Its a long time since I managed to get to a Thursday Costcutter, so it was good to be back and join the 18 other hardy souls who braved the first frost for a while. With Campbell and a section of Cary in, I wasn't too fussed where I drew, as the plan would be similar. I decided to try the breakfast in Woody's cafe, it was tasty enough, but didn't leave me feeling full up, just as well I had a flask of mulligatawny soup to ward off the cold.
110 stuck to my drawing hand, a peg I'd prefer on a warmer day, but surely there would be some perch along the brambles past the stump. I set up a 4m whip for roach, a 4x12 jolly and a chimp one with a 20 on 0.10 the other a 16 on 0.12 for caster and maggot short and at 14m. A waggler rod for caster and another for corn or meat, not so much as a quiver on either meat or corn, so no more about that rod.
On the all in the wind started, only a light breeze, but into my face and as 110 doesn't get the sun, it was the start of a chilly day. A start on the whip saw a couple of micro roach snaffle the caster and that set the scene for the day. A consistent pattern of two or three fish on caster, then nothing, a switch to maggot would bring another fish or two, bizarrely, these were often bigger (but not much) than the caster fish. Then dead again, so a switch to another line, be it pole or waggler would see the pattern repeat, this was the case when I tried down to the pallet of 136 and along the brambles, although the brambles did produce the best fish of the day, a 8oz, perfect Rudd.
At one time during the match a few bread crusts floated past, followed by some red onion rings, either someone had dropped their ploughmans lunch in, or the fish are getting fussy and want the prawns that some were using, garnished.
No matter what I tried, I couldn't get through the micro roach, even triple caster didn't thwart them, worm didn't tempt one bite, so I ended the day with lots of fish and effort for 7.02. At least it kept me warm.
1) Dick Bull 78.02 Peg 100
2) Jim Butcher 55.09 Peg 128
3) Martin Lenaghan 35.10 Peg 115
4) Terry Lenny 31.13 peg 123
5) Paul Lock 31.05 peg 98
6) T Heath 26.08 peg 116
Silvers
1) Andy Gard 13.06 peg 102
2) Stu Wood 12.15 peg 132 ( says 132 on the sheet, I'm sure he was sat on 131)
3) Mike Jones 12.12 peg 119
4) Rich Coles 11.07 peg 126
5) Chris Fox 7.02 peg 110
6) Nick Ewers 6.14 peg 125
Thursday, 29 November 2012
Avon Angling Open, Landsend, Wednesday 28th November 2012
Well after the disaster of getting stuck in the snow a couple of weeks back, I decided that a Nissan X Trail that I'd been looking out for on the web, might as well be my early Xmas pressie to myself, so I found a 2008 model with al the toys and a six speed auto box in Swindon yesterday, deal was done to trade in the Astravan and home the Nissan came. I've ordered a Rhino boot liner, but foe now have to make do with a blanket to keep the back tidy until it comes.
So onto the fishing, peg 3 out of the tin and I'd psyched myself up to fish just the two baits, caster and a line with soft pellet over micro's, it all seemed so simple, a MW diamond for soft pellet at the bottom of the far shelf and a Carpa chimp for caster short and down the middle. I had also, just in case, put a couple of handfuls of 6 and 8mm meat in the bait bag and as I had time, set up a rig that would suit to fish this or corn across.
To cut a long and fairly boring day short, I struggled to catch on any line, even though I tried my normal generous feeding and at a good distance away, fed with such frugality, Mike Nicholls would have approved.
Swapping and changing between the lines saw a few tiny perch and roach grace the net, 3 skimmers and an odd looking pot bellied F1for about 4 or 5lb which was tipped back before the end, as I packed away neatly and tidily, instead of my usual rush and throw it all in the box.
As I walked down the bank, Tom Mangnall, asked how I'd got on, when I told him, he said "peg 3 is the worst on the lake", so it seems the draw hoodoo keeps on going.
For the results see Tony's blog.
So onto the fishing, peg 3 out of the tin and I'd psyched myself up to fish just the two baits, caster and a line with soft pellet over micro's, it all seemed so simple, a MW diamond for soft pellet at the bottom of the far shelf and a Carpa chimp for caster short and down the middle. I had also, just in case, put a couple of handfuls of 6 and 8mm meat in the bait bag and as I had time, set up a rig that would suit to fish this or corn across.
To cut a long and fairly boring day short, I struggled to catch on any line, even though I tried my normal generous feeding and at a good distance away, fed with such frugality, Mike Nicholls would have approved.
Swapping and changing between the lines saw a few tiny perch and roach grace the net, 3 skimmers and an odd looking pot bellied F1for about 4 or 5lb which was tipped back before the end, as I packed away neatly and tidily, instead of my usual rush and throw it all in the box.
As I walked down the bank, Tom Mangnall, asked how I'd got on, when I told him, he said "peg 3 is the worst on the lake", so it seems the draw hoodoo keeps on going.
For the results see Tony's blog.
Saturday, 24 November 2012
Viaduct Silver league, Round 5. Sunday 18th November
Round 5 of the Silvers League and with no chance of
finishing anywhere other than well down the table, a positive approach and fish
for 20lb+. Working until 22.00 the night before meant preparation wasn’t great,
which was compounded by realising I had left my waggler rod at home once I
opened the tailgate to get my tackle out. Two offers of the loan of a rod were
forthcoming, from Clayton Hudson and Paul Faiers and whilst my home for the
day, peg 99 (Cary), would be one of the pegs that I’d usually opt for the
waggler, I declined and put my faith in the pole and a tiny cage feeder set up.
With hindsight, probably a mistake, as the fish didn’t want to venture too
close in.
On the all in I fed 3 lines, 2 balls of GB with only minimal
caster and a couple of dead pinkies in, same at 11m of to an angle and I had
set up a 4m whip, which produced 4 roach, so no more of that. Leaving the pole
lines to settle I cast 3 times with a next size up from tiny feeder and that
resulted in a small roach, a switch to the smallest feeder I own, with either
caster, maggot or dead maggot on the hook resulted in the odd little roach and
an occasional steady pull round of the ½ oz glass tip – liners from the few
carp that were showing themselves out towards the middle of the lake.
The pole lines were slow, with just an occasional bite,
again, small roach, with one two even smaller perch. By now Phil Cardwell on 96
was catching skimmers, whilst Dave Roper on 97, myself and Rowland on 100 were
just spectators. Another look on the feeder, the same result, liners and roach,
not a sign of a skimmer. I dropped down to 0.08 and a 22 and would have gone
smaller, but I didn’t think that it would have made any difference, I could
hear Nicky Collins directly behind me, catching decent roach on Lodge, the
biggest I had might have gone 2oz.
A switch back to the 13m line saw three skimmers (palm size
– but welcome) in three put ins, then I lost four fish in five put ins, 3 of
which had the maggot over the hook point – co-incidence? or perhaps it was the
way the fish were feeding and my rig was set up. Anyway, that was enough to
upset the skimmers and that was the last I saw of them. Those around me fishing
the waggler were getting the odd roach and Dave Roper had a better skimmer, had
there been more time I would have looked behind me to Paul or Clayton, both on
lodge for the loan of that waggler rod, but with ½ an hour to go, I just knew
that I wasn’t going to get a flurry of big skimmers or perch, so packed up
early and tipped back about 5lb. I guess Clayton must have stood too close to
me before the draw, as he drew 66 for the 3rd time in the series,
what are the odds of that happening, at least he amused himself towards the end
landing some big carp.
With one round to go, its another open for me, as a couple
of poor results and missing the 4th round due to the snow ( lorry
stuck on the hill after Chewton Mendip on A39, so I turned round and went back
down the A37, only to find the hill out of Gurney Slade blocked, with the snow
still falling heavily – must treat myself to a 4x4).
For the results please see either Tony’s, Mike’s or
Clayton’s blogs.
Tuesday, 13 November 2012
Trinity Waters, Avon Angling Open 11th Novemebr 2012
Back to Trinity, always a good place to visit, sure of a friendly welcome and it's a well maintained and run fishery. I seem to have got into the habit of drawing on the near bank, which doesn't seem to have regained the consistency it had before the lake re-modelling, today was no exception with 32 being my home for the day. Company for the day was the Silverfox on 31, always a tough angler to beat, he seems to have sussed when to fish for silver and when to switch to carp.
There was a time when soft pellet, corn or maggot would ensure bites from most pegs in the winter, but following on from yesterday, the fish seemed reluctant to feed. They were moving around and some big roach were topping down the middle, so I set up a waggler to fish caster as far as I could catapult them.
A short caster rig, a rig to fish 7m (although it was a consistent depth out to 14m) and a rig with similar depth but an olivette in case the tow got up - although I doubted the fish would be on the bottom. Starting on the caster waggler, I had a couple of small roach, before the float settled and the bump, bump of a good skimmer was felt up the rod. It was a bit of a false dawn, as the bites were then from tiny rudd, micro roach and even motherless minnows.
The line at 7m fed with a few micros and softened 4's was bubbling, but with little other evidence of fish, this produced a couple of skimmers and a 5lb carp, before it too, joined the waggler line, in waiting ages for a bite, only to get a fish twice the size of the caster.
The margins on this side haven't really produced in the winter months, but the crafty old Silverfox on the next peg had a couple of carp snap him up on the 'ronnie' whip, so he switched to paste and landed 5 fish, before suffering a blank couple of hours. I managed one from the margins on meat and reset up the waggler to fish a 8mm pellet at full depth, with no shot down the line, this was because there were fish moving near the surface, but they obviously weren't feeding. I managed 18lb odd, which wasn't good, being battered off the next peg by Mike who had 44lb with his paste caught carp.
There was a time when soft pellet, corn or maggot would ensure bites from most pegs in the winter, but following on from yesterday, the fish seemed reluctant to feed. They were moving around and some big roach were topping down the middle, so I set up a waggler to fish caster as far as I could catapult them.
A short caster rig, a rig to fish 7m (although it was a consistent depth out to 14m) and a rig with similar depth but an olivette in case the tow got up - although I doubted the fish would be on the bottom. Starting on the caster waggler, I had a couple of small roach, before the float settled and the bump, bump of a good skimmer was felt up the rod. It was a bit of a false dawn, as the bites were then from tiny rudd, micro roach and even motherless minnows.
