Once again, the extreme weather put paid to any chance of good fishing in this third and final semi-final of the 2022 campaign. The West Midlands roasted in an amber heatwave warning, with temperatures in excess of 35°C!
As a result, the carp and F1s of Moorlands weren’t in the mood to play ball, leading to some very hard areas on the lakes and a long hot day for many anglers.
Mugging and down the edge were Moorlands boss Grant Albutt’s predictions on how to catch, and he was right, with next to nothing willing to feed on the bottom.
Even so, there was a match to be won and the result was very close. Just two points separated the first and second teams, Peterborough outfit JVAC winning on 22 points from Mansfield side Phil’s Tackle & Bait A on 24. Brummie side Goodyear AC took third with 29 points, the same as Oakham Hookers, with section countback clearing that one up. Fifth and final spot in next month’s grand final went to the Phil’s Tackle & Bait B team with 33 points.
JVAC’s plan was varied, depending on which lake was being fished, although shallow and margin fishing were constant themes. On Meadow Pool, results were mixed as Lee Kendall drew totally the wrong end of the lake and struggled, whereas skipper Tony Evans was at the right end to claim third spot overall.
Lee limped to an 18lb net of three carp and a few silvers from the edge at peg 5, scoring him eight points, while Tony on peg 44 caught some carp shallow early and then had a bumper last hour in the edge on worm over micros, bagging 100lb to take him to 140lb and third in section.
On High Meadow Pool, F1s were the target, and a great draw on peg 1 for Andy Kelk saw him make no mistakes, winning the section with 59lb on chopped worm and caster tactics fished short and in the edge. Ian Frith on peg 33 did the same to chip in with 44lb for fourth in section.
Bank Pool saw Pete Molesworth bag 86lb of carp and F1s for fourth in section at peg 6, pellet short and corn in the edge doing the damage there, while Paul Faulker had a great result from Moors Pool, coming in second with 101lb of carp and F1s from fancied peg 12. He chose to fish pellet shallow and on the deck at 13m all day.
Team result (top five qualify for final): 1 JVAC, 22pts; 2 Phil’s Bait & Tackle A, 24; 3 Goodyear AC, 29 (section countback);4 Oakham Hookers AC, 29; 5 Phil’s Bait & Tackle B, 33; 6 Ridgemere AC, 40; 7 Nathan’s of Nottingham, 41 (section countback); 8 Allen’s Tackle, 41; 9 Lake Snakes AC, 43;10 Barnstone AC, 44; 11 Meadow Farm Cottages/Wensum Valley Angling, 50.
Final 30 minutes decide the win
Individual action centred around the end of Meadow Pool, where a match had been won the day before.
Oakham Hookers AC man Chris Parsons won from peg 30 with 169-4-0, second going to Lake Snakes AC man Jacob Brown with 141-6-0 off next-door peg 26. JVAC’s Tony Evans, on peg 44, was third with 133-10-0.
For Chris, an hour spent mugging producing nothing, and changing to worm head over loosefed caster on the short pole caught only a few skimmers and perch, so it was the margins or bust!
“I’d been feeding my short pole line by hand and saw a few carp swimming out of the edge, so about two hours in I felt it was time to begin feeding here,” said Oakham-based Chris. “In practice the week before the lad who won on Meadow Pool told me he’d fished worm over micro pellets in the edge, so that’s what I went with. I had a carp straightaway at 13m down the edge, then nothing. After another 40 minutes of trying for another fish on worm, I needed to change things.”
Switching to six dead red maggots on the hook and feeding dead reds with his pellets, Chris fished a 0.4g float to 0.24mm mainline, a 0.21mm hooklength and a size 14 hook with Red Hydrolastic, and caught steadily to get himself back in the reckoning.
“With half-an-hour to go, the carp arrived and I caught about 60lb in those 30 minutes on a whole worm,” he said. “My only complaint is that the fish were small for the lake, averaging 6lb apiece with not many doubles!”
Individual result:1 C Parsons, Oakham Hookers AC, 169-4-0; 2 J Brown, Lake Snakes AC, 141-6-0; 3 T Evans, JVAC, 140-14-0; 4 M Elliott, Phil’s Bait & Tackle A,133-10-0; 5 M Bower, Phil’s Bait & Tackle A, 131-3-0;6 R Perks, Goodyear AC, 128-14-0.
