Monday 27 August 2018

Tony Rixon's Float Only, Viaduct, Sunday 26th August 2018

Final round of Tony's popular float only league and as I was guesting for someone (no idea who - obviously no one near the top of the league) all I had to worry about was treating it like an open and trying to secure a win.

With the weather forecasters promising rain and more rain for the duration of the match, I did wonder why it had seemed such a good idea to offer my services back in the heatwave.....   I had sorted out my bait on Saturday evening and decided that keeping it simple would be the best plan, so 6mm pellets, 8mm pellets, 8mm meat and in case I drew an edge peg, some GB, dead maggots and worms.  I considered taking paste, but given the forecast I wrote it off, not sure that was the right decision.  I needn't have bothered with the edge bait, I can't believe the draws on this and the previous two matches I have fished on Campbell, 124, 125 and today, back on 124.

I think a fair few people haven't sussed out that the complaining and moaning about the draw is a bit of a parody and nearly always I actually go to the peg with positive thoughts, today I wasn't so positive inside, it's not been a good area for a while and I have no idea why, it was a good area to draw a couple of years back, but 124-126 aren't exactly sought after draws now.

They did used to be really good skimmer pegs and I'm sure the fish will drop back there soon, but even the silvers seem to have upped sticks and moved to the aerator end of the lake, Mike Nicholls who was on 123 did say he thought putting an aerator this end as well might help and I can't help think he isn't too far off the mark

So, onto the fishing, being float only the lead rod(s) that usually get set up and put away again without seeing any action were safely at home in a nice dry garage.  That left a pair of waggler rods to get out of their ready made up rod bag, one set at full depth, one at 18" to start with, these have 4lb sensor, with 0.17 hooklengths and either PR36 or the new version of that both in a 16 with a micro band.

Topkits comprised a power kit with orange Vespe in, for a margin rig, which was really only because I had the time to set it up, I didn't expect to catch down the edge.  A kit with red KND elastic in, to fish meat at 5/6m, another with green KND elastic to fish pellet on the deck at 11m, I also set up a skimmer rig, with a 0.12 hooklength and a 18 LWG with a band, this was matched to Preston 10 solid elastic.  My back has been a bit painful for several weeks now, so no shallow rig, trying not to wave 14/165m of pole around at the moment.

Bait tray was as described above, with one addition, I found a bag of micro pellets in my Mosella trolley bag (great bits of kit, but I have suggested a wet weather improvement to Vic, hopefully it can be designed into a future model), I don't usually feed micros at Viaduct, but did wonder if I could catch a few skimmers. So a few pellets and micros fed onto the 11m line before dropping in on the 5m line looking for the early mug fish. I did have a skimmer and a tench on the meat, but no carp.  I switched to the 11m line with the pellet rig and immediately hooked a 8lb carp - a racing certainty I suppose - managed to land it OK on the 0.12 and went back out, had a couple of skimmers, but it wasn't hectic and no real indications that there were lots of fish there.

A carp that stole the hook of the skimmer rig prompted me to switch to the heavier rig, it didn't seem to make any difference to the numbers of bites, it was a strange day, they wanted some feed, but they seemed to back off the initial feed, then come in over it, I'd catch one and have to feed again before I could catch another.  I did have another carp on this and I thought I had 20lb in the carp net and 14lb in the silvers net when I hooked another carp, I though it was properly hooked at it was reasonably docile and came straight towards me as I shipped back.  It then went ballistic and charged down to the end bank, I had a few sections of pole back through the otter fence and I couldn't get it back in time - so a first for me, broke a Tournament section on a fish, the 'ferrule' section of the No4 section snapped, at the same time the fish came off, so I did get the topset back OK.

I have had Tournaments for 10years now and that's a first for me, but I had a feeling something would go - I have heard other anglers claiming the PTFE nose cones have contributed to breakages, but I don't think this was the case, just the speed of the fish and the carbon being bent at right angles.

