Weight – 44lb 8oz (26lb – silvers)
Catch – 31 Perch, 8 Roach, 6 Chub, 4 Carp, 3 Bream, 1 F1, 1 Tench
Weather – Mostly sunny & windy – mild
Water Temp– 12.5c > 13.0c
Match – Open – 6th overall, 1st silvers
I had a decision to make this weekend, fish Saturday or Sunday. Saturdays weather forecast was for wind & rain, which I didn’t fancy much, whilst Sundays weather was much drier, but still windy. A quick call to Mike confirmed he had a match on Sunday, so I booked myself in.
At the draw there was a discussion whether to put all 15 of us on Match Lake or split it and put 4 on 1 bank of speci (25-32). Personally, wanted to include speci simply because I hadn’t fished it this year and needed some practice for the forthcoming winter league match in 2 weeks.
I found myself on peg 25, a sheltered corner on Speci Lake and when I arrived there was what I thought a big swirl at 16m – happy days. Then I noticed a pleasure angler on 39. The big swirl was in fact a method ball landing in my swim – oh great! I suggested he keep to his side of the lake, which to be fair to him he did, although he had to make a few visits to the margins in peg 40 when ever he over cast.
With peg 26 not in I had plenty of space and too many options. I could just about reach the island with 17m, I had plenty of open water and the margin down my left hand side. My opening gambit was to try 14.5m in open water straight in front and towards the island. After 20mins and no sign of carp, it was time to try down the LH edge on double caster. For the next hour I caught consistently, mostly 8oz perch plus a few small roach, whilst all the time flicking 4mms towards the island and 16m in open water.
The island swim did produce 1 carp, which came off as I was shipping back. I also had a few liners, so tried shallowing up with 3 maggots on the hook, but I still couldn’t get a proper bite and too be honest I’m not build well enough to fish 17m waiting for bites.
By the ½ way stage I had 12lb or so of silvers and needed to make a decision. Stick with silvers for the rest of the match or go chasing carp. Mike West on peg 29 already had a few and I was certain a few people would be catching on Match Lake, so I felt I was out of the running for a frame payout, so decided to stick with the silvers. With this in mind I felt a 2nd silvers swim would be required to rest my LH margin line and fed some micro pellet, a pinch of 4mms and a bit of corn at 11.5m for the skimmers.
As the session progressed bites from the margin swim weren’t as frequent, however the quality of the fish had increased, with bigger perch up 1¼lb, chub and few bonuses in the shape of a decent F1, tench as well as 3 carp.
My 11.5m line produced 3 skimmers & a carp on soft pellet, but I had to wait a while for a proper bite. I also had a couple of chub from under the bush immediately to my right.
Come the end of the match I thought I was in with a good shout of winning the silvers, but not knowing how Match Lake fished I would have to wait to find out. 26lb was slightly more than I expected and I would have been disappointed not to have picked up some coin.
In total I fed 1½pt of caster, mostly via a tosspot, mixed with some atomic cloud and had a really nice days fishing. In the end the I won the silvers quite convincingly, with Nicky Collier taking 17lb from peg 6, however he did win the match with 87lb.
A special mention for Nick Merry, who doesn’t know the venue that well, but has decided to fish the Winter League. His 1st match was on peg 31 on speci, a flyer, which he didn’t make the most of. Today he drew peg 32, had 73lb for 3rd overall, including a munter of 17lb 13oz. At least "Mr Angry" didn’t come out.
Monday 26 October 2009
Sunday 18 October 2009
17/10/09 - Lands End - Match Lake
Weight – 56lb 3oz
Catch – 12 Carp, 3 Perch, 2 Chub, 2 Tench, 1 Bream
Weather –Cold start, mostly sunny with cloudy periods
Water Temp– 12.5c > 12.0c
Match – Open – 2nd overall
Peg 11 found its way in my hand again and again Mike was opposite me on peg 13! What are the chances? However it has been 1 of the form pegs recently so I wasn’t too disappointed.
On the all in I potted some caster & pellet into the margins of peg 12 as a back up and catapulted 4mm to my left at the bottom of the track in front of peg 10. My main swim would be 14m in front at the bottom of the shelf.
