Acorn Fishery (Saturday Open).

Overcast skies greeted us on arrival this morning but it was Forecast for us to see some sun & warmer temperatures so we would see' Only twelve of us fishing spread around the lake leaving out the island pegs, It had fished quite hard on Tuesday so I was told with only 39lb winning so would go steady at the start wherever I would end up? I let a few draw before ending up on peg 34 next to the bridge, I've draw here before a couple of times & done well Usually catching somewhere over to the far bank around 13mts just off the bridge or along the far bank & I had plenty of room with the island swims empty, I set up a 0.1g hand made float on 0.13-0.11 to fish near the bridge which was just over a foot tight over and nearly 2ft or so about a metre off the bank which was the depth all along the far bank to 14mts, I set up a rig 4x10 to fish the slightly deeper water around 3ft at 13mts to the left & set up a 4x12 Malman to fish just into the deeper water around 4ft on my left hand margin at 5mts & tight to the bridge at the same distance. It was nice to see Andy France back on the back after suffering an injury to his (Cant spell it but its in your leg!) behind me on peg 37 & I had Darren Wilton on peg 31 to my left the other side of the bridge, Gabo was also with us, Well sort of but the previous nights alcohol contents was still evident"   

 After feeding a bit of corn down the edge & some micros & 4mms on the 13mt line I was just going to start the day dobbing a bit of bread but felt it was a bit murky for that so started across tight over on soft pellet fishing around a metre off the bridge feeding just a few hard 4mms & a pinch of micros, It wasn't long before I had a few bites & after 30mins had three carp for around 10lb' This is usually the case on here before you end up searching around for fish when they move off, Just as I thought it wasn't long before things went funny so switched to fishing banded hard 6mm pellet feeding just 4mms, I couldn't get this to work at all & after 30mins of trying went back to the soft pellet & micro approach, After about an hour or so I had around 16lb adding just a few small stockies' A goldfish", I decided to try the slightly deeper water off the back which did give me a couple of quick 2lb fish then nothing, I had a feeling the fish were backing off under the bridge with nobody on peg 33, Darren had also started well on peg 31 catching a few early fish across but now seemed to be struggling for bites. I decided to start pinging a few hard 6mmts at 13mts across right off to my left looking to drop in on it now & again of for signs of fish here.  I gave the far line a rest & had a look down the edge lines, I foul hooked a decent fish on the corn line to my left the couldn't get a sign, I tried next to the bridge with 6mm expander on the hook & had a bite straight away which was another 1lb stockie then nothing.

Back across I had another 3lb carp as soon as I went tight over where I began then had a decent F1 dropping the rig closer to the bridge where I hadn't fed' This set the pattern up for the day really, I couldn't catch over the area I had been pinging 6mm, All I had was a couple of small skimmers to show here, there didn't appear to be fish showing themselves anywhere along the far bank to my left with any indications coming nearer the bridge as I expected but after a couple of indications I knew they were backing off under the bridge, I did managed one fish on the corn to my left down the edge & really expected to catch here later In the match but it didn't happen & I just missed one bite at the same distance next to the bridge. Andy Had been netting the odd fish threw the day & a couple of bigger fish later in the day, Halfway through I said I had around 20lb & Andy was admitting to 25lb so the last hour it was all to play for between us but didn't know what else had been caught, I had a feeling I would get a couple more better fish across later in the day after catching any size from 10oz to 2lb on & off  through the day, & so it proved with a 3 & 4lb fish in the last ten minutes"

On the all out I had 52lb on the clicker along with just a few silvers & Andy was admitting to 50lb so it would be close'? I caught up with onsite Cadbury Anglings Match organiser Dan doing the weigh-in helping him do the board & at this time 35lb was leading the way, Mark Walsh over on peg 21 did well to finish with 27lb of F1's included in his 49lb total,  A couple more weighs before it was my turn & I wasn't far off finishing with 58lb of carp & 2lb of silvers for just over 60lb, Andy's turn & I still had him down as the winner but it was closer than I thought as he finished with a total of 56lb odd, A good result for me then picking up £70 along the way on which I treated myself to a new pair of sunglasses' I even had time to pop-in the bookie on my way home to have a small flutter on the grand national & returned in time to watch me gain another £20' Result! Lance Tucker took the silvers with 11lb 4oz which is lower than the recent weights again here.  

It turned out to be a glorious day with a decent few hours of sun for a change, I had loads of options today but just kept trying to add fish to the net on the lines I chose regardless of size which worked for the best, I did have a few when I new fish weren't in the swim to try close to the bridge without feeding which worked a few times. Off to Viaduct tomorrow for another crack on Cambell Lake but mind already mind up on its carp or bust!" Lol.

Full Results -

1st Dom Sullivan (Mosella UK) peg 34, 60lb 9oz.

2nd Andy France (Cadbury Angling) peg 37, 56lb 10oz.

3rd Mark Walsh (Acorn) peg 21, 49lb 4oz.

4th Rich Heatley (Clevedon A.A) peg 11, 35lb. 

5th Dave Carroll (Burt Baits) peg 9, 30lb 6oz.

6th Lance Tucker (Sensas 88) peg 15, 29lb 2oz.

Silvers -

1st Lance Tucker (Sensas 88) peg 15, 11lb 4oz.

2nd Wayne Trimmings (Burt Baits) peg 18, 11lb 2oz.