Acorn Tuesday Tenner, Tuesday 25th October 2016

Traveled down with Tony Rixon today, I must say I was disappointed that after taking him in, like a child refugee (looks about the same age as some of them....) and feeding him, slaking his thirst with orange juice and my best filter coffee, he then drew the current form peg on the lake (5) and proceeded to empty it.  I had the misfortune to be sat behind on 40 which several years ago would have had anyone drawing it running to it, but it hasn't fared well in recent months.  The Tuesday tenner was thirteen quid today, as it was the usual £12 + a quid poppy tax.

Still, it was a dry day, out in the fresh air and maybe the fish would have moved.  Trying to cover most options I set up 4 topkits, one for right across, to fish in about 15" of water, banded hooklength of 0.12 and a 18LWG on that one.  Next rig was a Chianti, to fish in about 2' 6" 0f water on the second shelf. this had a spade end 118 LWG on 0.12 to start with, my thought was to fish micros, devils spawn and maggot on this line.  A rig for down the track and next to the bridge in the deepest water, again a 18 LWG on 0.12.  Finally a margin rig, I found a flattish area just this side of the empty 39 and by the bridge, both about 3' deep, decided to target this depth to start with.

Starting across on the shelf, I did have a fish after 10 minutes and the story of the day started, no matter what I tried I could not break the cycle of having to move lines, sometimes 2 or 3 times before I got another bite.  To cut a long and fairly monotonous story short, I had two F1's short by the bridge, nothing in the RH margin, one fish down the track and the others either up the shelf or tight to the bridge - the float had to be touching the bridge to get a bite, a real pain as the tow was pushing the float and rig away from the bridge.  I would rotate round the lines, then get a bite out of the blue, what never happened, was getting two bites or fish consecutively from the same line.

I did keep myself amused during one particularly barren spell, by feeding caster and pellets to my new friends...... That was by far and away the most frantic feeding in the vicinity of my peg.

Even more frustratingly, my fish were half the size of those that I could see Tony catching, as well as peg 37 and 6.  One of those days when I leave the peg having tried lots of options, being negative, trying a positive line, persisting with one line, trying pellets and maggots, then left feeling slightly bemused as to what I could have done to challenge the framers.

At least I wasn't the latest victim of the strict net limit at this venue, Mike Owens was the unfortunate transgressor this time, his 71lb in a net costing him 3rd place......

Viaduct Open Sunday 23rd October 2016

Had several options today, but chose Viaduct and I took bait to fish for carp and silvers, although I would chose which when I drew, as I felt it was not going to be viable to fish for both.  Only 15 for this one, must be winter, as any summer Sunday match on Campbell would be sold out.

For the second day running I drew a peg I wouldn't have chosen, 129, but there was plenty of space as I only had the amiable Mr Roberts on 131 for company between me and the end bank.  The wind was ripping up the lake and was going to make pole and waggler fishing difficult, but ever hopeful that the wind would abate at some point, I set up a waggler and 3 pole rigs.  A meat rig, one to fish pellet at 14m and a rig to fish to the spit, which had a depth of nearly 2' and I did think that there might be a fish or two to be had from there.

Starting on the lead, I gave it 20 minutes before the brain fade set in and I had to look at a float, the pole was equally ineffective and the wind was making waggler fishing tricky, but but putting an 8mm pellet 4" overdepth it would hold still.  After 3/4 of an hour I had a bite and landed a near 4lb carp, Fred had one at exactly the same time.  I had a couple of liners at the time, but that was it until just before 14.00 when I had a 3lb tench on the waggler.  14.00 was the half way point and Steve Hutter walked up and Fred walked down to my peg, as we were all struggling, whilst 123, 114 and 118 were catching.

Fred and I decided that a halftime coffee and pasty would be good and provide some fresh impetus for the second half of the match, so a stroll up the shop was in order, we weren't alone, we were soon joined by John Bradford and Sean Clayton, both were equally struggling, with Sean being especially frustrated, being next to 114 who was sacking, whilst he struggled.

The second half if the match started well, before I had finished my coffee, the waggler dipped and a beautifully conditioned 10lb common was netted after a spirited tussle, the fish might have been cold and going into winter mode, but still fighting like summer fish.  The spit produced nothing, I had fed maggots sparingly and a couple of cubes of meat, but I don't think there was anything there.

