I entered a competition on Match Fishing Scene, much more in hope than expectation, as my luck in winning competitions, seems to be wrought from the same substance as my drawing arm. The prize was a coaching day at one of the Garbolino Academy days, there were several venues to chose from and having read some good stuff about How End, I put my name down for that, after a quick look at a map, it didn't look too far from Banbury........
I was shocked and stunned to be drawn from the hat, although I suspect there were 5 entry's for the 5 places, as that shattered my run of never winning a prize in a competition. In the week leading up to the day, I gleaned a little information about How End and a late visit to Tony's (Rixon) saw 3 pints of caster in the fridge ready to take.
I had put the postcode in the sat nav and it said 2 hours 35 minutes... hmm, maybe Tunnel Barn Farm would have been a better choice, still I had the results of the Sweaties vote to listen to on the radio and left home at 06.17, thinking that might get me there for 09.00ish. Hopelessly optimistic would be an understatement, optimism is not something I am known for having an abundance of, so where it came from I'm not sure.
The journey wasn't too bad until I got near the outskirts of Oxford, 40 minutes to do a bit under 4 miles and the sat nav was increasing the arrival time at a pace far exceeding my progress. A slow and steady drive to Milton Keynes, where my frustration went up a few more notches, what a dreadful place that is, roadworks everywhere and no soul. The last minor annoyance was the new road layout, which showed me driving in a field and unable to get to the turning it was saying I should go down, but this added a mere 3 or 4 minutes to a 3 hour 35 minute drive!!
A warm greeting on arrival from Darren Cox and Simon Fry, which was difficult to reciprocate with enthusiasm, as I was in dire need of getting to the toilet!! They selected a peg for me and even helped carry my gear around, a visit to the on site shop, which I didn't look round, due to my late arrival, to get some pellet and off to the peg, 15 on Danis lake.
Whilst I had brought plenty of caster and worm, I had also put a feeder rod in the bag and decided that I would learn a lot more by fishing and being coached on this, than fishing W&C - bear in mind I have fished a method feeder abou 5 or 6 times in my life!!
I set up two pole rigs, both to fish caster/worm, a NG Gimp with a bulk and two droppers, a 16 6313 on 0.12 finished this off. The other rig was a Chianti, strung out shot and set at 2/3 depth, same line and hook. The feeder rod had a free running method on it and a 16QM1 with a spike to fish band um's.
Starting on the pole, as Darren & Simon were tied up, I had a nice run of fish, a real mixed bag, carp to 3lb, small tench, crucians, 6oz roach, 12oz skimmers, just loose feeding caster and fishing 1/3 dendra on the hook. Simon then came round and the pole went up the bank and I started catching fish on the method, once he had sorted my micro's out.
This slowed, so a swap to 3 dead maggots brought a few more fish and Simon went off after we chewed the fat about fishing in the late 70's and 80's. I had a spell of 1/2 an hour without a fish, so picked the catapult up and pinged a few pellets over to the island, the tip went straight round and next cast I hadn't even got the rod on the rest before another took the maggots.
Another quiet spell so back on the pole and the mixed bag continued, before Darren arrived and suggested some changes to the method hook/band and hook bait, this worked a treat and I was catching well until a fish broke me - this was 10lb line - but it felt abraded and I think the sliding of the feeder had damaged it. Re set up with a new feeder on about 18" twizzled line and back into the fish, until one took me into a root and snagged me, snapping the lot off again.
I decided to have the last hour on the pole, catching carp to 4lb and then, coming in on the top kit fishing double maggot, a run of 12oz skimmers. With thunder rumbling off to the south, I decided to call it a day at 17.00 and packed up, with the best part of 30lb of silvers and (sorry Phil, fishery owner) well over the 50lb limit in the carp net, I think as I was talking and listening, I just didn't realise the number of fish I had caught.
The fishery is a pleasant looking venue, a nice variety of fish, although, even with the fishery rules of no elastic heavier than black hydro (I used white hydro) there were some of the tench and small carp with mouth damage, an inevitable consequence of fishing for small fish I guess. I would return, if it was closer, although my personal preference is for waters bigger than this, but it would be a great place to try things out.
The journey home wasn't quite so bad, I shaved half an hour off it and rewarded myself by stopping in the chippy in Brislington, large cod and chips, with mushy peas to round off the day.
So, I learnt a few tricks, it was nice to see the fishery after reading about it, shame I didn't get to meet Phil, the owner and I would recommend a trip there if you live within a reasonable difference, a big thank you to Simon and Darren for their time and patience, it was a pleasant way to spend the day and the frustrations of the drive up, soon evaporated.
Working all this weekend, so it looks like Viaduct next Saturday will be my next day out.
Saturday, 20 September 2014
Tuesday, 16 September 2014
Trinity Waters 2 Day Festival 4th and 5th October 2014
I said I'd post this up for Misha, she is running a 2 dayer, both on Woodland on 4th and 5th October 2014.
£50 entry which is for both days and there will be an optional superpool.
For full details contact Misha
http://www.trinitywaters.co.uk
£50 entry which is for both days and there will be an optional superpool.
For full details contact Misha
http://www.trinitywaters.co.uk
Monday, 15 September 2014
Short Pole Series, Final round. Trinity Waters. Sunday 14th September 2014
Having got home from Gran Canaria in the wee small hours and 3 hours sleep, I was grateful for the lift from match organiser Tony Rixon. I had got everything ready before I went on holiday and was grateful there was no delay on the flight home, as lying in second place in the league I wanted to at least consolidate that, if not win it.
My best hope of overtaking league leader Paul Elmes, was to draw in the same section as him, but that wasn't to be, as I drew peg 27 and he was on the far bank, peg 12. Of those who could catch me up, I had Trigger and Glen Bailey in the section, Shaun Townsend on end peg 23 was in with a good chance of winning his section, so I needed to not blow out.
I had read the blogs/heard how the lake fished last week, so had added a couple of extras to the bait bag, just to give me options if it was similarly difficult. Main attack was to be pellet, with the option of fishing paste over it, one margin was to be particle fed, just meat and corn, one to be fed groundbait/maggot and see which worked. Although the margins aren't brilliant with every peg in, being a bit short.
4 rigs today, a paste rig, two very similar rigs - MW diamonds, one with a banded hook, one with a spade end and a rig that would do for either margin.
I started on a soft pellet and had a small carp, then a couple of skimmers, before liners became an issue, losing a couple of foul hookers, which were sitting about 12" off bottom. I tried stopping feeding, this meant no bites or liners, so I fed a bigger pot, this resulted in two fish on paste, before the liners got troublesome again. I tried coming off the bottom, set up a shallow rig and a light 'deep shallow' rig, all to no avail.
I wasn't alone in struggling, Craig 'Trigger' Edmunds, next to me was finding it tough going, as could most I could see. By the half way point I had less than double figures, as my three carp were small, along with three small skimmers. Earlier than I would have wanted, I fed the GB/maggot edge and left it 10 minutes, before dropping a bunch of maggots in, only for the hordes of fry to rag them off the hook. A switch to double worm saw a angry common that doubled my weight netted. A look to the particle fed margin with maggot, meat, corn and worm was pointless and it didn't produce a bite all match.