I did try the waggler where I had been feed 8mm pellets, I had a couple on it, but lost a few foulers, there were fish out there, couldn't catch the on the shallow wag, I think the lead would have been better, had it been allowed and as predicted, the margins were devoid of fish.

Mike Nicolls on 123 was catching well on paste and came to borrow a net, I had no need of it, so he was welcome to borrow it, I was a little fed up by now, the rain was relentless and the pegs opposite were absolutely emptying it whilst I had to work hard for every bite.  Luckily the short meat line did switch on towards the end, a few carp, another tench and a couple of bream making the last hour the best one.

I put 123lb on the scales, which comprised 25lb silvers, I should probably have fished all match for them, but hadn't really come prepared for that.  I did take the section money with that, I wouldn't have, but  128 on the spit went over the 80lb limit in his first net and was disqualified.  So in the end a better result from the peg than I imagined at the start, but I'll be happy not to draw there on my next visit - although, those do produce better weights in the autumn, the bigger fish seem to reside there before the winter sets in.

Match was won by Dan White, who also took a swim in the lake when his box, complete with him, tipped into the lake, didn't matter, he had it sewn up by then!  Full results on Tony's blog  http://tonyrixon.blogspot.com

Sunday 19 August 2018

Tony Rixon's Float Only, Sedges, Sunday 19th August

Someone pulled out of the league, so I am standing in to fill the space for this and the last round at Viaduct  No need to worry about section points, so hopefully a nice corner peg and fish to win.....

Wasn't overjoyed to draw peg 5, last visit to this fishery was August last year for the same match and I drew peg 4!!   https://maesknollmatchangling.blogspot.com/2017/08/tony-rixons-float-only-sedges-sunday.html

As with last year I didn't think I could win the match from here, but didn't really have the inclination to fish for silvers, especially as Ken on the next peg was going to target them.  I thought I had an empty peg next to me, as peg 4 wasn't occupied, but Dan White turned up late and filled the void.  I set up two wagglers, on full depth and one shallow, doing so I discovered that the bag with all my spare wagglers and 12" hooklengths was still in my garage, not a great start, but at least the rods were ready made up with wagglers on.

Top kits were readied, a paste rig, in lakes this deep I use a Middy paste float with some shot about 18" from the hook, just seems to help when there is any tow.  The next rig was to fish meat, I plumbed this up at 11m, another rig to fish pellet on the deck and a shallow rig.  Finally, not that I expected it to work, a margin rig, but there was not much room either side and it would be a bit of a throwaway line.

Looking at the lake, I did fear that it would follow the pattern it has on other occasions I have fished it, a fish or two in the first hour, a tough 4 middle hours and then a better last hour, with that in mind, I did intend to try and 'force' the peg if it wasn't responding.

Starting on the waggler shallow, I wasn't getting any indications, although there were fishing moving around the top of the lake, I had to switch to the full depth waggler to get any indications and I had one in the tail and one in the mouth for about 17lb between them.

I switched to the pole, I tried paste and pellet, before a piece of 8mm meat accounted for a skimmer of 2.09 - I know that as it was the only accidental silver I had all day!!

Well, my prediction of it being a tough middle of the match was right, I didn't have a bite, Dan on 4 managed a couple shallow on the pole, I tried, but my back was agony trying to hold the pole, so back to the van for some pain killers, even once they had kicked in, I thought it best not to aggravate the injury, so stuck to trying to get he waggler to work, feeding 8mm regularly, hoping they'd go down on the deck.  it wasn't to be.

I had to wait until the last hour for the paste line to come to life, it wasn't hectic and I wasn't catching as many as Dan, but I did up my 17lb to 55lb, including one of 15.06.  Chatting to Dan after he showed me the paste he'd been using, I am not a great believer in fancy flavourings or special pellets, but it was a much richer paste than mine, which is made with soaked Skrettings, Dan had made his from a Spotted Fin betaine GB - food for thought.

