Makins Teams of 3 - Sunday 1st March

As written in my last post, I had resigned from drawing duties for this match and the mantle was taken up by Nigel Bond. The team was the same with Mick Lees on Phase 1, Nigel Bond on Phase 2 and myslef on Phase 3.

The draw was on time this week (for a change) and Nigel came back with Lake 4 peg 4 for Mick, Snake 12 for himself and Avon 6 for me - at last we all seemed to have a half decent draw.

Avon 6 is a good peg but the section contains two better pegs in Avon 1 & 25. Also included in the 9 peg section are Avon 2 & 4 + another 4 pegs on Inner Avon. I was confident of coming at least 3rd in the section, hence getting 3 points only (25 & 1 would be hard to beat).

Bait for the day was 1/2 pt casters, one tin of corn, 1 pt of 3mm feed pellets and some paste.

As usual, the starting point was across to the far bank where a single grain of corn at varying depths was constantly lifted and dropped to try and induce a bite. Foul hookers are always a nightmare at Makins on this line as it is a fish patrolling area even when they are not feeding. On this line I use a MW Cookie which is perfect for the job as the weight of the corn still leaves some of the float showing even when you shallow up off the bottom. Anyway after 2 carp about 3lb each (foulhooked) and 2 lost foul hookers I gave up the ghost with this line as it is obvious the fish were not feeding. It sometimes amazes me how people continue to fish this line for nearly the whole match and constantly foul hook fish only getting the odd one in.

I had primed a couple of lines down the track with either caster or pellet and also been dripping some corn in down the edges at 4mtrs either side of me. The track lines produced not even an indication for 45 mins and neither did the margin lines. 'Stabber' on peg 1 was catching odd fish and Carl Williams on Inner Avon 3 had got 5 fish and was leading the section at this stage.

Up to the final 1/2 hour most of the section had been picking up odd fish and my guess was that Baz Smithson on peg 4 was now leading and I was probably 4th at best. Despite me picking up odd fish now and then (including my first fish of the year on paste !) I only had 6 in the net. What I did next changed my position dramatically.........................

I plumbed up at 4 mtrs which is just going down the nearside shelf (remember what Carpmagic says ?????) and fished so that the rig was swung out directly in front of me and then 'dragged' back up. A small kinder of maybe 40 3mms and a single grain of corn on the hook and 2 mins later 5lb carp was in the net. Two more followed on that line in the final 20 minutes and I felt I had pushed myself up to 2nd behind Baz.

The scales went round Inner Avon first with the best weight from those 4 pegs being Keith Dawes with 32lb. Peg 25 weighed 28lb and peg 1 weghed 30lb and Peg 3 hadn't caught much at all. Baz on 4 weighed 34lb and was leading the section with just me to weigh. I tipped my 9 carp into the weigh sling and knew it was close but was more than happy when the needle settled on 37lb 2oz.

Not only had I won the 9 peg section but was also 2nd on the phase behind Andy Findlay who had weighed 45lb from Avon 22. With 2 being paid out on each phase, this would make me a bit extra winnings and Baz Smithson was happy because it meant he would get the section money by default !!

Teamwise my 1 point was joined by 3 from Mick Lees but Nigel came back with 6. Our 10 point total put us 6th on the day which is not too bad out of 26 teams.

The £80.00 winnings was welcome (we do not share individual winnings within the team) as this was my first 'drag' since the back end of December !!!

It's round 3 next week and Nigel will be drawing again !!!!!!

2009 Pools so far - £89.00

2009 Winnings so far - £80.00