Weight – 9lb 12oz
Catch – 6 Chub, 6 Roach, 6 Dace, 1 Pike
Weather – Frosty start. Sunny all day, very clear river
With the thawing weather I fancied a trip to Lands End for the Christmas match, but I left it too late. Speaking to Mike he was fully booked and there was still plenty of ice around, with lake 3 (Johns Water) still quite thick. So to plan B. There was a match at Barton Farm, but that was also fully booked with 54 anglers, due to many lakes still having lids on.
So rather than stay at home, I decided on a trip to the river at Reybridge. I haven’t fished here for a few years, but it is usually good for a few fish particularly chub and I fancied catching a proper river chub, instead of those long flabby stillwater ones. In fact I caught my PB of 4-13 from here, plus 2 other 4lb+ chub.
The overnight weather was colder than expected, so more frost, but when I arrived at the river I was greeted by a kingfisher as it flashed past low to the river.
I settled on a swim that I have fished regularly, with a 5ft deep glide down to a partially sunken tree. 2nd cast on the lead & bread and a 1lb+ chub was landed. At least I avoided a blank. Another hour went by, but no further bites. I had trickled in hemp & caster, trying the stick & maggot, but I couldn’t get a bite on that either and usually there are plenty of smaller fish around.
The rest of the day I tried a couple of different swims, without success. With the very bright conditions and a very clear river it was proving very hard. There were a couple of other anglers on the bank and they were all saying the say thing, with 2lb being the biggest chub landed so far.
With the day drawing to a close I still only had the 1 chub and decided to give my original swim another try. The swim was now sheltered from the sun and I was hopefully of at least 1 more chub before the day finished. As I was getting myself comfortable I noticed a fish top in the back eddy on the other side of the river (its only 13m wide). I had planed to dismantle my stick rig, whilst fishing the lead, but was now glad I didn’t, because 1st cast into the back eddy and the float sank straight away and I had a 3oz roach. Next cast, I had a chublet. It was like flicking a switch, I got a bite almost every cast either in the back eddy or trotting down the swim. I periodically tried the lead towards the sunken tree and it was obvious there was a number of small fish around. I struck at 1 bite, felt a small fish on the end, before it almost immediately went solid. It had to be a pike and the question was where had I hooked it? Fortunately it was under the chin and at 5-11 it was a new PB, beating my previous best by nearly a pound.
I continued to catch until I could hardly see the float and my last fish was a 1lb plus chub on the stick. The only disappointment was losing a very big roach at the net. Regardless, those last 90mins were really enjoyable and I’m glad I decided not to leave early.
A text from Mark revealed that Barton Farm fished very hard with 14lb winning, but Mark only needed 5-14 to finish 6th out of 54. 1 section blanked, whilst another was won with ½oz.
Monday 13 December 2010
Monday 6 December 2010
05/12/10 - Bristol Avon - Barton Farm
Weight – 7lb 9½oz
Catch – 74 Roach, 12 Hybrid
Weather – Freezing fog to start. Bright later on but still cold
Match – Trowbridge AC Xmas match – 7th overall, 2nd in section
So where to go? My clubs Christmas match at Ivy House was cancelled due to a frozen lake. Therefore, I had 2 choices, either Lands End or on Marks recommendation, Barton Farm at Bradford on Avon.
Although we had a day of thawing temperatures yesterday, I doubted it would be sufficient to clear the ice completely and thawing ice going into an already cold lake didn’t sound inspiring. However the issue with the river, was whilst it looked perfect leading up to the weekend, Saturdays rain could see salt from the roads, being washed in.
In the end I didn’t fancy breaking the ice, so Barton Farm it was and my fears about salt in the river were unfounded. Speaking to Mark via e-mail during the week, he thought there would be 30-40 fishing, but as it turned out 23 turned up, with the cold weather obviously having an impact.
I used to fish the river regularly, preferring the upper reaches, but Barton Farm is a slow deep stretch between Bradford on Avon town centre and the Avoncliffe weir. I drew peg 16, which on the day was 4 pegs after the path splits up to the canal. Looking back at my records, the last time I fished the river was 4 years ago and I was up against a few good locals who fish the river regularly. Mark drew peg 15 which was 1 away from where he won his section last week with 5½lb. Credit the organisers who were generous with the pegging, so everyone had plenty of room, although there were a couple of pegs that were hampered by overhanging branches.
Tactics for the day would be focused on the pole, plus the waggler fishing the far side as a back up. Not fishing the river for quite sometime required sorting out my kit. I dusted off an old 14ft rod for the crowquill and some 2.5g drennan carbo floats, which would be ideal for the 12ft deep swim. I also dusted off a box of river hooks (those with barbs on!), settling for a size 22 B520 attached to .08 bottom.
12 balls of groundbait (2 parts Black Lake, 1 part River & 1 part Black Hemp Frenzy with a pinch of caster and pinkie) went in at 12m. The 1st 10mins was getting used to fishing with so much line attached to the pole and swinging in a rig on the top 4. However after my first fish I started to get into a rhythm, fishing the rig overdepth, holding back and letting it go though the swim slowly, brought regular bites mainly on single or double pinkie, I didn’t have anything on maggot.
3 hours into the match I was up to 60 fish and as yet hadn’t topped up. I was told that the fishing would slow down after 3 hours, but I was still catching and based on the bank walkers was doing OK. Therefore decided not to bother with a top up in case it killed the swim. Mark in the meantime had less roach than me, but fluked a 3½lb bream (do I sound bitter! – lol) and enjoyed a bit of gloating.
With 90mins left my swim started to slow, catching only ½oz fish and as is always the way, just I was about to top up I had my best fish of the day - a 10oz roach. Rather than top up I thought I would try the waggler. I had been feeding ¾ of the way across, but unfortunately I didn’t have any bites, despite varying the depth looking for chublets.
So back to the pole and I started to catch again, before the swim really died with 30mins left. With nothing to lose I topped up with 2 balls. This brought 5-6 fish quickly before the swim died again.
At the weigh in you could tell we were fishing a river match when I given a ½oz. haven’t seen one of those for a long time.
The top 3 all came from the section below me.16lb won, with 2x 12lb weights 2nd & 3rd. These weights were made up of all roach, but proper roach not the small ones that resided in my part of the river. Mark won my section thanks to his bream with 9lb 9½oz.
Overall, a very good match, bearing in mind the freezing conditions, with most people getting a few fish.
The presentation at the Blue Circle Social Club (Westbury) was 1 of the best I’ve seen, loads of prizes. As well as picking up my section money by de-fault, I collected 6 bottled of Hardy wines, which will keep Sue happy.
Catch – 74 Roach, 12 Hybrid
Weather – Freezing fog to start. Bright later on but still cold
Match – Trowbridge AC Xmas match – 7th overall, 2nd in section
So where to go? My clubs Christmas match at Ivy House was cancelled due to a frozen lake. Therefore, I had 2 choices, either Lands End or on Marks recommendation, Barton Farm at Bradford on Avon.
Although we had a day of thawing temperatures yesterday, I doubted it would be sufficient to clear the ice completely and thawing ice going into an already cold lake didn’t sound inspiring. However the issue with the river, was whilst it looked perfect leading up to the weekend, Saturdays rain could see salt from the roads, being washed in.
In the end I didn’t fancy breaking the ice, so Barton Farm it was and my fears about salt in the river were unfounded. Speaking to Mark via e-mail during the week, he thought there would be 30-40 fishing, but as it turned out 23 turned up, with the cold weather obviously having an impact.
I used to fish the river regularly, preferring the upper reaches, but Barton Farm is a slow deep stretch between Bradford on Avon town centre and the Avoncliffe weir. I drew peg 16, which on the day was 4 pegs after the path splits up to the canal. Looking back at my records, the last time I fished the river was 4 years ago and I was up against a few good locals who fish the river regularly. Mark drew peg 15 which was 1 away from where he won his section last week with 5½lb. Credit the organisers who were generous with the pegging, so everyone had plenty of room, although there were a couple of pegs that were hampered by overhanging branches.
Tactics for the day would be focused on the pole, plus the waggler fishing the far side as a back up. Not fishing the river for quite sometime required sorting out my kit. I dusted off an old 14ft rod for the crowquill and some 2.5g drennan carbo floats, which would be ideal for the 12ft deep swim. I also dusted off a box of river hooks (those with barbs on!), settling for a size 22 B520 attached to .08 bottom.
12 balls of groundbait (2 parts Black Lake, 1 part River & 1 part Black Hemp Frenzy with a pinch of caster and pinkie) went in at 12m. The 1st 10mins was getting used to fishing with so much line attached to the pole and swinging in a rig on the top 4. However after my first fish I started to get into a rhythm, fishing the rig overdepth, holding back and letting it go though the swim slowly, brought regular bites mainly on single or double pinkie, I didn’t have anything on maggot.
3 hours into the match I was up to 60 fish and as yet hadn’t topped up. I was told that the fishing would slow down after 3 hours, but I was still catching and based on the bank walkers was doing OK. Therefore decided not to bother with a top up in case it killed the swim. Mark in the meantime had less roach than me, but fluked a 3½lb bream (do I sound bitter! – lol) and enjoyed a bit of gloating.
With 90mins left my swim started to slow, catching only ½oz fish and as is always the way, just I was about to top up I had my best fish of the day - a 10oz roach. Rather than top up I thought I would try the waggler. I had been feeding ¾ of the way across, but unfortunately I didn’t have any bites, despite varying the depth looking for chublets.
So back to the pole and I started to catch again, before the swim really died with 30mins left. With nothing to lose I topped up with 2 balls. This brought 5-6 fish quickly before the swim died again.
At the weigh in you could tell we were fishing a river match when I given a ½oz. haven’t seen one of those for a long time.
The top 3 all came from the section below me.16lb won, with 2x 12lb weights 2nd & 3rd. These weights were made up of all roach, but proper roach not the small ones that resided in my part of the river. Mark won my section thanks to his bream with 9lb 9½oz.
Overall, a very good match, bearing in mind the freezing conditions, with most people getting a few fish.
The presentation at the Blue Circle Social Club (Westbury) was 1 of the best I’ve seen, loads of prizes. As well as picking up my section money by de-fault, I collected 6 bottled of Hardy wines, which will keep Sue happy.
Thursday 25 November 2010
24/11/10 - Ivy House - Small Lake
Weight – 18lb 4oz
Catch – 14 Roach, 14 Perch, 3 Carp, 2 Bream, 1 Gudgeon, 1 Rudd
Weather – Frosty start. Cold & clear day
So a day at Ivy House. Not exactly my favourite venue, however I wanted to see how it was fishing prior to my clubs Christmas match.
My mate Jim wanted to go fishing, so was happy to come along, unfortunately it co-incided with the first serious frost of the year. As I left the house the car temperature gauge read 1c, when I came off the motorway it was down to -1c, but by the time I got to the venue it was -4.5c. I now began to wonder whether there would be any benefit to practicing.
The match would be on the island of the big lake and the latest reports suggested the causeway would be the best area, however on arrival the island was closed. I thought at the time this would be due to the Wednesday Open on the lake, so decided to fish the small lake, which I thought would offer us the best chance of catching.
I put Jim on peg 21, which is probably the best peg on the lake, whilst I settled on peg 20. Fortunately, the lakes hadn’t iced over, but a few more frosts and they soon will be.
Initially settled on 2 lines, caster at 6m and groundbait & caster at 13m. The short line mostly produced tiny wasp type perch, with the odd better fish, but the roach won’t come close. The longer line produced a 1lb+ skimmer and small roach, by toss potting 6 casters every put in, but generally fishing was slow.
The carp came to the lead & double corn, but I had to wait a long time for a bite. I also tried the waggler, but no joy. Jim he had a tough day, catching a small chub & perch, as well as losing a carp.
As for the big lake, I was hoping to walk the match to see what was catching, but there wasn’t any match and the island was in fact OK to fish. Anyway I did have a chat with Gary Etheridge who was practicing on the waggler, but was also struggling due to the cold, but at least he gave me a few pointers.
Looks like the club match could turn into carp bingo.
Catch – 14 Roach, 14 Perch, 3 Carp, 2 Bream, 1 Gudgeon, 1 Rudd
Weather – Frosty start. Cold & clear day
So a day at Ivy House. Not exactly my favourite venue, however I wanted to see how it was fishing prior to my clubs Christmas match.
My mate Jim wanted to go fishing, so was happy to come along, unfortunately it co-incided with the first serious frost of the year. As I left the house the car temperature gauge read 1c, when I came off the motorway it was down to -1c, but by the time I got to the venue it was -4.5c. I now began to wonder whether there would be any benefit to practicing.
The match would be on the island of the big lake and the latest reports suggested the causeway would be the best area, however on arrival the island was closed. I thought at the time this would be due to the Wednesday Open on the lake, so decided to fish the small lake, which I thought would offer us the best chance of catching.
I put Jim on peg 21, which is probably the best peg on the lake, whilst I settled on peg 20. Fortunately, the lakes hadn’t iced over, but a few more frosts and they soon will be.
Initially settled on 2 lines, caster at 6m and groundbait & caster at 13m. The short line mostly produced tiny wasp type perch, with the odd better fish, but the roach won’t come close. The longer line produced a 1lb+ skimmer and small roach, by toss potting 6 casters every put in, but generally fishing was slow.
The carp came to the lead & double corn, but I had to wait a long time for a bite. I also tried the waggler, but no joy. Jim he had a tough day, catching a small chub & perch, as well as losing a carp.
As for the big lake, I was hoping to walk the match to see what was catching, but there wasn’t any match and the island was in fact OK to fish. Anyway I did have a chat with Gary Etheridge who was practicing on the waggler, but was also struggling due to the cold, but at least he gave me a few pointers.
Looks like the club match could turn into carp bingo.
Wednesday 17 November 2010
14/11/10 - Cuckoos Rest
Weight – 16lb 9oz
Catch – 65 Roach, 8 Skimmers, 3 Perch, 1 Tench, 1 Bream
Weather – Rain for most of the day
Match – Glenfall – 2nd overall
So my first blog for quite a while. Today was a club match with the added spice of being the semi final for the club knockout, with the eventual winner receiving free annual membership worth £75. There should have been 4 of us, however the 4th person dropped out leaving Andy Lord, Craig Davidge & myself to fight it out for the final on the Match Lake at Ivy House. Since there were only 3 of us, we decided the lowest weight drops out.
I had practiced on Tuesday, weighing 28lb (10-11lb of roach & hand sized skimmers, 6 bream, 1 tench, a big perch and a 1.5lb carp) and was feeling confident, however the lake was very coloured after the recent rain and it was chilly overnight, so it could be a bit of a struggle. According to last nights weather report there wouldn’t be any wind and the sun would make an appearance. At least they got the bit about the wind correct.
Cuckoos Rest is 1 of those venues run by a non-angler and it shows. It is a nice venue, out in the sticks, but it could just do with some tiding up, in terms of overhanging branches. Having said that it’s nice to fish a venue not dominated by carp.
With only 12 fishing today, it meant plenty of room and no really bad pegs. I found myself on the left hand side of the island, the 1st peg over the footbridge. I could see Craig on the opposite bank, but couldn’t see Andy who was further along at the top of the island. Since I could see Craig, so long as I stayed ahead for him I would qualify for the final.
Although there are carp at the venue and some very big ones at that, silvers need to be your target. I settled on 3 lines, 5-6m feeding maggot/caster, 13-14m feeding groundbait (black lake & green swim stim) & caster and the waggler further out, feeding small balls of groundbait. I also had a throwaway line to my left fishing back towards the "mainland", feeding pellet & corn. On Tuesday I only feed caster on the short line, but since the lake was more coloured I decided to feed more maggot.
Having cupped 2 balls of groundbait at 13m, I started at 5m, and it took 3-4 minutes to get my 1st bite, but after an hour I had 25 fish in the net, nothing bigger than 5-6oz, but at least I was catching regularly.
A switch to the 13m line only produced a few bites, so back to the 5m line after topping up at 13m. And this is how the rest of my match went. Catch a few short, before trying the 13m line and/or waggler. After the 3rd top-up at 13m, a 4½lb tench accepted my double red maggot. Now I was sure I was in front of Craig, who had managed to catch a crayfish! Andy had a little walk around to stretch his legs and was admitting to catching a few hand sized skimmers, so it was likely to be close.
Despite the very coloured water pike or big perch seemed to unsettling the fish, because bites would just stop, plus throughout the day small fish where scattering.
Further top ups at 13m yielded very little and the waggler only produced a few small roach. Going into the 5th & final hour, I decided to feed 2 balls of groundbait, with caster at 45 degrees right. After 30mins I didn’t have a response, but with 10 minutes left a switch back resulted in a 3½lb bream. Now I was confident of at least knocking out Craig.
Graham Millard won with 17lb 3oz from the favoured right side of the island, which included a small carp and 3 decent bream. As for the knockout, Andy weighted 10-4, whist Craig dipped out with 6-12. Whilst the skimmers didn’t feed, everyone seemed to get plenty of bites from roach.
1st Graham Millard 17-3
2nd Ken Rayner 16-9
3rd Ian Pople 10-6
4th Andy Lord 10-4
Catch – 65 Roach, 8 Skimmers, 3 Perch, 1 Tench, 1 Bream
Weather – Rain for most of the day
Match – Glenfall – 2nd overall
So my first blog for quite a while. Today was a club match with the added spice of being the semi final for the club knockout, with the eventual winner receiving free annual membership worth £75. There should have been 4 of us, however the 4th person dropped out leaving Andy Lord, Craig Davidge & myself to fight it out for the final on the Match Lake at Ivy House. Since there were only 3 of us, we decided the lowest weight drops out.
I had practiced on Tuesday, weighing 28lb (10-11lb of roach & hand sized skimmers, 6 bream, 1 tench, a big perch and a 1.5lb carp) and was feeling confident, however the lake was very coloured after the recent rain and it was chilly overnight, so it could be a bit of a struggle. According to last nights weather report there wouldn’t be any wind and the sun would make an appearance. At least they got the bit about the wind correct.
Cuckoos Rest is 1 of those venues run by a non-angler and it shows. It is a nice venue, out in the sticks, but it could just do with some tiding up, in terms of overhanging branches. Having said that it’s nice to fish a venue not dominated by carp.
With only 12 fishing today, it meant plenty of room and no really bad pegs. I found myself on the left hand side of the island, the 1st peg over the footbridge. I could see Craig on the opposite bank, but couldn’t see Andy who was further along at the top of the island. Since I could see Craig, so long as I stayed ahead for him I would qualify for the final.
Although there are carp at the venue and some very big ones at that, silvers need to be your target. I settled on 3 lines, 5-6m feeding maggot/caster, 13-14m feeding groundbait (black lake & green swim stim) & caster and the waggler further out, feeding small balls of groundbait. I also had a throwaway line to my left fishing back towards the "mainland", feeding pellet & corn. On Tuesday I only feed caster on the short line, but since the lake was more coloured I decided to feed more maggot.
Having cupped 2 balls of groundbait at 13m, I started at 5m, and it took 3-4 minutes to get my 1st bite, but after an hour I had 25 fish in the net, nothing bigger than 5-6oz, but at least I was catching regularly.
A switch to the 13m line only produced a few bites, so back to the 5m line after topping up at 13m. And this is how the rest of my match went. Catch a few short, before trying the 13m line and/or waggler. After the 3rd top-up at 13m, a 4½lb tench accepted my double red maggot. Now I was sure I was in front of Craig, who had managed to catch a crayfish! Andy had a little walk around to stretch his legs and was admitting to catching a few hand sized skimmers, so it was likely to be close.
Despite the very coloured water pike or big perch seemed to unsettling the fish, because bites would just stop, plus throughout the day small fish where scattering.
Further top ups at 13m yielded very little and the waggler only produced a few small roach. Going into the 5th & final hour, I decided to feed 2 balls of groundbait, with caster at 45 degrees right. After 30mins I didn’t have a response, but with 10 minutes left a switch back resulted in a 3½lb bream. Now I was confident of at least knocking out Craig.
Graham Millard won with 17lb 3oz from the favoured right side of the island, which included a small carp and 3 decent bream. As for the knockout, Andy weighted 10-4, whist Craig dipped out with 6-12. Whilst the skimmers didn’t feed, everyone seemed to get plenty of bites from roach.
