After a reasonably mild October ( no frosts) we have finally arrived into November to be greeted by fog, it was not too bad in places but trying to find the match lake from the top of the hill, took a bit of doing. Yet once we were down there it had started to lift. It was agreed beforehand that dependant on today's result the MK Nugget challenge will be over for this year. I was fortunate to be leading 7-6 going into today and IF I won then that was it, IF Mick won then we would have a decider somewhere next week. The reason for this is that Mick likes to have a go at the rivers around MK, baiting up a couple of swims and roving between them. Fair play to him.
So today we had 11 on the match, with a couple of no shows, probably due to the fog. The match itself was on Ash Lake and with only 11 on we could all have a bit of room.
With pools and matchman league monies taken, it was onto the draw with Mick going in first, peg 19 with the light breeze blowing in. I drew near the back and peg 7 stuck to my paw, so that was home for the day. For Company I had Trevor Price on 5, Terry Lancaster on 4 and Madd on 10. Yet I could see the dam wall and keep an eye on Mick.
With the cooler weather in mind I decided on 3 lines today, a margin maggot line in 15inches of water on a top 4, a top four line with corn and a long 11m line for pellet. I was a little surprised how deep the "out " lines were and even had to add a little line to the 11m rig. The margin rig would double up as a shallow rig if required.
At the all in I cupped a half pot of pellet to 11m and a sprinkling of maggot to the left hand margin. Starting off on the top four corn rig. I started my normal regime of 3 or 4 grains and around a dozen pellets. After 10 minutes I noticed Mick into a fish and instantly missed a bite of my own. Back out and this time I connected with a 3lb fish. Eleven more followed in the first hour but the line was slowing and even upping the feed did not work. A switch to 11m saw a few bites but I could not hit them, suspecting they were liners I went out with the margin rig and bingo, a couple of quick fish but no more. A look down the edge on maggot saw me lose a fish first put in but no more so back to the top four rig.
I made a switch to pellet banded and I was now getting a few fish on the same line I started fishing with corn. Just goes to show, a change of bait can make all the difference. I stayed on the pellet for around 3 hours picking up odd fish, but still putting fish in the net. I needed to as Mick was catching every time I looked up. By the 4th hour the match was over, Pete Archer was catching very well on peg 21 fishing SHALLOW. Has anyone told the fish its November. I asked Madd at this time if he was OK, "why " he says. I respond that I just saw him pick up a landing net. Terry was his normal warbling self, serenading Trevor with the 1812 overture, the theme from the sound of music and a bit of Abba. Charlie was busy throwing his topkits all over the place yet Mick was still catching.
I decided to go down the edge in the last hour and although I had a few fish from there it died after 45 minutes and I was back out to top four territory. Another couple before the whistle and I felt I fished a tidy and good match.
First to weigh was Roy Makins with 99-15. That Trevor is a bad man. Ken Taylor on peg 2 did not bother to weigh in. Terry placed 146-12 onto the board to lead, Trevor chipped in with 133-13, with loads of fish coming off at the net. I sneaked into second with 140-06, before Madd placed 90-15 onto our board.
Starting from peg 30, Del Smith threw back around 120lb without realising his weight was a good one on the day. Nick Rowe put 119-12 to start the board. Pete Archer romped the result with 215-03. Mick was next with 129-08, thus meaning I would gain a final MK Nugget of the year and an 8-6 win. Charlie, despite his topkit tantrums place 122-08 on the sheet.
Overall
1st Pete Archer 215-03
2nd Terry Lancaster 146-12
3rd Keith Ashby 140-06
4th Trevor Price 133-13
5th Mick Wright 129-08
6th Charlie Lancaster 122-08
So that's it for a few weeks for me, I might venture out for a pleasure day somewhere and I will be sure to let you know how I get on. I have no more matches planned but if I get the chance to fish one I will.
Tuesday 1 November 2016
Sunday 30 October 2016
Meadowlands Warren Lake & Drennan Alders Farm Winter League 29-30 Oct 2016
Double Header this week and one more still to come. Having been stood down on my shifts on the Saturday and Sunday, I thought it would be a shame to waste it by doing house stuff. instead a couple of days fishing was in order. The first was a pleasure day on Warren Pool at Meadowlands Fishery near Coventry.
I had never fished this pool before so could not tell one peg from another, but with three of us we settled into 25, 24 and 23. Vic took 25, myself 24 and Pete 23.
Vic had set up a small method feeder and long pole, whilst I opted for the long pole and margins, Pete was on long pole and also set up a standard waggler. Pete was first into some fish, small perch and odd skimmers, whilst I opted to feed 4mm fishery pellets and fish a 6mm over the top. This worked and I was picking up small skimmers. A switch to a banded 8mm saw a few larger skimmers and a couple of carp around the 14lb mark. I found I could catch on a 6mm but only odd skimmers. In hindsight I should have fished more positively for the carp as I foulhooked a couple and I was sure there were a few in the peg. I tried the margins on and off throughout the session and it was only later in the day that a few fish showed with me catching another couple of carp. Vic had a couple of carp and lost just as many from his long line. Pete had one carp that must of gone 20lb and another late on that was just as big.
Overall, I enjoyed the day out and catch up with some good friends.
Sunday saw me guesting for the Pringles team in the Drennan Alders Farm Winter League. Not having a preference to which lake I fished, I was handed peg 24 on Pines, not a good area unless it was blowing in to the bank. The reason for this is the depth. At 5m I had a good 4ft and going out to 11m it was 6ft and still sloping off. I set up a rig to fish at 5m, 11m and a shallow rig. I also set up a couple of margin rigs just in case. My plan if you can call it that was to fish corn at 5m, pellet at 11m both up and down in the water, corn to the left hand margin and maggot over GB to the right edge.
At the all in I cupped a small pot of pellet onto both the outside swims and cupped in a half pot of corn to the left hand edge. I threw a handful of maggot to the left and a small pot of GB. Starting off at 5m I drip fed some corn in regularly to try to draw a few fish in. After 10 minutes I had my first fish of around 3lb.At least I was off and running. With no more bites forthcoming I switched to 11m and tried the deck rig. A couple of missed bites for nothing. Onto the shallow rig and second put in and another carp. 2 fish in the first hour. Not good.
It was fishing hard in our corner of the lake, Pete Brand on 23 was nicking odd fish but they looked smaller, Gary Toole on 25 was also struggling with a couple of fish. For the next two hours I kept rotating the lines in the hope that one of them would come good, alas with only another couple of fish to show for it I was pinning all my hopes that the maggot line down the edge would come alive in the last hour. I had been feeding it regularly and decided to cup in a full pot and sit over it. Within 10 minutes there were tail patterns and a bite. Just got to keep them coming. To cut a long story short I had 6 fish from this line. Maybe I should have fished it earlier. Maybe they just came in late.
