20/05/12 - Acorns - Paddock

Weight - 73lb 10oz
Catch - 27 Carp, 13 Skimmers, 2 F1, 1 Tench, 1 Rudd
Weather - Sunny, cool northerly gusty wind
Water Temp - 18.6c - 19.9c
Match - Pole Only Series - rd 5 - 5th out of 22 overall (5th in section)

The 5^th and penultimate round of the Pole Only series and it was my turn to fish Paddocks Lake, whilst the remainder had the joys of Horseshoe Lake at Plantations. I was a bit undecided how to approach the match, whether to go for carp or silvers. With the way the series has gone for me silvers looked like the better option in terms of potential overall payout. I was lying 5^th with the top 3 being paid out and excluding my dropped result I had 3x 2^nd, however the top 3 to date had dropped very few points.

So it would be down to the draw and when I saw peg 3 staring back at me, I thought “OK, silvers it is” But as is usual with leagues that are coming to a close, there was a number of anglers who decided not to fish and when peg 5, the carp flyer to my left wasn’t drawn it put a different perspective om matters. Paul Frairs who draw peg 1, was being less that subtle about the fact I should fish for carp, particularly with the space to my left, thus leaving him free to plunder the silvers (Paul - told you I would put it on the blog, but we wont mention the carp that dived under my platform, between my keepnets, leaving me to thread my top kit the same way! Oops too late).

In truth, now I had some space to my left, I didn’t need much persuasion to go for carp, but various rigs were set up to cover all options just in case. Rigs for the day, was a HB ratcatcher 2 .17 > 16 B960 for hair rigged 8mm, the same rig as Thursday, HB Chump 0.4g, .12 > 16B911 for fishing soft pellet, HB Shindig 0.3g .14 > 18 B911 hair rigging 6mm pellet down the track, HB Billybob 0.2g .16 > 16 B911 meat down my the next pallet and finally a Jolly 4x14 for fishing caster short, but I never used it.

The northerly wind was an issue, as well as been quite cool it was also quite gusty, so catapulting pellet to the far bank was a case timing between gusts, needless to say, some landed on the island, whilst some fell short.

On the all-in micros and 4mms were deposited down the track and I went straight across to the far bank with 8mm pellet. Within 30mins I had 2x small carp, but although there was a few carp showing, they weren’t taking the bait with any confidence. So rather than keep chasing shadows, I went down the track were I spent the next couple hours, catching a few skimmers and a few carp in between, toss potting 4s. The wind was creating a fair bit of tow against the wind and some of the better fish came by holding back, then letting go – just like being on the river. Since more carp were showing  I decided to switch rigs to the HB Shindig, but caught more skimmers! Typical catch carp on the skimmer rig and skimmers on your carp rig.

After a few hours the swim needed a rest, so switched back to the far bank were I had been continually feeding 6s, but the fish didn’t really want to be there and other than a lost foul hooker, no further carp were forthcoming.

With 2½hrs to go I was up to 10 carp and really hoping that by feeding meat to the pallet on peg 4 that I would make up some lost ground on the pegs behind me, particularly since my far line wasn’t producing and every time I looked back when shipping my pole, either Lance (p38) or Dave (p36) were landing fish.

A further 17 carp from the pallet, including 2 from the right hand margin was certainly useful, however the average stamp was on the small side, which was unfortunate and meant I was about 15lb shy of what I would expect. Not that it would have helped since the 3 pegs behind me all weighed a ton and any chance of an overall pick up in the series has gone. Nick Harvey on p7 who was fishing towards the end of the island (where peg 5 is) weighed 77lb, which probably illustrates that the concentration of fish in our area wasn’t as high as pegs 36,38 and 40.

Paddocks was definitely the lake to be on, with Horseshoe Lake being patchy with 58lb being the best weight, plus there was only a handful of silvers caught with 1lb 9oz picking up in 1 section.

