21/09/13 - Larford - Specimen

Weight - 60lb 4oz (28lb - silvers)
Catch - 5 Carp, 28 Skimmers, 2 Roach, 1 Hybrid
Weather - Warm & sunny. Very light breeze
Match - Match Fishing Scene

A change of scenery for today’s match. Mark persuaded me to fish a MFS match at Larford on the Specimen Lake. This was only my second visit to the venue and the first time on Specimen Lake, which is a big water, holding a big head of carp and skimmers.

Being the second of a 2 dayer for the MFS crew, there was a lot of very tired looking faces and with a few extras turning for the Saturday match, there were 60 plus anglers spread out between Match & Specimen. Chat before the match was the winner was likely to come from specimen, because it had been fishing the best, plus you can catch some absolute brutes in excess of 20lb from the margins late on. Whilst most areas produced during day one, the best pegs definitely seemed to be the 60s on the chalet bank with 140lb or so winning.

I found myself on 74, whilst Mark was on 78, both behind the chalets and a high bank which reminded me of some of those steep banks on the Bristol Avon. I was just glad it wasn’t raining. As you go further along the high bank flattens out.

Prior to the match, I did some research by looking at old magazine & web articles. It became clear you could do 1 of 2 things, assuming you haven’t drawn a flyer. Either sit it out on the tip for a few carp and then down the edge late on or catch a weight of skimmers, hope for the odd carp to come along, and then try for munters down the margins. Since I prefer to get a few bites, I was fairly settled on the 2^nd option, although the high bank behind me would make shipping out to 14.5m awkward. The one disappointing aspect of my peg was the lack of a margin. Immediately to my right was a bush and to my left I could just about see the next pallet, but it was very shallow and I didn’t really fancy it because the water was clearer than I had expected. Pete Mercer on 72 didn’t have a bite next to it, so I’m glad I didn’t bother.

I did bring a method rod already set up, just in case. I also set up 3 pole rigs:-

- Preston Classic 1 - 1.25g > .14 > 16 B911 – skimmers at 14.5m

- Ackoo Carrat 0.6g > .16 > 16 B911 – meat at 6m

- Ackoo Powertrap 0.3g > .17 > 16 carp feeder – under the right hand bush

 

On the all in 2 balls of groundbait and soften 4s was deposited at 14.5m, plus a small ball of groundbait & meat at 6m. Starting at 6m, contrary to popular wisdom here were nearly everyone chucked out the tip, I landed my first carp after 10mins on meat. 10mins later I hooked another, but this one broke me, before losing a 2^nd which also broke me. A bit annoyed, because I shouldn’t have been snapped up and suspect I may have a dodgy spool of 0.16, because I lost a few at lands end a couple of weeks ago in the same manner.

 

After attaching a .17 hooklength I had a skimmer. Whilst fishing the short line I had kept the long line topped by catapulting 4s over the top, so after an hour I went out on the long line and started catching 8-10oz skimmers on 6mm expander or double dead maggot. With hardly any wind the lake was mostly flat, although there was a slight ripple blowing down my end of the lake, but hardly classic skimmer weather. I kept catching skimmers, but keeping them coming wasn’t easy and I found it best to top up by cupping in a ball of groundbait/pellet, instead of toss potting the bait, which just didn’t seem positive enough in the 8ft deep swim.

 

Over the next 2 hours whenever I topped up the long line I would drop back on the short meat line, which would either produce a skimmer or a carp. However with 2 hours to go of the 5.5hr match, I was starting to struggle. The skimmers on the pole line seemed to be getting smaller, although I did have a 3lb carp on double maggot and my short line seemed to have died.

 

One bit of advice I had received was to fish the method over the 14.5m pole line, because you can catch quicker than the pole and it combats the tow. Because there wasn’t much tow, I had been reluctant to fish the method, but needs must. So a full cup of pellet/groundbait was deposited and 10mins later I cast out the method and was soon attached to a carp and then a few bigger skimmers. This was the pattern for the remaining 2hrs, catch a few decent skimmers, before the smaller fish moved in, cup in more pellet and groundbait before switching to the short line. I did hook 2 more carp on the method, one which straighten the hook, so I think it was foul hooked and the other tore off, before it hit the clip that I had forgotten about from my previous trip, breaking me off – doh!

 

The short line produced one more carp, plus a couple more skimmers, before I finished with a couple of decent skimmers on the feeder. All the fish on the method came to double or triple dead maggot, but I never had a bite on mini boilies.

 

Overall an enjoyable day, 3 lost carp due to rig failure probably cost me some section money. The angler to my right finished with about 30lb, whilst Pete on my left had a decent left hand margin and managed 2 lumps late on to beat me. Not having a proper margin probably didn’t help, but it transpired I wasn’t going to compete with pegs in the 60s.

