Well, I'd been looking forward to this, treated myself to another nice breakfast in the Bear, in Street. I must admit I was pretty deflated once I saw peg 74 staring at me as I opened the swimcard. It must be one of the shallowest pegs on the lake and with the easterly wind and rain blowing straight into it, I just knew it would be hard going.
I set up 4 rigs, one for perch/tench in the margin, a rig to fish to hand, although I did think that was a bit too optimistic, and a couple of rigs for 6m and 11m.
I struggled to get anything but the odd roach and tiny skimmer, trying lines with and without groundbait, with and without worm and maggot only. A perch and two hybrids which together went 5 -6lb made up the bulk of the weight I achieved, which I assume was last in section, 10.7.
Can't really be arsed to write anymore about what should have been an enjoyable day ruined by the draw and weather.
Tuesday, 25 September 2012
Wednesday, 19 September 2012
Viaduct Silvers Open, Wednesday 19th September 2012
Nice treat this morning, picked up by Tony Rixon, so no driving. We had a decent and large (although I couldn't compete with Tony) breakfast in the Bear, Street.
Campbell was the venue for today's silvers match, the bright sun was a concern, as skimmers rarely seem to feed well when the sun shines. I fancied a draw in the low to mid 120's, but as usual I had to make do with the opposite side of the lake and the other end!!
I drew 112, Tony managed fancied 123, so he was going to be difficult to beat. As this match was a practice for the silvers league which starts this Sunday, I set up a waggler rod, with a 3AAA peacock insert, an 0.10 hooklength and a 20 silverfish match hook. Next to that was a cage feeder, this with 0.12 and a middy 63.13 hook size 16 - I didn't touch this during the match, so no more about lead chucking.
3 Pole rigs, a 4x14 jolly on 0.14 with a 20 silverfish match hook on 0.10, a MW diamond, with a double bulk on 0.14 and a 0.12 hooklength (3") finished off with a 16 808 hook. Lastly, a Maver float on 0.15 with a 0.13 hooklength and a 16 B911, in case there were some tench in the margin.
Bait tray was nice and simple, big box of casters, small box of maggots, some worms and a few dampened micro's, accompanying that was a couple of kilos of groundbait. On the all in, I cupped in 6 big balls of groundbait at 11m, this had a few micros and casters in. I started at 5m, fed this with small ball of groundbait by hand and had a skimmer about 2oz, first drop in. Then roach moved in, so I dropped short, to just the topkit and refed, the roach followed the feed in and I caught them reasonably steadily until the half hour mark, when I went out to the 11m line, looking for skimmers.
First drop in with a soft pellet and a quick bite missed, next drop in a small roach, 3rd drop in a carp, which thankfully shed the hook. Back to the topkit and the roach started to come one a chuck, I wished I had a whip with me, as I prefer a flick tip for roach fishing. It seemed to be fishing hard - except those fishing the margins and long lines seemed to be finding the unwanted carp quite frequently. I had been feeding my RH margin which cuts back to peg 113, hoping for a bonus big perch or some tench, they didn't show, I had a couple of roach, then hooked a carp which trashed the rig (still don't know where the float went when it flew off the line, leaving its rubbers behind.), I didn't bother resetting up that topkit again.
I did have a look on the waggler, having loose fed some caster at about 18m, I had two bites, both resulted in carp being hooked, so that went back up the bank and back onto the topkit and head down, catching roach. I had a couple of bonus skimmers in the last half hour, still on the topkit and I was wondering if I;d sneak into some money, as it had fished hard and everyone had seemed to stick it out for skimmers and tench, which didn't really feed.
It turned out that the favoured peg 123 with Tony Rixon sat on it produced 10 tench and a few skimmers for Tony to win, with peg 126 giving up some skimmers for Ziggy in second. I managed to get third place, winning my bank and section, so at least some coin back to help offset the cost of that huge brekkie I bought for Tony. I forgot how tiring that roach fishing is, I didn't count them but I probably had 200+ roach.
1) Tony Rixon 41.08 peg 123
2) Ziggy Slowinski 32.13 peg 126
3) Chris Fox 25.12 peg 112
4) John Bradford 25.10 peg 125
5) Dick Bull 16.10 peg 115
6) Paul Blake 15.10 peg 111
Campbell was the venue for today's silvers match, the bright sun was a concern, as skimmers rarely seem to feed well when the sun shines. I fancied a draw in the low to mid 120's, but as usual I had to make do with the opposite side of the lake and the other end!!
I drew 112, Tony managed fancied 123, so he was going to be difficult to beat. As this match was a practice for the silvers league which starts this Sunday, I set up a waggler rod, with a 3AAA peacock insert, an 0.10 hooklength and a 20 silverfish match hook. Next to that was a cage feeder, this with 0.12 and a middy 63.13 hook size 16 - I didn't touch this during the match, so no more about lead chucking.
3 Pole rigs, a 4x14 jolly on 0.14 with a 20 silverfish match hook on 0.10, a MW diamond, with a double bulk on 0.14 and a 0.12 hooklength (3") finished off with a 16 808 hook. Lastly, a Maver float on 0.15 with a 0.13 hooklength and a 16 B911, in case there were some tench in the margin.
Bait tray was nice and simple, big box of casters, small box of maggots, some worms and a few dampened micro's, accompanying that was a couple of kilos of groundbait. On the all in, I cupped in 6 big balls of groundbait at 11m, this had a few micros and casters in. I started at 5m, fed this with small ball of groundbait by hand and had a skimmer about 2oz, first drop in. Then roach moved in, so I dropped short, to just the topkit and refed, the roach followed the feed in and I caught them reasonably steadily until the half hour mark, when I went out to the 11m line, looking for skimmers.
First drop in with a soft pellet and a quick bite missed, next drop in a small roach, 3rd drop in a carp, which thankfully shed the hook. Back to the topkit and the roach started to come one a chuck, I wished I had a whip with me, as I prefer a flick tip for roach fishing. It seemed to be fishing hard - except those fishing the margins and long lines seemed to be finding the unwanted carp quite frequently. I had been feeding my RH margin which cuts back to peg 113, hoping for a bonus big perch or some tench, they didn't show, I had a couple of roach, then hooked a carp which trashed the rig (still don't know where the float went when it flew off the line, leaving its rubbers behind.), I didn't bother resetting up that topkit again.
I did have a look on the waggler, having loose fed some caster at about 18m, I had two bites, both resulted in carp being hooked, so that went back up the bank and back onto the topkit and head down, catching roach. I had a couple of bonus skimmers in the last half hour, still on the topkit and I was wondering if I;d sneak into some money, as it had fished hard and everyone had seemed to stick it out for skimmers and tench, which didn't really feed.
It turned out that the favoured peg 123 with Tony Rixon sat on it produced 10 tench and a few skimmers for Tony to win, with peg 126 giving up some skimmers for Ziggy in second. I managed to get third place, winning my bank and section, so at least some coin back to help offset the cost of that huge brekkie I bought for Tony. I forgot how tiring that roach fishing is, I didn't count them but I probably had 200+ roach.
1) Tony Rixon 41.08 peg 123
2) Ziggy Slowinski 32.13 peg 126
3) Chris Fox 25.12 peg 112
4) John Bradford 25.10 peg 125
5) Dick Bull 16.10 peg 115
6) Paul Blake 15.10 peg 111
Wednesday, 5 September 2012
Viaduct Open, Wednesday 5th Sept 2012
Today's match was on the Match Lake, a lake which has seen me have mixed results, it does seem that depending upon the weather conditions, the fish seem to muster in certain areas. I quite fancied peg 47 today, as the island foliage gives good shade from the sun as the match progresses. I wasn't the only one who fancied it, Howard Webb said he'd like it and promptly drew it - how do some people do that!! 42 stuck to my palm.
I had caster and pellet, soft and hard today and as I managed to frame one match on this lake, fishing bread when I couldn't catch on anything else, I stopped at the supermarket in Somerton and got a loaf. I set up two rigs for the open water, both pencils, one with a fine tip, 0.08 and 20 Gama green hook. The other with a thicker tip, 0.12 and a 16 63.13 for pellet.
