Weight - 43lb 8oz (15lb 12oz - silvers)
Catch - 8 Carp, 15 Perch, 4 Bream, 2 Tench, 2 Roach, 1 F1
Weather - Bright start, clouding over, rain later
Match - Lands End Winter League - rd 1
Placing - 13th out of 35 overall, 9th out of 12 overall section, 2nd in section silvers
Being the first round of the league, I didn't mind which lake I drew, however p13 was fairly low on my wish list, since it hasn't showed much recent form. With all the rain during the week the somerset levels had turned into one massive lake and Mike had to pump water out of the lakes so we could get on the platforms.
Because I had to do some gardening down the left hand edge, meant I was a little late starting, but I managed to feed micros & groundbait at 11.5m and caster down the left hand edge on time and started fishing about 10mins later.
I went straight out towards the aerator with corn and caught a carp and a tench, but with no more showing it was time to cup in some micros, really in response to Mark on p11, who after moaning like hell about his peg was catching carp on pellet over micros.
My 11.5m line only produced a pound skimmer all match, which was a real surprise, having done well recently over groundbait & pellet. Whether it was because the water was more coloured I don't know. I had also kept topping up with a small amount of pellet by the aerator, but again this failed to produce.
Fortunately the left hand margin, produced a number of perch, but nothing bigger than 8oz, along with a decent F1, a 3lb tench and a couple of small carp.
With 2 hours to go I thought I was doing OK. Mark was still catching but those carp would not come my side of the rope. At one point I thought I would start catching at 15m towards the island where I had been feeding 4s by catapult. First put in resulted in a carp, then I had 3 decent skimmers all on 4mm expander, but after this initial run of fish it was back to having to wait a while of a bite.
I had also been feeding caster towards p14 platform, but when I tried there I didn't have a bite, so ended up dumping caster & corn in an effort to pull in a few fish without success. Dale was on p15 and if there are any carp about he usually catching a few, but today he really struggled, which suggest there wasn't too many in this part of the lake.
In hindsight, I think I would have had my 11.5m swim at 8m and fed a metre or 2 off the aerator. Also I could have struck with catching down the left hand edge, catching perch, but I couldn't go further than 13m due to sunken branches at 14m. Over recent years, its been noticeable that if you want a weight of silvers, that the perch and chub which you would catch on maggot/caster are becoming less dominate and the skimmers which are growing on are becoming more important and generally caught on pellet. So sticking with catching those perch would have meant not catching the skimmers.
In the end I was disappointed to be 9th in section, i thought I had down better, although my carp where on the small side, however the majority of weights came from the form pegs. The only good news was coming 2nd in section in the silvers, picking up by default. The next round for me will be on Johns (no3) Lake on 9th Dec.
1st 104-10 - Mark Poppleton - p11
2nd 82-11 - Mike Duckett - p22
3rd 75- 4 - Criag Edmunds - p26
4th 60- 8 - Tom Thick - p17
5th 60- 6 - Tom Mangoll - p3
6th 60- 1 - Bob Gulluck - p68
Silvers
1st 17- 8 - Tom Thick - p17
1st 17- 8 - Mark Brennan - p31
3rd 15-13 - Bob Gulluck - p68
4th 15-12 - Ken Rayner - p13
Monday 26 November 2012
Monday 19 November 2012
18/11/12 - Lands End - Johns
Weight - 33lb 12oz (6lb 4oz - silvers)
Catch - 8 Carp, 3 Skimmers, 2 F1, 2 Roach, 1 Crucian, 1 Tench
Weather - Frosty start. Bright clear day.
Match - Open - 6th out of 16
Originally todays match was going to be only on Johns (no3) Lake, but with 16 booked in it was decided to have 4 pegs on Speci.
Following yesterdays mild day, this morning we were greeted by a frost and the prospect of a hard day with bright sunshine and a light breeze. I was reasonable happy with 58 since it can throw up a few fish, but after a cold night I suspected the fish would be happier at the bottom end of the lake.
Just 2 rigs today since it was the same depth all over. A HB frostie 0.3g > .10 > 18 silverfish pellet & a HB shindig 0.2g > .12 > 18B911. I also set up a 4x12 jolly to fish maggot, but that only got used for about 2mins.
The 3 main areas targeted were 13m to my right by the bramble bush, 14m in open water and the corner of the island. Usually this area of the lake only produces a few silvers, so carp would be the main focus, but I couldn’t see them feeding all match, so I wanted to cover my bases, hence the relatively light rigs.
