I have not fished any of the regular opens this year and I thought it was about time to start again, the weather was improving, today it has chucked it down, but at the weekend I caught a suntan.Mick could not fish today so it was just me and 16 others trudging up to Pines Lake.
I had purchased some maggot from the on site shop along with a bag of fishery micros. I have always got a couple of tins of the yellow stuff, so was quite looking forward to it, as long as..................................................I could see the float. This week I brought along both sets of glasses, readers and distance. My eyes are really playing up and what would seem normal to one person does not seem to work for me. I have been wearing glasses for 50 years so do know a thing about how they should work for me.
I must admit the field is getting stronger every week at Alders, plenty of regular open and league anglers, all very capable of framing. At the draw the rules were read out again, as one unfortunate angler fell foul of the rules and was disqualified at the weekend. It is easy to forget, we all fish a lot of different venues across the country, each with a unique set of rules. 99.9% of the time everyone abides by them.
I drew peg 12 on Pines, I must admit I do not like it. It is all long pole work, 14m to the platform of 11, 14m+ to the bush on the island and even 13m to a decent depth at 10 and 2. However after plumbing up I could see the pole float at 14m with my readers( work that out) If I tried my distance glasses they were blurred.
I started the match by feeding a couple of pots of maggot to the platform, A pot of corn to 10 o'clock, a mix of micros and maggot to 2 o'clock and a pot of 4mm short of the bush at 14m.
Looking around I knew I had blown it straight away, I did not see another cupping kit. Everything was going in via a tosspot. Due to this I decided to fish 13m straight out where I had fed nothing. After a couple of minutes the float buried and I was connected to a foul hooker, which came off. A look over the maggot/ micro line saw another foul hooker which also came off. I am now thinking is it depth or elastic choice( Black hydro). I adjusted the depth by a couple of inches and after 10 minutes a carp hooked in the mouth for around 2lb stopped the blank. With nothing else coming from this line I had a look at 10 o'clock with a grain of corn. Nothing. A look to the bush with a banded 6mm saw no bites. With nearly 2 hours gone I had a single carp for 2lb. Gary Page had started well opposite and Brainy was nicking a few down the edge. I was going nowhere and decided to re-feed and try to force the issue.
I was still hooking a losing fish regardless of depth of elastic, I did change to Green KND and this worked well with a couple more carp for 10lb and a couple of good skimmers for around 5lb. Ben on the next peg was catching well now over to the island but it was hard work for all.
I would like to say, I was going nowhere and made the mistakes at the start of the match, schoolboy error and should have felt my way in.
My total of 4 carp and 2 good skimmers for around 20lb was not going to trouble the scoreboard so I threwback. Maver's Ben Bell winning a close match with 65lb, Bryn Wignall second on the day with 58lb Lee Newson third with 57lb and Gary Page in the final framing spot with 56lb. Well done all. On the plus side though I could see the float and need to make sure I have them with me next time out. No Mick today either so I also saved another MK Nugget.
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