I took a days annual leave to fish this match, I wasn't too convinced of the common sense of taking days off in Jan, when the wind was howling round the house at 06.30. A nice bacon & egg sandwich started the day off and that was the best bit of the windy and dismal drive to Plantation.
At the draw there was much talk of the high wind, which pegs to draw and plenty of talk about method chucking - I didn't listen, looking at some of the damage to fishes mouths, I 'm not convinced that the method and some folk who insist on striking like Zorro, aren't to blame.
I said to Glen (Faitheey) Calvert before the draw, that 33 would do me, based on previous silvers form, so I could have a days fishing. Well, I reckon, its the first time in 30 years of drawing pegs that I've ever drawn one prophesised. It hasn't got the form of last year, but the fact that 99 times from 100 you'll never beat the island chucks for carp, means you redouble the efforts to catch silvers, which can be in the peg in abundance.
So a full on silvers attack, the bait tray had 4 & 6mm Devils Spawn, caster, maggot, dead maggot and micro pellet. I set up three rigs, a 4x10 Malman Winter Wire on 0.14 to a 16 on 0.12 for the margin, a Preston diamond shaped float whose name eludes me, on 0.12 t0 a 0.10 hooklength and a 22 hook. Finally a MW Diamond, on 0.16 to 0.12 and a 16 Tubertini 808. I also assembled the ready made waggler rod, just in case the wind proved too much for the pole.
Because the wind was full on sideways, I setteled on a line at a manageable 11m, with the margins as a place to pulnder the big Perch. On the all in I fed micro and dead maggot, it wasn't long before the single maggot accounted for a snall roach, next time the float buried and on lifting into the bite, the pole came up, but several yards of orange Middy elastic came out and a 5lb carp did battle on the 0.10 hooklength. This was landed, as were the other 3 accidental 'vermin' netted during the match.
I managed to keep skimmers, roach and a couple of perch coming throughout the match, I did expect to get a few more perch, but they were conspicuous by their absence. The roach and two perch (small for this lake 10oz and 1lb) both fell to caster, as did a couple of 2-4oz roach, but the main bulk of the weight came to Devils Spawn fished at 11m, over micro and dead magot.
I was surprised myself when the fish went on the scales, whilst my silvers weren't enough to beat Mark Bromsgrove on peg1, who had 8 perch and a skimmer in the last hour for 17lb, to go with the rest of his silvers, they did tip the scales at 18.06, enought to take the silvers 2nd place coin.
Given the frosts in the week, the rumours of a mass otter kill and the forecasted weather, the weights were pretty good, with decent backups. I ended the day with 37lb odd, which was in the lower tier on the day, but as I fished for silvers it wasn't too bad at all and a nice days fishing, culminating in a payday.
1) Simon Jones 84.06 peg 29
2) Martin Lenahan 83.06 peg 4
3) Lance Tucker 78.04 peg 27
4) Darren 'Noddy' Vowles 50.14 peg 5
5) Rich Heatly 50.06 peg 39
6) Nick Harvey 48.00 peg 8
Silvers
1) Mark Bromsgrove 25.08 peg 1
2) Chris Fox 18.06 peg 33
3) Brian Slipper 18.04 peg 25
Saturday, 21 January 2012
Friday, 20 January 2012
Avon Angling Open, Trinity Waters, Wednesday 18th January 2011
I booked into Tony's birthday match and it was to be on Avalon, pole only, it actually ended up on Trinity's Woodlands lake, any method. Not that that was an issue, as lead chucking isn't often a framing method on this venue. A breakfast in Hilltops Cafe was, sadly, the highlight of my day and it wasn't the best brekkie I've ever had.
I fancied a draw on the far bank and managed this, but peg 15 was likely to be too high a number and so it proved, with this quarter of the lake fishing pretty tough, I assume it was the prevailing wind blowing cold water from the previous couple of nights freezes, into this corner. I set up 3 rigs and a waggler rod, one rig to fish Devils Spawn and another for maggot, finally one for the margin to fish corn or maggot.
It didn't take too long to get a bite on the 4mm Devils Spawn and then another, both of which I missed, liners? Finally I landed a decent skimmer and almost immediately, Vince Brown on my right hand side landed one as well, that was a false dawn, no more to either of us, although be both refed after our fish - a mistake?