The waggler rod was an original Normark Microlight, an excellent skimmer rod, this had an 0.10 hooklength with a 18 Gama black hook. I did set up a lead rod, as it was going to be the only way to sensibly fish the island, the wind making waggler fishing tight to the island (conventional or pellet) impossible.
The waggler fished at 18/20m gave one decent skimmer on red maggot, before the nuisance fish made it (even with double caster) impossible to get near the bottom. The pole line with soft pellet went the same way and bites were pretty rare and impossible to hit on banded 6mm. With just over an hour gone I gave in and chucked the lead and bread, the tip went round before I has sunk the line and a carp at least 4lb graced the net.
I did try setting up a dumpy waggler on the Microlite, to fish shallow, but I couldn't get it to stay near the island for even two seconds and mending the line to stop it drifting, just pulled it further away. So back to the bread/lead, I had an indication most put in's, but they were a mixture of liners, proper bites and some of the fish managed to get the bread off without getting hooked.
The wind wasn't overly strong, but it was very intermittent, that caused a couple of wayward casts to land over the aerator rope, necessitating setting up again, as I had no hooks ready tied it cost me time. The fish came in little spells, but continually enough for me to stick with it, as the skimmers were scarce in this area of the lake, Rowland on 43 was struggling to catch them, so I just stuck it out on bread until the end. With 30 mins to go I hooked a big fish that ran off and manged to snap the 4lb reel line, maybe it was a decent fish foul hooked, so yet more time wasted in re-tackling up.
My efforts weren't enough to pick up today, Howard won from peg 47, with Lee Werrett 2 ounces behind.
1) Howard Webb 114.13 peg 47
2) Lee Werrett 114.11 peg 50
3) Jim Baines 77.07 peg 52
4) Chris Fox 69.11 peg 42
5) Jim Butcher 41.07 peg 49
6) Herbie 41.05 peg 45
Silvers
1) Howard Webb 47.05
2) Rowland 21.05 peg 43
I had caster and pellet, soft and hard today and as I managed to frame one match on this lake, fishing bread when I couldn't catch on anything else, I stopped at the supermarket in Somerton and got a loaf. I set up two rigs for the open water, both pencils, one with a fine tip, 0.08 and 20 Gama green hook. The other with a thicker tip, 0.12 and a 16 63.13 for pellet.
The waggler rod was an original Normark Microlight, an excellent skimmer rod, this had an 0.10 hooklength with a 18 Gama black hook. I did set up a lead rod, as it was going to be the only way to sensibly fish the island, the wind making waggler fishing tight to the island (conventional or pellet) impossible.
The waggler fished at 18/20m gave one decent skimmer on red maggot, before the nuisance fish made it (even with double caster) impossible to get near the bottom. The pole line with soft pellet went the same way and bites were pretty rare and impossible to hit on banded 6mm. With just over an hour gone I gave in and chucked the lead and bread, the tip went round before I has sunk the line and a carp at least 4lb graced the net.
I did try setting up a dumpy waggler on the Microlite, to fish shallow, but I couldn't get it to stay near the island for even two seconds and mending the line to stop it drifting, just pulled it further away. So back to the bread/lead, I had an indication most put in's, but they were a mixture of liners, proper bites and some of the fish managed to get the bread off without getting hooked.
The wind wasn't overly strong, but it was very intermittent, that caused a couple of wayward casts to land over the aerator rope, necessitating setting up again, as I had no hooks ready tied it cost me time. The fish came in little spells, but continually enough for me to stick with it, as the skimmers were scarce in this area of the lake, Rowland on 43 was struggling to catch them, so I just stuck it out on bread until the end. With 30 mins to go I hooked a big fish that ran off and manged to snap the 4lb reel line, maybe it was a decent fish foul hooked, so yet more time wasted in re-tackling up.
My efforts weren't enough to pick up today, Howard won from peg 47, with Lee Werrett 2 ounces behind.
1) Howard Webb 114.13 peg 47
2) Lee Werrett 114.11 peg 50
3) Jim Baines 77.07 peg 52
4) Chris Fox 69.11 peg 42
5) Jim Butcher 41.07 peg 49
6) Herbie 41.05 peg 45
Silvers
1) Howard Webb 47.05
2) Rowland 21.05 peg 43
Trinity, wildmarsh. Sunday 2nd Sept 2012
Seems like ages since I last fished, I think I seriously underestimated the amount of work that needed doing when we moved, but its getting there now, I'm hoping, it will be finally finished by Xmas, so back to normal next year.
I came with the intention of fishing for silvers and wasn't too disappointed with peg 30, I set up a waggler, a pole rig to fish soft pellet and a margin rig. There was a bit of blowing at 25 yards or so out, so I did set up a feeder and had a few chucks with it, but not so much as a liner, so that went up the bank.
I fed a line at 13m with some micros and softened 4mm pellets, this produced a decent skimmer, but bites weren't very forthcoming, I could see Tony Rixon, Mike West and Tom Thick all catching on the opposite bank, so jumped off my box and set up a paste rig. That brought another decent skimmer, there was much blowing and fizzing, but the float remained motionless for long, long, spells. A very lively carp then took the paste and after a long tussle, shed the hook at the net, so much for that.
A look on the short line brought a run of roach to caster and another line at 20 yards off to my left produced some decent roach on the waggler and caster, but they wouldn't stay and feed, one or two fish and then nothing, until the line had been rested. The margin only saw one fleeting bit of action, the float buried with two worms under it and a carp (probably fouled) ran off until the No16 elastic bottomed out and the hook pulled.
A tench and some more roach ( and one more lost carp) on the short line concluded my day and I should have fished for silvers all day, as my 15lb was enough for 3rd in silvers.
I came with the intention of fishing for silvers and wasn't too disappointed with peg 30, I set up a waggler, a pole rig to fish soft pellet and a margin rig. There was a bit of blowing at 25 yards or so out, so I did set up a feeder and had a few chucks with it, but not so much as a liner, so that went up the bank.
I fed a line at 13m with some micros and softened 4mm pellets, this produced a decent skimmer, but bites weren't very forthcoming, I could see Tony Rixon, Mike West and Tom Thick all catching on the opposite bank, so jumped off my box and set up a paste rig. That brought another decent skimmer, there was much blowing and fizzing, but the float remained motionless for long, long, spells. A very lively carp then took the paste and after a long tussle, shed the hook at the net, so much for that.
A look on the short line brought a run of roach to caster and another line at 20 yards off to my left produced some decent roach on the waggler and caster, but they wouldn't stay and feed, one or two fish and then nothing, until the line had been rested. The margin only saw one fleeting bit of action, the float buried with two worms under it and a carp (probably fouled) ran off until the No16 elastic bottomed out and the hook pulled.
A tench and some more roach ( and one more lost carp) on the short line concluded my day and I should have fished for silvers all day, as my 15lb was enough for 3rd in silvers.
1. Adrian
Clark 63-05-0 peg Island 10
2. Steve
Segar 56-03-0 peg 39
3. Alan
Oram 53-14-0 peg Island 3
4. Mike
West 39-03-0 peg 59
5. Tony
Rixon 35-04-0 peg 60
6. Tom
Thick 31-12-0 peg 57
Silvers:
1. Tom
Thick 19-05-0 peg 57
2. Nick
Collins 17-02-0 peg 19
3. Chris
Fox 15-0-0 peg 30
Thursday, 2 August 2012
Avon Angling Open, Acorn, Wednesday 1st August 2012
First Wednesday match for a while due to work, hopefully now I've got a settled work pattern, I can get a few more mid-week matches in - but the house is still in need of much work, so a balance must be struck.....
Disappointed with my draw today, peg 29, a few comments along the lines of "I wouldn't want that" and "wrong end of the lake, mate", but when the lake opened I managed a frame from peg 28, so there was some hope, but it was slight.
After Sunday's lesson in fish catching by the meat masters, I had brought some 6 & 8mm meat, caster, worm and pellet. Completing the bait selection was groundbait for making paste up on the bank if req'd.
