Acorn 2 Dayer, Saturday and Monday 29th/31st August 2020

Saturday.

 21 fishing this 2 day event, given the rain and colder temps I brought some maggots, micros and corn, to accompany the usual hard pellets, I also had some paste, as it has been working on here.  

At the draw it was announced the match would on section points and then weight, I tried that with my two dayer on Viaduct and switched it to total weight, as it still gives you something to fish for on day two if you don't score good section points.

I was drawn peg 9, not a peg you'd complain about drawing, as it's the right end and is often in or around the frame.  It's less than 13m across, so a nice easy day, the lake was full right up, so I found about 18" across, not too deep, but enough I hoped to give them a bit of confidence to feed on the shelf.

There was another shelf about 3' deep a bit off the bank and I set another rig up for there. A rig for down the track, a rig for the margin which would do for both sides and a paste rig to fish at the bottom of the near shelf.

I thought I was going to have an easy match, as whilst it took me 15 minutes to get  a bite, but I then started catching reasonably regularly across, toss potting 4mm pellets with a 6mm in the band.  I had purposely not got a catapult out, as I wanted to give the potting a go with my usual resorting to the catty.

After 3 1/2 hours it started to die off, so I did get a catty out and that seemed to revive the peg for another 30 minutes, I had about 120lb or so, I then went an hour without a fish, tried the edge, down the track and back across, all to no avail.  

I switched to paste and this brought a few better fish in the last hour, but I had to sit and wait patiently for a bite, it was far from manic.  At the all out, I knew I was behind several I had seen catching, that penultimate hour was expensive, I ended up 5th, but was beaten by 3 in the section, so that's the end of that then.......

1. Sean Wilson                                    241-10 p38

2. Martin Rayet                                   225-05 p5

3. Mark Walsh                                    199-04 p6  

4. Kevin Perry                                     166-09 p1

5. Chris Fox                                        160-06 p9

6. Craig Chalingsworth                     154-11 p34

Monday.

Only a section to fish for and when I was handed peg 13, I knew it was a waste of a day.  Still there was always the challenge of trying to beat as many of the better pegs in the section as possible and to try and better where the peg finished on the first day (last but one in the section).  Mark Broomsgrove summed it up, "you'd run to that peg......................... in the winter!"

I got it into my head that the RH edge would be good, I could draw fish from the corner.  Also that I'd catch shallow across, if I couldn't catch on the deck.

Plumbing up I found the RH and and across was deeper than I'd like and across there was no mudline, nowhere to pull a pellet up the bank.

I should have brought casters (both days) my reliance on pellets didn't help as plenty of fish were caught on caster over the two days.  I was still shaking my head at Martin Rayet, drawing peg 5 both days, how do some people draw like that????

I haven't got much to say, it was a real struggle, whilst I watched Paul Nichols on 11 catching across on the shallow shelf, I had a 2lber and a 4 ozer across, and 75lb of better fish mainly down the LH edge (it was shallower).  If it had been a normal open, I may well have been wheel spinning out of the car park well before the end.  I managed to match the first day result of the peg and limp it home last but one in the section, as peg 3 was last both days.

Well done to the framers

On the day

1. Martin Rayet                                     215-04 p5

2. Sean Wilson                                     199-14 p33

3. Mark Broomsgrove                           194-11 p6

4. Paul Nichols                                    194-00 p11

5. Lester Grant                                     149-12 p9

6. Mark Walsh                                      129-06 p21

Overall result

1 Sean Wilson 14 points  442-08

2. Martin Rayet 14 points 440-09

3. Mark Walsh  13 points 328-10

Short Pole, Viaduct, Sunday 30th August 2020

 This should have been the final round of Tony Rixon's float only league, but ended up a short pole (top two + three) match.  Travelled down with Tony and stopped in the Brewers Fayre fro breakfast, not a bad breakfast, one tip, if you go in there, get your cutlery and drinks first....

I ended up near the back of the draw queue and plucked out 126, not the best of draws and I would have my work cut out to trouble the frame from there (that's code for another iffy draw 😉 ).

I set up rigs to fish meat and pellets, I did set up an edge rig as I had time, but wasn't convinced it would be worth it, these pegs don't often produce from the margins.I also set up a rig to fish pellets for skimmers.

Started quite negatively toss potting a few 4mm pellets in just trying to catch anything, but not much was happening, I kept at this and had one carp and a couple of skimmers in the first couple of hours, no one around me was catching much and I could see carp coming out on the other bank.

