Hi to all of my regular readers, would love to update you on some good news but I haven't been doing too well as of late. I thought I would also share my plans for this year so you can see what is in store for the blog in 2012.
Firstly I have been visiting Larford during a spell of injury stopped me playing rugby, I usually stop angling as much in winter but have managed 3 more of the Maver Larford Classic Qualifiers. I had a terrible draw on match lake and with only 18inches out to 16m it was a wonder I caught anything. Managed to get 28lb of skimmers and F1's with 3 anglers around me blanking I was pleased but 108lb won the match. I then fished arena on a rock hard day, only 1 fish with the rest of my bank blanking... Yes in arena lake at larford. Winners had 30lb odd. Finally I drew peg 18 on speci lake a right flier. Well for 3 hours all that had been caught was a number of skimmers on the method at range, I had 3 and then went on my 14.5m pole line. Well I bagged up for an hour for 17lb then they disappeared and I couldn't do anything to get them back. What made it worse was next peg caught for last hour and half and bagged 30lbs skimmers on his pole line. I also had an enjoyable day on laugherne island and finished 4th with 37lbs and 7lbs separating 1st and 7th place, this was one of the tightest matches I've ever heard of let alone fished. What made it worse I lost 2 fish with the strong wind blowing my pole the other direction to the fish causing a pull out and a h/l break... My language was a little blue after this to say the least!!
Well on to my plans for 2012;
- Qualify for Maver Classic Final on the 6th and 7th May through opens on larford
- Barston Masters on Saturdays of April 14th,May 12th, June 9th, August 11th 2012 and The Final Saturday - September 8th.
- Maver Match This qualifier on Barston 22nd April
- Maver Match This qualifier on Larford 30th June
- Larford Summer Festival 30th July - Friday 3rd August
- All of the Whitehall matches 20/05/2012 Sunday Whitehall Club Pool
10/06/2012 Sunday Trevor Smiths Reddings Pool
24/06/2012 Sunday Greenhills Fishery Kingfisher Pool
01/07/2012 Sunday Whitehall Club Pool
08/07/2012 Sunday CLUB MEMORIAL MATCH
14/07/2012 SATURDAY Tirley Court. Pete’s Lake
29/07/2012 Sunday Willow Pool Broadheath Fishery
12/08/2012 Sunday Hallow Pool’s
19/08/2012 Sunday Elmbridge Heron Pool 25 Pegs
02/09/2012 Sunday Greenhills Fishery Kingfisher Pool
08/09/2012 SATURDAY Tirley Court. Pete’s Lake
30/09/2012 Sunday Oak Pool Ockeridge
21/10/2012 Sunday Whitehall Club Pool
So all in all a busy match calendar when I add a few opens as well as evening matches on Thursday at larford and at the Whitehall. I will endeavour to let you know exactly how I do in all of the above matches. I can't wait for the spring and summer!
Monday, 27 February 2012
Thursday, 12 January 2012
Winter sort out...
...A slightly different entry...
As we are well into winter, even though the weather has been quite mild I tend not to be out fishing as much. It is a very busy time for me at work and with my Rugby playing commitments on a Saturday it leaves little time for fishing on the weekends.
Instead of just neglecting my gear in the garage to collect cobwebs and dust I use my time on the evenings and occasionally sat in front of some Rugby or Football on a Sunday to organise my gear for the spring. This includes sorting rigs, tying hook lengths and generally making sure bits and pieces are clean and tidy.
First on my list of "to do's" was to clean my pole; not an easy job and a job that is best done when the woman of the house is out shopping. I do this by getting the sections out and standing them up in the bath, I then use some car shampoo with wax mixed with some warm water to wash down sections. Then with the shower head a blast down the section to remove any loose dirt or grit. These are then towel dried and stood up to dry on top of an old towel.
Secondly my carryall, I could not believe the state of the bottom of my carryall. I was very tempted to bin it and start again!! Bits of pellet, paste and all manner of sludge had found its way to the bottom of the bag, even though I use a separate bait carryall. I had to empty this and get in it with the hose pipe, even the dog turned its nose up at it. Was then a case of simply hanging this out to dry.
The labour recently has been on my pole rigs. I have checked old rigs, re-tyed, tyed new rigs, changed some patterns and have managed to amass this lot of rigs that cover the styles of fishing I have started to hone and hope to start to get better at over the next year. These rigs are made to cover everything I will want to do on a fishery and therefore won't cover every style of fishing perceivable. Here they are in all there glory:
... Next up is my hooklengths and feeder / waggler stocks watch this space...
Saturday, 31 December 2011
Christmas Matches - Manor Farm Ash Pool and Whitehall Open
Manor Farm 28th December
I started off the session by potting in around 20 micros and 4-5 expanders on my pole lines and then chucked a small drennan grip-mesh feeder out with a 8inch 0.11 powerline hooklength to a size 18 drennan carp feeder hook for maggot and another with a quickstop on a hair rig for Jpz or fluro boilies. I chucked out every 8mins at the start and had 2 liners but no proper takes.
