After 4 pick ups on the trot (forgetting a blank!) I was eager to do the business today and hoping for a kind draw on some fish for a change!
After a hearty breakfast I squeezed into the queue to draw my home for the day, when peg 29 stuck to my hand I was narked to say the least, I even tried turning it upside down and convincing Mark it was peg 62 but he wasn’t having any of it. Peg 29 is on “suicide straight”, I’ve never liked it along here although I have picked up a section in the past.
I got to my peg and decided I’d just have to make the most of it and not let the draw beat me, the weather would try its hardest to do that today! I got dressed and made sure I had the brolly up to try and keep my box and side tray dry. Seeing as I was expecting a grueller of a day scratching for bites I decide to stay faithful to the super light rigs that have done been proud over the last few weeks.
I set up a track rig at 12m towards the far bank trees both left and right, this was a 4x12 KC Carpa Belter, 0.10 mainline, 0.08 hooklength, Size 20 Drennan Silverfish Match and finished with a 6 elastic and pull bung. Peg 29 is quite shallow and I only found just over four foot at the base of the far slope.
I also set up a sedge rig that was a 4x10 KC Carpa Belter, 0.10 mainline, 0.08 hooklength, Size 20 Drennan Silverfish Match, again with a 6 elastic and pull bung. The sedge were shallow again so I set these lines a metre or two back from the sedges where I found two and a half feet or so.
My final line was on my top six towards the tree in my right hand margin, I didn’t expect to catch off here but it would be a bonus if I did.
Feed for the day was dampened micros, 4mm expanders, black swim stim and a pint of whites.
The all in was called at 10am and I shipped out to my hand track swim, tipped in 6 micros and a fruit shoot worth of groundbait and dropped the rig in over the top. It took all of twenty seconds before the float bobbed and I lifted into what felt like a good fish. With fishing so light I took my time and after a very healthy scrap and plenty of elastic stripped out of the bung I slid the net under a lovely 7lb mirror! What a start this was! I shipped out to the same line again, re-fed and the float buried again. This time a smaller F1 about a pound but welcome all the same. I repeated this for the first hour and by the stroke of 11am I had nine fish in the net for 25lb! This was made up a 7lb common, 4lb mirror, 3lb F1 and 6 further F1’s.
The day couldn’t have started any better and I carried on in the same vain although the line did slow in the second hour. I managed 3 fish in the second hour, another 7lber and two F1’s to take my tally to 35lb all in the first two hours!
As often happens when I fish Maple the action slowed right down and over the next 3 hours I only managed 6 F1’s and a few roach by moving through all my swims. I thought I’d have about 40lb by now but knowing what my guessing of weights are like I decided to put my other net in just in case!
The last hour and the bites had all but dried up from the carp and I was getting plagued by roach so decided I’d fish for them and try and keep warm. The rain battered it down from start to finish to hopefully whipping a few roach out would help me warm up a bit. I went out to the left hand track swim, tipped in a dozen maggots and dropped a double maggot hook bait over the top. I had a few roach before I put a further two F1’s in the net to boost my tally. With ten minutes to go the roach had slowed down too but thankfully one final gasp the float buried and I was into my final good fish of the day, time was called “FISH ON” and I slid the net under a 3lb ghosty!
At the end of the match I reckoned to having 40lb in the first net and 6lb in the second net. Bri Clay was winning the match up my weigh with 49lb so it was going to be very close!
I weighed my little net first which went 8lb-13oz, my big net went 47lb-7oz so I’d done it, a total of 56lb-4oz to take the match. Chris Hargreaves weighed a very health 44lb off peg 18 too to come third overall.
So although I could have been beaten by the draw I stuck at it and managed my first win of the year and more importantly making it 5 pick ups in 5 on the Maggotdrowners matches. Even more importantly though, I took another pound off Mr T!
The top 3 looked like this:
1st – 56lb – Peg 29 – Steve Lupton
2nd - 49lb – Peg 55 – Bri Clay
3rd – 44lb – Peg 16 – Chris Hargreaves
Tuesday, 6 March 2012
Thursday, 1 March 2012
Maggotdrowners Winter Knock Up - Oaks, Alders - 26th February
After three sections on my last three Maggotdrowners matches I was sceptical as to whether I could continue my good form (scratching for bites!!).
We were on Alders this week which has 34 pegs and there were only 21 of us fishing so we’d have a bit of room. Alders has been good to me in the past, I’ve won a few knock ups on here, as well as a winter club match, even going back to my junior matches I always picked up a few points off this lake. It’s also been terrible on occasions too, with my weights being marked on the board as DNW!
What I like about Alders is the options you have, this is peg dependant but you’ve to be ready to go at it with a number of methods. With the island being 20-25m in some areas I’d packed the waggler rod as well as the method, I was hoping it was now warm enough to winkle a few out on the method, we’d have to wait and see though.
Typically after preparing my tackle all week, I drew peg 5 which you can normally reach the island with, or at least in the middle of summer when there’s plenty of vegetation on the far bank! With only having 15m of pole to play with it left me about a metre short where as the chaps on pegs 3 and 7 could both reach!
I was unsure as to how it would fish, I assumed the carp would still be in winter hiding even after the milder temperatures and also didn’t think it would be warm enough for the Ide to be there in any great numbers so I planned on scratching around for bites.
I set up a maggot line at 13m straight in front and this was a 4x12 KC Carpa Belter on 0.10 to a 0.08 hooklength and size 20 Drennan Silverfish Match, this was finished off with a size 6 solid latex. I also set up a pellet lines at 15 to my left and right, this was a 4x12 Malman Cedar on 0.12 to an 0.10 hooklength and a size 20 Gamakatsu pellet and paste hook, this was finished off with a doubled 5 latex. My final attack would be the method tight to the far bank, although casting would have to be a case of punching it out to hit the clip to avoid the overhanging branches (that I clipped a few times whilst setting the clip!).
Bait for today, I had a pint of white maggots, last week’s pint of casters that I’ve stored in my pellet pump, some micros, 4mm expanders and some black swim stim. I planned on mixing the micros and groundbait as and when I needed for the method.
