I was going to have another weekend off and do more stuff on the house and get ready for next weeks two day festival at Trinity, but a late call from Tony Rixon wanting to fill a space in his float only, persuaded me to get out fishing, the house can wait.
I have only been to sedges a couple of times before, both with little success and the day kicked off to a bad start when tony asked what bait I had ordered (two pints of caster and a few maggots), because he had forgotten it. Great, I had fancied a day on the silvers, thankfully Nigel Bartlett came to the rescue and handed me two pints of the finest caster I've seen for a long time, not a skin or floater amongst them - thanks Nigel.
As it was 5 peg sections and a league, there was no point in me doing anything but fishing positive and trying to win, my home for the 6 hours was peg 6, which I was informed was a great winter peg, just what you need in June, even though the weather is far from flaming June.
I set up a trusty Normark Titan 2000 for a pellet waggler to fish out towards the rope that divides the lake and three topkits, a 4x18 Jolly with a 16 carp maggot hook on 0.12, a No6 MW diamond with a 16 6313 on 0.14 and a paste rig on 0.18.
At the all in I fed a line at 7m to my left with CW&C, a line straight out at 13m with pellet and then started on the pellet wag whilst the pole lines settled, this was slow going, the first indication after about 20 minutes was a fouler, which stayed on until 6" from the net, before shedding the hook. 10 minutes later a fish around the 7lb mark graced the net, but that was it for the waggler, I tried at several times during the match, but the wind changed round and the cruising fish disappeared.
A look over the CW&C brought a big skimmer on worm and caster hookbait, perhaps I was going to have a good day on the silvers after all, but that was it on the worm and caster , caster produced nothing, nor did soft pellet.
I spent the rest of the match between the two pole lines and picked up 5 more carp to 12lb and another 4 skimmers, all on paste, the lines were fizzing, but there appeared to be little fish movement, as I had very few liners. I thought it would be a tight match and so it proved, my 5 skimmers going 10lb exactly and 6 carp 54.15, my 64.15 was enough to take third spot.
1) Phil Harding 76.07 peg 20
2) Bela Bakos 69.09 Peg 19
3) Chris Fox 64.15 peg 6
4) John Thompson 63.15 peg 23
5) Anton Page 61.15 peg 8
6) Tony Rixon 60.9 peg 32
Silvers
1) Shane Caswell 39lb peg 18
Monday, 18 June 2012
Tuesday, 5 June 2012
Landsend Open, Monday 4th June 2012
The 12.30 draw time proved the attraction for this match, although I can't get my head round this dangling pellets next to islands for carp, so 3 pints of caster and some Devils Spawn were the mainstays on my bait tray, trying to get a decent net of silvers.
So, what do I draw, 19, a peg dominated by carp!! I have drawn this peg once before and failed miserably to avoid the carp, so I still set up my silvers rigs, but also two paste rigs, one for full depth and one for the shelf that juts out of the island at 16m.
There were plenty of carp moving around, but they did seem to be in the gap and tight to the island, so would they stay away from my two silver lines (one at top kit to hand and another at about 9m). I started by potting in some caster and micros at 9m and loose fed caster short, then out with the shallow caster rig across towards the island. A four of chunky F1's graced the net before I got tangled in the island foliage - a particularly tough plant with pod like green fronds. I got the rig back, but the float was trashed. I quickly set up a new rig and that wasn't as successful as the trashed one - how often does that happen!! I then dropped in on the 9m line and had another f1 and a big skimmer, but it was slow going.
Dropping in on the short line with double caster produced another big skimmer, but the roach and perch were conspicuous by their absence. I had started on a 0.16 hooklength with a 16 Drennan carp maggot hook, thinking that if I hooked carp I may as well as try and get them out. Was this too heavy for the silvers? A switch to 0.14 and a 18 hook produced a few more bites, both short and at 9m, but not to caster or soft pellet, I had to switch to double red maggot to get a few more decent skimmers and a tench.
