Final round of the league today and with the overall frame being just out of reach, it was a day to concentrate on the silvers, a section win was necessary to win the silvers, but with 4 or 5 silvers anglers on the my lake today a decent draw was essential, I would have liked to open the drawcard and see 5, 15 or 17 looking back at me. The main contender with me for the silvers title was Bob Gullick, he was looking pleased as he came away from the draw, with peg 5 grasped in his hand.
I managed to pick out peg 20, which didn't fill me full of optimism and with the rest of the silvers anglers in my section, it was going to be tough to get the section win. I tried to cover all the options and set up four topkits, a MW slim which would do to fish bunches of maggots or a prawn, down to the pallet of 21 and quite conveniently, the same depth across on the island shelf - nice theory, but as I only hooked and lost two carp across on this rig, no more to say about it. The next rig was even less successful, not even a bite, this was a NG Decker, with a bulk, two droppers 4" apart and a 4" hooklength of 0.10 and a 18 63-13, this was to fish soft pellet or dead maggot, again a great theory, but it never once dipped below the surface.
Next rig was a 0.3g NG Gimp XT, on 0.16, fairly standard bulk and two droppers, finished off with a 0.12 hooklength and a 18 Drennan Carp Maggot hook. Next and final rig was a NG Gimp, this time on 0.14, with a 0.10 hooklength and a 18 63-13.
The bait tray had caster, maggot, pinkie, dead maggot and floating maggot, as well as soft pellet, micros and a few prawns. More than I would have got out had I had a peg I was confident in and with an empty peg to my right, it gave the opportunity to try a couple of variations. On the all in I fed caster and a few maggots at the bottom of the far slope, a groundbait and caster line down the track at 2 o'clock to my position and a micro and 4mm pellet line at 6m, just short of peg 21. Some maggots to the pallet of 21 and right across in front of me, as well as some on my usual short line, completed the feeding.
Letting the lines settle, I dropped in short and the expected roach, didn't show. A look down to the pallet and across with a prawn was just as unproductive, a switch to the loose feed line saw a 3oz roach take the maggot, which I promptly dropped back in missing the net. By now Bob Gullick on peg 5 had landed 5 or 6 F1's and I had one roach in the net. The Gimp was on peg 24 and catching perch, so it wasn't looking good for my required section win.
After 31/2 hours I had added a couple more roach, two 10oz perch and another getting on for 2lb, all caught short, none of the longer lines produced more than an odd roach. Bob was still plundering the F1's on peg 5, when my float buried and a decent skimmer more than doubled my weight, in the next half an hour, four more joined him in the net, a couple of them are already rough and covered in spawning tubercules - not really surprising given the mild weather.
Just as I had something to build on and hope for the silvers section 1st, the next bite was a carp, as were the next three. This saw the back of the skimmers and a look round the other lines, which I had kept topped up all match only produced the odd small roach. Another carp landed and two that obliterated the 0.10 hooklength brought the match to a close. I was pretty sure that the lack of back up to the skimmers, would cost me winning the silvers, as it was pretty obvious Bob had a netful of F1's. Now if he had any sort of conscience and decency, he'd have weighed the 31lb of F1's in as carp and his 4 or 5lb of roach and perch as silvers.......
My silvers went 15.12, which was joint second in section with Nige Bartlett on 22, Tony Thick had 17lb odd, so one more skimmer would have done it for me. The carp added to the silvers gave me 41.01 which was enough for a section win, some small consolation to being beaten to the silvers title by (F1) carp...... (Not that I'm bitter about it. :-) ) I was probably in the top ten overall, with 1 section win, 3 seconds, a third and a fourth.
Thanks to Ken Rayner for organising it, can't quite believe I fished a series on my bête noire and picked up money in all but one round and a framing position.
The results on the day:
1) Paul Elmes 166.05. Peg 34
2) Mark Poppleton 110.03 peg 11
3) Adrian Jefferies 81.10 peg 33
4) Gary O'Shea 62.12 peg 58
5) Mark Brennan 55.10 peg 50
6) Ken Rayner 51.15 peg 68
Silvers
1) Bob Gullick 36.12 peg 5 (Did I mention this was mainly F1 CARP!!!!)
2) Tom Thick 22.03 peg 31
Overall winner was Mark Poppleton, he had some decent draws, but made the most of them, no series will ever be won from the poorly performing pegs.
1) Mark Poppleton
2) Ken ("there were loads of witnesses to the draw") Rayner
3) Craig "Trigger" Edmunds
4) Paul Elmes
Silvers
1) Bob (Cypry) Gullick
2) Chris Fox
3) Nigel Bartlett
Sunday, 23 February 2014
Sunday, 16 February 2014
Viaduct Winter League, Sunday 16th February
Guesting today in this popular league for the MFS team, as the anglers rotate around the sections I knew I would be on match lake or the pegs 1-6 on Spring. This necessitated two lots of prep, as the target fish would be very different sizes, so a few hooklengths tied up for the 'munters of spring' and the trusty old Normark Microlight rigged up with a waggler for a draw on match lake.
Team mate for the day, Ken Rayner travelled down with me and we had a reasonable breakfast at the pub, before getting down to Viaduct and finding out what the draw would be. I was disappointed, but not surprised to draw one of the pegs on match lake without an island chuck, Ken was off to peg 94, with not too much enthusiasim, as it had been last in section in the previous rounds.
Setting up at my peg, I was fairly convinced that the weeks rain followed by a bright sunny day and a frost, albeit a light one would make the margin a non starter, but without an island chuck and limited to how far out I could fish (by peg 45), I had to hope my instincts were wrong. I set up a NG finesse float to fish at 13m, this on 0.14, with a 0.08 hooklength and a 20 hook. Plumbing up it was evident that the bottom was covered in dead, black leaves and other tree debris. I put some maggots and pinkies in sparkling water to get them floating, so the would sit on top of the debris.
For down the edge, I had two rigs, one for dobbing bread, starting about 6" off bottom and another rig for maggot and caster. I did set up a rig with a MW F1 slim, for a line at 6m where the peg was at its deepest - no more about this as it was a non starter. On the all in I fed two jaffa's of groundbait, with a few casters and dead maggots in at 13m and then spent some time dobbing bread down the margin, with not so much as a liner to show for it - I felt my instinct that the carp wouldn't be in the margin, was proven to be correct.
Dropping in over the groundbait, I had the float dotted right down and was rewarded with a couple of bites, they were tiny little dinks of the bristle tip amd resulted in a couple of roach, a skimmer, a carp just over 2lb and a reasonable hybrid. Then the wind got up a bit, this made seeing the float impossible and taking a shot off didn't help, as the bites were such small dinks.
A look down the margin brought a run of perch to maggot, before that went quiet, by now the sun had come round and with the ripple had made seeing anything out in front really difficult, so picking up the waggler rod, I put a bit of line of the bottom and fished double caster, this produced a couple more decent skimmers and a few roach, but no sign of the much needed carp, whilst those with island chucks were taking carp on the lead/feeder.
A late look down the margin with a prawn saw the float bury and a big perch was shaking its head, then it got tangled in some line and a yellow topped waggler popped up, slid down my rig line and neatly disgorged the hook from a 2lb+ perch.......
I was beaten by all but two the pegs with an island chuck, so only 8 points returned from my 15.12, of which 13.00 was silvers, best silvers weight in the section, but meaningless apart from personal satisfaction, that and I beat the pegs either side, so perhaps there just weren't many carp and f1's in this corner of the lake.
See Mike Nicholls blog for full result and weigh sheets.
Team mate for the day, Ken Rayner travelled down with me and we had a reasonable breakfast at the pub, before getting down to Viaduct and finding out what the draw would be. I was disappointed, but not surprised to draw one of the pegs on match lake without an island chuck, Ken was off to peg 94, with not too much enthusiasim, as it had been last in section in the previous rounds.
Setting up at my peg, I was fairly convinced that the weeks rain followed by a bright sunny day and a frost, albeit a light one would make the margin a non starter, but without an island chuck and limited to how far out I could fish (by peg 45), I had to hope my instincts were wrong. I set up a NG finesse float to fish at 13m, this on 0.14, with a 0.08 hooklength and a 20 hook. Plumbing up it was evident that the bottom was covered in dead, black leaves and other tree debris. I put some maggots and pinkies in sparkling water to get them floating, so the would sit on top of the debris.