A pinch of groundbait with a few micros was deposited in the open water. Whilst that settled I searched the swim with a piece of corn. Except for a few liners nothing showed, so started to catapult 6-8 4mm pellet into the other 2 swims to hopefully entice a few fish to feed later.
The open water swim started well enough on soft pellet, by toss potting a pinch of pellet, I caught a couple of skimmers, F1s and a crucian, but had to be patient, because you would wait 5-10mins before the float would go under.
As the match progressed, it became obvious there wasn’t too many fish willing to feed. I did try maggot, but that only produced a tiny roach, so struck with soft pellet which was still producing the odd fish.
I had my first carp from the right hand swim, but at less than 1lb it went into the silvers net. However I started picking up the a few better carp from the open water & RH swims all on soft pellet. The corner of the island only produced 1 carp, which was a surprise, because there was a few fish milling around, but they just didn’t want to feed. I even tried dumping ½ a cup of maggot & caster, without success.
Going into the last hour I was hoping the fish would feed late in the fading light. In fact it was dire, with only 1 small roach that had managed to whittle down the pellet. In the end I was quite pleased to have caught what I did and it was the best weight at the top end of the lake, however all the better weights came from the bottom end.
1st 58- 0 – Mark Walsh – p41
2nd 49- 2 – Tom Mangoll – p68
3rd 47- 3 – Adrian Jefferies – p45
4th 43-11 – Allan Oram – p31
5th 34-12 – Nick Merry – p65
6th 33-12 – Ken Rayner – p58
Silvers
1st 14-12 – Tom Mangoll – p68
2nd 12- 4 – Mark Brennan – p25
3rd 10- 0 – p70
Catch - 8 Carp, 3 Skimmers, 2 F1, 2 Roach, 1 Crucian, 1 Tench
Weather - Frosty start. Bright clear day.
Match - Open - 6th out of 16
Originally todays match was going to be only on Johns (no3) Lake, but with 16 booked in it was decided to have 4 pegs on Speci.
Following yesterdays mild day, this morning we were greeted by a frost and the prospect of a hard day with bright sunshine and a light breeze. I was reasonable happy with 58 since it can throw up a few fish, but after a cold night I suspected the fish would be happier at the bottom end of the lake.
Just 2 rigs today since it was the same depth all over. A HB frostie 0.3g > .10 > 18 silverfish pellet & a HB shindig 0.2g > .12 > 18B911. I also set up a 4x12 jolly to fish maggot, but that only got used for about 2mins.
The 3 main areas targeted were 13m to my right by the bramble bush, 14m in open water and the corner of the island. Usually this area of the lake only produces a few silvers, so carp would be the main focus, but I couldn’t see them feeding all match, so I wanted to cover my bases, hence the relatively light rigs.
A pinch of groundbait with a few micros was deposited in the open water. Whilst that settled I searched the swim with a piece of corn. Except for a few liners nothing showed, so started to catapult 6-8 4mm pellet into the other 2 swims to hopefully entice a few fish to feed later.
The open water swim started well enough on soft pellet, by toss potting a pinch of pellet, I caught a couple of skimmers, F1s and a crucian, but had to be patient, because you would wait 5-10mins before the float would go under.
As the match progressed, it became obvious there wasn’t too many fish willing to feed. I did try maggot, but that only produced a tiny roach, so struck with soft pellet which was still producing the odd fish.
I had my first carp from the right hand swim, but at less than 1lb it went into the silvers net. However I started picking up the a few better carp from the open water & RH swims all on soft pellet. The corner of the island only produced 1 carp, which was a surprise, because there was a few fish milling around, but they just didn’t want to feed. I even tried dumping ½ a cup of maggot & caster, without success.
Going into the last hour I was hoping the fish would feed late in the fading light. In fact it was dire, with only 1 small roach that had managed to whittle down the pellet. In the end I was quite pleased to have caught what I did and it was the best weight at the top end of the lake, however all the better weights came from the bottom end.
