Nick Speed's Blog - Double Victory
Posted ANGLER BLOGS at Nov 11, 2011
I thought it was about time I started writing a regular blog again, and what better than to start it off with a double win last weekend at Lindholme lakes.
Saturday 5th November
Lindholme Lakes.
Willows Lake 24 pegs
If there’s one lake I always enjoy fishing it’s the willows. This lake has a well-balanced head of most species, which always seem willing to feed in nearly all the areas of the lake, and for that reason it’s very difficult to predict the winning peg or area on the day.
In the bag I pulled out peg 9, this is a peg I’ve never had the pleasure of being on before, and although it’s situated in one of the arms, it’s usually a strong contender for winning the lake, simply because of the amount of room this peg allows you to fish in.
The previous Sunday in the first round of the individual winter league, I was on Willows peg 40, from which I won the match with 100lb of F1’s, so I was quietly confident that my approach was going to work.
This was going to be match where plucking fish from my peg was the order of the day for a potential match win, so my match plan was based around an all-out pole approach.
My set up comprised of two identical rigs as every part of my peg that I intended to fish was exactly the same depth.( 4x14 Mallman pellet Float, 0.12 Main Line, 0.11 – 18 wide Gape Pellet Hook)
In my bay I had the good company of Kev Baxter, and Steve Rothery, both brilliant anglers that I knew would push me right to the finish line.
On the whistle I started short at 5 metres where I fed just a small pot full of 4mm pellets, and fished a 4mm XL Dynamite Expander on the hook.
In the opening twenty minutes I managed to put 10 F1’s in the net from this short line, but soon my bites dried up so I opened a new line at 13 metres, here I fed 2mm pellets and soon I was catching F1’s on this line on a regular basis.
A swap to Dynamite Meat on the hook and the occasional helping of loose feed mixed in with the pellets soon produced a run of big F1’s, and with the half way stage approaching I had a good feeling I was a few steps ahead of the rest of the field.
In the later stages of the match I opened up another line at an angle to my 13 metre swim, and soon I was catching off both long lines.
At the whistle I managed to place 66lb on the scales for a match Win.
Might I add, I used my new pole today (Shimano Aspire 16 metre) and without doubt it’s the stiffest, most well balanced pole I’ve ever had the pleasure of holding. Awesome!
Greg Norris claimed 2cnd place only by 1 ounce clear, with 47lb 9oz. Andy Whitehouse was 3rd with 47lb 8oz.
Sunday 6th November.
Round 2 Lindholme Individual Winter League
Willows, Bonsai, 53 pegs.
With my confidence high from previous results I of course wanted to draw on the willows, but in all honesty I really enjoy fishing the bonsai so a decent draw on either lake was all I was bothered about.
My drawing hand (Not telling you which one!), did me no harm as I pulled out peg 27 on Bonsai. This is a cracking peg in an area of the lake with loads of space and throughout the yearly calendar this area regularly throws up match winning weights.
This was definitely going to be a tough section to win as around me were some top class anglers, in my 5 peg section alone I had Craig Elkin on peg 31, the one and only John Allerton on peg 29, Paul Yates on peg 25, and the snake Expert Andy Middleton on not so good peg 23.
With a bright sunny day and little wind in this particular area of the lake I knew that if I was going to extract a weight from here it would be on the pole, so although I set up 2 tip rods (bomb and pellet, Method feeder), I had all intentions of starting and finishing on the pole in the deeper water.
My approach was quite simple as I knew I would be catching fish that are holding around the area between the two points straight in front of my peg, and for this reason I just fed one line straight in front at 14 metres, with the intentions to go further out if the fish back off in the latter stages of the match.
To make it even easier I pulled the same rigs out of the box that I used the previous day on the willows, and they were spot on in depth!
At the start I went straight out to 14 metres and before I go into detail I don’t think I’ve ever caught a fish as quick ever before in a match.
I lowered my rig in with a XL 4mm Expander on the hook, with intentions to shake a few 4mm pellets over my float once settled. As soon as my float sat down it went straight under , even before I had time to feed my peg!
Moments later a mirror carp around 7lb was in my net, so knowing that my loose feed hadn’t even had chance to reach the bottom as I had to shake my feed out after hooking the fish, I went straight back out to without feeding, instantly I was rewarded with another good carp that boosted my weight to 12lb in the first 2 minutes of the match!
After the first hour I estimated my weight around the 40lb mark and as expected after that mad first hour my swim began to slow down.
However I felt I didn’t need to do anything else but carry on plucking fish from this line just by feeding a few 4mm pellets via a kinder pot, as I felt I was a distance ahead of anglers around me.
Without doubt the soft pellet was the strongest hook bait but later on in the match when bites were fewer I managed to snare a few big boys with meat on the hook along with a few pieces introduced on a regular basis, mainly in the last hour.
During the middle of the match I suffered major problems with the sun directly in my face, which made seeing my float impossible!
It was a case of having to throw the bomb out and wait for the sun to move around so I can get back on the pole.
Whilst sat there watching a motionless tip!, I remembered I had a pair of Shimano Polarised Sun Gasses in my bag. Now the problem is I wear glasses so I had to hope that these sun glasses would fit over the top.
Now I’m sure I was definitely not making a fashion statement but I couldn’t believe the difference when slipping them on, and as a matter of fact they seemed to fit over the top of my glasses rather well.
Looking out I could see straight into the sun and carry on fishing the pole, I was just sat there I thinking I should have got a pair of polarised glasses a long- long time ago.
This definitely helped me catch fish when otherwise I would be sat there on the wrong method wasting match time!
On the whistle I weighed in 117lb of mainly common and mirrors with the odd f1 mixed in, this was enough to win the match with over 40lb to spare.
Craig Elkin on peg 31 fished a tidy match to claim 2cnd overall with 73lb.
Mark Jones had the best weight on the willows with 60lb of f1’s on pole and pellet
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