Wednesday 8 May 2013

Larford Weekend - Fish'o'mania qualifier and Classic Final

Fish'o'mania

Well all in all I had a disappointing weekend and having to re-live Sunday and Monday again is going to be painful.

Saturday's Fish'o qualifier was fished in breezy and grey conditions, for the morning, which cleared to a lovely day by 5 o'clock that day. The buzz was brilliant before the match and everyone was keen for a draw in the 80's on speci or peg 4 match which was solid with fish ready to feed before the big spawn. Would my drawing hand let me down? Well I really fancied the burr bank on speci if I was to win the match at all and an end peg obviously wouldn't be frowned upon!

Into the draw bag I went and 17 stuck to my hand, where I qualified for the classic final from. Is this an omen? My favourite area on the venue and with a spare peg 18 next to me I was pleased with the draw. I got to my peg and sat and composed myself for 10mins. Martin Churchill, Paul Law and Andy Kinder all came and settled my nerves and reinforce the lines I had plumbed up and talked me through my feeding for the day. I was settled until Phil walked past and shouted 'Hamish I bet your a. hole is going on there'. I laughed it off but he was right!!

I set a pole line up at 6m that was going to be my main attack with pellet and corn. 3 rigs were set up a light float; 0.4g Billybob on 0.17 to 0.15 powerline. I then set up a 0.5g and 0.75g dweezil on the same lines all to a B911 XS. I had a method clipped at 25m and a 13m pole line set up to fish for first 2 hours whilst feeding the short line to get the big fish I would need to win in the peg. I had a margin line which was 3ft deep which I didn't speculate I would catch on and ended up only going down there for a couple of minutes a time.

The all in went and I chucked the method for the first hour whilst feeding the short pole line by hand with pinches of dampened 6mm pellet and corn. A couple of skimmers and not a sign of a carp I came on the 13m line and picked up some more decent sized skimmers but it was slow. After 2 hours I came on short line with about 10lb in nets I knew I was fishing for a section unless this line comes alive late on. I struggled and chopped and changed things until I managed 3 carp in the end to give me a total weight of 38lb. This was ounces out of the section money so a 2nd in section I was happy with and a couple of those the next 2 days wouldn't go a miss.

Maver Classic Final 2013

Maver Classic Final, 2013
 
 
After my decent draw and section result the previous day tied with my recent form at the venue being quite good I went into the classic this year full of confidence. However this was soon scuppered as I drew the worst peg in E section on speci lake the first day. I managed a paltry 32lb for dead last in the section. This consisted of 2 small 6lb carp and skimmers from my short pole line on corn over pellet.
 
A day where I tried everything twice before I found a fish at 6m in only 4ft of water on corn. Strangly the skimmers here would not take a pellet but the corn was going. The carp finally moved in but due to the shallow water were bolting off, the one took my 12-20 retro the best part of 25m out of the pole tip before the size 14 hook pulled. I plopped my method in and made sure I put bait runner on to save from losing a rod. I did this whist changing my hooklength to a size 12 hook. The tip whizzed around and a small carp quickly came to net. Instead of going back on pole I plopped the method in at 5m again and again it went round with 5min to go this carp went a bit silly and gave me no time to go back in.
 
I was not happy but with match lake going crazy the day before and me being on it the next day I was looking forward to catching some fish!
 
The drawbag once again was cruel to me. I drew 53 on the match burr bank a poor area. On arrival to my peg I found I had no margin lines either due to bushes in the way and protruding into my peg. The shallowest water I could find was 3ft 6inch. This is far too deep to catch the F1s that were in the bushes and sat on top of the sunken platform when I got to peg.
 
The first 2 hours was an infuriating time getting plagued with liners, fowl hookers and perch intercepting my bait!! Richie Hull was having the same problem next to me. I went out to 13m and fished 6mm pellet shallow and managed a couple of small carp, 1 F1 and some silvers but I was getting plagued with these silvers and going nowhere.
 
The last hour I plumbed a line at the end of the platform and filled it in with pellet and corn. I then did a cheeky little trick of making a load of disturbance by taking my net out of the water... theory being the big clever carp would then come in and feed as they think the angler has moved. I had 5 carp in the last hour on the paste and lost 3 by bullying them out on orange bazoocarp laccy. This gave me a weight of 58lb which was nowhere in the section and summed up a miserable final for me. Always next year I suppose and onto the whitehall matches next weekend. I have set myself some targets to meet this year and need to get my head down and meet them!!
 

 


Thursday 2 May 2013

A 'cracking' time at Larford classic qualifier 28th April 2013

Weather: Overcast and very windy
Water: White horses... Akin to the North Sea!!
Baits: 4mm,6mm and 8mm fishery feed pellet, 4mm and 6mm miracle baits expanders, miracle baits pellet crumb 50/50 fish meal and green and some worms for the edge oooooosh!!

Weight: 38lb nowhere!!


The final qualifier of the year and some much needed practice on the speci lake at larford was on the cards for me this week. 40 odd anglers made the visit with some last minute qualifiers and practice for the upcoming classic finals and the fish'o'mania qualifier was their ideas as were mine.

I went into the match wanting to really have a go on the short pole lines for some mighty lumps as I believe this will be key to having a chance of winning fish'o. However my draw put me on the chalet bank and I wasn't as confident with using this method as much as over on the burr bank. Therefore I set a 13m pole and pellet line along with my short line and set up a method line at 50 turns. I plumbed a line under a tree to my left but never went on it for any time.

Well as the title to the post suggests I had a cracking time, especially after the all in when shipping back after feeding my long line I heard a loud crack and my no7 bend at a right angle. Luckily enough I grabbed the 6th section before I lost my top 4 to the depths of speci lake. After a little cry with 2 parts of a section across my lap I composed my self and chucked the method out. This basically went round every now and then with a skimmer on the end. They were coming to red krill boilies on the hook. After an hour or so they backed off a little so I chucked the bomb out 8 turns past method line and picked up some bigger slabs. It then went dead on me and the 2 guys to my right who had shocking days unfortunately.

I ended up nicking a few more on the method at 13m and 5m as the wind was too severe to even fish the short pole accurately, although I did pick a few off on the pole the method was more productive.

Here's to hoping that the bank holiday weekend of fish'o qualifier and classic final goes better. Check back to see my report.