Todber Manor Winter League R2, Sunday 26th January 2020

My turn for Homeground, apparently the peg to draw is 90, so no need to put my kit anywhere near that....

The draw put me on 86, there are two sections on the lake and I was told that 86 was the best peg in the worst section, so even though it was dire in there yesterday and team mate Mark Poppleton had one carp from 85, I was hopeful that with the wind giving a ripple, it would be better today.

I had waggler rods with me, they stayed in the bag, the wind was straight into me, so I wouldn't be able to feed with a catapult.  Two lead rods set up, a bomb and bread and a maggot feeder, three pole rigs, one for 2+2, and two for 14m, one with a band, one without.

On the all-in I started on bomb and bread, gave it a good shot and never had as much as a liner, a quick look on the short pole line after feeding some micros and maggots, one bite one skimmer after an hour of the match had gone.

Time to switch to the maggot feeder, I stayed on this most of the match with a couple of looks on the pole, I had one more skimmer on the short pole and that was it for the pole.  First cast on the feeder, it went round, a good fish, had it under the rod tip when it lunged and snapped the 0.16 hooklength - bugger!!  Shortly after I had another, smaller this time but safely landed, I then hooked another decent fish and after a nervy tussle landed a fish about 10lb, which was hooked in the tail.  I'd normally feel guilty and put it back 😊😊😊, but as I'd lost one I took it as good fortune and put it in the net.

I had another, then a long spell without a bite, I should have changed to a GB feeder or method to try something different, but I must admit I was wet, cold, my fingers weren't working properly and I stayed wrapped in my Gortex and persevered with the maggot feeder, I did get a couple more by chucking along the island and lost another, I felt it wouldn't be enough to beat Mark Wynne on 85, who had 3 or 4 decent bream to go with his carp, his 12lb odd of bream with his carp proved enough by 2oz for the section win, so I took 2nd in section and default section money, as Mark won the silvers.  And peg 90 did win the lake as predicted, well done Ben Hagg, you still have to catch them and with the pressure of expectation.....

Cold and wet (on the outside, the Gortex did its job) it was frustrating to lose out by 2oz, probably my fault for not changing things around, but as a team we did end up equal first on points, dropping to second on weight, so not too bad a days work.

Acorn Winter League R5, Saturday 25th January 2020

Round 5 and I was still in with a chance of getting in the overall frame, so a bit of prep making sure I had hooks and rigs, bait would be simple, bread, maggots and pellets.

As the sections rotate, I knew which one I'd be in this round, the 'middle' section as regards weights, three sections of 7 and one section is way out in front on average weights, then the section I was in today and luckily, the lowest weight section is behind me, having been in it last round.

The drawbag was, quite unusually, feeling benevolent towards me today and I couldn't complain when I drew 40, it's been a good section peg.  I thought I might catch on pellet, so set up a rig to fish banded pellet across, another to fish maggot, this was in approx. 18" of water.  A rig to fish down on the 'second' shelf. this would do for maggot or pellet and another for bread, which I would search the depths with.

Finally two rigs to fish down the track by the bridge, one a standard bulk and one dropper, and a Chianti with strung 11's.  All rigs had size 20 hooks and either 0.14 or 0.12 hook lengths.

Optimistically on the all in I started across on pellet, banded 6mm toss potting 4mm, but after 20 minutes without an indication, switched to maggots.  This brought two fish off the 18" shelf, but no other indications, I had 2 carp and a small F1 fishing on the second shelf, one carp on maggot, one and the F1 on bread.

I then had 2 hours without a bite, trying single maggot, soft pellet and even pinkie on all lines, varying the depths, on the deck and slow falling, not so much as a liner o

r other indication.

Finally the deeper water by the bridge produced a run of fish in the last 90 minutes, no big fish, not hectic action, but enough to put 34.07 on the scales and win the section, so mission accomplished and a reasonable pick-up as this league only pays sections, not overall places in the match.  Had to keep a small drip off feed going in, micros and maggots, to keep bites coming.

