I'd booked into this match and last Thursday's last week, but had already cancelled last Thursday, as I've been laid up at home in agony, for a few days, the Dr's seem to think I may have a stomach ulcer - if so I didn't realise how painful it is. Its kept me awake for two nights, but I've got some pills and they seem to be working.
I woke up and felt a bit tender, but decided to go and get some fresh air and hopefully the fishing would take my mind off it and I could always come home if I felt bad.
Still thats enough of my meagre troubles, I'd like to send my best wishes to Tim Ford - nice to see you're in good spirits.
28 booked in, Cary and Lodge lakes being used, divided into three sections. Out of the draw tin came 87, I just can't get away from that area!! I wasn't convinced that it would produce enough to get me any coin, but after all the rain, I'm sure it wouldn't fish brilliantly, the water temp must have dropped, also it was a cold clear night overnight.
I got to my peg and was determined to keep things simple, so set up a straight lead, a peacock waggler to fish at depth, a paste rig, a rig to fish hard pellet and a rig to fish corn - I thought I'd try and catch a few skimmers, Charlie Barnes divulged some of his tactics to me last Sunday.
At the all in I cupped some groudbait and corn in at 10m, 45° to my left and catapulted some 8mm pellet about 30m straight in front. First put in I had two liners on the tip, then nothing for 20 minutes, Dave Roper on 86 had exactly the same, although he stuck it out on the tip whilst I swapped to the pole and the skimmer rig. This was a Maver float (model unknown) with a 14 808 to 0.13 hooklength, it took a while for the first bite, but an hour and 10 minutes in, I landed a flying skimmer which was near the 3lb mark.
A couple more skimmers on this line, but I bumped a couple and then they went quiet, I thought a carp or two may have moved in and dropped the paste rig in, to no avail, not a bite. The wind had got up by now, so back on the lead whilst I made up a new rig to fish the skimmer line, a MW diamond on 0.13, to a 0.11 hooklength and a size 20 B911, this on a topkit with double No6.
I could see Tom Magnol on 94 catching on the lead, I'd kept feeding the line and had another look in, still nothing, so back on the skimmers and a couple more in the net, although bites were hard to come by.
With a couple of hours to go the wind dropped slightly and I could see some blows over my lead line, so in with the lead and two fish in two chuck and some liners had me thinking they'd arrived and settled on the bait. Not to be it went quiet again, but there were signs of fish up in the water now and just before I picked up my waggler rod, Dave Roper had cast his out, he'd noticed the same and he had a fish on his second cast.
All I did on the waggler was foul hook and lose fish, so back to the skimmer line, one more skimmer and then the blows got bigger, it had to be carp, so back in with the paste and three fish in the last ¾ of an hour, just a shame they didn't show up earlier on that line.
I was convinced Dave Roper had me beaten, although I had decent sized fish, definitely peg 85 had us both well beaten. As the scales came round Roy (surname unknown) on 85 weighed 128.13 the next best weight in the section was 57.06, we guessed that Roy would frame, so it seemed that Dave would take the section, unless peg 90 had secretly amassed a bigger weight.
Dave weighed 64.08 of carp and 1 tench for 3.04, giving him, 67.12, my 6 carp went 58.07 and my skimmers went 10.03, my 68.10 taking the section by default, a nice, unexpected £50 pick up.
1) Ray Hayward 161.04 peg 70
2) Roy ??? 128.03 peg 85
3) Chris Davies 111.07 peg 101
4) Tom Magnol 86.02 peg 94
5) Stu Foale 81.00 peg 98
6) ???? 76.15 peg 100
7) Chris Fox 68.10 peg 87
Silvers
1) Marc ?? 43.02 peg 68
2) Paul Greenwood 21.09 peg 80
3) Lewis Greenwood 18.08 peg 78
Saturday, 28 August 2010
Sunday, 22 August 2010
Viaduct Open Sunday 22nd August 2010
After a nerve wracking 90 minutes at Ashton Gate Saturday and one (or two...) too many beers after, it was a groggy drive down to Viaduct for an 18 pegger on Cary. Third into the draw bag and I had two peg cards stuck together, I flicked one back and when I opened the one I'd kept, 85 was again staring back at me. Three times this summer I've drawn this peg, I can't ever recall drawing any peg three times in one season before.
