Ivy House Open, Sunday 26th July 2015

After last weeks float only league on this venue, I decided to return and see if I could better my performance, it certainly appears to be a venue where you have to think and work at catching a framing weight, nice that its not just carp that play a part in the weights.

It was no surprise to see the rain falling as Tony arrived to pick me up, it seems to have been a recurring theme this summer - or what laughingly passes as summer - to be OK in the week and then piss down at the weekend.  I opted for the big breakfast, so extra gym sessions this week, very nice but it is a filling plateful.

Into the drawbag and out comes peg 1, a corner that look like it will be a margin fishers paradise, but with peg 20 and peg 2 in today, its a little hemmed in and had the wind blowing out of it...... is that enough excuses yet???

Plumbing up I found that the peg slopes away from the end bank and out in front for about 13m, given the foul weather, I set up a feeder rod to fish a cage feeder and GB/worm well beyond pole range, hoping that the skimmers would settle over it. Four topkits, one for down the edge, which although it looks inviting, slopes away, with no real shelf that I could find. 2 lines here, I decided on GB/maggot at 8m in by a rush bed and at 14.5 which I would feed with 8mm pellets.  Three rigs for the open water, one wire stemmed 0.4g to fish worm/soft pellet, a double bulk rig and a rig to fish banded pellet..

I fed some micro's and 4mm pellets at 13m and then started on the feeder, this resulted in one double figure ghostie, but not the target skimmers.  After 1/2 an hour or so, I had a look over the 13m line and had bites immediately on soft pellet, but it was the same as my other visits, small skimmers.  I switched to a banded pellet and this resulted in less bites, but better fish including, bigger skimmers an F1 and a couple more carp.  This then died off so I topped up with GB and worm, this had a similar effect to the soft pellet, one small skimmer and one small perch, before it went dead.

By halfway I was having to wait a long time for bites and fed the edge, expecting to see some fish activity, to save typing and energy, the margin was devoid of fish, not so much as a liner at any point during the match, so much so I decided to re attack the 13m line with GB and dead maggot, this saw the stamp of skimmers and the frequency improve in the last hour, as well as a couple of carp taking a fancy to the three dead maggots.  I wasn't sure what was leading the lake come the all out, but I was sure that the lack of margin fish would cost me and so it proved.  Just to rub it in, within 15 minutes of the all out, the margin was colouring up and there were swirls as the fish moved in - its about time Andy confiscated their watches......

As per the venue rules, I had three nets in, one for silvers which went 22lb, one for carp under 5lb, which went about 10lb and the net with those over 5lb, the three fish went just over 33lb. My 66.02 wasn't enough to pick up, but it was 5th and I feel I learned a fair bit about the venue.  Just to cheer me up on the way home, Tony said "I would have been distraught if I had drawn 1 or 2", which he didn't, peg 10 for him and a nice win with 93lb, of which over 80lb was skimmers. (You pick up both here as well, no default payout).

Once again the nice touch after the match, home made scones and sausage rolls whilst waiting for the results.

1: Tony Rixon 93.17 peg 10
2: Clint W 89.00 peg 37
3: Dick 81.07 peg 15
4: Shaun Townsend 77.09 peg 14
5: Chris Fox 66.02 peg 1
6: Mick 63.04 peg 12

Silvers

Tony Rixon 81.02 peg 10
Andy Lloyd 45.10 peg 39

England Ladies Fundraiser Match, The Glebe. Tuesday 21st July 2015

I saw this match posted up on MFS and after enjoying my first visit to the Glebe fishery earlier this summer, I put my name down, as the chance to fish it doesn’t come round too often.  The match is organised by Julie Abbott, trying to raise funds to help the England Ladies team fish the World Championship, so a whilst every match is competitive, this was all in good spirit.

A 05.00 alarm call – not my idea of fun – days don’t really start until at least 09.00, preferably 10.00 for me, but load the van up, a look round the garage to make sure nothing was forgotten and then on the road.  The early start to avoid the worst of the midlands traffic worked and I found myself at Roys Rolls, a roadside breakfast van, which is about a mile or so from the Glebe, which was good last time and it was good again today.

