Today's match was to be on Butts Lake (the same lake as I did the feature on) this is a canal style lake with a comfortable 13 meters to the far side with 50 well spaced pegs down a central arm.After a chat to the owner Alex it was draw time. I pulled out peg 32, which I was immediately told is a decent area.
On arrival at my peg it looked spot on with a sedge covered far bank and plenty of open water. With this in mind I decided on my plan.
The Plan
I opted for 4 pronged approach, very similar to how I had approached the feature. Firstly the far bank line; I spent a fair amount of time plumbing up as the lake bed was quite uneven. I did manage to find a couple of different spots that were identical in depth. These were in front of the sedges and not in the little cut outs between them, as I felt the 18 inches in front of them would be better than the 10 inches in the cut out as it was quite sunny. The second line I opted for was a shallow line at a top 2 plus 2 distance. On the day I did the feature this line was my main line and produced a lot of fish. My third line was a deck rig for the shallow rig line, just in case the fish dropped down. The 4th and final line was to the left hand platform, as I had a good view of it down the sedge lined near bank.
Bait
For the far bank line I had decided on a meat approach, with mushy meat for feed and 6 mm cubes for the hook. The mushy meat was made by passing the meat through a 6 mm cutter 3 times and then adding a small amount of water and a handful of hemp. I planned to feed this via a pole mounted kinder pot. For the shallow line I had 4 pints of casters which I planned to feed continuously by hand throughout the day. For the margins I mixed some groundbait and planned to switch between meat and corn on the hook.
Rigs
Far Bank Rig
Pole - Browning Silverlite 10-12
Elastic - Yellow Browning Stretch 7
Mainline - 0.18 Browning Hybrid Power
Hooklength - 0.12 Browning Hybrid Power
Hook - Size 16 Kamasan B911
Float - Scotthorne AS3 0.2g
Shotting - Spread bulk set just above the hook length
Shallow Rig
Pole - Browning Silverlite 10-12
Elastic - Yellow Browning Stretch 7
Mainline - 0.18 Browning Hybrid Power
Hooklengths - 0.12 Browning Hybrid Power
Hook - Size 16 Guru LWG eyed tied with a Knotless knot with a hairigged mini band
Float - 0.2g Drennan Crystal Dibber
Shotting - Bulk set just above the hooklength
Deck Rig
Pole - Browning Silverlite 10-12
Elastic - Yellow Browning Stretch 7
Mainline - 0.18 Browning Hybrid Power
Hooklength - 0.12 Browning Hybrid Power
Hook - Size 18 Kamasan B911
Float - F1 Slim wire 0.3g
Shotting - A spread bulk plus 2 droppers
Edge Rig
Pole - Browning Silverlite 10-12
Elastic - White Browning Stretch 7
Mainline - 0.16 straight through
Hook - size 14 Kamasan B911
Float - Drennan Carp 4 0.2g
Shotting - Bulk Set 6" from the hook
The Session
I started the session on the long pole to the far bank, as I hoped this would give me the best chance of starting quickly and also allowing me time to build my other swims. I filled the pole mounted pot with some of the mushy meat, baited the hook with a single cube and shipped the pole into position. I tapped the mush fro the pot, then lowered the rig slowly over the top. A bite came after a few seconds and with a steady stream of elastic hugging its way down the far bank I was in to a decent Carp. After a few seconds the fish was under control and soon netted, a carp of around 11/2 pound was a good start.
The next 30 minutes or so saw a steady stream of small Ide grace the net. It was after around 35 minutes I started seeing signs on the short line, so I switched to the shallow rig and I started catching good size Ide at a much faster rate. The Ide on the short line were much bigger than on the far bank line, happy days!
To be fair, I spent the majority of the match on this line; it was only when I had a lul in action, then I would rest it for a while and go on the far bank rig. As soon as signs on the short line reappeared then I was back on the short line like a shot.
The next 30 minutes or so saw a steady stream of small Ide grace the net. It was after around 35 minutes I started seeing signs on the short line, so I switched to the shallow rig and I started catching good size Ide at a much faster rate. The Ide on the short line were much bigger than on the far bank line, happy days!
To be fair, I spent the majority of the match on this line; it was only when I had a lul in action, then I would rest it for a while and go on the far bank rig. As soon as signs on the short line reappeared then I was back on the short line like a shot.
I had a few looks on the margin lines but to no avail.
At the end of the match I was really pleased with how things had gone as I managed to keep fish going in the net all day. At the weigh in i totalled 76lb 8oz which was enough to give me the match win. I will definitely be paying another visit to Aston Park soon 😄
At the end of the match I was really pleased with how things had gone as I managed to keep fish going in the net all day. At the weigh in i totalled 76lb 8oz which was enough to give me the match win. I will definitely be paying another visit to Aston Park soon 😄