I didn't hang around so didn't get the results, had to get home to let the dogs out, I know I was 3rd in section with my 57lb odd, so no good, not sure I expected much else from the peg.  Results will be on Tony Rixons blog.


Saturday 18 August 2018

Ivy House Open, Saturday 18th August 2018

Decided on another trip to Ivy House today, only 13 fishing, Andy had us spread out over the canals, so plenty of room, no idea where I wanted to draw and when I saw 34 staring back at me from the ping pong ball, I was none the wiser.

Allan Oram said it was a good peg for carp, but not such a good silvers peg, I wasn't fussed, just wanted a few bites today, after the dismal day I had on Thursday.  It is the end but one peg on the old canal (Moorhen), so a nice short walk, not that I had much gear, just a pole - typical when Allan walked past and said a Forces match on there in the week had been won on the method!!


So with just a pole to worry about, I set up 5 topkits, one with a small wire stemmed Malman float to fish across in about 2' of water, the only way to get shallower was pull the float up the mud line, this had a 18 LWG on 0.14 and a band.  A rig to fish at the bottom of the far shelf (and the same rig would do to fish from the bottom of the near shelf to the far shelf, as the depth was with 2" all the way across).  A paste rig, as paste has been catching fish on these canals, a margin rig, couldn't get too far down either margin, due to vegetation, but surely a few would come in?  Finally a silvers rig with a 0.12 hooklength and a 16 F1 hook, for maggots or corn to plunder the skimmers.

First put in, I went across and fed 6mm pellets with a catapult and a 6mm in the band, the response was virtually instant and I was attached to a lively 5lb carp, great, fish landed and unhooked, back out expecting a run of them, but it wasn't anywhere near as hectic as I had assumed.

In the next hour I had a couple of small carp (ounces) and 2 more bigger ones up the shelf, as well as one skimmer on corn at the bottom of the far shelf.  I could see a few skimmers coming out, but try as I might I couldn't catch another, I did get a tench up on the shelf and was getting the odd small carp.

I did try a short line I'd been feeding with GB and maggot, but that was no good, maggots were just plundered by tiny roach, even when I tried a heavier rig and bombing the hookbait to the bottom.  I did get one skimmer on them, but it was at the cost of many missed bites and small roach falling off the No10 elastic.

I tried paste and that was useless, one skimmer on it, but there weren't many decent fish over the feed, as the liners were all but non existent.  I had to get some carp and I felt the only way was to go back over to the far side, pellet wasn't selective, as the smaller carp were taking it, although not at a rate where they'd be useful weight builders.  I cupped a pot full of GB over to the far bank and it didn't take long to see evidence of carp turning up and for the last 2 hours, I caught a few between 2 and 8lb, again it wasn't manic or one a chuck, but it was a lot better than it had been.  Best bait was double dendra with the band pulled through them, with just half a dozen pellets and grains of corn in the GB, which needed to go in every third or fourth fish.

I though with my silvers, little carp and proper carp I had about 60lb of proper carp and 12lb or so of little carp and silvers, which by the time the scales got to me - last to weigh in - would be enough for second place, as there had been a ton plus from the other canal.  My weight was a little more than I thought, 75.08, but not far enough out to be worried about and was indeed, good enough to win the lake and 2nd overall.  Well done to Baggy with his 123.06, mostly caught down the margin he tells me and to Allan on a nice net of silvers, with 52lb.


Viaduct Costcutter, Thursday 16th August 2018

Had been moving some stuff around on Wednesday and hurt my back, so dosed up on pain killers I thought it would be a good opportunity to have a real good go with my new waggler rods, as there was no way I would be swinging 16m (or more) of carbon around.

Into the draw tin and out comes 126, not a peg I'd particularly have chosen, but it should be worth a few fish.  If I had come prepared, I might have had a days silvers fishing, but with 8mm pellets, 8mm meat and not too much else, I thought I'd fish the peg positively with the 8mm pellets and see what happened.