1st Graham Millard 17-3
2nd Ken Rayner 16-9
3rd Ian Pople 10-6
4th Andy Lord 10-4
The Last 5 Months
You may have noticed a lack of recent blog entries. Not wishing to sound too downcast, things generally haven’t been going that well.
An injury whilst playing football (well I was absolutely clattered) has buggered my back and probably means I have to retire playing altogether, this has meant fishing beyond 10m on the pole has up until recently been a no-no.
Sue is still building up her AVON & Ann Summers business, but that taking time to yield a significant income, but its coming. However the current lack of funds means we are still car sharing and making her business successful takes priority over my fishing needs.
The good news is my work appears to be improving, but again time will tell. Although I already have some exams, a statutory requirement means by the end of 2012, I need more exams. Deep joy! So since my fishing time has already been comprised I have decided to concentrate on getting these exams out of the way.
Despite my back I have managed to do some fishing, although 1 day I truly regretted it, because after 2 hours I could hardly move, the pain was so bad. Fishing up until recently has been restricted to no more than 10m on the pole or fishing with a rod & reel. I did manage a PB weight of 357lb, carp all on pole & paste, which included 11 doubles.
Now my back is much better than it was, it means I can get out a little more often and have started to use a bump bar to help keep the pressure off my back.
A special mention to Mark Poppleton, who despite living in Trowbridge has gone out of his way to pick me up for a couple of recent matches at Lands End – top man.
So I will keep the blog updated, although it won’t be quiet as regular as I would like for the time being.
An injury whilst playing football (well I was absolutely clattered) has buggered my back and probably means I have to retire playing altogether, this has meant fishing beyond 10m on the pole has up until recently been a no-no.
Sue is still building up her AVON & Ann Summers business, but that taking time to yield a significant income, but its coming. However the current lack of funds means we are still car sharing and making her business successful takes priority over my fishing needs.
The good news is my work appears to be improving, but again time will tell. Although I already have some exams, a statutory requirement means by the end of 2012, I need more exams. Deep joy! So since my fishing time has already been comprised I have decided to concentrate on getting these exams out of the way.
Despite my back I have managed to do some fishing, although 1 day I truly regretted it, because after 2 hours I could hardly move, the pain was so bad. Fishing up until recently has been restricted to no more than 10m on the pole or fishing with a rod & reel. I did manage a PB weight of 357lb, carp all on pole & paste, which included 11 doubles.
Now my back is much better than it was, it means I can get out a little more often and have started to use a bump bar to help keep the pressure off my back.
A special mention to Mark Poppleton, who despite living in Trowbridge has gone out of his way to pick me up for a couple of recent matches at Lands End – top man.
So I will keep the blog updated, although it won’t be quiet as regular as I would like for the time being.
Tuesday 1 June 2010
30/05/10 - Todber Manor
Weight – 76lb 0lb
Catch – 27 Carp, 16 F1, 4 Skimmers, 3 Tench, 3 Roach
Weather – Sunny, windy!
Match – Match Fishing Scene Website - 9th overall
After my last match here last month, I was really looking to another visit. However the weather forecast suggested a windy day ahead.
Peg 37 was certainly in the right area, 1 from the end peg which had the gap round to the other side of the lake and the arm. Now that wind, I was hoping it would be a westerly, because the island opposite would have provided plenty of shelter, however the NW direction meant it was funnelling though the gap straight at me.
To do well here, you need to catch the carp and avoid the F1. So decided to keep it simple, with a paste & pellet rigs for the far side, the paste rig would also be used down the margin to peg 36. The 3rd rig would be a paste rig down the track.
On the all in, the wind was already picking up, so started on the pellet rig tight across. 3 put ins and 3 carp and I was off to a flyer, but the wind was getting stronger. After initially cupping ½ a cup of 4 & 6mm at the start I had followed this up with a full toss pot of pellet every put in but was finding it difficult to present the rig. So I removed the toss pot, to make it easier to hold the pole, deciding to cup pellet in every 3 fish. Unfortunately that didn't really work, because the wind was getting stronger.
Unlike most pegs, I didn't have any bear bank to fish, which would have offered shallow water. My problem was the peg was nearly 2ft deep tight across and there was plenty of branches and foliage, which meant lifting and dropping became a real nightmare, because if I lifted and a gust of wind caught the pole, I had very little margin of error and did catch the branches a couple of times. I set up a shallower rig, but feeding and holding the pole steady was difficult.
Along with Mark, I was doing my best impression of Mr Angry, there were plenty of fish on the far side, but I couldn't present to them properly, which was very frustrating. I had been feeding 6mmat 8m and a mixture of 4 & 6mm, plus hemp down the left hand margin.
When I went over the 8m line on paste, I getting plenty of indications, but no fish and the wind was making presentation difficult. A small F1 confirmed my suspicions, so I set up a new rig with a 16 b911to fish soft pellet & corn. I needed to start putting fish in the net, whilst I couldn't see anyone running away with it, I was falling behind, so every put in I toss potted 6mm with a ball of paste. I soon started to catch, not as quickly I was would have liked, but I lost a few fish off the hook and a change from 12 latex to double 6 helped, but a couple of fish I did land the hook was just hanging in.
The carp eventually turned up and switched to the paste rig. Half way into the match, I was up 22 fish, but only 8 carp and I really needed to start catching. I concentrated on the 8m line, mostly on paste and occasionally corn or soft pellet, when the small fish moved in. The LH margin only started to produce in the last 90 mins.
I had kept firing 6m's to the island in the hope the wind would drop and quick look over, revealed plenty of indication, but presentation was nearly impossible.
I was pleased with the 2nd half of the match, but ultimately the wind cost me and I'm certain 100lb was more than possible, Even on the 8m line, it was difficult to read bites, with the wind and tow, so missed bites and bumped fish still made it very frustrating day.
During the weigh in it became obvious the wind effected those fishing around the gap the most, plus a couple of exposed pegs down the bottom end of the lake. The angler on 38 managed 58lb, whilst the angler opposite on peg 7 who fished the method feeder to the island had a similar weight. The other angler in the wind was Mark on peg 5, who really struggled to catch to the far side of the arm, but eventually caught at 6m on paste coming 2nd with 123lb, which is a great effort (that really hurt to say that – lol). However he probably benefited from the angler of 38 not utilising his RH margin and Tim Suttle on peg 3, who turned up drunk from the night before, threw up and only managed to fish for 2hrs, before going home. We didn't laugh, honest.
Pete Bailey won the match from peg 12 with 176lb making full use of the only peg which had a spare peg either side.
Catch – 27 Carp, 16 F1, 4 Skimmers, 3 Tench, 3 Roach
Weather – Sunny, windy!
Match – Match Fishing Scene Website - 9th overall
After my last match here last month, I was really looking to another visit. However the weather forecast suggested a windy day ahead.
Peg 37 was certainly in the right area, 1 from the end peg which had the gap round to the other side of the lake and the arm. Now that wind, I was hoping it would be a westerly, because the island opposite would have provided plenty of shelter, however the NW direction meant it was funnelling though the gap straight at me.
To do well here, you need to catch the carp and avoid the F1. So decided to keep it simple, with a paste & pellet rigs for the far side, the paste rig would also be used down the margin to peg 36. The 3rd rig would be a paste rig down the track.
On the all in, the wind was already picking up, so started on the pellet rig tight across. 3 put ins and 3 carp and I was off to a flyer, but the wind was getting stronger. After initially cupping ½ a cup of 4 & 6mm at the start I had followed this up with a full toss pot of pellet every put in but was finding it difficult to present the rig. So I removed the toss pot, to make it easier to hold the pole, deciding to cup pellet in every 3 fish. Unfortunately that didn't really work, because the wind was getting stronger.
Unlike most pegs, I didn't have any bear bank to fish, which would have offered shallow water. My problem was the peg was nearly 2ft deep tight across and there was plenty of branches and foliage, which meant lifting and dropping became a real nightmare, because if I lifted and a gust of wind caught the pole, I had very little margin of error and did catch the branches a couple of times. I set up a shallower rig, but feeding and holding the pole steady was difficult.
Along with Mark, I was doing my best impression of Mr Angry, there were plenty of fish on the far side, but I couldn't present to them properly, which was very frustrating. I had been feeding 6mmat 8m and a mixture of 4 & 6mm, plus hemp down the left hand margin.
When I went over the 8m line on paste, I getting plenty of indications, but no fish and the wind was making presentation difficult. A small F1 confirmed my suspicions, so I set up a new rig with a 16 b911to fish soft pellet & corn. I needed to start putting fish in the net, whilst I couldn't see anyone running away with it, I was falling behind, so every put in I toss potted 6mm with a ball of paste. I soon started to catch, not as quickly I was would have liked, but I lost a few fish off the hook and a change from 12 latex to double 6 helped, but a couple of fish I did land the hook was just hanging in.
The carp eventually turned up and switched to the paste rig. Half way into the match, I was up 22 fish, but only 8 carp and I really needed to start catching. I concentrated on the 8m line, mostly on paste and occasionally corn or soft pellet, when the small fish moved in. The LH margin only started to produce in the last 90 mins.
I had kept firing 6m's to the island in the hope the wind would drop and quick look over, revealed plenty of indication, but presentation was nearly impossible.
I was pleased with the 2nd half of the match, but ultimately the wind cost me and I'm certain 100lb was more than possible, Even on the 8m line, it was difficult to read bites, with the wind and tow, so missed bites and bumped fish still made it very frustrating day.
During the weigh in it became obvious the wind effected those fishing around the gap the most, plus a couple of exposed pegs down the bottom end of the lake. The angler on 38 managed 58lb, whilst the angler opposite on peg 7 who fished the method feeder to the island had a similar weight. The other angler in the wind was Mark on peg 5, who really struggled to catch to the far side of the arm, but eventually caught at 6m on paste coming 2nd with 123lb, which is a great effort (that really hurt to say that – lol). However he probably benefited from the angler of 38 not utilising his RH margin and Tim Suttle on peg 3, who turned up drunk from the night before, threw up and only managed to fish for 2hrs, before going home. We didn't laugh, honest.
Pete Bailey won the match from peg 12 with 176lb making full use of the only peg which had a spare peg either side.
Saturday 29 May 2010
Season Review
For me the fishing season runs from June to May and I usually like to take a few weeks off during April & May, simply because the fishing during this time, particularly May can be a bit dodgy with spawning fish.
On a personal level the last 12 months has been hard. Back in June my parent company made a decision to sell off the company I worked for. I had to make a decision about either continue working for my existing company or move to the parent company. In the end I moved to the parent company in August with a mandate to set up a new service, however progress has been painfully slow and it is only recently that all my hard work is starting to bear fruit.
As for Sue, I have never known someone to have such a bad run of luck, but I think (& hope) she has settled on what she wants to do for the future. Having given up trying to find a full time job, she now wants to run her own business selling AVON and Ann Summers. Sue's problem has been the 2 fold, firstly she spent 20 years in the motor trade and secondly she was a manager. Unfortunately, with so many people looking for work, it appears potential employers are seeing 20 years motor industry and immediately discounting her managerial skills. So Sue has decided to set up her own business, building a sales team for AVON and Ann Summers. There is some serious money to made if she can grow the team large enough and I have told her if it gets to the point where she needs to employ someone to deal with admin etc, I will be her man. That way I will have more time to go fishing! Unfortunately, that will be a few years away.
With such a tight financial year, it has meant I haven't been able to go fishing as often as I would like and that's one of reasons why I focused much of my time at Lands End during the winter. Ironically being on a tight budget and seen me have one of my best seasons. Having to limit what bait I take has allowed me to focus on how I approached a match. Previously I have been guilty of taking too much and confusing myself, but by looking at how other anglers approach their matches, such as Tony Rixon and Rod Wootton has allowed me to be more confident that what I am doing is right and I shouldn't keep chopping and changing.
Fishing has certainly kept me sane these last 12 months, although there has been some lows, as well as some highs.
The lows – Being dropped by Maver Veals wasn't unexpected and on reflection I should have dropped myself months ago, however I honestly thought I would back straight financially sooner and able to commit the necessary time.
The big low for me however was the Lands End Winter League. After the 6th round I was lying 3rd overall, but the last 2 rounds weren't kind. A draw on peg 55 Johns, although normally a decent peg, on the day the weather was getting milder and there was a real strong westerly blowing. So whilst everyone had some sort of ripple, my swim was flat calm and the fish simply didn't want to be there. The last round saw me draw the wrong end of Sydneys lake and as a consequence I dropped out of the top 7 and no money – gutted.
On the positive side, I had some seriously big weights in the last 12 months, 5 tons, 4 double tons and a personal best 335lb. I also managed a personal best match weight of 218lb, which was a club match record, well up to last month anyway. Whilst that was a memorable match, probably my best result was at Rood Ashton, fishing against 18 locals, who normally approach the lake with the method feeder and pole/paste. According to the locals my pellet waggler approach wouldn't work because the lake was too shallow! 45 carp for 133lb and a convincing match win proved otherwise.
Of the 37 matches fished, I've picked up in 24, which has been very helpful, collecting more money than I have paid out and during December to February I picked up 10 times from 11, its just shame that during March a run of poor draws halted that little run.
So what about the future? Being a glass half full type person, I am hopefully that the next 12 months will see Sue and I back on a even keel. Both our jobs are showing signs of going in the right direction, so hopefully in the not to distant future I can commit to more fishing.
On a personal level the last 12 months has been hard. Back in June my parent company made a decision to sell off the company I worked for. I had to make a decision about either continue working for my existing company or move to the parent company. In the end I moved to the parent company in August with a mandate to set up a new service, however progress has been painfully slow and it is only recently that all my hard work is starting to bear fruit.
As for Sue, I have never known someone to have such a bad run of luck, but I think (& hope) she has settled on what she wants to do for the future. Having given up trying to find a full time job, she now wants to run her own business selling AVON and Ann Summers. Sue's problem has been the 2 fold, firstly she spent 20 years in the motor trade and secondly she was a manager. Unfortunately, with so many people looking for work, it appears potential employers are seeing 20 years motor industry and immediately discounting her managerial skills. So Sue has decided to set up her own business, building a sales team for AVON and Ann Summers. There is some serious money to made if she can grow the team large enough and I have told her if it gets to the point where she needs to employ someone to deal with admin etc, I will be her man. That way I will have more time to go fishing! Unfortunately, that will be a few years away.
With such a tight financial year, it has meant I haven't been able to go fishing as often as I would like and that's one of reasons why I focused much of my time at Lands End during the winter. Ironically being on a tight budget and seen me have one of my best seasons. Having to limit what bait I take has allowed me to focus on how I approached a match. Previously I have been guilty of taking too much and confusing myself, but by looking at how other anglers approach their matches, such as Tony Rixon and Rod Wootton has allowed me to be more confident that what I am doing is right and I shouldn't keep chopping and changing.
Fishing has certainly kept me sane these last 12 months, although there has been some lows, as well as some highs.
The lows – Being dropped by Maver Veals wasn't unexpected and on reflection I should have dropped myself months ago, however I honestly thought I would back straight financially sooner and able to commit the necessary time.
The big low for me however was the Lands End Winter League. After the 6th round I was lying 3rd overall, but the last 2 rounds weren't kind. A draw on peg 55 Johns, although normally a decent peg, on the day the weather was getting milder and there was a real strong westerly blowing. So whilst everyone had some sort of ripple, my swim was flat calm and the fish simply didn't want to be there. The last round saw me draw the wrong end of Sydneys lake and as a consequence I dropped out of the top 7 and no money – gutted.
On the positive side, I had some seriously big weights in the last 12 months, 5 tons, 4 double tons and a personal best 335lb. I also managed a personal best match weight of 218lb, which was a club match record, well up to last month anyway. Whilst that was a memorable match, probably my best result was at Rood Ashton, fishing against 18 locals, who normally approach the lake with the method feeder and pole/paste. According to the locals my pellet waggler approach wouldn't work because the lake was too shallow! 45 carp for 133lb and a convincing match win proved otherwise.
Of the 37 matches fished, I've picked up in 24, which has been very helpful, collecting more money than I have paid out and during December to February I picked up 10 times from 11, its just shame that during March a run of poor draws halted that little run.
So what about the future? Being a glass half full type person, I am hopefully that the next 12 months will see Sue and I back on a even keel. Both our jobs are showing signs of going in the right direction, so hopefully in the not to distant future I can commit to more fishing.
28/05/2010 - Winterbourne Duck Pond
Weight – 44lb 13oz
Catch – 72 Skimmers, 1 Tench
Weather – Sunny, blustery at times
A trapped nerve in my back, prevented me from fishing last weekend. I had booked today off with the intention of going to my club water, however Sue needed the car (I'll be glad when she gets her own). I decided to still have the day off and got Sue to drop me off at the duck pond for an afternoon session.
When I arrived, someone was already in the bus stop swim, but the water level had dropped about 1ft, so I chose the slip way off the dam wall, which would offer the most depth at 2ft.
Nothing complicated today, a roach 4x12, .11 bottom & 18 silverfish pellet hook & double 5 elastic, fished at 11.5-13m towards the island and 11m down the left hand margin towards the road wall. Initially started feeding 4mm pellet & maggot via a toss pot, but soon reverted to catapulting 4mm. After a slow 10mins I started catching nearly every put in on double red maggot. After 40mins I ditched the maggot switching to soft pellet and the skimmers kept coming , although after an 2hours the swim was slowing, which coincided with the wind picking up.
A switch to corn helped and for the remainder of the session, I kept swapping between pellet and corn. When the main swim went quiet, a look down the left hand edge produced the odd fish, including a lost carp when the hook pulled, but most fish came at 11.5m. A 2½lb tench went a welcome change from the skimmers which went up to 1¾lb.
In the end I had to get Sue to pick me up earlier than intended , because I was running out of 4mms, having fed 2pts. Whether the drop in the water level had concentrated the fish in the deeper water, I'm not sure , but this beat my previous best silvers weight from the venue by 9lb.
Catch – 72 Skimmers, 1 Tench
Weather – Sunny, blustery at times
A trapped nerve in my back, prevented me from fishing last weekend. I had booked today off with the intention of going to my club water, however Sue needed the car (I'll be glad when she gets her own). I decided to still have the day off and got Sue to drop me off at the duck pond for an afternoon session.
When I arrived, someone was already in the bus stop swim, but the water level had dropped about 1ft, so I chose the slip way off the dam wall, which would offer the most depth at 2ft.
Nothing complicated today, a roach 4x12, .11 bottom & 18 silverfish pellet hook & double 5 elastic, fished at 11.5-13m towards the island and 11m down the left hand margin towards the road wall. Initially started feeding 4mm pellet & maggot via a toss pot, but soon reverted to catapulting 4mm. After a slow 10mins I started catching nearly every put in on double red maggot. After 40mins I ditched the maggot switching to soft pellet and the skimmers kept coming , although after an 2hours the swim was slowing, which coincided with the wind picking up.
A switch to corn helped and for the remainder of the session, I kept swapping between pellet and corn. When the main swim went quiet, a look down the left hand edge produced the odd fish, including a lost carp when the hook pulled, but most fish came at 11.5m. A 2½lb tench went a welcome change from the skimmers which went up to 1¾lb.
In the end I had to get Sue to pick me up earlier than intended , because I was running out of 4mms, having fed 2pts. Whether the drop in the water level had concentrated the fish in the deeper water, I'm not sure , but this beat my previous best silvers weight from the venue by 9lb.
Monday 17 May 2010
16/05/10 - Cuckoo's Rest
Weight – 6lb 6oz
Catch – 33 Roach, 10 Perch, 8 Skimmers
Weather – Cold, cloudy, rainy start. Brighter later, but windy
Match – Open - 7th overall
16 turned up Mark’s match at Cuckoo’s Rest, with the expectation of plenty of skimmers and tench. However, the weather had a big hand in how the day turned out. After the warm day yesterday, it was back on with the fleece, because it was certainly a bit nippy and with the early start I expecting a slow start.
I drew the 1st peg over the bridge on the left side of the island. General consensus was, it wasn’t a great draw, however a few tench had been caught recently in the area by pleasure anglers. Being on the corner of the island, meant I was sitting at angle to the open water, but to my left there was an over hanging tree at 14.5m on the “mainland”, as well as the margin towards to the bridge, so at least I had a few options.
Green Swim Stim & micros were deposited at 13m and 4mm’s were catapulted towards the over hanging tree. Whilst I let that settle I started at 5m fishing caster and after 30mins I had 10 fish in the net, before bites dried up.
