It seemed like a good idea to have a bash at this lake, an opportunity to give the carp bashing a rest, it was either that, the Huntspill or Cider Farm. I drew peg 39, Steve Long told me that pleasure anglers were catching skimmers on paste the day before. I hadn't taken any paste, I knocked up some before the off. I needen't have bothered, I didn't get a bite on it.
My main approach was to be groundbait, with caster and softened pellet fed with it. I started off at 14m with a Malman winter wires 4 x 12, 0.11 mainline and a 0.10 hooklength and a 20 808. Single maggot took me four decent skimmers in the first 40 minutes, with a few smaller cousins as well, then it slowed down, the wind got up and was blowing directly from my left to right, this was making presentation difficult.
I started a new line at 12.5m at 2 0'clock as with the wind, this gave better presentation, but never had a bite on it, I put chopped worm in on this line, which they obviously didn't like...
I had a couple of small carp from the margins on double maggot and lost a decnt fish after the hook came off, leaving a curly pig tail on the end of the hooklength. This has happened a couple of times now, I've got hold of one of the Sensas Perotti hook tyers and I can only blame this. It works the same as the Drennan tyer, which I have always used with no problems.
The lake was fishing hard for everyone I could see, except Tony Rixon and Paul Elmes who were getting odd fish and thankfully I couldn't see Dean fishing the feeder. The last hour was a bit better and I added a few more skimmers to the net to give me 14.12 of silvers and a pick up, getting the silvers money by double default. My 5 carp went 7lb is for a 21.02 total.
Top three all sat next to each other
1) Dean Malin 56.07 peg 45
2) Tony Rixon 36.04 peg 44
3) Paul Elmes 25.02 peg 43
4) Leon Hubbard 24.03 peg 51
5) Jason Radford 22.03 peg 52
6) Adrian Jeffery 22.01 peg 47
Silvers
1) Tony Rixon 21.12
2) Dean Malin 15.10
3) Chris Fox 14.12
Monday, 26 July 2010
Counselling needed after Trinty nightmare..
I was looking for a match on Saturday 24th July and happened to hear that Leighton Palmer was organising one at Trinity, I got booked in and anticipated a few fish.
It seems that Mr Anonymous has put a curse on my fishing, I've struggled to catch since his kind comments. I walked the lake with Leighton and we pegged it out, the draw bag gave me peg 10, I wasn't too disappointed, although 14 or 15 would have been my preferred choice.
I set up two pellet wagglers, two identical shallow rigs on the pole, a paste rig and a margin rig. The main approach was to fish shallow, I lost a fish first put in on the waggler, then had one around 4lb, then that was it, nothing apart from the odd roach. Leighton on peg 11 had a couple of carp on paste, so I tried dropping in over the feed I'd put in at 12m. I had some fish on paste, but could hear constant splasing from the pegs to my right - some one was catching on ..... the method feeder...... Bob Sheppard was catching on pellet at depth on 13, but the noise of the feeder and the subsequent landing of fish would not go away.
I couldn't emulate what was happening, as I don't take a feeder rod to Trinity, I've never fished the method any way, this looked like being the first ever match I've fished at Trinity that was won by someone fishing the feeder.
I tipped back about 40lb, as I knew I wasn't in line for a pick up, so unusual for the fish not to have go up in the water on this venue.
The match was won with 90lb+ from peg 7 on the method, sorry I didn't get the gents name, there was an 80lb+, a couple of 50lb+ weights as well, so it didn't fish too bad, just very different to the norm.
It seems that Mr Anonymous has put a curse on my fishing, I've struggled to catch since his kind comments. I walked the lake with Leighton and we pegged it out, the draw bag gave me peg 10, I wasn't too disappointed, although 14 or 15 would have been my preferred choice.
I set up two pellet wagglers, two identical shallow rigs on the pole, a paste rig and a margin rig. The main approach was to fish shallow, I lost a fish first put in on the waggler, then had one around 4lb, then that was it, nothing apart from the odd roach. Leighton on peg 11 had a couple of carp on paste, so I tried dropping in over the feed I'd put in at 12m. I had some fish on paste, but could hear constant splasing from the pegs to my right - some one was catching on ..... the method feeder...... Bob Sheppard was catching on pellet at depth on 13, but the noise of the feeder and the subsequent landing of fish would not go away.
I couldn't emulate what was happening, as I don't take a feeder rod to Trinity, I've never fished the method any way, this looked like being the first ever match I've fished at Trinity that was won by someone fishing the feeder.
I tipped back about 40lb, as I knew I wasn't in line for a pick up, so unusual for the fish not to have go up in the water on this venue.
The match was won with 90lb+ from peg 7 on the method, sorry I didn't get the gents name, there was an 80lb+, a couple of 50lb+ weights as well, so it didn't fish too bad, just very different to the norm.
Friday, 23 July 2010
Viaduct Costcutter. 22nd July 2010
My Viaduct roll came to an abrupt end in this match, I drew 96, with Alan Oram on 97, so I hoped to pick his brains a bit. The Thursday learning curve and experimentation just ended with me puzzled - not the idea at all.
I started on the pellet waggler, as did Alan, I was pretty quickly convinced it was a non starter, Alan quickly switched to the lead, I dropped in on my pole line and had a 10lb fish straight away on the paste rig.
I'd set up a lead rod, pellet waggler and a couple of pole rigs, one paste rig and a shallow rig, another to try the RH margin.
Theres no point in writing loads of waffle, I never had a bite on the lead, nor the waggler, either shallow or at depth. My peg was fizzing like mad on the 12m line and I did set up another rig to if I could catch on soft pellet, I could and it was skimmers that were fizzing. I wasn't really geared up or in the frame of mind to fish for skimmers, I reckon one the silvers experts would have done a good weight of them from this peg, but I wanted to catch carp.
On 97 Alan took a couple of fish on the lead, then switched to the pole and caught regularly, whilst I couldn't get a bite on paste, a battering looked likely snfd so it turned out. With 20 minutes to go, my paste line came alive and I had a fish every put in, an hour or so too late.....
I knew I couldn't get near the framers, so tipped back my tench and skimmers which went about 8lb and my carp which were close to 50lb - too little, too late.
I haven't yet worked out why Alan caught and I didn't, but the lake was patchy, with a fair few others struggling. Although not Josh Garrett on 81, he weighed 203.02 to win, but was lucky to keep one of his rods - should you leave them in whilst peeing....!!! (Thanks to Alan Oram for pointing the mad scamble from pee positon to rod rescue....)
If you took the top three results away, it would have been a close match, the fish seemed shoaled up and reluctant to move.
1) Josh Garrett 203.02 peg 80
2) Alan Oram 126.13 peg 97
3) Kevin Newman 113.11 peg 88
4) L Ware 77.12 peg 100
5) B Guvers 63.14 peg 74
6) Martin Lenaghan 62.03 peg 105
Silvers
1) Steve Long 49.02 peg 78
2) Andy Power 27.13 peg 94
3) Charlie Barnes 14.09 peg 102
I started on the pellet waggler, as did Alan, I was pretty quickly convinced it was a non starter, Alan quickly switched to the lead, I dropped in on my pole line and had a 10lb fish straight away on the paste rig.
I'd set up a lead rod, pellet waggler and a couple of pole rigs, one paste rig and a shallow rig, another to try the RH margin.
Theres no point in writing loads of waffle, I never had a bite on the lead, nor the waggler, either shallow or at depth. My peg was fizzing like mad on the 12m line and I did set up another rig to if I could catch on soft pellet, I could and it was skimmers that were fizzing. I wasn't really geared up or in the frame of mind to fish for skimmers, I reckon one the silvers experts would have done a good weight of them from this peg, but I wanted to catch carp.
On 97 Alan took a couple of fish on the lead, then switched to the pole and caught regularly, whilst I couldn't get a bite on paste, a battering looked likely snfd so it turned out. With 20 minutes to go, my paste line came alive and I had a fish every put in, an hour or so too late.....
I knew I couldn't get near the framers, so tipped back my tench and skimmers which went about 8lb and my carp which were close to 50lb - too little, too late.
I haven't yet worked out why Alan caught and I didn't, but the lake was patchy, with a fair few others struggling. Although not Josh Garrett on 81, he weighed 203.02 to win, but was lucky to keep one of his rods - should you leave them in whilst peeing....!!! (Thanks to Alan Oram for pointing the mad scamble from pee positon to rod rescue....)
If you took the top three results away, it would have been a close match, the fish seemed shoaled up and reluctant to move.
1) Josh Garrett 203.02 peg 80
2) Alan Oram 126.13 peg 97
3) Kevin Newman 113.11 peg 88
4) L Ware 77.12 peg 100
5) B Guvers 63.14 peg 74
6) Martin Lenaghan 62.03 peg 105
Silvers
1) Steve Long 49.02 peg 78
2) Andy Power 27.13 peg 94
3) Charlie Barnes 14.09 peg 102
Avalon. Wednesday 21st July 2010
The midday draw was the clincher in me booking into this match at Avalon, although the lure of trying to get this place sussed was a close second. Its a shame that the weather men were so wrong again, light winds forecast - a hoolie blowing down the lake the actual scenario.
Peg 20 presented itself when I opened the card, I had various advice "the fish will go through the gap and you'll lose them" and "its a decent margin peg" are two that spring to mind.
Tackling up I set up two wagglers, one to fish shallow and one at depth, a lead rod and a pole, to fish 12.5m (the most I could hold in the wind) and the margins.
The waggler was a waste of time, as usual it needed to be tight and the wind was pulling awayfrom the island far too quickly, I had a couple of fish on it, but it was never going to produce a winning weight.
The lead produced a couple of fish, but it was slow, the only way I could get a bite was to fish a 4' hooklength. The pole at 12.5m produced nothing on the paste all match. I had fed pellets in the RH margin and meat in the LH, the LH produced nothing onpellet, one fish on paste and that was the sum toatal of bites or indications. The RH margin produced a couple of fish late on, on meat, but it was struggle to get bites.
My 53lb odd was never going to frame, as there were 3 ton plus weights from the earlier pegs and Craig Tucker, who should have been on a flight back to Afghanistan (he's a Marine), had 88lb+ from 24. Craig went back Friday morning to complete his 6 month tour, stay safe and see you back on the bank in a couple of months.
For the results, see Mr Rixon's blog. http://tonyrixon.blogspot.com/
Peg 20 presented itself when I opened the card, I had various advice "the fish will go through the gap and you'll lose them" and "its a decent margin peg" are two that spring to mind.
Tackling up I set up two wagglers, one to fish shallow and one at depth, a lead rod and a pole, to fish 12.5m (the most I could hold in the wind) and the margins.
The waggler was a waste of time, as usual it needed to be tight and the wind was pulling awayfrom the island far too quickly, I had a couple of fish on it, but it was never going to produce a winning weight.
The lead produced a couple of fish, but it was slow, the only way I could get a bite was to fish a 4' hooklength. The pole at 12.5m produced nothing on the paste all match. I had fed pellets in the RH margin and meat in the LH, the LH produced nothing onpellet, one fish on paste and that was the sum toatal of bites or indications. The RH margin produced a couple of fish late on, on meat, but it was struggle to get bites.
My 53lb odd was never going to frame, as there were 3 ton plus weights from the earlier pegs and Craig Tucker, who should have been on a flight back to Afghanistan (he's a Marine), had 88lb+ from 24. Craig went back Friday morning to complete his 6 month tour, stay safe and see you back on the bank in a couple of months.
For the results, see Mr Rixon's blog. http://tonyrixon.blogspot.com/
Sunday, 11 July 2010
Landsend Sunday 11th July 2010
Last Monday Tony Rixon text me that there was a space in his float only series today, if I wanted it, it took a little thought after my last time and the dross that is peg 54. But it is a 50+ peg match and useful County points if framing, so positive thoughts all week should see me draw on Match or Specimen Lake. The power of thought obviously doesn't work.......
I wasn't too happy with 58 when it came out of the bucket, right opposite 54, I toyed with the idea of not bothering to go to the peg, but decided to go and see what I could catch. No sign of fish moving when I got there, apart from the odd cruiser, with the level down, there was no shelf across to the island - well there was but it was out of the water.
I set up my standard paste rig, a shallow rig and rigs for banded pellet and soft pellet/meat/corn. Shallow rig was a Drake peacock dibber on 0.15 with a 18PR36. The banded pellet and soft pellet rigs were th same, MW slim powers on 0.17 to a 0.15 hooklength, with a 16B960 for the band and a B911 16 for the soft baits.
I started cupping in some softened micros, 4 & 6mm pellets at 14m 2 o'clock for the paste line, catapulting some pellet at the island and potting some meat & pellet in at 12.5m just short of the island tip. After 20 minutes of inactivity on the deck on the island lines, there were some blows over the softend pellet feed and I dropped th paste rig in, I had three fish in the first hour, then a quiet spell when I had a couple of crucians.
After three hours I'd had another couple of fish on the paste and had fed another line at 10 o'clock, this was shallower so I set up another paste rig and had a carp on that immediately, followed by a bream that should have weighed 4½ or 5lb, but looked a bit skinny. By switching between the 10 & 2 o'clock lines I kept the odd bite coming and ended the match with 10 carp, 2 crucians, and F1, a bream and a skimmer. The silvers went 6lb odd, the carp 53lb something, for a total of 61.02, enough to win the section and second on the lake as there was a 62lb weight in the other section.
The lake fished hard again, with many good anglers struggling, absolutely no chance of competing with with the weights from the speci and match lakes. I doubt that I'll be back at Landsend anytime soon when all the lakes are in the hat, unless I'm in a series.