I wasn't unhappy with the draw, as 81 was empty and I could see Charlie Barnes coming round, I was hoping for a silvers basher on 86, but it turned out to be Jacko (Steve Jackson), so no chance of having the carp to myself. Standing up on the bank, I realised that 86 was going to be tough to beat, there was an area approx 15yds x 10yds in front of Jacko at 30 or 40 metres, that was black with fish.
I set up an array of gear, not quite knowing what would work, a lead rod, two wagglers, one shallow, one at depth, and a paste rig (big H float on 0.19 and a 12 Mustad paste hook). I also set up pellet rigs for shallow and full depth, as well as two rigs for the margin, one was a blob on 0.19 for paste, another on 0.19 with a 14 B960 for pellet/meat.
I started on the full depth waggler and had 3 fish in the first 40 mins, Jacko was catching on the lead, I was only getting liners on the lead, I tried past the feed and short of it, to no avail, then I was bored of it. At around 2½ hours gone, Jacko had 9 fish to my 3, the pole line had just started to fizz, so I dropped in and had two carp quite quickly on paste, I then lost two, both mouth hooked, one right at the net, not sure why, I was using tried and tested hooks and elastic (Mustad paste and orange Bazookarp). This seemed to move the carp aff the paste line as I had a 1.11 skimmer and then it went quiet.
I'd fed pellet and meat at two points along the RH margin, I had two bites, one I'm certain was a skimmer nicking the meat off the hair, another was the first carp I've hooked in that margin, but I think it was a fouler as it charged off and came off.
Whilst all this was going on, Charlie Barnes was mimicing Jacko's oohs and ahhs as Jacko's back gave him gyp, although it sounded like Charlie had the centrefold of Silverfishers Monthly open in front of him and was knocking one out over a scantily clad skimmer.
With an hour and a half to go, Jacko was battering me and I could see Stu Foale catching well on 103, I got up to have a sneaky look at Jacko's lead rig, to see if it was significantly different to mine - it wasn't. I went back and picked up the lead rod agin, two in two chucks inspired me that here comes a grandstand finish, but no, that was it, the only two bites on the lead.
I had one on the full depth pellet rig at the end, landing it after the whistle, but I knew I was well beaten, by this time the black mass in front of Jacko was even darker, he certainly had plenty of fish in front of him. I really would struggle to chuck a lead for 6 hours..... although he did get 2 or 3 on the waggler towards the end.
I weighed in just in case I could sneak some county points and I think I may have just snuck in with 3 more.
1) M Fisher 173.10 Peg 80
2) Steve Jackson 173.02 peg 85
3) Stu Foale 141.03 peg 103
4) Ray Hayward 126.05 peg 74
5) Chris Davis 94.09 peg 90
6) Chris Fox 81.00 peg 85
Silvers
1) K Masheder 31.00 peg 78
2) Marc ? 30.14 peg 97
3) Chris Davis 6.03 peg 90
4) Ray Hayward 4.03 peg 74
Thatchers very own sex god, Tom Thick has actually sold his pole now, he was fishing a match on Campbell, not sure how he got on, but I reckon the local massage parlours have seen the proceeds, all seven or eight quid!!. His Dad was also fishing and Tom told him "you won't need a pole" - he then drew 115.....
I wasn't unhappy with the draw, as 81 was empty and I could see Charlie Barnes coming round, I was hoping for a silvers basher on 86, but it turned out to be Jacko (Steve Jackson), so no chance of having the carp to myself. Standing up on the bank, I realised that 86 was going to be tough to beat, there was an area approx 15yds x 10yds in front of Jacko at 30 or 40 metres, that was black with fish.
I set up an array of gear, not quite knowing what would work, a lead rod, two wagglers, one shallow, one at depth, and a paste rig (big H float on 0.19 and a 12 Mustad paste hook). I also set up pellet rigs for shallow and full depth, as well as two rigs for the margin, one was a blob on 0.19 for paste, another on 0.19 with a 14 B960 for pellet/meat.
I started on the full depth waggler and had 3 fish in the first 40 mins, Jacko was catching on the lead, I was only getting liners on the lead, I tried past the feed and short of it, to no avail, then I was bored of it. At around 2½ hours gone, Jacko had 9 fish to my 3, the pole line had just started to fizz, so I dropped in and had two carp quite quickly on paste, I then lost two, both mouth hooked, one right at the net, not sure why, I was using tried and tested hooks and elastic (Mustad paste and orange Bazookarp). This seemed to move the carp aff the paste line as I had a 1.11 skimmer and then it went quiet.
