Sunday 23rd October - Hawford Bridge team match

I had been looking forward to this match for some time. The banks' team match. 15 teams of 4 fishing. Which last year was held at cob house fishery which we managed to win so wanted to retain our title this year!

Hawford Bridge is a venue im not familiar with. I fished it maybe 2 years but couldnt remember a lot about it.

The team consistes of me. Iain Jennings, Will Beasley and Simon Pickering.

The draw was done prior to the match and our team drew peg 9 on the 4 different lakes.

I was on Penn. Peg 9.
Iain Jennings - Broomhill Peg 9.
Will Beasley - Bridge Peg 9.
Simon Pickering - Riddings Peg 9.

After we had all had a walk round togther to look at our pegs I loaded up my trolley and was soon at my peg.

It looked really nice. The reeds as you can see above were about 14.5m away and I had my own water. The only thing I was concerned about was if the fish werent in my little bay id struggle to attract any fish in, becasuse there was pressure on the lake I thought they could back off.

The lines I set up were as follows.

Top kit plus 2. Whered id feed hard pellets by hand and fish a banded pellet.

11.5m of my Colmic Airon F44. Where again I would feed pellets via a catipult.

Top 6 to my righ down the edge. Where I had a bit of cover where id feed micros and maggots.

I began the match with half a pot of bait down the edge. A small offering of pellets short and a similiar amount long.

I began the match short where I could just to watch what everyone else was doing. With not knowing the venue I didnt know if anything I was doing was right. It was clear there were some fish there as I had indiactions straight away. I foul hooked one which came off. So cut down on the feed by hand slightly. This resulted in 3 quick carp as quick as I could get in. Then they soon disappreared.

Had a quick look down the edge without a bite so decied to look on my long line. And after 20 minutes I didnt have a bite.

By now and hour had past and a couple of people were catching off fish and the one chap I could see was really catching!

So I put my plummet on and set up a new line to my right nearer the reeds. This resulted in one quick fish and I hooked and lost 2. Didnt really know where to go from here so I potted another bit of bait on each line and decied to go back to my original 11.5m line and sit there and be patient. It tooked 20 minutes to get a bite which turned out to be a little mirror about 3lb.

It was around 12:45 now and I was reslly stuck. Id set up 2 new lines and still couldnt catch so I could only think that I caught the few fish that were there early then they disappeared resulting in no fish coming back into the peg!

As a bit of a gamble I put half a pot of pellets in on my short line, give it 10 minutes then go straight on it.

What a decision that proved to be! On the first put in my float barely settled and I was into a fish. I couldnt get in quick enough by now and I knew I was chasing the guy who had been catching all day so played my fish quite hard in a hope to narrow the gap. For the next hour and half I was flying. I must of had 25 carp in that time.
All the while I had been potting a bit of bait down my edge in a hope to catch on it late as I thought my short line might die.

With 20 minutes to go I had a look down the edge and foul hooked one. So put some more bait in to try and pin them down because it was around 3ft down there. I manged another one that was a better stamp maybe 7lb and hoped id get chance to have one more. But it wasnt to be. The hooter sounded and I didnt have another fish down the edge.

But had I done enough?
I knew id done ok but I felt I was always chasing the chap who caught all day.

I managed to weigh 102lb which was 2nd on my lake of 15. I needed 146lb to win the lake so was way off. However if I could of found a few more fish earlier on I  could of got a little bit closer. But I honestly felt there were no fish in my peg to begin with.

As a team we managed 2nd overall which I was really pleased with!

Iain came 3rd on his lake.
Will came 5th on his.
Simon came 4th on his.

I really enjoyed this match and hope to fish it again next year!