UKMA received information about a resounding Match win for Mike MacMillan on an undisclosed match venue in Kent. The Tubertini /Bagem Matchbaits backed rod didn’t just win the 25 peg match on his first visit. The up and coming match man totally emptied the place putting together an impressive 190lbs to win and finishing well ahead of his closest competition. So we thought we would ask Mike if he would be kind enough to share the tips, tactics and any secrets that helped him to be so successful, he willingly obliged and in his own words, here’s what he had to say.

How To Approach A New Venue

On Your First Visit

When going to any new venue blind it is often a daunting task and puts many anglers feeling disadvantaged before they start, however fishing to your strengths and just as important fishing your own match, you stand just as much of a chance as the venue experts at picking up that all important brown envelope.

An example of this was when I managed to book onto an open match a private lake in Kent. The only information I had on this 30 peg lake was it held a good head of carp into upper double figures. The talk at the draw was you needed to be in open water to stand a chance of framing, as this was where the previous matches had been won and framed from. I went in the bag and pulled out peg 9 which was at the back of an island, and first thoughts were “great not open water” however after looking at the peg there were plenty of features to go at and I felt a little more optimistic. Some feedback from the regulars about my peg was that it isn’t normally put in, as it doesn’t normally produce and compete. However I didn’t let this phase me and remained optimistic.

I opted for 3 lines tight to the island; one at 16m at 1’o clock, one at 14.5m at 12 o clock and finally one at 13m at 2 o clock. The only other two lines were at 6m at the bottom of the near slope and down the margin to my left.

Rigs

Shallow

Float- Tubertini Pro Carp 1
Line- 0.16 Tubertini Gorilla pole rig line
Hooklength- 0.14 Tubertini Gorilla hook
Hook- No.1 Tubertini 175
Elastic- Daiwa Hydrolastic-Grey

Margin

Float- Tubertini Concorde Pro 53
Line- 0.18 Tubertini Gorilla pole rig line
Hook- No.3 Tubertini 175
Elastic- Daiwa Hydrolastic-Red

Hour 1.
The all in sounded and a toss pot of dampened 4mm’s (dusted in Bag’em baits XP) were deposited on each of the island swims, some meat was fed at 6m (dusted in Bag’ em baits XPD dark) and some neat dampened Bag’em Margin Mix down the edge.

Starting on the one of island swims I shipped out and lowered my 6mm meat hook bait, 10 minutes went by with no sign at all; I tried all three island swims to find a similar pattern. I need to make something happen with the angler to my right netting two fish in quick succession. It was time to pick the catapult up and make something happen, by pinging just 3-4 pieces of meat every 2 minute and lifting the rig 6 inches and lowering I had my first fish, followed by 2 foul hooked fish this was the cue to change to a shallow rig. 

Hours 2-4
Alternating between 18 inches and 12 inches I was able to keep in touch with the fish on all three island swims, taking just 2-3 fish before switching swims, it’s important to remember to keep pinging over the lines when you’re not fishing them to keep them primed for when you switch. This pattern continued for the best part of two hours. It’s important to note that by rotating these lines and pinging bait to all three swims I was able to retain fish in my peg for longer, which stopped the fish drifting out of my peg into next.

Hour 3
After all three island swims went quiet spell it was clearly time to rest these and try the 6m line which had been receiving 2-3 pieces of meat every 2 minutes, after one missed bite this failed to produce any fish or sign for the remainder of the match. The only explanation I have for this, was I feel the fish wanted to be in the shallower water, which after the warm weather we have received lately, the water was at its warmest.

Hour 5-6
It was time to have a hook down the edge and after just 30 seconds the float vanished and the red hydro came teeming from the edge of my pole, after a scrap a 12lb mirror was in the net and another followed this was where the majority of my fish came for the remainder of the match taking either a double dendrobena or double 6mm meat. The feeding for this line was simple after every 2 fish I would simple pot in another big cup of margin mix and fish it out.

The scales came round and after 4 weighs I finished with 190lb to win the match.

Lessons Learnt On New Venues

1. Never let a ‘supposed’ bad draw phase or dishearten you, if you do you’re beaten before you start.
2. Always fish to your own strengths
3. If something isn’t happening at the early stages of a match, then it’s up to you to make the changes and make something happen, don’t sit there and watch your neighbouring pegs bag up.
4. Always fish with a positive attitude, often new approaches can pay off.

Foot Note

UKMA contacted the fishery where Mike had his success for more information about the lake and after a lengthy but pleasurable chat with the fishery manager, he politely asked UKMA not to publish the name of the venue as it is a private, 30 peg venue and they have a strict No publicity policy and we will respectfully obliged this request.

Team Tubertini / Bag'em Baits are sponsored by the below companies.