I did hook a decent fish right on the death, it went under the bridge and it felt as if it was snagged, it then came free with a jerk and then came off.  Mark Broomsgrove on peg 6 was fishing tight to the other side of the bridge and he told me the fish had gone into his rig and snapped the hook length, I think that's what knocked the hook out.

I'm certainly not knocking Mark, as ever since the fishery has opened, peg 6 has fished to the bridge, but I wonder if that's right? as that is well over halfway to the next peg (40).  It undoubtedly affects peg 40 when peg 6 fishes to the bridge, its not a moan or a complaint, just an observation.

Well done to those in the best section, as the won and framed with good weights for a cold January day, hope it fishes like that next round when I am in it!!!

And here is how the pegs are performing...

Viaduct Winter League, Round 2, Sunday 19th January 2020

Second round and a cold night with a frost capped off a week of rain, with my turn on Campbell, I was hopeful of a few fish with the right draw.  I had decided that the team could take turns in drawing, so this week it was Mark, well I watched as he was first into the tubs, with all the good pegs in and he pulled out some pretty mediocre ones, so I'm not the only jinxed drawer in the team.

Myself on 116, slap bang in the middle of Campbell and not a good winter draw, Paul on 87, can be OK, but not one you'd run to, Glenn on 53, that's not had any form recently, Mark put himself on 1 and Rich on 11 - at least you'd expect some reasonable points fishing for silvers from there and maybe a bonus carp if they venture out from under the tree.

So, 116, used to have a nice short margin under a tree, but the tree is now cut back and the fish don't seem to sit there like they used to.  It has a shelf which drops off to water about 12" or so deeper, hopefully there would be something there.  It was deja vu as I drew 116 last year in this league....

If nothing else it was a lovely, but cold day...

Tried to cover all bases, so set up waggler to fish corn, another to fish caster, two rigs for the margin, one on the shelf and one for down the shelf, a skimmer rig and a rig set up the same, just a heavier hooklength in the optimistic, no, delirious hope that a carp or two might come over the skimmer line.  Two lead rods, one to fish bread/meat corn and another feeder rod with a small cage on - didn't use that.

Not much more to say, I had one 2lb skimmer over the GB on pinkie and a few small roach on caster/waggler, but the silvers weren't really feeding and with the odd carp being caught I had to try and catch one, I failed dismally, as did 124 and 125 opposite me, it really felt like there was nothing in that area, no liners, no indication of any kind.

So a miserable joint last but one on the lake, absolutely no idea what I could have done to catch one - apart from waiting until April.....

Team wise we were helped out big time by Rich winning his section from 11 - great result from there.  Here's hoping for a better draw next round, when I am on Cary.  I'm on 25 hours in this league now without catching a carp, not sure how enjoyable it is anymore....

Viaduct Winter League, Round 1, Sunday 12th January 2020

17 teams of 5, so a decent size league, but it does means there are some pegs in you wouldn't run to....

New format this year with the same lake rotation used, but a free draw on each lake, so nearly impossible for a team to draw the same pegs twice in the league, as happened with the old system.  I drew for the team and put myself on Spring to start, peg 10 - one of those you wouldn't run to, but not the worst draw on the lake. Put Paul on 113, Glenn on 99, Mark on 74 and Richard on 47, none of them too bad, but not the most desirable.

Peg 10 can produce a few skimmers, but it also has an overhanging tree on the island to cast to, which does draw you to it, thinking that at least one carp will be sat there waiting.  I set up a waggler to fish corn, a lead rod to fish to the tree, a feeder to fish well past the pole range and 3 topkits, two for skimmers, one a 0.4g float with a 20 to 0.10 and a 0.5g float with a 16 to 0.10 to lay some line on the deck, as it was pretty windy.  Also a Chianti with strung 11's to see if the roach were feeding.

