Weight – 24lb 6oz
Catch – 12 Roach, 9 Rudd, 8 Bream, 3 Perch, 2 Eel, 1 Carp, 1 Barbel
Weather – Rain at start, then mostly cloudy. Mostly flat calm.
Water temp – 16.0c > 16.5c
With the forthcoming 1st round of the Veal’s Winter League looming, I needed some practice at the venue. Sundays practice open had been won with about 40lb and the general consensus was there was bites for everyone.
Trinity Waters evokes very polarised views about whether it should be included in the Winter League, because the fishing can be challenging. As expected many of those that struggle to catch are not prepared to work for their fish. Personally I like to venue, set in a lovely location, John & Sue have worked hard to continually improve the fishery.
Wildmarsh is a 70 peg lake, which will have 3 sections of 15, which meant there was a 75% chance I would drew there on Sunday. The other lake, Woodlands would be dominated by carp and would effectively look after itself, so it made sense to practice on Wildmarsh.
I few days earlier I received a call from my best mate, Jim, when we realised we hadn’t got together for nearly 9 months, he decided to come along with me for the practice session. Since most pegs had a tree between them, we settled on pegs 44 & 45 because the vegetation was less dense, so at least we could have chat, whilst we fished.
The winter league would be float only, so I really wanted to get the waggler sorted, because if I drew Wildmarsh in the match I felt the waggler would give me an edge since most anglers would only fish the pole.
I set up a loaded 8g-enser-dream waggler, with 5 x no.6 bulk 2 foot from the hook 4 no 10 droppers, fishing in 7 foot water. I feed 6mm swim stim expanders, plus small balls of groundbait laced with chopped worm, caster & 3mm pellet. Whilst the fishing was never hectic, I caught skimmers up to 2lb 12oz mostly on half a worm at 25/30m.
I also had a few fish on the pole at 12m, but felt I probably overfed the swim from the start, cupping 4 balls of groundbait with caster & chopped worm. In hindsight, I should have started a little more cautiously.
As part of my practice session I also tried the margins, but only managed 1 carp about 6½lb and a barbel.
This was a really enjoyable session. The weather conditions were hardly ideal for catching skimmers, but I finished confident with the waggler and hoping for an open water draw on Sunday.
Tuesday 30 September 2008
14/09/08 - Stafford Moor - Tanners
Weight – 19lb 12oz
Catch – 39 Bream, 28 Roach, 1 Hybrid, 1 Rudd.
Weather – Warm & sunny. Very light easterly breeze.
Water temp – 16.0c > 16.5c
Match – Stafford Moor Pairs – Day 2 – (64th overall, 10th in section)
Following yesterday’s match, Mike and I were effectively out of contention for the pair’s competition, so I wanted to at least have a few bites.
I drew peg 32 on Tanners but the wind had switched around and was blowing into pegs 18 & 20. It was also very bright and flat, so prospects weren’t looking good.
I started looking for carp on the full depth waggler and lead, but other than a couple of liners I had no carp. I had set up a silverfish line at 8m, feeding groundbait and micro pellet, but most of the fish were small. I also tried setting a line at 14.5m just feeding pellet. I caught a few decent skimmers, but wished I had some 6mm pellet instead of the 8mm.
Overall I was going no where, I had a banging headache and to be honest lost focus on what I should be doing, because it became obvious most of the fish were being caught at the other end of the lake, with 120lb winning the lake & my section from peg 18.
Catch – 39 Bream, 28 Roach, 1 Hybrid, 1 Rudd.
Weather – Warm & sunny. Very light easterly breeze.
Water temp – 16.0c > 16.5c
Match – Stafford Moor Pairs – Day 2 – (64th overall, 10th in section)
Following yesterday’s match, Mike and I were effectively out of contention for the pair’s competition, so I wanted to at least have a few bites.
I drew peg 32 on Tanners but the wind had switched around and was blowing into pegs 18 & 20. It was also very bright and flat, so prospects weren’t looking good.
I started looking for carp on the full depth waggler and lead, but other than a couple of liners I had no carp. I had set up a silverfish line at 8m, feeding groundbait and micro pellet, but most of the fish were small. I also tried setting a line at 14.5m just feeding pellet. I caught a few decent skimmers, but wished I had some 6mm pellet instead of the 8mm.
Overall I was going no where, I had a banging headache and to be honest lost focus on what I should be doing, because it became obvious most of the fish were being caught at the other end of the lake, with 120lb winning the lake & my section from peg 18.
Thursday 25 September 2008
13/09/08 - Stafford Moor - Woodpecker
Weight – 35lb 0oz
Catch – 5 Carp, 2 Bream, 1 Crucian
Weather – Rain to start, later warm & sunny. Light breeze.
Water temp – 16.0c > 17.5c
Match – Stafford Moor Pairs – Day 1 – (26th overall, 6th in section)
There were 42 pairs at the draw and you had to choice whether to draw from 1 of 2 bags. Tanners & Pines was in 1, whilst Woodpecker & Joseph’s was in the other. I drew Woodpecker 4 and Mike Etheridge drew Tanners 36. Mike definitely had the better draw, whilst my peg had been fishing well recently, so I felt we had half a chance of doing well.
Following advice from Andy, I decided on a 3 pronged attack. The straight lead towards the point of the island, pellet waggler in open water and finally the pole towards the point of the spit. I decided against a silver fish line, because it was reported there was a number of carp in the area and I didn’t want to be distracted from catching carp.
The flat, bright weather had its effect, I caught most of my fish on the lead, 1 fish on the pole, but no carp on the pellet waggler, despite feeding 8pts of pellet. I was convinced the fish would arrive, but they never did.