I could see some fish moving on the far bank and tried two lines at 10 and 2 o'clock, a line straight in front at the bottom of the far shelf and a caster line off to my left at 3m. The far bank swims proved to be a non starter, the fronds of grass sticking out up to 2½', I had no bare bank and the fish would not come out from under the grass, the attempts to push the rig into the grass inevitably ended in the hook snagging in it. The line at the bottom of the shelf was fed with caster and softened 4mm pellets, caster, worm, soft and banded pellet all failing to get more than an occasional small skimmer.
The near caster line produced small perch, a tiny tench and several skimmers from 1oz to 6oz, but nothing consistently, nor of any size. The match was a struggle, it may have been better to stay targeting either silvers or carp, but looking at the final result, I know that I couldn't have caught anywhere near to the top weight in either category. I had kept feeding the line at the bottom of the far shelf and at 4 o'clock with an hour and 15 to go, I noticed some bubbles, at this point I reckon I had 2 carp for 3lb and about 8lb of small silvers. Dropping in with paste, there was a large patch of bubbles and the float sailed away, first better carp of the day. I had another 7 or 8 in the last hour, weighing 44lb odd of carp and 11lb odd of silvers (boosted by a couple of better skimmers on the paste), so over 40lb in the last hour - if only those fish would have shown all match!! I wasn't alone in my feeble weight, it seemed about right for pegs 24 round to 32 - how the hell do you turn draws like that into framing pegs
For the results see Tony's or Mike's blog.
Disappointed with my draw today, peg 29, a few comments along the lines of "I wouldn't want that" and "wrong end of the lake, mate", but when the lake opened I managed a frame from peg 28, so there was some hope, but it was slight.
After Sunday's lesson in fish catching by the meat masters, I had brought some 6 & 8mm meat, caster, worm and pellet. Completing the bait selection was groundbait for making paste up on the bank if req'd.
I could see some fish moving on the far bank and tried two lines at 10 and 2 o'clock, a line straight in front at the bottom of the far shelf and a caster line off to my left at 3m. The far bank swims proved to be a non starter, the fronds of grass sticking out up to 2½', I had no bare bank and the fish would not come out from under the grass, the attempts to push the rig into the grass inevitably ended in the hook snagging in it. The line at the bottom of the shelf was fed with caster and softened 4mm pellets, caster, worm, soft and banded pellet all failing to get more than an occasional small skimmer.
The near caster line produced small perch, a tiny tench and several skimmers from 1oz to 6oz, but nothing consistently, nor of any size. The match was a struggle, it may have been better to stay targeting either silvers or carp, but looking at the final result, I know that I couldn't have caught anywhere near to the top weight in either category. I had kept feeding the line at the bottom of the far shelf and at 4 o'clock with an hour and 15 to go, I noticed some bubbles, at this point I reckon I had 2 carp for 3lb and about 8lb of small silvers. Dropping in with paste, there was a large patch of bubbles and the float sailed away, first better carp of the day. I had another 7 or 8 in the last hour, weighing 44lb odd of carp and 11lb odd of silvers (boosted by a couple of better skimmers on the paste), so over 40lb in the last hour - if only those fish would have shown all match!! I wasn't alone in my feeble weight, it seemed about right for pegs 24 round to 32 - how the hell do you turn draws like that into framing pegs
For the results see Tony's or Mike's blog.
Monday, 30 July 2012
Avon Angling Open, Sedges, Sunday 29th July 2012
This was a practice for Tony's float only league, so the lead rods stayed in the van, normally I'd be happy with that, but with an annoying wind that swapped from L to R, face on, R to L and all points in between, the lead, I'm sure would have offered the best presentation on the day.
This match was on Brick lake with all 20 pegs in. I drew 14 and I had already decided on a groundbait and caster approach for the skimmers and pellet/paste for carp. that decision cost me any chance of picking up, as the skimmers caught were taken on meat, as were many of the carp. I fed a line at 9m with the groundbait, caster and a few dead maggots, a line at 14m with softened 4mm and micros and a waggler line out towards the aerator, which was fed with 8mm (nothing smaller would get anywhere near).
It didn't take long to get a bite on the waggler and the first carp was hooked, it felt a decent fish and initially swam towards me, when it turn and went back to the middle, the line went slack, I thought it was a fouler come off, but the line had snapped 1" below the float. 4lb Daiwa Sensor, I have had no issues with this line breaking, except at Viaduct when there are lots of fish in the peg (it seems that if the lines hits another fish it can break). Maybe its an issue with carrying rods already set up, I hadn't checked it over since the last time it was used, at least setting up fresh every time you see line damage.
That was it for the waggler, 3/4 of an hour and only a lost fish to show for it and one other missed bite. Sa switch to the groundbait and caster line produced one skimmer, lucky if it was 2oz, nothing else seemed to fancy an caster. The 14m pellet line also produced nothing, to either soft or banded pellet. I set up a waggler to fish at depth and laid 12" of line on the bottom, to try and achieve some sort of presentation. This produced some indications that fish were actually in the peg and resulted in three fish for 18lb in 30 minutes, before the wind swung round again and even with 12" of line and 4 No8 stotz dragging the bottom, the float was being pushed back towards me, far too fast to fool a fish.
I had refed the groundbait line with some pellet and a look over that with the paste produced a carp nudging double figures, but that was to be my lot, I had less than 8oz of skimmers and the 4 carp went 28lb odd for a resounding no where on the day. The decision not to take meat was a costly one.......
See Mike Nicholl's blog for the results. http://silverfoxangling.blogspot.co.uk/
This match was on Brick lake with all 20 pegs in. I drew 14 and I had already decided on a groundbait and caster approach for the skimmers and pellet/paste for carp. that decision cost me any chance of picking up, as the skimmers caught were taken on meat, as were many of the carp. I fed a line at 9m with the groundbait, caster and a few dead maggots, a line at 14m with softened 4mm and micros and a waggler line out towards the aerator, which was fed with 8mm (nothing smaller would get anywhere near).
It didn't take long to get a bite on the waggler and the first carp was hooked, it felt a decent fish and initially swam towards me, when it turn and went back to the middle, the line went slack, I thought it was a fouler come off, but the line had snapped 1" below the float. 4lb Daiwa Sensor, I have had no issues with this line breaking, except at Viaduct when there are lots of fish in the peg (it seems that if the lines hits another fish it can break). Maybe its an issue with carrying rods already set up, I hadn't checked it over since the last time it was used, at least setting up fresh every time you see line damage.
That was it for the waggler, 3/4 of an hour and only a lost fish to show for it and one other missed bite. Sa switch to the groundbait and caster line produced one skimmer, lucky if it was 2oz, nothing else seemed to fancy an caster. The 14m pellet line also produced nothing, to either soft or banded pellet. I set up a waggler to fish at depth and laid 12" of line on the bottom, to try and achieve some sort of presentation. This produced some indications that fish were actually in the peg and resulted in three fish for 18lb in 30 minutes, before the wind swung round again and even with 12" of line and 4 No8 stotz dragging the bottom, the float was being pushed back towards me, far too fast to fool a fish.
I had refed the groundbait line with some pellet and a look over that with the paste produced a carp nudging double figures, but that was to be my lot, I had less than 8oz of skimmers and the 4 carp went 28lb odd for a resounding no where on the day. The decision not to take meat was a costly one.......
See Mike Nicholl's blog for the results. http://silverfoxangling.blogspot.co.uk/
Monday, 23 July 2012
Avon Angling Open, Trinity, Wildmarsh. 22nd July 2012
A trip to Trinity this weekend and the first sight that greeted us was John, in a boat on the lake he's used as a stock pond, with 20,000 carp in it. The bloke never stops working!! Interesting to hear he has bred 8,000 F1's this year and also intends to use one stock pond to try and get some skimmers home bred - apparently they are £125 per 100 now.
