Acorn on Thursday for another qualifier and I was well happy with peg 22 by the bridge on the far side, Mark B was next door on 21 and Jo was to my left on 24.
The usual rigs for across, the deep water and short were assembled and the side tray contained plenty of maggots, disco pinkies and a little dark groundbait. Kicking off on the long line I missed a bite first chuck before catching an ide and had a steady first hour adding another seven ide and a roach. The second sixty minutes was slower but I was still putting odd fish in the net and doing okay as far as I could tell.
Trying the 10 metre lines for the first time I had a couple of ide then a 8oz perch down the middle to the left and was having to rotate round the lines to keep bites coming. I pulled out of what felt like a better fish and then hooked another that turned out to be a stunning 2lb perch.
After feeding the top two plus two line for four hours, first put in the float buried and I had a nice ide but that was it. Towards the latter part of the match it was a case of just nicking a fish or two from each line before moving and with just ten minutes to go, I had an ide from across and next chuck hooked something that didn’t feel quite right which turned out to be a foul hooked ide. I finished up with 24 ide, 2 perch and a roach which I thought would go 14-15lb (the ide average 8oz apiece plus that big perch).
As the scales got round to our side, I went to have a look at the board and Nick Ewers was leading with 20lb 10oz from peg 3 on the island, Des was second with 15lb 12oz from 6 which was a great weight from there and I didn’t think I quite had that. Alvin on 18 had 8lb 8oz, Mark B had exactly the same weight (but was in a different section) and then when I pulled my net out, I still thought I’d be just short but Des called it at 16lb 1oz and I went into second spot. I didn’t think it would last though as Simon Stacey on 25 had done well, George S on 27 had caught some nice tench and Callum was admitting to 14lb on 38.
Simon weighed 11lb 9oz and then George had 10lb 11oz so I was still hanging in there but with some good pegs still to weigh, I’d be happy with a section win. As I was loading the car, Alvin came back after watching the rest of the weigh in and said I was second as Callum had weighed 14lb 3oz.
Back at the results, Nick won and qualified, I was second picking up a very nice £105 with the superpool and Des was third. I actually won my zone but as I’ve already qualified, Callum got through to yet another final. Photo courtesy of Acorn*
Nick Ewers won the match and qualified with 20lb 10oz*
1 – Nick Ewers (Acorn) – 20lb 10oz (Q)
2 – Jamie Rich (Bait-Tech/Colmic) – 16lb 1oz
3 – Des Shipp (Preston Innovations) – 15lb 12oz
Sections
A – Dave Willmott (Acorn) – 9lb 13oz
B – Alvin Jones (Acorn) – 8lb 8oz
C – Simon Stacey (Acorn) – 11lb 9oz
D – Callum Dicks (Matrix) – 14lb 3oz (Q)
I was well chuffed to get a result against some brilliant anglers but as always the results were very close and my 2lb perch was a massive bonus and considering I only beat Des by 5oz, that last gasp foul hooked ide was crucial! It just goes to show that some days things go your way, I’m not being too hard on myself though as even without those two fish I’d have finished fourth and won my section which I’d have still been well happy with.
There’s still a great offer running if you fancy treating yourself to some new fishing gear, use the exclusive discount code AgainstMenandFish10 to get 10% off when you shop online at Somerset Angling
Also I still have copies of my book available from eBay here or Amazon here
And if you could spare five minutes to leave a nice review on Amazon, it would be very much appreciated.
Next up – Todber Xmas Match
Coming soon – Lots more match reports
#sponsoredpost #affiliatelinks
Well done Jamie, great write up as always.
Thank you Paul, glad you’re still enjoying the blog