Viaduct Open 22nd June 2019

Just a small match today, not more than a knock up in reality, with 12 on the Match Lake.  I fancied it for a few bites, as this lake is one where you can usually work at it and catch off a few different lines.

Into the draw tin and 51 was my reward, I don't draw that side often and it has often been the better side for F1's on the occasions I have fished this lake, so not too disappointed with the draw, although with Ben Hagg on 40 with a bit of room, I wasn't going to bet against him.

I was still wary of setting up too long a pole after last weeks agony and it wasn't much better, but smothered by pain killers, I did get 14m out, if I could get regular bites at that length it wouldn't be too bad, its sat holding it waiting ages for a bite which hurts, not the shipping in and out.  I was hoping to catch at 5 and 7 joints though.  Also set up a feeder and a waggler, expecting to catch on both to the island, even more so when I played a fish all the way back from the island, whilst clipping up the waggler, before it came off - solid!! and several let me know.

Before the start had a chat with Ben and he was telling about how he'd been round the lake in the boat and found some hard spots, one in my peg at 16m - well he might as well have said it was on the moon, I wasn't getting that section out -  especially for a 12 pegger.

Started on the waggler and had a disastrous wind knot at the reel on the second cast, I tried unpicking it, but no chance, so had to set that up again. It took 40 minutes before I had a fish on it, a 2lb F1, I had started by not feeding anything, but the pinged the odd 6mm Burts feed pellet across, but no more bites forthcoming.  I tried the feeder, with just micros, micros and GB, finally just GB, to no avail, not a bite.

It was fishing hard, I tried the pole at 7 joints, fishing Burts sweet F1soft hookers  over micros, this brought some bites, but it was 1-2oz skimmers, no point, not going anywhere with them.  Ben was catching odd fish at 16m alternating between slapping and on the deck, so I ventured out to 14m and had an F1 straight away, then a decent skimmer, but that was it, no more bites.  Back on the waggler and another carp, but the wind was making it tricky and I ended up losing a float - I hate doing that.

I ended up fishing 6mm meat for the last hour and had another carp and F1, along with a few skimmers, that's the hardest I have known that lake fish, it was tough going.  It was frustrating watching Jack on 47 landing small carp or F1's and putting them straight back as he was fishing for silvers, he should have framed!

One more fish, or maybe getting that 16m section out might have propelled me from 5th to 3rd but I don't think I could have beaten Ben's 60lb on the day or the 40lb that was 2nd, the methods I was banking on just did not work.  Fair play to him.  Maybe with hindsight I should have fished for silvers, the skimmers wouldn't settle on the bottom, but they were catchable had I targeted them, still couldn't see the point on that peg or on a 12 pegger.

Viaduct Spring League Final Round, Sunday 16th June 2019

It still seems a little strange for the Glorious 16th to be just another day in the match calendar, it used to have real meaning and resonance for myself and many other anglers.

So, after yesterdays aborted match and severe back pain, I was wondering if I would make today, I had dosed myself up with Codeine and Tramadol, more than the label said and whilst the pain was still there, the pain killers made it bearable.  I decided that I would just take my margin pole, waggler and lead rods and make that work, no way could I be holding a long pole.

The draw was kind to me, in giving me a peg sheltered from the wind, in 128, the spit and its heavy arboreal growth sheltering me from the wind ripping down the lake.  In all honesty, the peg could do with a bit of trimming, as the margin brambles, the willow and the general weed growth along the spit all interfere with the peg to some extent, especially in my case, as the end of the spit is not reachable with rod and line due to the willow trees.

So, a simple set up, one waggler rod, one lead rod and my trusty Multi Margin, 5 topkits, a paste rig, a rig to fish meat at 5m, one to fish banded pellet at 7m and a couple of margin rigs to fish along to the trees and if my back would cope, the final section to go to 8m and fish against the spit.

Starting on 8mm meat at 5m I had two carp for about 12lb and a skimmer in the first 30 minutes, but no other signs.  Out to the 7m pellet line, which I didn't feed until I started on it, feeding plain feed pellets I had a skimmer, then a 5lb carp, but again, this died off, I feel this is when I should have gone long and maybe fished shallow, as there were fish out there.

I tried the waggler, but even with 12" of line on the bottom with a 8mm pellet on, it was being dragged through by the surface skim, I couldn't find any trip going back the other way,  so I even resorted to the dreaded lead and got photographic evidence....

The tip didn't move, if I am honest, I didn't really expect it to, the fish don't seem to be getting there heads down and feeding properly, no fizzing anywhere in the peg today, even when I dump potted micros to try paste over.

