Weight – 10lb 14oz
Catch – 9 Roach, 4 Carp, 2 Fantail, 2 Bream, 1 F1
Weather – Foggy start cold start, later warm, sunny and flat calm.
Water temp – 14.5c > 15.0c
Match – Open – (15th out of 24)
I ran a practice open on Bullocks Match Lake in preparation for the 2nd round of the Veals Winter League. All 24 of us were on the 1 lake, which wasn’t ideal, but unfortunately I couldn’t split it over 2 lakes.
I drew peg 6, which again wasn’t ideal. I would have much preferred any of the car park or chicken shed pegs.
I finished the day with a disappointing weight. I couldn’t get the silvers to feed properly, probably because in hindsight and speaking to a few others I could have fed more caster and switched the micro pellet for groundbait. Having said that I wasn’t in the best area for silvers.
Normally you can get a few carp and they are usually bigger than average, but not today. I was glad when the match finished.
Monday, 6 October 2008
Friday, 3 October 2008
24/09/08 - Bullock Farm - North Pool
Weight – 47lb 6oz
Catch – 14 Roach, 12 Carp, 3 Rudd, 1 F1, 1 Crucian, 1 Fantail.
Weather – Foggy start cold start, later warm, sunny and flat calm.
Water temp – 14.5c > 14.5c
Autumn has definitely arrived. A cold foggy started, officially ended what little summer we have had.
Originally wanted to fish the match lake, but this was closed so I settled on North Pool, simply because I fished Rushcombe not that long ago, I don’t like the Carp Lake and I had not fished North Pool for a while.
Being quite busy, I ended up on peg 23, at the back of the complex. I had a spare peg either side of me, so I had a little room to try a few things. My peg is only 10m wide, so I concentrated fishing left and right.
The fishing was generally difficult, with the odd fish being caught from each swim, mostly on pinkie. I couldn’t get a run together, but not many fish being caught anywhere.
I had been feeding both margins. The left margin I feed quite heavily with caster & 4mm expanders, whilst the right margin was feed more cautiously with the same bait.
I had periodically tried my margins without success, but they finally arrived in the last 90 mins, when I had 9 carp, mostly from the right hand margin.
Catch – 14 Roach, 12 Carp, 3 Rudd, 1 F1, 1 Crucian, 1 Fantail.
Weather – Foggy start cold start, later warm, sunny and flat calm.
Water temp – 14.5c > 14.5c
Autumn has definitely arrived. A cold foggy started, officially ended what little summer we have had.
Originally wanted to fish the match lake, but this was closed so I settled on North Pool, simply because I fished Rushcombe not that long ago, I don’t like the Carp Lake and I had not fished North Pool for a while.
Being quite busy, I ended up on peg 23, at the back of the complex. I had a spare peg either side of me, so I had a little room to try a few things. My peg is only 10m wide, so I concentrated fishing left and right.
The fishing was generally difficult, with the odd fish being caught from each swim, mostly on pinkie. I couldn’t get a run together, but not many fish being caught anywhere.
I had been feeding both margins. The left margin I feed quite heavily with caster & 4mm expanders, whilst the right margin was feed more cautiously with the same bait.
I had periodically tried my margins without success, but they finally arrived in the last 90 mins, when I had 9 carp, mostly from the right hand margin.
18/09/08 - Trinity Waters - Wildmarsh
Weight – 13lb 12oz
Catch – 12 Roach, 11 Bream
Weather – Warm, sunny & flat calm.
Water temp – 16.0c > 16.5c
Match – Veals Winter League – rd 1 (20th overall, 3rd in section)
15 teams of 4 and most people wanted to draw Woodlands Lake, which is the carp lake.
Personally I fancied an open water draw on Wildmarsh Lake, which had 3 sections of the 4 sections. At the draw my wish was granted and I found myself on peg 30, which was on the end of spit and I had loads of water to attack. I really fancied myself to get good points.
As the match organiser I had to put the time of the match back ½ hour, due to some confusion regarding the pegging, unfortunately a couple of people didn’t understand the pegging.
At the start of the match, the real concern was the weather. It was bright & very calm, so I decided on a cautious approach and only cupped in 1 ball of groundbait, plus a little bit of chopped worm & caster at 13m. I also feed some 6mm expanders and small balls of groundbait at 25m, anticipating that I would catch most of my fish on the waggler, particularly after Wednesdays practice session.