The match kicked off at 10am and I shipped out with a kinder pot of maggots onto the 13m line before going out to the left hand 15m line with a 4mm pellet, the float settled and I tapped a few micros and a fruit shoot worth of groundbait over the top. After plenty of lifting and dropping, 10 minutes later, the float quivered and I struck into my first fish, a dumpy roach of a few ounces, at least I’d not blanked! A re-feed on the second put in saw me put my first F1 in the net of about a pound, this gave a healthy scrap on relatively “heavy” gear.
No more bites materialised on either 15m line, I’d been feeding a kinder of maggots ever 15 minutes or so on the 13m line and decided it was now worth a look. Chris on peg 3 had managed a couple of half decent fish off the point of the island and the chap to my left had only had a few bits. After 90 minutes I think I was the only one with a carp in the net on our bank although the majority of Ide in Alders are bigger than the F1 I had in the net! I got into a rhythm catching tiny roach and rudd off the 13m line but they were incredibly small.
I started to up the feed and was spraying a few maggots over my float with the catty. I started to get a few liners and striking at thin air so decided to set up a shallow rig to have a go over the top. This was a Preston PB3 on 0.12 to 0.10 and size 18 Middy 63:13, elastic for this was a solid 6 latex. I set the rig around 18 inch deep and went out with double maggot, I planned on feeding caster so but went with the more robust maggot so I could slap the rig in. I had a few small roach from the off before an Ide of about a pound, a few more roach followed before the laggy shot out and the pole tip buried under the surface. The fight was on and when I finally got back to my top 2 I stripped a few feet of elastic from the pulla kit and eventually slid the net under a lovely 4lb mirror. When possible I fed with the catty whilst playing the fish although the emphasis was on landing the fish!
I went back out on the shallow line and managed a few more roach before the sun hid behind the clouds and the fish seemed to back off a bit. I tried on the deck again and although I was getting indications I was missing a few bites. I decided to big pot some maggots in, only maybe 100ml but I hoped this would settle the fish on the deck again.
Whilst I waited for this line to settle I had a quick chuck over the far bank with the method to see if there was anything there. I’d been firing the odd 4mm pellet over there but this was to no avail, after 15 minutes I’d not even had a liner so carried on firing the odd pellet out there and went back to the 13m line.
The big pot had settled the fish, or sort of, I managed another F1, another 1lb Ide and the roach were back in force! I decided to carry on hammering the roach to keep pace with everyone else and hope that my bigger fish would carry me through. Chris on peg3 was flying by now putting good fish in the net quite often, as was the chap on the other side of the point so I was fishing for the section again.
The all out was called at 4pm and by my reckoning I might just scrape 10lb (4lber, 2 F1’s 2 decent Ide and loads of bits).
The weigh got underway and Chris plonked 35lb on the scales (I wouldn’t be troubling that!). My 10lb 8oz fell way short of the mark but was good enough to beat my other neighbour who managed 8lb13oz. I wasn’t sure how the sections were working today, a couple of lads put an 18lb and a 25lb on the scales from the bay on my side of the lake and the other side had disappointed with Bri Clays 12lb odd winning the bank. Last to weigh off the end peg and other side of the point to peg 3 weighed a very respectable 37lb of Ide and one lonely F1.
The match hadn’t fished as well as I’d hoped though there were still some good weights but showing that the fish are still very tightly shoaled up.
Back in the cafe and my name was read out for the 4th time in four matches, another section under my belt! The pressure is really on now for Maple next week in order to carry on my good form!
We were on Alders this week which has 34 pegs and there were only 21 of us fishing so we’d have a bit of room. Alders has been good to me in the past, I’ve won a few knock ups on here, as well as a winter club match, even going back to my junior matches I always picked up a few points off this lake. It’s also been terrible on occasions too, with my weights being marked on the board as DNW!
What I like about Alders is the options you have, this is peg dependant but you’ve to be ready to go at it with a number of methods. With the island being 20-25m in some areas I’d packed the waggler rod as well as the method, I was hoping it was now warm enough to winkle a few out on the method, we’d have to wait and see though.
Typically after preparing my tackle all week, I drew peg 5 which you can normally reach the island with, or at least in the middle of summer when there’s plenty of vegetation on the far bank! With only having 15m of pole to play with it left me about a metre short where as the chaps on pegs 3 and 7 could both reach!
I was unsure as to how it would fish, I assumed the carp would still be in winter hiding even after the milder temperatures and also didn’t think it would be warm enough for the Ide to be there in any great numbers so I planned on scratching around for bites.
I set up a maggot line at 13m straight in front and this was a 4x12 KC Carpa Belter on 0.10 to a 0.08 hooklength and size 20 Drennan Silverfish Match, this was finished off with a size 6 solid latex. I also set up a pellet lines at 15 to my left and right, this was a 4x12 Malman Cedar on 0.12 to an 0.10 hooklength and a size 20 Gamakatsu pellet and paste hook, this was finished off with a doubled 5 latex. My final attack would be the method tight to the far bank, although casting would have to be a case of punching it out to hit the clip to avoid the overhanging branches (that I clipped a few times whilst setting the clip!).
Bait for today, I had a pint of white maggots, last week’s pint of casters that I’ve stored in my pellet pump, some micros, 4mm expanders and some black swim stim. I planned on mixing the micros and groundbait as and when I needed for the method.
The match kicked off at 10am and I shipped out with a kinder pot of maggots onto the 13m line before going out to the left hand 15m line with a 4mm pellet, the float settled and I tapped a few micros and a fruit shoot worth of groundbait over the top. After plenty of lifting and dropping, 10 minutes later, the float quivered and I struck into my first fish, a dumpy roach of a few ounces, at least I’d not blanked! A re-feed on the second put in saw me put my first F1 in the net of about a pound, this gave a healthy scrap on relatively “heavy” gear.
No more bites materialised on either 15m line, I’d been feeding a kinder of maggots ever 15 minutes or so on the 13m line and decided it was now worth a look. Chris on peg 3 had managed a couple of half decent fish off the point of the island and the chap to my left had only had a few bits. After 90 minutes I think I was the only one with a carp in the net on our bank although the majority of Ide in Alders are bigger than the F1 I had in the net! I got into a rhythm catching tiny roach and rudd off the 13m line but they were incredibly small.