1st put in, feeding 4mm’s & corn via a tosspot, with corn on the hook, I landed my 1st carp. The next 2 put ins the same thing happened, but now I was getting liners and foul hooking.
A brief look down peg 12 margin, to let the carp settle produced a couple of perch, but I wasn’t catching quickly, so back to the main swim.
The 1st half of the match produced 10 carp on corn, soft pellet and hair rigged 6mm, but liners and foulhooked fish was a constant problem. Mike drew here on Wednesday and experienced the same problem. A brief try up the shelf didn’t produce a bite, although there was fish moving around, but I think the carp were spooked by the pole, despite fishing a long line.
The 2nd half of the match was extremely frustrating. If I wasn’t foul hooking fish, I was losing fish to underwater snags! The 1st dived for the island and Mike thinks is it got caught in some hay bale netting, the 2nd snag was only 8m out down the track and the 3rd dived between my keepnets, wrapping itself around the platform. Not happy, toys came out the pram and I may have expressed myself loud enough for everyone to hear much to everyone else’s amusement.
Most of my fish came from the 14m line, with a couple coming from in front of peg 10. I tried the margins and set up a new line in front of the aerator, but only caught silvers.
When the match finished I suspected I may be lucky to finish 2nd, because I could hear Garry on peg 16 catching strongly late on. Rod was 1st to weigh from peg 1 with 54lb and finished 3rd overall. Garry won the match with 72lb and to be honest I was relieved to finish 2nd and 7lb of silvers proved very useful.
Catch – 12 Carp, 3 Perch, 2 Chub, 2 Tench, 1 Bream
Weather –Cold start, mostly sunny with cloudy periods
Water Temp– 12.5c > 12.0c
Match – Open – 2nd overall
Peg 11 found its way in my hand again and again Mike was opposite me on peg 13! What are the chances? However it has been 1 of the form pegs recently so I wasn’t too disappointed.
On the all in I potted some caster & pellet into the margins of peg 12 as a back up and catapulted 4mm to my left at the bottom of the track in front of peg 10. My main swim would be 14m in front at the bottom of the shelf.
1st put in, feeding 4mm’s & corn via a tosspot, with corn on the hook, I landed my 1st carp. The next 2 put ins the same thing happened, but now I was getting liners and foul hooking.
A brief look down peg 12 margin, to let the carp settle produced a couple of perch, but I wasn’t catching quickly, so back to the main swim.
The 1st half of the match produced 10 carp on corn, soft pellet and hair rigged 6mm, but liners and foulhooked fish was a constant problem. Mike drew here on Wednesday and experienced the same problem. A brief try up the shelf didn’t produce a bite, although there was fish moving around, but I think the carp were spooked by the pole, despite fishing a long line.
The 2nd half of the match was extremely frustrating. If I wasn’t foul hooking fish, I was losing fish to underwater snags! The 1st dived for the island and Mike thinks is it got caught in some hay bale netting, the 2nd snag was only 8m out down the track and the 3rd dived between my keepnets, wrapping itself around the platform. Not happy, toys came out the pram and I may have expressed myself loud enough for everyone to hear much to everyone else’s amusement.
Most of my fish came from the 14m line, with a couple coming from in front of peg 10. I tried the margins and set up a new line in front of the aerator, but only caught silvers.
When the match finished I suspected I may be lucky to finish 2nd, because I could hear Garry on peg 16 catching strongly late on. Rod was 1st to weigh from peg 1 with 54lb and finished 3rd overall. Garry won the match with 72lb and to be honest I was relieved to finish 2nd and 7lb of silvers proved very useful.
Monday 12 October 2009
11/10/09 - Lands End - Sydneys
Weight – 37lb 11oz
Catch – 27 Carp, 9 Roach, 7 Rudd, 3 Bream.
Weather –Rain to start, becoming windy.
