lewis (Shiplate) peg 15, 89lb 15oz, £100.00

3rd Steve Howell (DEFAULT!) peg 11, 23lb 1oz, £50.00

Silvers -

1st Rich Hawkins (Wormheads) peg 13a, 15lb 8oz.

2nd Ron Stark (Weston) peg 5, 14lb 10oz.