1. Tony Rixon 156-02-0 peg 29
2. Nick Duckett 145-14-0 peg 1
3. Dean Mallin 119-09-0 peg 31
4. John Dursley 108-0-0 peg 11
5. Fred Roberts 106-08-0 peg 19
6. Craig Edmonds 71-0-0 peg 13
Silvers:
1. Craig Edmonds 38-0-0 peg 13
2. Nick Collins 15-12-0 peg 21
3. Mike Baber 15-10-0 peg 3
4. Mike Nicholls 12-04-0 peg 5
I wasn't too happy with 58 when it came out of the bucket, right opposite 54, I toyed with the idea of not bothering to go to the peg, but decided to go and see what I could catch. No sign of fish moving when I got there, apart from the odd cruiser, with the level down, there was no shelf across to the island - well there was but it was out of the water.
I set up my standard paste rig, a shallow rig and rigs for banded pellet and soft pellet/meat/corn. Shallow rig was a Drake peacock dibber on 0.15 with a 18PR36. The banded pellet and soft pellet rigs were th same, MW slim powers on 0.17 to a 0.15 hooklength, with a 16B960 for the band and a B911 16 for the soft baits.
I started cupping in some softened micros, 4 & 6mm pellets at 14m 2 o'clock for the paste line, catapulting some pellet at the island and potting some meat & pellet in at 12.5m just short of the island tip. After 20 minutes of inactivity on the deck on the island lines, there were some blows over the softend pellet feed and I dropped th paste rig in, I had three fish in the first hour, then a quiet spell when I had a couple of crucians.
After three hours I'd had another couple of fish on the paste and had fed another line at 10 o'clock, this was shallower so I set up another paste rig and had a carp on that immediately, followed by a bream that should have weighed 4½ or 5lb, but looked a bit skinny. By switching between the 10 & 2 o'clock lines I kept the odd bite coming and ended the match with 10 carp, 2 crucians, and F1, a bream and a skimmer. The silvers went 6lb odd, the carp 53lb something, for a total of 61.02, enough to win the section and second on the lake as there was a 62lb weight in the other section.
The lake fished hard again, with many good anglers struggling, absolutely no chance of competing with with the weights from the speci and match lakes. I doubt that I'll be back at Landsend anytime soon when all the lakes are in the hat, unless I'm in a series.
1. Tony Rixon 156-02-0 peg 29
2. Nick Duckett 145-14-0 peg 1
3. Dean Mallin 119-09-0 peg 31
4. John Dursley 108-0-0 peg 11
5. Fred Roberts 106-08-0 peg 19
6. Craig Edmonds 71-0-0 peg 13
Silvers:
1. Craig Edmonds 38-0-0 peg 13
2. Nick Collins 15-12-0 peg 21
3. Mike Baber 15-10-0 peg 3
4. Mike Nicholls 12-04-0 peg 5
Thursday, 8 July 2010
Viaduct Thursday Costcutter. 8th July 2010
Back to Viaduct today for the £10 all in cost cutter, again my plan was to have a chop and change, trying out a few things. The moment I opened my peg card, all that went out the window, peg 85 - the same peg as the last cost cutter I fished and felt that had I not been trying rigs baits and lines out, I should have won it. 20 pegs in today and all of them drawn.
After yesterdays match (and reading Tony's blog)I made up a big tub of paste, as I knew we were on Cary and that seemed to be the bait yesterday. I walked round to the peg and set up two waggler rods, both with 6lb sensor to 0.17 hooklengths and PR36 size 16 hooks, on shallow, one with a loaded Drake peacock for full depth. I also set up a straight lead, Shimano Technium 8lb main line and 0.19 with a 14 B960 for hair rigged pellet.
The pole rigs were straight forward, a very simple paste rig, Big H float on 0.19 to a size 12 mustad paste hook, a margin rig (the same one as yesterday), yesterdays up in the water rig and I also set up a MW 2.5 slim power on 0.19 to a 0.17 hooklength with a 16 B960 and a hair rigged band for pellet on the deck.
Plenty of fish moving had me optimistic that I'd catch on the waggler, the fish had other ideas, it took me about half an hour or so to get my first bite, this was on the shallow wag and a fish around 5lb was netted. I persisted and around the hour mark had another fish of similar size, both took the pellet immediately it hit the water, they certainly weren't fooled by a pellet suspended under a float!!
I had a look in the RH margin and that followed the pattern of the previous match, meat being taken of the hook by nuisance silvers and a hard pellet enduring the same treatment, although they couldn't get it out of the band. I abandoned the margin and never went back.
I had fed a line at 14m with some softened pellet and dropped in over it with paste, two fouler hookers that tore off and came off was the net result of that. A look into the open water on the lead produced nothing, John Bradford was on 81 and he'd given me the OK to go to the point of the spit. This produced one fish on the lead, around the 4 or 5lb mark (I took a carpers rig out of it's mouth that looked more appropriate for Chesil beach!! A huge hook, braid hooklength, swivel, rubber covers etc and about 3" of curly monofilament that must have been 15lb - why the need for all that? And how did a 5lb at most, fish snap it??)
With just over half the match gone, I still had 3 fish, I could see some activity on the 14m line which I'd kept feeding with a catapult, I tried shallow over the feed, but apart from a couple of 'takes' (just like trout fishing) that didn't result in a hooked fish, that seemed a no hoper as well. I knew it wasn't fishing brilliantly, I could see Alan Oram getting the odd fish on the lead and Jim Baines nicking one or two on the waggler. Steve Long walked round confirming that only odd fish had been caught , Paul Lock with 5 was the best any one was admitting to.
As the fish were moving and fizzing over the 14m line I went back in with the paste and had 11 fish in the last 2 and a bit hours, some proper lumps, one which was 18lb and a couple around the 15lb mark. I am pretty crap a judging the size of these fish, so decided on 6 to a net, when I got to 12, I tipped back my silvers (two foul hooked skimmers for about 10oz - I'd have felt guilty weighing them in any way......)
I could hear a fair bit of splashing to my left in the last couple of hours and it turned out George Perkins had them going up in the water, but his 10 were not enough to trouble my 14. The scales said my 14 fish went 132.12 which was enough on the day to take top spot.
1) Chris Fox 132.12 peg 85
2) Paul Lock 96.10 peg 78
3) George Perkins 94.12 peg 86
4) Miles Levy 91.06 peg 80
5) Gary Wall 84.13 peg 77
6) Jim Baines 81.13 peg 97
Silvers
1) John Green 36.06 peg 88
2) John Bradford 35.03 peg 81
3) Paul Lock 22.09 peg 78
After yesterdays match (and reading Tony's blog)I made up a big tub of paste, as I knew we were on Cary and that seemed to be the bait yesterday. I walked round to the peg and set up two waggler rods, both with 6lb sensor to 0.17 hooklengths and PR36 size 16 hooks, on shallow, one with a loaded Drake peacock for full depth. I also set up a straight lead, Shimano Technium 8lb main line and 0.19 with a 14 B960 for hair rigged pellet.
The pole rigs were straight forward, a very simple paste rig, Big H float on 0.19 to a size 12 mustad paste hook, a margin rig (the same one as yesterday), yesterdays up in the water rig and I also set up a MW 2.5 slim power on 0.19 to a 0.17 hooklength with a 16 B960 and a hair rigged band for pellet on the deck.
Plenty of fish moving had me optimistic that I'd catch on the waggler, the fish had other ideas, it took me about half an hour or so to get my first bite, this was on the shallow wag and a fish around 5lb was netted. I persisted and around the hour mark had another fish of similar size, both took the pellet immediately it hit the water, they certainly weren't fooled by a pellet suspended under a float!!
I had a look in the RH margin and that followed the pattern of the previous match, meat being taken of the hook by nuisance silvers and a hard pellet enduring the same treatment, although they couldn't get it out of the band. I abandoned the margin and never went back.
I had fed a line at 14m with some softened pellet and dropped in over it with paste, two fouler hookers that tore off and came off was the net result of that. A look into the open water on the lead produced nothing, John Bradford was on 81 and he'd given me the OK to go to the point of the spit. This produced one fish on the lead, around the 4 or 5lb mark (I took a carpers rig out of it's mouth that looked more appropriate for Chesil beach!! A huge hook, braid hooklength, swivel, rubber covers etc and about 3" of curly monofilament that must have been 15lb - why the need for all that? And how did a 5lb at most, fish snap it??)
With just over half the match gone, I still had 3 fish, I could see some activity on the 14m line which I'd kept feeding with a catapult, I tried shallow over the feed, but apart from a couple of 'takes' (just like trout fishing) that didn't result in a hooked fish, that seemed a no hoper as well. I knew it wasn't fishing brilliantly, I could see Alan Oram getting the odd fish on the lead and Jim Baines nicking one or two on the waggler. Steve Long walked round confirming that only odd fish had been caught , Paul Lock with 5 was the best any one was admitting to.
As the fish were moving and fizzing over the 14m line I went back in with the paste and had 11 fish in the last 2 and a bit hours, some proper lumps, one which was 18lb and a couple around the 15lb mark. I am pretty crap a judging the size of these fish, so decided on 6 to a net, when I got to 12, I tipped back my silvers (two foul hooked skimmers for about 10oz - I'd have felt guilty weighing them in any way......)
I could hear a fair bit of splashing to my left in the last couple of hours and it turned out George Perkins had them going up in the water, but his 10 were not enough to trouble my 14. The scales said my 14 fish went 132.12 which was enough on the day to take top spot.
1) Chris Fox 132.12 peg 85
2) Paul Lock 96.10 peg 78
3) George Perkins 94.12 peg 86
4) Miles Levy 91.06 peg 80
5) Gary Wall 84.13 peg 77
6) Jim Baines 81.13 peg 97
Silvers
1) John Green 36.06 peg 88
2) John Bradford 35.03 peg 81
3) Paul Lock 22.09 peg 78
Wednesday, 7 July 2010
Viaduct Open Wednesday 7th July 2010
I had planned to get a few of the Thursday cost cutter matches at Viaduct under my belt, before taking on the big boys in the mid week and weekend opens. But as there was nothing else I fancied, I decided to bite the bullet and be fleeced of my £25 by the venue experts in this pole only match.
No cafe for me this morning, a healthy breakfast at home to start the day and then the 50 minute trip to Viaduct, although it was nearly made an hour and 50 minutes by a dodery old pensioner driving at 28MPH in a 60 limit, luckily I managed to get past before my blood pressure got to an unhealthy level.
Tony Rixon drew the golden peg out before the draw, 119, I was about quarter of the way back in the draw queue and plucked out 119, the first time I've ever drawn a golden peg!! Apparently the peg had won a match held the day before, not a good thing in my opinion, how often do the fish move or back off if they've been hammered the day before.
I set up more rigs than I would use, just because I had the time, a paste rig, a rig for pellet on the deck which consisted a MW slim power on 0.17 and a PR36 18, a rig for pellet or meat down to the right, a MW power margin on 0.19 and a 14 B960 on 0.17 for meat or pellet. Two shallow rigs, both 0.17 with PR36 18 on one and a B960 16 on the other, for hair rigged pellet. As it happened, these were the only rigs I needed to set up.
I started at 14.5m shallow and after 20 minutes without a bite, I switched to 16m to my right, I had two small carp on this line, one on meat, one on 8mm hard pellet, meat was a waste of time, being taken from the hook with unhitable bites.
After an hour I was still on two fish, I could see Andy Power on 115 catching well, shallow, so I had a look back on the shallow rig at 14.5m, I started catching on this and caught until the whistle, I had to go to 16M to keep the fish coming, towards the end of the match the size of the fish got bigger, shame they didn't show up earlier. I could see that Andy Power on 115 had caught steadily all match and in all honesty, I doubt even if I had got it right from the off that I could have matched his 66 fish for 294.03. My 39 fish went 192.10 a new personal best match weight and enough to take 2nd place. Andy had ripple in front of him most of the day, I only had it for a couple of short periods and this was when I caught best, so I'll have to start packing a wind machine in my bag.
An enjoyable day, I'll be back at Viaduct tomorrow for the Thursday costcutter.
1) Andy Power 294.03 peg 115
2) Chris Fox 192.10 peg 119
3) Mash Massheder 179.14 peg 97
4) Alan Oram 161.01 peg 132
5) Ray Hayward 140.02 peg 129
6) Glen Bailey 133.03 peg 78
Silvers
1) Bendan Currie 48.14 peg 111
2) Paul Blake 38.03 peg 118
3) Rich Coles 36.09 peg 96
* I had a bollocking from Rich Coles today, apparently I put Dave Roper down as Joint silvers winner on the Sunday in my blog for the Trinity festival, when in fact it was Rich. At least some one reads it!! (I've changed it now Rich)
No cafe for me this morning, a healthy breakfast at home to start the day and then the 50 minute trip to Viaduct, although it was nearly made an hour and 50 minutes by a dodery old pensioner driving at 28MPH in a 60 limit, luckily I managed to get past before my blood pressure got to an unhealthy level.
Tony Rixon drew the golden peg out before the draw, 119, I was about quarter of the way back in the draw queue and plucked out 119, the first time I've ever drawn a golden peg!! Apparently the peg had won a match held the day before, not a good thing in my opinion, how often do the fish move or back off if they've been hammered the day before.
I set up more rigs than I would use, just because I had the time, a paste rig, a rig for pellet on the deck which consisted a MW slim power on 0.17 and a PR36 18, a rig for pellet or meat down to the right, a MW power margin on 0.19 and a 14 B960 on 0.17 for meat or pellet. Two shallow rigs, both 0.17 with PR36 18 on one and a B960 16 on the other, for hair rigged pellet. As it happened, these were the only rigs I needed to set up.
I started at 14.5m shallow and after 20 minutes without a bite, I switched to 16m to my right, I had two small carp on this line, one on meat, one on 8mm hard pellet, meat was a waste of time, being taken from the hook with unhitable bites.