I searched all 16m of my LH margin, right down to the pallet of peg 16 and managed one bite - a 1lb carp. The margins are usually a banker here, if they don't produce bites its because there are no fish in them. I managed a few roach on maggot and another small carp (very small) on Devils Spawn, but that was it. Vince put together some reasonable silvers and a couple of carp, on caster over groundbait, but I had, sticking to my new simplistic regime, only brought maggots, Devils Spawn micros and corn.
The best weights came from the unfancied car park bank, which had the wind off it. See Tonys blog for the results.
I fancied a draw on the far bank and managed this, but peg 15 was likely to be too high a number and so it proved, with this quarter of the lake fishing pretty tough, I assume it was the prevailing wind blowing cold water from the previous couple of nights freezes, into this corner. I set up 3 rigs and a waggler rod, one rig to fish Devils Spawn and another for maggot, finally one for the margin to fish corn or maggot.
It didn't take too long to get a bite on the 4mm Devils Spawn and then another, both of which I missed, liners? Finally I landed a decent skimmer and almost immediately, Vince Brown on my right hand side landed one as well, that was a false dawn, no more to either of us, although be both refed after our fish - a mistake?
I searched all 16m of my LH margin, right down to the pallet of peg 16 and managed one bite - a 1lb carp. The margins are usually a banker here, if they don't produce bites its because there are no fish in them. I managed a few roach on maggot and another small carp (very small) on Devils Spawn, but that was it. Vince put together some reasonable silvers and a couple of carp, on caster over groundbait, but I had, sticking to my new simplistic regime, only brought maggots, Devils Spawn micros and corn.
The best weights came from the unfancied car park bank, which had the wind off it. See Tonys blog for the results.
Thursday, 12 January 2012
Viaduct Open, Wednesday 11th January 2012
When I booked into this one it was on Spring Lake, by the time Wednesday came round, there were 20 odd, so an overspill was arranged on the Match Lake. Out of the tin with my card and when opened, it revealed peg 47 on match lake. A peg with a good record of silvers weights, so I was fairly happy with the draw until I heard that it had been fished the day before and 40 or 50lb caught. Probably no big deal in the summer, but would the fish stay there after that in the winter months?
I set up a waggler to fish across, as this has proven to be a successful method for my self and others, winning the silvers in the past helped by big skimmmers on the caster. Along with that, I set up two pole rigs, to fish at 16m, I didn't try a shorter line, as I have found it difficult to catch close in in the summmer, so I imagine that in the clearer water of January, this would be even worse. I started on the pole, initially cupping a couple of casters and dead reds onto the 16m line, live, dead and pupae maggots, in varying combinations and numbers, all brought only one result, roach in the 30 to the lb class. a switch to the waggler saw no improvement, although I could see Fabio on peg 43 catching an F1 most put ins on the waggler.
The wind was pushing into my face and giving a bad surface skim around the island corner, so the waggler could'nt be fished tight to the island. sinking the line pulled it too far away and not sinking the line made the presentation very poor. Nigel Bartlett on peg 45 had an initial run of fish on the lead, but the only ready set up lead rod I had was my 12' carp rod with 8lb line - far too crude for this lake.
At 11.45 I walked back to the van and collected the loaf of bread that I'd purposely left behind and a reel to set up a light lead rod. A 20PR 36 with a long hair on 12" of 0.14 completed the set up and first put in I had a carp on the bread. I did try to catch on the waggler a couple more times through the match, but the wind, the tiny roach and the horrible glare of the sun ( you don't get that on this peg in the summmer, when the island trees and plants are in fulll leaf). I ended the day with 1.07 of silvers, the vast majority was one hybrid and 29.12 of carp and f1s.
Had I fished the bread from the off, I might have pushed the 9lb between me and the winner a little closer. Fabio kept the F1s coming for the majority of the match, for what must have been an enjoyable, all waggler caught 42.10. Second was corner peg specialist, Tony Rixon, from peg 8 on Spring.