I started to up the feed and was spraying a few maggots over my float with the catty. I started to get a few liners and striking at thin air so decided to set up a shallow rig to have a go over the top. This was a Preston PB3 on 0.12 to 0.10 and size 18 Middy 63:13, elastic for this was a solid 6 latex. I set the rig around 18 inch deep and went out with double maggot, I planned on feeding caster so but went with the more robust maggot so I could slap the rig in. I had a few small roach from the off before an Ide of about a pound, a few more roach followed before the laggy shot out and the pole tip buried under the surface. The fight was on and when I finally got back to my top 2 I stripped a few feet of elastic from the pulla kit and eventually slid the net under a lovely 4lb mirror. When possible I fed with the catty whilst playing the fish although the emphasis was on landing the fish!
I went back out on the shallow line and managed a few more roach before the sun hid behind the clouds and the fish seemed to back off a bit. I tried on the deck again and although I was getting indications I was missing a few bites. I decided to big pot some maggots in, only maybe 100ml but I hoped this would settle the fish on the deck again.
Whilst I waited for this line to settle I had a quick chuck over the far bank with the method to see if there was anything there. I’d been firing the odd 4mm pellet over there but this was to no avail, after 15 minutes I’d not even had a liner so carried on firing the odd pellet out there and went back to the 13m line.
The big pot had settled the fish, or sort of, I managed another F1, another 1lb Ide and the roach were back in force! I decided to carry on hammering the roach to keep pace with everyone else and hope that my bigger fish would carry me through. Chris on peg3 was flying by now putting good fish in the net quite often, as was the chap on the other side of the point so I was fishing for the section again.
The all out was called at 4pm and by my reckoning I might just scrape 10lb (4lber, 2 F1’s 2 decent Ide and loads of bits).
The weigh got underway and Chris plonked 35lb on the scales (I wouldn’t be troubling that!). My 10lb 8oz fell way short of the mark but was good enough to beat my other neighbour who managed 8lb13oz. I wasn’t sure how the sections were working today, a couple of lads put an 18lb and a 25lb on the scales from the bay on my side of the lake and the other side had disappointed with Bri Clays 12lb odd winning the bank. Last to weigh off the end peg and other side of the point to peg 3 weighed a very respectable 37lb of Ide and one lonely F1.
The match hadn’t fished as well as I’d hoped though there were still some good weights but showing that the fish are still very tightly shoaled up.
Back in the cafe and my name was read out for the 4th time in four matches, another section under my belt! The pressure is really on now for Maple next week in order to carry on my good form!
Wednesday, 22 February 2012
Maggotdrowners Winter Knock Up - Oaks, Poplars - 20th February
I’ve had a mixture over the last few weeks, another section and my first blank for a very long time!
This week we were on Poplars up at the Oaks and I was determined to redeem myself after my blank! On arriving at the fishery at 8am, driving past the lake it looked to be frozen, as it transpired the aerators had been purposely left off to try not ball the fish up in certain areas. With the sun shining and a bit of a breeze it hopefully wouldn’t take long for the cat ice to thaw.
There were 22 in attendance today, and with the temperatures being slightly kinder over the week prior, although minus temperatures overnight, we’d all hopefully snare a few.
I really fancied being anywhere from peg 34 to the end or peg 1 which is a noted peg on the end of the island. So in went my hand, with only three pegs left I drew peg 6, Gordon took the last peg, 36!! The peg John had had some success on a few weeks ago.
I made my way round to my peg to discover that peg 2 to 5 were clear of ice, peg 7 up looked clear of ice, and my peg, peg 6, iced right across! Due to the low sun and a tree behind my peg meant that the sun wasn’t quite getting through to my peg! This would be interesting!
I set about breaking as much of the ice as I could with my landing net, but it was unsuccessful, I managed to set up a line about 5m in front of peg 7’s platform and also plumbed up a line at 11m and in front of the sedges. I wouldn’t be able to fish the second too but managed to plumb up for when the ice hopefully disappeared.
My rigs for in front of peg 7 and 11m were both KC Carpa Belters 4x12, these were on 0.10 Ultima Power Match to 0.08 Preston Powerline and size 20 Drennan Silverfish Pellet hooks, both on solid 6 latex elastic. The sedge rig was the same but with a 4x10 float and soft doubled 5 elastic. The deep rigs were only 3ft at best, I’m sure its normally nearer 5ft, though my sedge line was still 2-2.5ft.
Bait today I had some micros and some 4mm expanders and some black swim stim. I also had half a pint of whites and a pint of casters.
The all in was called at 10am and we were away, sort of.....I had to fish my short line, and if I hooked a fish, I’d have to navigate through the slalom of ice! I fed my 11m line with 3 micros and a pinch of groundbait first though to try encourage some fish into my swim for later. I fed the short line with half a dozen casters and hooked a single caster like a maggot and dropped it in. I was lifting and dropping the float every fifteen seconds or so eventually tempted a bite, I was a bit too eager on the strike though and missed it. I came back and rebaited and went in the same hole again, no sooner had my float settled and the wind picked up and you could see the ice starting to shift! I shipped in and amazingly 10 seconds later all the ice had near enough cleared my peg “upstream”!
Guessing the bite I’d had would have been from small roach I decided to put this rig down and go over the pellet line at 11m instead in search of “proper” fish but keep dripping a few casters in on this line just in case.
I dropped in on my 11m line with a 4mm pellet and slowly lowered the rig in, the float was a mere pimple and I was lifting the float 6inch out of the water every 15 seconds or so to try an entice a bite. Eventually the float “wobbled” and I lifted into my first fish. The 6 elastic was perfect and I soon had an F1 of about 12oz in the net. I shipped back out and this time fed 4 micros over the top, repeating the lifting of the float I hooked into a better fish and after a brief tussle slipped the net under a big F1 that must have 2lb plus, just goes to show that even on really light lines these bonus fish can be landed if you take your time. I repeated this for the remainder of the first hour and managed 9 F1’s for about 10lb.
I anticipated this line would fade and started to feed another 11m line but to my left instead. The first swim died and the second one never got going! Seems to be a common theme in my matches lately, I just can’t seem to get the fish to settle and once I’ve lost them that’s it!
I decided to drop in on my short and managed a few tiny roach and a perch of about 6oz. I then scratted about for bites for the rest of the day but only managed 2 more F1’s off the sedges and a handful of small roach.
At the all out I had 11 F1’s and my few silvers. From looking round, the other anglers at my end of the lake had struggled although the chap next to me had caught silvers fairly well all day and the lad on peg 1 had easily beaten me fishing down either edge.