 

I don’t have the full results yet, but I think I probably came about half way. I think 220lb won from the 60s.

21/10/12 - Larford - Arena

Weight - 82lb 10oz (49lb - silvers)
Catch - 43 Skimmers, 6 Carp, 2 Roach
Weather - Cold & foggy start. Sunny later, but cool northerly breeze
Match - West Tackle Open - 1st out of 11

Larford is one of those venues I have always wanted to visit and when I found out that West Tackle was running an open on Arena Lake I wanted to book in.

Unfortunately a few couldnt make it due to a winter league on the river, plus Steve broke down on the motorway, which meant 3 more couldnt fish, leaving just the 11 of us.

Arena is the smallest of 3 lakes at Larford, with Match & Specimen Lake being the most popular (and famous). Arena is rectangular, wider at the car park end, becomig narrower at the far end and has 44 pegs, so with 11 of us we had plenty of space, Fishery rules meant we had to buy their own pellets, limited to 4x 100g (3pt) bags for a 5hr match. 6hr matches arent allowed, but the good news was Arena is float only, so no lead chucking which I was happy about.

The only information I was able to glean, was the lake was deep, with carp averaging between 2-10lb and skimmers. Tactics are to fish down the margins, short and a long line.

It was another cold morning, with fog and mist for most of the journey and by the time we had the draw at 9.15 you could just about see the whole lake. I drew 16 which is in the middle of the right hand bank, which meant absolutely nothing to me, in fact everyone was fishing this one blind.

As we were setting up there was a few carp crashing about and I almost wished I brought my waggler rod, however looking at the clarity of the water I wasnt sure too much would be caught shallow. In fact I wasnt sure too much would be caught in the margins either.

Plumbing up revealed about 3ft down the margins. However there wasnt any discernable shelf and at 5m I had 6ft of water, before it gently sloped away to nearly 7ft at 12m. Speaking to the fishery manager after the match he said there had been a couple of cold nights, plus heavy rain that had knocked the colour out of the water.

I really wasnt convinced the short line would be the place to start, instead I started at 12m, feeding a small ball of grounbait and a few 4s. On the 6m line I started feeding pellet and corn every 10mins.

Starting at 12m using a HB Chump 0.5g (0.12 >18 B911), I soon started to catch skimmers and by the end of the first hour I had a dozen skimmers and 2 carp, all on 4mm expander. Nick to my right also had a good start and we were neck & neck.

It became obvious the fish wanted a bit of grub and I kept the fish coming by feeding a nugget of groundbait with a few 4s, every second fish by a toss pot. Moving into the 2nd hour the fishing became difficult, then I lost a big carp, which broke me, unsettling the shoal. I decided to step up to a 0.14 hooklength, but bites were a little slower, so I switched back to 0.12 and during the 3rd hour I was catching really well. The pattern for the day was to keep feeding every second fish and when ever bites became iffy, I cupped in a larger ball and a few pellets. I also had to dot down the float, becuase most bites were just little dips.

Whilst I let that settle I would try my short line, catching a carp straight away on corn. I then pulled out of the second before that line died.

The sun finally made an appearance at 1pm which meant most of us could warm up a bit and by 2pm a cool northerly wind picked up blowing into my face.

My long line had slowed up, but I wasnt too worried, becuase at least my margins now had some ripple and I hoped the carp would be more willing to come in over the groundbait maggot and caster I had deposited. Alas I only had 1 carp on double corn and in reality I spent too long looking for another.

With my long line slowing down, I decided to start a new long line at an angle to my left feeding only pellet and corn. By switching between the two, I managed to keep the fish coming, albeit slower than before. My short line also produced a few fish towards the end, but it was slow going. 4mm expander was definately the best bait, whilst corn only produced the odd fish. In total I fed 3pts of groundbait and about a pint of 4s over the long line.

Nick had struggled towards the end, but I noticed Mark catching strongly towards the end and I thought it would be close between the 2 of us. I was first to weigh and my skimmers went 49lb. I must admit I thought I had a little more than that, but some of the skimmers were a bit thin and scrawny. Had they been a bit plumper then it could have been 55lb. My 6 carp however weighed a little more than expected giving me a total 82-10. Nick had 55lb which inlcuded 23lb of skimmers. Mark had slightly overestimated his skimmers, probably for the same reason I did weighing 33lb, whilst his 10 carp brought his total to 80-14. So less than 2lb in it.

Considering the conditions I was really pleased. Its been a while since I had 49lb of skimmers and I would be quite happy to make a return viist.

1st - 82-10 - Ken Rayner - p16
2nd - 80-14 - Mark Poppleton - p22
3rd - 58- 0 - Kev - p40
4th - 55-10 - Nick Merry - p19
5th - 39-15 - Andy Fox - p36