Elmbridge Fishery - The Margins

[Darren]

Hey guys, Last week I fished Elmbridge Fishery in a competion with my local club. There are three pools at elmbridge and I had been there a few time over the last two months but only fished the first two pools. The match we were fishing last Sunday was on the top pool as is all the opens that are fished there.

I got to my peg which looked pritty bog standard, a lot of open water just out of reach of an island that the peg next to me could fish at 11 meters. Although it was possible to set up a wagler and reach it that way but I decided not to as the wind was blowing away from it.

On previous sessions here I have caught in the margins from the off and that was going to be my starting point for the day. I plumbed up both margins and also set up a shallow rig for fishing 11 meters with meat and castor.

From the whistle I started feeding both margins with meat and also fishing it on the hook. From previous visits to the pool I knew there were a lot of small fish so feeding meat as well as using it on the hook helped keep them at bay, although I still managed to catch a few gudgeon throughout the day.

Anyway, from the off I started catching from both sides, carp from between 1-4 lbs everyone around me seemed to be fishing out at around 11 meters but not catching a hell of a lot, well as far as I could see up the bank anyway.

With venues like Elmbridge the trick to the margins is feeding. I tried to keep it little and often. When the bites get finiky it usualy means that smaller fish have moved into the swim and by putting in a bit more bait than normal it tends to feed them off and produces some bigger fish.

I caught in both margins up until that last hour where I struggled for bites. At the same time the guy next to me was banging them out from the island which had suddenly turned on and it seemed he was bringing in a much bigger stamp of fish to what I had been catching in the margins.
When the whistle went I thought He had just pipped me.

All in all everyone had a good days fishing, the lowest weight be around 10lb. Luckly I just snook in for the win! weighing in at 50lb 5oz just in front of a 49lb 6oz.

I think the main thing to do when you go out fishing be it pleasure or match fishing is to learn something everytime you go out. I learned that I should have been feeding another line further out if I had done so I may well have caught that more fish that last hour. Over the last year I have kept a fishing diary which is one of the reasons why my fishing has improved so much over the last year. The fishing blogs ( http://www.anglerscircle.co.uk/blogs.php )that I have made available on this site can be a great way to keep track of your days out and also helps others visiting the site to get better catches.

Well I think I have rambled on enough for one day, I'll try and get hold of the pictures that were taken and the weighing in list.

Darren