It seemed such a good idea to book into this match, after last Wednesday's match Tony said " Next weeks match is on Acorn, do you want to come", well it didn't take too much persauding, especially as when I said I was on nights the night before, Tony suggested a 11am draw.
The reality was somewhat different, a freezing cold wind blowing down the lake, as I'd been at work all night I knew we'd had sleet and a very cold night, so perhaps the 100lb+ weights that have won lately wouldn't be on the cards. Metcheck were predicting a wind chill of between -2°C & -5°C, I usually take their forecasts with a pinch of salt, they are more pessimistic than I am!! Not today, it was bloody freezing, at one stage my hands stopped working and when we had the sleet, frozen rain/hail Charlie Barnes was seen scurrying to his van for cover.
The draw saw me on peg 4, its a something and nothing peg, no real margins and a reasonable amount of open water, the RH side has something of a margin but you have to reach over a jutting out spit of bank and over a clump of grass. Plumbing up showed me that the bottom wasn't even, with a slightly deeper area at 10m - too far to struggle in the wind - so I set up a MW slim power, 0.15/0.13 and a 18 808 for maggot or 4mm soft pellet. I also set up a paste rig, which didn't get touched and two margin rigs, one for caster/maggot and one just in case they had a hard pellet.
At the all in, I started at 7m with maggot and fed some nicro on another line to my right, as well as feeding the close margins by hand with caster. I had a few perch, up to 1lb by switching from the 7m line to the LH margin at 4m. The fish weren't exactly climbing up the line, but from my vantage point, I couldn't see anyone emptying it. I had Charlies tackle caddy, Tom Thick virtually opposite, if he had rotated his lines any quicker, he'd have looked like a washing machine on spin speed.
I had an occasional look down what margin there is on the RH side and it wasn't until 15.40 that I had any indication that there were any fish in the vicinity, 3 carp from the line in 40 mins and 2 lost foulers were the sum of that line. By this time I was having trouble hooking casters on, my fingers had virtually siezed up with the cold (give me those clear frosty days anytime, instead of a freezing wind),
2 more carp in the last hour from the 7m line as well as a couple of perch (and an absolutely pristine, never caught before roach about 6oz) saw me through to the eagerly awaited final whistle. I had no idea how it had fished, apart from Tom opposite, Martin Lenaghan to my right on 3 and Jason Radford to my left on peg 6. I thought that Tom might have me beat.
My 26-10 wasn't enough to put any beer tokens in the pot, frustratingly one out of the money and just out of the sivers coin as well, perhaps I should have persisted with the perch.
1) Dean Malin 47.00 peg 15
2) Pete Sivell 45.01 peg 12
3) Ed Wynne 41.10 peg 16
4) P Notton 28.14 peg 10
5) Chris Fox 26.10 peg 4
6) Martin Lenagahn 22.11 peg 3
Silvers
1)Ed Wynne 23.04 (perch and tench)
2) Charlie Barnes 8.04
I'm just thawing out, having watched Arsenal come back from what was seemingly down and out against Bareclona and with the aid of a rather nice Claret!!
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
Monday, 29 March 2010
Match One, Kev Perry Series 2010
As per Thursdays blog entry, Paul(Faiers) and myself went to Bullock Farm to have a practice and finalise the pegging for this years series. All done and dusted, I sorted out the spreadsheets etc on Friday and was all ready to have an easy Sunday morning's draw and enjoy the fishing.
A phone call from Paul Saturday night, a change in the numbers, so we re-organised the sections and pegging over the phone, then I stayed in and revamped the weigh sheets etc, missing out on Saturday night in the pub.
All was going well on Sunday morning, we'd arrived early to re-jig the pegging on North Pool after Saturday night's phone conversation and we adjourned to the cafe for a breakfast before the draw. Then at 08.30, 15 minutes before draw time we were informed that the extra one, who we had re-jigged the pegging and sections for, wasn't fishing the series after all. Another rethink and re-jig saw us decide on four sections of 7, with 14 pegs on the Match Lake and 14 pegs on North Pool.
Next year, if anyone hasn't paid by the closing date, they won't fish, as simple as that!!
After hastily drawing up some weigh in sheets by hand, the draw was made, Lance drew me peg 8 on North Pool, I would have preferred the Match Lake, but having previously won a match from peg 8, I wasn't devastated, although I feel it's still a couple of weeks early, I'm sure it will win at least one match this series. Paul had peg 22 on the Match Lake pulled out for , one peg away from where he practised on Thursday. Little did I know that the mornings frustrations were going to carry on for the rest of the day!!
Given that I wasn't convinced the carp would really go for it on North Pool, I set up a caster rig - a Malman Winter wire 4x10 on 0.11 with a .10 hooklength and a size 20 6313 hook. A rig to fish expander for crucians, a MW slim power on 0.13 to 0.11 and a 18 808, a heavier version of the same (0.15 / 0.13 and a 16 808). I more in hope than expectation set up a paste rig and a marging rig to fish corn/maggot, which was a MW HC margin to 0.15 straight through to a 18 B911.
At the all-in, I fed a line at 1 o'clock with caster, an open water line with micro's and wetted 4mm and a couple of lines on the far bank, to the right and left of the tree. I'd felt some fish whilst plumbing up, so was confident that there were fish in the peg, I intended to leave the far lines for a while to settle, whilst bagging on the caster..... After 30 minutes, I'd had a small fantail and a couple of roach on the caster line, switching to maggot and even pinkie hookbait couldn't tempt anymore from this line. I switched to the open water soft pellet line and first put in missed a bite, second put in saw a small crucian landed, third put in another missed bite and next drop in saw a carp around 3lb in the net. Then that line died.