The 13m line produced very little on soft pellet with bites very hard to come by. In fact everyone seemed to be struggling, expect Hippy who was on the right bank, casting a small method feeder towards the far bank, catching proper bream and the odd carp.
I would have been happy to keep going with the roach at 5m but couldn’t keep them going, as they drifted in & out of the swim. Even adding another section didn’t help, so a bit oft head scratching.
My overhanging tree swim did produce a couple of small skimmers on corn, but again no more and I had to keep rotating swims just to keep a few fish going into the net. Even tried the waggler, which only produced 1 roach. Although Hippy was running away with it, a couple of decent skimmers or tench would soon put you back in the contention for the frame.
With the wind increasing strength, I was beginning to regret not packing a feeder rod to fish beyond 14.5m, but with the wind cutting across me, fishing longer as I had intended was no longer an option.
I set up a new swim at 11.5m, just feeding 4mm and caster via a toss pot, reasoning the roach at 5m were worth having , perhaps they would feed more confidentially further out and hopefully a few skimmers would show. Unfortunately the roach got smaller and there were very few skimmers.
As the match drew to a conclusion, I stuck with the pellet and corn hoping for a better fish, but it just didn't happen. Those that framed all had at least 1 decent fish, but overall a very disappointing match. Those skimmers never feed and not 1 of the 2500 small carp stocked last month showed.
Hippy won with 64lb, but 2nd was only 16lb, which was 2 carp, 1 proper bream and a skimmer.
Catch – 33 Roach, 10 Perch, 8 Skimmers
Weather – Cold, cloudy, rainy start. Brighter later, but windy
Match – Open - 7th overall
16 turned up Mark’s match at Cuckoo’s Rest, with the expectation of plenty of skimmers and tench. However, the weather had a big hand in how the day turned out. After the warm day yesterday, it was back on with the fleece, because it was certainly a bit nippy and with the early start I expecting a slow start.
I drew the 1st peg over the bridge on the left side of the island. General consensus was, it wasn’t a great draw, however a few tench had been caught recently in the area by pleasure anglers. Being on the corner of the island, meant I was sitting at angle to the open water, but to my left there was an over hanging tree at 14.5m on the “mainland”, as well as the margin towards to the bridge, so at least I had a few options.
Green Swim Stim & micros were deposited at 13m and 4mm’s were catapulted towards the over hanging tree. Whilst I let that settle I started at 5m fishing caster and after 30mins I had 10 fish in the net, before bites dried up.
The 13m line produced very little on soft pellet with bites very hard to come by. In fact everyone seemed to be struggling, expect Hippy who was on the right bank, casting a small method feeder towards the far bank, catching proper bream and the odd carp.
I would have been happy to keep going with the roach at 5m but couldn’t keep them going, as they drifted in & out of the swim. Even adding another section didn’t help, so a bit oft head scratching.
My overhanging tree swim did produce a couple of small skimmers on corn, but again no more and I had to keep rotating swims just to keep a few fish going into the net. Even tried the waggler, which only produced 1 roach. Although Hippy was running away with it, a couple of decent skimmers or tench would soon put you back in the contention for the frame.
With the wind increasing strength, I was beginning to regret not packing a feeder rod to fish beyond 14.5m, but with the wind cutting across me, fishing longer as I had intended was no longer an option.
I set up a new swim at 11.5m, just feeding 4mm and caster via a toss pot, reasoning the roach at 5m were worth having , perhaps they would feed more confidentially further out and hopefully a few skimmers would show. Unfortunately the roach got smaller and there were very few skimmers.
As the match drew to a conclusion, I stuck with the pellet and corn hoping for a better fish, but it just didn't happen. Those that framed all had at least 1 decent fish, but overall a very disappointing match. Those skimmers never feed and not 1 of the 2500 small carp stocked last month showed.
Hippy won with 64lb, but 2nd was only 16lb, which was 2 carp, 1 proper bream and a skimmer.
15/05/10 - Fishponds
Weight – 130lb 14oz
Catch – 18 Carp
Weather – Mostly sunny, westerly breeze.
Match – Rod & Reel Float Only - 2nd overall
Whilst loading the car, I realised I had forgotten something – my nets, but where the hell were they? Then it dawned on me, that whilst sorting a few bits out in the shed last night I took my stink bag, containing 3 keepnets and 2 landing nets, out of the shed, leaving them out overnight. Some light finger bar-steward had only nicked it. Unfortunately a blown down fence panel allowed them easy access, via our next door neighbour. I suspect it was nicked, because there wasn’t anything else light enough to take which is bloody annoying.
I arrived at Tony's on the way to the match with my tale of woe, upon where Tony did his best impression of Arkwright from “Open All Hours”, never seen him move so fast, rubbing his hands together.
Anyway back to the match. As mentioned in a previous blog entry, my club would be running a series of Saturday afternoon/evening matches. This round was a rod & reel, float only match, which would be interesting.
Fortunately I drew an open water swim so I set up 2 pellet wagglers (1x 4” hooklength & the other 10”), a conventional waggler to fish mid-depth (& the margin) and an on the deck waggler to fish 8m out at the bottom of the shelf. All rigs had .17 bottom to 16 B960, hair rigging 8mm pellet.
After all the cold & rain over the last couple of weeks the sun made a welcome appearance, so I was hopeful I could catch a few shallow.
Starting at 8m other than a liner no bites where forth coming. In the meantime I had been feeding 8mm ready for the pellet waggler and after 30mins saw my first swirl. 5mins later I lost a foul hooker on the longer hooklength, 10mins later and another lost foulhooker – bugger. A switch to the shallower rig and I hooked one properly, but then they disappeared.
After 2 hours I only had 2 carp and my short line had yet to produce. However, most around the lake were catching well, with Graham leading the way fishing hard pellet 2 rod lengths out.
I kept the pellet going in and come the 3rd hour the fish arrived properly. Found it best to fish the 10” rig, cast then feed, wait 10-15secs feed again, wait again. If no bites, then feed again just as I reeled in. For some reason feeding & then casting straight away didn’t work as well. The conventional waggler didn’t work over the waggler line, although I managed a couple of carp towards the pallet on my right.
Going into the 5th & final hour I was up to 16 carp, but the wind dropped and I struggled to get another bite, which was disappointing, because I knew I was catching Graham and ultimately the last hour cost me.
1st 148lb – Graham Millard
2nd – 130lb – Ken Rayner
3rd – 121lb – Roger Putterill
4th – 86lb – Andy Lord
Catch – 18 Carp
Weather – Mostly sunny, westerly breeze.
Match – Rod & Reel Float Only - 2nd overall
Whilst loading the car, I realised I had forgotten something – my nets, but where the hell were they? Then it dawned on me, that whilst sorting a few bits out in the shed last night I took my stink bag, containing 3 keepnets and 2 landing nets, out of the shed, leaving them out overnight. Some light finger bar-steward had only nicked it. Unfortunately a blown down fence panel allowed them easy access, via our next door neighbour. I suspect it was nicked, because there wasn’t anything else light enough to take which is bloody annoying.
I arrived at Tony's on the way to the match with my tale of woe, upon where Tony did his best impression of Arkwright from “Open All Hours”, never seen him move so fast, rubbing his hands together.
Anyway back to the match. As mentioned in a previous blog entry, my club would be running a series of Saturday afternoon/evening matches. This round was a rod & reel, float only match, which would be interesting.
Fortunately I drew an open water swim so I set up 2 pellet wagglers (1x 4” hooklength & the other 10”), a conventional waggler to fish mid-depth (& the margin) and an on the deck waggler to fish 8m out at the bottom of the shelf. All rigs had .17 bottom to 16 B960, hair rigging 8mm pellet.
After all the cold & rain over the last couple of weeks the sun made a welcome appearance, so I was hopeful I could catch a few shallow.
Starting at 8m other than a liner no bites where forth coming. In the meantime I had been feeding 8mm ready for the pellet waggler and after 30mins saw my first swirl. 5mins later I lost a foul hooker on the longer hooklength, 10mins later and another lost foulhooker – bugger. A switch to the shallower rig and I hooked one properly, but then they disappeared.
After 2 hours I only had 2 carp and my short line had yet to produce. However, most around the lake were catching well, with Graham leading the way fishing hard pellet 2 rod lengths out.
I kept the pellet going in and come the 3rd hour the fish arrived properly. Found it best to fish the 10” rig, cast then feed, wait 10-15secs feed again, wait again. If no bites, then feed again just as I reeled in. For some reason feeding & then casting straight away didn’t work as well. The conventional waggler didn’t work over the waggler line, although I managed a couple of carp towards the pallet on my right.
Going into the 5th & final hour I was up to 16 carp, but the wind dropped and I struggled to get another bite, which was disappointing, because I knew I was catching Graham and ultimately the last hour cost me.
1st 148lb – Graham Millard
2nd – 130lb – Ken Rayner
3rd – 121lb – Roger Putterill
4th – 86lb – Andy Lord
Monday 26 April 2010
25/04/10 - Lands End - Match Lake
Weight – 72lb 7oz
Catch – 14 Carp, 3 Tench, 1 Crucian
Weather – Cloudy muggy start, becoming showery & breezy
Match – Open - 4th overall
This match should have been called the Cider Farm overspill open. With Sue needing the car on Saturday I only had Sunday to fish, but where to go? Mark was fishing a clubbie in Devizes and a call to Tony revealed he had an Open at Cider Farm, which was sold out. Mike was only running a Saturday open, so it looked like I would be pleasure fishing. I was giving Cuckoos Rest serious consideration because 2500 small carp had been stocked and the bream & tench were on the feed. However late on Friday Mike called back to say there were a few interested in a Sunday match, so I booked in.
There was only 10 of us and we all in the same situation, either too late to book in or didn’t wish to fish Cider Farm. With an 11am draw I arrived an hour early and walked around the lakes. There were loads of carp cruising the surface, with most around peg 7/8, 14 and the 20s. I drew peg 1, which I wasn’t too disappointed with, because there was a few fish moving around between myself and Lee Trivett on p24.
Pete Nurse was peg 3 and Mike West on 5. All match these 2 never stopped winding each other up, it was like listening to an old married couple. Pete was convinced Mike had beaten him and vice versa, but as it happened neither won because they both weighed 52-11.
Next decision would I be using Tony's lovely crisp casters, probably not, because we were only paying 1 silver place. So pellet & paste rigs were set up for up & down the shelf, the silvers would have to wait for another day. On the all in I started firing 4mms towards the island and a ½ pot of 4 & 6mms with some paste at 14.5 down the left hand edge at the bottom of the shelf. I also put ½ pot of micro, 4mm and some casters at 13m in open water just in case the wheels fell off (which I never used).
I went straight down the right hand edge under the tree, having seen some carp moving around at the start, but only managed a 12oz crucian. After a couple of put ins at 14.5m with paste and I had a 9lber, followed shortly by a 4lber, so a good start, but then I couldn't get another bite. In fact I didn’t get another fish for an hour, despite carp moving around the island, but I couldn’t get them to take my hair rigged 6mm pellet.
Another look down the RH edge produced a carp and 2 more followed at 15m down the LH edge on top of the shelf before they disappeared again. At this point the heavens open and the wind picked up, making it more difficult to fish long with paste. I had kept the pellet going into the island and most of the fish I could see were on the other side in vacant peg 22, but my feed had definitely pulled a few to my side. The problem was finding a clear spot, due to roots and god knows what snagging my rig. I managed to trash 3 rigs, but after much messing around with depths & shotting, found it best to fish 16.5m, a metre off the point of the island and I started to string a few fish together, including 3 tench in quick succession.
I did try down the LH edge but only managed 1 more carp. I had intended to go 17m, but since the wind picked up I simply couldn’t keep the rig there long enough without the pole being blown into the bank side foliage. At least fishing the island if a gust of wind did blow it pushed the pole away from trouble. Besides I think most of the carp were settled by the tree stump, which was 19m away, however the stump is only 14m away on p24 and Lee started catching a few tight in during the 2nd half of the match.
For the rest of the match I would catch a few from the island, when they backed off I would try other swims without success, but when ever I came back to the island the fish would have returned and I would get a couple more before they back off again.
In general this was a frustrating match, apart from a 45min spell when I caught regularly I had to keep chopping and changes to keep the fish coming. The wind ruined my plan to fish 17m down the left hand margin and trashing my rigs didn’t help either.
Peg 1 isn’t the peg it used to be since Mike cut the trees back and snags by the island doesn’t make for an easy days fishing. However I think (I may be wrong) 72lb is the best weight from the peg for quite sometime, so I was pleased with that, but its difficult to compete with the form pegs at the moment. Garry Wall caught all day on p14, fishing paste to the platform on his right, whilst Shaun Townsend caught shallow on pellet from peg 7.
1st – 147-14 – Garry Wall – p14
2nd – 117-10 - Shaun Townsend – p7
3rd – 90-10 – Lewis Townsend – p21
4th – 72-7 – Ken Rayner – p1
5th – 68- 0 - Nathan Hawke – p16
6th – 64-12 - Lee Trivett – p24
silvers – 25-8 – Dave Sawyer – p11 (skimmers/soft pellet)
Catch – 14 Carp, 3 Tench, 1 Crucian
Weather – Cloudy muggy start, becoming showery & breezy
Match – Open - 4th overall
This match should have been called the Cider Farm overspill open. With Sue needing the car on Saturday I only had Sunday to fish, but where to go? Mark was fishing a clubbie in Devizes and a call to Tony revealed he had an Open at Cider Farm, which was sold out. Mike was only running a Saturday open, so it looked like I would be pleasure fishing. I was giving Cuckoos Rest serious consideration because 2500 small carp had been stocked and the bream & tench were on the feed. However late on Friday Mike called back to say there were a few interested in a Sunday match, so I booked in.
There was only 10 of us and we all in the same situation, either too late to book in or didn’t wish to fish Cider Farm. With an 11am draw I arrived an hour early and walked around the lakes. There were loads of carp cruising the surface, with most around peg 7/8, 14 and the 20s. I drew peg 1, which I wasn’t too disappointed with, because there was a few fish moving around between myself and Lee Trivett on p24.
Pete Nurse was peg 3 and Mike West on 5. All match these 2 never stopped winding each other up, it was like listening to an old married couple. Pete was convinced Mike had beaten him and vice versa, but as it happened neither won because they both weighed 52-11.
Next decision would I be using Tony's lovely crisp casters, probably not, because we were only paying 1 silver place. So pellet & paste rigs were set up for up & down the shelf, the silvers would have to wait for another day. On the all in I started firing 4mms towards the island and a ½ pot of 4 & 6mms with some paste at 14.5 down the left hand edge at the bottom of the shelf. I also put ½ pot of micro, 4mm and some casters at 13m in open water just in case the wheels fell off (which I never used).
I went straight down the right hand edge under the tree, having seen some carp moving around at the start, but only managed a 12oz crucian. After a couple of put ins at 14.5m with paste and I had a 9lber, followed shortly by a 4lber, so a good start, but then I couldn't get another bite. In fact I didn’t get another fish for an hour, despite carp moving around the island, but I couldn’t get them to take my hair rigged 6mm pellet.
Another look down the RH edge produced a carp and 2 more followed at 15m down the LH edge on top of the shelf before they disappeared again. At this point the heavens open and the wind picked up, making it more difficult to fish long with paste. I had kept the pellet going into the island and most of the fish I could see were on the other side in vacant peg 22, but my feed had definitely pulled a few to my side. The problem was finding a clear spot, due to roots and god knows what snagging my rig. I managed to trash 3 rigs, but after much messing around with depths & shotting, found it best to fish 16.5m, a metre off the point of the island and I started to string a few fish together, including 3 tench in quick succession.
I did try down the LH edge but only managed 1 more carp. I had intended to go 17m, but since the wind picked up I simply couldn’t keep the rig there long enough without the pole being blown into the bank side foliage. At least fishing the island if a gust of wind did blow it pushed the pole away from trouble. Besides I think most of the carp were settled by the tree stump, which was 19m away, however the stump is only 14m away on p24 and Lee started catching a few tight in during the 2nd half of the match.
For the rest of the match I would catch a few from the island, when they backed off I would try other swims without success, but when ever I came back to the island the fish would have returned and I would get a couple more before they back off again.
In general this was a frustrating match, apart from a 45min spell when I caught regularly I had to keep chopping and changes to keep the fish coming. The wind ruined my plan to fish 17m down the left hand margin and trashing my rigs didn’t help either.
Peg 1 isn’t the peg it used to be since Mike cut the trees back and snags by the island doesn’t make for an easy days fishing. However I think (I may be wrong) 72lb is the best weight from the peg for quite sometime, so I was pleased with that, but its difficult to compete with the form pegs at the moment. Garry Wall caught all day on p14, fishing paste to the platform on his right, whilst Shaun Townsend caught shallow on pellet from peg 7.
1st – 147-14 – Garry Wall – p14
2nd – 117-10 - Shaun Townsend – p7
3rd – 90-10 – Lewis Townsend – p21
4th – 72-7 – Ken Rayner – p1
5th – 68- 0 - Nathan Hawke – p16
6th – 64-12 - Lee Trivett – p24
silvers – 25-8 – Dave Sawyer – p11 (skimmers/soft pellet)
Sunday 18 April 2010
17/04/10 - Fishponds
Weight – 174lb 4oz
Catch – 23 Carp, 1 Bream
Weather – Sunny and calm
Match – Club - 2nd overall
My club has decided to run a few Saturday afternoon/evening matching during the summer, with 1 of the matches being rod & reel only – great and another being feeder only – not so great, but I think the idea was to provide more of level playing field.
Anyway back to today's match. Having got used to fishing 6hr match recently, a 5hr match was going to feel a bit odd, but at least we would be fishing during the best part of the day.
Peg 3 was my destination, which I was a little disappointed about, simply because in a match the arm of the lake, doesn't normally fish that well, particularly with anglers drawn opposite.
I had brought my pellet wagglers, but I didn't expect to use it. Instead I set up a shallow rig on the pole to fish 8mm pellet, but again I wasn't expecting to catch, unless the wind picked up and created some ripple.
My principle rigs would be paste rigs at 10m and down the margins, feeding 8 & 6mm pellet.
After 2 hours I only had 4 fish in the net and concerned there were no fish in the area, but Ian on peg 7 was sacking and was already up to nearly 20 fish. I had been feeding 8mm at 13/14m hoping to catch shallow and a quick look confirmed what I thought – it was a waste of time, so I gave up on this line.
Both my margins & 10m lines started showing signs of life, catching most put ins and I managed to keep the fish coming by rotating the swims until the end of the match, including some munters up to 13.5lb.
I knew I hadn't won, because Ian was admitting to 40 carp having caught for most of the match and my match record of 218lb was under serious threat. As it happen Ian didn't have quite as much as I thought with a slightly smaller stamp of fish, but he still had enough weighing 228lb. So congratulations and I wont be surprised to the record is broken again by the end of the summer. 3rd was Kev Millard on peg 11 who had 156lb, so some big weights as the fish feed up ready for spawning.
Although I lost my match record, my weight today is still the 3rd best match weight at the venue.
Catch – 23 Carp, 1 Bream
Weather – Sunny and calm
Match – Club - 2nd overall
My club has decided to run a few Saturday afternoon/evening matching during the summer, with 1 of the matches being rod & reel only – great and another being feeder only – not so great, but I think the idea was to provide more of level playing field.
Anyway back to today's match. Having got used to fishing 6hr match recently, a 5hr match was going to feel a bit odd, but at least we would be fishing during the best part of the day.
Peg 3 was my destination, which I was a little disappointed about, simply because in a match the arm of the lake, doesn't normally fish that well, particularly with anglers drawn opposite.
I had brought my pellet wagglers, but I didn't expect to use it. Instead I set up a shallow rig on the pole to fish 8mm pellet, but again I wasn't expecting to catch, unless the wind picked up and created some ripple.
My principle rigs would be paste rigs at 10m and down the margins, feeding 8 & 6mm pellet.
After 2 hours I only had 4 fish in the net and concerned there were no fish in the area, but Ian on peg 7 was sacking and was already up to nearly 20 fish. I had been feeding 8mm at 13/14m hoping to catch shallow and a quick look confirmed what I thought – it was a waste of time, so I gave up on this line.
