Sunday 29 May 2016

28/05/16 - Viaduct - Campbell

Weights - 100lb 10oz (26lb 6oz)
Catch - 13 Carp, 18 Skimmers, 11 Tench, 4 Roach 1 Perch
Weather - Warm & sunny.
Match - Open - 2nd out of 40 - silvers (11th overall)

After 2 weeks off I was looking forward to getting back, with today being the first of 3 days fishing. Into the coffee tin of dreams I was hoping for a day on Campbell, having avoided the lake in my last 6 visits. I was also hoping for a day on the silvers to see whether I could qualify for the silvers all winners and p123 ticked both boxes.

On arrival there was loads of carp in the margins with other things on their mind and I was quite happy with my decision to fish for silvers. For company I had hopefully a future gold medallist in Rio, James Guy on p124 and Dave White on p121, however I needed to keep a close eye on silvers specialist Nigel Bartlett on p125.

Since I wanted to focus on silvers I didn't bother with any shallow rigs, but did set up a pellet rig for skimmers and 2 margin rigs, 1 for worm/caster and a stronger rig to fish meat.

On the all-in some 4s was feed at 6m and caster down each margin at 4m. I decided to start down the left hand margin 13m towards the corner, feeding a toss pot of meat and hemp. The float hadn't settled and the elastic was being ripped out. 30mins later I had 4 carp and a tench in the net, before the fish spooked. 

First drop in on 6m produced a big skimmer and I thought happy days here we go. Unfortunately it didn't. I kept the 6m topped up but only caught small skimmers. Despite trying soft pellet, hard pellet and worms, buy just couldn't string any fish together. I did set up another pellet line at 14m, which only produced one small skimmer. They just didn't want to feed and I ended up spending most of my time fishing down the margins.

I had a couple more carp at 13m down the left hand margin on meat, but bites were becoming hard to come by. Dave who could see the whole lake thought I was keeping pace with the front runners, which would have created a bit of problem for me because I wanted to focus on the silvers, however Nigel was catching a lot of tench down his margins and it was unlikely I would win, so decided to just to keep the bites coming.

There was plenty of fish down my 4m margin swims, particularly to my left, unfortunately they were mostly spawning carp. However by fishing half a worm over caster/hemp I was catching small skimmers with the occasional carp, but no tench. I actually think I over fed the swims because I couldn't get a proper bite and stopped feeding for 15mins whilst I fished my other swims. When I dropped back decided to only feed caster, which worked much better, catching a couple more carp, but more importantly I had a run of tench up to 3lb which brought me closer to the target weight of 20/25lb which I thought would be good enough to frame for the silvers. I think it also helped that the carp activity had reduced during the afternoon.

The last hour was a bit of anti-climax, as I struggled for bites and I was left wondering whether I should have focused on the carp instead of the silvers. As it turned out I had done the right thing by staying on the silvers, but I was no where near Nigel who had 27 tench in his 67lb.

1st 188- 2 - Ian Dunlop - p135
2nd 158- 7 - Calum Craig - p128
3rd 140- 1 - Paul Cunliffe - p110
4th 128-10 - Chris Cameron - p112
5th 127- 4 - Glen Bailey - p116
6th 117- 1 - Allan Oram - p80

Silvers
1st 67- 6 - Nigel Bartlett - p125
2nd 26- 6 - Ken Rayner - p123

Sunday 8 May 2016

08/05/16 - Fishponds

Weight - 125lb 15oz
Catch - 19 Carp, 1 Eel
Weather - rainy start, then hot and sunny
Match - Club - 3rd out of 8

The first Sunday club match of the year and a disappointing turn out of only 8, but at least we all had plenty of space. Before the draw we were taking bets on whether Chris would turn up following Rovers promotion. He did and said he didn't feel too bad, but obviously the emotion of yesterday's injury time winner had it's effects, only weighing 3 fish for 25lb. Must of fallen asleep at some point :¬)

I drew peg 1 which is down the arm of the lake and one to avoid today due to the wind blowing out of the arm. A great peg when the wind is blowing in, but today I expected to struggle for bites.