The GB margin was enticing the odd fish in, which was revealed by the hordes of fry leaping out when a carp arrived, if a bite was missed, or the carp brushed the line, there was as a swirl and the fish was gone, taking up to 15 minutes for another to come back. A couple more margin carp on worm and a skimmer and carp on worm over the open water pellet line saw me end the match behind a couple of the pegs to my right, but hopefully not lower than third in section. My 42.02 was enough for third in section (even took the section money by default) and more importantly, enough to keep me in second place on weight, so a decent serie and worth the lack of sleep.
On the day:
1: Shaun Townsend 72.11 peg 23
2: Glen Bailey 59.01 peg 26
3: Dick Bull 58.04 peg 24
4: Dave Evans 51.03 peg 9
5: Bela Bakos 50.06 peg 31
6: Tom Mangnall 50.02 peg 17
Silvers on the day.
Joe McMahon 19.03 peg 32
League Overall.
1: Paul Elmes 23 points
2: Chris Fox 20 points - 305.02
3: Shaun Townsend 20 points - 290.01
4: Glen Bailey 19 points
5: Craig Edmunds 18 points - 263.05
6: Dave Evans 18 points - 178.01
My best hope of overtaking league leader Paul Elmes, was to draw in the same section as him, but that wasn't to be, as I drew peg 27 and he was on the far bank, peg 12. Of those who could catch me up, I had Trigger and Glen Bailey in the section, Shaun Townsend on end peg 23 was in with a good chance of winning his section, so I needed to not blow out.
I had read the blogs/heard how the lake fished last week, so had added a couple of extras to the bait bag, just to give me options if it was similarly difficult. Main attack was to be pellet, with the option of fishing paste over it, one margin was to be particle fed, just meat and corn, one to be fed groundbait/maggot and see which worked. Although the margins aren't brilliant with every peg in, being a bit short.
4 rigs today, a paste rig, two very similar rigs - MW diamonds, one with a banded hook, one with a spade end and a rig that would do for either margin.
I started on a soft pellet and had a small carp, then a couple of skimmers, before liners became an issue, losing a couple of foul hookers, which were sitting about 12" off bottom. I tried stopping feeding, this meant no bites or liners, so I fed a bigger pot, this resulted in two fish on paste, before the liners got troublesome again. I tried coming off the bottom, set up a shallow rig and a light 'deep shallow' rig, all to no avail.
I wasn't alone in struggling, Craig 'Trigger' Edmunds, next to me was finding it tough going, as could most I could see. By the half way point I had less than double figures, as my three carp were small, along with three small skimmers. Earlier than I would have wanted, I fed the GB/maggot edge and left it 10 minutes, before dropping a bunch of maggots in, only for the hordes of fry to rag them off the hook. A switch to double worm saw a angry common that doubled my weight netted. A look to the particle fed margin with maggot, meat, corn and worm was pointless and it didn't produce a bite all match.
The GB margin was enticing the odd fish in, which was revealed by the hordes of fry leaping out when a carp arrived, if a bite was missed, or the carp brushed the line, there was as a swirl and the fish was gone, taking up to 15 minutes for another to come back. A couple more margin carp on worm and a skimmer and carp on worm over the open water pellet line saw me end the match behind a couple of the pegs to my right, but hopefully not lower than third in section. My 42.02 was enough for third in section (even took the section money by default) and more importantly, enough to keep me in second place on weight, so a decent serie and worth the lack of sleep.
On the day:
1: Shaun Townsend 72.11 peg 23
2: Glen Bailey 59.01 peg 26
3: Dick Bull 58.04 peg 24
4: Dave Evans 51.03 peg 9
5: Bela Bakos 50.06 peg 31
6: Tom Mangnall 50.02 peg 17
Silvers on the day.
Joe McMahon 19.03 peg 32
League Overall.
1: Paul Elmes 23 points
2: Chris Fox 20 points - 305.02
3: Shaun Townsend 20 points - 290.01
4: Glen Bailey 19 points
5: Craig Edmunds 18 points - 263.05
6: Dave Evans 18 points - 178.01
Thursday, 28 August 2014
Viaduct Costcutter, Thursday 28th August 2014
I got to Viaduct and discovered that I had left my lead rods at home, oh well, that whats you get for fishing the day after an all day session, watching England get humiliated by India, in Cardiff. Not a great loss, unless I drew Cary, which I didn't, 127 was my peg, just one along from Sunday, so at least the rigs would be just about right.... 27 fishing this one today.
Looking at the weigh sheet from Wednesdays match, it looked like I was on wrong bank, as the winning weights, four over 200lb were all from the Cary side of the lake. A phone call to Yesterdays winner, Tony Rixon, gleaned me a bit of information, I set up a shallow rig, but this didn't get used, a rig to fish meat short, another to fish it at 13m and a margin rig, although with 126 and 128 in, that was more in hope than expectation.
Two waggler rods completed the tackle set up and I was sat ready for the off, starting at 13m with meat, saw a foul hooker lost and lots of missed bites, the wind got up and I abandoned the 13m line, I had a couple short on meat, but Chris Rolfe on 126 was catching on the lead, so I switched to the full depth waggler and had one first cast, I had one more and there were a few swirls when the pellets landed, so a switch to the pellet waggler brought a fish straight away, but that was to be my only bite on it.
A pattern was forming, switch lines, bait or method and get a fish, then nothing, by the half way point I had about 50lb and even switching lines had stopped working, bites were hard to come by. I fed the margins and went back to trying to catch in the open water, but within 10 minutes I tried the margin, this produced the biggest fish of the day, a 12lber and then a 3lb bream and following the pattern, that was the end of the margin.
The short meat line started to fizz again and this did produce a run of fish, although the bites on meat were a bit 'iffy' and difficult to hit, a switch to worm over the meat feed saw the bites become much more positive and resulted in a properly hooked fish every time. As seems to happen a lot lately, the all out came just when I was in a good spell of catching, the last hour had seen me add a few lbs to the net and the nets went 146.01 for 3rd on the day.
1: Dave White 190.04 peg 77
2: Giles Cochrane 155.12 peg 119
3: Chris Fox 146.01 peg 127
4: Andy Eagles 145.14 peg 125
5: P Nut 128.05 peg 132
6: J Guy 123.11peg 130
Silvers
1: Glenn Calvert 33.00 peg 85
2: Martin Preston 32.08 peg 111
Looking at the weigh sheet from Wednesdays match, it looked like I was on wrong bank, as the winning weights, four over 200lb were all from the Cary side of the lake. A phone call to Yesterdays winner, Tony Rixon, gleaned me a bit of information, I set up a shallow rig, but this didn't get used, a rig to fish meat short, another to fish it at 13m and a margin rig, although with 126 and 128 in, that was more in hope than expectation.
Two waggler rods completed the tackle set up and I was sat ready for the off, starting at 13m with meat, saw a foul hooker lost and lots of missed bites, the wind got up and I abandoned the 13m line, I had a couple short on meat, but Chris Rolfe on 126 was catching on the lead, so I switched to the full depth waggler and had one first cast, I had one more and there were a few swirls when the pellets landed, so a switch to the pellet waggler brought a fish straight away, but that was to be my only bite on it.
A pattern was forming, switch lines, bait or method and get a fish, then nothing, by the half way point I had about 50lb and even switching lines had stopped working, bites were hard to come by. I fed the margins and went back to trying to catch in the open water, but within 10 minutes I tried the margin, this produced the biggest fish of the day, a 12lber and then a 3lb bream and following the pattern, that was the end of the margin.
