Blythe Pairs Winter League Sunday 19/2/12

The first outing for me since our last round here 3 weeks ago as the bad weather had finally come putting a stop to the fishing, there was due to be another round on here to be fished a week after the last round but with ice on the pool and the forecast of 2-4 inches of snow on the Saturday afternoon the day before common-sense ruled and we cancelled the match. Last weekend saw us cancel another league match on the woodside canal due to 2 inches of ice so at last we could get out this weekend as the temperature had come up sufficient during the week to allow us to fish but now the water will be full of melted ice nice! ( I had to get out of the house the misses thought she had found a new bloke one that is there on a Sunday! Stuff that before she gets any decorating ideas?).
Stav said he couldn't catch or draw at the moment so left the drawing up to me again so into the bag I went coming out with peg 23 for me again ( the peg I fished the last round )so I was happy with that then pulled out peg 17 for Stav which didn't produce a lot on the last round ( 7lb I think? ) but has had some good weights off in the past so he was reasonably happy with it. After fishing the peg 3 weeks ago I was going to change the plan of attack slightly I set up a small maggot feeder a opposed to the method I fished before because there were 4 Carp caught up my end of the pool and they all fell to the maggot feeder, then I was going to fish 2 pellet lines at 14.5m instead of one as I could only catch on the pellet 3 weeks ago. I would still set up the same pinkie line but this time at 10m and the same margin rig at 13m down the left hand edge as they can sometimes show there but I failed to get a bite there the last time, I set up 4 rigs to cover all my lines and the maggot feeder-
Rig 1, 14.5m light pellet rig 4x14 j-range 8 float, 0.14 mainline to a 18 Tubertini 808 hook to 0.12 line, set just touching bottom in 7 1/2ft of water, doubled up no5 elastic.
Rig 2, A slightly heavier 4x16 version of the same float as above with the same line and hook but with J-range 7-10 hollow elastic.
Rig 3, 10m pinkie line, Preston inter 9 0.30gr float, 0.12 main to a 20 Drennan sliverfish hook to 0.10, 2inches over-depth in 6 ft of water with double no5 elastic.
Rig 4, margin line 4x12 j-8 again with the same line & hooks as the pellet rigs, just over-depth around 3ft from the bank where the shelf drops to around 4ft, 6-10 hoolo elastic again.
For bait I had brought the usual kitchen sink in pellets both micros & 4mm and hooker pellets in all shapes and sizes, corn, maggots and pinkies.
I started the match on the maggot feeder which was the smallest in the Drennan carp feeders on a simple running rig 6lb mainline with just a 12 inch hook-length of 0.16 as I was casting tight to the central boom with a size 1 Tubertini 175 hook, on only my 2nd cast with 2 red maggots on the hook the tip pulled round and Carp no1 was hooked which turned out to be a nice 3-4lb jobbie , a good start! A false start it was as I sat on the feeder until the end of the first hour with only a couple of small indications and no more fish it was time to switch to the pole, Chris on the next peg 22 had a couple of Carp in the first hour on the pole so out went a 4mm pellet on my 10 o'clock pellet line, I had fed the 2 pellet lines at 10 and 2 o'clock trying to keep the fish coming but mainly as the sun was out today and a strong wind rippling the water I would have somewhere to fish away from the blinding sun. I had been on the pole around 10mins and after trying to block out the strong sunlight I lifted into what I thought was a bite and Carp no2 was hooked, it gave me a bit of a run around on the double 5 elastic but after a few minutes and with the help of the pulla kit Carp no2 was in the net and at around 7-8lb it was a nice fish. Over the next couple of hours I managed to hook and land another 3 Carp all on 4mm pellet and all from the same pellet line, I had tried my 2 o'clock without a bite and also the pinkie line failed to produce a bite and for the second match running I couldn't understand why we had failed to catch any silverfish when the place is full of small Roach & Skimmers? Chris to my left was also catching with one of his fish around double figures but the two guy's to my right were still blank, Stav was also struggling with only 1 F1 and 1 Skimmer to show for his efforts but he was right opposite the two guy's blanking. With around an hour and half of the match remaining I couldn't by a bite but there was still one line I hadn't tried the margins which I had fed 3-4 times from the start with 3-4 grains of corn and around a dozen maggots, with nothing to loose I put 2 red maggots on the hook and shipped out down the edge to 13m tipping around 6 maggots over the top of the float which settled and then carried on going? It was a small pastie size Carp in the 2lb class and next put in the same again and 3rd put-in the same again they were lining up, it was strange as the last time I fished the peg 3 weeks ago I couldn't get a bite down there but after 5 fish all in the 1-3lb bracket they slowed down. I potted in around 20 maggots and gave the line a rest to see if the fish would come back over the feed, I sat on the pellet without a bite for 5 minutes and with 15mins to go to the all out went back down the edge. I had another 2 small Carp and pulled out of one in that last period ending the with a dozen Carp with that last but one fish the only loss of the day I was happy with my days fishing and should get good points, it was going to be close between me and Chris I had got more fish than him but his were all of a better size we also found out that Carl the gaffer on peg 29 had caught well with around a dozen as well. Stav's section was the first to weight-in with Baz Robson winning the section with 21lb off the corner peg 20 there was a 20lb off peg 12 and Kev Clarke was 3rd in the section with 14lb off peg 12, Stav only managed to catch one more Skimmer the rest of the match to go with the 2 fish he had earlier and weighed 3lb odd beating just the 2 blanks in his section (sacked does anyone fancy fishing a pairs league?) only joking mate! I am sure he will come good soon? Chris was the first to go in my section weighing 31lb then mine went 39lb 7oz to give me the lead in the section, Dave to my right was dry with 30mins left to go then had 2 Carp & 2 Skimmers for 8lb, JB was the only one to blank in my section on peg 26 (right opposite Stav so it just shows that there were no fish there), as Carl put his fish in the weigh sling I thought that's close but thankfully the scales settled at 38lb dead giving me the section and match win, the best out of the last 4 pegs in my section to weigh in was Ollie on peg 30 with 14lb. When all the points had been added up we are still in joint 1st place with Carl & Chris with Ray & Dave in 2nd place another 4 points behind us, so that's it at the half way point with 4 rounds gone and 4 to go we are still in with a shot at the title.