For down the edge, I had two rigs, one for dobbing bread, starting about 6" off bottom and another rig for maggot and caster. I did set up a rig with a MW F1 slim, for a line at 6m where the peg was at its deepest - no more about this as it was a non starter. On the all in I fed two jaffa's of groundbait, with a few casters and dead maggots in at 13m and then spent some time dobbing bread down the margin, with not so much as a liner to show for it - I felt my instinct that the carp wouldn't be in the margin, was proven to be correct.
Dropping in over the groundbait, I had the float dotted right down and was rewarded with a couple of bites, they were tiny little dinks of the bristle tip amd resulted in a couple of roach, a skimmer, a carp just over 2lb and a reasonable hybrid. Then the wind got up a bit, this made seeing the float impossible and taking a shot off didn't help, as the bites were such small dinks.
A look down the margin brought a run of perch to maggot, before that went quiet, by now the sun had come round and with the ripple had made seeing anything out in front really difficult, so picking up the waggler rod, I put a bit of line of the bottom and fished double caster, this produced a couple more decent skimmers and a few roach, but no sign of the much needed carp, whilst those with island chucks were taking carp on the lead/feeder.
A late look down the margin with a prawn saw the float bury and a big perch was shaking its head, then it got tangled in some line and a yellow topped waggler popped up, slid down my rig line and neatly disgorged the hook from a 2lb+ perch.......
I was beaten by all but two the pegs with an island chuck, so only 8 points returned from my 15.12, of which 13.00 was silvers, best silvers weight in the section, but meaningless apart from personal satisfaction, that and I beat the pegs either side, so perhaps there just weren't many carp and f1's in this corner of the lake.
See Mike Nicholls blog for full result and weigh sheets.
Friday, 14 February 2014
Ivy House Wednesday Open, 12th February
I had booked into Todber Manor for my first visit to the
venue, but got a phone call from Tony on Tuesday to say that due to the weather
forecast, the match had been cancelled.
Also, Viaduct had cancelled their match, so it was Ivy House or stay at
home. With the forecast as bad as it
was, there was a significant temptation to stay at home, but they usually
exaggerate it, don’t they…… and Ivy
House was a new venue for me as well.
Wednesday dawned and it did seem that the forecasters might,
for once, be near the mark, but with the gear loaded into Tony’s van, off we
went full of optimism. It looks like
Andy is undertaking a bit of work at the venue, with plenty of freshly felled
trees, undergrowth cleared and some new pallets evident. A decent breakfast and some conversation
about the pegging, which I abstained from, having no valid input. Only 6 hardy
souls turned up and with hindsight, all of us could and should have had pegs
with the wind off our backs, unfortunately, two anglers had a side on wind, one
L to R and the other on the other end of the spit, had it R to L.
Hardly any need to say, that given the remarkable
consistency of my drawing arm, I managed to draw 36, the peg with the L – R
wind, the other unfortunate was Gabriel Skarba (I bet that’s not right..)on peg
43. Sat with their backs to the wind,
fishing in comparative luxury, were Tony Rixon, Martin Lenaghan and Alan
Oram. One of the venue locals who braved
the weather, a gentleman called Magoo, was on peg 6.
My initial idea was not to get the pole out of the bag, but
as I set up a lead rod, watching the ‘sheltered three’ setting up their poles
had me reaching for my rod bag and getting 13m of pole out. Two topkits were enough, one with a MW
diamond to try and get some stability in the windy conditions, this was
finished off with a 0.12 hooklength and a 18 63-13, with the idea of fishing
soft pellet at 10m. The other rig was a
wire stemmed NG Gimp, this was for fishing at the bottom of the near shelf,
about 6m out, a 0.10 hooklength and a 20 Drennan Carp Maggot hook completed
this set up.
On the all in I managed to feed the 10 line OK, this was
with micros and dead maggot, the 6m line was fed with two balls of groundbait
with caster and dead maggot. Leaving these to settle, I had a few chucks round
the swim with popped up bread, but not even a liner from that. By now the wind had increased and for the
first time ever, I had a large flat roller blown over, complete with pole,
luckily no damage. So the 10m line was
unfishable with the pole and it stayed that way for the rest of the match, I
did try a couple of times, but it was a pointless exercise.
Dropping in on the 6m line, I had a roach first put in, the
float was racing through the peg, against the wind, a massive undertow was
going from R to L, letting it run through and gently holding it back produced a
couple more roach, then 6 small carp, so it was looking promising. The roller
blew over again, as the wind got worse. Then the roach came back, several
finding the maggot before the carp. I
had a rummage in my bag and found a tin of corn, I fed a few micros and 4 or 5
grains of corn, in an attempt to get the carp back, first put in with a single
grain of corn resulted in the biggest (and last) carp of the day at about 2lb.
A particularly strong gust lifted the tin of corn off my
side tray and deposited it far out into the lake, so would corn have been the answer,
I’ll never know……..
That was it, one and a quarter hours into the match I had a
couple of pound of roach and 7 small carp, which is exactly what I tipped back
at the 4pm all out.
I did swap the bread rig for a small groundbait feeder, this
produced on roach and I did hook a large carp that made short work of the 0.12
hooklength. With about ¾ of an hour to
go, yet another violent gust picked up sections 4,5 & 6 of my pole and
deposited them into peg 37, luckily, without (visible) damage and within reach
of the bank. That was enough of that.so
the pole went away and I watched a motionless tip for the last ¾ of an hour.
I knew Alan had me well beaten and Tony, so my 8 or 9lb was
tipped back, as I was cold and not a little fed up by now. Magoo on peg 6 DNW,
Gabriel on peg 43 had two fish and DNW, whilst the sheltered 3 took the money
(well two of them) and glory.
I look forward to going back and fishing the venue when the
conditions don’t dictate.
11) Tony
Rixon 52.00 peg 41 (included 11lb skimmers and a 10lb carp)
22) Alan
Oram 32.00 peg 39 (including a 16lb+ ghostie)
33) Martin
Lenaghan 10.00 peg 40
The other 3 DNW.
Monday, 10 February 2014
Landsend League Round 5, Sunday 9th February
Another week of wind and rain to precede this match, I don't seem to have any spare time lately as the weather is impacting hard on the railway system and keeping me busy, as diversionary routes and unusual terninating points are now becoming the norm.... anyway, enough of that, onto the fishing.
Today saw the opportunity for me to virtually wrap up the
silvers title with a section win, but I needed Nigel Bartlett and Bob Gullick
in the section to make it possible. Part
of the scenario was achieved, with Nigel drawing peg 25 and myself 29. Bob Gullick drew the opposite section, peg 40
and with the rest of his section being inclined to fish for carp, I had my work
cut out with two silvers specialists in my section, the Gimp drawing favoured
peg 32.
Pegs 28 and 29 had thrown up 1st and 2nd
silvers on the lake last match, big skimmers caught late on, so there was that
positive thought, although with no feature in the peg, I guessed the bonus
perch wouldn’t be in evidence. Four rigs
to try and ring the changes, as this side of the lake has been hard in all the
matches so far and today proved to be no different. Two NG Gimps, one with 6” 0.14 hooklength and
a 16 63-13 hook, the other with 4” of 0.12 and a 18 Drennan carp maggot. A rig
to fish down to the pallet of peg 30, this also covered a flat shelf at the
same depth at 15m, about ½ a
metre off the island. Finally a MW F1
slim to fish short, for roach and hopefully any bonus fish, this had a 18
Drennan carp maggot on 0.10.
I intended to start as I had in the other rounds, but given
the poor form of the peg I fed the two lines I hoped to catch skimmers from and
instead of looking straight over them, I left them and had a quick look to the
pallet of 30 and across with a piece of prawn on the hook, but as I expected,
there wasn’t enough cover to hold perch. I always feed a short line and it
often produces a couple of bonus silvers, first drop into it saw a perch around
6oz in the net, then a roach, which wasn’t far off a pound, quickly followed by
a 6oz roach. This line doesn’t often
last long and todays bonus fish were much smaller than the hoped for bream or
tench, that often show up. Next bite was a lot more positive and a big carp
powered across the lake, I played it for a while and got it back in under the
topkit, when another run broke the 0.10 hooklength. Why in a silvers only match can you pull and
tug double figure carp and they come meekly in, or fight through the silvers
line!! But still land them on 0.10, yet in a match when they count, the line
seems to miraculously derate to 0.05……
After 35 minutes I had a first look over the micros at 11m,
which was the deepest part of the peg, first put in with a soft pellet produced
a small skimmer, sadly it didn’t open the floodgates and the rest of the match
only 3 more small skimmers were forthcoming, this achieved by swapping lines
and working hard to try and get a bite. I could see that today wasn’t going to
be my day, as the Gimp was catching big perch and the odd decent skimmer and a
couple of pegs to my left, Tony Thick landed 3 skimmers that dwarfed mine. I changed the hooklengths down to 01.0 and the 0.10 went down to 0.08, all to no avail, often this will bring bites from wary fish, this side of the lake seems to contain very few fish this winter, let alone wary ones....