The short meat line started to fizz again and this did produce a run of fish, although the bites on meat were a bit 'iffy' and difficult to hit, a switch to worm over the meat feed saw the bites become much more positive and resulted in a properly hooked fish every time. As seems to happen a lot lately, the all out came just when I was in a good spell of catching, the last hour had seen me add a few lbs to the net and the nets went 146.01 for 3rd on the day.
1: Dave White 190.04 peg 77
2: Giles Cochrane 155.12 peg 119
3: Chris Fox 146.01 peg 127
4: Andy Eagles 145.14 peg 125
5: P Nut 128.05 peg 132
6: J Guy 123.11peg 130
Silvers
1: Glenn Calvert 33.00 peg 85
2: Martin Preston 32.08 peg 111
Monday, 25 August 2014
Float Only League, Final Round, Viaduct, Sunday 24th August 2014
As I was too far from the leaders to make the section points
count, this last round of the float only league was in reality for me, a 40 peg
open. A decent draw on either Campbell
or Cary would suit and whilst I wasn’t running to it, 128 is not the worst draw
on the complex, although it has a varied record.
I set up two wagglers, one shallow and one full depth, which
was wasn’t deep, I had little over 2’ anywhere in the peg, so not too much
difference between the shallow and depth rigs. The pole rigs consisted of a
meat rig to fish at 6m, a shallow pellet rig (which didn’t come out of the
roost), a full depth pellet rig, a margin rig to fish up against the spit and a
paste rig, as I wasn’t sure which would be better, paste or meat.
I started on the depth waggler, double pouching 8mm pellets
to try and keep the fish on the deck, I had a 3lb fish on this within the first
few minutes, but it was a false dawn and 2 ½ hours later I had managed one more
fish on paste, it was almost a case of Déjà vu from yesterday.
I had a conversation with Tony Rixon earlier
in the week and we had agreed that 100lb was an achievable weight from
virtually every peg on Campbell during the summer months; that discussion point was
looking like biting me firmly on the ass.
I had been feeding a short meat line and this produced two
6oz skimmers, to accompany the two carp, the shallow water in this peg was not
conducive to the fish coming short and I had been reluctant to go to the spit
too early, but by the halfway point, I had to, as I still had less than 10lb in
the net.
I opted for the groundbait approach at 10m along the spit,
the first drop in saw a fish come to the net and the 3 more, before it went
quiet, I refed and had another look on the meat line, this gave up another
skimmer and two carp, but the bites were few and far between. With two hours to
go I went back to the spit and had fish right up to the end with the peg
getting stronger and stronger, shame they were mostly 3-5lb fish, with only a
two 8 or 9lber’s. 125lb of my total came in those last 2 hours, shame it wasn’t
like that for 4 or 5 hours…..
4 skimmers and a
couple of perch, along with the carp went 151.00, too little too late, I didn’t
see the completed weigh sheets, but I think I was about 10th overall
with that weight, beaten into third in the section by pegs 124 and 126, who had
the advantage of 125 being waggler fished only, as Tim Clark had a family issue
to deal with and left shortly before the all-in, with Martin McMahon using
Tim’s waggler rod to fish the peg.
Maybe I should have gone to the spit a bit earlier; would
they have come and settled there with confidence? If they had I would have been looking at a
framing place, so perhaps I got that wrong as the bites were so few and far
between in the open water.
1: Craig 'Trigger' Edmunds 245.15 peg 111
2: Paul Elmes 130.15 peg 130
3: Ray hayward 179.15 peg 126
4: Lee Werritt 169.15 peg 112
5: Shaun Townsend 167.02 peg 118
Silvers
1: Dan Squires 36.13 peg 76
Maver Pairs, Larford Lakes, Saturday 23 August 2014
I had paired up with Mike Walker to fish this match and
given that Mike has fished the Match lake a few times, he was going to be on
there and myself on Speci lake. We had a
decent drive up and had decided that my drawing arm should be kept well away
from the draw buckets today, so Mike did the honours, giving me peg 9 on Speci
and himself peg 13 (or was it 11, bit of a senior moment here…) on Match.
The latest results and information we had was from the UK
Champs which had been on Wednesday, Mike was definitely at the ‘right’ end of
his section and my draw wasn’t too bad, that’s if the fish hadn’t used their
fins……
Plenty of time to get ready, but I wasn’t tempted to set up
more than I planned, we had discussed a basic plan and decided not to deviate
from this, as in a 5 hour match against some venue experts and top anglers, we
felt our best chance was not having too many options. This for me was a method feeder, a straight
lead, pellet waggler and a rig for 5-7m (wherever the shelf/bottom, plumbed up with a not too steep
slope). The plan was to start on the
method feeder, whilst feeding a bomb/waggler line frequently with 8mm pellets,
the method was fished a little way past this to show any liners, indicating the
fish were over the bomb line.
First chuck in I had a drop back on the method, I missed the
freespool lever and the baitrunner span like a whirling dervish, creating a
huge birds nest of the line, which was never going to be untangled. So I had to
handline it back in, new spool on and reset up, I may have well as not
bothered, there were no further bites forthcoming.
To cut a long and boring story short, I managed one carp, on
the pellet waggler, the only bite I had.
After about 3 ½ hours I deviated from the plan and tried worm on the
pole, hoping to catch anything, just to put another fish in the net. This was
pointless, as I had no indication of any kind on the pole. I wasn’t alone in struggling there were a fair few
who managed less than my one carp, the weights were low, with only a handful of the 50 odd
of anglers on the lake managing to put 5 or 6 fish together.
Meanwhile, whilst I was letting the side down, Mike fished a
tidy match and kept alternating between method and bomb, various baits and put
together a section winning 59lb. It was
very disappointing to do so poorly, bu I really have no idea what I could have done differently, apart from stick to one method the whole match, the lake fished so badly, I have was a loss to know what I could have done to get more than the one bite.
I didn’t get the results, but they should be on the Larford
website in the next couple of days.
Sunday, 17 August 2014
Viaduct Open, Saturday 16th August 2014
It was good to be heading back to Viaduct, I had Mike Walker
travelling with me for company in the van, the Café at Shipham was the fuelling
point, before getting to Viaduct and finding that 29 were fishing, so the match
was spread over Cary and Lodge. I fancied
a draw on Cary, I had a new rod I wanted to try out, but it wasn’t to be, I
ended up on 71 a peg I wasn’t confident of doing too well from, but decided to
fish it positively and hope for the best.
I did initially leave the rods in the van, but went back and
got them, setting up a shallow and full depth waggler and my new lead rod, I
had two chucks with the lead rod whilst I replaced a trashed rig, with nothing
to show for it, so it remains unchristened.
4 topkits set up, a rig to fish 8mm pellet at 13m, a rig to
fish meat at 5m, a paste rig for 5m off to my right and a margin rig. The meat
line was going to be a bit of a throwaway line, my main lines of attack being
the 13m pellet line and 5m paste, with hopefully the margin coming into play
towards the end. The all in saw me
feeding softened 6mm pellets on the 5m paste line and 8mm pellets on the 13m line.
Both lines started fizzing and it wasn’t long before a 10lb
fish was in the net, falling to 8mm pellet on the 13m line, a couple of liners
and a foul hooker which came off followed, before the activity ceased. The 5m paste line was fizzing and had the
bigger circular patches of bubbles giving away the presence of carp, so I
switched and was rewarded with 3 fish before the activity died off.
