It was a tad windy when Tony Rixon picked me up today, with much stronger winds forecast - great!! The usual Shipham cafe breakfast and then onto the fishery where everyone was evoking all their lucky charms and willpower to try and draw a sheltered, or at least wind off your back peg. Into the tub fairly early and out comes 130, which wouldn't have been my first choice, but it was at least offering the wind over my shoulder.
As the wind was forecast to get up to just under 50mph, I set up a feeder, initially a 4 square cage on 3lb Maxima with a 0.10 hooklength and a 18 hook. I had a 3 square feeder on the sidetray to swap to if necessary. Next up was a waggler, I have been trying the Drennan Glowtips and like the way they show each shot registering as they settle. This was on 2.5lb Maxima, with a 0.10 hooklength and a 20 hook.
I only got two topkits out, one with No8 elastic for fishing down the edges - no more about that, as I didn't have so much as a bite either side, not surprised it was a bit shallow. The other one had No6 elastic and a wire stemmed 0.3g float, again 0.10 and a 18 hook. Only 4 pole sections out of the bag, as I didn't want to feed a line and then not be able to fish if if the wind got too strong.
Started on the feeder about 3 yards short of the aerator, a couple of liners, a small roach and a skimmer were all I had to show for the first half an hour, when a tentative twitch on the tip had me striking into a lively Tench. I was putting an odd piece of corn or two through the feeder with caster, so decided to try a kernel on the hook - not one of my better decisions, as it didn't hit the bottom before a 9lb carp grabbed it, I landed it and decided not to pursue using corn on the hook!!
After 40 minutes I switched to the waggler and loose feeding caster, this saw me getting bites and indications every cast, but it was from roach and small ones at that. Upping the loose feed saw me get a couple of skimmers, before the carp moved in and I hooked several on successive casts. The carp certainly seemed to be coming to the loose feed and pushing out the roach and skimmers.
With a couple of hours to go, I had a look on the pole at topkit+ 4 and this produced a run of skimmers to either worm head or double caster over GB and caster, with 30 minutes to go a large section of willow tree branch appeared underwater, right where I was catching, hooking it and getting it out killed the peg and I didn't have another bite, the results show how costly that willow tree debris was. Maybe I should have switched back to the waggler, but hindsight is the best tactic.......
My net went 18.04 for a default section win and 5th overall, just 3lb off the weight needed to win, nice to keep the envelopes coming, frustrating to be so close.
1: Chris Boulten 21.03 peg 126
2: Dom Sullivan 19.09 peg 112
3: Tony Rixon 19.06 peg53
4: Ziggy Slowinski 18.08 peg 124
5: Chris Fox 18.04 peg 130
6: Gordon Canning 17.05 peg 125
Sunday, 29 November 2015
Sunday, 22 November 2015
Ivy House Winter League Round Two, Sunday 22nd November 2015
With the drop in temperature and the frost visible on the grass whilst driving to the venue, it was likely to be a tough day, but I needed to significantly better the miserable 5 points I had in round one.
Had a chat with Clint before the draw and we ended up opposite each other in the same section, me drawing peg 6, which Clint didn't think was much good and he drew on 12. I had two aims today, win the section as the main aim and not blank as the second, I still want that beer from Mark Poppleton for avoiding a blank throughout the series.
I decided that the cold snap would call for a disciplined approach, but still had far too much bait on my side tray, just can't help myself, although I did remain disciplined and brought home 10X the amount I fed into the peg,
First rod out the bag was a waggler, a MKII Normark Microlight, cracking winter rod, this had a Drennan waggler on, one of the glowtop models, they cast nicely, settle showing every shot and the colour banding on the shows up lift or on the drop bites really clearly. Next was a lead rod, Tournament 10-11' at 10' to fish bread, popped up at various depths, I was then going to set up a another lead rod with mini hybrid feeder on, but then realised that I'd brought my 12-13' Tournament instead of the other 10-11' so didn't bother with that one. 3 pole rigs, one for a very, very optimistic edge rig - nothing on that so no more about it, a .3 Hillbilly chump on 0.16, with a 0.10 hooklength and a 18 808 to fish at 16m.Peg 6 slopes off for a long way and 16m was a distance that felt right, didn't think much would be coming any closer. I did set up a double bulk rig for the same 16m line but that didn't see the water.
