Acorn Fishery (Saturday Open Take Over Match).

With the fishery now officially back in the hands of the owners Adrian & Bev Bartlett this first match would see then waver the peg fee meaning all the pools monies would be in a 100% payout boosting the winners purse a little, Travelling on my own I was looking forward to the day especially when walking the dog at 5.30 this morning in just a T-shirt so it looked like a pleasant day ahead, I stopped of for a butty on the way as didn't fancy a full breakfast so arrived in plenty of time, It looked spot on, No signs of spawning fish which was a good sign & with the forecast for a mainly overcast day I thought their would be some good weights, We had England ace Des Shipp joining us to day & had to Laugh when Steve (Peanut) Howell (Who got a passport to come out of Weston for the day") asked Gabriel Skarba where he didn't want to draw, Gabo didn't even hesitate when he replied' Not Next To DES!".

As Rod Fogg was explaining the rules ect I had a money spider crawling up my arm, Would it be Lucky? Into the draw I found myself on peg 34, One of the bridge pegs which has had good form of ate so fancied it for a few,

My main plan would involve different areas of the bridge & also a swim down the left hand margin,

 

First up was a 4x8 Chanti on 0.13 & an 20 PR36 to fish banded pellets along the bridge, A rig to fish in 18inches of water across the far side of the peg away from the bridge in the small bay area, It was much shallower closer to the far bank with just inches of water, I felt I would catch a few here but didn't want to risk spooking any fish so would go in the slightly deeper water to start with when fishing over, Last up was a new 0.2g hand made float which I brought a bunch of off Stu Bartlett at the draw which looked very good & strong on 0.17-0.13 & an 16 Wide Gape Pellet hook.

I started the match feeding some hard 4mm's & a small amount of micros over to the small bay by the bridge at 12mts, feed a handful of hard 4mm's to a gap I had across further along the bank at 13mts, fed a ball of micros & some 4mm's down right hand side next to the bridge a few feet off the bank.

I began the day feeding a few hard 4mm pellets by hand starting with a banded 4mm on the hook halfway along the bridge, After 15mins I had lost a foul hooker & missed just one more bite, I had seen signs of fish further across in the shallow water so decided to try here. I started with a 4mm expander on the hook but lost two foul hookers in the next 10mins so over to the shallowest water it was then which was around 10inches deep, I switched to a 6mm expander on the hook feeding some 4mm & Micros with a cad-pot, I soon had a few fish in the net which got me off the mark but most seemed around the 2-3lb mark, It didn't take long for them to get a bit cagey so re-fed a bigger amount & tried shallow again by the bridge shallow. I had a 3lb fish straight off but that was it as they just didn't seem to be their in numbers, Back across I added a couple more fish as well as half a dozen very small carp, After 2hrs it was time to try my short lines, starting next to the bridge on the deck in 3ft of water with a 6mm expander I had three fish in as many put-ins then they seemed to vacate the area

, A try down my left hand side didn't produce a bite so it was back to the shallow water on the far bank, I switched to a small piece of paste on the hook which caught me a fish but then if I missed a bite of had a liner it would pull off so switched back to the 6mm expander, It was a case of catch 2/3 fish before I had to rest the area & try elsewhere

, This turned out to be the pattern for the rest day catching the odd fish before switching lines & from what I could see most were struggling so I new I was doing ok but peg 23 on the bridge opposite me seemed to be netting fish a regular intervals, The last 90mins was a bit of a mare as the light breeze had bow the scum all into the far corner I was trying to fish" I had to keep clearing it in order to get my bait though but was happy to catch the odd fish right up until the whistle, I estimated to have between 80-90lb but I'm not that good a guessing' Thankfully Tim Whitchurch who was on the other side of my bridge lent me & extra net as the last thing I wanted to do was go over".

First to weigh was Stuart Barnett over on the end peg 22 who had been catching well all-day who was admitting to 150-160lb, He was a bit off the mark with 133lb but still a good weight on the day, Steve Howell was the next best with 83lb odd before I was last to weigh, I finished with a bit more than I expected with my nets totalling 116lb which was enough for second on the day picking up a nice £80 along the way,        

 

 Part of my catch.

 Winner Stuart Barnett.

The lake fished a bit harder than we all expected but for once I was fortunate enough to pick some off today picking up enough to pay for my trip to Larford Lakes for the fisho" Qualifier tomorrow, Never fished the venue but know a bit about it depending what lake you draw but hopefully a couple of money spiders are crawling up me in the draw queue tomorrow".

Full Result -

1st Stuart Barnett (Acorn) peg 22, 134lb 6oz.

2nd Dom Sullivan (Maver) peg 34, 116lb 4oz.

3rd Steve Howell (Shiplate Farm) peg 14, 83lb 4oz.

4th Bob Gullick (Mosella) peg 1, 65lb 10oz.

5th Des Shipp (Prestion Innovations) peg 3, 64lb 8oz.

6th Tim Whitchurch (Acorn) peg 33, 61lb 2oz.