I switched to a shorter line (2+2) and started feeding/fishing meat, this brought a few decent skimmers and a couple of carp, I got off my box and made up some GB, fed that with dead maggots on the 3+2 pellet line and ended up alternating between that and the meat line to keep decent skimmers coming reasonably well, and a beautifully conditioned 15lb common.

It was an enjoyable day topped off by a silvers win, with 42.03, which I think was the best I could have done from that peg, I am pretty sure the peg wasn't worth the 200lb+ needed to make the top 4.

Well done to Neil Mercer, but I would like to borrow his drawing arm!!

Ivy House Open, Sunday 23rd August 2020

 Ivy House run two matches on a Sunday, one on Heron, the newest lake on the complex and one over the two canals.  Heron is a bit of a fish race and the canals more of a sedate affair with carp and silvers featuring in the weights, so my choice is the canals.

Travelled up with Tony, who was making his first visit for a while, the cafe was open again, serving takeaway only, but the crusty breakfast baguettes went down a treat.  Onto the draw and I drew 37, end peg on the old canal (Kingfisher), never drawn down this end and was hopeful of a few fish,

3 baits for the side tray, pellets, maggots and corn, a rig to fish maggots short just up the near slope, I have been trying Des Shipp's F1 maggot floats for this and they are one of the better commercially produced floats I've used. 0.12 and 16Guru F1 hook for this.  Two rigs for down the track one for banded pellet and one for maggots or soft pellet, a Malman Roob for the banded rig and a HillBilly Chump for the maggot rig.  Two rigs for across, one 6" deep and one at 3' which was the shallowest shelf I could find - too deep really.  Finally a rig to fish the RH edge.

Fed the short line with a little ball of GB, two lines down the track with GB/maggots on one line and pellets on the other, then went across to the far side with a banded pellet, toss potting a few in, a couple of indications and then a small F1, it just didn't feel right, so I came off it and spent the next couple of hours rotating around the three lines short, 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock, with the maggot lines being better than the pellet line.  I kept the odd carp and skimmers coming, not hectic, but enough to keep concentrated on the job in hand.

As it was an end peg, I had a look down the margin earlier than I normally would, hooked and lost two foulers, one  of which was a 9lber in the wing, had him in the net once, he jumped out and shortly after the hook pulled. Had a smaller carp after but then the fish moved off again, I was getting bites I couldn't hit on corn - roach maybe?  A 8mm hard pellet was better but it did die off and I switched back to the open water, had some more skimmers, but felt they weren't coming quickly enough to trouble the silvers money.

I started feeding a line at topkit +1 down the edge and went back on my original edge line at 11m, I put a bunch of maggots on and had four better fish for 20lb in quick succession, before the line died off again, I had some swirls on the short edge line and I had a couple of fish from there, before I got all excited and overfed it.... bloody idiot.

I had been feeding 2+2 line straight in front with 6mm pellets and dropped in, I caught fairly steadily for the last 30 minutes, but it was smaller fish, 1lb-2lb.

I might have to change the name of this blog to one out of the money, as thats what I was again, 4th on the lake, 4th in the match with 110.06, beaten for the section money by 8oz and 2.08 for second.  It was a match winning peg and I should have won from it, a combination of trying to push the edge and impatience probably cost me, lesson learnt - I hope so. 

JJL Teams of 5 Invitation Match, Alders Farm. Friday 21st August 2020

 When I came back to coarse fishing after a break, it didn't take me too long to get back into match fishing, I joined a website called Maggotdrowning.com and have remained an active member ever since, somehow ending up becoming a moderator in the process.

Maggotdrowing is a fairly friendly website, whreby advice is offered freely, I will admit, at times, as with any internet based site, the information quality can sometimes vary from 100% spot to somewhat eccentric to say the least, but as long as its not downright dangerous or illegal, we tend to leave it for the members of the site to comment and make a thread go in the right direction.

This year, I threw my hat into the ring for selection to the 5 man team to fish the Joseph James Law Invitation Teams of Five match at Alders Farm, a venue I've never seen.  But with some local info and fishing commercial isn't hugely different I fancied a go.

I must admit, more than half way through the match I was starting to think it was going to be a huge mistake and the van trip computer info of 4 hours 45 minutes driving, 263 miles at an average of 54MPH using 43.3 MPG was all in vain, but thankfully, whilst I didn't cover myself in glory, I didn't have to sneak out with a blanket over me in shame.