I switched to the far bank lines as I'd seen evidence of fish moving tight to the far bank and this was where the days frustrations grew, switching between three lines, fishing maggot or corn saw me hook around 18 fish, of which, at least 8 were obviously foul hookers, I managed to land 3 more fish, losing two double figure fish, having 0.15 powerline snapped twice, fish diving ito the mass of branches and crap in the peg twice transferred the hook from their mouths to the debris. With 40 minutes to go, I got up and went for a short walk, as my frustration was just about to boil over, one of my four carp was landed after this walk, so it probably helped me regain some sanity.
I knew that I'd had enough fish on to win the match - why were they coming off?? I lost one that I estimate at 15lb, I saw it before it bolted round the end of the peninsula and off towards Mike Owens on peg 25.Another was at least 10lb and one of the fish I landed was around the 10lb mark, there are some big fish in North Pool now.
I was using familiar elastic, hooks that I have used for ages, with no problem, I can only assume that the were very lightly hooked, some of the bites were finicky and there were a lot of fish in the peg, they wouldn't get there heads down (or up, I tried fishing shallow, although shallow on Bullock virtually means surface fishing!!)and feed properly. I think it would have been better if there weren't so many fish in the peg, as this would help eliminate the foul hookers, as after each fish hooked and lost, the line it was hooked on went quiet for 15 minutes. I weighed 10.120KG which should have been nearer 25KG.
The silvers (crucians and fantails) failed to show on North Pool, top weight being 3.260KG Dave Roper and Dave Poole sharing the same weight. Top weight on the lake was a 14.100KG of catmeat caught carp, which was worth 2nd place overall, with a 12.400KG, again catmeat and two 10+KG weights.
The Match Lake produced some more consistency and the individual winner, as well as a 10KG, two 8KG and a couple of 7KG silvers weights,.
1)L Jones 19.750KG peg 25 ML
2)J Osbourne 14.100KG peg 10 NP
3)I Currie 13.100KG peg 26 ML
4)D Wride 12.730KG peg 17 ML
5)A Hockin 12.400KG peg 4 NP
6)T Thick 12.140KG peg 27 ML
Silvers
1)D Wride 10.700KG peg 17 ML
2)T Thick 8.800KG peg 27 ML
3)B Gullick 8.080KG peg 30 ML
4)M Walsh 7.800KG peg 24 ML
5)L Jones 7.750KG oeg 25 ML
6)C Barnes 5.280KG peg 8 ML
Section Winners (By default)
A (ML) T Thick
B (ML) D Wride
C (NP) A Hockin
D (NP) S Kitteridge 8.900KG peg 13
The best bit of the day was getting home, chucking the tackle in the garage and walking round the pub, then over to the local Indian for a very nice curry and several Kingfishers.
Roll on Wednesday, although the weather forecast is for it to get colder and rain, deep joy!!
A phone call from Paul Saturday night, a change in the numbers, so we re-organised the sections and pegging over the phone, then I stayed in and revamped the weigh sheets etc, missing out on Saturday night in the pub.
All was going well on Sunday morning, we'd arrived early to re-jig the pegging on North Pool after Saturday night's phone conversation and we adjourned to the cafe for a breakfast before the draw. Then at 08.30, 15 minutes before draw time we were informed that the extra one, who we had re-jigged the pegging and sections for, wasn't fishing the series after all. Another rethink and re-jig saw us decide on four sections of 7, with 14 pegs on the Match Lake and 14 pegs on North Pool.
Next year, if anyone hasn't paid by the closing date, they won't fish, as simple as that!!
After hastily drawing up some weigh in sheets by hand, the draw was made, Lance drew me peg 8 on North Pool, I would have preferred the Match Lake, but having previously won a match from peg 8, I wasn't devastated, although I feel it's still a couple of weeks early, I'm sure it will win at least one match this series. Paul had peg 22 on the Match Lake pulled out for , one peg away from where he practised on Thursday. Little did I know that the mornings frustrations were going to carry on for the rest of the day!!
Given that I wasn't convinced the carp would really go for it on North Pool, I set up a caster rig - a Malman Winter wire 4x10 on 0.11 with a .10 hooklength and a size 20 6313 hook. A rig to fish expander for crucians, a MW slim power on 0.13 to 0.11 and a 18 808, a heavier version of the same (0.15 / 0.13 and a 16 808). I more in hope than expectation set up a paste rig and a marging rig to fish corn/maggot, which was a MW HC margin to 0.15 straight through to a 18 B911.
At the all-in, I fed a line at 1 o'clock with caster, an open water line with micro's and wetted 4mm and a couple of lines on the far bank, to the right and left of the tree. I'd felt some fish whilst plumbing up, so was confident that there were fish in the peg, I intended to leave the far lines for a while to settle, whilst bagging on the caster..... After 30 minutes, I'd had a small fantail and a couple of roach on the caster line, switching to maggot and even pinkie hookbait couldn't tempt anymore from this line. I switched to the open water soft pellet line and first put in missed a bite, second put in saw a small crucian landed, third put in another missed bite and next drop in saw a carp around 3lb in the net. Then that line died.
I switched to the far bank lines as I'd seen evidence of fish moving tight to the far bank and this was where the days frustrations grew, switching between three lines, fishing maggot or corn saw me hook around 18 fish, of which, at least 8 were obviously foul hookers, I managed to land 3 more fish, losing two double figure fish, having 0.15 powerline snapped twice, fish diving ito the mass of branches and crap in the peg twice transferred the hook from their mouths to the debris. With 40 minutes to go, I got up and went for a short walk, as my frustration was just about to boil over, one of my four carp was landed after this walk, so it probably helped me regain some sanity.