With two hours to go I thought I had 25lb and perhaps 40lb could be on the cards, but then the bloody carp started cruising over the 9m line and even dropping down to pick up the maggot hookbait, this seemed to be the kiss of death for the skimmers, as I only had one more on the short line, with 20 minutes to go. A golden tench was the only other fish of note in those final two hours and I landed a 8lb carp just after the whistle, taken on the topkit.
If one of the carp slayers who can dangle a pellet at 16m for 6 hours had the peg, I reckon they'd have done a big weight, but I was reasonably satisfied with my 32lb of silvers, shame about those last two hours, as I was pushed (by a good margin) into second spot for silvers by Eric Fouracre.
At least we were well entertained by Mike West, who regaled tales of family feuds, flats with water gushing through the ceiling, kept shouting "hello,hello" in vain to his phone which gets no signal at Landsend and most entertaining of all, was him losing fish after fish - although fair play to him, I'd have probably smashed my pole up with the frustration of it - silver fishing is never that bad, even though the vermin trashed a few delicate silvers floats. Finally, one guy whose name I didn't get, found out he was becoming a grandad during the match, it was like an episode of Mr Bean and Jeremy Kyle all rolled into one!!
1) Terry Green 109.05 peg 7
2) Vince Brown 78.09 peg 1
3) Mike west 73.14 peg 17
4) Eric Fouracre 68.02 peg 11
Silvers
1) Eric Fouracre 43.15
2) Chris Fox 32.00 peg 19
So, what do I draw, 19, a peg dominated by carp!! I have drawn this peg once before and failed miserably to avoid the carp, so I still set up my silvers rigs, but also two paste rigs, one for full depth and one for the shelf that juts out of the island at 16m.
There were plenty of carp moving around, but they did seem to be in the gap and tight to the island, so would they stay away from my two silver lines (one at top kit to hand and another at about 9m). I started by potting in some caster and micros at 9m and loose fed caster short, then out with the shallow caster rig across towards the island. A four of chunky F1's graced the net before I got tangled in the island foliage - a particularly tough plant with pod like green fronds. I got the rig back, but the float was trashed. I quickly set up a new rig and that wasn't as successful as the trashed one - how often does that happen!! I then dropped in on the 9m line and had another f1 and a big skimmer, but it was slow going.
Dropping in on the short line with double caster produced another big skimmer, but the roach and perch were conspicuous by their absence. I had started on a 0.16 hooklength with a 16 Drennan carp maggot hook, thinking that if I hooked carp I may as well as try and get them out. Was this too heavy for the silvers? A switch to 0.14 and a 18 hook produced a few more bites, both short and at 9m, but not to caster or soft pellet, I had to switch to double red maggot to get a few more decent skimmers and a tench.
With two hours to go I thought I had 25lb and perhaps 40lb could be on the cards, but then the bloody carp started cruising over the 9m line and even dropping down to pick up the maggot hookbait, this seemed to be the kiss of death for the skimmers, as I only had one more on the short line, with 20 minutes to go. A golden tench was the only other fish of note in those final two hours and I landed a 8lb carp just after the whistle, taken on the topkit.
If one of the carp slayers who can dangle a pellet at 16m for 6 hours had the peg, I reckon they'd have done a big weight, but I was reasonably satisfied with my 32lb of silvers, shame about those last two hours, as I was pushed (by a good margin) into second spot for silvers by Eric Fouracre.
At least we were well entertained by Mike West, who regaled tales of family feuds, flats with water gushing through the ceiling, kept shouting "hello,hello" in vain to his phone which gets no signal at Landsend and most entertaining of all, was him losing fish after fish - although fair play to him, I'd have probably smashed my pole up with the frustration of it - silver fishing is never that bad, even though the vermin trashed a few delicate silvers floats. Finally, one guy whose name I didn't get, found out he was becoming a grandad during the match, it was like an episode of Mr Bean and Jeremy Kyle all rolled into one!!
