Weight - 83lb 2oz
Catch - 12 Carp, 4 Bream, 3 F1, 3 Perch, 2 Roach
Weather - Cloudy, windy and showery
Match - Gary Wall Memorial - 9th out of 21 (4th out of 10 - lake)
The draw today was quite entertaining with Tom Thick as usual at the centre of much of the melay, but all good natured banter. It was good to see Tim Ford back and as he says he was just pleased be out fishing. It was also good to see Rod Wootton back after his spell in hospital and Mike Etheridge who I hadn't seen for ages, spending most of his time at Ivy House - why?
Being Gary's memorial match, a minutes silence was impeccably observed, although with Gary, swearing for the full minute may have been more appropriate.
With 22 booked in and 1 no show, Tony decided to let fate decide which peg would be left out and it turned out to be peg 15, giving Tom on peg 18 loads of space. As for me I was on 25 - Speci, which I was happy enough with. The weather forecast for today was horrendous, but fortunately the strong southerly wind was from behind, so no side ways wind to contend with.
For company I had Phil Harding on 26 and Paul Elmes on 40 opposite. As is usual the wind really kicked in on the all-in, although the rain wasn't as bad as expected, but we still had some heavy downpours.
My plan of attack was 4mm pellet and a few bits of meat regularly fed at 6m (which seemed to work on Wednesday) and a pouchful of 6s every 10mins over the 14.5m line in open water. I started down the left hand bank, originally on 8mm pellet, but that didn't work so switched to double caster. The margin down that bank is quite deep (3ft) and to avoid foul hookers I cupped in bait to get the fish on the deck. This seemed to work, but it was slow going with only a couple of carp, perch and F1s. After 2hrs Phil decided to go for a walk, because he was struggling to catch on pellet shallow and in the wind was finding it hard going at 17m to the point of the island. Paul opposite was also struggling, so I felt it was just a case of catch what you can, but I was surprised at the lack of small fish activity.
Phil had enough and went home after 3hrs. I had managed another carp from the left hand bank, plus a couple of big skimmers from my short line on 4mm expander. By this time Paul's swims kicked into life and he was catching down both margins.
So far I had left my long line alone and first put in with paste resulted in a carp. I kept catching over the next couple of hours, occasionally rotating my short line and left hand bank. On the long line I switched from catapulting bait to toss potting it with the paste. In hindsight this was a mistake, because I was still catching, including a big F1 and skimmers, but I would have periods when I would get loads of silly indications. When I went back to catapulting a pouch, sometimes 2, I started to get proper bites again. Unfortunately, I realised this 15-20mins too late, because I only needed another 9lb to sneak into 6th and some money. More ifs, buts and maybes.
Overall Speci Lake fished well and the fish seem to be spread out at the moment. Mike won our lake with 140-12 from p29, with Paul Elmes 2nd with 89-2 and Martin Pettifer 3rd with 84-5. So all very close in the end.
1st 197-13 - Tom Thick - p18
2nd 140-12 - Mike West - p29
3rd 129- 9 - Craig Edmunds - p19
4th 128- 4 - Tom Mangnal - p21
5th 108- 4 - Rod Wootton - p3
6th 92- 5 - Allan Oram - p13
Silvers
1st 40- 1 - Tom Mangnal - p21
2nd 31- 8 - Nigel Bartlett - p38
3rd 28-12 - Mike Etheridge - p5
4th 18- 8 - Ken Rayner - p25
Tuesday, 28 August 2012
Sunday, 26 August 2012
25/08/12 - Fishponds
Weight - 327lb 10oz
Catch - 49 Carp, 1 Golden Orfe
Weather - Thundery showers, bright & breezy later
Match - Club (Float Only) - 1st out of 7
Another afternoon/evening match, this time being float only. I wasnt too bothered where I drew and was happy enough with 12, which was also out of the worst of the wind, but there was no hiding from the rain. At one point we were surrounded by 3 thunder storms.
This peg isnt a great waggler peg, so decided to keep it simple with paste & pellet. Being on a long platform, I fished 5m to my right parallel to the bank, then 6m at an angle to my left. I also set up a margin rig, but it never not used.
A handful of 8s went into each swim, starting on RH and I was soon catching, with 7 carp in the first hour and 8 in the second hour. I hold the match record for the lake with 239lb and started to think that target was in danger.
By simply feeding a handful of 8s into each swim every time I hooked a fish I kept the fish coming and with 3hours gone I added a further 15 carp. I had to weigh and return my golden orfe (3lb), because I needed the net. With 75mins to go I was up to 38 fish and thinking I could do with a 5th net, just to make sure I didnt exceed the 100lb net limit, but also its easier to weigh a 70lb net, then a 100lb net. Thanks to Brian I got hold of a 5th net which I promptly filled in the last hour.
After several weighs the new lake match record was confirmed, as was a match weight PB. A simple straightforward day, were the fish got their heads down - happy days.
1st 327-10 - Ken - p12
2nd 220- 8 - Marcus - p1
3rd 177-11 - Andy - p16
4th 171- 0 - Roger - p3
5th 100- 7 - Eddie - p20
Catch - 49 Carp, 1 Golden Orfe
Weather - Thundery showers, bright & breezy later
Match - Club (Float Only) - 1st out of 7
Another afternoon/evening match, this time being float only. I wasnt too bothered where I drew and was happy enough with 12, which was also out of the worst of the wind, but there was no hiding from the rain. At one point we were surrounded by 3 thunder storms.
This peg isnt a great waggler peg, so decided to keep it simple with paste & pellet. Being on a long platform, I fished 5m to my right parallel to the bank, then 6m at an angle to my left. I also set up a margin rig, but it never not used.
A handful of 8s went into each swim, starting on RH and I was soon catching, with 7 carp in the first hour and 8 in the second hour. I hold the match record for the lake with 239lb and started to think that target was in danger.
By simply feeding a handful of 8s into each swim every time I hooked a fish I kept the fish coming and with 3hours gone I added a further 15 carp. I had to weigh and return my golden orfe (3lb), because I needed the net. With 75mins to go I was up to 38 fish and thinking I could do with a 5th net, just to make sure I didnt exceed the 100lb net limit, but also its easier to weigh a 70lb net, then a 100lb net. Thanks to Brian I got hold of a 5th net which I promptly filled in the last hour.
After several weighs the new lake match record was confirmed, as was a match weight PB. A simple straightforward day, were the fish got their heads down - happy days.
1st 327-10 - Ken - p12
2nd 220- 8 - Marcus - p1
3rd 177-11 - Andy - p16
4th 171- 0 - Roger - p3
5th 100- 7 - Eddie - p20
Thursday, 23 August 2012
22/08/12 - Lands End - Match Lake
Weight - 42lb 8oz (21lb 12oz - silvers)
Catch - 9 Bream, 5 Carp, 4 Perch, 3 Roach, 2 F1, 1 Tench, 1 Rudd
Weather - Sunny and warm, but increasingly windy
Match - Avon Angling Open - 8th out of 12 (1st in silvers)
I had decided to fish today's midweeker to get one of my 15 matches in before the winner takes all match, which was originally scheduled for the end of September. However, due to a clash of dates, the only Sunday available is 23rd December, which means no need to rush for the remaining 4 matches I need to qualify.
With only 12 booked in today, all anglers were on Match Lake and I found myself on peg 1, which was disappointing, since it hasn't fished well recently. I had John Bradford for company on p24, so I knew he wont be fishing beyond 5m.