Both my margins & 10m lines started showing signs of life, catching most put ins and I managed to keep the fish coming by rotating the swims until the end of the match, including some munters up to 13.5lb.
I knew I hadn't won, because Ian was admitting to 40 carp having caught for most of the match and my match record of 218lb was under serious threat. As it happen Ian didn't have quite as much as I thought with a slightly smaller stamp of fish, but he still had enough weighing 228lb. So congratulations and I wont be surprised to the record is broken again by the end of the summer. 3rd was Kev Millard on peg 11 who had 156lb, so some big weights as the fish feed up ready for spawning.
Although I lost my match record, my weight today is still the 3rd best match weight at the venue.
Monday 12 April 2010
11/04/10 - Todber Manor - Park Lake
Weight – 85lb 2oz
Catch – 34 Carp, 21 F1, 1 Tench, 1 Roach
Weather – Cloudy, with sunny periods. Cool gusty wind
Match – Match Fishing Scene Website - 5th overall
Something different this weekend, a match with the MFS internet boys organised by Nick Merry. Originally I wasn't going this weekend, because Sue needed my car to drive down to Bournemouth (she hasn't found a replacement yet). However Mark offered to take me although he lives in Trowbridge, so a big detour and fair shout, because not many would be prepared to do that.
I have never seen Todber Manor, but reports about Park Lake where it was fishing well with 150lb likely to win and it was full of carp averaging 3lb & loads of small F1, so hopefully plenty of bites. The lake is a typical snake lake, with 31 pegs around a long central island, plus a further 6 up a 13m wide arm. Best draws were around the mouth of the arm, pegs 6,7,37,38 and around the oak tree (pegs 13 & 14).
Walking around the lake with Mark before the draw, neither of us fancied drawing the arm, due the NE wind blowing out of it, although we later found out that Saturdays match was won from peg 1 at the top.
With 25 booked in, 2 no showed which wasn't on since there was a waiting list, needless to say Nick was happy. I found myself on peg 10 which according to a local was OK, but probably just out of it. With peg 9 to my left vacant at least I had some room.
The island was lined with thick sedges, that drooped into the water, although slightly to my left was a gap with an exposed bank which was obviously the catching the area. Slightly to my right the sedges weren't quite as dense and this would be my back up swim.
4 rigs were set up, 2x hair rig pellet and 2x paste rigs for tight across and down the track. Bait was 4 & 6mm pellet, plus hemp. ½ pot of 6mms & hemp went down the track 11.5m to my left & I started on the paste tight across. The wind however was proving troublesome. Although I had a carp within 5mins it was going to me easier to fish pellet. After an initial slow 10mins, bites became more regular toss potting 4mms with a few 6s and for the next hour I caught carp and the odd F1 quickly, but gradually more smaller F1s put in an appearance.
2 hours in I had about 20 fish and from those I could see was doing well, although Tim Shuttle on peg 8 was probably on par with me. A switch to my back up swim didn't produce much, so I persisted fishing the gap.
I had been feeding a pouch of 6mms & hemp every 15mins down the track, but only managed 1 carp and bumped another. After 4hrs I was up to about 40 fish, but other than a tench and a roach I hadn't caught for 1/2 hour.
Catapulting pellet to the island wasn't working, although there was carp slurping in the sedges, I couldn't catch, even using a shallow rig tight against the mud and the wind was making it difficult to present into the smaller gaps. Therefore decided to cup ½ pot of pellet in the gap to get the fish down. In the meantime I had also set up a new down the track swim at 6m in front of me feeding 6mm by hand, whilst still feeding 6mm & hemp to my left.
Tim was starting to get ahead of me thanks to a some bigger paste fish. Fortunately my paste swims kicked into life, mainly at 6m, although I bumped a few (general consensus was the fish weren't having it properly, only mouthing the bait).
The far line also benefited from the pellet dump, where the carp had returned and the last hour proved to be quite productive putting 13/14 fish in the net.
At the all out, the usual banter started with Tim saying I had beaten him, but he had 2 better fish (6lbers). It was close, but I was proved right, when he weighed 91lb.
Overall for a first visit I was pleased with how the match went, although next time I would probably spend less time feeding with the catapult, because it only encouraged the F1s & created lots of liners. Also I should have switched to the paste a little sooner.
A fair venue, with plenty of bites and a tight frame.
1st 115-4 – peg 26
2nd 100-0 – Mark Blake – p3
3rd 91-2 – Tim Suttle – p8
4th 89-10 – Mark Brennan – p19
5th 85-2 – Ken Rayner – p10
6th 82-8 – Roly -p25
Catch – 34 Carp, 21 F1, 1 Tench, 1 Roach
Weather – Cloudy, with sunny periods. Cool gusty wind
Match – Match Fishing Scene Website - 5th overall
Something different this weekend, a match with the MFS internet boys organised by Nick Merry. Originally I wasn't going this weekend, because Sue needed my car to drive down to Bournemouth (she hasn't found a replacement yet). However Mark offered to take me although he lives in Trowbridge, so a big detour and fair shout, because not many would be prepared to do that.
I have never seen Todber Manor, but reports about Park Lake where it was fishing well with 150lb likely to win and it was full of carp averaging 3lb & loads of small F1, so hopefully plenty of bites. The lake is a typical snake lake, with 31 pegs around a long central island, plus a further 6 up a 13m wide arm. Best draws were around the mouth of the arm, pegs 6,7,37,38 and around the oak tree (pegs 13 & 14).
Walking around the lake with Mark before the draw, neither of us fancied drawing the arm, due the NE wind blowing out of it, although we later found out that Saturdays match was won from peg 1 at the top.
With 25 booked in, 2 no showed which wasn't on since there was a waiting list, needless to say Nick was happy. I found myself on peg 10 which according to a local was OK, but probably just out of it. With peg 9 to my left vacant at least I had some room.
The island was lined with thick sedges, that drooped into the water, although slightly to my left was a gap with an exposed bank which was obviously the catching the area. Slightly to my right the sedges weren't quite as dense and this would be my back up swim.
4 rigs were set up, 2x hair rig pellet and 2x paste rigs for tight across and down the track. Bait was 4 & 6mm pellet, plus hemp. ½ pot of 6mms & hemp went down the track 11.5m to my left & I started on the paste tight across. The wind however was proving troublesome. Although I had a carp within 5mins it was going to me easier to fish pellet. After an initial slow 10mins, bites became more regular toss potting 4mms with a few 6s and for the next hour I caught carp and the odd F1 quickly, but gradually more smaller F1s put in an appearance.
2 hours in I had about 20 fish and from those I could see was doing well, although Tim Shuttle on peg 8 was probably on par with me. A switch to my back up swim didn't produce much, so I persisted fishing the gap.
I had been feeding a pouch of 6mms & hemp every 15mins down the track, but only managed 1 carp and bumped another. After 4hrs I was up to about 40 fish, but other than a tench and a roach I hadn't caught for 1/2 hour.
Catapulting pellet to the island wasn't working, although there was carp slurping in the sedges, I couldn't catch, even using a shallow rig tight against the mud and the wind was making it difficult to present into the smaller gaps. Therefore decided to cup ½ pot of pellet in the gap to get the fish down. In the meantime I had also set up a new down the track swim at 6m in front of me feeding 6mm by hand, whilst still feeding 6mm & hemp to my left.
Tim was starting to get ahead of me thanks to a some bigger paste fish. Fortunately my paste swims kicked into life, mainly at 6m, although I bumped a few (general consensus was the fish weren't having it properly, only mouthing the bait).
The far line also benefited from the pellet dump, where the carp had returned and the last hour proved to be quite productive putting 13/14 fish in the net.
At the all out, the usual banter started with Tim saying I had beaten him, but he had 2 better fish (6lbers). It was close, but I was proved right, when he weighed 91lb.
Overall for a first visit I was pleased with how the match went, although next time I would probably spend less time feeding with the catapult, because it only encouraged the F1s & created lots of liners. Also I should have switched to the paste a little sooner.
A fair venue, with plenty of bites and a tight frame.
1st 115-4 – peg 26
2nd 100-0 – Mark Blake – p3
3rd 91-2 – Tim Suttle – p8
4th 89-10 – Mark Brennan – p19
5th 85-2 – Ken Rayner – p10
6th 82-8 – Roly -p25
Monday 5 April 2010
04/04/10 - Lands End - Speci Lake
Weight – 18lb 15oz
Catch – 40 Roach, 18 Perch, 8 Skimmers, 2 Rudd, 1 F1, 1 Chub, 1 Gudgeon
Weather – Sunny, but windy.
Match – Open - 21st overall, 6th in silvers.
With 31 booked in, Johns, Match and half of speci (25-32) were in the bag I was a little under whelmed to draw peg 26.
Carp or silvers? I decided silvers would be a better option, since there we so many better carp pegs, however carp rigs were set up in case a few did show, but you tend to find the cap sulk away to the other side of the lake when only 1 side in pegged.
A pinch of micros & caster went in at 11.5m, at 1 o'clock, whilst ½ a big pot went in 11o'clock, plus some caster on the island. The issue today would be the wind although I was a little bit sheltered, fishing 17m to the island meant keeping the rig steady would be the challenge.
I started on the island whilst letting the pellet swims settle and 1st drop in on double caster a 2lb F1 found its way into the net. 3rd put in another F1, which I lost when the hook pulled at the net. However 40mins, later I had only added some roach and decent perch, as well as bumping a couple of fish.
Because of the wind I couldn't catch quickly enough from the far side so time to look over my pellet line, but these only produced a couple of fish and none of the decent F1s that Pete Notton was catching on a very sheltered peg 25 or the big skimmers that Martin was catching on peg 28.
The 1o'clock swim started to produce regular bites by toss potting micro pellet and caster, with either caster or pellet on the hook, but most of the fish were roach.
Time for a change, I started firing 4mms towards the island as well as feeding caster at 5m. The 5m line began to produce roach, plus the odd bigger perch, but I lost a big fish (not a carp), which just upset the shoal and I had to change lines. Both the 11.5m swim where only producing odd fish, but it seemed every time I hooked a decent size fish the hook pulled, which Martin was finding very amusing, it will teach me for taking the piss when he pulled out of a skimmer.
Things weren't going well, I was getting plenty of roach, but very few decent fish. The 4mms kept going in towards the island in the hope the wind would drop long enough to be able to fish.
In the meantime I started to feed caster towards the pallet on peg 27. My 5m line came back to life and I picked up some more roach and perch either on double or single caster. The pallet swim produced a few more fish, mostly decent perch, plus a chub.
With an hour to go I tried the the far line again and caught a big skimmer on hard pellet on top of the shelf and a roach at the bottom of the shelf, so there wasn't many carp around then! Another try over the 11.5m and a new 13m 11 o'clock swim but again only small fish, so last 45mins concentrated on p27 pallet and 5m swim. I had trickled a few casters into the near brambles. First drop in resulted in a sail away bite, loads of elastic coming out and a broken hook length, as a chub successfully made its bid for freedom. Another lost fish this was getting really frustrating, which Martin found even more amusing.
I thought Pete had more than Martin, because he had been catching F1 until the last 2 hours, however Martin had managed to catch mostly skimmers for most of the match. I had hoped to sneak into 3rd for silvers, but there were a couple of lower 20s on Match. I reckon I probably lost 8-10lb of big silvers, so an expensive day and sums up the poor run I seem to be on, only picking up once from the last 6 matches, prior to that I had 10 from 11.
Today I couldn't get the number of quality fish and suspect with the water warming up and the fish becoming more active that micro pellet is losing its effectiveness and attracting too many small fish.
1st Nick Duckett 79- 2 - P19 (pellet)
2nd Mitch Artus 66- 6 – P21 (pellet)
3rd Chris Davis 65- 4 – P44
4th Brian Shanks 63-5 – P60
5th Shaun Townsend 60-5 – P18
6th Lee Trivitt 57-10 – P68
Silvers
1st Martin Pettifer 33-6 – P28 (pellet)
2nd Pete Notton 31-8 – P25 (pellet)
3rd Mike Duckett 24-14 – P3 (caster)
Catch – 40 Roach, 18 Perch, 8 Skimmers, 2 Rudd, 1 F1, 1 Chub, 1 Gudgeon
Weather – Sunny, but windy.
Match – Open - 21st overall, 6th in silvers.
With 31 booked in, Johns, Match and half of speci (25-32) were in the bag I was a little under whelmed to draw peg 26.
Carp or silvers? I decided silvers would be a better option, since there we so many better carp pegs, however carp rigs were set up in case a few did show, but you tend to find the cap sulk away to the other side of the lake when only 1 side in pegged.
A pinch of micros & caster went in at 11.5m, at 1 o'clock, whilst ½ a big pot went in 11o'clock, plus some caster on the island. The issue today would be the wind although I was a little bit sheltered, fishing 17m to the island meant keeping the rig steady would be the challenge.
I started on the island whilst letting the pellet swims settle and 1st drop in on double caster a 2lb F1 found its way into the net. 3rd put in another F1, which I lost when the hook pulled at the net. However 40mins, later I had only added some roach and decent perch, as well as bumping a couple of fish.
Because of the wind I couldn't catch quickly enough from the far side so time to look over my pellet line, but these only produced a couple of fish and none of the decent F1s that Pete Notton was catching on a very sheltered peg 25 or the big skimmers that Martin was catching on peg 28.
The 1o'clock swim started to produce regular bites by toss potting micro pellet and caster, with either caster or pellet on the hook, but most of the fish were roach.
Time for a change, I started firing 4mms towards the island as well as feeding caster at 5m. The 5m line began to produce roach, plus the odd bigger perch, but I lost a big fish (not a carp), which just upset the shoal and I had to change lines. Both the 11.5m swim where only producing odd fish, but it seemed every time I hooked a decent size fish the hook pulled, which Martin was finding very amusing, it will teach me for taking the piss when he pulled out of a skimmer.
Things weren't going well, I was getting plenty of roach, but very few decent fish. The 4mms kept going in towards the island in the hope the wind would drop long enough to be able to fish.
In the meantime I started to feed caster towards the pallet on peg 27. My 5m line came back to life and I picked up some more roach and perch either on double or single caster. The pallet swim produced a few more fish, mostly decent perch, plus a chub.
With an hour to go I tried the the far line again and caught a big skimmer on hard pellet on top of the shelf and a roach at the bottom of the shelf, so there wasn't many carp around then! Another try over the 11.5m and a new 13m 11 o'clock swim but again only small fish, so last 45mins concentrated on p27 pallet and 5m swim. I had trickled a few casters into the near brambles. First drop in resulted in a sail away bite, loads of elastic coming out and a broken hook length, as a chub successfully made its bid for freedom. Another lost fish this was getting really frustrating, which Martin found even more amusing.
I thought Pete had more than Martin, because he had been catching F1 until the last 2 hours, however Martin had managed to catch mostly skimmers for most of the match. I had hoped to sneak into 3rd for silvers, but there were a couple of lower 20s on Match. I reckon I probably lost 8-10lb of big silvers, so an expensive day and sums up the poor run I seem to be on, only picking up once from the last 6 matches, prior to that I had 10 from 11.
Today I couldn't get the number of quality fish and suspect with the water warming up and the fish becoming more active that micro pellet is losing its effectiveness and attracting too many small fish.
1st Nick Duckett 79- 2 - P19 (pellet)
2nd Mitch Artus 66- 6 – P21 (pellet)
3rd Chris Davis 65- 4 – P44
4th Brian Shanks 63-5 – P60
5th Shaun Townsend 60-5 – P18
6th Lee Trivitt 57-10 – P68
Silvers
1st Martin Pettifer 33-6 – P28 (pellet)
2nd Pete Notton 31-8 – P25 (pellet)
3rd Mike Duckett 24-14 – P3 (caster)
Saturday 3 April 2010
02/04/10 - Cuckoo's Rest
Weight – 11lb 12oz
Catch – 70 Roach, 8 Skimmers, 1 Rudd, 1 Perch, 1 Gudgeon
Weather – Rain & wind. Rain later cleared, but still windy
Match – Knock up - 4th overall
Mark asked if I wanted to fish a knock up at Cuckoos Rest today where they expected 10-12 anglers. However come the morning it transpired that no pegs had been booked, there was only 8 of us and we would have a rover match. Not impressed, because there was already 3 pleasure anglers of the lake, 2 of which were on the better pegs.
Personally don't like to rover match, because you tend find everyone crams into the best areas of the lake, which is often counter productive. The main lake at Cuckoos Rest has a centrally island, from which you fish. The best pegs tend to be on the right side of the island, where you cast to the far bank, whilst on the left side the bank opposite is pegged.
I drew 7 from 8, so effectively I had to wait and see were everyone else would go. As expected all the pegs on the right side of the island were taken, I had considered fishing the left side of the island, but the wind was likely to make life difficult. The left bank was sheltered, but options were restricted, because wooded posts meant you couldn't cast beyond halfway. In the end I decided to fish the right hand bank, 2 pegs pegs before the bridge. I would have the wind off my back and I could cast towards the far bank towards a large overhanging tree, which I felt would give me more options, plus it effectively gave me an end peg, although I was closer to the narrower bottom end of the lake.
No one had fished here for a while and some reckoned that 50-60lb would win, whilst others thought 20lb would be enough due the the cold week, so no-one really knew. 6 of us would be targeting the silvers, whilst 2 anglers would target the carp all match on the method feeder cast to the far bank.
At the start I cupped some micro pellet, green swim stim & caster at 13m at 11 o'clock and started feeding caster at 5m. Whilst I let that settle a 20min look on the lead & double corn, produced 1 liner, but nothing else. In fact despite feeding 4mms all match to the far side I never had a bite.
The 13m line produced a few small roach on maggot to start with, but they were small, so a change to caster resulted in fewer bites, but at least on the whole I stopped those tiny roach nipping the bait and if I did manage to hook one, they would drop off when I shipped in.
The problem today was how to top up, I tried using a tosspot and cupping bait, but regardless the fish would disappear for while. Speaking to couple of others after the match this seemed to be problem, which is just as well I had my 5m line to fall back on, because this produced most of my roach up to 12oz.
A decent skimmer from the 13m line was useful, but I could see Mark & Nick at the other end of the lake regularly catching skimmers, plus a couple of proper bream, but no one had a carp yet.
After a couple of hours the rain was really coming down and the wind was getting stronger, so changed from 0.4g jean francios to a 4x18 polar ice which sat better in the tow and I could now see the thicker tip.
A couple of small skimmers followed and I did manage to hook a proper bream, but the hook pulled at the net and at the time I thought it would cost me.
2 new swims at 14.5m in front, fed with 4mms & caster and 13m at 1o'clock dumped a full big pot, but neither really worked. As the match progressed I began to rely more and more on the 5m line. Although I enjoyed catching so many roach, I needed those skimmers to compete.
Mark won the match with 23-14 of mostly skimmers and proper bream on pellet. 2nd was 23-2 from the sheltered left hand bank, again skimmers, roach and a big perch on caster. 3rd was Nick pegged next to Mark with 19-14 skimmers, proper bream and a tench on pellet.
As for those carp, except for 1 which was lost after playing for 45min on the silvers rig, they never showed.
Catch – 70 Roach, 8 Skimmers, 1 Rudd, 1 Perch, 1 Gudgeon
Weather – Rain & wind. Rain later cleared, but still windy
Match – Knock up - 4th overall
Mark asked if I wanted to fish a knock up at Cuckoos Rest today where they expected 10-12 anglers. However come the morning it transpired that no pegs had been booked, there was only 8 of us and we would have a rover match. Not impressed, because there was already 3 pleasure anglers of the lake, 2 of which were on the better pegs.
Personally don't like to rover match, because you tend find everyone crams into the best areas of the lake, which is often counter productive. The main lake at Cuckoos Rest has a centrally island, from which you fish. The best pegs tend to be on the right side of the island, where you cast to the far bank, whilst on the left side the bank opposite is pegged.
I drew 7 from 8, so effectively I had to wait and see were everyone else would go. As expected all the pegs on the right side of the island were taken, I had considered fishing the left side of the island, but the wind was likely to make life difficult. The left bank was sheltered, but options were restricted, because wooded posts meant you couldn't cast beyond halfway. In the end I decided to fish the right hand bank, 2 pegs pegs before the bridge. I would have the wind off my back and I could cast towards the far bank towards a large overhanging tree, which I felt would give me more options, plus it effectively gave me an end peg, although I was closer to the narrower bottom end of the lake.