The line at 7m fed with a few micros and softened 4's was bubbling, but with little other evidence of fish, this produced a couple of skimmers and a 5lb carp, before it too, joined the waggler line, in waiting ages for a bite, only to get a fish twice the size of the caster.
The margins on this side haven't really produced in the winter months, but the crafty old Silverfox on the next peg had a couple of carp snap him up on the 'ronnie' whip, so he switched to paste and landed 5 fish, before suffering a blank couple of hours. I managed one from the margins on meat and reset up the waggler to fish a 8mm pellet at full depth, with no shot down the line, this was because there were fish moving near the surface, but they obviously weren't feeding. I managed 18lb odd, which wasn't good, being battered off the next peg by Mike who had 44lb with his paste caught carp.
1) Tom
Mangnel 66-01-0 peg 2
2) Mike
Nicholls 44-04-0 peg 31
3) Tony
Rixon 32-06-0 peg 15
4) Craig
Edmonds 29-03-0 peg 14
5) Phil
Harding 28-05-0 peg 17
=6) Bela
Bakos 27-05-0 peg 25
=6) Kev
Moulton 27-05-0 peg 7
Silvers:
1) Nigel
Bartlett 9-09-0 peg 24
2)
Tom Mangnel 8-08-0 peg 2
3) Mike Nicholls 8-02-0 peg 31
Plantation Saturday Series 10th November 2012
An opportunity to fill in for an absentee today, so I took it. Plantation has a large head of carp, but also there can be some decent silver weights to be had and that was what I had in mind. with caster maggot and worm in the bait bag. I drew peg 7 which is a decent draw for carp, especially for the method chuckers. As it is a noted carp peg I set up a waggler to fish full depth with banded pellet out to the island, in case the silvers weren't playing.
The silvers rigs consisted of a caster rig to fish short and a rig that would suffice for caster/worm or soft pellet at 13m. I fed some caster and groundbait at 13m on the all in and caster short, leaving it to settle I started on the waggler, without so much as a liner for 20 minutes. A switch to the pole saw an occasional roach and not much else grace the net, but everyone was struggling, the skimmers did not show for me, I had none.
Another look out to the island and the gap in the islands on the waggler produced 2 carp, one foul hooked and another lost, before that went quiet again. The pole lines were very slow with only an occasional roach or minute perch. Back to the waggler and I had a run of fish, but the float and pellet had to land in the bramble fronds to get a bite, this included a chub getting on for 2lb. Two lost floats and a few hooklengths were the price of fishing tight to an untidy island, even clipped up. The last hour reverted to being quiet and that cost me, I suspect that setting up a lead may have resulted in a couple more fish as the wind was awkward.
1) Brian Slipper 57.08 peg 12
2) Andy Hembrow 57.02
3) Rich Lovering 55.04 peg 4
4) Rich Heatly 45.08 peg 26
5) Mark Broomsgrove 43.12 peg 24
6) Chris Fox 42.10 peg 7
Silvers
1) Mark Broomsgrove 28.12 peg 24
2) Paul Nicholls 19.04 peg 33
The silvers rigs consisted of a caster rig to fish short and a rig that would suffice for caster/worm or soft pellet at 13m. I fed some caster and groundbait at 13m on the all in and caster short, leaving it to settle I started on the waggler, without so much as a liner for 20 minutes. A switch to the pole saw an occasional roach and not much else grace the net, but everyone was struggling, the skimmers did not show for me, I had none.
Another look out to the island and the gap in the islands on the waggler produced 2 carp, one foul hooked and another lost, before that went quiet again. The pole lines were very slow with only an occasional roach or minute perch. Back to the waggler and I had a run of fish, but the float and pellet had to land in the bramble fronds to get a bite, this included a chub getting on for 2lb. Two lost floats and a few hooklengths were the price of fishing tight to an untidy island, even clipped up. The last hour reverted to being quiet and that cost me, I suspect that setting up a lead may have resulted in a couple more fish as the wind was awkward.
1) Brian Slipper 57.08 peg 12
2) Andy Hembrow 57.02
3) Rich Lovering 55.04 peg 4
4) Rich Heatly 45.08 peg 26
5) Mark Broomsgrove 43.12 peg 24
6) Chris Fox 42.10 peg 7
Silvers
1) Mark Broomsgrove 28.12 peg 24
2) Paul Nicholls 19.04 peg 33
Sunday, 28 October 2012
Avon Angling Open, Landsend, Sunday 28th Oct 2012
Looking forward to a days silver fishing, but it seemed that a succession of wrongs desicions were to plague my day. Stopped at Shipham cafe on the way down and instead of putting my glasses on and studying the menu, I ordered a large breakfast, expecting two of everything - a bit of a shock when large actually means large, three of everything. First incorrect decision of the day!!
Into the draw tin and I picked two swimcards stuck together, I'm never too sure what to do in that situation, so I dropped both back in and pulled out a single one, which was peg 19, bugger, a carp peg and I had brought pretty much only silvers rigs with me - second poor decision.
I decided to try again and 'beat' the peg (I've drawn it before and dismally failed to get past the carp) and get some silvers from it, so set up three rigs, a sensas pencil float on 0.14/.10 for a close caster line, a 4x14 chimp to fish caster or soft pellet down the track, this was on 0.16 with a 0.12 hook length, Finally a rig for right across, to fish caster on the shelf, thinking that this might bring forth a carp or two, this was on 0.16. The all in saw me pot some caster right over, a few micro's down the track and caster short, starting short, the float settled and buried, a perch not far off 1lb was soon in the net, taking double red maggot, then two missed bites before a carp, which trashed the rig - that was to be a familiar scene during the day.
I had the Wincanton silver machine on peg 18 and Nicky was suffering the same fate as me, carp trashing rigs and hook lengths, we both tried upping the line size, but anything over 0.12 and the float just sat still, as if there wasn't a fish in the peg. Peg 5 was catching well, so there were some fish feeding, I switched to hard pellet over the micro's and that brought a couple of carp, 2 F1's and a skimmer, trying soft pellet brought a couple more carp, but the silvers were playing hard to get.
I had a very quiet middle couple of hours, adding nothing to either net, the close line producing nothing at all apart from the first dob in perch. The far shelf was so deep that I ended up taking off the rig and making up another heavier, one small roach and a small carp were the only takers of some pristine caster. I had to do something so switched to fishing towards the gap in the islands at full depth, taking one carp and losing a couple of foulers on banded pellet. So modifying the shelf rig to fish 1/2 depth, saw 2 more fish in the net before that line went totally dead. Backdown the track with soft pellet and two more carp in the last 20 minutes gave me I guessed about 55lb in total - not going to be enough as Dave Roper and Martin Pettifer both had big weights on meat - I didn't bring any, as I didn't think it would work with the cold snap - another wrong decision, but I wasn't alone, as Nicky Collins was also surprised by the catch rate of the two using meat.He like me, found that fishing caster on line that would get a snag heading carp out, wouldn't produce a bite. I made up 7 rigs on the bank, as the floats were destroyed by the eyes pulling out or the bodies becoming detached from the wire as the carp either snapped the line or snagged themselves (3 times in my own nets).
The scales saw Martin win with 108lb odd, Dave second with 104lb, I managed 59lb odd, but my catch and release policy early in the match cost me, as Mike West was last in the money with 65lb. See Tony's blog for the full result.
Into the draw tin and I picked two swimcards stuck together, I'm never too sure what to do in that situation, so I dropped both back in and pulled out a single one, which was peg 19, bugger, a carp peg and I had brought pretty much only silvers rigs with me - second poor decision.
I decided to try again and 'beat' the peg (I've drawn it before and dismally failed to get past the carp) and get some silvers from it, so set up three rigs, a sensas pencil float on 0.14/.10 for a close caster line, a 4x14 chimp to fish caster or soft pellet down the track, this was on 0.16 with a 0.12 hook length, Finally a rig for right across, to fish caster on the shelf, thinking that this might bring forth a carp or two, this was on 0.16. The all in saw me pot some caster right over, a few micro's down the track and caster short, starting short, the float settled and buried, a perch not far off 1lb was soon in the net, taking double red maggot, then two missed bites before a carp, which trashed the rig - that was to be a familiar scene during the day.
I had the Wincanton silver machine on peg 18 and Nicky was suffering the same fate as me, carp trashing rigs and hook lengths, we both tried upping the line size, but anything over 0.12 and the float just sat still, as if there wasn't a fish in the peg. Peg 5 was catching well, so there were some fish feeding, I switched to hard pellet over the micro's and that brought a couple of carp, 2 F1's and a skimmer, trying soft pellet brought a couple more carp, but the silvers were playing hard to get.
I had a very quiet middle couple of hours, adding nothing to either net, the close line producing nothing at all apart from the first dob in perch. The far shelf was so deep that I ended up taking off the rig and making up another heavier, one small roach and a small carp were the only takers of some pristine caster. I had to do something so switched to fishing towards the gap in the islands at full depth, taking one carp and losing a couple of foulers on banded pellet. So modifying the shelf rig to fish 1/2 depth, saw 2 more fish in the net before that line went totally dead. Backdown the track with soft pellet and two more carp in the last 20 minutes gave me I guessed about 55lb in total - not going to be enough as Dave Roper and Martin Pettifer both had big weights on meat - I didn't bring any, as I didn't think it would work with the cold snap - another wrong decision, but I wasn't alone, as Nicky Collins was also surprised by the catch rate of the two using meat.He like me, found that fishing caster on line that would get a snag heading carp out, wouldn't produce a bite. I made up 7 rigs on the bank, as the floats were destroyed by the eyes pulling out or the bodies becoming detached from the wire as the carp either snapped the line or snagged themselves (3 times in my own nets).
The scales saw Martin win with 108lb odd, Dave second with 104lb, I managed 59lb odd, but my catch and release policy early in the match cost me, as Mike West was last in the money with 65lb. See Tony's blog for the full result.
Wednesday, 24 October 2012
Viaduct Silvers League Round Three, 21st Oct 2012
A decent draw needed as the first round has to be dropped, so how deflated was I to draw peg 74 again, the same peg as the first round, with as before, an easterly wind blowing into the peg. I was hoping that some of the perch and hybrids showed up, but wasn't too confident when arriving at the peg, as there was very little sign of life, not even the unwanted carp.