1) Phil ' Fabio' Harding 42.10 peg 43
2) Tony Rixon 42.05 peg 8
3) Chris Fox 31.03 peg 47
4) Nicky Collier 30.10 peg 19
5) Nigel Bartlett 25.02 peg 45
6) Adrian Jefferies 21.07 peg 24
6) Steve Hutter 21.07 peg 52
Silvers
1) Anton Page 15.06 peg 42
2) Steve Kedge 12.14 peg 25
I set up a waggler to fish across, as this has proven to be a successful method for my self and others, winning the silvers in the past helped by big skimmmers on the caster. Along with that, I set up two pole rigs, to fish at 16m, I didn't try a shorter line, as I have found it difficult to catch close in in the summmer, so I imagine that in the clearer water of January, this would be even worse. I started on the pole, initially cupping a couple of casters and dead reds onto the 16m line, live, dead and pupae maggots, in varying combinations and numbers, all brought only one result, roach in the 30 to the lb class. a switch to the waggler saw no improvement, although I could see Fabio on peg 43 catching an F1 most put ins on the waggler.
The wind was pushing into my face and giving a bad surface skim around the island corner, so the waggler could'nt be fished tight to the island. sinking the line pulled it too far away and not sinking the line made the presentation very poor. Nigel Bartlett on peg 45 had an initial run of fish on the lead, but the only ready set up lead rod I had was my 12' carp rod with 8lb line - far too crude for this lake.
At 11.45 I walked back to the van and collected the loaf of bread that I'd purposely left behind and a reel to set up a light lead rod. A 20PR 36 with a long hair on 12" of 0.14 completed the set up and first put in I had a carp on the bread. I did try to catch on the waggler a couple more times through the match, but the wind, the tiny roach and the horrible glare of the sun ( you don't get that on this peg in the summmer, when the island trees and plants are in fulll leaf). I ended the day with 1.07 of silvers, the vast majority was one hybrid and 29.12 of carp and f1s.
Had I fished the bread from the off, I might have pushed the 9lb between me and the winner a little closer. Fabio kept the F1s coming for the majority of the match, for what must have been an enjoyable, all waggler caught 42.10. Second was corner peg specialist, Tony Rixon, from peg 8 on Spring.
1) Phil ' Fabio' Harding 42.10 peg 43
2) Tony Rixon 42.05 peg 8
3) Chris Fox 31.03 peg 47
4) Nicky Collier 30.10 peg 19
5) Nigel Bartlett 25.02 peg 45
6) Adrian Jefferies 21.07 peg 24
6) Steve Hutter 21.07 peg 52
Silvers
1) Anton Page 15.06 peg 42
2) Steve Kedge 12.14 peg 25
Monday, 9 January 2012
Carps AC Open, Viaduct, 8th January 2012
As this weekend saw the start of the Landsend League and the match at Shiplate being full, I booked into this match on Campbell and Spring lakes. 25 booked in with one no show meant 12 on each lake, I am a bit of a Viaduct winter novice, so the draw wasn't a big deal to me before I pulled 130 from the coffee tin.
It was soon made apparant that 131 framed on Saturday, so my 2 pints of caster, groundbait and dead maggot suddenly seemed a waste of money - and so it proved. I set up 2 top kits with Carpa Chimps, one on 0.14 to 0.12 and a 18 Carp Maggot and the other on 0.16/0.14. I left the Matchpro quiver in the holdall and set up the ready made up 12' Maver reactorlite, with the 8lb Shimano Technium and a 0.16 hooklength and a 16 Guru QM1 hook. Last thing set up was a trusty 13' Normark Titan to fish the waggler, apart from 5 small roach, that the last mention for the real fishing equipment.
I am pretty ashamed to admit, I spent most of the day, chucking the lead........ I did it with my first chuck and landed a 6lb+ fish. I had 5 roach on the float, I threw them back......
Basically it was sit and wait for a wrap around, I was pleased that peg 131 wasn't in, as I manged to get 12 carp, chucking the lead, as far as I dare to my RH side, in line with the edge of the palllet of 131. If I went straight in front, or towards the aerator, the tip remained motionless.
