After my maggot approach the previous week on Poplars which ‘luckily’ resulted in a top 3 placing I was confident that it would work again this time round at Brafferton. I fished on the very odd occasion here before but never on the F1 Lake.
I arrived up at the fishery at 8:30 and went for a sandwich before unloading all my gear onto the barrow. Seeing as I was fannying about getting all my gear ready I missed the draw and was drawn peg 63, on the end of the peninsula so I had plenty of water to go at, as did everyone else in fairness, on an 80 peg lake there was only 17 of us!
With Gordon on his 83rd holiday of the year, Owen not in attendance and Acko down at Whiteacres I was already three quid down before the match had started! ;o)
After finally trudging my gear to my peg I was about ready for a kip! The culmination of the long grass and an overloaded barrow with a flat tyre didn’t make for an enjoyable walk!
Tony Koz was on 61 and I warned him that we weren’t in for a quiet day as Rab was to be joining us on the opposite of the point on 64! I had a quick look at my peg and decided on a line to the island at 13.5m and after a quick plumb up a line at both 4m and 10m at the base of the near and far shelf. There are no real shelves on this lake, its more like a bowl so I plumbed all my rigs to dead depth then added on 2 inches to make sure I was always fishing on the deck.
I set up a deep rig for 4 and 10m on 0.16, to an 0.14 hook length and a size 16 B911. Float choice was a 0.4g BGT Shallow long and elastic was 14 latex. My island rig was a 4x10 Malman Cedar on 0.14 to an 0.12 hook length, 12 latex and a size 18 B611 hook.
At the all in I potted some pellets on both the deep rigs which were both quite deep at about 6ft and then went over with a half a big pot of maggots onto the island. I started off on the island and it took me over half an hour to get my first indication, meanwhile Tony had put 3 or 4 carp into his net fishing at around 11m. My bites increased however and after a few silvers I managed 4 F1’s to take my tally to about 7lb for the first hour. I then went half an hour without a bite so it was time to try the deep lines. I started off at 9.5m before coming onto the short line. I tried both lines for a good 20 minutes but no signals of any fish!
The wind had by now picked up considerably so I went to the car for my tip rod and first chuck out once I got back with a 6mm banded pellet and a pellet full of micros I was into a small F1 from open water but a further 45 minutes and no more fish followed.
I’d decided that I’d rather be catching bits than nothing at all and so went back over to the far side with maggot. I was into small, I mean very small roach but I was bumping a few off due to my 12 elastic so I changed to the lightest I had in my armoury, a latex 10, this was helping a bit but I was still losing a lot of fish. I changed down to a hooklength of 0.10 and a size 22 (is winter here?) and I was putting 9 out of 10 fish into my net. I also put a 2ft lash on as the wind by now was horrendous but at least it kept me getting bites even if I was striking like Zorro to connect! I fished this way for the rest of the match and managed quite a few roach, skimmers and even the odd chublet but nothing to build any weight however I did manage to hook another 4 F1’s, I played them carefully and landed them all bar one, would this cost me?
At the all out Rab was admitting to one carp and 5 gudgeon, but he’s a liar and went to weigh in 17lb odd. I weighed 18lb 10oz and Tony Koz put 19lb 12oz on the scales so that F1 might just have cost me! The weights were all pretty poor although Stu Turner managed 50 odd pounds which was only bettered by Honest John who snared an 8lber just before time to take the match.
We’re back at Woodlands next week on Partridge, it’ll either be a day on the paste or a day on the tip; we’ll have to wait till the day to decide though where i'll probably fish something completely different!
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
The Oaks - Poplars - October 4th
Well, the previous week I got my wish to fish on Match pool at Carp Vale and right some wrongs, but as you may have guessed it didn’t go to plan and I weighed in 16lb 8oz for no where but still managed another quid off Mr Thackwray!
With Poplars this week I was in a quandary on how to approach it. I’ve never done terribly well on the lake and wanted to put that right today. We were on pegs 14-54 and with 21 fishing this meant it was just about peg one miss a peg. Owen initiated another three way quid between us two and Acko as they both wanted a chance of winning them back from the match on Maple, I duly obliged!
By the time of the draw Stu announced that the top 3 would get a pay out as well as three sections of seven. I held the draw bag and was greeted with the odd smile but the more occasional frown as the pegs were being lifted out. This left three pegs in the bag, Nige was drawn peg 25 as he was running a little late and this left Stu with 20 and me with 14. I was pretty pleased with this as peg 13 and 15 weren’t in so I had plenty of room and some pots to fish to on peg 13.
I bought a couple of pints of maggots and as I was walking to my peg Stu revealed that Minty and I were on scale duty! I’m sure I’ve done it half a dozen times this season, I don’t mind doing the weigh in to be fair but it takes me long enough to pack up as it is!
I got round to my peg, Minty was on 16, Wrighty was on 18 and Stu was on 20, that was as far as I could see. I got all the kit out of the car and had a sit down to assess where I’d be attacking today. With the pots in front of 13, this would be my main line of attack with maggot. I would also fish the same rig to the tree on my left, again with maggot. With no real cover straight in front I set up a pellet line to fish tight to the far bank. I also set up a line at the base of the far shelf at 11m to fish meat; this was more a token gesture if no where else was working!
My maggot rig was a Malman Cedar 4x10 on 0.12 Ultima to a 6inch hooklength of the same material and a size 16 B911, I’m aware this seems a bit big for maggot fishing but I wanted to fish 4 or 5 maggots at a time to target the better Ide, a lesson I’d learnt from fishing on Alders. Elastic was soft set 12 latex. My pellet rig was the same float but on 0.16 Ultima Power Match to an 0.14 hooklength and a size 18 B911 complemented by a 16 latex. My meat rig was a 0.4g BGT shallow long float on 0.16 straight through to a size 16 PR36 with size 14 latex.
For bait I had 2 pints of maggots, half red half white. Plenty of hooker pellets, some micros and some meat but I was concentrating on the maggot and would only deviate to other baits if it was hard going. At the all in I potted some meat in down the track at 11m, and half a big Drennan pot of maggots to the pots on my right hand side. As with Maple a couple of weeks previous I thought I’d target the carp for the first 15 minutes or so as you often get them early on and they’re not worth missing out on. Anyway a biteless 20 minutes ensued and I sacked off the pellet line and went over the maggot line which by now would have hopefully settled.
I shipped out and double kinder potted over the tope of my float, by lifting and dropping my rig back into the feed zone soon sparked a response and Ide number one was in the net, with it being about a pound it was a good start. I caught another fish of a similar size before deciding to change down to a 10 elastic, as I was shipping back at angle it made it easier to ship back quickly without fear of losing the fish. I repeated this until I had 6 in the net all of a similar size and on the stroke of the first hour disappearing I struck like Zorro and managed to catch my float on a loner branch and although I had a hooklength on this wouldn’t do me any good as it was the mainline that was snagged. After pulling for a break I came back with a fraction of the rig I had shipped out, the loop on the connector to be precise! I chucked another rig on and seeing as I’d marked my top kit with tip-ex it was a quick process and I was back in the swim in no time. I only managed 2 more fish before I had to re-feed another big pot. I switched to the meat line whilst this pot of maggots settled but had nothing to show from it. By the end of the second hour I had 10 fish for probably 8lb.
Minty went for a walk and when he came back probably after a good half an hour I still only had the 8lb in the net. While he was gone I potted on the tree on the left hand side and by the time I went over it I caught another Ide straight away before repeating the process. I shipped out again and before I had time to feed I had hooked a fish on the drop. I tipped the feed in before playing the fish to the net, my first carp, a stocky of about 8oz.
It then died as soon as it started so to spark a response I changed to a hooklength of 0.10 and a size 20 B611. Going into the last hour I’d put the odd Ide into the net but nothing much was happening. I big potted onto both lines and then just switched between them until I got indications. It turned out to be my most fruitful hour with a couple of Ide and 4 proper carp to take my tally to around 25lb before the hooter sounded to signal the end of the match. Remarkably all the carp came to the net without much fuss, I thought I’d have to be careful with the light hook length and light laccy but they came up near enough straight way!
Minty had started packing up before the match had finished so I had a rush on to get packed up and off to do the weigh in. Seeing as I was on the first peg I put a marker down for everyone, I weighed in 25lb 10oz, Wrighty remarked that would be a good weight today but I knew he had caught, Stu had caught and apparently Rab and Howard had both caught well on 53 and 54 respectively. Minty didn’t weigh in which meant Wrighty was up next, he pushed me close but not close enough with 22lb odd. Stu then shattered my dreams by putting 34lb in the sling. The rest of the weights in our section were all in the high teens but no more above 20lb. Round to Acko’s peg and seeing as he wasn’t there Rab did the honours and 13lb 10oz was recorded. Acko shouted across the lake asking what he’d weighed, I replied ‘’a quid less than me!’’ Gordon weighed in 17lb ish so another quid was claimed. Tel took the section with a weight not much more than Gordon’s. Jonesy weighed 19lb odd which was good enough for the section and Owens weight wasn’t up to scratch meaning I’d be taking another Quid! Three quid’s out of three can’t be bad!
Up until this point I was still in second place behind Stu, with only Rab and Howard left who I knew would have more than me it meant I was guaranteed my section. Howard put 26lb 4oz in the sling; I’d been pipped by 10oz!
