Silver Success And A Place In The Final

Just spent three successful days at the amazing Meadowlands Fishery, catching lots and lots of quality silverfish. Monday and Tuesday was a two-day mini festival on weight and I ended up runner up with 58lb.

Day One it blew a hoolie and towed like the clappers but I managed to win the ‘deeps’ zone with 24lb from peg 20, with Martin Yardley’s 28lb winning the other zone from peg 61.

Tuesday was totally different weather, even fishing in a t-shirt for half the match! I drew peg 43 and weighed 34lb for 2nd in the zone and 3rd on the day. Well done Ads Palmer winning the day with 41lb from 39 and overall winner Dean Hunt Winning the deeps with 37lb, giving him a fine 62lb winning total.

So the next day I was back there again for the final AT Silverfish qualifier of the year. Only fished a few qualifiers this time because of date clashes. After very narrowly missing out on the first one at Bishops Bowl I felt I’d missed my opportunity, so this was last chance saloon…

Chilly and foggy in the morning and I was exhausted after three straight days. I was a bit unsure drawing 27 on Lambsdown. Can be good for better skimmers, but it hadn’t produced much the past two days, plus the pegging was extra tight with someone sat just 6m either side.

Thankfully most of the meddlesome carp were full up, so the bream/big skimmers decided to have a chew. A brilliant last hour saw me just pip Paul Sanderson with 39lb. A zone win, 4th overall and a place in the final this Saturday. Well done Andy Power and Dave Wilmott also qualifying on the day. I felt rather short stood next to those two in the photo! Qualified four years on the bounce now, but left it rather late this time!

Groundbait all three days was Sonubaits F1 Original and Thatchers Dark. Used X2 and X4 hooks in 18s and 16s and rigs right up to 2g to deal with the wind, depth and tow. My XTR700 pole is sublime for this kind of fishing. The XTR Flat Mini Extension also makes a huge difference on these big wind-affected venues.

Time to rest, recover and catch up on everything now…