Glynn Reynolds had said I'd catch in front of the bush, I never had a bite there all match, so on with the last section of pole and out to the spit, potting in a few 8mm Burts Polony Pellets in.  Instant response and I had 3 fish in fairly quick succession on the Polony pellets, but that was it, no more signs.  I wasn't going to put GB or maggots in because of the depth, but decided to put one small ball in. Dropping straight after with 5 dead maggots on the hook, the float buried and after a very brief tussle an old warrior about 14lb was netted.

The maggots (and trying worms) only produced perch, roach and skimmers after that, I persevered for a short spell, but felt there weren't any carp there.  I switched back to feeding the 8mm Polony pellets and had a look back on the 7m pellet line in open water, one lost fouler and a couple of liners later, I looked back to the spit, first drop in I hooked a fish that was in the brambles before I could react, a small fish no doubt, they are the worst for running into snags, the bigger ones don't do it, lost the complete rig, hate doing that!

I did hook one more fish against the spit and was holding the pole bent nearly double as the fish tried to get to the brambles and in end I wondered what would break first if the fish didn't turn, the 0.18 hooklength was the victim, at least I got the float back and didn't leave line trailing, which I hate doing, even when its totally accidental.

The last 40 minutes were really enjoyable, the better fish rocked up on the 5m line, first time they have done so for a while and I ended the day with a touch over 102lb.  No good in section, well done to Jeb the other side of the spit who had 200lb+, I wonder if the fish had moved round the spit into the wind.  Bit of a battle with Paul Elms on the next peg, as a few weeks ago he battered me, he did beat me again, but by just 5lb, so those lost fish cost me the head to head with him.

19 tons today, so the fishing is getting back on track, I managed 18th out of 54, nothing to shout about, but in a drug (prescribed) induced euphoria and a self imposed 8m limit, not as bad as it could have been.

Top Weights of Today:
1. Clayton Hudson - 202lb 3oz - peg 81
2. Jeb Attwood - 201lb 1oz - peg 129
3. Steve Chant - 168lb 5oz - peg 64
4. Ron Hardiman - 155lb - peg 66
5. Aidan Bordiuk - 152lb - peg 111
6. Dan Hook - 146lb 4oz - peg 115
7. Leon Hubbard - 137lb 3oz - peg 88
8. Steve Shaw - 133lb 6oz - peg 135
9. Phil Hardwick - 126lb - peg 110
10. Nick Ewers - 124lb - peg 62
11. Richard A’Herne - 120lb 8oz - peg 131
12. Clint Wojtyla - 120lb 7oz - peg 114
13. Rob Wiltshire - 115lb 5oz - peg 113
14. Nick Chedzoy - 114lb 14oz - peg 121
15. Roy Worth - 109lb 2oz - peg 85
16. Paul Elmes - 107lb - peg 127
17. Sam Powell - 104lb 12oz - peg 119
18. Chris Fox - 102lb 5oz - peg 128
19. Bela Bakos - 100lb 3oz - peg 123
20. Lee Pesticcio - 90lb 5oz - peg 130

Acorn League, Saturday 15th June 2019

This will be short and sweet.  Went to Acorn as a stand-in today, I drew 31 which had won the section last time, I wasn't sure which peg it was so checked, as it hasn't got a pallet, this means an extra section of pole and it pretty much rules out the margins.

It started slowly for me and I was struggling to hold 14.5m of pole, as my back was bloody agony, it got worse and worse and I just couldn't concentrate, I didn't have any pain killers, so with just under 3 hours gone, I decided I would have to pack up and go home, not something I do lightly, but I couldn't concentrate.

Apologies to those involved, I certainly don't make a habit of it and it was a shame to see some negative comments about me giving Callum Dicks extra space by going, before anyone asked the reason why.

Viaduct Spring League R4, Sunday 2nd June 2019

I usually try and get in right at the start of the draw, but decided to hang back to near the end today, so see if it would change my luck, pulling out 109 left me feeling maybe it wasn't one of my better ideas.  It can be a decent section peg and I have won the section from it before, so there was that to go for, as I felt it very unlikely the peg was capable of framing.

Given the last couple of matches the section has been won with 50 odd and 60 odd pounds, I did think that would be achievable.  Short walk, so plenty of time to set up a waggler, a lead, topkits for pellet on the deck, pellet shallow, a meat rig and a soft pellet rig. Finally, two margin rigs, one for the edge off to my left and one for the much shallower edge to the right.

Usual start on Viaduct, meat short, it hasn't paid off this for me, but can throw up an early big fish, not today, two decent skimmers in 15 minutes and that was that. I fished the waggler out to the trees in the water, no bites or indications, although there was an odd fish moving.  First look up the edge with Burts Polony pellets saw a 5lb carp netted, hopeful of a few I persevered for another 20 minutes with no indications.

