Sedges Top Kit Series Rd 2 (Tile Lake).

Traveling on my own today so the normal stop off at hilltops started the day well, I arrived in time to have a wander around before the draw, Their seemed to be a few fish in the upper layers but much further out so it would be interesting to see if they would come to the maximum distance of 6mts" It looked to me as if some people were further out in the lake for some reason on the last match so when I got home I measured my top kit which turned out to be 2.94mts so within the limit of 3mts by 6cm", So it can be deceiving especially if the pegs around you are slightly further out. Back to the draw and with 19 of us fishing today I was hoping for away from the top end of the lake, Ending up on peg 36 halfway up the causeway which I was happy enough with, Not much to set up really, A PB1 on 0.17-015 & an 18 PR36 hook to use as my swinging rig shallow to the full distance with hard pellets, A 4x14 chanti on 0.17-0.15 & an 16 wide gape pellet hook to fish on the deck which was dropping away at 3mts in 7ft of water, & finally a 0.2g AS2 on 0.19-0.17 & an 16 PR478 hook to fish down the edge either side in 2ft of water which looked inviting for a few late in the day?. I didn't take any pic's as I think we all know what 6mts of open water looks like".

At the all-in I fed a good amount of chopped worm & casters off to my left, Fed a small amount of meat to my right & decided to take a gamble their might be a rouge fish sat close to the bank so decided to start down my right hand margin with an 8mm cube of meat cad potting a few casters & a single cube of meat, After less than a minute I had a small dip before the rig slowly started to sideways, I had to strike & within seconds a common pushing 15lb broke the surface" The problem was it was hooked just under the fin' Well that didn't last long before shedding the hook!" What a dream start that would of been".

I had another look & a quick try to my left but no more early signs, I had been flicking a few hard 4mm pellets at about 4mts & with no wind as such I decided to have a look on the shallow rig with a banded 6mm on the hook, After about 10mins you could tell a change in the weather was imminent, All of a sudden the wind slowly increased as it clouded over, causing the rig to kite back towards me, I gave it another twenty minutes & did draw the attention of one carp which bow waved out the swim quite quickly", It was time to try the worm & caster line on the deck with a segment of worn on the hook, As soon as the rig settled I was in but it turned out to be a 10oz perch' I had another soon after but that was it, I tried down the edges again & had a look on the meat line but neither produced a sign, After a couple of hours the guy to my left had netted a couple of good skimmers & a decent carp which shattered his short section in the process" I kept plugging away but after 4hrs all I had added was another perch & a 1lb skimmer, I did bump off a decent 3lb fish after putting the pole between my leg to pour my flask which came straight to the top but that seemed to put pay to things as I couldn't get a bite their after, Not that I was sacking".

I continued to feed all the lines at regular intervals but by now the wind had increased to much to have any chance of fishing the shallow rig, With the depth slopeing away from me I added a foot to the depth to my deep rig & switched to swinging the rig past the end of the pole & trying to hold it still as long as I could as the trip had also turned in are direction, I foul hooked a carp nearly straight away which again came off but at least it was a sign, I kept taking an inch off the Depth until just finding the depth to hold bottom, This way I soon managed to get indications & put a couple of 4lb fish in the net before it needed resting, I still couldn't get a sign from either inside swim & had resorted to dump potting casters to my left to draw some fish in?. Back on the deck with pellet I netted another two carp to 6lb, I couldn't get the rig to sit properly on the meat line as it was nagging bottom when drifting towards me so in the last hour fed meat a bit more positive to my left with the tow where I had earlier fed the worm & casters, The last hour was the worse as far as the wind when so it was a case of laying the rig out as far as I could get it & hold as tight a line on it as possible for a long as it would allow before repeating the process, It was hard to not attract foul hooker fishing against the slope & I think I lost another four in total, I did miss one bite on the new meat line, But the inside swims just wouldn't produce for some reason, With the wind blowing in it looked a banker for some late fish. I ended the day with 8 carp two fish pushing 9lb & a few smaller samples so felt I had done ok considering the wind not helping us, As the guys either side of me had struggled, When the scales arrived the top weight was 90lb odd with weights in the 40's as back ups, I was hoping the fish I had just before the all-out would push me up a bit so was pleased to finish with 51b odd, The next best weight on are bank was Nigel Garrett with 60lb odd including 10lb of silvers so I had done enough to hold on to 3rd place picking up £30 but more importantly giving me some good points back after struggling in the first round so now in with the chance of finishing in the top ten to make the winner takes all final in August. Winner John was on the opposite bank & was fortunate enough to make the most of the wind off his back to catch the bulk of his fish shallow on pellet. Think the fish were a bit confused today with spawning in mind but it was still nice to be able to work out how best to present it in the conditions & get a few bites, Not back here for a few weeks for the final round so the spawning should be well over by then & I expect some better weights. Starting a Saturday league next weekend run by fellow blogger Lee Williams on 5 different venues so over the next few months so looking forward to that next weekend to start the weekend off on Saturday. Owe & just for the record the foreign chap who drew next to me in fisho' yesterday went on to win the match & Qualify for the semis at Cudmore along with the big boys", He must of been over the moon as he seemed well excited when I told him he had at least won the section!". Every dog has its day as they say & with the aid the other side of him deciding not to fish gave him the room he needed to pick off some fish, Its the little luck we all hope for in these matches, Hopefully one day it will happen to me"....??.       

Full Results -

 1st John Fuidge? ( Sedges Fishery) peg 22, 90lb 1oz.

2nd Nigel Garrett ( Viaduct ) peg 38, 62lb 2oz.

3rd Dom Sullivan (Maver) peg 36, 51lb 15oz.

4th Steve Fouracre (Sedges Fishery) peg 34, 49lb 6oz.

5th Andy Lord (Sedges Fishery) peg 32, 46lb 9oz.

Silvers - Steve Fouracre, 14b 12oz.