For the first 1/2 an hour of the match, I chucked the popped up bread and sat on my hands, a couple of liners, but nothing in the way of a proper bite, I tried from 12" to 5' popped up and 30 minutes was by far long enough. Onto the 16m line with a 4mm expander, nothing, not a touch, tried a maggot to no avail, so then went right into winter mode and tried double squatt, missed a bite, then had a micro perch, immediately followed by a 8 or 10oz skimmer and then bumped a fish, probably another skimmer.
To cut a long story short, the rest of the match was spent rotating between the lead, the pole and the waggler, the waggler being the only method I got any bites or indications on, resulting in a small carp, a perch and a tiny hybrid, I wasn't alone at this end of the lake, only peg 10 beating me, he managed several small carp getting 9lb odd to my 4lb odd,.
So a second in section and a pick up, as this league is paid out 1st and 2nd in section, no overall, just as well, as I was in the lowest weight section........... just for a change!!!
Weighsheet
Next up for me will be Viaduct Silvers league next Sunday.
Had a chat with Clint before the draw and we ended up opposite each other in the same section, me drawing peg 6, which Clint didn't think was much good and he drew on 12. I had two aims today, win the section as the main aim and not blank as the second, I still want that beer from Mark Poppleton for avoiding a blank throughout the series.
I decided that the cold snap would call for a disciplined approach, but still had far too much bait on my side tray, just can't help myself, although I did remain disciplined and brought home 10X the amount I fed into the peg,
First rod out the bag was a waggler, a MKII Normark Microlight, cracking winter rod, this had a Drennan waggler on, one of the glowtop models, they cast nicely, settle showing every shot and the colour banding on the shows up lift or on the drop bites really clearly. Next was a lead rod, Tournament 10-11' at 10' to fish bread, popped up at various depths, I was then going to set up a another lead rod with mini hybrid feeder on, but then realised that I'd brought my 12-13' Tournament instead of the other 10-11' so didn't bother with that one. 3 pole rigs, one for a very, very optimistic edge rig - nothing on that so no more about it, a .3 Hillbilly chump on 0.16, with a 0.10 hooklength and a 18 808 to fish at 16m.Peg 6 slopes off for a long way and 16m was a distance that felt right, didn't think much would be coming any closer. I did set up a double bulk rig for the same 16m line but that didn't see the water.
For the first 1/2 an hour of the match, I chucked the popped up bread and sat on my hands, a couple of liners, but nothing in the way of a proper bite, I tried from 12" to 5' popped up and 30 minutes was by far long enough. Onto the 16m line with a 4mm expander, nothing, not a touch, tried a maggot to no avail, so then went right into winter mode and tried double squatt, missed a bite, then had a micro perch, immediately followed by a 8 or 10oz skimmer and then bumped a fish, probably another skimmer.
To cut a long story short, the rest of the match was spent rotating between the lead, the pole and the waggler, the waggler being the only method I got any bites or indications on, resulting in a small carp, a perch and a tiny hybrid, I wasn't alone at this end of the lake, only peg 10 beating me, he managed several small carp getting 9lb odd to my 4lb odd,.
So a second in section and a pick up, as this league is paid out 1st and 2nd in section, no overall, just as well, as I was in the lowest weight section........... just for a change!!!
Weighsheet
Next up for me will be Viaduct Silvers league next Sunday.
Thursday, 19 November 2015
Harescombe Costcutter Thursday 19th November 2015
Toss up between Viaduct and trying my hand at a new (to me) venue today, Tony Rixon promised me plenty of bites and he was driving, so Harescombe won, even though it's a bit too snaky for my usual preference.
It's certainly secluded, set up in the hillside in deepest Gloucestershire, the breakfast wasn't too shabby and a reasonable price. The match was £10 including pools, these costcutters seem to be taking over, its a strange thing to my mind, to fish a match that winning doesn't cover your costs, but there was nothing else on.
