Sunday 3rd August – Alcove AC v Kingswood RBL, Whitehouse Farm – A Bashing For The Legion Despite 3 Gunners Finishing In The Top 3 Places

Alcove “superhero”, Matt Challenger, single-handedly slayed the Legionnaires in the latest interclub contest, fished across both lakes at Whitehouse Farm. The fishing tackle shop manager, once again, drew the most favoured peg on the lake, this time being peg 18 on the dam wall. Matt fished paste down his right-hand edge to find the fish waiting in numbers, and many of them were big doubles, which had to be weighed individually and returned. From my vantage point, I reckoned he had over 50lbs during the first hour alone! Matt went on to weigh in a fabulous total of 152-05-0, breaking the one-week-old new match record by over 50lbs. Despite Matt’s whitewash, the Legion had a winner on Margaret’s Lake in Jason Pitman and a second placing too for the previous match record holder, Kev Murch, while I somehow managed to come third on George’s Lake.

How my day panned out…

Finishing in second place on Margaret’s Lake last week didn’t help one tiny bit in my overall strategy in tackling George’s Lake this week. Although the 2 lakes almost always fish very differently, I decided to stick with the same previous game plan, which is not always the best idea. I drew peg 15 on George’s, so I had a chat with Kev Murch, who had won from the same peg last week, setting a new match record of 106lbs. Kev told me how he had fished the peg and exactly where in the peg he had fished. He also told me he had caught on both meat and corn down the left-hand edge beyond the lily stems. So, armed with that information, I set up my margin pole for the specific job of dragging out between 8 and 10 large doubles (in my dreams). My rig for this “special operation” consisted of a 0.3 gram crystal dibber float, 0.22 (9lb BS) Guru N-Gauge mainline and a size 14 Guru Super XS tied to a 0.19 (7lb BS) Guru N-Gauge hooklength.

My old Garbolino margin pole has an extra-long 2.5-piece topkit with size 26 elastic fitted. It’s a carp slayer with specimens of up to 22lbs safely tamed and landed, so I was packing and ready for action. However, there was more to do by way of accumulating a silvers net should the carp plan backfire. So, I set up 2 rigs for fishing at 9 metres out in front. For over to my left, I had set up a paste rig and for over to my right, I had a worm rig ready. I plumbed up my inside edge to my right, but there were just too many lily stems to contend with up to 2 metres out from the bank. It was clear after that, but I felt it wasn’t right for carp… but then what do I know? So, on the all-in I started on the paste line and fished it exactly as I had done the week before on Margaret’s Lake. It was good 20 minutes before I got my first bite and Matt had already landed a big double in that time. Eventually, I caught a couple of skimbos and then it went dead, so it was onto the worm line. I must have spent about 20 minutes on this line without any indications whatsoever, so I abandoned this line altogether.

For the best part of the next 2 hours, I plugged away on the paste and had 6 small skimbos to show for my efforts. By this time, Matt had about 5 carp and was fast becoming uncatchable, so I had to go down my left-hand edge earlier than I would have liked. I cupped out a few grains of corn and micros, and then tried fishing over that for a while. Nothing… no signs… no indications… nothing. So, I switched to meat and 30 minutes later, there are still no signs of carp anywhere in the swim. No bubbles, no swirls, no movement anywhere. It was obvious the fish had moved to the dam wall bank and Matt was having it all his own way. Well, all I could do was (weep),  carry on and hope, but with time fast running out, I went back on the paste for a while and caught a couple more skimbos before they disappeared again.

Well, it was 2 o’clock before I had my first carp and that was on paste. It was a small consolation as by this time, Matt had already banked around 80lbs plus and Steve Sewall on peg 1 was catching a few too. Jon Amato on peg 6 was fishing the whip and somehow managed to foul hook a carp in the tail, which then went around the back of his keepnet. Needless to say, Jon lost that one, leaving a misty cloud of blue verbals hanging in the air. Well, all I could do now was carry on presenting meat or paste down my left-hand edge, which got me a brown goldfish for my troubles, but it was far from “all the fun o’ the fair” as I soon hooked another carp and then lost it. It shot out toward the middle of the lake with no intention of stopping and broke my 0.17 hooklength. It was obviously a very big double.

Meanwhile, the Matt Challenger show continued, but his bagging session was not without its losses, including 2 topkits and a no.3 pole section. I began to look for more options as my left-hand margin was not producing as expected. So, I started throwing in some bits of paste and groundbait to my right-hand edge swim (in desperation), while going over my 9-metre line again in hope of a stray carp. That didn’t happen, but then on my first look over my right-hand edge… bingo! A big carp straight away. However, all was not as it seemed and within a few minutes the carp was lost. He did leave his calling card by way of a 2-inch scale…. FFS! So, a very frustrating day for me, especially as I was in the peg that threw up a ton just one week before but that’s fishing for you. On the all-out, I reckoned I only had about 15lbs in total, which was eclipsed by any one of the carp Matt had caught. As for the team, I was hoping someone had got amongst the big fish to help stave off the possibility of a major embarrassment for the Legion.

So, come the weigh-in, Steve Sewall on peg 1 had put in a fine performance with 61lbs, Don Searle and Jon Amato battled it out all day on the silvers, with Don just edging it for a total of 13-07-0, less than a pound ahead of Jon. My carp and silvers nets weighed a total of 16-09-0, which was, surprisingly, enough for third on the lake and so a little wonga in the pocket again this week. However, it was Matt’s day as he totally bossed the match and finished up with a new match record of 152lbs… amazing and well done to him! Well, as far as the team weights go, the Legion lost by a country mile. Alcove had a grand total of 298-12-0 to the Legion’s 153-14-0. So, you could say it was a whitewash at Whitehouse! Hmmm… where have I heard that before?

So, it’s back to Windmill Fisheries for me this Thursday, for the penultimate Costcutter qualifying match. I’ve practically given up trying to qualify this year as the odds have defo been against me, especially with the draws. And with a full house expected this week, it isn’t going to be any easier, so a completely new approach is called for and I’m willing to take all kinds of silly risks and try some really bizarre methods. Well, I’ve got nothing to lose. Then on Sunday 10^th, I hope to be fishing an Alcove AC match on the Clamp, if there’s room. The water level is very low, which means only half the lake will be fishable… keep you posted!   

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