Now onto Rab who was last to weigh in, out came his first net and into the sling. He had a similar amount in the other net and it was going to be close between him and Stu to take the match. Rab pulled out his second net grabbed the bottom ring and started to feed them through to the top whilst keeping the middle of the net in the water, nothing wrong there you’d think, and you’d be right. Until Rab dropped the top of his net back into the drink and as he was still holding the bottom ring the inevitable happened! All his fish made a dash out the net and by the time the keepnet had been rescued there was nothing left to show for his days work! Now Rab isn’t one to take the micky out of anyone (and if you believe that then you need your head checking) so to say everyone erupted with laughter would be an under statement! A look of dismay crept into his face as his now single net weighed 17lb 12oz which meant he didn’t even win the section.
This however was good news for me and Wrighty as I crept into third spot meaning Dave took the section by default! So not a bad day at the office in the end! On reflection it wasn’t a bad match, I don’t think I missed a bite, although they were all fairly positive, I didn’t foul hook or lose any fish and the only thing I can think of that would have pushed me into second was the nightmare of getting my rig caught and having to put a new rig on. Apart from that I don’t think there was much more I could have done.
We’re at Brafferton on the F1 Lake next week, I’ve never fished here before but if the weather carries on being up and down then it might be another maggot approach. Its also now officially winter, I had to wear my jumper through the whole match this week and I’ve also been considering putting the heating on on a night! Considering not actioning, I’m not Rockefeller!
With Poplars this week I was in a quandary on how to approach it. I’ve never done terribly well on the lake and wanted to put that right today. We were on pegs 14-54 and with 21 fishing this meant it was just about peg one miss a peg. Owen initiated another three way quid between us two and Acko as they both wanted a chance of winning them back from the match on Maple, I duly obliged!
By the time of the draw Stu announced that the top 3 would get a pay out as well as three sections of seven. I held the draw bag and was greeted with the odd smile but the more occasional frown as the pegs were being lifted out. This left three pegs in the bag, Nige was drawn peg 25 as he was running a little late and this left Stu with 20 and me with 14. I was pretty pleased with this as peg 13 and 15 weren’t in so I had plenty of room and some pots to fish to on peg 13.
I bought a couple of pints of maggots and as I was walking to my peg Stu revealed that Minty and I were on scale duty! I’m sure I’ve done it half a dozen times this season, I don’t mind doing the weigh in to be fair but it takes me long enough to pack up as it is!
I got round to my peg, Minty was on 16, Wrighty was on 18 and Stu was on 20, that was as far as I could see. I got all the kit out of the car and had a sit down to assess where I’d be attacking today. With the pots in front of 13, this would be my main line of attack with maggot. I would also fish the same rig to the tree on my left, again with maggot. With no real cover straight in front I set up a pellet line to fish tight to the far bank. I also set up a line at the base of the far shelf at 11m to fish meat; this was more a token gesture if no where else was working!
My maggot rig was a Malman Cedar 4x10 on 0.12 Ultima to a 6inch hooklength of the same material and a size 16 B911, I’m aware this seems a bit big for maggot fishing but I wanted to fish 4 or 5 maggots at a time to target the better Ide, a lesson I’d learnt from fishing on Alders. Elastic was soft set 12 latex. My pellet rig was the same float but on 0.16 Ultima Power Match to an 0.14 hooklength and a size 18 B911 complemented by a 16 latex. My meat rig was a 0.4g BGT shallow long float on 0.16 straight through to a size 16 PR36 with size 14 latex.
For bait I had 2 pints of maggots, half red half white. Plenty of hooker pellets, some micros and some meat but I was concentrating on the maggot and would only deviate to other baits if it was hard going. At the all in I potted some meat in down the track at 11m, and half a big Drennan pot of maggots to the pots on my right hand side. As with Maple a couple of weeks previous I thought I’d target the carp for the first 15 minutes or so as you often get them early on and they’re not worth missing out on. Anyway a biteless 20 minutes ensued and I sacked off the pellet line and went over the maggot line which by now would have hopefully settled.
I shipped out and double kinder potted over the tope of my float, by lifting and dropping my rig back into the feed zone soon sparked a response and Ide number one was in the net, with it being about a pound it was a good start. I caught another fish of a similar size before deciding to change down to a 10 elastic, as I was shipping back at angle it made it easier to ship back quickly without fear of losing the fish. I repeated this until I had 6 in the net all of a similar size and on the stroke of the first hour disappearing I struck like Zorro and managed to catch my float on a loner branch and although I had a hooklength on this wouldn’t do me any good as it was the mainline that was snagged. After pulling for a break I came back with a fraction of the rig I had shipped out, the loop on the connector to be precise! I chucked another rig on and seeing as I’d marked my top kit with tip-ex it was a quick process and I was back in the swim in no time. I only managed 2 more fish before I had to re-feed another big pot. I switched to the meat line whilst this pot of maggots settled but had nothing to show from it. By the end of the second hour I had 10 fish for probably 8lb.
Minty went for a walk and when he came back probably after a good half an hour I still only had the 8lb in the net. While he was gone I potted on the tree on the left hand side and by the time I went over it I caught another Ide straight away before repeating the process. I shipped out again and before I had time to feed I had hooked a fish on the drop. I tipped the feed in before playing the fish to the net, my first carp, a stocky of about 8oz.
It then died as soon as it started so to spark a response I changed to a hooklength of 0.10 and a size 20 B611. Going into the last hour I’d put the odd Ide into the net but nothing much was happening. I big potted onto both lines and then just switched between them until I got indications. It turned out to be my most fruitful hour with a couple of Ide and 4 proper carp to take my tally to around 25lb before the hooter sounded to signal the end of the match. Remarkably all the carp came to the net without much fuss, I thought I’d have to be careful with the light hook length and light laccy but they came up near enough straight way!
Minty had started packing up before the match had finished so I had a rush on to get packed up and off to do the weigh in. Seeing as I was on the first peg I put a marker down for everyone, I weighed in 25lb 10oz, Wrighty remarked that would be a good weight today but I knew he had caught, Stu had caught and apparently Rab and Howard had both caught well on 53 and 54 respectively. Minty didn’t weigh in which meant Wrighty was up next, he pushed me close but not close enough with 22lb odd. Stu then shattered my dreams by putting 34lb in the sling. The rest of the weights in our section were all in the high teens but no more above 20lb. Round to Acko’s peg and seeing as he wasn’t there Rab did the honours and 13lb 10oz was recorded. Acko shouted across the lake asking what he’d weighed, I replied ‘’a quid less than me!’’ Gordon weighed in 17lb ish so another quid was claimed. Tel took the section with a weight not much more than Gordon’s. Jonesy weighed 19lb odd which was good enough for the section and Owens weight wasn’t up to scratch meaning I’d be taking another Quid! Three quid’s out of three can’t be bad!
Up until this point I was still in second place behind Stu, with only Rab and Howard left who I knew would have more than me it meant I was guaranteed my section. Howard put 26lb 4oz in the sling; I’d been pipped by 10oz!
Now onto Rab who was last to weigh in, out came his first net and into the sling. He had a similar amount in the other net and it was going to be close between him and Stu to take the match. Rab pulled out his second net grabbed the bottom ring and started to feed them through to the top whilst keeping the middle of the net in the water, nothing wrong there you’d think, and you’d be right. Until Rab dropped the top of his net back into the drink and as he was still holding the bottom ring the inevitable happened! All his fish made a dash out the net and by the time the keepnet had been rescued there was nothing left to show for his days work! Now Rab isn’t one to take the micky out of anyone (and if you believe that then you need your head checking) so to say everyone erupted with laughter would be an under statement! A look of dismay crept into his face as his now single net weighed 17lb 12oz which meant he didn’t even win the section.
This however was good news for me and Wrighty as I crept into third spot meaning Dave took the section by default! So not a bad day at the office in the end! On reflection it wasn’t a bad match, I don’t think I missed a bite, although they were all fairly positive, I didn’t foul hook or lose any fish and the only thing I can think of that would have pushed me into second was the nightmare of getting my rig caught and having to put a new rig on. Apart from that I don’t think there was much more I could have done.
We’re at Brafferton on the F1 Lake next week, I’ve never fished here before but if the weather carries on being up and down then it might be another maggot approach. Its also now officially winter, I had to wear my jumper through the whole match this week and I’ve also been considering putting the heating on on a night! Considering not actioning, I’m not Rockefeller!
Friday, 25 September 2009
The Oaks - Maple 20th September
Well after a disastrous week at Woodlands the week previous which really wasn’t worth the write up! I was taking a couple of my mates down to Weeton, one of my old haunts where I’ve had some good bags of Carp before the lake was trimmed down and it was all about bagging F1’s I’d now been told it was full of Ide too so the lads had a great opportunity to catch some good fish and not have the struggle! Some of the Ide go 2lb in there and because they don’t fight they are relatively easy to land for a beginner! Well I set my mate Pick up on the waggler and he was soon into his first fish, a 3oz perch, at least he’d not blanked! Then I set Joe up on my old pole fishing at 5m with maggot. I told them both to keep the bait going in little and often and they’d soon put some fish in the net. I swapped between them helping them out before fishing myself. By the end of the day Pick had managed just over 3lb of bits, feeding on the waggler just isn’t the same as on the pole and I think this was the downfall. Joe however managed 19lb 10oz and a PB Mirror carp of 4lb 7oz. I myself managed about 20lb of Ide and I only fished for a couple of hours, what a place! I’m thinking this might be a good place to go in winter for some Ide bagging!
