*******SPECIAL REPORT******** Garbolino Club Angler FINAL, Cob House Worcester, 9/7/14

Having got through the qualifier at Tunnel Barn Farm in May, the Final was to be held at Cob House Fishery in Worcester. If you visit once or twice a year, it is the place that fishy dreams are made of, but you wouldn't want to go every week.
My decision to have a couple of practice sessions was mainly an excuse to fish the venue and have a few days away, rather than the fact that I might learn something. The first trip was with Nick Harrop, a friend who fishes the dodger matches at Lingmere. Thursday overnight and Friday were planned.
Cob House have 4 match pools and several small pleasure lakes. The match pools are Laugherne Island and Wyatts, which were hosting the final, and Laurel and Oak. Arriving on Thursday morning, we were shocked to find a completely full car park! After purchasing a day ticket and breakfast deal for a tenner, we sat and enjoyed a full English. We then found out that all the match pools had been booked for club matches. Rowlocks.... we just enjoyed a fun day out on one of the pleasure lakes. A quick check revealed that practising on Friday would be a non-starter too as matches would take Laugherne and Wyatts out of the equation.
Hey! who cares? we were there to fish so we went on Laurel which is very similar fishing to Wyatts, i.e. stupid :) Carp from 2 to 5lb with an occasional lump fed freely and we both had 100 fish before calling it a day. Silly fishing but still something to learn. At times, mainly due to feeding it wrong, there would be 15 or so carp in the peg and it was impossible to put a rig into the water. It certainly opens your eyes and makes you think. We had a thoroughly great time, although not quite what was planned.
The second trip was with the Jolly Green Giant aka Pato. Again things didn't look good when we arrived on Monday, with matches booked for Laugherne, and 2 small ones on Wyatts. FFS this was getting silly, it was a Monday !!!! Enquiries brought the news that there were a few pegs left on Wyatts for pleasure anglers, so we hastily put some gear down and went for the fry-up.
Wyatts is similarly stocked to Laurel, and talking to a few people, recent matches had been won on the scoop (pellet feeder to you), both on the rod and on the pole. I was gutted to say the least, but a further conversation restored my faith. Apparently another match had produced big weights on short pole with paste. The tone of the day seemed to be 7 or 8 fish on one line or method and then change. I caught on several short lines, mainly with corn, and ended with another 100 fish. Pato caught shallow at 7 metres, close on the deck, and even on the pellet feeder. However, this was attached to 4 feet of line on the end of a topkit and lowered into the margin. Simply sit 30 seconds until the elastic pours from the pole. As Pato said, no missed bites and no overfeeding.. SIMPLES. Admittedly it is devastatingly effective but despite Neil's urgings I was not remotely interested in borrowing his rig for the big match, having slated him all day for using the newly christened 'gobshite method'. By the way, he ended on 90 fish.
Tuesday saw only one match on the complex, amazing. We wanted a session on Laugherne Island. The fish in this lake are decidedly bigger, but take a bit more catching. Pato started on a 'conventional' pellet feeder, attached to rod and line, and chucked to a gap between two islands. He caught very well for about 3 hours, landing 20 carp, mostly 5lb+. A change to the margins saw a run of bigger carp up to maybe 14lb, and he ended on 44 fish.
I chose several pole lines and managed a few carp. Slower than Neil, but steady, I managed 12 of the  5lb fish. A switch to the margins about 2pm brought me some of those better fish too, and by the end I had 37 carp. We both had well over 200lb but I still came away wondering about tactics for the match. As you will all know, despite Pato's success and persistent badgering, I had no intention of fishing the tip.
Match day arrived and following breakfast I was ready for the draw. 20 pegs on Wyatts (30 peg lake), which was a firm favourite to produce the winner, and 25 on Laugherne (39 pegs). Oh no! a last minute change. As Wyatts was such a favourite, there were to be only 15 pegs on Laugherne to give everyone even more room. The 18 peg OAK lake would be used, with 10 pegs in the draw bag. The whole café was full of open mouthed anglers going, "OAK? What's in Oak? How do you fish Oak? W.T.F.? and other assorted comments.
Hands went into the bag and mine came out attached to peg 11 on Oak. Oh well, it'll be a days fishing. Could be worse, I could be at work (titter, titter.... Snigger, Snigger).
Well, Oak seemed a fairly new 'mudhole' in the ground, but appeared to have more than a few fish in it. At the all-in I went in on short pole with corn, intending to fish as I had fished the other pools. 30 second later I was into my first fish, which turned out to be 5lb. Back in, 2 minute wait and another 5lber made it's way into my keepnet. Wow, what a start. When I next looked at my watch we were close to the 2 hour mark. Despite trying several different things, and watching others catch the occasional fish, I was still on 10lb!!! Where's that number for the Samaritans?
Even without feeding, the margins were coloured up and the odd swirl and tail could be seen. It really was too early to be fishing down the edge but I had nowhere else to go. I fed a tosspot of bait and went in. Despite having 8 to 10 carp mouching on the loosefeed, my float wouldn't go under. The next hour produced another 3 carp. Things then started to happen as I had hoped for. I was getting proper bites on a regular basis and catching a few fish.
At the scales I weighed 106lb, which put me.... errrrm.... nowhere. The lake, and my section, had been won on the other side with 184lb. 
The overall winner came off Laugherne with 257lb, and next best was 228 off Wyatts.
To sum up, I felt my match was a bit of a struggle, but realistically that's ridiculous. I had 106lb for god sake. A fantastic day's fishing by anyone's standards, and a brilliant experience from start to finish. Thanks to the club for giving me the opportunity, and I hope the next Eggy representative has as much fun as I have. If they don't, maybe look for some golf clubs or something?