Sunday 27^th July – Ian Chapple Memorial Match, Whitehouse Farm – Unfancied Peg Comes Good For A Place On the Podium

With 19 in attendance, the numbers were a little down on expectations but more importantly, the match raised well over £300 for Cancer Research UK. There will also be a significant addition to this figure from club funds before sending off the final donation. I’d like to thank all those who donated toward the raffle prizes including tackle shops, Premier Angling and Scott Tackle. Alcove Match Secretary, Jason Pitman, did a sterling job in successfully organising and running the match, so well done to him. Even the weather played its part, remaining overcast and dry throughout the day with very little wind. On reflection, it was probably a perfect day for fishing the waggler, although I didn’t see anyone fishing this method.

So, with raffle tickets duly sold and pools monies paid, everyone gathered for the eagerly awaited draw. I was thinking, peg 6 or 14 on Margaret’s Lake would be nice or peg 6 or peg 1 on Georges Lake would do me. I drew peg 10 on Margaret’s. So, it’s not my favourite peg as there is no island chuck but at least peg 11 wasn’t put in so I had a bit of room to work with to my left-hand side and into the corner. Scott Tackle manager, Matt Challenger, drew peg 6 and I expected him to do well from there. That particular peg has thrown up more winners than any other peg on Margaret’s Lake over the years and it’s all down to a nifty little feature, known as the spit. I won from that peg the last time I drew it.

Seasoned match angler, Andy Brookman, drew peg 14 and I expected a big weight from him. I won the match from this peg too, the last time I drew it, fishing corn well down the right-hand margin. So I was up against it but if the skimbos were up for it today then I thought I might be able to take the silvers prize and that’s how I set up. I selected a swim to my left at 10 metres, which was just over 6 feet deep. It would have been nearer 9 feet deep if the level wasn’t so low. I intended to fish paste here over a 50/50 mix of Sweet F1 and Scopex groundbait. My rig consisted of a 0.7-gram pencil float, 0.15 Guru N-Guage rig line and a size 16 hook to a 0.13 hooklength. A small hook I know but my intention was to fish with small balls of stiff paste for skimbos and F1s.

I also set up a line over to my right at 10 metres for fishing worm over chopped worm and micros. This has worked well for me in the past on George’s Lake for big skimbos and so I thought it would make a good alternative to paste. It’s always a good idea to have 2 lines on the go for skimbos and then focus on whichever one produces the most bites. So, that just left the margins. To my right I had an overhanging bush that protruded outward into the lake and that formed a little bay tight to the bank. It was just over 12 inches deep at the bank edge and about 18 inches deep about a half metre out. I thought it would be ideal for fishing meat there. To my left, I had a long edge line with lots of vegetation but I decided to stay quite short at 5 metres, as it looked a bit too snaggy further down.

On the all-in, I cupped out a ball of groundbait and dropped it in on the 10-metre line to my left. Then I made a worm bomb consisting of chopped worm, a few micros and a small amount of groundbait and dropped that in on the 10-metre line to my right. I also fed both edge lines right from the start and I would keep throwing in a small amount of loose feed over these throughout the day… corn to my left and meat to my right. I started with a small ball of paste on the hook and dropped that in over the ground-baited line. Within 5 minutes the swim began fizzing and it wasn’t long before I had my first fish… a carp of about 5lbs, which I wasn’t quite expecting. Then I had an F1 about 10 minutes later but no skimbos.

Although there was a lot of bubbles percolating to the surface, I was missing lots of bites and I think there were quite a few small fish in the swim rooting around the lake bed. About 20 minutes later, I had a 6-ounce skimbo and I reckoned there were a few of them there kicking up the silt so a change to the worm line. By now, this line was also fizzing like a Jacuzzi and on the first put-in my half dendra hookbait was snaffled by an F1. This was soon followed by a skimbo nudging 2lbs but the next skimbo was only about 8 ounces and I never saw another one during the rest of the match. Very strange! However, my next fish on the worm was a lively carp about 6lbs and I wasn’t expecting that either. It was turning out to be a day of un-expectations!

Bites stopped coming soon after the carp was landed so I changed back to the paste and had another F1 but little else. More worm dangling brought another F1 and then a couple of perch, which is not a good sign. So, it was time to rest these 2 lines and take a look down the edges. First I tried corn on my left-hand edge but apart from a few tentative enquiries, I didn’t catch anything there on corn so it was over to my right-hand margin. No sooner had the float settled and my meat offering was grabbed by a small chub. I didn’t expect to catch a chub down this edge but then I went on to catch quite a few more all averaging about 10-12 ounces each. Weird! I decided to drop a ball of Scopex groundbait on this edge line and wait while I went over all my other lines for another look. Both of my 10-metre lines were still bubbling but the bites were totally unhittable for some strange reason.

So it was back on the meat down my right-hand edge. I didn’t have to wait long before the float buried and I was in… and this time it was a carp. A hefty one too, which took about 15 minutes to land and weighed about 12lbs… luverrly! I had to scramble down the bank to get nearer the water so I could lift the landing net as I was too high above the water on the platform. So, in goes more loose feed meat and another small ball of Scopex. About 10 minutes later and I’m in again. It’s another carp and my 26 margin pole elastic is stretched to the limit before we part company due to a hook pull. It was a huge double, probably a 20-pounder. So, in goes more meat and more Scopex and out comes another carp 10 minutes later. Then I had another 2 small chub.

Well, it went a bit quiet on all lines after that and with about 40 minutes to go, I had a carp take the meat on the drop… but it soon came off so a defo foul hooker that time. Then with about 20 minutes left on the clock I hooked and landed another carp of around 5lbs but that was the last fish before the all-out shout went out! During the match I could hear Andy Brookman complaining about lost fish and also the guy in peg 12 had lost a few. Well, I reckoned I had about 30lbs of carp and 10lbs of silvers so I felt as though I was in no-man’s land. I didn’t think I had caught enough carp for an outright win and I didn’t think I had enough silvers to take the silvers pool. Well, whatever… I enjoyed the day and I had caught fish, so I wasn’t too bothered about how I ended up. There’s was always the raffle…LOL.

The weighing started on peg 6 and as expected, Matt Challenger had sorted out the carp to put 63-10-0 on the scales and a guaranteed lake win. The next contender of note was Barry Summers who had a fine net of slivers weighing a total of 16-05-0, so that was the top silvers prize gone. Then it was my turn to reveal my hand and my 5 carp went 30-13-0 and my silvers net weighed 12-12-0, giving me a total of 42-15-0, which was enough for second place on Margaret’s Lake and 3^rd overall across both lakes. Well, I was more than happy with that, especially from a peg I really didn’t fancy at all. Andy Brookman was third on Margaret’s Lake with 32-05-0.

Over on George’s Lake, Kev Murch on peg 15 had been having the time of his life. Kev weighed an amazing total of 106-03-0 for a convincing overall win, setting a new Whitehouse Farm match record. He is the first member to break the 100lb barrier, which we had been expecting someone to do during the past 2 years. Second place on George’s went to Mr consistent, Kev Swanston, with a total of 30-10-0 and third was Geoff Challenger with 26-8-0. The top silvers honour went to Jon “Mr Whippy” Amato with a straight 14lbs net of quality roach and rudd. A big very well done to everyone who competed and supported this very worthy cause.

Well, next Sunday we’re back at Whitehouse Farm yet again for another 2-lake extravaganza. It’s the annual Alcove versus Kingswood RBL Interclub match. Sadly, we don’t get enough support from the Legion lads on this one, so it will down to a handful of diehards to fight the battle and fly the flag once again. Keep you posted!

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