Overall I finished with 36lb odd for 4th in the section of 9. Tony Kay winning it with 111lb from peg 12, Roy Makins second with 68lb and Matt Kearns with 55lb for 3rd.
Overall the team finished 4th on the day. Picking up a couple of points on the team in third.
The match Lake dominated the weights on the day with 181lb winning and plenty of ton weights as back up.
I had never fished this pool before so could not tell one peg from another, but with three of us we settled into 25, 24 and 23. Vic took 25, myself 24 and Pete 23.
Vic had set up a small method feeder and long pole, whilst I opted for the long pole and margins, Pete was on long pole and also set up a standard waggler. Pete was first into some fish, small perch and odd skimmers, whilst I opted to feed 4mm fishery pellets and fish a 6mm over the top. This worked and I was picking up small skimmers. A switch to a banded 8mm saw a few larger skimmers and a couple of carp around the 14lb mark. I found I could catch on a 6mm but only odd skimmers. In hindsight I should have fished more positively for the carp as I foulhooked a couple and I was sure there were a few in the peg. I tried the margins on and off throughout the session and it was only later in the day that a few fish showed with me catching another couple of carp. Vic had a couple of carp and lost just as many from his long line. Pete had one carp that must of gone 20lb and another late on that was just as big.
Overall, I enjoyed the day out and catch up with some good friends.
Sunday saw me guesting for the Pringles team in the Drennan Alders Farm Winter League. Not having a preference to which lake I fished, I was handed peg 24 on Pines, not a good area unless it was blowing in to the bank. The reason for this is the depth. At 5m I had a good 4ft and going out to 11m it was 6ft and still sloping off. I set up a rig to fish at 5m, 11m and a shallow rig. I also set up a couple of margin rigs just in case. My plan if you can call it that was to fish corn at 5m, pellet at 11m both up and down in the water, corn to the left hand margin and maggot over GB to the right edge.
At the all in I cupped a small pot of pellet onto both the outside swims and cupped in a half pot of corn to the left hand edge. I threw a handful of maggot to the left and a small pot of GB. Starting off at 5m I drip fed some corn in regularly to try to draw a few fish in. After 10 minutes I had my first fish of around 3lb.At least I was off and running. With no more bites forthcoming I switched to 11m and tried the deck rig. A couple of missed bites for nothing. Onto the shallow rig and second put in and another carp. 2 fish in the first hour. Not good.
It was fishing hard in our corner of the lake, Pete Brand on 23 was nicking odd fish but they looked smaller, Gary Toole on 25 was also struggling with a couple of fish. For the next two hours I kept rotating the lines in the hope that one of them would come good, alas with only another couple of fish to show for it I was pinning all my hopes that the maggot line down the edge would come alive in the last hour. I had been feeding it regularly and decided to cup in a full pot and sit over it. Within 10 minutes there were tail patterns and a bite. Just got to keep them coming. To cut a long story short I had 6 fish from this line. Maybe I should have fished it earlier. Maybe they just came in late.
Overall I finished with 36lb odd for 4th in the section of 9. Tony Kay winning it with 111lb from peg 12, Roy Makins second with 68lb and Matt Kearns with 55lb for 3rd.
Overall the team finished 4th on the day. Picking up a couple of points on the team in third.
The match Lake dominated the weights on the day with 181lb winning and plenty of ton weights as back up.
Tuesday 25 October 2016
Alders Farm Tuesday Open 25 10 16
After feeling a little disappointed with my performance last week I was determined to do better this week. I had stripped out my elastics as they have been too tight over the last few weeks. I was starting afresh, with a few lighter elastics through puller bungs but with a normal bung still in tact, this will allow me to adjust the tension to suit. Hopefully this will help, landing a lot of hooked fish.
Today's match saw 14 anglers on the venue, and with the weather still relatively mild considering the time of year, everyone was hopeful of a good days fishing.
Most of the cafe bank had gone by the time I placed my hand in the pot and true to form peg 29 came out. Not too bad, it had done well over the weekend but the reality is it should be behind peg 30 in the section. Although the fish are normally a bit bigger on 29. Mick had drawn peg 4 and would have a good weight from there, with Madd on 3. Terry had secured the fancied peg 30 and with Trevor taking the last peg in the box he would be on peg 1. Pete Aldridge had peg 8 where 200lb came from last Tuesday, so he would need an eye kept on.
I decided to fish 3 lines today rotating them, to try to keep fish coming. My first line was at 11m and would be fished with 4mm fishery feed pellets and 6mm hookers. My second line was at 10 o'clock towards the end of the bush and would be a corn and pellet line. My last line was to be at 2+2 and would be a corn line. Even though I had only 15inches depth I was sure a few fish would show up on it.
At the all in I potted a small amount of 4mms to 11m and a small pot of corn and pellet to the left hand bush. I also threw around 8 grains of corn to 2+2. Shipping out a 6mm to 11m and the float stood still, nothing, I tried to kinder a few pellets over the top and still it stood still. Over to the left hand swim and a grain of corn saw the float dip slightly and fish number one was on and soon off. Re-feed and try the 2+2 line and nothing, so back out to 11m. This time the float buried and a foul hooked fished around 2lb was in the net. No more bites were forthcoming. Back to 10 o'clock and another fish, this time around 3lb, hooked in the mouth on corn.
I could here the banter between Terry and Trevor and at times it was better than the fishing. Madd was giving Ken some on pegs 2 and 3 as they do. Meanwhile, Miick was steadily plundering the carp out of peg 4.
After another fish from 10 o'clock and I noticed a swirl over the near line. Dropping in on it the float went and the soft elastic came out before subduing a nice 6lb fish. Back out and another. That's more like it. 2 in 2 puts but alas it tailed off again. Switching between the lines kept odd fish coming throughout, however I did notice the larger fish coming from the closer swim.
At the all out I felt that I had done alright, but could not get any number of fish lined up to make a good weight. I knew peg 30 and Terry had caught well throughout, I just hoped they were smaller fish. Trevor, I think had an enjoyable day, albeit sorting out customers at the shop to start with. He had caught well on the waggler and late on down the edge on his trademark maggot approach. Ken and Madd had a decent peg to peg battle but it was Mick who triumphed for his first win on the venue. And more importantly a MK Nugget from me.
Overall
1st Mick Wright 156-13
2nd Trevor Price 136-05
3rd Terry Lancaster 103-03
4th Keith Ashby 82-07
5th Ken Taylor 79-14
6th Phil Young 76-12
I thoroughly enjoyed today, good craic was had by all, and a good days fishing. Now looking forward to fishing the Winter League on Sunday. A few lessons learnt today and a few things to try out.
Today's match saw 14 anglers on the venue, and with the weather still relatively mild considering the time of year, everyone was hopeful of a good days fishing.