On to this weeks club match we were back on Maple again and seeing as I’ve blown out the last two times I’ve fished it a change of tactics was in order as once I stop catching on pellet I never had a plan B, or at least a Plan B that worked!
I got to the fishery at 8:20 and had a leisurely breakfast and a chat with a few of the lads about my previous days fishing. Come the draw and most of the lads were asking why Minty was Nige’s trousers? The sections were announced to be two 5’s and two 6’s as there were 22 in attendance today. Everyone piled around the bag as usual and rather than pushing with everyone else I hung back for a change and by the time I drew I could only feel three pegs still in the bag. In went my left hand and out came peg 58, I was pretty pleased with this as its an area of the lake I never seem to be on and hopefully I’d be in for a good days fishing! When I arrived at my peg, I had Andy Nattrass for company on 56, Owen on 60, Acko on 62 and Nige on 62a. A three way quid was struck between Owen, Acko and I to add bragging rights to the day.
My plan this week was to fish meat at the bottom of the far shelf and on the mud line when this line petered out. I would also start on pellet in normal fashion in front of the sedges. In the past I tend to get half a dozen very early on before having to have a rethink and I didn’t want to miss out on these early fish whilst I was waiting for the meat lines to settle.
I had three rigs set up, a Malman Cedar 4x10 for in front of the sedges 2.5ft of water and the same rig but for the mud line. Both rigs were on 0.14 Ultima Power Match to a 6 inch hooklength of 0.12, again Ultima Power Match. On the sedge (pellet) rig I had a size 18 B911 and a size 16 for the mud (meat) line. Elastics were 12 latex for pellet and 14 latex for the meat. My track rig was the same as the mud line regarding line hooks and elastic but set at 5ft deep with a 0.4g BGT shallow long float. This rig would be fished an inch or two over depth. All my rigs were back shotted with no.8 Stotz, there was no ripple whatsoever but the tow seemed quite strong.
For bait I had two tins of meat cubed into 4mm pieces and also some 6mm pellets of meat I punched out of the left over slices. I also had a handful of 4mm Ringers expanders and some soaked micro pellets.
The all in was shouted at 10:15 and the match was underway. I went out with the cupping kit to 11m and tipped in a good handful of meat. Then it was onto my left hand sedge armed with an expander and a fruit shoot of micros. Instantly I took 3 small carp about 12oz a piece before switching to the right sedge to repeat the process. I caught a further three fish off this sedge although I did foul hook a carp of about 6lb that came up tail first I couldn’t reach it with my net, I pulled some laccy out of the pull bung, applied a bit more pressure and we parted company! Unfortunately my expletives had got the attention of Mr Atkinson and he was far from sympathetic! So I was sitting on 6 fish for about 5lb after the first half an hour. Owen had managed one or two at a slightly better stamp and Nige by all accounts was into bagging mode on boss peg 62a.
Both my sedge lines had died as expected and it was now onto the meat line. I had two kinder pots on so that I was able to feed at 11m with one pot and also feed at 14m on the mud every time I went out. I soon managed to catch a few fish and by the end of the third hour I had managed 14 fish. My initial 6 fish, 6 from 11m and two off the mud. By my reckoning I had 14 fish for 14lb. This wasn’t going to be good enough at this rate but nothing could be done. I fished the next two hours and only managed 2 further fish to take my tally to 16 for 16lb, these came from switching between lines and hoping to pick off the odd fish.
The last hour had arrived and I desperately needed to catch. Nige was easily winning our section and probably the match so the default section was all that was up for the taking as far as I was concerned. I went out to my right sedge armed with pellet again and the fish had arrived, not in great numbers but I did put 9 further fish in my net to take my tally to 25 for approx 25lb by the call of time.
Acko and Owen were interested to know what I’d caught and they both thought I was telling porkies or to quote Acko ‘’you lying little c**t!’’ At max I thought I would have 30lb but 25 fish for 25lb seemed about right in my head.
After watching Stu weigh in 57lb and Paul Jones with 40lb it was confirmed that the battle for the section was on. Jim also put a big 30 on the scales. We were soon round to my peg and my two nets went 38-08, perhaps I had underestimated a little, or by 50%! If only I’d have managed that big fish I lost at the start, that would have seen me sail into 3rd place overall! Owen weighed 29lb so that was one quid safe, Acko then weighed 35lb so both scalps had been captured! Nige weighed around 90lb I think from 3 weighs and won the match comfortably. Tel and Martin had had hard days on 64 and 66 respectively so I’d also won my section! My first pick up since January this year, about bloomin’ time!
We’re at Carp Vale again next week on Cyprio and Match Pool, I’m actually swaying more to fishing on Match Pool having now fished it and learnt a few lessons, I wouldn’t mind a day righting a few wrongs from a few weeks ago! However the fate of the draw bag will probably put me on Cyprio now!
On to this weeks club match we were back on Maple again and seeing as I’ve blown out the last two times I’ve fished it a change of tactics was in order as once I stop catching on pellet I never had a plan B, or at least a Plan B that worked!
I got to the fishery at 8:20 and had a leisurely breakfast and a chat with a few of the lads about my previous days fishing. Come the draw and most of the lads were asking why Minty was Nige’s trousers? The sections were announced to be two 5’s and two 6’s as there were 22 in attendance today. Everyone piled around the bag as usual and rather than pushing with everyone else I hung back for a change and by the time I drew I could only feel three pegs still in the bag. In went my left hand and out came peg 58, I was pretty pleased with this as its an area of the lake I never seem to be on and hopefully I’d be in for a good days fishing! When I arrived at my peg, I had Andy Nattrass for company on 56, Owen on 60, Acko on 62 and Nige on 62a. A three way quid was struck between Owen, Acko and I to add bragging rights to the day.
My plan this week was to fish meat at the bottom of the far shelf and on the mud line when this line petered out. I would also start on pellet in normal fashion in front of the sedges. In the past I tend to get half a dozen very early on before having to have a rethink and I didn’t want to miss out on these early fish whilst I was waiting for the meat lines to settle.
I had three rigs set up, a Malman Cedar 4x10 for in front of the sedges 2.5ft of water and the same rig but for the mud line. Both rigs were on 0.14 Ultima Power Match to a 6 inch hooklength of 0.12, again Ultima Power Match. On the sedge (pellet) rig I had a size 18 B911 and a size 16 for the mud (meat) line. Elastics were 12 latex for pellet and 14 latex for the meat. My track rig was the same as the mud line regarding line hooks and elastic but set at 5ft deep with a 0.4g BGT shallow long float. This rig would be fished an inch or two over depth. All my rigs were back shotted with no.8 Stotz, there was no ripple whatsoever but the tow seemed quite strong.
For bait I had two tins of meat cubed into 4mm pieces and also some 6mm pellets of meat I punched out of the left over slices. I also had a handful of 4mm Ringers expanders and some soaked micro pellets.
The all in was shouted at 10:15 and the match was underway. I went out with the cupping kit to 11m and tipped in a good handful of meat. Then it was onto my left hand sedge armed with an expander and a fruit shoot of micros. Instantly I took 3 small carp about 12oz a piece before switching to the right sedge to repeat the process. I caught a further three fish off this sedge although I did foul hook a carp of about 6lb that came up tail first I couldn’t reach it with my net, I pulled some laccy out of the pull bung, applied a bit more pressure and we parted company! Unfortunately my expletives had got the attention of Mr Atkinson and he was far from sympathetic! So I was sitting on 6 fish for about 5lb after the first half an hour. Owen had managed one or two at a slightly better stamp and Nige by all accounts was into bagging mode on boss peg 62a.
Both my sedge lines had died as expected and it was now onto the meat line. I had two kinder pots on so that I was able to feed at 11m with one pot and also feed at 14m on the mud every time I went out. I soon managed to catch a few fish and by the end of the third hour I had managed 14 fish. My initial 6 fish, 6 from 11m and two off the mud. By my reckoning I had 14 fish for 14lb. This wasn’t going to be good enough at this rate but nothing could be done. I fished the next two hours and only managed 2 further fish to take my tally to 16 for 16lb, these came from switching between lines and hoping to pick off the odd fish.
The last hour had arrived and I desperately needed to catch. Nige was easily winning our section and probably the match so the default section was all that was up for the taking as far as I was concerned. I went out to my right sedge armed with pellet again and the fish had arrived, not in great numbers but I did put 9 further fish in my net to take my tally to 25 for approx 25lb by the call of time.
Acko and Owen were interested to know what I’d caught and they both thought I was telling porkies or to quote Acko ‘’you lying little c**t!’’ At max I thought I would have 30lb but 25 fish for 25lb seemed about right in my head.
