Pole Only Series 2013 Silvers After One round

Pole Only 2013 Silvers Table
After One Match
Name			Points		Weight
1	Nigel Vigus		8		14	6
2	Matt Tomes		8		8	4
3	Mark Brooomsgrove		8		7	12
4	Glenn Calvert		8		7	2
5	Tim Ford		7		12	0
6	John Bradford		7		7	0
7	Kev Perry		7		5	4
8	Tony Rixon		7		4	8
9	Lance Tucker		6		9	0
10	Joe McMahon		6		6	6
11	Dave Poole		6		3	14
12	Eddie Wynne		6		2	10
13	Tom Thick		5		8	8
14	Chris Fox		5		3	4
15	Dave Wride		5		3	2
16	Paul Bartlett		5		2	8
17	Paul Lasson		4		7	11
18	Mike Owens		4		1	10
19	Mike Nicholls		4		1	12
20	R Peck		4		1	12
21	Ken Rayner		3		5	0
22	Andy France		3		1	0
23	Gordon Canning		3		1	8
24	Lewis Jones		3		1	4
25	Nick Harvey		2		2	4
26	Bob Gullick		2		1	0
27	Glenn Bailey		2		1	4
28	Bela Bakos		2		0	10
29	Paul Faiers		1		1	6
30	John Osborne		1		0	15
31	Brian Slipper		0		0	0
32	Phil Harding		0		0	0
33

Pole Only Series 2013, Standings After Round One

 

Pole Only 2013 Overall Table
After One Match
Name			Points		Weight
1	Paul Bartlett		8		68	2
2	Mike Owens		8		63	9
3	Mike Nicholls		8		36	12
4	Lance Tucker		8		25	8
5	Lewis Jones		7		52	10
6	Chris Fox		7		44	8
7	Nigel Vigus		7		18	13
8	Dave Wride		7		17	2
9	Matt Tomes		6		44	4
10	Bob Gullick		6		31	2
11	Paul Faiers		6		15	10
12	Glenn Calvert		6		12	4
13	John Osborne		5		26	13
14	Bela Bakos		5		15	0
15	Tim Ford		5		14	11
16	Tony Rixon		5		6	8
17	Kev Perry		4		23	6
18	John Bradford		4		14	12
19	Tom Thick		4		12	4
20	Dave Poole		4		3	14
21	Mark Brooomsgrove		3		15	2
22	Andy France		3		12	8
23	Paul Lasson		3		7	11
24	Gordon Canning		3		1	8
25	Eddie Wynne		2		14	8
26	Joe McMahon		2		9	6
27	Nick Harvey		2		5	6
28	Glenn Bailey		2		1	8
29	R Peck		1		14	4
30	Ken Rayner		1		5	0
31	Brian Slipper		0		0	0
32	Phil Harding		0		0	0

Pole Only Series Round 1, Acorn, Sunday 10th March 2013

A bitterly cold east wind greeted us on arrival at Acorn, for the first in this years Pole Only series. Thankfully Paul pegged the Match lake out, whilst I tucked into a breakfast, which was a nice plateful, not too greasy.

We had at one stage over 40 names and some waiting, by the time it came to part with the cash we ended up with 32, so a quick revision of the pegging and the four sections reduced to 8 pegs each.  I think that the lesser number will give better fishing, once the weather warms up and the fish decide to swim and eat properly.

I wasn’t too bothered which section I drew, as there is no overall payout on the day, just top two and top silver in each section, but I did think that C section and part of D would be the hardest and that was how it turned out.

I got Mike Nicholls to draw for me, a bridge peg, No.33, he can draw for me again!!!  Having watched Mike Owens catching from 34 last Tuesday, at least I thought I’d get some bites, I couldn’t believe it, when arriving at my peg I saw Mike Owens sat on 34 again – and he wasn’t looking disappointed.

Today started off badly, I always pick up my pole and move it rather than stepping over when its on the V rollers, for whatever reason, today I didn’t and clipped the No6 section with my boot, snapping it where I clipped it and where it sat on the front roller. Luckily I did have a spare one, so could still fish across.

I set up 4 topkits, two for up the shelf and two for down the track, one of each with 0.10 hook lengths and 20 hooks, one of each with 0.14 and 16 63.13 hooks to fish soft pellet.  I had brought some 4mm meat, but didn’t open the bag, as it was so cold.