I had fed a meat line at 7m all day and did catch a perch and one carp from it, but the most indications were on the waggler, cast close to the aerator.  I lost two foulers and had a few indications, but these came in spells, the fish seemed to be moving through the peg in small groups and I had 3 more carp during these spells of activity.  I'm not sure if it was a small shoal of carp circling round or if it was carp moving from the shallow water at this end of the lake moving towards the deeper water.

Ended up with 46.05 and was a long, long way from the top 3, not really sure that I could have done much more, maybe fishing the waggler all day, but the wind was making feeding 8mm pellets tricky.

Avalon Silver League R3, Saturday 22nd October 2016

A chilly, foggy morning greeted us for this one, Vic did the usual and asked for  someone to draw him a peg, he wasn't disappointed when he was handed 34 for the second match running, whereas I wasn't overjoyed with my peg, 39,  as I feel an end peg or a gap in the islands is an advantage.

No need to change what usually works - or so I thought - two lines at 14m on which I decided to feed GB and caster and the other line I put worm in.  I didn't bother with the shorter line I had last time with micros and soft pellet - I really haven't got much confidence in it.  I set up two whips, expecting the whip lines to be slower, but to produce fish at some stage during the match.

With no wind and no tow to contend with, I set up two rigs to fish at 14m, both on 0.14, a 0.6g rig with 0.10 and a 16, and a 0.4g rig with 0.08 and a 18 (6313 which is a small 18).  I also had time to set up a margin rig and a double bulk rig which never got picked up.  I didn't bother with a waggler or a cage feeder, given the lack of a gap in the island.

The worm/GB went in on the LH line, the caster /GB on the RH line and casters on the whip line, I spent 20 minutes searching from 12" to full depth on the whip, for one roach and decided that it was going to be a day to sit out on the longer lines for better fish.  It took 20 minutes before the float disappeared and a 3lb bream was safely netted  this was on worm from the LH line. Another 20 minutes, before his mate joined him in the net, this time from the RH line, again on a piece of worm. With an hour gone I topped up the lines and has a decent skimmer and a roach on caster over the RH line.

That was to be it, not another bite from 13.15 until 15.30, I started a new line just toss potting maggot, went to a 22 gamma green and single maggot, still nothing, the peg was seemingly devoid of fish - it obviously wasn't - but I could not work out how to get even the tiniest roach and rudd to feed.

At 15.30 on double caster another bream gave me relief from the concern that I was going to be losing a lot of ground in the league, the another bite next put in and a strange fight,  thought it was a foul hooked big skimmer, the a piece of tail surfaced and and it was black edged - definitely a skimmer - until I carefully eased into netting range and it turned into a 2lb carp, one of the dark ones with a black tail , no orange at all.  I did curse it and call it a name or two......  One more decent skimmer at 16.25 rounded off the match and I knew that spell of 3 hours 20 minutes without a bite had cost me, so it proved, as I think I have slipped to second in the league now, with the 5 bream and a fistful of roach going 10.08.

Acorn Costcutter, Tuesday 18th October 2016

Traveled to the fishery with Tony Rixon, so our usual putting the world to rights chat on the way down. North Westerly wind forecast and I didn't fancy having that blowing straight at me, but there was no need to worry as it never got to more than a gentle breeze all day.

Into the bag of ping pong balls and I emerge with 9.....

Simple today, 4 topkits, one for down the edges in about 15" of water, not 100% convinced the fish would come into that, but the next shelf was nearer 3' and that might be too deep.  A rig to fish banded pellet across in a similar depth which comprised a Malman Yoof and a 16 LWG on 0.14, another rig to fish the 'second' shelf, which was about 2'6", this was a HB Chump with a 0.12 and a 18 LWG with a band and rig for down the track, a new homemade diamond with a carbon stem, this had a 16 LWG on 0.12 to fish maggot.

Starting on the shallow rig across feeding 4mm pellets resulted in a motionless float, so a switch to the deeper rig on the second shelf to search the deeper water brought some indications and a fish. I started to get missed bites and some foulers.  The only way to combat this was to drag the rig slightly up the steep slope (nearer vertical than a slope) back towards the shallow shelf. This resulted in a reasonable run of fish, I had a quiet spell and fished through it , they came back OK.

About halfway through I had another quiet spell and instead of fishing through it, I decided to have a look round the peg, trying the line down the track, this produced a little gold fish, an F1 and then I hooked a decent skimmer that leapt out and off the hook.  That was that, I had fed the LH edge from an hour in and tried that - biteless.  Whilst I had been rotating round these lines I had been feeding across, and went back over it, had another fish about 5lb and that was that, the fish seemed to have gone, no more bites or liners.