At the all in peg 1 was leading with 31lb, peg 3 DNW’ed and then I weighed 13lb 4oz, the chap next to me ended up weighing 12lb 10oz so it was very close in the end and those few silvers I caught had vitally boosted my weight.
The match was won with 60lb from around peg 18ish and 52lb came second off the winners neighbour. Tubby Roofer weighed 17lb and he’d done me for the quid again! That makes it 2 all this year, need to pull my finger out! Or borrow Gordies drawing arm! Honest John had 9 fish for 6lb, obviously just a much smaller stamp than mine.
With the top four being paid out I managed my section again, as did Gordon!
It’s Alders next week, so hopefully with a bit of warmer weather the fish will be in more of a mood to feed!
This week we were on Poplars up at the Oaks and I was determined to redeem myself after my blank! On arriving at the fishery at 8am, driving past the lake it looked to be frozen, as it transpired the aerators had been purposely left off to try not ball the fish up in certain areas. With the sun shining and a bit of a breeze it hopefully wouldn’t take long for the cat ice to thaw.
There were 22 in attendance today, and with the temperatures being slightly kinder over the week prior, although minus temperatures overnight, we’d all hopefully snare a few.
I really fancied being anywhere from peg 34 to the end or peg 1 which is a noted peg on the end of the island. So in went my hand, with only three pegs left I drew peg 6, Gordon took the last peg, 36!! The peg John had had some success on a few weeks ago.
I made my way round to my peg to discover that peg 2 to 5 were clear of ice, peg 7 up looked clear of ice, and my peg, peg 6, iced right across! Due to the low sun and a tree behind my peg meant that the sun wasn’t quite getting through to my peg! This would be interesting!
I set about breaking as much of the ice as I could with my landing net, but it was unsuccessful, I managed to set up a line about 5m in front of peg 7’s platform and also plumbed up a line at 11m and in front of the sedges. I wouldn’t be able to fish the second too but managed to plumb up for when the ice hopefully disappeared.
My rigs for in front of peg 7 and 11m were both KC Carpa Belters 4x12, these were on 0.10 Ultima Power Match to 0.08 Preston Powerline and size 20 Drennan Silverfish Pellet hooks, both on solid 6 latex elastic. The sedge rig was the same but with a 4x10 float and soft doubled 5 elastic. The deep rigs were only 3ft at best, I’m sure its normally nearer 5ft, though my sedge line was still 2-2.5ft.
Bait today I had some micros and some 4mm expanders and some black swim stim. I also had half a pint of whites and a pint of casters.
The all in was called at 10am and we were away, sort of.....I had to fish my short line, and if I hooked a fish, I’d have to navigate through the slalom of ice! I fed my 11m line with 3 micros and a pinch of groundbait first though to try encourage some fish into my swim for later. I fed the short line with half a dozen casters and hooked a single caster like a maggot and dropped it in. I was lifting and dropping the float every fifteen seconds or so eventually tempted a bite, I was a bit too eager on the strike though and missed it. I came back and rebaited and went in the same hole again, no sooner had my float settled and the wind picked up and you could see the ice starting to shift! I shipped in and amazingly 10 seconds later all the ice had near enough cleared my peg “upstream”!
Guessing the bite I’d had would have been from small roach I decided to put this rig down and go over the pellet line at 11m instead in search of “proper” fish but keep dripping a few casters in on this line just in case.
I dropped in on my 11m line with a 4mm pellet and slowly lowered the rig in, the float was a mere pimple and I was lifting the float 6inch out of the water every 15 seconds or so to try an entice a bite. Eventually the float “wobbled” and I lifted into my first fish. The 6 elastic was perfect and I soon had an F1 of about 12oz in the net. I shipped back out and this time fed 4 micros over the top, repeating the lifting of the float I hooked into a better fish and after a brief tussle slipped the net under a big F1 that must have 2lb plus, just goes to show that even on really light lines these bonus fish can be landed if you take your time. I repeated this for the remainder of the first hour and managed 9 F1’s for about 10lb.
I anticipated this line would fade and started to feed another 11m line but to my left instead. The first swim died and the second one never got going! Seems to be a common theme in my matches lately, I just can’t seem to get the fish to settle and once I’ve lost them that’s it!
I decided to drop in on my short and managed a few tiny roach and a perch of about 6oz. I then scratted about for bites for the rest of the day but only managed 2 more F1’s off the sedges and a handful of small roach.
At the all out I had 11 F1’s and my few silvers. From looking round, the other anglers at my end of the lake had struggled although the chap next to me had caught silvers fairly well all day and the lad on peg 1 had easily beaten me fishing down either edge.
At the all in peg 1 was leading with 31lb, peg 3 DNW’ed and then I weighed 13lb 4oz, the chap next to me ended up weighing 12lb 10oz so it was very close in the end and those few silvers I caught had vitally boosted my weight.
The match was won with 60lb from around peg 18ish and 52lb came second off the winners neighbour. Tubby Roofer weighed 17lb and he’d done me for the quid again! That makes it 2 all this year, need to pull my finger out! Or borrow Gordies drawing arm! Honest John had 9 fish for 6lb, obviously just a much smaller stamp than mine.
With the top four being paid out I managed my section again, as did Gordon!
It’s Alders next week, so hopefully with a bit of warmer weather the fish will be in more of a mood to feed!
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Maggotdrowners Winter Knock Up - Oaks, Cedar - 15th January
After a chat with Gordon, we decided to book onto one of the Maggotdrowners knock ups at the Oaks, these have been running for a while now and with the majority of Club matches not beginning again until spring there always seems to be a good turnout. Despite the weather being freezing and the previous days match being won with a low 20lb and 9lb being good enough for third it was good to see 31 anglers brave the banks.
After a hearty breakfast I was set up for the day and was hoping for a decent draw and a few fish. We had the whole 80 peg lake to go out so there would be plenty of room, the straight nearest the woods (pegs 71-80) had been left out apart from peg 72 because although the aerators were on the night before, the previous days match saw this start to freeze over again before the end of the match! The draw began at quarter to nine and we weren’t staring until ten so we had plenty of time to get sorted. I dipped into the bag and came out with 72, I was gutted to say the least, it was going to be a hard day and a cold one at that as these pegs never see any sunshine because of the woods! Still I remained upbeat and thought I’d have to remain positive to get anything from the match.