A walk round the lakes and a chat with Mark Poppleton, who had assured me several days before, that I needed to take a feeder rod for lake one (and it was windy – again!!)  I was unable to find my bag of cage feeders on Monday, so bought 20 quids worth of new ones in anticipation.  I drew lake 5, peg 76, I was OK until I saw fellow drawbag disaster, Nick Merry heading to the lake, he gloomily told me we were on the worst lake – should that have come as a surprise to me……….

On the plus side, peg 76 is an end peg and it was the end the wind was blowing into, surely I would empty it from here.  Looking at the wind ripping down the lake I left the pellet wagglers in the van (a decision I nearly came to regret) and set up a feeder rod, and four topkits,  one for down the edge, I was convinced that this rig would be busy later on…..   

Two rigs for fishing out in front, the wind was limiting me to about 7m, unless I fished at an angle to my left with the wind, but here the bottom shelved up towards the end bank.  Finally, I found a flatish area about 4m from the bank, which was just under 3’ deep, very similar to where I had a few decent fish on paste on my last visit.

I then realised that I had left my two buckets with the carefully selected pellets and groundbait in, at home - I blame the early start -  thankfully I had a bucket and enough GB and pellets in the van, at the bottom of the bucket were the missing feeders, so I now have a lifetimes supply!!

On the all-in I fed the paste line with pellets and caster, fed some corn at 6m and then started on the feeder across, I was expecting fairly instant bites, first few chucks were made every 40 seconds or so to get some bait in, then as no fish were coming to it, I started leaving it a bit longer, this made no difference at all.  Looking down the lake, everyone seemed to be in the same boat, which in my very limited experience of the fishery was unusual. After ¾ of an hour, I put the feeder rod up the bank (yes, I lasted that long on it) and had a look over the corn, 20 minutes of this and nothing,  so back on the feeder and a switch to maggot on the hook, this produced my first bite, a perch that might make 2oz with a bit of wind assistance. A couple more casts with maggot brought little rattles and knocks on the tip, a sign to me that there were no carp in the area.

By now I had started pinging a few pellets down the towards the end bank rushes and took the feeder off and put a straight lead on, this cast over the pellets, was as the feeder, no liners, no bites.  Earlier than I wanted I fed the LH margin, just past a long sleeper which looked an obvious place to fish and then had a look over the paste line, which I had kept topped up.  I wasn’t very confident of catching on it, as it had, as the rest of the peg seemed barren of fish and so it proved, I had several ‘looks’ over it during the match and remained biteless.

It was now 14.40, (11.30 start) and I had a 3lb carp and a perch, I had an early look down the margin and hooked another perch which fell off unshipping the topkit, I was wondering whether to wrap it in and get home at a reasonable time.  I decided to give it a bit longer and went back on the corn at 6m and to my surprise the float buried, carp on.  I netted a 5lb fish and refed, float went under again, missed bite, back in, another fish, at last they’d turned up.  I could seem most of the lake, or at least the rods and poles of the others and I knew it was hard for everyone, so got my head down and whilst they weren’t queuing up I managed to keep the odd fish coming to the net.  Mick on the next peg had picked up his pellet waggler rod and much to my surprise, given the wind, he started to catch, so much so, I was in two minds whether to set one up.   I decided instead to feed pellets across and if necessary drop in on the straight lead.  The corn line went quiet, so I had another look into the margin and had a 4lb fish, that was to be my one and only from what I thought would be a banker.  I tried the straight lead over to the board opposite and did managed one carp on it, but the 20” hooklength rule seems like a recipe for leaving hooks and line in the far bank vegetation, it’s the venue rule so I stuck to it, but I’m not convinced it’s a good idea.

Back on the corn line and with an hour to go I had 50lb on my clicker, so started the second net for the last hour, this saw 5 fish go into it, certainly not hectic action, but much better than the first half of the match.  I was fairly sure than Mick’s pellet waggler approach had beaten me, I was thinking about 70lb in my nets, the scales came along the bank and when they got to Mick, top weight on the lake was from the other end peg, 85, with 51.08.  Micks fish went 82.04 and I was even more convinced then, that I made a big mistake in not getting off my box and setting the waggler up, but luckily my poor estimating skills saved the day, my clicked net went 59.00 and the last hour net 29.04 for 88.04 and the lake win.  Fellow long distance traveller Nick had 42.00 from peg 82 and his portent of doom about being on the worst lake was spot on, the other lakes were all won with better weights.