I set up 4 rigs and a waggler, a margin rig with a 16 on 0.14 for perch tench and hybrids, a rather optimistic rig to hand ,(with a new float type from float maker Nick Gilbert), with a 18 to 0.10, a 4x12 KC Carpa Chimp to fish caster at 11 or 14m and a 0.5g Preston green to fish either soft pellet or caster should the heavier rig prove better.
On the all in some micros went in at 11m, using Paul Faiers on 103 as a marker, some groundbait and caster at 14m using peg 107 as a marker and caster short. First drop in with the topkit rig and the float buried, a roach in the net, that was that, a one off. No matter where I tried in the peg, I couldn't get more than one fish from any line, with the margins seemingly devoid of fish - in fact they produced 3 bites, two carp and a 12oz perch, so no more about them.
The only way I could catch, was to fish caster on the waggler, out past the tree that extends a far way out into the peg on the RH side. This produced some small skimmers and 2 slightly better fish, had there been anyone opposite on 106/107, they would probably have said I was past halfway, it was the only place I could get bites!!
So a resounding last but one in the section with 9lb odd, same placing as last time and the section weights got better (apart from peg 77) round to 85 where the section was won by Glenn Calvert with 20lb odd. The section actually went:
85 - 1st
81 - 2nd
80 - 3rd
78 - 4th
77 - 6th
74 - 5th
See Tony's blog for the results and if I draw this peg again in this series, I doubt if I'll find the enthusiasm to walk to it.
I set up 4 rigs and a waggler, a margin rig with a 16 on 0.14 for perch tench and hybrids, a rather optimistic rig to hand ,(with a new float type from float maker Nick Gilbert), with a 18 to 0.10, a 4x12 KC Carpa Chimp to fish caster at 11 or 14m and a 0.5g Preston green to fish either soft pellet or caster should the heavier rig prove better.
On the all in some micros went in at 11m, using Paul Faiers on 103 as a marker, some groundbait and caster at 14m using peg 107 as a marker and caster short. First drop in with the topkit rig and the float buried, a roach in the net, that was that, a one off. No matter where I tried in the peg, I couldn't get more than one fish from any line, with the margins seemingly devoid of fish - in fact they produced 3 bites, two carp and a 12oz perch, so no more about them.
The only way I could catch, was to fish caster on the waggler, out past the tree that extends a far way out into the peg on the RH side. This produced some small skimmers and 2 slightly better fish, had there been anyone opposite on 106/107, they would probably have said I was past halfway, it was the only place I could get bites!!
So a resounding last but one in the section with 9lb odd, same placing as last time and the section weights got better (apart from peg 77) round to 85 where the section was won by Glenn Calvert with 20lb odd. The section actually went:
85 - 1st
81 - 2nd
80 - 3rd
78 - 4th
77 - 6th
74 - 5th
See Tony's blog for the results and if I draw this peg again in this series, I doubt if I'll find the enthusiasm to walk to it.
Thursday, 18 October 2012
Viaduct Sunday 14th October 2012
An Avon Angling open on Campbell and Cary was this Sundays choice, my drawing arm once again proving to be spectacularly reliable, another unfancied peg...... 132. The fish have been showing around the middle of the lake and apart from one match, it hasn't got any recent form for silvers. For company on 130 I had Tony Rixon, he was fortunate in having no one opposite him, with 111,112 and 113 empty.
I set up a couple of rigs to fish soft pellet/caster, another for banded pellet at 14m and a margin rig, a waggler rod completed the set up. I fed some micros at 7m and hard pellet at 14m, starting on the waggler to the end bank, a couple of bites, but possibly liners as nothing from them. Roland Lucas was on 110 and was catching to his end bank, it often seems that either 110 or 132 catch from the end, not too often both do.
A switch to fishing the waggler with a banded 8mm pellet straight in front brought a couple of fish, then a lull, so a look over the 7m line, hoping for skimmers and a few intrusive carp. All this line produced was blade skimmers to soft pellet, nothing to banded pellet and tiny roach to caster or 6mm meat. The same for the margin, at every attempt so no more mention of them.
Back to the waggler and I had a little spell where I had seven fish in an hour, so was hoping to put together a decent weight, but then the fish disappeared, for 21/2 hours I didn't even have a liner, with 3/4 of an hour to go, they came back and I added another 6 fish in that time for a total of 14 carp which went 89lb odd, what a costly 21/2 hour blank spell, as during this time Tony kept the fish coming, fishing out to the aerator and put 133lb on the scales, battering me good and proper.
See Tony's blog for the results.
I set up a couple of rigs to fish soft pellet/caster, another for banded pellet at 14m and a margin rig, a waggler rod completed the set up. I fed some micros at 7m and hard pellet at 14m, starting on the waggler to the end bank, a couple of bites, but possibly liners as nothing from them. Roland Lucas was on 110 and was catching to his end bank, it often seems that either 110 or 132 catch from the end, not too often both do.
A switch to fishing the waggler with a banded 8mm pellet straight in front brought a couple of fish, then a lull, so a look over the 7m line, hoping for skimmers and a few intrusive carp. All this line produced was blade skimmers to soft pellet, nothing to banded pellet and tiny roach to caster or 6mm meat. The same for the margin, at every attempt so no more mention of them.
Back to the waggler and I had a little spell where I had seven fish in an hour, so was hoping to put together a decent weight, but then the fish disappeared, for 21/2 hours I didn't even have a liner, with 3/4 of an hour to go, they came back and I added another 6 fish in that time for a total of 14 carp which went 89lb odd, what a costly 21/2 hour blank spell, as during this time Tony kept the fish coming, fishing out to the aerator and put 133lb on the scales, battering me good and proper.
See Tony's blog for the results.
Monday, 8 October 2012
Viaduct Silvers League 2nd Round
Last week I fished Landsend, Fabio saw me in the car park and offered me a lucky coin to ensure I had a decent draw, peg 31 came out of the hat, it was a good draw once, but the whole of the speci lake, pegs 25 - 32 fished very hard, with some good anglers struggling, I saw no point in writing about catching 18.10 lb of silvers when it came nowhere........
Onto the 2nd round of the Viaduct silvers league, first round was a disaster, peg 74 with a cold easterly wind and rain blowing into it, so a diagonally opposite draw on peg 90 was better, but still far from one of the favoured pegs. I set up a waggler, which didn't get used, a Sensas Auchy to fish to hand, a Preston green 0.5g for worm or soft pellet, a 4x14 jolly for worm/caster/maggot and a wire stemmed Preston unknown for the margin, hoping the tench or perch would feel hungry.
Suffice to say the first 2-3 hours were more of a sufferance than an enjoyment, as I struggled to put together any sort of run of fish and the skimmers I did tempt were of the 5/6 to the pound stamp. I had fed a worm/caster/groundbait line at 14.5m, caster short and micro pellets at 11m at 10 o'clock. None of the lines produced more than the odd bite, with the short lines being particularly unproductive.
As worm seemed to be the kiss of death, I tried a new line with caster / dead maggot, but this also seemed to be devoid of fish. At last, a look over the micros saw a few skimmers and one bream come to Devils Spawn on the hook, but it wasn't long before the vermin moved in, all in all I lost around 15 hooks to the greedy water pigs.
I had fed both margins with caster as well as a line straight in front, hoping for decent roach, perch and tench, it didn't produce until the last hour, when decent skimmers. perch and roach graced the landing net, joining the hard won small skimmers and one tench (taken on soft pellet at 11m), giving me a total of 29lb something. Not enough to frame, not enough to win the section, but a section second, behind Tim Pallent who caught well at the off and added some better skimmers at the end, with a better stamp of skimmers than I could manage.
8. John Green 32-0-0 peg 128
9. Tim Pallant 31-09-0 peg 94
10. Joe Mc Mahon 31-04-0 peg 78
Onto the 2nd round of the Viaduct silvers league, first round was a disaster, peg 74 with a cold easterly wind and rain blowing into it, so a diagonally opposite draw on peg 90 was better, but still far from one of the favoured pegs. I set up a waggler, which didn't get used, a Sensas Auchy to fish to hand, a Preston green 0.5g for worm or soft pellet, a 4x14 jolly for worm/caster/maggot and a wire stemmed Preston unknown for the margin, hoping the tench or perch would feel hungry.
Suffice to say the first 2-3 hours were more of a sufferance than an enjoyment, as I struggled to put together any sort of run of fish and the skimmers I did tempt were of the 5/6 to the pound stamp. I had fed a worm/caster/groundbait line at 14.5m, caster short and micro pellets at 11m at 10 o'clock. None of the lines produced more than the odd bite, with the short lines being particularly unproductive.
As worm seemed to be the kiss of death, I tried a new line with caster / dead maggot, but this also seemed to be devoid of fish. At last, a look over the micros saw a few skimmers and one bream come to Devils Spawn on the hook, but it wasn't long before the vermin moved in, all in all I lost around 15 hooks to the greedy water pigs.
I had fed both margins with caster as well as a line straight in front, hoping for decent roach, perch and tench, it didn't produce until the last hour, when decent skimmers. perch and roach graced the landing net, joining the hard won small skimmers and one tench (taken on soft pellet at 11m), giving me a total of 29lb something. Not enough to frame, not enough to win the section, but a section second, behind Tim Pallent who caught well at the off and added some better skimmers at the end, with a better stamp of skimmers than I could manage.
1. Tony
Rixon 48-10-0 peg 100
2. Mike
Nicholls 46-00-0 peg 101
3. Anton
Page 43-04-0 peg 70
4. Bob
Gullick 36-14-0 peg 99
5. Steve
Kedge 36-05-0 peg 121
6. Andy
Neal 35-10-0 peg 77
7. Lee
Werrett 34-02-0 peg 718. John Green 32-0-0 peg 128
9. Tim Pallant 31-09-0 peg 94
10. Joe Mc Mahon 31-04-0 peg 78
Tuesday, 25 September 2012
Viaduct Silvers League, Sunday 23rd September
Well, I'd been looking forward to this, treated myself to another nice breakfast in the Bear, in Street. I must admit I was pretty deflated once I saw peg 74 staring at me as I opened the swimcard. It must be one of the shallowest pegs on the lake and with the easterly wind and rain blowing straight into it, I just knew it would be hard going.
