More Seconds…..

Last Wednesday saw me book on the evening match at Kiveton Waters, and after the draw I was to be the last in the rover to pick my peg. With the weather turning cold and the wind pushing down into the deeper pegs in the bowl, I opted to go down there. My plan was to fish pellets on a short pole and a method feeder.

At the all in, I coyted the method feeder out while feeding my pole line (as venue rules permit this, unlike a lot of places) and before I had finished back my rod was off the rest, but frustratingly the fish fell off.

A bite less five minutes saw me try the pole line, and I had a good run of five or six fish, and from what I could see I was doing quite well, as no one else was catching. Then for some reason that I still cant work out, my line died, all I could get was the odd fish, I was having to wait about 20 minutes between bites. And that was my match. I weighed 19lb for second on a night that the venue fished really hard, with young Jake Dye winning with 23lb. I have never had a line die on me in such a dramatic way at Kiveton before, and just glad I caught those few early fish to push me into the money.

The following nights venture to Carterhall was even less successful. The weather had put a lot off, and only five of us turned up to fish. I drew next to Sir Matt, and knew he would fish maggots like we both normally would at the venue. Just to try something different I decided to fish meat, as we were only paying the top one out, and I didn’t fancy beating Matt on maggots, and with us only paying the top one and us sharing it was a fruitless exercise anyway!

Three hours and three carp and a few ide later and I was ruing my decision. Fortunately, Matt won the match though so I didn’t suffer financially. We were absolutely drenched though with the rain, and in bad need of a warm through, so a take away curry and a cup of tea at mine was in order. It was brilliant, though my mum was less than impressed with a load of dripping wet anglers piling in to the dining room!

Back To Kiveton

I had to work on the Saturday, but Sunday saw me back at Kiveton Waters for more action. There was a good turnout, but with the wind pushing down the lake quite hard I thought it could be quite a tough day.

I drew peg nine, a peg I have wanted to draw for a long time, as it looks absolutely brilliant, but for some reason rarely produces. It is on the point of the island, with a nice margin and loads of open water in front. I opted to fish long pole and pellets in front of me, maggots down the edge, and also a method feeder.

I started off on the long pole, feeding a nugget of micros and a 4mm over the top. After 20 minutes I hadn’t had a bite- and was worried!

I couldn’t see anyone catching though, so I knew I just had to plug away and hope some fish switched on at some point. After around an hour, I had a run of five better skimmers, and I thought some fish had finally turned up. They went as quickly as they came however, but looking around there were a lot of people who still hadn’t had a fish.

That said, Kalvin Lawson who was further down the lake had started catching well on the tip, taking good sized skimmers most chucks. I had another good run on the pole, but I just couldn’t seem to make the fish stay.

I was in a bit of a predicament because I was catching better than most people on the lake, but still felt like I should do something to try and increase my catch rate, that’s how slow it was.

I tried my margin and took a carp straight away, but then that died too, and I really was in a limbo as to what to do next. Another couple of skimmers long and then that was my match.

When the scales came round only 11lb was winning, the venue really had fished hard. I recorded 26-8-0, which lead around to Calvin, who put 33-0-0 on the scales.
Fortunately, nobody else challenged me, and I was chuffed to end up second on the day, though frustrated as I felt there were enough fish in front of me to win the match.

I’ve got five good matches to look forward to this weekend, with the open at Lindholme Saturday, Kiveton Waters Sunday, Langwith Lakes Monday and then the Maver Pairs Qualifier at Lindholme Wednesday, I will update next week as to how I get on.