Two wagglers set up, both with Middy Fat Boy wagglers, as like many fisheries, the fish here have wised up (most days) to a dumpy pellet waggler, one the smallest size to fish shallow and one a bit bigger to fish full depth. I did set up a meat rig for 5m, a pellet rig at 11m and a margin rig, but with 125 and 127 in, there wasn't much margin to play with.

Gave the meat short 10 minutes hoping for a mug fish, but not so much as a tremor on the bristle.  Out with the waggler and I had 3 fish in the first hour, much of the lake was fishing slow, although there was a couple of as well anglers catching on the opposite bank.

 The next four hours were spent trying all lines and baits, to no avail, I could not get a bite, I tried the depth waggler, the pole short, at 11m, deep and shallow, I have only ever experienced a day like it once or twice at the most, on Cambell.  At 1600, with an hour to go I had another on the waggler, with another 35 minutes later, I was surprised I couldn't even get liners on the waggler, as the guy on the next peg was catching on the lead.  I tipped back about 35lb and was somewhat bemused by the total lack of fish.

On a sour note, I witnessed someone fishing an inline lead and never saw it move on the line once, I wasn't the only one, another of the regulars told me he'd seen someone doing it (different angler than I saw) I think they were both staying in the holiday lodges, no excuses though, Steve went through the rules at the start, including the free running lead one.  Leaves a nasty taste in the mouth when people have to resort to cheating - it didn't do them any good, but that's not the point.

Didn't get the results, I'm sure Matt has posted them on the Viaduct FB page.

Thursday 9 August 2018

Shiplate Costcutter, Thursday 9th August 2018

I was originally heading down to Viaduct today, but needed a match a bit closer and an earlier finish, so when the opportunity came up to travel down to this one with Tony, I took it, Viaduct will have to wait until next Thursday.

First time in the cafĂ© at Shipham for a long time and it wasn't too bad, so fuelled and ready it was off to the fishery.  Only the main lake in today and I drew 13A, so close to where I was on Tony's Float Only a couple of weeks back.

No pics of the peg, not sure why, just getting forgetful I think, maybe it's an effect of fishing these old codgers costcutters!!!  It has a short margin to the RH side, which I did set up a rig for, but not with much hope, as I have never had much success in the margins in my previous few visits to this lake.  An island chuck was tempting, although it is about 45 - 50 yards and the wind, whilst light was pushing away from the island.  So a 8g Drennan pellet waggler which reached the island easily and a middy fat boy for full depth, not quite getting to the island with it, so would see how it went before I decided on what to do with that.

I did have a few method feeders with me, so set one up in case the wind worsened and while I was at it, a straight lead as well.  Finally 4 topkits, the one previously mentioned for the edge, a shallow rig, a full depth pellet rig and a paste rig.  Bait tray was simple, pellets, hemp and paste, 8mm Coppens for pinging to the island and Skrettings for an 11m paste line.

On the all-in I fed the 11m line with a mix of pellets sizes and hemp, then out on the waggler, expecting an early fish or two, the new Tournament waggler rods I bought were casting well and I could get the float tight to the island (new line on the reels after Sunday's breakages) I was somewhat surprised when it didn't go under, I dropped short of the island, still nothing and I had the feeling that it wasn't going to get any better, at least in the near future.

A switch to the 11m line and paste saw a 7-8lb fish in the net, then I hooked a better one, that I had to shout down to the guy on my left as I was unable to stop it heading into his peg, I got it turned and down onto the topkit, virtually in netting range and the hook inexplicably pulled, some choice words and back out, I had two more to complete the first hour with 19lb on the clicker.  The carp bubbles stopped and the fizzing was that which is probably small skimmers, much smaller bubbles and over a large area, rather than the bigger bubbles in circular or a moving pattern that give the carp away.

Back on the waggler, but still no bites, the wind was now pushing the other way - for a while - it was switching direction and strength every few minutes, the heavy waggler wasn't dragging around, but I wasn't convinced it wasn't too heavy, but I wouldn't have got a lighter on out there.