Rigs for the day were 1 to fish pellet at the bottom of the shelf 8m to my right, paste down each margin and a light pellet waggler to hopefully pick off a couple of the cruisers.

Starting at the bottom of the shelf with 8mm pellet I lost a foul hooker after 10mins then caught a 1.5lb eel and that was the last fish from that swim.

After an hour I managed 1 carp from the left margin and after 2 hours I was up to 5, including one on the waggler. The rest of the match was steady, picking up the occasional fish down either margin, plus a further 2 on the waggler. The shallow fish were so easily spooked without the ripple over their heads and would disappear as quickly as they showed themselves, which meant fishing the pole shallow was a non-starter.

By the all out I was quite pleased with what I caught, feeling I got the most out of the swim, only losing 3 fish, just a shame the wind wasn't blowing the other way.

1st 146-12 - Glenn Putterill - p5
2nd 129-13 - Paul Lewis - p7
3rd 125-15 - Ken Rayner - p1
4th 75- 9 - Andy Bradley - p12

07/05/16 - Viaduct - Cary

Weight - 91lb 15oz (15lb - silvers)
Catch - 7 Carp, 15 Skimmers, 1 Perch
Weather - Warm & sunny!
Match - Open - 15th out of 31 (6th out of 15 - Cary)

As some of you know I recently replaced my Matrix with an Octbox and have to say I am so impressed with it. Its strong, comfortable, the telescopic legs don't slip and are easy to adjust. You can also open the drawers whilst still sitting, which was a major irritation with my matrix. Really cant recommend it highly enough. Having looked at couple of other more expensive boxes the build quality of the octbox is also far superior. Well worth a look if you are considering a change.

Today I really fancied a draw on Campbell, because I've yet to draw it this year. However 86 was my home for the day, which I had to smile about, having won from 87 on Monday. In fact my last 4 draws on Cary has been 88, 85, 87 and now 86. Unsurprisingly I got a few draw bag comments.

My only concern was the pegs along this bank didn't feature in Thursday's open and what breeze there was blowing down towards 109.

To be honest I had a bit of a struggle. On the all in I had a few casts on the pellet waggler, hoping to mug some of the fish showing themselves on the surface in the middle of lake. After 10mins and no indication I tried the 2+3 meat line. I was soon attached to beast which tore off before parting company leaving me with a big scale. 10mins later I netted a 16lber hooked properly, followed by 2 skimmers before the line died. And that's how my match went, catch a few before having to switch, I just couldn't put a run of fish together and looking around I wasn't the only one.

After 2hrs and still only 1 carp in the net and a handful of silvers, decided to feed some 6s and a few 8s at 14m. When I switched to fishing 8mm pellet over toss potted 6s, I started catching some proper skimmers, but no carp and as soon as the ripple disappeared so did the fish. I kept the swim topped up, but never caught anything bigger than a few hand size skimmers.

Back on the lead & pellet, I had 3 carp in as many casts, before that died. Fishing down the margins only produced bites from silvers. As for the short meat line, I had tried it a couple times without success, until 45mins from the end, when I landed a 15lber, but bizarrely after that the swim was full of small fish nibbling at the meat.

A frustrating day, when Campbell fished better than Cary. Roy Worth next to me on p85 won our lake, catching the majority of his fish, casting into the corner where there was much more ripple. The other weights around me and opposite were all very similar so I cant be too disappointed. I should have caught more, but doubt I had a chance of framing.