1st 58- 0 – Mark Walsh – p41
2nd 49- 2 – Tom Mangoll – p68
3rd 47- 3 – Adrian Jefferies – p45
4th 43-11 – Allan Oram – p31
5th 34-12 – Nick Merry – p65
6th 33-12 – Ken Rayner – p58
Silvers
1st 14-12 – Tom Mangoll – p68
2nd 12- 4 – Mark Brennan – p25
3rd 10- 0 – p70
Saturday 17 November 2012
17/11/12 - Lands End - Speci
Weight - 71lb 12oz (23lb - silvers)
Catch - 14 Bream, 7 Carp, 3 Roach, 1 F1, 1 Chub
Weather - Mild, sunny, light breeze
Match - Open - 2nd out of 8
I sent Mike a text early in the week about fishing a different lake this Saturday and my wish was granted. At least Speci lake had more colour at the moment, than Match lake.
During the draw some wag thought it was a good idea to put only pegs 11 & 15 in the bucket. Oh how they laughed when I opened the ticket to see 15 staring back at me! The real draw put me on 34 which is normally ok for a few fish.
I had Mike West to my left who was feeding enough for everyone. As for me, I took a more considered approach. A small ball of groundbait and micros was deposited at the bottom of the shelf slightly to my right, plus some caster tight to the island.
I started off on corn at the bottom of the shelf on the corner of the island, but the light reflection was awful and I really struggled to see the float amongst the leaves. So plenty of lifting and dropping and the float did go under (I think) and I was soon attached to a big fish. 15mins later a big common (12lb 3oz) was safely netted, which was a nice start.
No further fish came, but that was mainly because I couldn't see the float. A switch to the top of the shelf with caster only resulted in a few liners, but no fish. In fact I didn't have any fish on top of the shelf, despite trying pellet later.
A switch to the bottom of the shelf resulted in a chub first put in, then skimmers on 4mm expanders. By toss potting a pinch of pellet every put in I kept bites coming. When ever I couldn't get a bite I would top up with another nugget of groundbait & micros.
In the meantime I had kept catapulting 4s at the bottom of the shelf on the corner of the island, which initially produced another carp and a couple of roach.
Half way in, Jim on p32 had probably overtaken me when he had 4 or 5 carp in short time. However I managed to keep the skimmers going, which I was happy to stay with because not many carp were showing and I had managed a couple of carp on soft pellet.
With 90mins to go I thought a couple more carp would put me in the frame. I had been feeding the margin, but no carp. I tried pellet tight to the island, but again no carp. Another carp on corn, before 4 skimmers on the bounce, then another carp. In the last 10mins I had another 2 carp , 1 on pellet and the other on corn.
As we were packing up Tom walked down from p40, admitting to 4 carp and 20lb of silvers, but Keith on 25 had 10 carp, so it looked I was likely to win. And that was how it was until Tom weighed in. His 4 carp turned into 5. As for his 20lb (and he was adamant he didn't have more than 20lb) turned into 44lb to beat me by 4lb!
Overall the lake fished well and most caught a few fish.
1st 75-13 - Tom Mangoll - p40
2nd 71-12 - Ken Rayner - p34
3rd 54-11 - Keith Fielder - p25
4th 40-11 - Jim Jenner - p32
5th 39-1 - Mike Duckett - p31
6th 34-13 - Mike West - p33
Silvers
1st 44- 4 - Tom Mangoll - p40
2nd 23- 0 - Ken Rayner - p34
3rd 19-15 - Dave Wescott - p36
Catch - 14 Bream, 7 Carp, 3 Roach, 1 F1, 1 Chub
Weather - Mild, sunny, light breeze
Match - Open - 2nd out of 8
I sent Mike a text early in the week about fishing a different lake this Saturday and my wish was granted. At least Speci lake had more colour at the moment, than Match lake.
During the draw some wag thought it was a good idea to put only pegs 11 & 15 in the bucket. Oh how they laughed when I opened the ticket to see 15 staring back at me! The real draw put me on 34 which is normally ok for a few fish.
I had Mike West to my left who was feeding enough for everyone. As for me, I took a more considered approach. A small ball of groundbait and micros was deposited at the bottom of the shelf slightly to my right, plus some caster tight to the island.
I started off on corn at the bottom of the shelf on the corner of the island, but the light reflection was awful and I really struggled to see the float amongst the leaves. So plenty of lifting and dropping and the float did go under (I think) and I was soon attached to a big fish. 15mins later a big common (12lb 3oz) was safely netted, which was a nice start.
No further fish came, but that was mainly because I couldn't see the float. A switch to the top of the shelf with caster only resulted in a few liners, but no fish. In fact I didn't have any fish on top of the shelf, despite trying pellet later.
