Acorn Tuesday Tenner.

With an extra day off after the bank holiday and with the forecast to be nice weather wise I decided to return for another try, With the wife also having the day off we had a nice breakfast at the on-site café before the draw which again I had know idea what pegs were to be used although I was none to pleased to pick out peg 17 an area I cant get away from and looking around to see where others had draw I new my chances off framing today were slim with 3 bridge pegs in as well as the top pegs from Sundays match.

I new to have any chance with the overall weights I would hopefully have to find the lakes larger fish which could be in any area of the peg and although I had the option of going for the silvers I'm due to be in this section in the next round of the individual league so at worst I was going to use the day as bit of a practice.

Rig wise a 4x10 Chanti  to fish tight in the gap over on the far bank which I found o be around 18inches deep, a rig to fish down the track over 6mm hard pellet which I would feed by hand through the day and a rig to fish caster at the bottom of the near shelf towards the next peg which would double up as a silvers rig but fished with white hydro would double up as a carp rig should they arrive, I did set another in-line dibber rig which I could use for up in the water over the short swims as well as tight into the edge late in he day.

At the start I cupped in some hard 6mm pellet on the open water swim and a small amount of caster and dead reds at the bottom of the near shelf and started across in the far bank grass with a 4mm expander just feeding a few wetted micros via a small cadpot. It didn't take long for my first fish of around 3lb followed by 3 more in the next 3 put-ins only for the wife to say I was doing well and then they stopped" never the less I new that I was to good to last and they soon wised up with it being so shallow, I tried to start a new line a couple of meters from the first one but with the light going in and out the clouds I had a job to see the float no matter what colour I could change it so most of the first two hours were spend on the original swim across with either a 6mm or 4mm expander on the hook and after feeding after every missed bite or fish I got my tally up to ten fish for around 28lb.

A switch to the open water swim on the deck to start I had two skimmers in ten mins and a try down the near shelf only gave 1 roach on double caster so I gave it 15mins trying to catch through the water on the open water swim, again without success so it was time to go back across to the shallow swims, It wasn't hectic but I was adding the odd fish but by now Dave Wride on bridge peg 21 (For the 3rd match on the trot") was catching as was Andy France on peg 9 who had some bigger fish, I did start a new line closer to the pallet as well as a new line tight to the nearside bank but only had a fish off each all match, At some point somebody threw some casters which were floaters in and they had drifted over my open water swim much to the welcome of the carp who began slurping for them right where I had been priming the swim with loose fed pellet but couldn't get a bite on it! I did snare one which shed the hook at the net and cause all those in proximity to do one!" I was getting know were so spent the remainder of the match over on the long line which did get better towards the end and I even managed 3 fish in the last 5mins" but I new I wasn't going to compete as a few had been catching all day, At The weigh-in Gabriel started the ball rolling over on bridge peg40 Having a S*** day in his words weighing 99lb odd!?, but It wasn't enough to take the spoils as Andy France took the top weight off of peg 9 with 108lb catching across most of the day with pellet before catching down towards peg 8 later in the day, My weight went 75lb so I wasn't to disappointed but there are a few things I have learnt the main one being to set up other rigs to compensate the poor light as along this bank the sun ends up right in your face at the end of the day causing all sorts of shadows.

 Winner - Andy France.

Full Results -

1st Andy France (Cadbury Angling) peg 9, 108lb 2oz.

2nd Bob Smith (un-Attached) peg 13, 102lb 2oz.

3rd Gabriel Skabba (Acorn) peg40, 99lb 5oz

4th Dave Wride (Sensas Thyers) peg 21, 96lb 12oz

5th Dom Sullivan (Maver/Cadbury Angling) peg 17, 75lb 3oz.

Silvers -

Andy Gard (Over 50's) peg 36, 16lb 4oz.

 Andy Gard. (Silvers).

The floating caster slurpers"

And The one I hooked!.