The draw was made the night before with teams able to place anglers, I was allocated peg 7 on pines, a decent peg I was told. It has a little spit on the LH side which I was assured that if I kept feeding maggots the fish would turn up at some point.  The next bit of advice was fish maggot or pellet at 2+2 and then a line at 13m, up and down.

I was told a gallon of maggots might be necessary - long time since I fed a gallon of maggots, it would have been on a river for chub.  Keep feeding them to the spit and the fish will turn up was the local advice.

I started at 2+2, I was toss potting pellets and had a indication straight away, then a foul hooker that came off, I could see pegs 9, 10 and 11 catching straight away, they were at the end of the lake with the wind hacking in and I was told peg 10 was the peg.

I had also been told to fish GB on the short line so fed a small ball with some pellets in, to get it to the bottom, this saw the liners stop, but I don't think it was the reason, the fish seemed to move off the short line for all except the previously mentioned windward end pegs.

I was an hour and twenty minutes into the match and blanking, in an open that's frustrating, in a team match its a totally different scenario, you are letting your team down, your ability is in question and it just means redoubling efforts.  I had a couple of things to try that weren't in the team plan/locals advice handbook, method feeder, not so much as a liner, next up, a lead rod with some teabags, fished further out than the method, again, not even a liner.

I have yet to mention it, but it was windy, bloody windy and I was far from convinced that I'd be able to fish at 13m with any sensible presentation, I did venture out to 9m and had a carp that wind assisted, might go 3lb on pellet, that was the only bite.

I then got off my box and put together a ready made waggler, hoping that even though the wind was horrendous, I might get it to present well enough to catch.  One missed bite on this, so it was far from successful, I took the clip off the method rod and ventured as near to the island as I dared, without straying from my peg boundary, that saw another small carp netted, but it was looking grim and I was preparing for a last on lake, if not last in match....

I had kept feeding the edge, as per the info and the bank runners reminders, it was to no avail, I had one bite in the edge and it was a 1.12 perch, the only silver I netted. With 90 minutes to go, I decided that I had to try something else, as the local info wasn't working, the fact every peg was in and the wind was hacking down the lake may have rendered what was good info, almost useless.

I went back on the 2+2 line and started toss potting corn, with corn hair rigged onto the band of the pellet rig, this seemed to be the answer and I started catching, I was hopeful that it could see me claw back a decent section finish and I'm sure I could have had an extra point or two, as the fish I had were 6 - 8lb and I was confident ot get a few more in the last 30 minutes.

Unfortunately there was a cock-up in calling the all out, it was called 30 minutes early, then we were told that was a mistake and then just after told it was the all out, as the other lakes had stopped.  Bit gutted really as I was expecting to put a few lb in the net in that last 30 minutes, as the peg was getting stronger.

When the scales got to me, 45lb was top weight (next peg to my left) and I put 42.08 on, I am sure I had the beating of him had the match lasted the advertised time, but shit happens, it wasn't to be.  the pegs at the end of the lake weighed in 3x what I had, I really don't think my peg was worth that, but may be I should have switched to corn earlier.

The team aim was to finish in the top six, I obviously wanted to win the section (and match, but our lake [pines] came nowhere near the winning weight of 260lb), I achieved the team goal, but felt I could and should have had another point than the 5 I achieved - 12 peg sections)

It was a great day out, well done to the winners Guru, we had a couple of poor draws and finished nearer the bottom than the top, but thanks to Dave who owns/runs magggotdrowning.com, to the members of the site who chipped into to help cover the costs, the bank runners and the locals in the team whose advice would probably have been spot on 99% of the time.

If I get picked to fish again next year, I'll be there in a shot, great day out, many thanks to Joseph James Law for the  sponsorship of the event, the breakfast, the food after the event and the well run match with a great atmosphere.

If there was a downside to the day, it was my stupid bravado at pushing my trolley back up the hill, which any one who has been to Alders will now be mentally viewing with some dread, my dodgy knee is suffering and I can hardly walk, next time I'll need a Caddy......

Barston Masters, Barston, Saturday 15th August 2020

Good drive up, only one slight moment of stress, opening the restaurant door in the clubhouse to see it deserted and kitted out for a wedding - had I messed up and was going to go hungry - no, panic over, breakfast being served in the bar, so that saved me having a magnum from the ice cream fridge in the pro-shop for breakfast.

Nigel and his misses did the rolling draw and I ended up on 71, on the dam end of the lake and a first for me being that far down the lake.

