summer league round 2 Messingham grange Merrys 23.4.22

[Leo Martin]

Summer League round 2 Messingham Grange Merrys 23.4.2022

20 Bashers taking up the battle of Merrys on Saint Georges Day prior to the evening battle of the heavy weights at Wembley stadium. Who would be the heavy weight at Merrys to take the latest Big Bash match crown?

With a recent uplift in the temperatures, some dry weather and the fish starting to move around a little to build up their appetite, would the pressure of 20 anglers on the lake reap rewards? Night time temperatures still dipping, a cloudy overcast sky and cold wind were also sent to test us out.
Friday night wheel of fortune delivered peg 2 so pleased with this one. Near neighbour Mally on Peg one and my section comprising of venue main man, Steve Curtis on peg 4, Andy Waite peg 5 and Steve Guy on peg 7 it was going to be a tough one.

On arriving to the venue I can only say that the café reputation is spreading near and far amongst the angling community. Wow, the number of cars visiting the café was incredible, my choice of Weetabix and fruit meant I had plenty room around my kitchen table but I am sure the café could extend to allow even more people to eat their early morning fry up.

Peg 2 with pegs 4 and 5 in meant feeder / bomb to the left hand side of the island was my target area. Tactics passed on by several bashers , thank you and even a guy on the new lake match shared as well. Mally on peg one also received an in depth tackle masterclass from a few Bashers who try to help with his match fishing, great to see help and advice being shared amongst the club members and what makes the Big Bash AC special.
I also set up a pole line top 2+2 about 7 feet deep and margins rigs each side in about 2 feet depth of water.
Micros and yellow wafter went out on the whistle and we sit and wait. Started with lost 1 and missed two so not going well at all. Andy Waite meanwhile was catching a few to the point of the island which is his chuck.

First fish came around 11:00 am on Bomb rod as I rotated lines. This was to prove to be lonely in my net until around 13:30 when I found some sly bites on 2+2 line 8mm pellet being the fishs choice of bait and save my embarrassment. End of match 5 carp couple of silvers for 24.15 and 4th in section. Very strange day as they just were not where they should have been and finally turned up later afternoon but still very fussy with waits between bites.  Margins nothing at all except 2 silvers.

Mally also rotated lines and had his success on his feeder straight out in front of him. Micros and wafter his bait. well done for keeping trying sir.

Steve Guy also rotated lines throughout the match searching everywhere and trying everything. He found some in his margins real late on which helped his weight. Well done Steve.

Andy weight on peg 5 after having a good start ( at least for our end of the lake on the day) had to swap and change, feeder, bomb, various pole lines including shallow, and his pellet waggler even got an airing. Spells of fish and long gaps gave him a 51-7 weight, well done Andy.

Steve Curtis who knows more than most about the fishery drew peg 4 which by his own admission didn't have a clue how to fish it. Shallow lily pads and tree roots in corner, restrictions in casting due to me on peg 2 and Andy on peg 5 reduced his options greatly. Peg 4 is not usually matched up so this was going to be interesting to watch. He tried and tried again everything in his armoury and it was really late when dobbing toward the corner produced a few. A couple on feeder rod, more from corner and finally chucking to peg 3 pallets gave him a very respectable 51-7 to tie on the section with Andy Waite. They don't call him the fish finder for nothing, well done Steve and I can understand why the new lake may be known as " Lake Curtis" in recognition to your ability and help on the fishery.

Nice to see all the Fox cubs on the bank opposite who along with some other new members have dropped the clubs age profile. It is also telling that whilst the young guns sat in tee shirts and shorts, the more "seasoned and mature members" of the club, of which I am one of them, were wrapped up in full clothing and two coats. The wind was cold on our side of the bank at least with it blowing in our faces. The awful wind caused numerous presentation issues as it swirled and gusted around.

Well done to our heavyweight champion of the day Jasper who I am told raced off to 30lb in first hour and took the match out with 101-2 from peg 25.
Well done to section winners and second in sections, I think  it is a first a draw with Andy and Steve in section 1.
Thank you to Jasper running the show, Steve on weighing in and Glen timekeeping.

Hope the guys with the vehicle issue got sorted out and got home okay?

Next match back to Lindholme on Laurels on May 7th, people still to commit and pay on please 7 days in advance of the 7th.

I do think the lake fished well all things considered however if they had started feeding an hour or so earlier the weights would have been better.  Interested in everyone's else views, what worked, what didn't, baits, tactics please share

[steve]

The highlight of my Messingham days is usually the 5 star breakfast. Don't know what happened yesterday but it didn't even register a one on my nose bag rating.

Don't mind the 30 minute wait if it's worth waiting for, but the sausages were burn hard. Eggs were over done. Black pudding was cut wafer thin and shattered when trying to cut! Toast was nice though.
And, like the breakfast, the fish also turned up late.

Disappointed from Barnsley.

[fishfinder]

Peg 4 for me not a peg that is put in on open matches so did not know what to expect, didn't think i had a chance with pegs 2 and 5 always worth a few and peg 7 won recently. No where to throw only short level with island so started on bomb and then feeder,not a sign,was expecting an odd one to show but knowing that chucking short on peg 2 does not usually produce expectations were not high,tried pole in front and to lily pads in corner but it was a bit shallow,after 3 hrs had 3 skimmers in front,Andy was getting an odd one leo had one and lost one so nothing much happening at our end.tried a lump of bread in lily's and managed to get a carp after 3 hrs then some f1s and a smaller carp thought I had found them but no that was it,managed 1 more in front on feeder then out of desperation chucked to peg 3 pellet and soon had a carp,quickly followed by 2 more,slow after that ,tried all other lines and Down the edge for nothing,back to the pallet and got a couple more from my get out of jail swim to finish with a surprising 51lb 7oz which turned out to be exactly the same as andy on peg 5,would have certainly took that at the start,at least a few others caught a few.

[jasper31]

brilliant review buddy

Peg 25 - last in bag and i thought last in match.

When i got there i was pleased to see i did have a spare peg to my left - Max on my right for company and with him being a venue expert i knew i was up against it.

I decided it was method across - 2 pole lines one at top 2 +2 slightly to my left where i found a nice level hard spot and 2nd line was against the platform in 24.

Started the match with micros and method tight over to island, as i put rod down it twitched and dropped back, small goldfish, 2nd cast 30 seconds in and dropped back again but this time resistance - carp no.1, 3rd cast another small fish and then i had another 3 carp in the next 3 casts - what a start!!! turned to Max and asked about net limit as i thought this might be a red letter day... ;D

Then - nothing!! i had been trying to feed 8mm pellets over and after Max caught quickly on his pellet waggler i thought i would have a go.....now i'm worse than useless with this method and it showed - can't cast, can't feed and can't catch.....back on method  :o

Fishing was slow for the next few hours and Max had caught me up and was probably infront of me...at 12:30 i thought sod it off in margin - a few cups of bait went in and 15 mins later i went over it....first fish - skimmer!!! dam - time to up the feed.....2nd fish - Carp that was better, stayed on this till the end and had some good spells and a few waits, Max was catching well on his short line too. Only foul hooked one fish and lost 2 i think but generally big worm on the hook and normally came back with a carp. Put third net in and tried to split fish, at end i  thought i had 90lb with 30lb in each. Please to have got my first Ton of the new season - all down hill from here now  >:D

Results page attached