One thing about this time of year is that you expect to catch very little and it’s a case of keeping disciplined in order to not kill your peg by overfeeding. With 9lb being good enough for third the day before I thought this would be a good target to aim for and would also help me gauge how much to feed.
Gordon was on peg 2 and because there was nobody else on the straight meant that we were actually pegged next door to one and other albeit a gap of ten pegs!
I set up three rigs for the day, knowing it was going to be hard I set up a 4x10 Preston Chianti on 0.12 mainline to an 0.10 hooklength and a size 18 Gama Pellet and Paste hook, this would be for fishing a single grain of corn right across the far bank in about 2.5-3ft of water, this was finished off with a size 8 latex elastic.
I also set up a rig for fishing across with maggot, I was using one of my own home made pencil floats, an alternative version to the one I used the week previous, this was a 0.2g slim pencil body, with a wire stem and a fine plastic tip, this was again on 0.12 to 0.10 but with a size 20 Middy 63:13 and size 6 latex.
For down the track I had an identical rig to the maggot rig but with a 0.4g version of the float and a doubled 5 elastic, this would be my pellet rig and so I used a size 20 Gama pellet and paste hook.
For bait I had some corn, dampened micros, black swim stim, 4mm expanders and last week’s maggots that I’d riddled off.
At the all in I went over with the corn rig and lowered it in on my left hand swim, I had 4 lines along the far bank that I could drop this in. My plan was to fish it in one swim for ten minutes before moving to the next one. I’d try this for the first couple of hours before using my other lines. On my first put in I realised my backshot was a bit too close to my float so I shipped back to move it up an inch or two and whilst I was doing this Steve Hawkins was into his first carp on peg 70 but they soon parted company, probably foul hooked. I went back out and had a bite almost instantly and after a few seconds I had a big F1 in the net at around 2.5lb, good start! I then rotated between the lines with corn for about an hour and a half but no more bites materialised, perhaps I should have come off this earlier as they obviously weren’t there, where as Steve on peg 70 was putting one in the net fairly often. They’d obviously decided to hide around the corner for the day!
I decided to have a look down the track with the pellet rig, I dropped in with a 4mm expander and tipped in half a dozen micros and a fruit shoot of ground bait. Just as the float settled I heard a commotion on the next peg. Steve had landed a fish but his landing net handle came apart, as he went to reach for it he tripped and end up laid in the water edge on top of the reeds! He managed to grab his net, get back on his box and eventually land the fish! I would have asked him if he was alright but I was far too busy laughing! Thankfully he had some spare clothes in his van otherwise it would have made for an even colder afternoon!
The pellet line eventually came good and I managed two more F1’s about a pound each but I was going nowhere fast! Even though Steve decided to go for a swim it didn’t affect his fishing and he carried on putting fish in the net!
I eventually ended up scratching for silver down the track on maggot and managed a few roach half a dozen dumpy perch. Then that was it, the all out called after a very tough match!
Steve ended up winning the match with 40lb, a fantastic result considering the conditions! I scraped a section win with 6lb 3oz, Rab managed his section with around 12lb and Gordon tipped back a lonesome F1!
There’s another knock up arranged for next week which is programmed for Maple if it’s not frozen over!
After a hearty breakfast I was set up for the day and was hoping for a decent draw and a few fish. We had the whole 80 peg lake to go out so there would be plenty of room, the straight nearest the woods (pegs 71-80) had been left out apart from peg 72 because although the aerators were on the night before, the previous days match saw this start to freeze over again before the end of the match! The draw began at quarter to nine and we weren’t staring until ten so we had plenty of time to get sorted. I dipped into the bag and came out with 72, I was gutted to say the least, it was going to be a hard day and a cold one at that as these pegs never see any sunshine because of the woods! Still I remained upbeat and thought I’d have to remain positive to get anything from the match.
One thing about this time of year is that you expect to catch very little and it’s a case of keeping disciplined in order to not kill your peg by overfeeding. With 9lb being good enough for third the day before I thought this would be a good target to aim for and would also help me gauge how much to feed.
Gordon was on peg 2 and because there was nobody else on the straight meant that we were actually pegged next door to one and other albeit a gap of ten pegs!
I set up three rigs for the day, knowing it was going to be hard I set up a 4x10 Preston Chianti on 0.12 mainline to an 0.10 hooklength and a size 18 Gama Pellet and Paste hook, this would be for fishing a single grain of corn right across the far bank in about 2.5-3ft of water, this was finished off with a size 8 latex elastic.
I also set up a rig for fishing across with maggot, I was using one of my own home made pencil floats, an alternative version to the one I used the week previous, this was a 0.2g slim pencil body, with a wire stem and a fine plastic tip, this was again on 0.12 to 0.10 but with a size 20 Middy 63:13 and size 6 latex.
For down the track I had an identical rig to the maggot rig but with a 0.4g version of the float and a doubled 5 elastic, this would be my pellet rig and so I used a size 20 Gama pellet and paste hook.
For bait I had some corn, dampened micros, black swim stim, 4mm expanders and last week’s maggots that I’d riddled off.
At the all in I went over with the corn rig and lowered it in on my left hand swim, I had 4 lines along the far bank that I could drop this in. My plan was to fish it in one swim for ten minutes before moving to the next one. I’d try this for the first couple of hours before using my other lines. On my first put in I realised my backshot was a bit too close to my float so I shipped back to move it up an inch or two and whilst I was doing this Steve Hawkins was into his first carp on peg 70 but they soon parted company, probably foul hooked. I went back out and had a bite almost instantly and after a few seconds I had a big F1 in the net at around 2.5lb, good start! I then rotated between the lines with corn for about an hour and a half but no more bites materialised, perhaps I should have come off this earlier as they obviously weren’t there, where as Steve on peg 70 was putting one in the net fairly often. They’d obviously decided to hide around the corner for the day!
I decided to have a look down the track with the pellet rig, I dropped in with a 4mm expander and tipped in half a dozen micros and a fruit shoot of ground bait. Just as the float settled I heard a commotion on the next peg. Steve had landed a fish but his landing net handle came apart, as he went to reach for it he tripped and end up laid in the water edge on top of the reeds! He managed to grab his net, get back on his box and eventually land the fish! I would have asked him if he was alright but I was far too busy laughing! Thankfully he had some spare clothes in his van otherwise it would have made for an even colder afternoon!