Most of the cafe bank had gone by the time I placed my hand in the pot and true to form peg 29 came out. Not too bad, it had done well over the weekend but the reality is it should be behind peg 30 in the section. Although the fish are normally a bit bigger on 29. Mick had drawn peg 4 and would have a good weight from there, with Madd on 3. Terry had secured the fancied peg 30 and with Trevor taking the last peg in the box he would be on peg 1. Pete Aldridge had peg 8 where 200lb came from last Tuesday, so he would need an eye kept on.
I decided to fish 3 lines today rotating them, to try to keep fish coming. My first line was at 11m and would be fished with 4mm fishery feed pellets and 6mm hookers. My second line was at 10 o'clock towards the end of the bush and would be a corn and pellet line. My last line was to be at 2+2 and would be a corn line. Even though I had only 15inches depth I was sure a few fish would show up on it.
At the all in I potted a small amount of 4mms to 11m and a small pot of corn and pellet to the left hand bush. I also threw around 8 grains of corn to 2+2. Shipping out a 6mm to 11m and the float stood still, nothing, I tried to kinder a few pellets over the top and still it stood still. Over to the left hand swim and a grain of corn saw the float dip slightly and fish number one was on and soon off. Re-feed and try the 2+2 line and nothing, so back out to 11m. This time the float buried and a foul hooked fished around 2lb was in the net. No more bites were forthcoming. Back to 10 o'clock and another fish, this time around 3lb, hooked in the mouth on corn.
I could here the banter between Terry and Trevor and at times it was better than the fishing. Madd was giving Ken some on pegs 2 and 3 as they do. Meanwhile, Miick was steadily plundering the carp out of peg 4.
After another fish from 10 o'clock and I noticed a swirl over the near line. Dropping in on it the float went and the soft elastic came out before subduing a nice 6lb fish. Back out and another. That's more like it. 2 in 2 puts but alas it tailed off again. Switching between the lines kept odd fish coming throughout, however I did notice the larger fish coming from the closer swim.
At the all out I felt that I had done alright, but could not get any number of fish lined up to make a good weight. I knew peg 30 and Terry had caught well throughout, I just hoped they were smaller fish. Trevor, I think had an enjoyable day, albeit sorting out customers at the shop to start with. He had caught well on the waggler and late on down the edge on his trademark maggot approach. Ken and Madd had a decent peg to peg battle but it was Mick who triumphed for his first win on the venue. And more importantly a MK Nugget from me.
Overall
1st Mick Wright 156-13
2nd Trevor Price 136-05
3rd Terry Lancaster 103-03
4th Keith Ashby 82-07
5th Ken Taylor 79-14
6th Phil Young 76-12
I thoroughly enjoyed today, good craic was had by all, and a good days fishing. Now looking forward to fishing the Winter League on Sunday. A few lessons learnt today and a few things to try out.
Tuesday 18 October 2016
Alders Farm Tuesday Open 18 10 16
Three matches in 5 days, must be mad. First, the JJL event at Alders, Second, a match in Kent on the Saturday before the Tuesday Open at Alders Farm. I am knackered. Still I did manage to pinch a Nugget off Mick on the Saturday so now lead him 6-5 and with both of us fishing today, another nugget was at stake.
We had 13 anglers today, some getting in a sneaky practice before there league starts on Sunday. With everyone ready for the draw, we decided to fish Ash Lake. The weather was mild with a hint of rain in the air and the wind getting progressively stronger. At the draw, I dipped in first for a change and out came peg 1, not really where I wanted to be as I have not fished it since all the changes to the bank. From the patio, no fish were showing and this was not a good sign. Charlie was on his favourite peg 8 and Terry on 21. Pete Archer was on 29. Mick had drawn in form 27. Trevor Price was sat on peg 16.
I had heard that the previous day Terry had been clearing out some of the reeds on peg 1 to the right, so would fish a line along this new edge and set up a couple of rigs to cover the inevitable breakages and trashed rigs. I also set up a line to fish long at 11m due to the wind. Again two rigs were set up. My last line was at the corner of the wall.
At the all in I toss-potted both of the long lines with micros and shipped out a 6mm hard pellet. I missed the first couple of bites and connected with the third, a nice common around 3lb, out again and the same thing, miss a couple and then connect. I thought it might be the length of line between float and pole tip, so shortened it but this just meant I lost control of the float in the wind and it was not right. I adjusted the depth to just off bottom and a couple of fish came to the onion bag. At this point in the match I was struggling, I foul hooked a few fish and lost them and had 6 fish in the net when Dave Pontin went to the toilet, he was admitting to 17 fish, so I was way behind already. I had a quick look down the edge and had a couple of small carp around the 1lb mark so went back out after re-feeding the edge. Another couple of small fish on pellet and one on corn was getting me nowhere. I was getting bites but could not hit them despite several changes to the rig.
Back down the edge, and I started getting a few better fish on corn, only 3lb fish but better than the twister's. This again died after around 20 minutes and I went back onto the pellet. I would get a few fish shallow then have to go back onto the deck to keep bites coming. This was the story for the remainder of the match, I would catch a few then adjust, catch a few then adjust.
At the all out I knew I was battered, I had around 50 fish for a level ton. Garry on peg 2 was admitting to 40 fish on the tip at 20m with dave on 3 admitting to 40lb per net.
We had 13 anglers today, some getting in a sneaky practice before there league starts on Sunday. With everyone ready for the draw, we decided to fish Ash Lake. The weather was mild with a hint of rain in the air and the wind getting progressively stronger. At the draw, I dipped in first for a change and out came peg 1, not really where I wanted to be as I have not fished it since all the changes to the bank. From the patio, no fish were showing and this was not a good sign. Charlie was on his favourite peg 8 and Terry on 21. Pete Archer was on 29. Mick had drawn in form 27. Trevor Price was sat on peg 16.
I had heard that the previous day Terry had been clearing out some of the reeds on peg 1 to the right, so would fish a line along this new edge and set up a couple of rigs to cover the inevitable breakages and trashed rigs. I also set up a line to fish long at 11m due to the wind. Again two rigs were set up. My last line was at the corner of the wall.
At the all in I toss-potted both of the long lines with micros and shipped out a 6mm hard pellet. I missed the first couple of bites and connected with the third, a nice common around 3lb, out again and the same thing, miss a couple and then connect. I thought it might be the length of line between float and pole tip, so shortened it but this just meant I lost control of the float in the wind and it was not right. I adjusted the depth to just off bottom and a couple of fish came to the onion bag. At this point in the match I was struggling, I foul hooked a few fish and lost them and had 6 fish in the net when Dave Pontin went to the toilet, he was admitting to 17 fish, so I was way behind already. I had a quick look down the edge and had a couple of small carp around the 1lb mark so went back out after re-feeding the edge. Another couple of small fish on pellet and one on corn was getting me nowhere. I was getting bites but could not hit them despite several changes to the rig.