I had to hang around at the end for my lake money and so stayed the extra few minutes for the raffle, not that I need have bothered, there were loads of prizes, but even though I had a handful of tickets, my numbers remained uncalled.  £850 raised to help the ladies on their way to the world champs, shame it didn’t fish to the usual standard (apart from lake 1) and I was glad I didn’t go home early.

1: Mick Wilkinson  212.08 (inc 103lb skimmers) pool 1 peg 27

2: Roger Edmund 197.08 pool 1 peg 21

3: Mark Baker 169.08 pool 1 peg 17

4: Ian Farrow 167.10 pool 1 peg 1

Other lakes:

Pool 4; Doddy 103.08 peg 67

Pool 5: Chris Fox 88.04 peg 76

Pool 6: Paul Robinson 94.00 peg 90

Pool 7: Joe Wheldon 128.08 peg 100

Float Only League Round 4. Ivy House, Sunday 19th July 2015

After Tuesdays practice match, I had decided to stick with pellet and maggot for down the edge for this round of the float only, although I did have a couple of pints of live maggot in case I drew the canal.  I plucked peg 15, which is on the match lake, out of the tin, in the middle of the causeway, looking back towards the café, not a peg I would have chosen for myself, but I still thought the pellet would see a few fish in the net.

A decent weight of skimmers had come from this bank on Tuesday, taken on paste, so I set up a paste rig, to fish over the pellet feed.  I set up two rigs to fish at full depth, one for soft pellet and one with a band, finally a margin rig, as I had an empty peg to my right.  To complete the tackling up, I set up a light waggler, as the wind was off my back and the ripple was not within pole reach, this could be fished at depth or shallow, if the fish came off the bottom.

I started at 6m fishing soft pellet over softened 4mm’s and had a run of skimmers, they started to decrease in size, so I topped the line up and had a look on the waggler, which stayed resolutely visible, no indications of fish out there.  Back on the 6m line and a switch to 6mm hard pellet resulted in a similar lack of bites.  Switching back to soft pellet saw the float going under again, but the skimmers were now in the 2-3oz bracket, so that was going nowhere fast.  I upped the feed to try and get some carp in to push the skimmers out, not sure this was my wisest idea, as the skimmer bites dried up and there was no indication of a carp in the vicinity.

Back on the waggler and 2^nd cast it went under, a 2lb fouler was the result, further casts failed to locate any of his mates and by now I was struggling to see where my next fish was coming from.  I had targeted two areas in the margin, one right up to the pallet of peg 16, where I had just fed 8mm pellet, which was the best bait on Tuesday, I also fed a GB and maggot line at about 5m along the bank, next to a lone clump of grass.  I saw some colouring of the water on both lines and dropped 7 maggots into the GB line, this brought a quick fish which was a welcome sight in the net, probably just about a  double.  There certainly weren’t fish competing in the margins, it seemed like one fish at a time coming in and if it touched the line or saw the pole it would spook off in a big swirl.  

Up to the pallet with a 8mm pellet and I could see a fish with its back out of the water making its way to towards my pellet, which it duly took and another double netted.  Next drop in on this line resulted in a foul hooker, which ploughed off and shed the hook.  The sun was starting to come out from behind the clouds now, I decided to throw the GB into the 5m margin, to make some noise and attract the fish, this seemed to work, as I dropped double worm in on top of the cloud and another double was netted after a tussle.

Here is the part where hindsight is marvelous; the sun coming out seemed to stop the fish coming into the flat calm margin, whilst I persisted in trying to attract one in and fishing to even the smallest hint of a mud cloud.  I should have switched back to fishing long and hope to land a couple of carp and some skimmers, which would have probably been enough to lift my 46lb into the frame, from my 10^th place finish, no guarantee of course, as the lakes seemed to fish fairly hard, apart from peg 12, from which Chris Davies annihilated the match with 37lb.  

1. Chris Davis 317-11-0 peg 11
2. Bela Bakos 81-14-0 peg 39
3. Dick Bull 67-11-0 peg 20
4. Steve Tucker 61-04-0 peg NC10
5. Craig Edmonds 55-14-0 peg 4
6. Martyn Lenaghan 51-08-0 peg 14

  Silvers:

1. Steve Tucker 45-12-0 peg NC10
2. Leon Hubbard 40-01-0 peg 17
3. Clint Wojtyle 26-05-0 peg 3

Ivy House Open, Tuesday 14th July 2015

Not sure where the time goes, it has been 13 months since my last visit to Ivy House, probably for no other reason than it takes nearly ½ an hour longer to get there than it takes me to get to Viaduct.  If you have the breakfast there, which was very good, and you order the large one, make sure you’re hungry.

