May update

Hello again.

Only managed to fish 2 opens on Partridge in the run up to the Fishomania qualifier. Firstly on Covet 4 peg 78. Not the best draw and in the end it was a struggle. Fished the usual tactics of pellet and corn, but I did not have any maggots with me. Due to the colder than previous weather this was a bit of a mistake.
To cut a long story short I did not catch a great deal. The swims across were especially hard. Did catch a few down the edge to my left.
I did have the pleasure of watching Neil Machin on the next peg catch a great deal more than me. After a slow start he did have a run of fish on small pieces of paste at 5 metres.
Anyway I did not bother to weigh in, Neil Machin had 33lb and Dave Pimlott have over 20lb. I don't think I could have managed 10lb. A match to forget.

Second match at Partridge I drew peg 24 on Covey 1. This looked an interesting peg being on a slight point and having some rushes on the far bank. I fished the usual across and down the edge rigs and also I set up a rig for 5 metres on paste after seeing what Neil Machin had done in the last match, just to see what happened. Plumbing up against the rushes was slightly deeper than fishing against the far bankl grasses, so I thought this would the main line of attack. This rig rig was a 4x12 Chianti, for the deeper water, instead of the normal Garbolino DC6 for fishing in the swallow water against the far bank and in the margins. The paste rig was a 4x14 Garbolino DC11.
Most of the fish were caught against the rushes. The margin swim to my left was very quiet and the paste line was dead. In the end I caught about 21lb which was made up of over 30 fish mostly F1's. The stamp of these fish were smaller than what I had previously caught.
Once again Dave Pimlott was nearby and he caught about 28lb fishing mostly down the edge.

Next came the big one, the Fishomania qualifier. Prior to the match there had been a spell of warm weather, but come the day of the match it was cooler and rained for most of the day. Prior to the match one of the Holbar lakes was fancied to win it, with Holbar 2 being slightly better.
Preparing for the match I made sure rigs were ok and tied some more hooklengths. Biatwise I had a bit of everything in case I did draw one of the Holbar Lakes. I was planning to practice on Holbar to get an idea of what the lake is like and the stamp of fish to be expected. However work commitments stopped me form going.
At the draw I somehow managed to pull out peg 14 on Holbar 1. Someone at the draw told me to run to the peg, so it must have been alright. After unloading the gear I had a look round. In theory the peg looked great. Again on a slight point further out than the adjacent pegs and closer to the corner of the island. It looked good.
On plumbing up it was really shallow in the margins and gradually shelved off to about 6 metres and the deepest water, by the time you got to 13metres it started to shallow up again. Based on this I discounted the margins as being too shallow and set up a paste rig for 6 metres, a meat rig for 13metres and a rig for fishing at 16 metres in about 18 inches of water. Being opposite the island I set upa method feeder rod as well.
At the all in I fed the 13 metre line with pellets, corn and meat and the 6 metre swim with pellets and a few pieces of paste. The 6 metre line would be fwed by hand with pellets and paste looking to build it up for the last 2 hours of the match. I started on the method feeder with a banded pellet. In the first half hour I only managed a couple of line bite and slight touches. The anglers around me were struggling too. I tried the 13 metre line and only caught a few small stockie carp less than 8oz each. It was not looking good. The big fish that were expected to win it were not feeding at all, and very few fish were moving about.
I carried on trying each line in turn to see if the fish had moved into a certain area, but all I could catch were small stockies. A few big fish were caught, but no-one caught any numbers and the best weight from Holbar 1 was 34lb. Tom Pickering was on peg 12 and only managed 28-30lb, so I did not feel too bad about catching sod all.
In the end it was a bit dissappointing as the weather prevented the lakes from fishing as well as they could have. The winner came from Willow lake peg 20 with 126lb of chub caught on caster. Well done to the winner and good luck in the final.
Looks like I will have to wait until next year (again)

Next month sees the start of the River season again and preparations for the Division 1 National will start.