I wasn't too concerned where I drew, it would be hard for a few, this lake really doesn't like the combination of a match, bright sun and no (or very little) ripple. Island peg 10 came out the landing that was used as a draw ticket receptacle, carp and chub being the most likely species, so not too disappointed. I set up a lead rod in case I had to go over to the reeds opposite and a waggler. The pole had four top kits set up, one with a jolly and a 16 6313 on 0.14 for soft pellet/caster, a rig for hair rigged hard pellet, a paste rig and a multi purpose margin rig to fish the RH margin.
First two put in's saw two small skimmers in the net and after several more put ins where the soft pellet was ragged off the hook I switch to the banded pellet rig, this produced absolutely nothing. The skimmers didn't seem to like the hard pellet I fed with it and that was the end of that line. I set up a new silvers line with caster and that produced one roach and one hybrid, both to maggot, I didn't have a single bite on caster or worm. With so few silvers evident, it was time to concentrate on the reeds opposite and the margin. There was no interest in 8mm meat, so I shortened the paste rig by about 12" to use in the margin.
The match held no further excitement for me, 3 carp falling to the paste in the margin and two to 8mm pellet fished tight to the reeds. There was nothing in the way of liners or missed bites, so I don't think there were too many fish in the peg. The highlight of the day was watching Martin Lenaghan being done by fish after fish in the reeds to the right of peg 40. It made my one lost fish (on the lead) which shed the hook by doing a fine impression of an alligator roll when it popped up in front of me - sods law it was the biggest fish of the day.
I did lose plenty of hooks and a couple of leads, as the reeds extend out under the water, making them a proper snag pit, but if you don't get in tight, you don't get a bite. My silvers went an embarrassing 15oz and the 5 carp 21.03. I think the lost carp cost me the section money, as Dean managed 6 carp and 1lb odd of silvers for 27lb and the section money. See Tony's blog for the results.
I wasn't too concerned where I drew, it would be hard for a few, this lake really doesn't like the combination of a match, bright sun and no (or very little) ripple. Island peg 10 came out the landing that was used as a draw ticket receptacle, carp and chub being the most likely species, so not too disappointed. I set up a lead rod in case I had to go over to the reeds opposite and a waggler. The pole had four top kits set up, one with a jolly and a 16 6313 on 0.14 for soft pellet/caster, a rig for hair rigged hard pellet, a paste rig and a multi purpose margin rig to fish the RH margin.
First two put in's saw two small skimmers in the net and after several more put ins where the soft pellet was ragged off the hook I switch to the banded pellet rig, this produced absolutely nothing. The skimmers didn't seem to like the hard pellet I fed with it and that was the end of that line. I set up a new silvers line with caster and that produced one roach and one hybrid, both to maggot, I didn't have a single bite on caster or worm. With so few silvers evident, it was time to concentrate on the reeds opposite and the margin. There was no interest in 8mm meat, so I shortened the paste rig by about 12" to use in the margin.
The match held no further excitement for me, 3 carp falling to the paste in the margin and two to 8mm pellet fished tight to the reeds. There was nothing in the way of liners or missed bites, so I don't think there were too many fish in the peg. The highlight of the day was watching Martin Lenaghan being done by fish after fish in the reeds to the right of peg 40. It made my one lost fish (on the lead) which shed the hook by doing a fine impression of an alligator roll when it popped up in front of me - sods law it was the biggest fish of the day.
I did lose plenty of hooks and a couple of leads, as the reeds extend out under the water, making them a proper snag pit, but if you don't get in tight, you don't get a bite. My silvers went an embarrassing 15oz and the 5 carp 21.03. I think the lost carp cost me the section money, as Dean managed 6 carp and 1lb odd of silvers for 27lb and the section money. See Tony's blog for the results.
Monday, 16 July 2012
Avon Angling Open, Viaduct, Sunday 15th July 2012
It was good to get back to Viaduct, with Campbell and Lodge in, I wanted a draw on Campbell, I got my wish, but it wasn't a peg I would have chosen, 129, apparently Steve Ringer came last in his section in the UK champs from it this week.
I had three baits with me, pellet, 8mm meat and paste. So rigs for all of them set up, a 0.2 MW diamond for pellet at depth, a MW cookie for pellet shallow, both on 0.16 with B960 16 hooks. I managed one decent skimmer on these rigs, so little more to say about them. Two meat rigs, one for 6m looking across to 110 and anther for fishing up to the spit, although there wasn't more than 6" or 8" difference in the depth. These were on 0.20 with TXR7 size 16 hooks on a 6" 0.18 hooklength.
Two waggler rods set up, one shallow and one full depth, as forecast had predicted a breezy day, a lead rod completed the set up. Starting on the waggler and 20 minutes without a bite or any indication that there were any fish in front of me had me switching to the long pole line, where I had fed some 4mm pellet. A 6mm pellet was pecked by nuisance fish, so on went an 8mm. That produced a decent skimmer, but nothing else, there was no fizzing, no swirls, nothing to indicate that the peg held any decent fish.
An earlier than planned switch to the spit with meat produced an instant response and a 2lb+ Perch fell to the meat. Sticking at it and several small Carp came to the net, some smaller than the Perch. The 6m meat line produced two tiny skimmers, as the float dipped and trembled every put in, as the small fish nibbled at the meat, it was a total waste of time. By 3.30 I had 9 Carp, for a weight I estimated to be less than 30lb, so another look on the waggler. I couldn't get it to hold still, but had a couple of indications, so in desperation, reached for the lead rod, three Carp in the first three chucks which were double the size of my spit caught fish.
That proved to be a false dawn and I went back to the spit and took another small Carp on the meat, before it all seemed to dry up completely, the lead produced one more decent fish before the all out. Not for the first time I was in the worst section, in fact it seems to be once again, the only consistent in my fishing at the moment. With me on 129 weighing 61.9 (55.00 carp and 6.11 of silvers), 130 DNW, 131 DNW and 132 weighing 44.15. I'm really not sure what more I could have done, as I had no liners when I did try the paste (nor bites), no liners on the lead and no foulers or liners on the waggler. The section was won by Phil Cardwell on 128 the other side of the spit, with 83.02, I have no idea how I could have got another 23lb from my peg.
It does seem to be a total waste of a day and money at the moment, to keep consistently drawing in an area where there aren't enough fish to be in with a chance of framing, if I'd been battered between the winners, at least I could assess why and address what I'd got wrong. I had a spell like this in the early 90's and it went on for 18 months and saw me walk away from fishing for 15 years, lets hope my drawbag luck changes soon!!
Anton Page should have won, but being 4lb over in one net, saw that one capped at 70lb and being over 90lb in another saw him lose the whole net - ironic really that he had nearly double my weight disqualified!!
1) Tom Mangnall 242.12 peg 126
2) Anton Page 193.02 peg 123
3) Craig Edmunds 162.14 peg 59
4) Tony Rixon 138.06 peg 124
5) Alan Oram 126.07 peg 119
6) Dean Malin 85.10 peg 112
Silvers
1) Sean Towsend 31.15 peg 66
2) Tony Rixon 30.09 peg 124
3) Nigel Bartlett 30.06 peg 118
I had three baits with me, pellet, 8mm meat and paste. So rigs for all of them set up, a 0.2 MW diamond for pellet at depth, a MW cookie for pellet shallow, both on 0.16 with B960 16 hooks. I managed one decent skimmer on these rigs, so little more to say about them. Two meat rigs, one for 6m looking across to 110 and anther for fishing up to the spit, although there wasn't more than 6" or 8" difference in the depth. These were on 0.20 with TXR7 size 16 hooks on a 6" 0.18 hooklength.
Two waggler rods set up, one shallow and one full depth, as forecast had predicted a breezy day, a lead rod completed the set up. Starting on the waggler and 20 minutes without a bite or any indication that there were any fish in front of me had me switching to the long pole line, where I had fed some 4mm pellet. A 6mm pellet was pecked by nuisance fish, so on went an 8mm. That produced a decent skimmer, but nothing else, there was no fizzing, no swirls, nothing to indicate that the peg held any decent fish.
