MATCH NEWS
“I got the nod by just under 10lb to win it”
WHEN pre-match talk centres around two hot pegs, and you draw one of them, you can’t help but think it could be your day.
Now you’ve got to make the right decisions on the bank, judge how the fish are feeding, change according to how things are going and enjoy a little slice of luck.
Tom Edwards did all that to win last week’s 100-peg Golden Reel qualifier at Drennan Lindholme Lakes, weighing 181-7-0 to go through to the Larford Lakes final by just over 9lb from Carl O’Brien on 172-1-0.
Getting flyer peg 6 on Benny’s Lake helped, but even with such a great peg it wasn’t job done. Instead, a mid-match switch from pellets to casters went a long way towards ensuring Daiwa man Tom’s place in the final for the second year in a row.
Beginning in the edge, Tom was soon on to his shallow line using a Jigga float at 9m with banded 4mm pellet. But, good as that was, he sensed the peg slowing as the F1s grew finicky. Changing to caster on the hook and as feed transformed things, with a grandstand last two hours seeing him home.
At the peg
“Waiting to draw, everyone said you wanted to be on peg 6 or 60 on Benny’s Lake, so to get given it was brilliant,” says Tom. “On my way there, I made my mind up to fish the margins and then go out to 9m with pellet on both lines, as F1s were the target fish.
“When I got to the peg, though, there were so many fish topping that you could have
fished any number of methods! The wind was hacking into my peg and I had a few spare swims around me, so it looked ideal if it fished as everyone thought it would.”
Starting in the edge
“If you can catch in the edge, you’ll get a bigger weight, so I began on a top kit, hand feeding 4mm hard pellets and fishing the same on the hook in 2ft 6ins of water. I caught eight F1s in the first 15 minutes, then I tangled my rig. That prompted me to switch to the shallow line at 9m.”
Carry on catching!
“Changing to the Jigga float with banded 4mm hard pellet and loosefeed, it didn’t take long for me to catch. I’d get a run of fish before bites stopped, which meant the F1s had changed the depth they were feeding at. I caught anywhere from 14ins to 3ft deep, feeding quite heavily.”
A change is needed
“As good as pellet had been, after two and a half hours I felt the peg was fading and something needed to change. That meant sacking the pellets off and moving on to casters. It soon brought the fish back, and
I picked off another 60 fish in the final two hours, using a banded caster on the Jigga and continuing to change the depth I was fishing at. The F1s averaged 1lb 8oz with the odd 3lb fish, and I was working my way towards what I estimated to be 180lb. I was also catching well enough not to consider going into the margins late on.”
What the scales said
“My guess was 180lb, and the bloke one side of me packed up early while on the other Rob Morris weighed 108lb. I still didn’t think I’d win, as everyone said Alan Scotthorne on Willows Lake had emptied it. Peg 60 opposite me had also done well, so it wasn’t going to be an easy win for anyone. That’s how it turned out, and I got the nod by just under 10lb. More importantly, I’m back in the final and just want a good peg and a chance after last year when I drew so badly!”
RESULT: 1 T Edwards, Daiwa/Advantage Baits, 181-7-0; 2 C O’Brien, South Manchester, 172-1-0; 3 A Scotthorne, Drennan, 157-11-0; 4 P Holland, Guru/Blake’s Bait, 156-2-0; 5 M Gallimore, Drennan NW Spotted Fin, 154-4-0; 6 T Bainbridge, Matrix, 153-7-0.