The lack of action on any ones tip lines prompted me to switch to the pole I noticed people opposite me catching on the long pole. I went out to 11m for 30mins without a bite. The wind was picking up which meant I couldn't hold my pole at 11m at all. The 6m line was not producing but I kept frugally feeding this swim.
I switched back to my feeder line and after 4mins and just over an hour gone the tip wanged around and my first f1 of about a pound found it's way into the net. The next hour produced a couple of skimmers and small F1s. However the bites were finicky and I was getting lots of knocks which made me think they were attacking the groundbait. I switched to the method and managed a carp of 3lb on the first chuck.
The final hour was the most producted for me, I caught 2 carp of around 3lb each and 2 more F1's all back on the groundbait feeder and dead red maggots.
Whitehall Open 30th December
I set up 3 lines, the fist was for catching a number of silvers quickly at 5m with maggot and casters over groundbait. I found just over 7ft here so fished a 0.4g homemade pencil float with stung out shotting, I also set a rig up at half deck here on a 0.07 SconeZone Bitz. Both of these lines were 0.10 to 0.08 and a 20 drennan silverfish maggot hook.
At 13m I wanted to fish pellet and pick up everything that swam here. I set up a 0.06 SconeZone Berweemz in just over 8ft of water here and at about 8 1/2 ft at 10'oclock line for a back up if the fish move from my feed. This was on 0.13 powerline to a 0.11 hooklength and 19 Drennan Silverfish Maggot hook. This was matched to a solid latex size 8 on a pulla bung.
Weather: 4C-8C clear and windy.
Water: Unbelievably still quite a lot of colour in the water
Peg: 6
Baits: SDP Nori 1mm feed pellet, 4mm ringers cool water pumped with SFA 430, Marukyu EFG 130 and red maggot.
Water: Unbelievably still quite a lot of colour in the water
Peg: 6
Baits: SDP Nori 1mm feed pellet, 4mm ringers cool water pumped with SFA 430, Marukyu EFG 130 and red maggot.
Weight: 16lb 10oz (Section win)
I got asked to fish a match on one of manor farm's pools, I have seen and heard a lot about this venue. It is solid and the results during winter are consistently high. Unfortunately the pool we fished didn't really have enough room for the anglers fishing which made the fishing tough.
I set up on my peg and first of all found the bottom of the near side slope, I fished half a metre up the slope at just under 6m in 5ft of water. For this line I used a hillbilly billybob in 0.2g to 0.11 powerline and a 0.10 hooklength to a 18 drennan silverfish maggot.
The next pole line I set up to fish was a long line at 11m-14.5m, I found a uniform bottom here so plumped on starting at 11m due to a cross wind making things difficult. I set up a maver invincible series 7 in 0.6g to 0.13 powerline and the same hooklength and hook as above, this was to white hydro on a pulla.
Finally I set up a feeder/bomb line in case the fish were not coming within reaching distance for the pole. It turned out that this was the only thing I could fish due to the cross winds and then the sun reflecting so brightly in my peg I couldn't see anything, let alone a dotted down float even with polarised glasses on. I used my brand new 11ft maver powerlite feeder, with a snap swivel attaching either bomb, cage and 8inch-12inch hooklengths.
I started off the session by potting in around 20 micros and 4-5 expanders on my pole lines and then chucked a small drennan grip-mesh feeder out with a 8inch 0.11 powerline hooklength to a size 18 drennan carp feeder hook for maggot and another with a quickstop on a hair rig for Jpz or fluro boilies. I chucked out every 8mins at the start and had 2 liners but no proper takes.
The lack of action on any ones tip lines prompted me to switch to the pole I noticed people opposite me catching on the long pole. I went out to 11m for 30mins without a bite. The wind was picking up which meant I couldn't hold my pole at 11m at all. The 6m line was not producing but I kept frugally feeding this swim.
I switched back to my feeder line and after 4mins and just over an hour gone the tip wanged around and my first f1 of about a pound found it's way into the net. The next hour produced a couple of skimmers and small F1s. However the bites were finicky and I was getting lots of knocks which made me think they were attacking the groundbait. I switched to the method and managed a carp of 3lb on the first chuck.
The final hour was the most producted for me, I caught 2 carp of around 3lb each and 2 more F1's all back on the groundbait feeder and dead red maggots.
Whitehall Open 30th December
Weather: 4C-6C overcast in morning then pouring down in afternoon.
Water: Colour has dropped completely
Peg: 8
Baits: Micros, 4mm expanders, caster, maggot, Sensas Roach 3000 80% mixed with 20% Sensas Lake Black .
Water: Colour has dropped completely
Peg: 8
Baits: Micros, 4mm expanders, caster, maggot, Sensas Roach 3000 80% mixed with 20% Sensas Lake Black .
Weight: 10lb 8oz 4th (best non carp weight)
I decided to run an open on the club pool between christmas and new years, it was down to be a match fished by MFS however with lack of numbers I ran it as an open.
I drew peg 8 slap bang in the middle of the pool and towards the deeper water that the larger fish tend to move towards in the winter.