Initially I tried to catch short for some early roach & rudd, but one had 1 bite after 15mins, so I quickly switched to the long pole. I had set up 2 rigs to fish this line. 1 light rig with .10 bottom and size 20 silverfish hook to fish caster & maggot, plus a heavy rig with .11 bottom and a size 18 B911 to fish worm & double maggot.
As the match progressed I caught most of my fish on the light rig with single caster, a few on the heavy rig & worm. I periodically tried the waggler, but only caught 1 skimmer, which was a real surprise.
With 90 mins left, I knew I was doing well, the only anglers I could see catching were Des Shipp on the far bank and Dave Downton to my right. However my swim seemed to have dried up. I tried going to 14m without any real success. I didn’t want to kill my 13m swim completely, so I decided dump a full cup of maggot, caster & chopped worm at 13m at 2 o’clock, hoping to catch a few eels.
20 mins later, 1st drop in with double maggot, the float just kept going under and I caught a biggest fish of the day, a 2½lb skimmer. In fact the last hour I managed another 4 skimmers from both my pole swims and was really confident of good points.
In the end I was 3rd in my section, beaten my anglers who both had single carp to go with their silvers weight. I did try for carp down the margins, but never had a bite and I didn’t waste too much time looking, since there was very few carp being caught on Wildmarsh. All the carp weights came from Woodlands, with the best weight being 61lb.
As well as coming 3rd in my section I was also 3rd in the silvers.
Catch – 12 Roach, 11 Bream
Weather – Warm, sunny & flat calm.
Water temp – 16.0c > 16.5c
Match – Veals Winter League – rd 1 (20th overall, 3rd in section)
15 teams of 4 and most people wanted to draw Woodlands Lake, which is the carp lake.
Personally I fancied an open water draw on Wildmarsh Lake, which had 3 sections of the 4 sections. At the draw my wish was granted and I found myself on peg 30, which was on the end of spit and I had loads of water to attack. I really fancied myself to get good points.
As the match organiser I had to put the time of the match back ½ hour, due to some confusion regarding the pegging, unfortunately a couple of people didn’t understand the pegging.
At the start of the match, the real concern was the weather. It was bright & very calm, so I decided on a cautious approach and only cupped in 1 ball of groundbait, plus a little bit of chopped worm & caster at 13m. I also feed some 6mm expanders and small balls of groundbait at 25m, anticipating that I would catch most of my fish on the waggler, particularly after Wednesdays practice session.
Initially I tried to catch short for some early roach & rudd, but one had 1 bite after 15mins, so I quickly switched to the long pole. I had set up 2 rigs to fish this line. 1 light rig with .10 bottom and size 20 silverfish hook to fish caster & maggot, plus a heavy rig with .11 bottom and a size 18 B911 to fish worm & double maggot.
As the match progressed I caught most of my fish on the light rig with single caster, a few on the heavy rig & worm. I periodically tried the waggler, but only caught 1 skimmer, which was a real surprise.
With 90 mins left, I knew I was doing well, the only anglers I could see catching were Des Shipp on the far bank and Dave Downton to my right. However my swim seemed to have dried up. I tried going to 14m without any real success. I didn’t want to kill my 13m swim completely, so I decided dump a full cup of maggot, caster & chopped worm at 13m at 2 o’clock, hoping to catch a few eels.
20 mins later, 1st drop in with double maggot, the float just kept going under and I caught a biggest fish of the day, a 2½lb skimmer. In fact the last hour I managed another 4 skimmers from both my pole swims and was really confident of good points.
In the end I was 3rd in my section, beaten my anglers who both had single carp to go with their silvers weight. I did try for carp down the margins, but never had a bite and I didn’t waste too much time looking, since there was very few carp being caught on Wildmarsh. All the carp weights came from Woodlands, with the best weight being 61lb.
As well as coming 3rd in my section I was also 3rd in the silvers.
Tuesday, 30 September 2008
17/09/08 - Trinity Waters - Wildmarsh
Weight – 24lb 6oz
Catch – 12 Roach, 9 Rudd, 8 Bream, 3 Perch, 2 Eel, 1 Carp, 1 Barbel
Weather – Rain at start, then mostly cloudy. Mostly flat calm.
Water temp – 16.0c > 16.5c
With the forthcoming 1st round of the Veal’s Winter League looming, I needed some practice at the venue. Sundays practice open had been won with about 40lb and the general consensus was there was bites for everyone.