I had come prepared to fish for the small skimmers should it be necessary, after my experience a couple of weeks ago, but.... there were loads of carp moving, so I managed to convince myself that I would need carp to qualify.  The peg is narrow and the footpath is right behind, so I didn't fancy shipping a pole back across the path and then be stressing about the cyclists and walkers, that meant I had the waggler as my main line of attack, with a method and a bomb to fish the same area as the 8mm pellets were landing.

I saw a couple of fish swirl close in, so I did set a margin pole up, to fish the RH edge and to fish at 6m.

Not much more to say, a big mistake, I never had a bite on the waggler, the bomb or the method, the fish disappeared after the start and never came back.  I managed a F1 and a few skimmers on 6mm pellet when I had a look on the pole, the guy to my right fished GB, squatts and maggots to win the section with 43lb, well done, I was completely turned from my plan by the sight of so many carp....

Didn't get a picture of the weighboard, I was in the van before the scales turned up......  No one to blame except myself, should have fished for skimmers from start to finish.

1st Daz Daz Staley  146.8 lb

2nd Adam Rose 115lb

3rd Rob Upex 87.2lb

sections

1 RobUpex   87.2lb

2 DanCoss and Richie Edmunds 50.14lb

3 DarrenCox 55.4lb

4 Steve Beard 62.6

5 Andy Leathers 71lb

6 Dave Boyle 43.6lb

7 Chris Vandervleit 35lb

8 Daz Stayley 146.8 lb

Tony Rixon's Float Only, Landsend, Sunday 2nd August 2020

 Another float only match, in what should have been Tony's league, I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Landsend, I love the peace and quiet of it, no roads nearby, no people walking round, its idyllic as I do like some peace and quiet whilst fishing.  The hate side (and hate isn't really the word, its more frustration) is that I don't feel its managed as well as it could be, the vegetation needs cutting back, so you can fish to islands and to enable getting in close enough in the margins and the fish stocks (particularly silvers) aren't what they once were.

Maybe the new owner, Darts player Gary Anderson will get the gardening done, I hear tales of fish coming in the autumn (and its certainly not the time of year to be stocking) and hopefully it will get back to the fishery it was. 

I drew 36 on Specimen lake I though it might be hard, especially with 35 and 37 in, although, on all the lakes here having too much space can be a hindrance as the fish back off into the gaps.  I was in danger of feeling a bit wobbly on my platform, as I 'don't do heights' and the picture shows that with the water levels low, I was a fair way off the water.

Didn't have more than a couple of water anywhere in the peg, so set up to fish pellet across, expanders and micros 2/3 across and meat short.

Started on meat, but nothing, it took me nigh on three hours to get a fish over, then on the next peg the anglers pole came apart and a fish was towing his top 5 around, managed to hook his elastic and get it out for him - well it was more exciting than the fishing...

I did have 3 carp in twenty minutes across, and then the guy on 37 went home (don't blame him, the pub was tempting me!!) the fish then did what they do and backed off into the vacant peg, I never had another over, I did get 2 F1's and a carp on meat, but by the end my heart and soul wasn't in it.....

Ivy House Open, Saturday 1st August 2020

Back to Ivy house for this open on the canals,  fancied a day fishing for silvers, but it would depend on the draw.  43, I'd have preferred a lower number for skimmers, but there is always a chance of some.

My approach doesn't alter much, two lines down the track, one fed with GB/dead maggots, one with 4mm and micro pellets, a line tight across, a line at the bottom of the near shelf and an edge line.  Fed the lines down the track and the short line, before venturing across at 16m, this was as most pegs, deeper than I'd like and there wasn't much action across.

Some blows on the GB line and switching between this and the short line I managed a few skimmers, but it was slow and I was sure I wasn't catching at a rate fast enough to trouble to silvers payout.  I had been pinging a few pellets across and could see some carp moving around, now the minimum depth has been dropped from 12" to 6" I shallowed up to 6" and went across, had a several fish doing this. before hooking a root and losing the rig, set another rig up, but the moment was lost and I couldn't get the fish back.

I could see to my left that there were some fish being caught at 2+2 on paste, I didn't have any, so with an hour to go stated a line there feeding and fishing 6mm pellet, this was a good move and I should have done it 5 minutes sooner, as I ended up one out of the money and missed out on a lake win by 1.07, shame, but I was happy with the way I fished, just a slight matter of timing.

Looking forward to coming back here, its really enjoyable fishing, Andy and Karen are making Ivy House a fishery that is in my top three to want to visit.