Weight – 108lb 2oz
Catch – 14 Carp
Weather – Mostly sunny, with cloudy periods and odd shower.
Match – Club (Rod & Reel Only) – 5th out of 9
Well it’s Sunday morning as I write this blog and I should be fishing at Todber Manor, however I pulled my back during this match and now just walking is painful.
Fortunately todays match was rod & reel only, so no constant twisting and turning when shipping back a pole. The day started off ok, I had hoped to draw in the wind so I could fish the pellet waggler and drew peg 18 which was just on the edge of the wind.
Started on the method feeder at 20m, pinging pellet over the top, but after 20mins all I had was a few liners to show for my efforts, before a couple of fish showed themselves on the surface. So enough of the feeder and switched to pellet waggler and caught immediately.
75mins into the match I landed my 5th carp and as I lifted the carp out of the water I felt a sharp pain in the base of my back in the same spot that caused me so many problems 14 months ago.
I managed to keep going for the remaining 3¾hrs catching all my fish on the pellet waggler. I had drawn fish into the swim, but the wind direction meant there was very little ripple to fish into and as a consequence the fish proved to be very cagey despite trying different rigs and varying my feed pattern.
In the end I was just glad for the match to finish. All the better weights had followed the wind, but to be honest whilst I could have caught a few more fish I wouldn’t have beaten Glenn’s 231lb which he caught on the pellet feeder.
This is the 1st time I haven’t framed here for nearly 2 years, so a really good run, but like all good runs, they have to end. Well done to Glenn who today got the tactics right with the pellet feeder which very nearly beat my match record of 239lb.
My back probably means I won’t be fishing for a couple of week, which is probably just as well since I need to do some revision for another exam.
Sunday, 18 September 2011
Monday, 12 September 2011
11/09/11 - Fishponds
Weight – 155lb 2oz
Catch – 19 Carp
Weather – Sunny, with cloudy periods. Gale force winds.
Match – Club – 1st out of 15
15 turned up today which is an awkward number to give everyone plenty of space and invariably end up having to cluster a group of anglers together. I found myself on peg 10, which was nicely sheltered from the wind, but with only a slight ripple I was concerned the fish would have followed the wind on the other side of the lake. On the positive side there tends to be bigger resident fish in the area.
Peg 10 is an end bank peg and is 1 of the deepest on the lake with the margins being 5ft deep and 7-8ft at 10m in front. I knew the pellet waggler was unlikely to work in this part of the lake and decided to target the margins, 8m to my left and 12m to my right, feeding 8mm’s and fishing paste.
During the opening hour I had 2 carp. I had been feeding at 13m to see if I could catch shallow on the pole, but a look over this line after an hour didn’t produce and decided to bin it all together. It was obvious there wasn’t many fish in the area and I felt I needed to fish further out to catch, but was conscience of encroaching on pegs 6 and 12. Fortunately Nick on 6 was fishing the pole and Ian on 12 was catching on the method. After watching where he was casting I had a feel for how far I could cast my method. 1st cast I had a carp and lost one on my 2nd cast, but other than a few liners no other fish after 45mins, so decided to concentrate on margins.
3 hours gone I was up to 6 fish which was on par with those I could see. The remainder of the match was simply a case of catch a carp, feed both margins whilst playing the fish, then switch to the other margin. This continual rotating seemed to be best with the final 3 hours producing a further 13 fish all on paste expect for 1 that I caught on the method, as I had to sort out a spangled rig.
I thought I had 130lb, but a better than average stamp of fish pushed my weight up. Kev (who qualified for the Evesham festival, but unfortunately didn’t draw well on the day) had 20 carp for his 125lb mostly caught on the method.
So that’s 7 pickups in the last 10 matches, framing in the last 3, so a big change around from the beginning of the season.
1st 155- 2 – Ken - p10
2nd 125- 0 – Kev - p17
3rd 96- 6 – Chris - p15
4th 95- 9 - Roger - p22
Catch – 19 Carp
Weather – Sunny, with cloudy periods. Gale force winds.
Match – Club – 1st out of 15
15 turned up today which is an awkward number to give everyone plenty of space and invariably end up having to cluster a group of anglers together. I found myself on peg 10, which was nicely sheltered from the wind, but with only a slight ripple I was concerned the fish would have followed the wind on the other side of the lake. On the positive side there tends to be bigger resident fish in the area.