Because of the traffic, Tony Rixon had picked me up at 07.00 and that gave us plenty of time to have a look round at the lakes, the first time either of us had seen then since the main lake has been split into two smaller pools, one with 20 pegs and one with 24.  This was a reccy / practise for the forthcoming round of Tony’s float only league, which is this coming Sunday.

Into the drawbag and out comes 21, which is a corner peg, adjacent to the spit, there had been signs of fish there when we’d walked round, so hopefully they’d stay put and feed.  

Plenty of time to set up, so up went a waggler,  a margin rig to fish along the spit (now the end bank of the lake), which tight in was very shallow. A rig to fish pellet/corn at 5m and two rigs to fish at 13m, similar rigs, one with a pellet band, one without.  Finally a shallow rig – not so much as a bite on that, so no more about it.

On the all-in I potted ½ a pot of pellet and corn on the 5m line and a few pellets at 13m.  Starting on soft pellet, I had a couple of small skimmers, but was missing too many bites, so switched to 6mm hard pellet, the difference was amazing, the bites stopped.  Back on the soft pellet and unhittable bites again, the same with a bit of corn.  I went back to the hard pellet and persevered, a long wait resulted in a 3oz skimmer, I did foul a carp and lose it, so had had a thrash around shallow for no reward.

I had been feeding some 8mm pellets further out and had a look over them with the waggler, again nothing doing.  Switching to the 5m line which I had kept topped up, brought a constantly dancing float, as small fish ragged whatever bait I tried.

Then along the spit at about 25m-30m I saw some swirls, so I shortened the waggler to 12” and cast tight to the bank, feeding 8mm pellets.  This brought me a couple of fish, but they were backing away after each one was caught, the 12” below the float rule was a hindrance, as I got snagged up a few times, but if I didn’t cast tight in, then I wouldn’t get a bite.  I had fed groundbait and dead maggot at 14m, between two (the only two) clumps of grass on the end bank, but even though I saw fish over this, I didn’t get a bite.

I started to feed 8mm pellets at 16m along the bank, past the grass clump and the fish did move over this in the last 90 minutes and I had a decent spell, catching fish up to 9lb, I basically had to lay the rig up the bank and wait, as every time I tried to fish out from the bank in 12”-18” of water, I would get liners and foulers.  Shame those fish wouldn’t settle sooner, as I might have done a weight to push the winner, as it was, my 71.11 was enough for 4^th and a pick up, with Tony coming second it was a reasonably content van on the way home.

Todays weigh sheet.

Short Pole Series, Round Three, Trinity Waters. Sunday 12th July 2015

No cafe today, a nice healthy breakfast at home, before a steady drive to the venue, disappointing to see the rain clouds putting in a Sunday appearance again, some consistent weather would be nice.  With two seconds in section so far in this four round series, I really needed to pull a decent peg and get a section win, one of the corners would be favourite, or a peg with some space, so when 27 revealed itself, I can't say I was over the moon, as it was going to struggle to compete, having been the worst but one peg in the series so far.  I was still in the knockout, Adrian Jefferies was my opponent for today and he drew 6, that should end my knockout..........

The lake looked a good colour, there were signs of fish moving and blowing, so I was confident that there would be a few caught, hopefully a bit of venue knowledge would pay off.  I have found that by far the most consistent summer baits on this venue are pellet and paste, so that comprised my bait, apart from some dead maggots for the margin, which I knew would most likely be a waste of time, due to having pegs either side.

One line at the bottom of the shelf, which I could just reach with the allowed topkit +3 sections of pole, initial feed of a few 6mm pellets and a couple of expanders, which was my starting bait, as it usually catches both carp and skimmers here. I had a small carp on the expander but it was a long wait for a bite. As I had a little bit of fizzing, added some more pellet and dropped over it with paste.  A skimmer and another carp were netted, before a long wait for a couple more on paste.

I had set up a shallow rig and had a while slapping and lifting and dropping that, to no avail, what was surprising, given the fizzing was the lack of liners and foul hookers, so what was causing the fizz I'm not sure, certainly not lots of carp. By 3pm I had a skimmer, the 4 carp and a headache, a walk to the van to get some pills relieved the boredom and gave me fresh impetus to push on and get a decent finish to the match as it was fairly obvious that the whole lake was fishing hard, only those with some space were catching.

