15.03.17

Guru's Andy Bennett maintains his winning ways!

This weekend saw the fish really wake up at a lot of venues, including Staffordshire’s Heronbrook Fishery where Guru’s Andy Bennett obliterated a Spring League round by winning the match with 230lb of carp and F1s from peg 45 on Meadow Lake.

Even Andy was shocked at how good the fishing was, and chuffed with the result explained:

“I knew that I had a brilliant draw in the shape of peg 45 on Meadow, but thought that I’d manage to catch around the 100lb mark to sneak into the frame, not a double ton-up to win the match.

“There were fish moving in the corner of the lake to my right, and I decided to start the match by fishing pellets against the boards in around four feet of water. After catching a few quick fish I was already missing bites and getting liners, so I moved up into the shallower water against the bankside where it was three feet deep, which allowed me to catch even quicker.

“I couldn’t help but notice there were bigger carp moving about in the swim further out, and as soon as the pellet swim went a little quiet, I was straight onto my dobbing rig working across to the far bank and along the bank to my right. This was hectic fishing, with some of the renowned meadow mirrors hitting the net.

“With two and a half hours of the match remaining, I already had well over the 100lb mark, and with so many fish in the area felt that I could catch on maggots on the short pole. I started feeding maggots by hand, and after 20 minutes of feeding it I switched to that swim and started catching immediately. I was even getting liners after feeding, and despite not having a shallow rig assembled, I shallowed up my dobbing rig and had a run of catching fish shallow!”

A good spell dobbing some carp rocketed Andy's catch at Heronbrook!

Loosefeeding maggots on the short pole saw hectic action for the final two hours.

The previous week, Andy fished the Woodlands Lakes Silverfish Festival at Woodlands Lakes in Thirsk, where he managed to come a close second after three days of action.

“I’ve really enjoyed my silverfish fishing this winter, which was finished off nicely at the Woodlands Festival.

“The first day saw me draw peg four on Curlew Lake, and felt that I really needed to be the other end of the lake. I made a few mistakes to be honest, and targeted skimmers when I should have fished for roach by loose feeding and using a light rig. Despite catching 18lb, I think had I gone down this other route, I would have managed 25lb. Lessons learned!

“On day two my home was Mallard Lake peg four. This is a good, wide area of the lake that I was confident in catching some skimmers from. The wind was really bad for the first two hours and I had to keep ticking over by fishing the short pole. As soon as the wind dropped, I ventured further out using a crushed expander groundbait and maggot attack, and caught skimmers well. My 32lb was enough to win the lake and come 2nd on the match.

“On the final day I drew Kestrel lake peg 27 and had a brilliant days fishing, catching over 100 skimmers for a total of 55lb and a match win! Things weren’t plain sailing though, as I had a few carp come in my swim in the final hour when I was catching well on the short pole, which really messed up the skimmer sport and they didn’t count! Again, I went down the groundbait and maggot approach, and looking back I wonder if pellets would have been better to catch a few bigger fish. I missed out on winning the festival by just 1lb, and was really close to breaking the silverfish record there too which was set by the festival winner, Neil Stead – well done!”

Maggots and crushed expander groundbait made a deadly combo at Woodlands.

A perfectly presented double maggot hookbait!

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