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!
Friday 28 August 2009
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!
July 26th Woodlands Partridge
Well, it’s been rather a long time since I last blogged. Busy weekends and holidays have kept me off the bank for 5-6 weeks now so I was raring to go this weekend! I’d tied up plenty of hooklengths for the bomb and plenty of rigs to cover all eventualities and for once felt very prepared!
It’s amazing how quickly things change in fishing, during my absence Woodlands have lifted the ban on the method and Paul Cooksey’s had a match win and a second! Long time due, well done Paul!
I arrived at the fishery in plenty of time and thought I’d re-introduce myself to a Full English! Then a trip to the tackle shop to stock up on some fishery pellets and I was sorted for the day.
The draw was a little late and ideally we would have fished from 10:15 rather than 10 but with an evening match on straight after ours we were still to fish 10 while 4pm. This meant we only had 45 minutes to set up. I decided to set everything up as quickly as I could and the chuck the bomb out while I sorted everything else out.
I already had the bomb set up, an 11ft heavy feeder rod with 8lb Maxima lining the rings. I had a swivel bead with a 3/8oz bomb and a Korum quick change bead cushioned by a rubber bead. Hooklength for the day was a 12’’ length of Ultima Power Match 0.16, a Preston PR36 size 14 with a hair rigged band. I was experimenting today and had tied another band to the one on the hair in order to present two pellets at once.
I set up two rigs, keeping it simple with a rig at 6m to my left where I would feed 6mm pellets and corn and use either corn or a 6mm expander on the hook. My second line was at 13m where I would fish paste over a big pot of 6mm pellets.
The all in sounded and I was ready apart from making up my paste. I first of all fed the two pole lines and then lobbed the bomb out with two 8mm pellets, I fired a few around it and then got on with making my paste which was, as usual, pellet power+ on the medium to soft side. After a fruitless 20 minutes on the bomb I went on the 6m line and managed a carp of about 4lb first put in. Then I started to get silly sail away bites met with no resistance before I was rewarded with a roach, time to re-feed!
I then went out onto the 13m paste line. It took me half an hour of feeding (with the left over paste) before I got my first indication. I had a few more dips and knocks before I managed to put a run of fish together. A small Tench and 3 more carp had me sitting on about 16lb for the first 2 hours. I desperately needed to get into some more fish though as Tony and John were apparently catching on the earlier pegs.
I re-fed both lines again and went on the bomb. I’d been feeding the bomb line continuously all match and hoped there’d be a fish or two to have.
By constantly firing out 2 or 3 pellets I started to put a few fish in the net, I lost count at 12 carp for the day but thought I maybe had 16 even though a couple of them were less than 2lb.
There was on point during the match and I thought to myself ‘’I’m not doing too bad, I’ve not had any rig problems or breakages at all, makes a change!’’ at that moment the rod wrapped round and then sprang back, I thought it was far too vicious to be a liner, reeling in proved that I’d been snapped but with the quick change bead I was soon back in action. I must admit I’m quite impressed by them as they get you up and running very quickly in that sort of situation albeit they can be a bit fiddly to open with wet hands. Next cast and I was soon into another fish, just as I got it under the rod tip it pulled! I’d spoken too soon (or at least thought too soon!)
At the final whistle I reckoned to having 55lb in the net, Tony Koz on peg 6 reckoned I had more than that and he was admitting to 35lb. When the scales came round honest John was leading with a weight around the 80’s (I think) and Tony Minikin on 79lb. I knew I didn’t have that so was hoping they’d take the spoils and leave me with the section. T-Koz weighed 44lb, a slight underestimate but then my fish went 62lb 2oz so we’d both under exaggerated!
I was pretty pleased that my double banded pellet had worked too, whether they were just having it or whether the double bait proved too hard to resist only time will tell, but hopefully it will prove a worthy string to add to my bow! I might invest in one of the Mosella banding tools though as a couple of times, especially with wet hands I was faffing trying to get the two pellets banded, although with the quick change bead I could have spares set up on my side tray? Something to think about for next time!
There were some more big weights around the lake, Rab 83lb, Martin Whittaker (not sure but big), Paul Jones 72lb but undoubtedly the winner of the day was Vince O’Connor with 115lb. Vince was nearly opposite me and caught on the bomb all day. Nige directly opposite me had 75lb, all on paste including well over 20lb of skimmers!
It had also been noted that sticking to one method all day would generally see you reap rewards. Vince fished the bomb all day, not that far out by the looks of it, perhaps 20m and constantly flicked pellets over the top all day. Nige on the other hand had fished paste all day and come out with a section winning 75lb. Perhaps if I’d have stuck to the paste line and made it work or stuck to the bomb all day I’d have maybe caught a few more to push for the prizes? I was also fishing half way across which theoretically means it takes longer to get each fish in? A few small lessons learnt and hopefully I’ll push a bit harder in the next match at the venue!
Well, due to other high weights it meant no fluky pick up although I couldn’t be too down heartened as this is my biggest Starbeck Match weight and also my biggest weight at Woodlands which was previously 52lb on the pairs event last year.
