Friday 18 November 2016

Viaduct Costcutter, Thursday 17th November 2016

The weather was promising us a soaking today and it was certainly wet loading up the van and driving down, but the rain had stopped by the time I got to Viaduct.  19 fishing today, a reasonable turnout given the forecast, I was second into the draw tin and wasn't exactly jumping for joy when I plucked out 129.  Having drawn it a few Sundays ago and watched 114 catch all day, I was hoping it wasn't a case of groundhog day.

I had brought meat and corn to fish for carp and had some caster and dead maggot in case I drew a decent silvers peg, I decided to fish for carp, as there were plenty of silvers anglers in attendance and on better silvers pegs.  I set up a lead rod, a waggler and 3 topkits, one for up to the spit, another for open water for meat and a rig for dead maggot/caster at 14m.

On the all-in I had a gentle breeze pushing in at me, it was pushing all of the floating leaves in towards me, making things tricky.  I did feed to GB and caster at 14m as Clint had been pestered with carp on 128 during Sundays silver match.  Had a couple of chucks around the peg with bread, but not so much as a liner. After 20 minutes I picked up the waggler and chucked towards 113, after a couple of minutes, the float disappeared and I was into a good fish. After a spirited fight, I netted a double figure fish, not a bad start, next cast I had nothing, by now the wind was swinging round and pushing down the lake.

3rd cast and another carp netted, smaller this time, 4lb or so, I was now thinking it would be a good day, but apart from a missed bite, that was the end of the action for a while, I then had a couple of decent skimmers on the wag and corn. I had fed a few cubes of meat out to the aerator, I had caught on the wag casting to the aerator last time I drew here, today, the only bite was a 1lb+ perch on meat.

131 was drawn, but the angler declined to fish it, his choice but I don't think it helped me, as there were fish showing between 131 and 132, they appeared to move up into all the space, so being the only peg between the spit and the end wasn't such an advantage.

At one point the wind and rain got up, it blew so hard that I half considered putting my pole away, but it didn't last too long and the rain held off for the rest of the match. With half an hour to go I knew I was too far behind to catch up with carp, so out of sheer boredom, I took the 0.12 hooklength (with a 16 hook) off the pole rig and replaced it with a 0.10 and a 18, fishing at 14m I had a few handsize skimmers, but was getting indications and liners from them.  I ended up with 9lb odd of silvers and just over 12lb won the silvers, I am pretty convinced had I fished for them for the whole match I would have bettered that (and had a more enjoyable day).

I didn't get the full results sheet, but this is as reported on Viaduct FB.

Overall
1. Adrian Jeffery - 81lb 11oz - peg 123
2. Peter Bailey - 55lb 4oz - peg 110
3. Chris Rolfe - 51lb 8oz - peg 74
4. Brian Chivers - 48lb 14oz - peg 125

Silvers
1. Mike Jones - 12lb 5oz - peg 127
2. Andy Guard - 12lb 3oz - peg 119

Sunday 13 November 2016

Viaduct Silvers League, Sunday 13th November 2016

I was disappointed to have to miss this series due to work, but I managed to get a place standing in for Clive Barrow in this match.  Lovely drive down, only saw three or four cars the whole journey, why can't driving always be like that!!

Into the tin and out comes 126, can't complain too much about that, might have preferred 69 or 70, but 126 gives a decent chance for a section win and depending how the other lakes fish, a win or frame.

Four topkits and a waggler rod out of the bag, first topkit had a 0.3 Gimp on 0.15 with a 0.10 hooklength and a 18 6313. Next a 0.3 Hillbilly float with a double bulk, 0.10 again this time with a 16 6313. A 0.3g float to fish caster at topkit + 2 again with 0.10 and a 6313 and finally a kit with a 0.1g float to fish either side.  The waggler was on 2.5lb maxima with a 0.10 hooklength and again, a trusty 6313 in 18.

Bait is nice and simple, casters, maggots - dead and alive - pinkies and groundbait.  On the all in two lines fed with GB, both at 14m one with a pinch of worm in, one without.  That was left and I started on the short line, a couple of small roach fell to caster, a couple to maggot but it wasn't exactly frantic sport.