1st 122- 6 - Lance Tucker - p38.
2nd 116-14 - Lewy - p40
3rd 100-12 - Dave Wride - p36
4th 76-15 - Nick Harvey - p7
5th 73-10 - Ken Rayner - p3
6th 58- 3 - Simon Carvello - Horseshoe Lake

Silvers
1st 31- 0 - Paul Frairs - p1
2nd 20- 4 - Lance Tucker - p38
3rd 18-10 - Mike Owens - p34

17/05/12 - Acorn - Paddock

Weight - 92lb 5oz
Catch - 30 Carp, 10 Skimmers, 2 Roach, 1 Goldfish, 1 Tench, 1 Crucian
Weather - Mostly cloudy, cool easterly breeze
Water Temp - 18.8c - 19.6c

With an exam on Monday (my 3rd attempt!) I had today and Friday off work for revision. However its the 5th round of the pole only series on Sunday and I wanted to have a practice before Sunday, but couldn't afford the time to fish a match. So I managed a short (4.5hrs) afternoon/evening session on Paddock Lake, fishing peg 18 on the main straight.

Its easy to see why Acorns is becoming so popular, with well maintained lakes, as well as easy access to your peg and parking right behind your peg certainly saved time.

Originally, I wanted to target the skimmers, because the way my league has gone, silvers may be my best chance of picking up in the overall league.

I started fishing down the track on 4mm expander, feeding soften 4s. However after 90mins the carp started to move in and the skimmers where few and far between. With so many carp in the swim decided to set up a shallow rig with hair rigged 8s, feeding 6s across.

I caught consistently for next couple of hours, including a few more carp from the right hand margin. I did go back to my "silvers" line but 2 carp in 2 put ins and that line was binned.

The session didn't pan out as expected, but enjoyable none the less.

12/05/12 - Fishponds

Catch – 14 Carp, 1 Bream

Weather – Sunny, with a slight breeze.

Water Temp – 19.1c – 19.7c

Match – Club – Feeder Only – 3^rd out of 12

With more revision to do (well it wold help if I passed the exam first time!), I could only go once this weekend and the intention was to fish Lands End. However, I strained my lower back earlier in the week and really didn’t fancy long pole fishing, so a 5hr feeder only match seemed like a more sensible idea.

As previously mentioned feeder fishing isn’t exactly my favourite style and I much prefer to watch a float go under, but I saw today an opportunity to sort out some problem areas, particularly the mix I put around the method. I do have a method mould but I can’t seem to get the perfect mould. Last week at Gold Valley the problem was my mix was too sticky and today I had the same issue, so the 1^st couple of moulds ended up being done my hand and there would still be pellet stuck to the feeder, which isn’t right. By adding a small amount of groundbait I managed to reduce the stickiness and started to produce perfect moulds, which also meant the feeder was coming back clean.

Being a feeder match meant setting up was easy and I found myself on peg 4, which is at the mouth the arm of the lake. Decided to concentrate on 2 areas, the far bank and 10m to my right where I hand fed 8s. The method itself was moulded with 2s.

After the first 2 hours I had 8 carp and a bream, all on 10mm white boilie, caught about 3m shy of the far bank reeds. My gut feeling was the fish wanted to be in the shallow water, because the temperature had increased and there was few cruisers.

Marcus next me on p3 had roughly the same on worm, but felt my fish were slightly bigger, particularly one that weighted 12-15. We both started to struggle after the 2^nd hour, so the fish appeared to have moved away from the far bank and neither of us could catch close in, although I am positive I would have caught if I could have fished the pole.

As I had slowed down, Glenn on p21, who has taken some big weights on the feeder started to catch, as was Kev behind me on peg 6, who was dropping his feeder into the shallow water by some nearside reeds – it is a noted hotspot.

From almost the start I had been firing 8s into the far bank but with an hour to go decided to deposit 1½pt of pellet by catapult. Whilst I was feeding that line I managed to catch a couple of carp from the near side swim, however they were only 4lbs, compared to the average 7lbers. If I was to catch Glenn and Marcus I needed a few better fish and fortunately the extra pellet to the far bank seemed to work with a further 3 average sized carp coming to 8mm pellet.