I set up 4 rigs, one for perch/tench in the margin, a rig to fish to hand, although I did think that was a bit too optimistic, and a couple of rigs for 6m and 11m.
I struggled to get anything but the odd roach and tiny skimmer, trying lines with and without groundbait, with and without worm and maggot only. A perch and two hybrids which together went 5 -6lb made up the bulk of the weight I achieved, which I assume was last in section, 10.7.
Can't really be arsed to write anymore about what should have been an enjoyable day ruined by the draw and weather.
I set up 4 rigs, one for perch/tench in the margin, a rig to fish to hand, although I did think that was a bit too optimistic, and a couple of rigs for 6m and 11m.
I struggled to get anything but the odd roach and tiny skimmer, trying lines with and without groundbait, with and without worm and maggot only. A perch and two hybrids which together went 5 -6lb made up the bulk of the weight I achieved, which I assume was last in section, 10.7.
Can't really be arsed to write anymore about what should have been an enjoyable day ruined by the draw and weather.
Wednesday, 19 September 2012
Viaduct Silvers Open, Wednesday 19th September 2012
Nice treat this morning, picked up by Tony Rixon, so no driving. We had a decent and large (although I couldn't compete with Tony) breakfast in the Bear, Street.
Campbell was the venue for today's silvers match, the bright sun was a concern, as skimmers rarely seem to feed well when the sun shines. I fancied a draw in the low to mid 120's, but as usual I had to make do with the opposite side of the lake and the other end!!
I drew 112, Tony managed fancied 123, so he was going to be difficult to beat. As this match was a practice for the silvers league which starts this Sunday, I set up a waggler rod, with a 3AAA peacock insert, an 0.10 hooklength and a 20 silverfish match hook. Next to that was a cage feeder, this with 0.12 and a middy 63.13 hook size 16 - I didn't touch this during the match, so no more about lead chucking.
3 Pole rigs, a 4x14 jolly on 0.14 with a 20 silverfish match hook on 0.10, a MW diamond, with a double bulk on 0.14 and a 0.12 hooklength (3") finished off with a 16 808 hook. Lastly, a Maver float on 0.15 with a 0.13 hooklength and a 16 B911, in case there were some tench in the margin.
Bait tray was nice and simple, big box of casters, small box of maggots, some worms and a few dampened micro's, accompanying that was a couple of kilos of groundbait. On the all in, I cupped in 6 big balls of groundbait at 11m, this had a few micros and casters in. I started at 5m, fed this with small ball of groundbait by hand and had a skimmer about 2oz, first drop in. Then roach moved in, so I dropped short, to just the topkit and refed, the roach followed the feed in and I caught them reasonably steadily until the half hour mark, when I went out to the 11m line, looking for skimmers.
First drop in with a soft pellet and a quick bite missed, next drop in a small roach, 3rd drop in a carp, which thankfully shed the hook. Back to the topkit and the roach started to come one a chuck, I wished I had a whip with me, as I prefer a flick tip for roach fishing. It seemed to be fishing hard - except those fishing the margins and long lines seemed to be finding the unwanted carp quite frequently. I had been feeding my RH margin which cuts back to peg 113, hoping for a bonus big perch or some tench, they didn't show, I had a couple of roach, then hooked a carp which trashed the rig (still don't know where the float went when it flew off the line, leaving its rubbers behind.), I didn't bother resetting up that topkit again.
I did have a look on the waggler, having loose fed some caster at about 18m, I had two bites, both resulted in carp being hooked, so that went back up the bank and back onto the topkit and head down, catching roach. I had a couple of bonus skimmers in the last half hour, still on the topkit and I was wondering if I;d sneak into some money, as it had fished hard and everyone had seemed to stick it out for skimmers and tench, which didn't really feed.
It turned out that the favoured peg 123 with Tony Rixon sat on it produced 10 tench and a few skimmers for Tony to win, with peg 126 giving up some skimmers for Ziggy in second. I managed to get third place, winning my bank and section, so at least some coin back to help offset the cost of that huge brekkie I bought for Tony. I forgot how tiring that roach fishing is, I didn't count them but I probably had 200+ roach.
1) Tony Rixon 41.08 peg 123
2) Ziggy Slowinski 32.13 peg 126
3) Chris Fox 25.12 peg 112
4) John Bradford 25.10 peg 125
5) Dick Bull 16.10 peg 115
6) Paul Blake 15.10 peg 111
Campbell was the venue for today's silvers match, the bright sun was a concern, as skimmers rarely seem to feed well when the sun shines. I fancied a draw in the low to mid 120's, but as usual I had to make do with the opposite side of the lake and the other end!!
I drew 112, Tony managed fancied 123, so he was going to be difficult to beat. As this match was a practice for the silvers league which starts this Sunday, I set up a waggler rod, with a 3AAA peacock insert, an 0.10 hooklength and a 20 silverfish match hook. Next to that was a cage feeder, this with 0.12 and a middy 63.13 hook size 16 - I didn't touch this during the match, so no more about lead chucking.
3 Pole rigs, a 4x14 jolly on 0.14 with a 20 silverfish match hook on 0.10, a MW diamond, with a double bulk on 0.14 and a 0.12 hooklength (3") finished off with a 16 808 hook. Lastly, a Maver float on 0.15 with a 0.13 hooklength and a 16 B911, in case there were some tench in the margin.
Bait tray was nice and simple, big box of casters, small box of maggots, some worms and a few dampened micro's, accompanying that was a couple of kilos of groundbait. On the all in, I cupped in 6 big balls of groundbait at 11m, this had a few micros and casters in. I started at 5m, fed this with small ball of groundbait by hand and had a skimmer about 2oz, first drop in. Then roach moved in, so I dropped short, to just the topkit and refed, the roach followed the feed in and I caught them reasonably steadily until the half hour mark, when I went out to the 11m line, looking for skimmers.
First drop in with a soft pellet and a quick bite missed, next drop in a small roach, 3rd drop in a carp, which thankfully shed the hook. Back to the topkit and the roach started to come one a chuck, I wished I had a whip with me, as I prefer a flick tip for roach fishing. It seemed to be fishing hard - except those fishing the margins and long lines seemed to be finding the unwanted carp quite frequently. I had been feeding my RH margin which cuts back to peg 113, hoping for a bonus big perch or some tench, they didn't show, I had a couple of roach, then hooked a carp which trashed the rig (still don't know where the float went when it flew off the line, leaving its rubbers behind.), I didn't bother resetting up that topkit again.
I did have a look on the waggler, having loose fed some caster at about 18m, I had two bites, both resulted in carp being hooked, so that went back up the bank and back onto the topkit and head down, catching roach. I had a couple of bonus skimmers in the last half hour, still on the topkit and I was wondering if I;d sneak into some money, as it had fished hard and everyone had seemed to stick it out for skimmers and tench, which didn't really feed.
It turned out that the favoured peg 123 with Tony Rixon sat on it produced 10 tench and a few skimmers for Tony to win, with peg 126 giving up some skimmers for Ziggy in second. I managed to get third place, winning my bank and section, so at least some coin back to help offset the cost of that huge brekkie I bought for Tony. I forgot how tiring that roach fishing is, I didn't count them but I probably had 200+ roach.
1) Tony Rixon 41.08 peg 123
2) Ziggy Slowinski 32.13 peg 126
3) Chris Fox 25.12 peg 112
4) John Bradford 25.10 peg 125
5) Dick Bull 16.10 peg 115
6) Paul Blake 15.10 peg 111
Wednesday, 5 September 2012
Viaduct Open, Wednesday 5th Sept 2012
Today's match was on the Match Lake, a lake which has seen me have mixed results, it does seem that depending upon the weather conditions, the fish seem to muster in certain areas. I quite fancied peg 47 today, as the island foliage gives good shade from the sun as the match progresses. I wasn't the only one who fancied it, Howard Webb said he'd like it and promptly drew it - how do some people do that!! 42 stuck to my palm.
I had caster and pellet, soft and hard today and as I managed to frame one match on this lake, fishing bread when I couldn't catch on anything else, I stopped at the supermarket in Somerton and got a loaf. I set up two rigs for the open water, both pencils, one with a fine tip, 0.08 and 20 Gama green hook. The other with a thicker tip, 0.12 and a 16 63.13 for pellet.
The waggler rod was an original Normark Microlight, an excellent skimmer rod, this had an 0.10 hooklength with a 18 Gama black hook. I did set up a lead rod, as it was going to be the only way to sensibly fish the island, the wind making waggler fishing tight to the island (conventional or pellet) impossible.
The waggler fished at 18/20m gave one decent skimmer on red maggot, before the nuisance fish made it (even with double caster) impossible to get near the bottom. The pole line with soft pellet went the same way and bites were pretty rare and impossible to hit on banded 6mm. With just over an hour gone I gave in and chucked the lead and bread, the tip went round before I has sunk the line and a carp at least 4lb graced the net.
I did try setting up a dumpy waggler on the Microlite, to fish shallow, but I couldn't get it to stay near the island for even two seconds and mending the line to stop it drifting, just pulled it further away. So back to the bread/lead, I had an indication most put in's, but they were a mixture of liners, proper bites and some of the fish managed to get the bread off without getting hooked.
The wind wasn't overly strong, but it was very intermittent, that caused a couple of wayward casts to land over the aerator rope, necessitating setting up again, as I had no hooks ready tied it cost me time. The fish came in little spells, but continually enough for me to stick with it, as the skimmers were scarce in this area of the lake, Rowland on 43 was struggling to catch them, so I just stuck it out on bread until the end. With 30 mins to go I hooked a big fish that ran off and manged to snap the 4lb reel line, maybe it was a decent fish foul hooked, so yet more time wasted in re-tackling up.
My efforts weren't enough to pick up today, Howard won from peg 47, with Lee Werrett 2 ounces behind.