After watching Stu weigh in 57lb and Paul Jones with 40lb it was confirmed that the battle for the section was on. Jim also put a big 30 on the scales. We were soon round to my peg and my two nets went 38-08, perhaps I had underestimated a little, or by 50%! If only I’d have managed that big fish I lost at the start, that would have seen me sail into 3rd place overall! Owen weighed 29lb so that was one quid safe, Acko then weighed 35lb so both scalps had been captured! Nige weighed around 90lb I think from 3 weighs and won the match comfortably. Tel and Martin had had hard days on 64 and 66 respectively so I’d also won my section! My first pick up since January this year, about bloomin’ time!
We’re at Carp Vale again next week on Cyprio and Match Pool, I’m actually swaying more to fishing on Match Pool having now fished it and learnt a few lessons, I wouldn’t mind a day righting a few wrongs from a few weeks ago! However the fate of the draw bag will probably put me on Cyprio now!
Saturday, 12 September 2009
Northern Intersite 29th August Oaks (Maple and Poplars)
Well the big day had finally arrived! Hopefully all of Simon’s hard graft would pay off and the day would run without a hitch. We were running a £10 optional which would pay the top four and also there would be prizes for the top two teams. Section prizes of £20 per 5 men made up the rest of the prizes.
Due to the differing squad sizes it would be an impossible task to fairly peg out equal team sections and award points at the end so it was an open draw and the top 6 weights in each team would make up the final team results.
In total there were 123 pegs for us to have a go at and with all 59 individuals turning up it was great to see that no one had let the side down! Tom kindly pegged the lakes for us and put 61 pegs in, generally peg one miss one to give everyone plenty of room!
After cutting out all the individual peg numbers and folding them up they were chucked into the draw bag and we were underway! Rob Hitchens got the draw underway and started picking out his team members pegs, duly managing to pull out 7 pegs on Maple and 1 on Poplars. By the time it got to Talk Anglings draw we presumed that all the Maple pegs had gone, fortunately we had a near enough even split; and my home for the day, Maple 32. I wasn’t too down heartened as apparently there had been a few fish showing recently in this area, I’d fished peg 31 a couple of weeks previous and although catching a few fish I was blown away (quite literally) by the gale force winds! And in truth it looked like this was going to be the same story today!
My main aim today was to beat Mr Hitchens who was round on peg 36! As well as getting a good weight for the team score!
I set up numerous lines, one in the margins to my left where Woody had informed me there was a slightly deeper spot from when they were clearing the reeds out! I then had a sedge rig, a mud rig and paste rig to fish at the bottom of the slope in about 3ft of water.
Bait today I had I had 4 and 6mm expanders, some dampened micros, a plethora of hard pellets and some cat sh*t.
The all in was called at 10:30, it was nice to have a bit longer to set up! I threw a handful of hard 6mm pellets down the edge and then shipped over to my sedge line. As usual by tipping in a few micros and armed with a 4mm expander I started to get little knocks before my first fish was in the net, a small carp of maybe 10oz.
I’d love to say I went back out and repeated the process for the rest of the day but that would be lying! By swapping between lines I managed to put the very odd fish in the net but the going was extremely slow and the wind was horrendous!
I tried the paste line a few times during the match, one time just as I dropped the paste in my elastic shot out as a fish had taken it on the drop, bit peculiar I thought but landed the fish to realise I’d hooked its eye, lovely!
The wind got so strong at one point that I got my method rod out of the car, first put out and I landed it butt up against the mud, perfect! The tip slammed round and I came back with a scale! How do you foul hook on the method!?
After scrapping every possible method about 3 times the match was brought to a close! Thank you lord! I must have lost more than I caught, for no known reason! I still can’t think now why I lost so many fish?
Anyway I quickly packed up and went and weighed in Poplars where some good and also some not so good weights came out. On my return I discovered what I myself had weighed for the day……11lb 11oz, I was actually pleasantly surprised by this as I didn’t think I had 10lb!
Back to the café and a quick maths lesson gave us the results for the day:
Poplars Lake
Peg Name Team Weight
1 Musselman YF 11-0
5 The Indian YMA 27-14
7 DAZ YF 21-08
9 R Edwards TA 8-2
11 Roger Gardom TF 37-4
13 Chris Shaw TF 25-12
15 John Iddon Big Bash 4-15
17 Steve Guy Big Bash 10-13
19 Botham YMA 18-6
21 Andy Fieldhouse TA 16-10
23 Hammy YF 0-3
25 Budd Nudd YMA 38-14
26 M Bates YMA 11-7
29 S Kelly Big Bash 30-10
31 Ben Rowbotham Big Bash 2-8
33 Johnny Mac TF 26-2
35 Steph YF 47-12
37 Simon Short TA 24-2
39 Oscar YF 8-8
42 DNW
44 John O'Driscoll TF 27-12
46 Malcom YF 4-9
49 Juzzy Big Bash 15-3
50 Nodrog TF 32-4
52 Nicky Dodds TA 21-4
Maple
1 M Hill YF 2-3
3 Steve Riley TA 43-03
5 Nigel Cook TA 18-15
8 Steve YF 6-10
10 Roger Young TA 8-10
12 Barney Big Bash 14-11
14 Mich Herrington TF 19-03
16 Jonathan Broadbent TA 24-12
20 Mike Hammond Big Bash 22-08
22 Kev Allen Big Bash 16-15
24 Mick Davison YF 1-11
26 Ian Gillies TF 12-3
28 Dan Hickman YMA 16-11
30 Dean Marsh Big Bash 18-07
32 Steve L TA 11-11
34 Chris Kendall YMA 28-06
36 Rob Hitchen Big Bash 7-6
38 Ricky Roberts Big Bash 12-10
40 Paul Atton Big Bash 13-04
42 Rob Walston Big Bash 2-08
44 Ricky Barker TF 8-08
46 W Mountain Big Bash 13-6
48 Matt Bailey YMA 20-4
50 Tom Gibson YF 0-3
52 Phil Sanderson YF 0-13
54 Steve Knowles TF 17-12
56 Lee Simpson TF 28-12
58 Noddicus YMA 15-05
60 Craig Melling TA 16-10
62 Art Hilmi Big Bash 32-10
62a Steve Gerrard TF 64-0-0
64 Tony Nottger TF 29-10
65 Simon Young TA 16-10
Teams - top six weights
TF Red - 186lb 10oz
Yorkshire Match Anglers - 147lb 6oz
TF Blue - 143lb 2oz
Talk Angling Red - 117lb 14oz
Big Bash 2 - 116lb 8oz
Talk Angling Blue - 92lb 9oz
Big Bash 1 - 91lb 15oz
Yorkshire Fishing A - 64lb 4oz
Yorkshire Fishing B - 58lb 15oz
Individuals
1st Steve Gerrard 64-0
2nd Steph Armitidge 47-12
3rd Steve Riley 43-3
4th Budd Nudd 38-14
Overall a very enjoyable day in great company, just a shame the fishing was so terrible! I’m sure next year will prove to be more fruitful, although I did beat Mr Hitchens!!
Due to the differing squad sizes it would be an impossible task to fairly peg out equal team sections and award points at the end so it was an open draw and the top 6 weights in each team would make up the final team results.
In total there were 123 pegs for us to have a go at and with all 59 individuals turning up it was great to see that no one had let the side down! Tom kindly pegged the lakes for us and put 61 pegs in, generally peg one miss one to give everyone plenty of room!
After cutting out all the individual peg numbers and folding them up they were chucked into the draw bag and we were underway! Rob Hitchens got the draw underway and started picking out his team members pegs, duly managing to pull out 7 pegs on Maple and 1 on Poplars. By the time it got to Talk Anglings draw we presumed that all the Maple pegs had gone, fortunately we had a near enough even split; and my home for the day, Maple 32. I wasn’t too down heartened as apparently there had been a few fish showing recently in this area, I’d fished peg 31 a couple of weeks previous and although catching a few fish I was blown away (quite literally) by the gale force winds! And in truth it looked like this was going to be the same story today!
My main aim today was to beat Mr Hitchens who was round on peg 36! As well as getting a good weight for the team score!
I set up numerous lines, one in the margins to my left where Woody had informed me there was a slightly deeper spot from when they were clearing the reeds out! I then had a sedge rig, a mud rig and paste rig to fish at the bottom of the slope in about 3ft of water.
Bait today I had I had 4 and 6mm expanders, some dampened micros, a plethora of hard pellets and some cat sh*t.
The all in was called at 10:30, it was nice to have a bit longer to set up! I threw a handful of hard 6mm pellets down the edge and then shipped over to my sedge line. As usual by tipping in a few micros and armed with a 4mm expander I started to get little knocks before my first fish was in the net, a small carp of maybe 10oz.
I’d love to say I went back out and repeated the process for the rest of the day but that would be lying! By swapping between lines I managed to put the very odd fish in the net but the going was extremely slow and the wind was horrendous!
I tried the paste line a few times during the match, one time just as I dropped the paste in my elastic shot out as a fish had taken it on the drop, bit peculiar I thought but landed the fish to realise I’d hooked its eye, lovely!
The wind got so strong at one point that I got my method rod out of the car, first put out and I landed it butt up against the mud, perfect! The tip slammed round and I came back with a scale! How do you foul hook on the method!?
After scrapping every possible method about 3 times the match was brought to a close! Thank you lord! I must have lost more than I caught, for no known reason! I still can’t think now why I lost so many fish?