After an hour I was still on two fish, I could see Andy Power on 115 catching well, shallow, so I had a look back on the shallow rig at 14.5m, I started catching on this and caught until the whistle, I had to go to 16M to keep the fish coming, towards the end of the match the size of the fish got bigger, shame they didn't show up earlier. I could see that Andy Power on 115 had caught steadily all match and in all honesty, I doubt even if I had got it right from the off that I could have matched his 66 fish for 294.03. My 39 fish went 192.10 a new personal best match weight and enough to take 2nd place. Andy had ripple in front of him most of the day, I only had it for a couple of short periods and this was when I caught best, so I'll have to start packing a wind machine in my bag.
An enjoyable day, I'll be back at Viaduct tomorrow for the Thursday costcutter.
1) Andy Power 294.03 peg 115
2) Chris Fox 192.10 peg 119
3) Mash Massheder 179.14 peg 97
4) Alan Oram 161.01 peg 132
5) Ray Hayward 140.02 peg 129
6) Glen Bailey 133.03 peg 78
Silvers
1) Bendan Currie 48.14 peg 111
2) Paul Blake 38.03 peg 118
3) Rich Coles 36.09 peg 96
* I had a bollocking from Rich Coles today, apparently I put Dave Roper down as Joint silvers winner on the Sunday in my blog for the Trinity festival, when in fact it was Rich. At least some one reads it!! (I've changed it now Rich)
Sunday, 27 June 2010
Two Day Festival @ Trinity, Day Two. Sunday 27th June 2010
After yesterdays section win, I was hoping for an end peg, preferably 15 or 23 as this was the end of the lake with the wind blowing into it. I partly got my wish, as I drew peg 33, the end peg that Jacko won his section from the day before (although as well as an end peg, he had two empty pegs to his right, as Justin (can't remember his surname) from Megabaits, who had drawn 32, unfortunately had to leave before the start, due to an incident at his shop)
Jacko had drawn 32 today, the unfished peg!! and Andy Hembrow, the other section winner had drawn 30, so all three section winners from Saturday were in the same section. My rigs were identical to Saturday's, with the exception of a 'stalking rig', although by the time the match started, all the cruising/basking fish had disappeared.
Jacko had caught all his fish from the margins on Saturday, but the clouds of mud weren't there today, so neither were the fish. I had 2 fish after an hour on the waggler, it was flat calm in front of me, whilst further up the lake there was a good ripple. The margins showed no sign of fish for the first four hours, I couldn't get a bite on the paste at 10m, so carried on picking odd fish off on the waggler. With a couple of hours to go, I saw the first swirl and tail in the margin, dropping into the margin with meat saw a fish around three pounds in the net. Next put in and a foul hooker tore off, before the hook pulled and that was the end of margin activity.
Whilst listening to the England shambles on the radio, I managed to coax anther 3 fish from the margin, giving me a total of 15 fish, one less than yesterday. I knew I had Jacko beaten on the next peg (he'd had a silver bashing session) and Andy Hembrow claimed 45lb. Chris Ware on peg 6 in my section had a run of fish towards the end, so it was going to be close. As it happened, as usual, I was in the lowest weight section, but managed to put 54.00 on the scales to win the section and the festival, with a maximum 12 points. I was sweating at the weigh in, Chris Ware had put 50.14 on the scales, the scales and weigh sling were near the edge and I was going to ask for them to be moved back, I didn't bother and one fish managed to slip out of the weigh sling and back into the lake. Good job it didn't cost me....
Glen Calvert won on the day with 108.15 from peg 15, that was end peg on either side of the lake for Glen over the two days.
Sunday result:
1) Glen Calvert 108.15 peg 15 (section win)
2) Kev Perry 72.01 peg 10 (section win)
3) Dave Roper 59.14 peg 23
4) Lewis Jones 56.00 peg 13
5) Chris Fox 54.00 peg 33 (section win)
6) Chris Ware 50.14 peg 6
Silvers top spot was shared, Mark Bromsgrove & Rich Coles both weighing 19.08
Festival Overall
1) Chris Fox 12 points 112.07
2) Glen Calvert 11 points 190.08
3) Kev Perry 10 points 147.05
4) Andy Hembrow 9 points 176.08
5) Lewis Jones 9 points 79.13
6) Misha Herring 8 points 91.05
7) Lance Tucker 8 points 79.11
8) Dave Roper 8 points 77.02
A nice couple of days, thanks to Andy's boss for sponsoring the peg fees, to Kev for organising it and it was nice to pick up a few quid.
Jacko had drawn 32 today, the unfished peg!! and Andy Hembrow, the other section winner had drawn 30, so all three section winners from Saturday were in the same section. My rigs were identical to Saturday's, with the exception of a 'stalking rig', although by the time the match started, all the cruising/basking fish had disappeared.
Jacko had caught all his fish from the margins on Saturday, but the clouds of mud weren't there today, so neither were the fish. I had 2 fish after an hour on the waggler, it was flat calm in front of me, whilst further up the lake there was a good ripple. The margins showed no sign of fish for the first four hours, I couldn't get a bite on the paste at 10m, so carried on picking odd fish off on the waggler. With a couple of hours to go, I saw the first swirl and tail in the margin, dropping into the margin with meat saw a fish around three pounds in the net. Next put in and a foul hooker tore off, before the hook pulled and that was the end of margin activity.
Whilst listening to the England shambles on the radio, I managed to coax anther 3 fish from the margin, giving me a total of 15 fish, one less than yesterday. I knew I had Jacko beaten on the next peg (he'd had a silver bashing session) and Andy Hembrow claimed 45lb. Chris Ware on peg 6 in my section had a run of fish towards the end, so it was going to be close. As it happened, as usual, I was in the lowest weight section, but managed to put 54.00 on the scales to win the section and the festival, with a maximum 12 points. I was sweating at the weigh in, Chris Ware had put 50.14 on the scales, the scales and weigh sling were near the edge and I was going to ask for them to be moved back, I didn't bother and one fish managed to slip out of the weigh sling and back into the lake. Good job it didn't cost me....
Glen Calvert won on the day with 108.15 from peg 15, that was end peg on either side of the lake for Glen over the two days.
Sunday result:
1) Glen Calvert 108.15 peg 15 (section win)
2) Kev Perry 72.01 peg 10 (section win)
3) Dave Roper 59.14 peg 23
4) Lewis Jones 56.00 peg 13
5) Chris Fox 54.00 peg 33 (section win)
6) Chris Ware 50.14 peg 6
Silvers top spot was shared, Mark Bromsgrove & Rich Coles both weighing 19.08
Festival Overall
1) Chris Fox 12 points 112.07
2) Glen Calvert 11 points 190.08
3) Kev Perry 10 points 147.05
4) Andy Hembrow 9 points 176.08
5) Lewis Jones 9 points 79.13
6) Misha Herring 8 points 91.05
7) Lance Tucker 8 points 79.11
8) Dave Roper 8 points 77.02
A nice couple of days, thanks to Andy's boss for sponsoring the peg fees, to Kev for organising it and it was nice to pick up a few quid.
Two Day Festival @ Trinity, Day One. Saturday 26th June 2010
I've fished this festival for the last couple of years and was looking forward to this one, it ususally comprises of a day on Woodland and a day on Wildmarsh. Unfortunately this year saw a withdraw of a sponsor and a lack of entries, Kev Perry and Andy Hembrow stepped in to run it, Andy's boss at Brittons Ash Garage in Taunton provided some sponsorship.
It was intended to be a 20 pegger with both matches on Woodland, but the World Cup saw a couple of late withdraws (although after listening to it on the radio, I'm glad I fished!!)
As it was down to 17, Kev had three sections, two of 6 and one of 5 (which 6 points would be awarded to for winning), to try and keep things fair, it was three pegs either side of the lake at each end which were sections and the middle pegs were the third section. This meant the ends of the lake weren't in, giving everyone a waggler or feeder chuck.
An end peg would have been nice, but I drew 29, in the middle section. With Rich Coles on my left, we could have our usual 'grumpy old men' conversation about the good old days of big matches, decent payouts and the old days on the river, with the sessions in the pub afterwards.
My intentions were to keep it simple, a couple of pellet wagglers set up, with 0.17 hooklengths and size 16 B920 hooks. A paste rig for full depth, a pellet rig that would do full depth, which as a MW diamond, on 0.17 with a 0.15 hooklength and a 16 B911. A Malman margin float on 0.19 to a 0.17 hooklength with a 14 B920 and a paste rig comprising a blob on 0.19 with a 12 paste hook.
Plumbing up I found a nice shelf in the margin and around 8' on the paste line at 12.5m. At the start I fed the margin with meat and pellet, then fished the pellet waggler, the fish weren't queing up on the waggler line snd I had a couple in the first hour. The paste line at 12.5m produced one fish, then a couple of foul hookers, so it was back onto the waggler, plugging away at this put another couple in the net.
I could see my section was fishing fairly hard, so I decided to have a look in my margin at the halfway point, if I went in with meat on the hook, it was taken straight away by the hordes of roach, so switching to hard pellet saw a few fish come from this line.
I ended the day with 16 carp and 3 roach (Rich Coles had a roach fishing session and won the silers with 12lb of whitebait size roach).
The scales got round to me and I had a section win, with 58.09 (the 09 was the three roach!!) Andy Hembrow had emptied it on peg 15, winning on the day with 141.10
1) Andy Hembrow 141.10 peg 15 (section win)
2) Glen Calvert 81.09 peg 23
3) Kev Perry 75.04 peg 13
4) Steve Jackson 62.12 peg 33 (section win)
5) Misha Herring 60.13 peg 6
6) Chris Fox 58.09 peg 29 (section win)
Four of the top six were end pegs (15, 23, 33 and 6) I needed an end peg or a decnt draw in the middle section on Sunday, to build on the section win.
It was intended to be a 20 pegger with both matches on Woodland, but the World Cup saw a couple of late withdraws (although after listening to it on the radio, I'm glad I fished!!)
As it was down to 17, Kev had three sections, two of 6 and one of 5 (which 6 points would be awarded to for winning), to try and keep things fair, it was three pegs either side of the lake at each end which were sections and the middle pegs were the third section. This meant the ends of the lake weren't in, giving everyone a waggler or feeder chuck.
An end peg would have been nice, but I drew 29, in the middle section. With Rich Coles on my left, we could have our usual 'grumpy old men' conversation about the good old days of big matches, decent payouts and the old days on the river, with the sessions in the pub afterwards.
My intentions were to keep it simple, a couple of pellet wagglers set up, with 0.17 hooklengths and size 16 B920 hooks. A paste rig for full depth, a pellet rig that would do full depth, which as a MW diamond, on 0.17 with a 0.15 hooklength and a 16 B911. A Malman margin float on 0.19 to a 0.17 hooklength with a 14 B920 and a paste rig comprising a blob on 0.19 with a 12 paste hook.
Plumbing up I found a nice shelf in the margin and around 8' on the paste line at 12.5m. At the start I fed the margin with meat and pellet, then fished the pellet waggler, the fish weren't queing up on the waggler line snd I had a couple in the first hour. The paste line at 12.5m produced one fish, then a couple of foul hookers, so it was back onto the waggler, plugging away at this put another couple in the net.
I could see my section was fishing fairly hard, so I decided to have a look in my margin at the halfway point, if I went in with meat on the hook, it was taken straight away by the hordes of roach, so switching to hard pellet saw a few fish come from this line.
I ended the day with 16 carp and 3 roach (Rich Coles had a roach fishing session and won the silers with 12lb of whitebait size roach).
The scales got round to me and I had a section win, with 58.09 (the 09 was the three roach!!) Andy Hembrow had emptied it on peg 15, winning on the day with 141.10
1) Andy Hembrow 141.10 peg 15 (section win)
2) Glen Calvert 81.09 peg 23
3) Kev Perry 75.04 peg 13
4) Steve Jackson 62.12 peg 33 (section win)
5) Misha Herring 60.13 peg 6
6) Chris Fox 58.09 peg 29 (section win)
Four of the top six were end pegs (15, 23, 33 and 6) I needed an end peg or a decnt draw in the middle section on Sunday, to build on the section win.
Friday, 25 June 2010
Thursday Costcutter, Lost fish prove crucial. 24/06/10
I keep promising myself to get to Viaduct and learn a little about the place, today was one of the first opportunities I've had. The match was on Cary, a lake that I've only match fished once before, on peg 80, which in all honesty, wasn't too good. That aside, I need to get my head round these big weight venues and how to approach them.
I decided before I went, that I'd only take 3 baits, pellet, paste and meat. I also decided to try out a different make and pattern of hook, as one I use (PR28) has been discontinued.
Before the draw I saw team mate Dave Wride and we had a chat about the prospects, once I'd drawn, he was trying to convince me that I had a flyer, peg 85, and in all honesty, I didn't envy his draw of peg 80. (The second time he's drawn it in quick succession).
Looking at 85 I could see why it was considered a good draw, plenty of water to attack, probably, for a newcomer, too much!!. I planned to fish the waggler ( pellet shallow and all depths to full depth) towards the spit, pole at 8m with paste and meat down the edge, which looked a certainty to get a few carp.
I set up a 2 swan pellet waggler and a 2g Drake loaded peacock to fish towards the spit, then concentrated on the margin rig and paste rig. The wagglers were on my usual 6lb sensor, with a 0.17 hooklength on the full depth rod, and to my cost, a 0.15 to a 18 PR36 on the shallow waggler.
The pole rigs were 0.19 straight through on the paste rig, finished with a 12 Mustad paste hook and 0.19/0.17 with a 14 B960 for the margin meat rig. As I had time I put a shallow rig onto a topkit, but didn't use it.