Come the weigh in those last 3 fish was enough to overtake Marcus, but I was 1 fish shy of Glenn. Fortunately there is only 1 feeder only match a year, so back to proper methods next month.

1^st 167lb – Kev

2^nd 108lb – Glenn

3^rd 102lb – Ken

4^th 91lb - Marcus

06/05/12 - Viaduct - Campbell

Weight – 62lb 7oz (14lb 12oz – silvers)
Catch – 8 Bream, 7 Carp, 2 Tench

Weather – Mostly sunny. Cool easterly breeze.

Match – Avon Angling – Float Only Series – rd1 – 24^th out of 40 (4 out of 5 – section)

Today was the 1^st round of Tony Rixon's Float Only series. I had decided to fish the series, even though the 2^nd round clashed with the last round of the Paul Frairs Pole only series and I will only miss the 2^nd round if I’m in with a chance of an overall payout from the pole series, which is a possibility, but I can’t afford any more slip ups.

Viaduct is one of those venues which I have struggled to get to grips with, mainly because I don’t fish it that often, which I do intend to rectify this year, because I never fish here with any confidence. Today was very much a case of not understanding the venue, however this was one of the reasons why I wanted to fish the series.

Peg 126 was an excellent draw, having won a mid-week match with over 200lb, but last night was cold and I wasn’t sure how the fish would respond. Also I had venue regulars in my sections with Anton Page on 125 and Dick Bull on 128. Regardless, I decided to approach the match with a positive frame of mind, taking only meat and various size pellets. Also since this seemed to be a carp area, decided against setting up any silvers rigs.

I started at 13m fishing on the deck with 8mm pellet, feeding 6s and after the 1^st hour had a couple of tench and a carp. However the next couple of hours is where I got it wrong.

Anton had started to catch shallow, whilst I decided to stick with fishing on the deck, confident the fish would come, reasoning that I could catch shallow on the waggler further out where I had been feeding 8s, also I been feeding meat short for later.

Unfortunately for whatever reason I had my stubborn head on and by the time I decided I was fed up of watching Anton catching shallow, the wind dropped and the ripple disappeared. I did manage 1 carp shallow, but left it far too late. I also had 1 carp on the pellet waggler, but the real surprise was the lack of action over the short meat line were I only had 1 skimmer. The fish really didn’t want to feed on the deck, which was a common comment post match.

By the end I could have kicked myself, because I knew what I did wrong, but was far too slow to response in the mistaken believe I would catch on the deck. If it hadn’t been for the match I had at Gold Valley on Friday I would tried to get in on one of the mid-week matches, which on today’s evidence I could have benefitted from.

In the end Anton weighed 152lb to win the section but what was really annoying was the fact only 69lb was needed to claim 2^nd in section and a section pick up by de-fault. I only have myself to blame. Never mind there is always next week.

1^st 159-12 – Tom Magnoll – p98

2^nd 153-13 – Shaun Townsend – p123

3^rd 152-15 – Anton Page – p125

4^th 146-13 – Clayton Hudson – p85

5^th 126- 8 – Gary Etheridge – p114

6^th 117-14 – Craig Edmunds – p110

Silvers

1^st 73-14 – Nigel Bartlett – p80

2^nd 53- 3 – Tom Thick – p81

3^rd 20- 6 – Shaun Townsend – p123

04/05/12 - Gold Valley - Gold Lake

Weight – 11lb 0oz
Catch – 4 Bream, 3 Perch, 1 Crucian, 1 Roach
Weather – Mostly cloudy, cold northerly breeze
Match – Garbolino Club Angler

Today was the southern qualifier for the club angler competition, where the top 15 would go through to the final at Lindholme. 69 anglers booked in, split 40 on Gold and 29 on Middle, with only 6 no shows.

Following last weeks practice match, I was feeling confident that given a decent draw I could qualify, so when I found myself on peg 12 on the canal bank of Gold Lake, I was initially quite pleased, particularly when I had 2 space pegs to my left.

Darren Cox from Garbolino came round to see all the anglers and suggested that I was in a good area for skimmers, which was pleasing to here and was more helpful than Will Raisons response of “you will catch on everything”.