The roach wouldn’t settle and feed anywhere in the peg, so
trying to catch a weight of them wasn’t an option, a line fed with groundbait
didn’t produce a fish and all the while, I was for the second time on this lake
sat opposite Mark Poppleton who was catching well. Trigger was also netting
plenty of fish from that side of the lake (pegs 36 and 33 respectively), whilst
as has been the story of the series so far, this side seemed to be devoid of
carp and very thin on the ground of silvers.
Walking round the lake with the scales, Trigger weighed 89lb, Mark P 88lb and Bob Gullick winning the silvers in that section with
13lb odd. It didn’t take nearly as long
to weigh our side, Nigel on 25 had thrown back his 6 small roach, Tony’s 3
skimmers went 7.08, Beanie had a tench and 3 or 4 better skimmers for 11lb odd,
my hard won roach and stunted skimmers went 7.08, the Gimp won the section with
15lb of perch, F1’s and skimmers.
With hindsight, the time I spent trying to get the roach to
feed, might have been better spent with double caster or maggot over the
skimmer lines and maybe, given how hard the lake has fished, even my meagre, negative feeding was too much, as neither the negatively or positively fed lines really fished at all. It looks as if my joint third in section silvers might not be enough now, it will all be down to the draw on the last match.
1st 89- 5 - Craig Edmunds - p33
2nd 88- 7 - Mark Poppleton - p36
3rd 69- 0 - Paul Elmes - p42
4th 60-10 - Martin Lenaghan - p58
5th 59-15 - Nick Duckett - p50
6th 39- 0 - Adrian Clarke - p13
2nd 88- 7 - Mark Poppleton - p36
3rd 69- 0 - Paul Elmes - p42
4th 60-10 - Martin Lenaghan - p58
5th 59-15 - Nick Duckett - p50
6th 39- 0 - Adrian Clarke - p13
Silvers
1st 17- 0 - Mark Brennan - p17
2nd 15-11 - John Bradford - p32
3rd 14- 3 - Darren Fordham - p70
4th 14- 0 - Tom Mangnall - p7
5th 13-14 - Bob Gullick - p40
6th 11- 7 - Ken Rayner - p15
1st 17- 0 - Mark Brennan - p17
2nd 15-11 - John Bradford - p32
3rd 14- 3 - Darren Fordham - p70
4th 14- 0 - Tom Mangnall - p7
5th 13-14 - Bob Gullick - p40
6th 11- 7 - Ken Rayner - p15
Sunday, 26 January 2014
Landsend League Round Four, Sunday 26th January 2013
I have been thinking about my fishing and trying to assess how I can simplyfy things, one thing I am doing is trying to settle on a small selection of floats that will suit nearly all situations on the venues I normally fish. A while back I bought some Nick Gilbert XT Gimps, they have passed the test of time and they are a very durable replacememt for Carpa Chimps, which I find break or bend very easily. I have only damaged one Gimp, when a foul hooked carp came off at full pelt and the line cut the bristle off at the base.
I ordered some more last week, in readiness for the Bait Tech festival and a conversation with Nick led to me order a few of his handmade Gimps, wire and glass stem to try, also a margin float pattern. Nick also kindly sent me three patterns to try out, one of which, the Power Finesse put most of the fish in my net today. I'll be ordering a few more of this these and can recommend Nicks service and quality.
On to the match and a convivial drive to the cafe with Tony Rixon passed the time, we went into the draw bucket close to each other but ended up on different lakes, Tony on match lake, peg 15, myself on peg 41 on lake 3. Frustratingly there were three no shows on this lake, reducing the section on my side by one and two the other side, this gives plenty of space to some lucky anglers, Mark Poppleton on 55 and Mike Duckett on 68, with 66 and 70 empty were the fortunate ones today.
My peg looked like it should hold a few fish with an end bank, the spit and some open water to go at. I intended to kep it simple and set up the usual 0.3 XT Gimp with a 0.12 hooklength and a 18 hook. As the wind was promised to get up, I also set up the Power Finesse that Nick Gilbert had sent for me to try, this was to fish soft pellet or maggot out towards the aerator, in about 41/2' of water. Another new float to try was a NG Springer Sampson, this for maggot, caster, corn or pellet across to the spit or down the edge.
At the start I cupped in some softened micros at 13m, loose fed caster at 6m off to the left and short straight in front. The catapult was used to put a few maggots across to the spit. Starting over the micros at 13m, with a 4mm soft pellet, I landed a small crucian, then a F1, quickly followed by a skimmer. A switch to double maggot resulted in a positive bite and after a tussle, a 9lb carp graced the net. A couple more F1's, another skimmer and two more carp, along with 3 lost carp, followed and all seemed to be going Ok. Resting the 13m line saw another small F1 come from the spit, a skimmer, a perch and a 6oz roach from the short caster line.
Then the mini storm hit, torrential rain and gale force winds, it only lasted 5 minutes or so, but then the wind turned through nearly 180 degrees and increased. This was less than halfway into the match. No matter what I did, the wind wrecked any sort of pole presentation in my fed swims, so I had no option but to come short and to fish the RH margin - I may have well as gone to the pub, I suffered wind induced tourettes and had a couple of small roach, before managing to present the power finesse at 13m, just long enough to add a last F1 to the net. Within 10 minutes of the all out, the lake was becalmed, the wind reduced to the gentlest of breezes and my frustration was complete.
I had managed 3 section seconds in the last three rounds and three section silvers wins, it looked like a decent section result was unlikely, but the silvers had fished hard. My 3 carp went 18.08 and the silvers 12.08 for a section silvers and lake win, with my 31.00 total coming third in section.
I now lead the silvers and await Ken Rayners blog to see how far I've fallen ( from 4th) in the overall.
On the day.
1) Dave Hodgson 119.15 peg 34 specimen lake
2) Mike Duckett 90.14 peg 68 lake 3
3) Mark Poppleton 62.14 peg 55 lake 3
4) Ken Rayner 62.02 peg 32 specimen lake
5) Steve Seager 57.14 peg 11 match lake
6) Bob Gullick 53.11 peg 62 lake 3
I ordered some more last week, in readiness for the Bait Tech festival and a conversation with Nick led to me order a few of his handmade Gimps, wire and glass stem to try, also a margin float pattern. Nick also kindly sent me three patterns to try out, one of which, the Power Finesse put most of the fish in my net today. I'll be ordering a few more of this these and can recommend Nicks service and quality.
On to the match and a convivial drive to the cafe with Tony Rixon passed the time, we went into the draw bucket close to each other but ended up on different lakes, Tony on match lake, peg 15, myself on peg 41 on lake 3. Frustratingly there were three no shows on this lake, reducing the section on my side by one and two the other side, this gives plenty of space to some lucky anglers, Mark Poppleton on 55 and Mike Duckett on 68, with 66 and 70 empty were the fortunate ones today.
My peg looked like it should hold a few fish with an end bank, the spit and some open water to go at. I intended to kep it simple and set up the usual 0.3 XT Gimp with a 0.12 hooklength and a 18 hook. As the wind was promised to get up, I also set up the Power Finesse that Nick Gilbert had sent for me to try, this was to fish soft pellet or maggot out towards the aerator, in about 41/2' of water. Another new float to try was a NG Springer Sampson, this for maggot, caster, corn or pellet across to the spit or down the edge.
At the start I cupped in some softened micros at 13m, loose fed caster at 6m off to the left and short straight in front. The catapult was used to put a few maggots across to the spit. Starting over the micros at 13m, with a 4mm soft pellet, I landed a small crucian, then a F1, quickly followed by a skimmer. A switch to double maggot resulted in a positive bite and after a tussle, a 9lb carp graced the net. A couple more F1's, another skimmer and two more carp, along with 3 lost carp, followed and all seemed to be going Ok. Resting the 13m line saw another small F1 come from the spit, a skimmer, a perch and a 6oz roach from the short caster line.