A switch to the bottom of the shelf resulted in a chub first put in, then skimmers on 4mm expanders. By toss potting a pinch of pellet every put in I kept bites coming. When ever I couldn't get a bite I would top up with another nugget of groundbait & micros.
In the meantime I had kept catapulting 4s at the bottom of the shelf on the corner of the island, which initially produced another carp and a couple of roach.
Half way in, Jim on p32 had probably overtaken me when he had 4 or 5 carp in short time. However I managed to keep the skimmers going, which I was happy to stay with because not many carp were showing and I had managed a couple of carp on soft pellet.
With 90mins to go I thought a couple more carp would put me in the frame. I had been feeding the margin, but no carp. I tried pellet tight to the island, but again no carp. Another carp on corn, before 4 skimmers on the bounce, then another carp. In the last 10mins I had another 2 carp , 1 on pellet and the other on corn.
As we were packing up Tom walked down from p40, admitting to 4 carp and 20lb of silvers, but Keith on 25 had 10 carp, so it looked I was likely to win. And that was how it was until Tom weighed in. His 4 carp turned into 5. As for his 20lb (and he was adamant he didn't have more than 20lb) turned into 44lb to beat me by 4lb!
Overall the lake fished well and most caught a few fish.
1st 75-13 - Tom Mangoll - p40
2nd 71-12 - Ken Rayner - p34
3rd 54-11 - Keith Fielder - p25
4th 40-11 - Jim Jenner - p32
5th 39-1 - Mike Duckett - p31
6th 34-13 - Mike West - p33
Silvers
1st 44- 4 - Tom Mangoll - p40
2nd 23- 0 - Ken Rayner - p34
3rd 19-15 - Dave Wescott - p36
Monday 12 November 2012
11/11/12 - Fishponds
Weight - 223lb 1oz
Catch - 35 Carp
Weather - Overnight frost. Bright, sunny day
Match - Club - 1st out 8
I forgot to mention is yesterday’s blog that I passed my exam, which now means I have my diploma and will be able to continue to provide financial advice in the new year! The reputation of the financial services industry has taken a battering in recent years, however all advisers MUST be diploma status (equivalent to a university degree) before they can advice from next year. So there has been a big effort to promote a more professional industry, which it certainly is, as well as being very tightly regulated. The cost of this professionalism and increased regulation? With effect from 1/1/2013 there will be a fundamental shift from commission to an adviser fee, which is all well and good, however the negative aspect is likely to put those that really need financial advice are unlikely to be able to afford it.
Today’s match was originally scheduled to be on the deep stretch of the river at Reybridge, but access is a real bugger and with all the recent rain it was now nearly impossible. So it was switched to our club lake, which I wasn’t disappointed about.
Following an overnight frost and a forecast for a sunny, windless day, we were all expecting a difficult day. As it turned out we need not have worried, because the lake fished surprisingly well.
Peg 6 was my home for the day. I settled on 1 pole rig (HB dweezil 0.3g > 0.16 > 16 B911) to fish 9m left and right in 7ft of water. I also set up a Loaded Insert Waggler to fish 20m out in 8ft of water and a straight lead rod, but that never got used.
After feeding 4s & corn over my pole lines, it was straight out with the waggler, but with nothing to show for my efforts after 15mins, it was time to try the pole. In the meantime Tim on p10 already had 3 carp on soft pellet.
Over the next couple of hours I caught consistently, mostly on corn and 6mm expander, feeding a pouch of 4s & a few bits of corn after each fish. When the swims slowed, I would try the waggler, which I had been feeding with 6s & corn, but I didn’t catch here until the last couple of hours, with 6 carp coming to the waggler & corn.
A relatively trouble free match. I felt I was leading the way, but was aware that Glenn was catching around the corner on peg 3. Come the end he was admitting to 30 carp and 1 bream, so unless he had really big fish I was the winner.
1st 223- 1 – Ken – p6
2nd 195-15 – Glenn – p3
3rd 160- 1 – Marcus – p19
4th 147- 2 – Tim – p10
5th 110-10 – Chris – p5
Catch - 35 Carp
Weather - Overnight frost. Bright, sunny day
Match - Club - 1st out 8
I forgot to mention is yesterday’s blog that I passed my exam, which now means I have my diploma and will be able to continue to provide financial advice in the new year! The reputation of the financial services industry has taken a battering in recent years, however all advisers MUST be diploma status (equivalent to a university degree) before they can advice from next year. So there has been a big effort to promote a more professional industry, which it certainly is, as well as being very tightly regulated. The cost of this professionalism and increased regulation? With effect from 1/1/2013 there will be a fundamental shift from commission to an adviser fee, which is all well and good, however the negative aspect is likely to put those that really need financial advice are unlikely to be able to afford it.
