hawfordbridge open 20/2/10

Hi folks, my next match me and my travelling (sorry chauffeur) partner john baker (aka Stavros) booked in on an open at hawford bridge (trevs pools). The match had been booked as a practice match for the first round of the V.D.E clubman supercup, we had been drawn away to Rexel AC. This is there home venue with them fishing a winterleague on there i thought this was going to be a difficult round to get through due to there local knowledge. The third club in the tie was a team from my home town of Cradley heath called the white swan known locally as jaspers.
We made the draw and i was pegged on the smaller middle lake (Broomhill). I was pegged on the left hand bank half way along with my back to the bottom pool ( sorry no permanent pegs on here), I was well pleased with the draw as me and my mate had practiced on the same bank on the tuesday and had caught well on both pole and waggler with about 60-70lb apiece i was only one peg to the left where i had fished on the tuesday.
I knew this match was going to be harder than tuesday due to more people on the bank and the mercury had dropped to -5 in the night and was only ice free due to Trevor leaving the aerator's on all night.
I set up as follow's;
RIG 1, 1 gram maver jona float for fishing at 14.5m for pellet & corn, 0.12 silstar line to an 18 808 set at dead depth in 8-9ft of water with an olivette and 2 droppers.
RIG 2, 4x16 j-8 range float set on the deck at 6m in 6 1/2 ft water with an Olivette and 2 droppers 0.12 to 18 808.
RIG 3, 13ft daiwa tournament float rod coupled with a Shimano 2500 super gtm reel 2.5gr Drennan crystal loaded waggler with all the shot around the float and only a size 22 swivel down the line to attach the hooklength.A size 16 b611 to 0.12 h/l and 3lb Maxima mainline. There is an islands down the middle of the lake at around 30m from our bank and 18-20m from the opposite bank. I had set this rig at 4ft (half depth) as i had 8 carp and a chub on this on tuesday.
Bait wise i had got 1 pint of damp micro pellets (fishery's own), 1 1/2 pints of white maggots, a small tin of corn and some 4mm & 6mm soft hook pellets.
On the whistle i put in 2 grains of corn and around a half a kinder eggs worth of micro's at 14.5m and the same at 6m then started to fire around 6-8 maggots 3/4 across to the island.It took around 40mins to get my first bite on the long line and a carp of around 2lb was in the net, were off i thought?? another hour had gone by without another bite on either pole lines. so out went the wagg double magg and i starting getting bites but they were only small roach.2 hours gone and the word on the bank was it was fishing very hard due to the hard frost with only one angler on the top pool catching carp regular and just odd fish everywhere else.
After around 2 1/2 hours i had a bite on the 14.5 line only to part company after around 5 seconds, i went back out with another 4mm pellet on and a few micros in the pot and got another bite straight away and carp no 2 was in the net.Next put in and the same result 3 bites in 3 put ins BINGO??????NO, I thought i had cracked it but the fish had'nt read the script. I kept ringing the changes to no avail then heard my mate Stav had started catching one a bung on the other side.
With just over an hour to go i had 3 carp and around 10 roach to show for my efforts, the guy to my right had 2 carp and some bigger silvers on the pole the guy to my left was struggling with only bit's. I went back out on my 14.5m line with double magg over the top of my pellet line and bingo a carp next put in the same result and that's how the last hour went every time i went out with maggot i had a fish every time i put a pellet or corn on the float stood still? ( STRANGE BUT TRUE)
On the all out i had finished with around 15 carp and a few roach i knew my mate had a good weight as he caught well for the last 2 hours. I walked around the top pool(Pennlake) with the scales asking questions and watching the weigh in BIG Ritchie was he first to have a few fish he had 32lb on straight lead and corn up the island. The next few pegs had very little, then Andy chandler had 58lb on the wagg and magg at half depth without feeding ( to far to feed maggots as the top pool is a lot bigger than the middle). The rest of the pool had fished hard with only odd fish caught, down on my pool Stav had 42lb 13oz and a 20lb next to him on his right the rest of the pool had been harder with no carp and only a few silvers showing. I put my fish on the scales they went 29lb 4oz Tony on my right had 17lb and i was happy with second on the pool as they were paying 2 on each lake.
So with a few beer tokens in the back pocket and our team starting to get a feel for the place it was a job well done. On reflection the match had fish quite well in the conditions as a quick phone call to mate of mine who was fishing his VDE qualifier at packington sommers had reveled only 14lb had won there through the ice and only 5-6lb average.
THANKS FOR READING THIS YOU CAN WAKE UP NOW! CHEERS WHERE'S THE STELLA?