An earlier than planned switch to the spit with meat produced an instant response and a 2lb+ Perch fell to the meat. Sticking at it and several small Carp came to the net, some smaller than the Perch. The 6m meat line produced two tiny skimmers, as the float dipped and trembled every put in, as the small fish nibbled at the meat, it was a total waste of time. By 3.30 I had 9 Carp, for a weight I estimated to be less than 30lb, so another look on the waggler. I couldn't get it to hold still, but had a couple of indications, so in desperation, reached for the lead rod, three Carp in the first three chucks which were double the size of my spit caught fish.
That proved to be a false dawn and I went back to the spit and took another small Carp on the meat, before it all seemed to dry up completely, the lead produced one more decent fish before the all out. Not for the first time I was in the worst section, in fact it seems to be once again, the only consistent in my fishing at the moment. With me on 129 weighing 61.9 (55.00 carp and 6.11 of silvers), 130 DNW, 131 DNW and 132 weighing 44.15. I'm really not sure what more I could have done, as I had no liners when I did try the paste (nor bites), no liners on the lead and no foulers or liners on the waggler. The section was won by Phil Cardwell on 128 the other side of the spit, with 83.02, I have no idea how I could have got another 23lb from my peg.
It does seem to be a total waste of a day and money at the moment, to keep consistently drawing in an area where there aren't enough fish to be in with a chance of framing, if I'd been battered between the winners, at least I could assess why and address what I'd got wrong. I had a spell like this in the early 90's and it went on for 18 months and saw me walk away from fishing for 15 years, lets hope my drawbag luck changes soon!!
Anton Page should have won, but being 4lb over in one net, saw that one capped at 70lb and being over 90lb in another saw him lose the whole net - ironic really that he had nearly double my weight disqualified!!
1) Tom Mangnall 242.12 peg 126
2) Anton Page 193.02 peg 123
3) Craig Edmunds 162.14 peg 59
4) Tony Rixon 138.06 peg 124
5) Alan Oram 126.07 peg 119
6) Dean Malin 85.10 peg 112
Silvers
1) Sean Towsend 31.15 peg 66
2) Tony Rixon 30.09 peg 124
3) Nigel Bartlett 30.06 peg 118
Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Tony Rixon's Float Only, Landsend. 8th July 2012
I decided to face my demons again and take a trip to Landsend and take a guest spot in Tony's float only series, as with last time, it was to be a positive approach, hopefully a draw on some silvers, so caster, worm and Devils Spawn, if not, carp slaying, so hard pellet, paste and meat were in the bait bag.
I fancied a draw on Speci or Match lake, not lake 3, so what came out, peg 61 on lake 3 with Alan Oram on 58 end peg and Dean Malin on 62, so tough competition from a peg that I didn't fancy. Whenever I draw lake 3 it seems to produce one weight that possibly frames, but other wise it's fishing for section. Today it didn't even manage a framing weight and I can't recall it ever competing in the silvers.
A walk up to Alan on 58 and he had plenty of fish moving down in the corner by the pipe, the fish were cruising around the lake in pairs and fours - looks like they are going to spawn again. I set up half a dozen topkits, a caster rig, a Devils Spawn rig, a meat rig, a hard pellet rig, a paste rig and a shallow rig to try and get the slurpers and cruisers.
I fed some micros and softened 4's at 8m towards the gap in the islands, caster at 8m straight in front and hard 4's to the island with a catty. I dropped the hard pellet rig in tight to the island (the depth was only a couple of inches shallower than the middle, no shelf), it went straight under and a 2 pounder battled its way to the net. It proved to be a cruel, false dawn, as for the next 30 minutes, nothing happened, then another 2 pounder took the hair rigged 6mm pellet.
In short, it was a hard match, the caster line produced one roach, the devils Spawn line produced 3 skimmers, a 3lb carp and 4 or 5 roach. I fed a line under the tree to the left with meat and caster, the meat produced nothing, the hard pellet across produced a couple more small carp, both at depth, the shallow rig didn't even see a bite registered. Paste over the devils spawn and across produced the same result, but I did have one liner, surely a sign that the fish weren't in the peg!!
I was thinking that the right approach on the day might have been maggot, as I have caught fish that are cruising and apparently not interested in a bait, on maggot, perhaps the movement makes them snatch at it.
With half an hour to go, I had 5 carp for not much more than 15lb and 2lb of silvers, I dropped the caster rig, with double maggot, in under the tree, where I'd been feeding caster and meat, the float setttled and within 30 seconds slid under and a 5lb carp was netted (after it stretched the white hydro nearly into Dean's peg and he lifted his rig to try and mug the intruder, until he realised it was hooked!!). Rebaiting with two really fat maggots and once again the float slid under and another carp battled the 0.12 before being netted.
My 30lb 4oz was only good enough for 3rd in section, as Craig Edmunds had mugged 70lb in a fine mugging display on the day from the peg opposite me, although the island foliage meant I could see him doing it and Alan took a weight about 50lb from the end peg. With Dean DNW next to me, I remain convinced there just weren't any numbers of fish in our pegs, carp or silvers.
So Landsend continues to thwart my efforts, not sure what to do to change it, as the results show, my gut instinct about not wanting to draw lake 3 was fully founded.
I fancied a draw on Speci or Match lake, not lake 3, so what came out, peg 61 on lake 3 with Alan Oram on 58 end peg and Dean Malin on 62, so tough competition from a peg that I didn't fancy. Whenever I draw lake 3 it seems to produce one weight that possibly frames, but other wise it's fishing for section. Today it didn't even manage a framing weight and I can't recall it ever competing in the silvers.
A walk up to Alan on 58 and he had plenty of fish moving down in the corner by the pipe, the fish were cruising around the lake in pairs and fours - looks like they are going to spawn again. I set up half a dozen topkits, a caster rig, a Devils Spawn rig, a meat rig, a hard pellet rig, a paste rig and a shallow rig to try and get the slurpers and cruisers.
I fed some micros and softened 4's at 8m towards the gap in the islands, caster at 8m straight in front and hard 4's to the island with a catty. I dropped the hard pellet rig in tight to the island (the depth was only a couple of inches shallower than the middle, no shelf), it went straight under and a 2 pounder battled its way to the net. It proved to be a cruel, false dawn, as for the next 30 minutes, nothing happened, then another 2 pounder took the hair rigged 6mm pellet.
In short, it was a hard match, the caster line produced one roach, the devils Spawn line produced 3 skimmers, a 3lb carp and 4 or 5 roach. I fed a line under the tree to the left with meat and caster, the meat produced nothing, the hard pellet across produced a couple more small carp, both at depth, the shallow rig didn't even see a bite registered. Paste over the devils spawn and across produced the same result, but I did have one liner, surely a sign that the fish weren't in the peg!!
I was thinking that the right approach on the day might have been maggot, as I have caught fish that are cruising and apparently not interested in a bait, on maggot, perhaps the movement makes them snatch at it.
With half an hour to go, I had 5 carp for not much more than 15lb and 2lb of silvers, I dropped the caster rig, with double maggot, in under the tree, where I'd been feeding caster and meat, the float setttled and within 30 seconds slid under and a 5lb carp was netted (after it stretched the white hydro nearly into Dean's peg and he lifted his rig to try and mug the intruder, until he realised it was hooked!!). Rebaiting with two really fat maggots and once again the float slid under and another carp battled the 0.12 before being netted.
My 30lb 4oz was only good enough for 3rd in section, as Craig Edmunds had mugged 70lb in a fine mugging display on the day from the peg opposite me, although the island foliage meant I could see him doing it and Alan took a weight about 50lb from the end peg. With Dean DNW next to me, I remain convinced there just weren't any numbers of fish in our pegs, carp or silvers.
So Landsend continues to thwart my efforts, not sure what to do to change it, as the results show, my gut instinct about not wanting to draw lake 3 was fully founded.