I had looked at the weather forecast a couple of days ago and it was forecast to be dry, first lesson of the day, check again before setting off, as I left my bait brolly at home and it pissed down for 90% of the match. I drew peg 14, meaningless to me as a venue newbie and I didn't ask about it, I thought I'd let the plummet and a bit of watercraft suss it out. It was 13m to the island, which has wooden stakes all round it, this was about 3 1/2' deep tight to the stakes and about 6" deeper 12" off them, so I set just on bottom at 6" off the boards, a wire stemmed float, 0.12 hooklength and a 18LWG with a band completed that rig. Another wire stemmed float to fish just at the bottom of the near shelf, a nice distance to loose feed caster, this with 0.10 and a 20 LWG. Final rig was a glass stemmed float to fish the edges, topkit + 1 to the left and 10m to the right,
I did set up a 9' rod with a method on, but this never saw the water (apart from the rain!!). I had a pint each of micro's, 4mm's and 6mm's, about a pint and a half of caster and 3 pints of maggots, with the most useful thing in match angling - hindsight - I could have left the maggots at home, in fact I think they cost me......
Starting tight across with a 6mm pellet in the band and feeding 4mm's via a toss pot, I started catching F1's straight away, no big ones, but nice to get some bites and see fish going in the net, also a small barbel. Lifting and dropping was essential to get a bite, often the float just dipping as it resettled, typical finicky F1 bites. after an hour or so the bites started to tail off, so I fed some micro's, this increased the amount of bites, but also liners, so I cut it out again.
Next quiet spell I switched to the short caster line and had a few F1's and skimmers, but it wasn't frantic, I then tried the edges and also started up a maggot line, neither of these were effective and I spent the rest of the match switching between the long pellet line and the short caster line, adding fish, one or two, before having to switch again.
I had no idea what weight i had at the end and was pleasantly surprised to see 60.06 on the scales which was enough for second, behind the wily old Silverfox, who had 63.02. I think the time I wasted on trying to make maggot work cost me the win, as the fish were smaller and less frequent than the pellet and caster fish.
Nice venue, I'll definitely go back, I reckon a proper F1 angler would have emptied it............
1: Mike Nicholls 63.02 peg 20
2: Chris Fox 60.06 peg 14
3: Tony Rixon 52.10 peg 8
4: Martin hook 46.00 peg 11
5: Stuart Graham 44.14 peg 29
6: Adrian Jeffery 42.04 peg 24
It's certainly secluded, set up in the hillside in deepest Gloucestershire, the breakfast wasn't too shabby and a reasonable price. The match was £10 including pools, these costcutters seem to be taking over, its a strange thing to my mind, to fish a match that winning doesn't cover your costs, but there was nothing else on.
I had looked at the weather forecast a couple of days ago and it was forecast to be dry, first lesson of the day, check again before setting off, as I left my bait brolly at home and it pissed down for 90% of the match. I drew peg 14, meaningless to me as a venue newbie and I didn't ask about it, I thought I'd let the plummet and a bit of watercraft suss it out. It was 13m to the island, which has wooden stakes all round it, this was about 3 1/2' deep tight to the stakes and about 6" deeper 12" off them, so I set just on bottom at 6" off the boards, a wire stemmed float, 0.12 hooklength and a 18LWG with a band completed that rig. Another wire stemmed float to fish just at the bottom of the near shelf, a nice distance to loose feed caster, this with 0.10 and a 20 LWG. Final rig was a glass stemmed float to fish the edges, topkit + 1 to the left and 10m to the right,
I did set up a 9' rod with a method on, but this never saw the water (apart from the rain!!). I had a pint each of micro's, 4mm's and 6mm's, about a pint and a half of caster and 3 pints of maggots, with the most useful thing in match angling - hindsight - I could have left the maggots at home, in fact I think they cost me......
