Woodlands Open August 10th

Initially I was booked onto the Starbeck club match as a reserve but at five past seven on Sunday morning Nige rang me to say someone had dropped out and that I could get on. Bonus! My plan was to turn up and fish the open if I couldn’t get on but thankfully I’d made it onto the match, or had I!? Somehow Nige had made a mistake and already had one too many booked on the match before I arrived. Not to worry though, Nige sorted me out and I was fishing the open which was to be held over two of the lakes, Kestrel and Skylark. Ideally I wanted to be on Skylark as it is supposedly a much better lake than Kestrel. I’ve also fished Kestrel before and not done very well as you may have already read!

With the draw not until 10am I sat around and had a think of what tactics to employ. The draw finally came around and I was to be on Kestrel 8, brilliant! Or not! I gave Nige a ring to get filled in on how best to approach it and he said ‘big fish down the edge and fish a pellet line at 13m and after every 3 or so fish chuck the bomb over the same line and fire a load more bait in!’’ Easy I thought!




I already had the bomb rod set up with 0.20 Ultima mainline to an 0.17 Powerline trace (12’’long) with a PR36 size 16; I also employed a hair rigged band in the set up.

I plumbed both margins and only found a deviation of a couple of inches so the one rig would do for both lines with a bit of alteration in between. The margin rigs were on 0.18 silk shock straight through to a PR36 size 14. As for the float, it was once again one of my trusty BGT shallow floats 0.2g. Elastic was 16 latex.

I also set up a line at 13m for on the deck, this was the same line and hook as the above rig but with a hair rigged band. Float was a Preston PB13 4x14. Elastic was 14 latex.

Finally I had a shallow rig to go over the 13m line just in case.

Bait for the day in accordance with the limits were: 2pints 6mm feed pellets, ½ pint of 6mm expanders, ½ pint 8mm hard pellets for the band and 3 pints of meat for the margin.

The hooter sounded at 11am to signal the all in, I quickly potted in either margin with a big pot of meat, then out to 13m with a potful of pellets. My plan was then to try and snare a fish or two down the edge before moving onto the 13m line. I tried for 10 minutes on either side without a sniff, not even a liner. So I decided it was time for the 13m line.

Whilst fishing the margins the weather had changed for the worse! The wind had picked up so that even presenting a bait at 2m was difficult let alone 13m and the rain was hammering down! This is how it remained for the rest of the match, lovely! Although we should be used to it by now!

For the rest of the match I was forced to fish the bomb on the 13m line as this was the only method I could present properly. I managed to snare quite a few fish and ended up with 34lb 12oz. once again I couldn’t snare any of the monsters from the margins to bump up my score but that’s how it goes. After the match I spoke to a few people who kindly informed me that meat doesn’t work at Woodlands, so maybe that’s why I can’t get them from the margins then if I’m feeding meat! D’oh! The bloke to my left on peg 6 battered me with 96lb yet the bloke to my right on peg 10, who is a regular up at Woodlands only managed 46lb so I didn’t feel too bad although I knew I could have done better!

The club match was won with 113lb by Vince and Pete Whale came 2nd with 111lb, so some very good weights, there were also a lot of backing weights around 60-70lb mark.

August 9th – Sessay – Alders – Northern Intersite

I’d book on to fish the Northern Intersite match for www.talkangling.co.uk; we were to be up against 3 other forums, www.maggotdrowning.com, www.totalfishing.com and www.anglingforums.com.

In the weeks running up to the match we’d all been busy collecting as much information as we could about the venue. We had a team plan formulated and hopefully our hard work would see us reap the rewards, bragging rights!

I arrived up at the oaks at about half nine, the draw wasn’t until 10:30 so I had plenty of time for a cuppa and a chat, I bumped into Bri Clay who I’d recently been to White Acres with, so after a brief discussion about all things fishing, I eventually spotted a talk angling t-shirt! I met up with the guys whilst they were walking around the lake and in fairness, there wasn’t an awful lot of activity on the lake, the occasional swirl was all the fish were giving away!

All the captains were rounded up to draw our teams’ pegs, we all then drew our individual pegs from a hat and I was to be on peg 24 for the day. Not where I wanted to be but what can you do? Peg 24 is about 17m to the island and with only 15m of pole this meant my island line would be a bomb and pellet attack.