Paul Nichols had come and sat behind me for a few minutes and told me there was a shelf at topkit + 1 to my right, fishing in line with peg 5.  I set up a rig for this and fed it for a couple of hours, but never had a bite on it.  My only hope was the RH edge, which I fed at 6 sections of pole where there is a wide shelf.  This never really kicked on, I had some obvious water movement and vortexes, but it appeared to be just 1 or 2 fish at a time coming into the peg - the usual situation when that happens wait and wait for the fish to get to the bait and then it touches the line or something spooks it and it bow waves out of the peg.  I managed 4 and lost one that was just touching double figures from that edge, not at all convinced I got the feeding right so that probably cost me, as I could see that Tony was catching well towards the end, whereas  I had the majority of my weight in the first 3 hours.

I had 3 nets in at the end, but purely in fear of the strict 70lb net limit, as I had stopped two nets at 50lb, although I couldn't remember clicking an 8lber, so think I may have clicked it twice to be on the safe side, as having no tolerance on the net limit is pretty draconian.

The scales gave me 108.09 which was only enough for 3rd on the day and reflection on how I could and should have got more from the margin ant the end.  Dave Wride won from 24 with 144lb and Tony 1 fish behind him from 31 with 141lb.

Todber Manor Pairs Round One, Sunday 9th October 2016

Traveled down to Todber with Pairs partner Mike Walker, first time seeing the new match lakes there for either of us, once again the drop outs reduced what looked like a reasonable attendance down to 12 pairs on the day.  Had a quick look round Todber shop, very well stocked it is too, didn't look too closely or too long as I might have ended up buying something I don't really need......

Two separate draw buckets for today's draw, each pair to decide which bucket each angler was going to draw from, as we had no real information, I dived into the RH bucket and pulled out 45, meant nothing to me, but apparently I would have the wind off my back, which wasn't too bad. This was on Hillview Lake, Mike pulled out 73 on Ash Lake.

I dropped Mike off at his peg and went to find mine, which as promised had the wind off my back and an island to chuck a method....... deep joy!!  Talking of methods, even the staunchest float angler in the SW, Mr Rixon had one set up.

 

I set up a method to fish to the island (if absolutely necessary) and 4 topkits, a AS float 0.6g to fish at 13m, a 0.4 NG gimp to fish at topkit + 2, a shallow rig and a rig to fish down to the unoccupied 44,

I started on the method, but it must have been like watching someone who had only ever picked up a fishing rod in the shop, two casts where I had clipped up, but I felt it was too close to the island ( too shallow) so wound 4 turns of line round the spool and reclipped, Next cast looked spot on, as I lifted the rod to stop and cushion the feeder, only to see it fly past the spot and land on the island.  The clip had come off and that was the end of the hooklength and part of the feeder.  Enough of that nonsense and up the bank with it.

I had 4 and 6mm pellets on the side tray and a couple of pints of casters, I was hoping the casters might tempt the fish to come shallow , so fed them regularly by hand.  I picked up the topkit +2 rig and tried caster on the bottom, this resulted in bites, plenty of them, from perfect, miniature tench, lovely little things, but not much good for weight building.

Out onto the 13m line with a 6mm pellet in the band and feeding 4mm pellets by catapult, this saw the carp start coming, they seem to range from 8oz to a couple of pounds, although I did have one nearly 5lb, but he was a lonesome chap amongst the manic, whirling stockies.

The 13m line consistently produced the 'pasties' and a few looks on the short line produced the odd carp to pellet, but was slower than the long line.  I persevered with this until about 2 o'clock when the angler to my right on 46 started having a run of fish on the method, so I picked mine back up, put a new one on and cast out, somehow this one came off - a real noddy display of method chucking today - so another new one  on and back out.  A couple of fish on pellet, then I changed to a white band-um and this brought a few more fish, but it wasn't quicker than the pole and the fish were no bigger.

I did see a few swirls over my caster line and tried banded caster , I had an enjoyable 15 minutes catching a couple of 1lb skimmers and roach to 10oz shallow, but no carp.  Back onto the 13m line and a concerted effort saw a few more pasties added to the net in the final hour.  My 92.02 was nowhere in the match, bur was enough to be second in section and a welcome pick-up for the third match running.  Mike had a quiet spell during his match and this cost him, so we are about halfway down the table after R1.

