As The venue was brand new to me I didn't have a clue what draw was good and what was bad. I pulled out peg 35 on Lizard for myself and peg 11 on Lake 5 for my partner Carl Shepherdson. Not the best of winter draws apparently, but hey ho!
The Plan
My plan was to target 4 separate areas, one at 13 meters directly in front of me, and a second at 13 meters towards the little island. The third and fourth line were to be fished at at top 2 plus 2 distance, one in front of me in line with a far bank tree and the second to my left in front of the tree.
BaitI opted for a really simple bait tray which included maggots, casters and a few pinkies. I also had a bit of groundbait.
Rigs
13 Meter Rigs
- Pole - Browning Z12
- Elastic - Double 4 Browning Cenex elastic
- Mainline - 0.12 Browning Hybrid Power
- Hook length- 0.10 Browning Cenex
- Hook -Size 20 B911 F1
- Float - Scotthorne 1 (0.3 gram)
- Shotting - A spread bulk plus 2 droppers
Top 2 plus 2 Rigs
- Pole - Browning Z12
- Elastic - Pink Browning Stretch 7 Hollow
- Mainline - 0.12 Browning Hybrid Power
- Hook length - 0.10 Browning Cenex
- Hook - Size 20 B911 F1
- Float - Scotthorne 1 (0.3 gram)
- Shotting - A spread bulk plus 2 droppers
The Session
I started the session by feeding a single ball of groundbait by pole pot onto the 13 meter line directly in front of me and 2 balls onto the 13 meter line towards the island. The reason for this was that I planned to leave the island line the longest, so I wanted a bit of feed down to hold the fish their once they arrived.
I started on the short line as this would give the longer lines time to settle. I had decided that I would just feed loose maggots on this line as this tends to get quite a quick response. Proof was in the pudding as I started catching almost immediately; the fish were really small Roach, but at least I was getting bites!
After 10 minutes I opted to switch to the 13 meter line in front of me, I was hoping some bigger fish had settled over the groundbait. A couple of quick tiny Roach was followed by a bite-less 5 minutes. Something seemed to be unsettling the fish and I had a feeling it was the loose feed I was catapulting over the top, so on switching to the island line I decided to leave loose feeding over the top to see how this line reacts. This definitely made a difference as I was now getting regular bites but again the fish were really small.
.jpg)
I needed to do something to get things going properly, so I topped the 13 meter line in front of me and the short line with 2 balls of groundbait on each line. I put a pinch of casters and a few maggots and pinkies in each ball for some feed content. I persevered with the island line whilst I gave the other lines chance to settle. After a bit of swapping and changing, it became apparent that only small fish were the inhabitants of this part of the lake. I did try caster near the tree a few times but I had to wait a fair while for bites and the fish were still small. At the end of the match I had had a disaster, I weighed in 6 lb odd for last in section.
On a personal note it put a dampener on the series, as I had 2 section wins and a third up until this point. On a team note we finished 28th out of 50 with 26 points and 91.235 joint weight - What a fantastic and well run event!
