The Wrinklies are a group of mostly retired match anglers that generally fish Commercials on a Thursday. Having a few days off work before the end of the year meant I was able to fish my first match with them. 

The match was at Solhampton held over the Kingfisher and Valley pools. I drew peg 7 on the Kingfisher which was good as I’ve fished this pool a couple of times in the past but I’d never fished Valley before. 

With the weather turning cold it was back to winter mode for me and the plan was to fish maggots long and short on the pole and corn in the margin. Although it was cold the day was bright and sunny, not the best conditions for fishing and this reinforced my decision to fish maggots. But it was a lovely day.  

I started the match toss potting in a few maggots at 13 metres and the bites were instant from small Ide. I carried on toss potting in maggots for the next 15 minutes and I was bringing back an Ide every time. These maggots were been eaten straight away by the Ide. I needed some carp in the swim so I began feeding maggots via the catapult and after a while I was catching some small carp between the Ide. 

I threw out a maggot feeder next to the island just to see if any bigger carp were over by the island. I caught another small carp but I was mainly being plagued with small Ide. So I carried on fishing the 13 metre pole line for these Ide, some of which were around a pound in weight and with a odd small carp I began to build a weight. 

While fishing the 13 metre line I began throwing maggots into my short top2+2 line for later in the match. Everybody else was catching small fish so I really needed to catch short for these fish and not waste to much time shipping in and out for them. 

I gave the short pole line an hour before I went on it, still throwing maggots every 5 minutes. When I went over this short line I continued to catch the Ide but I’d seen some carp swimming around so I felt they would come at some point. 

At this point a tried corn in the margin next to some reeds where I’d loose fed some corn. No bites came and it just didn’t feel right. I wasn’t getting any indications on the pole float. So I returned to the short pole line and I continued to catch Ide.

At this point I began to loose feed a little heavier just to see if this would bring in any carp. This worked and I began to catch a odd carp and going into the last hour the carp really turned up. I began to catch these small carp quicker and quicker. Going into the last 30 minutes I was really bagging, in November!!  

Come the weigh in, it turned out Kingfisher was the pool to be on, Valley fished really hard with only 27lb winning the pool. My 68lb 4oz was enough to finish 2nd in the match. 71lb won the match. So only a couple more fish where needed!! The weather was lovely and the Wrinklies seemed a good bunch of lads. I really enjoyed the day.  

Maggot rig 1  – 13 metres in 3 foot of water – 0.3g Nick Gilbert XT Wire Gimp set up on 0.15g Guru N-Gauge main line with no.9 stotz’s followed by 3 no.10 stotz’s spaced at 3 inch gaps from the hook length, which was a size 18 GPM-B 0.11mm Preston Ready rig.  Set up on Preston 11H hollo elastic 

Maggot rig 2 – 2+2 in 2 foot of water – 0.2g Nick Gilbert XT Wire Gimp set up on 0.15g Guru N-Gauge main line no.10 stotz’s spaced at 3 inch gaps from the hook length, which was a size 18 GPM-B 0.11mm Preston Ready rig. Set up on Preston 11H hollo elastic