Then the mini storm hit, torrential rain and gale force winds, it only lasted 5 minutes or so, but then the wind turned through nearly 180 degrees and increased. This was less than halfway into the match. No matter what I did, the wind wrecked any sort of pole presentation in my fed swims, so I had no option but to come short and to fish the RH margin - I may have well as gone to the pub, I suffered wind induced tourettes and had a couple of small roach, before managing to present the power finesse at 13m, just long enough to add a last F1 to the net. Within 10 minutes of the all out, the lake was becalmed, the wind reduced to the gentlest of breezes and my frustration was complete.
I had managed 3 section seconds in the last three rounds and three section silvers wins, it looked like a decent section result was unlikely, but the silvers had fished hard. My 3 carp went 18.08 and the silvers 12.08 for a section silvers and lake win, with my 31.00 total coming third in section.
I now lead the silvers and await Ken Rayners blog to see how far I've fallen ( from 4th) in the overall.
On the day.
1) Dave Hodgson 119.15 peg 34 specimen lake
2) Mike Duckett 90.14 peg 68 lake 3
3) Mark Poppleton 62.14 peg 55 lake 3
4) Ken Rayner 62.02 peg 32 specimen lake
5) Steve Seager 57.14 peg 11 match lake
6) Bob Gullick 53.11 peg 62 lake 3
Saturday, 11 January 2014
Landsend Open, Saturday 11th January 2014
The usual decent breakfast at Shipham on the way to the match today, arriving at Landsend I found Somerset's Lady GaGa affcionado sorting out the attendees and pegging, it seemed so simple, 12 fishing, 24 pegs, just use every other peg. It then turns out Mike (West) had forgotten Rod Wotton, so 13 fishing and peg 22 added to the tub.
With the bright sun due to be gracing us with it's presence all day, the low numbers bank, especially peg1 would give some problem seeing the float, the compensation being a higher temperature to sit in. Into the tub and out comes peg 3, I can't say I was dancing a jig to it, I had Nick Merry on peg 1 for company and could see Lady GaGa on peg 24 and Alan Oram on 22. With Mike Duckett drawing 11, Rod 9 and Ken Rayner on 19, it was going to be a tough ask to beat them.
The lake is still quite clear, but as the temperature hasn't been too low yet this winter, I did think that there would be a few fish to be caught. A NG Gimp to fish full depth, a float whose name i habe no idea of, but similar to a MW slim, to fish at the bottom of the second shelf off the island and a rig with a small diamond float to fish the margins and down to the pallets of pegs 2 & 4 - this didn't produce a single bite, so no more typing wasted on it.
A similar plan to last Sunday, a line fed with micros, a line fed with caster, these at 10 & 2 o'clock, the shelf off the island fed with caster, via the catapult and caster for the margins. Starting over the micros, with double maggot I missed a bite and bumped a fish first two put ins, before catching a couple of small rudd - not a good sign. I always feed a short caster line on this lake, it nearly always produces a couple of decent fish, either big skimmers/bream or tench, a quick look on this line was biteless. The long line over to the island produced a couple of 4oz perch, then a 4oz rudd and a couple of tiny roach.
A swap back to the micros line with a 4mm expander on the hook, saw a little dink of the float and a carp was hooked, I saw it several times, a big ghostie that wouldn't give up and eventually it got it's own way and shed the hook. Next drop in another carp on, this time a foul hooker that shed the hook as it ran off and that was the last sign of a carp in the peg. I could see that a few were stuggling and not too many silvers were coming out, so I stuck at it, eventually getting the roach in on the short line, but on maggot, not caster, which again proved very unproductive.
The expected bonus fish did not show up, either across or short, this saw me end the day with 3 species in the net, roach, rudd and perch, no sign of a skimmer or an F1. Towards the end, Andy Hembrow on 21 started to catch a few decent skimmers, undoubtedly beating my motley collection of small silvers, of which the biggest fish were 4oz specimens of all 3.
With the carp nets redundant, my silvers were weighed quickly in one weigh, going 6.13, as it turned out, enough to pick up second in silvers money, beating lake owner Mike Duckett by 1oz. Ken Rayner made the most of a few fish being on peg 19, to win by a comfortable margin, the weights left everyone scratching their heads a bit, as we all thought it would fish better, just goes to show how little we know about fish and the affect of the enviroment on their feeding habits.
1) Ken Rayner 47.01 peg 19
2) Steve Martin 32.11 peg 17
3) Rod Wotton 29.07 peg 9
4) Mike Duckett 26.12 peg 11
5) Andy Hembrow 22.04 peg 21
6) Jim Jenner 17.12 peg 13
Silvers
1) Andy Hembrow 11.09 peg 21
2) Chris Fox 6.13 peg 3
Sunday, 5 January 2014
Landsend Winter League, Sunday 5th January 2014
My turn to be on Match lake for this round, 7, 11 and 13 were all being talked up at the draw, Trigger drew peg 11 just before I got to the draw bucket, I picked up two stuck together, so rather than seperate and pick one, I dropped them back in and took another, peg 24. It hasn't been the best area lately, but one consolation, it wasn't fished in yesterdays match.
I set up a NG gimp to fish at 14m into the open water, another NG gimp with a banded hook on, just in case....... As there was plenty of time I set up a rig to fish up on the shelf of the RH end bank and a pencil float with No11's spread out, as there were odd fish moving whilst we were tackling up.
I fed the 14m line with caster, the RH end bank with caster and a line at 7m off to the left with micros and 4's. First put in on the 14m line saw the float dink and a 5lb carp was safely netted, next drop in and another tiny dink on the float saw another fish in the net, this time an unseasonal tench. The float had to be dotted right down as the bites were the merest little dips.
It was still flat calm and no sign of the promised rain, topping up the 14m line brought another carp and then two more tench, one of which was a lovely golden colour, it all seemed to be going well and then the rain started, quickly followed by the wind, this killed off the 14m line. I managed a crucian and a carp on maggot from the 7m line, a couple of small roach from the RH bank, before a carp took the double caster, this proved to be the only one from the shallower water.
I had to take a shot off the rig to see the float on the 14m line, which did produce one more carp and a decent perch, but the bites had slowed right up compared with the first hour. The scales saw my silvers first and they went 10.10, for a silvers section win and silvers money by default, the carp went 33.15 for a total of 44.09 and second in section. This now puts me on 3 silvers firsts and 3 section seconds for the series, next match is back to a free draw, so any of the 3 lakes.
As expected, Trigger made the most of peg 11 and won comfortably.
1) Craig Edmunds 143.01 peg 11
2) Tom Thick 95.00 peg 33
3) Ken Rayner 75.02 peg 31
4) Mark Poppleton 60.07 peg 20
5) Adrian Jefferies 54.07 peg 58
6) Gary O'Shea 45.00 peg 5
7) Chris Fox 44.09 peg 24
Silvers
1) Gary O'Shea 14.04 peg 5
2) Ken Rayner 11.02 peg 31
3) Chris Fox 10.10 peg 24
I set up a NG gimp to fish at 14m into the open water, another NG gimp with a banded hook on, just in case....... As there was plenty of time I set up a rig to fish up on the shelf of the RH end bank and a pencil float with No11's spread out, as there were odd fish moving whilst we were tackling up.
I fed the 14m line with caster, the RH end bank with caster and a line at 7m off to the left with micros and 4's. First put in on the 14m line saw the float dink and a 5lb carp was safely netted, next drop in and another tiny dink on the float saw another fish in the net, this time an unseasonal tench. The float had to be dotted right down as the bites were the merest little dips.
It was still flat calm and no sign of the promised rain, topping up the 14m line brought another carp and then two more tench, one of which was a lovely golden colour, it all seemed to be going well and then the rain started, quickly followed by the wind, this killed off the 14m line. I managed a crucian and a carp on maggot from the 7m line, a couple of small roach from the RH bank, before a carp took the double caster, this proved to be the only one from the shallower water.
I had to take a shot off the rig to see the float on the 14m line, which did produce one more carp and a decent perch, but the bites had slowed right up compared with the first hour. The scales saw my silvers first and they went 10.10, for a silvers section win and silvers money by default, the carp went 33.15 for a total of 44.09 and second in section. This now puts me on 3 silvers firsts and 3 section seconds for the series, next match is back to a free draw, so any of the 3 lakes.
As expected, Trigger made the most of peg 11 and won comfortably.