Starting tight across with a 6mm pellet in the band and feeding 4mm's via a toss pot, I started catching F1's straight away, no big ones, but nice to get some bites and see fish going in the net, also a small barbel. Lifting and dropping was essential to get a bite, often the float just dipping as it resettled, typical finicky F1 bites. after an hour or so the bites started to tail off, so I fed some micro's, this increased the amount of bites, but also liners, so I cut it out again.
Next quiet spell I switched to the short caster line and had a few F1's and skimmers, but it wasn't frantic, I then tried the edges and also started up a maggot line, neither of these were effective and I spent the rest of the match switching between the long pellet line and the short caster line, adding fish, one or two, before having to switch again.
I had no idea what weight i had at the end and was pleasantly surprised to see 60.06 on the scales which was enough for second, behind the wily old Silverfox, who had 63.02. I think the time I wasted on trying to make maggot work cost me the win, as the fish were smaller and less frequent than the pellet and caster fish.
Nice venue, I'll definitely go back, I reckon a proper F1 angler would have emptied it............
1: Mike Nicholls 63.02 peg 20
2: Chris Fox 60.06 peg 14
3: Tony Rixon 52.10 peg 8
4: Martin hook 46.00 peg 11
5: Stuart Graham 44.14 peg 29
6: Adrian Jeffery 42.04 peg 24
Viaduct Silvers League, Round Four, Sunday 15th November 2015
Well with my stubbornness costing me in the last round, any chance of a frame place in the series is a distant dream, so a positive approach and treat the rest of the series as opens. Into the draw tin and I managed to pull a peg that was taking the brunt of today's high winds, 119, not a famed silvers peg of late. For company I had Fabio on 118 to my left and Tim Clark on 121 on the end bank.
The high wind had me reaching for my feeder rod, although having Tim on 121 on the end bank limited where I could chuck it, so I clipped up at about 20m. 4 Pole rigs, a 0.3 wire stemmed float to fish the standard bulk and two droppers, a Hillbilly Shindig to fish a double bulk and a glass stemmed thin float to fish the edge in the hope of tench and/or perch.
The wind wasn't showing any signs of abating, so only 3 sections of pole came out the bag, no point in feeding an area that you can't fish, on the all in 3 balls of GB and caster at the full 3 sections + topkit, a single ball at topkit + 1 this had a little pinch of chopped worm in. I started on the feeder and had 4 small skimmers and a couple of roach in the first half an hour, but I just didn't get the feeling that it was building into a line that would produce for the whole match.
I had a look down the edge and this produced a micro roach to double caster and then another to 1/2 a worm, so that wasn't ready yet. The short line only produced micro roach, too small to be a viable option, the 'long' pole line produced an odd skimmer, hand sized or smaller. I had brought some 4mm meat after listening to the 'electronic chatter' in the week on FB, I fed this at the 3 sections + topkit, off at about the 2 o'clock position, just as a throwaway line, bur a look over it raised my hopes for a short while. A 6oz tench was my first fish over it, then a carp, then two skimmers, one of which was near the 1lb mark. That was it, the line died as quickly as it sparked into life, not sure why.
The rest of the match was spent rotating round the lines, taking an odd fish from all of them, including a welcome 2lb+ stripey, which I initially thought was a carp, I knew Tim had me well beaten as he had managed some proper tench from his margins and the favoured 124 and 125 had beaten Tim in the section, with the bigger skimmers that seem to live in that area showing up for them. I had 14lb odd, Tim had 19lb and 124/125 had low - mid 20lb weights.
I didn't stay to get the results as I had to shoot off and go to work, but I believe Chris Davies won with 29lb. Next up, a trip to Harescombe on Thursday, a new venue for me, so fingers crossed Abigail, Barney and what ever other storms have subsided by then and don't restrict the fishing.
The high wind had me reaching for my feeder rod, although having Tim on 121 on the end bank limited where I could chuck it, so I clipped up at about 20m. 4 Pole rigs, a 0.3 wire stemmed float to fish the standard bulk and two droppers, a Hillbilly Shindig to fish a double bulk and a glass stemmed thin float to fish the edge in the hope of tench and/or perch.