I’ve a busy week this week, golf on Wednesday, cricket Thursday, work night on Friday and Thirsk races on the Saturday so I’ll see what frame of mind I’m in before booking onto Carp Vale this Sunday!
It’s amazing how quickly things change in fishing, during my absence Woodlands have lifted the ban on the method and Paul Cooksey’s had a match win and a second! Long time due, well done Paul!
I arrived at the fishery in plenty of time and thought I’d re-introduce myself to a Full English! Then a trip to the tackle shop to stock up on some fishery pellets and I was sorted for the day.
The draw was a little late and ideally we would have fished from 10:15 rather than 10 but with an evening match on straight after ours we were still to fish 10 while 4pm. This meant we only had 45 minutes to set up. I decided to set everything up as quickly as I could and the chuck the bomb out while I sorted everything else out.
I already had the bomb set up, an 11ft heavy feeder rod with 8lb Maxima lining the rings. I had a swivel bead with a 3/8oz bomb and a Korum quick change bead cushioned by a rubber bead. Hooklength for the day was a 12’’ length of Ultima Power Match 0.16, a Preston PR36 size 14 with a hair rigged band. I was experimenting today and had tied another band to the one on the hair in order to present two pellets at once.
I set up two rigs, keeping it simple with a rig at 6m to my left where I would feed 6mm pellets and corn and use either corn or a 6mm expander on the hook. My second line was at 13m where I would fish paste over a big pot of 6mm pellets.
The all in sounded and I was ready apart from making up my paste. I first of all fed the two pole lines and then lobbed the bomb out with two 8mm pellets, I fired a few around it and then got on with making my paste which was, as usual, pellet power+ on the medium to soft side. After a fruitless 20 minutes on the bomb I went on the 6m line and managed a carp of about 4lb first put in. Then I started to get silly sail away bites met with no resistance before I was rewarded with a roach, time to re-feed!
I then went out onto the 13m paste line. It took me half an hour of feeding (with the left over paste) before I got my first indication. I had a few more dips and knocks before I managed to put a run of fish together. A small Tench and 3 more carp had me sitting on about 16lb for the first 2 hours. I desperately needed to get into some more fish though as Tony and John were apparently catching on the earlier pegs.
I re-fed both lines again and went on the bomb. I’d been feeding the bomb line continuously all match and hoped there’d be a fish or two to have.
By constantly firing out 2 or 3 pellets I started to put a few fish in the net, I lost count at 12 carp for the day but thought I maybe had 16 even though a couple of them were less than 2lb.
There was on point during the match and I thought to myself ‘’I’m not doing too bad, I’ve not had any rig problems or breakages at all, makes a change!’’ at that moment the rod wrapped round and then sprang back, I thought it was far too vicious to be a liner, reeling in proved that I’d been snapped but with the quick change bead I was soon back in action. I must admit I’m quite impressed by them as they get you up and running very quickly in that sort of situation albeit they can be a bit fiddly to open with wet hands. Next cast and I was soon into another fish, just as I got it under the rod tip it pulled! I’d spoken too soon (or at least thought too soon!)
At the final whistle I reckoned to having 55lb in the net, Tony Koz on peg 6 reckoned I had more than that and he was admitting to 35lb. When the scales came round honest John was leading with a weight around the 80’s (I think) and Tony Minikin on 79lb. I knew I didn’t have that so was hoping they’d take the spoils and leave me with the section. T-Koz weighed 44lb, a slight underestimate but then my fish went 62lb 2oz so we’d both under exaggerated!
I was pretty pleased that my double banded pellet had worked too, whether they were just having it or whether the double bait proved too hard to resist only time will tell, but hopefully it will prove a worthy string to add to my bow! I might invest in one of the Mosella banding tools though as a couple of times, especially with wet hands I was faffing trying to get the two pellets banded, although with the quick change bead I could have spares set up on my side tray? Something to think about for next time!
There were some more big weights around the lake, Rab 83lb, Martin Whittaker (not sure but big), Paul Jones 72lb but undoubtedly the winner of the day was Vince O’Connor with 115lb. Vince was nearly opposite me and caught on the bomb all day. Nige directly opposite me had 75lb, all on paste including well over 20lb of skimmers!
It had also been noted that sticking to one method all day would generally see you reap rewards. Vince fished the bomb all day, not that far out by the looks of it, perhaps 20m and constantly flicked pellets over the top all day. Nige on the other hand had fished paste all day and come out with a section winning 75lb. Perhaps if I’d have stuck to the paste line and made it work or stuck to the bomb all day I’d have maybe caught a few more to push for the prizes? I was also fishing half way across which theoretically means it takes longer to get each fish in? A few small lessons learnt and hopefully I’ll push a bit harder in the next match at the venue!
Well, due to other high weights it meant no fluky pick up although I couldn’t be too down heartened as this is my biggest Starbeck Match weight and also my biggest weight at Woodlands which was previously 52lb on the pairs event last year.
I’ve a busy week this week, golf on Wednesday, cricket Thursday, work night on Friday and Thirsk races on the Saturday so I’ll see what frame of mind I’m in before booking onto Carp Vale this Sunday!
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