MFS - Wood Lane, Iver, 17th March 2012

Peg 1, home for the day
Rick Baxter (Happy Dangler) had organised a Match Fishing Scene Champions League match at Wood Lane in Iver on the match lake.

Wood Lane has two lakes on-site.  The Match lake is a rounded triangular shaped lake.  Rick had divided the 21 anglers into three sections of 7.  Each section on a different bank.

Weather for the day was overcast and slightly damp.

The Draw
My draw bag luck hasn't been the best and I pulled out Peg 1, the closest to the carpark but a peg which would be difficult to fish the pellet waggler or bomb rod as pegs 3 and 33 cut off peg 1's access to the centre of the lake.

The Set-Up
I spoke to Andy G on Thursday and he had advised that if I was to draw on the bank in the 30's that I would need some 16' deep pole rigs.  As it happened I had 8' depth at 13-14.5 metres, so I setup the following:
  • 13-14.5 metre pole line directly in front
  • Margin Pole Line to the right under the overhanging tree
  • 10' Bomb Rod - 4lb Mainline
  • 13' Waggler Rod - Drennan insert puddle chucker, 4lb mainline, set to full depth
  • 11' Pellet Wagger Rod with a Middy Splasher Waggler, set to 4' deep
Bait for the day was simple, pellets and more pellets.  I had 4mm, 6mm and 8mm pellets.  Some sweetcorn, soft hooker pellets and Marukyu JPZ pellets.

The All-In
I potted in a large cup of 4mm pellets on the long pole line dropping them in from a height to create some noise to try and bring the fish in.

Following up with half a dozen 6mm pellets pinged on the pellet waggler line and launched the splasher waggler to the right spot, which was not as far out as I liked due to Pegs 3 and 33 cutting my swim off.

Andy G called and advised that Peg 1 would be a tough day and to stick on the pellet waggler for an hour and if nothing was happening go for the skimmers.  This is exactly what happened.  I landed one skimmer on the pellet waggler, no carp.

So, I switched plans and topped the 13 metre pole line up with some sweet fishmeal groundbait mixed with 4mm pellets and went over the line with sweetcorn.

The first skimmer followed after 30 minutes wait.  It was a decent 8oz fish but the bites weren't quick or confident, so I topped up the swim with another ball of groundbait and went on the bomb while the skimmer swim settled and the fish felt confident, pinging 4mm pellets over the line.

After 30 minutes the bomb had produced plenty of line bites, but no fish, so it was clear fish were in the swim so back on the pole.

I switched hookbait to a 6mm JPZ and the results were instant.  I landed 6 decent skimmers in the next 30 minutes.

With 2 hours left I potted up the margin swim with corn and 6mm pellets. I would try this line in the last 30 minutes of the match.

So for the next 90 minutes I fished to the bites and ended up topping up the swim every 30 minutes with a small ball of groundbait.  

The margin swim produced nothing, even with two large worms on the hook.  The bailiff had mentioned there was a large carp that normally frequented the area, but of course, fish have fins and swim!

I ended up with around 20 fish in the net when the all-out was called.

I had the scales and weigh net, so packed up as much of my gear and went to weigh my section in.

The Result
4th in section with 12lb 8oz

Full Match Results

Peg - Angler - Weight
Section A
1 Lewy 12lb 8oz
3 Herbie 15lb 10oz
4 Proper Tidal Boy 20lb 2oz  -
Section 2nd
5 Flinstone DNW
6 Happydangler 7lb 10oz
7 Fred 12lb 0oz
8 Mickthebookie 49lb 12oz  - Section 1st

Section B
13 Lummox 20lb 0oz
14 Rik1 DNW
15 Colbrad41 21lb 8oz - Section 2nd
16 SimonPavey 10lb 0oz
17 Jumspurs DNW
18 Scone DNW
25 Grahamspiller 33lb 4oz  - Section 1st

Section C
26 Terryturnip 60lb 8oz - Section 1st
27 Squeakyroller 53lb 7oz - Section 2nd
29 Stevier 22lb 8oz
30 JWB 40lb 0oz
31 76trombones 31lb 6oz
32 mickyD 17lb 12oz
33 Nickd 36lb 10oz


Conclusion
The only problem with the match lake is that all anglers cast to the middle of the lake.  Pegs 3 and 33 limited my ability to get the pellet waggler or bomb in the area that I would have liked to.

The carp where obviously still in the deeper water, despite many fish topping.  With hindsight and more knowledge of the lake I should have targeted the skimmers from the start.

Another enjoyable day with the crew from Match Fishing Scene and hopefully I've bagged myself some Championship League points, if not at least some Numpty League points!

Thanks to Rick for the organisation.

More pictures of the crew below...

The Motley Crew in my section - Mick the bookie is out of shot (luckily)

MFS's resident Carrot Cruncher - Herbie

Proper Tidal Boy, aka Greeny, aka Brian

Rick Baxter, Match Organiser, thanks Rick

Mick the Bookie, it was that big (before the match).
His biggest fish was around that size too, don't bet against this man ;-)

Action shot of yours truly as taken by Milo who was just visiting.
The Margin swim never produced anything!


Comments

Jaapster said…
nice one Lewy.
mick the bookie said…
Great to see you again Mark...and even better to take your nugget.I know ive told you before about my "pop ups",but today you have seen for yourself just how deadly this bait can be when used by a "complete mug"....lol.
Hope to see you soon pal,and maybe sink a few amber nectars after giving you another lesson..lol.Take care.

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