The weather forecast was for a strong westerly, although when I arrived at my peg it was flat calm, but 2mins before the all in the wind started.
I started off by the corner of the island with 6mm meat, after cupping in a small amount of meat & pellet. I also deposited some meat and pellet at 13m in open water, plus caster along the left hand bank. I had considered feeding pellet along the left bank, but I would have required to go 16m to reach the overhanging tree where the carp live and with the forecast wind I didn't fancy fishing that long.
2 carp in the 1st 20mins was followed by 3 lost foul hookers and 2 trashed rigs that got snagged on the underwater rubbish. With the increasing wind I didn't bother trying here again.
I had also been feeding pellet by the bush to my right and already there was a bit of fizzing, as was my 13m line. As the match progressed, it became obvious there wasn't many carp in the area, since most were being caught by Tony and Tom on peg 5 & 7.
By rotating between the 13m line (using a HB chump 0.4g, 0.14 > 16 B911) were I continued to feed some meat and 4s and the bush swim to my right were I feed more heavily with 4s & 6s, I managed to put a few skimmers in the net, including a 3lber either on meat or 4mm expander. I did try paste, but couldn't get a proper bite.
Despite feeding caster regularly down the left hand bank, it produced very few fish, which was a surprise. Generally it was slow going and I was pleased to have picked up in the silvers.
The majority of the weights came from the bottom end of the lake, but at my end Martin on peg 3 had 37lb, whilst John on p24 and the angler on p22 DNW. If the westerly wind continues blowing I am such the fish will move again.
1st 154- 9 - Tom Thick - peg 5 (8mm pellet)
2nd 127- 3 - Tony Rixon - peg 7 (pellet & paste)
3rd 115- 8 - Trigger - peg 15 (pellet)
4th 112- 7 - Dave Roper - p13
5th 72- 2 - Fabio - p19
6th 59-14 - John Thompson - p11
Silvers
1st 21-12 - Ken Rayner - p1
2nd 15- 4 - Dave Roper - p11
Catch - 9 Bream, 5 Carp, 4 Perch, 3 Roach, 2 F1, 1 Tench, 1 Rudd
Weather - Sunny and warm, but increasingly windy
Match - Avon Angling Open - 8th out of 12 (1st in silvers)
I had decided to fish today's midweeker to get one of my 15 matches in before the winner takes all match, which was originally scheduled for the end of September. However, due to a clash of dates, the only Sunday available is 23rd December, which means no need to rush for the remaining 4 matches I need to qualify.
With only 12 booked in today, all anglers were on Match Lake and I found myself on peg 1, which was disappointing, since it hasn't fished well recently. I had John Bradford for company on p24, so I knew he wont be fishing beyond 5m.
The weather forecast was for a strong westerly, although when I arrived at my peg it was flat calm, but 2mins before the all in the wind started.
I started off by the corner of the island with 6mm meat, after cupping in a small amount of meat & pellet. I also deposited some meat and pellet at 13m in open water, plus caster along the left hand bank. I had considered feeding pellet along the left bank, but I would have required to go 16m to reach the overhanging tree where the carp live and with the forecast wind I didn't fancy fishing that long.
2 carp in the 1st 20mins was followed by 3 lost foul hookers and 2 trashed rigs that got snagged on the underwater rubbish. With the increasing wind I didn't bother trying here again.
I had also been feeding pellet by the bush to my right and already there was a bit of fizzing, as was my 13m line. As the match progressed, it became obvious there wasn't many carp in the area, since most were being caught by Tony and Tom on peg 5 & 7.
By rotating between the 13m line (using a HB chump 0.4g, 0.14 > 16 B911) were I continued to feed some meat and 4s and the bush swim to my right were I feed more heavily with 4s & 6s, I managed to put a few skimmers in the net, including a 3lber either on meat or 4mm expander. I did try paste, but couldn't get a proper bite.
Despite feeding caster regularly down the left hand bank, it produced very few fish, which was a surprise. Generally it was slow going and I was pleased to have picked up in the silvers.
The majority of the weights came from the bottom end of the lake, but at my end Martin on peg 3 had 37lb, whilst John on p24 and the angler on p22 DNW. If the westerly wind continues blowing I am such the fish will move again.
1st 154- 9 - Tom Thick - peg 5 (8mm pellet)
2nd 127- 3 - Tony Rixon - peg 7 (pellet & paste)
3rd 115- 8 - Trigger - peg 15 (pellet)
4th 112- 7 - Dave Roper - p13
5th 72- 2 - Fabio - p19
6th 59-14 - John Thompson - p11
Silvers
1st 21-12 - Ken Rayner - p1
2nd 15- 4 - Dave Roper - p11
Sunday, 19 August 2012
18/08/12 - Lands End - Match
Weight - 48lb 13oz (16lb 15oz - silvers)
Catch - 11 Carp, 29 Roach, 8 Perch, 3 Skimmers, 2 Ide, 1 Tench, 1 Chub, 1 Rudd
Weather - Warm & muggy
Match - Open - 3rd out of 4
I knew there would only be a handful of people fishing today, however Mike is running a winner takes all match in October where those that fish will have paid an extra £1 per match. Once you have 15 matches you qualify for the match. So far I'm up to 10, so now need to a further 5.
Originally there was suppose to be 5, but Dave Sawyer dropped out via a text to Mike West 5mins before the draw. With only 4 fishing pegs 15, 17, 19 & 21 went in, with a pay out for top overall weight and top silvers.
I mentioned in my last blog about Lands End that I'm never on 19 & 21 very occasionally. Well with a 25% chance, I still cant draw, with peg 15 being my home. Another peg that I seem to frequent a lot.
I'm not going to go into too much detail about this match. I started after the carp and managed 2 after an hour, but it was becoming obvious that Jim on p21 and Mike on p19 were catching carp from the 2 flyers.
So I targeted the silvers, but even these weren't feeding properly, with far too many small roach even on 6mm hard pellet. In the last couple of hours the carp decided to finally get their heads down, but I was too far behind Jim to make an impact. The carp were being to get in the way of catching silvers, which Dave won from p17 who found some decent skimmers.
Its a real shame that the numbers for the Saturday matches has fallen so much. Personally really like the place, but being 45mins away from Bristol and the rise of venues like Acorn and Summerhayes is having an impact.
1st 106- 4 - Jim Jenner - p21
2nd 68- 6 - Mike West - p19
3rd 48-12 - Ken Rayner - p15
4th 48- 0 - Dave Wescott - p17 (27lb 4oz - silvers)
Catch - 11 Carp, 29 Roach, 8 Perch, 3 Skimmers, 2 Ide, 1 Tench, 1 Chub, 1 Rudd
Weather - Warm & muggy
Match - Open - 3rd out of 4
I knew there would only be a handful of people fishing today, however Mike is running a winner takes all match in October where those that fish will have paid an extra £1 per match. Once you have 15 matches you qualify for the match. So far I'm up to 10, so now need to a further 5.
Originally there was suppose to be 5, but Dave Sawyer dropped out via a text to Mike West 5mins before the draw. With only 4 fishing pegs 15, 17, 19 & 21 went in, with a pay out for top overall weight and top silvers.
I mentioned in my last blog about Lands End that I'm never on 19 & 21 very occasionally. Well with a 25% chance, I still cant draw, with peg 15 being my home. Another peg that I seem to frequent a lot.
I'm not going to go into too much detail about this match. I started after the carp and managed 2 after an hour, but it was becoming obvious that Jim on p21 and Mike on p19 were catching carp from the 2 flyers.
