Coarse Fishing in the South East (UK)

Saturday 29th April 2006 Monk Lakes, Kent, saw the fifth qualifying match of the Fish'O'Mania with 130 anglers spread over the three match lakes prepared to do battle for the one and only 'winner takes all' place in the final to be Fished on Sat 22nd July Hayfield Lakes, Auckley, Doncaster. It's no good finishing second in this match with only one angler going through to the final it's winner takes all - literally!.

My attentions for the day were on Russ Evan's BCUK Team Sport One captain. I would follow his every move over the full five hours of the competition. The draw started at 0900 and is probably the most important part of the day. Most anglers in the know, including Russ, knew that an 'end' peg was going to give you a better chance of winning this match than drawing half way along a bank. At 0925 Russ dipped his hand into the bucket and pullet out Peg 41 on Match Lake 1 which was, sadly, three pegs from the end of that particular bank. But all is not lost, miracles do happen, and with everything to fish for we headed cheerfully to his peg. The start of the match was 1030 so Russ had plenty of time to set up. Having fished this particular bank before he was reasonably confident of at least winning his section from here, although, realistically, not the match!. Russ set up three top kits to cover most eventualities:

With his Daiwa Match Winner Pole Russ set up three top kits to be fished at 5m and 10m in 4 feet of water:

• Float: Preston's Durafloat '2' Bazzerla 4x10
• Line: Preston's Powerline 0.13mm
• Hook: Kamasan B510 barbless size 14
• Elastic: Middy Hi-Viz hollow 12-16
• Float: Hi-Viz Carp Paste Float 4x12
• Line: Preston's Powerline 0.13mm
• Hook: Kamasan B510 barbless size 14
• Elastic: Drennan Bungee size 16
• Float: Drennan Tipo 0.5g (black tip)
• Line: Preston's Powerline 0.13mm
• Hook: Kamasan B510 barbless size 14
• Elastic: Middy Hi-Viz 10-12

As you can see Russ has a wide selection of baits, mainly pellets, with the exception of some corn. Baits consist of BCUK 4mm sinking pellets, 2mm Scopex Cats & Dogs, BCUK Active range of hookers in 4mm and 6mm plus some 8mm Ringers Expander pellets that have been soaked in BCUK B1 Additive overnight. During the course of a match he can expect to feed several pints of bait but because of the cold and windy weather conditions he expects the fishing to be a little on the difficult side, especially with the overnight drop in temperature. So a cautious approach is necessary today, remember, once you put it in - you can't take it out!.

1030: Simon Hughes, the owner of Monks Fishery, starts the match with a round from his shot gun!. Russ ships out a selection of baits in his pole pot in line with a far bank marker to 10m and deposits them with a splash in the hope of attracting any curious fish. He does the same on his 5m line, and again picks a far bank marker so he knows exactly where he is putting his free offerings. He then carefully ships out an 8mm hooker on his Hi-Viz Carp Paste Float rig. Just two minutes go bye before his first bite, a firm strike is rewarded with a nice barbel of about 12oz. He goes out to 10m again and is instantly rewarded with a small tench and then three minutes later a golden tench - things are looking good, three fish in less than 10 minutes which is three fish more than most! Over the next 15 or 20 minutes Russ is plagued with line bites which is a good sign that there are plenty of fish in his swim. He lands several more fish mainly tench and barbel.

1100: Russ looses a small tench as he is shipping in and the next ten minutes sees no further indications or line bites on his 10m line. Things are slowing up when he thought things were going well. Not to worry, most anglers haven't yet caught a fish. The action slows rite down and he's worried. Suddenly his float dips and he strikes into a half decent fish which is obviously one of the resident carp. He soon has it in his net and at about 1.5lb it's most welcome, this brings his tally of fish to '10'. Once again bites return and he banks some more tench that seem a little larger than the ones he had at the start.

1130: Most of the fish he's caught have come by fishing just past his feed line. He now decides to fish directly over where he's fed to see if bites increase. It was a wise move and in the space of half an hour he banks a number of fish to bring his tally to '19'. Things are looking up with only two other anglers on the lake catching as well as he is and considering there are forty anglers on this lake he is doing very well. Once again his float dips and  he strikes but this time the strike was too enthusiastic and it tangles in the wind. It happens to the best of us, five minutes trying to un-tangle the rig are five minutes wasted as he decides to trash the rig and try his Drennan Tipo rig fished 4 to 6 inches off deck. This produces not a single bite so he decides to give his 5m line a visit with his Durafloat rig.

The dreaded tangle, it happens to us all, but Russ is all smiles knowing he is fishing a good match.     

1200: No sooner does his float settle on the 5m line that it sinks beneath the surface and an F1 carp soon hits the net. Russ has been feeding his 5m line with a pinch of 4mm hard pellet every once in a while and it looks to have paid off. The F1 is soon followed by a Golden Tench which brings his total to 23 fish. I keep him informed of how the rest of the lake is fishing and he's pleased to learn that I recon he's in the top three on the lake with Dennis Price the end peg three pegs to his right and Eddie Feaver three pegs to his left doing as well as he is.

