Fourth Man In - The unexpected Win

If you know me, you'll know I don't do matches. I've got as much of a competitive streak as the next angler, but I'm rubbish on the pole, I never seem to find the time to fit it all in, and as a carp angler first, something has to give. Matches are usually the thing that gives.

Every year though, Mark's company runs a match, and this year he decided I was the fourth man in the team. That was pretty much the end of the discussion. So, short story: I did a match. Lol.

The venue was Packington Somers Coarse Fishery, the lake Molands, a mature 60 peg, snake like pit. With most match wins coming off in the low forties to fifties, and having drawn peg 15, I thought I'd have no chance at the top end. The only realistic hope was a section win.

A quick set-up saw me cover the lot: bomb, feeders and waggler. Then a bit of bait prep before the off. On a fishery that runs a pellet only rule, I was keen to adapt the feed fast, so I'd brought two bags of 6mm and two bags of 8mm. Those went straight into larger containers and got soaked in our Nut 365 Oil. With that done, I grabbed a few of the 8mm, dropped them into a small pot and glugged them in my Favourite Almond Betalin for the ultimate hit of attraction.

Before I knew it, the big "all in" shout echoed around the lake. I'd been watching the water as best I could while setting up, and the only thing I'd clocked was one small carp to the right of me in a little bay. So, quick cast with an Almond & Betalin Mini Match wafter over a few pellets, and I was fishing.

Fifteen minutes later: nothing. A recast to another area, a few bubbles over the middle ground, and wait. Once again: nothing. I thought to myself, please just don't blank, lol.

The guy to my left had already had two, a few swims down to my right the same, and me in the middle had nothing. In my defence, the island in front of me had no water on it, and a few ducks were sat waiting happily to attack my spot the second the cast landed. I later learnt the lads either side had three to four foot in front of them with nice grassy cover, which made sense for presenting a feeder tight.

Back on my biteless swim, with its plain and extremely shallow island margins, a few hours passed. The weather warmed and carp began to show in the upper layers. Thankfully I had my shades with me and could see them, not loads, but enough to have a few casts with the pellet waggler and gauge a response. And you wouldn't believe the response. You guessed it: nothing. Most of my casts were perfect, the pellet gliding gracefully straight past a fair few carp, zero interest. A few hours in and I had absolutely nothing to show for it.

So, with the carp switched off and most anglers struggling, I decided to go all or nothing. For three hours straight I fed, four or five pellets over three, every single cast, and just kept it going. Now, with the carp not feeding, you might reasonably ask why you'd keep piling bait in. Fair question. But about thirty minutes into that feed and cast approach, I had a bite. Then another. Then another. Sometimes you just need one or two fish to show an interest and kick off a bit of competitive feeding, and that's exactly what happened. This venue holds a lot of carp and F1s, and if I hadn't had any interest by the end of that hour window, I'd have stopped feeding the line, tried the bomb underneath, and moved off if I still couldn't buy a liner or a take.

And this is where the bait earned its corner. Once the fish switched on, it was those Betalin soaked hookbaits that made the difference. The Hookbaits glugged in Almond Betalin, fished over a bed of Nut 365 soaked feed, gave them a hookbait that stood out from everything else going in. Every fish that came did so to that Betalin edge. When the difference between framing and blanking is one or two bites, that little pot of glugged pellets is worth its weight in gold.

As the day went on I managed to keep a few carp coming and finished with seven on the bank, lost one and missed a few while feeding, always the way. The lads around me had caught a few too, and I didn't think for a second I was in with a chance of winning. Mark, Darren and Gary, our team of four, kept me updated throughout the day and reckoned mine was probably the winning weight. I laughed, to be fair, because I still didn't think I was anywhere near it.

That said, I weighed in with the top weight on the day, around 10lb clear of second, which was a massive surprise. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we came second as a team and missed out by just 2lb. If only I'd landed that one carp.

All in all a great day, a great breakfast and social, and I walked away with a few quid, a trophy, and the very welcome feeling of knowing I've not got another match until next year. Lol.

Tight lines.
Steve Clarke