So I targeted the silvers, but even these weren't feeding properly, with far too many small roach even on 6mm hard pellet. In the last couple of hours the carp decided to finally get their heads down, but I was too far behind Jim to make an impact. The carp were being to get in the way of catching silvers, which Dave won from p17 who found some decent skimmers.
Its a real shame that the numbers for the Saturday matches has fallen so much. Personally really like the place, but being 45mins away from Bristol and the rise of venues like Acorn and Summerhayes is having an impact.
1st 106- 4 - Jim Jenner - p21
2nd 68- 6 - Mike West - p19
3rd 48-12 - Ken Rayner - p15
4th 48- 0 - Dave Wescott - p17 (27lb 4oz - silvers)
Sunday, 12 August 2012
11/08/12 - Glebe - Foundation Lake
Weight - 114lb 8oz
Catch - 40 Carp, 1 Bream
Weather - Warm & sunny, gusty breeze
Match - Angling Trust Master - 15th out of 66 (4th out of 11 - section)
Right the day had come around again and today was an opportunity to banish last years result when I completely and utterly blew out.
A couple of weeks ago I discovered that only 11 teams had entered, instead of the 16 from last years event. The reason was a clash of dates with the Winter League final, also run by the Angling Trust a move which has seen quite a lot of criticism aimed at the Trust. A thread has already started on the MFS site and here was my response
"I have to agree with the comments so far. As an average angler I wanted to fish the Masters, because of the expectation of fishing against some household names. Instead we have 4 teams (all Marukyu) made up of local experts, 3 Internet teams and at least 2 teams (South West MG & Sconezone) who's roots originated from the internet. This means there was only 2 teams who have been attracted because it was Angling Trust event, which I think is disappointing and unless the Angling Trust, get it right next year, ie don't clash the dates with another major AT event, this match will lose its prestige. The fact there was no AT representative and the lack of support from the major teams you have to question whether the AT actually care, which I think is quite arrogant considering they insist we are AT members to fish.
Having said that, I enjoyed the day, thought I did enough to pick up in my section on Foundation, but ultimately the top 3 weights came from the top end, which left me a bit deflated, although I beat the local experts either side of me as well as beating top anglers like Rob Austin and Andy Kinder.
Next year, I will have to consider whether I want to do it again. I have fished 4 Glebe matches prior to the Masters to "tune" into the venue, which when you are travelling from Bristol represents a big investment of fuel, bait etc. So if the Masters simply becomes a match for locals & internet teams will it be worth the time and effort. Probably not, however it the match becomes as it describes the Masters, you need the top teams and top anglers to fish, in which case I will definitely be more interested in fishing next year."
I was fishing under the South West Match Group banner run by Mark and we felt we had a strong team (Mark Poppleton, Nick Merry, Paul Law, Pete Bailey, Darren Frost and myself). Unfortunately Paul feel seriously ill during the week and Andy Fox kindly stepped in last minute.
Just after 5am Nick picked me up and as it happened we both been awake since 2am. Sue had decided to let me sleep by staying downstairs, coming to bed at 2, but unfortunately she woke me and I couldn't get back to sleep.
With only 11 teams there was going to be plenty of room, but the Big Lake at Mallory Park was still the place to avoid, whilst Pool 1 was definitely the place everyone wanted. As a team our initial thought was we had a good draw, with Pete on 24 pool 1, Mark had the "boards" on Pretties, Darren had 66 (end peg) on Pool 4, Andy had 101 on Pool 7 which was OK. This meant Nick was the unlucky angler to have peg 7 on the Big Lake, whilst I had 31 on Foundations.
I've only seen Foundation Lake once before a couple of years ago, when it was tree lined. Since then, the trees have been cut down to open up the lake to the elements, also the lake was drained in February with many fish removed (as well as added) and the information gleaned suggested the lake had carp averaging 3-5lb and very few silvers. The shape of Foundation is like a stretched pyramid with 6 pegs along the dam wall, 15 pegs running up the right side and 17 down the left side. There was also 3 islands running the length of the lake left of centre.
My peg was on the left side between the gap of the first and second island. Of the pegs down this end of the lake I was quite pleased, because the south easterly wind was blowing though the gap so at least I had some ripple to fish into, whilst the only angler (Andy Kinder) I could see opposite was sat in the flat calm water.
With plenty of time to set up I had a walk around the lake and really fancied the pegs at the top end of the lake. With the wind blowing into that end, there was also a nice ripple on the water and I really fancied the top 2 pegs.
The one thing that really surprised me was the clarity of the water and was concerned that my tactic of catching shallow wouldn't be right. Also the margins were only 2ft deep and you could just about see the bottom. Speaking to the locals they felt this would be a tough match with 100lb likely to be a good weight over the 5hrs.
On the all in I started blasting the 13m with caster and after 20mins I still hadn't caught, whilst Andy opposite and the anglers either side of me were already catching their third, fourth and fifth fish from their margins or 5m line. I have to admit I started to panic a little, because I really didn't want to blow out again!
I got my first fish from my margin on pellet, but that was it. By continually feeding the caster the fish finally arrived and I started to catch, but the fish were really spooky in the clear water. Although I had some ripple, the wind was blowing into my face, so occasionally catapulting caster 13m didn't quite make the distance and fishing with a longish line, meant the rig was blowing towards me and the fish were backing away from pole. The other issue was the size of the fish which were smaller than I expected and some of the fish had quite small mouths.
I didn't think was I was catching quickly enough and felt the fish were shying away from the triple or double maggot too often in the clear water, so decided to scale down from .17 & 16 B911, down to .14 and 18 B911, fishing with a single maggot. It was like flicking a switch and I suddenly started catching properly, however many of the fish still had to teased into taking the bait, by either dropping the bait in front of any fish or very slowly dragging rig around.
After 2.5hrs I was up to 17 fish and was fairly sure I had caught up with those anglers I could see, but my concern was the size of my fish, which were still smaller than I had expected. Roy Marlow turned up and reported that most anglers were admitting to 40-50lb, and I thought I had about 40lb.
Going into the 4th hour I was struggling again as the fish backed off. I had tried the waggler earlier without success, but decided to give it another go, but again scaling down to fish single maggot and I had my best period of the match. I was still concerned the average size of my fish was too small, but at least I was catching more than those around me.
In the final hour I lost a couple of fish and snapped my hooklength, a quick look into my margin on paste produced my smallest carp of the day, then my biggest (5lb). Switching back to waggler and I continued to catch, further looks into the margin produced odd fish, but they weren't any bigger than those I was catching on the waggler.
By the end I was really pleased with how it had gone and was sure I had at least 100lb, but although the anglers either side (both Glebe members) had few fish theres looked bigger. Fortunately I caught enough as they weighed 91 & 99lb.
Adam Wakelin won the match from the end peg (p22) on my bank casting a feeder up the lake into peg 20. Dave Swain weighed 125lb from the end peg (p15) on the right bank, with Wayne Melling taking 139lb from the next peg down. So the top 3 came from the top end of the lake and if I'm being honest was left feeling a little deflated, because I thought I had done enough to at least claim 3rd and a pick up, but ultimately you had 3 very good anglers on the top 3 pegs on the lake.
As a team, we had 3 good results. Pete won his section, Mark got 3rd and my 4th, but unfortunately we also had 3 below middle results, finishing 6th and the team pay outs went down to 5th.