As the paste and pellet lines were now not producing bites
or liners, I started up a waggler line past the 13m line and this brought a 6lb
fish and then a lost fouler, but it wasn’t hectic action, I did have a look on
the 5m meat line, the float bobbed once in 10 minutes and there was no
indication that there were fish over the loose feed. Back on the paste and another fish, I had a
couple of liners and a lost fish, before this line died off again.
With 3 hours gone, I fed the margin with groundbait and left
it 15 minutes, before dropping in and catching 3 fish in as many put ins.
Keeping the feed going in saw 3 or 4 more fish come to the net before the line
died, I kept feeding in the hope the fish would come back, but wasted too much
time on this, before going back on the paste and landing another low double and
losing one at the net on the whistle.
This proved to be a costly loss, as my fish weighed 158.11 and only 4.03
separated me from second place. That and
my meagre two skimmers which made up 2.12 of my catch, whilst the 2nd
and 3rd places had 9.07 and 5.01 respectively, so a tale of lost
fish and lack of skimmers which cost me.
Still an enjoyable day and an unexpected pick up from a peg I had thought would be an also
ran. Traveling partner Mike had drawn Cary 96 and weighed 88-12 which was the best weight from 88 round to 102, Cary took a back seat to lodge today, apart from the winner.
A special mention for Phil ‘Fabio’ Harding, he tipped back
about 80lb and the section money was taken with 41.12……. Gabriel winning the section money by default and the silvers money.
1: Mark Wynne 184.00 peg 102
2: Barry Richards 162.14 peg 70
3: James Knight 161.4 peg 73
4: Chris Fox 158.11 peg 71
5:Neil Morgan 135.01 peg 55
6: M Rogers 127.05 peg 59
Silvers
1: Gabriel 41.12 peg
68
Monday, 11 August 2014
Short Pole Series, Round Three, Trinity Woodland, Sunday 10th August 2014
This has been an enjoyable series so far, a third and a fourth over all, each time with a section second saw me in fourth place going into this match, so only a section win would do. The banter started a couple of weeks back, when Tony Rixon text me a photograph of the knockout draw sheet for this match, accompanied by the tasteful words.. "Your ass is mine". So the challenge was set, I needed revenge for Shiplate in the Float Only series, where he needed a foul hooker to knock me out.
Tony picked me up, so a bit of banter and general chat as we made our way to the venue, via the cafe, keeping a close eye on the weather as we did so, were the dregs of Hurricane Bertha going to cause us problems?? The usual friendly greeting and mug of coffee greeted us, whilst the weather held fair, with virtually no breeze, overcast and warm. I managed to get myself about fourth or fifth in the draw queue, before I stuck my hand in the tin, Tony had fishery manager, Misha, draw his peg and she put end peg 32 into his palm, he looked like the cat who'd had the cream.....
My drawing arm must have been charmed this week, as I managed to pull out 23, the other end peg on the car park bank, so at least I would have some chance. It was to be a simple approach again, although as there was so much time I set up 5 rigs. My usual paste rig, on 0.20, to a size 12 B911XS, a MW diamond with strung out No 10's to fish banded pellet, two margin rigs, both NW Springer Sampson floats on 0.20 to 0.18 hooklengths one with a band, one without. Finally I set up a 0.6g MW Pinger with a bulk of No8's against the hooklength loop, fished 4" overdepth, as the wind was starting to get up. Bait tray consisted of 8mm pellets, corn and paste, with in reserve, a bucket of groundbait and several pints of dead maggots.
Starting on the 'long line' with 8mm pellet produced one small skimmer and a foul hooker that that took me through a margin snag and whilst I got the rig back complete, the float had been pushed down to the shot and the line was an artistic spiral pattern, so that was the end of that. A switch to paste on that line saw a fish about 7lb in the net and next put in I hooked a decent fish and was somewhat frustrated to lose it at the net, discovering that the hook had straightened out, the fish was around the 15lb mark and with the lake fishing tough, that could be costly.
No more bites forthcoming on the paste and by now, the wind had got itself up into a good blow, which was resulting in difficulty presenting a bait at the full length of topkit + 3, I tried worm on the Pinger rig, laid 4" on the bottom and this gave me a 4lb ghostie, along with some 3 or 4, 12oz skimmers, before that too became dead. The edge hadn't produced any bites to hard pellet or corn, so I put two big potfuls of groundbait in, with half a pot of dead maggots and this did give up three fish in three drop ins, before I needed to go for an unplanned walk to the toilet. This enforced walk gave me the opportunity to see how it was fishing and it was looking tough, Tony had just landed a fish about 9lb and he told me that was his sixth, I had five, so tight and all to fish for.
The margin line then saw a few roach come to the dead maggots, so I refed heavily with groundbait and dead maggot, taking one more fish on paste whilst I let the margin settle. The last hour was a decent one, with a fish most drop ins, I even had them swirling in the margin at one point. With 20 minutes to go I started a second net, this held three fish which went 22lb, with 65lb in the other net and 3lb odd of silvers, my total went 89.09 for first on the day, giving me the needed section win and sweet revenge for Shiplate, that'll teach Mr Rixon to send cocky texts.......
All to fish for, in round four, the final round of this league, on Sept 13th.
1: Chris Fox 89.09 peg 23
2: Rod Wootton 81.01 peg 8
3: Paul Elmes 74.13 peg 29
4: Glenn Bailey 64.07 peg 2
5: Tony 'spanked' Rixon 56.13 peg 32
6: Steve Seager 52.08 peg 25
Silvers
1; Tom Mangnell 18.07 peg 15
Tony picked me up, so a bit of banter and general chat as we made our way to the venue, via the cafe, keeping a close eye on the weather as we did so, were the dregs of Hurricane Bertha going to cause us problems?? The usual friendly greeting and mug of coffee greeted us, whilst the weather held fair, with virtually no breeze, overcast and warm. I managed to get myself about fourth or fifth in the draw queue, before I stuck my hand in the tin, Tony had fishery manager, Misha, draw his peg and she put end peg 32 into his palm, he looked like the cat who'd had the cream.....
My drawing arm must have been charmed this week, as I managed to pull out 23, the other end peg on the car park bank, so at least I would have some chance. It was to be a simple approach again, although as there was so much time I set up 5 rigs. My usual paste rig, on 0.20, to a size 12 B911XS, a MW diamond with strung out No 10's to fish banded pellet, two margin rigs, both NW Springer Sampson floats on 0.20 to 0.18 hooklengths one with a band, one without. Finally I set up a 0.6g MW Pinger with a bulk of No8's against the hooklength loop, fished 4" overdepth, as the wind was starting to get up. Bait tray consisted of 8mm pellets, corn and paste, with in reserve, a bucket of groundbait and several pints of dead maggots.
Starting on the 'long line' with 8mm pellet produced one small skimmer and a foul hooker that that took me through a margin snag and whilst I got the rig back complete, the float had been pushed down to the shot and the line was an artistic spiral pattern, so that was the end of that. A switch to paste on that line saw a fish about 7lb in the net and next put in I hooked a decent fish and was somewhat frustrated to lose it at the net, discovering that the hook had straightened out, the fish was around the 15lb mark and with the lake fishing tough, that could be costly.