Trinity Waters evokes very polarised views about whether it should be included in the Winter League, because the fishing can be challenging. As expected many of those that struggle to catch are not prepared to work for their fish. Personally I like to venue, set in a lovely location, John & Sue have worked hard to continually improve the fishery.
Wildmarsh is a 70 peg lake, which will have 3 sections of 15, which meant there was a 75% chance I would drew there on Sunday. The other lake, Woodlands would be dominated by carp and would effectively look after itself, so it made sense to practice on Wildmarsh.
I few days earlier I received a call from my best mate, Jim, when we realised we hadn’t got together for nearly 9 months, he decided to come along with me for the practice session. Since most pegs had a tree between them, we settled on pegs 44 & 45 because the vegetation was less dense, so at least we could have chat, whilst we fished.
The winter league would be float only, so I really wanted to get the waggler sorted, because if I drew Wildmarsh in the match I felt the waggler would give me an edge since most anglers would only fish the pole.
I set up a loaded 8g-enser-dream waggler, with 5 x no.6 bulk 2 foot from the hook 4 no 10 droppers, fishing in 7 foot water. I feed 6mm swim stim expanders, plus small balls of groundbait laced with chopped worm, caster & 3mm pellet. Whilst the fishing was never hectic, I caught skimmers up to 2lb 12oz mostly on half a worm at 25/30m.
I also had a few fish on the pole at 12m, but felt I probably overfed the swim from the start, cupping 4 balls of groundbait with caster & chopped worm. In hindsight, I should have started a little more cautiously.
As part of my practice session I also tried the margins, but only managed 1 carp about 6½lb and a barbel.
This was a really enjoyable session. The weather conditions were hardly ideal for catching skimmers, but I finished confident with the waggler and hoping for an open water draw on Sunday.
Catch – 12 Roach, 9 Rudd, 8 Bream, 3 Perch, 2 Eel, 1 Carp, 1 Barbel
Weather – Rain at start, then mostly cloudy. Mostly flat calm.
Water temp – 16.0c > 16.5c
With the forthcoming 1st round of the Veal’s Winter League looming, I needed some practice at the venue. Sundays practice open had been won with about 40lb and the general consensus was there was bites for everyone.
Trinity Waters evokes very polarised views about whether it should be included in the Winter League, because the fishing can be challenging. As expected many of those that struggle to catch are not prepared to work for their fish. Personally I like to venue, set in a lovely location, John & Sue have worked hard to continually improve the fishery.
Wildmarsh is a 70 peg lake, which will have 3 sections of 15, which meant there was a 75% chance I would drew there on Sunday. The other lake, Woodlands would be dominated by carp and would effectively look after itself, so it made sense to practice on Wildmarsh.
I few days earlier I received a call from my best mate, Jim, when we realised we hadn’t got together for nearly 9 months, he decided to come along with me for the practice session. Since most pegs had a tree between them, we settled on pegs 44 & 45 because the vegetation was less dense, so at least we could have chat, whilst we fished.
The winter league would be float only, so I really wanted to get the waggler sorted, because if I drew Wildmarsh in the match I felt the waggler would give me an edge since most anglers would only fish the pole.
I set up a loaded 8g-enser-dream waggler, with 5 x no.6 bulk 2 foot from the hook 4 no 10 droppers, fishing in 7 foot water. I feed 6mm swim stim expanders, plus small balls of groundbait laced with chopped worm, caster & 3mm pellet. Whilst the fishing was never hectic, I caught skimmers up to 2lb 12oz mostly on half a worm at 25/30m.
I also had a few fish on the pole at 12m, but felt I probably overfed the swim from the start, cupping 4 balls of groundbait with caster & chopped worm. In hindsight, I should have started a little more cautiously.
As part of my practice session I also tried the margins, but only managed 1 carp about 6½lb and a barbel.
This was a really enjoyable session. The weather conditions were hardly ideal for catching skimmers, but I finished confident with the waggler and hoping for an open water draw on Sunday.
14/09/08 - Stafford Moor - Tanners
Weight – 19lb 12oz
Catch – 39 Bream, 28 Roach, 1 Hybrid, 1 Rudd.
Weather – Warm & sunny. Very light easterly breeze.