Today’s match was originally scheduled to be on the deep stretch of the river at Reybridge, but access is a real bugger and with all the recent rain it was now nearly impossible. So it was switched to our club lake, which I wasn’t disappointed about.
Following an overnight frost and a forecast for a sunny, windless day, we were all expecting a difficult day. As it turned out we need not have worried, because the lake fished surprisingly well.
Peg 6 was my home for the day. I settled on 1 pole rig (HB dweezil 0.3g > 0.16 > 16 B911) to fish 9m left and right in 7ft of water. I also set up a Loaded Insert Waggler to fish 20m out in 8ft of water and a straight lead rod, but that never got used.
After feeding 4s & corn over my pole lines, it was straight out with the waggler, but with nothing to show for my efforts after 15mins, it was time to try the pole. In the meantime Tim on p10 already had 3 carp on soft pellet.
Over the next couple of hours I caught consistently, mostly on corn and 6mm expander, feeding a pouch of 4s & a few bits of corn after each fish. When the swims slowed, I would try the waggler, which I had been feeding with 6s & corn, but I didn’t catch here until the last couple of hours, with 6 carp coming to the waggler & corn.
A relatively trouble free match. I felt I was leading the way, but was aware that Glenn was catching around the corner on peg 3. Come the end he was admitting to 30 carp and 1 bream, so unless he had really big fish I was the winner.
1st 223- 1 – Ken – p6
2nd 195-15 – Glenn – p3
3rd 160- 1 – Marcus – p19
4th 147- 2 – Tim – p10
5th 110-10 – Chris – p5
Sunday 11 November 2012
10/11/12 - Lands End - Match
Weight - 34lb 2oz (12lb 12oz - silvers)
Catch - 5 Carp, 31 Perch, 15 Roach, 2 Skimmers
Weather - Mostly sunny.
Match - Open - 2nd out of 6
A disappointing turnout, but hopefully numbers will increase once the winter league starts.
There was only one peg I didnt want, peg 15 and I was less than impressed when I found myself there again. At least I knew the contours of the peg and set up similar to last week, with the addition of another rig (powertrap 0.2g > .16 > 16 B911) to fish the other side of the bush to my right on double corn.
With no ripple and clear water this match was always going to be difficult and with only 6 of us the fish had plenty of space to sulk away.
I started the match on corn looking for an early carp, but never had a liner. In the meantime Mike West on 17 had 2, whilst Mark on 7 and Nick on 19 had 1.
Time to try the island and I caught a couple of fish on caster, but they werent coming very quickly, probably unsettled by the sun & clear water. A switch to my left fishing under the tree resulted in a run of perch all on caster, but I was aware Nick seemed to be catching some better silvers.
I had a decent skimmer on 4mm expander over my micro/grounbait line which I had kept topped up every 30mins with a pinch of bait. 15mins later I hooked another, but bumped it when my elastic somehow wrapped around the pole tip. Needless to say I never had another from that swim.
Back onto the perch and I was struggling to keep them on the hook. It didnt help that I had to strike sideway when fishing to my left, however the average size was only 3-4oz and I really needed some quality.
With 2hrs to go and only 10lb in the net, I felt it was time to go looking for carp again. If I could get a run together it wont take long to catch up, becuase not many had shown so far. Time to be bold saw me throw a big hand of pellet and corn. 20mins later I put in a rig, really to have a cup of coffee, which I nearly spilt when the float went under and the carp was trying to snag me in the bush. Well that cheered me up. Another 3 from there meant I was back in the running.
I had also been catapulting 4s 14m to my left all match and eventually the swim showed signs of life in the fading light, with a decent skimmer on pellet, before losing a carp. 5mins from time my 5th and decisive carp was caught on corn.
A difficult match for everyone. Mark won from last weeks winning peg and he had much better quality fish. His 17-3 of silvers was made up of 6 skimmers, 2 perch and a few roach, plus he had 4 carp.
