This pool contains and good head of large Carp. So the plan was to fish the pole short on heavy gear with large baits and to finish the match in the margins.   

I planned to start fishing on an 8mm banded hard pellet, feeding 6mm on the inner shelf (2+3) just before the pool deepened. Being Summer the fish would be in the warmer shallow areas and I had about 4 foot of water here. I cupped in a full pot of 6mm pellets here and also a full cup of corn on my closer 2+2 line for later in the match. 

The first hour on the hard pellet resulted in just four Carp bites, two of which were foul hookers and lost. So I came closer in, on my corn 2+2 line next and fed full pots of bait to my margins, left with 8mm meat and right with corn. 

The 2+2 line wasn’t any good and I played around with corn soft 8mm pellets for a while for the next 30 minutes but nothing was really working. So into the margins I went for an early look. I’d not seen any swirls in the margins yet but it’s always worth a look for 10 minutes because if the carp have moved in early a big weight could be on the cards. But the carp hadn’t moved in yet. I needed to catch some carp in the meantime. A change was needed.   

I switched to a new 2+2 line to my left  and decided to fish 8mm meat next but only to kinder cup in 6mm meat. The other two lines which hadn’t produced much were where I’d potted in full cups of bait. That hadn’t worked and I adopted the different feeding approach.

I use Morrison luncheon meat rather than the popular Plumrose meat most anglers use, I find it sinks like a stone unlike the plumrose meat especially when using 4mm cubes.  

The change worked straight away and I began catching some 4-6lb carp. I was beginning to build a weight. I was now catching the odd carp every 15 minutes with the meat but I really still needed the margins to come good. The left margin had now had two full pots of  8mm meat into it and I’d been topping it up with a few loose offerings every 10 minutes for 2 hours now. I’d seen the odd Carp swirl in this margin but I stayed out of the margin on the 2+2 line because I was catching. I wanted the carp to gain confidence before I fished it. 

So with an hour to go I went into the margin. Some big carp were there now and I had a good hour catching about 30-40lb. I fed a few cubes of meat every couple of minutes including the time while I was playing hooked fish.

The final 20 minutes was fantastic I was really bagging. I put this down to feeding heavy early in the match to draw the fish in and then lightly, little and often to keep them there. Plus not fishing the margin to early was important. Its much better to leave the margin until the last hour when the fish are confidently feeding.

Come the weigh in I placed 112lb on the scales which was enough to frame. with 130lb winning the match.   

2+2 rig – 0.4g Nick Gilbert NG XT Finesse Power pole float set up on 0.17mm Guru N-Gauge main line with a small bulk of no.8 stotzs with 2 no.10 dropper shot above a 6 inch size 14 0.15mm Guru LWG Ready rig. Set up on a size 14-18 Nick Gilbert Amber core elastic.  

Margin Rig – 0.2g Nick Gilbert NG XT Edger pole float set up on 0.19mm Guru N-Gauge mainline with a small bulk of no.9 shot above and 6 inch size 14 0.17mm Guru XS Ready Rig. Set up on Red Hydro.