1) Craig Edmunds 143.01 peg 11
2) Tom Thick 95.00 peg 33
3) Ken Rayner 75.02 peg 31
4) Mark Poppleton 60.07 peg 20
5) Adrian Jefferies 54.07 peg 58
6) Gary O'Shea 45.00 peg 5
7) Chris Fox 44.09 peg 24
Silvers
1) Gary O'Shea 14.04 peg 5
2) Ken Rayner 11.02 peg 31
3) Chris Fox 10.10 peg 24
Sunday, 22 December 2013
Clevedon FWAC Xmas Match, Sunday 22nd December 2013
Back to part of my fishing roots today, Clevedon's Xmas match which was traditionally held on the River Kenn, now moved to Plantation Lakes, as it seems unlikely there would be much interest in getting covered in the Kenn's renowned grey mud, even though, by all accounts it's fishing well at the moment. My previous best in this match is a second place, so a good draw today would be needed to try and get the elusive win.
The draw was delayed, it seemed as if there was pegging by general consensus going on, finally the tickets went into the bucket and a ungentlemanly rabble wrestled for the chance to draw one of the coveted flyers. No need for me to get excited, the bay, peg 33 found it's way into my hand, I can't recall it ever winning a match and it used to be a good silvers peg, but even they don't seem to live there in the same numbers now.
The bread I bought on the way down to the match, along with the lead rod was unlikely to get used, although I did set it up, just to try out a rod I bought yesterday, a 10/11' Tournament. Three rigs would suffice, two NG gimps a 0.3g to fish the open water at 11m and a 0.25g pencil for the short line, which used to be very productive on this peg. Lastly, as the wind was forecast to be strong and gusty, I set up a 0.4g MW cane diamond.
I fed two pole lines with a cup, one at 11m of to my right, using Paul Faiers on 38 as my line up marker and one at 11m straight in front, the line in front fed with micro's, the RH line fed with maggot. Caster into the short line and close margins, then a couple of chucks with the lead, not so much as a liner on there, so up the bank with it. It took half an hour or so to get my first bite, a perch about 8oz, this on maggot over the micros. A switch to the RH line and a decent skimmer graced the net, before that went dead. Straight back in front and a small carp gave me the run round as it was hooked just outside of the mouth. That was it, no more bites from either of those lines, I didn't manage a bit from either of the short margins or short line and it was tough going. Kev Perry came round for a walk from Horseshoe lake where he was blanking and he wasn't alone, he must have brought some luck, as I'd got off my box and made up a rig to fish 16m round the margin, just past peg 34, this brought another small carp.
Dobbing 3 white maggots saw me foul another, but it came off straight away, a try with bread was a total waste of time and switching back to maggot brought one more carp. That was to be my last bite, as we then had a wind and hailstorm, tricky to hold the 16m whilst it was going on, a look round the other lines was biteless and the last 20 minutes when it calmed down again, was also devoid of any action.
I guessed that Paul Faiers had just beaten me, as he had 4 carp and two tiny roach, watching him play and land a tail hooked carp on 0.10 and six elastic was the highlight of the day, even though he just edged past me with it.
My perch and skimmer went 2.08 and the 3 carp 13.02, so 15.10 in total, for 6th in the match and on the lake. Gawd knows what prize I'll get as Faierzy and Glenn were propping up the bar as I left, with them getting a a lift home, they'll no doubt have a pint or two........so perhaps asking them to get my prize was a mistake!!! I had to go as the new puppy had been at home a few hours by herself.
Run away winner was John Wolvenscroft from peg 8 with 14 carp on bread/liccy in the feeder. A special mention for Lance Tucker who blanked on the sought after peg 7 - although he was far from alone, I think there were 7 blanks from the 31 fishing and some pretty low weights. There were 20 pegs on the Main lake and 11 on Horseshoe, top six all from main lake, best weight from Horseshoe was Rich Lovering, 15.05.
1. John Wolvenscroft 64.10 peg 8
2. Don Sutherland 25.08 peg 31
3. Paul Nicholls 19.12 peg 1
4. John Page 19.04 peg 18
5. Paul Faiers 16.09 peg 38
6. Chris Fox 15.10 peg 33
Silvers
1. Mike Owens 6.14 peg 12
2. Brian Slipper 5.03 peg 23
The draw was delayed, it seemed as if there was pegging by general consensus going on, finally the tickets went into the bucket and a ungentlemanly rabble wrestled for the chance to draw one of the coveted flyers. No need for me to get excited, the bay, peg 33 found it's way into my hand, I can't recall it ever winning a match and it used to be a good silvers peg, but even they don't seem to live there in the same numbers now.
The bread I bought on the way down to the match, along with the lead rod was unlikely to get used, although I did set it up, just to try out a rod I bought yesterday, a 10/11' Tournament. Three rigs would suffice, two NG gimps a 0.3g to fish the open water at 11m and a 0.25g pencil for the short line, which used to be very productive on this peg. Lastly, as the wind was forecast to be strong and gusty, I set up a 0.4g MW cane diamond.
I fed two pole lines with a cup, one at 11m of to my right, using Paul Faiers on 38 as my line up marker and one at 11m straight in front, the line in front fed with micro's, the RH line fed with maggot. Caster into the short line and close margins, then a couple of chucks with the lead, not so much as a liner on there, so up the bank with it. It took half an hour or so to get my first bite, a perch about 8oz, this on maggot over the micros. A switch to the RH line and a decent skimmer graced the net, before that went dead. Straight back in front and a small carp gave me the run round as it was hooked just outside of the mouth. That was it, no more bites from either of those lines, I didn't manage a bit from either of the short margins or short line and it was tough going. Kev Perry came round for a walk from Horseshoe lake where he was blanking and he wasn't alone, he must have brought some luck, as I'd got off my box and made up a rig to fish 16m round the margin, just past peg 34, this brought another small carp.
Dobbing 3 white maggots saw me foul another, but it came off straight away, a try with bread was a total waste of time and switching back to maggot brought one more carp. That was to be my last bite, as we then had a wind and hailstorm, tricky to hold the 16m whilst it was going on, a look round the other lines was biteless and the last 20 minutes when it calmed down again, was also devoid of any action.
I guessed that Paul Faiers had just beaten me, as he had 4 carp and two tiny roach, watching him play and land a tail hooked carp on 0.10 and six elastic was the highlight of the day, even though he just edged past me with it.
My perch and skimmer went 2.08 and the 3 carp 13.02, so 15.10 in total, for 6th in the match and on the lake. Gawd knows what prize I'll get as Faierzy and Glenn were propping up the bar as I left, with them getting a a lift home, they'll no doubt have a pint or two........so perhaps asking them to get my prize was a mistake!!! I had to go as the new puppy had been at home a few hours by herself.
Run away winner was John Wolvenscroft from peg 8 with 14 carp on bread/liccy in the feeder. A special mention for Lance Tucker who blanked on the sought after peg 7 - although he was far from alone, I think there were 7 blanks from the 31 fishing and some pretty low weights. There were 20 pegs on the Main lake and 11 on Horseshoe, top six all from main lake, best weight from Horseshoe was Rich Lovering, 15.05.
1. John Wolvenscroft 64.10 peg 8
2. Don Sutherland 25.08 peg 31
3. Paul Nicholls 19.12 peg 1
4. John Page 19.04 peg 18
5. Paul Faiers 16.09 peg 38
6. Chris Fox 15.10 peg 33
Silvers
1. Mike Owens 6.14 peg 12
2. Brian Slipper 5.03 peg 23
Thursday, 19 December 2013
Avon Angling Open, Landsend, Wednesday 18th December 2013
The weather forecast was pretty bad for today, but as I have somehow managed a couple of decent section and silvers results in the first two rounds of the Landsend league, I need the practice, today's match was on Match Lake and that's where I am for the next round.
It seems that the pegs in the teens (including eleventeen) have been the place to draw lately, I managed to avoid that area and drew 21. Plenty of room as there were only 9 hardy souls braving the inclement weather, with Martin Lengahan on peg 18 and John 'Turkey' Thompson on peg 24. I set up 3 rigs, one to fish the edges down to the pallets of 20 and 22, neither side produced a bite, so no more elaboration on that. A MW slim on 0.16 to a banded hooklength on 0.14 for the second shelf right across (that was about 2'6" deep), it was pretty mild, about 10-12°C, so why wouldn't the carp fancy a 6mm pellet. A pencil float on 0.14 with a 0.12 hooklength completed the set up, this would do to fish caster, maggot or devil spawn, close in and down the track.