1st 248- 4 - Norman Sterry - p110
2nd 204- 4 - Steve Tucker -p114
3rd 196-15 - Ben Hagg - p112
4th 168-10 - Roy Worth - p85
5th 167- 0 - Jim Morrison - p102
6th 136-15 - Mike Walker - p125

Silvers
1st 39- 2 - James Rock - p111
2nd 29- 2 - Neil Bebbington - p81
3rd 22-12 - Allan Oram - p130
4th 22-10 - Nigel Easton - p100
5th 19- 4 - Steve Rolfe - p129

Tuesday 3 May 2016

02/05/16 - Viaduct - Cary

Weight - 156lb 10oz (9lb 12oz - silvers)
Catch - 15 Carp, 8 Skimmers, 4 Perch, 2 Tench, 1 Hybrid
Weather - Sunny start, heavy rain then sunny again
Match - Open - 1st out of 35

I had originally wanted to fish Harescombe for a few bites, but they were fully booked so switched my attentions to Viaduct. I had fished Thursdays costcutter weighing 84lb from peg 85 for 10th overall, but felt I should have done better, particularly in the last hour, when I lost a munter which snapped the line around the float eye and then I tangled my second rig! Only 104lb was required to frame.

Todays match was split over Cary (20 anglers) and Lodge (15 anglers), since Wiltshire Angling were on Campbell. I was near the head of the queue allowing Chris Fox to drew first. What happened next had everyone diving for cover, whilst trying very hard not to laugh. Chris's toys were thrown very far from the pram as he had the prospect of spending the next 6hrs on p55 - again. Instead he spent the day on Match Lake, leaving a grateful Mark Wynne on p56 to catch in front of p55!

As for me p87 would be my home, with Paul Homewood on p88 and a lodge resident on p86, so a little cosy. The good news was the wind blowing into our bank and I fancied for a few fish.

On the drive down I realised I forgot my float rods, fortunately the wind was quite strong so it was unlikely I would have needed them. Rigs for the day was a lead rod to fish meat or pellet, plus 3 pole rigs to fish pellet long for skimmers, a short meat line and a throw away line by the right hand bush fed with the unopened 2pts of caster from 2 days ago.

On the all in I started on the short meat line rig hoping for a mug fish, which never turned up. However it did mean I could watch where everyone was casting and feeding. 20 mins later I cast into a quite area of the lake and soon had a 15lb carp. The chap to my right already had 2 fish and Fred Roberts on 94 had also started catching.

Staying on the lead either with meat or pellet I typically had to wait 10mins for a bite. If I didn't get one after 15mins, 3 pouches of 11mm pellet was fed before switching to the pole for 10mins.

The long pellet line was soon binned due to the awkward wind. The caster swim produced a few silvers, but nothing bigger than 8oz. The meat line only produced 2 big skimmers but I didn't waste too much time on it since the lead was still producing. 

With 45mins my 4th try on the caster only produced a small skimmer, so it got 3 handfuls of caster. 15mins later and no fish on the lead I tried the caster swim again and soon netted a 10lb common.

With 30mins Fred had slowed up a bit and felt I was in with a chance of framing. 15mins left I landed another carp on the lead. 3 more handfuls of caster was fed by the bush on the off chance I could catch another carp, but knew it was unlikely I would have time to cast out for another. And that's how it turned out. I landed a 6lber with 2mins to go. In the last 2mins I had a decent hybrid, followed by a similar sized perch over the caster. I didn't realise how important those caster fish would be until the weigh in, as I won the match by 6oz!

1st 156-10 - Ken Rayner - p87
2nd 156- 4 - Dave White - p80
3rd 146-10 - Fred Roberts - p94
4th 136-10 - Chris Boulton - p99
5th 132- 2 - Alan Boulton - p86
6th 129- 9 - Mark Wynne - p56



Silvers
1st 26- 4 - Paul Blake - p69
2nd 25- 9 - Nigel Bartlett - p74
3rd 21- 8 - Jamie Parkhouse - p61 

01/05/16 - Lands End - Johns no3 Lake

Weight - 60lb 8oz
Catch - 15 Carp
Weather - Bright start, but mostly cloudy with light showers
Match - Open - 11th out of 28 (6th out of 14 - lake)

With 28 booked in there were 14 anglers on Match and no3 lakes. I didn't mind which I drew, but wasn't particularly happy to see 65 staring back at me. It's not usually used and as you can see from the photo there are reeds on either side, which meant any thoughts of fishing for silvers were discounted. Light elastics and carp wasn't an option, so carp or bust.
Since the depth was fairly uniform all over the peg, I only needed a couple of rigs, one for pellet, another for meat and finally a riot rig to fish by the reeds.
Starting across on the point of the island toss potting meat, I eventually hooked a carp which promptly took me into the left hand reeds snagging me. Some how I managed to untangle the rig, much to the amusement of the anglers around me, however I had the last laugh when I eventually landed the fish - result!

