Feeling confident from setting a new record on this pool last Saturday and then drawing a flyer that won the Sunday club match the following day with 71lb, I decided to attack this peg from the start. The plan was to feed the left hand margin from the off and drop on it early.

So right at the all-in I cupped in a full pot of 8mm cubes of meat and left it for an hour. I started fishing in front of some lilly pads to my left at 11 metres kindering in 2mm mirco’s and corn with corn on the hook. I had a few carp and stockies in the first hour but the fish where not big enough to build a good weight. I switched to the other side of the lilly bed which was straight in front of me at 9 metres but this was only producing small skimmers.

After an hour I decided to try the left margin that I had fed at the start, I tried it for 15 minutes and never had a bite so I decided to go for broke on the margin and cupped in another full pot of meat in. The reason I decided this was because if it killed the margin I still had a good option of going straight out in front of me to the far bank at 14 metres between two lilly beds, where I felt confident of a few bigger carp. So in went the pot of meat and I continued fishing over the lillys but again all I could catch was small stockies, Skimmers and a couple more carp.

After another hour a tried the left margin again but had no bites for 10 minutes. I felt the fish would come though and thought maybe the fish were backing off the feed. I came away from the margin by about a metre and caught a good carp around 4lb straight away, so my thinking proved correct. I then began to loose feed the margin and fish away from it and I began to catch some better sized carp.

Over the next 3 hours I was catching some good sized carp doing this and I stayed on this line for the rest of the match, knowing that if the swim died I still had the option of fishing over to the far bank if required. To keep the fish coming I loose fed meat but alternated in the margin by sometimes fishing over the feed and sometimes away from it and I learnt the better bigger carp were just off the feed line.

So the secret to this sucess was that even though I was catching well I was still thinking what and where the feeding fish were. Most fish were in the 3 to 4 lb bracket and I had a couple of lumps around 7lb. I only lost three foul hookers all day so a great days fishing and the only person to date to do two 100lb+ weights in as many weeks on this pool…. Ever!!

Rigs 

Margin rig was a 0.2g Nick Gilbert NG XT mini Diamond pole float in 2 foot of water on 0.18mm Silstar match team mainline. A small bulk of no.10 stotz’s above a 6inch 0.16mm hook length to a size 14 spade end B911 hook baited with 8mm cubes of meat. Set up on red hydro.

Far rig 0.3g Nick Gilbert NG XT Decker pole float in 3 foot of water on 0.18mm Silstar matchteam mainline, a bulk of no.8 stotz’s above a 6 inch 0.16mm hook length with a size 16 spade end B911 hook baited with single grain of corn, set up on purple hydro.