I fed the far shelf with half a dozen 4mm pellets, before cupping in a few casters and 4 maggots in at 8m, the deepest part of the peg, immediately the float buried and I was connected to a carp, I think it was fouled, but I wasn't to find out, as I manged to get the pole back and break down to the top kit, before the fish took off again and snapped the hooklength. Lesson learned, I think the hooklength was 0.10, I had changed it at Viaduct and not remarked the winder. On with a 0.12 hooklength and that lasted the rest of the match.
I was also feeding a few casters just over my nets, as the water had some colour in it, with a reasonable depth. The 8m line proved to be pretty non productive after the initial lost fish, so after ¾ of an hour, I did have a look over the far shelf with a 6mm pellet, not so much as a liner was forthcoming. Dropping in on the short line saw the float bury after less than 1 minute, double maggot accounting for a carp which was at least 9lb. A couple of micro perch followed, the a solid feel to the next strike and a bream of 3lb or so was netted.
To rest this line I retried the 8m line and swapped the banded hook for a plain spade end on the far shelf rig, the far shelf then produced a couple of decent perch and carp to maggot, before that too went quiet. Back in close and another big skimmer, a couple of roach and then a perch, before it died off again.
The 8m line produced a carp and a small f1, but it was a long wait for bites, the far shelf had responded to loose fed maggot, but in the shape of small roach and rudd, not much point catching them,especially at 16m. One more carp from the close line and I thought I had 27lb of carp and 8 or 9lb of silvers, the 4 carp went 30lb exactly and the silvers 11.06 for what is now becoming a habit, one out of the money!!
1. Tony Rixon 95.10 Peg 16
2. Aaron Britnell 68.06 Peg 11
3. Chris Fox 41.06 Peg 21
4. Alan Oram 36.08 Peg 7
5. John Thompson 31.00 Peg 24
6. John Bradford 25.08 Peg 3
Silvers
Tony Rixon 19.06
It seems that the pegs in the teens (including eleventeen) have been the place to draw lately, I managed to avoid that area and drew 21. Plenty of room as there were only 9 hardy souls braving the inclement weather, with Martin Lengahan on peg 18 and John 'Turkey' Thompson on peg 24. I set up 3 rigs, one to fish the edges down to the pallets of 20 and 22, neither side produced a bite, so no more elaboration on that. A MW slim on 0.16 to a banded hooklength on 0.14 for the second shelf right across (that was about 2'6" deep), it was pretty mild, about 10-12°C, so why wouldn't the carp fancy a 6mm pellet. A pencil float on 0.14 with a 0.12 hooklength completed the set up, this would do to fish caster, maggot or devil spawn, close in and down the track.
I fed the far shelf with half a dozen 4mm pellets, before cupping in a few casters and 4 maggots in at 8m, the deepest part of the peg, immediately the float buried and I was connected to a carp, I think it was fouled, but I wasn't to find out, as I manged to get the pole back and break down to the top kit, before the fish took off again and snapped the hooklength. Lesson learned, I think the hooklength was 0.10, I had changed it at Viaduct and not remarked the winder. On with a 0.12 hooklength and that lasted the rest of the match.
I was also feeding a few casters just over my nets, as the water had some colour in it, with a reasonable depth. The 8m line proved to be pretty non productive after the initial lost fish, so after ¾ of an hour, I did have a look over the far shelf with a 6mm pellet, not so much as a liner was forthcoming. Dropping in on the short line saw the float bury after less than 1 minute, double maggot accounting for a carp which was at least 9lb. A couple of micro perch followed, the a solid feel to the next strike and a bream of 3lb or so was netted.
To rest this line I retried the 8m line and swapped the banded hook for a plain spade end on the far shelf rig, the far shelf then produced a couple of decent perch and carp to maggot, before that too went quiet. Back in close and another big skimmer, a couple of roach and then a perch, before it died off again.
The 8m line produced a carp and a small f1, but it was a long wait for bites, the far shelf had responded to loose fed maggot, but in the shape of small roach and rudd, not much point catching them,especially at 16m. One more carp from the close line and I thought I had 27lb of carp and 8 or 9lb of silvers, the 4 carp went 30lb exactly and the silvers 11.06 for what is now becoming a habit, one out of the money!!
1. Tony Rixon 95.10 Peg 16
2. Aaron Britnell 68.06 Peg 11
3. Chris Fox 41.06 Peg 21
4. Alan Oram 36.08 Peg 7
5. John Thompson 31.00 Peg 24
6. John Bradford 25.08 Peg 3
Silvers
Tony Rixon 19.06
Monday, 16 December 2013
Viaduct Silvers League R6. Sunday 15th December 2013
Last match in the league today, it's been a well run league, albeit one that won't linger too long in the memory for me. League winner Tony Rixon picked me up, nice for him to have it in the bag with one match still to go, proof that a simple approach and confidence in it pays off.
The draw tin wasn't too kind to me, off to peg 81 on Cary, which is usually a bit of a feast or famine peg where silvers are concerned and it's mostly been famine this series looking at the previous weights/points from it.
With the wind blowing into my face and rain forecast to fall all day, the first thing I set up was a small groundbait feeder, to fish out level with the end of the spit. Two pole rigs completed the tackle line up, a MW diamond to fish at 11m, for caster or maggot over groundbait and a rig to fish down to the monk, in the hope that some decent perch or tench were in residence and hungry.
Not much point in fishing negatively today, as a few small roach won't be enough for the section or frame and with Tony Rixon and Tim Pallant in the section on pegs 78 and 79 it would be tough to beat them. I cupped 5 balls of groundbait into the 11m line, some caster down to the monk and then started on the feeder. in 50 minutes I had one bite, which was a skimmer about 10oz. Even with a fluoro maggot on, the tip remained resolutely still, the rain was still holding off so time to switch to the 11m line. This produced a few bites, but instead of the intended skimmers, the pegs occupants seemed to consist of 1-2oz roach. As this was all I could catch, I set up the waggler rod that had lain ready made up in the rodbag, this was effective at catching the roach, but they weren't coming quickly enough to build a double figure weight.
The monk produced a couple of 4oz roach and two perch, one about 12oz, another 8oz, but bites were few and far between. A new line was started at 11m along the spit, this fed just with maggot, as caster had been totally non productive, just one ½oz roach to show for it, this line produced a few hybrids and roach, with the hybrids being of a better stamp than the roach, one of them going just over a lb.
To round off the series, I lost a fish that would have won me the section, a hybrid of at least 3lb, in fairness it was lassoed or fouled, I lifted the rig to lift and drop the bait and it was on, it came to the surface totally inanimately, with it's dorsal fin and a proportion of its back out of the water, one big kick of its tail and it was gone, along with a chance of any sort of redemption for the series.
By rotating the lines and keeping fish, even though small, coming, when they went on the scales the dial pulled round to 10.08, as expected not enough to beat Tony or Tim who both managed to find a couple of better skimmers as they took 1st and 2nd in the section with 12.07 and 12.02.
The trip home was not without event, a dark wet and miserable night and as we pulled away from the traffic lights in Shepton mallet and drove into the dip by the cider factory, a car pulled out of town lane totally oblivious to our presence, Tony nearly managed to stop, but the young lads Audi suffered a crumpled wing as we unavoidably hit him, thankfully at low speed. Then coming out of Clutton and rounding the corner towards Chelwood we came to a halt in a line of stationary traffic with a sight of half a dozen or so blue lights at the top of the hill. Thinking it would be a good idea to turn round and cut through Clutton village and round by the Hunters Rest, we did so, forgetting now that nearly everyone has a sat nav, so many others had the same idea, even if they didn't have that bit of local knowledge. The van got stuck in a soft verge, causing a bit of a jam in the narrow lanes, but with a push from some helping hands we got on our way and at least got home safely.
1. Steve Tucker 21.10 peg 110
2. Bob Gullick 20.13 peg 98
3. Paul Greenwood 17.04 peg 131
4. Keith Mashedar 17.00 peg 119
5. Andy Power 16.12 peg 56
6. Ian Didcote 16.10 peg 98
Overall.
1. Tony Rixon
2. Bob Gullick
The draw tin wasn't too kind to me, off to peg 81 on Cary, which is usually a bit of a feast or famine peg where silvers are concerned and it's mostly been famine this series looking at the previous weights/points from it.
With the wind blowing into my face and rain forecast to fall all day, the first thing I set up was a small groundbait feeder, to fish out level with the end of the spit. Two pole rigs completed the tackle line up, a MW diamond to fish at 11m, for caster or maggot over groundbait and a rig to fish down to the monk, in the hope that some decent perch or tench were in residence and hungry.