I'd fed pellet and meat at two points along the RH margin, I had two bites, one I'm certain was a skimmer nicking the meat off the hair, another was the first carp I've hooked in that margin, but I think it was a fouler as it charged off and came off.
Whilst all this was going on, Charlie Barnes was mimicing Jacko's oohs and ahhs as Jacko's back gave him gyp, although it sounded like Charlie had the centrefold of Silverfishers Monthly open in front of him and was knocking one out over a scantily clad skimmer.
With an hour and a half to go, Jacko was battering me and I could see Stu Foale catching well on 103, I got up to have a sneaky look at Jacko's lead rig, to see if it was significantly different to mine - it wasn't. I went back and picked up the lead rod agin, two in two chucks inspired me that here comes a grandstand finish, but no, that was it, the only two bites on the lead.
I had one on the full depth pellet rig at the end, landing it after the whistle, but I knew I was well beaten, by this time the black mass in front of Jacko was even darker, he certainly had plenty of fish in front of him. I really would struggle to chuck a lead for 6 hours..... although he did get 2 or 3 on the waggler towards the end.
I weighed in just in case I could sneak some county points and I think I may have just snuck in with 3 more.
1) M Fisher 173.10 Peg 80
2) Steve Jackson 173.02 peg 85
3) Stu Foale 141.03 peg 103
4) Ray Hayward 126.05 peg 74
5) Chris Davis 94.09 peg 90
6) Chris Fox 81.00 peg 85
Silvers
1) K Masheder 31.00 peg 78
2) Marc ? 30.14 peg 97
3) Chris Davis 6.03 peg 90
4) Ray Hayward 4.03 peg 74
Thatchers very own sex god, Tom Thick has actually sold his pole now, he was fishing a match on Campbell, not sure how he got on, but I reckon the local massage parlours have seen the proceeds, all seven or eight quid!!. His Dad was also fishing and Tom told him "you won't need a pole" - he then drew 115.....
Wednesday, 11 August 2010
Viaduct Open. Wednesday 11th August 2010
Viaduct was the venue of choice today, given my matches /money pick up ratio, it looks like I need to keep coming back. Today was a new challenge, Lodge lake, I've never fished it before, but it seems that its a smaller version of Cary, with some lumps in and plenty of skimmers. With the usual silvers specialists in attendance, I decided to target the carp regardless of where I drew and when peg 55 presented its self, I was informed that it wasn't a good silvers peg - so no concerns there.
A bit uncertain what to do for the best, so I set up a bomb rod, two wagglers, one shallow, one full depth and a range of topkits. A paste rig for the open water, a simple Big H float on 0.19 line to a mustad paste hook, no shot on the line. A blob on the same line and hook for paste in the margin. A MW slim power to fish pellet in open water and a Malman Thicko for pellet/meat in the margin. As there were so many fish cruising around before the start, I also set up a shallow rig in case I could mug one or two.
I started on the full depth waggler, without feeding initially, then only lightly, as all the cruising fish had gone from within pole reach by the all-in, it took half an hour or so before I had a carp 4 or 5lb. I had one other bite on the waggler, before giving up and dropping onto the pole line at 15m, that I'd fed with groundbait and 8mm pellets. This gave me a 6lb carp and a skimmer around the 2½lb mark, before going quiet. Jacko was on peg 69, he'd struggled to get out of his van, bad back plaguing him, he 'd had a couple of fish on the lead (as well as providing a diverse range of ow's and moans each time he had to net a fish - somewhat similar to Dean's adult education video, I assume - see Tony's blog).
So I tried the lead, I had a fish on it fairly quickly, but then nothing, so quickly got bored of it and chucked it up the bank, a quick look down the margin saw meat being stripped from the hook by tiny fish and likewise paste. Meat saw a similar fate on the long line, so tried banded pellet, nothing. It was now halfway through and I stretched my legs visiting the loo and the shop for a sausage roll (bad news being pegged that close to the shop when the fishing gets boring).
With two hours to go I had my one and only bite from the margin, within 30 seconds of dropping the paste in, the blob buried and another 6lb fish was in the net, nothing else from the margin, even though I tried it frequently until the end.
I managed a couple of double figure fish from the 15m line on paste in the penultimate hour and knew a good run could see me pick up money, as the lake was fishing hard, unfortunately, nothing would coax the carp to get their heads down. We'd had Charlie Barnes, the speaking clock, reporting regularly how long since his last bite, with Paul Greenwood knocking 5 minutes off each time (in between mocking Jacko, with echo's of Jacko's cries of pain).