Peg 10 is an end bank peg and is 1 of the deepest on the lake with the margins being 5ft deep and 7-8ft at 10m in front. I knew the pellet waggler was unlikely to work in this part of the lake and decided to target the margins, 8m to my left and 12m to my right, feeding 8mm’s and fishing paste.
During the opening hour I had 2 carp. I had been feeding at 13m to see if I could catch shallow on the pole, but a look over this line after an hour didn’t produce and decided to bin it all together. It was obvious there wasn’t many fish in the area and I felt I needed to fish further out to catch, but was conscience of encroaching on pegs 6 and 12. Fortunately Nick on 6 was fishing the pole and Ian on 12 was catching on the method. After watching where he was casting I had a feel for how far I could cast my method. 1st cast I had a carp and lost one on my 2nd cast, but other than a few liners no other fish after 45mins, so decided to concentrate on margins.
3 hours gone I was up to 6 fish which was on par with those I could see. The remainder of the match was simply a case of catch a carp, feed both margins whilst playing the fish, then switch to the other margin. This continual rotating seemed to be best with the final 3 hours producing a further 13 fish all on paste expect for 1 that I caught on the method, as I had to sort out a spangled rig.
I thought I had 130lb, but a better than average stamp of fish pushed my weight up. Kev (who qualified for the Evesham festival, but unfortunately didn’t draw well on the day) had 20 carp for his 125lb mostly caught on the method.
So that’s 7 pickups in the last 10 matches, framing in the last 3, so a big change around from the beginning of the season.
1st 155- 2 – Ken - p10
2nd 125- 0 – Kev - p17
3rd 96- 6 – Chris - p15
4th 95- 9 - Roger - p22
10/09/11 - Lands End - Match Lake
Weight – 77lb 6oz
Catch – 17 Carp, 9 Roach, 5 Perch, 3 Bream, 1 Tench, 1 Crucian, 1 Rudd
Weather – Sunny, with cloudy periods. Windy.
Match – Open – 2nd out of 9
With heavy winds forecast I was in 2 minds about fishing Lands End today, however I was persuaded by the fact the winds were coming from the south which means Match Lake should be mostly sheltered.
12 had booked in, but only 9 turned up, so plenty of spaces for the fish hide away! I found myself on peg 11, which has shown some recent form with 66lb coming off it in the last match. This is 1 peg I have drawn more than any other, yet I’ve only had 19 once in 5 years – bitter, no not me!
With so much space, today would be a case of drawing the fish to you. The next peg to my left was peg 5 and I had Clint Wotlyla opposite on 13.
Decided to feed 6mm’s towards the point of the island and fish caster to the left by the bush. Also fed 3 & 4mm’s at 11.5m in the open water at 1o’clock and finally 6mm’s in front of the pallet on 10.
The opening hour was very quiet, with only a few silvers to show on double caster by the island and a tench on 11.5m on 4mm expander. However the carp were beginning to show themselves by the island over the pellet. I had 1 on 8mm, but then nothing as they spooked off.
The 11.5m swim produced a crucian and a few bits, plus a flying skimmer that managed to throw the hook midflight, but this line failed to produce.
On the point of the point island I was toss potting caster and pellet, fishing double caster and this resulted in a 4 or 5 carp, before I started getting bitted out by roach. At 1 point I saw 3 carp around my float, before it buried and out comes a 1oz roach! Since there was more carp in the swim, helped by the fact Clint had stopped feeding towards the island, I went back to fishing either 6 or 8mm pellet. Found it best to catapult feed over at 14m on the corner, ship out to 16m past the small bush on the point, then just gentle lift and drop, occasionally the carp would have the pellet in its mouth as I lifted.
As more carp settled in the swim I caught more at 14m and with 45mins to go I had 10 carp all from the island, which seemed to be doing OK. Despite feeding in front of peg 10 all match this swim only produced 1 skimmer and a lost carp. According to Clint, Martin Lenaghan on peg 16 had been catching solidly for 3hrs. Those last 45mins however the carp properly turned up and I had a further 7 to sneak into 2nd place.
1st 145-15 – Martin Lenaghan – p16
2nd 77-6 – Ken Rayner – p11
3rd 73-12 – Kev Molton – p19
4th 58-11 – Dave Wescott – p5
Silver
1st 35- 0 – Nigel Bartlett – p21
2nd 21- 4 – Dave Wescott – p5
3rd 21- 2 – Clint Wotlyla – p13
Catch – 17 Carp, 9 Roach, 5 Perch, 3 Bream, 1 Tench, 1 Crucian, 1 Rudd
Weather – Sunny, with cloudy periods. Windy.
