Sedges Fishery (Top 2 League) Round 1, Tile Lake.

After fishing the two day pairs here earlier this year with Gabrial I was looking forward to returning to fish their top kit only league, The event is run in a three match format & the top ten of twenty fishing go forward to the final on August bank holiday, I chose to enter the first lot of Qualifying matches with the others starting theirs next month, I was beginning to wish I had opted for the later matches when I had to scrape the ice off the windscreen of the van this morning & with a bright day forecast I didn't think it was the best recipe to catch on just your top kit?.

I skipped breakfast today again grabbing a costa before having a wander up the King Sedgemoor Drain at Bradley Bridge, Out of season at the moment for fishing but it did look quite inviting with the odd fish topping, Going to have a few hours here once the old fashioned Close Season has finished".

 

Back to the match & their were 19 in are group but owner Jamie Cook let local lad Eric Fouracre fill in, Eric is in the next round of Qualifiers so at least he gets to practice before his turn". Into the draw & first of all I thought I had had ended up on peg 31 in the corner at the top end of the lake but it was to good to be true drawing a corner as it turned out I was on peg 32, Plenty of open water & a lovely island chuck' Shame I couldn't use it!. Plumbing up the first thing I noticed finding a flat spot was proving a nightmare as it kept dropping off into the deepest water, I found two small areas one in-front & one slightly to my left so set up a 4x14 chanti to fish in around 7ft of water, Had a PB1 set up on a line as long as my topkit to fish shallow as far as I could, A rig to fish close to the bank on my left in 18inches of water

& finally a 4x12 inline float to fish towards the bush on my right, I couldn't quite reach under it so had to settle a foot or so off.

I began the day by feeding a small amount of micro's & 4mm hard pellets to my left, Fed a couple of bits of meat & corn towards the bush & started on meat in-front of me just feeding a few bits over the top whilst feeding hard 4mms past it in the hope of drawing some fish shallow, 15mins in & I was trying the shallow rig with banded 4mm pellet to start with but it was a thankless task as the breeze was sending the rig straight back to me" I tried a heavier rig but to no avail so it was time to try the line I had fed with a few micro's with a 4mm expander on the hook. It started promising as I netted a 1lb skimmer straight away but nothing followed, I re-fed a small amount which produced another 8oz fish then I was really struggling" I couldn't get a bite on anything anywhere, The guys below me were struggling & the guy who was now on 31 had netted around four skimmers.

It seemed to be fishing really hard for most on are bank but had seen two carp netted further down the lake in the wind, I kept switching lines but nothing was happening' I never had a bite near the tree all day, managed two more small skimmers on the pellet line but time was running out, At 2.15 I decided to feed another line with a larger amount of micro's with a few chopped worms added slighty closer to the bank in 5ft of water, I had just gone in with worm on the hook when I noticed a proper' Tail break the surface close to the bank on my edge swim I had been feeding lightly with loose fed 4mms & odd bits of meat from the off, I soon switched to it with meat on the hook & within seconds I was playing a munter' I had it on a few minutes, Showing itself twice at around 16lb but just as I picked up the landing net it shed the hook" Blast.... 

I was hoping for some more fish to arrive in the last hour so wasn't to concerned, I tried the new line with worm on the hook & soon hooked something better, That lasted all of a few seconds' But the way it swam off I believed it was one of the lakes large EEL's as the piece of worm was also flattened so I expect it only had hold of the bait? Finally switching back to the line in-front of me where I had been feeding odd bits of meat saw me hook & land a 7lb carp the problem was I only had 30mins left'. I was praying a few more fish had turned up down the edge but it didn't happen, The guy to my left managed to net a near 15lb fish on his silvers line & when the all out sounded I knew the good lost fish would have seen me finish a lot higher on the day. The pegs at the opposite end of the lake faired best with Nigel Garrett on the opposite bank end peg 21 finished up with 70lb odd followed by a 50lb weight from the same bank, My side seemed to be a case of one or two carp for most but my 10lb odd was only going to be enough to beat a few today so a bit disappointing, I was told afterwards even if my end had produced I wouldn't beat the pegs further down? Hopefully with the next match being in June it would have warmed up enough for us all to have a few fish". Not making plans as to next week as yet as I beginning to think its best to have some time away or do something different so see what next week brings.