On the all in I cupped in caster and 2mm pellet at 13m. After spending an hour on the feeder, I was bored with only 1 liner to show for my efforts. A couple of fish had been caught to my right, but generally it was slow going.

I’m not sure the cold northerly breeze was helping me and I had to put my second fleece on. A look over the 13m line produced a crucian, then a small perch. Looking around I thought that if I could get a net of silvers I could then get a few carp late on.

However best laid plans and all that, meant I struggled badly. I kept topping up the 13m, confident the skimmers would arrive, but other than a couple of skimmers and a few perch those fish were reluctant to feed.

I had been feeding 8mm pellet, 30m out hoping the fish would eventually turn up, but despite feeding all match, I only had 1 skimmer and qualification was becoming a distant dream.

As the match progressed and the need for snookers, it was now a case of feeding a lot of caster and meat at 6m and down the left hand margin. When I had a big bream (4lb 12oz) at 6m on meat I thought I got a chance, but that was the only fish from this line. The margin didn’t produce a single bite on caster or meat.

I didn’t hang around for the results, but have since found out that only 36-38lb was required to qualify. I don’t think anyone qualified from my area of the lake, with the angler to my left only landing 1 carp, on what is considered a good peg opposite the island. The most anyone had to my right was 4 carp.

In hindsight may be I should have just sat on the feeder all day, but it doesn’t suit my style of fishing and I didn’t have any confidence in it after that first hour, but with such a low qualifing weight I feel vindicated for feeding really positively in the last 2hrs to pull in some carp, since you can easily have 2 or 3 carp for 30-40lb

29/04/12 - Plantations - Horseshoe Lake

Weight – 10lb 3oz (3lb 3oz silvers)
Catch – 2 Carp, 2 Skimmers, 1 Perch
Weather – Rain, rain, rain and a cold NE gale!
Water Temp – 13.0c – 13.0c
Match – Pole Only Series – rd4 – 15^th out of 25 (8^th in section)

If it wasn’t for the fact that this was a league match, I won’t have bothered going and 5 no shows agreed. High winds and heavy rain meant some roads were partially flooded and branches of varying sizes littered the road.

No one wanted Paddock Lake today, because with very little cover it really was exposed to the elements. In fact of those that drew the lake, only 3 stayed to the bitter end.

It was back to random draw today and I certainly found myself in the section of doom. It was like a Thyers convention, with the majority of the league leaders present, so a big opportunity if you did well.

I drew a sheltered peg half way down the right hand side of the island and when I saw my peg I thought great, at least I can fish, with a large group of trees/bushes providing quite a bit of shelter, although the wind was still too strong to put up an umbrella. I did try, but after 5mins took it down again in case I did a Mary Poppins. The conditions were truly appalling. I wasn’t expecting to fish a winter league match at the end of April.

Looking at my peg, I was set back from the peg to my right, with the trees/bushes providing enough shelter for me to fish 10m to my right. I could also fish under the nearside branches, where I hoped to catch a few carp later, although I was concerned whether the fish would really want to come into the shallower water. To my left was a nice long margin, but due to the wind initially I could only fished at 5m.

After 3hrs fishing I was blanking, I had fed a short line with caster, hoping for some roach, but never had a bite and gave up feeding after 2hrs. The only line that was showing any signs of life was my right hand 10m line, where I had lost a little fish as I was shipping back, as well as what felt like a skimmer. Initially started on a 0.4g HB chump, but due to the tow switched it to a 0.75g polar ice. On this line I had started feeding micros and 4s, but when it became obvious there wasn’t any carp about so I switched to cupping in caster looking for anything.

My right margin was fed with caster, whilst the left margin was fed with meat, which I thought would be my banker for late on. However I was trying my margins a lot sooner than anticipated and eventually managed a carp from the right margin on meat, then had another carp on maggot from the 10m line, before the action stopped again.