I set up 3 lines, the fist was for catching a number of silvers quickly at 5m with maggot and casters over groundbait. I found just over 7ft here so fished a 0.4g homemade pencil float with stung out shotting, I also set a rig up at half deck here on a 0.07 SconeZone Bitz. Both of these lines were 0.10 to 0.08 and a 20 drennan silverfish maggot hook.
At 13m I wanted to fish pellet and pick up everything that swam here. I set up a 0.06 SconeZone Berweemz in just over 8ft of water here and at about 8 1/2 ft at 10'oclock line for a back up if the fish move from my feed. This was on 0.13 powerline to a 0.11 hooklength and 19 Drennan Silverfish Maggot hook. This was matched to a solid latex size 8 on a pulla bung.
The session started with me potting in a tangerine sized ball of groundbait on my 5m line along with around 15 caster for fish to graze over. I then went out to 13m with 20 micros and an expander on the hook. First 10mins didnt give me any signs so 20 more micros went in through a cad pot and a maggot was tried on the hook. This time 3 roach came to the net but after a long time between them. I changed the shotting on this rig to have 4 droppers below the bulk instead of my usual 2.
On returning out to the 13m line with more droppers I let the rig settle and the bristle buried and a lovely crucian of 10oz came to the net. Then 3 more brown goldfish followed all around the 8oz mark, I reckon that these were sat above the feed and just followed the feed down and thus the pellet falling slower and took them as they hit the deck.
After this short flurry I lost the fish so moved onto the short line where I had now potted in 3 balls of groundbait. I went over with a caster and 2 small roah followed straight away and then a load of liners. I moved the shotting but againg just hit liners. I put the half depth on the drop rig over with a single maggot and had 2 rudd and a good roach of 6oz-8oz. This line was producing small fish but they were of no size. I had to gamble on the pellet line.
On returning to the pellet line it soon ame clear that it was solid with brown goldfish, I took 10 brown goldfish, 2 goldfish, 5 roach and 2 large fantails in the last 2 hours. I could have taken more however I had issues with my float; I had dotted it down to see the finicky bites which was fine. The water turned white which made things tricky so I coloured my bristle black which made it look like a rain drop so I kept losing sight of it. I had to then take some shot off and look for dinks so I must have missed 8-10 bites.
All in all an enjoyable match and its just good to get some bites this time of year.
Sunday, 4 December 2011
Whitehall Fur and Feather - 20th November 2011
Weather: 6C overcast, foggy and cold.
Water: Colour had dropped completely out of first foot or so
Peg: 22
Baits: Casters, worm, mircos and 4mm expanders
Weight: 3lb 0oz
The weather is no where near the harshness experienced last year so the fur and feather should fish O.K. and the fish should respond even though there were a lot of anglers on the pool right... right... wrong.
I pulled peg 22 out of the bag which I thought could have been worth a few fish, I had said prior to the match pegs 12-19 would be my favoured draws today I wasn't too far out of the area I wanted. My approach was to catch anything and everything today as the time of the year means the carp would be reticent to feed and I cannot sit and do nothing in a match, it is not the way I fish. I plumbed a line at 13m and 14.5m to be the same depth at 8 1/2 ft and also a line short at 8m just 2 inches shallower so the same rig was used for the deck. I also set up on the drop rigs at 5ft and 3 ft to search the water for bites if things got hard.
My deck rig was a sconezone berweemz in 0.6g to 0.13 powerline and a 0.10 powerline hooklength with a size 18 drennan silverfish maggot hook. This was shotted with a bulk 2 feet from the hook and 4 no10's stotz spaced 6 inches apart. I matched this to white hydro, which although a little heavy for small silvers would ensure I get any bream, chub or proper carp in using the pulla.
My 'drop' rigs were on hillbilly billybobs the 3ft rig on a 0.1g and the 5 ft rig on a 0.2g both were on 0.10 powerline to 0.08 hooklenghts with a 20 drennan silverfish maggot hook both to a number 5 latex. Shotting was strung out 10's at 6inches apart for both rigs, the reason for the 6 inches is that this is the same size as my hooklength so the rig is falling evenly through the water and at no point is the line sinking faster than the hookbait, this also allows you to read any bites at any point on the rigs fall through the water. If there was a bulk then you cannot read any bites on the drop until the bulk has settled unless the fish hooks its self.
On the all in I potted in a tangerine sized ball of micros, worm, caster and peat that the worms came in on my 13m line and went over the top with the 5ft rig to pick out any fish cruising and intercepting the bait on the drop. I had a tiny nudge on this rig in 5mins so went onto the deck. I was feeding 8-10 casters every 30seconds to draw fish into my peg.
The first hour saw me blank completely on the deck and after 30mins I potted in again which had no result so at 11:00 I potted my 3rd ball in. 5mins later the bristle lifted and then buried, a strike saw white hydro streaming from my pole tip and unfortunately into Keith Holt's peg and his rig. This resulted in the carp becoming unhooked and lost (I still believe Keith purposefully sabotaged me!!!!).
