I arrived nice and early, dipped my nets at the net dip and got some fishery 4 and 6mm pellets for feeding. I had with me a kilo of corn defrosting in the carryall and although the corn has not been working of late I was confident that a few fish would come to it.I also had some 6mm's for hookers and some prepared expanders.
Today, we would have the shallow bank and dam wall areas of Ash lake and with 10 of us in attendance, it was decided to pay out the winner and 2 x 5 peg section winners. One of which will be default due to the winner coming from one of them. With all the monies paid and the draw underway, peg 29 stuck to my paw. Everyone fancied it today as it had a good shaded area, which in 32 degree heat would be welcome.
I had Brainy, Hugh, Lee Newson and Nick Pringle in my section, with Charlie,Dennis, Pete Archer, Smithy and Colin Spencer making up the other section. So my first priority was to win my section and then take it from there.
I decided to fish 4 lines and see which was producing best and then concentrate on 2 lines towards the end. I opted to fish 2+2 in around 18inches of water with a Del Smith blue pattern float, dotted right down and the plan was to fish corn over pellet. Down both edges with some of Del's shallow floats, one in 10 inches the other around 14inches of water. My last line was to my right at around 2+2 at 2 o'clock. There was a slight depression here and and used the same 2+2 rig dropping 3 inches off. All were tied to .18 Stroft to a PR36.
At the all in, I opted to drip feed rather than pot in, It was hot and I did not really know how the fish were going to respond, just using a toss pot I could see how fish were reacting and fish accordingly. Placing a couple of grains of corn and filling up with 4mm pellets every put in, I was soon getting indications and fish in the net. I was feeding the other lines by hand and soon these were showing signs of fish activity. After an hour I had around 7 fish for 30lb. These fish were noticeably larger than the resident 2-3lb standard. I had a look down the left hand edge and still fishing the corn and pellet I was getting regular bites. I could see the fish coming in and going out of the swim. However by chopping and changing baits I could keep the fish coming with a 50/50 split on corn and 6mm pellets. I was hearing plenty of splashing to my right but due to a bush in the way, I could not tell whether it was Richard or Hugh catching.
With around 70lb in the net after 2 hours, I was going along nicely. This continued throughout the third hour with most of my fish coming to corn before I started foul hooking fish. I decided to stop feeding as I felt I had too many fish in the swim and this was causing the foul hookers. I did try shallowing up but in 10 inches of water there is not a lot of scope to change. I even left the swim to settle down again and tried the other edge and 2+2 2 o'clock swims, nicking a few fish from these lines before going back to the left hand edge for the last hour. I already had a ton weight and would be happy with my day.
Going into the last hour, I switched rigs to one with a shorter length of line between float and crows foot and this seemed to work better, landing a far better percentage of fish hooked. During the spell I placed 50lb in the net to end up with around 150lb and a good days fishing.
Overall
1st Hugh Crawford 242lb
2nd Colin Spencer 229lb
3rd Charlie Lancaster 223lb
4th Pete Archer 182lb
5th Keith Ashby 158lb
6th Nick Pringle 136lb
Overall it fished well, and with Hugh winning the match, I managed to secure the section by default and a brown envelope. Colin picking up the other section. Lowest weight was just under the 100lb mark.Considering that Colin drew peg 15 in suicide corner, with no wind blowing in and flat calm, he has done well to amass 229lb. Well done Mate.
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