Anyway I quickly packed up and went and weighed in Poplars where some good and also some not so good weights came out. On my return I discovered what I myself had weighed for the day……11lb 11oz, I was actually pleasantly surprised by this as I didn’t think I had 10lb!
Back to the café and a quick maths lesson gave us the results for the day:
Poplars Lake
Peg Name Team Weight
1 Musselman YF 11-0
5 The Indian YMA 27-14
7 DAZ YF 21-08
9 R Edwards TA 8-2
11 Roger Gardom TF 37-4
13 Chris Shaw TF 25-12
15 John Iddon Big Bash 4-15
17 Steve Guy Big Bash 10-13
19 Botham YMA 18-6
21 Andy Fieldhouse TA 16-10
23 Hammy YF 0-3
25 Budd Nudd YMA 38-14
26 M Bates YMA 11-7
29 S Kelly Big Bash 30-10
31 Ben Rowbotham Big Bash 2-8
33 Johnny Mac TF 26-2
35 Steph YF 47-12
37 Simon Short TA 24-2
39 Oscar YF 8-8
42 DNW
44 John O'Driscoll TF 27-12
46 Malcom YF 4-9
49 Juzzy Big Bash 15-3
50 Nodrog TF 32-4
52 Nicky Dodds TA 21-4
Maple
1 M Hill YF 2-3
3 Steve Riley TA 43-03
5 Nigel Cook TA 18-15
8 Steve YF 6-10
10 Roger Young TA 8-10
12 Barney Big Bash 14-11
14 Mich Herrington TF 19-03
16 Jonathan Broadbent TA 24-12
20 Mike Hammond Big Bash 22-08
22 Kev Allen Big Bash 16-15
24 Mick Davison YF 1-11
26 Ian Gillies TF 12-3
28 Dan Hickman YMA 16-11
30 Dean Marsh Big Bash 18-07
32 Steve L TA 11-11
34 Chris Kendall YMA 28-06
36 Rob Hitchen Big Bash 7-6
38 Ricky Roberts Big Bash 12-10
40 Paul Atton Big Bash 13-04
42 Rob Walston Big Bash 2-08
44 Ricky Barker TF 8-08
46 W Mountain Big Bash 13-6
48 Matt Bailey YMA 20-4
50 Tom Gibson YF 0-3
52 Phil Sanderson YF 0-13
54 Steve Knowles TF 17-12
56 Lee Simpson TF 28-12
58 Noddicus YMA 15-05
60 Craig Melling TA 16-10
62 Art Hilmi Big Bash 32-10
62a Steve Gerrard TF 64-0-0
64 Tony Nottger TF 29-10
65 Simon Young TA 16-10
Teams - top six weights
TF Red - 186lb 10oz
Yorkshire Match Anglers - 147lb 6oz
TF Blue - 143lb 2oz
Talk Angling Red - 117lb 14oz
Big Bash 2 - 116lb 8oz
Talk Angling Blue - 92lb 9oz
Big Bash 1 - 91lb 15oz
Yorkshire Fishing A - 64lb 4oz
Yorkshire Fishing B - 58lb 15oz
Individuals
1st Steve Gerrard 64-0
2nd Steph Armitidge 47-12
3rd Steve Riley 43-3
4th Budd Nudd 38-14
Overall a very enjoyable day in great company, just a shame the fishing was so terrible! I’m sure next year will prove to be more fruitful, although I did beat Mr Hitchens!!
Friday, 28 August 2009
Carp Vale - Cyprio & Match pool August 23rd
After missing the previous match at Woodlands I was eager to get fishing this weekend and Carp Vale was in store once again. Unfortunately we weren’t on front pool which I’d taken a good weight from a few weeks previous but Cyprio would certainly do the business although I was dreading a draw on Match Pool seeing as the weights were so low in comparison last time around.
Stu and Nige weren’t in attendance this week so Honest John was running the match. As there were 18 of us in attendance it was decided to have three sections of six. With six anglers on match pool and 12 on Cyprio the weights would hopefully be a bit higher on the match pool as everyone would have plenty of room.
So come the draw I wanted any number lower than 21, this would guarantee a peg on Cyprio. So typically I drew 31 and would have to spend the day on the dreaded match pool!
The necessary two trips to my peg were then undertaken, I could have done with a lie down by the time I’d settled everything down! My peg looked quite nice; I was in a wide bay about 30m wide probably, so I’d have a nice chuck to the reed fringed island although there was a tree directly above me which would hamper my casting. I also had the spare platform of peg 30 to fish towards and also plenty of open space in front of me.
I decided to have a method line, a cat food line towards the spare platform and also a line at 13m for fishing pellet. I already had the method set up, 8lb Maxima mainline, a 15g small Preston method feeder to use in conjunction with my new moulds and a short hooklength of 0.18 Silk Shock with a PR36 size 16 and a small hair rigged bait band. Rather than using the size 10 swivel that Preston say will give you a semi fixed bolt rig, I had opted for a quick change bead.
My pole lines were all a lot shallower than I thought they would have been, I probably only found a maximum of 4 foot on the 13m line and just over 3ft off the edge of platform 30.
Bait for the day, I had a load of cat food but initially opened two tins, I had some soaked micros, some 4 and 6mm expanders and some ground bait mixed up for the method if I wanted to cut down the food content instead of fishing pellets on the frame.
The all in sounded at 10:15 and the match was underway, I lobbed the method out to within a foot of the far bank, sank my line, tightened up and waited, and waited, and waited………after watching a free DVD on method feeder fishing with Des Shipp, I remembered him saying ‘‘if you don’t get bites on the method then there probably aren’t any fish in your swim!’’ so after an hour of not even a liner I ditched the method and decided to have a look on the cat food line which I’d big potted right at the start.
I was glad to not be casting as the tree above had started to annoy me so I was glad to get on the pole, however annoyingly I had to break down twice due to the bushes behind me, due to me fishing essentially down my right margin it meant I had to ship out 13m straight in front and then swing the pole round 90 degrees to my right, which also wasn’t ideal! I lowered in with a juicy bit of cat meat and tipped in a further two chunks, my float dipped and I missed the bite, as well as my hook bait coming off, so annoying I shipped back, re-baited and dropped in again. I had another knock but this time managed a carp of about 12oz. I carried on in this vein for an hour or two missing fish and then getting a small carp and I was going no where fast! After missing a bite and having to re-bait for the umpteenth time I decided to put a new hooklength on with a smaller hook and a hair rigged quick stop which marginally improved my catch rate. But I was getting annoyed and decided to start up my pellet line at 13m instead. I needed to get a shift on too as Bri Gascoigne just down the bank from me was catching a fish a chuck and had been all match!
I big potted some micros in and left them for 10 minutes whilst I exhausted the meat line and then it was time! First drop out I managed a carp of 4lb, followed by plenty of smaller stocky carp. I also managed another good carp and two Tench that would both be knocking on 3lb a piece. I knew it was too little too late at the final whistle though as Bri had sacked up, I just wish I’d started on the pellet a lot earlier! Lesson learnt for next time I suppose!
Come the weigh in and Steve Hoddo was winning Cyprio with either 85 or 95lb, can’t quite remember, Tony Minikin was 2nd with 75lb, Tom Hoddo was 3rd with 72lb and rumours of Woody having a catfish?! Well Bri weighed in 66lb so I knew I didn’t have that and would hope for the section, I weighed in 43-12 so not a bad weight at the end of the day I was just really annoyed with how I’d fished and the constraints my peg had put up on me, but once you’ve drawn what can you do? Apart from fish it as best you can, which I didn’t feel I’d done on the day.
I don’t know what the final result was as we had to rush off as Gordon was party bound! I’m still in hope that I snuck my section but I knew Tony Koz had two nets in so he probably put a bigger weight on the board than myself, I can live in hope before the next match though!
I’m fishing for www.TalkAngling.co.uk on Saturday in the Northern Intersite so hopefully I’ll have a good days write up on the cards come next week!
Stu and Nige weren’t in attendance this week so Honest John was running the match. As there were 18 of us in attendance it was decided to have three sections of six. With six anglers on match pool and 12 on Cyprio the weights would hopefully be a bit higher on the match pool as everyone would have plenty of room.
So come the draw I wanted any number lower than 21, this would guarantee a peg on Cyprio. So typically I drew 31 and would have to spend the day on the dreaded match pool!
The necessary two trips to my peg were then undertaken, I could have done with a lie down by the time I’d settled everything down! My peg looked quite nice; I was in a wide bay about 30m wide probably, so I’d have a nice chuck to the reed fringed island although there was a tree directly above me which would hamper my casting. I also had the spare platform of peg 30 to fish towards and also plenty of open space in front of me.
I decided to have a method line, a cat food line towards the spare platform and also a line at 13m for fishing pellet. I already had the method set up, 8lb Maxima mainline, a 15g small Preston method feeder to use in conjunction with my new moulds and a short hooklength of 0.18 Silk Shock with a PR36 size 16 and a small hair rigged bait band. Rather than using the size 10 swivel that Preston say will give you a semi fixed bolt rig, I had opted for a quick change bead.
My pole lines were all a lot shallower than I thought they would have been, I probably only found a maximum of 4 foot on the 13m line and just over 3ft off the edge of platform 30.
Bait for the day, I had a load of cat food but initially opened two tins, I had some soaked micros, some 4 and 6mm expanders and some ground bait mixed up for the method if I wanted to cut down the food content instead of fishing pellets on the frame.