1. Anton
page 279-0-0 peg 19
2. Tom
Mangnall 152-0-0 peg 21
3. Bob
Gullick 120-11-0 peg 5
4. Mike
Nicholls 116-09-0 peg 18
5. Clayton
Hudson 107-08-0 peg 34
6. Tom
Thick 107-05-0 peg 1
Top Silvers:
1. Clayton
Hudson 36-12-0 peg 34
2. Tony
Rixon 31-05-0 peg 3
3. Nick
Collins 29-12-0 peg 16
Sunday, 1 July 2012
Trinity Two Day Festival Sat/Sun 23/24 June 2012
Back to the old format this year, fishing Woodland and Wildmarsh lake on alternate days. Into the drawbag and 32 on Woodland revealed itself. I was a bit disappointed with it as a draw, the wind was blowing to the opposite end of the lake and much of my peg did not have a ripple on it. I had bait to fish for silvers, but decided that I wouldn't be able to compete with the pegs in the 20's which usually produce some skimmers.
I set up a couple of waggler rods to fish pellet shallow and about 4' deep, a rig to fish Devils Spawn at 12m, another to fish banded pellet at the same distance, a paste rig for 12m and a rig to fish meat in the margins.
Starting on the waggler, it was slow going, with just the odd bite from roach, after 20 mins I had a carp, but it seemed to be a loner, as the waggler didn't produce another fish. A switch to the 12m line was equally unproductive, on soft and hard pellet, no fizzing, no liners, real hard fishing. I'd been dripping a little feed into the margins, but there was no sign of fish, even so, in desperation, I had a drop in far earlier than I would usually. This resulted in one carp, but then the meat was being ragged by tiny fish.
Back to the 12m line and there was now an odd bubble showing and I managed a couple of skimmers and two carp on Devils Spawn, before switching to paste, this brought several more carp and a three more skimmers before the all out, with my skimmers going 10lb exactly and the carp 52lb. As expected the two pegs at the other end of the section, the windward end of the lake took the top two places in the section, I knew I'd need some decent anglers to have a disaster on Sunday for my 3rd in section to put me in the frame. Even with that, I wasn't too disappointed getting 3rd from the peg, Kev Perry on peg 2 had really struggled, so I don't think there were too many fish in our corner of the lake.
Sunday saw me draw 52 on Wildmarsh, a really good peg for silvers, especially small fish on a topkit to hand, but I knew that only a section win (and some really unexpected blow outs) would do any good, so I set out my stall to catch carp. Again a pellet line at 12m, with a paste rig at that length, also a polyball paste rig for the margin, which was the shelf in front of peg 53. I also set up a feeder, but this produced just one small roach and a tiny hybrid. After an hour I had a 9lb carp on 6mm banded pellet at 12m, but that was it from that line, no matter what bait I put out there it was attacked and whittled down by tiny fish. I had a few roach and small skimmers, but was looking far from the section win needed, so I carried on looking for carp, in the last hour, the margin produced two more carp, 5lb each and the scales saw me weigh 19lb odd of carp and 4lb odd of silvers. Ignoring the silvers in the blank middle of the match cost me, as Paul Lock won the section with 24lb odd of skimmers, an hour fishing for roach would have seen me make up the 1lb deficit, although with Paul Elmes and Paul Lock both registering two section wins, a point less wouldn't have seen me make the overall frame.
Thanks to John, Sue and Misha for a good weekend, just a shame the weather seems to affect the fishing whenever there is a big match at Trinity.
Overall;
1) Paul Elmes 2 points 156.11
2) Paul Lock 2 points 103.01
3) Tony Rixon 3 points 130.08
4) Dean malin 3 points 114
Silvers:
1) Craig Edmunds 2 points 38.07
2) Nigel Bartlett 3 points
I set up a couple of waggler rods to fish pellet shallow and about 4' deep, a rig to fish Devils Spawn at 12m, another to fish banded pellet at the same distance, a paste rig for 12m and a rig to fish meat in the margins.
Starting on the waggler, it was slow going, with just the odd bite from roach, after 20 mins I had a carp, but it seemed to be a loner, as the waggler didn't produce another fish. A switch to the 12m line was equally unproductive, on soft and hard pellet, no fizzing, no liners, real hard fishing. I'd been dripping a little feed into the margins, but there was no sign of fish, even so, in desperation, I had a drop in far earlier than I would usually. This resulted in one carp, but then the meat was being ragged by tiny fish.
Back to the 12m line and there was now an odd bubble showing and I managed a couple of skimmers and two carp on Devils Spawn, before switching to paste, this brought several more carp and a three more skimmers before the all out, with my skimmers going 10lb exactly and the carp 52lb. As expected the two pegs at the other end of the section, the windward end of the lake took the top two places in the section, I knew I'd need some decent anglers to have a disaster on Sunday for my 3rd in section to put me in the frame. Even with that, I wasn't too disappointed getting 3rd from the peg, Kev Perry on peg 2 had really struggled, so I don't think there were too many fish in our corner of the lake.
Sunday saw me draw 52 on Wildmarsh, a really good peg for silvers, especially small fish on a topkit to hand, but I knew that only a section win (and some really unexpected blow outs) would do any good, so I set out my stall to catch carp. Again a pellet line at 12m, with a paste rig at that length, also a polyball paste rig for the margin, which was the shelf in front of peg 53. I also set up a feeder, but this produced just one small roach and a tiny hybrid. After an hour I had a 9lb carp on 6mm banded pellet at 12m, but that was it from that line, no matter what bait I put out there it was attacked and whittled down by tiny fish. I had a few roach and small skimmers, but was looking far from the section win needed, so I carried on looking for carp, in the last hour, the margin produced two more carp, 5lb each and the scales saw me weigh 19lb odd of carp and 4lb odd of silvers. Ignoring the silvers in the blank middle of the match cost me, as Paul Lock won the section with 24lb odd of skimmers, an hour fishing for roach would have seen me make up the 1lb deficit, although with Paul Elmes and Paul Lock both registering two section wins, a point less wouldn't have seen me make the overall frame.
Thanks to John, Sue and Misha for a good weekend, just a shame the weather seems to affect the fishing whenever there is a big match at Trinity.
Overall;
1) Paul Elmes 2 points 156.11
2) Paul Lock 2 points 103.01
3) Tony Rixon 3 points 130.08
4) Dean malin 3 points 114
Silvers:
1) Craig Edmunds 2 points 38.07
2) Nigel Bartlett 3 points
Monday, 18 June 2012
Float Only, Sedges, Sunday 17th June 2012
I was going to have another weekend off and do more stuff on the house and get ready for next weeks two day festival at Trinity, but a late call from Tony Rixon wanting to fill a space in his float only, persuaded me to get out fishing, the house can wait.
I have only been to sedges a couple of times before, both with little success and the day kicked off to a bad start when tony asked what bait I had ordered (two pints of caster and a few maggots), because he had forgotten it. Great, I had fancied a day on the silvers, thankfully Nigel Bartlett came to the rescue and handed me two pints of the finest caster I've seen for a long time, not a skin or floater amongst them - thanks Nigel.
As it was 5 peg sections and a league, there was no point in me doing anything but fishing positive and trying to win, my home for the 6 hours was peg 6, which I was informed was a great winter peg, just what you need in June, even though the weather is far from flaming June.
I set up a trusty Normark Titan 2000 for a pellet waggler to fish out towards the rope that divides the lake and three topkits, a 4x18 Jolly with a 16 carp maggot hook on 0.12, a No6 MW diamond with a 16 6313 on 0.14 and a paste rig on 0.18.
At the all in I fed a line at 7m to my left with CW&C, a line straight out at 13m with pellet and then started on the pellet wag whilst the pole lines settled, this was slow going, the first indication after about 20 minutes was a fouler, which stayed on until 6" from the net, before shedding the hook. 10 minutes later a fish around the 7lb mark graced the net, but that was it for the waggler, I tried at several times during the match, but the wind changed round and the cruising fish disappeared.
A look over the CW&C brought a big skimmer on worm and caster hookbait, perhaps I was going to have a good day on the silvers after all, but that was it on the worm and caster , caster produced nothing, nor did soft pellet.
