Big-fish attack nets £10,000
Solski takes £10,000 Golden Rod crown with an all-out big-carp approach
IT TAKES a lot of bottle to sit and wait for just a handful of bites, especially when there’s £10,000 riding on it. Przemek Solski’s nerves must have been made of steel.
The London angler recorded a perfect two section wins in the Golden Rod final by adopting a sit and wait approach for Larford Lakes’ famed monster carp, taking the title and the big payout on total weight ahead of Darren Cox.
Przemek’s 115-8-0 saw him just over 6lb clear of Darren, with day one in particular being a real nervy affair. Just three fish caught in the final hour on the Specimen Lake won the section for the champ.
That was backed up by a more prolific day on the Match Lake on Sunday but even then, things were still tense. With two hours to go, Przemek seemed to be out of the running – until the big carp turned up...
Day one: At the peg
“I was next to Steve Ringer on peg 18 of the Specimen Lake’s burr bank, an okay area that I felt gave me a shot at a few massive carp, but it was going to be a late thing, meaning a lot of patience,” he said.
Sit and wait. And wait…
“The big carp are caught very close in, so I fished two lines on the Method with an 8mm Ringers Wafter at 12m and 6m, waiting for perhaps three bites and three fish that could weigh 50lb. Although there were skimmers to catch, I didn’t feel you could compete just fishing for them.”
Big fish bonus
“With an hour to go, we knew it was the time when the massive carp would feed and I finally got a bite at 6m. At 25lb, that carp was well worth waiting for and a skimmer followed. I felt I needed one more carp to put me in a strong position for the section and I got it with about 20 minutes to go, another monster of around 15lb.”
The weigh-in Day two: At the peg
“I drew peg 8 on the grass bank of the Match Lake and I felt it was going to be hard to win. Little changed in my attack, which was to fish the Method feeder for carp, and hopefully have a great final run of fish.”
Not really going anywhere
“I began at 20m with the Method feeder and a Ringer’s Chocolate Orange Wafter and caught two carp, but I didn’t seem able to get regular bites. By casting close to the rope going across the lake to my right, I picked off a few more but then I got broken by a big fish and that seemed to kill the swim.
“I could see the lads on the opposite bank catching by casting to the middle of the lake so I did the same and did have some F1s and a few carp, but this line faded away too. I was counting on the close-in swim!”
The close-in line comes good
“I put in two big cage feederfuls of micro pellets and corn at 6m in front of me with a couple of hours to go and then went in using one of my home-made wafters. That did the trick and I had a run of seven big carp.”
Final reckoning
“I weighed 73-11-0 and was second overall in the match. It was enough to win the title. I’ve been lucky enough to make all the big finals like Fish O’Mania and Match This, but have never got close to winning them. I now know what the winners of these events mean when they say how special it is!”
RESULT: 1 P Solski, London, 2pts (115-8-0); 2 D Cox, Garbolino/Mainline Match, 2 (109-7-0); 3 G Parker, Maver, 3; 4 A Walker, Northampton, 4 (121-14-0); 5 A Kinder, Maver, 4 (120-10-0); 6 P Canning, Frenzee/Spotted Fin, 6.