Water Temp– 13.5c > 13.5c
Match – Lands End Winter League – rd 1 – 21st overall, 2nd in section
I had every intention of fishing Ivy House-Match Lake today for the Glenfall V Abbotswood match, however the 1st round of Mikes Winter League was due and Mikes was getting tough with anglers. If you agree to fish the league, then you are committed to pay the match fees, even if you don’t turn up, unless you can find a replacement. Personally have no issues with this policy, because last year a number of absentees buggered up the payouts.
I found myself on peg 92 on Sydney’s. Initially I was reasonably happy, but a quick word with a few suggested the peg could be a bit hit or miss. As I was setting up, it appeared my 6 peg section was reduced to 5, because the end peg 84 hadn’t been drawn, which meant even more space for peg 86. Also there was loads of fish topping in the end peg 94, in fact there appeared to be fish topping everywhere, except in front of me! Which was an obvious concern and 4pts (out of 6) was looking like a good result.
Decided on a 4 pronged attack, 4m was fed with micros & caster in case I needed silvers, I would also catapult 4mms into the gap and towards the island on my right (in front of peg 91). On the all in I decided to start at 12m, using a large toss pot feeding 4mm, a few bits of corn and micro pellet. I caught straight away on expander, but I was getting ragged by silvers, so I cut out the micros and used corn on the hook, which worked. After an hour I had 5 carp and a handful of silvers, but the swim was dying.
The 2nd hour flew by, but other than a handful silvers I was struggling. My short line was a waste of time with only tiny roach and my island swims weren’t producing either.
Time to have a word with myself. I was in danger of cocking up a good start, because after the first hour I was matching everyone else, but slipped during the 2nd hour. So a switch back to my 12m swim, produced 10 carp over the next hour, still using the tosspot, which put me firmly back in contention.
Going into the 4th hour the rain was now replaced by an ever increasing wind and my 4x10 Chianti rig was no longer up to the job. I tried fishing against the island but as well as having difficulty keeping the rig in place, I was also struggling to see the float due to light conditions. A short spell on the waggler fished into the gap, produced a couple more carp, plus a few roach on corn, but the wind was increasing and the rig was getting dragged about a bit too much.
A change of rig was required for the 12m line, so on went a 4x14 Jolly, with a longer line and I started to catch again. Corn was definitely the bait, proving too big a mouthful for the little roach, although it didn’t stop them trying!
By the end of the match I knew the section would be tight and I honestly thought I might be close to bottom in the section, because everyone seemed to be catching more than me in the 2nd half of the match. Chris was 1st to weigh in our section with 30.10, which was less than I thought. Dean was next with 39.8, which included 10.4 of silvers and Jamie had 33.0. I was pleasantly surprised to weigh 37.11 and with Pete last to weigh in 34.9 I was delighted to get 2nd in section.
I think largely ignoring the silvers proved ultimately to be a shrewd move, because I had the best carp weight in my section, although the other bank was won with 60.10 and 53.14 was 2nd.
Catch – 27 Carp, 9 Roach, 7 Rudd, 3 Bream.
Weather –Rain to start, becoming windy.
Water Temp– 13.5c > 13.5c
Match – Lands End Winter League – rd 1 – 21st overall, 2nd in section
I had every intention of fishing Ivy House-Match Lake today for the Glenfall V Abbotswood match, however the 1st round of Mikes Winter League was due and Mikes was getting tough with anglers. If you agree to fish the league, then you are committed to pay the match fees, even if you don’t turn up, unless you can find a replacement. Personally have no issues with this policy, because last year a number of absentees buggered up the payouts.
I found myself on peg 92 on Sydney’s. Initially I was reasonably happy, but a quick word with a few suggested the peg could be a bit hit or miss. As I was setting up, it appeared my 6 peg section was reduced to 5, because the end peg 84 hadn’t been drawn, which meant even more space for peg 86. Also there was loads of fish topping in the end peg 94, in fact there appeared to be fish topping everywhere, except in front of me! Which was an obvious concern and 4pts (out of 6) was looking like a good result.
Decided on a 4 pronged attack, 4m was fed with micros & caster in case I needed silvers, I would also catapult 4mms into the gap and towards the island on my right (in front of peg 91). On the all in I decided to start at 12m, using a large toss pot feeding 4mm, a few bits of corn and micro pellet. I caught straight away on expander, but I was getting ragged by silvers, so I cut out the micros and used corn on the hook, which worked. After an hour I had 5 carp and a handful of silvers, but the swim was dying.