After this I started to get liners on my rig so I slapped the 5ft rig on to the surface, again a couple of liners and then the float stayed sat proud of the water I struck into a lovely 2oz golden rudd... the dreaded blank was avoided. Again I was getting liners so I got the 3ft rig out and first put in the float cocked and then buried aggressively and a strike saw elastic zig zagging across the surface, a lovely 10oz-12oz perch was the victim.
All the time I was pinging in caster 10 at a time. The next couple of drops resulted in small 5 small roach looking things upto 1oz. I was contemplating going a foot deeper with my other rig when I layed the rig on the water and the float scooted across the water and a lift saw my tip get dragged under the water, the result a lovely chub of nearly 1lb. After this I went to the deeper rig after the 3ft rig did not produce.
First 3 put ins saw rudd come to the net all at around 2oz, a few fruitless drops then saw another chub to about 8oz come to the net. Next thing I know I am half an hour from the end of the match, I spend 15mins on the deck for 1 roach at about 4oz, until finally the drop rig produced an ide of about 8oz.
3lb went the scales, i had guestimated a bit more at 3 1/2lb which would have catpulted me up a couple of places but the prize I had my eye on was still at the table when I got there in 6th place. A huge bucket of continental style groundbaits and some pellets and additives will help my already clustered shelves of bait. A well ran match and well enjoyed, well by me anyway, well done Whitehall angling club and all involved for a great year.
In other news I have been to Larford fishing the classic qualifiers on sundays on the speci lake, I have had 1 good draw and 1 average draw and have done equally pants on both, narrowly missing out on a section win beaten by Grant Albutt and a 3rd in section all on the method at distance and some skimmers at 16m on the pole and pellet...
Water: Colour had dropped completely out of first foot or so
Peg: 22
Baits: Casters, worm, mircos and 4mm expanders
Weight: 3lb 0oz
The weather is no where near the harshness experienced last year so the fur and feather should fish O.K. and the fish should respond even though there were a lot of anglers on the pool right... right... wrong.
I pulled peg 22 out of the bag which I thought could have been worth a few fish, I had said prior to the match pegs 12-19 would be my favoured draws today I wasn't too far out of the area I wanted. My approach was to catch anything and everything today as the time of the year means the carp would be reticent to feed and I cannot sit and do nothing in a match, it is not the way I fish. I plumbed a line at 13m and 14.5m to be the same depth at 8 1/2 ft and also a line short at 8m just 2 inches shallower so the same rig was used for the deck. I also set up on the drop rigs at 5ft and 3 ft to search the water for bites if things got hard.
My deck rig was a sconezone berweemz in 0.6g to 0.13 powerline and a 0.10 powerline hooklength with a size 18 drennan silverfish maggot hook. This was shotted with a bulk 2 feet from the hook and 4 no10's stotz spaced 6 inches apart. I matched this to white hydro, which although a little heavy for small silvers would ensure I get any bream, chub or proper carp in using the pulla.
My 'drop' rigs were on hillbilly billybobs the 3ft rig on a 0.1g and the 5 ft rig on a 0.2g both were on 0.10 powerline to 0.08 hooklenghts with a 20 drennan silverfish maggot hook both to a number 5 latex. Shotting was strung out 10's at 6inches apart for both rigs, the reason for the 6 inches is that this is the same size as my hooklength so the rig is falling evenly through the water and at no point is the line sinking faster than the hookbait, this also allows you to read any bites at any point on the rigs fall through the water. If there was a bulk then you cannot read any bites on the drop until the bulk has settled unless the fish hooks its self.
On the all in I potted in a tangerine sized ball of micros, worm, caster and peat that the worms came in on my 13m line and went over the top with the 5ft rig to pick out any fish cruising and intercepting the bait on the drop. I had a tiny nudge on this rig in 5mins so went onto the deck. I was feeding 8-10 casters every 30seconds to draw fish into my peg.
The first hour saw me blank completely on the deck and after 30mins I potted in again which had no result so at 11:00 I potted my 3rd ball in. 5mins later the bristle lifted and then buried, a strike saw white hydro streaming from my pole tip and unfortunately into Keith Holt's peg and his rig. This resulted in the carp becoming unhooked and lost (I still believe Keith purposefully sabotaged me!!!!).
After this I started to get liners on my rig so I slapped the 5ft rig on to the surface, again a couple of liners and then the float stayed sat proud of the water I struck into a lovely 2oz golden rudd... the dreaded blank was avoided. Again I was getting liners so I got the 3ft rig out and first put in the float cocked and then buried aggressively and a strike saw elastic zig zagging across the surface, a lovely 10oz-12oz perch was the victim.
All the time I was pinging in caster 10 at a time. The next couple of drops resulted in small 5 small roach looking things upto 1oz. I was contemplating going a foot deeper with my other rig when I layed the rig on the water and the float scooted across the water and a lift saw my tip get dragged under the water, the result a lovely chub of nearly 1lb. After this I went to the deeper rig after the 3ft rig did not produce.