No one had fished here for a while and some reckoned that 50-60lb would win, whilst others thought 20lb would be enough due the the cold week, so no-one really knew. 6 of us would be targeting the silvers, whilst 2 anglers would target the carp all match on the method feeder cast to the far bank.
At the start I cupped some micro pellet, green swim stim & caster at 13m at 11 o'clock and started feeding caster at 5m. Whilst I let that settle a 20min look on the lead & double corn, produced 1 liner, but nothing else. In fact despite feeding 4mms all match to the far side I never had a bite.
The 13m line produced a few small roach on maggot to start with, but they were small, so a change to caster resulted in fewer bites, but at least on the whole I stopped those tiny roach nipping the bait and if I did manage to hook one, they would drop off when I shipped in.
The problem today was how to top up, I tried using a tosspot and cupping bait, but regardless the fish would disappear for while. Speaking to couple of others after the match this seemed to be problem, which is just as well I had my 5m line to fall back on, because this produced most of my roach up to 12oz.
A decent skimmer from the 13m line was useful, but I could see Mark & Nick at the other end of the lake regularly catching skimmers, plus a couple of proper bream, but no one had a carp yet.
After a couple of hours the rain was really coming down and the wind was getting stronger, so changed from 0.4g jean francios to a 4x18 polar ice which sat better in the tow and I could now see the thicker tip.
A couple of small skimmers followed and I did manage to hook a proper bream, but the hook pulled at the net and at the time I thought it would cost me.
2 new swims at 14.5m in front, fed with 4mms & caster and 13m at 1o'clock dumped a full big pot, but neither really worked. As the match progressed I began to rely more and more on the 5m line. Although I enjoyed catching so many roach, I needed those skimmers to compete.
Mark won the match with 23-14 of mostly skimmers and proper bream on pellet. 2nd was 23-2 from the sheltered left hand bank, again skimmers, roach and a big perch on caster. 3rd was Nick pegged next to Mark with 19-14 skimmers, proper bream and a tench on pellet.
As for those carp, except for 1 which was lost after playing for 45min on the silvers rig, they never showed.
Thursday 1 April 2010
31/03/10 - Fishponds
Weight – 123lb 12oz
Catch – 13 Carp, 5 Bream.
Weather – Cool, cloudy, windy, light showers
Decided to take the rest of the week off work and a have an extra long weekend.
Sue's insurance company Churchill have confirmed her car is a write-off, but the good news is they have actually made a fair and reasonable offer. Just have to find another car now.
Today I could have fished a mid-week open, but to be honest I wanted a lie in and with some wet & windy weather forecast I didnt fancy sitting in the teeth of a gale. So decided to visit my club water, found a peg sheltered from the wind and set about catching a few zoo creatures.
Settled on 3 swims, left & right margins which offered 4ft of water and 9.5m line which was 7ft. Feed was 4mm pellet and corn, plus micro pellet for the 9.5m swim.
Started in the margins and after an hour I had 5 carp, either on corn or soft pellet, with the left hand margin proving to be better than the right. The next hour proved to be slow and I started to feed the 9.5m swim with a big pot of pellet. Due to the tow a 1g rig was required and once I started catching I fed a big toss pot of pellet every put-in.
The 9.5m swwim prodcued 5 carp up to 13lb 12oz and 5 bream up to 3lb 7oz, whilst the margin produced 8 carp up to 10lb 3oz. Corn seemed to be better than pellet, probably because the corn sat better in the tow.
A nice simple 5 hour session.
Catch – 13 Carp, 5 Bream.
Weather – Cool, cloudy, windy, light showers
Decided to take the rest of the week off work and a have an extra long weekend.
Sue's insurance company Churchill have confirmed her car is a write-off, but the good news is they have actually made a fair and reasonable offer. Just have to find another car now.
Today I could have fished a mid-week open, but to be honest I wanted a lie in and with some wet & windy weather forecast I didnt fancy sitting in the teeth of a gale. So decided to visit my club water, found a peg sheltered from the wind and set about catching a few zoo creatures.
Settled on 3 swims, left & right margins which offered 4ft of water and 9.5m line which was 7ft. Feed was 4mm pellet and corn, plus micro pellet for the 9.5m swim.
Started in the margins and after an hour I had 5 carp, either on corn or soft pellet, with the left hand margin proving to be better than the right. The next hour proved to be slow and I started to feed the 9.5m swim with a big pot of pellet. Due to the tow a 1g rig was required and once I started catching I fed a big toss pot of pellet every put-in.
The 9.5m swwim prodcued 5 carp up to 13lb 12oz and 5 bream up to 3lb 7oz, whilst the margin produced 8 carp up to 10lb 3oz. Corn seemed to be better than pellet, probably because the corn sat better in the tow.
A nice simple 5 hour session.
Wednesday 31 March 2010
28/03/10 - Lands End - Sydneys Lake
Weight – 26lb 11oz
Catch – 18 Carp, 13 Roach, 8 Bream, 3 Rudd, 1 Perch
Weather – Mostly cloudy, light rain later.
Match – Lands End Winter League – Rd 8 - 24th overall, 5th in section
With what was likely to be a very tight finish in the league, there were a few nerves at the draw, because we all knew the importance of a good draw.
Pegs 72 & 94 were the ideal draws to virtually guarantee good points, but by the time I drew most of the decent pegs had already gone. Initially I wasn't too disappointed with peg 81, however this really was the section of death. Andy France on peg 72, who I fancied to win due to the wind blowing that way, Mike West (75), Tony Rixon (78), Anton Page (79) & Matt Tomes (83). Also past results from this peg has been very mixed and overall my peg has been the 2nd worst peg on the section over the series. So it wasn't going to be too hard to get points!
Martin Pettifer also in the top 7 drew peg 84 opposite, so together with Matt we could at least keep an eye on each other.
The problem with my peg was the sunken tree, weed (which I discovered later) and uneven bottom by the island. I decided the best approach was to attack the peg and try and pull carp into the area. At the end of the day I needed a decent points score and being negative wasn't going to help.
At the start micro pellet & maggot went at 6m and I started to catapult 4mm towards the island right of the tree and 14.5m at 11 o'clock to the left of the island.
Like everyone in the section I started on the short line, but could only pick up small roach & skimmers, whilst everyone else also had carp. I wasn't overly worried because this lake can go like that, I just hoped I would have a strong finish. As the day progressed everyone was getting ahead of me and come the half way point, I had 4 carp, plus some silvers and was probably last in section.
Throughout I had kept the 4-6 pellets going in to the island and noticed carp starting to move around. Initially started on a conventional 4x10 float, but the weedy bottom was proving to be pain, so I quickly set up a poly ball rig, so I could fish really tight to the island, which improved things I started to catch on double maggot or pellet. I wasn't catching quickly, but at least I was catching.
A couple of looks down the margin only produced a single carp and a perch, whilst the short line was a waste of time, because I could only get small fish. The 14.5m had only produced the odd fish, until the last hour when I started to catch nearly every put in, but deep down I felt it was to little to late.
As expected Andy won the section and the lake with 71-5, whilst Tony had 45-12 and Anton 33-9. Matt reckoned he had 14 carp, which seemed right, but ultimately he had 2 proper carp for this lake of 3½lb and he beat me by 2oz. I'm not bitter – honest.
Martin opposite had 16-15 for last in his section, so it was obvious we were at the wrong of the lake today – for the 2nd time! Really, not bitter & twisted at all.
To cap my day off my missus, Sue called 2 hours into the match, she has been visiting family in Bournemouth for a couple days. She was parked outside her cousins when some nutter in a transit van crashed into her car, pushing it 3 feet into a lamppost. Needless to say the car is a right off. The driver was arrested, because the coppers reckon he must have been doing 50-60mph down a residential road, although he tried to say his brakes had failed, which the police proved to be a lie.
As for the league I'm really disappointed to finished 9th particularly since I was 3rd after 6 rounds, but drawing the wrong end of the lake in the last 2 matches has proved my undoing.
1st Nick Collier 46pts
2nd Vince Shipp 42
3rd Rod Wootton 39
4th Garry Wall 36
5th Matt Tomes 34 (308-9)
6th Dave Hodgson 34 (214-4)
7th Nick Duckett 33
8th Mark Poppeton 32 (286-13)
9th Ken Rayner 32 (202-2)
Catch – 18 Carp, 13 Roach, 8 Bream, 3 Rudd, 1 Perch
Weather – Mostly cloudy, light rain later.
Match – Lands End Winter League – Rd 8 - 24th overall, 5th in section
With what was likely to be a very tight finish in the league, there were a few nerves at the draw, because we all knew the importance of a good draw.
Pegs 72 & 94 were the ideal draws to virtually guarantee good points, but by the time I drew most of the decent pegs had already gone. Initially I wasn't too disappointed with peg 81, however this really was the section of death. Andy France on peg 72, who I fancied to win due to the wind blowing that way, Mike West (75), Tony Rixon (78), Anton Page (79) & Matt Tomes (83). Also past results from this peg has been very mixed and overall my peg has been the 2nd worst peg on the section over the series. So it wasn't going to be too hard to get points!
Martin Pettifer also in the top 7 drew peg 84 opposite, so together with Matt we could at least keep an eye on each other.
The problem with my peg was the sunken tree, weed (which I discovered later) and uneven bottom by the island. I decided the best approach was to attack the peg and try and pull carp into the area. At the end of the day I needed a decent points score and being negative wasn't going to help.
At the start micro pellet & maggot went at 6m and I started to catapult 4mm towards the island right of the tree and 14.5m at 11 o'clock to the left of the island.
Like everyone in the section I started on the short line, but could only pick up small roach & skimmers, whilst everyone else also had carp. I wasn't overly worried because this lake can go like that, I just hoped I would have a strong finish. As the day progressed everyone was getting ahead of me and come the half way point, I had 4 carp, plus some silvers and was probably last in section.
Throughout I had kept the 4-6 pellets going in to the island and noticed carp starting to move around. Initially started on a conventional 4x10 float, but the weedy bottom was proving to be pain, so I quickly set up a poly ball rig, so I could fish really tight to the island, which improved things I started to catch on double maggot or pellet. I wasn't catching quickly, but at least I was catching.
A couple of looks down the margin only produced a single carp and a perch, whilst the short line was a waste of time, because I could only get small fish. The 14.5m had only produced the odd fish, until the last hour when I started to catch nearly every put in, but deep down I felt it was to little to late.
As expected Andy won the section and the lake with 71-5, whilst Tony had 45-12 and Anton 33-9. Matt reckoned he had 14 carp, which seemed right, but ultimately he had 2 proper carp for this lake of 3½lb and he beat me by 2oz. I'm not bitter – honest.
Martin opposite had 16-15 for last in his section, so it was obvious we were at the wrong of the lake today – for the 2nd time! Really, not bitter & twisted at all.
To cap my day off my missus, Sue called 2 hours into the match, she has been visiting family in Bournemouth for a couple days. She was parked outside her cousins when some nutter in a transit van crashed into her car, pushing it 3 feet into a lamppost. Needless to say the car is a right off. The driver was arrested, because the coppers reckon he must have been doing 50-60mph down a residential road, although he tried to say his brakes had failed, which the police proved to be a lie.
As for the league I'm really disappointed to finished 9th particularly since I was 3rd after 6 rounds, but drawing the wrong end of the lake in the last 2 matches has proved my undoing.
1st Nick Collier 46pts
2nd Vince Shipp 42
3rd Rod Wootton 39
4th Garry Wall 36
5th Matt Tomes 34 (308-9)
6th Dave Hodgson 34 (214-4)
7th Nick Duckett 33
8th Mark Poppeton 32 (286-13)
9th Ken Rayner 32 (202-2)
Saturday 27 March 2010
26/03/10 - K&A Canal - Prison Pound
Weight – 16lb 11oz
Catch – 28 Skimmers, 8 Roach, 6 Perch, 3 Tench.
Weather – Mostly cloudy, windy & light showers
Another day off down the canal with Mark. With the recent mild weather we fancied a crack at some early spring tench fishing.
Because Mark had to be home by 3pm, it meant and early start, so by 8am we were both set up on Curry's Pound, but after 2 hours it wasn't exactly going according to plan. We had both potted 3 balls of groundbait with micros & caster at 11.5m, but only had a handful of small skimmers.
Since it didn't appear to be improving, we made the decision to move up on to the Prison Pound. I potted 1 ball of groundbait, plus a pot of loose groundbait. After a fruitless 30mins on the feeder it was time to try the pole.
Initially sport was slow, but started to get mostly bottle top skimmers, plus the odd hand sized one on single maggot. However it wasn't quite what was expected, but at least we were getting bites, although it was difficult to work out, because the fish seemed to be spooked whenever I topped up. Eventually found catapulted caster worked best.
With time pressing on, neither of us had anything bigger than 8oz, but in the quest to beat each our I reckoned I was slightly ahead. With 45mins to go, Mark hooks what was obviously a decent fish and 5mins later a 3lb Tench was in the net. With the year to date score between us being 4-2 to Mark, that Tench would take the score with to 5-2 and Mr Poppleton was loving it. With 30mins to go I pulled out of a decent fish, which Mark loved even more.
5 minutes later, I struck into a tench, which gave a good account of itself and at 3½lb was a decent repost. It went strangely quite to my left! 15mins later I had another of similar size. Ha ha - let that be a lesson to you!
After Mark left I stayed on for an hour, but struggled to get the fish back, although I managed another Tench, a decent perch and a couple of small roach.
Catch – 28 Skimmers, 8 Roach, 6 Perch, 3 Tench.
Weather – Mostly cloudy, windy & light showers
Another day off down the canal with Mark. With the recent mild weather we fancied a crack at some early spring tench fishing.
Because Mark had to be home by 3pm, it meant and early start, so by 8am we were both set up on Curry's Pound, but after 2 hours it wasn't exactly going according to plan. We had both potted 3 balls of groundbait with micros & caster at 11.5m, but only had a handful of small skimmers.
Since it didn't appear to be improving, we made the decision to move up on to the Prison Pound. I potted 1 ball of groundbait, plus a pot of loose groundbait. After a fruitless 30mins on the feeder it was time to try the pole.
Initially sport was slow, but started to get mostly bottle top skimmers, plus the odd hand sized one on single maggot. However it wasn't quite what was expected, but at least we were getting bites, although it was difficult to work out, because the fish seemed to be spooked whenever I topped up. Eventually found catapulted caster worked best.
With time pressing on, neither of us had anything bigger than 8oz, but in the quest to beat each our I reckoned I was slightly ahead. With 45mins to go, Mark hooks what was obviously a decent fish and 5mins later a 3lb Tench was in the net. With the year to date score between us being 4-2 to Mark, that Tench would take the score with to 5-2 and Mr Poppleton was loving it. With 30mins to go I pulled out of a decent fish, which Mark loved even more.
5 minutes later, I struck into a tench, which gave a good account of itself and at 3½lb was a decent repost. It went strangely quite to my left! 15mins later I had another of similar size. Ha ha - let that be a lesson to you!
After Mark left I stayed on for an hour, but struggled to get the fish back, although I managed another Tench, a decent perch and a couple of small roach.
Monday 22 March 2010
21/03/10 - Lands End - Match Lake
Weight – 75lb 1oz
Catch – 17 Carp, 2 Roach, 1 Chub, 1 Rudd.
Weather – Mostly sunny, cludy later.
Match – Open – 3rd overall
I had quick word with myself on the drive down, to relax and enjoy the day (because I’m not at work!) although this was tempered when I drew p22, which has been poor recently. However, just when I was considering buying some more caster, there were shouts for a re-drew because Mike had forgotten to include himself, so only 13 pegs were drawn instead of 14! Peg 16 was removed and replaced by 15 & 17.
Mike had decided, as he sometimes does to change things around, so included 1 side of Speci (25-32) and 1 side of Match (13-24), which didn’t please everyone, but I was much happier with my re-draw on p15. I was quite pleased to see “Tom Thick” walking around to p13, because I knew he couldn’t reach the island, since his 14m section is lying at the bottom of peg 1. Unfortunately my joy was short lived when I realised it was Nick Duckett, and I doubted I would have the island to myself.
½ a cup micros & caster went in at 13m to my right and I started firing 4mms towards the island slightly to my left. Started off on paste (yes its starting to warm up!) by the bush to my right. 5mins later a 3lber was safely landed, but no more came. A quick look over the micros didn’t produce a bite on soft pellet, but a small roach on caster told me all I needed to know, so this swim was topped up with more micros & caster, hopefully for the skimmers.
It was nearly 45mins, before I tried the island, starting on soft pellet, but after a couple of missed bites, I changed my hooklength to a hair rigged 4mm pellet, which resulted in a carp 1st drop in. The fish drifted in and out of the swim, so it was just a case of keeping the pellet going in, lifting & dropping and waiting for the float to bury.
Nick had a good start fishing down his left hand margin, but felt obliged to fish to the point of the island after I started to catch. Unfortunately for me the fish preferred to be sat on the point, rather than in my swim.
After 2hours I had 6 carp, but Nick was flying, with a carp nearly every put in. The next 2 hours was frustrating and I was in danger of losing the plot a little. I kept the pellet going into the island, but suffered from quiet spells and then any bites resulted in foul hookers. At 1 point I lost 3 on the bounce, the 3rd catapulting my rig into the branches above me (Mike plans to do some more pruning this week, so perhaps I can get my rig back). The bush swim produced 2 more small carp on paste, but nothing on pellet or corn. The fish didn’t want to be on the deck.
My micro pellet swim only produced 1 carp on pellet early in the match, but nothing else. So I started a new swim further to my right in front of peg 16 feeding micros & 4mms, whilst I started to feed 4mms at the bottom of the shelf.
With 2 hours to go I was up to 8 carp. The island swim produced another 4 carp, but they continued to drift in & out of the swim. With an hour to go I tried the bottom of the shelf, but except for a couple of liners no fish. I kept the feed going in with a pouch of pellet every 5mins. With just over 30mins to go, I went back to the bottom of the shelf on soft pellet and the swim was solid. 6 put ins resulted in 5 fish landed, if only they turned up earlier!
Nick won with 110lb, Alan Oram had 99lb from peg 24 and I finished 3rd, just ahead of Garry Wall on peg 21 who had 68lb. The carp on Speci weren’t as active as Match, but the silvers were. John Bradford weighed 33lb from p25 of skimmers & F1, whilst Tom Thick had 26lb from peg32.
At least I halted a bad run, so fingers crossed for a good draw on Sydney’s.
Catch – 17 Carp, 2 Roach, 1 Chub, 1 Rudd.
Weather – Mostly sunny, cludy later.
Match – Open – 3rd overall
I had quick word with myself on the drive down, to relax and enjoy the day (because I’m not at work!) although this was tempered when I drew p22, which has been poor recently. However, just when I was considering buying some more caster, there were shouts for a re-drew because Mike had forgotten to include himself, so only 13 pegs were drawn instead of 14! Peg 16 was removed and replaced by 15 & 17.
Mike had decided, as he sometimes does to change things around, so included 1 side of Speci (25-32) and 1 side of Match (13-24), which didn’t please everyone, but I was much happier with my re-draw on p15. I was quite pleased to see “Tom Thick” walking around to p13, because I knew he couldn’t reach the island, since his 14m section is lying at the bottom of peg 1. Unfortunately my joy was short lived when I realised it was Nick Duckett, and I doubted I would have the island to myself.
½ a cup micros & caster went in at 13m to my right and I started firing 4mms towards the island slightly to my left. Started off on paste (yes its starting to warm up!) by the bush to my right. 5mins later a 3lber was safely landed, but no more came. A quick look over the micros didn’t produce a bite on soft pellet, but a small roach on caster told me all I needed to know, so this swim was topped up with more micros & caster, hopefully for the skimmers.
It was nearly 45mins, before I tried the island, starting on soft pellet, but after a couple of missed bites, I changed my hooklength to a hair rigged 4mm pellet, which resulted in a carp 1st drop in. The fish drifted in and out of the swim, so it was just a case of keeping the pellet going in, lifting & dropping and waiting for the float to bury.
Nick had a good start fishing down his left hand margin, but felt obliged to fish to the point of the island after I started to catch. Unfortunately for me the fish preferred to be sat on the point, rather than in my swim.