At the all in I catapulted a few 8mm's towards the spit and follwed them with the full depth waggler, as it settled, it buried and after a spirited tussle a 10lb+ fish was in the net. Three foul hookers that all came off followed, before the line died. In between tackling up, plumbing and getting ready, a blustery wind - that didn't make an appearance until I'd already got float sizes, distances etc sorted - was coming from right to left, causing a rapid surface skim. It was impossible to get the presentation right on the shallow waggler, I'm sure the Viaduct fish are far too educated to take a pellet trotting through the peg at 12" deep!!
The margin was a waste of time, the meat being either nicked off the hook, or one of those 'vermin skimmers' being landed. It stayed that way until the end.
The paste line was slightly more productive, resulting in two fish and five or six lost, only 2 could I be sure were mouth hooked, why they came off I don't know.
My other dabbles on the pellet waggler when the wind dropped, produced another fish and another lost 7, 3 of which were lost under the rod tip and definitely mouth hooked. One snapped the 0.15 hooklength, on its initial run, like it was cotton.... Quite why these fish came off, I don't know, I had been trying B960's, the waggler fish were all lost using these, the paste fish came off of a pattern I've been happy with for a couple of seasons. Perhaps it's more to do with the fish and their size, rather than hooks.
Listening to the bankside chatter, I had been convinced that I was way behind, so decided to sit out on the paste and see if I could develop the line, had I known I was only three fish away from winning, I would have persisited with the waggler, waiting for the very infrequent times that the wind made presentation acceptatble.
My four carp went 42.11 and the skimmers/bream that snaffled paste or margin meat went 7.08, for a lowly 50.03. Match winner Jim Baines had 88.14 of carp from peg 90, casting into the corner (where the wind was blowing).
1) Jim Baines 88.14 peg 90
2) Anton Burns 80.09 peg 99
3) Phil Harding 68.14 peg 96
4) Gary Wall 65.04 peg 102
5) Colin Dyer 57.12 peg 78
I decided before I went, that I'd only take 3 baits, pellet, paste and meat. I also decided to try out a different make and pattern of hook, as one I use (PR28) has been discontinued.
Before the draw I saw team mate Dave Wride and we had a chat about the prospects, once I'd drawn, he was trying to convince me that I had a flyer, peg 85, and in all honesty, I didn't envy his draw of peg 80. (The second time he's drawn it in quick succession).
Looking at 85 I could see why it was considered a good draw, plenty of water to attack, probably, for a newcomer, too much!!. I planned to fish the waggler ( pellet shallow and all depths to full depth) towards the spit, pole at 8m with paste and meat down the edge, which looked a certainty to get a few carp.
I set up a 2 swan pellet waggler and a 2g Drake loaded peacock to fish towards the spit, then concentrated on the margin rig and paste rig. The wagglers were on my usual 6lb sensor, with a 0.17 hooklength on the full depth rod, and to my cost, a 0.15 to a 18 PR36 on the shallow waggler.
The pole rigs were 0.19 straight through on the paste rig, finished with a 12 Mustad paste hook and 0.19/0.17 with a 14 B960 for the margin meat rig. As I had time I put a shallow rig onto a topkit, but didn't use it.
At the all in I catapulted a few 8mm's towards the spit and follwed them with the full depth waggler, as it settled, it buried and after a spirited tussle a 10lb+ fish was in the net. Three foul hookers that all came off followed, before the line died. In between tackling up, plumbing and getting ready, a blustery wind - that didn't make an appearance until I'd already got float sizes, distances etc sorted - was coming from right to left, causing a rapid surface skim. It was impossible to get the presentation right on the shallow waggler, I'm sure the Viaduct fish are far too educated to take a pellet trotting through the peg at 12" deep!!
The margin was a waste of time, the meat being either nicked off the hook, or one of those 'vermin skimmers' being landed. It stayed that way until the end.
The paste line was slightly more productive, resulting in two fish and five or six lost, only 2 could I be sure were mouth hooked, why they came off I don't know.
My other dabbles on the pellet waggler when the wind dropped, produced another fish and another lost 7, 3 of which were lost under the rod tip and definitely mouth hooked. One snapped the 0.15 hooklength, on its initial run, like it was cotton.... Quite why these fish came off, I don't know, I had been trying B960's, the waggler fish were all lost using these, the paste fish came off of a pattern I've been happy with for a couple of seasons. Perhaps it's more to do with the fish and their size, rather than hooks.
Listening to the bankside chatter, I had been convinced that I was way behind, so decided to sit out on the paste and see if I could develop the line, had I known I was only three fish away from winning, I would have persisited with the waggler, waiting for the very infrequent times that the wind made presentation acceptatble.
My four carp went 42.11 and the skimmers/bream that snaffled paste or margin meat went 7.08, for a lowly 50.03. Match winner Jim Baines had 88.14 of carp from peg 90, casting into the corner (where the wind was blowing).
1) Jim Baines 88.14 peg 90
2) Anton Burns 80.09 peg 99
3) Phil Harding 68.14 peg 96
4) Gary Wall 65.04 peg 102
5) Colin Dyer 57.12 peg 78
Wednesday, 23 June 2010
Tonic at Trinity. Tuesday 22nd June 2010
This Tuesday evening open at Trinity Waters was the first that I could get to this year, due to work. It was an opportunity to put last weekends two bad days behind me and get an insight into how its fishing, ready for the two day festival this weekend coming. (As I type, one place left if anyone is interested, contact Kev Perry).
Draw was 5pm, fish 6-9.15, I pulled out peg 26, I really don't mind where I draw on Woodland, except the pegs on the end bank (16, 17, 18, 19). Incredibly, I was ready by 5.45, as everyone else was ready by 5.50 we started 10 minutes early. I had only brought two baits, hard pellet and paste, there isn't time to chop and change baits and lines in a three hour match, at least, not if you want to win it.
I set up one pellet waggler, I use a a pair of Maver Reactorlite No2 rods for this method and find them to be spot on, these are allied with a Daiwa TDR 3012 reel, which is loaded with 6lb Sensor. A 3 swan waggler provided the casting weight and bite indication and the sharp bit was a PR36 size 18 tied to 12" of 0.17 powerline.
A 1g Daiwa TD8 float on 0.17 straight through to a 14 Mustad paste hook was the paste rig for full depth. These were going to be the only rigs set up, but as fish were stirring up the clay in the margins, I set up a small blob on 0.19 to a 12 Mustad paste for the margin and a MW margin float on 0.17, to a PR36 18, that would do to fish hair rigged pellet in the margin or shallow on the pole.
Kev Perry was on end peg 23, having recently framed from this peg myself, I knew he'd probably be the one to beat, although venue expert, Andy Hembrow, would be another challenger on peg 29.
Starting on the pellet waggler, after feeding a line at 11m for paste if the waggler didn't work, was a little slow and the fish didn't seem to be having it properly, I had one fish, then lost three under the rod tip, all mouth hooked. Slightly puzzled as I don't usually lose mouth hooked fish when on this method, I doubled checked the hook and hair but there was nothing amiss with the terminal tackle.
I could see Kev on the end peg had given up on the waggler and was catching fish on paste, so I dropped in over the paste line and took two fish that were 7 or 8lb each, than I was bitted out, the float went under every put in with nothing there on the strike, except for three occasions when 1oz roach came back on the size 14 hook.
A look in the margin gave me another fish on paste, but only twitches on a hard pellet, as the silverfish plagued the baits. So at 8pm it was back on the pellet waggler and a decent spell saw me net a few fish, although the last 20 minutes was quiet, with the exception of a couple of big roach that snaffled the 8mm pellet.
Kev was first to weigh and he managed to put 49.06 on the scales, I thought it would be close and it was as the results below show, although my 54.10 of carp and 4lb of silvers(most of which was a 3lb+ bream taken at 6" on the waggler and a hard pellet)meant my 58.10 was enough to take first place and regain some confidence after the weekends disasters. (I weighed more tonight in 3 hours, than I did in 11 hours Saturday and Sunday, quite why some anglers don't want to fish Trinity is beyond me)
Called in the Bristol Bridge Inn in Highbridge on the way back, that brought back some memories of after match drinking sessions in the days of the big matches in Somerset. I got caught for the round, luckily it was just Kev, Brian and myself, some of our Thyers team mates were just leaving as we got there, they had fished a match on Apex Lake, won by Dave Wride with 14KG, although some weighed in as little as 1KG.
No match tomorrow, I reckon its going to be football, beer and curry..... Next match will be Viaduct on Thursday this week.
1) Chris Fox 58.10 peg 26
2) Kev 'end peg' Perry 49.06 peg 23
3) Andy 'venue expert' Hembrow 46.05 peg 29
4) Brian Slipper 43.09 peg 24
5) Ross Gally 39.14 peg 27
6) Misha Herring 36.05 peg 30
Draw was 5pm, fish 6-9.15, I pulled out peg 26, I really don't mind where I draw on Woodland, except the pegs on the end bank (16, 17, 18, 19). Incredibly, I was ready by 5.45, as everyone else was ready by 5.50 we started 10 minutes early. I had only brought two baits, hard pellet and paste, there isn't time to chop and change baits and lines in a three hour match, at least, not if you want to win it.
I set up one pellet waggler, I use a a pair of Maver Reactorlite No2 rods for this method and find them to be spot on, these are allied with a Daiwa TDR 3012 reel, which is loaded with 6lb Sensor. A 3 swan waggler provided the casting weight and bite indication and the sharp bit was a PR36 size 18 tied to 12" of 0.17 powerline.
A 1g Daiwa TD8 float on 0.17 straight through to a 14 Mustad paste hook was the paste rig for full depth. These were going to be the only rigs set up, but as fish were stirring up the clay in the margins, I set up a small blob on 0.19 to a 12 Mustad paste for the margin and a MW margin float on 0.17, to a PR36 18, that would do to fish hair rigged pellet in the margin or shallow on the pole.
Kev Perry was on end peg 23, having recently framed from this peg myself, I knew he'd probably be the one to beat, although venue expert, Andy Hembrow, would be another challenger on peg 29.
Starting on the pellet waggler, after feeding a line at 11m for paste if the waggler didn't work, was a little slow and the fish didn't seem to be having it properly, I had one fish, then lost three under the rod tip, all mouth hooked. Slightly puzzled as I don't usually lose mouth hooked fish when on this method, I doubled checked the hook and hair but there was nothing amiss with the terminal tackle.
I could see Kev on the end peg had given up on the waggler and was catching fish on paste, so I dropped in over the paste line and took two fish that were 7 or 8lb each, than I was bitted out, the float went under every put in with nothing there on the strike, except for three occasions when 1oz roach came back on the size 14 hook.
A look in the margin gave me another fish on paste, but only twitches on a hard pellet, as the silverfish plagued the baits. So at 8pm it was back on the pellet waggler and a decent spell saw me net a few fish, although the last 20 minutes was quiet, with the exception of a couple of big roach that snaffled the 8mm pellet.
Kev was first to weigh and he managed to put 49.06 on the scales, I thought it would be close and it was as the results below show, although my 54.10 of carp and 4lb of silvers(most of which was a 3lb+ bream taken at 6" on the waggler and a hard pellet)meant my 58.10 was enough to take first place and regain some confidence after the weekends disasters. (I weighed more tonight in 3 hours, than I did in 11 hours Saturday and Sunday, quite why some anglers don't want to fish Trinity is beyond me)
Called in the Bristol Bridge Inn in Highbridge on the way back, that brought back some memories of after match drinking sessions in the days of the big matches in Somerset. I got caught for the round, luckily it was just Kev, Brian and myself, some of our Thyers team mates were just leaving as we got there, they had fished a match on Apex Lake, won by Dave Wride with 14KG, although some weighed in as little as 1KG.
No match tomorrow, I reckon its going to be football, beer and curry..... Next match will be Viaduct on Thursday this week.
1) Chris Fox 58.10 peg 26
2) Kev 'end peg' Perry 49.06 peg 23
3) Andy 'venue expert' Hembrow 46.05 peg 29
4) Brian Slipper 43.09 peg 24
5) Ross Gally 39.14 peg 27
6) Misha Herring 36.05 peg 30
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
Drawbag blues at Landsend . 20th June 2010
Today I was once again 'guesting' in Tony Rixon's float only series, this time round Landsend was the venue, I guess along with 99% of the entry, I fancied a draw on Match or Speci lakes. My drawing arm has been one consistent feature of my match fishing career, dating back to the 70's, consistently crap!! Today it excelled it's self, peg 54 on lake 3 (See Tony Rixon's blog for last Sunday!!)
I have fished lake 3 twice before and this is the second time I've drawn 54, in all honesty, had the van not been blocked in, I would have gone pleasure fishing somewhere else.
I tried to think positive thoughts, but as I walked up the lake, all the comments were based around, "you've got the shit end of the lake".
I set up two rigs for out by the island, one at 6" deep and one at half depth (around 2'), a paste rig, a silvers rig (how optimistic was that!!) and a margin rig. The fine details of the rigs remain irrelevent in the light of my dismal day.
There was virtually no signs of fish activity, but I started on 6mm banded pellet out to the island, first put in and the float buried, a 3oz tench was the culprit and he appeared to be billy no-mates, as that was the last action on that line for a while. An occasional carp would swim through the peg and suck the pellets that were just on or above the waterline, but as soon as a pole was put within a metre or so, it would disappear.
I ended the day with 2 carp, one about 4lb and one about 4oz, a crucian, a tench, a rudd a perch and a roach, I couldn't even get a bite on maggot for ariound two hours of the match.
Lets hope this forthcoming week sees a return to more favourable results....
1)Craig Edmunds 101.12 peg 36 (good effort considering how rough he looked before the draw)
2)Neil Mercer 94.00 peg 38
3)Josh Garrett 79.07 peg 26
4)Leon Hubbard 66.04 peg 33
5)Tim Clark 65.01 peg 41
6)Tom Magnol 64.14 peg 6
Silvers
1) Vince Brown 31.02 peg 8
2)
I have fished lake 3 twice before and this is the second time I've drawn 54, in all honesty, had the van not been blocked in, I would have gone pleasure fishing somewhere else.