1st 44-13 - Mark Poppleton - p7
2nd 34- 2 - Ken Rayner - p15
3rd 32-10 - Mike West - p17
4th 31- 0 - Nick Merry - p19
5th 17- 0 - Jim Jenner - p21
6th 16- 4 - Dave Wescott - p5
Silvers
1st - 17- 3 - Mark Poppleton
2nd - 17- 0 - Nick Merry
Catch - 5 Carp, 31 Perch, 15 Roach, 2 Skimmers
Weather - Mostly sunny.
Match - Open - 2nd out of 6
A disappointing turnout, but hopefully numbers will increase once the winter league starts.
There was only one peg I didnt want, peg 15 and I was less than impressed when I found myself there again. At least I knew the contours of the peg and set up similar to last week, with the addition of another rig (powertrap 0.2g > .16 > 16 B911) to fish the other side of the bush to my right on double corn.
With no ripple and clear water this match was always going to be difficult and with only 6 of us the fish had plenty of space to sulk away.
I started the match on corn looking for an early carp, but never had a liner. In the meantime Mike West on 17 had 2, whilst Mark on 7 and Nick on 19 had 1.
Time to try the island and I caught a couple of fish on caster, but they werent coming very quickly, probably unsettled by the sun & clear water. A switch to my left fishing under the tree resulted in a run of perch all on caster, but I was aware Nick seemed to be catching some better silvers.
I had a decent skimmer on 4mm expander over my micro/grounbait line which I had kept topped up every 30mins with a pinch of bait. 15mins later I hooked another, but bumped it when my elastic somehow wrapped around the pole tip. Needless to say I never had another from that swim.
Back onto the perch and I was struggling to keep them on the hook. It didnt help that I had to strike sideway when fishing to my left, however the average size was only 3-4oz and I really needed some quality.
With 2hrs to go and only 10lb in the net, I felt it was time to go looking for carp again. If I could get a run together it wont take long to catch up, becuase not many had shown so far. Time to be bold saw me throw a big hand of pellet and corn. 20mins later I put in a rig, really to have a cup of coffee, which I nearly spilt when the float went under and the carp was trying to snag me in the bush. Well that cheered me up. Another 3 from there meant I was back in the running.
I had also been catapulting 4s 14m to my left all match and eventually the swim showed signs of life in the fading light, with a decent skimmer on pellet, before losing a carp. 5mins from time my 5th and decisive carp was caught on corn.
A difficult match for everyone. Mark won from last weeks winning peg and he had much better quality fish. His 17-3 of silvers was made up of 6 skimmers, 2 perch and a few roach, plus he had 4 carp.
1st 44-13 - Mark Poppleton - p7
2nd 34- 2 - Ken Rayner - p15
3rd 32-10 - Mike West - p17
4th 31- 0 - Nick Merry - p19
5th 17- 0 - Jim Jenner - p21
6th 16- 4 - Dave Wescott - p5
Silvers
1st - 17- 3 - Mark Poppleton
2nd - 17- 0 - Nick Merry
Sunday 4 November 2012
03/11/12 - Lands End - Match
Weight - 33lb 5oz (11lb 13oz - silvers)
Catch - 6 Carp, 17 Roach, 12 Perch, 10 Skimmers, 2 F1, 2 Chub, 1 Hybrid
Weather - Cold. Showery start, cleared later
Match - Open - 5th out of 8 (2nd - silvers)
Not much to talk about this match. Initially there was suppose to be 11 fishing, but both Mike & Nick Duckett had to work and another cryed off becuase he had a cold!
Prior to the draw I said I didnt want, 1, 11 ro 15 becuase I've seen these pegs too frequently, so I shouldnt have been surprised to have pulled 15. I was even less surprised when Mark drew 21.
The last few days has seen a lot of cold rain fall, which meant the colour dropping out of the lake and it certainly made things tricky. The day was spent continually rotating swims. Firstly, by the island and under the tree to my left I caught roach, perch and chub on maggot or caster. At the bottom of the far shelf to my left I had carp and F1s over loose feed 4s on 4mm expander and to my right skimmers over micros & groundbait again on 4mm expander. By the bush to my right I didnt have a bite.
The problem today was the size of fish, which were mostly small and in my experience here if you get pestered by tiny roach, then there are usually few quality fish around. Even my skimmers were only handsized. After it became obvious there wasnt many carp feeding a change from .12 hooklength to .10 provided more bites, but it didnt improve the size of fish.
