The Hopeful Match Fisher
After a long lay-off I was able to get out for an open match on Sunday down at Gold Valley. It was their usual Sunday open. Also on the same day was a winter league open with about 70 anglers, so the place was packed! It's good to see so many others sharing my same passion.
This was the first time I've fished an open and Gold Valley, and only the third time I've ever fished on Syndicate Lake, so I was a bit of a 'fish out of water' (if you know what I mean :) There were twenty-five anglers on the list, although not all turned up. Besides that it was a really nice sunny day, with a fair wind too.
I don't think Syndicate is the largest of the lakes, but it's a fair stretch of water to have in front of you. I ended up drawing peg 119, which is a corner down at far end. On arrival I was initially bit worried about the anti-cormorant lines that were laid out, and which gave me very limited space to my left. Nevertheless I had a lot of margin to my right to work with, so I was happy for that much. At the draw I asked about the peg and was told that it had been rather quiet at that end of the lake recently, but I knew the wind was that way so I felt sure it could produce something.
The previous night I had prepared my bait bag. I knew that the method feeder would dominate, and in fact a recent report had been of a mid-week match that was won with 180lb, mostly on method. I mixed up batch of 50/50 Dynamite Baits Krill and Bait Tech Super G Green, although it started off a bit on the sticky side. For the hook I packed 8mm course pellets (which I've found that the carp at Gold love), 6mm meat dry-dusted with the groundbait, 6mm krill pellets, and some paste.
In recent weeks I've started to fine-down my terminal tackle a bit, but what with the warm days we had been having in the preceding days and the sunshine, I felt the carp would be well on the feed. I stuck more or less kept to a summer rig. The guy to my left had a very long chuck to a margin, which he had done well to pick out, although I think he used up his entire stock of method feeders in the process! My own margin was to the right, running all along the far end of the lake, so there were various options for me. I could see a few interesting looking bays in the bushes, although one of them I knew had a sunken tree stump in it. I opted to fish the far bay to begin with, and clipped-up accordingly.
On the first blast of the whistle I cast out confidently, hoping to make a fast start. It was not to be. In fact within the first half an hour I had amassed a single 4oz roach, which had rudely swallowed the puffed-up 8mm pellet. The guy to my left had little else apart from a skimmer, so I was not too worried. However into the second hour he began to get his swim moving and was catching carp steadily while I was staring at motionless tip. I began to feed an 8m pole line in the hope of getting a bit of life somewhere in the peg, but not much seemed to be happening. I switched to a bomb, which often works well at Gold, wondering if the carp were method shy today. Nothing. I couldn't understand why there would be so little life in the peg, and considering the wind being my way it seemed odd. To be fair I got a bit frustrated over it.
Half way through the match I decided to press the reset button. I started firing 8mm pellets into the margins and bushes to get a bit of noise going and changed my bait to two pieces of 6mm meat present on a hair rig. I also started to double-skin the method feeder to get a bit more feed going into the swim, and with regular chucks every few minutes. It didn't take long for something to start happening. The tip drew round to a carp and I began to feel a bit better, although I couldn't be sure it was anything other than a solitary wandering fish that just happened to cruise over my bait at that point. Nevertheless, within fifteen minutes I had another, and then steadily on until I had nine carp in the net over the final couple of hours.
I did feed the near margin to my right (very deep on Syndicate!), but there was no sign of life there, so I left it. In fact I was drawing in fish reliably up until the last minutes. At the whistle I was pleased to have at least had something worth weighing in with, and I was sure I had beaten the guy to my left at least in the second half of the match. At the final tally I had 41lb, against his 46lb, so I had caught up well! 56lb won it from the swim at the other far end. I was placed seventh out of the twenty-odd anglers.
Switching my approach had made a difference, but I can't be sure that there were fish in the peg beforehand. I think the increased noise helped, and the meat was more acceptable. Could I have done better if I had switched earlier? Maybe, I was three fish off the win. One thing I am certain of is that I needed to be more accurate with my feeder placement, and especially considering I had a useful margin to drop in against. I need to work on that one.
So there we are, I was left wanting more - which is always a good sign! Until next time I'll be tying-up lots of lighter hook lengths and practicing a bit more on my casting accuracy.
Bring on the next match :)
Well done!
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