Back down the edge, and I started getting a few better fish on corn, only 3lb fish but better than the twister's. This again died after around 20 minutes and I went back onto the pellet. I would get a few fish shallow then have to go back onto the deck to keep bites coming. This was the story for the remainder of the match, I would catch a few then adjust, catch a few then adjust.
At the all out I knew I was battered, I had around 50 fish for a level ton. Garry on peg 2 was admitting to 40 fish on the tip at 20m with dave on 3 admitting to 40lb per net.
Overall
1st Terry Lancaster Peg 21 202-06
2nd Trevor Price Peg 16 201-11
3rd Charlie Lancaster Peg 8 199-06
4th Pete Archer Peg 29 163-08
5th Gary Page Peg 28 152-01
6th John Clennet Peg 5 129-13
Overall, I could not get my head straight today, there were fish in the peg and I felt that I did not do the peg justice. Lessons learnt today and feel better for having fished the peg, it has changed and with the colour dropping out a little probably knew it would be hard, so my 116-04 was not too far off the lower places, but still a long way off the winners.Still I did take a nugget of Mick, albeit by 6lb. Standings now 7-5.Sunday 16 October 2016
Hartleylands Res 15 10 16
The final club match of the year was to be held at Hartleylands Reservoir In Kent. This lake shuts for matches between April and September and we normally try to book the first Saturday in October for our last match of the year, but due to another booking we had to re-plan it for the second Saturday. We have always had good close matches on the reservoir with a variety of methods winning and framing.
I was driving today and when I arrived at Mick's house to collect it was a nice 11 degrees, it was still dark as we travelled the 2 hour journey to the Knoxbridge Cafe, around 15 minutes from the venue. The breakfasts here are really good and value for money. The weather though had changed and it was now 9 degrees and getting foggy in patches. However, arriving at the venue saw clear skies, but the temperature was still low.
With a couple of late drop outs we had 10 anglers on the lake and after speaking with the bailiff we decided to only fish 2 and a half banks of the reservoir. leaving the rest open to pleasure anglers. I already had a plan in mind and this consisted of fishing the pellet waggler for the first hour, longer if I was catching and then coming to 5m and the margins for the remainder of the match.So at the draw I was glad of peg 9 coming out. This was 1 peg off the flyer (10)by the willow tree on the far bank, it was flat calm but stronger winds were expected later in the day. Mick had drawn peg 8, so no getting away from him, Tony Watkins was on Peg 10 and with his brother on 7 and Clive on 6 it would be interesting.
However, my plans very nearly went out of the window, when I realised I had left my wagglers at home, but Clive came to the rescue with one I could borrow, although I did need to add 2 AAA shot to it, to stop it looking like a lighthouse. I plumbed up at 5m and set my rig to fish dead depth, with a plan to fish 6mm hard pellet on this line and I rigged up both margins to fish with corn.
At the all in I pinged a few pellets out towards the middle of the lake and chucked the waggler out with a 5ft tail and an 8mm hard pellet. After around 10 minutes the float dipped and fish number one was on, a nice common around 6lb, Tony had also set up a waggler and had lost a fish at the net. I went out again and another 10 minutes of pinging, retrieving, pinging, casting, pinging and so on passed before I had another fish of 11-04 ( all fish over 10lb had to be weighed and returned). So two fish in the first half hour and I was going well. I could see John and Gino both catching on the favoured pegs 4 and 5 and felt I was still in it. Pushing on I had another two smaller carp on the waggler before the wind got up and made the fishing awkward. The wind was blowing the line all over the place and although I could cast the distance easy enough, the bow in the line was causing issues on a strike. I then tried the 5m line with a 6mm pellet and was plagued by little dinks from small roach and skimmers. A switch to an 8mm banded pellet and a carp was hooked.
With the increased wind, which was now blowing into Simon and Clive's bank, I was struggling to keep fish coming, so I upped the feed and put 3 inches of line on the deck, this saw improved presentation, but an increase in foul hooked fish. Shallowing up to 2 inches off deck saw the rig running through with the tow a little but I would also get proper bites and hook fish in the mouth. Clive was now catching well and I reckoned that I was always one fish behind him throughout. I would catch one and then Clive. Simon was struggling and had nicked a couple of carp, Tony was catching odd lumps, whilst Mick was having a nightmare on peg 8, with only a couple of roach and 2 carp caught late on.
Overall
1st John Holdsworth 86-00
2nd Clive Pritchard 66-08
3rd Keith Ashby 62-04
4th Gino Exell 52-08
5th Tony Watkins 42-00
6th Terry Goff 41-04 ( including a 23-08 carp caught in the tail with 10 minutes to go)
7th Tony Roberts 41-00
8th Simon Watkins 26-12
9th Mick Wright 13-08
10th Rod Turner DNW
Well, that's it for another year with the Marsh AC lads, I have thoroughly enjoyed the matches that I have been able to attend. Good to see a few new venues appearing on the calendar. See you all next year.
On the MK Nugget front I have taken gone in front for the first time this year and now lead 6-5 with time and available dates running out. Never Give Up.
I was driving today and when I arrived at Mick's house to collect it was a nice 11 degrees, it was still dark as we travelled the 2 hour journey to the Knoxbridge Cafe, around 15 minutes from the venue. The breakfasts here are really good and value for money. The weather though had changed and it was now 9 degrees and getting foggy in patches. However, arriving at the venue saw clear skies, but the temperature was still low.
With a couple of late drop outs we had 10 anglers on the lake and after speaking with the bailiff we decided to only fish 2 and a half banks of the reservoir. leaving the rest open to pleasure anglers. I already had a plan in mind and this consisted of fishing the pellet waggler for the first hour, longer if I was catching and then coming to 5m and the margins for the remainder of the match.So at the draw I was glad of peg 9 coming out. This was 1 peg off the flyer (10)by the willow tree on the far bank, it was flat calm but stronger winds were expected later in the day. Mick had drawn peg 8, so no getting away from him, Tony Watkins was on Peg 10 and with his brother on 7 and Clive on 6 it would be interesting.
However, my plans very nearly went out of the window, when I realised I had left my wagglers at home, but Clive came to the rescue with one I could borrow, although I did need to add 2 AAA shot to it, to stop it looking like a lighthouse. I plumbed up at 5m and set my rig to fish dead depth, with a plan to fish 6mm hard pellet on this line and I rigged up both margins to fish with corn.