1st 178-8 0 Adam Wakelin (Drennan)
2nd 177- 8 Aaron Moreton (Total Fishing)
3rd 177- 8 Dom Lanni (Marukyu Green)
4th 171- 0 Jarrad Smith (Total Fishing)
5th 164- 8 Kev Russell (Marukyu Green)
6th 156- 0 Pete Bailey (South West MG)
7th 152- 8 Chris Downs (Marukyu Red)
8th 151-14 Jay De Clouet (Marukyu Green)
9th 146- 4 Phil Ringer (Drennan)
Catch - 40 Carp, 1 Bream
Weather - Warm & sunny, gusty breeze
Match - Angling Trust Master - 15th out of 66 (4th out of 11 - section)
Right the day had come around again and today was an opportunity to banish last years result when I completely and utterly blew out.
A couple of weeks ago I discovered that only 11 teams had entered, instead of the 16 from last years event. The reason was a clash of dates with the Winter League final, also run by the Angling Trust a move which has seen quite a lot of criticism aimed at the Trust. A thread has already started on the MFS site and here was my response
"I have to agree with the comments so far. As an average angler I wanted to fish the Masters, because of the expectation of fishing against some household names. Instead we have 4 teams (all Marukyu) made up of local experts, 3 Internet teams and at least 2 teams (South West MG & Sconezone) who's roots originated from the internet. This means there was only 2 teams who have been attracted because it was Angling Trust event, which I think is disappointing and unless the Angling Trust, get it right next year, ie don't clash the dates with another major AT event, this match will lose its prestige. The fact there was no AT representative and the lack of support from the major teams you have to question whether the AT actually care, which I think is quite arrogant considering they insist we are AT members to fish.
Having said that, I enjoyed the day, thought I did enough to pick up in my section on Foundation, but ultimately the top 3 weights came from the top end, which left me a bit deflated, although I beat the local experts either side of me as well as beating top anglers like Rob Austin and Andy Kinder.
Next year, I will have to consider whether I want to do it again. I have fished 4 Glebe matches prior to the Masters to "tune" into the venue, which when you are travelling from Bristol represents a big investment of fuel, bait etc. So if the Masters simply becomes a match for locals & internet teams will it be worth the time and effort. Probably not, however it the match becomes as it describes the Masters, you need the top teams and top anglers to fish, in which case I will definitely be more interested in fishing next year."
I was fishing under the South West Match Group banner run by Mark and we felt we had a strong team (Mark Poppleton, Nick Merry, Paul Law, Pete Bailey, Darren Frost and myself). Unfortunately Paul feel seriously ill during the week and Andy Fox kindly stepped in last minute.
Just after 5am Nick picked me up and as it happened we both been awake since 2am. Sue had decided to let me sleep by staying downstairs, coming to bed at 2, but unfortunately she woke me and I couldn't get back to sleep.
With only 11 teams there was going to be plenty of room, but the Big Lake at Mallory Park was still the place to avoid, whilst Pool 1 was definitely the place everyone wanted. As a team our initial thought was we had a good draw, with Pete on 24 pool 1, Mark had the "boards" on Pretties, Darren had 66 (end peg) on Pool 4, Andy had 101 on Pool 7 which was OK. This meant Nick was the unlucky angler to have peg 7 on the Big Lake, whilst I had 31 on Foundations.
I've only seen Foundation Lake once before a couple of years ago, when it was tree lined. Since then, the trees have been cut down to open up the lake to the elements, also the lake was drained in February with many fish removed (as well as added) and the information gleaned suggested the lake had carp averaging 3-5lb and very few silvers. The shape of Foundation is like a stretched pyramid with 6 pegs along the dam wall, 15 pegs running up the right side and 17 down the left side. There was also 3 islands running the length of the lake left of centre.
My peg was on the left side between the gap of the first and second island. Of the pegs down this end of the lake I was quite pleased, because the south easterly wind was blowing though the gap so at least I had some ripple to fish into, whilst the only angler (Andy Kinder) I could see opposite was sat in the flat calm water.
With plenty of time to set up I had a walk around the lake and really fancied the pegs at the top end of the lake. With the wind blowing into that end, there was also a nice ripple on the water and I really fancied the top 2 pegs.
The one thing that really surprised me was the clarity of the water and was concerned that my tactic of catching shallow wouldn't be right. Also the margins were only 2ft deep and you could just about see the bottom. Speaking to the locals they felt this would be a tough match with 100lb likely to be a good weight over the 5hrs.
On the all in I started blasting the 13m with caster and after 20mins I still hadn't caught, whilst Andy opposite and the anglers either side of me were already catching their third, fourth and fifth fish from their margins or 5m line. I have to admit I started to panic a little, because I really didn't want to blow out again!
I got my first fish from my margin on pellet, but that was it. By continually feeding the caster the fish finally arrived and I started to catch, but the fish were really spooky in the clear water. Although I had some ripple, the wind was blowing into my face, so occasionally catapulting caster 13m didn't quite make the distance and fishing with a longish line, meant the rig was blowing towards me and the fish were backing away from pole. The other issue was the size of the fish which were smaller than I expected and some of the fish had quite small mouths.
I didn't think was I was catching quickly enough and felt the fish were shying away from the triple or double maggot too often in the clear water, so decided to scale down from .17 & 16 B911, down to .14 and 18 B911, fishing with a single maggot. It was like flicking a switch and I suddenly started catching properly, however many of the fish still had to teased into taking the bait, by either dropping the bait in front of any fish or very slowly dragging rig around.
After 2.5hrs I was up to 17 fish and was fairly sure I had caught up with those anglers I could see, but my concern was the size of my fish, which were still smaller than I had expected. Roy Marlow turned up and reported that most anglers were admitting to 40-50lb, and I thought I had about 40lb.
Going into the 4th hour I was struggling again as the fish backed off. I had tried the waggler earlier without success, but decided to give it another go, but again scaling down to fish single maggot and I had my best period of the match. I was still concerned the average size of my fish was too small, but at least I was catching more than those around me.
In the final hour I lost a couple of fish and snapped my hooklength, a quick look into my margin on paste produced my smallest carp of the day, then my biggest (5lb). Switching back to waggler and I continued to catch, further looks into the margin produced odd fish, but they weren't any bigger than those I was catching on the waggler.
By the end I was really pleased with how it had gone and was sure I had at least 100lb, but although the anglers either side (both Glebe members) had few fish theres looked bigger. Fortunately I caught enough as they weighed 91 & 99lb.
Adam Wakelin won the match from the end peg (p22) on my bank casting a feeder up the lake into peg 20. Dave Swain weighed 125lb from the end peg (p15) on the right bank, with Wayne Melling taking 139lb from the next peg down. So the top 3 came from the top end of the lake and if I'm being honest was left feeling a little deflated, because I thought I had done enough to at least claim 3rd and a pick up, but ultimately you had 3 very good anglers on the top 3 pegs on the lake.
As a team, we had 3 good results. Pete won his section, Mark got 3rd and my 4th, but unfortunately we also had 3 below middle results, finishing 6th and the team pay outs went down to 5th.
1st 178-8 0 Adam Wakelin (Drennan)
2nd 177- 8 Aaron Moreton (Total Fishing)
3rd 177- 8 Dom Lanni (Marukyu Green)
4th 171- 0 Jarrad Smith (Total Fishing)
5th 164- 8 Kev Russell (Marukyu Green)
6th 156- 0 Pete Bailey (South West MG)
7th 152- 8 Chris Downs (Marukyu Red)
8th 151-14 Jay De Clouet (Marukyu Green)
9th 146- 4 Phil Ringer (Drennan)
Friday, 10 August 2012
09/08/12 - Fishponds
Weight - 377lb 6oz
Catch - 50 Carp, 3 Bream
Weather - Warm & sunny
I fancied an afternoon/evening session at my club water, deciding to keep it simple and set up a paste rig. I choose to fish peg 1, becuase it was close to the car park, so no need for the trolley, plus I had Sapphire with me and there was plenty of shade from a warm sun.