First 3 put ins saw rudd come to the net all at around 2oz, a few fruitless drops then saw another chub to about 8oz come to the net. Next thing I know I am half an hour from the end of the match, I spend 15mins on the deck for 1 roach at about 4oz, until finally the drop rig produced an ide of about 8oz.
3lb went the scales, i had guestimated a bit more at 3 1/2lb which would have catpulted me up a couple of places but the prize I had my eye on was still at the table when I got there in 6th place. A huge bucket of continental style groundbaits and some pellets and additives will help my already clustered shelves of bait. A well ran match and well enjoyed, well by me anyway, well done Whitehall angling club and all involved for a great year.
In other news I have been to Larford fishing the classic qualifiers on sundays on the speci lake, I have had 1 good draw and 1 average draw and have done equally pants on both, narrowly missing out on a section win beaten by Grant Albutt and a 3rd in section all on the method at distance and some skimmers at 16m on the pole and pellet...
Saturday, 5 November 2011
Whitehall King of Sections - 30th October 2011
Weather: 11C Overcast with Threats of Rain.
Water: Colour had dropped slightly but still a good rich brown colour
Peg: 17
Baits: Skrettings Micros, Chopped Prawn and Worm, 6mm VDE RS Expanders, GOT Atomic Paste.
Weight: 34lb 0oz (2nd to Carl Graham AGAIN!!)
A great initiative by the club and Dave Warren to run a final for those who have won a section during the year and £1 of pools from club matches going to this big money final. It was fished on the club pool and a good turn out should make for a good match. I drew on peg 17 on the deep side of the pool and had some scores to settle with this pool on matches having never really sussed it.
I got to my peg and plumbed the depth at 13m to find 9ft of water straight in front of me. I then plumbed a line again at 13m but at 10'oclock to me, this plumbed up exactly the same so the same rig was used. I used a Sconezone double deez in 0.8g to 0.17 powerline and a 0.15 hooklength to a 16 B911. This was matched to a top 2 with grey hydro on a pulla. Down my left edge I had 8ft a metre from the bank so set a paste rig up here in the hope that some munters would come in at some point in the match. This rig was a Sconezone Jadz 0.6g to 0.14 through to a 12 B911 on black hydro.
My two out lines would be fed completely differently. I fed both lines a mixture of dampened micros chopped prawns and worms that formed into a ball nicely. I fed straight in front with a large cad pot every 8mins or every large fish and my '10 o'clock' line with a large pot every 45mins. I started on my line straight in front and had a number of small fish on the worm and the prawn wasn't really producing. It was hard going but I had managed to snare a 4lb carp, 4 of the year old stockies, a 1lb plus perch, a crucian and 8 roach and rudd by 12:15 when I decided to go on the 10 o'clock line. I had a lost carp on this line, a fan tail and a few bits and pieces.
At 13:30 I decided to try down the edge where I had fed balls of micros. First put in I missed a huge sail away. 2nd put in a little twitch and a big stike saw black hydro sit oabove my swim and plod around very frimly. A true munter was on and this plodded around my swim for a while before then deciding to bottom me out, I hurridly got some more sections out and got the leviation in. Later weighed at 14lb 6oz. A couple of smaller beasties later the paste line had died. The last 30mins saw me go out again and get another stockie and a beautiful Koi Carp my first ever. I had won my section but had I enough to beat the on form Carl Graham a nervy weigh in revealed I was 1 carp short. What a great competition and 2 matches left for me until the early spring a possible Autumn league decider with St. Johns and the Fur and Feather where a prize will be guaranteed. Thanks for reading!!
Water: Colour had dropped slightly but still a good rich brown colour
Peg: 17
Baits: Skrettings Micros, Chopped Prawn and Worm, 6mm VDE RS Expanders, GOT Atomic Paste.
Weight: 34lb 0oz (2nd to Carl Graham AGAIN!!)
A great initiative by the club and Dave Warren to run a final for those who have won a section during the year and £1 of pools from club matches going to this big money final. It was fished on the club pool and a good turn out should make for a good match. I drew on peg 17 on the deep side of the pool and had some scores to settle with this pool on matches having never really sussed it.
I got to my peg and plumbed the depth at 13m to find 9ft of water straight in front of me. I then plumbed a line again at 13m but at 10'oclock to me, this plumbed up exactly the same so the same rig was used. I used a Sconezone double deez in 0.8g to 0.17 powerline and a 0.15 hooklength to a 16 B911. This was matched to a top 2 with grey hydro on a pulla. Down my left edge I had 8ft a metre from the bank so set a paste rig up here in the hope that some munters would come in at some point in the match. This rig was a Sconezone Jadz 0.6g to 0.14 through to a 12 B911 on black hydro.
My two out lines would be fed completely differently. I fed both lines a mixture of dampened micros chopped prawns and worms that formed into a ball nicely. I fed straight in front with a large cad pot every 8mins or every large fish and my '10 o'clock' line with a large pot every 45mins. I started on my line straight in front and had a number of small fish on the worm and the prawn wasn't really producing. It was hard going but I had managed to snare a 4lb carp, 4 of the year old stockies, a 1lb plus perch, a crucian and 8 roach and rudd by 12:15 when I decided to go on the 10 o'clock line. I had a lost carp on this line, a fan tail and a few bits and pieces.