The margins had looked devoid of fish, but big carp can be deceptively stealthy, I had been feeding 8mm pellets and dropped in with a 8mm expander on the hook, only for it to get ragged off by shit fish. I now cupped some maggots in, one to keep the shit fish occupied and two, to hopefully attract a carp or two.  Back on the paste and I managed one more carp, before having another look down the edge with a hard 8mm banded straight on the hook.  it buried and the biggest fish of the day, about 9lb, put up a decent tussle before being gratefully netted.

A hard day, my 'reward' was another second in section with 34.06, a lack of skimmers or another decent carp costing me the section win.  Surprisingly Adrian struggled on peg 6, managing less than half my weight, so a pleasant surprise to get through the knockout.  For the last match in the series, I need a bloody good draw and to have the other framing contenders in my section, with my 'luck', I can't see that happening, but who knows.......

As regards luck, Tom Mangnall won my section and was second in the silvers, but due to the way the money was calculated, I even lost out on the section default, I did suggest to Tony last year that paying silvers wasn't a good idea, as it can affect the league, with anglers fishing for silvers instead of section money. 

1st 110- 2 - Mike Nicholls - p31
2nd 59- 8 - Craig Edmunds - p22
3rd 52-15 - Glenn Bailey - p4
4th 52-12 - Paul Elmes - p3
5th 52- 4 - Gordon Cannings - p7
6th 46-10 - Rod Wootten - p2

Silvers
1st 23- 9 - Vic Bush - p30
2nd 9- 1 - Dave Evans - p13
2nd 9- 1 - Tom Mangnall - p25

Tunnel Barn Farm, North v South, Fundraiser. Sunday 28th June 2015

A chance to visit TBF for the first time, in a match to raise funds for the England Disabled and Ladies teams, with a lot of banter thrown in, an ideal distraction from my recent poor run of results.

Traveling up with Tony Rixon, we debated where to stop for breakfast and opted to try the new services at Gloucester on the M5, you expect to pay a bit more in the services, but it wasn't too pricey and the food was decent as well.

The lakes at TBF looked a bit snakey to me, surely not a day of dangling pellets by islands..... not my idea of fun.  but no, thankfully Des gave those of us who made the trip up from the Bristol area, a run down on the place.  The main talk was of fishing worm and caster, but after talking to Tony, we decided that taking on Des and any other regulars up there, on that method was a recipe for failure.  I had live maggots and dead maggots, pellets and meat as the mainstay of my bait tray.

I drew Canal 4, meant nothing to me, Tony drew 10 on New lake which made it easy for parking, as the pegs aren't too far apart, we showed Des the peg numbers and he told Tony, "thats a flyer", he gave me a commiserative smile and said "that's OK"........

Canal was pegged two miss one, so I had an empty peg to my left, not knowing too much about F1's I wasn't sure if this was an area they would back off into or not.  Plumbing up I found a deeper channel running from the pallet to the far side and  it shelved up to the left and right all the way across.  This would mean constant depth changes to start new lines up to keep in touch with the fish.

No point confusing myself, so just 4 topkits, a shallow rig, two depth rigs, one for topkit +1 and one for down the middle, also a rig to fish tight to the far bank, this was set up with a 18 on 0.12 and a bait spike, to fish meat - yep, I have been reading Andy Power's article in this months Match Fishing mag.....

Starting on the meat across, I had a missed bite first drop in, next drop in saw a small carp netted, then the line died, this was to become a familiar theme throughout the match.  I had been feeding tiny balls of GB and maggot on the topkit+1 line and this produced two F1's and then started fizzing, next couple of fish were skimmers, 12oz, so reasonable weight builders if they would keep coming, but the size got smaller and smaller, until they were just a nuisance.

The upshot of the day was that I had to keep moving to a new line and take maybe one F1 from it, before the skimmers moved in, I had been feeding maggots down the middle and saw a couple of swirls, so in with the shallow rig, 3 fish and then a skimmer.  I could go back to the far bank and get 1 carp about every half an hour, but they were small.