At the all in I pinged a few pellets out towards the middle of the lake and chucked the waggler out with a 5ft tail and an 8mm hard pellet. After around 10 minutes the float dipped and fish number one was on, a nice common around 6lb, Tony had also set up a waggler and had lost a fish at the net. I went out again and another 10 minutes of pinging, retrieving, pinging, casting, pinging and so on passed before I had another fish of 11-04 ( all fish over 10lb had to be weighed and returned). So two fish in the first half hour and I was going well. I could see John and Gino both catching on the favoured pegs 4 and 5 and felt I was still in it. Pushing on I had another two smaller carp on the waggler before the wind got up and made the fishing awkward. The wind was blowing the line all over the place and although I could cast the distance easy enough, the bow in the line was causing issues on a strike. I then tried the 5m line with a 6mm pellet and was plagued by little dinks from small roach and skimmers. A switch to an 8mm banded pellet and a carp was hooked.
With the increased wind, which was now blowing into Simon and Clive's bank, I was struggling to keep fish coming, so I upped the feed and put 3 inches of line on the deck, this saw improved presentation, but an increase in foul hooked fish. Shallowing up to 2 inches off deck saw the rig running through with the tow a little but I would also get proper bites and hook fish in the mouth. Clive was now catching well and I reckoned that I was always one fish behind him throughout. I would catch one and then Clive. Simon was struggling and had nicked a couple of carp, Tony was catching odd lumps, whilst Mick was having a nightmare on peg 8, with only a couple of roach and 2 carp caught late on.
Overall
1st John Holdsworth 86-00
2nd Clive Pritchard 66-08
3rd Keith Ashby 62-04
4th Gino Exell 52-08
5th Tony Watkins 42-00
6th Terry Goff 41-04 ( including a 23-08 carp caught in the tail with 10 minutes to go)
7th Tony Roberts 41-00
8th Simon Watkins 26-12
9th Mick Wright 13-08
10th Rod Turner DNW
Well, that's it for another year with the Marsh AC lads, I have thoroughly enjoyed the matches that I have been able to attend. Good to see a few new venues appearing on the calendar. See you all next year.
On the MK Nugget front I have taken gone in front for the first time this year and now lead 6-5 with time and available dates running out. Never Give Up.
Friday 14 October 2016
Joseph James Law Team Event Alders Farm 14 10 16
It is not often I get to fish a team event, due mainly to work commitments and the shift patterns making it impossible to fulfil league events unless I book loads of holidays to cover them. However, I got a phone call from Pete Morton, one of the moderators at the highly popular fishing forum www.maggotdrowning.com. A team has pulled out of the Joseph James Law Team event and can I fish, course I can, I was off anyway as I was fishing Hartleylands tomorrow, so another day's fishing with some of the other Maggotdrowners won't hurt.
The team consisted of Dave Pontin, Garry Toole, Dave Hart, Terry Pearce and myself. All had fished the recent MDs two dayer on the venue and had an idea of how to fish it.
On arrival at the fishery it was clear this was going to be a big event and Joseph James Law had pulled out all the stops and had everything organised to a tee.A bacon roll and a mug of tea supplied by the ever enthusiastic Alders Farm Catering team set me up for the day ahead. The match was to be a 5 aside match with 2 sections on both Ash and Pines and a single section on Oaks. To be honest I did not mind where I was placed, but in true MD tradition we drew lots and my home was to be A section on Ash Lake, all I needed now was a low number at the draw. Alas it was not to be peg 10. Not really where I wanted to be, it was flat calm and these pegs in the corner need a bit of a ripple on it. Garry had drawn peg 21, a good peg but will have his work cut out with Pete Archer next door. Dave had drawn the short straw and was going to peg 8 on Oaks, but we still had a couple of good pegs on Pines, Dave on peg 16 and Terry on 10. All to play for.
Match fishing scene had laid down the gauntlet regarding the match itself saying" as long as we beat MDs we will be alright". But there were plenty of class teams on show today and some very good anglers within those teams, after all Joseph James Law had put up a £1000 prize for the winning team, £500 for second and Lake winner prizes as well.
Onto my match I had decided to fish a tight match as the weather had got cooler, still feeding 4mm fishery pellets and fishing a 6mm, but had a bag of corn with me as well. I started off fishing 2+2 and after the first four put ins I had 4 fish around 2 1/2lb each, then nothing, I edged the rig out another 10 inches where it dropped off a couple of inches and nicked another couple of fish. It was fishing hard, I could hear Mark Russell fishing for Team England on peg 9 and D Pez from BAE on 12 both nicking a few fish, but no more or less than I. It was a heads down match. As the time progressed it became clear there were not the numbers of fish in the peg, that could do any damage to the early pegs, so I settled for just trying to stay ahead of those around me. I tried coming in closer as sometimes just fishing before your feed can get you a few bites and switch to the side of the tree for another couple of fish, however it was not to be. I would get a couple of fish then nothing for 20 minutes. My final weight of 82-03 was good enough to beat 3 others in the 12 man section and I contributed 4 points towards the team total.Mark had beat me with 106-11. Not bad for a man who claimed only 70lb, I should have known better.
In hindsight I think a negative approach may have done better on the day, feeding everything via a tosspot and only a little at a time.
Garry had suffered on Peg 21 weighing in 36-08 for last in the section, Dave Hart had fished well and althogh he only weighed in 8-13 from Oaks it was enough for 7pts and a midway finish. Terry Pearce had drawn peg 10 on Pines and chipped in with 42-03 and 5pts whilst Dave Pontin secured second last in section with 5-07.
Team wise we came 10th from the 12 teams fishing, beating BAE and Match fishing scene.
Overall winners on the day were Team Drennan, with 2 section wins and 2 section 2nds and a 7 point score, this was enough to beat Team Garbolino by three points.
Overall individually
Colin Spencer ( Drennan)with 249-11 from Peg 3 on Ash
Steve Tucker (Garbolino)with 218-08 from Peg 2 on Ash
Steve Waters ( Drennan Oxford) 204-01 from Peg 1 on Ash
I have had an enjoyable day today, a good laugh with the other MDs, Dave taking photos of anybody with a name on their jacket, Joseph James Law have put so much effort and resource into a fishing match, if they deal with your legal needs with as much efficiency as they did today you would be a winner, they really have excelled themselves, from the moment you arrive and checking in, taking pre-match and match photos(from a distance) organising a buffet and hot drinks for after the event and providing the prizes for the presentation. Finally to everyone at Alders Farm, you do this week in week out and always have a welcoming smile.The lads who weighed in, did a sterling job, no moans, no gripes, very organised. Well done to all the winners either individually or in the teams. A credit to everyone involved and if I am invited next year within the team, I would definately take a days holiday for it.
The team consisted of Dave Pontin, Garry Toole, Dave Hart, Terry Pearce and myself. All had fished the recent MDs two dayer on the venue and had an idea of how to fish it.