At 13:30 I decided to try down the edge where I had fed balls of micros. First put in I missed a huge sail away. 2nd put in a little twitch and a big stike saw black hydro sit oabove my swim and plod around very frimly. A true munter was on and this plodded around my swim for a while before then deciding to bottom me out, I hurridly got some more sections out and got the leviation in. Later weighed at 14lb 6oz. A couple of smaller beasties later the paste line had died. The last 30mins saw me go out again and get another stockie and a beautiful Koi Carp my first ever. I had won my section but had I enough to beat the on form Carl Graham a nervy weigh in revealed I was 1 carp short. What a great competition and 2 matches left for me until the early spring a possible Autumn league decider with St. Johns and the Fur and Feather where a prize will be guaranteed. Thanks for reading!!
Whitehall League - Tirley Pete's Lake 23rd October 2011
Weather: 10C-12C Overcast
Water: Slight ripple on surface, good carp puddle brown
Peg: 5
Baits: Coppens 4.5mm feed pellet, VDE RS 6mm Expanders, Ringers Cool Water 4.5mm Expanders, White Maggot, Got Atomic Paste.
Weight: 56lb 6oz (6th) and section win
Unfortunately this fixture came a few weeks too late to have a 'baggin' match on this heavily stocked carp pool. A good turn out to the last Whitehall league fixture of the season saw me needing a top half finish to win the league and a bigger weight than Carl Graham to score a double and win the clubs knockout competition.
On to the draw and 5 sticks to my hand and puts me next to Dave Warren who has a habbit of doing well on heavily stocked carp pools. I drew on the shallow side of the pool and set my box up 3 ft into the water and still had inches of water around me. Regardless of the Island being an inviting prospect I immediately put my efforts towards the pole lines for speed of catching in order to put a weight together. My pole lines were at 5m, 10m and down the edge.
At 5m I found 3 1/2ft in a small hole to the left which rose to just 2ft towards my right, I fished in this hole and found just 3-4 inches more depth at 10m. Instead of using same rig I set up seperate rigs for the pellet as I like to fish as short a line from float to pole tip as possible. My rigs for lines at 5m and 10m were the same; 0.3g Maver Invincible series 7 pencil floats on 0.17 powerline to 0.15 hooklength and a 16 B911. This was matched to grey hydro. For the 5m line I set up a paste rig to go on if I was getting plagued by gudgeon on pellet and maggot, this was a 0.2g Sconezone Jadz on 0.17 straight through to a 14 B911 and on black hydro. My edge rig was one of my new SconeZone Samurai's on 0.17 powerline straight through to a size 14 B911 for a bunch of maggots down the edge on black hydro.
I started the session with a medium cad pot of pellets at 5m and double maggot on the hook, I always do this to check what is currently in the swim. After 5 gudgeon I changed to a 4.5mm pellet and after 5 more gudegeon I changed to a 6mm pellet. The swim then went quiet so either a carp was present or I had caught all the gudgeon, it was a carp and 3 2lb stamp fish came to the net quickly. After this flurry the swim died, I was potting in with a medium cad pot every 5mins or after every carp so a time to change. I reduced the feed and this brought more gudgeon so a change was needed.
I went out to the 10m line and fed the same as I had started at the beggining of the match and had a few fish from this line. The match continued to fish hard and I had to chop and change between the 2 lines, fishing pellet and maggot and the amount of feed going in. Towards the last hour I had fed my margin line and saw 3 fish come in, I went over them straight away with 4 maggots on the hook, the float buried I struck into the back side of a large carp to see 3 bow waves fly off and my rig come flying back towards me. The fish never returned.
I saw other anglers feeding large amounts towards the end so I filled in my 5m line with a large pot of 4.5mm pellet and fished the paste over the top. In the last 45mins I had 5 decent carp on the paste at 5m which gave me 17 carp and 29 gudgeon in my nets. I thought I had around 45lbs so was glad I went over the 50lb barrier, although it seemed the hardest 50lb I have ever scratched around for. At the weight in I had enough to take me to the league championship however the real interest was on the KO with Carl Graham. He pulled out one bag at 32lb, stating his next bag was silvers I thought I had it but seeing him pull out another net of carp to go 30lb+ my heart sank, well angled mate!!
Water: Slight ripple on surface, good carp puddle brown
Peg: 5
Baits: Coppens 4.5mm feed pellet, VDE RS 6mm Expanders, Ringers Cool Water 4.5mm Expanders, White Maggot, Got Atomic Paste.
Weight: 56lb 6oz (6th) and section win
Unfortunately this fixture came a few weeks too late to have a 'baggin' match on this heavily stocked carp pool. A good turn out to the last Whitehall league fixture of the season saw me needing a top half finish to win the league and a bigger weight than Carl Graham to score a double and win the clubs knockout competition.
