So a New Year, and a new outlook, put in a bit more effort and see where it takes me. I had booked into the regular Tuesday Open at Alders Farm. I had tied a few more hooklengths and switched a few elastics around to compensate for the lighter lines and smaller hooks. I had even brought a rod with me, unheard of.
There were only a dozen of us, but as always the match starts with the draw, Peg 19 on Pines, a good peg in winter. Mick had come out of hibernation as well, and had peg 10 in his palm. To be fair an iffy peg, they are either there or not.
Ploughing through the mud from the recent rainfall, I eventually got to the peg to be greeted with ice, what looked like a thin layer was in fact some proper ice and we needed to break it before we could even start. I broke a small channel out to 14m and this seemed to stay in place well. I could cast a maggot feeder out to the edge of the bowl but would not be able to retrieve it. Sean on the next peg had lost a feeder and I was also getting no where, hopefully the sun would come out.
I set up a couple of pole rigs, one to fish at 11m, the other at 14m on the edge of the ice pack. I had a nice depth and would fish one with a few maggots, the other with expanders feeding a pinch of micros via a toss pot.
I started off fishing the 11m micros line at dead depth with a lightly shotted rig and a 4mm Expander pellet, nothing to report for the first hour. Across the bowl in the open un-iced water Trevor Price and Gary Page were off to a flyer, Gary having 3 in 3 puts on the waggler and Trevor catching steadily.The rest were struggling, 30 minutes later, I had my first fish at 14m on a single maggot. Rob was getting a couple of fish on 23 and Sean, and Richard were getting bites long on the waggler.
Head down and trying different feeding strategies did not seem to work The ice was now melting and I decided to give it a couple of quick chucks. First cast landed on the still frozen section of ice. Undo the line clip. 😄😄😄. Go out again and reach target area and bang the tip goes round. Fish number 2 was in the net but no other bites. I could see fish porpoising out of the water , so knew the fish were in the higher levels at distance and this was reflected by those fishing the waggler shallow.
Going back to the pole it was a case of plugging away, I decided to just fish a single line at 14m but switched my 11m rig to fish it 6 inches off the deck. A few quick bites came from this tactic, which I suspected were liners, shallowing up a couple of inches at a time I connected with another 5 fish throughout the match. Sean had struggled and was frustrated, a lot of bites at distance on the waggler and a couple on the pole, Richard had stuck at it on the waggler and was being rewarded with a few late fish. Rob on 23 had fished really well, catching on the pole with Ice forming and moving all around him for most of the day. Trevor had caught very well throughout the day. Mick had struggled but he was out and about in the winter sunshine. He even came round after packing up to give me my first MK Nugget of 2020.
My weight of 36lb 6oz placed me about halfway, so not too disappointed, room to work on.
Payouts were based on sections
1st in Section Trevor Price 109.00
2nd in Section Gary Page 51.00
1st in Section Rob Rayment 90.00
2nd in Section Mick Kelly 36.00
I have pinched a few photos off Trevor from the weigh in.Thank You. I was glad to get out again and put a few fish in the net. The chance to get out with Mick and the rest of the Alders Farm midweek regulars has been enjoyable.
Keith 1
Mick 0