I was hopeful of a section pick up, as peg 59 had been catching and was odds on to frame, my main rival was Lewis Greenwood, who had 5 fish to my 6, I'm a crap judge of fish size and thought I had 35-40lb, Lewis thought he might have had me, as his 5 were a decent size. As it turned out, my 6lb or 7lb fish were more like 12lb and I had a welcome pick up of section money by default, as the winner was peg 59, with 136-11. A few DNW's and the silver bashers were treated to a day remeniscent of a winter league. I blame Charlie Barnes, when ever he's at a match I fish, it seems to fish hard, I reckon he was at Avalon last Sunday in disguise.........
1) M Prenks (I reckon thats totally wrong, but I can't read his writing on the weigh sheet) 136-11 peg 59
2) M Levy 75.05 peg 64
3) S Jackson (lead chucker...) 67-14 peg 69 (section winner)
4) C Fox 50.01 peg 55 (section winner)
5) G Powell 39.12 peg 68
6) L Greenwood 37.04 peg 53 (beat his old man by 32.13......)
Silvers
1) C Barnes 9.09 peg 70
2) J Green 8.02 peg 60
3) G Powell 5.09 peg 68
4) P Greenwood 4.07 peg 71
5) C Fox 2.07 peg 55
Finally, the Thatchers rent boy has discovered girls and sex on a recent trip to Ibiza, his tackle is reputed to be up for sale as he now intends to spend his time wooing the young ladies of Shepton Mallet and surrounding area's, before seducing them. This was compounded by his DNW today, Jacko pleaded with him not to sell his tackle as a complete kit to someone....... as it would set them back 5 years.
Apparently he's going to spend the money he saves on match entries, on prostitutes..... I'm no expert but I guess they'd be ropey old hags for 25 quid!!
A bit uncertain what to do for the best, so I set up a bomb rod, two wagglers, one shallow, one full depth and a range of topkits. A paste rig for the open water, a simple Big H float on 0.19 line to a mustad paste hook, no shot on the line. A blob on the same line and hook for paste in the margin. A MW slim power to fish pellet in open water and a Malman Thicko for pellet/meat in the margin. As there were so many fish cruising around before the start, I also set up a shallow rig in case I could mug one or two.
I started on the full depth waggler, without feeding initially, then only lightly, as all the cruising fish had gone from within pole reach by the all-in, it took half an hour or so before I had a carp 4 or 5lb. I had one other bite on the waggler, before giving up and dropping onto the pole line at 15m, that I'd fed with groundbait and 8mm pellets. This gave me a 6lb carp and a skimmer around the 2½lb mark, before going quiet. Jacko was on peg 69, he'd struggled to get out of his van, bad back plaguing him, he 'd had a couple of fish on the lead (as well as providing a diverse range of ow's and moans each time he had to net a fish - somewhat similar to Dean's adult education video, I assume - see Tony's blog).
So I tried the lead, I had a fish on it fairly quickly, but then nothing, so quickly got bored of it and chucked it up the bank, a quick look down the margin saw meat being stripped from the hook by tiny fish and likewise paste. Meat saw a similar fate on the long line, so tried banded pellet, nothing. It was now halfway through and I stretched my legs visiting the loo and the shop for a sausage roll (bad news being pegged that close to the shop when the fishing gets boring).
With two hours to go I had my one and only bite from the margin, within 30 seconds of dropping the paste in, the blob buried and another 6lb fish was in the net, nothing else from the margin, even though I tried it frequently until the end.
I managed a couple of double figure fish from the 15m line on paste in the penultimate hour and knew a good run could see me pick up money, as the lake was fishing hard, unfortunately, nothing would coax the carp to get their heads down. We'd had Charlie Barnes, the speaking clock, reporting regularly how long since his last bite, with Paul Greenwood knocking 5 minutes off each time (in between mocking Jacko, with echo's of Jacko's cries of pain).
I was hopeful of a section pick up, as peg 59 had been catching and was odds on to frame, my main rival was Lewis Greenwood, who had 5 fish to my 6, I'm a crap judge of fish size and thought I had 35-40lb, Lewis thought he might have had me, as his 5 were a decent size. As it turned out, my 6lb or 7lb fish were more like 12lb and I had a welcome pick up of section money by default, as the winner was peg 59, with 136-11. A few DNW's and the silver bashers were treated to a day remeniscent of a winter league. I blame Charlie Barnes, when ever he's at a match I fish, it seems to fish hard, I reckon he was at Avalon last Sunday in disguise.........