The wind wasn't showing any signs of abating, so only 3 sections of pole came out the bag, no point in feeding an area that you can't fish, on the all in 3 balls of GB and caster at the full 3 sections + topkit, a single ball at topkit + 1 this had a little pinch of chopped worm in. I started on the feeder and had 4 small skimmers and a couple of roach in the first half an hour, but I just didn't get the feeling that it was building into a line that would produce for the whole match.
I had a look down the edge and this produced a micro roach to double caster and then another to 1/2 a worm, so that wasn't ready yet. The short line only produced micro roach, too small to be a viable option, the 'long' pole line produced an odd skimmer, hand sized or smaller. I had brought some 4mm meat after listening to the 'electronic chatter' in the week on FB, I fed this at the 3 sections + topkit, off at about the 2 o'clock position, just as a throwaway line, bur a look over it raised my hopes for a short while. A 6oz tench was my first fish over it, then a carp, then two skimmers, one of which was near the 1lb mark. That was it, the line died as quickly as it sparked into life, not sure why.
The rest of the match was spent rotating round the lines, taking an odd fish from all of them, including a welcome 2lb+ stripey, which I initially thought was a carp, I knew Tim had me well beaten as he had managed some proper tench from his margins and the favoured 124 and 125 had beaten Tim in the section, with the bigger skimmers that seem to live in that area showing up for them. I had 14lb odd, Tim had 19lb and 124/125 had low - mid 20lb weights.
I didn't stay to get the results as I had to shoot off and go to work, but I believe Chris Davies won with 29lb. Next up, a trip to Harescombe on Thursday, a new venue for me, so fingers crossed Abigail, Barney and what ever other storms have subsided by then and don't restrict the fishing.
Monday, 9 November 2015
Ivy House Winter League Round 1, Sunday 7th November 2015
I decided to book in for this league, as I fancied a bit of a change and also the dates mean I only have to use one annual leave day from work to fish all the matches. I understood that it can be a hard venue in winter, but given how mild the weather has been I assumed that the venue wouldn't have gone into winter mode yet..........
Into the tin, after a very nice breakfast in the fishery cafe, peg 42 was the number that stared back at me, apparently a reasonable draw, but likely to be beaten by the end peg - that was the information offered to me. It was full on wind in the face and with the forecast for the wind to increase during the day, I set up a waggler, two lead rods, one with a straight lead, the other a small Guru hybrid feeder. The pole I restricted to 13m, as the wind was also gusting from the side occasionally and I felt there was little point in feeding a line I could not then fish.
I had been given to helpful advice by Mark Poppleton regarding preparing expander pellets, after he took pity on me following last week's pellet phobia, self inflicted cock up. So I had in mind to fish expander on the pole over micros and the odd 4mm pellet, pellet on the lead and a variety of baits on the method. I set up 4 topkits, a 0.3g rig to fish expander, a 0.5g rig to fish expander in case the wind warranted it, a double bulk rig to bag up on skimmers (I was unduly optimistic given the mild weather.....) and finally a rig for fishing down to the unoccupied pallet of 43.
There was the odd fish moving before the start, but as the wind got up, the fish moved with it, along towards the aerator and round towards the lower numbers. First drop in I foul hooked a carp and came back with a scale, another 45 minutes without a bite had me coming in to 8m where I had fed a few casters, this line only produced micro perch and small roach and as the guy on 41 had a carp on his first chuck with a feeder, there was little point persevering with catching fish less than 1oz at 8m.
I went back to 13m and had a 8lb carp on the expander, then a small skimmer and that was to be my final action on the pole, the margin appeared devoid of fish, right up to the all-out, I think I overfed the 13m line trying to make something happen - and I barely fed more than a handful of micros and 4mm all day. I had nothing on the method, one 2lber fancied my 6mm pellet on the straight lead and with hindsight, I should have just fished a pellet line on the pole and a straight lead for the whole match.
