Ivy House Open, Sunday 24th February 2019

I had been wanting to get back to Ivy House for a while now, especially to get a look at the new lake and the other work that has been going on.  I wasn't bothered which lakes were in, as it turned out, there were 24 fishing, exactly the number of pegs on Heron, the new lake.

A quick look at the lake before the draw and there were odd fish topping and every peg was easily accessible with no issues stopping easy shipping, Andy has even provided an area behind each peg covered in wood chip, to save walking on the bare earth, to set up rollers etc.  I kept meaning to take some pictures, but didn't actually get round to it.

As the lake has been stocked with small carp and F1's, I was going to stick to one simple approach, fish 4mm hard pellet.  I did have a couple of pints of casters, so took it along, but the hard pellet approach was going to be my banker and focus.

Draw time saw me pull out 20, meant nothing to me, but a couple of people suggested it was a decent draw.  I had a pair of waggler rods, set up 3 topkits and as I had time, a pellet feeder.  The waggler rods had 2.5lb maxima on one and I have just started trying the Preston sinking feeder line in 3lb on the other, first couple of matches with it and I am quite impressed with how it fishes, not lets see how it stands up to the rigours of constant casting.  The topkits had a rig to fish banded caster at 2+2 where I could throw them by hand.  another to fish banded pellet hard on the deck at 13m and another with a more strung out rig for the same bait.

I started on the waggler and it soon became obvious that the fish were in quite shallow water, so switched the float to a small Middy Fat boy, this fished about 20" deep.  I had a slow first hour, getting the right waggler and having a look on the 13m pole line, as the waggler was fairly slow.  Round on the other bank, one of the guys had landed 3 decent fish, whilst my fish were 2-3oz apiece.

I had a spell of more bites on the waggler in the 2nd and 3rd hours, but was by now well behind peg 21.  The lake narrows up slightly between 20/21 and the fish seemed to be happier sat slightly further across in 21, whilst my fish were coming and going, giving me spells with far too few indication.

Fourth hour saw things slowing down again and I did have a cast or three with the pellet feeder, I only had one bite on this and it was the best fish of the day for me, a ghostie about 2.5lb.  I had a scrabble round in my bait bag and found a bag with about 1/4 pint of maggots in.  I switched to maggot on the hook and started getting bites again, including some F1's (which are bigger than the carp).

I had a couple more looks over the 11m line and the short caster line, but I didn't have a bite on any pole line, the fish were across by the island and moving around.  My stubborn plan to fish banded pellet was a mistake, I was pegged next to the winner who caught consistently all day, feeding pellet and fish maggot on the hook.  That definitely cost me, as I weighed 33.12, which was 6th on the day and those quiet spells and maybe the chance of a few more F1's on maggot were a lesson to get some local info, as several people said after that maggot has been the best bait on there.  Unusual - in my experience anyway, as new lakes, stocked with new fish are usually pellet dominated for at least a few months.

I'll be back for another go, but it's not something I'd want to do every week, its certainly being developed into a nice fishery, in case anyone hasn't heard, from 1st march there is a new Fishery Pellet Only rule  I can understand its a business, that developing and growing it isn't cheap, luckily its not a venue where huge amounts are needed.

Well done to the framers, its certainly a busy day catching that many fish on the waggler (winner said he had 147 fish on his clicker).

Shiplate Silvers Costcutter, Thursday 21st February 2019

I haven't been to Shiplate since last August, not sure why, as it really is a lovely fishery, well maintained and a great welcome from the owners.  It's obvious that there has been plenty of work going on, with a lot of tree pruning and clearance, the balance between a natural look and the need for a commercial fishery to be angler friendly is being well met here.

Only 9 fishing today, so I am not sure if it is really a match or a knock up?  I would suggest that to really be a match there should be at least double figures fishing and I'd like that to be 20 really.  I guess that there is just too much competition, with the Bathampton matches at Hunstrete, Viaduct, Ivy House and a few other fisheries all within an hours drive hosting Thursday matches, it would be nice to get some decent size matches back on the calendar, as the only way to get this now is to fish leagues and series.

I paid my pools and had a chat with Paul Faiers who had come along, with 10 minutes to draw time I thought it safe to wander off and use the facilities, when I came out, the place was deserted, apart from a smiling Steve (the owner) who had the last ticket in the tub for me, as everyone was there they'd drawn early, peg 10 was left for me.  I wasn't really sure where a good draw was, but nearer the middle is often a decent place to be for silvers on these canal lakes, so not too disappointed and I did have 52lb of silvers off of peg 9 - but that was August 2011, how time flies!!