1st 71- 4 - Mike West - p7
2nd 50-10 - Dale Housen - p17
3rd 44- 9 - Mark Poppleton - p21
4th 35-10 - Dave Wescott - p13
5th 33- 5 - Ken Rayner - p15
Silvers
1st 20- 1 - Mark Poppleton - p21
2nd 11-13 - Ken Rayner - p15
Catch - 6 Carp, 17 Roach, 12 Perch, 10 Skimmers, 2 F1, 2 Chub, 1 Hybrid
Weather - Cold. Showery start, cleared later
Match - Open - 5th out of 8 (2nd - silvers)
Not much to talk about this match. Initially there was suppose to be 11 fishing, but both Mike & Nick Duckett had to work and another cryed off becuase he had a cold!
Prior to the draw I said I didnt want, 1, 11 ro 15 becuase I've seen these pegs too frequently, so I shouldnt have been surprised to have pulled 15. I was even less surprised when Mark drew 21.
The last few days has seen a lot of cold rain fall, which meant the colour dropping out of the lake and it certainly made things tricky. The day was spent continually rotating swims. Firstly, by the island and under the tree to my left I caught roach, perch and chub on maggot or caster. At the bottom of the far shelf to my left I had carp and F1s over loose feed 4s on 4mm expander and to my right skimmers over micros & groundbait again on 4mm expander. By the bush to my right I didnt have a bite.
The problem today was the size of fish, which were mostly small and in my experience here if you get pestered by tiny roach, then there are usually few quality fish around. Even my skimmers were only handsized. After it became obvious there wasnt many carp feeding a change from .12 hooklength to .10 provided more bites, but it didnt improve the size of fish.
1st 71- 4 - Mike West - p7
2nd 50-10 - Dale Housen - p17
3rd 44- 9 - Mark Poppleton - p21
4th 35-10 - Dave Wescott - p13
5th 33- 5 - Ken Rayner - p15
Silvers
1st 20- 1 - Mark Poppleton - p21
2nd 11-13 - Ken Rayner - p15
Thursday 1 November 2012
31/10/12 - Lands End - Match
Weight - 43lb 4oz (16lb 8oz - silvers)
Catch - 7 Carp, 7 Roach, 6 Perch, 5 Skimmers, 2 Tench, 2 Crucians, 1 Rudd
Weather - Cloudy, showery and windy
Match - Avon Angling Open - 8th out of 10 (3rd in silvers)
With a few days holiday left over to use by the end of year, I decided to book in at Lands End, however as the day drew closer the weather forecast became increasingly miserable and as I was driving down in the rain the office really didn’t seem a bad place to be. Fortunately the really heavy rain managed to stay away until the drive home.
With only 10 of us today we had plenty of space and I fancied a peg with the wind off my back. So I was really disappointed to draw peg 1 with the blowing through the gap in the trees into my face – not what I wanted. We were all fishing for 2nd when Tony drew peg 19 with the next peg to his left being 22. One day I will draw that peg, even by the law of averages I should have drawn it a couple of times, but once in 5 years is starting to grate a bit.
Recent form of my peg wasn’t consistant. In Saturdays match only 3lb came off it, although 63lb weighed in on Sunday, but with a cool wind blowing straight in, I wasn’t sure. The other concern was the water clarity. The colour does drop out of this lake quite quickly.
At least with this peg you have plenty of options. So 4s were catapulted to the bottom of the shelf by the island, groundbait & micros at 14m in open water and caster on top of the shelf along the left bank. I deliberately didn’t feed anything initially at the bottom of the shelf along the end bank to see whether I could mug an early carp on corn, because with no-one opposite the fish had plenty of room to back off and I felt a softly, softly approach was required.
After 20mins I only had 1 skimmer. A perch and a lost carp on caster (under my platform) came from on top of the shelf and a crucian from the open water swim on soft pellet. However after 3hrs I only added a couple of small carp and a handful of small roach on caster or maggot.
I had started feeding caster and little corn at the bottom of the shelf along the end bank, but after an initial spurt of fish that soon died. I had also been feeding caster on the end of the bush to my right, but again only a few small fish. I was seriously considering packing up.
Due to the wind I had been using a HB Chump 0.5g, however the wind wasn’t quite as bad as expected and I had a gut feeling having the olivette bulk in the clear water wasn’t right, so switched to a HB frostie 0.4g with a spread bulk. I also re-fed my open water swim with groundbait & micros, which I had left alone simply because I couldn’t see the float due to the continuing changing light conditions, but with lighter winds the problem wasn’t quite as bad.