1) M Prenks (I reckon thats totally wrong, but I can't read his writing on the weigh sheet) 136-11 peg 59
2) M Levy 75.05 peg 64
3) S Jackson (lead chucker...) 67-14 peg 69 (section winner)
4) C Fox 50.01 peg 55 (section winner)
5) G Powell 39.12 peg 68
6) L Greenwood 37.04 peg 53 (beat his old man by 32.13......)
Silvers
1) C Barnes 9.09 peg 70
2) J Green 8.02 peg 60
3) G Powell 5.09 peg 68
4) P Greenwood 4.07 peg 71
5) C Fox 2.07 peg 55
Finally, the Thatchers rent boy has discovered girls and sex on a recent trip to Ibiza, his tackle is reputed to be up for sale as he now intends to spend his time wooing the young ladies of Shepton Mallet and surrounding area's, before seducing them. This was compounded by his DNW today, Jacko pleaded with him not to sell his tackle as a complete kit to someone....... as it would set them back 5 years.
Apparently he's going to spend the money he saves on match entries, on prostitutes..... I'm no expert but I guess they'd be ropey old hags for 25 quid!!
Monday, 9 August 2010
Float Only, Avalon. 8th August 2010
What a weekend, first game of the season Saturday and it was shocking, I'd rather have been fishing, turned over 3-0 by Millwall. Never mind, Sunday to look forward to, another guest appearance in Tony Rixon's float only series. Avalon had thrown up some good weights in the last couple of matches, I wasn't convinced that it would do so with the pressure of 50+, but I still thought we'd get a days fishing.
Peg 8 on the top lake stuck to my mitt and it looked OK when I got to it, a clear patch across to chuck the waggler in and as peg 7 wasn't drawn, plenty of open water for the pole. I set up a shallow waggler and one at full depth, a paste rig, a MW pellet float to fish banded pellet at 7 & 16m and a rig to fish meat in the margin.
I had a pretty little ghostie mirror in the first 20mins, when I hooked it I thought it had snagged me, but it came free. I soon found what it had gone into, two seperate lots of line, one that was caught in the bushes and stretched back towards me, it stopped about 13' short of the bank meaning I was unable to get rid of it. The worse one was a big loop of ridiculously heavy line that looped from the RH side of the peg to the LH, both ends snagged up one on the island, one in the reeds.
By the time I had lost 3 shalllow wagglers and one full depth float, I was ready to pack up, but it was fishing hard so I switched to a new line further along the bank, the only problem with this, was it was devoid of fish. I could see the reeds moving where I was losing tackle at a rate to bring a big smile to Tony Rixon's face (Kerrching, goes the tackle shop till), but none where I had to cast. I'll have to spend Monday tying hooks, my hook boxes are virtually empty, with the snagged line accounting for most of them. Why haven't some anglers got the decency to tell Leigh or Vic that they've snapped off at the reel and left yards and yards of line snagged on the island, it's happened to all of us at some time or another, but at least if the fishery owners know about it, they can remove it.
The pole line was totally dead, I tried potting in bait, I tried catapulting it, I tried 8mm & 4mm pellet, I tried meat and even found an old pepperami in the bottom of my bait bag and tried this in the margin, on the pole, as well as shallow and full depth on the waggler. I didn't see a single bubble, no change in colour of the water, no movement, in fact nothing to suggest that there was any fish on either of the pole lines. I didn't have a bite, not even a liner.
Thye sum total of the days efforts were 3 carp for 12lb odd, all on the shallow waggler(from 5 bites!!), I'd walked down to Tim Ford at the beginning and there were fish moving, rolling and blowing at that end of the lake, it was like a jaccuzzi in front of Tim Clark and that was ¾ of an hour before the start, no surprise that the top three weights on the lake were pegs 10,11 & 12, with the rest of the lake struggling for bites.
I didn't stay for the results, it had been a long enough day as it was, so see Tony's blog for the results: http://tonyrixon.blogspot.com/
Peg 8 on the top lake stuck to my mitt and it looked OK when I got to it, a clear patch across to chuck the waggler in and as peg 7 wasn't drawn, plenty of open water for the pole. I set up a shallow waggler and one at full depth, a paste rig, a MW pellet float to fish banded pellet at 7 & 16m and a rig to fish meat in the margin.