It was a tough section and I was a miserable last but one in it, peg 41 had 3 carp for 27lb, peg 40 had 3 for 24lb, peg 44 had one which was 12l, peg 38 had one for 11lb and my two went 10lb - so it could have been better, not sure if there is a way of singling out the bigger fish or if its just pot luck.
One thing is for sure, the next round in two weeks time won't cost a lot in bait, Leon Hubbard had a chat afterwards and confirmed that feeding is a sure way not to catch, which is a bit of a bugger as I find it difficult to keep my hand off the catapult. I didn't stay for to see the end of the weigh in, not because I am unsociable or sulking, but I had get home and get to Worcester for a nightshift.
Next up for me is the Viaduct Silvers league next Sunday.
Into the tin, after a very nice breakfast in the fishery cafe, peg 42 was the number that stared back at me, apparently a reasonable draw, but likely to be beaten by the end peg - that was the information offered to me. It was full on wind in the face and with the forecast for the wind to increase during the day, I set up a waggler, two lead rods, one with a straight lead, the other a small Guru hybrid feeder. The pole I restricted to 13m, as the wind was also gusting from the side occasionally and I felt there was little point in feeding a line I could not then fish.
I had been given to helpful advice by Mark Poppleton regarding preparing expander pellets, after he took pity on me following last week's pellet phobia, self inflicted cock up. So I had in mind to fish expander on the pole over micros and the odd 4mm pellet, pellet on the lead and a variety of baits on the method. I set up 4 topkits, a 0.3g rig to fish expander, a 0.5g rig to fish expander in case the wind warranted it, a double bulk rig to bag up on skimmers (I was unduly optimistic given the mild weather.....) and finally a rig for fishing down to the unoccupied pallet of 43.
There was the odd fish moving before the start, but as the wind got up, the fish moved with it, along towards the aerator and round towards the lower numbers. First drop in I foul hooked a carp and came back with a scale, another 45 minutes without a bite had me coming in to 8m where I had fed a few casters, this line only produced micro perch and small roach and as the guy on 41 had a carp on his first chuck with a feeder, there was little point persevering with catching fish less than 1oz at 8m.
I went back to 13m and had a 8lb carp on the expander, then a small skimmer and that was to be my final action on the pole, the margin appeared devoid of fish, right up to the all-out, I think I overfed the 13m line trying to make something happen - and I barely fed more than a handful of micros and 4mm all day. I had nothing on the method, one 2lber fancied my 6mm pellet on the straight lead and with hindsight, I should have just fished a pellet line on the pole and a straight lead for the whole match.
It was a tough section and I was a miserable last but one in it, peg 41 had 3 carp for 27lb, peg 40 had 3 for 24lb, peg 44 had one which was 12l, peg 38 had one for 11lb and my two went 10lb - so it could have been better, not sure if there is a way of singling out the bigger fish or if its just pot luck.
One thing is for sure, the next round in two weeks time won't cost a lot in bait, Leon Hubbard had a chat afterwards and confirmed that feeding is a sure way not to catch, which is a bit of a bugger as I find it difficult to keep my hand off the catapult. I didn't stay for to see the end of the weigh in, not because I am unsociable or sulking, but I had get home and get to Worcester for a nightshift.
Next up for me is the Viaduct Silvers league next Sunday.
Monday, 2 November 2015
Viaduct Silvers League, Round Three, Sunday 1st November 2015
I firmly believe that the more I fish, the better I fish, so the lack of fishing lately due to working nearly all the time is impacting on my results, just can't get my head into the right place to be competitive. That, and pellets, I bloody hate fishing with soft pellets.......
I wasn't disappointed with my draw, peg 86, not likely to pester the frame places from it, but should be an OK section peg, I intended to keep things simple, but with so much time to set up I did set up an extra rig to fish a 'throwaway' line fed with micro's and softened 4mm's. I set up a waggler as the conditions were so still, two rigs to fish caster at 13m, one with a bulk and two droppers and a double bulk rig, I set up a 0.1g rig to fish under the bush to my RH side, hoping for perch or hybrids. The rig to fish soft pellet had a 4" hooklength and I altered the shotting about from double bulk to spread, and back again during the day.