Not much point in fishing negatively today, as a few small roach won't be enough for the section or frame and with Tony Rixon and Tim Pallant in the section on pegs 78 and 79 it would be tough to beat them. I cupped 5 balls of groundbait into the 11m line, some caster down to the monk and then started on the feeder. in 50 minutes I had one bite, which was a skimmer about 10oz. Even with a fluoro maggot on, the tip remained resolutely still, the rain was still holding off so time to switch to the 11m line. This produced a few bites, but instead of the intended skimmers, the pegs occupants seemed to consist of 1-2oz roach. As this was all I could catch, I set up the waggler rod that had lain ready made up in the rodbag, this was effective at catching the roach, but they weren't coming quickly enough to build a double figure weight.
The monk produced a couple of 4oz roach and two perch, one about 12oz, another 8oz, but bites were few and far between. A new line was started at 11m along the spit, this fed just with maggot, as caster had been totally non productive, just one ½oz roach to show for it, this line produced a few hybrids and roach, with the hybrids being of a better stamp than the roach, one of them going just over a lb.
To round off the series, I lost a fish that would have won me the section, a hybrid of at least 3lb, in fairness it was lassoed or fouled, I lifted the rig to lift and drop the bait and it was on, it came to the surface totally inanimately, with it's dorsal fin and a proportion of its back out of the water, one big kick of its tail and it was gone, along with a chance of any sort of redemption for the series.
By rotating the lines and keeping fish, even though small, coming, when they went on the scales the dial pulled round to 10.08, as expected not enough to beat Tony or Tim who both managed to find a couple of better skimmers as they took 1st and 2nd in the section with 12.07 and 12.02.
The trip home was not without event, a dark wet and miserable night and as we pulled away from the traffic lights in Shepton mallet and drove into the dip by the cider factory, a car pulled out of town lane totally oblivious to our presence, Tony nearly managed to stop, but the young lads Audi suffered a crumpled wing as we unavoidably hit him, thankfully at low speed. Then coming out of Clutton and rounding the corner towards Chelwood we came to a halt in a line of stationary traffic with a sight of half a dozen or so blue lights at the top of the hill. Thinking it would be a good idea to turn round and cut through Clutton village and round by the Hunters Rest, we did so, forgetting now that nearly everyone has a sat nav, so many others had the same idea, even if they didn't have that bit of local knowledge. The van got stuck in a soft verge, causing a bit of a jam in the narrow lanes, but with a push from some helping hands we got on our way and at least got home safely.
1. Steve Tucker 21.10 peg 110
2. Bob Gullick 20.13 peg 98
3. Paul Greenwood 17.04 peg 131
4. Keith Mashedar 17.00 peg 119
5. Andy Power 16.12 peg 56
6. Ian Didcote 16.10 peg 98
Overall.
1. Tony Rixon
2. Bob Gullick
Thursday, 12 December 2013
Avon Angling Open, Trinity Waters, Wednesday 11th December 2013
A significant date for this match, 11-12-13, that's the last number sequencing any of us will see, as it won't happen again until 2103.
14 on the lake today, so a good spread of pegs, I was hoping to avoid the top bank, as it has been unkind to me, but the cold wind blowing down the lake did suggest that the top end of the lake might be the place to draw. Into the hat, after friendly greeting from Misha, out comes peg 8, 7 and 8 used to be flyers when the tree was in the water, but they have become more on par with the rest of the pegs as the tree has been gone a while now.
Two rigs would suffice today, a 0.6g NG Gimp to fish various baits in the open water and a MW slim to target the margins, particularly under the pallets either side. the water was pretty coloured so no need to fish too light, 0.16 on the margin rig and start on 0.14 on the open water rig. Given the depth of this lake the fish often sit off bottom, so I did have a lead rod with a 2' hooklength, set up to fish popped up bread.
Some micros and a couple of grains of corn went in at 13m, no need to go longer and the wind would have made it too much like hard work to do so. Leaving it to rest I did have a dob under both pallets with bread, but not so much as a tremor on the float. A look over the fed area brought micro roach to maggot, and even dead maggot wouldn't put them off and leave the bait for a decent fish to pick up. A switch to corn brought a skimmer, but that was to be my only bite on corn in the open water, Devils Spawn was completely non productive, so back to maggot and a few small skimmers fell to that, but it was slow and the fish were too small to make it worth while.
At 1pm I went down under the pallet of peg 7, having fed a few grains of corn, this produced 4 fish in a 20 minute period, then it went quiet, so I guess I had taken the resident fish, I refed and tried the pallet of peg 9, but the wind was making it too tricky to get the presentation correct and in the right place.
I decided to make a proper bread dobbing rig for under the pallets, even though the water was probably a bit too coloured for it to work, I chucked the lead whilst I was doing it and before I could pick up the line to start making the rig, the tip was nodding and a carp had taken the bread, a false dawn, as I didn't have another bite on it, nor the dobbing rig.
The open water swim was totally non productive, so I finished the match by taking a couple more fish from the margins and with hindsight, should have concentrated on that, as it was the only area of the peg producing carp. My fish went 33.08, frustratingly one out of the money, by 10oz. As I thought the fish came from the top end of the lake, but that will change, as at the moment different pegs/areas seem to be winning every week.
1. Kev Molten 71.07 peg 15
2. Tony Rixon 62.10 peg 23
3. Martin Lengahan 34.01 peg 31
4. Chris Fox 33.08 peg 8
5. Matt Tomes 28.03 peg 19
6. Tim Pallant 22.07 peg 12 (All silvers, top silvers weight as well).
14 on the lake today, so a good spread of pegs, I was hoping to avoid the top bank, as it has been unkind to me, but the cold wind blowing down the lake did suggest that the top end of the lake might be the place to draw. Into the hat, after friendly greeting from Misha, out comes peg 8, 7 and 8 used to be flyers when the tree was in the water, but they have become more on par with the rest of the pegs as the tree has been gone a while now.
Two rigs would suffice today, a 0.6g NG Gimp to fish various baits in the open water and a MW slim to target the margins, particularly under the pallets either side. the water was pretty coloured so no need to fish too light, 0.16 on the margin rig and start on 0.14 on the open water rig. Given the depth of this lake the fish often sit off bottom, so I did have a lead rod with a 2' hooklength, set up to fish popped up bread.
Some micros and a couple of grains of corn went in at 13m, no need to go longer and the wind would have made it too much like hard work to do so. Leaving it to rest I did have a dob under both pallets with bread, but not so much as a tremor on the float. A look over the fed area brought micro roach to maggot, and even dead maggot wouldn't put them off and leave the bait for a decent fish to pick up. A switch to corn brought a skimmer, but that was to be my only bite on corn in the open water, Devils Spawn was completely non productive, so back to maggot and a few small skimmers fell to that, but it was slow and the fish were too small to make it worth while.
At 1pm I went down under the pallet of peg 7, having fed a few grains of corn, this produced 4 fish in a 20 minute period, then it went quiet, so I guess I had taken the resident fish, I refed and tried the pallet of peg 9, but the wind was making it too tricky to get the presentation correct and in the right place.
I decided to make a proper bread dobbing rig for under the pallets, even though the water was probably a bit too coloured for it to work, I chucked the lead whilst I was doing it and before I could pick up the line to start making the rig, the tip was nodding and a carp had taken the bread, a false dawn, as I didn't have another bite on it, nor the dobbing rig.
The open water swim was totally non productive, so I finished the match by taking a couple more fish from the margins and with hindsight, should have concentrated on that, as it was the only area of the peg producing carp. My fish went 33.08, frustratingly one out of the money, by 10oz. As I thought the fish came from the top end of the lake, but that will change, as at the moment different pegs/areas seem to be winning every week.
1. Kev Molten 71.07 peg 15
2. Tony Rixon 62.10 peg 23
3. Martin Lengahan 34.01 peg 31
4. Chris Fox 33.08 peg 8
5. Matt Tomes 28.03 peg 19
6. Tim Pallant 22.07 peg 12 (All silvers, top silvers weight as well).
Sunday, 8 December 2013
Landsend League, Round Two. Sunday 8th December 2013
After I shocked myself (and a few others no doubt) with a section 2nd and a lake silvers win in the first round, I actually had something to build on in this round. My turn for the specimen lake today, I was a bit disappointed that anglers fishing the league had fished a match on it yesterday, just my personal opinion.