No more bites forthcoming on the paste and by now, the wind had got itself up into a good blow, which was resulting in difficulty presenting a bait at the full length of topkit + 3, I tried worm on the Pinger rig, laid 4" on the bottom and this gave me a 4lb ghostie, along with some 3 or 4, 12oz skimmers, before that too became dead. The edge hadn't produced any bites to hard pellet or corn, so I put two big potfuls of groundbait in, with half a pot of dead maggots and this did give up three fish in three drop ins, before I needed to go for an unplanned walk to the toilet. This enforced walk gave me the opportunity to see how it was fishing and it was looking tough, Tony had just landed a fish about 9lb and he told me that was his sixth, I had five, so tight and all to fish for.
The margin line then saw a few roach come to the dead maggots, so I refed heavily with groundbait and dead maggot, taking one more fish on paste whilst I let the margin settle. The last hour was a decent one, with a fish most drop ins, I even had them swirling in the margin at one point. With 20 minutes to go I started a second net, this held three fish which went 22lb, with 65lb in the other net and 3lb odd of silvers, my total went 89.09 for first on the day, giving me the needed section win and sweet revenge for Shiplate, that'll teach Mr Rixon to send cocky texts.......
All to fish for, in round four, the final round of this league, on Sept 13th.
1: Chris Fox 89.09 peg 23
2: Rod Wootton 81.01 peg 8
3: Paul Elmes 74.13 peg 29
4: Glenn Bailey 64.07 peg 2
5: Tony 'spanked' Rixon 56.13 peg 32
6: Steve Seager 52.08 peg 25
Silvers
1; Tom Mangnell 18.07 peg 15
Monday, 4 August 2014
Tony Rixon's Float Only Series, Round 5, Sedges. Sunday 3rd August 2014
I was looking forward to this after a long week at work, finishing at 11pm Saturday night. As any chance of a place in the league standings is long gone, I had prepared a positive approach of 8mm pellet on the waggler and paste short. This plan was slightly altered by drawing peg 10, which is an end peg, so a bank to fish to, although the margin is still a good 4' deep, deeper than I'd like ideally. I had two wagglers already set up, a 2 swan pellet waggler and a full depth waggler, I bought a couple of the blue plastic Preston wagglers last time I was at Whiteacres and used this, can't say I was impressed with how they cast, doubt if I'll be buying any more!!
Pole rigs were a paste rig for 5m, just at the bottom of the slope, a rig to fish the end bank margin, as well as a depth pellet rig and shallow pellet rig, neither of which touched the water. I decided against putting any groundbait into the end bank swim, because of the depth and the way it quickly sloped off to deeper water, this was fed with 8mm pellets, hemp and corn, the 5m line was fed with hemp and softened 6mm pellets, before starting on the pellet waggler, I fished this towards a tree on the end bank, as this was the only area of the peg with any signs of fish in. It didn't take too long before I had netted my first fish, although this proved to be a bit of a false dawn, as bites were hard to come by and after 3/4 of an hour I switched to the depth waggler, this produced a fish, then a couple of unhittable bites, which I am sure were liners, so back on the pellet waggler and another fish taken. I managed to loose two wagglers to the end bank vegetation and as it was so quiet, I went round and retrieved them both, one had a fair bit of line on it and I hate leaving line trailing around.
It was now 3 hours into the match and I had very little to show for it, the paste line had no fizzing of indication that there were fish evident, so I went to the end bank, which I had been feeding, but left alone as long as I could. I took two fish in two drop ins from here, on double corn, taking my weight to 25lb, then the pleasure anglers on the canal, who were in close proximity to my end bank swim, decided to walk up and down and chat, they had on a white Tee shirt and one had a yellow reflective jacket on (god knows why, it was very warm!!) that was the end of that line, I had one more bite from it and that was a lonesome tench.
With 2 hours to I dropped back in on the paste line, as there was on odd bubble coming up, I had a couple of skimmers and another carp in the next hour. The bubbles started to get more vigorous in the last hour and I had a few more skimmers and a few carp, but no quality, the biggest fish was taken with 9 minutes to go and was about 9lb, the biggest fish by 4lb easily. In the last half hour, there was bits of twig and old black leaves coming to the top as fish were rooting around in the bottom, it was a case of too little too late today and I think I ended up about 7th with 83lbish, of which 50lb was caught in the last hour. I was pretty pissed off with the pleasure anglers, but they were real novices and obviously had no idea of the effect they had on my peg, as it would have only taken a short run of fish from there to move me into a framing position.
Didn't get the results as I had to dash off and get to the Indian for a nice curry, so I'm sure Tony will have them on his blog.
Pole rigs were a paste rig for 5m, just at the bottom of the slope, a rig to fish the end bank margin, as well as a depth pellet rig and shallow pellet rig, neither of which touched the water. I decided against putting any groundbait into the end bank swim, because of the depth and the way it quickly sloped off to deeper water, this was fed with 8mm pellets, hemp and corn, the 5m line was fed with hemp and softened 6mm pellets, before starting on the pellet waggler, I fished this towards a tree on the end bank, as this was the only area of the peg with any signs of fish in. It didn't take too long before I had netted my first fish, although this proved to be a bit of a false dawn, as bites were hard to come by and after 3/4 of an hour I switched to the depth waggler, this produced a fish, then a couple of unhittable bites, which I am sure were liners, so back on the pellet waggler and another fish taken. I managed to loose two wagglers to the end bank vegetation and as it was so quiet, I went round and retrieved them both, one had a fair bit of line on it and I hate leaving line trailing around.
It was now 3 hours into the match and I had very little to show for it, the paste line had no fizzing of indication that there were fish evident, so I went to the end bank, which I had been feeding, but left alone as long as I could. I took two fish in two drop ins from here, on double corn, taking my weight to 25lb, then the pleasure anglers on the canal, who were in close proximity to my end bank swim, decided to walk up and down and chat, they had on a white Tee shirt and one had a yellow reflective jacket on (god knows why, it was very warm!!) that was the end of that line, I had one more bite from it and that was a lonesome tench.
With 2 hours to I dropped back in on the paste line, as there was on odd bubble coming up, I had a couple of skimmers and another carp in the next hour. The bubbles started to get more vigorous in the last hour and I had a few more skimmers and a few carp, but no quality, the biggest fish was taken with 9 minutes to go and was about 9lb, the biggest fish by 4lb easily. In the last half hour, there was bits of twig and old black leaves coming to the top as fish were rooting around in the bottom, it was a case of too little too late today and I think I ended up about 7th with 83lbish, of which 50lb was caught in the last hour. I was pretty pissed off with the pleasure anglers, but they were real novices and obviously had no idea of the effect they had on my peg, as it would have only taken a short run of fish from there to move me into a framing position.
Didn't get the results as I had to dash off and get to the Indian for a nice curry, so I'm sure Tony will have them on his blog.
Friday, 25 July 2014
Viaduct Costcutter, Thursday 24th July 2014
I was looking forward to getting back down to Viaduct and for company in the van I had Mike Walker, the journey seems to go a bit quicker with someone to talk to. In stark contrast to yesterdays lowly turnout, there were 41 fishing today, which meant there weren't too many gaps in the pegging on either Campbell or Cary. I got in near the start of the draw, with Mike in front of me, he pulled 119, maybe the wrong day for this peg, as what wind and ripple there was, was coming off the river banks of the lakes. I was in for a munter hunter day, drawing 98.
