A New Toy

it's here!

After a few weeks of reading about the huge number of poles that are available, I finally took the plunge and bought myself a proper, modern pole.

I had decided that a mid range pole would suit budget and ability, and the more I read, the more the same pole caught my attention. I actually tried to buy a new one a few weeks ago but it has proved to be so popular that there was no stock available in the UK.

Luckily for me, an angler from near Sheffield had bought one and spent the time  & money on elasticating the top kits, but had to give up fishing because of arthritis. 

So here's what arrived:

16M Middy XK55

11.5M Middy XM10 Margin Pole

Top Kits:

2 x Red Hydro - for the margin pole

2 x Black Hydro

2 x Gray Hydro

2 x White Hydro

2 x Blue Hydro
1 x Pink Hydro

1 x Double No 3

Cupping Kit with 2 Preston Cups

The 14.5 and 16M sections had never been used, and the rest once or maybe twice. So, I decided to fish the Wednesday match on the Island pond to see how it felt  - the forecast was for a cold, breezy but dry day, so perfect to see if it's any better.

I drew P9, the first time i've been on the LHS for ages - but with a frost on the ground on Wednesday morning, I knew it would be a tough match. The pole was better in the wind than the old one, but there were't many fish, with 2 tench, a chub and a carp joining a few small roach to give me 4lb - 6oz - Not a great, or even good weight,  but for a first outing, not as bad as it could have been.

On Sunday 20th, it was the 2nd match in the Barras series, which saw me scheduled to fish the Main Loch. I've had 4 matches on the Main Loch this year, and won 3 of them, so confidence was high!

Again we had a slight frost overnight, but the sun was out a the temps were rising quickly, so I hoped for a good day.

I drew P8, which I was happy with.  And with young Scott Laird on P7, I had a good ref point as to how I was doing.

On my first put to around 13m I landed the smallest carp I've caught from the Main Loch, at around 4oz, and then an hour without any indication. I tried different baits, depths, but nothing. Meanwhile Scott was also struggling, but he switched to the 'splash wagglier' and picked of a bonus carp of around 3-4 lbs. 

I then tried a second line at around 8m out, but still couldn't get a touch. So I resorted to targeting small silvers just using a top kit and a single maggot as bait.

This got me plenty of small fish, but with Scott also catching smaller stuff, unless I could manage a larger carp or 2, I was in trouble. For the remaining 3 hours I regularly switched to the 8m & 13m lines, but not a touch. 

I had high hopes at the start of the match, but to say I was now dejected, would have been an understatement.

But, it seems that is was hard for all - my meagre 1.1kgs had placed me 6 of 12, so not as bad as I had feared.

Overall, our team, Wet Nets, had a 2nd from Wullie McAuley on the Island, a 5th from Davy Smith on the Top Pond, 6th for me and 7th for Dougie Craig on the Woodside.

This leaves us in second place 3 points adrift of the Mercenaries.

I miss the next match, as I'll be chasing big carp elsewhere, but it's not over……..