The Mortgage peg

The 3rd match in the Shannons series and I was looking ok on points but needed a good result and for the leaders to drop a few points. Unfortunately the weather forecast was as bad as it could be for me  .............. hammering it down all day! Luck was on my side though as I drew what they call 'the comfy peg' which holds fish and is a bit more protected than most pegs with trees and bushes around.

On my way up to the peg Mickey told me to set up duplicate rigs as the peg is very snaggy but my plan was so simple that 2 identical rigs would cover my pole lines and a bomb rod would give me an option to cast to the space I had to my left.

I'm not sure why they call it the comfy peg because you have to be very careful to avoid getting your rig in to those far bank trees and the margins aren't exactly easy to fish. In fact at the last match Mickey hooked a far bank tree with a plummet on his rig and ended up getting the boat out to rescue a top 5 that slipped off while he was pulling back..............quite entertaining really lol.

Anyway, with the rain set to stay all day my main priorities were as follows:

1 - Don't get too wet
2 - Get a top 3 finish
3 - Don't get too wet

So as I said my plan was very simple. I opted to fish mussels with corn as feed. This would allow me to fish a heavy bait targetting large carp and I could ship out easily, push the bait under the far bank trees and ping or cup corn over the top. As the fishing had picked up at Shannon's I decided to ping and spread the feed around a bit. I fed 2 lines across either side of a bush and between the trees and both margins although the margins were not a priority for me. I also pinged pellets about 15m to my left in open water in case I needed the bomd rod to fish the conker.

After an hour I had 24lb which wasn't good but it wasn't a disaster. I wasn't feeding a great deal, maybe a dozen grains every put-in. Due to the recent form of the lake I didn't want to over-feed it and if the fish were there already I shouldn't need a lot anyway.

For the next 2 hours the fishing was steady and improving. It seemed to me that I should up the feed because even with rotating those far bank swims it was still taking a few minutes to get fish there and get a bite. I therefore increased the feed to a whole pouch in both swims every put in and the response was good. During the last hour I probably had 8 or 10 fish between 4lb and 8lb and ended up 3rd with just under 150lb. Jonny Watt did my favourite 'gate peg' justice coming 2nd with 160 odd and the winner came from the damn wall but as he was a guest Jonny and I earnt 1st and 2nd in the points stakes. The leaders are still up there as they also earnt good points but me and Jonny are both snapping at their heals and we can still drop our worst result so all to play for.

So, why have I re-named this peg 'the mortage peg'?

Well firstly, even though I was careful and did not put my rig in those trees, a few carp decided to bolt off and the rig came pinging back sideways in to the tree and I lost a couple of precious NG Floats. I then busted a top kit playing a fish, I wasn't pulling too hard, I think the top kit was just a bit over-worked and had developed a weak point but these fish at Shannons WILL find any weak point in your pole! I got through about half a dozen hook lengths as well so all in all it was quite an expensive day hense 'the mortgage peg'.

Can't wait for the next match but for now I'm having a bit of a break from fishing to enjoy my summer weekends ....................... and make up some more rigs!