Going into the final hour, by persisting with cupping in caster I managed 2 skimmers and a perch, but lost a big skimmer at the net. With the wind easing, I was able to go longer down my margin only to pull out of a decent carp. It’s fair to say I was annoyed at myself, because I probably lost 7-9lb, which would have catapulted me up what was a very tight section.

With 2hrs to go I also set up a new swim 8m at an angle to my left feeding caster & meat, but never had a bite.

A very frustrating, wet and miserable day. For whatever reason I couldn’t pull in any volume of fish. On reflection I may have forced the peg a little too much, but with no fish after 3hrs felt I had no choice. Also being set back the fish had plenty of room to back away from me and they weren’t really in a feeding mood.

The only consolidation was my 3-3 of silvers picked up the silvers by default.

25/04/12 - Gold Valley - Gold Lake

Weight – 48lb 4oz (22lb 10oz silvers)
Catch – 7 Bream, 5 Carp, 4 Roach, 3 Perch, 2 Hybrid, 1 Rudd
Weather – Rain, rain, rain as well as a bit of wind!
Water Temp – 14.3c – 14.7c
Match – Match Fishing Scene – 4^th out of 17 overall

More traveling this time to Gold Valley in Aldershot. I had heard many stories and comments about the place, ranging from it’s a great a fishery, to its too peggy, as well as the rather strict rules on bank walkers and no peeing on the bank.

The reason for today’s visit was to practice for the Garbolino Club Angler southern regional qualifier on 4 May. On the drive down I was beginning to wonder whether it was worth the effort, with the wind and rain lashing down together with the heavy traffic. On arrival, the club house overlooks Gold Lake and I recognized some of the famous pegs you see in the magazines. The venue won’t win any awards for the best looking fishery, but it is well maintained with concrete platforms and a hardcore path around the lakes.

Today’s match was run under the MFS website banner, which included a number of locals, so it would give me a good idea of how it could fish. Gold Lake is roughly rectangular and fortunately we were pegged along the canal bank, which meant we were mostly sheltered from the worst of the wind, so umbrellas could be put up, which I was quite pleased about.

I drew peg 26 at the far windward end of the lake and on the day was 3^rd from the end. Must admit I was a little disappointed, because I fancied a lower number closer to the clubhouse where the wind was blowing in.

With no one on the far bank, I expected the carp to back away to the other side of the central rope, however I started on a customized pellet feeder with hair rigged 8mm pellet cast just short of the rope. After 90mins I had 4 carp and leading our section, but a further 3 casts without a bite and I got bored (unless the tip keeps going round I get easily bored) so switched to the pole.

From the start I had been potting caster & 2mm pellet at 13m every 20mins. I knew there were some big skimmers around so decided to be really positive to try and catch them. Unfortunately the first 30mins was very frustrating with bumped fish, tangles and not getting the presentation right. Eventually, I got it sorted and started to catch big skimmers up to 3lb on double caster, plus my best carp on the day of nearly 7lb. Everytime I got a roach or perch I dumped another pot of food.

I had also been feeding 8mm meat at 7m. But, again more bumped fish or they coming off after a few seconds was frustrating, although I did manage a big 3lb hybrid, plus a few smaller skimmers. I also lost an 8-9lb carp at the net, but I shouldn’t complain too much because it was foul hooked it the rear end.

Herbie who was pegged to my left and spend most of the day on the lead and occasionally the pellet waggler fishing at 30m had with 90mins to go about 3 carp, however by continually feeding 8s he managed to pull in a few late carp to pip me by 3lb. It was really useful to see Herbie catch late like that, although I had been feeding the same line I only gave it a couple of casts, but I wanted to see if I could still challenge on the pole.

Pleased with how the match progressed, in hindsight I should have spent more time on the tip during the last hour, however I lost enough fish to challenge 2^nd place. Speaking after the match, there were a few lost fish, with them being hooked around the month, so not really feeding properly.

1^st 88-12 – Chris N – p2
2^nd 69-14 – Ludders – p12
3^rd 51- 1 – Herbie – p25
4^th 48- 4 – Ken Rayner – p26
5^th 45-14 – Pikey – p22
6^th 43-10 – Happydangler – p9