Gold Valley Lakes Fish O Mania Qualifer 23rd Apr

Today saw me fishing in my last Fisho Mania qualifier down at Gold Valley. After the disappointment of not being able to fish the Viaduct qualifier due to food poising I was keen to get down to Gold on the day and see what the draw bag gods gave me.
With most Fisho Mania qualifiers in the past the excitement of taking part normally leaves me tossing and turning the night before struggling to get a decent nights sleep, however I slept well knowing all my kit was prepared and ready.
With a hours drive down the road it didn't take long to get there, the car park was over flowing and knew if I had drawn bad or had a bad match there was no chance of leaving early as I would be blocked in, so the attitude was to fish no matter what and see what comes up.
Having met a few familiar faces and a chat it was time to business and the draw. With the que already formed I jumped on the back end of it and drew my peg when it came round to it. Peg 81 on middle wasn't what I was hoping for as I wanted to be on Gold in the early numbers. From the cafe you could see the wind moving across the lakes and down towards the cafe. With me being on peg 81 I was on the back end of it 3 pegs of the corner and hoping there were some fish that wanted to stay off the wind in the calmer water.
Arrival to the peg saw me set my kit up, this time the rods coming out before the pole as I planned on setting about fishing  feeder and bomb tactic's with the pellet waggler thrown in should the fish come up in the water.
The pole would come into play later on but first it was cast out clip up and ensure all my rods were hitting the same spot.
Kit setup was as follows

Method Feeder 
Browning Champion Choice 12ft feeder, Xitain FD 930 reel 6lb mainline to a running Kobra 20g method feeder, 4 inch 0.16mm hooklength finished of with a PR36 size 16 hook banded hair rig.
Bomb Line 
Browning Commerical King 10ft, Browning ultimatch reel 6lb mainline to a running Browning hybrid bomb to a 1ft 0.16mm hooklength on a size 16 PR38 hook banded hair
Pellet Waggler 
Browning Medium Commerical King Pellet Waggler, Xitian FD 940 reel 5lb mainline to weighted pellet wag starting with a 2ft hooklength size 16 PR36 hook banded hair rig.

These 3 rods gave me the option to change from one to another depending on where the fish were and what they wanted to feed on.

The pole was set up with 2 throw away lines 5 meters out and 13 meters out and planned to only sit on them should I be in trouble on the tip and planned on going over them should the day be slow and in the last 1-2 hours to see if the fish had come in short.
Set up was as follows
Pole Bowning Z9 
5 meter swim
Browning hollow green 12-14 rating Mick Wilkinson cane diamond 0.40g float to a 0.18mm main line,0.16mm 6 inch hooklength. Size 16 PR36
13 meter swim 
Browning hollow green 12-14 rating Mick Wilkinson cane diamond 0.40g float to a 0.18mm main line,0.16mm 6 inch hooklength. Size 16 PR36

With the all in Hooter being sounded it was off to work with the the bomb deployed first with an 8mm pellet on the hook and a few 8mm pellets catapulted out.
I had a feeling this was going to be a waiting game for the fish to come onto the feed, a few liners suggested there were fish in the swim. Looking left and right of me both anglers had deployed the same tactic but notice I had cast further out into the middle of the lake.
After 30 minutes the rod tip went round and it wasn't long before a 1 1/2lb Skimmer was in the net. Not the best of starts as I was after the carp in the lake as this was what was going to build my weight up. Looking left and right again I noticed they hadn't caught so couldn't complain. After an hour on the bomb and no indications of liners and with the tip not going round I switched over to the pellet wagger to see if they were up in the water. First cast and fish on, however by the way the fish was making a run for it it was foul hooked and this was confirm when the line went slack and all I came back with was a scale. 30 minutes and no more bites saw me back on the bomb, this time no indications what so ever and clearly the fish had backed off, where as before the were indications to say the fish were feeding, even if it was skimmers. With no one catching on both banks top end of the lake it was clear either the pressure of every peg in had caused the fish to not play game or they were down the bottom end.

With angler to my right moving to his pole line and losing a carp it was time to have a look and see if any fish had settled on my line, straight away the float went under and a 2lb skimmer was in the net. Back out and another 30 minutes saw me bite less. Back onto the tip and this time on the method with dampened down micro pellets wrapped around it. This method didn't see any action so it was back out on the bomb, by now I was quite happy to pack away with an hour to go with only 2 skimmers to show for it. With the bomb out I collapsed my pole rigs and sat it out.
I then had a 30 minute spell which saw me land 3 carp on the bomb and lose a fish of considerable size and things were looking up. By now the angler to the right had 1 carp on his pole line and there were signs the fish were starting to move in, with my pole rigs back on the winders which I came to regret it but it was now a matter of sticking at it on the bomb hoping for a few more fish. This didn't happen and I watched the angler to the right catch one in the last 5 minutes as well as one of the anglers across the far bank.
3 of us in the section with 3 fish were up for the section win however when the scales came round I was short by a pound in weight and lost the section with the other 2 angler weighing in the same weight.
With the wind blowing down lake and having a chat with the lads I knew I wasn't going to compete with the better pegs on Gold, still a day out on the bank fishing in a Fish O Mania qualifier is a day not at work. Always next year.
Well done to Pemb Wrighting winning the qualifier with 115lb 15oz from peg 5 on Gold lake.