I spent the rest of the match between the two pole lines and picked up 5 more carp to 12lb and another 4 skimmers, all on paste, the lines were fizzing, but there appeared to be little fish movement, as I had very few liners. I thought it would be a tight match and so it proved, my 5 skimmers going 10lb exactly and 6 carp 54.15, my 64.15 was enough to take third spot.
1) Phil Harding 76.07 peg 20
2) Bela Bakos 69.09 Peg 19
3) Chris Fox 64.15 peg 6
4) John Thompson 63.15 peg 23
5) Anton Page 61.15 peg 8
6) Tony Rixon 60.9 peg 32
Silvers
1) Shane Caswell 39lb peg 18
I have only been to sedges a couple of times before, both with little success and the day kicked off to a bad start when tony asked what bait I had ordered (two pints of caster and a few maggots), because he had forgotten it. Great, I had fancied a day on the silvers, thankfully Nigel Bartlett came to the rescue and handed me two pints of the finest caster I've seen for a long time, not a skin or floater amongst them - thanks Nigel.
As it was 5 peg sections and a league, there was no point in me doing anything but fishing positive and trying to win, my home for the 6 hours was peg 6, which I was informed was a great winter peg, just what you need in June, even though the weather is far from flaming June.
I set up a trusty Normark Titan 2000 for a pellet waggler to fish out towards the rope that divides the lake and three topkits, a 4x18 Jolly with a 16 carp maggot hook on 0.12, a No6 MW diamond with a 16 6313 on 0.14 and a paste rig on 0.18.
At the all in I fed a line at 7m to my left with CW&C, a line straight out at 13m with pellet and then started on the pellet wag whilst the pole lines settled, this was slow going, the first indication after about 20 minutes was a fouler, which stayed on until 6" from the net, before shedding the hook. 10 minutes later a fish around the 7lb mark graced the net, but that was it for the waggler, I tried at several times during the match, but the wind changed round and the cruising fish disappeared.
A look over the CW&C brought a big skimmer on worm and caster hookbait, perhaps I was going to have a good day on the silvers after all, but that was it on the worm and caster , caster produced nothing, nor did soft pellet.
I spent the rest of the match between the two pole lines and picked up 5 more carp to 12lb and another 4 skimmers, all on paste, the lines were fizzing, but there appeared to be little fish movement, as I had very few liners. I thought it would be a tight match and so it proved, my 5 skimmers going 10lb exactly and 6 carp 54.15, my 64.15 was enough to take third spot.
1) Phil Harding 76.07 peg 20
2) Bela Bakos 69.09 Peg 19
3) Chris Fox 64.15 peg 6
4) John Thompson 63.15 peg 23
5) Anton Page 61.15 peg 8
6) Tony Rixon 60.9 peg 32
Silvers
1) Shane Caswell 39lb peg 18
Tuesday, 5 June 2012
Landsend Open, Monday 4th June 2012
The 12.30 draw time proved the attraction for this match, although I can't get my head round this dangling pellets next to islands for carp, so 3 pints of caster and some Devils Spawn were the mainstays on my bait tray, trying to get a decent net of silvers.
So, what do I draw, 19, a peg dominated by carp!! I have drawn this peg once before and failed miserably to avoid the carp, so I still set up my silvers rigs, but also two paste rigs, one for full depth and one for the shelf that juts out of the island at 16m.
There were plenty of carp moving around, but they did seem to be in the gap and tight to the island, so would they stay away from my two silver lines (one at top kit to hand and another at about 9m). I started by potting in some caster and micros at 9m and loose fed caster short, then out with the shallow caster rig across towards the island. A four of chunky F1's graced the net before I got tangled in the island foliage - a particularly tough plant with pod like green fronds. I got the rig back, but the float was trashed. I quickly set up a new rig and that wasn't as successful as the trashed one - how often does that happen!! I then dropped in on the 9m line and had another f1 and a big skimmer, but it was slow going.
Dropping in on the short line with double caster produced another big skimmer, but the roach and perch were conspicuous by their absence. I had started on a 0.16 hooklength with a 16 Drennan carp maggot hook, thinking that if I hooked carp I may as well as try and get them out. Was this too heavy for the silvers? A switch to 0.14 and a 18 hook produced a few more bites, both short and at 9m, but not to caster or soft pellet, I had to switch to double red maggot to get a few more decent skimmers and a tench.
With two hours to go I thought I had 25lb and perhaps 40lb could be on the cards, but then the bloody carp started cruising over the 9m line and even dropping down to pick up the maggot hookbait, this seemed to be the kiss of death for the skimmers, as I only had one more on the short line, with 20 minutes to go. A golden tench was the only other fish of note in those final two hours and I landed a 8lb carp just after the whistle, taken on the topkit.
If one of the carp slayers who can dangle a pellet at 16m for 6 hours had the peg, I reckon they'd have done a big weight, but I was reasonably satisfied with my 32lb of silvers, shame about those last two hours, as I was pushed (by a good margin) into second spot for silvers by Eric Fouracre.
At least we were well entertained by Mike West, who regaled tales of family feuds, flats with water gushing through the ceiling, kept shouting "hello,hello" in vain to his phone which gets no signal at Landsend and most entertaining of all, was him losing fish after fish - although fair play to him, I'd have probably smashed my pole up with the frustration of it - silver fishing is never that bad, even though the vermin trashed a few delicate silvers floats. Finally, one guy whose name I didn't get, found out he was becoming a grandad during the match, it was like an episode of Mr Bean and Jeremy Kyle all rolled into one!!
1) Terry Green 109.05 peg 7
2) Vince Brown 78.09 peg 1
3) Mike west 73.14 peg 17
4) Eric Fouracre 68.02 peg 11
Silvers
1) Eric Fouracre 43.15
2) Chris Fox 32.00 peg 19
So, what do I draw, 19, a peg dominated by carp!! I have drawn this peg once before and failed miserably to avoid the carp, so I still set up my silvers rigs, but also two paste rigs, one for full depth and one for the shelf that juts out of the island at 16m.
There were plenty of carp moving around, but they did seem to be in the gap and tight to the island, so would they stay away from my two silver lines (one at top kit to hand and another at about 9m). I started by potting in some caster and micros at 9m and loose fed caster short, then out with the shallow caster rig across towards the island. A four of chunky F1's graced the net before I got tangled in the island foliage - a particularly tough plant with pod like green fronds. I got the rig back, but the float was trashed. I quickly set up a new rig and that wasn't as successful as the trashed one - how often does that happen!! I then dropped in on the 9m line and had another f1 and a big skimmer, but it was slow going.
Dropping in on the short line with double caster produced another big skimmer, but the roach and perch were conspicuous by their absence. I had started on a 0.16 hooklength with a 16 Drennan carp maggot hook, thinking that if I hooked carp I may as well as try and get them out. Was this too heavy for the silvers? A switch to 0.14 and a 18 hook produced a few more bites, both short and at 9m, but not to caster or soft pellet, I had to switch to double red maggot to get a few more decent skimmers and a tench.
With two hours to go I thought I had 25lb and perhaps 40lb could be on the cards, but then the bloody carp started cruising over the 9m line and even dropping down to pick up the maggot hookbait, this seemed to be the kiss of death for the skimmers, as I only had one more on the short line, with 20 minutes to go. A golden tench was the only other fish of note in those final two hours and I landed a 8lb carp just after the whistle, taken on the topkit.
If one of the carp slayers who can dangle a pellet at 16m for 6 hours had the peg, I reckon they'd have done a big weight, but I was reasonably satisfied with my 32lb of silvers, shame about those last two hours, as I was pushed (by a good margin) into second spot for silvers by Eric Fouracre.
At least we were well entertained by Mike West, who regaled tales of family feuds, flats with water gushing through the ceiling, kept shouting "hello,hello" in vain to his phone which gets no signal at Landsend and most entertaining of all, was him losing fish after fish - although fair play to him, I'd have probably smashed my pole up with the frustration of it - silver fishing is never that bad, even though the vermin trashed a few delicate silvers floats. Finally, one guy whose name I didn't get, found out he was becoming a grandad during the match, it was like an episode of Mr Bean and Jeremy Kyle all rolled into one!!