When ever I pleasure fish my club water, in the back of mind is the fact my PB weight is 357lb and I wonder whether I can beat that. Due to the size of the carp and the potential for a big weight I always weigh each fish as I go.
After the 1st hour I only had 5 fish for 37lb and didn't think there was any chance of a big weight. I was fishing 8m left and right a metre away from the marginal reeds.
After the 2nd hour I added a further 60lb and 68lb during the 3rd. With 165lb so far and with the fishing getting stronger there was an outside chance of breaking by PB. 72lb was added during the 4th hour and I was confident the PB was on.
By this point my swim was black with carp, everytime I threw a handful of 8s in the carp were swirling in the feed, so I started fishing paste shallow in the last hour and towards the end I was catching on my top 3, even dobbing paste.
In the end I fished for 5.5hrs, I could have fished for a further 30mins, but my thumb was thrrobbing a bit after the bristle of my float embedded in my thumb when I tried to pull the rig from the branches above me, after pulling out of a carp at the net.
Catch - 50 Carp, 3 Bream
Weather - Warm & sunny
I fancied an afternoon/evening session at my club water, deciding to keep it simple and set up a paste rig. I choose to fish peg 1, becuase it was close to the car park, so no need for the trolley, plus I had Sapphire with me and there was plenty of shade from a warm sun.
When ever I pleasure fish my club water, in the back of mind is the fact my PB weight is 357lb and I wonder whether I can beat that. Due to the size of the carp and the potential for a big weight I always weigh each fish as I go.
After the 1st hour I only had 5 fish for 37lb and didn't think there was any chance of a big weight. I was fishing 8m left and right a metre away from the marginal reeds.
After the 2nd hour I added a further 60lb and 68lb during the 3rd. With 165lb so far and with the fishing getting stronger there was an outside chance of breaking by PB. 72lb was added during the 4th hour and I was confident the PB was on.
By this point my swim was black with carp, everytime I threw a handful of 8s in the carp were swirling in the feed, so I started fishing paste shallow in the last hour and towards the end I was catching on my top 3, even dobbing paste.
In the end I fished for 5.5hrs, I could have fished for a further 30mins, but my thumb was thrrobbing a bit after the bristle of my float embedded in my thumb when I tried to pull the rig from the branches above me, after pulling out of a carp at the net.
Thursday, 9 August 2012
08/08/12 - Lands End - Match
Weight - 41lb 6oz
Catch - 12 Carp, 5 Roach, 3 Perch, 1 Ide, 1 Chub, 1 Crucian, 1 Skimmer, 1 Rudd
Weather - Warm, muggy and still
Match - Avon Angling Open - 6th out of 11
It wasn't intentional to book 2 weeks off work to co-incide with the Olympics, but I'm glad I did (although I'm not sure Sue is!). There has been some great performances from the GB team and we have already exceeded our Beijing total. Just wish I had been able to book tickets, maybe I'll try for Rio?!
Another change in the weather, becoming much warmer and hardly any wind, meant a difficult match was likely and that's the way it turned out.
When I drew peg 11, I had to have a smile to myself. Its amazing how often I draw here, yet peg 19 I've only had twice in 6 years. Anyway at least I know how to fish the peg, so deciding where to fish was easy.
There was a few fish moving around the island and I went straight over to the point of the island with meat, toss potting a few cubes and soon had 3 carp within 1/2 hour, but then lost 3 foul hookers and they disappeared.
Potting caster has worked well for me in the last couple of visits and I had deposited caster by the small bush, but the fish didn't settle properly, so decided to try catching shallow on caster or worm, catapulting caster, but that didn't work either, so gave that up as a bad job.
Things must be difficult if I cant catch on caster. I eventually had a few by regularly toss potting caster and waiting for a bite, but the carp were on the small side. I had kept pinging pellet and meat to the point of the island and had the odd fish, but they were just swimming through and I lost a few foul hookers.
My back up swims failed to produce. My meat line by the lillies to my right produced a roach, the 8m pellet line produced more roach and a small skimmer and the under the pallet of p10 produced a small carp.
In the past I usually have a good last 90mins fishing the point of the island, as the fish settle over the constant pinging of pellet, but not today. The fish just didn't want to feed and even the silvers were conspicuous by their absent. Except for Adrian on peg 7, I had the best weight down this end of the lake.
1st 103- 4 - Adrian Clark - peg 7
2nd 94- 7 - Martin Lenaghan - peg 19
3rd 91- 8 - Tony Rixon - peg 24
4th 85-11 - Mike West - peg 22
5th 84-13 - Adrian Jefferies - peg 3
6th 41- 6 - Ken Rayner - peg 11
Silvers
1st 23-10 - Adrian Jefferies - peg 3
2nd 14-12 - Kev Molton - peg 13
3rd 12- 8 - Tony Rixon - peg 24
Catch - 12 Carp, 5 Roach, 3 Perch, 1 Ide, 1 Chub, 1 Crucian, 1 Skimmer, 1 Rudd
Weather - Warm, muggy and still
Match - Avon Angling Open - 6th out of 11
It wasn't intentional to book 2 weeks off work to co-incide with the Olympics, but I'm glad I did (although I'm not sure Sue is!). There has been some great performances from the GB team and we have already exceeded our Beijing total. Just wish I had been able to book tickets, maybe I'll try for Rio?!
Another change in the weather, becoming much warmer and hardly any wind, meant a difficult match was likely and that's the way it turned out.
When I drew peg 11, I had to have a smile to myself. Its amazing how often I draw here, yet peg 19 I've only had twice in 6 years. Anyway at least I know how to fish the peg, so deciding where to fish was easy.
There was a few fish moving around the island and I went straight over to the point of the island with meat, toss potting a few cubes and soon had 3 carp within 1/2 hour, but then lost 3 foul hookers and they disappeared.
Potting caster has worked well for me in the last couple of visits and I had deposited caster by the small bush, but the fish didn't settle properly, so decided to try catching shallow on caster or worm, catapulting caster, but that didn't work either, so gave that up as a bad job.
Things must be difficult if I cant catch on caster. I eventually had a few by regularly toss potting caster and waiting for a bite, but the carp were on the small side. I had kept pinging pellet and meat to the point of the island and had the odd fish, but they were just swimming through and I lost a few foul hookers.
My back up swims failed to produce. My meat line by the lillies to my right produced a roach, the 8m pellet line produced more roach and a small skimmer and the under the pallet of p10 produced a small carp.
In the past I usually have a good last 90mins fishing the point of the island, as the fish settle over the constant pinging of pellet, but not today. The fish just didn't want to feed and even the silvers were conspicuous by their absent. Except for Adrian on peg 7, I had the best weight down this end of the lake.
1st 103- 4 - Adrian Clark - peg 7
2nd 94- 7 - Martin Lenaghan - peg 19
3rd 91- 8 - Tony Rixon - peg 24
4th 85-11 - Mike West - peg 22
5th 84-13 - Adrian Jefferies - peg 3
6th 41- 6 - Ken Rayner - peg 11
Silvers
1st 23-10 - Adrian Jefferies - peg 3
2nd 14-12 - Kev Molton - peg 13
3rd 12- 8 - Tony Rixon - peg 24
Tuesday, 7 August 2012
06/08/12 - Glebe - Pool 1
Weight - 128lb 4oz
Catch - 24 Carp, 3 Skimmers, 3 Perch
Weather - Showers, but mostly dry. Gusty Wind.