Roach and skimmers were the likely targets, so I did set up a range of topkits, to rigs to fish for roach, HB Frosties (0.1) with strung out No11's to a 0.09 hooklength and a 20 Gama Green hook, one set at depth and one 6" off bottom.  Another HB Frostie (0.3) to fish a regular bulk and droppers, this with a 0.010 hooklength and a 20 Guru F1 hook, this would do for 3 lines, two down the centre at 10 and 2 o'clock and one across at the bottom of the far shelf.  A lighter NG slim float with the same hook and hooklength and finally a double bulk rig.

The peg plumbed up as being within 2" from the bottom of the near shelf, right across to the bottom of the far shelf, so the rigs would do for all lines with only minor tweaking.  Bait was simple, maggots, pinkies and caster for loose feeding and feeding on the GB line, micros, a few 4mm hard pellets and some expanders to fish the 2 o'clock line, where only pellets would be fed.

On the all in I fed my pellet line, and the 10 o'clock line with two tangerine size balls of GB laced with caster and maggot, one ball on the line right across.  Started on the roach rig fishing caster short, this was a slow start, 4 roach in 15 minutes, so I went out over the pellet line with a 4mm expander, this was instant, but it was a small roach rather than the desired skimmer.  I dropped an expander over the GB line and had a hand sized skimmer, but then couldn't get another bite, I rotated round the lines with a maggot on and had a couple more roach, by now an hour had gone and I had about 1lb in the net.

I refed all the lines and then had another hand sized skimmer over the pellet line, but the bites were few and far between, I tried an expander over the GB line again and had a better skimmer, but nothing was forthcoming after that.  I could see some fish being caught down to my right, but not much off to my left.  I had been feeding the short caster line and looked in on this again, I was getting bites here now and switching from caster to pinkie increased the number of bites, without changing the size of the fish - which were roach 1oz-3oz. I kept the longer lines topped up and had an occasional look over them, but they really weren't productive - I didn't catch at all off the line at the bottom of the far shelf.

I managed to get the fish on the pinkie line to come into topkit range and I even had a bonus chub that must have been nearly 1lb, it wasn't frantic, but steady enough to make it worth staying on, the last hour was a bit torrid, two snapped elastics and a lost rig (double bulk rig, had gone for another look over the GB line with double maggot and immediately hooked a carp).  The carp had certainly woken up and they were actively looking for feed.  Whilst it was a beautiful day to be outside fishing, I wasn't too disappointed to hear the all out after 5 hours, the carp were getting more and more active and I think another hour would have been pretty frustrating.  I wasn't alone, Paul said he had hooked at least 15 carp and a few others were also finding the carp in a hungry mood.

The payout was just two section winners and my 10.14 was enough for a section win and second in the match, beaten by a 13lb, a few more skimmers showed in the pegs to my right.  A lovely day in great countryside and I will make an effort to get to Shiplate a bit more this year.

Not sure how many midweek matches I will get to now, as I am starting a new job next week, after 14 years of shift work and having my weekends disrupted, I am returning to the 'normal' world of Monday-Friday working, at least the series I have missed out on in recent years can get my attention now.

Acorn Costcutter. Tuesday 19th February 2019

Fancied a match today and didn't want to travel too far, so this was the closest and on my second visit this year, I fancied beating my last match fifth place finish.

I was there ridiculously early, apparently its half term, the roads were nigh on deserted, shame the kids aren't on holiday more often....

22 fishing today, so a reasonable turnout for a February Tuesday, I somehow managed to draw a fancied peg, hmmm, this doesn't happen often, pressure on, as peg 9 has thrown up plenty of framing and winning weights.  Luckily, there were a fair few fishing which I didn't know, so none of of the usual banter to create more pressure.  I left the van where it was parked and walked my gear two and a half pegs, proper lazy fishing.

I had put together a Preston 9' Carp Feeder, with a small pellet feeder on it last night, but whilst I got it out of the van and took it to my peg, I couldn't bring myself to take the ties off and assemble it, so it went back in at the end, still strapped up.  Pole it would be then, peg 9 gives you a few options, there is a nice flat area in front of peg 8, the far bank is only 11m away straight across, but as it goes away to the right, you have a decent length  of bank to fish at, the only downside is that there is no farside shelf, it has eroded away all the way along.  I plumbed it very carefully, but just could not find that nice 15-18" of water, that the fish will feed in.  The best I could get was 24-30", so that would have to do.

