Jinx Series

Jinx match 4 Stockton Reservoir

This round is at Stockton and any other time I would be really looking forward to fishing here as I've never fished it before and everyone raves about the place and the hard fighting monster Carp that lurk around the platforms waiting to destroy your state of the art equipment

But the way things are fishing this year I don't hold out much hope for a net full from Stockton today

I had a nice steady drive down and arrived in plenty of time to pop into the Blue Lias Inn for a shandy before the draw unfortunately the pub wasn't open so instead I had a walk around the reservoir and had a look at the pegs for todays match

Once back in the car park the other Jinxers started to arrive and after another look at the pegs we set off for the pub and eventually the doors opened and we got our pre draw drinks

After a bit of chatting and catching up over a pint with the other Jinx members sat in the sunshine by the canal it was time for the draw

I drew peg 54 it didn't really mean much to me but I knew it wasn't peg 47 or 48 which were the ones I had my heart set on

Still I set off to my peg

As you can see peg 54 is in open water and the nearest island is a bus ride away!

My plan for today was quite simple 2 margin swims

One to the left

And the other to the right

Both fished tight in to the reeds

And another swim at 6m straight out in front

And if all those fail I plan to chuck a feeder out just past the duck (just hope he don't move )

At the all in I put a pot of pellets in each swim and 2 balls of ground bait out at 6m and then started on the 6m line with a 6mm soft hooker pellet and for the first hour I tried pellet, corn and meat and all met with the same response zilch!

Simon to my left was trying the feeder with no luck as was Dai to my right so I stuck with the pole line and tried paste at 6m and after about 10 Min's the float slid under and I struck into a heavy fish which woke up and tore off with my red hydro in quick pursuit just as I started to ship it back in the hydro snapped back into the pole and all I was left with was a rather large scale hanging on the hook

But still it was a fish so I went straight back out with another lump of paste but for the next hour I had no more indications let alone bites

I decided to chuck the feeder out and see if I could mug a fish as rumour had it that Gem had a couple of fish in the net and a "Minxing" was on the cards

So out went an open ended feeder full of ground bait and corn with 3 grains of corn hair rigged on the hook After about 4 top ups with the feeder I was just reaching for the flask to have a coffee when the rod bent double in the rest and at long last I was attached to a Carp not wanting to loose it I gingerly played it out and eventually slid the net under a nice mirror of about 8lb I stayed on the feeder in the hope of more bites but they were not forthcoming with the exception of 1 drop back that I missed

Dai on the peg to my right managed to hook a decent Carp on the feeder and after a decent fight lost it right at the net and that unfortunately was his only bite of the day Simple on the peg to my left never had a touch all day (well he had a visit from Gemma so who knows ) but certainly no bites

So in the last hour I tried the margin swims but all match there had been no signs of fish in the margins and they both lived up to my expectations with no bites coming from either swim

With 10 Min's to go I managed to foul hook and loose another fish on paste at 6m again then on the next put in another then on the next put in the float just sat still and waited for the whistle and that was the end of my first visit to Stockton

When the scales arrived my fish weighed 7lb 8oz a bit less than I thought but enough to avoid a minxing

In fact the fishing was very poor with almost 1/2 the field under 10lb but with usual Jinx high spirits everyone was upbeat and made the most of it even poor Peter who ended up with a foul hooked Perch for 4oz and once again became an entrant in the "minxed" list

The match was won by Matt with a fine 48lb

Result

1st..Matt Nutt.........48lbs 00ozs
2nd..Roy Ravenhill...41lbs 08ozs
3rd..Paul Roberts.....28lbs 00ozs
4th..Gary Thorpe......26lbs 00ozs
5th..Nick Jones........24lbs 08ozs
6th..Brian Bevan......23lbs 12ozs
7th..Dirk Williams....23lbs 00ozs
8th..Fred Parker.......21lbs 12ozs
9th..Ant Haywood....17lbs 08ozs
10th..Nick Williams..16lbs 12ozs
11th..Eric Robathan..15lbs 04ozs
12th=Steve Wilson...15lbs 00ozs
12th=Dave Collier....15lbs 00ozs
12th=Jimmy L..........15lbs 00ozs
15th=Mark Causer....10lbs 00ozs
15th=Keith Ashby....10lbs 00ozs
17th..Kevin Lake.......9lbs 12ozs
18th..Malc Doyle.......8lbs 04ozs
19th..Tim W.............8lbs 00ozs
20th=Dave Moore......7lbs 08ozs
20th=Clive Pritchard..7lbs 08ozs
22nd..Dave Ashby.....7lbs 00ozs
23rd..Gemma Doyle...6lbs 04ozs
24th..Geoff Eggison...1lbs 08ozs
25th..Nick Watkins-Price...12ozs
26th= Peter Morton..........04ozs
26th=Colin Sharrard.........04ozs
28th=Mark Lake..............DNW
28th=Dai Thomas...........DNW
28th=Simon Mound.........DNW

All in all not a bad day out it was nice and sunny with good company the fishing was a bit patchy but I'd certainly give Stockton another try as it looks like a fantastic place just didn't produce the goods today

Last match in the series is back at Rolfs in a few weeks :)