The 2nd hour flew by, but other than a handful silvers I was struggling. My short line was a waste of time with only tiny roach and my island swims weren’t producing either.
Time to have a word with myself. I was in danger of cocking up a good start, because after the first hour I was matching everyone else, but slipped during the 2nd hour. So a switch back to my 12m swim, produced 10 carp over the next hour, still using the tosspot, which put me firmly back in contention.
Going into the 4th hour the rain was now replaced by an ever increasing wind and my 4x10 Chianti rig was no longer up to the job. I tried fishing against the island but as well as having difficulty keeping the rig in place, I was also struggling to see the float due to light conditions. A short spell on the waggler fished into the gap, produced a couple more carp, plus a few roach on corn, but the wind was increasing and the rig was getting dragged about a bit too much.
A change of rig was required for the 12m line, so on went a 4x14 Jolly, with a longer line and I started to catch again. Corn was definitely the bait, proving too big a mouthful for the little roach, although it didn’t stop them trying!
By the end of the match I knew the section would be tight and I honestly thought I might be close to bottom in the section, because everyone seemed to be catching more than me in the 2nd half of the match. Chris was 1st to weigh in our section with 30.10, which was less than I thought. Dean was next with 39.8, which included 10.4 of silvers and Jamie had 33.0. I was pleasantly surprised to weigh 37.11 and with Pete last to weigh in 34.9 I was delighted to get 2nd in section.
I think largely ignoring the silvers proved ultimately to be a shrewd move, because I had the best carp weight in my section, although the other bank was won with 60.10 and 53.14 was 2nd.
Friday 9 October 2009
08/10/09 - Lands End - Match Lake
Weight – 79lb 14oz
Catch – 18 Carp, 3 Bream, 1 Perch, 1 Tench.
Weather –Sunny & Calm
Water Temp– 13.5c > 13.5c
As mentioned in my previous blog entry, I wasn’t entirely happy with Saturday’s result, because I couldn’t catch carp on pellet. So I managed a day off work to try and sort my rigs & feeding.
Unfortunately I chose a challenging day. Yesterday had turned cold, wet & windy, whilst today had seen a cold start with bright flat conditions, plus the water temperature had dropped by 1.5c.
I settled on peg 19, simply because I’ve never drawn it in a match. With only pellet (micro & 4mm pellet) and corn I wanted to concentrate on the carp, so no caster and no temptation to get distracted by silvers if it all goes pear shaped.
Decided to feed 2 swims at the bottom of the far shelf, feeding a cup of micros & 4mm, then catapulting 4mm over the top on a regular basis in the left hand swim. In the right hand swim I intended to feed more conservatively mostly via a tosspot with the addition of corn.
The session got off to a really slow start, with a small carp tight to the island, but despite plenty of liners, I decided to disregard this area, because I could see me wasting too time chasing fish and with autumn coming it wasn’t a tactic that would feature.
As for the 2 main swims, I initially started on expander and the right hand swim did produce 3 to 4lb carp, plus a couple of skimmers, but despite plenty of liners the fish weren’t getting their heads down. As for the left swim, I thought I might have overcooked it, because I caught very little.
After about 3 hours I had about 20lb and thought it was going to be 1 of those days, so started feeding my RH margin. It wasn’t long before I saw a few swirls and caught my best fish on double expander.
Eventually bubbles started blowing in my left hand swim, but the expander and corn wasn’t really working, so I changed to my other rig that I hadn’t used so far. I rarely fish hard pellet here, but it’s hard to ignore the results some of the regulars have on it. So out went my rig with hair rigged 6mm and I caught almost straight away, mostly from the left hand swim that just got stronger, before I probably over did it with the feed. I finished the session with a couple of carp from the margin.
Overall pleased with what I learned and hopefully I will be able to put it into practice on Sunday.