Glenn Calvert was on 85, so the spare time after setting up was passed chatting to him and Nick Chedzoy who was on 88 came down for a chat, we were all expecting a reasonable days fishing given how mild it had been and the foggy overcast weather this morning. On the all-in I fed 3 balls of GB with caster and a few dead maggots in at 13m, one ball at 6m, this had a pinch of chopped worm in and 1/4 cup of micros and softened 4mm's at 10 o'clock. Starting on the 6m line I was a little concerned not to get a bite, even on a single maggot, I gave that 20 minutes before going out to the 13m line.
The 13m line was not a great deal more productive, a small skimmer came to a worm head, a little roach to a live maggot and nothing at all to dead maggot, looks like I had misjudged the way it was going to fish. I switched to the waggler and had a couple of small skimmers and roach, but this wasn't at all consistent, even though it was absolutely perfect conditions for it, the 2.5lb Maxima line was sinking with a small flick of the tip, the 0.10 hooklength wasn't kinking up as I had a tiny swivel joining it to the reel line, it all seemed perfect, but the fish didn't think so.
What I couldn't ignore any longer was the pin prick bubbles coming up from the pellet line, I hadn't been able to pump my pellets as my Ringers pellet pump had 'thrown' the o ring in the pump, so they were soaked and I had to give them a little squeeze to get them to sink. I immediately got bites, but it was from tiny 'razor blades', skimmers that could only just get a 4mm pellet in there mouths. I could see Nick on 88 was catching regularly, but his fish were small, Glenn had a few smaller fish but i had heard the splash of a bigger skimmer going into his net.
I was getting frustrated by the size of the fish and by the amount of bites I was missing, this led me to come off feeding fish and go looking for a better stamp of fish on caster, but it was a fruitless exercise, the fish only wanted to eat pellet. I went back on the pellet line and tried a hard pellet, banded, but this didn't produce a bite at all - how do they know the difference between a hard and soft pellet without putting it in their mouths??
I was convinced by now that Nick was well ahead and Glenn said he had two better skimmers, whilst the biggest fish I had was a 8oz tench taken on the waggler, if I had my head in the right place i would have stayed fishing pellet, but I still tried to make 'proper' baits work. The edge rig under the bush hadn't moved, in the 3 times I tried it during the match, so back onto the pellet line and more 'blades' and frustration at missed bites. I hadn't hooked a carp on the pole, yet Glenn was being pestered by them, it seems that you need to have carp in the peg to catch the bigger skimmers, as Nick didn't get pestered by carp either and he was catching the same stamp of fish as me.
With 15 minutes to go, I had one last, desperate look under the bush and the float buried, suspecting a perch I was surprised to see a 6oz roach pop up, even more surprised next put in to get one nearer 1lb and two more 6ozers after that. I also bumped two fish there as well.
I was expecting to be well beaten in the section, but was pretty pissed off with myself after the scales went round, Leon won the section on 78, with 12.12, Glenn had 12.09, Nick had just over 11lb and I had just over 10lb, the section win was well within my grasp, my poor decision to not stick at the pellet line had cost me valuable points and an envelope. Nick and Glenn also both caught on pellet, the fish just didn't want anything else it seemed. I do wonder if it would have been better to put the Cary sections of this silvers league onto Spring, giving more anglers the opportunity to catch the bonus big skimmers.
Unless I can sort out soft pellet fishing, I may as well go back on the river, I just get so frustrated at a bait that comes of the bloody hook so often, not so bad if fishing short, but a pain when fishing it at 12m+.
Next up is the Ivy House individual winter league, which starts next Sunday, I have been been warned to expect hard fishing. I don't mind that, I'm looking forward to a pint from Mark Poppleton - he is going to buy me one if I don't blank in at least two of the matches........
I wasn't disappointed with my draw, peg 86, not likely to pester the frame places from it, but should be an OK section peg, I intended to keep things simple, but with so much time to set up I did set up an extra rig to fish a 'throwaway' line fed with micro's and softened 4mm's. I set up a waggler as the conditions were so still, two rigs to fish caster at 13m, one with a bulk and two droppers and a double bulk rig, I set up a 0.1g rig to fish under the bush to my RH side, hoping for perch or hybrids. The rig to fish soft pellet had a 4" hooklength and I altered the shotting about from double bulk to spread, and back again during the day.
