Lake Record At Rookery

Just got back from Round Three of the UK Champs, which was held at the excellent Rookery Waters for the first time.

Only my second match at the venue and the only two lakes I’d seen were Magpie and Jay, but I found myself on peg 18 on Crow. This is one of the newest lakes on the complex, 25-30m wide and single banked. We were every other peg from 2 to 24 and with it being so windy it was a simple Method feeder, short pole and edges day for me. First two and a half hours were good, catching small carp and F1s tight over on a small Method Feeder.

My 10ft Horizon Pro Feeder was spot on and feeding a mixture of Fin Perfect 2mms and Match Method Mix soaked in Krill & Squid Bait Booster with maggots or a 6mm Bandum on the hook.

On the third hour things began to slow, so I had a quick look on my short pole where I’d been feeding casters from the off. I had 10 F1s and a small carp really quickly before it went iffy. Back on the feeder and I ticked over with a few more fish, but I could see Nick Speed catching well and knew I had to make my edges work if I was ever going to beat him.

Thankfully the last 90 minutes was brilliant down the sides, catching fish up to 8lb in 15 inches of water with the same micro and groundbait mix with maggots or worm on the hook. Nice to get the ever faithful 16-18 Slik pumping them in!

I ended up with 223lb to win the lake and apparently that’s the new lake record for Crow, which was nice to discover. Big well done to fellow Matrix man Ben Townsend winning the match off Magpie with over 300lb. I must also thank Alex Bates at the on-site Tackle & Bates shop for excellent bait and spot-on advice.

So, one round to go. There are about five anglers on 4 points and I’m a point behind on 5. Will need a bit of luck to win a fourth title, but anything’s possible with the final round at Barston!