Float Only – Aldington 26th March
Arrived in the car park at 0815, on very chilly ( 3c) morning, with the mist rolling off the lake.
Ryan drew 10 for the walk off, and we headed down to the far end, where I thought there would be a bit shelter from the brisk wind. Oh dear, Da got it wrong again, right in our face now, and too late to change now.
Set Up
As the wind was straight at us, I set up the pole to 7m, .4g NG XT Decker .013 rig line, with an 18 .010 Drennan red maggot hook. Also the 12ft waggler rod, with a 2AA+ insert waggler, 4lb mainline, and the same .010 Drennan red maggot hook.
All In 10:00
By the time we had everything set up, and a cup of coffee, it was now bitterly cold in the wind, and Ryan wishing he had brought his gloves. I was a little worried that he was going to be too cold to last.
Single red maggot on the pole to start, but not getting any interest, so over to the Krilled dead reds. At about 11:10, in to the first small roach, and starting to get a few bites, but he lost 2 while shipping in. Nothing over a couple of ounces, but they could count at the end of the day. About 12:15 I noticed the pole was shaking like mad at the tip now, and really worried that he was too cold, but he wanted to soldier on, but with the waggler.
He had never fished with rod & float before, and worst of all into a wind, but first cast went well as he pulled in another small roach. That seemed to warm him up a bit, and the sun was just starting to creap through. As the afternoon went on, it was very slow, with him alternating between pole/waggler, and picking up the odd roach. No sign of the large bream he had caught on the method 2 weeks before, when we came for our first visit. At least we had a barrow this time 🙂
Result
He weighed in with 11 roach for 1lb, which warmed him up a lot more, as there were only 2 left to weigh in, and one of those we know had blanked. A few bream had been caught, but it was obviously still a bit cold for the big bags. Note to self, remember the camera next time.
Really proud of him to stick it out for the day, and another 2 points, even though this was the last of the “float only” series.
Report by Medway Mick:
This was the final of our series of five float-only matches for the season. 13 anglers gathered on a pleasant day at Aldington but the brisk North-Easterly wind made it feel quite cold.
Anyway, down to business…. 6 anglers chose to fish the front part of the lake and the remaining 7 fished the back.
Lou Buells won from the point on the extreme left of the back lake with a large Bream and around 7lb of Roach weighing in 10lb 11oz.
The next three weights all fished next to each other on the left of the front lake, Terry Jarvis taking 2nd place with a mixed bag weighing in 8lb 1oz and I pipped John Barker with 7lb of small fish for 3rd place.
Full result:
Lou Buells 10lb 11oz (12 points) £25
Terry Jarvis 8lb 1oz (11) £17
Mick Roberts 7lb 0oz (10) £12
John Barker 6lb 9oz (9) £6
Dave Phur 5lb 12oz (8)
Bob Turner 5lb 6oz (7)
Guy Usmar 4lb 0oz (6)
John Overton 3lb 11oz (5)
John Carcary 2lb 3oz (4)
Jim Randell 1lb 7oz (3)
Ryan Kennison 1lb 0oz (2)
Bryony Baker 12oz (1)
Dave Bertram DNW