Glenn Calvert was on 85, so the spare time after setting up was passed chatting to him and Nick Chedzoy who was on 88 came down for a chat, we were all expecting a reasonable days fishing given how mild it had been and the foggy overcast weather this morning. On the all-in I fed 3 balls of GB with caster and a few dead maggots in at 13m, one ball at 6m, this had a pinch of chopped worm in and 1/4 cup of micros and softened 4mm's at 10 o'clock. Starting on the 6m line I was a little concerned not to get a bite, even on a single maggot, I gave that 20 minutes before going out to the 13m line.
The 13m line was not a great deal more productive, a small skimmer came to a worm head, a little roach to a live maggot and nothing at all to dead maggot, looks like I had misjudged the way it was going to fish. I switched to the waggler and had a couple of small skimmers and roach, but this wasn't at all consistent, even though it was absolutely perfect conditions for it, the 2.5lb Maxima line was sinking with a small flick of the tip, the 0.10 hooklength wasn't kinking up as I had a tiny swivel joining it to the reel line, it all seemed perfect, but the fish didn't think so.
What I couldn't ignore any longer was the pin prick bubbles coming up from the pellet line, I hadn't been able to pump my pellets as my Ringers pellet pump had 'thrown' the o ring in the pump, so they were soaked and I had to give them a little squeeze to get them to sink. I immediately got bites, but it was from tiny 'razor blades', skimmers that could only just get a 4mm pellet in there mouths. I could see Nick on 88 was catching regularly, but his fish were small, Glenn had a few smaller fish but i had heard the splash of a bigger skimmer going into his net.
I was getting frustrated by the size of the fish and by the amount of bites I was missing, this led me to come off feeding fish and go looking for a better stamp of fish on caster, but it was a fruitless exercise, the fish only wanted to eat pellet. I went back on the pellet line and tried a hard pellet, banded, but this didn't produce a bite at all - how do they know the difference between a hard and soft pellet without putting it in their mouths??
I was convinced by now that Nick was well ahead and Glenn said he had two better skimmers, whilst the biggest fish I had was a 8oz tench taken on the waggler, if I had my head in the right place i would have stayed fishing pellet, but I still tried to make 'proper' baits work. The edge rig under the bush hadn't moved, in the 3 times I tried it during the match, so back onto the pellet line and more 'blades' and frustration at missed bites. I hadn't hooked a carp on the pole, yet Glenn was being pestered by them, it seems that you need to have carp in the peg to catch the bigger skimmers, as Nick didn't get pestered by carp either and he was catching the same stamp of fish as me.
With 15 minutes to go, I had one last, desperate look under the bush and the float buried, suspecting a perch I was surprised to see a 6oz roach pop up, even more surprised next put in to get one nearer 1lb and two more 6ozers after that. I also bumped two fish there as well.
I was expecting to be well beaten in the section, but was pretty pissed off with myself after the scales went round, Leon won the section on 78, with 12.12, Glenn had 12.09, Nick had just over 11lb and I had just over 10lb, the section win was well within my grasp, my poor decision to not stick at the pellet line had cost me valuable points and an envelope. Nick and Glenn also both caught on pellet, the fish just didn't want anything else it seemed. I do wonder if it would have been better to put the Cary sections of this silvers league onto Spring, giving more anglers the opportunity to catch the bonus big skimmers.
Unless I can sort out soft pellet fishing, I may as well go back on the river, I just get so frustrated at a bait that comes of the bloody hook so often, not so bad if fishing short, but a pain when fishing it at 12m+.
Next up is the Ivy House individual winter league, which starts next Sunday, I have been been warned to expect hard fishing. I don't mind that, I'm looking forward to a pint from Mark Poppleton - he is going to buy me one if I don't blank in at least two of the matches........
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