Hiya Brian
Well i'm by no means an expert, but I did fish Robbie's last week in the Angling Times Supercup Semi-Final.
Basically either end of the pond fished terrible, but there were some reasonable weights from the pegs in the middle.
You can use pellets on this lake (I think they're trying to fatten the fish up before transferring them to other lakes on the complex)but you have to buy them from the venue itself (1 a bag - not bad value)
You only need set a pole up - the ponds too small to fish any other method really, although if its blowing a bit and you're in the middle of the lake, I guess you could fish a little feeder. There's a shelf at around 4m, so I fished one line just over the shelf, one at 11m and I would have fished one tight to the inside if i'd had any near bank cover.
I would start by cupping in a good handfull of pellets at 11m and also down the inside if you have any cover and fish chopped worm & caster at 4m. I'd stick with maggot or worm as hookbait unless you start getting bothered by the hordes of micro-perch that inhabit the lake (they're about 3" long and you wouldn't believe the size of worm they can get in their gobs!)
The only plus point about the perch is they do at least indicate that there are no carp in front of you, because they clear off as soon as the carp move in. Good change baits to avoid the perch are corn and caster. After the initial feed I mainly loose fed with caster and hemp (at 11m) until the bites tailed off, when I'd cup in another pot full of pellets and concentrate on my other lines to let them'settle'.
The lake is only around four feet deep (at least it was at the end i was at), so you don't need any floats bigger than 0.5g. I fished a 0.10mm hook length, with hook sizes varying between 18 and 22 (Kamasan B611). Make sure your hooks are barbless because they DO check them!
Most of the carp are only around a pound or less, although there are a few up to 3 or 4 lbs. Theres also a lot of orfe and ide and some decent perch up to about 12oz.
Unfortunately I only weighed a little over 4lbs, because I was at one of the ends of the lake, I think the best weight was about 20lbs, from somewhere in the vicinity of peg 10. Talking to the owner the day before the match it seems as if the lakes are fishing differently every day at the moment, so your best bet may be to collar him on the morning of the match and find out what's getting caught.
If you need any more information let me know and I'll try and help
Tight Lines
Simon