On the all-in I cupped in some micros up the shelf, towards the bridge and straight in front, then some maggot down the track, again, by the bridge and secondly just of to my right at about 8m ( this line did not produce a bite, so no more about that). I started on maggot up the shelf and had a lively 12oz carp first put in, then missed a bite, had a skimmer and a F1.  Not wanting to plunder the line and fish it out too early, I switched to the deeper rig and had an F1 next to the bridge.

I switched to soft pellet as Mike Owens was sneaking ahead, this brought about an instant response and I had a run of a few fish and swapping between the two lines up the shelf, I kept them coming for an hour or so. Then the hook came off in a fish twisting and turning in the landing net, that’s when I discovered my fingers did not want to bend, or do anything as precision as tying on another hook. It took two attempts before I was satisfied with the knot.  I was just feeding micros and it went a bit quiet on both lines, Mike Owens was still catching, I tried maggot and had a couple. A look back in the deep water by the bridge brought a couple of skimmers and a carp, before that too went quiet.

The last hour they came back, but at no time could I catch at a rate that would allow me to catch Mike on 34. who I thought was anything from 33-50% in front of me.

Even though I was catching, calling the all out was not a hardship due to the extreme cold and it started snowing as we weighed in. I think it fished like most expected, the fish were in certain areas, not really having a banquet and certainly not moving looking for food.  The end of D section that fished worst, did throw up a few unseasonal Tench, but they didn’t make up for the lack of other fish in the area.

Although there wasn’t an overall payout, this is what the frame looked like:

1)      P Bartlett 68.02 peg 9

2)      M Owens 63.099 peg 34

3)      L Jones 52.10 peg 7

4)      C Fox 44.08 peg 33

5)      M Tomes 44.04 peg 38

6)      M Nicholls 36.12 peg 12

(All pegged on Paddock Lake)

Silvers

1)      N Vigus 14.06 peg A8

2)      T Ford 12.00 peg A7

3)      N Bartlett 8.08 peg A6

(All pegged on the Match (Top) Lake)

Sections:

A: 1) L Tucker 25.08 peg A4

     2) N Vigus  18.13 peg A8

Silvers: N Vigus 14.06

B:  1) P Bartlett 68.02 peg 9

      2) L Jones 52..10

Silvers: M Broomsgrove  7.12 peg 1

C:  1) M Nicholls 36.12 peg 12

      2) D Wride 17.02 peg 19

Silvers: G Calvert 7.02 peg 13

D:  1) M Owens 63.09 peg 34

      2) C Fox 44.08 peg 33

Silvers: M Tomes 8.04 peg 38

Acorn Tuesday Tenner, Tuesday 5th March 2013

A Tuesday off gave me the opportunity to get down to Acorn and have a look at the pegging with Paul for the Pole Series which starts this coming Sunday, also to fish it, which I haven't done for a while.  I was planning on targeting the silvers, partly because this year seems to be going like last winter, I might as well leave my carp keepnet at home for the use it gets.

20 fishing today, I drew peg 1, the first time I have ever drawn over the bridge on the island, for company on peg 3 I had Glenn Bailey.  We had the task of breaking the ice before starting, we both cleared nice channels right to the far bank, but not long before the all in, the ice moved around closing up the channels, but not for too long as it soon melted.

I set up two rigs, one to fish up the second shelf at about 2' 6" deep, one at full depth.  I had decided on a maggot/pinkie/caster approach, with some groundbait.  One small ball of groundbait fed on the full depth line, with 6 pinkies and 4 casters in to start with.

It took an hour and a half to get a bite, which was a small skimmer, I then had 3 more in the next three quarters of an hour, I topped up the ground bait and that ensured I waited nearly another 2 hours for a bite.  I had fed a couple more lines left and right down the track and close in, just with maggot, these produced nothing.  I wasn't alone, Glenn was struggling on peg 3, although we were getting pretty pissed off watching Mike Owens and Mike Chapman either side of the bridge catching regularly.

I ended up with 2.10 of silvers, Glenn did get a couple of carp, but our pegs seemed devoid of fish for most of the match. Not sure I learned much, except to reaffirm that winter fishing is peggy and if they aren't in front of you, or just won't feed due to the water temperature, you can't catch them.