I knew that I'd had enough fish on to win the match - why were they coming off?? I lost one that I estimate at 15lb, I saw it before it bolted round the end of the peninsula and off towards Mike Owens on peg 25.Another was at least 10lb and one of the fish I landed was around the 10lb mark, there are some big fish in North Pool now.
I was using familiar elastic, hooks that I have used for ages, with no problem, I can only assume that the were very lightly hooked, some of the bites were finicky and there were a lot of fish in the peg, they wouldn't get there heads down (or up, I tried fishing shallow, although shallow on Bullock virtually means surface fishing!!)and feed properly. I think it would have been better if there weren't so many fish in the peg, as this would help eliminate the foul hookers, as after each fish hooked and lost, the line it was hooked on went quiet for 15 minutes. I weighed 10.120KG which should have been nearer 25KG.
The silvers (crucians and fantails) failed to show on North Pool, top weight being 3.260KG Dave Roper and Dave Poole sharing the same weight. Top weight on the lake was a 14.100KG of catmeat caught carp, which was worth 2nd place overall, with a 12.400KG, again catmeat and two 10+KG weights.
The Match Lake produced some more consistency and the individual winner, as well as a 10KG, two 8KG and a couple of 7KG silvers weights,.
1)L Jones 19.750KG peg 25 ML
2)J Osbourne 14.100KG peg 10 NP
3)I Currie 13.100KG peg 26 ML
4)D Wride 12.730KG peg 17 ML
5)A Hockin 12.400KG peg 4 NP
6)T Thick 12.140KG peg 27 ML
Silvers
1)D Wride 10.700KG peg 17 ML
2)T Thick 8.800KG peg 27 ML
3)B Gullick 8.080KG peg 30 ML
4)M Walsh 7.800KG peg 24 ML
5)L Jones 7.750KG oeg 25 ML
6)C Barnes 5.280KG peg 8 ML
Section Winners (By default)
A (ML) T Thick
B (ML) D Wride
C (NP) A Hockin
D (NP) S Kitteridge 8.900KG peg 13
The best bit of the day was getting home, chucking the tackle in the garage and walking round the pub, then over to the local Indian for a very nice curry and several Kingfishers.
Roll on Wednesday, although the weather forecast is for it to get colder and rain, deep joy!!
Thursday, 25 March 2010
Bullock Farm, Thursday 25th March 2010
I had arranged to meet Paul (Faiers) at Bullocks today, just to finalise details for the Kev Perry series which starts on Sunday, as well as to have a sneaky practice. As I drove into Bullocks, the man himself, Kev Perry was driving out, off to Plantation for a days fishing, he'd just been to pay Paul his series entry money.
I pulled into the car park, Paul and his Father-in-law were setting up on 21 & 22(proper lazy pegs, right next to the car....). There were three pleasure anglers on the lake, pegs 17,19 & 26 being occupied. I setteled for a short walk and a good peg, No 24 - well, is there any point in practising on a crap peg?
It looks like there are 28 signed up for the series, so we planned the pegging (no doubt someone will moan, its enevitable)and spent a few hours fishing. The guy on peg 17 was catching on the feeder, although by the time I'd tackled up and started fishing he seemed to stop catching, I always did wonder if chucking a 30g feeder into 2'6" of water and 1'6" of silt was a top method!!
I ended the day with between 25 & 30lb of silvers, (Fantails, crucians, tench and some lovely roach up to 14oz) and 1 carp that went about 1½lb. Paul had slightly less, but he had more carp than silvers.
Here's hoping the fish feed for the series, the lakes are now showing some colour, rather than the translucent black/green colour they have been recently.
If your coming to the series, see you Sunday.
I pulled into the car park, Paul and his Father-in-law were setting up on 21 & 22(proper lazy pegs, right next to the car....). There were three pleasure anglers on the lake, pegs 17,19 & 26 being occupied. I setteled for a short walk and a good peg, No 24 - well, is there any point in practising on a crap peg?
It looks like there are 28 signed up for the series, so we planned the pegging (no doubt someone will moan, its enevitable)and spent a few hours fishing. The guy on peg 17 was catching on the feeder, although by the time I'd tackled up and started fishing he seemed to stop catching, I always did wonder if chucking a 30g feeder into 2'6" of water and 1'6" of silt was a top method!!
I ended the day with between 25 & 30lb of silvers, (Fantails, crucians, tench and some lovely roach up to 14oz) and 1 carp that went about 1½lb. Paul had slightly less, but he had more carp than silvers.
Here's hoping the fish feed for the series, the lakes are now showing some colour, rather than the translucent black/green colour they have been recently.
If your coming to the series, see you Sunday.
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
Landsend 24/03/10
Any common sense would say stay away from Landsend, not that I have anything against the venue or its owner, it's just that fishing it is a contribution to Tony Rixon's pension fund. That said, I've never been one to shirk a challenge, so Tuesday saw me in Tony's shop, trying to pick his brains about Landsend.
It took booking into todays match and £50+ worth of spend, to loosen Tony's tongue, even that wasn't enough to get the secrets of Landsend laid bare, but he did give me enough pointers to get me thinking.
The cafe at Shipham did some brisk business, as all the normally health concious anglers abandoned fruit and porridge, plates overflowing with sausages, bacon and fried potato being a common sight. With appetites sated, we set off for the match (After being outraged at some of the stories told by Tony Whitcombe, of the stupidity, of many of the public he deals with in his job as a Fireman).
The match was 4 pegs on the specimen lake, the rest on match lake, in many ways I like not knowing a venue too well, as when the card is opened, whatever peg number is staring back at you, it means nothing. Todays number was 19, Tony did give me some advice, although he was keen to run to his own peg, ( as Pete Sivell said - "another flyer, you won't mention that in your blog", I assured Pete that I would indeed highlight the fact in mine!!)
