the first match of 2024

 

 This year, due to studies and work, I did not purchase as many match tickets as in previous years. So, my first match was a members' match for the Leamington AA members. The match took place on the Horseshoe Lake, which is the smaller lake at Jubilee pools. This lake holds a great number of tench, big bream, crucians, roach, and carp alongside the odd rudd, big perch, chub, and F1. It is quite a deep lake with parts of the lakebed very silty and parts covered in gravel (this being the best area to target).

At the draw, I got peg 22, which is at the end of the lake. It is an area that I haven’t fished before, which made it more interesting. Thankfully, a lovely gentleman who is very familiar with the lake told me that it is a great peg for tench and great to fish on a pole. I did not have a pole with me, but I was comfortable fishing close with a feeder rod. The weather seemed great and dry, except for the area of the lake that I was fishing, which was damp, very damp. On the positive side, while walking towards the peg, I met the lovely lady managing the fishery, and she was preparing bacon and sausage sandwiches for the anglers. I had a bacon sandwich, which was a great treat and gave me more energy to pass through the mini swamp around my peg.

After I set up my box, I had a good plumb around looking for clear spots to fish. I started casting a small marker lead from left to right and realized that in front of the pad on a radius of around 12m was clean with a gravel bottom. Further than that was quite soft, probably a mixture of mud and silt. I set up two lines, both at exactly 3 wraps so I could fish 11 meters out; one was 45 degrees to my right and one 45 degrees to my left. When the match started, I fed the right-hand side swim with green pellets, a few bits of corn, pinkies, and dead reds and let it rest for around an hour and a half. The right-hand side swim was only fed with betaine green groundbait and a few dead red maggots.

On the left-hand side, I fished with a light setup: a 9ft F1 rod, which is very soft, a small 3000- reel, and 5lb line. At the business end, I had a cage feeder running rig set up with a size 18 hook tied with a 4lb hook link. This setup was supposed to catch anything from roach to bigger bream and tench.

In the first 10 minutes, I managed to catch a bream around 2lb. I was quite happy with that start. Unfortunately, not much came in the next hour until, all of a sudden, I saw my rod tip going around very aggressively. I was very happy, thinking that it was a big tench as they have the power to pull like that. Soon I realized that it was no tench; it was way too strong. My light rod was being put to the test as well as the rest of the setup. After a few minutes, I managed to bring the fish close. It was a lovely mirror carp that fancied taking my size 18 hook and just a dead maggot. Unfortunately, this match carp did not count, but there is a prize for the biggest fish, so I was in the race for that. At the weigh-in, it showed 8lb and 2oz. I was still buzzing more about that battle that I had on the light tackle than the biggest fish prize. I knew that other anglers might catch even bigger fish.

The rest of the match was quite uneventful. I alternated the swims, trying to get the odd bite, but I only managed one more skimmer and a tench. Time passed quite fast, as even though not a lot of fish were feeding, a friend came by so we had a nice chat while waiting for bites.

At 3:00 pm, the end whistle blew, so I slowly started packing away. Not long after, the gents with the weigh-in came, and I had just a bit over 4lb. It was not great, but it was a lovely day spent in nature.

I got back to the car park where everyone was waiting for the final results. This was one of the best parts of the match as all anglers gathered around and had a bit of banter, discussing how their day had been, how and what fish they caught, etc. While this was happening, I heard my name being shouted, and it looked like my carp was the biggest fish of the day, which won me the prize for the biggest fish. I was quite lucky as the biggest fish after me was just an ounce smaller, so it was quite tight. The match was won with around 20lb, which demonstrated how hard the lake was fishing for the day.

At the end of the day, I still think that these club matches are the most enjoyable as there is not a lot of pressure, and everyone just wants to have a great day out. Now, I am looking forward to the next one and hopefully a better result.