Mark is running a match on 24th April (Easter Sunday) at Todber Manor - Park Lake.
A recent match was won with 178lb, with 160lb & 150lb framing, which is loads of carp & F1s. Silvers were won with 48lb of roach!
£25 pools, paying top 3, plus 3 sections.
If you are interested, please leave a message or click on this link http://www.matchfishing-scene.co.uk/showthread.php?12269-Todber-Manor-Matches-Names-please
Monday 28 March 2011
Monday 21 March 2011
20/03/11 - Fishponds
Weight –100lb 5oz
Catch – 15 Carp, 1 Bream
Weather – Mild, sunny and breezy.
Match – Glenfall – 1st
With work going well, I’m starting to get exciting about my fishing again and have already begun filling my calendar with dates for matches, including 3 trips to the Glebe in Leicestershire (2 float only matches on pool 1 – organised by Mark and the ACA masters). Next month I’m at Peatmoor Lagoon, Swindon for a Match Fishing Scene (MFS) website match, plus 3 matches at Todber Manor. As for my club, we are going back to Cuckoos Rest (which is 1 of those venues I wish was a little closer to home) and somewhere called Mill Pool, near Painswick, Gloucestershire.
Today 14 turned up and I thought a good day would be had by all, but as it turned out the fish were in a funny mood. I drew peg 6, which I was more than happy with, since it’s a peg I sit on regularly when pleasure fishing.
Because we are entering that period of change, when the carp will start to feed more aggressively, I wasn’t sure what bait to take, so in the end I took everything, except micros. I even knock up some paste the night before and added some tandori spice to give it an extra kick.
Knowing the peg well, setting up rigs was simple and settled on 5 swims. #1-my right hand margin, #2- 10m @ 2’o clock, there was only 6 inch difference in depth, so the same rig could be used. #3 was 13m @ 11’o clock, where it is deeper, #4 was 9m in the left hand margin which was only 2ft deep and the final swim would be 20-25m on the pellet waggler.
All my pole swims received some 4mms & a few 6mms at the start, and I started to fire 8mms in preparation for the waggler. Whilst I let that settle I spent 10mins on the lead and double corn, but never had a bite. In fact this was only the time I picked up the rod.
A look over my deep water rigs with pellet or corn, but nothing. Looking around everyone else was struggling as well. I felt the fish would turn eventually so decided to fire a pouch of 4mms every 10mins to draw the fish in. After 45mins I landed my first fish, a 3lb bream, which if I’m being honest was a bit of a fluke, because after 10mins without a bite, I went to ship back and found the bream hanging on.
Since I couldn’t get a bite in my open water swims, I needed to try my margins swims a lot sooner than I wanted. The deeper RH swim didn’t produce, so time to try the LH margin with paste, 2mins later I had my 1st paste fish of the year.
The rest of the match was rotating all my pole swims, with the LH margin. Because it was on 2ft deep, I couldn’t catch more than 2 fish, before the fish spooked. I also lost a couple of foul hookers, so eased back on the feed, which helped. Since the paste was working, I set up a new paste rig to fish the deeper RH margin, but never had a bite.
As for the pellet waggler, the ducks were benefiting more than the fish, a couple of casts didn’t produce, which wasn’t a surprise, since the fish liked the ripple over their head and my part of the lake was mostly sheltered from the SW wind.
As the match drew to a close I felt was comfortably winning, following a good 4th & 5th hours, but the last hour was a blank. Andy on peg 3 had 3 fish in the last 15mins and I wasn’t certain of winning, whilst I had more fish, I had a slightly smaller stamp of fish than usual and Andy had at least 1 carp of 13lb.
1st Ken Rayner 100-5
2nd Andy Lord 82-14
3rd Tim Allen 68-3
4th Chris Davidge 51-0
A strange day. We have had a couple of frosts recently, but with the mild day time temperatures I thought the fishing would be easier. Andy had caught most of his fish on the tip cast to the far bank, however speaking to Tim and Chris, they both said the majority of their fish came from the shallower water in the margins. It seems very few fish were caught in the deeper water. Obviously the shallower water warmed up quicker in the sun. People were suggesting the frosty nights had affected the fishing. I’m not so sure. Whilst the weather has an influence, so does the lunar cycles and the moon had recently been the closest to earth for nearly 20 years.
Catch – 15 Carp, 1 Bream
Weather – Mild, sunny and breezy.
Match – Glenfall – 1st
With work going well, I’m starting to get exciting about my fishing again and have already begun filling my calendar with dates for matches, including 3 trips to the Glebe in Leicestershire (2 float only matches on pool 1 – organised by Mark and the ACA masters). Next month I’m at Peatmoor Lagoon, Swindon for a Match Fishing Scene (MFS) website match, plus 3 matches at Todber Manor. As for my club, we are going back to Cuckoos Rest (which is 1 of those venues I wish was a little closer to home) and somewhere called Mill Pool, near Painswick, Gloucestershire.
Today 14 turned up and I thought a good day would be had by all, but as it turned out the fish were in a funny mood. I drew peg 6, which I was more than happy with, since it’s a peg I sit on regularly when pleasure fishing.