Water temp – 16.0c > 16.5c
Match – Stafford Moor Pairs – Day 2 – (64th overall, 10th in section)
Following yesterday’s match, Mike and I were effectively out of contention for the pair’s competition, so I wanted to at least have a few bites.
I drew peg 32 on Tanners but the wind had switched around and was blowing into pegs 18 & 20. It was also very bright and flat, so prospects weren’t looking good.
I started looking for carp on the full depth waggler and lead, but other than a couple of liners I had no carp. I had set up a silverfish line at 8m, feeding groundbait and micro pellet, but most of the fish were small. I also tried setting a line at 14.5m just feeding pellet. I caught a few decent skimmers, but wished I had some 6mm pellet instead of the 8mm.
Overall I was going no where, I had a banging headache and to be honest lost focus on what I should be doing, because it became obvious most of the fish were being caught at the other end of the lake, with 120lb winning the lake & my section from peg 18.
Catch – 39 Bream, 28 Roach, 1 Hybrid, 1 Rudd.
Weather – Warm & sunny. Very light easterly breeze.
Water temp – 16.0c > 16.5c
Match – Stafford Moor Pairs – Day 2 – (64th overall, 10th in section)
Following yesterday’s match, Mike and I were effectively out of contention for the pair’s competition, so I wanted to at least have a few bites.
I drew peg 32 on Tanners but the wind had switched around and was blowing into pegs 18 & 20. It was also very bright and flat, so prospects weren’t looking good.
I started looking for carp on the full depth waggler and lead, but other than a couple of liners I had no carp. I had set up a silverfish line at 8m, feeding groundbait and micro pellet, but most of the fish were small. I also tried setting a line at 14.5m just feeding pellet. I caught a few decent skimmers, but wished I had some 6mm pellet instead of the 8mm.
Overall I was going no where, I had a banging headache and to be honest lost focus on what I should be doing, because it became obvious most of the fish were being caught at the other end of the lake, with 120lb winning the lake & my section from peg 18.
Thursday, 25 September 2008
13/09/08 - Stafford Moor - Woodpecker
Weight – 35lb 0oz
Catch – 5 Carp, 2 Bream, 1 Crucian
Weather – Rain to start, later warm & sunny. Light breeze.
Water temp – 16.0c > 17.5c
Match – Stafford Moor Pairs – Day 1 – (26th overall, 6th in section)
There were 42 pairs at the draw and you had to choice whether to draw from 1 of 2 bags. Tanners & Pines was in 1, whilst Woodpecker & Joseph’s was in the other. I drew Woodpecker 4 and Mike Etheridge drew Tanners 36. Mike definitely had the better draw, whilst my peg had been fishing well recently, so I felt we had half a chance of doing well.
Following advice from Andy, I decided on a 3 pronged attack. The straight lead towards the point of the island, pellet waggler in open water and finally the pole towards the point of the spit. I decided against a silver fish line, because it was reported there was a number of carp in the area and I didn’t want to be distracted from catching carp.
The flat, bright weather had its effect, I caught most of my fish on the lead, 1 fish on the pole, but no carp on the pellet waggler, despite feeding 8pts of pellet. I was convinced the fish would arrive, but they never did.
At the weigh in it became obvious I had draw at the wrong end of the section, the major weights came from peg 6, 10 & 12. Even the pegs opposite me in the bay (32-36) didn’t fish. James Cooper on peg 36 struggled for 39lb.
Mike did Ok on Tanners, unfortunately peg 36 fishes better when the wind is blowing and he finished 4th in section. This meant we were effectively out of the running for day 2.
Could I have done better? Probably not, I worked hard to catch what I had and the weights around me reflected the fact the fish weren’t feeding. The only thing I should have done was try a pva bag.
Catch – 5 Carp, 2 Bream, 1 Crucian
Weather – Rain to start, later warm & sunny. Light breeze.
Water temp – 16.0c > 17.5c
Match – Stafford Moor Pairs – Day 1 – (26th overall, 6th in section)
There were 42 pairs at the draw and you had to choice whether to draw from 1 of 2 bags. Tanners & Pines was in 1, whilst Woodpecker & Joseph’s was in the other. I drew Woodpecker 4 and Mike Etheridge drew Tanners 36. Mike definitely had the better draw, whilst my peg had been fishing well recently, so I felt we had half a chance of doing well.