It seemed that the fish were backing off the feed, the guy on peg 5 found exactly the same thing, he started catching faster than me (on soft pellet over micro), when the bites dried up he fed more and that just made it worse, I think by just dripping a few maggots in I managed to work my way round the peg and keep the odd fish coming.  I weighed 70lb, which was second on my side of the lake, beaten by end peg 11 who had 74lb. Tony was second in his section with a shade over a ton and as the weigh-in took a long time we got on the road.  Thankfully Bobby G stayed on for the raffle and results and he is bringing an envelope home for myself and Tony, I am assuming they paid two in a section.

It was hard work, but quite enjoyable and I can see myself having a few trips to F1 venues once the winter arrives.

The missing blogs....

Five matches not blogged, just really couldn't muster the enthusiasm to write about what were essentially, with one exception, a continuation of the poor form I have been suffering at Viaduct.

First one was Landsend, in Tony's Float Only series, feeling reasonably confident after a section win from a poor draw in the first round, I was less than pleased to see peg 29 on the Specimen lake in my hand after the draw.  It was dire in the winter and had it still been winter, the gear would not have come out of the van, but with unusual optimism, I went to the peg hopeful that the warm water would see the fish moving round.

I was right, they were moving round, tight to the far bank, resulting in a torrid hour of foul hookers, before 5 hours of boredom, not a fish apart from some big roach and the very odd skimmer to be caught short.  I ended the day last in the section and tipped back about 35lb to save the scalesmen a job. 

Next up was a trip to Woodland View, first time there, Trigger came with me and we were practising for the Fisho the next day.  A low turnout for this match saw us all on Back Dean's, with Trigger getting an end peg and I was next to him, but 3 pegs away - we all had a lot of space!!  Tricky day, mugging was the only effective way to catch and Trig smashed it up with 171lb, I was second with 75lb.

Next day back to Woodland View with Trig and we both drew on Front Deans an end peg or a peg with space was needed, we had neither and came home empty handed, the pegging is horrendously tight up there with all the pegs in, I can't see me bothering with Fisho's or MMT again, unless I get a drawing arm transplant.

Onto the MMT at Viaduct, I drew peg 28, the last peg up the leg in front of the lodges, afterwards Tony Rixon said he was surprised I even went to it, i did so in the forlorn hope of regaining my £70 outlay with a section win.  Two bites, one fish and an early bath with 3/4 of an hour to go, home and a night out with Miss Stella Artois was in order......

Not too many dalliances with Stella, as it was up the next morning and back to Viaduct for the last round of the Spring league, with everyone wanting to avoid Cary, I was pleased to see Campbell on my draw, 127, not the best peg on the lake, but should be worth a few fish.  How wrong can you be, a real struggle, I weighed 55lb, with Luke on 126 weighing 66lb, apart from a DNW on 111, I think we were last and last but one on the lake.  Really not sure what has gone so disastrously wrong on this league, as I finished with a full hand of last in sections, I could never have imagined that at the start of the league.

So a fairly dire run, lets hope some settled weather, the elongated spawning season and my drawing arm change things going forward.

Viaduct Spring League, Round Four, Sunday 7th June 2015

I am fairly confused by this league, or at least, by my results in it, I wouldn't have expected to do so poorly, even given the high quality of anglers fishing. This match has compounded my misery and I still don't know if I am doing something drastically wrong.

Onto the match, I drew 111, which is usually a decent peg, good for a few fish and the occasional win, today was all about being positive, so a lead rod set up, the wind seemed awkward, so the waggler rods stayed in the bag. Topkits for pellet shallow / mugging - didn't see a fish to mug and shallow never had so much as a liner - so they went away with no action seen.

A rig to fish meat at 5m, a pellet rig to fish 6mm at 14,5m on the deck, a margin rig and as I had time, a paste rig  - mainly because I had Lee Werritt opposite on 130, I was sure he'd be fishing paste and if he started catching on it, I could try it.

On the all-in I potted in 5 bits of meat and lowered the rig over it, it buried and an angry 5lber was attached, what a start, then I proceeded to turn playing it into something from the era of black and white slapstick films, as it was wallowing around at the left of my keepnets, it suddenly put on a turn of speed that would have it tested for steroids in any other sport and ran behind the nets, but in front of the platform legs.  I managed the topkit passed under the pallet maneuver without breaking the topkit, but then managed to knock another topkit in the water and it floated off - thanks to dave White on 110 for rescuing it.

