Regular readers of these blogs on the Sonubaits site will already know that I am a massive fan of the company’s P Mix groundbait.

And the good news is that I used this very special fishmeal groundbait to book my place in the last 16 of the Match Fishing Cup.

Round three saw 32 anglers head for Lindholme Lakes near Doncaster, which is a four-hour trek from my home down south!

I decided to travel up the day before the match and had a quick session to get an idea of the venue, which was Bonsai Lake. This lake has an island down the middle but one side requires a feeder chuck to the island while on the other it is reachable with 16 metres of pole.

It was a baking hot day and instead of fishing the pole, I opted to cast a small Method feeder to the island. I mixed up some Sonubaits P Mix and 2mm fishery feed pellets and banded a 6mm Sonu Baits Fin Perfect feed pellet. I was catching a few fish but with an hour and a half to go I made a decision just to mould P Mix around the feeder and to reclip so that the feeder was landing between two and four inches from the island. It made an astonishing difference as I went from catching odd F1s and small carp to catching mirror carp every cast.

The P Mix works well because it is such a fine consistency and binds really well, while also giving off a lovely green cloud in the water. And casting around and experimenting with how tight you get to islands on commercials is always worth trying.

I weighed in 76lbs to qualify for the fourth round which is being staged at Milton Keynes’ Furzton Lakes on July 8th. I’ll keep you posted on how I get on.