Match - MFS Float Only - 3rd out of 20
This was the last match before the Masters on Saturday and a final chance to refine any rigs etc.
On arrival there was a gentle breeze blowing down the lake into peg 30 and it looked like a draw in the 20s would be favourite and you definately didnt want to draw between 2-7. Well I got my wish with peg 23. Ian "Scone" Toplis drew 24, which he described as his favourite edge peg and he intended to spend most of the match edge dwelling. To my left on 21 was Andy Fox on his first visit to the Glebe, which he enjoyed.
Todays tactics was hopefully fairly simple - catch shallow on caster. The issue however was the weather, it was all over the place, which meant the fish really didnt want to know. We had flat calm conditions, then a strong wind, heavy rain, before going back to warm flat conditions.
I started on the shallow rig catching 2 fish, including my biggest Glebe fish of 12-12, within 30mins, but it was hard going. The fish were there, but they really didnt seem to be feeding properly. I even struggled on the waggler, which last time caught me a few fish.
After an hour I had an early look on my 5m line where I had been feeding 4s & 6s, but only had 1 small skimmer to show for my efforts, so back out on the shallow rig. After 2 hours, the jungle drums said that Mark on peg 14 had 10 carp. Both Nick on 20 and Andy had a couple carp, whilst I was up to 6.
The fishing proved difficult, it was a case of trying to mug a carp you could see milling around, but there was loads of time when the carp just shyed away from the bait. Speaking to Nick on the drive back, we both had the same issue, where you had to keep changing depth and how the bait was presented to keep the fish coming.
In the last hour the fish just seemed to completly disappear, so switched to my 5m line, where I had 3 small carp on paste, followed by a couple more shallow, before finishing down my margin were I had been feeding pellet and caught a 10lber on paste.
Sconey won from his favourite edge peg catching on 10mm JPZs over groundbait, whilst the 2nd place angler caught on paste, which meant I was the best of the shallow boys. Unfortunately for Herbie who was between these anglers had to leave early due to vandals causing some flooding at work.
1st 173- 0 - Ian "Scone" Toplis - p24
2nd 155- 4 - Covblaze - p27
3rd 128- 4 - Ken Rayner - p23
4th 116- 4 - Nick Merry - p20
5th 114- 8 - Mark Poppleton - p14
6th 111- 0 - Ross N - p1
Catch - 24 Carp, 3 Skimmers, 3 Perch
Weather - Showers, but mostly dry. Gusty Wind.
Match - MFS Float Only - 3rd out of 20
This was the last match before the Masters on Saturday and a final chance to refine any rigs etc.
On arrival there was a gentle breeze blowing down the lake into peg 30 and it looked like a draw in the 20s would be favourite and you definately didnt want to draw between 2-7. Well I got my wish with peg 23. Ian "Scone" Toplis drew 24, which he described as his favourite edge peg and he intended to spend most of the match edge dwelling. To my left on 21 was Andy Fox on his first visit to the Glebe, which he enjoyed.
Todays tactics was hopefully fairly simple - catch shallow on caster. The issue however was the weather, it was all over the place, which meant the fish really didnt want to know. We had flat calm conditions, then a strong wind, heavy rain, before going back to warm flat conditions.
I started on the shallow rig catching 2 fish, including my biggest Glebe fish of 12-12, within 30mins, but it was hard going. The fish were there, but they really didnt seem to be feeding properly. I even struggled on the waggler, which last time caught me a few fish.
After an hour I had an early look on my 5m line where I had been feeding 4s & 6s, but only had 1 small skimmer to show for my efforts, so back out on the shallow rig. After 2 hours, the jungle drums said that Mark on peg 14 had 10 carp. Both Nick on 20 and Andy had a couple carp, whilst I was up to 6.
The fishing proved difficult, it was a case of trying to mug a carp you could see milling around, but there was loads of time when the carp just shyed away from the bait. Speaking to Nick on the drive back, we both had the same issue, where you had to keep changing depth and how the bait was presented to keep the fish coming.
In the last hour the fish just seemed to completly disappear, so switched to my 5m line, where I had 3 small carp on paste, followed by a couple more shallow, before finishing down my margin were I had been feeding pellet and caught a 10lber on paste.
Sconey won from his favourite edge peg catching on 10mm JPZs over groundbait, whilst the 2nd place angler caught on paste, which meant I was the best of the shallow boys. Unfortunately for Herbie who was between these anglers had to leave early due to vandals causing some flooding at work.
1st 173- 0 - Ian "Scone" Toplis - p24
2nd 155- 4 - Covblaze - p27
3rd 128- 4 - Ken Rayner - p23
4th 116- 4 - Nick Merry - p20
5th 114- 8 - Mark Poppleton - p14
6th 111- 0 - Ross N - p1
05/08/12 - Sedges - Tile Lake
Weight - 27lb 14oz (18lb 0oz - silvers)
Catch - 21 Bream, 5 Carp, 1 Roach
Weather - A lot of rain to start, drier later
Match - Tony's Float Only rd 5 - 28th out of 40, 4th out of 5 section
This series has been really poor for me and the last time I was here I tipped back 3lb failing miserable having tried something different. So today I just wanted to fish positively and was hoping for a draw on Brick Lake. Alas I ended up on p32 on Tile.
On the drive down the motorway you could see the black clouds over Bridgewater and when I arrived there was a few huddled around Tonys van, whilst most sat in their cars & vans waiting for the rain to ease. We kept waiting until about 1pm. A proper drenching - cant wait until September for it to warm up!
Back to the match, I had an island opposite with a few carp showing themselves. However Andy Lloyd turned up on p32 and as we all know he can fish the pellet waggler a bit.
Following advice received, meat had started to work well and I had cubed 2 tins into 6mm, plus a few 8mm cubes. On what little I know of the lake, the fish on tile lake are a smaller stamp than brick.
I started on the waggler with 8mm pellet and after 30mins had lost 1 carp. Andy in the meantime had 3 or 4 carp next to the aerator. I had fed a 1/2 pot of pellet with a few cubes of meat at 13m at the start and I started regularly feeding meat at 5m. The intention was to catch a few early carp on the waggler, which didn't happen and was hoping the 13m line would be my main catching area, with my 5m line producing late.
A 4mm expander produced a few small skimmers, but changing to meat produced better skimmers, including a 4lb bream. By toss potting pellet & meat, I enjoyed a good couple of hours, but no carp and I felt I was falling behind those around me, who had caught a few carp. Fabio even managed 3 eels, including a proper snake of 4lb.
My catch rate slowed down when the wind picked up. I had kept feeding the island with 8s, but now with the wind was blowing my waggler away from island. Andy had stopped catching by the aerator and started catching tight to the end bank. I did manage to hook another carp on the waggler, but that fell off.
My 13m line continued to produce a few more skimmers, plus a couple of carp, but my 5m line didn't produce anything, which was a real disappointment, because I had hoped this line would produce a few late carp.
John Thompson to my left started to catch on paste at 13m, so I tried it over my 13m line but other than 1 proper bite it wasn't right, so I switched back to meat and the last 30mins of the match ended up being my best with 3 carp and a couple of decent skimmers.