Determined to keep things simple, I set up three rigs, one for right across, an Impact 4x12 on 0.15 powerline to a 18 PR36 and a hair rig for hard pellet. A 4x14 Impact float on 0.15 powerline, 0.13 hooklength and a 18 808 to fish two lines, at 10 & 2 oclock with soft pellet. And, a Jean Francios Desque 0.4g to fish a line topkit to hand and a section or 2 added if the fish pushed out. This was 0.11 straight through to a 18 6313 hook.
At the all in, I fed two lines with micro pellet and some very soft 4mm pellet, caster on the near line and hard pellet to the island. Before I'd finished doing this, there was the sound of a fish being landed away to my left - behind already!! I started on the near caster line and caught roach that were about 10-12 to the pound, I persevered on this line hoping for the Perch to show up, they didn't, l but was pleased to slip the net under an Ide over 2lb.
Water temp was 9.5°C throughout the day. So, at last an increase on the 4-5° thats been the norm since before Xmas.
To cut the 6 hours short, the sound of Tony continually playing and landing fish became a little repetitive, I worked the far bank at 14m to the island & 16m into the gap, more than once the fish moved into the space between me and Mike West (peg 20), I didn't chase them down there, as I didn't want him to catch them!!
Fishing straight in front and to the left, I managed 12 carp, unfortunately they were around the 3lb mark, until the penultimate fish, this was nearer 8lb - no problem - well it shouldn't have been, it was determind to get into the roots on the RH side of my platform. I was equally determind to stop it - obviously (now) when you pull black hydro taught, it takes on properties way above its normal rating - it did today at least, as 6" of match kit No2 section snapped off as an angry carp bottomed out, said taught hydro. Ended the day with 12 carp most around the 3lb mark, with one nearer 8lb.
In the last hour I had increased my feed from 4mm to 6mm pelllet, this was enough to add 4 fish and steal last place in the money. I've a lot to learn about Landsend, I'll carry on trying to pick Tony's brain - but I'll never be able to draw like him!!!
I wasn't too disappointed with my fourth placed finish, there were some of the Landsend regulars there today - you know the guys, they have rigs ready for every peg, don't need to plumb up as they have a mental picture of every peg and fish it 2 or 3 times a week - OK slight exaggeration, but not much!!
Tackle dealers delight to day, (Except Tony's own 'accident' a broken No7), I heard a landing net handle snap and die, a No4 pole section and my own No2 section, it wasn't even windy!!
The day was rounded off by Tony wandering around with some electricians screwdivers and another parcel - like some bizarre prize and Dean Malin & Jason Radford trying to out do each other in the "who can hold onto the electric otter fence the longest" - I do worry about the gene pool!! (Although did Jason suss that one of the strands wasn't electrified, hence his 12 seconds and Dean leaping around like a wallaby on speed after 0.1 sec.)
1) Tony Rixon 157-11 peg 15
2) Tony Whitcombe 87-07 peg 31 ("and not a blob of paste in sight")
3) Mike West 53-10 peg 21
4) Chris Fox 48-13 peg 19
5) Dean Malin 43-06 peg 13
6) Andy France 42.02 peg 17
Silvers
1) Ed Wynne 25-14 peg 25
2) Jason Radford 22-00
It took booking into todays match and £50+ worth of spend, to loosen Tony's tongue, even that wasn't enough to get the secrets of Landsend laid bare, but he did give me enough pointers to get me thinking.
The cafe at Shipham did some brisk business, as all the normally health concious anglers abandoned fruit and porridge, plates overflowing with sausages, bacon and fried potato being a common sight. With appetites sated, we set off for the match (After being outraged at some of the stories told by Tony Whitcombe, of the stupidity, of many of the public he deals with in his job as a Fireman).
The match was 4 pegs on the specimen lake, the rest on match lake, in many ways I like not knowing a venue too well, as when the card is opened, whatever peg number is staring back at you, it means nothing. Todays number was 19, Tony did give me some advice, although he was keen to run to his own peg, ( as Pete Sivell said - "another flyer, you won't mention that in your blog", I assured Pete that I would indeed highlight the fact in mine!!)
Determined to keep things simple, I set up three rigs, one for right across, an Impact 4x12 on 0.15 powerline to a 18 PR36 and a hair rig for hard pellet. A 4x14 Impact float on 0.15 powerline, 0.13 hooklength and a 18 808 to fish two lines, at 10 & 2 oclock with soft pellet. And, a Jean Francios Desque 0.4g to fish a line topkit to hand and a section or 2 added if the fish pushed out. This was 0.11 straight through to a 18 6313 hook.
At the all in, I fed two lines with micro pellet and some very soft 4mm pellet, caster on the near line and hard pellet to the island. Before I'd finished doing this, there was the sound of a fish being landed away to my left - behind already!! I started on the near caster line and caught roach that were about 10-12 to the pound, I persevered on this line hoping for the Perch to show up, they didn't, l but was pleased to slip the net under an Ide over 2lb.
Water temp was 9.5°C throughout the day. So, at last an increase on the 4-5° thats been the norm since before Xmas.
To cut the 6 hours short, the sound of Tony continually playing and landing fish became a little repetitive, I worked the far bank at 14m to the island & 16m into the gap, more than once the fish moved into the space between me and Mike West (peg 20), I didn't chase them down there, as I didn't want him to catch them!!
Fishing straight in front and to the left, I managed 12 carp, unfortunately they were around the 3lb mark, until the penultimate fish, this was nearer 8lb - no problem - well it shouldn't have been, it was determind to get into the roots on the RH side of my platform. I was equally determind to stop it - obviously (now) when you pull black hydro taught, it takes on properties way above its normal rating - it did today at least, as 6" of match kit No2 section snapped off as an angry carp bottomed out, said taught hydro. Ended the day with 12 carp most around the 3lb mark, with one nearer 8lb.