Maggot resulted in tiny roach, meat only one fish and the other 11 all fell to bread, I lost a couple, one snapped the 0.16 hooklength, half way up. I assume it rubbed across the dorsal fin. The lake fished reasonably hard, the silvers weights all came from Spring and the winner came from the next peg to me, 132, the fish were obviously shoaled up at that end, although towards the end of the match they did move down into 131 as I could see the dark shadow of the shoal. This coincided with my best spell of the match.
My 12 Carp couldn't compete with the 18 for 107.09 on peg 132, so I ended up second, with 79.10. I'm not sure I agree with the way the money was paid out - 4 x 6 peg sections with the section winner and section silvers winner each getting £30. The match winner said it cost him £40 in diesel and bridge fees and I picked up nothing for 2nd. I think the money is spread out to far nowdays, it used to be when you picked up at a match on the Avon or Huntspill, it was a week or mores wages in your hand, now winning or framing hardly covers the cost of entry, fuel and bait.
1) Glyn Reynolds 107.09 peg 132
2) Chris Fox 79.11 peg 130
3) M Parsons 65.11 peg 10
4) G Powell 53.13 peg 128
5) Tim Pallant 49.06 peg 114
6) Dick Bull 43.12 peg 118
Silvers
1) Steve Kedge 21.14 peg 25
2) Stu Foale 18.13 peg 17
It was soon made apparant that 131 framed on Saturday, so my 2 pints of caster, groundbait and dead maggot suddenly seemed a waste of money - and so it proved. I set up 2 top kits with Carpa Chimps, one on 0.14 to 0.12 and a 18 Carp Maggot and the other on 0.16/0.14. I left the Matchpro quiver in the holdall and set up the ready made up 12' Maver reactorlite, with the 8lb Shimano Technium and a 0.16 hooklength and a 16 Guru QM1 hook. Last thing set up was a trusty 13' Normark Titan to fish the waggler, apart from 5 small roach, that the last mention for the real fishing equipment.
I am pretty ashamed to admit, I spent most of the day, chucking the lead........ I did it with my first chuck and landed a 6lb+ fish. I had 5 roach on the float, I threw them back......
Basically it was sit and wait for a wrap around, I was pleased that peg 131 wasn't in, as I manged to get 12 carp, chucking the lead, as far as I dare to my RH side, in line with the edge of the palllet of 131. If I went straight in front, or towards the aerator, the tip remained motionless.
Maggot resulted in tiny roach, meat only one fish and the other 11 all fell to bread, I lost a couple, one snapped the 0.16 hooklength, half way up. I assume it rubbed across the dorsal fin. The lake fished reasonably hard, the silvers weights all came from Spring and the winner came from the next peg to me, 132, the fish were obviously shoaled up at that end, although towards the end of the match they did move down into 131 as I could see the dark shadow of the shoal. This coincided with my best spell of the match.
My 12 Carp couldn't compete with the 18 for 107.09 on peg 132, so I ended up second, with 79.10. I'm not sure I agree with the way the money was paid out - 4 x 6 peg sections with the section winner and section silvers winner each getting £30. The match winner said it cost him £40 in diesel and bridge fees and I picked up nothing for 2nd. I think the money is spread out to far nowdays, it used to be when you picked up at a match on the Avon or Huntspill, it was a week or mores wages in your hand, now winning or framing hardly covers the cost of entry, fuel and bait.
1) Glyn Reynolds 107.09 peg 132
2) Chris Fox 79.11 peg 130
3) M Parsons 65.11 peg 10
4) G Powell 53.13 peg 128
5) Tim Pallant 49.06 peg 114
6) Dick Bull 43.12 peg 118
Silvers
1) Steve Kedge 21.14 peg 25
2) Stu Foale 18.13 peg 17
Monday, 2 January 2012
Shiplate Farm, Monday 2nd January 2012
Firstly, I hope everyone had a good Xmas and a Happy New Year to anyone who actually reads my drivel. I mostly worked, apart from Xmas day, Caroline & I went to The Blue Ginger and had a great 5 course Indian Meal for our Xmas dinner, that slightly made up for not going to India this year (No, I lie, it didn't) - something to rectify this year methinks.