Match – Open – 2nd out of 9
With heavy winds forecast I was in 2 minds about fishing Lands End today, however I was persuaded by the fact the winds were coming from the south which means Match Lake should be mostly sheltered.
12 had booked in, but only 9 turned up, so plenty of spaces for the fish hide away! I found myself on peg 11, which has shown some recent form with 66lb coming off it in the last match. This is 1 peg I have drawn more than any other, yet I’ve only had 19 once in 5 years – bitter, no not me!
With so much space, today would be a case of drawing the fish to you. The next peg to my left was peg 5 and I had Clint Wotlyla opposite on 13.
Decided to feed 6mm’s towards the point of the island and fish caster to the left by the bush. Also fed 3 & 4mm’s at 11.5m in the open water at 1o’clock and finally 6mm’s in front of the pallet on 10.
The opening hour was very quiet, with only a few silvers to show on double caster by the island and a tench on 11.5m on 4mm expander. However the carp were beginning to show themselves by the island over the pellet. I had 1 on 8mm, but then nothing as they spooked off.
The 11.5m swim produced a crucian and a few bits, plus a flying skimmer that managed to throw the hook midflight, but this line failed to produce.
On the point of the point island I was toss potting caster and pellet, fishing double caster and this resulted in a 4 or 5 carp, before I started getting bitted out by roach. At 1 point I saw 3 carp around my float, before it buried and out comes a 1oz roach! Since there was more carp in the swim, helped by the fact Clint had stopped feeding towards the island, I went back to fishing either 6 or 8mm pellet. Found it best to catapult feed over at 14m on the corner, ship out to 16m past the small bush on the point, then just gentle lift and drop, occasionally the carp would have the pellet in its mouth as I lifted.
As more carp settled in the swim I caught more at 14m and with 45mins to go I had 10 carp all from the island, which seemed to be doing OK. Despite feeding in front of peg 10 all match this swim only produced 1 skimmer and a lost carp. According to Clint, Martin Lenaghan on peg 16 had been catching solidly for 3hrs. Those last 45mins however the carp properly turned up and I had a further 7 to sneak into 2nd place.
1st 145-15 – Martin Lenaghan – p16
2nd 77-6 – Ken Rayner – p11
3rd 73-12 – Kev Molton – p19
4th 58-11 – Dave Wescott – p5
Silver
1st 35- 0 – Nigel Bartlett – p21
2nd 21- 4 – Dave Wescott – p5
3rd 21- 2 – Clint Wotlyla – p13
Sunday, 4 September 2011
03/09/11 - Cuckoos Rest
Weight – 34lb 12oz
Catch – 10 Carp, 7 Roach, 3 Bream, 2 Perch, 1 Rudd, 1 Gudgeon
Weather – Mostly cloudy with sunny periods. Windy later.
Match – West’s Sponsored Open – 2nd out of 23
As mentioned in my last blog today’s match was organised by Andy Fox, with tackle vouchers available for the winners and the lake already paid for, meaning a 100% pay out, plus an additional superpool for those who wished to join in.
With so many here the draw would be crucial with end pegs or those with some space being favourite. I was more than happy to find myself on a noted flyer on the right bank opposite the willow tree and end peg before the bridge over to the island, meant I had some space.
Obviously the banner started about “you are going to win etc”, which I hate, because at the moment I could quite easily cock up a good draw, although deep down I would be disappointed if I didn’t at least frame.
My peg is a noted area for bream and settled on 3 swims. The far bank on the method feeder (.20 to 16 carp feeder), 13m feeding 3 & 4mm pellet, with soft green swim stim and 5m feeding caster for roach, which to be honest I had hoped I won’t need.
After feeding my pole lines, I started on the method and following my practice a few months ago I was hitting the mark casting tight to the far bank. The big advantage of the method is the hook is hidden so it was no problem if I clipped the far bank vegetation or over hanging branches, which was just as was well on occasion.
3 carp in the opening ½ hour on hair rigged white boilie, certainly settled the nerves. However other than 1 lost carp in submerged branches I didn’t have anything for the next 90mins. The grapevine suggested the lake was fishing very hard with only 2lb being the top weight, so I just kept the 13m line topped up, hopefully allowing the bream as long as possible to settle.