In the last hour I had increased my feed from 4mm to 6mm pelllet, this was enough to add 4 fish and steal last place in the money. I've a lot to learn about Landsend, I'll carry on trying to pick Tony's brain - but I'll never be able to draw like him!!!
I wasn't too disappointed with my fourth placed finish, there were some of the Landsend regulars there today - you know the guys, they have rigs ready for every peg, don't need to plumb up as they have a mental picture of every peg and fish it 2 or 3 times a week - OK slight exaggeration, but not much!!
Tackle dealers delight to day, (Except Tony's own 'accident' a broken No7), I heard a landing net handle snap and die, a No4 pole section and my own No2 section, it wasn't even windy!!
The day was rounded off by Tony wandering around with some electricians screwdivers and another parcel - like some bizarre prize and Dean Malin & Jason Radford trying to out do each other in the "who can hold onto the electric otter fence the longest" - I do worry about the gene pool!! (Although did Jason suss that one of the strands wasn't electrified, hence his 12 seconds and Dean leaping around like a wallaby on speed after 0.1 sec.)
1) Tony Rixon 157-11 peg 15
2) Tony Whitcombe 87-07 peg 31 ("and not a blob of paste in sight")
3) Mike West 53-10 peg 21
4) Chris Fox 48-13 peg 19
5) Dean Malin 43-06 peg 13
6) Andy France 42.02 peg 17
Silvers
1) Ed Wynne 25-14 peg 25
2) Jason Radford 22-00
Thursday, 18 March 2010
Withypool - Carps AC 17th March 2010
After the last match here that turned into a rover, I was pleased to have the backing of Mike Nicholls against that, if the suggestion was made. Fortunately the 'norm' applied and the pegs were selected and put into the hat, I found 50 on the card I pulled out.
I've never fished the peg before, but it usually produces a few fish, so I wasn't too disappointed, Tom Thick was having a moan, but Charlie (Barnes) and I just renminded him how he usually draws a flyer on here - and with that Tom pulled peg 43, one of the most consistent pegs on the lake!!
On peg 50, there isan inviting LH margin, an island at 14m and open water, although the depth is very uneven, the peg deepens from left to right and shallows up once you get past 10m (it seems as if the 'tail' of the island slowly tapers down to full depth over about 15m.
Whilst the air temperature has risen, the water was still cold, so I set up a MW 0.5g pellet float on 0.15 to a 18B911 to fish pellet at the bottom of the shelf, a Galman winter wire on 0.11, 0.10 hooklength and a gamma black 20 completed the maggot/caster rig which was for a line at 7m at the 10 oclock position. I set up a waggler to fish corn or pellet to the point of the island and a margin rig, which would cover the LH margin and the 14mm reach to the island.
At the whistle, I fed corn into the LH margin and pellet (micro) onto the 10m line, both by pot, I fed the 7m line by hand with caster and the 14m line with corn by catapult, starting on the 10m line with soft pellet, saw me waiting 20 minutes before the first bite, a carp around the 4-5lb mark gladly netted. Shortly afterwards, I had another bite andthis carp shed the hook, possibly a foul hooker? After an hour and a half, 1 carp was all I had to show for the pellet line, a couple of drop in's with maggot didn't improve things, nor could I get a bite on the 7m line.
Earlier than I'd like I had a drop into the LH margin, not so much as a liner in 20 minutes, I then dropped the rig into the 14m island swim and within seconds the float buried and carp N02 was on its way to the net. Back out with a fresh grain of corn and within a couple of minutes the float buried again, the fish ran away to my left, tight to the island, then the hook pulled - foul hooker No2 I feel. Another fish followed shortly after from this line, then another which ran off to the right and again shed the hook - not sure if this was a fouler or not. After that, the line died completely, so I decided to rest it and back on the 10m pellet line.
First put in on soft pellet and the float dipped twice, a lift of th pole saw a 6oz skimmer come to the surface and come off, something I wasn't surprised at, the carp are a decent size in withy now, so I had black hydro in the topkit, lands the carp OK, but that sacrifices small skimmers.
No further bites from this line so I tried the 7m line, a few small roach fell to maggot, but not nearly big enough or frequent enough to be worth persevering with.
On the next peg (49) was Andy Gard, fishing the waggler and catching roach steadily, as he gives himself a match long commentary on what he is doing (never heard anyone vocalise there thoughts for so long!!) I knew he'd snapped off a couple of carp. The bankside whispers that it was fishing hard, so I had to get the carp to feed. I decided to abandon the corn and feed maggot to the island, some to the far side of the point to fish the waggler and some fed over the corn.
I set up a new rig to fish shallow at 14m, first put in tight to the island resulted in another carp on double red maggot, then a run of bites from roach developed, trying the waggler wasn't fruitful, it was impossible to keep the float in the right place because of the wind, so I gave that up. With 10 minutes to go I was dropping the 14m rig in a metre or so to the left of the feed area, thankfully I hooked another carp, a better fish this time after a decent tussle a fish around the 8lb mark was in the net.
5 carp for 26lb 11oz and 1lb of roach saw my 27lb 11oz good enough for second place, Tom wasn't moaning at the end, as he won comfortably with carp and 20lb+ of skimmers.
I know everyone has there own thoughts on payouts, but I can't convince myself that equally splitting the main pool and silvers pool is the way to go, coming second, I picked up less than the 5th place man (silvers winner).I don't fish for the money, but it does seem that at many matches now spread the money so widely that you just about get the entry back for a frame place. I have had several conversations with Rich Coles about this (Grumpy Old Men) and we both recall that winning a match (or framing) put a weeks or more wages in your pocket. Obviously the size of the field affects this, its a shame there can't be some rotation system between organisers and fisheries, to see one big match every wednesday, instead of several smaller ones.
