MFS - Larford Lash Up, 14th September 2012

Day 1 of the 2012 MatchFishing-Scene Larford Lash-up as organised by Andy and Sarah Kinder and kindly hosted by Phil Briscoe, Maver MD.  A record number of attendees this year, around 85 and the hangover started early after a night with the lads at the Robin Hood Pub down the road from Chateaux Disney.  I was an honouree "Jock"for the weekend which was a privilege and also meant I was in the "Top Jock" pool totalling £8 pounds, Scottish or English, it didn't matter ;-)

The Draw
With so many anglers and the late arrival of Jason who had all the match sheets, Andy and Sarah Kinder did a cracking job of getting us all registered, pools paid and generally organised.  I drew out Match lake, permanent peg 28, an end peg plus it was the peg that won Les Thompson the £50,000 first prize on Maver's MatchThis competition.

My neighbour for the day was none other than Bob Poole, who I sat next to at last years Larford Lash-up.  Maybe a chance to win my pound back?

The Set-Up
As luck would have it, an email from Maver MatchThis had come through earlier in the week describing exactly how Les had fished his match, so it made perfect sense to follow his £50,000 advice.  So I would be fishing mainly at 13 metres on the pole.

  • Duplicate rigs at full depth, 0.14 line to a hard banded 6mm pellet, white hydroelastic
  • Shallow rig for 13 metres, hard banded 6mm pellet, blue hydroelastic

As we had two hours to set up I also broke out a bomb rod and pellet waggler in case I had to go further out past the pole line for fish.

Bait for the day was very simple, 4mm and 6mm feed pellets, 6mm expanders in case I needed a change of bait and luncheon meat for the margins later in the day.

The All-In
I started the 13 metre line off with a handful of 4mm fishery pellets with a pinch of 6mm pellets.  I would rest this line for 30 minutes and then go over it.

There was a lot of activity near the island, so I picked up the bomb rod and went long, pinging 6mm pellets over it and also pinging 4mm pellets over the 13 metre line.

First fish of the day, came early as the tip wrapped round and a decent 3lb F1 was in the net.  Another wrap round followed but the fish came off which I suspected it was foul hooked.  My 30 minutes was up and I wanted to try the 13 metre line.

I opted for a strung out shotting pattern to test all depths to see if the fish were shallow but found that the fish were close to the bottom.  The depth was only about 3 foot.  Pinging 4mm pellets constantly the first fish was soon on, steering it to the right of the feed area, feeding again, breaking the pole down to the top two and feeding once more.  This became the pattern for much of the match.

After 3 hours I'd had some good sport all from the 13 metre line, but I had lost as many fish as I had in the net.  I had also two lost fish in the margins on the right side where it broke the line... to which I would hear Bob Poole shout over the infamous MFS saying of, "nobody likes to see that Lewy"

I had fed the margins with a handful of meat every 15 minutes and sport had now slowed on the 13 metre line, so I potted out some more 4mm pellets and had a try in the margin swim with a 6mm cube of luncheon meat... bites were instant, but it was from roach... not the margin monsters I was hoping for.

Getting back on the 13 metre line, the rhythm had gone, but I was still catching fish, just not at the pace earlier in the match.  Meantime, Bob was starting to get some good fish from his margin line.

The all-out was called and the 5 hours had gone very quickly... I really didn't have a clue what weight was in the nets, but I knew it would be close with Bob.

The Result
I was the first to weigh in on the section and the scales hit 52lb 12oz which I was quite pleased with for 6th in section.

Bob Poole was claiming 20lb.... which was a long way off his 60lb 2oz and of course he took my £1.



Conclusion
I tried going shallow and had a couple of fish, the fish were mainly on the deck despite the constant pinging of 4mm pellets.  I had lost my rhythm when my rigs where trashed in the margin and never got it back.  Regardless I had an enjoyable day even though Bob got my £1.

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