On arrival at the fishery it was clear this was going to be a big event and Joseph James Law had pulled out all the stops and had everything organised to a tee.A bacon roll and a mug of tea supplied by the ever enthusiastic Alders Farm Catering team set me up for the day ahead. The match was to be a 5 aside match with 2 sections on both Ash and Pines and a single section on Oaks. To be honest I did not mind where I was placed, but in true MD tradition we drew lots and my home was to be A section on Ash Lake, all I needed now was a low number at the draw. Alas it was not to be peg 10. Not really where I wanted to be, it was flat calm and these pegs in the corner need a bit of a ripple on it. Garry had drawn peg 21, a good peg but will have his work cut out with Pete Archer next door. Dave had drawn the short straw and was going to peg 8 on Oaks, but we still had a couple of good pegs on Pines, Dave on peg 16 and Terry on 10. All to play for.
Match fishing scene had laid down the gauntlet regarding the match itself saying" as long as we beat MDs we will be alright". But there were plenty of class teams on show today and some very good anglers within those teams, after all Joseph James Law had put up a £1000 prize for the winning team, £500 for second and Lake winner prizes as well.
Onto my match I had decided to fish a tight match as the weather had got cooler, still feeding 4mm fishery pellets and fishing a 6mm, but had a bag of corn with me as well. I started off fishing 2+2 and after the first four put ins I had 4 fish around 2 1/2lb each, then nothing, I edged the rig out another 10 inches where it dropped off a couple of inches and nicked another couple of fish. It was fishing hard, I could hear Mark Russell fishing for Team England on peg 9 and D Pez from BAE on 12 both nicking a few fish, but no more or less than I. It was a heads down match. As the time progressed it became clear there were not the numbers of fish in the peg, that could do any damage to the early pegs, so I settled for just trying to stay ahead of those around me. I tried coming in closer as sometimes just fishing before your feed can get you a few bites and switch to the side of the tree for another couple of fish, however it was not to be. I would get a couple of fish then nothing for 20 minutes. My final weight of 82-03 was good enough to beat 3 others in the 12 man section and I contributed 4 points towards the team total.Mark had beat me with 106-11. Not bad for a man who claimed only 70lb, I should have known better.
In hindsight I think a negative approach may have done better on the day, feeding everything via a tosspot and only a little at a time.
Garry had suffered on Peg 21 weighing in 36-08 for last in the section, Dave Hart had fished well and althogh he only weighed in 8-13 from Oaks it was enough for 7pts and a midway finish. Terry Pearce had drawn peg 10 on Pines and chipped in with 42-03 and 5pts whilst Dave Pontin secured second last in section with 5-07.
Team wise we came 10th from the 12 teams fishing, beating BAE and Match fishing scene.
Overall winners on the day were Team Drennan, with 2 section wins and 2 section 2nds and a 7 point score, this was enough to beat Team Garbolino by three points.
Overall individually
Colin Spencer ( Drennan)with 249-11 from Peg 3 on Ash
Steve Tucker (Garbolino)with 218-08 from Peg 2 on Ash
Steve Waters ( Drennan Oxford) 204-01 from Peg 1 on Ash
I have had an enjoyable day today, a good laugh with the other MDs, Dave taking photos of anybody with a name on their jacket, Joseph James Law have put so much effort and resource into a fishing match, if they deal with your legal needs with as much efficiency as they did today you would be a winner, they really have excelled themselves, from the moment you arrive and checking in, taking pre-match and match photos(from a distance) organising a buffet and hot drinks for after the event and providing the prizes for the presentation. Finally to everyone at Alders Farm, you do this week in week out and always have a welcoming smile.The lads who weighed in, did a sterling job, no moans, no gripes, very organised. Well done to all the winners either individually or in the teams. A credit to everyone involved and if I am invited next year within the team, I would definately take a days holiday for it.
Saturday 8 October 2016
Maggotdrowning Alders Farm Pines 08 10 16
I have been a long standing member of maggot-drowning.com since the very early days of its inception. I think my membership number is in the early double digit country and have met some great people over the years, many of whom are friends outside of the forum. So when the chance to catch up with a few of the old guard appeared on the site, I stuck my name down for the saturday match. They had booked Alders Farm for the Friday and Saturday but due to work I was unable to fish both days. They had a good day on Ash Lake on the Friday with 199lb winning and nearly everyone having a ton plus weight so good tight fishing.
Todays Match would be on Pines Lake, a lake I do enjoy fishing, although never seem to do well on it. With Trevor Price doing his normal meet and greet service by the shop, making sure everyone had there bait and advice.
Anyway after devouring one of Charlotte's lovely breakfasts it was down to the draw. There was only 9 of us fishing, a couple of others had dropped out due to man flu, namely my mate and normal nugget bandit Mick. So no MK Nugget to play for today. Another is the main man himself Mr Dave Webster, or Wibblester for those in the know, who by all accounts caught his dose of man flu rebuilding a house for another maggot drowner, Pete Morton. So lets get this straight Pete, you work the poor man into the ground, he catches a sniffle and cannot attend the weekend, this is what you do to the owner of MDs. Your a bad man. Still nine anglers and a match was to be had.
At the draw, we had the near side bank on Pines 1-10, as there were a few pleasure anglers dotted about on the far bank. Garry had drawn peg 1, I took the last peg 2, Gingert76 Tony Leutchford on peg 3 and Mugger himself on peg 4, Dave Hart on 5, John Holdsworth and Clive Pritchard on 6 and 7 respectively, before pegs 8 and 10 were filled by Terry Pearce and match organiser Dave Pontin.
So peg 2, not one of my favourites, but today is a different day. I aimed to start off at 2+2 at the edge of the shelf fishing and feeding fishery pellet. I also set up another rig to fish just past the feed which was a heavier rig, in case they backed off a little and the wind got up. A couple of margin rigs to fish the reeds both sides, one would be fed with corn, the other pellet and a little corn.
At the all in I potted into the margins and started throwing pellet by hand, this was when I noticed a few 4mms taking a lot longer than normal to sink. I was feeding around two dozen pellets every minute and was wary of over feeding the peg early on, I wanted to feel my way in before upping the feed. I had my first fish after around 10 minutes and with both Tony and Gary having caught a couple I was behind already but a 5lb fish is a good fish. Another few minutes go by and a smaller fish was in the net. This is where it all started to go wrong, I was either foul hooking a lot of fish or simply just losing them off the hook. Elastics were set soft, hooks were sharp and I could not get to grips with it. Changing the feeding to a larger handful less often, settled the fish a little and after 2 hours I was going nowhere, I had a dozen fish for about 40lb. I asked Ginger how he was getting on and he reckoned on 30 fish. Garry was admitting to 25. I needed the margins to produce. I re-fed the edges and had a quick look for a 6lb fish, but nothing else was forthcoming. A couple of smaller samples came in the next hour on a margin rig over the 2+2 line, before I decided to concentrate solely down the edge. I could see the odd reed moving and decided to sit on a grain of corn. Ten minutes later and I was into a good fish, it did not pull or fight but came straight to the net, 10lb thank you. Out again and a couple of small carp about 3lb. I started to toss pot after each fish and this produce regular bites until the end. I reckoned of having caught around 100lb in the last 2 hours down the edge, all from the reed bed towards peg 1.