Fed the skimmer line at 13m (too windy to go further) and started on bread to the tree, had one small liner, could have been anything, tried meat and corn to no avail.  Switched to the skimmer line and that was tough going to, a few roach, but nothing consistent, no skimmers, no quality roach.  Tried the waggler and corn, again no bites or indications.  A shorter caster line for roach didn't work and I was going nowhere fast.

I refed the skimmer line and sat it out with double caster, I did over the next hour get a perch, a hybrid and a decent skimmer, but it never felt like there were many skimmers there over the GB.  I did have one bite, one decent skimmer on the waggler and corn with 45 minutes to go. I knew I needed a carp really, so spent some more time looking for one, that was the wrong decision as I never had one.  Ended up with 9 points and had I fished for silvers all match I would have thought 14 or 15 would have been possible.

Team wise we ended on 49 points for 7th overall, not great, but not a disaster.

Todber Manor Winter League, Round 1, Sunday 5th January 2020

Got to Todber and found Mark Poppleton had sorted out the team draw, putting me on Ash 72, I was advised it was a good area as 74 had won that lake the last three matches.  Every section was going to be a tough one, some good anglers fishing this league and any mistakes would be punished.

Two lead rods set up, one to fish bomb and bread, the other for maggot feeder, a waggler rod and topkits set up to fish banded pellet on one line and maggots on the other, 14m at 10 and 2 o'clock.  I did over optimistically set up a topkit to fish meat short, but never had an indication on that, so that's the last mention of it.

Started across on bread and had a couple of fish before losing a big fish that straightened out a QM1 - foul hooked I suspect, not a hook that usually straightens. A switch to the maggot feeder brought a couple more carp and then it slowed up, further down the lake there were a couple of pegs catching well on the pole, so I switched to that and never had a bite on it, tried pellet and maggot, nothing.

A switch to the waggler and corn saw a few more fish landed, the calm day was not rippling the surface and big carp could be seen cruising up and down the far bank, but they weren't in a feeding mood, managed to get a couple more on bomb and bread in the last hour, although Steve Hutter on 74 managed 4 big lumps in the last hour and cruised to section victory, Sean on 75 had a good last couple of hours fishing to the end bank, so a miserable 4th out of 6.  Probably tried too long to catch on the waggler instead of having the patience to sit on the bomb.

Acorn Winter League Round Four, Saturday 4th January 2020

First match of 2020, bloody hell, 2019 seemed to go by pretty quickly, one advantage will be the summer gets here sooner.

Today's round was back to a open draw and then rotate round the sections again in the final two rounds.  I thought it was probably best to draw in the worst section today and then have the second best and best to come in the penultimate and final rounds and that is exactly what happened, sadly I drew the worst performing peg in the section, peg 21, so I knew I had my work cut out.

21 is next to the bridge and 22 the other side of the bridge has far out performed it, it seems inexplicable that the fish won't come from one side to the other, but no one has managed it yet.  

Peg points and weights so far including today....

No point pussy footing around, a couple of pounds of silvers wasn't going to do any good, so a topkit set up to fish banded pellet across, another to fish soft pellet or maggot in the same depth, two topkits for fishing down the track, by the bridge and off to the right, one with a bulk and a dropper, one Chianti with spread No11's.  And finally, one to fish down to the pallet of 20.

When I plumbed up, I did feel a fish bump into the line, so was hopeful that I might get something across, I went over there on the all in with a banded pellet, had one liner, saw a bow wave and that was it, not another indication over there all match.

It took an hour or so to get a roach in the net, shortly followed by a goldfish that was nigh on a lb.  That didn't herald a catching spree, so it was a matter of rotating all lines and the most productive was against the bridge, where I had 2 perch, a skimmer, another roach and 1 carp.  All on single maggot, on a 20 - I did set up a rig with a 22 to 0.08 and it made no difference at all, I didn't try it too long, if I hooked a carp I wanted to land it.

Well my fish went 9.11 and that was 3rd in section, not sure I could have done much more, the usual pegs threw up the weights, but you still have to catch them, so well done to those who did.  A hard, cold day for many.