As I was leaving I had a look on Speci Lake were Mike had spent the day putting in new platforms on pegs 25 to 32, which is great, because the island was now 1.5m closer so the 17m section can now stay in the bag!
Catch – 18 Carp, 3 Bream, 1 Perch, 1 Tench.
Weather –Sunny & Calm
Water Temp– 13.5c > 13.5c
As mentioned in my previous blog entry, I wasn’t entirely happy with Saturday’s result, because I couldn’t catch carp on pellet. So I managed a day off work to try and sort my rigs & feeding.
Unfortunately I chose a challenging day. Yesterday had turned cold, wet & windy, whilst today had seen a cold start with bright flat conditions, plus the water temperature had dropped by 1.5c.
I settled on peg 19, simply because I’ve never drawn it in a match. With only pellet (micro & 4mm pellet) and corn I wanted to concentrate on the carp, so no caster and no temptation to get distracted by silvers if it all goes pear shaped.
Decided to feed 2 swims at the bottom of the far shelf, feeding a cup of micros & 4mm, then catapulting 4mm over the top on a regular basis in the left hand swim. In the right hand swim I intended to feed more conservatively mostly via a tosspot with the addition of corn.
The session got off to a really slow start, with a small carp tight to the island, but despite plenty of liners, I decided to disregard this area, because I could see me wasting too time chasing fish and with autumn coming it wasn’t a tactic that would feature.
As for the 2 main swims, I initially started on expander and the right hand swim did produce 3 to 4lb carp, plus a couple of skimmers, but despite plenty of liners the fish weren’t getting their heads down. As for the left swim, I thought I might have overcooked it, because I caught very little.
After about 3 hours I had about 20lb and thought it was going to be 1 of those days, so started feeding my RH margin. It wasn’t long before I saw a few swirls and caught my best fish on double expander.
Eventually bubbles started blowing in my left hand swim, but the expander and corn wasn’t really working, so I changed to my other rig that I hadn’t used so far. I rarely fish hard pellet here, but it’s hard to ignore the results some of the regulars have on it. So out went my rig with hair rigged 6mm and I caught almost straight away, mostly from the left hand swim that just got stronger, before I probably over did it with the feed. I finished the session with a couple of carp from the margin.
Overall pleased with what I learned and hopefully I will be able to put it into practice on Sunday.
As I was leaving I had a look on Speci Lake were Mike had spent the day putting in new platforms on pegs 25 to 32, which is great, because the island was now 1.5m closer so the 17m section can now stay in the bag!
Sunday 4 October 2009
03/10/09 - Lands End - Match Lake
Weight – 32lb 2oz (18lb 2oz silvers)
Catch – 29 Perch, 5 Carp, 4 Chub, 3 Roach, 1 Ide
Weather – Cloudy & windy
Water Temp– 15.0c > 15.0c
Match – Open – 8th overall, 2nd silvers
With heavy winds forecast, I was hoping for a sheltered peg, so I was reasonable pleased with peg 13. I had Rod Wootton opposite on peg 11 and Nicky Collier to my right on peg 15.
The wave machine was only due to be on for 2 hours. So after a quick look under the pallet on 14, without any joy, I decided to try caster down the left hand bank. Initially tried at 14m, tight against the trees, but the branches prevented me from fishing on top of the shelf and after 10 mins without a bite, I came back to 12m were I could fish tight to the bank.
1st put in I had a perch, but the next 15mins proved very frustrating when I kept bumping fish, probably Perch. I got it sorted by increasing from size 20 to 18 hook, changing the shotting pattern and striking harder! The next 2hours produced perch up to 1-12, plus a couple of small carp on double caster, feeding a tosspot of caster and red atomic cloud. By the time the wave machine switched off I had over 20 fish in the net and pleased with my progress.
I had been feeding 4mm towards the point of the island, but when I went over all I got was liners, both at the bottom of the shelf and the top of the shelf. I even tried towards the aerator after cupping in some pellet, without success. This proved frustrating, because both Rod & Nicky started catching regularly, although Rod was suffering from foul hookers.
After unsuccessfully trying for carp, I had a decision to make, either persevere trying for carp, or switch back to the silvers. In reality it was an easy decision, because pegs 17, 18 and 19 were all catching and I felt I was too far behind to catch up.