So back to the fishing, first match of the New Year and I booked into Avon Anglings Open at Shiplate Farm, my previous visits to this venue have seen me pick up money, with a couple of silvers wins from Westpool and a fourth overall with a section pick up also from Westpool on my last visit. Before this match I had treated myself to a new toy, a ProTie hook tyer, I ordered it the day after Boxing day and it arrived Saturday, thats prompt delivery. I tied up a few hooks with it for today and on initial impressions I'm very pleased with it. I always used to use a Delco hook tyer and since my return, I've been using the Drennan. but I have suffered a few lost fish, with missing hooks and a curly bit of line where the hook was. I'm not convinced the Drennan ties the hooks as well with modern pre stretched lines, as it did with good old Bayer Perlon. I tried a Matchman hook tyer a month or so back and have not suffered any lost hooks, hence my purchase of the Pro Tie.
Into the draw bag (or landing net as it was) and I managed to get myself a short walk, peg 2 on Hawthorn, my first time on this lake, so no preconceived ideas about what to do. Whilst not exactly a New Year resolution, I am determind to keep things simpler this year and not bring every bait and every rod/reel combo to matches, if I get it wrong, I'll have to persevere to make it work, or learn from my mistakes. So with this new mantra in my head, I set up three top kits, one with a 4x10 Carpa Chimp on 0.14 to 0.12 with a Drennan carp maggot to fish up the far shelf, a 4x14 Carpa Chimp same line, but a 16 Carp maggot to fish at full depth just short of the far shelf and a Sensas Auchy 0.4G on 0.12 to 0.10 with a 20 Drennan Carp, just in case there were any silvers about.
The bait tray was an extension of my new mantra, maggots, casters, dead maggots, a few softend micros and a few (very few) 4 & 6mm Devils Spawn. On the whistle I cupped in a few micros and dead reds at 10m, which was just short of the bottom of the far shelf and I pole potted a few maggots and casters over the shelf. I also fed a line to my left, just in front of a tree on my bank. It took a while before I got a bite and I could see the elastic coming out on peg 1, was the end peg going to hold the fish. I had a couple of fish on top of the shelf, but it was slow going. I switched to the full depth rig and a 4mm Devils Spawn over the micro's, this produced a 3lb fish and a couple of lost foul hookers. It was proving impossible to get the fish to settle and by swapping between the lines and between maggot/caster/Devils Spawn I kept the odd fish coming. With a couple of hours to go, I had a look on the inside line, the float twitched a couple of times and then slid under, but it was the smallest carp of the day, an ugly parrot mouthed fish about 1lb.
I had heard that Fabio was admitting to 25lb on the end peg (14) so I switched from potting bait in to the catapult and attacked the peg a bit more positively, feeding maggot on top of the shelf, this seemed to stir the fish into action, as I added 6 more fish in the last hour and a half and lost a couple more foulers. The fish were still sporadic during this spell, maybe two in two put ins and then nothing for 10 minutes, the water wasn't that clear that the pole should spook them, it seems as if they were backing off the feed and then coming back to it for a quick feed, then backing off again.
My 15 carp went 49.03 along with 2 chub for 1.08, giving me a lake win with 50.11. this was also enough to take second overall. The payout today was, in my opinion, the fairest way to pay out when using two or more lakes, Tony paid top three overall and top silver weight on both lakes. I've fished many matches where one lake fishes far better than the other, so making it impossible to get any thing other than a section when organisers pay overall regardless of lake. Talking of Tony, he won from the 'flyer' bush peg on Westpool - although that bush may not be there much longer........... Que my turn to draw it, the week after the bush is removed!!