When I got to the peg I was pleased to see the wind pushing into it and signs of fish at 6m, as well as further out. Today was going to be a simple approach bait wise, 8mm pellet and paste, although I did set up a depth waggler, a shallow waggler, as well as two lead rods and three top kits, which held a simple paste rig on 0.18 with a 10 B911 XS for 7m, a shallow/slapping rig with a NG Ghandi and a depth pellet rig, which was on 0.18, with an 0.18 hooklength.
At the start I fed the paste line at 7m and then shipped out the depth rig to 14m, feeding 8mm pellets by catapult resulted in a few swirls, so I quickly swapped to the shallow rig and soon had a double in the net. I then foul hooked one on the shallow rig, which tore off and snapped (or cut through?) the elastic at the connector, frustrating as I spent a day last week cleaning all the pole sections, checking and renewing elastics, so there was no wear or obvious reason for it to snap.
In the time it took me to get another top kit and put a new rig on, the ripple that had been aiding me at 14m had gone, along with it the fish, so I swapped to the pellet waggler at about 30yds where there was still a ripple, feeding 8mm pellets here had the water erupting with fizz and the odd swirling fish and I had a couple, before the ripple subsided here and it was a lot of feeding and casting to get the odd bite, but it was worth the wait, as they were all except one, doubles. At one stage the wind became awkward and I thought I'd be clever and set up a zig rig, with a pellet (and I tried a piece of pepperami) popped up to 6" below the surface, this resulted in one foul hooked skimmer and a foul hoked carp that was lost, so up the bank with that, so much for trying something different.
I could see that peg 76 was catching well, as the ripple had stayed on that end of the lake all day, where as with pegs 99 and 97 also now fishing the pellet waggler, the fish were becoming very wary of a hookbait. I had several looks over the paste line and even though it was fizzing well, I had no bites, so back on the pellet wag. I was trying a new (to me) way of attaching the float and I was pleased with the result, I had two small tangles in 4 hours of thrashing the water, one of which, I saw that the reel line had a little mark on it, but ignored it, next fish hooked, snapped the reel line - doh... for the sake of two minutes to remake the set up and take out the damage, self inflicted numptyness.
With an hour to go the pellet waggler line had died, so a swap to the 7m paste line and this saw a fish netted first put in, with 3 more following in the final hour, giving me either 10 or 11 fish for 123.08, which was third on the lake and 8th overall, one out of the money..... just my luck. Travelling partner Mike, had 97.03 from 119, having a bit of a torrid time with the bush and fish going in there.....
I hadn't realised that Nick Ewers had been poorly and undergone a heart bypass, today was his first time back in a match and he looks well, one of anglings nice guys, I hope the recovery is quick and complete Nick. A good return as well, winning the silvers, beating venue owner Steve Long off the next peg.
1: R Wright 265.06 peg 76
2: Chris Kitchen 222.09 peg 105
3: Lee Werritt 205.10 peg 115
4: Tom Mangnall 172.13 peg 116
5: Jimmy Brooks 160.04 peg 111
6: Steve Openshaw 151.13 peg 132
7: Dan White 136.04 peg 121
8: Chris Fox 123.08 peg 98
Silvers
1: Nick Ewers 42.08 peg 87
2: Ziggy 38.06 peg 126
3: Steve Long 34.08 peg 88
When I got to the peg I was pleased to see the wind pushing into it and signs of fish at 6m, as well as further out. Today was going to be a simple approach bait wise, 8mm pellet and paste, although I did set up a depth waggler, a shallow waggler, as well as two lead rods and three top kits, which held a simple paste rig on 0.18 with a 10 B911 XS for 7m, a shallow/slapping rig with a NG Ghandi and a depth pellet rig, which was on 0.18, with an 0.18 hooklength.
At the start I fed the paste line at 7m and then shipped out the depth rig to 14m, feeding 8mm pellets by catapult resulted in a few swirls, so I quickly swapped to the shallow rig and soon had a double in the net. I then foul hooked one on the shallow rig, which tore off and snapped (or cut through?) the elastic at the connector, frustrating as I spent a day last week cleaning all the pole sections, checking and renewing elastics, so there was no wear or obvious reason for it to snap.
In the time it took me to get another top kit and put a new rig on, the ripple that had been aiding me at 14m had gone, along with it the fish, so I swapped to the pellet waggler at about 30yds where there was still a ripple, feeding 8mm pellets here had the water erupting with fizz and the odd swirling fish and I had a couple, before the ripple subsided here and it was a lot of feeding and casting to get the odd bite, but it was worth the wait, as they were all except one, doubles. At one stage the wind became awkward and I thought I'd be clever and set up a zig rig, with a pellet (and I tried a piece of pepperami) popped up to 6" below the surface, this resulted in one foul hooked skimmer and a foul hoked carp that was lost, so up the bank with that, so much for trying something different.
I could see that peg 76 was catching well, as the ripple had stayed on that end of the lake all day, where as with pegs 99 and 97 also now fishing the pellet waggler, the fish were becoming very wary of a hookbait. I had several looks over the paste line and even though it was fizzing well, I had no bites, so back on the pellet wag. I was trying a new (to me) way of attaching the float and I was pleased with the result, I had two small tangles in 4 hours of thrashing the water, one of which, I saw that the reel line had a little mark on it, but ignored it, next fish hooked, snapped the reel line - doh... for the sake of two minutes to remake the set up and take out the damage, self inflicted numptyness.
With an hour to go the pellet waggler line had died, so a swap to the 7m paste line and this saw a fish netted first put in, with 3 more following in the final hour, giving me either 10 or 11 fish for 123.08, which was third on the lake and 8th overall, one out of the money..... just my luck. Travelling partner Mike, had 97.03 from 119, having a bit of a torrid time with the bush and fish going in there.....
I hadn't realised that Nick Ewers had been poorly and undergone a heart bypass, today was his first time back in a match and he looks well, one of anglings nice guys, I hope the recovery is quick and complete Nick. A good return as well, winning the silvers, beating venue owner Steve Long off the next peg.
1: R Wright 265.06 peg 76
2: Chris Kitchen 222.09 peg 105
3: Lee Werritt 205.10 peg 115
4: Tom Mangnall 172.13 peg 116
5: Jimmy Brooks 160.04 peg 111
6: Steve Openshaw 151.13 peg 132
7: Dan White 136.04 peg 121
8: Chris Fox 123.08 peg 98
Silvers
1: Nick Ewers 42.08 peg 87
2: Ziggy 38.06 peg 126
3: Steve Long 34.08 peg 88
Avon Angling Open, Landsend, Wednesday 23rd July 2014
Only 9 fishing today, so at least I couldn't draw lake 3. 21 was my home for the day and there were half a dozen cruisers on the surface when I arrived. Simple approach, pellet and paste, I didn't push a pole over and plumb up the far side, so as not to disturb the cruisers, likewise I didn't put my nets in. All to no avail as the cruisers disappeared instantly I pushed the pole past 10m, the bright sun obviously aiding their visibility.
The match was a struggle, I had expected to catch from the island and this just didn't happen, the full depth rig at the bottom of the far shelf was equally as non productive, so I chopped up some meat and started a meat line, this produced one skimmer and one carp, I could hear plenty of splashing from the far side and could see Tony Rixon regularly netting fish. So after 2 1/2 hours I had a walk round the lake and it was fairly obvious the north bank was fishing much better than the south bank.