The pellet line eventually came good and I managed two more F1’s about a pound each but I was going nowhere fast! Even though Steve decided to go for a swim it didn’t affect his fishing and he carried on putting fish in the net!
I eventually ended up scratching for silver down the track on maggot and managed a few roach half a dozen dumpy perch. Then that was it, the all out called after a very tough match!
Steve ended up winning the match with 40lb, a fantastic result considering the conditions! I scraped a section win with 6lb 3oz, Rab managed his section with around 12lb and Gordon tipped back a lonesome F1!
There’s another knock up arranged for next week which is programmed for Maple if it’s not frozen over!
Friday, 20 January 2012
Team Inbetweeny – Poplars – 8th January
Today I was joining Gordon, John and Stu for a day on Poplar up at Sessay, Poplars isn’t a lake I fish very often up here but I’ve always done OK on. Robbie told me anywhere around peg 37 in the bay would be a good spot for the day but we were going to do a little rover match between pegs 45 and 39. I managed to draw second pick and plumped for 45 where Pete Whale had done well from during the week. Gordon was on 43, Stu was on 39 and John decided to go on 37, (which wasn’t a peg to choose from).
My main reason for fishing today was to try out a homemade float, if it was successful I could then make a few more, the last thing i wanted to do was to make a whole bunch for them to all be useless! I had two different types to try today, both 0.4g pencil float bodies with 1mm stems, 1.8mm hollow tips and figure of 8 spring eyes. One stem was stainless steel, the other clear glass fibre. I’d been warned about the stainless steel stem being too thick, this was proved when it sank under its own weight!! The glass fibre stem version took six No.8’s, and a No.10 dropper. This wasn’t the ideal float to use today as it was pretty cold, although relatively mild for January, but at least I could get an idea of how it sat in the water, and if it took any water on throughout the day.
I set this float up for fishing down the track at 11m on 0.12 mainline, 0.10 hooklength and a size 18 Gama Pellet and Paste hook, this was finished with a doubled 6 elastic. I also setup another rig for fishing across, this was on the same line, hook and elastic but with a 4x10 Malman Cedar.
Bait for the day was a pint of maggots, some black swim stim, micros and 4mm expanders. At the “all in” everyone was still waiting for me as i’d not shot tested my floats prior to today so was still fiddling about getting it to sit correctly.
I was finally ready and went to 11m to fish down the track armed with a 4mm pellet and a fruit shoot with a down micro’s in and topped off with some black swim stim. First put in I had an indication and struck like Zorro! I missed it but lowered the rig back in this time when the float bobbed I was ready and met it with a gentle lift and it was fish on. The bites were so shy that they float only just pulled under the surface so you could still see it under water. It was fish number one in the net, a small F1 about 10oz. Stu and Gordon seemed to catch one at the exact same time I had done so we were all in lead, with John the only one to not have caught (off the flyer peg).
We were all steadily putting one or two fish into our nets apart from John who was still fishless after the first hour, much to his dismay as everyone that turned up for a chat we’d get to ask John how many he’d had to rub salt into the wound!
After two hours I’d had ten fish down the track and was doing OK but this is where the bites stopped, coincidental that Gordon and Stu had also stopped catching, probably because of all the commotion by our “visitors” and more likely the curse of Dave Wright!!
John had started catching one or two now that we’d all stopped and in the end he was getting a bite every put in and being rewarded with a small carp or F1 every time including some much better bonus fish up to 4 or 5lb.
So all our teasing hadn’t troubled John and he was now sailing away with the lead. We stopped fishing at about 3 as we were all bored (apart from Bagger Livesey on the flyer peg)!!
We did a quick weigh in, my 11 fish went 9lb odd, Gordon DNW’ed, Stu had 6lb odd and John........just shy of 40lb......
So an enjoyable day and it was even more rewarding seeing one of my own floats go under......and beating Mr T for the pound!
My main reason for fishing today was to try out a homemade float, if it was successful I could then make a few more, the last thing i wanted to do was to make a whole bunch for them to all be useless! I had two different types to try today, both 0.4g pencil float bodies with 1mm stems, 1.8mm hollow tips and figure of 8 spring eyes. One stem was stainless steel, the other clear glass fibre. I’d been warned about the stainless steel stem being too thick, this was proved when it sank under its own weight!! The glass fibre stem version took six No.8’s, and a No.10 dropper. This wasn’t the ideal float to use today as it was pretty cold, although relatively mild for January, but at least I could get an idea of how it sat in the water, and if it took any water on throughout the day.
I set this float up for fishing down the track at 11m on 0.12 mainline, 0.10 hooklength and a size 18 Gama Pellet and Paste hook, this was finished with a doubled 6 elastic. I also setup another rig for fishing across, this was on the same line, hook and elastic but with a 4x10 Malman Cedar.
Bait for the day was a pint of maggots, some black swim stim, micros and 4mm expanders. At the “all in” everyone was still waiting for me as i’d not shot tested my floats prior to today so was still fiddling about getting it to sit correctly.
I was finally ready and went to 11m to fish down the track armed with a 4mm pellet and a fruit shoot with a down micro’s in and topped off with some black swim stim. First put in I had an indication and struck like Zorro! I missed it but lowered the rig back in this time when the float bobbed I was ready and met it with a gentle lift and it was fish on. The bites were so shy that they float only just pulled under the surface so you could still see it under water. It was fish number one in the net, a small F1 about 10oz. Stu and Gordon seemed to catch one at the exact same time I had done so we were all in lead, with John the only one to not have caught (off the flyer peg).
We were all steadily putting one or two fish into our nets apart from John who was still fishless after the first hour, much to his dismay as everyone that turned up for a chat we’d get to ask John how many he’d had to rub salt into the wound!
After two hours I’d had ten fish down the track and was doing OK but this is where the bites stopped, coincidental that Gordon and Stu had also stopped catching, probably because of all the commotion by our “visitors” and more likely the curse of Dave Wright!!
John had started catching one or two now that we’d all stopped and in the end he was getting a bite every put in and being rewarded with a small carp or F1 every time including some much better bonus fish up to 4 or 5lb.
So all our teasing hadn’t troubled John and he was now sailing away with the lead. We stopped fishing at about 3 as we were all bored (apart from Bagger Livesey on the flyer peg)!!