Its a great set up at Todber, plenty of bites, but I couldn't fish for those pasty carp week in, week out.  Lesson learnt today, there are big carp in the lake, Tucks won the section and had some right lumps, on meat, which I hadn't taken, believing it to be all small fish.  The other lesson would be not to try and chase bigger fish or quicker fish on other lines, when you are catching steadily, stick with it.

Avalon Silvers League Round 2, Saturday 8th October 2016

I missed the first round, but luckily my old traveling and drinking partner Paul Faiers fished for me and won the match, so going into this round leading the league.

Going into the draw tub I wasn't too fussed where I drew, but end peg 34 would have been nice, that went to fishery owner Vic Bush, as someone drew him first peg.  9 stuck to my hand, it was just in one of the island gaps and I couldn't see any reason why I shouldn't have a few of the venues skimmers and bream.

Trying to cover all bases, I set up a cage feeder and a waggler, they were both put away at the end unused.  3 Topkits, I got 4 out of the bag and was going to set up a rig for down the edge, but decided not to. A 0.6g rig to fish worm at 14m, a 0.4g rig to fish pellet/corn at 7m and a double bulk rig, which only saw the water plumbing up.  Finally, two whips, one at 3m and one at 4m both with little wire stemmed Preston floats on (PB4??)

On the all in I fed 2 balls at 14m to my left and 3 to my right, the RH side having a richer worm/caster mix than the LH side to see what happened.  A small ball of micros at 7m and then onto the whip whilst the lines settled.  I was catching straight away on the whip, but was up and down with the depth trying to find the fish. After half an hour the guy to my right on peg 7 was getting a couple of decent skimmers, so I had an early look over the worm lines, two carp later, I switched to the pellet line, this produced 3 tiny skimmers, no bigger than the whip fish.

I had a couple more looks over the worm lines during the match and kept them topped up, but had no sign of a skimmer. I kept plugging away with the whip line at 3m until about 15.0 when the bites dropped off, by now I was catching 6" deep.  A switch to the 4m whip and increasing the depth to 15" made a difference and the fish started coming again.

The time spent looking for skimmers proved to be costly, as my net of whip caught roach, rudd and perch went 19.01 for second on the day, behind Vic.   Just enough to stay in the lead, but its tight.

Viaduct Costcutter, Thursday 6th October 2016

Just looking at the title of this blog page has me thinking how fast this year seems to be going and today was a reality check that summer is over and the weather is turning, a chill easterly wind blowing across Viaduct today.

Chatting to a few before the draw about fishing for silvers and I said I'd be happy with any peg on Cary, with the exception of 80 and 109, just as well I was trying to get in early for the 2017 all-winners and not fishing for silvers, as two tickets came out of the tin, I dropped one back in and opened the other to reveal 80.

80 is very shallow, all over, even chucking a waggler long saw it stood proud of the water, the same as it did at 5m, I did expect to catch long and with the wind pushing down towards 109, fishing a waggler too far past the spit meant fishing over depth and sinking the line, so reluctantly two lead rods out of the bag, both set up the same, except one with a pellet band on the hook and one with a spike to fish meat.

The waggler was one of the Middy Fat Boys, excellent loaded wagglers that cast well and the various sizes can be swapped without adjusting the shotting, a they all take the same shot, a well thought out range.

I got 3 topkits out, one for a margin rig to fish down to the pallet of 79, which would also do for 14.5m along the spit - this is also the deepest part of the peg!!  As it was the same depth at 5m, I didn't set up a separate meat rig, thinking the margin rig would do.  I also set up a 4x10 homemade float with a carbon stem to fish 6mm pellet at 14.5m as I wasn't convinced I'd last too long watching a tip.....

Starting on the waggler just past the spit saw 15 bite less minutes pass, before I picked up a lead rod, this too was biteless for 10 and I picked up the pole.  A 6mm banded pellet did the trick and first put in the float buried and 14lbs of Cary beast was stretching the elastic, that was to be short lived though and apart from a 1lb skimmer that was that for bites in the next 20 minutes.  Back on the lead and over the next three hours I had a few bites and fish on 8mm pellet, although the wind was making it tricky to get even the oversize Coppens Coarse 8mm's out to where the fish were.