Back to my peg and I had two fish in two put ins from the island and that was it, nothing else from there all day, unless you count a 2oz roach on pellet. I persisted with a short paste line and had 4 or 5 skimmers and a couple more carp from it, putting 54.14 on the scales, which was a poor weight, but the top 3 and the top silver weight all came from the north bank, so maybe it was just one of those days.
1: Tony Rixon 163.12 peg 8
2: Andy Hembrow 119.05 peg 11
3: Steve Seager 102.15 peg 2
4: Paul Attwood, 77.8 peg 19
5: Phil Harding 68.08 peg 24
6: Chris Fox 54.14 peg 21
Silvers:
Martin Alexander 34.08 peg 5
The match was a struggle, I had expected to catch from the island and this just didn't happen, the full depth rig at the bottom of the far shelf was equally as non productive, so I chopped up some meat and started a meat line, this produced one skimmer and one carp, I could hear plenty of splashing from the far side and could see Tony Rixon regularly netting fish. So after 2 1/2 hours I had a walk round the lake and it was fairly obvious the north bank was fishing much better than the south bank.
Back to my peg and I had two fish in two put ins from the island and that was it, nothing else from there all day, unless you count a 2oz roach on pellet. I persisted with a short paste line and had 4 or 5 skimmers and a couple more carp from it, putting 54.14 on the scales, which was a poor weight, but the top 3 and the top silver weight all came from the north bank, so maybe it was just one of those days.
1: Tony Rixon 163.12 peg 8
2: Andy Hembrow 119.05 peg 11
3: Steve Seager 102.15 peg 2
4: Paul Attwood, 77.8 peg 19
5: Phil Harding 68.08 peg 24
6: Chris Fox 54.14 peg 21
Silvers:
Martin Alexander 34.08 peg 5
Monday, 21 July 2014
Sort Pole Series, Second Round, Trinty Waters, Woodland Lake. Sunday 20th July 2014
After a weeks enforced break, I was keen to get back out on the bank and hopefully put what has been a dreadful run, behind me. It was nice after a couple of weeks of solid work and driving to Worcester and back every day, to get a lift from Tony Rixon, with the usual stop off at Shipham for breakfast.
A new slim line Misha greeted us with her usual cheery demeanor, it is good to see Woodland open again and seemingly very little damage done to it by the recent KHV outbreak, John stopped by for a chat and told me of his plans for a new lake, he certainly doesn't seem to have any plans to retire and put his feet up.
I wasn't to bothered where I drew, with a couple of exceptions, I really don't get on with the pegs on the top bank, I would prefer a peg on the back bank, but either side or bottom end would be OK. I pulled peg 29 out, which is approximately in the middle of the car park bank, just over the bridge.
A fairly simple attack today, 8mm pellet and paste, four rigs, a MW pinger for banded pellet at full depth and a paste rig for the same line, and two AK47 margin floats rigged up for either margin, one with a B960 C/W band and the other on 0.20 straight through to a 10 B911XS. I was ready with half an hour to spare and wandered up to see Tony fishing the margin of Ash lake behind his peg, he did manage one small crucian before it was time to wander back and put the nets in.
On the all in I fed the 'long line' (which was topkit + 3 sections) with 8mm pellets and some hemp and the margins with pellet. First drop in with a banded 8mm pellet saw a couple of indications and after a couple of lift and drops, the float buried and a 1lb+ skimmer was netted. The first hour was slow going with another skimmer and one carp being the sum total. A switch to paste saw a couple of fish netted, but there was a lot of activity and I fouled a couple of fish which came off. After a couple of hours I had a look in the margin and the float buried first put in, the culprit was a 1lb perch who took a liking to the paste.
The margins on this bank can be really productive as John created some nice flat areas when he lowered this bank, but they are best when you have an empty peg next to you, which as I had Bela one side and Paul Elmes the other, I was fishing them more in hope than expectation. I managed 3 carp and 3 perch from the margin, for what ever reason the carp didn't come in and settle.
Paste on the long line had to be my banker and it seemed that feeding 1/2 a pot then fishing it out was best, trying to introduce a few pellets with the paste was a waste of time. I had two quiet spells of an hour each, where I didn't put a fish in the net, I am sure they had just backed off a bit and obviously given the limitations of the short pole rules, I couldn't follow them out. The two quiet spells and the lack of a late margin run cost me a framing place, but I did pick up the section money by default, so that's 2 second in sections in this series so far, 2 section wins are essential to stand any chance of getting into the overall money at the end.
I ended up with two nets clicked at 53 and 23, along with my silvers, they actually weighed 55 odd and 23 odd so reasonable accurate clicking, just a shame about those two quiet spells, leaving me 3 fish off second place.
1: Shaun Townsend 121.00 peg 9
2: Tony Rixon 106.05 peg 26
3: Paul Elmes 105.06 peg 30
4: Chris Fox 87.08 peg 29
5: Steve Seager 79.03 peg 13
6: Leon Hubbard 73.12 peg 14
Silvers
Clint Wojtyle 18-06-0 peg 11
A new slim line Misha greeted us with her usual cheery demeanor, it is good to see Woodland open again and seemingly very little damage done to it by the recent KHV outbreak, John stopped by for a chat and told me of his plans for a new lake, he certainly doesn't seem to have any plans to retire and put his feet up.
I wasn't to bothered where I drew, with a couple of exceptions, I really don't get on with the pegs on the top bank, I would prefer a peg on the back bank, but either side or bottom end would be OK. I pulled peg 29 out, which is approximately in the middle of the car park bank, just over the bridge.
A fairly simple attack today, 8mm pellet and paste, four rigs, a MW pinger for banded pellet at full depth and a paste rig for the same line, and two AK47 margin floats rigged up for either margin, one with a B960 C/W band and the other on 0.20 straight through to a 10 B911XS. I was ready with half an hour to spare and wandered up to see Tony fishing the margin of Ash lake behind his peg, he did manage one small crucian before it was time to wander back and put the nets in.
On the all in I fed the 'long line' (which was topkit + 3 sections) with 8mm pellets and some hemp and the margins with pellet. First drop in with a banded 8mm pellet saw a couple of indications and after a couple of lift and drops, the float buried and a 1lb+ skimmer was netted. The first hour was slow going with another skimmer and one carp being the sum total. A switch to paste saw a couple of fish netted, but there was a lot of activity and I fouled a couple of fish which came off. After a couple of hours I had a look in the margin and the float buried first put in, the culprit was a 1lb perch who took a liking to the paste.
The margins on this bank can be really productive as John created some nice flat areas when he lowered this bank, but they are best when you have an empty peg next to you, which as I had Bela one side and Paul Elmes the other, I was fishing them more in hope than expectation. I managed 3 carp and 3 perch from the margin, for what ever reason the carp didn't come in and settle.
Paste on the long line had to be my banker and it seemed that feeding 1/2 a pot then fishing it out was best, trying to introduce a few pellets with the paste was a waste of time. I had two quiet spells of an hour each, where I didn't put a fish in the net, I am sure they had just backed off a bit and obviously given the limitations of the short pole rules, I couldn't follow them out. The two quiet spells and the lack of a late margin run cost me a framing place, but I did pick up the section money by default, so that's 2 second in sections in this series so far, 2 section wins are essential to stand any chance of getting into the overall money at the end.
I ended up with two nets clicked at 53 and 23, along with my silvers, they actually weighed 55 odd and 23 odd so reasonable accurate clicking, just a shame about those two quiet spells, leaving me 3 fish off second place.