Time to pick up the method, Mike Owens next door was getting a few on the method and I did manage two carp and two skimmers on it, but there were no other indications and the fish I did have came by winding a few turn on from the clip (which was tight to the island) and catching a couple of metres off the island.  I manged another on the pole, but it was slow going and after 2 1/2 hours I had just over 60lb in one net.  the next 2 1/2 hours were spent trying all the lines, starting a new one halfway to the island with the depth waggler, all to no avail, I didn't have  fish in that time.

At 15:30 with an hour to go I had to get up for a wee, I thought Mike Owens was beating me by a long way, so wandered down to see what he was catching, just pellet on the hook and GB/micros on the feeder, nothing different than I'd tried, he said he had 11 carp.  I went back and refed the 11m line and after 10 minutes the bubbles changed, from the regular fizzing, to the individual blows of carp back in the peg, the last 50 minutes of the match saw me putting fish in the net again, 5 of them for 64lb, too little too late as it turned out, as I ended the match with 130lb dead and one out of the money in 4th place.  I switched to feeding hemp and micros once the fish arrived and they seemed to be following the bait down, as several of those last 50 minute fish were hooked as the float settled and then buried.

Going back over this match, I do wonder if it might have paid to keep feeding the island, as I let that slip towards the end and Titch on peg 3 was catching well to it at the end, but I had my own run of fish then, so maybe it was just time of day.


Sunday 5 August 2018

Ivy House Open, Sunday 5th August 2018

Its been a long time since I went to Ivy House, just circumstance and opportunity, not a conscious decision, as I usually enjoy the matches there and have had some reasonable success on the canals and match lake.

35 fishing so one section on the Kingfisher canal and 3 on the match lake,  I had come expecting the match to be on the match lake, so didn't have the bait for the canal, but I would have been happy to draw on the canal, as its plenty of bites and a busy days fishing.  Into the draw tub fairly early and match lake 10 looking back at me, it's the old peg 11, so a nice edge to fish down to where the lakes have been opened back up into one.


I would probably have only set up a pole and concentrated on a couple of lines, but I treated myself to two new Tournament 12' waggler rods yesterday, so ha to set them up and have a go with them, they had a full depth waggler (Middy Fat Boy, great carp wagglers)  and a Preston pellet waggler, 4g.

Topkit were a full depth pellet rig, two margin rigs, one with a band on the hook, one without, a shallow rig and a rig to fish past short just up the shelf (two + two).  The margin plumbed up at just over 2' down to the rushes at 8m, I thought this would be a decent depth, come back a metre closer and the depth was under 12".

I started by cupping in a few pellets down the edge as it looked inviting and going straight over them with a 8mm in the band.  Apart from some 'shit' fish pecking at the pellet, there didn't appear to be any resident carp.  I had also fed the short line and within 10 minutes I dropped in there with paste, that was a good move as first put in I had a fish 6 or 7lb, but it wasn't the start of a run, I had no more bites from here.

Like a kid with a new toy, I had to get out and try the wagglers out, so full depth first, about 10 minutes into fishing that I had another fish around the 7-8lb mark on a 6mm Coppens pellet.  Shortly after I hooked another, slightly bigger and certainly more spirited fish, the fish ran off and then 'came off', although when looking at the end gear, the reel line loop had broken at he bottom where the hooklength was attached.  Strange, as I only set that rod up yesterday and the loop had it's first hooklength on it, so not wear and tear.

A couple of liners and fish evidently up in the water saw me switch to the shallow waggler, no bites until I put a white semi buoyant bandem on, with a No9 stotz on the hooklength to get it to sink.  Hooked a decent fish on this and the line broke above the float, bizarre, I have used this particular line for a while now and never had any issues with it (Daiwa TDR).  I did set the shallow waggler back up, but no more bites on it. So with 2 hours gone I had about 15lb in the net and knew I'd have to get the edge to work to get a decent weight from the peg.

