Manor Farm Open Sunday 22/8/10 Island Pool

Hi folks, with no club match on this week ( well that's not strictly true Halesowen were on the Severn at Trimpley STUFF THAT ) me & Stav had decided to go to Manor farm to fish the open which was on Island pool, i was just hoping that they didn't switch it on to Boundary pool as they did last time we were there. Luckily Stav & Bash fished a league match on there the day before and they confirmed that we would be on Island pool, Stav had won the league match on Saturday with a great 161lb all on the method feeder, well done mate! Stav had informed me that Dave the gaffer at Manor farm had cut back all the trees & vegetation on the island so you can now chuck the feeder tighter to the island than before. When we went to pay our pools money we were shocked to find out that there were 32 booked in for the open this meant that a good draw was going to be more important than normal, the pool has 39 pegs on it but with 4 corner pegs having to be left out that meant all the pegs bar a couple were in so it was going to be a hard match.
I drew out peg 6 which i was happy with as you have got the end of the island to throw at plus an aerator at 16m if you wish to, Stav drew out peg 23 only 2 pegs away from where he was yesterday but moaned that he had not got a throw to the island? Now if you have never been to island pool at Manor Farm this is basically a square pool with a round island and who has got the right to throw at the island and who's not is a bit of a dilemma, Stav's league he fishes produce a map with who can throw where and how far so there are no arguments. No such map for the opens Dave normally asks at the draw for common scene and if there is any dispute he will come and sort them out. Luckily for me i have drawn peg 6 & 7 before and i know that peg 6 is the last throw to the island 7,8,9 and so on have not.
With the amount of anglers on the bank and the result from the day before the method feeder was the first rod out of the bag followed by the pellet wagg and last of all the pole with just one rig to fish shallow with. I set up as follows,
Rig 1, 13ft Normark method rod, Shimano Stradic 4000 gtm loaded with 8lb maxima, 30gr small preston elasticated method feeder ( with the elastic changed to grey hydro from the stuff that comes on the feeders from the shop, Stav & Geordie take note it breaks ). Hooklength was a 16 or 14 pr27 to 0.18 dependent on bait.
Rig 2, 12ft Daiwa Tournament float rod, Shimano 2500 super gtm loaded with 5lb maxima, 3ssg styro foam wagg, 14 pr27 to 0.18.
Rig 3, 0.30gr Drennan carp 4, 0.16 straight through to a 16 pr27, 13h elastic for fishing 14-16m towards the aerator shallow.
Bait for the day was 1kg of Baitech new n-tice meaty mix which i was going to try for the first time today mixed the night before, various pellets 4mm,6mm & 8mm, dead red magg's & some n-tice polony meat for the hook.
On the whistle i chucked the method some 40m to the point of the island having 2-3 chucks to get my line clip just right with 2 dead reds on the hook then sat back and waited some 30 seconds before the rod tip pulled round with carp no1 on! A 3lb mirror was the culprit. During the first hour i had managed 8 carp and was happy with that as i could see no one around by me with more than that. Hour 2 went around the same sort of pace but i was waiting longer for bites during the last 30 mins of the second hour, most of my fish coming to maggs with odd ones on 6mm white pellets. I had been firing odd 8mm pellets some 25m out so decided to have a go on the pellet wagg and give the method a rest, after around 45 mins on the wagg i had 5 f1's to show for my efforts a lot smaller than the common's & mirror's i had been catching on the method. I had another 30 mins on the method for 3 fish then decided to have a quick look on the pole line for a bit to see if the f1's were there in numbers if not i would spend the rest of the match on the method, the guy to my left was catching well on the method casting 3/4 of the way over and firing 6mm pellets over the top. It took some 10 mins to get a bite on the pole just as i was about to give up i had a 2lb f1, i wasted another 10 mins on the pole before i gave up. With just over an hour to go it was time to sit on the method as the fish on the pellet wagg were to small plus i think i would have caught a few more if i had fished 6mm instead of 8's. The guy to my left was having a fish a chuck now a lot faster than me some times 2-3 fish to my 1, Jim to my right was having odd fish mainly on the baggin wagg or pellet wagg. The were a couple a guy's in the teens catching as well on the tappy pole method. If you haven't guessed yet most method go at Manor Farm with next to no bans, tapping pole, floating pole, bagging wagg floating baits? This is part of the attraction of the place for most, you can use your own pellets and drive all around the pool parking virtually behind your peg? If you don't agree with any of these methods then don't come, i personally don't like people firing floating baits around the pool but as long as you can put up with that the fishing is good. I had a few for fish on the method before the all out with the guy's son in the next peg reckoning he had 38 fish, i hadn't counted mine but new i had less than 30 just some better fish off the island a couple of 6lb+ fish. I fished a match on here last year and counted the fish into one net to see what they weighed most of these were f1's and they average 2lb, that what the guy's son said in the next peg doubling his fish then adding a bit for the odd 3lb'er meaning he had 80lb+. Being on peg 6 the scales are on to you quickly peg 4 had 53lb, Jim on 5 had 57lb, then me with 85lb 8oz, peg 7 pulled his nets out the first one 40lb odd then as he pulled his second net out i looked at Dave the gaffer and he said it was close, 85lb 4oz Phew that was close and with lower weights on the next 2 pegs meant that i had won my section by 4oz? Stav came around saying he had won his section with 80lb but there were 2 100lb+ weights in the teens, Dave only pays the top 2 on the opens but puts more money on the sections with only 5-6 pegs in a section ( another attraction of the place! a lot of people say they prefer to split it up that way, Steve winning his section up the top corner of the pool with 26lb?).
Match Results - Sunday 22nd August - Island Pool
1ST CHRIS TELLING 109-8-0
VESPE.com Peg 13
2ND JOHN ALDRIDGE 106-8-0
Banbury Gunsmiths Peg 16
3RD TOM HOBBS 98-0-0
Maver Farnborough Peg 14
32 fished. Carp and tench caught on pole, pellet and waggler.
As you can see all the weights came off the same bank in the teens i ended up 5th overall but i had learn't a few thing off the guy in the next peg, i think for what i had on the wagg & pole i should have stuck to the method. But you can always fish better after the event i was not to despondent as i had won my section on a venue i might visit 2-3 times a year.