Because we are entering that period of change, when the carp will start to feed more aggressively, I wasn’t sure what bait to take, so in the end I took everything, except micros. I even knock up some paste the night before and added some tandori spice to give it an extra kick.
Knowing the peg well, setting up rigs was simple and settled on 5 swims. #1-my right hand margin, #2- 10m @ 2’o clock, there was only 6 inch difference in depth, so the same rig could be used. #3 was 13m @ 11’o clock, where it is deeper, #4 was 9m in the left hand margin which was only 2ft deep and the final swim would be 20-25m on the pellet waggler.
All my pole swims received some 4mms & a few 6mms at the start, and I started to fire 8mms in preparation for the waggler. Whilst I let that settle I spent 10mins on the lead and double corn, but never had a bite. In fact this was only the time I picked up the rod.
A look over my deep water rigs with pellet or corn, but nothing. Looking around everyone else was struggling as well. I felt the fish would turn eventually so decided to fire a pouch of 4mms every 10mins to draw the fish in. After 45mins I landed my first fish, a 3lb bream, which if I’m being honest was a bit of a fluke, because after 10mins without a bite, I went to ship back and found the bream hanging on.
Since I couldn’t get a bite in my open water swims, I needed to try my margins swims a lot sooner than I wanted. The deeper RH swim didn’t produce, so time to try the LH margin with paste, 2mins later I had my 1st paste fish of the year.
The rest of the match was rotating all my pole swims, with the LH margin. Because it was on 2ft deep, I couldn’t catch more than 2 fish, before the fish spooked. I also lost a couple of foul hookers, so eased back on the feed, which helped. Since the paste was working, I set up a new paste rig to fish the deeper RH margin, but never had a bite.
As for the pellet waggler, the ducks were benefiting more than the fish, a couple of casts didn’t produce, which wasn’t a surprise, since the fish liked the ripple over their head and my part of the lake was mostly sheltered from the SW wind.
As the match drew to a close I felt was comfortably winning, following a good 4th & 5th hours, but the last hour was a blank. Andy on peg 3 had 3 fish in the last 15mins and I wasn’t certain of winning, whilst I had more fish, I had a slightly smaller stamp of fish than usual and Andy had at least 1 carp of 13lb.
1st Ken Rayner 100-5
2nd Andy Lord 82-14
3rd Tim Allen 68-3
4th Chris Davidge 51-0
A strange day. We have had a couple of frosts recently, but with the mild day time temperatures I thought the fishing would be easier. Andy had caught most of his fish on the tip cast to the far bank, however speaking to Tim and Chris, they both said the majority of their fish came from the shallower water in the margins. It seems very few fish were caught in the deeper water. Obviously the shallower water warmed up quicker in the sun. People were suggesting the frosty nights had affected the fishing. I’m not so sure. Whilst the weather has an influence, so does the lunar cycles and the moon had recently been the closest to earth for nearly 20 years.
Saturday 12 March 2011
11/03/11 - B.Avon - Lower Reybridge
Weight –11lb 11oz
Catch – 20 Roach, 6 Chub, 5 Dace, 5 Minnow, 4 Perch, 1 Gudgeon
Weather – Mild, mostly cloudy, breezy.
Work is going well at the moment with all my hard work beginning to pay dividends, with good April & May pay days to look forward to. The past 5 weeks has been really hectic and I feel shattered, so with the office monthly meeting looming, a day’s holiday was required. Our monthly meeting are fairly boring affairs with ½ hour spent talking about what people have achieved during the previous month and updates about the new computer system that’s being implemented, whilst the next 2 hours are spend listening to 2 product providers, explaining why their investment funds and/or product is best. As the At Retirement specialist in the office, the majority of the meeting is of no interest, so it’s easier to take a day’s holiday.
With the river season drawing to close on Monday (14th), I still wanted to catch a decent chub, because most of the chub I catch now are from lakes and they are long & flabby, when compared to their river cousins.
I decided to fish our club stretch of the Avon, which we share with Reybridge AC. Well I thought that was the case, but later found out this arrangement was stopped 8 years, which didn’t sound right. So that’s something to double check.
Despite 2 previous attempts I had failed to catch a decent chub and with the likihood I will be getting back to regular match fishing soon I was unsure when I would get another chance.
Tactics for the day would fish the stick with maggot or caster and the lead with bread. I don’t have the patience to sit on the lead all day, so the stick would see the most use. I had brought 1½pt caster, ½pt of hemp and ½pt of maggot, with the intention of giving them some feed and hopefully pull in a few big chub. My stick rig was a 4BB alloy stick, with an olivette bulk, 2 droppers, .11 hooklength and 18 carbon chub hook.