Now its time to sit and watch the darts final with a glass of port and some stilton, lets hope the final lives up to last nights semi finals, real drama with Lewis coming from 5-1 down to win 6-5
1) Tony Rixon 81.08 peg 6 Westpool
2) Chris Fox 50.11 peg 2 Hawthorn
3) Steve Wynne 38.00 peg 6H
4) Phil 'Fabio' Harding 36.04 peg 14H
5) Martin McMahon 32.05 peg 5H
6) Alan Oram 28.08 peg 13W
Silvers
1) Alan Oram 10.13 Peg 13W
2) Eddie Wynne 8.06 peg 15W
So back to the fishing, first match of the New Year and I booked into Avon Anglings Open at Shiplate Farm, my previous visits to this venue have seen me pick up money, with a couple of silvers wins from Westpool and a fourth overall with a section pick up also from Westpool on my last visit. Before this match I had treated myself to a new toy, a ProTie hook tyer, I ordered it the day after Boxing day and it arrived Saturday, thats prompt delivery. I tied up a few hooks with it for today and on initial impressions I'm very pleased with it. I always used to use a Delco hook tyer and since my return, I've been using the Drennan. but I have suffered a few lost fish, with missing hooks and a curly bit of line where the hook was. I'm not convinced the Drennan ties the hooks as well with modern pre stretched lines, as it did with good old Bayer Perlon. I tried a Matchman hook tyer a month or so back and have not suffered any lost hooks, hence my purchase of the Pro Tie.
Into the draw bag (or landing net as it was) and I managed to get myself a short walk, peg 2 on Hawthorn, my first time on this lake, so no preconceived ideas about what to do. Whilst not exactly a New Year resolution, I am determind to keep things simpler this year and not bring every bait and every rod/reel combo to matches, if I get it wrong, I'll have to persevere to make it work, or learn from my mistakes. So with this new mantra in my head, I set up three top kits, one with a 4x10 Carpa Chimp on 0.14 to 0.12 with a Drennan carp maggot to fish up the far shelf, a 4x14 Carpa Chimp same line, but a 16 Carp maggot to fish at full depth just short of the far shelf and a Sensas Auchy 0.4G on 0.12 to 0.10 with a 20 Drennan Carp, just in case there were any silvers about.
The bait tray was an extension of my new mantra, maggots, casters, dead maggots, a few softend micros and a few (very few) 4 & 6mm Devils Spawn. On the whistle I cupped in a few micros and dead reds at 10m, which was just short of the bottom of the far shelf and I pole potted a few maggots and casters over the shelf. I also fed a line to my left, just in front of a tree on my bank. It took a while before I got a bite and I could see the elastic coming out on peg 1, was the end peg going to hold the fish. I had a couple of fish on top of the shelf, but it was slow going. I switched to the full depth rig and a 4mm Devils Spawn over the micro's, this produced a 3lb fish and a couple of lost foul hookers. It was proving impossible to get the fish to settle and by swapping between the lines and between maggot/caster/Devils Spawn I kept the odd fish coming. With a couple of hours to go, I had a look on the inside line, the float twitched a couple of times and then slid under, but it was the smallest carp of the day, an ugly parrot mouthed fish about 1lb.
I had heard that Fabio was admitting to 25lb on the end peg (14) so I switched from potting bait in to the catapult and attacked the peg a bit more positively, feeding maggot on top of the shelf, this seemed to stir the fish into action, as I added 6 more fish in the last hour and a half and lost a couple more foulers. The fish were still sporadic during this spell, maybe two in two put ins and then nothing for 10 minutes, the water wasn't that clear that the pole should spook them, it seems as if they were backing off the feed and then coming back to it for a quick feed, then backing off again.
My 15 carp went 49.03 along with 2 chub for 1.08, giving me a lake win with 50.11. this was also enough to take second overall. The payout today was, in my opinion, the fairest way to pay out when using two or more lakes, Tony paid top three overall and top silver weight on both lakes. I've fished many matches where one lake fishes far better than the other, so making it impossible to get any thing other than a section when organisers pay overall regardless of lake. Talking of Tony, he won from the 'flyer' bush peg on Westpool - although that bush may not be there much longer........... Que my turn to draw it, the week after the bush is removed!!
Now its time to sit and watch the darts final with a glass of port and some stilton, lets hope the final lives up to last nights semi finals, real drama with Lewis coming from 5-1 down to win 6-5
1) Tony Rixon 81.08 peg 6 Westpool
2) Chris Fox 50.11 peg 2 Hawthorn
3) Steve Wynne 38.00 peg 6H
4) Phil 'Fabio' Harding 36.04 peg 14H
5) Martin McMahon 32.05 peg 5H
6) Alan Oram 28.08 peg 13W
Silvers
1) Alan Oram 10.13 Peg 13W
2) Eddie Wynne 8.06 peg 15W
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