In the end I was disappointed not to caught more carp. I felt I fished it well, just a little unlucky to have lost 5 carp (1 was definitely a foul hooker, but the other 4 where just simple hook pulls. Some of the carps mouth have been damaged by the method boys. Bearing in mind some of the strict rules at Sedges about nets and the fish welfare, I find it strange they allow method feeders which are obviously damaging the fishes mouths). Also surprised my 5m line didn't produce, nor did my margin which I had feed regularly with pellet. Had either my 5m line or margin produced I only needed 14lb of carp to clinch the section from Tom Mangall, so very tight.
1st 104- 4 - Craig Edmunds - p8
2nd 86- 9 - Neil Mercer - p21
3rd 85- 9 - Shaun Townsend - p19
4th 79-12 - Martin Rich - p40
5th 74-13 - Vic Bush - p14
6th 72- 9 - Eric Fourarce - p11
Silvers
1st 39- 7 - Craig Edmunds - p8
2nd 37-12 - John Baker - p7
3rd 31- 9 - Bob Gullick - p17
Catch - 21 Bream, 5 Carp, 1 Roach
Weather - A lot of rain to start, drier later
Match - Tony's Float Only rd 5 - 28th out of 40, 4th out of 5 section
This series has been really poor for me and the last time I was here I tipped back 3lb failing miserable having tried something different. So today I just wanted to fish positively and was hoping for a draw on Brick Lake. Alas I ended up on p32 on Tile.
On the drive down the motorway you could see the black clouds over Bridgewater and when I arrived there was a few huddled around Tonys van, whilst most sat in their cars & vans waiting for the rain to ease. We kept waiting until about 1pm. A proper drenching - cant wait until September for it to warm up!
Back to the match, I had an island opposite with a few carp showing themselves. However Andy Lloyd turned up on p32 and as we all know he can fish the pellet waggler a bit.
Following advice received, meat had started to work well and I had cubed 2 tins into 6mm, plus a few 8mm cubes. On what little I know of the lake, the fish on tile lake are a smaller stamp than brick.
I started on the waggler with 8mm pellet and after 30mins had lost 1 carp. Andy in the meantime had 3 or 4 carp next to the aerator. I had fed a 1/2 pot of pellet with a few cubes of meat at 13m at the start and I started regularly feeding meat at 5m. The intention was to catch a few early carp on the waggler, which didn't happen and was hoping the 13m line would be my main catching area, with my 5m line producing late.
A 4mm expander produced a few small skimmers, but changing to meat produced better skimmers, including a 4lb bream. By toss potting pellet & meat, I enjoyed a good couple of hours, but no carp and I felt I was falling behind those around me, who had caught a few carp. Fabio even managed 3 eels, including a proper snake of 4lb.
My catch rate slowed down when the wind picked up. I had kept feeding the island with 8s, but now with the wind was blowing my waggler away from island. Andy had stopped catching by the aerator and started catching tight to the end bank. I did manage to hook another carp on the waggler, but that fell off.
My 13m line continued to produce a few more skimmers, plus a couple of carp, but my 5m line didn't produce anything, which was a real disappointment, because I had hoped this line would produce a few late carp.
John Thompson to my left started to catch on paste at 13m, so I tried it over my 13m line but other than 1 proper bite it wasn't right, so I switched back to meat and the last 30mins of the match ended up being my best with 3 carp and a couple of decent skimmers.
In the end I was disappointed not to caught more carp. I felt I fished it well, just a little unlucky to have lost 5 carp (1 was definitely a foul hooker, but the other 4 where just simple hook pulls. Some of the carps mouth have been damaged by the method boys. Bearing in mind some of the strict rules at Sedges about nets and the fish welfare, I find it strange they allow method feeders which are obviously damaging the fishes mouths). Also surprised my 5m line didn't produce, nor did my margin which I had feed regularly with pellet. Had either my 5m line or margin produced I only needed 14lb of carp to clinch the section from Tom Mangall, so very tight.
1st 104- 4 - Craig Edmunds - p8
2nd 86- 9 - Neil Mercer - p21
3rd 85- 9 - Shaun Townsend - p19
4th 79-12 - Martin Rich - p40
5th 74-13 - Vic Bush - p14
6th 72- 9 - Eric Fourarce - p11
Silvers
1st 39- 7 - Craig Edmunds - p8
2nd 37-12 - John Baker - p7
3rd 31- 9 - Bob Gullick - p17
Friday, 3 August 2012
02/08/12 - Viaduct - Campbell
Weight – 105lb 8oz
(29lb 11oz – silvers)
Catch – 16 Carp, 22
Bream, 1 Tench, 1 Roach
Weather – Mostly
sunny, showery start, gusty wind
Match – Cost cutter
Open – 9th out of 24 (4th in silvers)
I
made the trip from Minehead again to fish todays cost cutter, which was on
Campbell and 2 banks of Cary. Today for me was more about building my
confidence at the venue and certainly my last few visits have seen a steady
improvement in my results.
126
was my home for the day and with the gusting wind combined with the cool start
to the day it looked like it would be a day for fishing the tip, which isn’t
what I wanted to do, because I was wanted to concentrate on the pole and
if possible the waggler if the wind allowed. I did set up the lead just in case and caught 1 fish when trying to sort out a
new rig, but the waggler was only cast about 5 times.
So
most of my time was spent on the pole. I started at 13m, feeding a toss pot of
meat and 4mm pellet and after 30mins had 2 carp, including a 10lber and 2 big
skimmers, but then nothing for the next 30mins.
I
had been feeding meat and 6s at 6m to my right and 4s & 6s at 4m to my
left. A couple of big skimmers came from the 6m line plus a couple more
carp. However it was becoming obvious that I was falling behind in the carp
race with Paul on P119 catching on the waggler, p124 catching on the lead and
the p127 catching on the feeder. A switch to the 4m line with 6mm pellet and I had a good hour or so catching
skimmers, plus a proper bream.
By
the half way stage I decided to try shallow on the pole having feed the long line for
2hrs and I caught 2 carp within 15mins, but they just didn’t settle in the wind,
which was gusting from bearly being able to hold the pole to being flat calm.
Since
the carp weren’t coming shallow (a couple of anglers opposite tried the same, but only
had a couple), decided to focus on catching the silvers. I hadn’t seen too many
being caught so thought I might be in with a shout of a pick up. My 4m line had
dried up and on reflection I properly overfed it. My 6m line had kicked into
life with some carp coming in amongst the skimmers, however I was starting to
wait longer for bites and the wind wasn’t helping when it was gusting strongly.
At
13m I had stopped feeding pellet by catapult and potted meat and pellet, which
produced a big tench, a few skimmers and a couple more carp. Typical, having
made the decision to target the silvers, I caught more carp.
Come
the weight in Lee Werrett on p131 had 48lb of silvers so was likely to win the silvers,
Lewis was admitting to about 25lb and I thought it would be close between the 2
of us. However, Paul Blake dumped 35lb on scales, having only admitted to 15lb! To
be honest I didn’t think he had that much, but obviously sneaked a few better
skimmers. Lewis was last to weigh, whilst I had more fish he had more tench
and he finally did me by just over a pound - bugger.
Actually
enjoyed my day, OK I am sure I could have pushed
harder for a framing position had I fished the tip, but I really needed to
build my confidence on the float particularly with last round of Tonys float only
a few weeks away.