1) Howard Webb 114.13 peg 47
2) Lee Werrett 114.11 peg 50
3) Jim Baines 77.07 peg 52
4) Chris Fox 69.11 peg 42
5) Jim Butcher 41.07 peg 49
6) Herbie 41.05 peg 45
Silvers
1) Howard Webb 47.05
2) Rowland 21.05 peg 43
I had caster and pellet, soft and hard today and as I managed to frame one match on this lake, fishing bread when I couldn't catch on anything else, I stopped at the supermarket in Somerton and got a loaf. I set up two rigs for the open water, both pencils, one with a fine tip, 0.08 and 20 Gama green hook. The other with a thicker tip, 0.12 and a 16 63.13 for pellet.
The waggler rod was an original Normark Microlight, an excellent skimmer rod, this had an 0.10 hooklength with a 18 Gama black hook. I did set up a lead rod, as it was going to be the only way to sensibly fish the island, the wind making waggler fishing tight to the island (conventional or pellet) impossible.
The waggler fished at 18/20m gave one decent skimmer on red maggot, before the nuisance fish made it (even with double caster) impossible to get near the bottom. The pole line with soft pellet went the same way and bites were pretty rare and impossible to hit on banded 6mm. With just over an hour gone I gave in and chucked the lead and bread, the tip went round before I has sunk the line and a carp at least 4lb graced the net.
I did try setting up a dumpy waggler on the Microlite, to fish shallow, but I couldn't get it to stay near the island for even two seconds and mending the line to stop it drifting, just pulled it further away. So back to the bread/lead, I had an indication most put in's, but they were a mixture of liners, proper bites and some of the fish managed to get the bread off without getting hooked.
The wind wasn't overly strong, but it was very intermittent, that caused a couple of wayward casts to land over the aerator rope, necessitating setting up again, as I had no hooks ready tied it cost me time. The fish came in little spells, but continually enough for me to stick with it, as the skimmers were scarce in this area of the lake, Rowland on 43 was struggling to catch them, so I just stuck it out on bread until the end. With 30 mins to go I hooked a big fish that ran off and manged to snap the 4lb reel line, maybe it was a decent fish foul hooked, so yet more time wasted in re-tackling up.
My efforts weren't enough to pick up today, Howard won from peg 47, with Lee Werrett 2 ounces behind.
1) Howard Webb 114.13 peg 47
2) Lee Werrett 114.11 peg 50
3) Jim Baines 77.07 peg 52
4) Chris Fox 69.11 peg 42
5) Jim Butcher 41.07 peg 49
6) Herbie 41.05 peg 45
Silvers
1) Howard Webb 47.05
2) Rowland 21.05 peg 43
Trinity, wildmarsh. Sunday 2nd Sept 2012
Seems like ages since I last fished, I think I seriously underestimated the amount of work that needed doing when we moved, but its getting there now, I'm hoping, it will be finally finished by Xmas, so back to normal next year.
I came with the intention of fishing for silvers and wasn't too disappointed with peg 30, I set up a waggler, a pole rig to fish soft pellet and a margin rig. There was a bit of blowing at 25 yards or so out, so I did set up a feeder and had a few chucks with it, but not so much as a liner, so that went up the bank.
I fed a line at 13m with some micros and softened 4mm pellets, this produced a decent skimmer, but bites weren't very forthcoming, I could see Tony Rixon, Mike West and Tom Thick all catching on the opposite bank, so jumped off my box and set up a paste rig. That brought another decent skimmer, there was much blowing and fizzing, but the float remained motionless for long, long, spells. A very lively carp then took the paste and after a long tussle, shed the hook at the net, so much for that.
A look on the short line brought a run of roach to caster and another line at 20 yards off to my left produced some decent roach on the waggler and caster, but they wouldn't stay and feed, one or two fish and then nothing, until the line had been rested. The margin only saw one fleeting bit of action, the float buried with two worms under it and a carp (probably fouled) ran off until the No16 elastic bottomed out and the hook pulled.
A tench and some more roach ( and one more lost carp) on the short line concluded my day and I should have fished for silvers all day, as my 15lb was enough for 3rd in silvers.
I came with the intention of fishing for silvers and wasn't too disappointed with peg 30, I set up a waggler, a pole rig to fish soft pellet and a margin rig. There was a bit of blowing at 25 yards or so out, so I did set up a feeder and had a few chucks with it, but not so much as a liner, so that went up the bank.
I fed a line at 13m with some micros and softened 4mm pellets, this produced a decent skimmer, but bites weren't very forthcoming, I could see Tony Rixon, Mike West and Tom Thick all catching on the opposite bank, so jumped off my box and set up a paste rig. That brought another decent skimmer, there was much blowing and fizzing, but the float remained motionless for long, long, spells. A very lively carp then took the paste and after a long tussle, shed the hook at the net, so much for that.
A look on the short line brought a run of roach to caster and another line at 20 yards off to my left produced some decent roach on the waggler and caster, but they wouldn't stay and feed, one or two fish and then nothing, until the line had been rested. The margin only saw one fleeting bit of action, the float buried with two worms under it and a carp (probably fouled) ran off until the No16 elastic bottomed out and the hook pulled.
A tench and some more roach ( and one more lost carp) on the short line concluded my day and I should have fished for silvers all day, as my 15lb was enough for 3rd in silvers.
1. Adrian
Clark 63-05-0 peg Island 10
2. Steve
Segar 56-03-0 peg 39
3. Alan
Oram 53-14-0 peg Island 3
4. Mike
West 39-03-0 peg 59
5. Tony
Rixon 35-04-0 peg 60
6. Tom
Thick 31-12-0 peg 57
Silvers:
1. Tom
Thick 19-05-0 peg 57
2. Nick
Collins 17-02-0 peg 19
3. Chris
Fox 15-0-0 peg 30
Thursday, 2 August 2012
Avon Angling Open, Acorn, Wednesday 1st August 2012
First Wednesday match for a while due to work, hopefully now I've got a settled work pattern, I can get a few more mid-week matches in - but the house is still in need of much work, so a balance must be struck.....
Disappointed with my draw today, peg 29, a few comments along the lines of "I wouldn't want that" and "wrong end of the lake, mate", but when the lake opened I managed a frame from peg 28, so there was some hope, but it was slight.
After Sunday's lesson in fish catching by the meat masters, I had brought some 6 & 8mm meat, caster, worm and pellet. Completing the bait selection was groundbait for making paste up on the bank if req'd.
I could see some fish moving on the far bank and tried two lines at 10 and 2 o'clock, a line straight in front at the bottom of the far shelf and a caster line off to my left at 3m. The far bank swims proved to be a non starter, the fronds of grass sticking out up to 2½', I had no bare bank and the fish would not come out from under the grass, the attempts to push the rig into the grass inevitably ended in the hook snagging in it. The line at the bottom of the shelf was fed with caster and softened 4mm pellets, caster, worm, soft and banded pellet all failing to get more than an occasional small skimmer.
The near caster line produced small perch, a tiny tench and several skimmers from 1oz to 6oz, but nothing consistently, nor of any size. The match was a struggle, it may have been better to stay targeting either silvers or carp, but looking at the final result, I know that I couldn't have caught anywhere near to the top weight in either category. I had kept feeding the line at the bottom of the far shelf and at 4 o'clock with an hour and 15 to go, I noticed some bubbles, at this point I reckon I had 2 carp for 3lb and about 8lb of small silvers. Dropping in with paste, there was a large patch of bubbles and the float sailed away, first better carp of the day. I had another 7 or 8 in the last hour, weighing 44lb odd of carp and 11lb odd of silvers (boosted by a couple of better skimmers on the paste), so over 40lb in the last hour - if only those fish would have shown all match!! I wasn't alone in my feeble weight, it seemed about right for pegs 24 round to 32 - how the hell do you turn draws like that into framing pegs
For the results see Tony's or Mike's blog.
Disappointed with my draw today, peg 29, a few comments along the lines of "I wouldn't want that" and "wrong end of the lake, mate", but when the lake opened I managed a frame from peg 28, so there was some hope, but it was slight.
After Sunday's lesson in fish catching by the meat masters, I had brought some 6 & 8mm meat, caster, worm and pellet. Completing the bait selection was groundbait for making paste up on the bank if req'd.
I could see some fish moving on the far bank and tried two lines at 10 and 2 o'clock, a line straight in front at the bottom of the far shelf and a caster line off to my left at 3m. The far bank swims proved to be a non starter, the fronds of grass sticking out up to 2½', I had no bare bank and the fish would not come out from under the grass, the attempts to push the rig into the grass inevitably ended in the hook snagging in it. The line at the bottom of the shelf was fed with caster and softened 4mm pellets, caster, worm, soft and banded pellet all failing to get more than an occasional small skimmer.
The near caster line produced small perch, a tiny tench and several skimmers from 1oz to 6oz, but nothing consistently, nor of any size. The match was a struggle, it may have been better to stay targeting either silvers or carp, but looking at the final result, I know that I couldn't have caught anywhere near to the top weight in either category. I had kept feeding the line at the bottom of the far shelf and at 4 o'clock with an hour and 15 to go, I noticed some bubbles, at this point I reckon I had 2 carp for 3lb and about 8lb of small silvers. Dropping in with paste, there was a large patch of bubbles and the float sailed away, first better carp of the day. I had another 7 or 8 in the last hour, weighing 44lb odd of carp and 11lb odd of silvers (boosted by a couple of better skimmers on the paste), so over 40lb in the last hour - if only those fish would have shown all match!! I wasn't alone in my feeble weight, it seemed about right for pegs 24 round to 32 - how the hell do you turn draws like that into framing pegs
For the results see Tony's or Mike's blog.
Monday, 30 July 2012
Avon Angling Open, Sedges, Sunday 29th July 2012
This was a practice for Tony's float only league, so the lead rods stayed in the van, normally I'd be happy with that, but with an annoying wind that swapped from L to R, face on, R to L and all points in between, the lead, I'm sure would have offered the best presentation on the day.
This match was on Brick lake with all 20 pegs in. I drew 14 and I had already decided on a groundbait and caster approach for the skimmers and pellet/paste for carp. that decision cost me any chance of picking up, as the skimmers caught were taken on meat, as were many of the carp. I fed a line at 9m with the groundbait, caster and a few dead maggots, a line at 14m with softened 4mm and micros and a waggler line out towards the aerator, which was fed with 8mm (nothing smaller would get anywhere near).