1) Terry Green 109.05 peg 7
2) Vince Brown 78.09 peg 1
3) Mike west 73.14 peg 17
4) Eric Fouracre 68.02 peg 11
Silvers
1) Eric Fouracre 43.15
2) Chris Fox 32.00 peg 19
Sunday, 3 June 2012
Pole Only Series, Final Round
Today saw the last of the pole only series, which for the first time was held on Plantation and Acorn lakes, todays sections were on Plantation Horseshoe Lake and the small lake at Acorn. Maybe the final venues had some input, as well as clashes with other matches, to the reduced numbers today.
Firstly, a get well soon message to Rod Wootten, Rod had a good position to win the series, but has suffered some ill health and missed the last two matches.
At the draw, Paul Faiers was presented with a card, which Mrs F sent via Glenn Calvert, it was his wedding anniversay - he'd forgotten, I bet he's not alone, I can never remember mine!! Anyway, not to worry, Mrs F is camping in Exmouth, probably with Uncle Tony...... whilst Paul spends the Bank holiday weekend fishing.
As the sections were short on numbers today, the payout was just 1st in section and 1st in silvers, with the odd tenner left over going to the match winner.
It was B section for me today, the outside of Horseshoe lake, it looked good, fish moving and a colour that must have been caused by fish stirring up the mud. I had brought a couple of pints of maggots as the weather forecast had been for a cold, miserable day, looking at the lake and feeling the actual temperature, I had a hunch that they were destined for the freezer. I set up 4 rigs, a silvers rig to fish maggot or caster (but this was planned to be a last resort for once), a shallow rig with a B960 and a hair rigged band, a paste rig and a pencil float to fish Devils Spawn.
One lighter moment before the off, Darren 'Noddy' Vowles had set up, plumbed up and was virtually ready for the off, before he realised he was on the wrong peg...... Doh. Pay more attention next time please Noddy.....
The bait tray consisted maggot & caster, 4 and 6mm hard pellet, some Devils Spawn, micros and paste. On the all in I cupped in some micros and softened 4's at 9m left and groundbait/maggot at 8m right. there were some carp moving over the middle bar, so out with the shallow rig, which had a longish line, to avoid spooking the fish. This produced two fish in the first half an hour, they were cruising, but not really feeding. A look over the micros with paste saw a better fish in the net, followed by 3 more, although the size varied from 1/2lb to 3lb.
The groundbait/maggot line produced 1 fish all day, so no more about that, the micro/softened pellet line was now fizzing well, the first fizzing peg I have had in 2012!! A look in with 6mm Devils Spawn put the first silver in the net, a 1lb+ skimmer. A couple of carp followed, before things slowed up, there was no point in me fishing negatively, I couldn't pick up in the series money, so a section win was my aim.
The fish were still swirling over the shallow bar in the middle of the peg, so I went back on the shallow rig and upped the feed to 10 or 12 6mm pellets every 30 secs, this brought a run of fish, some of which ran the wrong side of the tin boards, so that livened things up!! With an hour to go the fish backed off the shallow line and it was back over the pellet and micros with paste, this produed a couple of fish, but also some frustrating liners and odd indications. Last 20 minutes on the Devils Spawn saw a couple more fish in the net, with 31 carp and 4 skimmers being the final total.
This was the first match for a while that I have enjoyed, it took a bit of work to keep the fish coming, but at least they did, I couldn't even muster the effort to write about last weeks match (4 roach). On the scales my 4 skimmers went 4.04, the 31 carp 82.04, the total of 86.08 being enough to win the section and the match (what a good idea to give the winner the odd tenner extra!!).
Section results on the day:
A: (Acorn)
1) Kev Perry 47.00
Silvers) Glenn Calvert 26.10
B: (Plantation)
1) Chris Fox 86.08
Silvers) Paul Faiers 27.00
C: (Plantation)
1) John Osbourne 72.10
Silvers) John Osbourne 3.14
Mr Soft Pellet - Dave Wride won the overall series and Paul Faiers took the silvers on weight from Mark Broomsgrove, both had a very creditable 5 section silvers wins.