1. IAN COLE - PEG 5 - 49LB
2. MIKE OWENS - PEG 34 - 44LB
3. MIKE CHAPMAN - PEG 33 - 38LB 14OZ
4. EDDIE WYNNE - PEG 6 - 38LB 6OZ
5. DAVE WRIDE - PEG 16 - 34LB
6. M POPPLETON - PEG 12 - 24LB 1OZ

SILVERS
1. ANDY GARD - PEG 8 - 12LB 3OZ
2. G ETHERIDGE - PEG 38 - 7LB 7OZ
                                                  

Viaduct Winter League. Sunday 3rd March 2013

I had agreed to stand in for someone in Andy Lloyds team, I knew that I was to be on Match Lake or pegs 1-6 on Spring. It seemed like a good idea when I said yes, but arriving at the fishery and seeing the lakes frozen and knowing my ice breaker was still in the garage, made it seem somewhat daunting.  I wasn't alone, it seemed that the ratio of those who had brought ice breakers to those who hadn't, meant that the loan of one when the owner had finished with it, was like trading some exotic commodity.

I also hadn't been warned that Des (Shipp) was in my section and he drew a good peg, the aerator on Match Lake. The pegs in our section on Spring were frozen, our main hope was that it didn't thaw, so the anglers on the island pegs couldn't get out to where the big carp are led up. Sadly, the ice did thaw and the top 2 weights in the section came from pegs 3 and 4. Next weight in the section was Des, top angler on a good peg.

I had been drawn peg 51, walking round I saw Adrian Jefferies setting up on peg 39, this peg blanked last match and has not been a good draw for a while now, next to him and between us on 52 was Tim Clark, so at least I had a couple of guys to talk to, as we thought it would be a real struggle. I was about 4th in line to borrow Steve Sketton's ice breaker, managing to clear a chanel to 13m.

I optimistically set up a waggler and a lead rod, in case there was a  thaw and two pole rigs, one a 4x12 Chianti on 0.12 with a 0.08 hooklength finished off with a 22 hoook. A slightly more optimistic Malman (not sure what, I think its a forerunner to the Benny) on 0.12 with a 0.10 hooklength and a 20 hook. Plumbing around I found a slightly deeper hole at 8m, but never had a bite there, so no morer about that line.

I fed a tangerine size ball of g/bait with 4 pinkies and 4 casters at 13m against the ice when the all in was called. It didn't take too long to get a bite and a 3oz rudd was in the net. A couple of roach followed, Tim on 52 then had a decent skimmer, thankfully my float dipped and a skimmer a fair bit bigger than Tim's graced my net.  A couple more skimmers followed and I couldn't match Tim's catch rate, although his fish were slightly smaller. The wind had got up and was putting a slight ripple on the water, I think this was beneficial to the fishing, but it melted the ice, which wasn't beneficial. As the ice thawed, the bites dried up, I got the 16m section out and fed a line at 16m with g/bait, two more skimmers followed and then disappeared again. I did try out past 16m with the waggler and had a few chucks with the lead, but not a bite on either.

The rest of the match was spent catching very small roach and rudd, the skimmers had shut up shop, I'm not sure if it was the cover of the ice going, or the ice melting and lowering the water temp.

So I had a better day than most, including myself, were predicting at the start, a few bites and a couple of decent skimmers, I ended up with 12 points for my 11.03 which was 4th on the lake.

1.      Mark Broomsgrove 92-12-0 peg 116

2.      Simon Jones 71-15-0 peg 125

3.      Andy Power 69-0-0 peg 86

4.      Vince Brown 67-11-0 peg 16

5.      John Buckingham 61-06-0 peg 66

6.      Dave Roper 51-09-0 peg 90

Silvers:

1.      Tony Rixon 37-14-0 peg 102

2.      Anton Page 32-01-0 peg 18

3.      Rob Jones 30-03-0 peg 77

Clevedon Club Match, Trinity Woodland. Sunday 24th February 2013

With the weather forecast I had presumed that it might only take 20lb to win this match, but on arrival the wind wasn't as bad as forecast and was more northerly than the easterly pictured on the BBC website.

The pegs were spread out along the bottom bank, the far bank , the top bank and one peg on the near bank, the far bank would have been my choice, given that the wind was pretty much off your back there. I didn't fancy the top bank, as it hasn't produced many fish this winter when I've been to the venue.

Sad to hear that John lost his black GSD, Max, last weekend, he was a real character.

After a cup of Misha's coffee, which I needed this morning, after a few beers last night, it was draw time and the tickets were thrown up in the air to collect from the ground, my heart sank when I opened mine, 17 on the top bank, with the wind from right to left, two pegs I didn't fancy and this was one (Adie Baker DNW from the other I didn't fancy, 21).