With 2.5 hours gone I switched back to the edge, I had kept a few pellets going in and was determined to catch on them, the nuisance fish were still evident and I had a roach that was probably shy of 3oz on an 8mm pellet.  I had to try and get something working, so I cupped in some GB and maggots, putting maggots, worms or even corn on the hook was a waste of time, double corn was ragged off as well.  By now there were signs of carp in the peg, but they were coming right into the shallow water and completely avoiding all the baits I'd tried.

Off the box, out with another topkit and I rigged it up with one of my favourite shallow margin rigs, a Korum blob and a 12 hook.  This is primarily for paste, but can be used with change baits of bunches of maggots, worms or corn.

I didn't really look back from there on, catching carp in 8-12" of water on big blobs of sloppy paste, it did stop the nuisance fish, I think they were a problem as the margin didn't have carp in all the time, they were coming in (not hard to spot them in water that shallow) either singularly or in twos or threes.  When it was one fish, I could see it either make its way to the bait, then the blob disappear and the water erupt or the fish would sense danger and veer off.  When 2 or three came in, I inevitably caught one of them as he grabbed the bait before his mate, sometimes they wait and I'd go back in and get another straight away.

With 25 minutes to go, I put a 4th carp net in, the kiss of death, I never had another bite, not even a liner, but thankfully my enjoyable 2nd half of the match saw me put 167.12 on the scales for a lake and match win.

Really nice day, must ensure I get back to Ivy House before too long!!





Tony Rixon's Float Only, Shiplate, Sunday 22nd July 2018

Got a place as a stand in on this match, haven't been to Shiplate for a while, its a nice, well run fishery and it's not too far from home, what more could you want.

Into the tub and I wasn't too fussed which lake I drew, it happened to be 14 on the main lake, so some decent sized fish to go at.  Paste had been working, so I was informed, so a bit of paste, some meat and some 8mm pellets were pretty much the bait tray.  Two wagglers set up, longish chuck to the island, so 13' Maver Reactorlites for today, in preference to my usual Normarks.

Shallow rig, paste rig, edge rig and full depth pellet rig completed the top kit selection.  The all-in was called and I started on the shallow waggler, first cast it dipped and fish on, nice... until I got it under the rod tip, ready for netting and the hook pulled, back out and same again except this one was landed, I was now thinking of a lovely day catching on the waggler.

I kept at it for another 40 minutes but even with trying again several times through the day, those two bites in the first two casts were the only ones all day on the waggler, shame as I do enjoy fishing it.

I really struggled for the next 4 hours, not getting a bite anywhere in the peg, apart from a couple of skimmers, the carp certainly would settle.  With under a couple of hours to go, there was some signs (bubbles) where I had been feeding pellets at 11m, I fished the rest of the match on this line catching a few on paste to end up 2nd in the section with 92lb, but a long way off the top weights in the match.

Tricky to write much more on what was a match that saw all the action in the first 10 minutes and last 80 minutes.





Viaduct Open, Saturday 21st July 2018

Only a small match, as it was match lake only, which was fine, I like match lake, although I wasn't so pleased when I drew 44, I still though I'd have a days fishing, but the fish had been coming from the other side.

I'm not going to bore myself, or anyone reading this as this side of the lake looked pretty lifeless, I was struggling to get a bite anywhere in the peg, I could get a waggler to the island perfectly and I kept at it, but it didn't go under, I chucked back about 13lb with 45 minutes to go (and that was more than Colin on 43 had, it really was grim) best bit of the day was a cold beer on the way home!!!

Overall
1. Martin Preston - 148lb 8oz - peg 51
2. Lee Davison - 79lb 4oz - peg 48
3. Adrian Bishop - 76lb 13oz - peg 42
4. Michael Hall - 64lb 6oz - peg 47
5. Ian Driscoll - 61lb 11oz - peg 41
Silvers
1. Shawn Wilson - 30lb 5oz - peg 49
2. Ian Driscoll - 28lb 10oz - peg 41