This is the first part of a series that UKMA are putting together to follow a well known angler, through a series of matches to get an insight on how they approach the day in question.

For the first series of matches, UKMA have chosen to follow Omer Patel , owner of Kobra Feeders, on his participation in the UKMA organised Boddington Reservoir matches.

The first match (and this feature), was carried out during the 2009 UKMA Charity match, where Omer has drawn peg 99 on Boddington Reservoir. Full details of how the match went can be found in the match results section of UKMA.

The Match

Due to the weather conditions, and the shallow nature of the peg, Omer chose to set up a single Method feeder rod. On other pegs where he had a little more water and conditions favoured, Omer also would have set up a pellet waggler rod and possibly a pole. Omer’s method feeder setup is fairly simple. Using a 12’ feeder rod and a reel, loaded with 8lb line, it was obvious that Omer would be using one of his own company’s superb Method feeders.

The feeder that Omer chose for the day in hand, was one of the new flat feeders that he has come up with to compliment his own Method Mould. Using a Method Mould is simplicity in itself and allows the exact same sized feeder to be cast out, with an almost identical amount of bait sent out to the area on each cast. By simply sprinkling an amount of groundbait or dampened pellet into the mould, the feeder is then pressed into the mould, compressing the groundbait/pellets onto the feeder.

After the first layer of bait is pressed onto the feeder, a second sprinkling of bait is placed into the mould, and the hookbait is then laid on top of it. The feeder is then pressed back into the mould to secure the hookbait within the outer lighter layer of bait.

We did notice that the dampened pellet feed that Omer was using, came out of the mould with no sticking at all, something that a lot of anglers seem to have problems with using other available moulds. We asked Omer what he was using as bait, and he replied that he uses plain 2.3mm Skrettings pellets, dampened down so they squeeze together under gentle pressure. Nothing more, nothing less.

Onto the fishing. Omer explained his end rig for the day, and it was exceptionally simple. Omer showed us that he had prepared a number of 3” hooklinks, using 0.18mm diameter line and Tubertini 175 hooks in a size 16. The Tubertini 175 is a lightweight pattern but also very strong, and gives superb hookholds when fishing the Method. The Method feeder Omer intended to use throughout the day was a flat feeder, with a short length of black hollow elastic running through it to act as a shock absorber. Omer chose to start the match using 2 dead white maggots, fished directly on the hook rather than hair rigged.

He also had a few hooklinks set up in the same way with hairs in case a change of bait was required. Surprisingly, compared to other anglers fishing, Omer’s bait tray was bare, with only a large tub of dampened pellet, a few dead maggots, a tub of soft hook pellets and a some boilies being present. A lot of anglers confuse themselves in taking way too much bait with them, and lots of different options. Obviously Omer does not fall into this catergory! Omer started by fishing at a range of 75 yards, Casting to a clip, Omer could be certain that he could drop the feeder on the same line each cast. UKMA asked Omer why he was fishing at such a distance at the start, and we were told that because the peg is quite shallow, and also the boats were out in force, the fish tend to hang out into the main lake, and usually come in closer during the match.

Omer was meticulously feeding a line at around 40 yards distance with plum sized balls of the same dampened pellets he was using on the feeder. Conditions were far from favourable, and the difficult nature of the day proved this. Omer went for about an hour before his first bite, and found bites to be at a premium through out the day. The boats that used the venue as well kept creeping closer & closer to the bank where the anglers where situated, and Omer had at least one catch his line causing a breakage.

Omer found that contrary to normal behaviour on the day, the fish went further out rather than closer in as the match progressed. Bites were few & far between for the first 3 hours, and Omer certainly had to pull something out of the bag to come anywhere near the top of his section. As the minutes ticked by, it was almost as if a switch was thrown as Omer started to get bites at regular intervals with about an hour and a half to go. In the last hour alone Omer doubled his catch and come weighing in, was rueing the lost fish, which would have given him the section should he have landed them – and possibly a place in the main frame itself!

At the end of a hard day, Omer weighed in 9 fish for a total weight of 48lb 10oz, which put him second in his section, and in the top 10 of the match overall. UKMA asked Omer if he would have done anything different if he was to fish the same match over again, and Omer stated that he would have fished it in the exact same manner, but maybe change up a hook size in the last hour when the bites were coming regularly to try to alleviate losing fish.

How will Omer get on in the next UKMA match? Well we will be there with the cameras to find out.