I set up a dobbing rig to go all along the far bank, initially set 6" off bottom, another to fish banded pellet across (18 LWG on 0.14) and an identical rig with a spade end hook on for pellet or maggot (20 Kaizen on 0.14). The dobbing rig had a Kaizen 16 to 0.14 on, to start on bread.  A catch all rig for down the track, a 0.4 NG Gimp, with a 0.12 hooklength and a 16 Guru F1 maggot hook.  Finally a rig to fish down to the pallet of peg 8, this had a Kaizen 16 to 0.16, in the hope of a bit of action.....

Bait tray was caster, maggot, 4 and 6mm hard pellet, a few micros and some expanders, along with a couple of slices of bread.  I started dobbing bread across, had a couple of indications, but no proper bites, I varied the depth and it was the same, from touching bottom to 15" deep, I did expect to get something on this, but wasn't going to waste too much time on it, so after 25 fruitless minutes, put it back in the roost and picked up the cup.  I fed maggots across at approx. 11 0'clock and micro/4mm at 14m towards the open water, but still close to the farside.

I had a bite over the maggot line and a small roach dropped off, the victim of 12 solid elastic!!  Net drop in a perch the best part of a pound and three quarters was safely netted, then two carp about a pound each.  Then it started, a nightmare that I just couldn't stop - plenty of indications and 'bites' but it was all liners, they all came off, some just shedding the hook, some leaving me with the gift of a shiny scale.  I tried not feeding, drip feeding, dump feeding. this was happening on the maggot and the pellet line, I tried at various depths - bizarrely, coming off the bottom stopped the liners and foulers, but also stopped any indications. I tried another rig, lightly strung out and also bulked all the shot down on the original rig, to no avail.

I was pretty frustrated by now, over an hour gone, fish in the peg, peg 11 had a few over, 11 has a nice shelf, which is where he was catching. I had been feeding a 'throwaway line' caster by hand down the track, I picked up the catch all rig, single flouro maggot on and dropped it in, the float buried and a 3oz roach fell off, I swapped the rig onto one I had sat in the roost with No6 elastic (10 on the original set up) and went back in, looking to catch a few silvers while the carp settled, or  I worked out how to catch then across.

Float eased under in a much slower bite, expecting a silver I lifted into it and a 4lb carp was my reward.  I had a nice hour or so of double feeding about 20/30 casters and then dropping the rig in and within 5-15 minutes getting another carp. Feed too lightly and get liners, too much and the bites dried up. I put about 45lb in the net in 3 hours doing this, with one spell going back over, it was just the same, liners and foulers, except for one F1 one soft pellet.

The last hour was a nailbiter, I thought I had pulled ahead of peg 11, but my fish had disappeared, then he started catching across again, I tried this again, along with my LH edge and up to the pallet of 8 ( I felt this would be no good, as 7 was in and he fed to the pallet of 8 with a big cup, right from the start).

I upped that caster feed down the track and managed 3 more fish in the last 20 minutes, 2 in the last two put ins.  Thankfully my 64.13 was enough to win by just over 2lb...

Viaduct Winter League Round 4, Sunday 17th February 2019

After the last round, when 60% of the field, including me, blanked, today had to be better.  Well you'd have thought so, until I went into the draw tin and pulled out 11 again, the same pegs as last round, this put Mark Broomsgrove on 125, Rich A'Herne on 90, Paul Faiers on 61, Glenn Calvert on 38 and me on 12.

Mark would hopefully get a few silvers on 125, Rich should get some carp up the edge on 90, Paul should catch skimmers and hopefully carp on 61, wasn't sure about Glenn on 38, but I was sure he'd catch, especially when I walked past and was amazed to see how much more colour there was in the water this week .  For me, 12 was going to be a struggle, its in with pegs 6 and 20 as those you don't want to draw on this lake.....

I really wasn't confident of catching a carp, but did set up a waggler for corn and a bomb, to have a chuck round the peg with bread at the start and meat later on.  A silvers waggler and 3 silvers rigs, these being the same rigs s I used last Thursday at Plantation.  I was next to Fred Roberts again, but he was on 13 and had the corner to fish into, so I was sure he'd catch carp.