1st 198- 5 – Paul Greenwood – p119 (waggler)
2nd 169-10 – M Fisher – p127 (feeder)
3rd 160- 8 – Lee Werrett – p131 (pole/pellet)
4th 146- 8 – Trev – p80
5th 127- 7 – Ron Messer – p116 (lead)
6th 124-10 – Lewis Greenwood – p123 (pole/pellet)
Silvers
1st 48-12 – Lee Werrett – p131
2nd 33- 7 – Paul Blake – p125
3rd 31- 0 – Lewis Greenwood – p123
4th 29-11 – Ken Rayner – p126
29/07/12 - Viaduct - Campbell
Weight – 117lb 6oz
(16lb 3oz – silvers)
Catch – 17 Carp, 7 Tench, 1 Bream
Weather – Mostly sunny, showers, wind increased later in the day
Match – West Tackle Open – 2nd out of 18 (1st in section, 1st in silvers)
Firstly an apology for the lateness of this blog, however I’ve been in Blue Anchor (Minehead) for a week enjoying the sea air and trying to relax.
As it happened Viaduct is slightly closer to Minehead than home. Reports on arrival were of 350lb winning the midweek match, however the weather had changed to much cooler, windier conditions, with heavy overnight rain last night, I doubted those sort of weights would be repeated.
At the draw I found 119 in my hand and knew it has been a flyer, however my initial excitement was tempered when I was told it hadn’t produced in the last 2 weeks and all the weights from mid-week came from the other end of the lake.
When I arrived there was loads of scum in the corner with loads of small fish on the surface, but the good news, there was a few carp showing themselves and I was hoping a few may have followed the wind.
I decided to keep things simple to today and ignore the silvers, targeting the pallet/small tree on the end bank and down into the corner, but not too close to the sunken tree, which looked like a tackle graveyard.
On the all in a small handful of 6s went down towards the corner, starting on the full depth waggler fished towards the pallet with hair rigged 8mm pellet. After 10mins I already had 2 carp, but then lost then next 3, including 1 where the line snapped above the float where I obviously damaged the line whilst setting up.
After an hour I still only had 2 carp, plus a tench. A switch to the corner and a couple more carp followed on paste, plus a couple of tench. The next few hours were spent mostly on the waggler, but it was obvious the fish weren’t feeding hard. Steve did his usual walk around when I was landing my 7th carp and advised that I was up there with the lake fishing generally hard.
I had now trashed 2 paste rigs in the corner, those carp certainly know where that tree is, however the swim had gone quiet, so decided to feed a ½ pot meat to try and pull the carp away from the sunken tree, fishing an 8mm cube of meat. This actually resulted in more tench and thought I may be able to pick up in the silvers, because I fully expected the pegs at the other end to have caught well and I was starting to struggle, which co-incided with the wind picking up, I did try the straight lead but that didn’t improve matters, so I struck with the waggler, even catching a couple on the pellet waggler, but to get a bite I had cast tight to the reeds.
In the end I thought I probably missed out on the frame but was hopeful of picking up the section by de-fault or silvers. I had trashed 5 rigs, so not as bad as it could be, but in hindsight I should have set up a 5m meat line, rather than focusing on the margin. The reason I didn’t was because I was a bit slow setting up and didn’t have time, being content to work the 2 lines. I could have fished the pole to the reeds at 16m, but the way my back is at the moment I didn’t fancy fishing that long.
By the time the scales arrived I knew I had 100lb and was surprised that only 1 ton had weighed in so far. Mark on 110 thought he would be close to my weight, but didn’t think he had enough, although Jono on 112 had caught well. As it turned out Jono had smaller fish and Mark reckon he lost 100lb, which is just careless if you ask me :¬)
So really pleased and a little surprised to come 2nd with my first ever Viaduct ton. I finally feel that I’m getting to grips with the venue, with my weights increasing with every visit. Today the change in weather to much cooler conditions obviously had an effect on the fishing. Cary suffered as well with only 88lb winning a Carps AC match.
1st 131- 1 – Nick Merry – p132
2nd 117- 6 – Ken Rayner – p119
3rd 99-12 – Mark Poppleton – p110
4th 91- 5 – Jono Atkins – p112
5th 88- 4 – Alan Aslett – p128
6th 70- 0 – Ian “Herbie” Hornby – p127
Catch – 17 Carp, 7 Tench, 1 Bream
Weather – Mostly sunny, showers, wind increased later in the day
Match – West Tackle Open – 2nd out of 18 (1st in section, 1st in silvers)
Firstly an apology for the lateness of this blog, however I’ve been in Blue Anchor (Minehead) for a week enjoying the sea air and trying to relax.
As it happened Viaduct is slightly closer to Minehead than home. Reports on arrival were of 350lb winning the midweek match, however the weather had changed to much cooler, windier conditions, with heavy overnight rain last night, I doubted those sort of weights would be repeated.
At the draw I found 119 in my hand and knew it has been a flyer, however my initial excitement was tempered when I was told it hadn’t produced in the last 2 weeks and all the weights from mid-week came from the other end of the lake.
When I arrived there was loads of scum in the corner with loads of small fish on the surface, but the good news, there was a few carp showing themselves and I was hoping a few may have followed the wind.
I decided to keep things simple to today and ignore the silvers, targeting the pallet/small tree on the end bank and down into the corner, but not too close to the sunken tree, which looked like a tackle graveyard.
On the all in a small handful of 6s went down towards the corner, starting on the full depth waggler fished towards the pallet with hair rigged 8mm pellet. After 10mins I already had 2 carp, but then lost then next 3, including 1 where the line snapped above the float where I obviously damaged the line whilst setting up.
After an hour I still only had 2 carp, plus a tench. A switch to the corner and a couple more carp followed on paste, plus a couple of tench. The next few hours were spent mostly on the waggler, but it was obvious the fish weren’t feeding hard. Steve did his usual walk around when I was landing my 7th carp and advised that I was up there with the lake fishing generally hard.
I had now trashed 2 paste rigs in the corner, those carp certainly know where that tree is, however the swim had gone quiet, so decided to feed a ½ pot meat to try and pull the carp away from the sunken tree, fishing an 8mm cube of meat. This actually resulted in more tench and thought I may be able to pick up in the silvers, because I fully expected the pegs at the other end to have caught well and I was starting to struggle, which co-incided with the wind picking up, I did try the straight lead but that didn’t improve matters, so I struck with the waggler, even catching a couple on the pellet waggler, but to get a bite I had cast tight to the reeds.
In the end I thought I probably missed out on the frame but was hopeful of picking up the section by de-fault or silvers. I had trashed 5 rigs, so not as bad as it could be, but in hindsight I should have set up a 5m meat line, rather than focusing on the margin. The reason I didn’t was because I was a bit slow setting up and didn’t have time, being content to work the 2 lines. I could have fished the pole to the reeds at 16m, but the way my back is at the moment I didn’t fancy fishing that long.
By the time the scales arrived I knew I had 100lb and was surprised that only 1 ton had weighed in so far. Mark on 110 thought he would be close to my weight, but didn’t think he had enough, although Jono on 112 had caught well. As it turned out Jono had smaller fish and Mark reckon he lost 100lb, which is just careless if you ask me :¬)
So really pleased and a little surprised to come 2nd with my first ever Viaduct ton. I finally feel that I’m getting to grips with the venue, with my weights increasing with every visit. Today the change in weather to much cooler conditions obviously had an effect on the fishing. Cary suffered as well with only 88lb winning a Carps AC match.
1st 131- 1 – Nick Merry – p132
2nd 117- 6 – Ken Rayner – p119
3rd 99-12 – Mark Poppleton – p110
4th 91- 5 – Jono Atkins – p112
5th 88- 4 – Alan Aslett – p128
6th 70- 0 – Ian “Herbie” Hornby – p127
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