I tried to think positive thoughts, but as I walked up the lake, all the comments were based around, "you've got the shit end of the lake".
I set up two rigs for out by the island, one at 6" deep and one at half depth (around 2'), a paste rig, a silvers rig (how optimistic was that!!) and a margin rig. The fine details of the rigs remain irrelevent in the light of my dismal day.
There was virtually no signs of fish activity, but I started on 6mm banded pellet out to the island, first put in and the float buried, a 3oz tench was the culprit and he appeared to be billy no-mates, as that was the last action on that line for a while. An occasional carp would swim through the peg and suck the pellets that were just on or above the waterline, but as soon as a pole was put within a metre or so, it would disappear.
I ended the day with 2 carp, one about 4lb and one about 4oz, a crucian, a tench, a rudd a perch and a roach, I couldn't even get a bite on maggot for ariound two hours of the match.
Lets hope this forthcoming week sees a return to more favourable results....
1)Craig Edmunds 101.12 peg 36 (good effort considering how rough he looked before the draw)
2)Neil Mercer 94.00 peg 38
3)Josh Garrett 79.07 peg 26
4)Leon Hubbard 66.04 peg 33
5)Tim Clark 65.01 peg 41
6)Tom Magnol 64.14 peg 6
Silvers
1) Vince Brown 31.02 peg 8
2)
Edged out at Acorn 19th June 2010
A 1.30pm draw for a five hour match on the match lake (the little lake) at Acorn, tempted me to venture out on a windy Saturday afternoon. I'd have been better off staying at home, coming down the field and snapping a pole section, all in all not a good afternoon.
Before the draw I looked at the pegging and clocked which pegs I fancied, No2 was high on my list. Myself and Paul Faiers wandered over to Paddock Lake to see what was happening there, when I got back and stuck my hand in the drawbag, what came out..... No2. I think thats the first time I've ever drawn a number I've fancied, then I find out that whilst we were over on Paddock, the pegging had been altered (gawd knows why)so peg 2 was actually permanent peg 4. Peg 1 was in (peg 13 in the match) so I had an angler 7 metres to my right opposite, the only peg in the match that did.
I set up rigs for worm & caster, paste and a margin rig for meat or pellet. I fed a line at 12m with worm and caster and one at 8m with soaked pellet and meat into the RH margin, the LH margin was only about 3m long, so I wasn't confident that I would catch consistently from there.
In the first hour I had a couple of decent skimmers and some perch on worm, but that went quiet, the wind was blustery and cold, I ended up putting on a fleece. The wind also blew the pole out of my v roller, the No4 section was between the box and the leg, so snapped before I could grab it. Great start!!
I had a look down the RH margin and got told that that was the 16m line for peg 13, I could have argued that he shouldn't come more than half way across, but I really couldn't be bothered, as I was pissed off about the pegging.
With 2 hours to go I had 6 or 7lb of silvers and 2 small carp, so I decided to stick to paste until the end, that saw me boost my weight to 40lb of carp and 7lb of silvers for a weight of 47lb. Wasn't going to be enough on the day, as the wind had been blowing down the lake for a week or so, and the fish had followed it.
I'd love to tell you the results, but by the time I got back to the car, everyone except Paul Faiers had buggerd off, in true Clevedon style, in a rush to the pub. I can only assume that meant Paul knew where he'd get a 'lock in' later that night!!
I think Andy Hembrow won, Glen Calvert and Darren 'Noddy' Vowles were up there as well, with weights in the high 60's. I think the lowest weight was 29lb, so all in all, not a bad match, I should have just fished paste for 5 hours.
Before the draw I looked at the pegging and clocked which pegs I fancied, No2 was high on my list. Myself and Paul Faiers wandered over to Paddock Lake to see what was happening there, when I got back and stuck my hand in the drawbag, what came out..... No2. I think thats the first time I've ever drawn a number I've fancied, then I find out that whilst we were over on Paddock, the pegging had been altered (gawd knows why)so peg 2 was actually permanent peg 4. Peg 1 was in (peg 13 in the match) so I had an angler 7 metres to my right opposite, the only peg in the match that did.
I set up rigs for worm & caster, paste and a margin rig for meat or pellet. I fed a line at 12m with worm and caster and one at 8m with soaked pellet and meat into the RH margin, the LH margin was only about 3m long, so I wasn't confident that I would catch consistently from there.
In the first hour I had a couple of decent skimmers and some perch on worm, but that went quiet, the wind was blustery and cold, I ended up putting on a fleece. The wind also blew the pole out of my v roller, the No4 section was between the box and the leg, so snapped before I could grab it. Great start!!
I had a look down the RH margin and got told that that was the 16m line for peg 13, I could have argued that he shouldn't come more than half way across, but I really couldn't be bothered, as I was pissed off about the pegging.
With 2 hours to go I had 6 or 7lb of silvers and 2 small carp, so I decided to stick to paste until the end, that saw me boost my weight to 40lb of carp and 7lb of silvers for a weight of 47lb. Wasn't going to be enough on the day, as the wind had been blowing down the lake for a week or so, and the fish had followed it.
I'd love to tell you the results, but by the time I got back to the car, everyone except Paul Faiers had buggerd off, in true Clevedon style, in a rush to the pub. I can only assume that meant Paul knew where he'd get a 'lock in' later that night!!
I think Andy Hembrow won, Glen Calvert and Darren 'Noddy' Vowles were up there as well, with weights in the high 60's. I think the lowest weight was 29lb, so all in all, not a bad match, I should have just fished paste for 5 hours.
Thursday, 10 June 2010
Fishless at Avalon, Wednesday 9th June 2010
Down to earth with a bump today, I quite fancied the Carps match at Bullock Farm, but couldn't make the 9am draw, so settled for Avon Anglings open at Avalon as I could easily make the noon draw.
I was hopeful of a few fish, as there would be less pressure on the lake than Sunday, with 11 of on the RH bank of the match lake, spread between 24 & 48. I drew peg 30 and wasn't disappointed when I got there, plenty of fish moving and a hint of a breeze blowing into the island. (I was at the LH end of one of the islands) A lesson learnt is not to gloat about the wind direction - it bloody changed as Tony shouted all in !!
I set up two wagglers, one for shallow and one to fish anywhere from 2' to full depth, a lead rod (just in case and to wind up Tony Rixon who was on peg 30). I set up a paste rig, a pellet rig and a margin rig for the pole. The wagglers had 0.15 hooklengths and PR36 size 18's, the lead rod had 0.17 and a 16PR36. Pole rigs were 0.19 straight through to a Mustad paste 12 and the pellet and margin rigs were 0.17 with 0.15 hooklengths to 16 B911's.
Starting on the waggler, I was expecting bites from the off, but all I managed was to play a double figure foul hooker for 20 minutes, before it dived into the platform leg and chub like, transferred the hook to a snag. After 45 minutes of fruitless casting with the waggler, I was four or five fish behind Tony, who was fishing the pole. An exploratory chuck with the lead saw a fish around 6lb in the net, but that was the only proper bite.
Coming in on the pole line, I soon hooked a fish which tore off towards Tony's peg, bottomed the elastic and snapped the 0.15, shortly after to be repeated, although this time the fish went towards peg 29. I can't recall the last time I got smashed up on 0.15 in open water, so twice in 20 minutes or so was pretty puzzling.
By this time I was a long way behind Tony as he caught fish at 19m shallow, on the deck, on the pellet waggler, in fact whatever he tried, it seemed. As I don't have 19m I couldn't try that, so resorted to what I know best and persevered with the waggler, to no avail.
I tried paste and had a bream that hould have been 4lb or so, but was still covered in spawning tubercles and looked pretty thin, I had another carp around 5lb and then a few foulhookers taht all came off.
I went back on the lead, as the foliage on the island had grown and was overhanging the water by 2' or 3' and it was the only way I could get under it, as the fish wouldn't come out!! The growth was at least 2' in front of the reeds, those who could get to their island reeds were at least catching a few, all I was doing was either not getting a bite, or losing them within seconds of hooking them, into what appears to be a mass of roots under the island. Fair play to Vic (Bush) he is going to get out in the boat and cut them back, too late for me, but should help the next who draws it.
So it ended carp 16 - me 2, I left regretting not going to Bullock Farm, but then I read Mike Nicholls blog and saw that Golden arm Kitteridge had drawn peg 17 - has he ever drawn a bad peg??
So a few things learnt, I should have tried shallow into open water, I didn't and the crap Kebab I got from the new kebab house in Whitchurch might have been a one off, I tried again last night and the kebab was superb.
You'll have to get the results from Tony's blog, I was busy remeniscing about the roach fishing in Somerset of yesteryear with Steve Kedge and missed the results, although Kedgie had a cracking net of roach to win the silvers with a couple of ounces shy of 30lb.
I was hopeful of a few fish, as there would be less pressure on the lake than Sunday, with 11 of on the RH bank of the match lake, spread between 24 & 48. I drew peg 30 and wasn't disappointed when I got there, plenty of fish moving and a hint of a breeze blowing into the island. (I was at the LH end of one of the islands) A lesson learnt is not to gloat about the wind direction - it bloody changed as Tony shouted all in !!
I set up two wagglers, one for shallow and one to fish anywhere from 2' to full depth, a lead rod (just in case and to wind up Tony Rixon who was on peg 30). I set up a paste rig, a pellet rig and a margin rig for the pole. The wagglers had 0.15 hooklengths and PR36 size 18's, the lead rod had 0.17 and a 16PR36. Pole rigs were 0.19 straight through to a Mustad paste 12 and the pellet and margin rigs were 0.17 with 0.15 hooklengths to 16 B911's.
Starting on the waggler, I was expecting bites from the off, but all I managed was to play a double figure foul hooker for 20 minutes, before it dived into the platform leg and chub like, transferred the hook to a snag. After 45 minutes of fruitless casting with the waggler, I was four or five fish behind Tony, who was fishing the pole. An exploratory chuck with the lead saw a fish around 6lb in the net, but that was the only proper bite.
Coming in on the pole line, I soon hooked a fish which tore off towards Tony's peg, bottomed the elastic and snapped the 0.15, shortly after to be repeated, although this time the fish went towards peg 29. I can't recall the last time I got smashed up on 0.15 in open water, so twice in 20 minutes or so was pretty puzzling.
By this time I was a long way behind Tony as he caught fish at 19m shallow, on the deck, on the pellet waggler, in fact whatever he tried, it seemed. As I don't have 19m I couldn't try that, so resorted to what I know best and persevered with the waggler, to no avail.
I tried paste and had a bream that hould have been 4lb or so, but was still covered in spawning tubercles and looked pretty thin, I had another carp around 5lb and then a few foulhookers taht all came off.
I went back on the lead, as the foliage on the island had grown and was overhanging the water by 2' or 3' and it was the only way I could get under it, as the fish wouldn't come out!! The growth was at least 2' in front of the reeds, those who could get to their island reeds were at least catching a few, all I was doing was either not getting a bite, or losing them within seconds of hooking them, into what appears to be a mass of roots under the island. Fair play to Vic (Bush) he is going to get out in the boat and cut them back, too late for me, but should help the next who draws it.
So it ended carp 16 - me 2, I left regretting not going to Bullock Farm, but then I read Mike Nicholls blog and saw that Golden arm Kitteridge had drawn peg 17 - has he ever drawn a bad peg??
So a few things learnt, I should have tried shallow into open water, I didn't and the crap Kebab I got from the new kebab house in Whitchurch might have been a one off, I tried again last night and the kebab was superb.
You'll have to get the results from Tony's blog, I was busy remeniscing about the roach fishing in Somerset of yesteryear with Steve Kedge and missed the results, although Kedgie had a cracking net of roach to win the silvers with a couple of ounces shy of 30lb.
Sunday, 6 June 2010
Avalon, 6th June 2010
I've mentioned in my blog before about yearning for the old days when matches were 100 pegs +, rare as rocking horse shit now. So rather than drive to a 8, 10 or even 15 pegger, I filled one of the 'guest' spots in Tony Rixon's float only series. Nearly 50 pegs so halfway to memoriesville...
By the time I got home last night from Viaduct and cooked my tea (she who has to honour and obey - and cook tea - was at work) I was knackered, but I still tied up some new hooklengths before dossing on the sofa and watching an American Ventriloquist on one of the comedy channels.
The ritual that is now gaining familiarity, the Abby's cafe breakfast, anglers dominating the cafe, off to various matches, Rod Wotton racing his down after oversleeping and having about 25 mins to get to Cider Farm and Dean, well, just being Dean!!
I wasn't really bothered where I drew, not knowing the lakes, those 'in the know' seemed to think that a corner peg would be top choice, so I obviously pulled out peg 19 on the specimen lake, nowhere near a corner and a lake I've never seen before - although it is very similar in looks to the match lake.
I'd come prepared for carp slaying (perhaps my transformation to commercial angler is nearing completion, although I still hanker after nets of roach on the stick float), but as there is four silver places paid, I had a couple of pints of caster and a ½ a kilo of worm.
I got to the peg and wasn't disappointed to have an island chuck, I set up two wagglers, one to fish 6" - 18" deep and one that would suffice from 2' to full depth. I also set up a three pole rigs, a MW diamond to fish at 13m, pellet meat or worm, a preston green to fish the same distance with caster and another MW diamond that would do for the 6' deep margin.
The weather, the water colour and just the 'feel' of it cried out fish up in the water, so I started on the ½ depth waggler and the first chuck saw me snagged on a length of towrope. OK it was probably 15lb line, that was firmly attached to the island and a clump of roots, which I managed to get halfway back before they came up out of the water, still attached to the line. I was unable to pull it back any further and eventually the hooklength snapped, even thoughI had a straight pull on it, the line whiped around the tip eye and snapped it off - bloody great start!!