The all in sounded at 10:15 and the match was underway, I lobbed the method out to within a foot of the far bank, sank my line, tightened up and waited, and waited, and waited………after watching a free DVD on method feeder fishing with Des Shipp, I remembered him saying ‘‘if you don’t get bites on the method then there probably aren’t any fish in your swim!’’ so after an hour of not even a liner I ditched the method and decided to have a look on the cat food line which I’d big potted right at the start.
I was glad to not be casting as the tree above had started to annoy me so I was glad to get on the pole, however annoyingly I had to break down twice due to the bushes behind me, due to me fishing essentially down my right margin it meant I had to ship out 13m straight in front and then swing the pole round 90 degrees to my right, which also wasn’t ideal! I lowered in with a juicy bit of cat meat and tipped in a further two chunks, my float dipped and I missed the bite, as well as my hook bait coming off, so annoying I shipped back, re-baited and dropped in again. I had another knock but this time managed a carp of about 12oz. I carried on in this vein for an hour or two missing fish and then getting a small carp and I was going no where fast! After missing a bite and having to re-bait for the umpteenth time I decided to put a new hooklength on with a smaller hook and a hair rigged quick stop which marginally improved my catch rate. But I was getting annoyed and decided to start up my pellet line at 13m instead. I needed to get a shift on too as Bri Gascoigne just down the bank from me was catching a fish a chuck and had been all match!
I big potted some micros in and left them for 10 minutes whilst I exhausted the meat line and then it was time! First drop out I managed a carp of 4lb, followed by plenty of smaller stocky carp. I also managed another good carp and two Tench that would both be knocking on 3lb a piece. I knew it was too little too late at the final whistle though as Bri had sacked up, I just wish I’d started on the pellet a lot earlier! Lesson learnt for next time I suppose!
Come the weigh in and Steve Hoddo was winning Cyprio with either 85 or 95lb, can’t quite remember, Tony Minikin was 2nd with 75lb, Tom Hoddo was 3rd with 72lb and rumours of Woody having a catfish?! Well Bri weighed in 66lb so I knew I didn’t have that and would hope for the section, I weighed in 43-12 so not a bad weight at the end of the day I was just really annoyed with how I’d fished and the constraints my peg had put up on me, but once you’ve drawn what can you do? Apart from fish it as best you can, which I didn’t feel I’d done on the day.
I don’t know what the final result was as we had to rush off as Gordon was party bound! I’m still in hope that I snuck my section but I knew Tony Koz had two nets in so he probably put a bigger weight on the board than myself, I can live in hope before the next match though!
I’m fishing for www.TalkAngling.co.uk on Saturday in the Northern Intersite so hopefully I’ll have a good days write up on the cards come next week!
Saturday, 15 August 2009
August 9th - Sessay - Alders
I’ve had a quite hectic week this week getting all my gear ready, seeing as I still store all my gear at my dads it makes it rather difficult to get stuff ready during the week so seeing as I was back over that way for band practice on the Wednesday night I decided I should at least set my rods up, so I set up the method rod and also set up a waggler rod just in case I drew one of the wide pegs on Alders. It was then a case of taking my box back to the flat to get rig making! Now most of the venues we fish I had catered for when tying up my rigs over winter, however I’d not tied any silver rigs, so a couple of full depth and a couple of shallow rigs had me nearly there before a marathon night of tying hooklengths!
I was at a 21st party on the Saturday which was held at a Casino, I luckily managed to win a few quid so I quit whilst I was a head as I thought it would cover my days fishing, bonus!
Well Gordon arrived at 8 o’clock with Rab and we chucked everything in the back of van and in the back of my mind I knew I was missing something but I had all my major gear, box, carryall, bait bag, rods, rod bag etc so I must have had everything! Or so I thought….
After a hearty breakfast with an extra sausage thrown in for good measure I was set up for the day and come the time of the draw I was looking forward to being anywhere but the top end! Luckily for me then I drew peg 8 which is the last peg in the narrows at the bottom of the lake, this would do nicely as I knew I could reach the island and it would hopefully be good for a few carp! My plan was to fish for carp in the first and last hour and fish for silvers in the middle to make up the rest of my weight. I walked over to the van to start emptying my stuff out and it hit me, my bib n brace and my boots! Still in the shed at home, thankfully Gordon had a spare bib n brace in the van, there was also room for someone else in them too if I got bored during the match ;o)
For company I had Nige to my right on peg 6 and Acko on 9. With Rab only up the road on peg 12 we were sure not to have a quiet match!
Rigs for the day were simple, I had a carp rig for tight against the island which consisted of a 4x10 Malman Cedar on Ultima Power Match 0.16 to an 0.14 hooklength of the same material and a size 16 eyed B911, elastic for this was size 14 latex. I then had my depth maggot rig for fishing 13m straight in front, this comprised of a 0.5g Preston Classic 10 on Ultima Power Match 0.12, a hooklength again in 0.12 and size 18 B911 spade and 10 latex. My shallow rig was the same as this but obviously shorter and with a 4x8 Preston PB3 float on a 12 latex. I did have a couple of 8 elastics ready with connectors and loops for the bungs and if need be I could have run them through a spare kit. My efforts putting the rods up midweek had paid off, or not as they stayed in half on the floor for the day, though if I’d have drawn 75% of the other pegs I’d have definitely used them.
Just before time I decided I best get some bait sorted. I quickly soaked some micros and drained them off and also pumped some 4mm expanders, I then went on the maggot run to the shop and got a pint of whites and a pint of reds. Thankfully I borrowed a maggot riddle of Acko, I think there was equal measures of maggots to maize in my box and if I was to be spraying maggots all day I’d have been blind by the end of the match!
The hooter sounded at 10:15 and the match was underway, two pouches of maggots out to the 13m line before shipping out in search for a carp! I was armed with a 4mm expander and a fruit shoot full of micros. I tucked the rig right into the far bank vegetation and tipped the feed in. Nothing, nothing nothing. I fished this line for perhaps 2o minutes without even a nudge, meanwhile Acko was catching silvers one a bung and I felt I’d perhaps made the wrong decision. I carried on feeding the maggot line and after 30 minutes with nothing to show off the far bank line it was time to go after the silvers before I got too far behind!
I shipped out with deep rig and a full kinder of maggots and lowered the rig in. I was into fish straight away albeit small roach, I maybe put a dozen in the net before I got the kiss of death! A Perch! I think by the end of the match I had 16 Perch, for about 3oz! You could see through them if you held them up to the light! I decided to big pot to spark a response from the better Ide in the lake, I dumped over 200ml of maggots in from a height to make a disturbance and it seemed to work! I put half a dozen Ide between 6oz and a pound in the net before I got a big one pushing 2lb but then the little fish moved back in! Another big pot and I was into a better stamp again. Thing is, I was quickly running out of maggots, I’d used my first 2 pints in about an hour and a half! Luckily Chris was having a walk round and he kindly agreed to get me a couple more pints! I carried on in this vein for the rest of the match, I tried a couple of times shallow but struggled to hit bites, so stuck to the deep rig and altered my shotting pattern instead. Every time I fed a full pot I’d get bigger fish and by changing hook size to a 16 meant I could mount up to 4 maggots and be a bit more selective to the size of fish I put in the net. I had a couple of Ide easily pushing 3lb but because they don’t fight you can fish relatively light! The time was now 3:00 and I’d dumped my last pot of maggots out and only had a handful of hookers left to persevere with! I managed a few more fish before I was completely out of maggots and then and then had to go for the carp on the far bank again. Nige had persevered with paste all day and the last 90 minutes he reaped the rewards and started to put some good fish in the net. I managed a couple of liners before bumping off a carp and that was the end of the match. I’d fed 4 pints of maggots in 4 hours and me and Acko realised that when ever either of us introduced a dump of bait the fish would move between our swims until the next person dumped so it was paramount to keep the feed going in. I could have easily put a gallon in but its not justifiable to spend £20 on maggots, £20 on the match fees and still not be guaranteed a pay out.
The weigh in got underway pretty sharpish, Bob Sinclar managed 34lb 12 oz and the next big weight was Nige with 46lb odd, next up was myself, I didn’t have a clue how much I had and was pretty glad to put 35lb of silvers on the scales, but it seemingly wasn’t enough, Acko put 43lb 8oz in the sling and because Steve Hoddo and Vince had caught on the other side it meant I missed out on my section once again. Still overall I came 5th but once again I played the part of the ‘nearly man’ with a decent back up weight. Acko had the right to feel aggrieved at missing out because if I’d have stuck to fishing for carp he’d have pushed on for 3rd place as we wouldn’t have shared fish all day, although he did congratulate me on fishing a good match and said that if a muppet had been next to him he’d have done it but because I twigged what was needed for the day it meant he had to put up with a section prize!
The top six finish looked like this:
1st – Vince O-Connor – Peg 32 – 68lb – Method feeder
2nd – Steve Hodson – 49lb odd
3rd – Nige Carter – 46lb odd
4th – Mick Atkinson – 43lb 8oz
5th – Steve Lupton 35lb
6th – Bob Sinclair – 34lb 12oz
I was at a 21st party on the Saturday which was held at a Casino, I luckily managed to win a few quid so I quit whilst I was a head as I thought it would cover my days fishing, bonus!
