This was an Evesham Jubilee AS match held on the island pool at Manor Farm Leisure. Weights haven’t been that good on this pool in recent days with only 50lb winning the match the day before but when peg 6 stuck to my hand in the draw bag I was hopeful of catching a few.

So the plan of attack was to start on the method feeder throwing out to the island while priming a bomb and pellet line to the aerator which as the locals know is the favored tactic on this peg. I also set up a short pole line for pellets on the bottom, the left hand edge and shallow rigs were ready if the F1’s came shallow later in the match.

The first hour proved biteless alternating between the method feeder and the bomb and pellet line and it wasn’t long before I was trying the short pole line. This was a little better. I caught a few silvers and the odd small F1 on pellets but still not good so I began alternating between pole, method and the bomb line for the next hour. I was picking up the odd fish from these three lines. The bomb line proved to be getting a little stronger as the day processed and into the last couple of hours the bites kept coming. I’d been feeding the edge for the last hour but as not a lot was being caught around the pool I decided to stay on this bomb and pellet line. I was catching well now but all F1’s but at least I was building a weight on a day when the Carp weren’t feeding and as I don’t very often use rod’s at the venue’s I normally fish I was quite enjoying the fishing.

These small F1’s got me 2nd overall in the match with 38lb 2oz and another brown envelope to take home.

Best rig of the day

This was the Bomb and pellet and rig. where feeding accurately to a marker was key and the aerator half way across the pool is the perfect marker for this and a well known tactic the locals use here. I used my 10 foot Preston Mini feeder rod with a TDR 3012 reel with a small Preston ICS 20g bomb with a 12 inch Preston KKM-B size 16 banded Ready rig, baited with a 6mm hard pellet and feeding 6mm over the top via a catapult.