Sedges Fishery (Top-Kit) League. Round 1, Tile Lake. (Sunday)

Well back for another crack at this top-kit league with three rounds of twenty anglers & the top ten from two sets of qualifiers making the final to be held on the same lake on the August bank holiday, The day started with a lovely breakfast at the wooden spoon in Weston which now opens at 7am on a Sunday with fellow competitor's John page & his Travelling partner Simon Ryall who haven't fished it before, Last year I did make the final coming 2nd on the day so a nice pick-up & was keen to try & make it again, The wind was in the same direction as the day before but not quite as strong but again I fancied the far bank with the wind off their backs. I was quite late in the draw queue so had one of the last numbers & I could of cried, I Only went & picked the same peg as yesterday, 32!" FFS..... No I didn't fancy it, Again..

Fish have fins as they say so lets just hope they were still munching on my left overs from yesterday!" Owe well not a lot to set up then', I say this is a top kit only match but you can use a short number 4 section as long as the length of the pole you using does not exceed 3mts". I had two rigs, 4x14 & 4x14 Rubes set up on 0.17-0.15 & a 16 & 14 PR438 hooks, & a 0.3g rig on the same line to fish down the edge 2ft deep towards the tree overhanging the water,

between myself & are foreign counterpart Ziggy Slowiski on end peg 31 which I fancied to win the section with the wind blowing right in, & on my left I Had team mate Bobby Gullick on peg 33, Now its not my rules but he was guesting today as he's fishing the other set of qualifier's, His points wouldn't count but personally I don't agree with it as you still get a picture of what to do when it comes to his rounds'?? Not that he needs it as he's won it the last two years! Yesterday I put all my faith in meat & although this would be my main attack I also had some pellets on the tray including some 6mm expanders.

I started the match down towards the tree in the shallower water which was probably a mistake as after 10mins Bobby was already playing a decent fish caught straight in-front of him on the deck which turned out to be over 13lb & added one slightly bigger in the next hour' I couldn't get any indications on the meat so after an hour fed a few hard 6mms off to my left, I gave it a try after 15mins before trying a 6mm expander over the top, I had a bite straight away but the 4oz skimmer was a bit much for my elastic' & came straight off, Ziggy had a decent tench & had started to hook a few carp but judging by the foreign language it wasn't all going well". After nearly 3hrs of sitting like a gnome & just one 8oz skimmer on the meat I was losing the will to live so time to stretch my little legs , I walked down to Pagey' on peg 35 who was also struggling having just two small roach & a tiny skimmer, Back at my peg I continued on the meat, I had just looked at the time, & my float shot under which I promptly missed but at least it was a sign, at 1.30pm I had my first carp around 5lb soon followed by another slightly smaller, 10mins later I hooked a beast but not in the mouth & we parted company before I landed a 7lb fish in the fin' I had to wait for bites but at least I was getting signs of fish, At one point the heavens opened & I had only gone & left my coat in the van but because I was getting indications I had to stick it out with just my sweater which proved worth while as I netted two more but again they weren't decent fish but at least I was catching. Not for long, The rain stopped & so did bites" the last part of the match again was a struggle, I was hoping for some late fish down the edge but never had an indication here all day, I managed one more fish around 7lb but lost two more foul hookers, One just moments before the whistle around 15lb" Ziggy had finally sorted his swim out & went on to finish 3rd on the day with 80lb odd, And Bobby's good start added to the fish he had through the day saw him finish with 70lb odd, My fish went 44lb which was just over halfway so not a bad result after my dire start, Winner on the day was Weston's Matt Culpin from end peg 40 with 110lb catching on 6mm expander over hard pellets in the open water & a few fish down the edge on meat so well done to him, You can see his report on his blog, Culpins Calamities.

 Winner Matt.

I can't say I'm really enjoying my fishing at the moment, I took last weekend off hoping for a change of fortune but it wasn't to be, This match fishing lark doesn't come cheap with entry fee's ect ect, It gets a bit much sometimes so planning to take another weekend away from it next week so sorry for shortage of blogs at the moment. On a more positive note after a chat with a few people I'm thinking of running a six match series next season on Saturdays, Six different venues with a maximum pole length of 5 sections?, This will probably take some arranging so please mention to me if you may be interested as it will probably be limited to around 20ish anglers. Owe' & how spooky is this' I decided on the way home the wife & myself would have an Hungry Horse meal at are local, I couldn't believe it when they asked for are table number & it turned out to be 32..!" At least this one had a horseshoe under it..'

 

Full Results -

1st Matt Culpin (Culpins Calamites) peg 40, 110lb 1oz.

2nd Neil Fuidge (The Sedges) peg 28,  89lb 14oz.

3rd Ziggy Slowinski (The Sedges) peg 31, 81lb 13oz.

4th Bob Gullick (Mosella UK), peg 33, 79lb 7oz.

5th Jess Jordan (Summerhayes) peg 25, 72lb 14oz.

6th Rich Coles (The Sedges) peg 37, 64lb 10oz.