After 2hours I had 6 carp, but Nick was flying, with a carp nearly every put in. The next 2 hours was frustrating and I was in danger of losing the plot a little. I kept the pellet going into the island, but suffered from quiet spells and then any bites resulted in foul hookers. At 1 point I lost 3 on the bounce, the 3rd catapulting my rig into the branches above me (Mike plans to do some more pruning this week, so perhaps I can get my rig back). The bush swim produced 2 more small carp on paste, but nothing on pellet or corn. The fish didn’t want to be on the deck.
My micro pellet swim only produced 1 carp on pellet early in the match, but nothing else. So I started a new swim further to my right in front of peg 16 feeding micros & 4mms, whilst I started to feed 4mms at the bottom of the shelf.
With 2 hours to go I was up to 8 carp. The island swim produced another 4 carp, but they continued to drift in & out of the swim. With an hour to go I tried the bottom of the shelf, but except for a couple of liners no fish. I kept the feed going in with a pouch of pellet every 5mins. With just over 30mins to go, I went back to the bottom of the shelf on soft pellet and the swim was solid. 6 put ins resulted in 5 fish landed, if only they turned up earlier!
Nick won with 110lb, Alan Oram had 99lb from peg 24 and I finished 3rd, just ahead of Garry Wall on peg 21 who had 68lb. The carp on Speci weren’t as active as Match, but the silvers were. John Bradford weighed 33lb from p25 of skimmers & F1, whilst Tom Thick had 26lb from peg32.
At least I halted a bad run, so fingers crossed for a good draw on Sydney’s.
20/03/10 - Lands End - Match Lake
Weight – 14lb 9oz
Catch – 15 Perch, 7 Roach, 1 Tench, 1 Ide, 1 Rudd, 1 Carp
Weather – Mostly coudy, rain later.
Water Temp – 9.5c > 9.5c
Match – Open – 7th overall
After the disappointment of last Sunday, I was hoping for a decent days fishing and I wasn’t bothered if it was carp or silvers. However peg 8 wouldn’t have been my first choice, although when I arrived there was loads of carp moving around, so hopefully a few would show.
On the all in, some caster & 4mm’s went in by the pallet to my right (peg 9), whilst I searched the rest of the peg. Although I had a couple liners, I couldn’t get the fish to take the bait and I could see (& hear) fish being caught elsewhere on the lake.
I kept the caster & pellet, going into the pallet swim and also set up swims at the bottom of the shelf in front of peg 9, feeding 4mms and I started firing caster to the island slightly to my left.
After 2 hours, I was going no where fast, a 3lb carp and a couple of perch was all I had to show for my efforts. Decision time. I was falling behind the carp weights, Alan Oram (p11), Rod Wootton (p16) and Matt Tomes (p21) were all catching. As for the silvers other than Matt, who was catching skimmers, I couldn’t see many being caught, so felt this was my best chance of claiming some money, however this peg is not great for silvers.
I tried feeding micros hoping for some skimmers, but they never showed, so I dumped some caster down the track, which didn’t really work either. The pallet swim produced a few perch, plus a tench on caster, but they didn’t seem to be there in any numbers, which left the island swim. Again a few perch showed, plus a big Ide, but it was a struggle. I couldn’t get a decent run of fish together and had to continually chop & change.
I had kept feeding 4mms towards the bottom of the shelf opposite peg 9, but never had a bite. Very strange considering the number of fish showing at the start. Alan finished the match in 2nd with about 60-70lb (can’t remember the exact amount), but he said he didn’t have a bite to his left, all his fish came from the point of the island, up & down the shelf.
At the all out, my 11lb 4oz of silvers wasn’t good enough, with Dave “Beany” Westcott claiming 16lb of perch & roach from peg 1.
This wasn’t my best match, I felt I should have got more out of it. I didn’t feel relaxed due to work pressures and “bouncing off” big perch, just made me more frustrated.
Catch – 15 Perch, 7 Roach, 1 Tench, 1 Ide, 1 Rudd, 1 Carp
Weather – Mostly coudy, rain later.
Water Temp – 9.5c > 9.5c
Match – Open – 7th overall
After the disappointment of last Sunday, I was hoping for a decent days fishing and I wasn’t bothered if it was carp or silvers. However peg 8 wouldn’t have been my first choice, although when I arrived there was loads of carp moving around, so hopefully a few would show.
On the all in, some caster & 4mm’s went in by the pallet to my right (peg 9), whilst I searched the rest of the peg. Although I had a couple liners, I couldn’t get the fish to take the bait and I could see (& hear) fish being caught elsewhere on the lake.
I kept the caster & pellet, going into the pallet swim and also set up swims at the bottom of the shelf in front of peg 9, feeding 4mms and I started firing caster to the island slightly to my left.
After 2 hours, I was going no where fast, a 3lb carp and a couple of perch was all I had to show for my efforts. Decision time. I was falling behind the carp weights, Alan Oram (p11), Rod Wootton (p16) and Matt Tomes (p21) were all catching. As for the silvers other than Matt, who was catching skimmers, I couldn’t see many being caught, so felt this was my best chance of claiming some money, however this peg is not great for silvers.
I tried feeding micros hoping for some skimmers, but they never showed, so I dumped some caster down the track, which didn’t really work either. The pallet swim produced a few perch, plus a tench on caster, but they didn’t seem to be there in any numbers, which left the island swim. Again a few perch showed, plus a big Ide, but it was a struggle. I couldn’t get a decent run of fish together and had to continually chop & change.
I had kept feeding 4mms towards the bottom of the shelf opposite peg 9, but never had a bite. Very strange considering the number of fish showing at the start. Alan finished the match in 2nd with about 60-70lb (can’t remember the exact amount), but he said he didn’t have a bite to his left, all his fish came from the point of the island, up & down the shelf.
At the all out, my 11lb 4oz of silvers wasn’t good enough, with Dave “Beany” Westcott claiming 16lb of perch & roach from peg 1.
This wasn’t my best match, I felt I should have got more out of it. I didn’t feel relaxed due to work pressures and “bouncing off” big perch, just made me more frustrated.
Monday 15 March 2010
14/03/2010 - Lands End - Johns Lake
Weight – 19lb 13oz
Catch – 10 Roach, 3 Carp, 2 Perch, 1 Skimmer
Weather – Mild! Bright & sunny, but breezy.
Water Temp – 7.5c > 7.5c
Match – Lands End Winter League – rd 7 - 28th overall, 10th on lake, 5th in section
Having put myself in a good position with 2 matches to go, a decent draw was required to consolidate my place in the league. With many of the poor pegs already drawn I was pleased to find myself on peg 55, however on arrival I was concerned. Yes it was sheltered from the worst of the wind, but with the recent milder weather I felt the fish may have followed the wind down to the other end of the lake.
Everyone expected Tony Rixon to win our section from peg 42 (which he did with 69lb), but the good news for me was my closest rivals hadn’t drawn well with Matt Tomes on 51, Anton Page on 50 and Martin Pettifer on 65.
On the all in a small amount of micros and caster went in at 14m by the cage and I started catapulting 4mm’s towards the point of the island opposite peg 54. A 10 minutes look around on corn didn’t produce and neither did soft pellet. ½ hour gone and every in my section had a carp and Bela Bakos opposite on 58 (not in my section) had 2.
Double maggot over my 14m line at least produced a fish, even if it was a 1oz roach, as did the next put in. With no carp showing, I decided to start feeding micros & caster via a toss pot to create some further activity with the roach and hopefully pull in a carp. My 6th roach turned out to be a carp, so success. Another soon followed before the roach returned. A quick look towards the point of the island produced another carp and I was now back in the running.
Without any further signs of carp, I started to ring the changes, by swapping to a heavier 0.5g rig to improve presentation in the troublesome wind. I also tried fishing in the open water, which I had fed lightly and an early look down the margins were I fed caster, but nothing was working.
The swim seemed to be full of tiny roach, which is never a good sign that carp are around. In the end I dumped a full big pot of food to try and feed the little buggers off, but that just seemed to encourage them even more!
The point of the island was my banker swim for the last couple of hours. I had kept the 4mms going in from the start and fully expected the carp to eventually turn up, but with 45mins to go 1 lost a foul hooker at the net was all I had.
Come the all out, I was really disappointed, because I knew there was a chance of falling out of the top 7. Anton struggled from peg 50, but Matt had done well from peg 51 with 30lb, including 9lb of skimmers to claim 4pts. Martin Pettifer had also done well for claim 3pts from probably the worst peg on the lake. Fortunately I had only dropped to 6th but with 4 of us on 30pts it is still very open from 3rd downwards.
Looking at past results, 55 has been a very hit & miss during the series. The carp are either there or not and I obviously caught it on a wrong day. With the wind blowing towards him, Bela on 58 had 6 carp for 28lb and 4pts, so there were a few carp around, but they wanted to be in the ripple. Bela was a little unhappy, because he could see carp under on the surface by the outlet pipe. Further investigation revealed floating caster & maggot that had come down the pipe from Sydney’s!
On reflection could I have done better? I approached the peg positively, expecting to catch carp, however had I taken a leaf out of Mr Nicholls book and targeted the roach properly, a further 5-10lb may have been possible and at least another point.
Something that has come to light is anglers not weighing in, unfortunately someone did tip back, which provided 1 of the top 10 with an extra point. I don’t think anyone would be happy to miss out on a pay out simply because someone else got an undeserved extra point.
Catch – 10 Roach, 3 Carp, 2 Perch, 1 Skimmer
Weather – Mild! Bright & sunny, but breezy.
Water Temp – 7.5c > 7.5c
Match – Lands End Winter League – rd 7 - 28th overall, 10th on lake, 5th in section
Having put myself in a good position with 2 matches to go, a decent draw was required to consolidate my place in the league. With many of the poor pegs already drawn I was pleased to find myself on peg 55, however on arrival I was concerned. Yes it was sheltered from the worst of the wind, but with the recent milder weather I felt the fish may have followed the wind down to the other end of the lake.
Everyone expected Tony Rixon to win our section from peg 42 (which he did with 69lb), but the good news for me was my closest rivals hadn’t drawn well with Matt Tomes on 51, Anton Page on 50 and Martin Pettifer on 65.
On the all in a small amount of micros and caster went in at 14m by the cage and I started catapulting 4mm’s towards the point of the island opposite peg 54. A 10 minutes look around on corn didn’t produce and neither did soft pellet. ½ hour gone and every in my section had a carp and Bela Bakos opposite on 58 (not in my section) had 2.
Double maggot over my 14m line at least produced a fish, even if it was a 1oz roach, as did the next put in. With no carp showing, I decided to start feeding micros & caster via a toss pot to create some further activity with the roach and hopefully pull in a carp. My 6th roach turned out to be a carp, so success. Another soon followed before the roach returned. A quick look towards the point of the island produced another carp and I was now back in the running.
Without any further signs of carp, I started to ring the changes, by swapping to a heavier 0.5g rig to improve presentation in the troublesome wind. I also tried fishing in the open water, which I had fed lightly and an early look down the margins were I fed caster, but nothing was working.
The swim seemed to be full of tiny roach, which is never a good sign that carp are around. In the end I dumped a full big pot of food to try and feed the little buggers off, but that just seemed to encourage them even more!
The point of the island was my banker swim for the last couple of hours. I had kept the 4mms going in from the start and fully expected the carp to eventually turn up, but with 45mins to go 1 lost a foul hooker at the net was all I had.
Come the all out, I was really disappointed, because I knew there was a chance of falling out of the top 7. Anton struggled from peg 50, but Matt had done well from peg 51 with 30lb, including 9lb of skimmers to claim 4pts. Martin Pettifer had also done well for claim 3pts from probably the worst peg on the lake. Fortunately I had only dropped to 6th but with 4 of us on 30pts it is still very open from 3rd downwards.
Looking at past results, 55 has been a very hit & miss during the series. The carp are either there or not and I obviously caught it on a wrong day. With the wind blowing towards him, Bela on 58 had 6 carp for 28lb and 4pts, so there were a few carp around, but they wanted to be in the ripple. Bela was a little unhappy, because he could see carp under on the surface by the outlet pipe. Further investigation revealed floating caster & maggot that had come down the pipe from Sydney’s!
On reflection could I have done better? I approached the peg positively, expecting to catch carp, however had I taken a leaf out of Mr Nicholls book and targeted the roach properly, a further 5-10lb may have been possible and at least another point.
Something that has come to light is anglers not weighing in, unfortunately someone did tip back, which provided 1 of the top 10 with an extra point. I don’t think anyone would be happy to miss out on a pay out simply because someone else got an undeserved extra point.
Monday 8 March 2010
07/03/10 - Lands End - Match Lake
Weight – 32lb 11oz
Catch – 5 Carp, 3 Perch, 1 Skimmer
Weather – -4c overnight. Sunny, bitter easterly breeze.
Water Temp – 5.0c > 5.0c
Match – Lands End Winter League – rd 6 - 6th overall, 2nd on lake, 1st in section
I feared the worse today, fortunately the lakes didn't ice over, but it was bitterly cold in the wind and I spent most of the day shivering, which wasn't helped by being sheltered from the sun for most of the day.
Today I needed to draw on carp to have a chance of good points, so was pleased with peg 16, however with Martin Pettifer (p18), Bela Bakos (p19), Andy France (p21) it was likely to be a tight section.
Micro pellet & caster was fed at 14.5m, down the track in front of peg 15 and caster at the bottom of the shelf in front. Started straight away under the LH bush with triple maggot and 5 mins later hooked a carp, which I lost at the net when the hooked pulled – bugger. Next put in a 5lber was safely landed. 3rd put-in and lost a foul hooker, which I hit at mid depth. 4th put in hooked another carp, but after getting the carp away from the bush, I only let it get back in there and it broke me – doh!
After an hour, I was wondering if it was going to be 1 of those days after losing 3 carp, particularly since both Martin & Bela had 2 carp a piece.
The rest of the match was quite boring. It was a case of rotating swims and just waiting for bites. At 1 point I thought I would get a few perch from the bottom of the shelf, when I had 3 and a carp in 30min, toss potting 4-6 casters every put in, but action was short lived. The 14.5m swim produced a skimmer and a carp on caster, plus a couple of lost carp, whilst the LH bush produced 2 more carp.
Overall I lost 5 carp, most of which were foul hooked. They just weren't interested in feeding and who can blame them, it was bloody freezing. By the all out I knew I had the section win and thought Anton Page on peg 13 would win the lake with 7 carp, which he did, but only by 14oz.
Martin was feeling a bit distraughtt, losing 2 carp in the last 30 mins losing out on 2nd in section & section by default to Bela by 3.5lb.
As for the league, Nick Collier cant go wrong at the moment winning the match from in-form peg 33 with 64lb. However there was also a few blow outs and I've jumped from 8th to 3rd overall, but with 4 anglers only 1pt behind you cant take anything for granted with 2 matches to go.
1st – Nick Collier 35pts
2nd – Vince Shipp 31
3rd – Ken Rayner 28
4th – Matt Tomes 27 (250-9)
5th – Rod Wootton 27 (202-15)
6th – Dave Hodgson 27 (159-11)
7th – Martin Pettifer 27 (154-12)
8th – Anton Page 25 (203-0)
9th – James Wither 25 (160-11)
Catch – 5 Carp, 3 Perch, 1 Skimmer
Weather – -4c overnight. Sunny, bitter easterly breeze.
Water Temp – 5.0c > 5.0c
Match – Lands End Winter League – rd 6 - 6th overall, 2nd on lake, 1st in section
I feared the worse today, fortunately the lakes didn't ice over, but it was bitterly cold in the wind and I spent most of the day shivering, which wasn't helped by being sheltered from the sun for most of the day.
Today I needed to draw on carp to have a chance of good points, so was pleased with peg 16, however with Martin Pettifer (p18), Bela Bakos (p19), Andy France (p21) it was likely to be a tight section.
Micro pellet & caster was fed at 14.5m, down the track in front of peg 15 and caster at the bottom of the shelf in front. Started straight away under the LH bush with triple maggot and 5 mins later hooked a carp, which I lost at the net when the hooked pulled – bugger. Next put in a 5lber was safely landed. 3rd put-in and lost a foul hooker, which I hit at mid depth. 4th put in hooked another carp, but after getting the carp away from the bush, I only let it get back in there and it broke me – doh!
After an hour, I was wondering if it was going to be 1 of those days after losing 3 carp, particularly since both Martin & Bela had 2 carp a piece.
The rest of the match was quite boring. It was a case of rotating swims and just waiting for bites. At 1 point I thought I would get a few perch from the bottom of the shelf, when I had 3 and a carp in 30min, toss potting 4-6 casters every put in, but action was short lived. The 14.5m swim produced a skimmer and a carp on caster, plus a couple of lost carp, whilst the LH bush produced 2 more carp.
Overall I lost 5 carp, most of which were foul hooked. They just weren't interested in feeding and who can blame them, it was bloody freezing. By the all out I knew I had the section win and thought Anton Page on peg 13 would win the lake with 7 carp, which he did, but only by 14oz.
Martin was feeling a bit distraughtt, losing 2 carp in the last 30 mins losing out on 2nd in section & section by default to Bela by 3.5lb.
As for the league, Nick Collier cant go wrong at the moment winning the match from in-form peg 33 with 64lb. However there was also a few blow outs and I've jumped from 8th to 3rd overall, but with 4 anglers only 1pt behind you cant take anything for granted with 2 matches to go.
1st – Nick Collier 35pts
2nd – Vince Shipp 31
3rd – Ken Rayner 28
4th – Matt Tomes 27 (250-9)
5th – Rod Wootton 27 (202-15)
6th – Dave Hodgson 27 (159-11)
7th – Martin Pettifer 27 (154-12)
8th – Anton Page 25 (203-0)
9th – James Wither 25 (160-11)
06/03/10 - Lands End - Match Lake
Weight – 25lb 1oz (21lb 1oz - silvers)
Catch – 14 Roach, 11 Perch, 6 Skimmers, 1 Tench, 1 Carp
Weather – Bright start, cloudy periods
Water Temp – 5.5c > 5.5c
Match – Open 8th overall, 1st Silvers
When will this cold weather end? According to the metoffice this winter has been the coldest for 31 years and reviewing my blog from this time last year the water temperature was 9-10c, so its about time winter released its grip.
Today there was 12 of us on Match Lake, but I wasnt happy with peg 24. This end of the lake has been awful recently and I suspected Matt Tomes would be taking my pound after he drew peg 13.
Because there has been so few carp caught in the area, I decided to try and enjoy my day and target the silvers. So micro pellet & caster was deposited 11'o clock at 14.5m and I started down the edge towards the tree stump on caster, toss potting caster and was soon catching perch. After ½ hour a switch to the open water swim, didnt produce, so a little more feed went in and I stayed down the edge for another ½ hour. When I came back to the open water I soon had a 2lb skimmer on caster and for the next 2 hours rotated between the open water and edge swim. Most of the fish came to caster, but I couldnt get a bite on soft pellet.
½ way into the match I had 23 fish. A new swim was set up at the bottom of the shelf, feeding only caster, which produced a few quality roach, but generally I was beginnig to struggle for bites.
The rest of the match was spent rotating swims, as well as trying different areas of the peg, picking up the odd fish, mostly on caster.
By the all out, I wasnt sure if I had won the silvers, because I knew Matt had caught, including a big golden tench. During the weigh in it was obvious that Mike West on peg 21 won with 68lb of carp on soft pellet. Matt's silvers weighed 16-14 and I honestly didnt think I had that, so was really pleased when the scales went 21lb, however I still had to hand over my pound, because Matt had 2 carp and beat my total weight by 15oz.
Catch – 14 Roach, 11 Perch, 6 Skimmers, 1 Tench, 1 Carp
Weather – Bright start, cloudy periods
Water Temp – 5.5c > 5.5c
Match – Open 8th overall, 1st Silvers
When will this cold weather end? According to the metoffice this winter has been the coldest for 31 years and reviewing my blog from this time last year the water temperature was 9-10c, so its about time winter released its grip.
Today there was 12 of us on Match Lake, but I wasnt happy with peg 24. This end of the lake has been awful recently and I suspected Matt Tomes would be taking my pound after he drew peg 13.
Because there has been so few carp caught in the area, I decided to try and enjoy my day and target the silvers. So micro pellet & caster was deposited 11'o clock at 14.5m and I started down the edge towards the tree stump on caster, toss potting caster and was soon catching perch. After ½ hour a switch to the open water swim, didnt produce, so a little more feed went in and I stayed down the edge for another ½ hour. When I came back to the open water I soon had a 2lb skimmer on caster and for the next 2 hours rotated between the open water and edge swim. Most of the fish came to caster, but I couldnt get a bite on soft pellet.