With the fish safely landed, I looked back on the meat line, but that was to be it from here, apart from a roach and a tiny skimmer,  Out on the 14m line there was a few bubbles and after a long wait I managed a skimmer on 6mm pellet, then fouled a carp that tore off and straightened a 16 B960, unusual to see those bent out of shape.  New hook on and back out, another fouler, this time when everything got horribly taut, there was a loud crack, not the pole, but the elastic had disappeared along with the PTFE bush.

Another topkit, another rig and finally a fish hooked in the mouth on the pellet, safely landed with no problem, a long wait for another bite, Dave on 110 was similarly struggling, as was lee on 130 and Steve on 131, whilst 132 was emptying it.

Next calamity filled moment was hooking a double, which came in OK and then dived under the pallet, this time breaking the topkit and the elastic cut through on the damaged carbon, the fish stayed on and was landed in another comedy moment by handlining the elastic. Anothe PTFE bush gone and another elastic, turning into an expensive disaster.....

By now, Dave White on 110 had switched to fishing up by the brambles and had started to catch, Tucks on 112 was bagging, fishing towards 113 and I was still struggling, in fact with 40 minutes to go, I packed up slowly and tidily, chucked back about 38-40lb and buggered off home, haven't felt so disheartened with fishing for sometime now.  I really am at a loss to explain what has gone wrong with this league, apart from the comedy moments, I fished tidily, with no reward.

I think I have to blame Gary O'Shea and Steve Long for the carp under the pallet, as I have been trying solid elastic, Sensas latex, on their recommendations and I haven't quite got it sussed yet when the fish run off on the topkit, it stretches more than you'd think.. That said, apart from those disasters, it improves the action of the pole, by reducing weight and I am sure I will get used to it, as until this, I have had no problems in the 2 or 3 weeks I have used it.

Upwards and onwards, Landsend next Sunday, looking forward to that, then an open on Tuedsay at Woodland View, before the Fisho there on Wednesday, the MMT at Viaduct on Saturday week and the last round of the spring league on Sunday week - chance to redeem myself, although I'll take a last in this one if I can win the MMT  :)

MFS / HillBilly Pairs, The Glebe, Friday 5th and Saturday 6th June 2015

My first visit to The Glebe, having heard good reports about the fishery, I managed to get into this match due to someone dropping out.  I had managed to get some information from venue regular, Chris Needham and Andy Kinder, thanks Chris & Andy, I was basing my approach around corn, pellet, dead maggot and casters, which I wasn’t going to take, but changed my mind in the run up to the match after speaking to Chris.

The match was a two dayer, 60 anglers with 30 on pool 1 and 30 spread over some of the other pools and then swap round next day.  I had Mike Walker as a travelling partner for the event and it was an early start picking him up at 5am. We made god time and got there in the 2 hours 15 the sat nav had predicted, in fact we were a little early and found a breakfast/burger van that did a very tasty egg and bacon roll.

We had a walk round lake 1 before the draw and I did fancy peg 30, it has a pipe running into it and the carp were lining up in the outflow, it looked solid, that and the wind was blowing right into that end. The draw for the pairs was made and my partner was George Tamayo.

My ever unreliable drawing arm put me on peg 28, close, but not close enough, Mike drew peg 66 on pool 4, so after dropping him off, I got to my peg and set up a 4 hole cage feeder to fish tight to the far bank, clipping up to get it tight to the rushes.  To windy to consider a waggler, I did set up a rig to fish pellet at full depth at 14m, a corn rig to fish at 6m, just up the slope, a margin rig, although I didn’t think that would be too productive with all 30 pegs in.  As I had some time, I did set up a paste rig to fish over the pellet line at 14m.

Starting on the feeder which I had been assured was the banker to get a few fish in the first 3 or 4 hours, I found it tough going, as did everyone else I could see, I managed 4 fish in the first hour, so came off the feeder and had a look at the 14m line, there were fish here, but the wind was making it virtually impossible to present a bait and I was catching odd fish, but I felt it should be more.  I had tried to find some trip back against the wind, but no matter where I tried there was none. I tried paste over this line and had a couple of fish, but the wind was making it just as impossible as the pellet rig.

I looked on the 5m corn line and this produced the odd fish and it took me longer than I would have liked to work out the feeding and the best way to lay the rig in, once I sorted this out the catch rate improved and I was adding fish to the net, although I wasn’t catching as fast as peg 30.  I had fed some maggot and GB in the margin and this did produce some fish, but wasn’t prolific, only to be expected with every peg in. 