At the weigh in it became obvious I had draw at the wrong end of the section, the major weights came from peg 6, 10 & 12. Even the pegs opposite me in the bay (32-36) didn’t fish. James Cooper on peg 36 struggled for 39lb.
Mike did Ok on Tanners, unfortunately peg 36 fishes better when the wind is blowing and he finished 4th in section. This meant we were effectively out of the running for day 2.
Could I have done better? Probably not, I worked hard to catch what I had and the weights around me reflected the fact the fish weren’t feeding. The only thing I should have done was try a pva bag.
Catch – 5 Carp, 2 Bream, 1 Crucian
Weather – Rain to start, later warm & sunny. Light breeze.
Water temp – 16.0c > 17.5c
Match – Stafford Moor Pairs – Day 1 – (26th overall, 6th in section)
There were 42 pairs at the draw and you had to choice whether to draw from 1 of 2 bags. Tanners & Pines was in 1, whilst Woodpecker & Joseph’s was in the other. I drew Woodpecker 4 and Mike Etheridge drew Tanners 36. Mike definitely had the better draw, whilst my peg had been fishing well recently, so I felt we had half a chance of doing well.
Following advice from Andy, I decided on a 3 pronged attack. The straight lead towards the point of the island, pellet waggler in open water and finally the pole towards the point of the spit. I decided against a silver fish line, because it was reported there was a number of carp in the area and I didn’t want to be distracted from catching carp.
The flat, bright weather had its effect, I caught most of my fish on the lead, 1 fish on the pole, but no carp on the pellet waggler, despite feeding 8pts of pellet. I was convinced the fish would arrive, but they never did.
At the weigh in it became obvious I had draw at the wrong end of the section, the major weights came from peg 6, 10 & 12. Even the pegs opposite me in the bay (32-36) didn’t fish. James Cooper on peg 36 struggled for 39lb.
Mike did Ok on Tanners, unfortunately peg 36 fishes better when the wind is blowing and he finished 4th in section. This meant we were effectively out of the running for day 2.
Could I have done better? Probably not, I worked hard to catch what I had and the weights around me reflected the fact the fish weren’t feeding. The only thing I should have done was try a pva bag.
Friday 19 September 2008
06/09/08 - Rolfs Lake
Weight – 3lb 10oz
Catch – 33 Perch, 2 Roach
Weather – Mostly cloudy, rain later
Water temp – 17.5c > 17.5c
Match – Total Fishing Individual Qualifier
Due to a minor operation, I couldn’t fish last weekend so was really looking forward to today. I had spent most evenings during the week tying hooklengths and rigs and felt confident of doing well.
When I arrived, the surface of the lake was black with fish, which was a surprise considering the heavy overnight rain. General consensus was the lake would probably be fish hard.
The lake had been split into 4 sections, based on form. I drew peg 29, which was in the 4th and worst section. Pegs 10, 13, 25 & 34 were in my section and I could at least keep an eye on everyone except peg 34.
Based on my previous visit, I decided to try the waggler at full depth, fishing the worm, hoping to pick up the off carp and silvers, whilst feeding my short line and margins.
In the end the lake fished really hard. I caught perch on worm, particularly in the margins, but they were mostly about 1oz and I was going no where fast. Although I had periodically tried meat & corn, without success, with only 90 minutes left, all I needed was a couple of carp, but it just wasn’t happening. I briefly hooked 1 on paste, before the hook pulled, but 10 mins to go I hooked another. This 1 I think was hooked properly, but it broke me on its 1st run – not happy. A missed bites next cast suggested the fish might have arrived all a little too late.
I only needed 3rd in my 5 peg section to qualify for the final, so I was really disappointed to finish 4th.
I had decided on an aggressive feeding approach and on reflection that wasn’t suitable, I should have adopted a more cautious approach, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. The problem was for whatever reason the lake fished very hard and only 78lb was needed to win. Had the lake fished normally, then perhaps my tactics would have worked.
Catch – 33 Perch, 2 Roach
Weather – Mostly cloudy, rain later
Water temp – 17.5c > 17.5c
Match – Total Fishing Individual Qualifier
Due to a minor operation, I couldn’t fish last weekend so was really looking forward to today. I had spent most evenings during the week tying hooklengths and rigs and felt confident of doing well.
When I arrived, the surface of the lake was black with fish, which was a surprise considering the heavy overnight rain. General consensus was the lake would probably be fish hard.
The lake had been split into 4 sections, based on form. I drew peg 29, which was in the 4th and worst section. Pegs 10, 13, 25 & 34 were in my section and I could at least keep an eye on everyone except peg 34.
Based on my previous visit, I decided to try the waggler at full depth, fishing the worm, hoping to pick up the off carp and silvers, whilst feeding my short line and margins.
In the end the lake fished really hard. I caught perch on worm, particularly in the margins, but they were mostly about 1oz and I was going no where fast. Although I had periodically tried meat & corn, without success, with only 90 minutes left, all I needed was a couple of carp, but it just wasn’t happening. I briefly hooked 1 on paste, before the hook pulled, but 10 mins to go I hooked another. This 1 I think was hooked properly, but it broke me on its 1st run – not happy. A missed bites next cast suggested the fish might have arrived all a little too late.
I only needed 3rd in my 5 peg section to qualify for the final, so I was really disappointed to finish 4th.
I had decided on an aggressive feeding approach and on reflection that wasn’t suitable, I should have adopted a more cautious approach, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. The problem was for whatever reason the lake fished very hard and only 78lb was needed to win. Had the lake fished normally, then perhaps my tactics would have worked.
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