On to the draw and 5 sticks to my hand and puts me next to Dave Warren who has a habbit of doing well on heavily stocked carp pools. I drew on the shallow side of the pool and set my box up 3 ft into the water and still had inches of water around me. Regardless of the Island being an inviting prospect I immediately put my efforts towards the pole lines for speed of catching in order to put a weight together. My pole lines were at 5m, 10m and down the edge.
 |
| New SconeZone Samurai Margin Floats |
I started the session with a medium cad pot of pellets at 5m and double maggot on the hook, I always do this to check what is currently in the swim. After 5 gudgeon I changed to a 4.5mm pellet and after 5 more gudegeon I changed to a 6mm pellet. The swim then went quiet so either a carp was present or I had caught all the gudgeon, it was a carp and 3 2lb stamp fish came to the net quickly. After this flurry the swim died, I was potting in with a medium cad pot every 5mins or after every carp so a time to change. I reduced the feed and this brought more gudgeon so a change was needed.
I went out to the 10m line and fed the same as I had started at the beggining of the match and had a few fish from this line. The match continued to fish hard and I had to chop and change between the 2 lines, fishing pellet and maggot and the amount of feed going in. Towards the last hour I had fed my margin line and saw 3 fish come in, I went over them straight away with 4 maggots on the hook, the float buried I struck into the back side of a large carp to see 3 bow waves fly off and my rig come flying back towards me. The fish never returned.
I saw other anglers feeding large amounts towards the end so I filled in my 5m line with a large pot of 4.5mm pellet and fished the paste over the top. In the last 45mins I had 5 decent carp on the paste at 5m which gave me 17 carp and 29 gudgeon in my nets. I thought I had around 45lbs so was glad I went over the 50lb barrier, although it seemed the hardest 50lb I have ever scratched around for. At the weight in I had enough to take me to the league championship however the real interest was on the KO with Carl Graham. He pulled out one bag at 32lb, stating his next bag was silvers I thought I had it but seeing him pull out another net of carp to go 30lb+ my heart sank, well angled mate!!
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Whitehall League - Riflemans Arms stretch of the Droitwich Canal 9th October 2011
Weather: 12C Light cloud cover with short sunny spells.
Water: BOATS - WHAT ARE THEY DOING IN MY PEG??
Peg: (Next to Chairman, best behave!) non permanent 6 (spinners section)
Baits: Pinkie, pink ones with a few white ones, chopped worm, Dynamite Baits Silver X black.
Weight: 11lb 6oz (1st)
When I saw this fixture on the list at the start of the year I thought one thing; "I'll have a nice lie whilst the boys gruel that one out". However with the league on a knife edge I had to give it a go, even though the only think I have used a canal for in the past was as a latrine.
Well over to Alans I go in the week and ask Chris to sort me out, he hands me an empty packet of size 22 Kamasan B511's, very funny says I, look closer says he, agh says I they are quite small!! Onto elastics and a my double number 3 is laughed off in the chatbox on MFS and I am instructed to use a single use of size 3, I have stronger elastic in my knickers! But now I am sorted and prepared for scratching around for bites on the canal.
On arrival I am surprised to see the canal has a lot of bankside vegetation and the weed beds offer a lot of options to fish to, at least they would if it was a commy snake lake stuffed with fish. The banter is flying around at the start of the match about certain members fondness of the paste and whether they were going to fish it today. Apparently one did, I shall leave that judgement up to you...
OK onto the session and the rigs I set up were quite simple nearside reeds, track and far side. I started down the track and didn't have a bite for 20mins and never went back to that line so I won't go over rigs for that.
For the near side (red boxes) I set up a DC10 in 4x8 for 2 1/2 ft of water (that went to 2ft through the match) this was on 0.10 powerline to a 0.07 hooklength and size 22 B511. This was matched up to a 3 elastic through the top 2 sections of a match kit. My intention here was to feed a small ball of groudbait at each side and feed for bite with pinky over the top.
For the far bank reeds (blue) I intended to fish sloppy mixture of worm, peat and groundbait with a worm over the top. I set up one of my homemade silver pencil floats in 0.2g in 3ft of water on 0.13 powerline to initially 0.10 and a size 18 B511 but changed to a 0.13 and a 18 B911 as the match went on as I kept bending the predecessor hook and the line kept going week around hook due to amount of perch being caught. This was matched to doubled 4 elastic in order to drag fish from the reeds. I did not bump a single fish on this set up.
As previously stated I started my match down the track messing around on punch and pinkie to no avail. I had fed my left hand near side line but did not want to go on them too early. I placed my rig into the hole in the reeds and the float kept sinking to which I thought I had majorly over shotted it, upon lifting my rig out no3 hi-viz elastic is streaming out of my top kit and perch no1 is in the keepnet. I then kept on catching down this side consistently ficking 5 pinkies over the line every 2 fish. After 45 mins of catching I fed my right hand swim so that I had a back up line should this line slow.
Eventually after 90mins of perch bagging the swim started to slow right down. I swapped over and re-fed a ball of groundbait and 12-15 pinkies. The other swim had perch there again, it wasn't as prolific but I was catching (which did not hit home until later) so I was building a weight.
