Cider Farm Lakes 11th April

After an eventful week I was looking forward to going fishing. I had had my 32" TV pack in a couple of weeks ago and Comet would not give me a replacement only repair the old un (eventually they gave me a new one after they messed up the repair and it's better than the old one!). Then my computer crashed and I had to pay out £90 to get it fixed. I was on holiday in Torquay for a few days and won £80 on the bingo, then Saturday my wife picked the Grand National winner for a £70 pick up. So what was going to happen on Sunday........

I travelled down to the Lakes with Glenn Bailey, we spent most of the time moaning about call centers in India and not about the prospects of the match. Arriving in good time we took a quick look around Yarlington, which was the only lake being used today, and there was not much activity in the reeds at all. We did notice that Mark had been chopping back the old reeds and new green shoots were appearing. I do have worries about the reeds, they are really taking over some pegs and the fish won't come out of them, I think a dose of chemicals could thin the reeds out a bit and improve the fishing. After a quick bite to eat and a cup of tea the draw was done, I had peg 56 and Glenn 20 which is not the best. Peg 56 had not appeared in the top 6 in any match this year, but as it had bare bank options I was happy with the peg. Lucky Brian Slipper drew the same peg he won Yarlington from last Monday, peg 11, and was obviously going to be a threat, as was Rod Wootten who appeared opposite me on peg 13. Rod is as we all know an excellent carp angler, and so I was a bit miffed to see him opposite because I thought it would split our fish.

My set was much the same as previous weeks, with 4x8 floats used for up the shelf one with a band one without, a deep rig (waste of time for me again) and a margin rig. I fed a line straight in front at 11 mtrs 16" deep with micro pellet, a line to the island to my right at 15mtrs that was 12" with micro and 4mms and I loose fed 4mm to this line whilst fishing in front of me. I had a steady start with some small carp on soft pellet at 11mtr, but much as previous weeks it was a case of getting just one fish in the peg and then waiting for the next to arrive. After 5 fish it went quiet so I tried deep, this was dead and I never bothered here again. I took an early margin fish and then one across at 15 mtrs, but both lines were very quiet. Back out to 11 mtrs and I managed to sneak the odd carp into the net, mostly small carp 12oz to 1.5lb. This line got harder and harder and I was looking for the 15mtr line to work but all I could get was the odd liner and 2 or 3 fish.

With two hours to go I gave up loose feeding the 15mtr line and potted in a mixture of micros and 4mm, this seemed to concentrate the fish, but I hooked 4 in 4 chucks and lost the lot, foulers! I pushed the float shallower and tried a 6mm banded, but had no bites, but by pushing the float nearer to the bank I had a couple of fish, though they were not hooked in the mouth! Eventually they started to eat my hook bait and I switched up to 8mm on the hook. For the first time this year I had quite a few fish in the area I was feeding, but it did present issues with liners and I had a spell of just waiting for the elastic to come out I also took a shot off the float. With 20 mins to go they had backed off to the reeds again and a quick look in the margin produced two fish and then one did me in the reeds, match over!

Certainly my last two hours had been the best, and potting rather than the catty helped when the fish turned up. I could see Brian and Rod had caught, I was sure I had more than Rod but not as much as Brian, but I had no idea how the rest of the lake had fished. I weighed in 67lb 5oz which was good enough for 3rd and £60.

1st Brian Slipper 81lb 6oz (peg 11 pellet up the shelf) Brian has it sussed!
2nd Howard Green 79lb 1oz (flyer peg 46, paste deep, and pellet up the shelf)
3rd Tim Ford 67lb 5oz (performed heroics on peg 56!!!!)
4th Rod Wooten 53lb 2oz (peg 13, he let some get past him into my peg!)
5th Rich Coles 52lb 15oz (peg 40)

As for Glenn he struggled for 30lb on peg 20, just missing out on his section. Paul Haines was glad he weighed in on 48 as his 24lb won him the section by double default, but behind him on peg 37 his travelling partner Ray Bazely lost a shed full until Paul gave him some strong elastic.

Change of scenery for me next week, a rixon rip off on the new lake at Acorn, could be good or could be crap!