Following advice from Andy, I decided on a 3 pronged attack. The straight lead towards the point of the island, pellet waggler in open water and finally the pole towards the point of the spit. I decided against a silver fish line, because it was reported there was a number of carp in the area and I didn’t want to be distracted from catching carp.
The flat, bright weather had its effect, I caught most of my fish on the lead, 1 fish on the pole, but no carp on the pellet waggler, despite feeding 8pts of pellet. I was convinced the fish would arrive, but they never did.
At the weigh in it became obvious I had draw at the wrong end of the section, the major weights came from peg 6, 10 & 12. Even the pegs opposite me in the bay (32-36) didn’t fish. James Cooper on peg 36 struggled for 39lb.
Mike did Ok on Tanners, unfortunately peg 36 fishes better when the wind is blowing and he finished 4th in section. This meant we were effectively out of the running for day 2.
Could I have done better? Probably not, I worked hard to catch what I had and the weights around me reflected the fact the fish weren’t feeding. The only thing I should have done was try a pva bag.
Friday, 19 September 2008
06/09/08 - Rolfs Lake
Weight – 3lb 10oz
Catch – 33 Perch, 2 Roach
Weather – Mostly cloudy, rain later
Water temp – 17.5c > 17.5c
Match – Total Fishing Individual Qualifier
Due to a minor operation, I couldn’t fish last weekend so was really looking forward to today. I had spent most evenings during the week tying hooklengths and rigs and felt confident of doing well.
When I arrived, the surface of the lake was black with fish, which was a surprise considering the heavy overnight rain. General consensus was the lake would probably be fish hard.
The lake had been split into 4 sections, based on form. I drew peg 29, which was in the 4th and worst section. Pegs 10, 13, 25 & 34 were in my section and I could at least keep an eye on everyone except peg 34.
Based on my previous visit, I decided to try the waggler at full depth, fishing the worm, hoping to pick up the off carp and silvers, whilst feeding my short line and margins.
In the end the lake fished really hard. I caught perch on worm, particularly in the margins, but they were mostly about 1oz and I was going no where fast. Although I had periodically tried meat & corn, without success, with only 90 minutes left, all I needed was a couple of carp, but it just wasn’t happening. I briefly hooked 1 on paste, before the hook pulled, but 10 mins to go I hooked another. This 1 I think was hooked properly, but it broke me on its 1st run – not happy. A missed bites next cast suggested the fish might have arrived all a little too late.
I only needed 3rd in my 5 peg section to qualify for the final, so I was really disappointed to finish 4th.
I had decided on an aggressive feeding approach and on reflection that wasn’t suitable, I should have adopted a more cautious approach, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. The problem was for whatever reason the lake fished very hard and only 78lb was needed to win. Had the lake fished normally, then perhaps my tactics would have worked.
Catch – 33 Perch, 2 Roach
Weather – Mostly cloudy, rain later
Water temp – 17.5c > 17.5c
Match – Total Fishing Individual Qualifier
Due to a minor operation, I couldn’t fish last weekend so was really looking forward to today. I had spent most evenings during the week tying hooklengths and rigs and felt confident of doing well.
When I arrived, the surface of the lake was black with fish, which was a surprise considering the heavy overnight rain. General consensus was the lake would probably be fish hard.
The lake had been split into 4 sections, based on form. I drew peg 29, which was in the 4th and worst section. Pegs 10, 13, 25 & 34 were in my section and I could at least keep an eye on everyone except peg 34.
Based on my previous visit, I decided to try the waggler at full depth, fishing the worm, hoping to pick up the off carp and silvers, whilst feeding my short line and margins.
In the end the lake fished really hard. I caught perch on worm, particularly in the margins, but they were mostly about 1oz and I was going no where fast. Although I had periodically tried meat & corn, without success, with only 90 minutes left, all I needed was a couple of carp, but it just wasn’t happening. I briefly hooked 1 on paste, before the hook pulled, but 10 mins to go I hooked another. This 1 I think was hooked properly, but it broke me on its 1st run – not happy. A missed bites next cast suggested the fish might have arrived all a little too late.
I only needed 3rd in my 5 peg section to qualify for the final, so I was really disappointed to finish 4th.
I had decided on an aggressive feeding approach and on reflection that wasn’t suitable, I should have adopted a more cautious approach, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. The problem was for whatever reason the lake fished very hard and only 78lb was needed to win. Had the lake fished normally, then perhaps my tactics would have worked.
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