At 1 o'clock and after some boat traffic and lock movement I noticed a drop in the water levels and my nearside lines were dead. Time to feed and try the farside swim. A small pot of sloppy choppy went over and was left for 15mins. I then went over with a half a dendy on the hook to see float bury instantly and the biggest fish of the day graced my landing net, a 8oz-9oz perch. I fed with a toss pot every 3 fish initially and then upped the feed to every 2 fish when the swim really picked up.
One thing I noticed was that when boats went through I went straight back over to the far swim with and a larger specimen would take the hook bait, maybe due to the extra cloud in the water, who knows? In the last 30 mins I had slowed on the far bank so switched to the quicker nearside and caught well at 3/4 depth (20inches) and alternating sides and feed to maximise the swims.
At the weight in I could not call my weight and had 5lb to beat which I thought would be close. When I got my net out I couldn't beleive the amount of fish I had caught! I had to double take when the needle went beyond 10lb and I was really chuffed to have done such a good weight on a venue I was considering to be a write off for me. I think I shall now retire from Canal fishing on a high and concentrate on improving my less than adequate commercial fishing haha!!
Water: BOATS - WHAT ARE THEY DOING IN MY PEG??
Peg: (Next to Chairman, best behave!) non permanent 6 (spinners section)
Baits: Pinkie, pink ones with a few white ones, chopped worm, Dynamite Baits Silver X black.
Weight: 11lb 6oz (1st)
When I saw this fixture on the list at the start of the year I thought one thing; "I'll have a nice lie whilst the boys gruel that one out". However with the league on a knife edge I had to give it a go, even though the only think I have used a canal for in the past was as a latrine.
Well over to Alans I go in the week and ask Chris to sort me out, he hands me an empty packet of size 22 Kamasan B511's, very funny says I, look closer says he, agh says I they are quite small!! Onto elastics and a my double number 3 is laughed off in the chatbox on MFS and I am instructed to use a single use of size 3, I have stronger elastic in my knickers! But now I am sorted and prepared for scratching around for bites on the canal.
On arrival I am surprised to see the canal has a lot of bankside vegetation and the weed beds offer a lot of options to fish to, at least they would if it was a commy snake lake stuffed with fish. The banter is flying around at the start of the match about certain members fondness of the paste and whether they were going to fish it today. Apparently one did, I shall leave that judgement up to you...
OK onto the session and the rigs I set up were quite simple nearside reeds, track and far side. I started down the track and didn't have a bite for 20mins and never went back to that line so I won't go over rigs for that.
 |
| Please excuse the mess, I was half way through packking up when I dedcided to take photo.... |
For the far bank reeds (blue) I intended to fish sloppy mixture of worm, peat and groundbait with a worm over the top. I set up one of my homemade silver pencil floats in 0.2g in 3ft of water on 0.13 powerline to initially 0.10 and a size 18 B511 but changed to a 0.13 and a 18 B911 as the match went on as I kept bending the predecessor hook and the line kept going week around hook due to amount of perch being caught. This was matched to doubled 4 elastic in order to drag fish from the reeds. I did not bump a single fish on this set up.
As previously stated I started my match down the track messing around on punch and pinkie to no avail. I had fed my left hand near side line but did not want to go on them too early. I placed my rig into the hole in the reeds and the float kept sinking to which I thought I had majorly over shotted it, upon lifting my rig out no3 hi-viz elastic is streaming out of my top kit and perch no1 is in the keepnet. I then kept on catching down this side consistently ficking 5 pinkies over the line every 2 fish. After 45 mins of catching I fed my right hand swim so that I had a back up line should this line slow.
Eventually after 90mins of perch bagging the swim started to slow right down. I swapped over and re-fed a ball of groundbait and 12-15 pinkies. The other swim had perch there again, it wasn't as prolific but I was catching (which did not hit home until later) so I was building a weight.
At 1 o'clock and after some boat traffic and lock movement I noticed a drop in the water levels and my nearside lines were dead. Time to feed and try the farside swim. A small pot of sloppy choppy went over and was left for 15mins. I then went over with a half a dendy on the hook to see float bury instantly and the biggest fish of the day graced my landing net, a 8oz-9oz perch. I fed with a toss pot every 3 fish initially and then upped the feed to every 2 fish when the swim really picked up.
One thing I noticed was that when boats went through I went straight back over to the far swim with and a larger specimen would take the hook bait, maybe due to the extra cloud in the water, who knows? In the last 30 mins I had slowed on the far bank so switched to the quicker nearside and caught well at 3/4 depth (20inches) and alternating sides and feed to maximise the swims.
At the weight in I could not call my weight and had 5lb to beat which I thought would be close. When I got my net out I couldn't beleive the amount of fish I had caught! I had to double take when the needle went beyond 10lb and I was really chuffed to have done such a good weight on a venue I was considering to be a write off for me. I think I shall now retire from Canal fishing on a high and concentrate on improving my less than adequate commercial fishing haha!!
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