Saturday 30 April 2011

Royal Wedding Open Rood Ashton

It wasn't a hard decision to make, fishing or a day in front of the TV, I let the wife and kids have the remote fir the day. Initially myself and travelling partner Warren Bates had booked into Viaduct, but the late start meant it would encroach on our evening plans of beer and food, so I cancelled and booked Rood Ashton instead. I had not fished the venue for around 4 years, and then only twice ever and so I needed some expert advice which I got from Andy Pritchard. He said it was method feeder and pole with pellet job, easy enough then! for those that don't know Rood, it is a shallow venue, with 2ft max depth.

After a nice brekkie in the Waney Edge cafe we arrived to see the farmer had put a post in the middle of the gateway to the lake, only cars could just squeeze through. That was a problem as we'd brought no trolleys and Warren's van would not get through the gap, short walk please! Into the drawbag and I pull out 6 and Warren gets 13 right around the other side. The lad on peg 2 kindly gave Warren his car and organiser Leighton Palmer took my gear in his van. Leighton had peg 1 and was going to be hard to beat as was Shaun Townsend on last peg 14 with space to his left. On peg 5 was none other than my old work buddy and team mate Darren Gillman, so we were sure to have a laugh.

I set up a 30grm large Preston in line method feeder (Rixon will love this) with 0.20 to a PR38. I mixed gbait and 2mm pellets for the feed. For the pole I set up a paste rig, a pellet rig for the deck (4x12) and one for up in the water. On the whistle I launched the method and it went a bloody long way! I haven't done much of this fishing and so it was going to be a change for me and a learning curve. After clipping up I set about landing the feeder in the same place, and failed! Still my bad casting was still yielding fish and after an hour and 30 mins I had 10 small carp, mainly on 8mm white boilie. All the time I had been on the method I had been feeding 6mm pellets at 13 mtrs, Darren had started on the pole and had taken a couple of fish less than me but had lost a few too. So when I dropped in on the pole line I was expecting instant action, but it was devoid of fish and after 20 mins I'd lost one fouler. Reluctantly (as I had hoped to have a nice day on the pole) I went back on the method and had 3 carp in 3 chucks, then nothing. I soon worked out that as soon as I didn't get a pull on the method I had to rest it and try the pole line, every time I went back to the method I caught 2 or 3. I would say that my casting accuary improved during the day, and I also got the gbait and pellet mix correct, cos it does help when it stays on!

I could see that Shaun and Warren Bates were catching and I knew Leighton had a lot of fish on peg 1, and I was gutted I could not get the pole working. Then with 10 mins to go the method died and blow me I had 3 bigger carp on the pole on the pellet deck rig. These fish turned out to be crucial as you will see below, I weighed 86lb 11oz for 2nd overall. Darren next to me had struggled as his pole line died, but he had a few on the conker on the straight lead and had 60lb. The match was won by Shaun Townsend, he had 140lb on long pole and caught most of his fish on soft pellet. A good result by a very good angler.

1st Shaun Townsend 140lb (peg 14)
2nd Tim Ford 86lb 11oz (peg 6)
3rd Warren Bates 86lb 5oz (peg 13) oh I did laugh lol!!!!
4th Leighton Palmer 85lb 13oz (peg 1) Leighton got a tad frustrated loosing fish in the reedbed.

I definitely need to sort out how to catch on the pole at this place, as if I could have kept fish coming off both lines I could have taken a big weight.

Back in the carp park and Leighton did the result, Martin Rayett had kindly carried some of my gear back to the van and then I politely reminded him of the £1 side bet we had, the air was blue and full of laughter! Lady luck was on my side again, and I really had a fun day. Sedges on Sunday, Brick lake, not fished there for a few years either!

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