Anyway, so whats been happening? As it goes last year was a total bust for the most part. Jurassic kicked my ass and really started to break my confidence, I don't think I was doing anything particularly wrong, I just think I was there at the wrong times but what can you do when working shifts and the lake is just a little too far to get to, for me anyway, for a midweek overnighter. I did a few sessions here and there but in September I had a 24hr tuition which turned in to a 48hr social with Mark Pitchers on Cromwell near Newark and ended bagging myself a new personal best and an original fish as well. Other than that the year wasn't great but I tried to make the most of what I had. So now that brings us in to 2016. This year on the other hand, has got off to a flyer!
As you may know this winter we saw some of the worst floods in Yorkshire, especially in the Leeds area. It effected where I worked and it made me realize the place I worked for was just not right for me so I searched around and found a new job, no shifts, better money and less hours, fantastic!
With the new job it opened up the possibility of doing midweek overnighters and I had my name down for a lake I hoped would take me on this year, so after waiting until the beginning of March and not getting on I decided to just tackle a local day ticket water, Millfield Pool nr Wakefield. The lake is stunning and it really has some gorgeous fish in the place but it was hit by the floods badly and had closed until the beginning of April. This meant it was a while until I got on the water and up until now I have done a few nights with no success but I am enjoying every session on it.
What I have been doing lately though is getting my match fishing on! Last year my little buddy Kieran asked me to join him this year in the Eric's Carp Champs (UK Carp Champs), The British Carp Champs and the Midlands Carp Cup. I thought, yeah why not, its a few weekends fishing and a good laugh as well. But going in to the first comp I found it to be totally different than what I expected. As the first match approached we did our preparation and ensured we had everything in place. We loaded the car the night before and headed over to Q lake in York for the Friday morning. After a good few walk rounds and checking the weather for the next few days we settled on a swim that was meant to be receiving a nice wind for the duration of the weekend, and a swim that was also first choice for most of the other pairs as well. The draw came around. The head marshal dipped his hand and pulled out the first names, mine and K's. We came out first. Unbelievable! Our minds were set and we said peg 2. Was it the right choice? Was it going to hold the fish? We kind of hoped it would and everything was looking great until we got set up and the hooter went. And the wind turned. Not what we expected at all. Thanks weather man!
But anyway the fish did stay in front of us for a little bit and we managed to get a fish off the top very quickly. K dropped a cut down SLK pop up on the fishes nose and it snatched it instantly. A stunning scaly fish to start the comp. We were feeling pretty chuffed with our selves until we learned that Daz and Jase in peg 12 had already had 2 and lost one. The bulk of fish had definitely moved then! But we kept on going and just as the sun started to drop we managed another bite, this time I was the lucky one who dropped the floater not far from a few fish and a nice mid double common was sulking in the net. That signaled the end of the evening and we got the other rods sorted and in place for the evening ahead.Next thing we know an R3 is signalling a take at 3am. It was bitterly cold and a thick fog hung in the air and after a mammoth joint effort we coxed the fish in to the net and were greeted with a lovely double figure common that had a some stunning little markings. It was back to bed once the fish was secured in the floating sling and after a few moments the sun was creeping up over the horizon.
We found that Daz and Jase had been absolutely dominating the fish they had in front of them, and the gent to their left was now catching fish. As was Chris to our right and the chaps to our left. It was a tense morning and no matter how hard we tried the carp in front of us wouldn't take a surface bait, zig or bottom bait for love nor money. After a while I suggested a slight tactical change and pinged a few S7 baits in to a gap on the reed line in front of us and followed that with a multi-rigged Milky Malt pop up. Kieran thought I was mad at first but not too much longer the rod hammered in to life and we landed another double. As K dealt with the fish I got a fresh rig on and hit the clip back on the spot and with in 20 mins the same rod was away again. Finally we had got a good few fish strung together. We were not out of the woods yet and went in to the second night fearing being over taken.
The morning came and with it news that Jase and Daz were still hauling fish, and also that not much else had been out over night. Unfortunate for Chris to our right he lost one but upon getting the rod back out there had another bite pretty quickly. The reed line rod that had done us the two fish the day before also produced another bite which was lost. K said it didn't feel that 'carpy' so could have very well been a Catfish that had picked up the bait. For the entire match K had a rod sitting on a spot he had found from fishing the lake previously and we were amazed that it hadn't done us a fish yet. K hadn't long put a fresh Wraysberry wafter on the rig and got it back on the spot when it finally produced the goods, oh and did it produce! Not only was it a fish that we desperately needed but it was a pearl too. A stunning 25lb old scaly fish. And it sealed our 3rd place spot meaning we qualified for the semi-finals of the Erics champs. Awesome stuff.So the following weekend was the turn for our second match of the year, this time for the BCAC on a water called Merrington in Shropshire. K had fished the water a few times and was pretty keen on getting a good swim and felt confident we could qualify from 4 or 5 of the pegs if our luck was in. We were both not feeling that lucky as coming out first the weekend before certainly was lucky! But after a good few walks and chats we came up with a game plan. We had our first choice swim and K told me to go with my gut on the 2nd choice as it was a real coin toss for me. Anyway the draw came upon us and the first names were called, and our first choice peg was gone. The second names out, were us and that meant I had to choose, 2 or 9, I looked at K and knew which he wanted and he wanted it badly, 2. The look of relief in his eyes was priceless. To be fair I think we would have still qualified from 9 but we took the flyer.
After carting the gear to our peg and getting sort our discussion on how to approach the swim began, to bait, not bait, single, zigs! Choices! As it turned out the fish let us know what they wanted and the backs out of the water and crashes lent towards zigs so we went with a two pronged attack. K would fish in the gully that ran along our boarder on zigs and I would fish the plateau to the left of the swim with singles and zigs to see what might be around. It didn't take us long to get in to the fish and those zigs rods just kept on producing fish! After a few hours and gauging the depth of water we were fishing in we decided to introduce a little bit of switch on to the hump to the left of our swim and it wasn't long before my Milky Malt was snaffled by a 26lb mirror! Awesome stuff! After the rig was put back we introduced a bit more bait but for the remainder of the match not another bite came from the hump.
The Zig-Guru that is K just knew what to change and when to change it and we had a fair few fish from those spots. Not once did we feel our qualifing spot was threatened and come Sunday morning we both knew that we had taken first place and struggled to hold in the obvious with out jinxing it. But when that hooter went boy did he get a big bro hug!! My second ever match. And we not only qualified but won the match! Unreal! The support from the lads on the lake and team DNA has been unreal. All positives. Now we have a short break before heading to Kingsbury to fish Pinepool in our last qualifier of the year. Could we do the triple? Now that would be phenomenal!Lets hope shall we.