I switched from 8mm feed pellets on the waggler to 6mm and had a 9lber straight away, then shortly after a 6lber, I was getting odd liners and signs that fish were around, but no more proper bites.  A switch to the long pole and pinging pellets brought 2 more carp, before that line also died off.  Another up the edge on Polony pellets, but it was a 2lb stockie, nice to see, but it seemed to be a loner.

The above was in the first 2 hours 15 minutes, with 2 hours to go and no bites since that 2 hour 15 mark, I fed some Tigerfish GB into the edge, a small perch and a 2lb tench took a liking to the double worm, bit nothing else, then out of the blue after rotating round my waggler, long pole and even a lead line further out towards the end of the tree you fish from 74, a 13lber from the edge over the Tigerfish GB, I had 51lb on my clicker and about 5lb silvers.  It was if the fish had moved out of the peg as all indications and signs of fish stopped when the bites dried up, they seemed to want to be further up the lake near the aerator.

 Unfortunately 109 is the last peg to weigh, so I had packed up and wandered up to see the rest of the section weigh in.  Well my initial thoughts of 70lb being a section winning weight were soon proven to be wrong, as the first two in the section had weighed 801, 101 and with more to come, I went back, chucked back and headed home, as I was going to last in section, so it would no effect on anyones  points.  Well done to those who caught and to Gary, winning off 66, which whilst is one of the pegs you'd be happy to draw, its not had great form since the tree was pruned back.

Quite surprised to see me 27th out of 54 after a DNW, still last round and nothing to fish for except pride.

Acorn Saturday League, Saturday 1st June 2019

Back to Acorn as a stand in for someone on this league, I was not at all disappointed to dip into the ping pong bag and pull out 11, a decent draw and a decent section peg.  My mild euphoria was to be short lived, the dreaded "come back, redraw" was being shouted, as Kev Perry the last to draw found the bag empty.  I wouldn't expect my drawing arm to perform twice in a month, let alone twice in a day!!  And so it proved, peg 1 was to be my home for the day, not a great peg in the section and it hasn't had much form lately.

I'm not going to run through the blow by blow account, I struggled for bites, it was nearly an hour before I had a fish, the line across, where I'd been round and cleared out a lovely little bay to get in tight, was seemingly devoid of fish, except when there wasn't a pole there.  Remove the pole and an odd fish would rock up, but as there was no competition for feed, it was a long wait for a bite.

The margins were similarly devoid of fish, I had Paul, who had won on Thursday to my right on 34, he was similarly struggling and Kev Perry on 33 was finding it tougher than we were.  I did put some micros in and fished Burt Baits Sweet F1 expanders over them, this brought an odd F1 (or are they Carassios?), some decent roach and skimmers, but it was too slow and the fish weren't a decent stamp.

I ended the day with 48lb and last in section, cloud of dust out of the car park and home for the football, which wasn't much more entertaining... so back to the having no idea of why I couldn't catch.

Acorn Thursday Evening Open, Thursday 30th May 2019

Back for another go at this 3 hour match, nothing too technical to write about as I tend to keep it simple with just a couple of rigs and pellets on my tray, although with the way things have been, I did have a few worms as back up.

Into the ping pong bag and out comes 21, not unhappy with it, as I won from it the last time I drew it.  It hasn't had too much form lately but usually holds a few fish, but the match is a tale of two decisions that were erroneous and definitely cost me picking up some coin.

Two rigs, one for across tight into the corner of the bridge, where there is a nice little shelf.  I always go and clear out the far bank line and get rid of loose fronds etc.  Well tonight it looked clear so I didn't bother.  I started off catching well, pinging 6mm feed pellets, a small stamp, but at least there were fish coming to the net, the size gradually increased, but so did the amount of times the trailing vegetation in the water prevented the rig settling or caught it when lifting out.

So, I tried using my neat little weed cutter that I bought from Lee Murphy, but it was a little too much for that, so off the box, onto the bridge and clear the weed.  Not surprisingly the bites tailed of a little - a rooky mistake.

I had been feeding pellets down the edge, RH side and some fish were coming in, but not wanting to take a pellet on the hook, I persevered, but only had one, I finally got off my box and mixed up some Tigerfish GB and put this in, fishing worm over the top.  This saw me catch virtually straight away, but the damage was done, you can't afford to mess about in 3 hour matches, I was one fish off 3rd place and really should have been second, not sure I could have beaten Paul's ton, well done to him. Even though I was out of the money, it was some relief to at least be able to look back on the match and evaluate where I went wrong, unlike some matches recently where I have been at a loss to explain what has been wrong.