Winter League Match - Saturday 29th November

The Hopeful Match Fisher

I was very pleased to be out on a match on Saturday, which was a lovely in the sunshine.  13deg in November was just fine for me :)

If you have read any of my other posts you will be aware that I'm concentrating on Gold Valley at the moment, purely to bed down my skills in a reliable way.  I figure it's better to go that way than dashing around all over the place.  

So back on to Syndicate in the peg next door to the last time I was on Syndicate - 115.  Funny how the draw goes sometimes.  Once again I was making up the numbers as a sub for whatever team needed one.  This time I was dropped into Perry Stone's SPRO team.  

I knew the sunshine would bring the fish up in the water so I was first in on the big float, which very quickly grabbed me two fish in the first thirty minutes before there was a slowing down and the topping fish seemed to get wary.  Onto the bomb with pellets was the obvious next move, and I was into action once again.  The problem was that the next three fish were all lost - two to line breakages and on to a hook pull.  I was rather pissed-off about that.  

Those losses precipitated a change.  I'd fished a bit lighter for the bomb (0.15 main) considering colder water, but I think it may have been too light.  I changed up to a 0.20 Drennan Supplex line, but that seemed to have pretty negative effect.  The bites dried up and I had only another three fish until the end of the match.  At the weigh-in I had 35lb, which got me fifth in a ten man section.  

The line issue needs a bit of thought.  I don't know if the thicker line was at fault or the visibility.  Perhaps both, or it may have been a slow down for other reasons.  I'll swap the line anyway, and see how it goes.    

One thing which was an eye opener was that the peg to my left was an end peg.  The guy the frame in second with 104lb.  I couldn't believe the difference to my weight.  He was vastly more experienced than I was, but even so it the biggest difference I've known in a match between myself the and my neighbours.

So onto the next match, probably next week.

Hopeful