After 2 hours a switch to the 13m produced nothing on 4mm expander. I could have sat on the method, but since it isn’t my favourite method and I felt I need to keep putting fish in the net so switched to the 5m, however the fish were small and the bites were difficult to hit. I really wasn’t going anywhere fast, so focused back on the 13m, which did produce a 2lb skimmer and a few small fish, but it was very difficult.
By the ½ way stage I was aware the far end peg on the island had caught a couple of carp. With no further skimmers, despite the odd bubbles coming up, but the skimmers just weren’t taking the bait, regardless of what bait I tried (pellet, maggot, worm).
The next hour was spent chopping and changing, then a run of 5 carp proved really useful, which was just as well, since Dean on the far end peg had 2 carp both around 10lb and Nick on the other far end peg on the left hand side of the island had reportly caught 30lb. As it happened Nick had gone for a walk with an hour to go to rest his back and a quick chat revealed he had 9 carp, which was the same as me.
A further 2 lost carp in the submerged snags was frustrating and if I was to fish the peg again, I would probably go round and try to clear some of them out. The last hour was mostly spent on the method for 1 more carp. Brief looks over the pole line, still failed to produce.
By the end of the match I was surprised to have caught 10 carp, since usually no more than a couple are caught, but the stockie’s introduced 18mths ago are starting to show. The other surprise was the lack of skimmers with 13lb being the best silvers weight.
As suspected Dean won with 39-14, which was a bit frustrating considering he only caught 6 carp compared to my 10. However happy to have framed and my weight was slightly better than expected and Nick’s 30lb turned out to be 24lb.
Thanks go to Craig Knight for paying for the lake and Andy Fox for organising the lake and supplying tackle vouchers for Wests Tackle of Trowbridge of which I collected £50 worth, plus £80 pools.
1st 39-14 – Dean Adams
2nd 34-12 – Ken Rayner
3rd 24- 0 – Nick Merry
4th 16- 2 – Steve Ince
5th 12-12 – P Sims
6th 11- 5 – Mick Stowford
Catch – 10 Carp, 7 Roach, 3 Bream, 2 Perch, 1 Rudd, 1 Gudgeon
Weather – Mostly cloudy with sunny periods. Windy later.
Match – West’s Sponsored Open – 2nd out of 23
As mentioned in my last blog today’s match was organised by Andy Fox, with tackle vouchers available for the winners and the lake already paid for, meaning a 100% pay out, plus an additional superpool for those who wished to join in.
With so many here the draw would be crucial with end pegs or those with some space being favourite. I was more than happy to find myself on a noted flyer on the right bank opposite the willow tree and end peg before the bridge over to the island, meant I had some space.
Obviously the banner started about “you are going to win etc”, which I hate, because at the moment I could quite easily cock up a good draw, although deep down I would be disappointed if I didn’t at least frame.
My peg is a noted area for bream and settled on 3 swims. The far bank on the method feeder (.20 to 16 carp feeder), 13m feeding 3 & 4mm pellet, with soft green swim stim and 5m feeding caster for roach, which to be honest I had hoped I won’t need.
After feeding my pole lines, I started on the method and following my practice a few months ago I was hitting the mark casting tight to the far bank. The big advantage of the method is the hook is hidden so it was no problem if I clipped the far bank vegetation or over hanging branches, which was just as was well on occasion.
3 carp in the opening ½ hour on hair rigged white boilie, certainly settled the nerves. However other than 1 lost carp in submerged branches I didn’t have anything for the next 90mins. The grapevine suggested the lake was fishing very hard with only 2lb being the top weight, so I just kept the 13m line topped up, hopefully allowing the bream as long as possible to settle.
After 2 hours a switch to the 13m produced nothing on 4mm expander. I could have sat on the method, but since it isn’t my favourite method and I felt I need to keep putting fish in the net so switched to the 5m, however the fish were small and the bites were difficult to hit. I really wasn’t going anywhere fast, so focused back on the 13m, which did produce a 2lb skimmer and a few small fish, but it was very difficult.
By the ½ way stage I was aware the far end peg on the island had caught a couple of carp. With no further skimmers, despite the odd bubbles coming up, but the skimmers just weren’t taking the bait, regardless of what bait I tried (pellet, maggot, worm).