The remainder of the match produced some quality silvers and a couple of carp on 4mm expander. Throughout I had been feeding 4s to the point of the island where I picked up a few more silvers & carp.
The bush swim eventually produced a quality tench and a perch after feeding a big handful of caster. About ¾ of my catch came in the last half of the match, but all a little too late. Had I switched rigs even an hour earlier I think I could have challenged 3rd place, but ultimately I wont have picked up.
Fingers crossed for a better draw on Saturday.
1st 144-14 - Tony Rixon - p19
2nd 69- 6 - Adrian Jefferies - p22
3rd 52-10 - Ziggy Slowinski - p15
4th 51-11 - Phil Harding - p13
5th 46-14 - Aaron Britnell - p3
6th 46- 5 - Adam Caswell - p11
Silvers
1st 24- 8 - Aaron Britnell - p3
2nd 21- 0 - Nigel Bartlett - p5
3rd 16- 8 - Ken Rayner - p1
Catch - 7 Carp, 7 Roach, 6 Perch, 5 Skimmers, 2 Tench, 2 Crucians, 1 Rudd
Weather - Cloudy, showery and windy
Match - Avon Angling Open - 8th out of 10 (3rd in silvers)
With a few days holiday left over to use by the end of year, I decided to book in at Lands End, however as the day drew closer the weather forecast became increasingly miserable and as I was driving down in the rain the office really didn’t seem a bad place to be. Fortunately the really heavy rain managed to stay away until the drive home.
With only 10 of us today we had plenty of space and I fancied a peg with the wind off my back. So I was really disappointed to draw peg 1 with the blowing through the gap in the trees into my face – not what I wanted. We were all fishing for 2nd when Tony drew peg 19 with the next peg to his left being 22. One day I will draw that peg, even by the law of averages I should have drawn it a couple of times, but once in 5 years is starting to grate a bit.
Recent form of my peg wasn’t consistant. In Saturdays match only 3lb came off it, although 63lb weighed in on Sunday, but with a cool wind blowing straight in, I wasn’t sure. The other concern was the water clarity. The colour does drop out of this lake quite quickly.
At least with this peg you have plenty of options. So 4s were catapulted to the bottom of the shelf by the island, groundbait & micros at 14m in open water and caster on top of the shelf along the left bank. I deliberately didn’t feed anything initially at the bottom of the shelf along the end bank to see whether I could mug an early carp on corn, because with no-one opposite the fish had plenty of room to back off and I felt a softly, softly approach was required.
After 20mins I only had 1 skimmer. A perch and a lost carp on caster (under my platform) came from on top of the shelf and a crucian from the open water swim on soft pellet. However after 3hrs I only added a couple of small carp and a handful of small roach on caster or maggot.
I had started feeding caster and little corn at the bottom of the shelf along the end bank, but after an initial spurt of fish that soon died. I had also been feeding caster on the end of the bush to my right, but again only a few small fish. I was seriously considering packing up.
Due to the wind I had been using a HB Chump 0.5g, however the wind wasn’t quite as bad as expected and I had a gut feeling having the olivette bulk in the clear water wasn’t right, so switched to a HB frostie 0.4g with a spread bulk. I also re-fed my open water swim with groundbait & micros, which I had left alone simply because I couldn’t see the float due to the continuing changing light conditions, but with lighter winds the problem wasn’t quite as bad.
The remainder of the match produced some quality silvers and a couple of carp on 4mm expander. Throughout I had been feeding 4s to the point of the island where I picked up a few more silvers & carp.
The bush swim eventually produced a quality tench and a perch after feeding a big handful of caster. About ¾ of my catch came in the last half of the match, but all a little too late. Had I switched rigs even an hour earlier I think I could have challenged 3rd place, but ultimately I wont have picked up.
Fingers crossed for a better draw on Saturday.
1st 144-14 - Tony Rixon - p19
2nd 69- 6 - Adrian Jefferies - p22
3rd 52-10 - Ziggy Slowinski - p15
4th 51-11 - Phil Harding - p13
5th 46-14 - Aaron Britnell - p3
6th 46- 5 - Adam Caswell - p11
Silvers
1st 24- 8 - Aaron Britnell - p3
2nd 21- 0 - Nigel Bartlett - p5
3rd 16- 8 - Ken Rayner - p1
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