½ way into the match I had 23 fish. A new swim was set up at the bottom of the shelf, feeding only caster, which produced a few quality roach, but generally I was beginnig to struggle for bites.
The rest of the match was spent rotating swims, as well as trying different areas of the peg, picking up the odd fish, mostly on caster.
By the all out, I wasnt sure if I had won the silvers, because I knew Matt had caught, including a big golden tench. During the weigh in it was obvious that Mike West on peg 21 won with 68lb of carp on soft pellet. Matt's silvers weighed 16-14 and I honestly didnt think I had that, so was really pleased when the scales went 21lb, however I still had to hand over my pound, because Matt had 2 carp and beat my total weight by 15oz.
Monday 22 February 2010
21/02/10 - Lands End - Speci Lake
Weight – 13lb 8oz
Catch – 20 Perch, 17 Roach
Weather – Bright & sunny.
Water Temp – 5.0c > 5.0c
Match – Lands End Winter League – rd 5 - 31st overall, 4th in section, 2nd Silvers overall
With more cold weather forecast another difficult day was expected, although come the morning of the match the frost had stayed away and it was a pleasant, almost warm day.
The 5th round of the winter league meant we were back to a random draw and I needed a decent peg to maintain a challenge for the top 7, unfortunately peg 36 on speci was far from ideal. The last 3 matches has only seen a top weight of 8lb and during this series the most anyone has managed is 3pts (out of 6). It was also in the middle of a tough section, with Tony Rixon on 33, Bela Bakos on current flyer of 34, Mike West on 39 and Andy France on 40. So a section of carp baggers and I was unlikely to see 1. I told Jason Radford on 37 we would be fighting for bottom of section.
With little prospect of winning from the peg, damage limitation was the order of the day, which meant a day silver fish hunting and hope the form pegs blew out, particularly since the water was still very cold.
Decided on 2 swims, 13m at the bottom of the shelf and the top of the shelf, so a pinch of micros & caster was deposited at 13m and I went straight over to the island hoping for a rogue carp. After 20mins it was obvious there were none around, so time to start my assault on the silvers.
After cupping a few casters with some worm atomic “kitten” cloud by the left hand bush, I went over my 13m line, but no bites, meant a switch the far side, but it was a further 10mins before I could get a fish. I had to ditch the LH bush after snagging on roots a couple of times and swapped to the RH bush which seemed to be a bit clearer. For the next hour or so I caught mostly Perch up to 1½lb on caster or maggot, toss potting 4-6 bits of caster every put in.
By the halfway stage I had 20 fish, but the swim was dying. Tony was comfortably winning the section, but Bela was struggling. It appeared the carp had moved off the island into the deeper water. I thought I was just ahead of Jason, but I couldn’t see how Mike and Andy were doing.
Whilst fishing to the island I kept the 13m swim topped with a small amount of micros and caster, hoping for a few skimmers or F1s to put in appearance, but they never did, managing only small roach and a single perch. I did try another “down the track swim” just feeding caster, but this also proved fruitless. I kept the caster going into the RH bush and periodically tried other areas along the island picking up the odd fish.
To get bites I had to dot the float (roach 4x10) right down and even then they were only little dinks. I tried showing more bristle but couldn’t get a proper bite. The real frustration was the number of perch that dropped off the hook. 9 in total.
Come the end of the match, I managed to beat Jason & Mike and was only a 1lb away from Andy who had 11lb of silvers, plus a small carp. Tony caught all day for 133lb, whist Bela was left wondering what if, although he did manage 3 carp & 2nd section.
Getting 3 points was probably the best I could hope for unless a few carp put in an appearance, but at least I picked up top silvers weight on the lake (and 2nd overall). Individually I’ve dropped from 6th to 8th so not too bad, but with 3 rounds left I could really do with a couple of decent draws.
1-Nicky Collier - 29pts
2-Vince Shipp - 27
3-Dave Hodgson - 25
4-Garry Wall 24
5-Mat Tomes 23 (236-5)
6-Martin Pettifer 23 (136-1)
7-Rod Wootton 22 (190-1)
8-Ken Rayner 22 (122-15)
9-James Wither 21 (155-8)
10-Larry Burns 21 (135-11 )
Catch – 20 Perch, 17 Roach
Weather – Bright & sunny.
Water Temp – 5.0c > 5.0c
Match – Lands End Winter League – rd 5 - 31st overall, 4th in section, 2nd Silvers overall
With more cold weather forecast another difficult day was expected, although come the morning of the match the frost had stayed away and it was a pleasant, almost warm day.
The 5th round of the winter league meant we were back to a random draw and I needed a decent peg to maintain a challenge for the top 7, unfortunately peg 36 on speci was far from ideal. The last 3 matches has only seen a top weight of 8lb and during this series the most anyone has managed is 3pts (out of 6). It was also in the middle of a tough section, with Tony Rixon on 33, Bela Bakos on current flyer of 34, Mike West on 39 and Andy France on 40. So a section of carp baggers and I was unlikely to see 1. I told Jason Radford on 37 we would be fighting for bottom of section.
With little prospect of winning from the peg, damage limitation was the order of the day, which meant a day silver fish hunting and hope the form pegs blew out, particularly since the water was still very cold.
Decided on 2 swims, 13m at the bottom of the shelf and the top of the shelf, so a pinch of micros & caster was deposited at 13m and I went straight over to the island hoping for a rogue carp. After 20mins it was obvious there were none around, so time to start my assault on the silvers.
After cupping a few casters with some worm atomic “kitten” cloud by the left hand bush, I went over my 13m line, but no bites, meant a switch the far side, but it was a further 10mins before I could get a fish. I had to ditch the LH bush after snagging on roots a couple of times and swapped to the RH bush which seemed to be a bit clearer. For the next hour or so I caught mostly Perch up to 1½lb on caster or maggot, toss potting 4-6 bits of caster every put in.
By the halfway stage I had 20 fish, but the swim was dying. Tony was comfortably winning the section, but Bela was struggling. It appeared the carp had moved off the island into the deeper water. I thought I was just ahead of Jason, but I couldn’t see how Mike and Andy were doing.
Whilst fishing to the island I kept the 13m swim topped with a small amount of micros and caster, hoping for a few skimmers or F1s to put in appearance, but they never did, managing only small roach and a single perch. I did try another “down the track swim” just feeding caster, but this also proved fruitless. I kept the caster going into the RH bush and periodically tried other areas along the island picking up the odd fish.
To get bites I had to dot the float (roach 4x10) right down and even then they were only little dinks. I tried showing more bristle but couldn’t get a proper bite. The real frustration was the number of perch that dropped off the hook. 9 in total.
Come the end of the match, I managed to beat Jason & Mike and was only a 1lb away from Andy who had 11lb of silvers, plus a small carp. Tony caught all day for 133lb, whist Bela was left wondering what if, although he did manage 3 carp & 2nd section.
Getting 3 points was probably the best I could hope for unless a few carp put in an appearance, but at least I picked up top silvers weight on the lake (and 2nd overall). Individually I’ve dropped from 6th to 8th so not too bad, but with 3 rounds left I could really do with a couple of decent draws.
1-Nicky Collier - 29pts
2-Vince Shipp - 27
3-Dave Hodgson - 25
4-Garry Wall 24
5-Mat Tomes 23 (236-5)
6-Martin Pettifer 23 (136-1)
7-Rod Wootton 22 (190-1)
8-Ken Rayner 22 (122-15)
9-James Wither 21 (155-8)
10-Larry Burns 21 (135-11 )
Saturday 20 February 2010
19/02/2010 - K&A Canal - Clarke Pound
Weight – 23lb 0oz
Catch – 22 Roach, 16 Bream, 1 Tench
Weather – Cold bright start. Snow & sleet showers. Cold breeze.
Water Temp – 6.0c > 6.0c
An e-mail from Mark and story's of 100lb bags of skimmers, had us hastily arranging a days holiday. To be honest I was glad not to be in work, broken promises and general inactivity has made me quite grumpy recently, so a complete change of scenery was very welcome.
Due to the late decision to go, neither of us had time to get any bait, but fortunately I had a pint of maggot in the fridge and Mark had some groundbait. When I woke up I had to really question my decision to go, with ice and clear skies forecast, not exactly classic skimmer weather. As previously mentioned there had been some big bags of skimmers early in the previous week, because a load of fish had been moved into a couple of pounds due to maintenance work on the Caen Hill locks.
We settled on Clarke pound, were I saw my dream house, called Foxhangers Cottage. A cracking looking house on a private bank on the opposite side of the pound. Good fishing when ever you want – prefect. Just need the lottery numbers to come up, been waiting a while now.
With ice in the puddles on the tow path, Mark & I weren't really sure how it would go and decided we would be happy with 20lb. We both started on the grounbait feeder, whilst priming the pole line, with grounbait, micros and maggot. Despite a few knocks and liners, it wasn't until an hour gone that I got my first fish, a 2 lb skimmer, but no further fish.
Mark had already switched to the pole and managed a small skimmer and a roach. My first drop in on the pole, produced a 3½lb bream and over next couple of hours I got regular bites from skimmers, roach and a near 4lb tench. Feeding a tosspot of bait every 3-4 fish was working, because my first fish after feeding would be a skimmer, but feeding a larger amount didn't really work and as the session progressed the swim began to slow. The feeder only produced 1 skimmer, so I stayed on the pole.
With 90 minutes to go I had a good lead over Mark, however his pole swim started to get stronger, with regular skimmers, whilst I was mostly catching roach. By the end, I thought had done enough to beat me and so it proved when he weighed 29lb. Unfortunately for me a lost a decent tench and a decent skimmer in the last 15mins, proved decisive.
Whilst it wasn't quite the massive weights that had been reported, both of us were really pleased to get decent weights, on a canal on what was at times a freezing cold day.
Catch – 22 Roach, 16 Bream, 1 Tench
Weather – Cold bright start. Snow & sleet showers. Cold breeze.
Water Temp – 6.0c > 6.0c
An e-mail from Mark and story's of 100lb bags of skimmers, had us hastily arranging a days holiday. To be honest I was glad not to be in work, broken promises and general inactivity has made me quite grumpy recently, so a complete change of scenery was very welcome.
Due to the late decision to go, neither of us had time to get any bait, but fortunately I had a pint of maggot in the fridge and Mark had some groundbait. When I woke up I had to really question my decision to go, with ice and clear skies forecast, not exactly classic skimmer weather. As previously mentioned there had been some big bags of skimmers early in the previous week, because a load of fish had been moved into a couple of pounds due to maintenance work on the Caen Hill locks.
We settled on Clarke pound, were I saw my dream house, called Foxhangers Cottage. A cracking looking house on a private bank on the opposite side of the pound. Good fishing when ever you want – prefect. Just need the lottery numbers to come up, been waiting a while now.
With ice in the puddles on the tow path, Mark & I weren't really sure how it would go and decided we would be happy with 20lb. We both started on the grounbait feeder, whilst priming the pole line, with grounbait, micros and maggot. Despite a few knocks and liners, it wasn't until an hour gone that I got my first fish, a 2 lb skimmer, but no further fish.
Mark had already switched to the pole and managed a small skimmer and a roach. My first drop in on the pole, produced a 3½lb bream and over next couple of hours I got regular bites from skimmers, roach and a near 4lb tench. Feeding a tosspot of bait every 3-4 fish was working, because my first fish after feeding would be a skimmer, but feeding a larger amount didn't really work and as the session progressed the swim began to slow. The feeder only produced 1 skimmer, so I stayed on the pole.
With 90 minutes to go I had a good lead over Mark, however his pole swim started to get stronger, with regular skimmers, whilst I was mostly catching roach. By the end, I thought had done enough to beat me and so it proved when he weighed 29lb. Unfortunately for me a lost a decent tench and a decent skimmer in the last 15mins, proved decisive.
Whilst it wasn't quite the massive weights that had been reported, both of us were really pleased to get decent weights, on a canal on what was at times a freezing cold day.
Monday 15 February 2010
14/02/2010 - Lands End - Johns Lake
Weight – 39lb 9oz
Catch – 8 Carp, 6 Roach, 3 Crucian, 1 Perch, 1 Rudd
Weather – Cold & mostly bright. Chilly breeze.
Water Temp – 5.0c > 5.0c
Match – Lands End Winter League – rd 4 – 3rd overall, 1st in section
It was my turn for Johns (no.3) Lake and after a poor draw on Match Lake needed a decent draw to get back in the running for the league. So I was more than happy with 42, at least I would get a few fish. When arriving at the lake I was surprised to see at how clear the water was and by all accounts it was clearer yesterday! So a difficult day was likely.
With the water being so clear, a cautious approach was required. The deepest part of the peg was at 11.5m in front, so a small amount of micro was deposited, but for the moment decided not to feed anywhere else. I started on corn by the bush on the island and a few liners suggested there was carp about, but no real bites materlised, even double maggot. A switch to the pellet swim after 30 minutes didnt produce either.
By this time Mark Leeder on peg 50 had a double figure carp and Mike “I've never seen him on a bad peg” Nicholls opposite on peg 68 had a couple of carp & a few silvers. With no bites from the pellet swim, time to try the bush again, but this time I set the spread bulk 30cm from the hook to allow a slow drop and it worked, with a 4-5lb carp on triple pinkie. The fact I was catching on triple pinkie brought some amusement from both Mike and Clint on peg 41, but when I replied with "bits of caster" when asked what I was feeding, brought further good natured ridicule.
At the half way stage, I had 7 carp (6 by the bush and 1 at 11.5m on maggot) and a crucian, but started to struggle. Since I was comfortbly leading the section, I decide to stick with the carp to try and win the lake. Mike had gone for a walk and discovered Adrian Clarke on peg 58 had 9 carp, so decided to concentrate on the silvers, but he still managaed a couple more “vermin” before the end of the match. Well you would from the best peg on the lake.
For the rest of the match I set up another swim at 14.5m up & down the shelf and rotated all my swims. I picked up 1 more carp, a couple more crucians and a near 2lb perch. With an hour to go I havent caught for about 45mins, so when I landed my 8th carp from the 14.5m line I hoped for a strong finish, however the swim now seemed to full of little roach, which was a little frustrating.
At the all out, as expected I won my section and Mark on peg 50 was 2nd with the single carp he caught after 5mins, but at 11-8 it was worth having. Adrain only managed 1 more carp, but still won the lake with 44-4. I was expecting to come 2nd, so was surprised when Mike weighed 41-15, which included 15lb of silvers on caster. Fair play to him though he fished a very tidy match and managed to catch some the better quality roach, along with a few skimmers & crucians.
As for the league I've moved from 11th to 6th, but as you can see below its all quite tight, except for Nick who has managed 4 straight section wins
1st Nick Collier 24pts
2nd Vince Shipp 21 (229-12)
3rd Dave Hodgson 21 (139-0)
4th Matt Tomes 19 (206-11)
5th Garry Wall 19 (172-0)
6th Ken Rayner 19 (109-7)
7th Adrian Jeffrey 18 (111-13)
8th Martin Pettifer 18 (100-11)
9th Rod Wootton 17 (159-9)
10th Mark Poppleton 17 (151-3)
Catch – 8 Carp, 6 Roach, 3 Crucian, 1 Perch, 1 Rudd
Weather – Cold & mostly bright. Chilly breeze.
Water Temp – 5.0c > 5.0c
Match – Lands End Winter League – rd 4 – 3rd overall, 1st in section
It was my turn for Johns (no.3) Lake and after a poor draw on Match Lake needed a decent draw to get back in the running for the league. So I was more than happy with 42, at least I would get a few fish. When arriving at the lake I was surprised to see at how clear the water was and by all accounts it was clearer yesterday! So a difficult day was likely.
With the water being so clear, a cautious approach was required. The deepest part of the peg was at 11.5m in front, so a small amount of micro was deposited, but for the moment decided not to feed anywhere else. I started on corn by the bush on the island and a few liners suggested there was carp about, but no real bites materlised, even double maggot. A switch to the pellet swim after 30 minutes didnt produce either.
By this time Mark Leeder on peg 50 had a double figure carp and Mike “I've never seen him on a bad peg” Nicholls opposite on peg 68 had a couple of carp & a few silvers. With no bites from the pellet swim, time to try the bush again, but this time I set the spread bulk 30cm from the hook to allow a slow drop and it worked, with a 4-5lb carp on triple pinkie. The fact I was catching on triple pinkie brought some amusement from both Mike and Clint on peg 41, but when I replied with "bits of caster" when asked what I was feeding, brought further good natured ridicule.
At the half way stage, I had 7 carp (6 by the bush and 1 at 11.5m on maggot) and a crucian, but started to struggle. Since I was comfortbly leading the section, I decide to stick with the carp to try and win the lake. Mike had gone for a walk and discovered Adrian Clarke on peg 58 had 9 carp, so decided to concentrate on the silvers, but he still managaed a couple more “vermin” before the end of the match. Well you would from the best peg on the lake.
For the rest of the match I set up another swim at 14.5m up & down the shelf and rotated all my swims. I picked up 1 more carp, a couple more crucians and a near 2lb perch. With an hour to go I havent caught for about 45mins, so when I landed my 8th carp from the 14.5m line I hoped for a strong finish, however the swim now seemed to full of little roach, which was a little frustrating.
At the all out, as expected I won my section and Mark on peg 50 was 2nd with the single carp he caught after 5mins, but at 11-8 it was worth having. Adrain only managed 1 more carp, but still won the lake with 44-4. I was expecting to come 2nd, so was surprised when Mike weighed 41-15, which included 15lb of silvers on caster. Fair play to him though he fished a very tidy match and managed to catch some the better quality roach, along with a few skimmers & crucians.
As for the league I've moved from 11th to 6th, but as you can see below its all quite tight, except for Nick who has managed 4 straight section wins
1st Nick Collier 24pts
2nd Vince Shipp 21 (229-12)
3rd Dave Hodgson 21 (139-0)
4th Matt Tomes 19 (206-11)
5th Garry Wall 19 (172-0)
6th Ken Rayner 19 (109-7)
7th Adrian Jeffrey 18 (111-13)
8th Martin Pettifer 18 (100-11)
9th Rod Wootton 17 (159-9)
10th Mark Poppleton 17 (151-3)
Sunday 7 February 2010
06/02/10 - Lands End - Johns Lake
Weight – 29lb 0oz
Catch – 7 Carp, 1 Roach
Weather – Mostly bright & sunny, becoming chilly
Water Temp – 6.5c > 6.5c
Match – Open – 3rd overall
Well it made a nice change to go fishing without having to worry about ice, although more cold weather is on its way!
Mike has decided to give Match Lake a bit of rest for the next few weeks, because it hasn't been fishing well, so we found ourselves on Johns Lake. With 12 of us booked in, we used the same pegs that would be used for next weeks winter league and I drew 62, which has been a form peg over the last few weeks.
After a week of mild weather, we were all looking forward to a few bites and reports from Wednesdays match suggested the fish would need feeding. So on the all in ¼ a pot of micros went in at 12m and a bit of caster at 6m. I started tight to the island on maggot, toss potting a bit of micro, but after 15mins I couldn't get a bite from any where along the island.
Time to try the 6m line and 5mins later I had a 1½lb carp on maggot, but then nothing. This wasn't what I expected and most of us were struggling for a bite, let alone a fish. By the half way stage I only added a small roach to my carp, I even tried the waggler fished into the gap between the island without success.
Garry Wall opposite on 50 however had 4 carp, but lost a further 4 or 5 by pulling too hard, but other than that those around me were struggling for bites. A cold northerly started blowing as well which wasn't helping.
I had been flicking 4mm's out towards the point of the island in 61 which I could just reach with 16m. A couple of liners suggested there were fish around, although they weren't taking the bait, but at least I was getting indication which was more than any where else in my swim. So a big pot of micros went in at 13m straight in front, because it couldn't do any harm, another pot of maggot, pinkie & caster went in tight to the island in the gap and a handful of bait went down the margin.
As for the other point of the island, I decided to keep the feed light, so a small toss pot of micros was fed at 14.5m. Whilst I let that settle I would try other areas, again without a single indication. I managed to snag a carp tight to the island at 16m on triple pinkie, but all my other carp came in the last 2 hours over the 14.5m swim, on soft pellet.
