Round 3 Lodge Farm Long Island 29.4.2023

[Leo Martin]

Big Bash Aquastim sponsored Summer league round 3 Lodge Farm Long Island 29.4.2023

Following another late dip in spring temperatures and downpours of cold rain the Big Bash summer roadshow was heading to Lodge Farm again for a visit to Long Island Lake this time. The whole lake was given up to us and debates on pegging to utilise the hot corner pegs and also give some room to those not fortunate to draw one of the 4 corner pegs. Long Island is a long rectangular lake, drive around and park behind your pegs which are evenly spaced about 10m apart. Some well-established trees on the railway side and established reeds/ sedges along the bankside margins for most pegs. As the name suggests a long island separates the anglers on each bank which is about a 30m chuck towards. The island has a break in the middle of its length where an aerator is placed. The island looks a lot narrower than our last visit a few years ago as erosion is taking its toll on the sandy soil. 2 feet depth in my margins, I had about 6 foot depth at top 2 + 2 and this tapered off deeper as I went further out. The island chuck was shallow tight up due to the erosion.

18 Bashers names went into the Friday draw and peg 93 was to be my office of the day sandwiched between Chalky and Scott with a spare peg between us. I was in a middle 6 man section of doom with 2 x corner pegs included in it. Not fished this bank before and last time we were here it was the better bank so I was hopeful. Arrival and pellet shop man confirmed 6mm pellet was supposed to be the best size. Asked which peg I had drawn, 93 and the reply was Ohh. Not a good comment to receive from my part, he did follow up saying he had won a match there on pole and pellet, I think he omitted the match may have been a few years ago in the month of August.
Nets dipped and drive to railway side to find almost full shade our side whilst the Jasper was already in his tee shirt on the opposite bank and head glistening in the sun. 
Lake was dark due to its depth, flat calm and some fish showing on the surface. They were also banging the reeds each side of my peg.

 I chose top 2 + 2 at 10 o'clock pellet line, lines to fish alongside the reeds each side, corn to my right, meat to my left and bomb and method rods. Everyone must have been keen and eager today and lots had tackled up early and were roaming the banks in conversation . Were they discussing the exciting new sponsorship from Aquastim and comparing the bait offering?

Whistle from Glen and out we go. First fish was Steve Carter fishing long on his corner peg 89 closely followed by Joe corner peg Martin from peg 90. I think Joe had 3 in his net before chalky snared one.
My day went with nothing on rods, a few liners on method but no tip flying around. Bomb rod was next to useless as well. I had a 3 inch skimmer on 6mm pellet and managed to snare a 3lber on left hand margin on Plumrose. 1:45 and going nowhere fast so drastic change required skimmers target species and a maggot line was set up top 2+2 dead depth at a diagonal to my right. Heavily feeding with maggots in a cad pot and 15 minutes in a skimmer was had, bite next put in and a skimmer about a pound which was better than chasing nothing. The line was productive with skimmers, more small than large but it also gave a few surprises with a couple of carp and an F1 which was fun on the lighter tackle . Also kept trying the margins which gave a 6lb carp but nothing else. The humble maggot to the rescue with 33-8 when he scales and board arrived.

Joe caught most of his day in the corner peg, feeder, long pole, short pole, shallow, mugging, you name it he tried to keep the landing net from being dry. He was scuppered late in the afternoon when the surface scum found its way into the corner preventing him from fishing to his edge lines. It did return him 75-1 for a section win by default as opposite Steve Carter took the match out. Steve also fished a full repertoire of methods throughout the match to register 100-15 from his 3 keepnets of fish. A good angler taking full advantage of his draw, and clear winner, well done Steve. Second in section 2 was Jasper on peg 86  69-13 who had a slow start but good finish to his day.

Chalky to my right also tried numerous methods throughout the match, rods, long and short pole, slapping mugging and shallow, full depth and I was surprised he weighed in 26-4. He only had 3 carp I think and stamp of skimmers small. Well done mate. I guess his highlight of the day was mugging a large white ghosty that had been cruising up and down tormenting everyone. Large angry carp on light tackle always fun but nervous times till it is safely in the net.

Scott to my right had fish in his margin reeds and took the plunge from the get go. After an hour or more of frustration chose the rod approach. Re visitng his margin he managed to catch one but they were proving very elusive. Early afternoon he checked his method across and had a short run of fish from just short of the island. These also dried up but alternating between feeder, margins and short pole he did keep adding to his net. Well done Scott.

Section 1 winner was Tracey Benson off peg 85 with 60-8, second in section was Indian next door on peg 83 with 56-1, well done guys, John corner peg Utting and venue regular unusually struggled until I am told he switched to a maggot approach. Hard luck John. Timekeeper Big Glen struggled until late on when he caught from his margin lines. This also produced a 13-9 warrior to test him and prevent him blowing his end of match whistle. Well done mate
Section 3 winner was Steve Curtis with 66-6 off peg 100 and second in section was Max from corner peg 103 with 40-8, well done guys.

A strange day with fish cruising around, also in the reeds knocking and just not feeding consistently for most. I should have changed to maggot a lot earlier and gone down the skimmer route taking occasional surprises but hindsight is a wonderful thing. Never going to catch the 60 weights and compete with margin carp though. Last time we fished the railway side bank was best, this time it seems opposite bank was best and some very close battles between anglers.

Maybe as we get into the Aquastim sponsorship and explore their bait range our weights will improve, not forgetting the famous secret Jaspers Juice.

Thank you to Jasper for the organisation again. Steve for his weigh in duties and glen for Whistle to start the match but not forgetting he didn't blow to end it as he was otherwise engaged.
Next match is May 13th back at Grange Park on the New Lake. Acknowledgements and timely payments required please.

Also if possible please support the prostate cancer charity match on May 6th at Sherwood fisheries. If cannot attend inn person, please support he raffle with tickets or prize donation.

[fishfinder]

Another quality report leo,drew peg 100 on friday and thougth i was in a similar area to last time we fished the lake which i was ok with ,only to find i was up the other end which fished poorly last time so not so happy.was a bit tight pegged kieth on  next peg and john the other side and max in the corner so had a poor margin with a tree half way to my shared platform with john,we were never going to both catch off the same platform so i half heartedly set a rig up to the platform,a margin rig towards the spare peg but no reeds as most pegs had ,didnt look promising ,paste rig in front and my trusty method to the island which seemed my best option,started on feeder and it took nearly an hour before i got a bite,either side had not had a bite either,max on the end had about 4 carp at this time,tried pole and paste for nothing back on feeder for a couple in next hour,kieth and john after 2 hours had not had a bite yet so didnt see much point in coming off the feeder even though it was very slow,fished 3 areas across and occasionally got an odd fish,chucked to the end of the island and had a 13lb carp which after 4 hours doubled my wieght,max had got about 7 carp but his had dried up,kieth managed to catch a carp after 2 and half hours of trying and john had 2 skimmers,no one was catching much at our end, much like the last match.managed to catch a few up until the end to finish with an unexpected section but our end fished poorly especally the end pegs which turned out not to be the predicted so called flyers,the other end fished much better though with 1st and second on other end pegs and most of top ten at that end.