Well Gordon arrived at 8 o’clock with Rab and we chucked everything in the back of van and in the back of my mind I knew I was missing something but I had all my major gear, box, carryall, bait bag, rods, rod bag etc so I must have had everything! Or so I thought….
After a hearty breakfast with an extra sausage thrown in for good measure I was set up for the day and come the time of the draw I was looking forward to being anywhere but the top end! Luckily for me then I drew peg 8 which is the last peg in the narrows at the bottom of the lake, this would do nicely as I knew I could reach the island and it would hopefully be good for a few carp! My plan was to fish for carp in the first and last hour and fish for silvers in the middle to make up the rest of my weight. I walked over to the van to start emptying my stuff out and it hit me, my bib n brace and my boots! Still in the shed at home, thankfully Gordon had a spare bib n brace in the van, there was also room for someone else in them too if I got bored during the match ;o)
For company I had Nige to my right on peg 6 and Acko on 9. With Rab only up the road on peg 12 we were sure not to have a quiet match!
Rigs for the day were simple, I had a carp rig for tight against the island which consisted of a 4x10 Malman Cedar on Ultima Power Match 0.16 to an 0.14 hooklength of the same material and a size 16 eyed B911, elastic for this was size 14 latex. I then had my depth maggot rig for fishing 13m straight in front, this comprised of a 0.5g Preston Classic 10 on Ultima Power Match 0.12, a hooklength again in 0.12 and size 18 B911 spade and 10 latex. My shallow rig was the same as this but obviously shorter and with a 4x8 Preston PB3 float on a 12 latex. I did have a couple of 8 elastics ready with connectors and loops for the bungs and if need be I could have run them through a spare kit. My efforts putting the rods up midweek had paid off, or not as they stayed in half on the floor for the day, though if I’d have drawn 75% of the other pegs I’d have definitely used them.
Just before time I decided I best get some bait sorted. I quickly soaked some micros and drained them off and also pumped some 4mm expanders, I then went on the maggot run to the shop and got a pint of whites and a pint of reds. Thankfully I borrowed a maggot riddle of Acko, I think there was equal measures of maggots to maize in my box and if I was to be spraying maggots all day I’d have been blind by the end of the match!
The hooter sounded at 10:15 and the match was underway, two pouches of maggots out to the 13m line before shipping out in search for a carp! I was armed with a 4mm expander and a fruit shoot full of micros. I tucked the rig right into the far bank vegetation and tipped the feed in. Nothing, nothing nothing. I fished this line for perhaps 2o minutes without even a nudge, meanwhile Acko was catching silvers one a bung and I felt I’d perhaps made the wrong decision. I carried on feeding the maggot line and after 30 minutes with nothing to show off the far bank line it was time to go after the silvers before I got too far behind!
I shipped out with deep rig and a full kinder of maggots and lowered the rig in. I was into fish straight away albeit small roach, I maybe put a dozen in the net before I got the kiss of death! A Perch! I think by the end of the match I had 16 Perch, for about 3oz! You could see through them if you held them up to the light! I decided to big pot to spark a response from the better Ide in the lake, I dumped over 200ml of maggots in from a height to make a disturbance and it seemed to work! I put half a dozen Ide between 6oz and a pound in the net before I got a big one pushing 2lb but then the little fish moved back in! Another big pot and I was into a better stamp again. Thing is, I was quickly running out of maggots, I’d used my first 2 pints in about an hour and a half! Luckily Chris was having a walk round and he kindly agreed to get me a couple more pints! I carried on in this vein for the rest of the match, I tried a couple of times shallow but struggled to hit bites, so stuck to the deep rig and altered my shotting pattern instead. Every time I fed a full pot I’d get bigger fish and by changing hook size to a 16 meant I could mount up to 4 maggots and be a bit more selective to the size of fish I put in the net. I had a couple of Ide easily pushing 3lb but because they don’t fight you can fish relatively light! The time was now 3:00 and I’d dumped my last pot of maggots out and only had a handful of hookers left to persevere with! I managed a few more fish before I was completely out of maggots and then and then had to go for the carp on the far bank again. Nige had persevered with paste all day and the last 90 minutes he reaped the rewards and started to put some good fish in the net. I managed a couple of liners before bumping off a carp and that was the end of the match. I’d fed 4 pints of maggots in 4 hours and me and Acko realised that when ever either of us introduced a dump of bait the fish would move between our swims until the next person dumped so it was paramount to keep the feed going in. I could have easily put a gallon in but its not justifiable to spend £20 on maggots, £20 on the match fees and still not be guaranteed a pay out.
The weigh in got underway pretty sharpish, Bob Sinclar managed 34lb 12 oz and the next big weight was Nige with 46lb odd, next up was myself, I didn’t have a clue how much I had and was pretty glad to put 35lb of silvers on the scales, but it seemingly wasn’t enough, Acko put 43lb 8oz in the sling and because Steve Hoddo and Vince had caught on the other side it meant I missed out on my section once again. Still overall I came 5th but once again I played the part of the ‘nearly man’ with a decent back up weight. Acko had the right to feel aggrieved at missing out because if I’d have stuck to fishing for carp he’d have pushed on for 3rd place as we wouldn’t have shared fish all day, although he did congratulate me on fishing a good match and said that if a muppet had been next to him he’d have done it but because I twigged what was needed for the day it meant he had to put up with a section prize!
The top six finish looked like this:
1st – Vince O-Connor – Peg 32 – 68lb – Method feeder
2nd – Steve Hodson – 49lb odd
3rd – Nige Carter – 46lb odd
4th – Mick Atkinson – 43lb 8oz
5th – Steve Lupton 35lb
6th – Bob Sinclair – 34lb 12oz
Wednesday, 5 August 2009
Carp Vale - August 2nd Match + Front pool
Well after a night of heavy drinking on the Friday the last thing I needed was a lads day out at the races on the Saturday so come Sunday morning I was feeling a little worse for fair after a couple of days on the pop. It’s amazing how any other time I’d have stayed in bed for the day but when there is fishing on the cards I’m first out the traps once my alarm goes off! The plan was for Gordon to pick me up at five to eight and with me doing no preparation for the match I more or less just chucked all the bait I had into my bait bag and hoped I’d not forgotten any major items of tackle.
Now there are two things I don’t like about Carp Vale, there isn’t a café and you can’t push a barrow round the lake due to it being quite narrow and having steps every now and then. However hopefully the fishing would make up for this!
Gordon and Rab turned up and rather than just pushing my barrow into the back of the van like normal it was one item at a time, the trouble is I take that much stuff that i was thinking it would take me a couple of trips to get my peg!
We arrived at the venue in plenty of time and had time for a quick look round and to get dressed before the match got underway. With our match being spread over two lakes it was decided that on the front pool there would be a 1st and a section prize for the whole lake and that match pool would have 1st, 2nd and two sections. The main reason for this was that the front pool was guaranteed to out fish the match pool.
By the time of the draw I managed to squeeze in between Gordon and Acko and when my time came I was praying to be on the front pool, when peg 59 stuck to my hand I was on the right lake! I don’t fish Carp Vale from one year to the next and have never fished the front pool before so didn’t know what to fully expect although I had a few ideas. Martin Whittaker who’s been fishing the Tuesday evening matches up there was confident with his draw of peg 58 next to mine and told me that they are both tip pegs and that my peg generally out fishes his. Basically peg 58 and 59 have islands in front of them and a 20m gap between them so we each had our own island to fish to albeit that Stu Stott was opposite me and Gordon was opposite Martin and we would therefore have to steal each others fish throughout the match.
First thing to do was obviously get the box down with all the metal attached and nets in. Now for a change I took my tip rod down after Woodlands last week so had the chore of setting up the tip before I thought about plan B pole lines. I was using an 11-13ft Ron Thomson medium feeder rod on the 11ft length today with a front drag Ultimate reel loaded with 8lb Maxima. Down the business end I started off with a small Maver method feeder, in front of this a soft rubber bead, a Korum quick change bead and a 3 inch hooklength of 0.16 Ultima Power Match with a size 16 Preston PR36 and hair rigged band. I decided to start with a single hair rigged band and change to two if I felt the need. The reason for starting with one is that the method feeder I was using would have looked quite ugly with 2 8mm pellets hanging off it and there wouldn’t have been much room loose feed!
I set up a rig at 7m slightly to my right to fish cat food as from what I’d heard this was doing quite well at the venue.
Bait for the day I had a couple of tins of Morrison’s My Cat, 3 pints of micros dampened and dusted in pellet power 4 to stop them breaking down too much on the bank. I also had my box of varying pellets for the band. I had a plethora of bait left in the bag but hopefully this is where it would stay!
At the all in I cupped in a big pot of chopped cat food and dampened micros on my 7m line and then cast out to the post marker on the island. My first cast of the day was a beauty, exactly where i wanted it, I sank the line and after a few minutes the tip arced round quite slowly to my surprise, at first I thought it was a big liner but when it went slack I tightened up again before the rod nearly jumped off the rest! A brief tussle entailed and a small mirror of about 2lb graced my first net. I re-cast and didn’t have a bite in 5 minutes so reeled in, in order to keep the bait going in. I managed to put 3 further fish in my net to round off the first hour with about 14lb from four fish. I thought if I stuck at it the line would get stronger but over the next two hours and continual casting by the time the third hour had arrived I only had 9 in the net for a guess of 26lb. Martin meanwhile had had 18 fish from chucking in a different spot every time as he said they weren’t settling in one place.
