Partridge lakes open match

May 3rd , peg 79 covey 4

After fishing on Spey canal a couple of days earlier i fancied another try at the open on the prolific F1 venue partridge lakes although the weather had taken a dramatic turn for the worse with heavy overnight rain and strong winds replacing the blue skies we had  all week luckily the rain was forecast to ease off towards dinner time so i figured that the fishing might be a bit tough especially with 91 anglers due to contest the match , a few of my mates had decided to fish it today as well so when i arrived at the complex i knew quite a lot of people there and as the rain had been literally bouncing it down all morning majority of them was hiding under the shelter waiting for the draw .

As there was a lot of anglers here today Covey 1-5 plus Spey canal was in the draw bag and after Fridays successful day i fancied drawing latter but my drawing arm let me down with peg 79 covey 4 sticking to my hand not the best of draws and even getting the section will be difficult competing against flyer peg 83 but i was going to try my best anyway and fancied a bit of pellet fishing , my home for the day looked the same as most on Partridge lakes coveys with it being 13m to the mudline a reed lined far-bank but unlike the other pegs in my section i had little in the way of margin cover .

I set up three rigs today to cover my options ;

4ft deep on both slopes

3ft deep on both slopes

2ft deep in front of spare platform

As i mentioned earlier i fancied a bit or pellet fishing so that was the main bait on my side tray plus a few maggots ;

2 pint red maggots

1 pint soaked micros

1 pint soaked 4mm pellets

Small tub 4mm expanders

When the all in sounded in the distance i decided to start on my 4ft rig along the far shelf i decided to start at this depth because of the cold overnight rain which i figured would have hopefully pushed the fish further down the slope into the warmer water and i could also leave the usually more productive 3ft line for when the temperature increased later in the match , i shipped out to the mark on my 11 meter section where i had earlier plumbed up to find a relatively flat spot towards the reeds and i then tapped in a few micros before slowly lowering my expander hook bait among it . It took a couple of feeds before i had my first sign and F1 number one hit the net at nearly 2lb i hoped that they would all be this size , by working my rig and changing between feeding balls of micros — half a dozen 4mm pellets i managed to keep the fish coming for the first hour but all of a sudden they were gone and i hadn’t got a clue why .

I set up a new swim a meter to my right towards the empty peg but this only produced a solitary F1 and no further indications in a twenty-minute spell , another line at the same depth to my left also failed to produce anything but gudgeon ! ! ! a few people in my section had caught well in the margin but because i didn’t have any cover i decided to feed a pot of maggots in front of the spare platform every twenty minutes since the match started , i expected the F1s to have settled there by now so you can imagine my surprise when absolutely nothing happened i didn’t want to waste too long because you would get at least a liner if any fish had been present but i continued to feed it to try later in the match .

With no more bites coming from my 4ft rig i thought that they must have moved further up the slope so for the next couple of hours i set up various swims at 3ft along the far-bank with limited success and i just couldn’t get the F1s to settle i had even tried using maggots but this only produced silvers or foul hooked fish things weren’t going well , i noticed a carp swirl under the far-bank cover so with nothing to lose i decided to cut down my unproductive 3ft rig but as the wind had got increasingly stronger i choose to use a longer lash between pole and float with a couple of back shots to aid in hitting bites plus i could keep my pole away from where i was fishing . I continued using pellets as this was the only bait which had so far produced any fish i started by taking it a bit easier with the feed until i knew what was going on under the water .

I tapped in a few 4mm pellets then lowered my rig in among it and it just kept on going at long last i had another F1 in the net , putting double 4mm expander on the hook and by careful feeding i managed to keep the fish coming with F1s plus the odd big carp if anything the peg was getting stronger and stronger , i couldn’t get in quick enough but with time running out and being behind in the section i was taking liberties when playing the fish losing the odd one in the process . The all out came way too soon for my liking and i was kicking myself for not finding them a lot sooner because i felt that the peg was good enough for a framing weight with 70lb getting sixth my 35 F1s+carp went 56lb which was only good enough for third in the section but on the plus side the last ninety minutes was the best i had ever fished on here using pellet , i am looking forward to next Saturday when i will be contesting the Fisho qualifier at the Oaks fishery another venue that i haven’t been too before but with the limited information a few of the lakes could be right up my street .