1) Terry Green 109.05 peg 7
2) Vince Brown 78.09 peg 1
3) Mike west 73.14 peg 17
4) Eric Fouracre 68.02 peg 11
Silvers
1) Eric Fouracre 43.15
2) Chris Fox 32.00 peg 19
Sunday, 3 June 2012
Pole Only Series, Final Round
Today saw the last of the pole only series, which for the first time was held on Plantation and Acorn lakes, todays sections were on Plantation Horseshoe Lake and the small lake at Acorn. Maybe the final venues had some input, as well as clashes with other matches, to the reduced numbers today.
Firstly, a get well soon message to Rod Wootten, Rod had a good position to win the series, but has suffered some ill health and missed the last two matches.
At the draw, Paul Faiers was presented with a card, which Mrs F sent via Glenn Calvert, it was his wedding anniversay - he'd forgotten, I bet he's not alone, I can never remember mine!! Anyway, not to worry, Mrs F is camping in Exmouth, probably with Uncle Tony...... whilst Paul spends the Bank holiday weekend fishing.
As the sections were short on numbers today, the payout was just 1st in section and 1st in silvers, with the odd tenner left over going to the match winner.
It was B section for me today, the outside of Horseshoe lake, it looked good, fish moving and a colour that must have been caused by fish stirring up the mud. I had brought a couple of pints of maggots as the weather forecast had been for a cold, miserable day, looking at the lake and feeling the actual temperature, I had a hunch that they were destined for the freezer. I set up 4 rigs, a silvers rig to fish maggot or caster (but this was planned to be a last resort for once), a shallow rig with a B960 and a hair rigged band, a paste rig and a pencil float to fish Devils Spawn.
One lighter moment before the off, Darren 'Noddy' Vowles had set up, plumbed up and was virtually ready for the off, before he realised he was on the wrong peg...... Doh. Pay more attention next time please Noddy.....
The bait tray consisted maggot & caster, 4 and 6mm hard pellet, some Devils Spawn, micros and paste. On the all in I cupped in some micros and softened 4's at 9m left and groundbait/maggot at 8m right. there were some carp moving over the middle bar, so out with the shallow rig, which had a longish line, to avoid spooking the fish. This produced two fish in the first half an hour, they were cruising, but not really feeding. A look over the micros with paste saw a better fish in the net, followed by 3 more, although the size varied from 1/2lb to 3lb.
The groundbait/maggot line produced 1 fish all day, so no more about that, the micro/softened pellet line was now fizzing well, the first fizzing peg I have had in 2012!! A look in with 6mm Devils Spawn put the first silver in the net, a 1lb+ skimmer. A couple of carp followed, before things slowed up, there was no point in me fishing negatively, I couldn't pick up in the series money, so a section win was my aim.
The fish were still swirling over the shallow bar in the middle of the peg, so I went back on the shallow rig and upped the feed to 10 or 12 6mm pellets every 30 secs, this brought a run of fish, some of which ran the wrong side of the tin boards, so that livened things up!! With an hour to go the fish backed off the shallow line and it was back over the pellet and micros with paste, this produed a couple of fish, but also some frustrating liners and odd indications. Last 20 minutes on the Devils Spawn saw a couple more fish in the net, with 31 carp and 4 skimmers being the final total.
This was the first match for a while that I have enjoyed, it took a bit of work to keep the fish coming, but at least they did, I couldn't even muster the effort to write about last weeks match (4 roach). On the scales my 4 skimmers went 4.04, the 31 carp 82.04, the total of 86.08 being enough to win the section and the match (what a good idea to give the winner the odd tenner extra!!).
Section results on the day:
A: (Acorn)
1) Kev Perry 47.00
Silvers) Glenn Calvert 26.10
B: (Plantation)
1) Chris Fox 86.08
Silvers) Paul Faiers 27.00
C: (Plantation)
1) John Osbourne 72.10
Silvers) John Osbourne 3.14
Mr Soft Pellet - Dave Wride won the overall series and Paul Faiers took the silvers on weight from Mark Broomsgrove, both had a very creditable 5 section silvers wins.
Veals kindly provided some sponorship in the way of vouchers, these go to the Overall and Silvers anglers with the best weight, who didn't pick up money for the series. Overall that was Lance Tucker and in the Silvers, I managed to sneak in.
Final Overall table, with worst result dropped.
Firstly, a get well soon message to Rod Wootten, Rod had a good position to win the series, but has suffered some ill health and missed the last two matches.
At the draw, Paul Faiers was presented with a card, which Mrs F sent via Glenn Calvert, it was his wedding anniversay - he'd forgotten, I bet he's not alone, I can never remember mine!! Anyway, not to worry, Mrs F is camping in Exmouth, probably with Uncle Tony...... whilst Paul spends the Bank holiday weekend fishing.
As the sections were short on numbers today, the payout was just 1st in section and 1st in silvers, with the odd tenner left over going to the match winner.
It was B section for me today, the outside of Horseshoe lake, it looked good, fish moving and a colour that must have been caused by fish stirring up the mud. I had brought a couple of pints of maggots as the weather forecast had been for a cold, miserable day, looking at the lake and feeling the actual temperature, I had a hunch that they were destined for the freezer. I set up 4 rigs, a silvers rig to fish maggot or caster (but this was planned to be a last resort for once), a shallow rig with a B960 and a hair rigged band, a paste rig and a pencil float to fish Devils Spawn.
One lighter moment before the off, Darren 'Noddy' Vowles had set up, plumbed up and was virtually ready for the off, before he realised he was on the wrong peg...... Doh. Pay more attention next time please Noddy.....
The bait tray consisted maggot & caster, 4 and 6mm hard pellet, some Devils Spawn, micros and paste. On the all in I cupped in some micros and softened 4's at 9m left and groundbait/maggot at 8m right. there were some carp moving over the middle bar, so out with the shallow rig, which had a longish line, to avoid spooking the fish. This produced two fish in the first half an hour, they were cruising, but not really feeding. A look over the micros with paste saw a better fish in the net, followed by 3 more, although the size varied from 1/2lb to 3lb.
The groundbait/maggot line produced 1 fish all day, so no more about that, the micro/softened pellet line was now fizzing well, the first fizzing peg I have had in 2012!! A look in with 6mm Devils Spawn put the first silver in the net, a 1lb+ skimmer. A couple of carp followed, before things slowed up, there was no point in me fishing negatively, I couldn't pick up in the series money, so a section win was my aim.
The fish were still swirling over the shallow bar in the middle of the peg, so I went back on the shallow rig and upped the feed to 10 or 12 6mm pellets every 30 secs, this brought a run of fish, some of which ran the wrong side of the tin boards, so that livened things up!! With an hour to go the fish backed off the shallow line and it was back over the pellet and micros with paste, this produed a couple of fish, but also some frustrating liners and odd indications. Last 20 minutes on the Devils Spawn saw a couple more fish in the net, with 31 carp and 4 skimmers being the final total.
This was the first match for a while that I have enjoyed, it took a bit of work to keep the fish coming, but at least they did, I couldn't even muster the effort to write about last weeks match (4 roach). On the scales my 4 skimmers went 4.04, the 31 carp 82.04, the total of 86.08 being enough to win the section and the match (what a good idea to give the winner the odd tenner extra!!).
Section results on the day:
A: (Acorn)
1) Kev Perry 47.00
Silvers) Glenn Calvert 26.10
B: (Plantation)
1) Chris Fox 86.08
Silvers) Paul Faiers 27.00
C: (Plantation)
1) John Osbourne 72.10
Silvers) John Osbourne 3.14
Mr Soft Pellet - Dave Wride won the overall series and Paul Faiers took the silvers on weight from Mark Broomsgrove, both had a very creditable 5 section silvers wins.
Veals kindly provided some sponorship in the way of vouchers, these go to the Overall and Silvers anglers with the best weight, who didn't pick up money for the series. Overall that was Lance Tucker and in the Silvers, I managed to sneak in.
Final Overall table, with worst result dropped.
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