I was looking forward to this Staunton AC match on the Orchard pool at Tirley Court. I last fished this pool about 20 years ago with my old club Evesham Jubilee. Its not as prolific as Pete’s pool at the venue but I still hoped for a great days fishing and it didn’t let me down.

Orchard pool is quite a small pool compared to the awesome Pete’s pool but holds plenty of hard fighting Carp. There are no permanent pegs, just grassy banks and on arrival it looked like not many anglers had been fishing on it lately. I drew on the nearest side to the farm bank roughly 3/4 down the pool from the entrance gate and I had plenty of room. The weather forecast was good with temperature’s in the low 20’s and after a dull rainy start the sun came out for the rest of the day.

Fishing for Carp

I planned to fish short and set up 4 pole rigs, pellets at a top kit +3, corn and pellet on a top kit + 1, shallow for carp and the left hand margin. This pool isn’t run as a commercial venue and with no F1’s present requiring gentle feeding and just carp ready to be caught it was a case of feeding a lot of bait and waiting for the carp to be drawn in. So on the “all in” I big cupped in 6mm pellets to my left and corn to my righthand shorter pole line, leaving the margin for later. I started at 2+3 with hard pellets and the first 45 minutes produced only 3 carp around the 4-5lb mark and I soon came short onto the Top kit + 1 line where I’d feed corn and 6mm pellets. I fished corn on the hook and a caught another couple of carp here in the next 30 minutes. So I had around 25lb after an couple of hours. I really needed to up my catch rate. I began to throw 6mm pellets into the left margin while fishing the top kit line and it wasn’t long before I began to see swirls in the margin.

Chasing swirling tails!

The margins were very shallow, around 12 inches deep and we all know when you can seed Carp in the margins, tails up you simply can’t just sit there and watch them. You have to have a go for them. So in I went. Normally I would cup in some micro pellet but not today the fish were already there chomping on the 6mm’s I’d thrown in. So I shipped out a soft 8mm pellet and waited for the elastic to stretch out with the first of many hard fighting Carp. My pole float just wouldn’t stay still it was dipping and darting all over the place and I just couldn’t catch one. I changed to double corn hook bait next but I still had the same problem. There were plenty of Carp there but they weren’t playing the game today and after 45 minutes watching the swirling tails and getting frustrated with my lack of ability to catch one and give up and returned to the other lines.

Back on the Top Kit

I’d decided to put more bait in this time and potted in a big pot of micro onto the short line while trying the pellet line again. I caught a couple more Carp on the pellets but I needed the corn line to come good and after 15 minutes and I went back on the Top Kit line feeding more corn via a cad pot and loose feeding 6mm pellets over the top. I soon began to catch more Carp. It was still a bit of a waiting game but when I did catch something it was worth the wait. The carp were averaging between 4-5lb with a odd bigger one. So I was quite happy to sit a wait for the bites. Cupping in corn every put in and re-feeding after 5 minutes if I didn’t get a bite. I started to foul hook a few at this point so I stopped feeding the loose fed 6mm pellets and carried on with corn. This seemed to stop the foul hookers and I had a good last hour. I could still see the swirling tails in the margin despite not feeding anything there since the half way point of the match but I felt the top kit line in the deeper water (4 foot) would get me a better catch return and I stayed there for the rest of the match.

I was last to weigh in on my bank and there had been a couple of tonne plus weights already recorded from the top end of the pool by the entrance. I expected this as this is where pleasure anglers would probably fish. I had 109lb to beat and I knew it was going to be close. Luckily my fish went 121lb 5oz so I won my bank with the other bank to weigh in.

They was two better weights of the other bank with 140lb and an excellent 273lb coming from the end peg at the top end of the other side which blissed the match. So I’d come 3rd overall. These were caught on paste and an easy match win. Paste fishing isn’t something I fish and to be honest if I’m going to compete on these type of Carp only venues it’s something I’m going to have to learn. I am sure if I’d fished paste those swirling tails in the margin would have lapped it up. I would have done better with paste today considering the time of the year.

Best rig of the day

This was the Top Kit +1 line in 4 foot of water. Which was set up for carp. An 4×14 Preston online Diamond set up on 0.19mm mainline with a bulk of no.9 stotz’s and two no.9 droppers 6 inches apart above a size 14 XSH Preston 6 inch (0.17mm) ready rig and all set up with Preston yellow 17 Dura Slip elastic.