It didn't take long to get a bite on the waggler and the first carp was hooked, it felt a decent fish and initially swam towards me, when it turn and went back to the middle, the line went slack, I thought it was a fouler come off, but the line had snapped 1" below the float. 4lb Daiwa Sensor, I have had no issues with this line breaking, except at Viaduct when there are lots of fish in the peg (it seems that if the lines hits another fish it can break). Maybe its an issue with carrying rods already set up, I hadn't checked it over since the last time it was used, at least setting up fresh every time you see line damage.
That was it for the waggler, 3/4 of an hour and only a lost fish to show for it and one other missed bite. Sa switch to the groundbait and caster line produced one skimmer, lucky if it was 2oz, nothing else seemed to fancy an caster. The 14m pellet line also produced nothing, to either soft or banded pellet. I set up a waggler to fish at depth and laid 12" of line on the bottom, to try and achieve some sort of presentation. This produced some indications that fish were actually in the peg and resulted in three fish for 18lb in 30 minutes, before the wind swung round again and even with 12" of line and 4 No8 stotz dragging the bottom, the float was being pushed back towards me, far too fast to fool a fish.
I had refed the groundbait line with some pellet and a look over that with the paste produced a carp nudging double figures, but that was to be my lot, I had less than 8oz of skimmers and the 4 carp went 28lb odd for a resounding no where on the day. The decision not to take meat was a costly one.......
See Mike Nicholl's blog for the results. http://silverfoxangling.blogspot.co.uk/
This match was on Brick lake with all 20 pegs in. I drew 14 and I had already decided on a groundbait and caster approach for the skimmers and pellet/paste for carp. that decision cost me any chance of picking up, as the skimmers caught were taken on meat, as were many of the carp. I fed a line at 9m with the groundbait, caster and a few dead maggots, a line at 14m with softened 4mm and micros and a waggler line out towards the aerator, which was fed with 8mm (nothing smaller would get anywhere near).
It didn't take long to get a bite on the waggler and the first carp was hooked, it felt a decent fish and initially swam towards me, when it turn and went back to the middle, the line went slack, I thought it was a fouler come off, but the line had snapped 1" below the float. 4lb Daiwa Sensor, I have had no issues with this line breaking, except at Viaduct when there are lots of fish in the peg (it seems that if the lines hits another fish it can break). Maybe its an issue with carrying rods already set up, I hadn't checked it over since the last time it was used, at least setting up fresh every time you see line damage.
That was it for the waggler, 3/4 of an hour and only a lost fish to show for it and one other missed bite. Sa switch to the groundbait and caster line produced one skimmer, lucky if it was 2oz, nothing else seemed to fancy an caster. The 14m pellet line also produced nothing, to either soft or banded pellet. I set up a waggler to fish at depth and laid 12" of line on the bottom, to try and achieve some sort of presentation. This produced some indications that fish were actually in the peg and resulted in three fish for 18lb in 30 minutes, before the wind swung round again and even with 12" of line and 4 No8 stotz dragging the bottom, the float was being pushed back towards me, far too fast to fool a fish.
I had refed the groundbait line with some pellet and a look over that with the paste produced a carp nudging double figures, but that was to be my lot, I had less than 8oz of skimmers and the 4 carp went 28lb odd for a resounding no where on the day. The decision not to take meat was a costly one.......
See Mike Nicholl's blog for the results. http://silverfoxangling.blogspot.co.uk/
Monday, 23 July 2012
Avon Angling Open, Trinity, Wildmarsh. 22nd July 2012
A trip to Trinity this weekend and the first sight that greeted us was John, in a boat on the lake he's used as a stock pond, with 20,000 carp in it. The bloke never stops working!! Interesting to hear he has bred 8,000 F1's this year and also intends to use one stock pond to try and get some skimmers home bred - apparently they are £125 per 100 now.
I wasn't too concerned where I drew, it would be hard for a few, this lake really doesn't like the combination of a match, bright sun and no (or very little) ripple. Island peg 10 came out the landing that was used as a draw ticket receptacle, carp and chub being the most likely species, so not too disappointed. I set up a lead rod in case I had to go over to the reeds opposite and a waggler. The pole had four top kits set up, one with a jolly and a 16 6313 on 0.14 for soft pellet/caster, a rig for hair rigged hard pellet, a paste rig and a multi purpose margin rig to fish the RH margin.
First two put in's saw two small skimmers in the net and after several more put ins where the soft pellet was ragged off the hook I switch to the banded pellet rig, this produced absolutely nothing. The skimmers didn't seem to like the hard pellet I fed with it and that was the end of that line. I set up a new silvers line with caster and that produced one roach and one hybrid, both to maggot, I didn't have a single bite on caster or worm. With so few silvers evident, it was time to concentrate on the reeds opposite and the margin. There was no interest in 8mm meat, so I shortened the paste rig by about 12" to use in the margin.
The match held no further excitement for me, 3 carp falling to the paste in the margin and two to 8mm pellet fished tight to the reeds. There was nothing in the way of liners or missed bites, so I don't think there were too many fish in the peg. The highlight of the day was watching Martin Lenaghan being done by fish after fish in the reeds to the right of peg 40. It made my one lost fish (on the lead) which shed the hook by doing a fine impression of an alligator roll when it popped up in front of me - sods law it was the biggest fish of the day.
I did lose plenty of hooks and a couple of leads, as the reeds extend out under the water, making them a proper snag pit, but if you don't get in tight, you don't get a bite. My silvers went an embarrassing 15oz and the 5 carp 21.03. I think the lost carp cost me the section money, as Dean managed 6 carp and 1lb odd of silvers for 27lb and the section money. See Tony's blog for the results.
I wasn't too concerned where I drew, it would be hard for a few, this lake really doesn't like the combination of a match, bright sun and no (or very little) ripple. Island peg 10 came out the landing that was used as a draw ticket receptacle, carp and chub being the most likely species, so not too disappointed. I set up a lead rod in case I had to go over to the reeds opposite and a waggler. The pole had four top kits set up, one with a jolly and a 16 6313 on 0.14 for soft pellet/caster, a rig for hair rigged hard pellet, a paste rig and a multi purpose margin rig to fish the RH margin.
First two put in's saw two small skimmers in the net and after several more put ins where the soft pellet was ragged off the hook I switch to the banded pellet rig, this produced absolutely nothing. The skimmers didn't seem to like the hard pellet I fed with it and that was the end of that line. I set up a new silvers line with caster and that produced one roach and one hybrid, both to maggot, I didn't have a single bite on caster or worm. With so few silvers evident, it was time to concentrate on the reeds opposite and the margin. There was no interest in 8mm meat, so I shortened the paste rig by about 12" to use in the margin.
The match held no further excitement for me, 3 carp falling to the paste in the margin and two to 8mm pellet fished tight to the reeds. There was nothing in the way of liners or missed bites, so I don't think there were too many fish in the peg. The highlight of the day was watching Martin Lenaghan being done by fish after fish in the reeds to the right of peg 40. It made my one lost fish (on the lead) which shed the hook by doing a fine impression of an alligator roll when it popped up in front of me - sods law it was the biggest fish of the day.
I did lose plenty of hooks and a couple of leads, as the reeds extend out under the water, making them a proper snag pit, but if you don't get in tight, you don't get a bite. My silvers went an embarrassing 15oz and the 5 carp 21.03. I think the lost carp cost me the section money, as Dean managed 6 carp and 1lb odd of silvers for 27lb and the section money. See Tony's blog for the results.
Monday, 16 July 2012
Avon Angling Open, Viaduct, Sunday 15th July 2012
It was good to get back to Viaduct, with Campbell and Lodge in, I wanted a draw on Campbell, I got my wish, but it wasn't a peg I would have chosen, 129, apparently Steve Ringer came last in his section in the UK champs from it this week.
I had three baits with me, pellet, 8mm meat and paste. So rigs for all of them set up, a 0.2 MW diamond for pellet at depth, a MW cookie for pellet shallow, both on 0.16 with B960 16 hooks. I managed one decent skimmer on these rigs, so little more to say about them. Two meat rigs, one for 6m looking across to 110 and anther for fishing up to the spit, although there wasn't more than 6" or 8" difference in the depth. These were on 0.20 with TXR7 size 16 hooks on a 6" 0.18 hooklength.
Two waggler rods set up, one shallow and one full depth, as forecast had predicted a breezy day, a lead rod completed the set up. Starting on the waggler and 20 minutes without a bite or any indication that there were any fish in front of me had me switching to the long pole line, where I had fed some 4mm pellet. A 6mm pellet was pecked by nuisance fish, so on went an 8mm. That produced a decent skimmer, but nothing else, there was no fizzing, no swirls, nothing to indicate that the peg held any decent fish.
An earlier than planned switch to the spit with meat produced an instant response and a 2lb+ Perch fell to the meat. Sticking at it and several small Carp came to the net, some smaller than the Perch. The 6m meat line produced two tiny skimmers, as the float dipped and trembled every put in, as the small fish nibbled at the meat, it was a total waste of time. By 3.30 I had 9 Carp, for a weight I estimated to be less than 30lb, so another look on the waggler. I couldn't get it to hold still, but had a couple of indications, so in desperation, reached for the lead rod, three Carp in the first three chucks which were double the size of my spit caught fish.
That proved to be a false dawn and I went back to the spit and took another small Carp on the meat, before it all seemed to dry up completely, the lead produced one more decent fish before the all out. Not for the first time I was in the worst section, in fact it seems to be once again, the only consistent in my fishing at the moment. With me on 129 weighing 61.9 (55.00 carp and 6.11 of silvers), 130 DNW, 131 DNW and 132 weighing 44.15. I'm really not sure what more I could have done, as I had no liners when I did try the paste (nor bites), no liners on the lead and no foulers or liners on the waggler. The section was won by Phil Cardwell on 128 the other side of the spit, with 83.02, I have no idea how I could have got another 23lb from my peg.
It does seem to be a total waste of a day and money at the moment, to keep consistently drawing in an area where there aren't enough fish to be in with a chance of framing, if I'd been battered between the winners, at least I could assess why and address what I'd got wrong. I had a spell like this in the early 90's and it went on for 18 months and saw me walk away from fishing for 15 years, lets hope my drawbag luck changes soon!!
