Dogs Bollock Practice Match Partridge Lakes 12 Mar 2016.

Hi all.

As part of the preparations to fish the inter club Dogs Bollocks match POHAS had organised a practice match on Covey 6 at Partridge Lakes. A total of 32 anglers turned up including 5 from Poplars AC. So the lake was pretty full but the weather had warmed up so hoping for a decent day.

I drew myself peg 133 which in general is a good peg and has done well in previous matches we have fished on Covey 6.

I set up the usual rigs for Partridge, 4x14 maggot rig for down the middle, 3ft 4x12 rig for across, a 4x12 pellet rig for fishing close to the far bank grasses and a bread dobbing rig.

The peg has plenty of room and an aerator to the right so plenty of options. I started on bread and caught 2 quick fish, a small carp and an F1. Following this I tried the pellet line and only caught a very small F1 and the maggot fishing in 3ft only gave me a couple of small roach. Not going according to plan.

Therefore I ended up back on bread, first fishing across again and then next to the aerator with the float set at 2.5ft deep. To be honest I caught F1's and small carp pretty frequently from here using a 7mm punch. Most bites came quickly after the rig had settled and some bites after lifting the rig slightly or re-laying the rig in. I tried down the middle on maggot in the last hour and managed to loose an F1. In the end I managed 26 fish for 43lb 12oz to finish second in the match and 2oz's from winning, so that was a costly lost fish on the maggot.

In general the fishing was not as good as I expected, quite a few struggled and many did not bother to win in.

Here's hoping I get another peg like that one next week.

Tight lines.