I was well behind and with only the winner and one section being paid I now had to concentrate on winning the section as to catch up with Martin would be a big ask as he was still catching fairly regularly.
I’d topped up twice on my 7m line and on the halfway mark I decided that seeing as the tip wasn’t producing anymore I would try the pole for half an hour. Six instant fish one after another made me feel as though it was the right decision but as soon as they came they’d gone and I was now sitting on 15 fish for about 44lb and Martin was near enough waiting at the finish line for everyone else! One fish I caught was by far the luckiest moment in my angling career. My float dipped and I struck into what felt a good fish, I netted it and it was probably pushing 5lb. I was quite confused as to what was going as my hook was no where near the fish? I’d managed to hook a stot shot on a piece of trailing line that was hooked into the fish’s belly! ‘’Better to be lucky than good!!!’’
Stu and Gordon opposite were both catching in a similar pattern to myself and picking off one or two in spells before it went quiet.
I mixed and matched lines with no more fish coming for an hour. I’d seen Martin was using one of the Preston method feeders with the new mould which was considerably bigger than my feeder so I swapped over to a Middy inline elasticated method and the double banded hair rig to try spark a response. With an hour left I knew I needed at least 5 fish to stay in contention although Stu had caught in my blank hour so I felt he was ahead. So back on the tip and into the last half an hour without a bite, just as I was contemplating reeling in the tip flew round and again and again and again, until I put 6 in the net in 30 minutes before the all out was shouted! I felt I’d fished as well as I could have done and rang the changes to keep fish going in the net. I finished with 21 carp, a skimmer and a roach for about 66lb by my estimation.
Everyone congratulated Martin as it was evident he had won the match by considerable margin and had put 53 carp into the net over the course of the match. Mally had had a frustrating day on peg 61 losing a lot of fish but we’ve all been there so hopefully he’ll shake off the demons by next week.
Come the weigh in and everyone who’d been on match pool were cursing that it had fished rubbish and I think the lake winning weight was 18lb less than the lowest weigh in our pool! They weighed our lake backwards meaning Gordon was weighing in first as Robert had tipped back. Gordon’s two nets went 65lb and it was going to be very close as to who won the quid for the day! Next up was Stu and he managed 83lb and I knew I’d lost the section! Still I’d caught a few fish again and once again underestimated. My first net went 31lb dead and my second 43lb dead for a combined total of 74lb, beating my Starbeck top match weight again! Martin finally had his score on the board after 4 weighs to record 143lb 4oz, not that the ounces really mattered! So well done to him, fantastic job!
So I’d won the quid off Gordon, but he kindly reminded me that he’d paid for me at Morndyke a few weeks back, so I reminded him that he owed me a weigh in form a few matches ago so we’re quits now!
Got Alders this coming weekend, a venue that’s treated me very well on occasions so a good draw and a few fish in my peg wouldn’t go amiss to make it three good matches on the trot!
Now there are two things I don’t like about Carp Vale, there isn’t a café and you can’t push a barrow round the lake due to it being quite narrow and having steps every now and then. However hopefully the fishing would make up for this!
Gordon and Rab turned up and rather than just pushing my barrow into the back of the van like normal it was one item at a time, the trouble is I take that much stuff that i was thinking it would take me a couple of trips to get my peg!
We arrived at the venue in plenty of time and had time for a quick look round and to get dressed before the match got underway. With our match being spread over two lakes it was decided that on the front pool there would be a 1st and a section prize for the whole lake and that match pool would have 1st, 2nd and two sections. The main reason for this was that the front pool was guaranteed to out fish the match pool.
By the time of the draw I managed to squeeze in between Gordon and Acko and when my time came I was praying to be on the front pool, when peg 59 stuck to my hand I was on the right lake! I don’t fish Carp Vale from one year to the next and have never fished the front pool before so didn’t know what to fully expect although I had a few ideas. Martin Whittaker who’s been fishing the Tuesday evening matches up there was confident with his draw of peg 58 next to mine and told me that they are both tip pegs and that my peg generally out fishes his. Basically peg 58 and 59 have islands in front of them and a 20m gap between them so we each had our own island to fish to albeit that Stu Stott was opposite me and Gordon was opposite Martin and we would therefore have to steal each others fish throughout the match.
First thing to do was obviously get the box down with all the metal attached and nets in. Now for a change I took my tip rod down after Woodlands last week so had the chore of setting up the tip before I thought about plan B pole lines. I was using an 11-13ft Ron Thomson medium feeder rod on the 11ft length today with a front drag Ultimate reel loaded with 8lb Maxima. Down the business end I started off with a small Maver method feeder, in front of this a soft rubber bead, a Korum quick change bead and a 3 inch hooklength of 0.16 Ultima Power Match with a size 16 Preston PR36 and hair rigged band. I decided to start with a single hair rigged band and change to two if I felt the need. The reason for starting with one is that the method feeder I was using would have looked quite ugly with 2 8mm pellets hanging off it and there wouldn’t have been much room loose feed!
I set up a rig at 7m slightly to my right to fish cat food as from what I’d heard this was doing quite well at the venue.
Bait for the day I had a couple of tins of Morrison’s My Cat, 3 pints of micros dampened and dusted in pellet power 4 to stop them breaking down too much on the bank. I also had my box of varying pellets for the band. I had a plethora of bait left in the bag but hopefully this is where it would stay!
At the all in I cupped in a big pot of chopped cat food and dampened micros on my 7m line and then cast out to the post marker on the island. My first cast of the day was a beauty, exactly where i wanted it, I sank the line and after a few minutes the tip arced round quite slowly to my surprise, at first I thought it was a big liner but when it went slack I tightened up again before the rod nearly jumped off the rest! A brief tussle entailed and a small mirror of about 2lb graced my first net. I re-cast and didn’t have a bite in 5 minutes so reeled in, in order to keep the bait going in. I managed to put 3 further fish in my net to round off the first hour with about 14lb from four fish. I thought if I stuck at it the line would get stronger but over the next two hours and continual casting by the time the third hour had arrived I only had 9 in the net for a guess of 26lb. Martin meanwhile had had 18 fish from chucking in a different spot every time as he said they weren’t settling in one place.
I was well behind and with only the winner and one section being paid I now had to concentrate on winning the section as to catch up with Martin would be a big ask as he was still catching fairly regularly.
I’d topped up twice on my 7m line and on the halfway mark I decided that seeing as the tip wasn’t producing anymore I would try the pole for half an hour. Six instant fish one after another made me feel as though it was the right decision but as soon as they came they’d gone and I was now sitting on 15 fish for about 44lb and Martin was near enough waiting at the finish line for everyone else! One fish I caught was by far the luckiest moment in my angling career. My float dipped and I struck into what felt a good fish, I netted it and it was probably pushing 5lb. I was quite confused as to what was going as my hook was no where near the fish? I’d managed to hook a stot shot on a piece of trailing line that was hooked into the fish’s belly! ‘’Better to be lucky than good!!!’’
Stu and Gordon opposite were both catching in a similar pattern to myself and picking off one or two in spells before it went quiet.
I mixed and matched lines with no more fish coming for an hour. I’d seen Martin was using one of the Preston method feeders with the new mould which was considerably bigger than my feeder so I swapped over to a Middy inline elasticated method and the double banded hair rig to try spark a response. With an hour left I knew I needed at least 5 fish to stay in contention although Stu had caught in my blank hour so I felt he was ahead. So back on the tip and into the last half an hour without a bite, just as I was contemplating reeling in the tip flew round and again and again and again, until I put 6 in the net in 30 minutes before the all out was shouted! I felt I’d fished as well as I could have done and rang the changes to keep fish going in the net. I finished with 21 carp, a skimmer and a roach for about 66lb by my estimation.
Everyone congratulated Martin as it was evident he had won the match by considerable margin and had put 53 carp into the net over the course of the match. Mally had had a frustrating day on peg 61 losing a lot of fish but we’ve all been there so hopefully he’ll shake off the demons by next week.
Come the weigh in and everyone who’d been on match pool were cursing that it had fished rubbish and I think the lake winning weight was 18lb less than the lowest weigh in our pool! They weighed our lake backwards meaning Gordon was weighing in first as Robert had tipped back. Gordon’s two nets went 65lb and it was going to be very close as to who won the quid for the day! Next up was Stu and he managed 83lb and I knew I’d lost the section! Still I’d caught a few fish again and once again underestimated. My first net went 31lb dead and my second 43lb dead for a combined total of 74lb, beating my Starbeck top match weight again! Martin finally had his score on the board after 4 weighs to record 143lb 4oz, not that the ounces really mattered! So well done to him, fantastic job!
So I’d won the quid off Gordon, but he kindly reminded me that he’d paid for me at Morndyke a few weeks back, so I reminded him that he owed me a weigh in form a few matches ago so we’re quits now!
Got Alders this coming weekend, a venue that’s treated me very well on occasions so a good draw and a few fish in my peg wouldn’t go amiss to make it three good matches on the trot!
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