Anton Page should have won, but being 4lb over in one net, saw that one capped at 70lb and being over 90lb in another saw him lose the whole net - ironic really that he had nearly double my weight disqualified!!
1) Tom Mangnall 242.12 peg 126
2) Anton Page 193.02 peg 123
3) Craig Edmunds 162.14 peg 59
4) Tony Rixon 138.06 peg 124
5) Alan Oram 126.07 peg 119
6) Dean Malin 85.10 peg 112
Silvers
1) Sean Towsend 31.15 peg 66
2) Tony Rixon 30.09 peg 124
3) Nigel Bartlett 30.06 peg 118
I had three baits with me, pellet, 8mm meat and paste. So rigs for all of them set up, a 0.2 MW diamond for pellet at depth, a MW cookie for pellet shallow, both on 0.16 with B960 16 hooks. I managed one decent skimmer on these rigs, so little more to say about them. Two meat rigs, one for 6m looking across to 110 and anther for fishing up to the spit, although there wasn't more than 6" or 8" difference in the depth. These were on 0.20 with TXR7 size 16 hooks on a 6" 0.18 hooklength.
Two waggler rods set up, one shallow and one full depth, as forecast had predicted a breezy day, a lead rod completed the set up. Starting on the waggler and 20 minutes without a bite or any indication that there were any fish in front of me had me switching to the long pole line, where I had fed some 4mm pellet. A 6mm pellet was pecked by nuisance fish, so on went an 8mm. That produced a decent skimmer, but nothing else, there was no fizzing, no swirls, nothing to indicate that the peg held any decent fish.
An earlier than planned switch to the spit with meat produced an instant response and a 2lb+ Perch fell to the meat. Sticking at it and several small Carp came to the net, some smaller than the Perch. The 6m meat line produced two tiny skimmers, as the float dipped and trembled every put in, as the small fish nibbled at the meat, it was a total waste of time. By 3.30 I had 9 Carp, for a weight I estimated to be less than 30lb, so another look on the waggler. I couldn't get it to hold still, but had a couple of indications, so in desperation, reached for the lead rod, three Carp in the first three chucks which were double the size of my spit caught fish.
That proved to be a false dawn and I went back to the spit and took another small Carp on the meat, before it all seemed to dry up completely, the lead produced one more decent fish before the all out. Not for the first time I was in the worst section, in fact it seems to be once again, the only consistent in my fishing at the moment. With me on 129 weighing 61.9 (55.00 carp and 6.11 of silvers), 130 DNW, 131 DNW and 132 weighing 44.15. I'm really not sure what more I could have done, as I had no liners when I did try the paste (nor bites), no liners on the lead and no foulers or liners on the waggler. The section was won by Phil Cardwell on 128 the other side of the spit, with 83.02, I have no idea how I could have got another 23lb from my peg.
It does seem to be a total waste of a day and money at the moment, to keep consistently drawing in an area where there aren't enough fish to be in with a chance of framing, if I'd been battered between the winners, at least I could assess why and address what I'd got wrong. I had a spell like this in the early 90's and it went on for 18 months and saw me walk away from fishing for 15 years, lets hope my drawbag luck changes soon!!
Anton Page should have won, but being 4lb over in one net, saw that one capped at 70lb and being over 90lb in another saw him lose the whole net - ironic really that he had nearly double my weight disqualified!!
1) Tom Mangnall 242.12 peg 126
2) Anton Page 193.02 peg 123
3) Craig Edmunds 162.14 peg 59
4) Tony Rixon 138.06 peg 124
5) Alan Oram 126.07 peg 119
6) Dean Malin 85.10 peg 112
Silvers
1) Sean Towsend 31.15 peg 66
2) Tony Rixon 30.09 peg 124
3) Nigel Bartlett 30.06 peg 118
Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Tony Rixon's Float Only, Landsend. 8th July 2012
I decided to face my demons again and take a trip to Landsend and take a guest spot in Tony's float only series, as with last time, it was to be a positive approach, hopefully a draw on some silvers, so caster, worm and Devils Spawn, if not, carp slaying, so hard pellet, paste and meat were in the bait bag.
I fancied a draw on Speci or Match lake, not lake 3, so what came out, peg 61 on lake 3 with Alan Oram on 58 end peg and Dean Malin on 62, so tough competition from a peg that I didn't fancy. Whenever I draw lake 3 it seems to produce one weight that possibly frames, but other wise it's fishing for section. Today it didn't even manage a framing weight and I can't recall it ever competing in the silvers.
A walk up to Alan on 58 and he had plenty of fish moving down in the corner by the pipe, the fish were cruising around the lake in pairs and fours - looks like they are going to spawn again. I set up half a dozen topkits, a caster rig, a Devils Spawn rig, a meat rig, a hard pellet rig, a paste rig and a shallow rig to try and get the slurpers and cruisers.
I fed some micros and softened 4's at 8m towards the gap in the islands, caster at 8m straight in front and hard 4's to the island with a catty. I dropped the hard pellet rig in tight to the island (the depth was only a couple of inches shallower than the middle, no shelf), it went straight under and a 2 pounder battled its way to the net. It proved to be a cruel, false dawn, as for the next 30 minutes, nothing happened, then another 2 pounder took the hair rigged 6mm pellet.
In short, it was a hard match, the caster line produced one roach, the devils Spawn line produced 3 skimmers, a 3lb carp and 4 or 5 roach. I fed a line under the tree to the left with meat and caster, the meat produced nothing, the hard pellet across produced a couple more small carp, both at depth, the shallow rig didn't even see a bite registered. Paste over the devils spawn and across produced the same result, but I did have one liner, surely a sign that the fish weren't in the peg!!
I was thinking that the right approach on the day might have been maggot, as I have caught fish that are cruising and apparently not interested in a bait, on maggot, perhaps the movement makes them snatch at it.
With half an hour to go, I had 5 carp for not much more than 15lb and 2lb of silvers, I dropped the caster rig, with double maggot, in under the tree, where I'd been feeding caster and meat, the float setttled and within 30 seconds slid under and a 5lb carp was netted (after it stretched the white hydro nearly into Dean's peg and he lifted his rig to try and mug the intruder, until he realised it was hooked!!). Rebaiting with two really fat maggots and once again the float slid under and another carp battled the 0.12 before being netted.
My 30lb 4oz was only good enough for 3rd in section, as Craig Edmunds had mugged 70lb in a fine mugging display on the day from the peg opposite me, although the island foliage meant I could see him doing it and Alan took a weight about 50lb from the end peg. With Dean DNW next to me, I remain convinced there just weren't any numbers of fish in our pegs, carp or silvers.
So Landsend continues to thwart my efforts, not sure what to do to change it, as the results show, my gut instinct about not wanting to draw lake 3 was fully founded.
I fancied a draw on Speci or Match lake, not lake 3, so what came out, peg 61 on lake 3 with Alan Oram on 58 end peg and Dean Malin on 62, so tough competition from a peg that I didn't fancy. Whenever I draw lake 3 it seems to produce one weight that possibly frames, but other wise it's fishing for section. Today it didn't even manage a framing weight and I can't recall it ever competing in the silvers.
A walk up to Alan on 58 and he had plenty of fish moving down in the corner by the pipe, the fish were cruising around the lake in pairs and fours - looks like they are going to spawn again. I set up half a dozen topkits, a caster rig, a Devils Spawn rig, a meat rig, a hard pellet rig, a paste rig and a shallow rig to try and get the slurpers and cruisers.
I fed some micros and softened 4's at 8m towards the gap in the islands, caster at 8m straight in front and hard 4's to the island with a catty. I dropped the hard pellet rig in tight to the island (the depth was only a couple of inches shallower than the middle, no shelf), it went straight under and a 2 pounder battled its way to the net. It proved to be a cruel, false dawn, as for the next 30 minutes, nothing happened, then another 2 pounder took the hair rigged 6mm pellet.
In short, it was a hard match, the caster line produced one roach, the devils Spawn line produced 3 skimmers, a 3lb carp and 4 or 5 roach. I fed a line under the tree to the left with meat and caster, the meat produced nothing, the hard pellet across produced a couple more small carp, both at depth, the shallow rig didn't even see a bite registered. Paste over the devils spawn and across produced the same result, but I did have one liner, surely a sign that the fish weren't in the peg!!
I was thinking that the right approach on the day might have been maggot, as I have caught fish that are cruising and apparently not interested in a bait, on maggot, perhaps the movement makes them snatch at it.
With half an hour to go, I had 5 carp for not much more than 15lb and 2lb of silvers, I dropped the caster rig, with double maggot, in under the tree, where I'd been feeding caster and meat, the float setttled and within 30 seconds slid under and a 5lb carp was netted (after it stretched the white hydro nearly into Dean's peg and he lifted his rig to try and mug the intruder, until he realised it was hooked!!). Rebaiting with two really fat maggots and once again the float slid under and another carp battled the 0.12 before being netted.
My 30lb 4oz was only good enough for 3rd in section, as Craig Edmunds had mugged 70lb in a fine mugging display on the day from the peg opposite me, although the island foliage meant I could see him doing it and Alan took a weight about 50lb from the end peg. With Dean DNW next to me, I remain convinced there just weren't any numbers of fish in our pegs, carp or silvers.
So Landsend continues to thwart my efforts, not sure what to do to change it, as the results show, my gut instinct about not wanting to draw lake 3 was fully founded.
1. Anton
page 279-0-0 peg 19
2. Tom
Mangnall 152-0-0 peg 21
3. Bob
Gullick 120-11-0 peg 5
4. Mike
Nicholls 116-09-0 peg 18
5. Clayton
Hudson 107-08-0 peg 34
6. Tom
Thick 107-05-0 peg 1
Top Silvers:
1. Clayton
Hudson 36-12-0 peg 34
2. Tony
Rixon 31-05-0 peg 3
3. Nick
Collins 29-12-0 peg 16
Sunday, 1 July 2012
Trinity Two Day Festival Sat/Sun 23/24 June 2012
Back to the old format this year, fishing Woodland and Wildmarsh lake on alternate days. Into the drawbag and 32 on Woodland revealed itself. I was a bit disappointed with it as a draw, the wind was blowing to the opposite end of the lake and much of my peg did not have a ripple on it. I had bait to fish for silvers, but decided that I wouldn't be able to compete with the pegs in the 20's which usually produce some skimmers.
