Poplars
Peg 33/34? (first peg on the right as you drive in, next to the aerator)
Tactics (From the inside out.)
Line 1To the right down my own bank there is a bush about 4m away. Depth is about 2.5-3ft which is deeper than I would have liked. Can’t really go any further than 4m down that bank as the aerator would cause problems with hooked fish. Any case I decided this would be the perfect opportunity to try cat meat. So that line received a large pot of Dynamite cat meat pushed through a riddle. The rig for that line was a 4x12 Drennan carp on Silstar 6lb straight through with a size 14 PR21.
Line 2Again off to my right and between the 2 scaffolding poles depth is about 5ft so the rig was a 4x14 Drennan tuff eye on Silstar 5lb straight through with a Size 16 Kamasan 911. I hand fed about 10-20 maggots on this line every 3-4 mins for 4 hours!
Line 3This was in the same direction as line 2 but 2-3m past the 2 scaffolding poles more into the open water I used the same rig as line 2 and cupped in a large pot of 6mm meat at the off and then topped it up every hour.
Line 4Far bank line, had about 2.5-3ft right up to island, the depth is pretty much the same all along the far bank. I was a bit disappointed with this as I felt the warmer weather will drive the carp sunbathing in the shallows. Rig for this was a garbolino DC6 4x12 on 4lb Silstar to a size 18 kamasan 911. I cupped in a large pot of feed pellets and then topped up throughout the match with fruit shoot top or half of a large toss pot depending on bites.
Line 5Far bank in the reeds. The amount of dangling vegetation made this line pretty much un-fishable but I give it a go anyways and shoved a 4x10 Maver Black Ice float on 6lb Silstar to a size 16 Kamasan 911 as far into the bank as I could. At the off I cupped in about 6 bits of luncheon meat.
Ok so my plan was.Catch a couple from the island, then switch to the aerator lines and catch barbel all day starting on the meat line and drawing them into the 5m line and emptying the place. When that slows down go back the island or the inside line and give the aerator lines chance to settle then continue emptying it, falling back onto my inside line in the last hour to catch some lumps. Hohoo The best laid plans of mice and men!
So at the off and after much cupping I start on line 5 (in the Island) and to give line 4 (on the shelf) chance to settle.
I pushed my float in the reeds, snared an animal, it flew into the island and wiped my float out. So a quick reshuffle saw me top that line up with another 6 bits of meat, get a beefier rig and switch from Black hydro to purple(left my red at home :/) I went back onto that line and remained bite less. After 5 mins that goes up the bank and I’m having a look on line 4 on the pellet.
I stated getting signs straight away, little knocks and the odd liner, this keeps me on that line for about an hour which resulted in 4 -5 fish, not bagging but those than I can see are also struggling. I bumped a fish and this led me to put another big pot of pellets in and switch to my maggot line (line2).
I’d fed this line religiously and had high hopes, I shipped out a piece of meat and after 5 mins I’d had no signs, I switched to double maggot, float buried and a 2oz gonk is on its way to the net.
I rebaited with a lump of meat and went on to the further line (line3). After a few mins I’d had no sign, so I topped that line up again and went back to the island.
The next hour was very similar resulting in about 4 or 5 fish. After another hour I tried the maggot line again but couldn’t get a bite or any signs, went on the further line with meat and still couldn’t get any signs. (it’s a flyer, it’s full of barbell! NOT TODAY!)
I put some more catmeat on the inside line and went back to the island, no signs or bites but I could now see fish in the farbank reeds. Out goes my heavy rig, I get a bite straight away and lose a foul hooked fish in the open water. I went straight back out about 2m to the left of my baited area and caught a gonk on a meat and a size 14 911, greedy b*****d, it wasn’t so much hooked as the hook had jammed its mouth open
So there’s about 2.5 hours gone now and I’m struggling for bites. A quick glance about and it seems everyone is the same. I catch 2 skimmers on my far line and I know then the carp have moved. The next hour or so saw me trying all my lines and picking up the odd fish from the far bank.
After about 3.5 hours I go on my aerator meat line and the float buries, I bully a small carp into the net and I’m thinking “here we go”). That was the last and only fish caught from that line.
With about an hour to go another match starts on the opposite pegs. There is someone pegged near to the hay bale in the aerator peg and someone next to him (opposite me) on the island point.
The lad opposite me fished pellet at full depth (about 12”) and had a fish a chuck (told you I was disappointed with the deeper water). Any case he loses a decent a fish which ran straight into the island and this caused me to start seeing signs again on my far line. I managed to pick up a couple of fish and then I returned the compliment by losing a fish and he started catching again. At one point he had a fish hooked and it was on my far line ( i had to move my pole) as the fish had swam around the island, he landed this fish and was as amazed as I than he had.
The plus side of this was that he cleared all the debris that had collected around the point and give me a bit more far bank space to fish. Didn’t make much difference as fishing 16m to the island point resulted in 1 more fish and pretty much game over for me. The lad in the hay bale peg had 3 animals, one which will have gone at least 8lb, he had to fold it into his landing net, the last fish I saw him catch as I packed up and waited to be weighed was barbel about 2lbs!
I finished the match with 20lbs+ and was massively disappointed, for whatever reason I’ve struggled to put more than 2 or 3 bites together. End peg flyer and a spare peg to my left I really felt the peg owed me more, the majority of fish caught seemed to be silver fish but I think the warm weather has the carp in shallows and I knew that if the barbell didn’t show then I struggle to compete.
What I should’ve, could’ve done.As I had 2kg of worms with me (Cheer’s Col) I probably should have switched the maggot line to chopped worm, and fed maggot to my left in the open water and made use of the spare peg.
My meat line (near to the aerator) I should have combined with pellets and cupped both in together. I don’t know if this would have made any difference but it may have presented more opportunities (probably more gonks).
If it had been a big match I may well have tried right in the aerator but it’s dangerous as you are going to lose fish and stand the chance of getting your pole wrapped around some of the machinery.
I probably should have cleared all the debris from the island point and tried to hit the shallower water there, before the off I’d considered this but as it was a nine peg match I thought I had enough water to go at to win it
I think drawing a “barbel” peg made me switch tactics. If I’d have drew any other peg my main line of attack would have been “choppie” down the track, pellet on the shelf and meat in the island.
Many thank to hardlyfish for organising, I’ve only ever ran 1 match and it’s a thankless task, so a big pat on the back for you mate, well done.
Looking forward to the next one.
~AndyJ