With a couple of hours to go I fed the RH margin and the spit, before trying the 14.5m pellet line again, which gave up another skimmer, the RH margin did not produce a fish, so no more about that, the pellet line gave up another fish, not as big as the first.  I had been throwing meat in all day at 5m and saw signs of fish, including a huge tail, one of the 20's no doubt.  But every time I tried it, the signs of fish disappeared, maybe I should have set up a lighter rig with a bit more line between pole and float, but that's the beauty of hindsight.

First drop in up the spit with 10 maggots saw the float bury and a very angry 14lb common do its best to get round the spit, fortunately the Orange Vespe didn't stretch that far! Next drop in and the float dipped and then slid slowly away, a classic bream bite that turned out to be a 3lb bream.  A switch to double worm and a 16lber joined his 14lb cousin in the net, then a hybrid. Another sharp dip of the float saw another double figure fish hooked, this turned out to be one of the 'waddlers' it didn't run, didn't do much apart from keep some tension in the elastic and waddle its way in.  Frustratingly it waddled itself off the hook and cost me the match, my 156.06 being beaten by 119 who weighed 161.05.  Disappointing to fall short by one fish to qualify for the 2017 All- Winners Final, but it was a decent days fishing which needed some thought to keep them coming.

Ivy House Open, Sunday 2nd October 2016

What a difference a day makes as the song goes, not consecutive days, but a week day to a weekend, 45 minutes steady drive to do the 38 miles to Ivy House today, a big improvement on Tuesdays 2 hours 15!!

16 booked in, all on Match Lake, I really wasn't too fussed where I drew and was happy enough with peg 5, for company I had Calum Craig on peg 4, another one sporting shiny new Colmic kit.  First time for Calum and he was impressed with the breakfast and I tried to give him some advice on the lake, but as it fishes differently everytime I fish it, he was mainly on his own......

One of the locals walked past and commented that my peg did alright yesterday, it might just be a 'thing' of mine, but apart from a few venues, I am never keen to fish a peg that has taken some stick the day before, even more so when silvers can play a big part.

There were some carp moving round out towards the rope that runs down the middle, so I set up a full depth waggler, with 2 No10 down the line.  A lead rod - just because it was in the bag and 4 topkits, which turned into 5, just because I had time.  A rig to fish down the edge, but I couldn't go far along, due to the no gardening rule here and with 4 and 6 in, I wasn't too confident it would come good.  A rig to fish banded pellet on the deck and one for shallow.  A worm rig and the last one was a double bulk rig for worm, as there was time to kill.

As the carp were moving around before the start, I started on the waggler, but after 7 or 8 casts caught the bloody centre rope and lost one of my floats, so that went up the bank in a sulk.  I had decided to fish pellet at 16m as that was further out than 4 & 6 were fishing and nearly as far out as the fish were moving, so that left a line at about 7m, just up the slope for GB/worm.  The 16m pellet line was a waste of time, no bites shallow or on the deck, so onto the worm line, this brought a reasonably instant response and I had 2 small skimmers and 3 bigger ones, before a roach and perch.  The perch was the sign to refeed, but that obviously was a mistake, as I stopped catching on that line.

I picked up the lead rod and chucked it on the 16m line whilst I reset up the waggler with a small pellet waggler, to fish at about 20m or so.  Nothing on the tip whilst the waggler was assembled, so out on the waggler and I searched all depths, but just could not get a bite.

It was fishing hard and I went back in the 16m pole line and had a few indications before a small carp was netted.  Back out and no more indications - surely they weren't all from the one fish!!  I tstarted a new line with micros and had a skimmer and another small carp, this was with a couple of hours to go and I thought I'd sorted where I went wrong, but no, nothing else of this line.  I could see Mark Poppleton on peg 18 packing up and I must admit, had it not been that a good last hour and a half could have seen anyone win, I might have been tempted to do likewise.

 The margin was absolutely devoid of fish, not even a shit fish bite on maggot and rotating round all the lines I finally gave up with about 6 or 7 minutes to go, especially as peg 19 was now catching fishing back into the vacated peg 18.  I chucked the lead out for the last 6 minutes and started dismantling topkits/rigs and bugger me if it didn't go round, another small carp netted, even worse was that Calum told me he had 8 carp all on the lead and he'd fed more than 4 times the bait I had.

I weighed in just because the scales came before I had finished packing up, 3 carp for 11lb odd and 11lb odd of silvers, fair play to those that did, 6 of the 16 didn't weigh, it was a tough day, frustrating that there were fish in the peg, but I just could not catch them - how do I learn the patience to sit on the lead?  There are days for all its detractors, of whom,  I readily admit I'm one, that it seems to work.