The next hour was spent chopping and changing, then a run of 5 carp proved really useful, which was just as well, since Dean on the far end peg had 2 carp both around 10lb and Nick on the other far end peg on the left hand side of the island had reportly caught 30lb. As it happened Nick had gone for a walk with an hour to go to rest his back and a quick chat revealed he had 9 carp, which was the same as me.
A further 2 lost carp in the submerged snags was frustrating and if I was to fish the peg again, I would probably go round and try to clear some of them out. The last hour was mostly spent on the method for 1 more carp. Brief looks over the pole line, still failed to produce.
By the end of the match I was surprised to have caught 10 carp, since usually no more than a couple are caught, but the stockie’s introduced 18mths ago are starting to show. The other surprise was the lack of skimmers with 13lb being the best silvers weight.
As suspected Dean won with 39-14, which was a bit frustrating considering he only caught 6 carp compared to my 10. However happy to have framed and my weight was slightly better than expected and Nick’s 30lb turned out to be 24lb.
Thanks go to Craig Knight for paying for the lake and Andy Fox for organising the lake and supplying tackle vouchers for Wests Tackle of Trowbridge of which I collected £50 worth, plus £80 pools.
1st 39-14 – Dean Adams
2nd 34-12 – Ken Rayner
3rd 24- 0 – Nick Merry
4th 16- 2 – Steve Ince
5th 12-12 – P Sims
6th 11- 5 – Mick Stowford
Thursday, 1 September 2011
31/08/11 - Cuckoos Rest
Weight – 20lb 4oz
Catch – 62 Roach, 26 Bream, 4 Rudd, 1 Carp
Weather – Sunny with a slight breeze
Today Mark & I decided to put in a practice session in preparation for Saturdays match, run by local Andy Fox who had paid for the lake, which would mean a 100% pools payout. As a consequence the match is oversubscribed with 25 anglers and I really hope a few drop out, since the fishing will be hard with that number on the lake.
When we arrived there were a couple more who had the same idea and according to Mark the lake was very busy on Monday as well. Andy Fox also turned up later in the day for a practice and thanks Andy for your comments regarding my blog, glad you enjoy it.
Mark & I resisted the temptation of fishing the flyers and settled on the left hand bank. I wanted to concentrate on the roach, because the last match I fished in July I felt I didn’t make the most of the short line.
Well, I had a nice days fishing. Starting on the deck, fishing over groundbait at 5m produced but the better roach definitely came shallow. I also fished pellet at 13m over 3 & 4mm pellet, catching mostly skimmers up to 1½lb.
Mark concentrated on fishing the pellet and although he had to leave an hour earlier still had about 18lb, thanks to a couple of better skimmers/bream. We both tried different feeding patterns and the practice was worthwhile, because more anglers arrived during the day, so it gave a more realistic view of how the lake will fish.
On Saturday at least there will be 3 sections along the 3 banks, so if you don’t draw the right hand side flyers, at least you still have a chance of picking up some coin, although I think any peg that provides you with some space will be crucial.
Catch – 62 Roach, 26 Bream, 4 Rudd, 1 Carp
Weather – Sunny with a slight breeze
Today Mark & I decided to put in a practice session in preparation for Saturdays match, run by local Andy Fox who had paid for the lake, which would mean a 100% pools payout. As a consequence the match is oversubscribed with 25 anglers and I really hope a few drop out, since the fishing will be hard with that number on the lake.
When we arrived there were a couple more who had the same idea and according to Mark the lake was very busy on Monday as well. Andy Fox also turned up later in the day for a practice and thanks Andy for your comments regarding my blog, glad you enjoy it.
Mark & I resisted the temptation of fishing the flyers and settled on the left hand bank. I wanted to concentrate on the roach, because the last match I fished in July I felt I didn’t make the most of the short line.
Well, I had a nice days fishing. Starting on the deck, fishing over groundbait at 5m produced but the better roach definitely came shallow. I also fished pellet at 13m over 3 & 4mm pellet, catching mostly skimmers up to 1½lb.
Mark concentrated on fishing the pellet and although he had to leave an hour earlier still had about 18lb, thanks to a couple of better skimmers/bream. We both tried different feeding patterns and the practice was worthwhile, because more anglers arrived during the day, so it gave a more realistic view of how the lake will fish.
On Saturday at least there will be 3 sections along the 3 banks, so if you don’t draw the right hand side flyers, at least you still have a chance of picking up some coin, although I think any peg that provides you with some space will be crucial.
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