At the all out I reckoned on a conservative 130lb, admitting to 100lb. Garry and Tony had been catching throughout, and I honestly thought I was fishing for 3rd place at best.
Todays Match would be on Pines Lake, a lake I do enjoy fishing, although never seem to do well on it. With Trevor Price doing his normal meet and greet service by the shop, making sure everyone had there bait and advice.
Anyway after devouring one of Charlotte's lovely breakfasts it was down to the draw. There was only 9 of us fishing, a couple of others had dropped out due to man flu, namely my mate and normal nugget bandit Mick. So no MK Nugget to play for today. Another is the main man himself Mr Dave Webster, or Wibblester for those in the know, who by all accounts caught his dose of man flu rebuilding a house for another maggot drowner, Pete Morton. So lets get this straight Pete, you work the poor man into the ground, he catches a sniffle and cannot attend the weekend, this is what you do to the owner of MDs. Your a bad man. Still nine anglers and a match was to be had.
At the draw, we had the near side bank on Pines 1-10, as there were a few pleasure anglers dotted about on the far bank. Garry had drawn peg 1, I took the last peg 2, Gingert76 Tony Leutchford on peg 3 and Mugger himself on peg 4, Dave Hart on 5, John Holdsworth and Clive Pritchard on 6 and 7 respectively, before pegs 8 and 10 were filled by Terry Pearce and match organiser Dave Pontin.
So peg 2, not one of my favourites, but today is a different day. I aimed to start off at 2+2 at the edge of the shelf fishing and feeding fishery pellet. I also set up another rig to fish just past the feed which was a heavier rig, in case they backed off a little and the wind got up. A couple of margin rigs to fish the reeds both sides, one would be fed with corn, the other pellet and a little corn.
At the all in I potted into the margins and started throwing pellet by hand, this was when I noticed a few 4mms taking a lot longer than normal to sink. I was feeding around two dozen pellets every minute and was wary of over feeding the peg early on, I wanted to feel my way in before upping the feed. I had my first fish after around 10 minutes and with both Tony and Gary having caught a couple I was behind already but a 5lb fish is a good fish. Another few minutes go by and a smaller fish was in the net. This is where it all started to go wrong, I was either foul hooking a lot of fish or simply just losing them off the hook. Elastics were set soft, hooks were sharp and I could not get to grips with it. Changing the feeding to a larger handful less often, settled the fish a little and after 2 hours I was going nowhere, I had a dozen fish for about 40lb. I asked Ginger how he was getting on and he reckoned on 30 fish. Garry was admitting to 25. I needed the margins to produce. I re-fed the edges and had a quick look for a 6lb fish, but nothing else was forthcoming. A couple of smaller samples came in the next hour on a margin rig over the 2+2 line, before I decided to concentrate solely down the edge. I could see the odd reed moving and decided to sit on a grain of corn. Ten minutes later and I was into a good fish, it did not pull or fight but came straight to the net, 10lb thank you. Out again and a couple of small carp about 3lb. I started to toss pot after each fish and this produce regular bites until the end. I reckoned of having caught around 100lb in the last 2 hours down the edge, all from the reed bed towards peg 1.
At the all out I reckoned on a conservative 130lb, admitting to 100lb. Garry and Tony had been catching throughout, and I honestly thought I was fishing for 3rd place at best.
Overall
1st Keith Ashby 142-08
2nd Clive Pritchard 127-00
3rd Tony Leutchford 112-00
4th Dave Pontin 103-00
5th Garry Toole 101-00
6th Dave Hart 96-08
7th Pete Morton 93-08
8th Terry Pearce 92-00
9th John Holdsworth 38-00
A surprise win and it just goes to show that fish can turn up in your peg at any time, if they turn up early then you can have a big weight, if they turn up late, as in this case, then a good weight can still be had. I was surprised though that pegs 1 and 3, although they had caught a lot of fish, their's were a lot smaller than I thought.Never give up.
Saturday 17 September 2016
Marsh AC Alders Farm Ash Lake 17 09 2016
Regular readers will know that Mick Wright and I have a running nugget stake at each match we fish together, This has been going on for a few years and this year is no different with Mick leading 5-4 going into today's encounter. Alders Farm and Ash lake is a local venue to the pair of us and as such we made our own way to the complex. After a chat with Debbie and Trevor in the shop, it was agreed we would fish the cafe bank pegs 1-11. We only had seven Marsh members and a couple of guests to help make up the numbers, but this allowed everyone to catch a few hopefully.
I intended to fish the pellet if I drew pegs 1-6 and corn if I was further down the lake, as it is a little deeper there and with a good wind blowing into the end pegs, I thought that a static bait would work better than pellets. However the decision was decided at the draw bag where I took the last peg and peg 3. Mick had end peg 11 and I fancied it for a few today. It would also suit Mick as you are not fishing too far out.
For company I had Tony Roberts on peg 2 and John Button on peg 4.
I set up a couple of DS .2 greens to fish at 2+2 with a foot of line above the float and a couple of margin rigs to fish both the edge of the reeds and by the tree between pegs 3 and 4. The open water rigs were on black hydro as I believe I land more fish than on the standard red. However down the edge it was red hydro and orange vespe due to the expected larger fish.
At the all in, I threw around two dozen pellets onto each line and started off on the 2+2 line. The wind though was only allowing me to throw to 2+1 1/2, so I replumbed up and started again. My first fish came after about 3 minutes on this new line and I was off and running, by making slight alterations to the rig I was able to keep picking off fish in the first hour and had 14 in the net for about 40lb. Tony was catching on the maggot but was losing a few fish, I could see Gino further down the bank and Jim catching on 6. The second hour flew by but I was still doing well against those around me and with around 90lb in the net I was in auto pilot mode. Feed, lay rig in, feed, lift rig, feed and so on. The amount of feed varied during the spells, If I was catching then around a dozen seemed right but if it went quiet I upped it to 2 dozen and started again.
Halfway through the match I knew I had done the ton and asked Tony how he was doing and he said he had 44 fish, so I worked that out to be 130lb and felt I was a little behind but still within reach. I was once told by Gary Thorpe, that if you think it, do it, this was so true today. I thought the fish were off bottom, and tried a shallow margin rig to start with and I nicked a couple of 5lb fish doing this but still it was not right. I then took my spare 2+2 rig and took the line off above the float and set it to 12inches deep and a short line above the float. The wind had died down a little and I pushed the rig a little further out and bingo, I had a run of fish that took the weight to around 160lb with an hour and a bit to go. I placed a fourth net in. I wanted to see how much I could catch in the last hour. Tony's peg was slowing and mine was picking up, I was still on the black hydro and although I must have lost a netfull of fish today, others suffered the same fate. I was catching steadily to the end and never tried the margins, catching all my fish at either top 4 or 3 1/2. All on pellet and not a grain of corn was used.