1) Tom Thick 55.13 peg 43
2) Chris Fox 27.11 peg 50
3) Mike Nicholls 24.10 53
4) John Bennet 8.15 peg 73
5) Bob Price 7.02 peg 47
6) Andy Gard 7.01 peg 49
Silvers:
1) Tom Thick 20.08
2) Bob Price 7.02
3) Andy Gard 7.01
I've never fished the peg before, but it usually produces a few fish, so I wasn't too disappointed, Tom Thick was having a moan, but Charlie (Barnes) and I just renminded him how he usually draws a flyer on here - and with that Tom pulled peg 43, one of the most consistent pegs on the lake!!
On peg 50, there isan inviting LH margin, an island at 14m and open water, although the depth is very uneven, the peg deepens from left to right and shallows up once you get past 10m (it seems as if the 'tail' of the island slowly tapers down to full depth over about 15m.
Whilst the air temperature has risen, the water was still cold, so I set up a MW 0.5g pellet float on 0.15 to a 18B911 to fish pellet at the bottom of the shelf, a Galman winter wire on 0.11, 0.10 hooklength and a gamma black 20 completed the maggot/caster rig which was for a line at 7m at the 10 oclock position. I set up a waggler to fish corn or pellet to the point of the island and a margin rig, which would cover the LH margin and the 14mm reach to the island.
At the whistle, I fed corn into the LH margin and pellet (micro) onto the 10m line, both by pot, I fed the 7m line by hand with caster and the 14m line with corn by catapult, starting on the 10m line with soft pellet, saw me waiting 20 minutes before the first bite, a carp around the 4-5lb mark gladly netted. Shortly afterwards, I had another bite andthis carp shed the hook, possibly a foul hooker? After an hour and a half, 1 carp was all I had to show for the pellet line, a couple of drop in's with maggot didn't improve things, nor could I get a bite on the 7m line.
Earlier than I'd like I had a drop into the LH margin, not so much as a liner in 20 minutes, I then dropped the rig into the 14m island swim and within seconds the float buried and carp N02 was on its way to the net. Back out with a fresh grain of corn and within a couple of minutes the float buried again, the fish ran away to my left, tight to the island, then the hook pulled - foul hooker No2 I feel. Another fish followed shortly after from this line, then another which ran off to the right and again shed the hook - not sure if this was a fouler or not. After that, the line died completely, so I decided to rest it and back on the 10m pellet line.
First put in on soft pellet and the float dipped twice, a lift of th pole saw a 6oz skimmer come to the surface and come off, something I wasn't surprised at, the carp are a decent size in withy now, so I had black hydro in the topkit, lands the carp OK, but that sacrifices small skimmers.
No further bites from this line so I tried the 7m line, a few small roach fell to maggot, but not nearly big enough or frequent enough to be worth persevering with.
On the next peg (49) was Andy Gard, fishing the waggler and catching roach steadily, as he gives himself a match long commentary on what he is doing (never heard anyone vocalise there thoughts for so long!!) I knew he'd snapped off a couple of carp. The bankside whispers that it was fishing hard, so I had to get the carp to feed. I decided to abandon the corn and feed maggot to the island, some to the far side of the point to fish the waggler and some fed over the corn.
I set up a new rig to fish shallow at 14m, first put in tight to the island resulted in another carp on double red maggot, then a run of bites from roach developed, trying the waggler wasn't fruitful, it was impossible to keep the float in the right place because of the wind, so I gave that up. With 10 minutes to go I was dropping the 14m rig in a metre or so to the left of the feed area, thankfully I hooked another carp, a better fish this time after a decent tussle a fish around the 8lb mark was in the net.
5 carp for 26lb 11oz and 1lb of roach saw my 27lb 11oz good enough for second place, Tom wasn't moaning at the end, as he won comfortably with carp and 20lb+ of skimmers.
I know everyone has there own thoughts on payouts, but I can't convince myself that equally splitting the main pool and silvers pool is the way to go, coming second, I picked up less than the 5th place man (silvers winner).I don't fish for the money, but it does seem that at many matches now spread the money so widely that you just about get the entry back for a frame place. I have had several conversations with Rich Coles about this (Grumpy Old Men) and we both recall that winning a match (or framing) put a weeks or more wages in your pocket. Obviously the size of the field affects this, its a shame there can't be some rotation system between organisers and fisheries, to see one big match every wednesday, instead of several smaller ones.
1) Tom Thick 55.13 peg 43
2) Chris Fox 27.11 peg 50
3) Mike Nicholls 24.10 53
4) John Bennet 8.15 peg 73
5) Bob Price 7.02 peg 47
6) Andy Gard 7.01 peg 49
Silvers:
1) Tom Thick 20.08
2) Bob Price 7.02
3) Andy Gard 7.01
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
Pleasure session at Plantation
Bit pissed off today, having no match to fish!! Avon Angling match sold out, Carps AC match sold out (and 3 reserves) and the silvers match at Viaduct cancelled.
I headed down towards Kingston Seymour and rang Tony on the off chance he had a no show - no such luck. I had a walk round Bullock Farm and a chat to Phil, there was work in progress, a new footbridge to the island was under construction and a couple of the ropey old platforms had been renewed on the match lake. The lakes at Bullock Farm are still very clear, I'm really hoping the water temperature rises a couple of degrees by the time the Kev Perry series starts.
As it was freezing in the easterly wind and I didn't fancy any of the pegs that had the wind from behind, I bade Bullock Farm farewell and headed round to Plantation. Only acouple of anglers on the lake when I got there, so could choose where I fished, several pegs were closed off, as James and his Dad were repairing them and reclaiming some bank - fishery maintenance, its obviously catching.