1230: Over the next half hour Russ adds a few more tench plus the odd small carp to his tally. Bites are beginning to get very 'iffy' and hard to hit. He's missed several bites, some of which he puts down to liners. He trifles with the idea of adding another pot of feed to his 10m line but decides against it. Instead he adds the occasional pouch of 4mm hard pellet to try and keep the fish interested. He knows only too well that introducing a pot of feed can have the opposite effect and kill a swim stone dead. As it happens his decision to feed by catapult was a good one.

1300: It's now half way point of the match. Russ is reasonably happy with the few fish he's taken from the 5m line but feels the 10m line was more productive. He subsequently takes time to resurrect his trashed Durafloat rig. Five minutes later he's back in action on the 10m line with his new rig and is instantly rewarded with a nice 2lb F1 which understandably puts a big grin on his face!. Over the next half hour he puts several more fish in the net including a very welcome 4lb ghostie which led him a merry dance (pictured below) - just what the doctor ordered! He continues to feed a few 4mm hard pellets via the catty to keep the bites coming but alas the bites start to tail off and the ones he does get are a combination of liners and delicate bites which are difficult to judge.

1330: Bites have really slowed down now and although Russ is still doing very well compared with the rest of the lake, he's concerned that the lack of action will affect his final weight. The other two anglers Dennis and Eddie who were neck and neck with him seem to be putting fish in their nets far more regular now and Russ is powerless and has to endure half an hour of watching them!. Even a switch to corn produces nothing and once again he considers cupping in more bait through a pole cup but decides against it.

1400: After what seems a 'fishless' eternity he eventually hooks and lands a 1lb+ F1  quickly followed by another four 1lb+ carp, things are looking up but once again bites tail off and he's left scratching his head. In desperation he tries adding sections to his pole and fishes at 14.5m to see if the fish have backed off his feed. He misses two bites on the trot then connects with a couple of small carp, it seems the fish have backed off but the bites are still 'iffy' and hard to hit.

1430: Russ now has 39 fish and is still doing very well but he's still a little worried about my reports that Dennis and Eddie may have overtaken him in the fish stakes. Fishing at 14.5m has produced some fish but the going is slow. He comes back to his original 10m line and is once again faced with missed bites and liners but still manages to put the odd tench and F1 on the bank including a 2lb mirror.

1500: Russ is now up to 44 fish including this Golden Tench (pictured left). I challenge him to make it to a nice round '50' by the end of the match. This spurs him on and he promptly hooks and lands another couple of fish in the next five minutes. The weather has now taken a turn for the better and the wind has died down allowing him to present his hook bait far better. Russ is still having most success on 8mm hookers soaked in BCUK's B1 Additive. Although the weather has perked up the bites are still very odd with most indications of a bite being just a gentle bobbing of the float without it actually going under. This can happen for several seconds before the float slides away. The tow of the lake has also slowed a little with the wind dropping, the unusual bites may be a result of conditions beneath the surface changing slightly. For a few minutes it looks like Russ may not reach the magic '50' but with just a couple of minutes remaining he lands a small barbel and barely has time to ship out once more before the 'all-out' is signalled. Russ breaths a sigh of relief, he doesn't need to tell me that it was a difficult match, frustrating at times, but I still recon he's done better than most and guess at his weight being about 25lb-30lb, he thinks it may be a little bit more? Either way the only anglers that were a threat to him all match were Dennis on the end peg to his right who fished pellet hard up against the bank to his right, perks of being an end peg I suppose! and Eddie who fished the paste all day for fewer fish but better quality.

As Russ packs away his tackle the weigh-in begins on all three lakes. Soon the scales arrive and the best weight so far on Lake 1 is Eddies bag of 59-12-0. Russ promptly puts 46lb of fish on the scales!!! (picture right) of which 33lb were carp. Not a bad days fishing by any standards but he had to work hard all day long to keep bites coming. When the scales arrive at Dennis he puts 49-10-0 of fish on the scales which (we thought) relegated Russ to third overall on the lake. As it happens Dennis was in another section on the lake behind (try and work that one out!) which puts Russ 2nd on lake 1. There was no catching the runaway winner on Lake 3 who was David Forrester with 155-08-0, well done David, good luck in the Final. Russ can settle for the consolation of finishing 25th in a field of 130 - well done Russ. The results of the match can be found on http://www.nfadirect.com/dyncat.cfm?catid=23407 .

It's always interesting, when at all possible, to have a birds eye view of a match and how it pans out. Having watched Russ for the full five hours I can break down his catch rate to the following:

1030-1130 14 fish

1130-1230 9 fish

1230-1330 11 fish

1330-1430 5 fish

1430-1530 11 fish

Smile Russ.....you did better than most!!