The first swim I chose produced very little, so after an hour I moved slightly downstream and that also produced very little. Although the river had good flow, it was a little clear, so decided to find a deeper spot. My 3rd (and final swim) produced most of my fish. The lead and bread again didn’t produce, so a switch to the stick produced small fish straight away, feeding a big pinch of caster & hemp every cast. After an hour I hooked a decent chub, but it did me in a snag. A further look on the lead & bread still failed to produce. A switch back to the stick produced a furry of small roach mostly on double maggot, I had a few on caster, but maggot was definitely best. Bites dried up a little, before I hooked another chub, this time I made sure it didn’t make the snag and when I netted it I knew I caught what I came for.
At 4lb 11oz, it was 2oz short of my PB, but it was a cracking fish. A big deep set fish with hardly a mark on it, just wish I had a camera. I had to change by hook because it had started to straighten, so chucked out the lead, whilst I tied a new hooklength. Instead of bread, decide to impale 4 maggots size 14. Just I was about to re-attach the hooklength the tip ripped round and a 1½lb chub was soon landed.
A change back to the stick and bites were drying up, I had to keep changing the depth and searching different areas of the swim, but at least I was still periodically catching. However the reason for the lack of bites showed itself. A jack pike was chasing the fish around.
As the light was fading I was feeding more heavily and decided to finish the session on the lead, whilst I packed away the stick rod. I turned my back for a split second, heard the rod being dragged off the rest. When I looked back my rod was pointing straight at the fish as it tried to drag my rod it. If it wasn’t for my reel catching on some undergrowth it would have probably succeeded. At 3lb 1oz was definitely worth it. Again it was on maggot, I suspect the chub had seen quite a bit of bread recently and I doubt they see much caster and maggot.
I won’t be doing much fishing over the next 4 weeks. Need to revise for an exam on 14th April. Know what I would rather be doing!
Catch – 20 Roach, 6 Chub, 5 Dace, 5 Minnow, 4 Perch, 1 Gudgeon
Weather – Mild, mostly cloudy, breezy.
Work is going well at the moment with all my hard work beginning to pay dividends, with good April & May pay days to look forward to. The past 5 weeks has been really hectic and I feel shattered, so with the office monthly meeting looming, a day’s holiday was required. Our monthly meeting are fairly boring affairs with ½ hour spent talking about what people have achieved during the previous month and updates about the new computer system that’s being implemented, whilst the next 2 hours are spend listening to 2 product providers, explaining why their investment funds and/or product is best. As the At Retirement specialist in the office, the majority of the meeting is of no interest, so it’s easier to take a day’s holiday.
With the river season drawing to close on Monday (14th), I still wanted to catch a decent chub, because most of the chub I catch now are from lakes and they are long & flabby, when compared to their river cousins.
I decided to fish our club stretch of the Avon, which we share with Reybridge AC. Well I thought that was the case, but later found out this arrangement was stopped 8 years, which didn’t sound right. So that’s something to double check.
Despite 2 previous attempts I had failed to catch a decent chub and with the likihood I will be getting back to regular match fishing soon I was unsure when I would get another chance.
Tactics for the day would fish the stick with maggot or caster and the lead with bread. I don’t have the patience to sit on the lead all day, so the stick would see the most use. I had brought 1½pt caster, ½pt of hemp and ½pt of maggot, with the intention of giving them some feed and hopefully pull in a few big chub. My stick rig was a 4BB alloy stick, with an olivette bulk, 2 droppers, .11 hooklength and 18 carbon chub hook.
The first swim I chose produced very little, so after an hour I moved slightly downstream and that also produced very little. Although the river had good flow, it was a little clear, so decided to find a deeper spot. My 3rd (and final swim) produced most of my fish. The lead and bread again didn’t produce, so a switch to the stick produced small fish straight away, feeding a big pinch of caster & hemp every cast. After an hour I hooked a decent chub, but it did me in a snag. A further look on the lead & bread still failed to produce. A switch back to the stick produced a furry of small roach mostly on double maggot, I had a few on caster, but maggot was definitely best. Bites dried up a little, before I hooked another chub, this time I made sure it didn’t make the snag and when I netted it I knew I caught what I came for.
At 4lb 11oz, it was 2oz short of my PB, but it was a cracking fish. A big deep set fish with hardly a mark on it, just wish I had a camera. I had to change by hook because it had started to straighten, so chucked out the lead, whilst I tied a new hooklength. Instead of bread, decide to impale 4 maggots size 14. Just I was about to re-attach the hooklength the tip ripped round and a 1½lb chub was soon landed.
A change back to the stick and bites were drying up, I had to keep changing the depth and searching different areas of the swim, but at least I was still periodically catching. However the reason for the lack of bites showed itself. A jack pike was chasing the fish around.
As the light was fading I was feeding more heavily and decided to finish the session on the lead, whilst I packed away the stick rod. I turned my back for a split second, heard the rod being dragged off the rest. When I looked back my rod was pointing straight at the fish as it tried to drag my rod it. If it wasn’t for my reel catching on some undergrowth it would have probably succeeded. At 3lb 1oz was definitely worth it. Again it was on maggot, I suspect the chub had seen quite a bit of bread recently and I doubt they see much caster and maggot.
I won’t be doing much fishing over the next 4 weeks. Need to revise for an exam on 14th April. Know what I would rather be doing!
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