Had I sussed the corn line out a bit quicker, I feel I should have been pushing Dave Pearson for the lake win, which he did with 166.00 from peg 25. It was close with the other top weights on the lake being 154.08 RossN peg 7,  147.00  Barry Wynn peg 30, 138.08 GotGaz peg 11, 138.04 Matt Blackmore peg 24 and myself with 137.12  peg 28.

This was a long way from the winner on the day, Andy Kinder with 306.00 from peg 92, six weights over 200.00, there were including the 300 and 200’s, 35 weights over a ton, fantastic fishing.

After the match it was back to the Longshoot, where we were staying, it wasn’t the most salubrious surroundings I’ve ever stayed in, the bathroom tiling was very late 60’s /70’s, the mattress was strangely ribbed, but as I only spent a short time in the bed, it wasn’t of great importance.  The carvery was OK for a bargain £4.95, the bar had karaoke and Andy Kinder gave a Elvis impression, which resulted in Churchy lobbing his undies on the stage……  from there on the beer flowed and it was a good night, Matt Blackmore ordered up loads of pizza’s, kebabs and cheesy chips that showed up about 1am, so a nice healthy preparation for Saturday’s round 2!!

Me and Mike decided not to wait at the shoot for breakfast, thinking we’d visit the same roadside van as the morning before, that was a tactical error, as there was a glaring space in the layby, where our breakfast should have been.  We found a corner shop near the venue, it had very little stock and we had to breakfast and survive the day on sausage rolls and chocolate, lesson learnt for next time.

Onto the draw and Mike drew peg 5 on pool 1, whilst I drew peg 67, next to where Mike had been the day before, the lake had thrown up some good weights with 3 200lb+ nets from the middle pegs and Mike weighing 171 from peg 66. 67 hadn’t faired so well, but there were obviously fish in the area.

Trying to use the advice I had been given and that Mike had caught well on the feeder I set it up again, once again the wind ruled out a waggler, so 4 topkits completed my set up. Two for the 5m corn line, one strung out shotting and one bulked.  A margin rig and as I had nearly 3 pints of casters left, I found a nice flat area about 2m from the bank to my right at a comfy topset + 1, this was about 18” deep and was going to be fed with caster and pellet, paste fished over the top.

On the all-in I started on the feeder again and started catching straight away, but these were small stockies and within 30 minutes I saw peg 69 catching bigger fish on his 5m line, today was so different than yesterday, the peg was tripping back hard against the wind on the 5m line and this led to bites, but also liners, as there were fish there, but not settled on the bottom feeding.  I had seen some swirls over the caster line and decided to have a look therewith a big lump of paste and had a nice run of fish to about 6lb, before the line went quiet. A switch back to the corn at 5m brought the odd fish and with a things slowing down all round the lake, I fed the margins with about 2 ¾ hours to go.  Leaving the margin to settle I had another fish on the paste, they weren’t queuing up for it, but patience was rewarded. 

When I dropped into the LH margin, I had an 8lb fish straight way, then one a bit bigger, I refed and lost a couple of foulers, with the reeds at this venue it is impossible to get the rig tight to the bank. I let it settle and had a fish from the RH margin, before hooking a lump from the LH edge which went 16.08. The RH edge produced a couple of fish and the LH edge was just causing me a headache with foulers, so for the last half an hour I went back on the paste line and landed 4 or 5  7-9lb fish before the all-out.  I had a couple of skimmers in my silvers net, decent ones taken on paste and a couple of squeakers, they along with the carp went 191.08 for a lake win and joint 5^th overall – this was leading with the last lakes results to come back and it had thrown up 4 200lb+ weights to knock me down the frame. Partner George hadn't faired too well in the drawbag and we finished off the pace of the top pairs.

Churchy taking the win with 252.12 from peg 99, GotGaz  248.00 peg 98, Mr Bald 222.00 peg 109, HillBilly 199.08 peg 106 with myself and Jason Elwell on 191.08, from 67 and 77 respectively.

Thanks to the organisers, Neil of HillBilly floats for sponsoring the event and to everyone who made it an enjoyable weekend, just glad I didn’t draw lake 1 on day 2, as the spawning fish meant weights were well down, with 69lb winning the lake.