Not much point rambling on about this match, I had a few on the waggler, but nearly all my fish fell to the light strung out rig fishing pinkie or a single flouro maggot, one perch around the 1lb mark, the rest were roach and rudd from 0.5-1.5oz, just couldn't find any quality.

I beat 10 on the lake to get 11 points from 18 - I can't be too disappointed at that, its the best return of points from that peg so far this league, but it would be nice to get a decent draw next round and catch a few carp.....

Team wise we ended 6th on the day, so really need an outstanding round next time to sneak into the frame.

Team Positions Today:
1. Guru Viaduct - 72
2. Spotted Fin - 70
2. Thatchers Vets - 70
4. Team Amigos - 59
5. PI Thatchers - 56
6. 2nd Time Lucky - 53
7. Moaning Maggots - 52
8. M5 Angling - 49
9. Garbolino BVMG - 46
10. Colmic SW - 45
11. Viaduct All Stars - 43
12. Balti Boys - 42
13. Team Keyford - 41
14. Future Networks - 37
15. Wyvern Anglers - 33
16. Silverfox - 32
17. Fishing Tackle Warehouse - 31
18. PR Floats - 23

Plantation Silvers Open, Thursday 14th February 2019

Third of these matches, unlikely I can make anymore due to work, so had to try and make the most of this opportunity.  Match limited to 16 today, as the lake is a bit of a bugger to peg out, as so many of the pegs interfere with each other.

My dip into the draw tub saw me on peg 3, which is permanent peg 4.  I wasn't disappointed, as it should be good for skimmers and roach.  Three top kits set up, a double bulk rig, a standard bulk and droppers - both these on 0.14 rig line, with 0.10 hooklengths and Guru F1 hooks.  The final rig was a HillBilly Frostie, again on 0.14, this time with a 0.09 hooklength and a 18 Gama Green hook, with strung out shotting.

I did set up a waggler, first time trying the Preston sinking feeder line (3lb) as a waggler line, just looking for a line that sinks quickly, no other reason for trying it.

I plumbed up and settled on 3 lines, two at 14m, 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock and a short line at about 7m.  The 7m line was loose fed with caster, the 10 o'clock 14m line with GB and caster, the 2 o'clock line with micros and a couple of 4mm pellets.  Apart from one tiny roach on 4mm soft pellet, the first half hour was devoid of bites, I finally started to get a couple of small skimmers on the light strung out rig.  The smaller fish had obviously come over the GB, but were sitting off bottom, I tried the double bulk rig and had 4 or 5 skimmers between 6 and 10ozs straight away, that sadly was the end of the easy fishing.

For the rest of the match, I had to keep working the bait and came off bottom to catch a few more, but sadly no quality, wasn't sure what I had in the end, but the scales gave me 19.01, which was not enough to trouble the framers, walking round the lake and looking at the weigh-in, I could see the lack of quality had cost me. It was a nice close match and one where half the field could have, with a couple of better fish or a another run of fish, won it, I enjoy matches like this.

Viaduct Winter League R3, Sunday 3rd February 2019

After the last round team success, we'd been hoping to build on it this round, but the weather was likely to have a say in this, with heavy snow and then a night where the temperatures went down to double figures of minus centigrade in some areas locally.

The van temp gauge was -5° and did briefly drop to -10° near Clutton, so I doubted the carefully prepared wagglers or lead rods would be required.

The lakes were all iced over with a thickness varying from 3/4-1", so I was reasonably happy to be on Match lake, as I was convinced I could get a fish or two from any peg on this lake, talk in the car park before hand, was wanting to avoid peg 38.....

In my experience, the bigger lakes at Viaduct don't respond well to fishing through the ice, as usually at this time of year, the waggler or lead is essential, as the fish rarely venture into the close lines that they avidly feed on in the summer, so there were likely to be a fair few struggle.  After the last round draw I went into the draw tin hopeful and was pretty devastated to see I had plonked myself on 38 - the one peg singled out by quite a few as the peg of doom....  The match lake doesn't quite hold a full section, so two pegs are put on middle and 4 on Spring.  Middle is currently gin clear, as far out as you can see, you can see every leaf and bit of gravel on the bottom.

Rich had 125 - he should catch at least a roach in the last half hour from here, Paul on 90 - not sure, but tried to sound confident for him and encourage him to break out a channel to the end bank, where there would hopefully be a carp.  Glenn on 61 - probably the best draw on the teamsheet, myself on 38 - I would have been off out the car park with wheels spinning had it been an open - and Mark on 12, a waggler peg, so not much hope for him either.

