Many of my local match venues are considered to be F1 venues. F1s make up most of the winning weights. However, the venues i like fishing and often do best on. Are a few venues that have a mix of F1s and proper carp, including lumps. The reason i enjoy these types of venues most is that while i often target the F1s. Those lumps can also be targeted especially in the margins and on bigger baits. This means that i have more options/chances to compete and win. There have been many times when those better lumps have pulled me back into contention to win from a peg where the F1s where not in my peg in enough numbers to win on there own.

One of my regular venues is Partridge Fishery. The owner was planning on adding some better stamp carp to the stocks of small F1s and small carp on the match lakes this winter. However, some of the match lads said no to the bigger carp being stocked. The argument against the lumps was that 1 carp would mean a lot of extra F1s needing to be caught to catch up. Im shocked with this logic. To me it is one dimensional and reduced the options of the match anglers. The lumps would have given those not drawn on the F1s in high numbers something to target and a real chance to compete by doing something different.

@sam the man wrote:

Your right true blue them that’s winning on f1 don’t want the bigger fish. It gives anglers that are not as skilled a chance to win something and that would not do

these will be the ones who moan when they dont draw the best peg every week even though they win most times

I think its a bit more complex than just suggesting that those who dont have the skills to target the F1s dont have a chance. Targeting bigger carp is a skill in itself.

I have a very good record on Partridge and i pick up money in most open matches that i fish on the venue. However, there are days when i have draw in a very difficult areas of the venue with very few F1s to target. A few lumps could make a big difference to a peg in a difficult area and make a difficult peg into a potential winning peg by targeting a few lumps.

The better anglers will always sort out the options available to them much better than those with less angling skills. The better anglers will win more often if there are more options available to them in my experience.

On venues where there are very few options. Matches are dominated by the draw bag and not the skills of the anglers. Targeting bigger carp is a skill in itself and can give different options to those who know what they are doing. I believe this is why some anglers are against the bigger carp being stocked into the match pools at Partridge.

However, its also why those anglers you asked about the matches on your venue dont want to fish it. Its for a slightly different reason, though. They dont have the skills to target the F1s effectively. They only want to target the bigger lumps but dont believe they can compete with those drawn on a shed full of F1s.

Is this the first year partridge has had a fisho qualifier?

Yes Billy

how many lakes will it be over, and what days times are the regular opens?

I’ve heard that they are using the whole complex for Fisho. Don’t know if it’s true but it would be a mistake IMO.

Opens are Thursday, Sat and Sun (draw 9 fish 10-3). I think they are now running matches on a Tuesday as well?
I know there was a match last Tuesday on the new Holbar lake, it was won with 3 carp for 19lb and third had 200 chub for 12 lb???

Prob best to avoid the chub then lol, How many lakes are there? is it like cudmore ie some snake, some proper lakes, is it pretty fair? or do certain lakes dominate?

Take a look here –

http://www.partridgelakes.co.uk/

I’ve only started fishing the opens recently, so I can’t really comment on how ALL the lakes produce. But from what I have seen some lakes are better than others.

Cheers, looks good.!

Dont think they will be using Gold or Holbar 1 for the fisho qualifier. Holbar 1 would win with 200lb+. That lake is stuffed with carp 8lb-15lb and is very special. Gold,s a bit special as well but only open to club members. The lakes are mainly canal type waters but with different mixes of chub, F1s and small carp with some lumps in some of the pools.

How do you fish it true blue? or is every peg different?

When and on which pools, billy the squid? Each pool holds different types of fish and of different sizes. Some of the pools hold mainly chub and other silver fish and only a small number of carp and F1s. The likes of Covey pools 1-4 hold F1s and small carp and virtually no silver fish. Pool 1 on Covey as an example seems to holds bigger F1s than pool 2 but i did have 2 open match wins from pool 2 last autumn from un-fancied pegs and pool 2 had no form in the open matches at that time. A few pegs where clearly fliers like pegs 75 and 100 on Covey pools 3 and 4. However, a lot of anglers have messed up those 2 pegs. So, its not clear cut what are the best pools or best pegs on each of the match pools. It seems quite a fair match venue from what i have seen so fare. However, the likes of me and Johnny Mac are only learning the venue at the moment. We both did ok in the opens and picked up plenty of money but we are not venue experts yet. We only started fishing Partridge in the late summer/autumn. We are both learning the venue but learning fast!

Have you got a ticket for the Fisho qualifier on Partridge?

Got a few tickets this year, and yeah partridge is one!. I like to fish new venues, when i can afford to get to them, looking forward to an open at partridge in the near future, and was wondering what baits to leave at home, ie worm/caster, is mag pellet competitive there? and did you get a ticket TB?

holbar 1&2 will be used in fisho