1: Shaun Townsend 121.00 peg 9
2: Tony Rixon 106.05 peg 26
3: Paul Elmes 105.06 peg 30
4: Chris Fox 87.08 peg 29
5: Steve Seager 79.03 peg 13
6: Leon Hubbard 73.12 peg 14
Silvers
Clint Wojtyle 18-06-0 peg 11
Tuesday, 8 July 2014
Tony Rixon's Float Only, Round Four, Landsend, Sunday 6th July 2014
Back to Landsend for round 4 of the float only series and with three lakes in, I knew that my lot would be to trudge up to lake 3, even though I wanted a draw on Match or Speci lakes, not least, because a league framing place is out of my grasp and the Match or Specimen lake offer a realistic chance of framing in the overall or silvers on the day. (Lake 3 never seems to come up trumps in the frame when I'm on it).
Into the draw bag and with the odds 2-1 against drawing lake 3, I was not in the least surprised to see peg 41 (lake 3) written on the swimcard like a cruel taunt. Peg 41 is an end/corner which has produced decent weights, but in my experience lately, the bigger fish seem to have migrated to the middle of the lake, leaving the ends for the smaller fish that were introduced from lake 4 and Mike's homebred stocking programme.
Well, it was a day on the bank after working a lot lately, so I set about the peg in a positive manner, this lake is a non starter when it comes to competing in the silvers, so my side tray had 6 and 8mm hard pellets on it, along with a bag of paste. I set up a shallow and a depth rig to fish at 14m out to the aerator, where there were some signs of fish, a paste rig to fish the edge (and it would do for anywhere else in the peg, as the margin was 6" shallower than the rest of the peg) and a rig to fish at the bottom of the shelf of the spit, which is like having an island. I also had a couple of pints of dead maggots and groundbait, with me, but the depth of the margin stopped me mixing it up.
Starting shallow at 14m in the open water, my first two fish were a 5oz rudd and a 2oz roach, both on 6mm pellet, before a small carp was safely netted. Mike Duckett appeared with the scales and put them behind my peg, (gee, thanks Mike), he stayed for a chat, telling me about his plans for lake 4 and that pleasure anglers had been catching on paste. Whilst he was there a couple of better fish were cruising about and I mugged one about 5lb, that turned out to be my best fish of the day!! The fish soon backed off to the other side of the rope, where John Bradford on peg 70 was fishing short, giving the shallow fish an area of sanctuary where they sat all day.
Mike Nicholls had walked up before the start and showed me where he had 160lb on paste from, but this short margin only produced 4 fish all day. The most productive area of the swim was tight across to the spit, but it was tricky, as the rig set up to fish at the bottom of the shelf was producing plenty of liners and the odd lost fouler, to one proper bite. I set up a shallow rig to fish between 6" and 12" deep, but it was difficult to get the pellet in where the fish were, as the bank is undercut, so a straight lowering of the rig tight to the bank, (even after a walk round there to clear all vegetation in the way) meant that the pellet wasn't tight to the bank under water. Flicking it into the under cut wasn't effective, the presentation was wrong, as it came away from the bank as it fell.
A frustrating day, I had more fish than those who beat me on the lake, but my fish were an average stamp of 2lb, where as the pegs in the middle of the lake, as true to recent forum, had the bigger fish (double figures). I cannot think of a way to overcome that, but I probably should have worked out a way to improve my catch rate from the spit, as I could see some fish with their noses into the undercut, feeding, but they wouldn't take a pellet 6" out from it. I put 49.15 on the scales, which beat the next two pegs to my left, before the big fish put in an appearance. Match lake and Speci filled the top 4 places and the silvers, matching my prediction, will I ever get off that bloody lake 3???
Weigh sheet from lake 3.
PS. Thanks to Gordon Cannings and John Bradford who took over the scales duties, as I had to get off sharpish and get to Worcester for a nightshift........ looks like it might be 20th July before work commitments see me on the bank again.
Overall:
Into the draw bag and with the odds 2-1 against drawing lake 3, I was not in the least surprised to see peg 41 (lake 3) written on the swimcard like a cruel taunt. Peg 41 is an end/corner which has produced decent weights, but in my experience lately, the bigger fish seem to have migrated to the middle of the lake, leaving the ends for the smaller fish that were introduced from lake 4 and Mike's homebred stocking programme.
Well, it was a day on the bank after working a lot lately, so I set about the peg in a positive manner, this lake is a non starter when it comes to competing in the silvers, so my side tray had 6 and 8mm hard pellets on it, along with a bag of paste. I set up a shallow and a depth rig to fish at 14m out to the aerator, where there were some signs of fish, a paste rig to fish the edge (and it would do for anywhere else in the peg, as the margin was 6" shallower than the rest of the peg) and a rig to fish at the bottom of the shelf of the spit, which is like having an island. I also had a couple of pints of dead maggots and groundbait, with me, but the depth of the margin stopped me mixing it up.
Starting shallow at 14m in the open water, my first two fish were a 5oz rudd and a 2oz roach, both on 6mm pellet, before a small carp was safely netted. Mike Duckett appeared with the scales and put them behind my peg, (gee, thanks Mike), he stayed for a chat, telling me about his plans for lake 4 and that pleasure anglers had been catching on paste. Whilst he was there a couple of better fish were cruising about and I mugged one about 5lb, that turned out to be my best fish of the day!! The fish soon backed off to the other side of the rope, where John Bradford on peg 70 was fishing short, giving the shallow fish an area of sanctuary where they sat all day.
Mike Nicholls had walked up before the start and showed me where he had 160lb on paste from, but this short margin only produced 4 fish all day. The most productive area of the swim was tight across to the spit, but it was tricky, as the rig set up to fish at the bottom of the shelf was producing plenty of liners and the odd lost fouler, to one proper bite. I set up a shallow rig to fish between 6" and 12" deep, but it was difficult to get the pellet in where the fish were, as the bank is undercut, so a straight lowering of the rig tight to the bank, (even after a walk round there to clear all vegetation in the way) meant that the pellet wasn't tight to the bank under water. Flicking it into the under cut wasn't effective, the presentation was wrong, as it came away from the bank as it fell.
A frustrating day, I had more fish than those who beat me on the lake, but my fish were an average stamp of 2lb, where as the pegs in the middle of the lake, as true to recent forum, had the bigger fish (double figures). I cannot think of a way to overcome that, but I probably should have worked out a way to improve my catch rate from the spit, as I could see some fish with their noses into the undercut, feeding, but they wouldn't take a pellet 6" out from it. I put 49.15 on the scales, which beat the next two pegs to my left, before the big fish put in an appearance. Match lake and Speci filled the top 4 places and the silvers, matching my prediction, will I ever get off that bloody lake 3???
Weigh sheet from lake 3.
PS. Thanks to Gordon Cannings and John Bradford who took over the scales duties, as I had to get off sharpish and get to Worcester for a nightshift........ looks like it might be 20th July before work commitments see me on the bank again.
Overall:
- Paul Elmes 155-10-0 peg 27
- Shaun Townsend 131-14-0 peg 9
- Martin Rayett 123-10-0 peg 38
- Tom Mangnall 99-13-0 peg 33
- Bob Gullick 98-07-0 peg 50
- Neil Mercer 95-11-0 peg 36
Top Silvers:
- Paul Faiers 32-0-0 peg 32
- Neil Mercer 30-0-0 peg 36
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