I settled for peg 38, the point, I've never drawn this peg, so it was as good as any to practice. I had made up my mind to have a session on the feeder / straight lead, to brush up on my technique when casting tight to islands. I set up a mini cage feeder, with maggot and crushed up feed pellet as the filling, maggot on the hook. Third cast the tip went round and an odd shaped carp (huge head, very wide) that weighed about 2½lb was in the net after a very valiant struggle. Next cast a 10oz skimmer, then a couple of casts later, a roach - obviously not rammed full of hungry carp over there then..... I struggled for bites after that, switching to straight lead and trying away from where I'd chucked the feeder.
As this was supposed to be a pleasure session, I decided to abandon the lead rod and set up a pole to fish caster at 10m, I also fed a line that let me fish top three to hand, although I wasn't too hopeful for that line. The 10m line produced a couple of small roach, but was pretty slow, the 3m line started to produce fish , the roach were coming up in the water, I set up another rig to fish half depth and caught roach, rudd and perch to around the 14oz mark, I dropped the full depth rig in occasionally and picked up two carp on this, gave me a run round on middy hi viz purple elastic.
30 seconds before 4.30 (my all out), I hooked a large carp, this was on No6 solid latex and when the hook pulled 20 minutes later, I hadn't managed top get its head up off the bottom.
If I had done the sensible thing and fished for silvers all day, I would probably have had 20lb of silvers (I reckon I had just over 10lb) and maybe a couple more carp, caster was certainly the bait of the day.
I've now sussed how to use my phones camera, so for novelty value.....
The best roach always hide when a camera comes out.....
And the carp, the photo doesn't do justice to the huge head on the one in the middle.
And finally, James revealed that Darren 'Noddy' Vowles fished the peg the day before and "struggled a bit to catch, he also dropped his phone in, I went in for him but couldn't find it"
I can't even ring or text him to take the piss............
I headed down towards Kingston Seymour and rang Tony on the off chance he had a no show - no such luck. I had a walk round Bullock Farm and a chat to Phil, there was work in progress, a new footbridge to the island was under construction and a couple of the ropey old platforms had been renewed on the match lake. The lakes at Bullock Farm are still very clear, I'm really hoping the water temperature rises a couple of degrees by the time the Kev Perry series starts.
As it was freezing in the easterly wind and I didn't fancy any of the pegs that had the wind from behind, I bade Bullock Farm farewell and headed round to Plantation. Only acouple of anglers on the lake when I got there, so could choose where I fished, several pegs were closed off, as James and his Dad were repairing them and reclaiming some bank - fishery maintenance, its obviously catching.
I settled for peg 38, the point, I've never drawn this peg, so it was as good as any to practice. I had made up my mind to have a session on the feeder / straight lead, to brush up on my technique when casting tight to islands. I set up a mini cage feeder, with maggot and crushed up feed pellet as the filling, maggot on the hook. Third cast the tip went round and an odd shaped carp (huge head, very wide) that weighed about 2½lb was in the net after a very valiant struggle. Next cast a 10oz skimmer, then a couple of casts later, a roach - obviously not rammed full of hungry carp over there then..... I struggled for bites after that, switching to straight lead and trying away from where I'd chucked the feeder.
As this was supposed to be a pleasure session, I decided to abandon the lead rod and set up a pole to fish caster at 10m, I also fed a line that let me fish top three to hand, although I wasn't too hopeful for that line. The 10m line produced a couple of small roach, but was pretty slow, the 3m line started to produce fish , the roach were coming up in the water, I set up another rig to fish half depth and caught roach, rudd and perch to around the 14oz mark, I dropped the full depth rig in occasionally and picked up two carp on this, gave me a run round on middy hi viz purple elastic.
30 seconds before 4.30 (my all out), I hooked a large carp, this was on No6 solid latex and when the hook pulled 20 minutes later, I hadn't managed top get its head up off the bottom.
If I had done the sensible thing and fished for silvers all day, I would probably have had 20lb of silvers (I reckon I had just over 10lb) and maybe a couple more carp, caster was certainly the bait of the day.
I've now sussed how to use my phones camera, so for novelty value.....
The best roach always hide when a camera comes out.....
And the carp, the photo doesn't do justice to the huge head on the one in the middle.
And finally, James revealed that Darren 'Noddy' Vowles fished the peg the day before and "struggled a bit to catch, he also dropped his phone in, I went in for him but couldn't find it"
I can't even ring or text him to take the piss............
Monday, 8 March 2010
Wildmarsh, Clevedon FWAC match, 7th March 2010
I had booked into the open on Woodland at Trinity for Sundays match, but as there were a few at Viaduct, the match was cancelled. I thought long and hard about fishing this match, Woodland has been kind to me, more often than not I've left with some coin. Not so Wildmarsh, I've really struggled on this lake, not a single pick up!!
I decided that I should fish it, to try and exorcise whatever demon it holds, so I booked in with Darren 'Nuddy' Vowles, who was running the match in the ansence of his master, Paul Nicholls. Paul, your bitch did OK - at organising, not so with his fishing, I now realise that the sticker maker who made the - Darren 'Nudd' Vowles - sticker for his box was suffering from dyslexia, it should read Darren 'Noddy' Vowles.
Given the weather forecast, I decided that a caster, maggot and pinkie approach would be best, to try and catch a few roach, I also took a few worms for the skimmers. There was also a tin of corn knocking around the bottom of my carryall. I put the ice breaker in the van, as the frost was thick on the windows, but on arrival was pleasantly surprised to see the lake ice free.
The pegging had been delegated to Paul Faiers and Glen Calvert, when they got back they said they had included peg 41, behind the island - my initial thoughts were that if the skimmers showed in the main body of the lake, the peg could struggle, but it should be good for a few roach and the odd chub. The easterly wind was blowing straight into the faces of those in the 60's, I didn't fancy that bank!!