I was only a few back in the queue at the draw, but the favoured pegs 33 and 31 were already gone to a contented looking Mark Poppleton and Trigger (Craig Edmunds). I managed to pick peg 32 the end peg on the far bank, opposite Mark Poppleton, whose peg had won the Saturdays match. Some helpful advice from Ken Rayner, Tony Rixon and Mike Duckett was noted. I was surprised to see just how clear the water is at the moment, so the rigs were all on 0.14 with either 0.12 or 0.10 hooklengths. I set up two rigs, one for the open water that would suffice for Devils Spawn, caster or maggot and one for down the edge to the tree at 16m. The shelf by the tree is only about 6" shallower than the open water, so deep enough to hold fish even in the gin clear conditions.
Plenty of time, so in anticipation of a few carp showing later in the match, I set up another rig with a bait band, to fish 6mm pellet or pull the band into a piece of corn. This was a remarkable piece of optimism, which wasn't rewarded, so little to say about that rig.
On the all in, I fed some softened micros and a couple of maggots via a tosspot at 13.5m, lined up with the bin in John Bradfords peg (34). Starting on the Devils Spawn saw the float remain steady and visible, no indication of life beneath the surface. After 15 minutes, a swap to maggot brought an immediate response and a small F1 graced the net. Trigger on 31 had snared a carp and Mark P on 33 was already showing the rest of the lake how to do it.
That was it for that line, no more bites, no indication of any fish anywhere near it. So an early look down the edge saw me miss a bite, land a perch, bump one and land another, decent perch worth catching, over the lb mark. That too proved to be a false dawn and the line was for all intents and purposes, devoid of fish.
By now, it was becoming frustrating, watching Mark P, bemoaning the sun and the fizzing in his peg, causing light refraction and poor float visibility, mine and Triggers sympathy was unforthcoming, as even with this most terrible of conditions, Mark was still regularly netting, F1's, Skimmers and carp, in short, absolutely pissing the lake.
A rummage in my holdall produced an extension for my pole, so a new line started at 17.5m towards the aerator, this was bloody hardwork, but did result in 3 decent skimmers (one was really a bream) a couple of roach, some missed bites and two lost carp,one of which was definitely fouled, as a huge scale came back when it took umbrage at being hooked. The other carp snapped the 0.12 and the resultant recoil of the elastic broke the float and snapped or cut one strand of the double 5 elastic, summing up a hard day.
I did manage a couple more decent perch from the edge, but by now, was thoroughly pissed off at watching Mark P's elastic flowing from the end of his pole with almost clockwork regularity. Trigger managed a couple of carp towards the end, fishing 17.5m to the end of the island, the rest of our section, was really struggling, when anglers like Alan Oram manage two bites and one carp in 51/2 hours of fishing, you know its tough.
My motley collection of silvers went 12.12, for second in section, behind Triggers 28lb odd, the section had a DNW and a couple of 4lb weights, so pretty poor. As expected Mark Poppletons net won the match, 72lb odd, including nearly 23lb of silvers.
So I keep just about in touch in the league with two section seconds and two section silvers wins, surprising really, as Landsend usually sends me home with my tail between my legs, even though it was pretty humiliating to be so soundly beaten by the peg opposite, I just could not get the fish to move that 4 or 5 metres. With hindsight, maybe a lead rod or waggler would have been worth taking, just to be able to fish to the limits of my peg, as even with the other pole extension (which was home in the garage) 19m wouldn't have been enough and I'm now aching and knackered after fishing 17.5m for so long.
See Ken's blog http://kenrayner-fishing.blogspot.co.uk/ for the results, as I had to dash home for 'puppy duty'.
See previous post for details of Acorn pole only series, 2014.
I was only a few back in the queue at the draw, but the favoured pegs 33 and 31 were already gone to a contented looking Mark Poppleton and Trigger (Craig Edmunds). I managed to pick peg 32 the end peg on the far bank, opposite Mark Poppleton, whose peg had won the Saturdays match. Some helpful advice from Ken Rayner, Tony Rixon and Mike Duckett was noted. I was surprised to see just how clear the water is at the moment, so the rigs were all on 0.14 with either 0.12 or 0.10 hooklengths. I set up two rigs, one for the open water that would suffice for Devils Spawn, caster or maggot and one for down the edge to the tree at 16m. The shelf by the tree is only about 6" shallower than the open water, so deep enough to hold fish even in the gin clear conditions.
Plenty of time, so in anticipation of a few carp showing later in the match, I set up another rig with a bait band, to fish 6mm pellet or pull the band into a piece of corn. This was a remarkable piece of optimism, which wasn't rewarded, so little to say about that rig.
On the all in, I fed some softened micros and a couple of maggots via a tosspot at 13.5m, lined up with the bin in John Bradfords peg (34). Starting on the Devils Spawn saw the float remain steady and visible, no indication of life beneath the surface. After 15 minutes, a swap to maggot brought an immediate response and a small F1 graced the net. Trigger on 31 had snared a carp and Mark P on 33 was already showing the rest of the lake how to do it.
That was it for that line, no more bites, no indication of any fish anywhere near it. So an early look down the edge saw me miss a bite, land a perch, bump one and land another, decent perch worth catching, over the lb mark. That too proved to be a false dawn and the line was for all intents and purposes, devoid of fish.
By now, it was becoming frustrating, watching Mark P, bemoaning the sun and the fizzing in his peg, causing light refraction and poor float visibility, mine and Triggers sympathy was unforthcoming, as even with this most terrible of conditions, Mark was still regularly netting, F1's, Skimmers and carp, in short, absolutely pissing the lake.
A rummage in my holdall produced an extension for my pole, so a new line started at 17.5m towards the aerator, this was bloody hardwork, but did result in 3 decent skimmers (one was really a bream) a couple of roach, some missed bites and two lost carp,one of which was definitely fouled, as a huge scale came back when it took umbrage at being hooked. The other carp snapped the 0.12 and the resultant recoil of the elastic broke the float and snapped or cut one strand of the double 5 elastic, summing up a hard day.
I did manage a couple more decent perch from the edge, but by now, was thoroughly pissed off at watching Mark P's elastic flowing from the end of his pole with almost clockwork regularity. Trigger managed a couple of carp towards the end, fishing 17.5m to the end of the island, the rest of our section, was really struggling, when anglers like Alan Oram manage two bites and one carp in 51/2 hours of fishing, you know its tough.
My motley collection of silvers went 12.12, for second in section, behind Triggers 28lb odd, the section had a DNW and a couple of 4lb weights, so pretty poor. As expected Mark Poppletons net won the match, 72lb odd, including nearly 23lb of silvers.
So I keep just about in touch in the league with two section seconds and two section silvers wins, surprising really, as Landsend usually sends me home with my tail between my legs, even though it was pretty humiliating to be so soundly beaten by the peg opposite, I just could not get the fish to move that 4 or 5 metres. With hindsight, maybe a lead rod or waggler would have been worth taking, just to be able to fish to the limits of my peg, as even with the other pole extension (which was home in the garage) 19m wouldn't have been enough and I'm now aching and knackered after fishing 17.5m for so long.
See Ken's blog http://kenrayner-fishing.blogspot.co.uk/ for the results, as I had to dash home for 'puppy duty'.
See previous post for details of Acorn pole only series, 2014.
Saturday, 7 December 2013
Pole Only Series, Acorn Fishery, 2014
Pole Only Series 2014
Acorn Fishery, Kingston
Seymour, Somerset
Dates:
Sunday 6th April
Sunday
13th April
Sunday
27th April
Sunday
4th May
Sunday
25th May
Sunday
1st June
Draw: 09.15, Fish 10.30 – 16.30
Proposed
Payouts, based on 32 fishing, four sections of eight.
On
the day: Section 1st £60, Section 2nd £50, Section Silvers £40 (by default)
Overall: 1st - £300. 2nd - £200. 3rd - £150. 4th - £100. 5th - £50
Silvers: 1st - £120. 2nd - £80
You
can win in both categories.
Knockout:
Winner £100
Heaviest
Weight of Series £50
Heaviest
Silvers Weight of Series £50
(Payouts
will vary if numbers fishing differ, all monies except peg fees paid out)
If
32 or less fish, all sections will be on Paddock Lake, if 36 – 40 fish, there
will be a section on the top lake. This is due to an increase in peg fees this
year.
£36
Entry fee payable in advance, pools will be £25 per match, with last match
pools being paid up front with entry fee. Please pay this by 1st
April 2014. There will be an optional
superpool on the last match.
To
book a place, please call Paul Faiers: 01275 858984
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