Anyone got a spare top section for a 13' Maver Reactorlite Match II ??
So I picked up the 18" deep waggler and had three fish in the first 40 minutes, probably 18lb in the net, next chuck I foul hooked one and it ran the length of my island, spooking fish as it went, I could see the swirls and bow waves as the fish either got out of its way or felt the line.
Not too worried, after it had come off, I went back in and 45 minutes later, I realised the damage that it had done, not another bite. I had fed a line at 13m with micropellet, groundbait, caster and chopped worm, so I dropped over it with a pole rig, a punch of meat on the hook - nothing, not so much as a liner, soft pellet couldn't even get a twitch on the float and likewise worm.
Back on the waggler, it was bloody hard work getting bait to the island and in the swirling and curiously, bi-directional wind, the float. I knew which casts might see a bite and they weren't the majority, even clipped up, with the wind changing speed and direction every two seconds, it was difficult to get tight every cast. I did try upping the pellet size to 11mm, to no avail, just plugging away until the end saw me land 11 fish for 62.04. I thought it might be a decent weight given the bankside chat and it was, an improvement on yesterdays 3rd place, first on the day by 1.03.
That time spent tying hooklengths last night, may well have proven to be the difference!!
1) Chris Fox 62.04 peg 19SL
2) Kev Molten 61.01 peg 24ML
3) Andy lloyd 59.05 peg 13ML
4) Clint Wojtyla 56.08 peg 10SL
5) Fred Roberts 53.03 peg 20ML
6) Tom Magnol 50.13 peg 18SL
There were some moans and groans about the way it fished, but with less than 6lb seperating the top four, it was close.
Whilst he didn't appear in the frame, it was a hot topic of conversation, that the infamous Fabio, hooked and landed a 14lber whilst fishing into a fellow competitors peg, Im sure he must have cast there by accident and then slipped the fish back into the water, rather than into a keepnet.......
By the time I got home last night from Viaduct and cooked my tea (she who has to honour and obey - and cook tea - was at work) I was knackered, but I still tied up some new hooklengths before dossing on the sofa and watching an American Ventriloquist on one of the comedy channels.
The ritual that is now gaining familiarity, the Abby's cafe breakfast, anglers dominating the cafe, off to various matches, Rod Wotton racing his down after oversleeping and having about 25 mins to get to Cider Farm and Dean, well, just being Dean!!
I wasn't really bothered where I drew, not knowing the lakes, those 'in the know' seemed to think that a corner peg would be top choice, so I obviously pulled out peg 19 on the specimen lake, nowhere near a corner and a lake I've never seen before - although it is very similar in looks to the match lake.
I'd come prepared for carp slaying (perhaps my transformation to commercial angler is nearing completion, although I still hanker after nets of roach on the stick float), but as there is four silver places paid, I had a couple of pints of caster and a ½ a kilo of worm.
I got to the peg and wasn't disappointed to have an island chuck, I set up two wagglers, one to fish 6" - 18" deep and one that would suffice from 2' to full depth. I also set up a three pole rigs, a MW diamond to fish at 13m, pellet meat or worm, a preston green to fish the same distance with caster and another MW diamond that would do for the 6' deep margin.
The weather, the water colour and just the 'feel' of it cried out fish up in the water, so I started on the ½ depth waggler and the first chuck saw me snagged on a length of towrope. OK it was probably 15lb line, that was firmly attached to the island and a clump of roots, which I managed to get halfway back before they came up out of the water, still attached to the line. I was unable to pull it back any further and eventually the hooklength snapped, even thoughI had a straight pull on it, the line whiped around the tip eye and snapped it off - bloody great start!!
Anyone got a spare top section for a 13' Maver Reactorlite Match II ??
So I picked up the 18" deep waggler and had three fish in the first 40 minutes, probably 18lb in the net, next chuck I foul hooked one and it ran the length of my island, spooking fish as it went, I could see the swirls and bow waves as the fish either got out of its way or felt the line.
Not too worried, after it had come off, I went back in and 45 minutes later, I realised the damage that it had done, not another bite. I had fed a line at 13m with micropellet, groundbait, caster and chopped worm, so I dropped over it with a pole rig, a punch of meat on the hook - nothing, not so much as a liner, soft pellet couldn't even get a twitch on the float and likewise worm.
Back on the waggler, it was bloody hard work getting bait to the island and in the swirling and curiously, bi-directional wind, the float. I knew which casts might see a bite and they weren't the majority, even clipped up, with the wind changing speed and direction every two seconds, it was difficult to get tight every cast. I did try upping the pellet size to 11mm, to no avail, just plugging away until the end saw me land 11 fish for 62.04. I thought it might be a decent weight given the bankside chat and it was, an improvement on yesterdays 3rd place, first on the day by 1.03.
That time spent tying hooklengths last night, may well have proven to be the difference!!
1) Chris Fox 62.04 peg 19SL
2) Kev Molten 61.01 peg 24ML
3) Andy lloyd 59.05 peg 13ML
4) Clint Wojtyla 56.08 peg 10SL
5) Fred Roberts 53.03 peg 20ML
6) Tom Magnol 50.13 peg 18SL
There were some moans and groans about the way it fished, but with less than 6lb seperating the top four, it was close.
Whilst he didn't appear in the frame, it was a hot topic of conversation, that the infamous Fabio, hooked and landed a 14lber whilst fishing into a fellow competitors peg, Im sure he must have cast there by accident and then slipped the fish back into the water, rather than into a keepnet.......
Saturday, 5 June 2010
Super League @ Viaduct 5th June 2010
My first team match of the year, the 2nd round of the super league at Viaduct. Trying to preserve my svelte figure, I gave the cafe a miss and went straight to Viaduct from home.
So much for all the preperation yesterday, when I got my kit out I'd forgotten my keepnet bar and had to scrounge some pliers off of Mike Nicholls to get the quick connectors off my keepnets so I could use banksticks.
I was first there, but it didn't take long for team mates Dave Wride and Mark Bromsgrove to turn up, shortly after, team Captain, Lance, turned up with the draw made and gave out the pegs. 110 was to be my peg, didn't mean too much as I haven't fished Viaduct very often(even though I keep promising myself I'll fish it more).
The pressure was on once several of my fellow competitiors made a point of telling me that it had won Thursdays match, with 170lb. I set up (but for Tony Rixon's benefit - didn't use) a lead rod, two waggler rods and four topkits, one with a paste rig on, on for up in the water and two rigs that would do for pellet/meat at full depth in open water and the margin. Having two hours to set up is bliss, even I was ready at the start.
Some of the advice I was given about catching into the bay on my left, past the tree stump seemed good, it looked fishy, but the fish moving about made my decision to start on the pellet waggler an easy one. But after ¾ hour with only 1 fish and hardly any indications on the float to show for it, I decided that as it was a team match, I'd better try and get some section points. I dropped a piece of meat on a hair rig into the area I'd been feeding by the stump, the float settled and shot under and an angry carp ran round the back of the stump and snagged solid - whilst the dumb ass on the other end regretted not having a couple more sections on......
A new rig (the bloody lot was gone) and back in on the meat, in the next 45 mins I had four tench and a couple of carp, before the bites dried up. I had a paste line at about 9m and I'd fed the LH margin at 14.5m and 17m, the paste line produced on small skimmer to a lump of paste bigger than a golf ball and the LH margin nothing apart from two liners. I could see that peg 112 had taken 4 or 5 fish on the waggler whilst I was rotating my lines and with 2½ hours to go (5 hour match), I decided to concentrate on the waggler and keep the meat going into the margin by the stump.
I went from 3 carp to 14 on the waggler in the next hour and 45 mins and from 14 to 19 in the last ¾ hour (wish it had been six hours). I lost three fish on the waggler, two (one very big fish) kited to my left and headed straight for the brambles and snags around the stump, one just came off palying it in.
I though my 19 carp might go 75-80lb with the tench and lone skimmer, watching the section weigh in, it was tight 3 weights in the 70's, Alan Oram with 93lb, but I managed to take maximum points with with my 104lb 12oz. This was also good enough to take third place in the match and those lost fish cost me second place.
I didn't manage to get the full results, but top three
Andy Power 145.12
Gary Etheridge 109.05
Chris Fox 104.12
and I'm pretty sure Alan Oram's 93lb odd was fourth and Steve Kedge had 90lb for a section win and I think fifth place.
So much for all the preperation yesterday, when I got my kit out I'd forgotten my keepnet bar and had to scrounge some pliers off of Mike Nicholls to get the quick connectors off my keepnets so I could use banksticks.
I was first there, but it didn't take long for team mates Dave Wride and Mark Bromsgrove to turn up, shortly after, team Captain, Lance, turned up with the draw made and gave out the pegs. 110 was to be my peg, didn't mean too much as I haven't fished Viaduct very often(even though I keep promising myself I'll fish it more).
The pressure was on once several of my fellow competitiors made a point of telling me that it had won Thursdays match, with 170lb. I set up (but for Tony Rixon's benefit - didn't use) a lead rod, two waggler rods and four topkits, one with a paste rig on, on for up in the water and two rigs that would do for pellet/meat at full depth in open water and the margin. Having two hours to set up is bliss, even I was ready at the start.
Some of the advice I was given about catching into the bay on my left, past the tree stump seemed good, it looked fishy, but the fish moving about made my decision to start on the pellet waggler an easy one. But after ¾ hour with only 1 fish and hardly any indications on the float to show for it, I decided that as it was a team match, I'd better try and get some section points. I dropped a piece of meat on a hair rig into the area I'd been feeding by the stump, the float settled and shot under and an angry carp ran round the back of the stump and snagged solid - whilst the dumb ass on the other end regretted not having a couple more sections on......
A new rig (the bloody lot was gone) and back in on the meat, in the next 45 mins I had four tench and a couple of carp, before the bites dried up. I had a paste line at about 9m and I'd fed the LH margin at 14.5m and 17m, the paste line produced on small skimmer to a lump of paste bigger than a golf ball and the LH margin nothing apart from two liners. I could see that peg 112 had taken 4 or 5 fish on the waggler whilst I was rotating my lines and with 2½ hours to go (5 hour match), I decided to concentrate on the waggler and keep the meat going into the margin by the stump.
I went from 3 carp to 14 on the waggler in the next hour and 45 mins and from 14 to 19 in the last ¾ hour (wish it had been six hours). I lost three fish on the waggler, two (one very big fish) kited to my left and headed straight for the brambles and snags around the stump, one just came off palying it in.
I though my 19 carp might go 75-80lb with the tench and lone skimmer, watching the section weigh in, it was tight 3 weights in the 70's, Alan Oram with 93lb, but I managed to take maximum points with with my 104lb 12oz. This was also good enough to take third place in the match and those lost fish cost me second place.
I didn't manage to get the full results, but top three
Andy Power 145.12
Gary Etheridge 109.05
Chris Fox 104.12
and I'm pretty sure Alan Oram's 93lb odd was fourth and Steve Kedge had 90lb for a section win and I think fifth place.
Monday, 31 May 2010
Avon Angling Open, Trinity Waters, 30th May 2010
I had a week away in Cornwall after last weeks frustrating day on Rushcombe, in the last of the KP series. I did take some tackle, just in case I managed to get to the rocks off Trevose Head, for a bit of spinning. As it turned out, I didn’t bother, a week just mooching around Cornwall and sampling the Cornish food and ale sufficed.
I was looking forward to this match, it’s a while since I have managed to get to Trinity Waters, which is a shame, as it’s a venue that’s been kind to me and is well run by John & Sue.
I had the obligatory fry up at Abby’s Café, anglers making the majority of the customers. I got to the water and wandered around, sorting out the pegging, really, the 21 fishing was 1 too many, as I couldn’t leave out the corners and give everyone an empty peg one side.
In the melee that was the draw, I had a peg drawn for me, seeing as I was using my cap to hold the draw cards, 23 was revealed when I opened it. I wasn’t too bothered where I drew, but I was happy that it wasn’t 16, 17 or 18, which are pegs that I’ve failed to compete from in the past. The wind was blowing into the corner,between me on 23 and John Bradford on 20, but I had failed to appreciate how strong it was whilst pegging out.
I had set up two 1.5g Jolly’s, modified with a 2mm hollow tip, one to fish soft or banded hard pellet and another to fish paste (Both on 0.17 line, with a 0.15 hooklength. A B911 size 16 for the pellet rig and a 16 Mustad paste hook for the paste rig). A margin rig for the very shallow RH margin, which was a MW slim power on 0.17 and a 0.15 hooklength with a size 16 PR36 and two pellet waggler rods, completed the set up.
I started on the pellet rig, feeding a line at 11.5m, after nearly an hour and two skimmers being the only fish, I knew I was wasting my time on a line that I just couldn’t hold the pole still enough to achieve the presentation. I had Jason Radford to my left and he was also struggling with the gusting wind. The presentation on the waggler was just as bad, I managed an F1 and two carp on this, but the wind once again made it a method that presentation was poor. I even set up a waggler 3’ overdepth and it still dragged through.
I had been feeding my RH margin all match with hemp, caster and 8mm pellet and had one fish from it and one foul hooker lost, which were the only indications in the margin until the last hour and a quarter. I shallowed the rig up and came up the slope to where the water was 15”-18” deep and fishing meat over the pellet, caster & hemp feed, I managed to catch another seven or eight fish in the last hour, which I knew wasn’t enough to win, but it had given me a chance of a section pick up.
The scales came round and at 50lb 7oz, I was the highest weight weighed so far, with Gary Wall, Dean Malin and T Magnol on peg 2 all having decent nets to weigh in – according to the bankside jungle drums.
At the end of the weigh in, my weight was enough to take third place, it was a hard days fishing in that wind, but Woodland lake managed to do for me what she’s done a few times in the past, put me from virtually nowhere, to framing in the last hour or so. Just a shame I had to rush off at the end to get to work!!