I won't regale details of the match, I set up 3 rigs, all with a 0.08 hooklength and 20 or 22 Gamma green hooks, one just on bottom, one just off and one 6" off bottom. Started on 2 or 3mm punch and a pinch of liquidised bread, swapped to squatt, pinkie, 1/2 a pinkie and at the end switched to caster and pinged a few in with a catapult, but never felt at any time, during the day, there was a fish in the peg.

Really didn't enjoy being sat there, in the 99% certainty that I wouldn't get a bite, Fred on 37 had had one bite against the tree, hooked and lost a carp, but at the end he had the same result as me - DNW.  We were far from alone, 54,  more that half the field failed to weigh in, that's not a fishing match, its a pointless lottery, although it is purely down to the weather - could it have been called off, with hindsight I'd say yes.

The rest of the team faired as expected, Rich catching a couple of fish late to get 10 points, Paul blanking, Glenn weighing 16lb odd of silvers for 17 points and 4th in the Match.  Mark joined me and Paul in the DNW club, all of which put us on 27 points and 12th on the day, one more angler catching would have made a huge difference.  This leaves us in 9th overall and with 2 rounds to go, we need a couple of outstanding results to frame now, shame the weather rather than anglers decisions/ability/mistakes have helped to shape this years league.  When you have some of the quality anglers that failed to catch today, it's a sure thing that it was all weather inflicted.

Here's hoping the next round sees some milder weather!!

Plantation Silvers Open, Thursday 30th January 2019

Another chance to fish this prolific silvers venue, the weather gods were not kind and the van temperature display was gleefully showing -4°C as I set off.  A good tip learnt today, if using the Bridge Inn for breakfast, ask them to swap the sausages for extra bacon, as the sausages aren't the best.

Had a walk round the lake before the draw and the lake was mainly frozen over, I was hoping to draw a peg that was completely frozen, as I am sure the fish prefer to sit under the 'lid' rather than in the unfrozen areas.  A few had cried off because of the weather, so 13 fishing today.

I had brought plenty of caster and waggler rods, the waggler rods weren't likely to be used looking at the thickness of the ice, into the draw bucket and I pulled out 8, which turned out to be permanent peg 19.  I was going to cut out two channels, but as the peg is on a point, I decided that one line straight out in front would be the way to go.  Nice and warm chucking these around...

As there was no point in getting the waggler rods out, I decided on a simple approach, 3 rigs, first one was a 0.1 NG Gimp, with strung out No11 stotz, this was finished off with a 0.09 hooklength and a 20 Gamma Green hook.  The other rigs were a 0.3 float set up with usual bulk and droppers and a double bulk rig - not too much to say about these, as I started on the strung out light rig and stayed on it all day.

On the all in I fed a tangerine sized ball of GB (50/50 Tom Thicks Intelligent and Sonubaits F1 Green) with caster and pinkie in.  Wanting to get a fish of any size to start off, I had a single flouro pinkie on the hook. It took 25 minutes to get a bite and a 8oz skimmer was a nice first fish in the conditions.

Another skimmer shortly after and then a 4lb carp, which wasn't so welcome, but it didn't mess the peg up too much.  I refed after this, as there was obviously fish feeding and I had a little run of 4 skimmers.  This was pretty much the way it panned out for the rest of the day, a couple of fish and then refeed, and a lull, then a couple more, I hooked a couple more carp, one landed and one broke the hook.  What was odd, was that I kept trying caster and fed a caster line a bit shorter, that I never had a bite on a caster, every fish fell to the single flouro pinkie, yet talking to Paul (Faiers) after the match he had caught all his fish on caster.  Given the low temperature and the ice, everyone was surprised that the fish were very responsive to feed, in fact, if you didn't feed regularly, you didn't get bites.

What I had thought would be a tough day, was very enjoyable, a lovely simple days fishing, one rig, one bait and some nice quality skimmers, I had hardly any roach, whereas the other end of the lake they showed.  I didn't have a clue what I had in the net come the all-out, but I was hopeful it would be there or thereabouts.

It wasn't enough to beat match organiser Tony Rixon, who put 32lb on the scales, but my 28lb was enough for second on the day, given the conditions, there were some great weights with 5 over 20lb and everyone except two DNW's in double figures.