By the end I thought I might be in with a shout of framing, because Garry could only another 1 to his net and the gossip was peg 42 had 5 carp, but they were munters. As it happens, Mike West on 41 had a brilliant last hour adding 30/35lb to his winning 44lb, peg 42 finished with 31lb and these were the leading weights by the time the scales arrived. At 29lb it was slightly more than expected, just a shame I couldn't connect with any of the big boys.
Dale ran me close on 70 for 3rd, weighing 27-7, which included a winning 4lb of silvers. Overall the fishing was harder than expected, probably due to the colder conditions and the wind had switched from the south westerly to a northerly. As for my day, I kept plugging away and was eventually rewarded. I didn't lose a single fish, although I had a heavier rig set up, 6 of my carp came on .11 bottom, 20 silverfish pellet hook and doubled 6 elastic. I know some will say I don't need to go that light, but as Tony says it about confidence.
The strange thing about today, was the fact people either caught early or late, but no one could keep the fish coming all match and the lack of silvers that showed was a bit of puzzle. I had a proper silvers rig set up as well. A few more lessons learnt and if this result is duplicated next week (assuming the lakes arent ice over again), it would mean maximum points.
Catch – 7 Carp, 1 Roach
Weather – Mostly bright & sunny, becoming chilly
Water Temp – 6.5c > 6.5c
Match – Open – 3rd overall
Well it made a nice change to go fishing without having to worry about ice, although more cold weather is on its way!
Mike has decided to give Match Lake a bit of rest for the next few weeks, because it hasn't been fishing well, so we found ourselves on Johns Lake. With 12 of us booked in, we used the same pegs that would be used for next weeks winter league and I drew 62, which has been a form peg over the last few weeks.
After a week of mild weather, we were all looking forward to a few bites and reports from Wednesdays match suggested the fish would need feeding. So on the all in ¼ a pot of micros went in at 12m and a bit of caster at 6m. I started tight to the island on maggot, toss potting a bit of micro, but after 15mins I couldn't get a bite from any where along the island.
Time to try the 6m line and 5mins later I had a 1½lb carp on maggot, but then nothing. This wasn't what I expected and most of us were struggling for a bite, let alone a fish. By the half way stage I only added a small roach to my carp, I even tried the waggler fished into the gap between the island without success.
Garry Wall opposite on 50 however had 4 carp, but lost a further 4 or 5 by pulling too hard, but other than that those around me were struggling for bites. A cold northerly started blowing as well which wasn't helping.
I had been flicking 4mm's out towards the point of the island in 61 which I could just reach with 16m. A couple of liners suggested there were fish around, although they weren't taking the bait, but at least I was getting indication which was more than any where else in my swim. So a big pot of micros went in at 13m straight in front, because it couldn't do any harm, another pot of maggot, pinkie & caster went in tight to the island in the gap and a handful of bait went down the margin.
As for the other point of the island, I decided to keep the feed light, so a small toss pot of micros was fed at 14.5m. Whilst I let that settle I would try other areas, again without a single indication. I managed to snag a carp tight to the island at 16m on triple pinkie, but all my other carp came in the last 2 hours over the 14.5m swim, on soft pellet.
By the end I thought I might be in with a shout of framing, because Garry could only another 1 to his net and the gossip was peg 42 had 5 carp, but they were munters. As it happens, Mike West on 41 had a brilliant last hour adding 30/35lb to his winning 44lb, peg 42 finished with 31lb and these were the leading weights by the time the scales arrived. At 29lb it was slightly more than expected, just a shame I couldn't connect with any of the big boys.
Dale ran me close on 70 for 3rd, weighing 27-7, which included a winning 4lb of silvers. Overall the fishing was harder than expected, probably due to the colder conditions and the wind had switched from the south westerly to a northerly. As for my day, I kept plugging away and was eventually rewarded. I didn't lose a single fish, although I had a heavier rig set up, 6 of my carp came on .11 bottom, 20 silverfish pellet hook and doubled 6 elastic. I know some will say I don't need to go that light, but as Tony says it about confidence.
The strange thing about today, was the fact people either caught early or late, but no one could keep the fish coming all match and the lack of silvers that showed was a bit of puzzle. I had a proper silvers rig set up as well. A few more lessons learnt and if this result is duplicated next week (assuming the lakes arent ice over again), it would mean maximum points.
Friday 5 February 2010
Further Reflection
Having had time to reflect further its fair to say I didnt expect the reaction to a comment that was intended to as well intended support. The reality is it had the opposite effect, particuarilty on Mike & for that I have apologised to Mike, becuase it was never my intention to get him involved. Unfortunately, becuase I was Lands End it was wrongly assumed that Mike had said something.
I still believe there is an issue amongst anglers that take fishery owners for granted and dont show the respect that most deserve. A story in the Angling Times this week highlighted the fact where one fishery owner has at great expense bought thousands of pounds worth of nets (keepnets & landing nets) for his customers to use, only for most of them to have disappeared. There is another fishery that decided to shut its door to match anglers, due the amount of moaning, litter and gerneral aggravation.
So back to the original purpose of my comment, we do need to support our local fishery and in general friends I have spoken to agree, although in hindsight I should have said it a different way.
If nothing else, those that read this blog will understand/appreciate the point I was trying to make and those that discuss my blog with others will be gracious enough to do the same.
I still believe there is an issue amongst anglers that take fishery owners for granted and dont show the respect that most deserve. A story in the Angling Times this week highlighted the fact where one fishery owner has at great expense bought thousands of pounds worth of nets (keepnets & landing nets) for his customers to use, only for most of them to have disappeared. There is another fishery that decided to shut its door to match anglers, due the amount of moaning, litter and gerneral aggravation.
So back to the original purpose of my comment, we do need to support our local fishery and in general friends I have spoken to agree, although in hindsight I should have said it a different way.
If nothing else, those that read this blog will understand/appreciate the point I was trying to make and those that discuss my blog with others will be gracious enough to do the same.
Thursday 4 February 2010
Stirred a hornets nest!
It appears my last blog has upset a few people. Please read the comment left.
So did I mis understand the situation? If I did I whole heartly hold my hands up and apologise. It wasnt my intention to upset anyone and to be honest I wasn’t expecting such a strong reaction. I welcome Nicks comments and he is right, up to a point, but lets be honest, we have all been guity of passing comment or making an assumption based on hearsay.
Its worth noting I deliberately did not mention any names. Why? Very simply becuase my comments werent about any individual or fishery, but about a situation that arises every week across the country. Any comments were simply an observation of events on my part. As anglers we do have the right to fish were ever we like, that is not the issue here.
How many times have you heard “is so-and-so coming?” only to meet by a sea of blank faces, then someone pops up “oh he can’t make it because…..” On the whole fishery owners have to accept this, because usually they have no choice, because banning those that don’t cancel prior to the draw isn’t practical. However it doesn’t mean it is right or the fishery owners have to be happy about. It doesn’t take much to pick up the phone.
Speaking to a number of different fishery owners over the years, they all feel unappreciated at times. I remember being at Stafford Moor, when KHV struck and Andy Seery was devastated, you could see it in his face. However 1 muppet, who apparently was a regular visitor announced at the top of his voice the fishery was sh*t and he wont return until Andy put some fish in the lakes. Talk about insensitive.
The way I see it being a fishery owner is a thankless task at times, everyone wants to catch fish, when they don’t the venue is rubbish, it needs more fish, etc, etc. This winter has been particularly hard financially, so when you expect 12-15 to turn up, but only 5 do, then yes I think it is fair to assume you will be disappointed, it’s a normal human reaction.
Know doubt the next round of the Winter League will be interesting, but if you wish to pass comment, whether you agree or disagree with my comments then please do so, obviously keeping the comments clean.
So did I mis understand the situation? If I did I whole heartly hold my hands up and apologise. It wasnt my intention to upset anyone and to be honest I wasn’t expecting such a strong reaction. I welcome Nicks comments and he is right, up to a point, but lets be honest, we have all been guity of passing comment or making an assumption based on hearsay.
Its worth noting I deliberately did not mention any names. Why? Very simply becuase my comments werent about any individual or fishery, but about a situation that arises every week across the country. Any comments were simply an observation of events on my part. As anglers we do have the right to fish were ever we like, that is not the issue here.
How many times have you heard “is so-and-so coming?” only to meet by a sea of blank faces, then someone pops up “oh he can’t make it because…..” On the whole fishery owners have to accept this, because usually they have no choice, because banning those that don’t cancel prior to the draw isn’t practical. However it doesn’t mean it is right or the fishery owners have to be happy about. It doesn’t take much to pick up the phone.
Speaking to a number of different fishery owners over the years, they all feel unappreciated at times. I remember being at Stafford Moor, when KHV struck and Andy Seery was devastated, you could see it in his face. However 1 muppet, who apparently was a regular visitor announced at the top of his voice the fishery was sh*t and he wont return until Andy put some fish in the lakes. Talk about insensitive.
The way I see it being a fishery owner is a thankless task at times, everyone wants to catch fish, when they don’t the venue is rubbish, it needs more fish, etc, etc. This winter has been particularly hard financially, so when you expect 12-15 to turn up, but only 5 do, then yes I think it is fair to assume you will be disappointed, it’s a normal human reaction.
Know doubt the next round of the Winter League will be interesting, but if you wish to pass comment, whether you agree or disagree with my comments then please do so, obviously keeping the comments clean.
Monday 1 February 2010
31/01/2010 - Lands End - Johns Lake
Weight – 17lb 2oz
Catch – 4 Carp, 1 Perch
Weather – More ice. Cold & clear start, becoming showery
Water Temp – 4.0c > 4.5c
Match – Open – 4th overall (out of 5!)
The weather seems to know when it is the weekend! A week of reasonable mild conditions, but come the weekend its back to the ice. On arriving at Lands End it was -3c, so more ice breaking was on the cards.
Today’s match would be on Johns Lake (no.3), which I was pleased about, because I would be here for the next round of the Winter League. Originally Mike was expecting a decent turn out, however teams for the Viaducts Teams of 5 were short of anglers. Personally think 20 teams of 5 at Viaduct is too many, particularly in the winter, which is why I try and avoid fishing the league. If they had 15 teams, the overall fishing is likely to improve, plus there won’t be the constant problem of teams struggling for members.
Another reason for the poor turnout was a hastily arranged match at Plantations, where some were persuaded to let Mike down. Needless to say they all struggled, because they couldn’t cast to the island where the carp are due to the ice. Although Mike wouldn’t be so direct, he was annoyed. Getting on my soap box a bit here, but we need to support the fishery owners who are prepared to put in the effort. Maintaining a tidy, litter free venue requires a lot of effort, which isnt always appreciated and again personally some anglers need to show a little more respect.
Back to the match and Johns Lake, for what ever reason has become my bogey lake, so it would be nice to get it sorted. With only the 5 of us, it was more like pleasure fishing, so at least we could all be on the form pegs. I drew 58, which is a peg I always wanted to draw, it was just a shame it was iced over. Fortunately the ice didn’t take too much effort to break and I soon created a 11.5m channel towards the island as well as towards the brambles down the RH margin.
2 rigs were set up, with .11 bottom - 22 B911 & .13 bottom – 20 B911. Started on the heavy rig with corn looking for an early carp, but with no signs of life after 20 mins it was time to feed. So a few casters was deposited to my right, whilst some pinkie & maggot went in at 11.5m.
With just over an hour gone, I had my first bite on double pinkie from a 2½lb carp. However Simon on peg 61 already had 2 carp on pellet and John Bradford opposite had 1 carp.
As the match progressed, the 11.5m line didn’t produce a single bite, despite rotating baits. I had started feeding only maggot & pinkie, but at the half way stage switched to micro pellet without success. The RH swim was the only place I could catch, but I simply had to wait (& wait) for a bite. With the water being so cold, I was reluctant to feed too much, although Simon seemed to be toss potting micro every put in and was catching, but I felt there wasnt the same volume of fish in front of me, so I just kept trickling in the caster hoping to pull in the carp.
In hindsight I could have fed heavier, but I'm not convinced it would have worked. Ideally I would have liked to search other areas of the swim, but the ice prevented me from doing that and I suspect the fish were sat closer to peg 55 opposite.
As predicted Simon won the match with 38lb. Mike was 2nd from peg 68 with 33lb, which included 11lb of silvers, so at least someone had plenty bites. Dale on peg 41 probably had the most bites of anyone, but it was blade roach, which drove him to distraction. It didn’t matter what he put on the hook, but he got pestered by tiny roach.
Catch – 4 Carp, 1 Perch
Weather – More ice. Cold & clear start, becoming showery
Water Temp – 4.0c > 4.5c
Match – Open – 4th overall (out of 5!)
The weather seems to know when it is the weekend! A week of reasonable mild conditions, but come the weekend its back to the ice. On arriving at Lands End it was -3c, so more ice breaking was on the cards.
Today’s match would be on Johns Lake (no.3), which I was pleased about, because I would be here for the next round of the Winter League. Originally Mike was expecting a decent turn out, however teams for the Viaducts Teams of 5 were short of anglers. Personally think 20 teams of 5 at Viaduct is too many, particularly in the winter, which is why I try and avoid fishing the league. If they had 15 teams, the overall fishing is likely to improve, plus there won’t be the constant problem of teams struggling for members.
Another reason for the poor turnout was a hastily arranged match at Plantations, where some were persuaded to let Mike down. Needless to say they all struggled, because they couldn’t cast to the island where the carp are due to the ice. Although Mike wouldn’t be so direct, he was annoyed. Getting on my soap box a bit here, but we need to support the fishery owners who are prepared to put in the effort. Maintaining a tidy, litter free venue requires a lot of effort, which isnt always appreciated and again personally some anglers need to show a little more respect.
Back to the match and Johns Lake, for what ever reason has become my bogey lake, so it would be nice to get it sorted. With only the 5 of us, it was more like pleasure fishing, so at least we could all be on the form pegs. I drew 58, which is a peg I always wanted to draw, it was just a shame it was iced over. Fortunately the ice didn’t take too much effort to break and I soon created a 11.5m channel towards the island as well as towards the brambles down the RH margin.
2 rigs were set up, with .11 bottom - 22 B911 & .13 bottom – 20 B911. Started on the heavy rig with corn looking for an early carp, but with no signs of life after 20 mins it was time to feed. So a few casters was deposited to my right, whilst some pinkie & maggot went in at 11.5m.
With just over an hour gone, I had my first bite on double pinkie from a 2½lb carp. However Simon on peg 61 already had 2 carp on pellet and John Bradford opposite had 1 carp.
As the match progressed, the 11.5m line didn’t produce a single bite, despite rotating baits. I had started feeding only maggot & pinkie, but at the half way stage switched to micro pellet without success. The RH swim was the only place I could catch, but I simply had to wait (& wait) for a bite. With the water being so cold, I was reluctant to feed too much, although Simon seemed to be toss potting micro every put in and was catching, but I felt there wasnt the same volume of fish in front of me, so I just kept trickling in the caster hoping to pull in the carp.
In hindsight I could have fed heavier, but I'm not convinced it would have worked. Ideally I would have liked to search other areas of the swim, but the ice prevented me from doing that and I suspect the fish were sat closer to peg 55 opposite.
As predicted Simon won the match with 38lb. Mike was 2nd from peg 68 with 33lb, which included 11lb of silvers, so at least someone had plenty bites. Dale on peg 41 probably had the most bites of anyone, but it was blade roach, which drove him to distraction. It didn’t matter what he put on the hook, but he got pestered by tiny roach.
Monday 25 January 2010
24/01/10 - Lands End - Match Lake
Weight – 5lb 7oz
Catch – 23 Roach, 4 Skimmers
Weather – Frosty & foggy. Later bright & breezy.
Water Temp – 5.5c > 5.5c
Match – Winter League - 36th overall, 4th section.
Another cold start and scrapping ice off the car windscreen, but fortunately the lakes only had a bit of cat ice
After 2 cancelled rounds due to the weather it was good to get the series started again and I was looking forward to getting good points. Ideally I wanted to avoid drawing the bottom end of match lake, which has been fishing terrible, so peg 22 wasn't great. The usual suspects described it as a flyer, but looking at past results showed it hasn't produced much recently, in fact reviewing last years winter league it was the worse performing peg on the lake. Dale did manage nearly 11lb of skimmers yesterday from peg 23, so felt I could at least target these and just hope a carp turns up.
After an hour the writing was on the wall. Adrian on 24 and Mark on peg 1 hadn't a bite. All I could muster was a few small roach, whilst Tom on peg 21, Mike on 19 and Dale on 18 had all caught carp or decent silvers.
I managed 2 skimmers on pellet, but I had to go as a far as I dare towards Toms peg. I caught very little to my right over my pellet swim and only small roach came from my caster swim. I could have stuck with the roach, but I needed another 10lb, simply to gain another point, so I spent more time on pellet, hoping for a skimmer or a carp without any luck. As the wind picked up I changed to heavier 4x18 float, but this didn't improve matters.
With 2 hours to go I had to try something different, so started flicking 4mm pellet to my left to try and draw some carp from Toms swim, but that didn't work either.
Very disappointed with the result, but I genuinely don't know how I could have done better. Adrian finished the match not getting a bite, whilst Mark only caught in the last hour. This end of the lake simply seems to be devoid of fish. I'm not sure whether the bright conditions put the skimmers off feeding properly, but Dale on 18 had the best silvers weight with 10-13, made up of mostly F1's and only 1 skimmer. Yesterday the reverse was true.
The only good thing to come out of today was a section pick up after a triple default! Tom won our lake with 30-11, whilst Mike was 2nd with 29-1. Sydney's was the lake to be though with 4 out of the top 6 coming from there, whilst Vince Shipp won the match from peg 62 on Johns lake. The next round is in 3 weeks and hopefully the worse of the weather will be behind us.
As a footnote, a couple of you have commented that my blog is always late. Suffering from dyslexia means I need to take care when blogging, otherwise the grammar will be worse than Tony's - lol
Catch – 23 Roach, 4 Skimmers
Weather – Frosty & foggy. Later bright & breezy.
Water Temp – 5.5c > 5.5c
Match – Winter League - 36th overall, 4th section.
Another cold start and scrapping ice off the car windscreen, but fortunately the lakes only had a bit of cat ice
After 2 cancelled rounds due to the weather it was good to get the series started again and I was looking forward to getting good points. Ideally I wanted to avoid drawing the bottom end of match lake, which has been fishing terrible, so peg 22 wasn't great. The usual suspects described it as a flyer, but looking at past results showed it hasn't produced much recently, in fact reviewing last years winter league it was the worse performing peg on the lake. Dale did manage nearly 11lb of skimmers yesterday from peg 23, so felt I could at least target these and just hope a carp turns up.
After an hour the writing was on the wall. Adrian on 24 and Mark on peg 1 hadn't a bite. All I could muster was a few small roach, whilst Tom on peg 21, Mike on 19 and Dale on 18 had all caught carp or decent silvers.
I managed 2 skimmers on pellet, but I had to go as a far as I dare towards Toms peg. I caught very little to my right over my pellet swim and only small roach came from my caster swim. I could have stuck with the roach, but I needed another 10lb, simply to gain another point, so I spent more time on pellet, hoping for a skimmer or a carp without any luck. As the wind picked up I changed to heavier 4x18 float, but this didn't improve matters.
With 2 hours to go I had to try something different, so started flicking 4mm pellet to my left to try and draw some carp from Toms swim, but that didn't work either.
Very disappointed with the result, but I genuinely don't know how I could have done better. Adrian finished the match not getting a bite, whilst Mark only caught in the last hour. This end of the lake simply seems to be devoid of fish. I'm not sure whether the bright conditions put the skimmers off feeding properly, but Dale on 18 had the best silvers weight with 10-13, made up of mostly F1's and only 1 skimmer. Yesterday the reverse was true.
The only good thing to come out of today was a section pick up after a triple default! Tom won our lake with 30-11, whilst Mike was 2nd with 29-1. Sydney's was the lake to be though with 4 out of the top 6 coming from there, whilst Vince Shipp won the match from peg 62 on Johns lake. The next round is in 3 weeks and hopefully the worse of the weather will be behind us.
As a footnote, a couple of you have commented that my blog is always late. Suffering from dyslexia means I need to take care when blogging, otherwise the grammar will be worse than Tony's - lol
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