1)Gary Wall 70.13 peg 13
2)Tom Magnol 69.13 peg 2
3)Chris Fox 50.07 peg 23
4)Dean Malin 44.02 peg 10
5)Paul Elmes 41.03
6)Ryan Summerhayes 39.10 peg 5
SILVERS
1)Dean Malin 18.10 peg 10
2)John Bradford 12.13 peg 20
If you look below, I've updated th last blog to give the results and final league standing in the KP series.
I was looking forward to this match, it’s a while since I have managed to get to Trinity Waters, which is a shame, as it’s a venue that’s been kind to me and is well run by John & Sue.
I had the obligatory fry up at Abby’s Café, anglers making the majority of the customers. I got to the water and wandered around, sorting out the pegging, really, the 21 fishing was 1 too many, as I couldn’t leave out the corners and give everyone an empty peg one side.
In the melee that was the draw, I had a peg drawn for me, seeing as I was using my cap to hold the draw cards, 23 was revealed when I opened it. I wasn’t too bothered where I drew, but I was happy that it wasn’t 16, 17 or 18, which are pegs that I’ve failed to compete from in the past. The wind was blowing into the corner,between me on 23 and John Bradford on 20, but I had failed to appreciate how strong it was whilst pegging out.
I had set up two 1.5g Jolly’s, modified with a 2mm hollow tip, one to fish soft or banded hard pellet and another to fish paste (Both on 0.17 line, with a 0.15 hooklength. A B911 size 16 for the pellet rig and a 16 Mustad paste hook for the paste rig). A margin rig for the very shallow RH margin, which was a MW slim power on 0.17 and a 0.15 hooklength with a size 16 PR36 and two pellet waggler rods, completed the set up.
I started on the pellet rig, feeding a line at 11.5m, after nearly an hour and two skimmers being the only fish, I knew I was wasting my time on a line that I just couldn’t hold the pole still enough to achieve the presentation. I had Jason Radford to my left and he was also struggling with the gusting wind. The presentation on the waggler was just as bad, I managed an F1 and two carp on this, but the wind once again made it a method that presentation was poor. I even set up a waggler 3’ overdepth and it still dragged through.
I had been feeding my RH margin all match with hemp, caster and 8mm pellet and had one fish from it and one foul hooker lost, which were the only indications in the margin until the last hour and a quarter. I shallowed the rig up and came up the slope to where the water was 15”-18” deep and fishing meat over the pellet, caster & hemp feed, I managed to catch another seven or eight fish in the last hour, which I knew wasn’t enough to win, but it had given me a chance of a section pick up.
The scales came round and at 50lb 7oz, I was the highest weight weighed so far, with Gary Wall, Dean Malin and T Magnol on peg 2 all having decent nets to weigh in – according to the bankside jungle drums.
At the end of the weigh in, my weight was enough to take third place, it was a hard days fishing in that wind, but Woodland lake managed to do for me what she’s done a few times in the past, put me from virtually nowhere, to framing in the last hour or so. Just a shame I had to rush off at the end to get to work!!
1)Gary Wall 70.13 peg 13
2)Tom Magnol 69.13 peg 2
3)Chris Fox 50.07 peg 23
4)Dean Malin 44.02 peg 10
5)Paul Elmes 41.03
6)Ryan Summerhayes 39.10 peg 5
SILVERS
1)Dean Malin 18.10 peg 10
2)John Bradford 12.13 peg 20
If you look below, I've updated th last blog to give the results and final league standing in the KP series.
Monday, 24 May 2010
Kev Perry Series Last Match
My draw was shite, I really tried, I even went scrounging maggots, but when the 5 hour mark passed and I had 11 small Carp, I gave up, and packed up. I could see Andy Hembrow on D1, absolutely sacking.....
Too much for tonight, the full leage table to follow.
31/5/10 - Update.
I was pretty pissed off after the last match, suffice to say I didn't really enjoy the series this year, both times I fished Rushcombe, was the two worst days on the lake. I had gone with a plan of fishing paste, as there was no point scratching around for points. I also took hard & soft pellet as a back up, 15 or 20 bites in 5 hours, even after Clive Pettit generously gave me a tub of maggots, was the straw that broke the camels back and I packed up with an hour to go.
Thanks, to all of you who supportted the series, from Paul & myself, to Phil for his prize of a seaon ticket to the winner and to Veals for the vouchers which we awarded to the silverfish first & second place. In all honesty, there weren't too many moans & groans, even though we moved from North Pool after the first two matches and Rushcombe was a bit up and down. Every decision was made with the best interests of the competitors, trying to give everyone the best chance in the league and enjoy a days fishing.
The league table results are a little crammed, I haven't got time tonight to try and sort out the spacing. The figures are left to right: final points tally, final weight tally, lowest points dropped and the associated weight.
Match Result.
First Sam Johnson ML8 42.600
Second Mike Owens ML25 29.970
Third Andy Hembrow Rush D1 29.250
Fourth Sean Kitteridge ML26 28.000
Fifth Lance Tucker ML24 20.770
Sixth Tom Thick ML17 18.500
BY DEFAULT
A Section 1st Dave Wride ML12 18.400
B Section 1st Sean Kitteridge ML26 28.000
C Section 1st Dave Roper Rush C2 15.500
D Section 1st Lewis Jones Rush D2 14.500
Silvers
First Sean Kitteridge ML26 17.500
Second Lance Tucker ML24 11.570
Third Nick Collins ML15 10.700
Fourth Mike Nicholls ML21 10.520
Final series Table (With worst match result dropped)
Name Points Weight Worst
1 Sean Kitteridge 33 98.620 0 0.000
2 Lewis Jones 31 85.680 3 2.520
3 Dave Wride 30 100.810 4 4.650
4 Dave Roper 30 75.650 0 0.000
5 Mike Owens 29 87.330 3 7.520
6 Andy Hembrow 29 78.980 1 5.340
7 Andy Hockin 25 79.170 1 8.320
8 Nick Collins 25 76.580 2 7.220
9 Tom Thick 25 75.320 3 12.250
10 Bob Gullick 25 69.670 2 14.150
11 Steve Priddle 25 57.570 1 3.450
12 Mark Bromsgrove 24 76.800 3 14.650
13 Chris Fox 24 72.970 0 0.000
14 Clive Petitt 24 72.240 1 2.310
15 Kev Perry 24 60.790 4 2.390
16 Paul Faiers 23 55.100 2 6.380
17 Mark Walsh 22 64.200 2 1.370
18 Lance Tucker 20 64.620 2 11.030
19 Mike Nicholls 19 87.720 0 0.000
20 Glen Calvert 19 71.520 0 0.000
21 Sam Johnson 17 65.260 0 0.000
22 John Osbourne 17 41.840 1 4.380
23 Paul Purchase 13 35.760 0 0.000
24 Ivan Currie 12 45.600 1 6.740
25 Charlie Barnes 12 23.940 0 0.000
26 Nick Harvey 11 51.480 1 2.750
27 Paul Lasson 11 25.770 1 5.800
28 Dave Poole 11 19.700 0 0.000
Silvers Final Table (with worst match dropped)
Name Points Weight Worst
1 Dave Wride 34 53.870 4 7.500
2 Tom Thick 33 39.200 3 9.300
3 Nick Collins 30 43.790 5 2.960
4 Bob Gullick 29 29.520 2 8.500
5 Lewis Jones 29 24.020 3 2.900
6 Dave Roper 28 27.700 0 0.000
7 Steve Priddle 28 22.510 0 0.000
8 Lance Tucker 27 38.010 4 6.000
9 Andy Hembrow 27 24.280 4 0.350
10 John Osbourne 26 9.150 1 1.940
11 Paul Faiers 25 18.140 0 0.000
12 Mike Owens 24 34.490 2 2.800
13 Mark Bromsgrove 24 30.500 1 3.850
14 Mike Nicholls 23 35.020 0 0.000
15 Mark Walsh 23 16.300 0 0.000
16 Sean Kitteridge 22 38.350 0 0.000
17 Kev Perry 21 8.660 2 1.600
18 Chris Fox 20 20.110 0 0.000
19 Andy Hockin 19 19.180 1 5.750
20 Glen Calvert 18 15.270 0 0.000
21 Clive Petitt 18 12.920 0 0.000
22 Charlie Barnes 16 13.840 0 0.000
23 Ivan Currie 14 19.250 0 0.000
24 Dave Poole 13 8.330 0 0.000
25 Paul Purchase 11 10.640 0 0.000
26 Paul Lasson 10 8.040 0 0.000
27 Nick Harvey 6 3.480 0 0.000
28 Sam Johnson 4 4.750 0 0.000
Too much for tonight, the full leage table to follow.
31/5/10 - Update.
I was pretty pissed off after the last match, suffice to say I didn't really enjoy the series this year, both times I fished Rushcombe, was the two worst days on the lake. I had gone with a plan of fishing paste, as there was no point scratching around for points. I also took hard & soft pellet as a back up, 15 or 20 bites in 5 hours, even after Clive Pettit generously gave me a tub of maggots, was the straw that broke the camels back and I packed up with an hour to go.
Thanks, to all of you who supportted the series, from Paul & myself, to Phil for his prize of a seaon ticket to the winner and to Veals for the vouchers which we awarded to the silverfish first & second place. In all honesty, there weren't too many moans & groans, even though we moved from North Pool after the first two matches and Rushcombe was a bit up and down. Every decision was made with the best interests of the competitors, trying to give everyone the best chance in the league and enjoy a days fishing.
The league table results are a little crammed, I haven't got time tonight to try and sort out the spacing. The figures are left to right: final points tally, final weight tally, lowest points dropped and the associated weight.
Match Result.
First Sam Johnson ML8 42.600
Second Mike Owens ML25 29.970
Third Andy Hembrow Rush D1 29.250
Fourth Sean Kitteridge ML26 28.000
Fifth Lance Tucker ML24 20.770
Sixth Tom Thick ML17 18.500
BY DEFAULT
A Section 1st Dave Wride ML12 18.400
B Section 1st Sean Kitteridge ML26 28.000
C Section 1st Dave Roper Rush C2 15.500
D Section 1st Lewis Jones Rush D2 14.500
Silvers
First Sean Kitteridge ML26 17.500
Second Lance Tucker ML24 11.570
Third Nick Collins ML15 10.700
Fourth Mike Nicholls ML21 10.520
Final series Table (With worst match result dropped)
Name Points Weight Worst
1 Sean Kitteridge 33 98.620 0 0.000
2 Lewis Jones 31 85.680 3 2.520
3 Dave Wride 30 100.810 4 4.650
4 Dave Roper 30 75.650 0 0.000
5 Mike Owens 29 87.330 3 7.520
6 Andy Hembrow 29 78.980 1 5.340
7 Andy Hockin 25 79.170 1 8.320
8 Nick Collins 25 76.580 2 7.220
9 Tom Thick 25 75.320 3 12.250
10 Bob Gullick 25 69.670 2 14.150
11 Steve Priddle 25 57.570 1 3.450
12 Mark Bromsgrove 24 76.800 3 14.650
13 Chris Fox 24 72.970 0 0.000
14 Clive Petitt 24 72.240 1 2.310
15 Kev Perry 24 60.790 4 2.390
16 Paul Faiers 23 55.100 2 6.380
17 Mark Walsh 22 64.200 2 1.370
18 Lance Tucker 20 64.620 2 11.030
19 Mike Nicholls 19 87.720 0 0.000
20 Glen Calvert 19 71.520 0 0.000
21 Sam Johnson 17 65.260 0 0.000
22 John Osbourne 17 41.840 1 4.380
23 Paul Purchase 13 35.760 0 0.000
24 Ivan Currie 12 45.600 1 6.740
25 Charlie Barnes 12 23.940 0 0.000
26 Nick Harvey 11 51.480 1 2.750
27 Paul Lasson 11 25.770 1 5.800
28 Dave Poole 11 19.700 0 0.000
Silvers Final Table (with worst match dropped)
Name Points Weight Worst
1 Dave Wride 34 53.870 4 7.500
2 Tom Thick 33 39.200 3 9.300
3 Nick Collins 30 43.790 5 2.960
4 Bob Gullick 29 29.520 2 8.500
5 Lewis Jones 29 24.020 3 2.900
6 Dave Roper 28 27.700 0 0.000
7 Steve Priddle 28 22.510 0 0.000
8 Lance Tucker 27 38.010 4 6.000
9 Andy Hembrow 27 24.280 4 0.350
10 John Osbourne 26 9.150 1 1.940
11 Paul Faiers 25 18.140 0 0.000
12 Mike Owens 24 34.490 2 2.800
13 Mark Bromsgrove 24 30.500 1 3.850
14 Mike Nicholls 23 35.020 0 0.000
15 Mark Walsh 23 16.300 0 0.000
16 Sean Kitteridge 22 38.350 0 0.000
17 Kev Perry 21 8.660 2 1.600
18 Chris Fox 20 20.110 0 0.000
19 Andy Hockin 19 19.180 1 5.750
20 Glen Calvert 18 15.270 0 0.000
21 Clive Petitt 18 12.920 0 0.000
22 Charlie Barnes 16 13.840 0 0.000
23 Ivan Currie 14 19.250 0 0.000
24 Dave Poole 13 8.330 0 0.000
25 Paul Purchase 11 10.640 0 0.000
26 Paul Lasson 10 8.040 0 0.000
27 Nick Harvey 6 3.480 0 0.000
28 Sam Johnson 4 4.750 0 0.000
Friday, 21 May 2010
Landsend, Wednesday 19th May 2010
Another 'difficult' day at Landsend, difficult, but I still weighed in 57lb 2oz, which 20 years ago would have won many matches. A hearty breakfast at Abbys cafe in Bishopsworth set me up, although Tony & Dean were mesmerised by the breastfeast on display, thankfully I was sat with my back to the lady in question, so could concentrate on eating.......
