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)
Monday 26 April 2010
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.
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