There is nothing else to say about the sort line or the edge lines, as they didn't produce another fish.

I did try the waggler, but only over the 14m lines as I didn't want to feed further out and frustratingly bumped a good fish when the rod hit the tree to my left on the strike. A couple of small roach after that before I binned it and went back on the pole.

Spent the rest of the match alternating between the two 14m lines, topping with GB as necessary and took skimmers on worm, caster and dead maggot - which was the best bait - to put together 20.01 of skimmers which was good enough for a section win and 4th overall.



Wednesday 9 November 2016

Todber Manor Pairs R2, Sunday 6th November 2016

Traveled down with pairs partner Mike Walker, a minor drama before we set off got my van all loaded up and it then wouldn't start, no warnings on the dash, I didn't have time to get the fault code reader out, although it seemed more like a fuel problem than an engimne management issue.

We were working out if we could fit the myriad of kit kit into Mike's Audi after emptying the van out and we had some stuff in, but it wasn't looking good.  I tried the van once again and it started, so we loaded it all back in and set off.

Uneventful run down to Todber and I once again avoided the temptation to explore the well stocked shop.  I drew peg 52 which wasn't the best peg last time round, I was next to Scott Russell for the second match running, he was on 53 which had won the section in the previous round.  When we got to the pegs, which are down an arm on the lake, we weren't too confident as the cold wind was blowing in there.  I set up a method rod and three topkits, one 0.8g AS float on 0.14 with a 0.12 hooklength with a LWG 18 and a band.  A 0.6g AS with the same line and hook, but without a band and a 0.3g HB Chump to fish meat/corn in about 3' of water.

Not too much more to say, nothing on meat or corn in the 3' of water line, a few carp and micro tench at 13m on banded 6mm pellet and a few decent roach short on caster.  Scott was biteless after 2.5 hours and went for a walk, I wandered back to the van to get another fleece, as the wind was bloody cold.  Scott did nick a couple of better fish on the feeder at the end, but I managed to pip him, but it was all to no avail, as we were last and last but one in section. I put 27lb on the scale to Scott's 22lb and the section was won with 55lbish. 

The only hindsight I can apply to today was draw a better peg, given the weather conditions, really not sure that there were too many fish at the end of the arm and we both suffered for it.  That's the end of the series for us as a pair now I should imagine, so fishing the last two rounds as an open for me and Mike.

Avalon Silvers League R4, Saturday 5th November 2016

Nice lazy breakfast at home before setting off, only to find the draw had been put back to 08.30, so ended up being 10 minutes late.  A couple of pegs left in the bag and I plucked out 18, 19 was the end peg and not drawn - yet.

I thought I might have an end peg advantage, but another latecomer turned up on 19, at least I had some open water, so started by setting up a cage feeder, then a waggler rod, before setting up 3 pole rigs, a double bulk rig that remained unused and two rigs with AS floats, one 0.6g and one 0.4g.  As the weather had taken a turn towards winter, I had 0.10 and a 18 6313 on the 0.6g rig and 1.3lb fluorocarbon with a 18 Gamma Green on the light rig.

Bait tray comprised a few micros, caster maggots and pinkies, also a very small amount of worms, I pumped a few devils spawn and mixed some groundbait.  Two lines at 14m, one with a pinch of worms, one without.  A line at 8m and a short caster line, starting on the short caster line I had one roach, but that was to it from there. The 8m pellet line produced one roach all day, so no more about that.  The two 14m lines produced the fish, albeit slowly, but I did have 5 decent skimmers, one on devils spawn, one on worm and 3 on caster, as well as a few smaller skimmers and the odd roach.

With hindsight (as usual) I would have fed one line differently, instead if topping with small jaffas and fishing it out, I should have tried feeding less more often, which isn't usually the way to fish for winter skimmers, but I felt at the end it might have been better. The heavier rig produced more fish and after losing a carp I had converted that to a fluorocarbon hooklength and a 16 Gamma Green, although I don't think it was a major influence on the catch rate.

My fish went 18.04 which was only good enough for 4th in section, but that was 4th in the match and keeps me in touch with Vic who is leading the series with myself in second place.