I had a pretty little ghostie mirror in the first 20mins, when I hooked it I thought it had snagged me, but it came free. I soon found what it had gone into, two seperate lots of line, one that was caught in the bushes and stretched back towards me, it stopped about 13' short of the bank meaning I was unable to get rid of it. The worse one was a big loop of ridiculously heavy line that looped from the RH side of the peg to the LH, both ends snagged up one on the island, one in the reeds.
By the time I had lost 3 shalllow wagglers and one full depth float, I was ready to pack up, but it was fishing hard so I switched to a new line further along the bank, the only problem with this, was it was devoid of fish. I could see the reeds moving where I was losing tackle at a rate to bring a big smile to Tony Rixon's face (Kerrching, goes the tackle shop till), but none where I had to cast. I'll have to spend Monday tying hooks, my hook boxes are virtually empty, with the snagged line accounting for most of them. Why haven't some anglers got the decency to tell Leigh or Vic that they've snapped off at the reel and left yards and yards of line snagged on the island, it's happened to all of us at some time or another, but at least if the fishery owners know about it, they can remove it.
The pole line was totally dead, I tried potting in bait, I tried catapulting it, I tried 8mm & 4mm pellet, I tried meat and even found an old pepperami in the bottom of my bait bag and tried this in the margin, on the pole, as well as shallow and full depth on the waggler. I didn't see a single bubble, no change in colour of the water, no movement, in fact nothing to suggest that there was any fish on either of the pole lines. I didn't have a bite, not even a liner.
Thye sum total of the days efforts were 3 carp for 12lb odd, all on the shallow waggler(from 5 bites!!), I'd walked down to Tim Ford at the beginning and there were fish moving, rolling and blowing at that end of the lake, it was like a jaccuzzi in front of Tim Clark and that was ¾ of an hour before the start, no surprise that the top three weights on the lake were pegs 10,11 & 12, with the rest of the lake struggling for bites.
I didn't stay for the results, it had been a long enough day as it was, so see Tony's blog for the results: http://tonyrixon.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, 3 August 2010
Avalon Sunday 1st August 2010
Didn't fancy the Huntspill, so I managed to squeeze into this sell out on Avalon. The draw bag gave me peg 19, one away from my last visit. I could see plenty of carp moving across by the island when I got to the peg, I set up a waggler to fish shallow and another at depth, first chuck with the at depth waggler to clip up, saw me hook a 5lb+ fish that took the pellet band - shame it was an hour too early.....
I set up a paste rig and a lead rod as well. First put in after the whistle and I had a fish on the shallow waggler, that was it, no more, they backed off so tight to the island, they were only feeding on the pellets within an inch or so of the waterline. I had one fish at full depth, two on the lead to give me four fish in the first hour. I would have been hppy to keep that rate up, as 24 fish would certainly frame, just a shame I couldn't.
The line I'd fed with pellet to fish paste over was bubbling and I had a hybrid, a bream and a decent skimmer after a carp on the first put in, then it went dead, no liners, no indications at all. I set up a rig to fish soft pellet, I had one skimmer, then my usual with this bait, missed bite, after missed bite.
I was determined to catch on the waggler and spent too long trying to get the float to land within a couple of mm of the island, not that it probably cost me anything, except maybe a section win. By swapping between the pole and the straight lead I had a few more fish, ending with about 47lb. I assume that I am feeding it wrong, as others caught OK on the paste.
For the results see Tony's blog, as I had to shoot off at the end to get to work - deep joy!!
I set up a paste rig and a lead rod as well. First put in after the whistle and I had a fish on the shallow waggler, that was it, no more, they backed off so tight to the island, they were only feeding on the pellets within an inch or so of the waterline. I had one fish at full depth, two on the lead to give me four fish in the first hour. I would have been hppy to keep that rate up, as 24 fish would certainly frame, just a shame I couldn't.
The line I'd fed with pellet to fish paste over was bubbling and I had a hybrid, a bream and a decent skimmer after a carp on the first put in, then it went dead, no liners, no indications at all. I set up a rig to fish soft pellet, I had one skimmer, then my usual with this bait, missed bite, after missed bite.
I was determined to catch on the waggler and spent too long trying to get the float to land within a couple of mm of the island, not that it probably cost me anything, except maybe a section win. By swapping between the pole and the straight lead I had a few more fish, ending with about 47lb. I assume that I am feeding it wrong, as others caught OK on the paste.
For the results see Tony's blog, as I had to shoot off at the end to get to work - deep joy!!
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