Two pegs stuck together as I picked them out of the draw bag, I'll never know what I flicked back, No1 was the one I'd kept. Two extremes of opinion offered to me about the peg, from its a bad draw, to, you'll get a few from there.
I set up 5 rigs, two for paste, one at full depth and one shallow for the island shelf, although I wasn't planning this to be my main line of attack. A caster rig, a full depth pellet rig for soft or banded pellet and a shallow rig for banded pellet.
There were plenty of fish moving, (the crucians/F1's were spawning like crazy) the water temp was 15°C, so not warm enough for the carp to be spawning, I started on the shallow rig and in the first 1¼ hours had managed one crucian and a golden tench. This was trying two lines, one across to the island and one down the edge at 16m. A look on the lines I'd been feeding the caster saw a run of perch, but they weren't big enough or coming quickly enough to make it viable. The full depth pellet rig fished at the bottom of the shelf and into open water, produced a couple of unhitable bites on soft pellet and no bites on banded. Although in open water I had a big patch of fizzing where I'd fed, but not a bite...
Back onto the shallow rig, as I could see Andy France on 24 getting fish down the edge, I had 7 carp from the edge and 1 from the island in the middle two hours before they seemed to switch off. In the last two hours I tried paste & tooke two more fish, as well as 1 more tench on the shallow rig. The fish at this end of the lake seemed small, Andy on 24 had 20 to my 10, but neither of us had any of the 6lb+ fish that boost your weight. Andy's fish were a smaller avaerage than mine, his 20 going 76lb.
The scales gave me 46lb of carp and 11lb 2 oz of silvers, with the better weights coming from the specoimen lake and the other end of the match lake.
I must get Dave Wride to draw for me again next Sunday....
1) Dean Malin 165.08 peg 17
2) Tony Rixon 123.02 peg 28
3) Tony Witcombe 117.04 peg 13
4) Gary Wall 106.08 peg 26
5) Adrian Bishop 86.04 peg 32
5) Andy France 76.09 peg 24
Top silvers John Bradford, 42.10 peg 7
Two pegs stuck together as I picked them out of the draw bag, I'll never know what I flicked back, No1 was the one I'd kept. Two extremes of opinion offered to me about the peg, from its a bad draw, to, you'll get a few from there.
I set up 5 rigs, two for paste, one at full depth and one shallow for the island shelf, although I wasn't planning this to be my main line of attack. A caster rig, a full depth pellet rig for soft or banded pellet and a shallow rig for banded pellet.
There were plenty of fish moving, (the crucians/F1's were spawning like crazy) the water temp was 15°C, so not warm enough for the carp to be spawning, I started on the shallow rig and in the first 1¼ hours had managed one crucian and a golden tench. This was trying two lines, one across to the island and one down the edge at 16m. A look on the lines I'd been feeding the caster saw a run of perch, but they weren't big enough or coming quickly enough to make it viable. The full depth pellet rig fished at the bottom of the shelf and into open water, produced a couple of unhitable bites on soft pellet and no bites on banded. Although in open water I had a big patch of fizzing where I'd fed, but not a bite...
Back onto the shallow rig, as I could see Andy France on 24 getting fish down the edge, I had 7 carp from the edge and 1 from the island in the middle two hours before they seemed to switch off. In the last two hours I tried paste & tooke two more fish, as well as 1 more tench on the shallow rig. The fish at this end of the lake seemed small, Andy on 24 had 20 to my 10, but neither of us had any of the 6lb+ fish that boost your weight. Andy's fish were a smaller avaerage than mine, his 20 going 76lb.
The scales gave me 46lb of carp and 11lb 2 oz of silvers, with the better weights coming from the specoimen lake and the other end of the match lake.
I must get Dave Wride to draw for me again next Sunday....
1) Dean Malin 165.08 peg 17
2) Tony Rixon 123.02 peg 28
3) Tony Witcombe 117.04 peg 13
4) Gary Wall 106.08 peg 26
5) Adrian Bishop 86.04 peg 32
5) Andy France 76.09 peg 24
Top silvers John Bradford, 42.10 peg 7
Monday, 17 May 2010
Kev Perry Series, Round Five, 16th May 2010
I am in a fortunate position to reveal that a dynamic new tackle designer is ready to launch his first product. Local Bream and Cider expert, Kev Perry has been working tirelessly to produce a new pole mounted pot, one that can really deliver when the fish need plenty of feed to keep them in the swim.
Kev has personally committed to emptying and recycling the contents of the Natch bottles, although he has approached me to help him, should the volume of orders become too much. I look forward to joining Kev in this new venture, items in the pipe line are the 'Thatchers' five gallon polypin pellet container and the Blackthorn 9 or 11 gallon aluminium barrel seat box, all of which will be lovingly emptied before being crafted into quality tackle products.
Yesterdays fifth round of the Kev Perry series was met with the weather still cold for the time of year, although the water temp was up 2°C from last weeks 10°C, at the start and a positively tropical 15°C at the end of the match. It was my turn to fish the Match Lake, thankfully, after last weeks poor showing on Rushcombe. I arrived around 07.30 and for once didn't have to chuck any pleasure anglers off, in fact they were fairly conspicuous by their absence. I pegged out Rushcombe and headed into the cafe for breakfast.
As my results this series have been pretty dire, I decided that I'd have to get get Dave 'Golden Arm' Wride to draw for me, he handed me A1 (ML8), the back bank isn't my favourite area, but the wind was blowing in there and it had more colour than the main part of the lake. Fellow organiser Paul Faiers was on peg 10 and fairly convinced that he'd have a good day on the silvers, Kev Perry on 12 and Glen opposite on 27, at least if the fishing was poor we had a good 'social' crowd.
I know that those who tend to be consistent at Bullock Farm, catching good weights of Crucians, feed very little, I must admit I find this difficult, restraint is obviously not in my nature. I yearn for the days on the river when a gallon of maggots would barely last five hours, so feeding a teacup full of micropellet in 6 hours hardly fills me with excitement. Given that I had no chance of any pick up in the overall league or silvers, I had a plan of fishing caster for the silvers and paste for carp, with a back up of hard 6mm pellet.
I set up a 4x10 rig to fish caster, 0.13 to a 0.11 hooklength and a 18 6313, this matched with doubled up No8 elastic. A similar rig, to fish 6mm banded pellet, this on 0.15/0.13 and a 18PR36 and two paste rigs, one a Big H float on 0.15 with a mustad paste hook 16 and a blob on 0.17 with a mustad paste hook 12.
At the all in I fed a line about 5m at 11 o'clock with caster and another line over on the tip of the island with dampened 4mm, the RH margin looked inviting, but I was determind to leave it well alone for at least three hours. First drop in on the caster and the float buried and a couple of minutes later a 3lb mirror was the first keepnet resident. I took a few Crucians and fantails from this line, but it wasn't fast and furious sport, a look over to the island with a 4mm expander saw a couple more Crucians landed, but the enevitable missed bite syndrome started. A switch to banded 6mm pellet saw 5 goldfish landed in 5 put ins. I switched back to the caster line and tried maggot over it, another couple of Crucians, some decent skimmers and then it went quiet.
I carried on feeding caster, but tried a 4mm expander over it and had a decent spell of crucians, skimmer and an eel which was over 1lb, although I didn't get to weigh it, todays shallow pan landing nets aren't designed for containing eels and I must be out of practise in dealing with them, as he managed to squirm out of the net, off my leg and the pallet and back into the lake...... Shortly after I had a carp around 7 or 8lb over the caster on 4mm pellet and with 1¾ hours to go, I had a look at the inviting margin, I had either a bite or a liner most put ins and caught carp in the 3-5lb bracket until the all out.
Thankfully it had been enough to win both the match and keeping on the caster line for that length of time, also saw met take the silvers money. A decent pick up at last in this series. Sadly I had to work Sunday night, so the money stayed in my pocket, the local pub and Indian restaurant will have to wait for their share!!
Rushcombe had fished somewhat better, with 3 of the top six coming from there.
1) Chris Fox 35.150KG ML8
2) Sean Kitteridge 25.300KG Rush C2
3) Dave Roper 24.300KG ML22
4) Mark Walsh 23.850KG ML18
5) Nick Harvey 22.700KG Rush C3
6) Mark Bromsgrove 21.800KG Rush C1
Silvers
1) Chris Fox 10.950KG ML8
2) Andy Hembrow 10.500KG ML21
3) Paul Faiers 9.150KG ML10
3) Dave Wride 8.500KG Rush D1
Overall Table
1) Dave Wride 28P 87.060KG
2) Lewis Jones 28P 74.180KG
3) Sean Kitteridge 27P 70.620KG
4) Andy Hockin 25P 79.170KG
5) Bob Gullick 25P 69.670KG
6) Mike Owens 25P 64.880KG
Silvers Table
1) Dave Wride 34P 53.870KG
2) Tom Thick 33P 39.200KG
3) Bob Gullick 29P 29.250
4) Nick Collins 28P 36.050KG
5) Andy Hembrow 27P 24.280KG
6) Lweis Jones 26P 25.980KG
Kev has personally committed to emptying and recycling the contents of the Natch bottles, although he has approached me to help him, should the volume of orders become too much. I look forward to joining Kev in this new venture, items in the pipe line are the 'Thatchers' five gallon polypin pellet container and the Blackthorn 9 or 11 gallon aluminium barrel seat box, all of which will be lovingly emptied before being crafted into quality tackle products.
Yesterdays fifth round of the Kev Perry series was met with the weather still cold for the time of year, although the water temp was up 2°C from last weeks 10°C, at the start and a positively tropical 15°C at the end of the match. It was my turn to fish the Match Lake, thankfully, after last weeks poor showing on Rushcombe. I arrived around 07.30 and for once didn't have to chuck any pleasure anglers off, in fact they were fairly conspicuous by their absence. I pegged out Rushcombe and headed into the cafe for breakfast.
As my results this series have been pretty dire, I decided that I'd have to get get Dave 'Golden Arm' Wride to draw for me, he handed me A1 (ML8), the back bank isn't my favourite area, but the wind was blowing in there and it had more colour than the main part of the lake. Fellow organiser Paul Faiers was on peg 10 and fairly convinced that he'd have a good day on the silvers, Kev Perry on 12 and Glen opposite on 27, at least if the fishing was poor we had a good 'social' crowd.
I know that those who tend to be consistent at Bullock Farm, catching good weights of Crucians, feed very little, I must admit I find this difficult, restraint is obviously not in my nature. I yearn for the days on the river when a gallon of maggots would barely last five hours, so feeding a teacup full of micropellet in 6 hours hardly fills me with excitement. Given that I had no chance of any pick up in the overall league or silvers, I had a plan of fishing caster for the silvers and paste for carp, with a back up of hard 6mm pellet.
I set up a 4x10 rig to fish caster, 0.13 to a 0.11 hooklength and a 18 6313, this matched with doubled up No8 elastic. A similar rig, to fish 6mm banded pellet, this on 0.15/0.13 and a 18PR36 and two paste rigs, one a Big H float on 0.15 with a mustad paste hook 16 and a blob on 0.17 with a mustad paste hook 12.
At the all in I fed a line about 5m at 11 o'clock with caster and another line over on the tip of the island with dampened 4mm, the RH margin looked inviting, but I was determind to leave it well alone for at least three hours. First drop in on the caster and the float buried and a couple of minutes later a 3lb mirror was the first keepnet resident. I took a few Crucians and fantails from this line, but it wasn't fast and furious sport, a look over to the island with a 4mm expander saw a couple more Crucians landed, but the enevitable missed bite syndrome started. A switch to banded 6mm pellet saw 5 goldfish landed in 5 put ins. I switched back to the caster line and tried maggot over it, another couple of Crucians, some decent skimmers and then it went quiet.
I carried on feeding caster, but tried a 4mm expander over it and had a decent spell of crucians, skimmer and an eel which was over 1lb, although I didn't get to weigh it, todays shallow pan landing nets aren't designed for containing eels and I must be out of practise in dealing with them, as he managed to squirm out of the net, off my leg and the pallet and back into the lake...... Shortly after I had a carp around 7 or 8lb over the caster on 4mm pellet and with 1¾ hours to go, I had a look at the inviting margin, I had either a bite or a liner most put ins and caught carp in the 3-5lb bracket until the all out.
Thankfully it had been enough to win both the match and keeping on the caster line for that length of time, also saw met take the silvers money. A decent pick up at last in this series. Sadly I had to work Sunday night, so the money stayed in my pocket, the local pub and Indian restaurant will have to wait for their share!!
Rushcombe had fished somewhat better, with 3 of the top six coming from there.
1) Chris Fox 35.150KG ML8
2) Sean Kitteridge 25.300KG Rush C2
3) Dave Roper 24.300KG ML22
4) Mark Walsh 23.850KG ML18
5) Nick Harvey 22.700KG Rush C3
6) Mark Bromsgrove 21.800KG Rush C1
Silvers
1) Chris Fox 10.950KG ML8
2) Andy Hembrow 10.500KG ML21
3) Paul Faiers 9.150KG ML10
3) Dave Wride 8.500KG Rush D1
Overall Table
1) Dave Wride 28P 87.060KG
2) Lewis Jones 28P 74.180KG
3) Sean Kitteridge 27P 70.620KG
4) Andy Hockin 25P 79.170KG
5) Bob Gullick 25P 69.670KG
6) Mike Owens 25P 64.880KG
Silvers Table
1) Dave Wride 34P 53.870KG
2) Tom Thick 33P 39.200KG
3) Bob Gullick 29P 29.250
4) Nick Collins 28P 36.050KG
5) Andy Hembrow 27P 24.280KG
6) Lweis Jones 26P 25.980KG
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