I set up three pole rigs, one margin rig, which on my looks in the margin remained motionless and a couple of rigs to fish either maggot or soft pellet/corn. This was to be at 14m, over micros, which will usually produce a carp or two, but I had three bites on the pole, all on maggot, two micro roach, which fell off shipping in and one 2 ouncer, which just managed to pull out 3" of white hydro.

It was obviously fishing hard and I had set a waggler to fish caster out as far as I dare push the boundary of my peg, this was producing roach, but they were small, more like pinkie fish. As I couldn't see anyone fishing for silvers I stuck at it and at least it kept me warm. Biggest fish I had was about 4oz, the rest were an ounce or less.

Every 3/4 of an hour, I looked back over the micros and topped it up with another 15 or 20, all to no avail, as I didn't get as much as a liner on expander or corn.

I did think I might sneak the silvers, I saw Kev Perry land a couple of skimmers towards the end, so it would be close, until I saw his silvers net contained a large F1, large enough to ensure I went home without a pick up. Surely they should count as carp, it is after all, a carp.......  Not that I'm bitter about it!!

Brian Slipper won, with carp caught on bread/lead and expander on the pole. Most of the carp seemed to come to bread on the lead.

1st    Brian Slipper 55lb 4oz Peg 12

2nd   Rich Heatley 39lb Peg 24

3rd   Kev Perry 24lb 3oz Peg 12

4th   Ivan Currie 14lb 5oz Peg 14

5th   Barry Fowler 8lb 6oz Peg 8

6th   Chris Fox 4lb 9oz  Peg 17

Silvers

1st   Kev Perry 7lb 14oz

2nd  Chris Fox 4lb 9oz

Clevedon Club Match, Plantation, Sunday 3rd February 2013

After getting a few bites on Wednesday, I decided to book into this match and it's not too far to go.  Karen ex of Bullock Farm has now taken over the breakfasts at Plantation.  20 on the lake today and I picked up two cards stuck together when I drew, Kev Perry grabbed the one that was stuck inside the one I held and watched as I opened a peg I really didn't fancy, 23. He then opened his, peg 3, he was not best pleased and swore never to take a peg from me again - not bad going, drawing two unfancied pegs.  As I saw Kev walking twice during the match, I guess it was as bad as he thought.

Using Wednesday as a guide I planned to fish groundbait and caster on one line, micro's with various hookbaits over on another line, a short line for roach/perch and a margin rig to go up the RH edge and top bank.  I also had time to set up a waggler rod, in case the roach and skimmers backed off too far and I set up a bomb rod to have a look round the peg for liners, just in case there was a few carp holed up - no liners or bites, so no more of the bomb rod.

On the all in I cupped in 4 tangerine size balls of groundbait and caster at 13m in front, a few micro's at 14, off left in line with the island and some caster at 5m.  I was expecting a fairly instant response from the groundbait line, but waited 15 mins whilst I had a look round with the bomb. Dropping in over the groundbait with caster and then maggot resulted in a motionless float, so after 20 mins a look over the micros with soft pellet - again, nothing.  Back over the groundbait and a single fluoro maggot produced a positve bite and a 6oz skimmer, the only one I caught all day.

The short line only gave up a few small roach, before becoming as lifeless as the two long pole lines, by now I started to feed the RH margin with caster, but a look up there became another groundhog day of motionless float.  As the lake seemed to be fishing hard, I tried another line, this time 20m towards the islands point with a 2½AAA waggler, this did start to produce fish, roach from ½oz-2oz, caster not picking out any bigger fish, but it was taking longer for a bite, so I mainly stuck to maggot.

To rest the waggler line, I went back up the edge and started getting some bites, these turned out to be small roach, apart from a 6oz perch and a 6oz chub. This soon died off and back on the waggler for the remainder of the match and the odd small roach. My meagre net of silvers went 7.10 and it turned out that it was 2oz short of taking last in silvers money by default. Glenn ( or Faitheey as he like to be known on the interweb :)  ) had 3 or 4 big perch up to 3lb and a few decent skimmers, the only one to find quality silvers on 38, catching on caster.

1) Andy Hembrow 77.15 peg 8
2) Rod Wootten 46.04 peg 19
3) Rich Lovering 42.15 peg 5
4) Glenn Calvert 28.02 peg 38
5) Paul Nicholls 25.10 peg 31
6) Rich Heatly 25.03 peg 25

Silvers

1) Glenn Calvert 23.00 peg 38
2) Paul Faiers 11.13 peg 11
3) Brian Slipper 7.12 peg 12
4) Mark Walsh 7.11 peg 29
5) Chris Fox 7.10 peg 23