We did a quick weigh in, my 11 fish went 9lb odd, Gordon DNW’ed, Stu had 6lb odd and John........just shy of 40lb......
So an enjoyable day and it was even more rewarding seeing one of my own floats go under......and beating Mr T for the pound!
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
Oaks - Cedar Starbeck Club Christmas Match
The final match of the year came around and with a very cold day! Today was our club Christmas match. With 3 man sections it was all to play for! Also with a giant Christmas feed thrown in at the end of the match it got the numbers up with 29 in attendance, probably the best attendance of the year! It’s amazing what a free lunch can do!
We were fishing on Cedar up at the Oaks and had pegs 18 to 56, this meant we could have the three man section in a row and then a gap before the next section. This wasn’t ideal at this time of year but it seemed the only way to peg it fairly, plus it would mean you could see both your competitors!
As it happened I drew peg 56, which although the end of our match, the next match started on peg 57 and it later materialised that I would be bang in the middle of 5 in a row! Far from what you needed today when it was going to be a grueller! To rub salt into the wounds, this end peg meant I also had to weigh in!
For company I had Terry on 55 and Martin Whit on 54, we soon struck up a three way quid to add to the bragging rights!
I only set up two rigs, one for fishing at the base of the far slope in five and a bit foot of water. The other rig was for fishing in 3ft of water on the sloping shelf. Both these rigs were 0.4g Garbolino DC13H floats, which I don’t particularly like but they’d have to do, these were on 0.12 mainline, 0.10 hooklength’s and size 20 Gamakatsu pellet and paste hooks. The rigs were finished with doubled 5 elastics. Bait was also simple today with some micros, some black swim stim, some 4mm expanders and a few maggots.
The all in was called at 10am and we were only fishing five hours today due to it being dark at 4 o clock nowadays! I expected it to be hard but as the match panned out, it was harder than I’d have expected. The first hour or two were OK, I put a few F1’s and a couple of small Barbel in the net, as well as losing a few fish. At one point it was more like Tel and I were seeing who could lose the most fish rather than catch them! After this initial spell of fish, it went dead, and to spark a response I fed a handful of maggots onto the island to try batter the small fish to build up a weight, I think I had a dozen in the last three hours where as Martin and Tel were catching far more, even though they were only tiny. I need to learn that when it’s cold, dumping in bait to “spark a response” very rarely works, I’d have been better off doing the softly softly approach and feeding a few maggots every put out!
Well the match drew to an end, and I must admit the last few hours were a bit tedious, the only thing that kept my spirits up was the prospect of a hot meal!
I was first to weigh in and managed a not so impressive, 9lb11oz, I was instantly a quid down to Tel when he weighed 13lb odd, Martin cemented my misery when he plonked 16lb odd onto the scales which turned out good enough for 3rd on the day! Jonesy won the match from around peg 50 with 20lb. So it had fished hard but we’d all had a good laugh!
Back in the warmth in the cafe, the Christmas dinner went down a storm, a huge plateful of everything you could imagine! (As well as sampling all three puddings.......and mince pies.....and Christmas cake.....) I only had the one chocolate mint though as I had my tea waiting for me at home....
Thanks must go to Mary for the splendid meal, it was much appreciated by all, shame we don’t do this after every match!
We were fishing on Cedar up at the Oaks and had pegs 18 to 56, this meant we could have the three man section in a row and then a gap before the next section. This wasn’t ideal at this time of year but it seemed the only way to peg it fairly, plus it would mean you could see both your competitors!
As it happened I drew peg 56, which although the end of our match, the next match started on peg 57 and it later materialised that I would be bang in the middle of 5 in a row! Far from what you needed today when it was going to be a grueller! To rub salt into the wounds, this end peg meant I also had to weigh in!
For company I had Terry on 55 and Martin Whit on 54, we soon struck up a three way quid to add to the bragging rights!
I only set up two rigs, one for fishing at the base of the far slope in five and a bit foot of water. The other rig was for fishing in 3ft of water on the sloping shelf. Both these rigs were 0.4g Garbolino DC13H floats, which I don’t particularly like but they’d have to do, these were on 0.12 mainline, 0.10 hooklength’s and size 20 Gamakatsu pellet and paste hooks. The rigs were finished with doubled 5 elastics. Bait was also simple today with some micros, some black swim stim, some 4mm expanders and a few maggots.
The all in was called at 10am and we were only fishing five hours today due to it being dark at 4 o clock nowadays! I expected it to be hard but as the match panned out, it was harder than I’d have expected. The first hour or two were OK, I put a few F1’s and a couple of small Barbel in the net, as well as losing a few fish. At one point it was more like Tel and I were seeing who could lose the most fish rather than catch them! After this initial spell of fish, it went dead, and to spark a response I fed a handful of maggots onto the island to try batter the small fish to build up a weight, I think I had a dozen in the last three hours where as Martin and Tel were catching far more, even though they were only tiny. I need to learn that when it’s cold, dumping in bait to “spark a response” very rarely works, I’d have been better off doing the softly softly approach and feeding a few maggots every put out!
Well the match drew to an end, and I must admit the last few hours were a bit tedious, the only thing that kept my spirits up was the prospect of a hot meal!
I was first to weigh in and managed a not so impressive, 9lb11oz, I was instantly a quid down to Tel when he weighed 13lb odd, Martin cemented my misery when he plonked 16lb odd onto the scales which turned out good enough for 3rd on the day! Jonesy won the match from around peg 50 with 20lb. So it had fished hard but we’d all had a good laugh!
Back in the warmth in the cafe, the Christmas dinner went down a storm, a huge plateful of everything you could imagine! (As well as sampling all three puddings.......and mince pies.....and Christmas cake.....) I only had the one chocolate mint though as I had my tea waiting for me at home....
Thanks must go to Mary for the splendid meal, it was much appreciated by all, shame we don’t do this after every match!
The Oaks - Open 20/11/11
After last week’s triumph I was ready to tackle the Sunday open at the Oaks again. After a minor personal victory last time around I was ready to right a few wrongs and put some more ideas into practice. There were 23 fishing today, a good turnout for a cold November day! Gordon and Rab had also made the journey so the quid was on once again with Mr T.