So, rigs for the day were to be the bomb rod for the island which I already had set up. Then I had two lines at 13m, one at 11 o’ clock for the carp and one at one o’ clock for the Ide.

For the carp line I was to use a Preston PB13 in 4x14, this was on 0.15 Powerline with a size 16 PR36. I also set up a shallow rig to fish over the same line with a Gaz Malman MTD2 0.2g float with the same line and hook but with a hair rigged band.

For the Ide line I used a Preston PB23 0.5g on 0.12 Silk Shock – with a hooklength of 0.11 Powerline to a Gamma Green 18. I also had a shallow rig for the Ide line too; the same as the depth rig but with a Drennan Caster float.

Bait for the day, I had 3 pints of casters for the Ide, some micro’s, 4mm hard pellets and also some 4 and 6mm expanders. I also had a little bit of meat to use as an alternative to pellet on the bomb.

At the all In I cupped in a 150ml pot of casters on the Ide line and the same amount of micros and 4mm pellets on the carp line. My plan was then to fish the bomb for the first hour whilst continually spraying the respective baits over the 13m lines to try to get the fish shallow.

I’d clipped up to the island and as long as I held the rod perfectly upright after casting the bomb would splash down within half a yard of the island. This worked well and for once I didn’t snag up on the island for the whole match. I had a banded 4mm pellet and every few minutes I would spray half a dozen 4mm pellets over the top. It became a bit of a juggling act feeding all three lines and having to use two different catapults but I managed to get my head and get on with it. I didn’t have so much as a liner on the bomb for the first 15 minutes so I changed over to double caster to see if there was anything about but still not even a twitch on tip. I stuck to it for 45 minutes though as I wanted my 13m lines to be well primed before I went on to empty them!

Eventually I gave up on the bomb and went out to the Ide line with the full depth rig, I had double caster on the hook. I swung the rig out as the way it had been shotted would hopefully give a nice slow fall through the column of bait. The rig was working as I’d expected and you see each shot register on the bristle, the only thing was the bristle wouldn’t go under from the resistance of a fish! I fished this line for nearly an hour trying to induce a bite but nothing. This was until the float started to slide off sideways, the tip buried and I struck into my first fish of the day, a 2oz roach, at least I hadn’t blanked, therefore I was able to weigh in at the end and at least pick up one point for the team!

At this point the guy to my left hadn’t had anything still but the lad on my right (who was also using his car as a pole roller!) had one carp and a couple of Ide. No-one I could see was bagging so at least I could hopefully make it up.

I decided to leave the Ide line as I’d still being spraying pellets onto the carp line. I shipped out with the depth rig armed with a 4mm expander. Generally I use the tackle shop ‘own brand’ expanders but seeing as I’d run out the past few weeks I’ve been using some Sensas ones that I received when I took a magazine subscription, I’m very impressed with them, they go quite rubbery as long as you don’t leave them too long. I’ll definitely carry on using them as the ‘own brand’ ones can go a bit mushy over the course of a session. First put in I got a liner but ignored it and then BANG! The float shot under and my pole tip slapped the water, carp on, I quickly got it in on the 14 latex and swiftly placed it in the keepnet, it was only just over a pound but hopefully this would get the ball rolling. I shipped back out and the float buried again, get in I thought! It must have been foul hooked as it steamed off and pulled out sending a giant bow wave through my swim, after a few choice words I was shipping out again but to no avail. The swim was devoid of any fish life.

For the rest of the match I swapped between the two pole lines and the bomb but couldn’t tempt a bite. Meanwhile the guy to my left where it gets a bit wider and also a bit deeper was lining the Ide up and the lad on my right was getting a few carp off the island rushes at 16m.

By the time the all out was called I had the lonesome roach and single carp in my net, what a disappointment after all the preparation I’d done.

I weighed in 1lb 7oz for last in section. As a team I think we came joint 3rd, so technically last but it was a good day out even if it did chuck down all day.

