Today's match was planned to be on Pines and the previous week it had fished strangely, hardly anything for the first three hours and then it switched on.
However the weather gods had been playing a part, good weather leading up to the week would be getting the fish in the mood to spawn, only to be hit by plenty of rain and cooler temperatures in the latter part of the week. At least we had a bit of consistency leading up to this match, rain and more rain.
I had planned to fish my usual corn approach which has been working quite well for me. Others were planning a day on the paste, maggot or expander.
I had drawn peg 3, a decent peg if the fish are in the edge but I have never done any good with corn down the sides. I was however confident of getting a few fish on a top four. I set up a couple of top kits to fish 2+2 one with yellow NG elastic the other with red NG. Due to the wind I set up a .6g MW Diamond leaving plenty of bristle showing, .16 Stroft to a size 16 B911. The other was a .4g MW Diamond set up the same if the wind dropped. I could not ignore the margins as it could turn on and you would have to be prepared for it. My target for the day was 100lb on corn. It had not worked last week with those trying it saying they could not get a bite on it.
For company, I had Ernie on peg 1, Dennis on 5, Colin on 8 and Trevor on 10. Vic was on peg 15 with Charlie on 17 and Terry on 21.
At the all in I threw a dozen grains of corn and flicked the .6 rig out and nothing, I started feeding regularly and slowly was starting to get a few bites. I connected with a couple which just came off, strange, I thought my set up was alright, the elastic was not tight and there was plenty of slack built into the puller. I was also getting a few bites which I thought were liners so shallowed up a little at a time but when I did this no bites were forthcoming, so it was back on the deck. After 45 minutes I had nothing in the net, Ernie had managed 8 from the brambles. I was getting battered. I altered my shotting and this seemed to do the trick and 6 small carp and a couple of skimmers were safely in the onion sack. It was short lived though. I checked the corn and noticed that it was damaged, jagged edges were I would have expected it to be smooth. I wondered if crayfish were the cause and the fish were backing off from the feed area. I added another section and switched to a short 4 and fish 1/2m further out, still feeding the same spot. Again this seemed to do the trick and a few more fish were rehoused. I was slowly catching Ernie up, who was suffering with the snags and brambles. Others were plugging away but not setting the world alight so I thought I was still in with a shout if the fish switched on and fed properly, I was still losing and missing loads of bites but the fish were there and I felt I had to just plug away. A switch to the lighter rig (.4) caught me another few fish but did not seem right moving through the peg.
The margins which had been fed regularly produced nothing although I could see swirls and the reeds moving. I think they had their minds on other things.
Back out to top 4 and a half to see out the match and that is basically it. My match was over, I reckoned on doing the ton but only just.
Overall
1st Colin Spencer 150-02
2nd Vic Nugent 149-11
3rd Charlie Lancaster 147-14
4th Ernie Waterfall 111-11
5th Keith Ashby 108-13
6th Terry Lancaster 96-10
It was a strange day, on previous trips to Pines, I have caught well steadily and the results have been determined by the size of fish dominant in the peg on the day. Today I had a complete mixture which did not feed properly. I had a few foul hookers and a lot which just came off for no apparent reason even after changing hooks and hooklengths. My target of 100lb was achieved, so I was able to take something positive from the day.
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