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)
Wednesday 31 March 2010
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.
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