April update

Managed 2 matches on Partridge Lakes, and a club match at Border Fisheries.

Firstly drew peg 20 on Covey 1. Caught 22lb made up of 30ish fish by fishing corn and pellet against the far bank and close in down the edge. Tried maggot but only managed a few Ide. I was not catching quickly enough to make it worth while, so concentrated on pellet and corn. One thing that did happen was that I fished the margin swim at 4 metres down the edge after about 2.5 hours and had a quick run of fish with bite coming very quickly. Then after resting it and fishing it again I struggled to catch. I must have spoked the fish and I should have fished further down the peg in case the fish had backed away.
Apart from that I managed a section win, which I was pleased with. However the next week peg 20 won the match, so there you go.

Second match at Partridge I drew peg 68 on Covey 3 I had no idea what this peg was like. Its on the end of a straight just before the corner. At the time the pegging seemed strange as to my right about 4 pegs were empty and all the pegs between me and the bridge were taken. Peg 69 is especially tight as it is on the corner of the island and is close to the 2 adjacent pegs. Because of this I concentrated my lines in the direction of the empty pegs, hoping the fish would be away from the main disturbance. Once again I set up to fish close in and across with pellet and corn and also a maggot rig. Caught well on all methods especially fishing the far side to the right against a few stick ups and the margin swim to my right also. Corn produced the most fish and the better stamp ones. Had a good spell fishing maggot catching Ide and F1's fishing in about 3ft of water at full depth with a spread shotting pattern. In the end I managed 53 fish for 43lb which at the time of weighing in was second. It was not to last as 2 weights around 60lb also came from Covey 3 as well as some more high 40's pushed me down to sixth overall. So a section win again. Great stuff.

Sandwiched between the Partridge match was a club trip to Border Fisheries on the match lake. I wanted to fish here as the lake offers a chance to fish different methods and the fish are bigger. I drew peg 27 which seemed ok, the island was a gentle cast away and there was plenty of room for a pole swim at 13 metres. Baitwise was meat, casters and big pellets. My plan was to feed casters and meat at 13 metres and fish meat for the carp and possibly skimmers. Loosefed casters at six metres for the silvers if the carp did not show. Finally a bomb rig to fish with 10mm pellets on a hair rig. It was a slow start with not many bites on the bomb rig or meat on the pole. So I started on the caster line and caught a few roach and rudd, but not with much regularity. I kept on feeding the pole swim with a pot of casters and meat every half hour and after about 2.5 hours a patch of bubbles appeared. Straight out with meat rig and after lifting the bait a couple of times I connected with my first proper carp. Another 2 followed, but it went quiet, but the bubbles were still there. I started to feed a margin swim out of desparation and after a while I noticed the water cahnge colour due to the bottom disturbance. I could not get a bite there until 15 mins before the end when I hit into my biggest fish of the day, about 10lb. There was not enough time for another so I ended the match with 27lb for 8th place. 62lb won from peg 4 on pellet shallow. It was a nice day and most people caught a few.

So on to May and the FishOmania qualifier draws near.