I've just had a cracking day's fishing in the Maver Classic Final when I won my section by 40lb over my nearest rival - and I did it balling in 15 big balls of Sonu Match Method Mix on the pole line.

It was the Sunday of the final and I had blown out on day one when I drew on Arena. On Day Two I was drawn on the Specimen Lake, peg nine on the Burr bank to be precise.

The weather was horrible and because of the galeforce winds the lake was towing hard and you could not present a gram-and-a-half pole rig at five metres without the pole almost being ripped from your grasp.

I had Pemb Wrighting to my left and Darren Cox to my right and I'm not sure what they thought when thery saw me ball in 15 babies' heads on the 14.5 metre line at the all in. That was two bags of Sonu Match Method Mix and into it went a tin and a half of sweetcorn, a tin and a half of luncheon meat and two pints of Sonu Fin Perfect 4mm feed pellets.

I kicked off fishing the Method feeder - a 30gram in line Preston Flatbed model - at 30 yards and after 40 minutes switched to the pole line, dropping the Method feeder there where all the groundbait had gone, and it was game on with a fish a bung.

In all I caught 27 kilos of skimmers (58lb) and I had three carp to take me to the 40 kilo (80lb) mark. Two of the carp combined gave me 24lb-plus and one of those big carp actually came on the Method feeder just five metres out. I had kept feeding the five metre line all match and it brought me five fish, that carp plus four big bream, in the last 40 minutes of the match.

I think Pemb hada round 20lb and Darren had 15lb and didn't bother weighing.

While I joked tio them both at the start that I had nothing to lose after day one when I bombed out, inside I was thinking my method would go because when it's windy it pushes the fish down in the water and the tow also makes them head down towards the bottom where it is less turbulent.

I used one of the 11ft Preston Innovations Mini carp feeder rods and had 8lb main line and a .19mm Preston Powerline hooklength, finished off with a piece of hair-rigged corn on a PR38 hook in a size 16.