So back to the left hand bank, where I had kept a pouch of caster regularly going in. A few more perch, where followed by chub and a couple more small carp, but I had to wait longer for fish, lifting and dropping for bites. I tried fishing longer, against the tress, but this only produced small fish and the only place I could catch was tight into the bank.
At the all out, I hoped I had done enough to at least pick up in the silvers. When Dave Hodgson on peg 6, weighed 18lb, which included a tench of 4-14, I wasn’t sure and there was a few tense moments as I weighed in the scales bounced around the 18lb mark, 18-2 was the final reading. However Dave "Beanie" Wescott was still to weigh. According Garry he had over 20lb, whilst Beanie admitted to 15lb! But he did admit to being useless at guessing and as it turned out he had 23lb, all on caster on top of the shelf. Fortunately Mike was paying top 2 in silvers.
Match winner was Kev Molton on peg 18, with 94lb on corn and Nicky was 2nd with 81lb. I felt I’m missing a trick with the carp at the moment, because I cant seem to catch whilst others can. With the 1st round of Mikes winter league next weekend I need to consider my approach, because the last thing I want to do is bugger up a potentially section winning peg, so I see a day off coming up soon.
Catch – 29 Perch, 5 Carp, 4 Chub, 3 Roach, 1 Ide
Weather – Cloudy & windy
Water Temp– 15.0c > 15.0c
Match – Open – 8th overall, 2nd silvers
With heavy winds forecast, I was hoping for a sheltered peg, so I was reasonable pleased with peg 13. I had Rod Wootton opposite on peg 11 and Nicky Collier to my right on peg 15.
The wave machine was only due to be on for 2 hours. So after a quick look under the pallet on 14, without any joy, I decided to try caster down the left hand bank. Initially tried at 14m, tight against the trees, but the branches prevented me from fishing on top of the shelf and after 10 mins without a bite, I came back to 12m were I could fish tight to the bank.
1st put in I had a perch, but the next 15mins proved very frustrating when I kept bumping fish, probably Perch. I got it sorted by increasing from size 20 to 18 hook, changing the shotting pattern and striking harder! The next 2hours produced perch up to 1-12, plus a couple of small carp on double caster, feeding a tosspot of caster and red atomic cloud. By the time the wave machine switched off I had over 20 fish in the net and pleased with my progress.
I had been feeding 4mm towards the point of the island, but when I went over all I got was liners, both at the bottom of the shelf and the top of the shelf. I even tried towards the aerator after cupping in some pellet, without success. This proved frustrating, because both Rod & Nicky started catching regularly, although Rod was suffering from foul hookers.
After unsuccessfully trying for carp, I had a decision to make, either persevere trying for carp, or switch back to the silvers. In reality it was an easy decision, because pegs 17, 18 and 19 were all catching and I felt I was too far behind to catch up.
So back to the left hand bank, where I had kept a pouch of caster regularly going in. A few more perch, where followed by chub and a couple more small carp, but I had to wait longer for fish, lifting and dropping for bites. I tried fishing longer, against the tress, but this only produced small fish and the only place I could catch was tight into the bank.
At the all out, I hoped I had done enough to at least pick up in the silvers. When Dave Hodgson on peg 6, weighed 18lb, which included a tench of 4-14, I wasn’t sure and there was a few tense moments as I weighed in the scales bounced around the 18lb mark, 18-2 was the final reading. However Dave "Beanie" Wescott was still to weigh. According Garry he had over 20lb, whilst Beanie admitted to 15lb! But he did admit to being useless at guessing and as it turned out he had 23lb, all on caster on top of the shelf. Fortunately Mike was paying top 2 in silvers.
Match winner was Kev Molton on peg 18, with 94lb on corn and Nicky was 2nd with 81lb. I felt I’m missing a trick with the carp at the moment, because I cant seem to catch whilst others can. With the 1st round of Mikes winter league next weekend I need to consider my approach, because the last thing I want to do is bugger up a potentially section winning peg, so I see a day off coming up soon.
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