Last Hour Down Edge Saves The Day!

Sunday 19th July saw me in action at Lands End Fishery in the league. My colleague Glen was having a swell time on holiday which meant I had the chance to close the gap between me and him to 1 point!

I handed out some dvd's to everyone as a good deed and just a little something to watch. Soon after I was given the bag to start the draw and I was given Peg 1, perminant peg 40 on the speci lake. This was perfect as Glen had the last time so I knew about the snags in the area.

Home For The Day, Peg 1 (40 Officially)

I set up a .4gr Pencil at 13m to ping pellets to catch F1's and Bream and also a shalla line at the same distance. 6m line was a .3 Series 7 for Meat and 12m line along side the right hand bank was a .3 Series 2 for loose ground bait with dead reds.

Bait for the day was 6mm & 8mm pellets, 8mm meat (thanks for the cutter Trev, you saved my bacon!), dead reds and 2kg's of Ringers Edge Ground Bait.

I started off on the deck and picked up a Skimmer. It was soon clear after pinging pellets that the fish were shallow as I had so many line bites. I swapped over to the shallow rig and started lifting and dropping and then slapping. I didn't have much success, lost 2 fish and bites were few. I did managed a flying Bream, A ROACH and a big F1 though.

2 hours fast approached and when my alarm went off I fed my 12m edge line 3 times at 20 minute intervals. I fished my 6m line while the fish settled at 12m but I didn't have a touch. The last hour arrived and I fed another pot of my mix.

Ringers Edge Is A Heavy Mix Perfect For Fishing Margins

I went in and within seconds I was in to a Carp and shortly after I was in again! I had re-fed and hooked something very angry as I just couldn't stop it and the hook pulled :( This happened twice annoyingly but hey ho we can't catch them all.

I ended up with 5 fish in the last hour to a rough guess of 25lbs. I couldn't see anyone in my section so I had no idea how I had done. 

The Scales soon arrived and I weight in with 54lb exactly. I was hoping this was enough for the section win as I really need to catch Glen! I also had the wind up merchant Mr Guppy  and Trev in my section all of whom are not far behind me so I needed to win,

Peg 2: Robbie. He weighed in with 20lb 2oz's which included an 18lb Carp!

Robbie with his 18lb Carp

Peg 3: Trev the tip master! Trev weighed in with 50lb which was great news for me! Enough for 2nd in the section?

Peg 4: Rich "Pops". Rich weighed in with 9lbs. 

Peg 5: Kieron, always greets me by swearing haha. 45lb's 4oz's for 3rd as it stood.

Peg 6: Pete. Treasurer! Pete weighed in with 12lb. I was nervous as everyone said he sacked up!?

So I won my section, Trev not far behind in 2nd. Just what I needed. Glen won't be happy!

Peg 7: Jeff, the main man. Kindly runs the league and loves the pellet waggler! There is your mention Jeff! :) 43lbs exactly.

Peg 8: Joe, Silvers legend. Joe weighed 12lbs 4oz

Peg 9: Sandy. Makes car parking spaces for himself lol. 13lb 2oz

Peg 10: Ian, End Peg Edge Master! 39lb 2oz

Peg 11: Bob, loves banter! 25lbs

Peg 12: John, drew the same peg as last time! 1lb

Jeff wins the seconds section and Ian closely in 2nd.

The league is looking tight now with 5 or 6 left now we have passed half way!

This is how it stands! So close and the Gap between me and Glen is now 1 point!

Next Up: Stalbridge Summer League match

Dorset Shield Round 1: Durweston

Sunday 12th of July saw the the first round of the North Dorset Shield take place at Durweston. I remember fishing here last year and it was deep and not a great deal of room to move or ship the pole back. Despite that I was feeling positive :)

I wanted to draw between peg 7 and 11 as i knew this area had been producing fish recently. I drew peg 8 so I was happy and happier knowing I had an easy walk.

I got to my peg and straight away I knew I was in for a tough day as well as the other 19 people. The water was covered in floating weed and debris. I scooped out 4 net fulls at the start to try and sort out my whip line but this proved to be a waste of time. Plumbing up was difficult enough as the weed made things hard to see. Finally after battling through I prepped my bait. Caster, maggot and worm where main hook baits and pinkie as a back up if things were hard. I mixed up my faithful super crumb river and mixed a big tin of hemp with half a pint of caster.

Super Crumb River is a great mix, heavy and sticky! Perfect for getting bait down to the bottom

As the whistle went I balled in 10 balls of neat ground bait. This cleared a gap in the weed long enough for me to catch a nice Rudd and Hybrid in the first two put ins. The weed soon came back and things were getting difficult. Constantly getting caught up and tangled :( 

I managed some Chubletts on the drop in the next hour. All the while feeding my 6m whip line I battled on over the ground bait and started feeding hemp over the top. This produced 2 little Perch but it then died.

I started priming my edge line near an overhanging tree for Perch with Chopped Worm and a few Casters. Had a look on the Whip line but nothing :( 

An hour to go and I was worried. No bites on the edge line, no access at 13m as the weed seemed to have gotten thicker throughout the day and no signs on the whip.

I fed some more Hemp on the whip line and stuck with it. Sure enough with 15 minutes left the float vanished and I was in to a good fish. I knew I wasn't swinging this in as it was was really bending the tip. Net ready I scooped up A ROACH of around 1lb. Not a mark on it and it was fiting fit. A good sign for the river.

The whistle went and I was really unsure on how the other 4 got on as I couldn't see or hear any of them.

I packed up and took my gear to  the car and awaited the scales. I was first to weigh in my section. 2lb 9oz! It may have been enough but who knows. I followed the scales down and at the next peg I found out that a team mate had finished 2nd in his section and a 3rd in the other section.

Other weights coming in were 1lb 11oz, 2lb, 2lb 5oz and the last peg in my section to weigh in. we got to peg 6, my team captain confirmed I was winning my section and I crossed my fingers. Regardless I knew I was leaving with an envolope but I was just waiting on confirmation on a 1st or a 2nd envelope.

I heard a loud "2lb 5oz's" from peg 6 meaning I have won section thanks to that Roach. I looked to my captain and he said "that run of yours is still going, jammy sod!" to which I laughed and said "don't complain, think of the points".

Back at the cars the results were read out and prizes handed out. I was leaving with £30 :) That has paid for this Sunday's League match plus fuel! Free days fishing! Wahooo :)

On the day Sturminster won overall with 15 points closely followed by Stalbridge on 14.5 points.

So a frustrating day but in the end a happy chap. 

Back to the league next weekend with the shop customers. Lands End awaits!

Next Up: League, Lands End Fishery