I set up a couple of waggler rods to fish pellet shallow and about 4' deep, a rig to fish Devils Spawn at 12m, another to fish banded pellet at the same distance, a paste rig for 12m and a rig to fish meat in the margins.
Starting on the waggler, it was slow going, with just the odd bite from roach, after 20 mins I had a carp, but it seemed to be a loner, as the waggler didn't produce another fish. A switch to the 12m line was equally unproductive, on soft and hard pellet, no fizzing, no liners, real hard fishing. I'd been dripping a little feed into the margins, but there was no sign of fish, even so, in desperation, I had a drop in far earlier than I would usually. This resulted in one carp, but then the meat was being ragged by tiny fish.
Back to the 12m line and there was now an odd bubble showing and I managed a couple of skimmers and two carp on Devils Spawn, before switching to paste, this brought several more carp and a three more skimmers before the all out, with my skimmers going 10lb exactly and the carp 52lb. As expected the two pegs at the other end of the section, the windward end of the lake took the top two places in the section, I knew I'd need some decent anglers to have a disaster on Sunday for my 3rd in section to put me in the frame. Even with that, I wasn't too disappointed getting 3rd from the peg, Kev Perry on peg 2 had really struggled, so I don't think there were too many fish in our corner of the lake.
Sunday saw me draw 52 on Wildmarsh, a really good peg for silvers, especially small fish on a topkit to hand, but I knew that only a section win (and some really unexpected blow outs) would do any good, so I set out my stall to catch carp. Again a pellet line at 12m, with a paste rig at that length, also a polyball paste rig for the margin, which was the shelf in front of peg 53. I also set up a feeder, but this produced just one small roach and a tiny hybrid. After an hour I had a 9lb carp on 6mm banded pellet at 12m, but that was it from that line, no matter what bait I put out there it was attacked and whittled down by tiny fish. I had a few roach and small skimmers, but was looking far from the section win needed, so I carried on looking for carp, in the last hour, the margin produced two more carp, 5lb each and the scales saw me weigh 19lb odd of carp and 4lb odd of silvers. Ignoring the silvers in the blank middle of the match cost me, as Paul Lock won the section with 24lb odd of skimmers, an hour fishing for roach would have seen me make up the 1lb deficit, although with Paul Elmes and Paul Lock both registering two section wins, a point less wouldn't have seen me make the overall frame.
Thanks to John, Sue and Misha for a good weekend, just a shame the weather seems to affect the fishing whenever there is a big match at Trinity.
Overall;
1) Paul Elmes 2 points 156.11
2) Paul Lock 2 points 103.01
3) Tony Rixon 3 points 130.08
4) Dean malin 3 points 114
Silvers:
1) Craig Edmunds 2 points 38.07
2) Nigel Bartlett 3 points
I set up a couple of waggler rods to fish pellet shallow and about 4' deep, a rig to fish Devils Spawn at 12m, another to fish banded pellet at the same distance, a paste rig for 12m and a rig to fish meat in the margins.
Starting on the waggler, it was slow going, with just the odd bite from roach, after 20 mins I had a carp, but it seemed to be a loner, as the waggler didn't produce another fish. A switch to the 12m line was equally unproductive, on soft and hard pellet, no fizzing, no liners, real hard fishing. I'd been dripping a little feed into the margins, but there was no sign of fish, even so, in desperation, I had a drop in far earlier than I would usually. This resulted in one carp, but then the meat was being ragged by tiny fish.
Back to the 12m line and there was now an odd bubble showing and I managed a couple of skimmers and two carp on Devils Spawn, before switching to paste, this brought several more carp and a three more skimmers before the all out, with my skimmers going 10lb exactly and the carp 52lb. As expected the two pegs at the other end of the section, the windward end of the lake took the top two places in the section, I knew I'd need some decent anglers to have a disaster on Sunday for my 3rd in section to put me in the frame. Even with that, I wasn't too disappointed getting 3rd from the peg, Kev Perry on peg 2 had really struggled, so I don't think there were too many fish in our corner of the lake.
Sunday saw me draw 52 on Wildmarsh, a really good peg for silvers, especially small fish on a topkit to hand, but I knew that only a section win (and some really unexpected blow outs) would do any good, so I set out my stall to catch carp. Again a pellet line at 12m, with a paste rig at that length, also a polyball paste rig for the margin, which was the shelf in front of peg 53. I also set up a feeder, but this produced just one small roach and a tiny hybrid. After an hour I had a 9lb carp on 6mm banded pellet at 12m, but that was it from that line, no matter what bait I put out there it was attacked and whittled down by tiny fish. I had a few roach and small skimmers, but was looking far from the section win needed, so I carried on looking for carp, in the last hour, the margin produced two more carp, 5lb each and the scales saw me weigh 19lb odd of carp and 4lb odd of silvers. Ignoring the silvers in the blank middle of the match cost me, as Paul Lock won the section with 24lb odd of skimmers, an hour fishing for roach would have seen me make up the 1lb deficit, although with Paul Elmes and Paul Lock both registering two section wins, a point less wouldn't have seen me make the overall frame.
Thanks to John, Sue and Misha for a good weekend, just a shame the weather seems to affect the fishing whenever there is a big match at Trinity.
Overall;
1) Paul Elmes 2 points 156.11
2) Paul Lock 2 points 103.01
3) Tony Rixon 3 points 130.08
4) Dean malin 3 points 114
Silvers:
1) Craig Edmunds 2 points 38.07
2) Nigel Bartlett 3 points
Monday, 18 June 2012
Float Only, Sedges, Sunday 17th June 2012
I was going to have another weekend off and do more stuff on the house and get ready for next weeks two day festival at Trinity, but a late call from Tony Rixon wanting to fill a space in his float only, persuaded me to get out fishing, the house can wait.
I have only been to sedges a couple of times before, both with little success and the day kicked off to a bad start when tony asked what bait I had ordered (two pints of caster and a few maggots), because he had forgotten it. Great, I had fancied a day on the silvers, thankfully Nigel Bartlett came to the rescue and handed me two pints of the finest caster I've seen for a long time, not a skin or floater amongst them - thanks Nigel.
As it was 5 peg sections and a league, there was no point in me doing anything but fishing positive and trying to win, my home for the 6 hours was peg 6, which I was informed was a great winter peg, just what you need in June, even though the weather is far from flaming June.
I set up a trusty Normark Titan 2000 for a pellet waggler to fish out towards the rope that divides the lake and three topkits, a 4x18 Jolly with a 16 carp maggot hook on 0.12, a No6 MW diamond with a 16 6313 on 0.14 and a paste rig on 0.18.
At the all in I fed a line at 7m to my left with CW&C, a line straight out at 13m with pellet and then started on the pellet wag whilst the pole lines settled, this was slow going, the first indication after about 20 minutes was a fouler, which stayed on until 6" from the net, before shedding the hook. 10 minutes later a fish around the 7lb mark graced the net, but that was it for the waggler, I tried at several times during the match, but the wind changed round and the cruising fish disappeared.
A look over the CW&C brought a big skimmer on worm and caster hookbait, perhaps I was going to have a good day on the silvers after all, but that was it on the worm and caster , caster produced nothing, nor did soft pellet.
I spent the rest of the match between the two pole lines and picked up 5 more carp to 12lb and another 4 skimmers, all on paste, the lines were fizzing, but there appeared to be little fish movement, as I had very few liners. I thought it would be a tight match and so it proved, my 5 skimmers going 10lb exactly and 6 carp 54.15, my 64.15 was enough to take third spot.
1) Phil Harding 76.07 peg 20
2) Bela Bakos 69.09 Peg 19
3) Chris Fox 64.15 peg 6
4) John Thompson 63.15 peg 23
5) Anton Page 61.15 peg 8
6) Tony Rixon 60.9 peg 32
Silvers
1) Shane Caswell 39lb peg 18
I have only been to sedges a couple of times before, both with little success and the day kicked off to a bad start when tony asked what bait I had ordered (two pints of caster and a few maggots), because he had forgotten it. Great, I had fancied a day on the silvers, thankfully Nigel Bartlett came to the rescue and handed me two pints of the finest caster I've seen for a long time, not a skin or floater amongst them - thanks Nigel.
As it was 5 peg sections and a league, there was no point in me doing anything but fishing positive and trying to win, my home for the 6 hours was peg 6, which I was informed was a great winter peg, just what you need in June, even though the weather is far from flaming June.
I set up a trusty Normark Titan 2000 for a pellet waggler to fish out towards the rope that divides the lake and three topkits, a 4x18 Jolly with a 16 carp maggot hook on 0.12, a No6 MW diamond with a 16 6313 on 0.14 and a paste rig on 0.18.
At the all in I fed a line at 7m to my left with CW&C, a line straight out at 13m with pellet and then started on the pellet wag whilst the pole lines settled, this was slow going, the first indication after about 20 minutes was a fouler, which stayed on until 6" from the net, before shedding the hook. 10 minutes later a fish around the 7lb mark graced the net, but that was it for the waggler, I tried at several times during the match, but the wind changed round and the cruising fish disappeared.
A look over the CW&C brought a big skimmer on worm and caster hookbait, perhaps I was going to have a good day on the silvers after all, but that was it on the worm and caster , caster produced nothing, nor did soft pellet.
I spent the rest of the match between the two pole lines and picked up 5 more carp to 12lb and another 4 skimmers, all on paste, the lines were fizzing, but there appeared to be little fish movement, as I had very few liners. I thought it would be a tight match and so it proved, my 5 skimmers going 10lb exactly and 6 carp 54.15, my 64.15 was enough to take third spot.
1) Phil Harding 76.07 peg 20
2) Bela Bakos 69.09 Peg 19
3) Chris Fox 64.15 peg 6
4) John Thompson 63.15 peg 23
5) Anton Page 61.15 peg 8
6) Tony Rixon 60.9 peg 32
Silvers
1) Shane Caswell 39lb peg 18
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