Ringer's Roundup - December Difficulties

So, let's dive into the Christmas period! It's been an unpredictable journey, to say the least. I've participated in 3 matches, 2 at Boddington and one at Barston. Let's start with Barston, the Christmas pairs. As the match was co-run by Adam Wakelin and me, we found ourselves with the last two pegs, 54 and 91. These weren't the pegs we would have chosen, but you never know what's in store in the match fishing world.

I went on peg 54, as on paper that was the better of the two, although I knew I had very little chance of competing with the end pegs to my right, as there had been a ball of fish at that end of the lake for a few weeks. To cut a long story short, despite trying every trick in the book, I had just 2 f1s and 2 skimmers for 12lb and nowhere in the zone! Strange day, as despite leaving lots of safe water for the last two hours, I never had a bite there.

I tried being patient with a large hybrid feeder and casting around regularly with a mini hybrid. Still, I literally never felt there were any fish there. In fact, I never had a bite in front of me at all! Every bite came to my left. I'm not sure why. As expected, pegs 58 and 60 were first and second in the zone. I have to admit that I did expect a few more bites, but I came away feeling I didn't do much wrong at all.

Next up was Boddington. Drawing arm again let me down with peg 61 sticking to it! I didn't fancy 59 being the end peg, if I'm honest, but it's Boddington, and you never know. Set up 2 x 14ft Aventus distance rods, starting at 80m with a view to going mega long later. The feeder choice is a 45g large hybrid feeder; there's nothing for small feeders at Boddington, even in the winter.  In the first hour, no one caught, and then out of the blue, I got a 7lb common on a 10mm Ringers Fluro Pink Slim Wafter fished on a size 8 QM1 to 0.19 N-Gauge.

No more bites followed, though, and after 3 hours, I decided to gamble and go long and be patient. So went from 85m to 106m. Just as I did, both anglers on either side hooked fish! So, I moved at the worst possible time. I did get a second carp with an hour left and was convinced I'd get a 3rd, but it never happened, and that was my lot. 3 carp for 32lb winning the zone off end peg 59, well done Grant Merrett, and 2 carp for 20lb taking 2nd. I snuck in the last money position with 2 for 17lb.

I left at least one carp in the peg, mainly because I got my timings wrong. I should have held at 85m for at least another hour. Boddington is strange now as the water is so coloured that the carp aren't moving out like in previous years. As a result of this, very few carp are getting caught past 95m, and even then, you need to be at the right distance at the right time! Many anglers don't understand the appeal of Boddington in the winter. Still, it's actually a very technical venue as you have to get your distance and timings spot on to catch.

Frustrated, I booked the New Year's Eve match at Boddington to correct the wrongs! Well, the temperature had dropped, and to cut a long story short, after drawing peg 77, I went biteless along with most in the field. 2 carp for Stuart Palsar weighing 23lb, winning the 20 peg plus match with 2 thirds of the field, including myself going dry! On the plus side, though, I didn't come away beating myself up, as when it's as complex as that, there isn't much you can do other than go through the motions and hope you get a random carp out of the blue. To sum up, it's not the end of the year I was hoping for, but every day on the bank is a good one!