Due to the rain two of my sections had got stuck together, now with my old pole, the sections were much shorter so if this happened I could just bung them in the back of the car and usually by the time I got home they’d dried out and would pull apart. However my current pole there isn't a chance they would fit. So I went to the café just before it shut to get some boiling water to pour over the female joint to hopefully make it expand, this didn’t work! In the end it took 4 of us to get it apart, with Woody and I on either end pulling whilst Ian Bailey and another chap rolled and tapped it respectively, thank god t came apart, otherwise I’d still be there now!

Hopefully I’d be able to get on the Starbeck match on the Sunday otherwise I wouldn’t have had a days fishing this weekend!

Carp Vale - July 6th

Sorry for the late update but for the past two weeks I’ve been on a bit of a road with half a dozen of my mates. We travelled right down the west coast of France experiencing fine breads, cheeses and wine, also some not so fine wine! I fished this match the weekend I got back from Whiteacres. Seeing as we’d fished everyday for the past week I was eager to get back on the bank after a days rest on the Saturday.

I got there at about 8:45 and paid on straight away seeing as I was a little late. I’d not fished Carp Vale since I was in my junior league so it was good to be back as I did well on one match catching a few good carp on the method tight to the island on around peg 8 or 9. Seeing as we’d just got back from Whiteacres I didn’t have any time to tie up any rigs but most of them were on 0.15-0.18 so hopefully I’d still be able to haul some kippers out even though rumours of people being snapped on 0.22 were bounding around!




Since I was last at Carp Vale they’ve divided the big lake into 2, this now comprises of Match Pool and Cyprio. There is also the front pool but I’ve never fished this. We were to be on Cyprio and Frontpool today and to be fair I fancied Cyprio mainly because I’ve fished it before, so when I drew peg 18 out I was pretty chuffed!

I got to my peg and it looked like I’d be in for a nice easy days fishing. I had an island with roots and plenty of vegetation poking out and it was only around 13m away. I set up a rig tight to it comprising of a 0.4g BGT shallow long float on 0.18 with a PR36 size 16. I set up the same rig but with a 0.2g float for the left margin.

Time was called at 10am and I threw a handful of 6mm pellets in the margin, then shipped out to island with a 4mm expander and a kinder pot of 4mm pellets. The float sat motionless for a few minutes and then shot under! The pole nigh on got ripped out of my hands! I managed to haul it in, all 6lb of it. I went back out and caught another of a similar size. The next put out I didn’t get any sort of indication so shipped back in and went out double corn, it worked and I put another 3 carp all of around 4lb in the keepnet. I also managed a tench of about 2lb before my hour of bagging came to a dramatic standstill. At first I was thiniking if I can catch at this rate all match I would be on for a ton! However things didn’t materialise and I didn’t get another bite on the island for the rest of the match.

Midway through the match I saw Ian Bailey sitting on peg 8 I think, he had the majority of his pole in the air with elastic streaming out, he eventually netted what looked like a decent fish and then proceeded to fall in the lake! What was he doing? I think he lost his footing and slipped into the drink. The lad on the next peg helped him out and others gave him a cuppa and some dry clothes to try warm him up a bit.

Stu on the opposite side of my island had managed to hook it and Ian started shouting ‘that’s cheating, you cant pull it closer to you!’ I swear I had to put another section on!

I did manage to hook something that was probably nearer the description of a steam train than a fish down the margins which coincidentally snapped my 0.18 mainline. I put an identical rig on and managed to snare a tench of about 3lb. then that was it, the all out was called and by my predictions I had nearly 30lb, not brilliant but I though I might get a section from it. When the scales came round I managed to put 19lb 8oz on the scales! What?! I think my fish must have joined fat fighters when they were in the keepnet! I couldn’t believe it. I don’t think I’ll be estimating from now on, Paul Cooksy found this amusing as he thought I’d beaten him all match!

Ian Bailey even after going for a swim managed third with 64lb, John ‘Honest John’ Livesey put 75lb 8oz on the scales from peg 68ish for second and Martin (sorry, forgot your surname) managed 87lb 8oz for 1st.

All in all I enjoyed the match but perhaps I’ll have to learn to estimate before my next match.

I’m fishing the Northern Intersite team match for talkangling.co.uk on Saturday. The match is on Alders up at the Oaks so it should be a good match. Then on Sunday I’ve another club match up at Woodlands on Partridge.

Tight elastics………..