I drew 41 and was quietly pleased, as it offered open water fishing towards the footbridge and some cover to fish against the island at 15m. I decided to feed four lines, a 3m caster and pinkie line to my right, a waggler line with caster in open water towards the footbridge, caster and maggot to the island and a few grains of corn to the 'tree of death' (a tree overhanging the water on the island to my right).
Starting on the waggler, I had a chub on my third cast and for an hour and a half had odd chub and a 2½lb skimmer. When the sun came round, the waggler line died, I couldn't get a bite on the 3m line and not so much as a liner, chucking corn on a straight lead to the tree.
I went over to the island and had two bites in two put ins, losing both fish, one shed the hook, one took the hook. I then had a couple of chub and small carp, before hooking a better fish, I managed to get it into open water and thought that I may get it in on the 0.08 / 22 Gamma black and purple middy hi viz elastic - I then tried to be too clever - don't answer your phone whilst playing a fish!! It took me round the corner and shed the hook in the rushes.
Up until now I hadn't had a roach, so decided to fish for carp and set up a heavier float, 0.15 hooklength and a 20 B911 - first two fish on this rig were roach...why? I carried on getting bites, all fish falling to single maggot, with carp from just over a 1lb up to 7 or 8lb. A really good days fishing and the demon exorcised. The rest of the lake fished hard as you'll see by the results below:
1) Chris Fox 44lb 7oz peg 41 (Carp, chub a couple of roach and 1 skimmer)
2) Ivan Currie 5lb 6oz peg 49 (1 Carp, 1 Skimmer)
3) Simon Carvello 4lb 7oz peg 46 (2 skimmers)
4) Glen Calvert 3lb 11oz peg 64 ( 1 bream caught 2 mins before the all out!!)
5) Darren 'Noddy' Vowles 3lb 3oz (1 suicidal bream)
All the rest DNW.
Silvers
1) Chris Fox 10lb 15oz
Silvers Winner
Match Winner
Photography by Misha, using my phone after it was dropped into the net of carp!!
Watch out Whiteacres, as a posse of Clevedon misfits make their way down the M5 for next weeks festival, I'm sure the tales of woe, lost pole sections and lager induced memory loss will abound when they get back!! Good luck lads, I bet Des Shipp, Coxy and co are quaking in their boots.
I decided that I should fish it, to try and exorcise whatever demon it holds, so I booked in with Darren 'Nuddy' Vowles, who was running the match in the ansence of his master, Paul Nicholls. Paul, your bitch did OK - at organising, not so with his fishing, I now realise that the sticker maker who made the - Darren 'Nudd' Vowles - sticker for his box was suffering from dyslexia, it should read Darren 'Noddy' Vowles.
Given the weather forecast, I decided that a caster, maggot and pinkie approach would be best, to try and catch a few roach, I also took a few worms for the skimmers. There was also a tin of corn knocking around the bottom of my carryall. I put the ice breaker in the van, as the frost was thick on the windows, but on arrival was pleasantly surprised to see the lake ice free.
The pegging had been delegated to Paul Faiers and Glen Calvert, when they got back they said they had included peg 41, behind the island - my initial thoughts were that if the skimmers showed in the main body of the lake, the peg could struggle, but it should be good for a few roach and the odd chub. The easterly wind was blowing straight into the faces of those in the 60's, I didn't fancy that bank!!
I drew 41 and was quietly pleased, as it offered open water fishing towards the footbridge and some cover to fish against the island at 15m. I decided to feed four lines, a 3m caster and pinkie line to my right, a waggler line with caster in open water towards the footbridge, caster and maggot to the island and a few grains of corn to the 'tree of death' (a tree overhanging the water on the island to my right).
Starting on the waggler, I had a chub on my third cast and for an hour and a half had odd chub and a 2½lb skimmer. When the sun came round, the waggler line died, I couldn't get a bite on the 3m line and not so much as a liner, chucking corn on a straight lead to the tree.
I went over to the island and had two bites in two put ins, losing both fish, one shed the hook, one took the hook. I then had a couple of chub and small carp, before hooking a better fish, I managed to get it into open water and thought that I may get it in on the 0.08 / 22 Gamma black and purple middy hi viz elastic - I then tried to be too clever - don't answer your phone whilst playing a fish!! It took me round the corner and shed the hook in the rushes.
Up until now I hadn't had a roach, so decided to fish for carp and set up a heavier float, 0.15 hooklength and a 20 B911 - first two fish on this rig were roach...why? I carried on getting bites, all fish falling to single maggot, with carp from just over a 1lb up to 7 or 8lb. A really good days fishing and the demon exorcised. The rest of the lake fished hard as you'll see by the results below:
1) Chris Fox 44lb 7oz peg 41 (Carp, chub a couple of roach and 1 skimmer)
2) Ivan Currie 5lb 6oz peg 49 (1 Carp, 1 Skimmer)
3) Simon Carvello 4lb 7oz peg 46 (2 skimmers)
4) Glen Calvert 3lb 11oz peg 64 ( 1 bream caught 2 mins before the all out!!)
5) Darren 'Noddy' Vowles 3lb 3oz (1 suicidal bream)
All the rest DNW.
Silvers
1) Chris Fox 10lb 15oz
Silvers Winner
Match Winner
Photography by Misha, using my phone after it was dropped into the net of carp!!
Watch out Whiteacres, as a posse of Clevedon misfits make their way down the M5 for next weeks festival, I'm sure the tales of woe, lost pole sections and lager induced memory loss will abound when they get back!! Good luck lads, I bet Des Shipp, Coxy and co are quaking in their boots.
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