The carp by the island were being incredibly cute and I only managed 1 more on 6mm pellet, plus a small carp on meat by the reeds on the 2 hour mark.

Kev Molton and Rod Wootten opposite were also struggling, whilst Martin Alexander on 66 was catching a few silvers.

So far I had resisted going down my right margin, because it would mean standing up to see over the reeds, but with no bites from anywhere else felt I had no choice so started pinging 6s in preparation. Fishing an 8mm pellet, this proved to be the most productive area, however being so close to a bush, meant I lost a couple pulling too hard in an attempt to keep them away from the snags.

Needless to say one carp (and the smallest) was too quick getting tangled in the branches of the bush, which necessitated walking round to the bush to retrieve my rig. Surprisingly the fish was still attached and after freeing my rig the carp was soon landed.

I managed a few more carp from the swim and was really hoping to catch some better fish on the meat by the reeds. With 45mins to go I hooked an 8lber, which got itself snagged in the reeds, however whilst trying to free the carp I snapped my no4 section as I went to sit back down on my seatbox, this distraction was enough for the carp to make a successful bid for freedom. I wasn't happy!

I managed a couple more fish from the right hand margin, but doubted it would be enough today. Even taking into account the lost fish I may have struggled to pick up.

To add insult to injury I managed to jam a top kit onto another no4 section, which also snapped whilst 3 of us tried freeing it. It was properly stuck.

A rather expensive day and I don't wish to see peg 65 again.

1st 103- 4 - Gary O'Shea - p16
2nd 102- 0 - Tom Mangnall - p61
3rd 90-14 - Paul Faires - p70
4th 87- 8 - Bob Gullick - p41
5th 85- 5 - Tim Clark - p15
6th 83-15 - Leon Hubbard - p13

Silvers
1st 25- 4 - John Fuidge - p8
2nd 19-12 - Tony Rixon - p20
3rd 16-12 - Joe McMahon - p42
4th 15-11 - Martin Alexander - p66

30/04/16 - Fishponds

Weight - 90lb 6oz
Catch - 14 Carp
Weather - Sunshine and showers
Match - Club - 2nd out of 8

Today was the club's first Saturday afternoon/evening match. On arrival the sun was shining and it actually felt like spring, which made a pleasant change although that soon changed as soon as we started fishing when the heavens open and there was a noticeable drop in temperature.

There was only 8 of us today, so plenty of room and I found myself on peg 12, which I was pleased with as its one of my favourites pegs on the lake.

On the all in a 1/2 pot of 6s was fed at 8m to my left and 1/2 pot of hemp/meat to my right at the bottom of the shelf by the reeds at 5m.

Starting down the right hand side I soon had a 10lber and thought we could be in for a good day. Well an hour later I still only had 1 carp in the net, In fact everyone seemed to be struggling except for Dave on p5 who was catching down his margins.

My 8m pellet line never produced which was a first, I tried shallow, but they really weren't interested. In an attempt to make something happen a new swim was set up 11m down the left hand margin were I could use the same rig as the right hand swim.

I started catching after 2hrs, rotating left and right, but frustratingly I lost a few fish including a 10lber which just sat there out of netting range when the hook pulled.

Going into the 5th and final hour, Dave was running away with it, whilst everyone else were still struggling. Fortunately 6 carp in the last hour meant I comfortably claimed 2nd place.

1st 141- 9 - Dave Bradley - p5
2nd 90- 6 - Ken Rayner - p12
3rd 46- 6 - Andy Bradley - p14
4th 44-14 - Nick Jordell - p7