Veals kindly provided some sponorship in the way of vouchers, these go to the Overall and Silvers anglers with the best weight, who didn't pick up money for the series. Overall that was Lance Tucker and in the Silvers, I managed to sneak in.
Final Overall table, with worst result dropped.
Firstly, a get well soon message to Rod Wootten, Rod had a good position to win the series, but has suffered some ill health and missed the last two matches.
At the draw, Paul Faiers was presented with a card, which Mrs F sent via Glenn Calvert, it was his wedding anniversay - he'd forgotten, I bet he's not alone, I can never remember mine!! Anyway, not to worry, Mrs F is camping in Exmouth, probably with Uncle Tony...... whilst Paul spends the Bank holiday weekend fishing.
As the sections were short on numbers today, the payout was just 1st in section and 1st in silvers, with the odd tenner left over going to the match winner.
It was B section for me today, the outside of Horseshoe lake, it looked good, fish moving and a colour that must have been caused by fish stirring up the mud. I had brought a couple of pints of maggots as the weather forecast had been for a cold, miserable day, looking at the lake and feeling the actual temperature, I had a hunch that they were destined for the freezer. I set up 4 rigs, a silvers rig to fish maggot or caster (but this was planned to be a last resort for once), a shallow rig with a B960 and a hair rigged band, a paste rig and a pencil float to fish Devils Spawn.
One lighter moment before the off, Darren 'Noddy' Vowles had set up, plumbed up and was virtually ready for the off, before he realised he was on the wrong peg...... Doh. Pay more attention next time please Noddy.....
The bait tray consisted maggot & caster, 4 and 6mm hard pellet, some Devils Spawn, micros and paste. On the all in I cupped in some micros and softened 4's at 9m left and groundbait/maggot at 8m right. there were some carp moving over the middle bar, so out with the shallow rig, which had a longish line, to avoid spooking the fish. This produced two fish in the first half an hour, they were cruising, but not really feeding. A look over the micros with paste saw a better fish in the net, followed by 3 more, although the size varied from 1/2lb to 3lb.
The groundbait/maggot line produced 1 fish all day, so no more about that, the micro/softened pellet line was now fizzing well, the first fizzing peg I have had in 2012!! A look in with 6mm Devils Spawn put the first silver in the net, a 1lb+ skimmer. A couple of carp followed, before things slowed up, there was no point in me fishing negatively, I couldn't pick up in the series money, so a section win was my aim.
The fish were still swirling over the shallow bar in the middle of the peg, so I went back on the shallow rig and upped the feed to 10 or 12 6mm pellets every 30 secs, this brought a run of fish, some of which ran the wrong side of the tin boards, so that livened things up!! With an hour to go the fish backed off the shallow line and it was back over the pellet and micros with paste, this produed a couple of fish, but also some frustrating liners and odd indications. Last 20 minutes on the Devils Spawn saw a couple more fish in the net, with 31 carp and 4 skimmers being the final total.
This was the first match for a while that I have enjoyed, it took a bit of work to keep the fish coming, but at least they did, I couldn't even muster the effort to write about last weeks match (4 roach). On the scales my 4 skimmers went 4.04, the 31 carp 82.04, the total of 86.08 being enough to win the section and the match (what a good idea to give the winner the odd tenner extra!!).
Section results on the day:
A: (Acorn)
1) Kev Perry 47.00
Silvers) Glenn Calvert 26.10
B: (Plantation)
1) Chris Fox 86.08
Silvers) Paul Faiers 27.00
C: (Plantation)
1) John Osbourne 72.10
Silvers) John Osbourne 3.14
Mr Soft Pellet - Dave Wride won the overall series and Paul Faiers took the silvers on weight from Mark Broomsgrove, both had a very creditable 5 section silvers wins.
Veals kindly provided some sponorship in the way of vouchers, these go to the Overall and Silvers anglers with the best weight, who didn't pick up money for the series. Overall that was Lance Tucker and in the Silvers, I managed to sneak in.
Final Overall table, with worst result dropped.
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