All 3 lakes would be used so we would all have plenty of room. I managed to snare Sycamore peg 21. I always prefer being in the middle of these rectangular lakes, similarly to Woodlands, the ends can often be hit or miss. After parking at the wrong end of the lake, two trips saw me eventually get all my gear to my peg. This week I hadn’t had chance to set up my top kits the day before which meant I would be rushing to get a decent amount of time to plumb up.
I only set up two rigs today, one for on the shelf at 13m and one down the track at 11m at the bottom of the slope. I wasn’t too confident in my ability for fishing on the slope so decided to pin my faith in these two lines instead.
There was a thick mist hanging over the whole fishery, this light grey sky would initially prove a nightmare for seeing a float at any distance, thankfully the black marker made a welcome appearance from the bottom of my box! I had the same rigs as two weeks previous, but this time I used a doubled 5 latex for the shelf and a solid 8 for down the track.
Bait wise I had half a pint of white maggots, some black swim stim, some micros, some 4millies, and 4 & 6mm expanders.
At the all in I went onto the deep line where I was expecting to catch most of my fish today. It probably took 15 minutes before I hooked into my first fish after a few tentative nibbles. The chap opposite on his debut on the lakes had already caught about 4 I think! I could also see Chappy, Ghandi and Josh Newton putting a few in the net. I stuck with this line and in the first hour managed 12 fish. The second hour slowed somewhat and I only managed 8, though because I was still doing OK in the grand scheme of things I stuck with it for the third hour and managed a further 10 to take my total to 30 fish in the first three hours. It didn’t quite feel right and the fish weren’t of a great average stamp so I fed a fruit shoot of bait on the shelf and left it for ten minutes before going over it. This turned out to be a bad move, I stuck at it for an hour which was far too long, I only managed 4 fish and so decided to go back down the track. Looking back I should have stuck at it down here or had a go on the slope as a practice as I was far from contention.
The change to the deep line proved a good one and in the last ninety minutes I had a further 16 fish taking my tally to 50 for the match so I’d beaten my fish quantity since the last time by 11 fish so I couldn’t grumble at that, though I knew my weight would be less. The average fish size I was getting was far less than on Beech!
At the weigh in I managed 36lb dead, Chappy won our lake and the match with 62lb. Rab had 42 fish for 40lb from the last peg on Sycamore, a much better stamp than I was getting? I did however beat Mr Thackwray for another pound!
An interesting point on average fish size though. Phil Sellars on Beech 7 where I fished a couple of weeks ago had 48 fish for 56lb, this works out at 1lb3oz per fish, this tally’s with my 39 fish for 45lb8oz, again 1lb 3oz. Whereas my 50 fish today averaged only 12oz! If my 50 fish had have averaged that 1lb 3oz I’d have had a weight of 62lb!! I’ll have to have a think on why I only managed to attract smaller fish into my peg, too much feed? Too little feed? Wrong type of feed? All good questions, questions I’ll hopefully answer next time I’m on the bank!
The top 4 looked like this
John Chapman (Garbolino Elton) 62-14-0, carp to 2 lb on 14 m pole and pellet, Sycamore 5
Phil Sellars (Garbolino Elton) 56-10-0
James Woods (Oaks) 56-1-0
Chris Hall (Oaks) 54-2-0.
All 3 lakes would be used so we would all have plenty of room. I managed to snare Sycamore peg 21. I always prefer being in the middle of these rectangular lakes, similarly to Woodlands, the ends can often be hit or miss. After parking at the wrong end of the lake, two trips saw me eventually get all my gear to my peg. This week I hadn’t had chance to set up my top kits the day before which meant I would be rushing to get a decent amount of time to plumb up.
I only set up two rigs today, one for on the shelf at 13m and one down the track at 11m at the bottom of the slope. I wasn’t too confident in my ability for fishing on the slope so decided to pin my faith in these two lines instead.
There was a thick mist hanging over the whole fishery, this light grey sky would initially prove a nightmare for seeing a float at any distance, thankfully the black marker made a welcome appearance from the bottom of my box! I had the same rigs as two weeks previous, but this time I used a doubled 5 latex for the shelf and a solid 8 for down the track.
Bait wise I had half a pint of white maggots, some black swim stim, some micros, some 4millies, and 4 & 6mm expanders.
At the all in I went onto the deep line where I was expecting to catch most of my fish today. It probably took 15 minutes before I hooked into my first fish after a few tentative nibbles. The chap opposite on his debut on the lakes had already caught about 4 I think! I could also see Chappy, Ghandi and Josh Newton putting a few in the net. I stuck with this line and in the first hour managed 12 fish. The second hour slowed somewhat and I only managed 8, though because I was still doing OK in the grand scheme of things I stuck with it for the third hour and managed a further 10 to take my total to 30 fish in the first three hours. It didn’t quite feel right and the fish weren’t of a great average stamp so I fed a fruit shoot of bait on the shelf and left it for ten minutes before going over it. This turned out to be a bad move, I stuck at it for an hour which was far too long, I only managed 4 fish and so decided to go back down the track. Looking back I should have stuck at it down here or had a go on the slope as a practice as I was far from contention.
The change to the deep line proved a good one and in the last ninety minutes I had a further 16 fish taking my tally to 50 for the match so I’d beaten my fish quantity since the last time by 11 fish so I couldn’t grumble at that, though I knew my weight would be less. The average fish size I was getting was far less than on Beech!
At the weigh in I managed 36lb dead, Chappy won our lake and the match with 62lb. Rab had 42 fish for 40lb from the last peg on Sycamore, a much better stamp than I was getting? I did however beat Mr Thackwray for another pound!
An interesting point on average fish size though. Phil Sellars on Beech 7 where I fished a couple of weeks ago had 48 fish for 56lb, this works out at 1lb3oz per fish, this tally’s with my 39 fish for 45lb8oz, again 1lb 3oz. Whereas my 50 fish today averaged only 12oz! If my 50 fish had have averaged that 1lb 3oz I’d have had a weight of 62lb!! I’ll have to have a think on why I only managed to attract smaller fish into my peg, too much feed? Too little feed? Wrong type of feed? All good questions, questions I’ll hopefully answer next time I’m on the bank!
The top 4 looked like this
John Chapman (Garbolino Elton) 62-14-0, carp to 2 lb on 14 m pole and pellet, Sycamore 5
Phil Sellars (Garbolino Elton) 56-10-0
James Woods (Oaks) 56-1-0
Chris Hall (Oaks) 54-2-0.
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