A full house was out in force at Maver/Dynamite Baits Hayfield Lakes for the Dynamite Baits In The Mix event, a one-off match with a big £10,000 prize.
That cash is now sitting in the bank account of Matty Higgins after the Matrix/SonuBaits man led the strong field home with a 173-3-0 net of carp.
That saw him end the day almost 50lb in front of former Parkdean Masters champ Craig Edmunds, who took 125-15-0.
Third was Steve Roe with 92-4-0, on a day that saw Big Adams Lake produce all the leading weights.
Matty was on peg 36, where he spent the day fishing shallow on the long pole and the pellet waggler to net 30 carp. Here he explains how he won that big payday...
At the peg
“I’d drawn peg 36 on Big Adams Lake, which put me roughly in the middle of the water. This had been the most productive area, so I sort of half fancied it. You’re fishing to win, so there’s no point in scratching about. Shallow fishing was going to be the only way to catch, so I never set a deep rig up for the pole – all I had were shallow rigs and the waggler.
“Going straight out to 16m, I fished a 6mm Robin Red pellet at 2ft deep with a 0.2g Diamond float and started slapping, firing in 6mm pellets. The plan was to feed, slap several times and then feed again, and in the first hour I’d got eight carp averaging 6lb apiece, which was the start I wanted.
“Hours two and three just got better and better and I caught 20 carp, still fishing shallow and slapping. What helped was that the fish were definitely in amid the feed, so there was no need to go chasing them.”
Following the fish out
“The final 90 minutes of the match were really slow, perhaps because the carp had pushed out into the lake. Although I could still get the odd indication or bite on the pole, I wasn’t catching so, with 10 minutes to go, I had a look on the pellet waggler where I’d been feeding. That got me two late carp and made me think that I should have fished it a bit earlier!
“I knew I’d done well on there and would probably win it with 173lb, but you never know what’s been caught on Island Lake. Word got back, though, that 80lb had won the lake, so I’d done it! It’s great to finally win one of these big matches!”