At the all out, I knew I had beaten those around me, but Mick was still a worry as I could not see how he was doing and as I said earlier I did fancy his peg. Jim was first to weigh and opened up with 118-08, Tony placed 179lb dead onto the scales before it was my turn. After 8 weighs I recorded 299lb onto the board. John Button on his first outing this year beat his personal best with 106lb and his first match ton. Chris pipped him with 120lb even before Jim Etherington jumped into 3rd place with 170lb. Gino and Terry had a good peg to peg battle with Terry edging it 124lb to 122lb. Then onto my nemesis, Mick, end peg and a good draw, 240-08 to take second spot.
I intended to fish the pellet if I drew pegs 1-6 and corn if I was further down the lake, as it is a little deeper there and with a good wind blowing into the end pegs, I thought that a static bait would work better than pellets. However the decision was decided at the draw bag where I took the last peg and peg 3. Mick had end peg 11 and I fancied it for a few today. It would also suit Mick as you are not fishing too far out.
For company I had Tony Roberts on peg 2 and John Button on peg 4.
I set up a couple of DS .2 greens to fish at 2+2 with a foot of line above the float and a couple of margin rigs to fish both the edge of the reeds and by the tree between pegs 3 and 4. The open water rigs were on black hydro as I believe I land more fish than on the standard red. However down the edge it was red hydro and orange vespe due to the expected larger fish.
At the all in, I threw around two dozen pellets onto each line and started off on the 2+2 line. The wind though was only allowing me to throw to 2+1 1/2, so I replumbed up and started again. My first fish came after about 3 minutes on this new line and I was off and running, by making slight alterations to the rig I was able to keep picking off fish in the first hour and had 14 in the net for about 40lb. Tony was catching on the maggot but was losing a few fish, I could see Gino further down the bank and Jim catching on 6. The second hour flew by but I was still doing well against those around me and with around 90lb in the net I was in auto pilot mode. Feed, lay rig in, feed, lift rig, feed and so on. The amount of feed varied during the spells, If I was catching then around a dozen seemed right but if it went quiet I upped it to 2 dozen and started again.
Halfway through the match I knew I had done the ton and asked Tony how he was doing and he said he had 44 fish, so I worked that out to be 130lb and felt I was a little behind but still within reach. I was once told by Gary Thorpe, that if you think it, do it, this was so true today. I thought the fish were off bottom, and tried a shallow margin rig to start with and I nicked a couple of 5lb fish doing this but still it was not right. I then took my spare 2+2 rig and took the line off above the float and set it to 12inches deep and a short line above the float. The wind had died down a little and I pushed the rig a little further out and bingo, I had a run of fish that took the weight to around 160lb with an hour and a bit to go. I placed a fourth net in. I wanted to see how much I could catch in the last hour. Tony's peg was slowing and mine was picking up, I was still on the black hydro and although I must have lost a netfull of fish today, others suffered the same fate. I was catching steadily to the end and never tried the margins, catching all my fish at either top 4 or 3 1/2. All on pellet and not a grain of corn was used.
At the all out, I knew I had beaten those around me, but Mick was still a worry as I could not see how he was doing and as I said earlier I did fancy his peg. Jim was first to weigh and opened up with 118-08, Tony placed 179lb dead onto the scales before it was my turn. After 8 weighs I recorded 299lb onto the board. John Button on his first outing this year beat his personal best with 106lb and his first match ton. Chris pipped him with 120lb even before Jim Etherington jumped into 3rd place with 170lb. Gino and Terry had a good peg to peg battle with Terry edging it 124lb to 122lb. Then onto my nemesis, Mick, end peg and a good draw, 240-08 to take second spot.
Overall
1st Keith Ashby 299-00
2nd Mick Wright 240-08
3rd Tony Roberts 179-00
4th Jim Etherington 170-00
5th Terry Goff 124-00
6th Gino Exell 122-00
7th Chris Withall 120-08
8th Jim Boase 118-08
9th John Button 106-00
Overall, despite the change in weather conditions, from hot and sunny yesterday to rain and wind today and a big change in temperature, the lake fished well again. Lowest weight was 106lb and a couple of double hundreds. But more important than all of that is the score 5-5 and level pegging. Onto the next one in a couple of weeks.
Tuesday 6 September 2016
Alders Farm Ash Lake 06 09 16
With the MK Nugget challenge sitting at 5-3 to Mick, but with the initiative sitting with me I was glad we could both fish the Tuesday Open at Alders Farm, a win and I am on his coattails, a loss and back to square one.
Having obtained a couple of bags of 4mm fishery pellet from the shop, I was going to continue my learning curve on the banded pellet. I did have 4 tins of corn with me but hoped to not have to use them. With all the monies paid including the new Matchman League, we had 10 anglers fishing with the cafe bank and the dam wall included in the draw. I went into the bag first and out came peg 9, Mick follows and peg 3 is to be his home.
I decided to try to keep things simple today, 2 rigs for 2+2 and 2 rigs for the margins in 15 inches of water. All tied to .18 stroft and size 16 B911F1 hooks. Elastic was red hydro and black hydro. I have found that recently I cannot get the red to work properly, It is either too tight or too loose and I pull out of fish when the elastic is coming back. So I tend to prefer to fish with the black and a puller kit, this seems to work better and the ratio of fish hooked and landed is greater.
At the all in a handful of pellets went out to 2+2 and down the right hand margin by a clump of grass sticking out into the water.Starting off at 2+2 I had a small 2lb carp after around 5 minutes followed by a couple of similar size fish. I was feeding around a dozen pellets every put in and started getting a few liners so came 6 inches off bottom and still it persisted, I was still getting a few fish but was missing more bites, I switched over to a shallow rig and this saw a few more fish in the net. After an hour I had around a dozen fish for about 30lb.
At this point I saw a swirl over my margin line, out with a rig and buried, a nice 4lb fish. Another followed and another. I was doing well now and getting bites as soon as the bait hit bottom. If not, I would lift it out and start again. I needed to also vary the feed as when I fed heavier to bring fish in, too many came and I would get foul hookers, cut back and back to normal bites before dying again. This was an occurrence I faced throughout the match, I never felt I got it right on the day. Word was that Lee Newsom, Dave Pantin and Mick were catching. I could see Charlie Lancaster catching well on the paste and Dave Howe was getting a few off peg 15 in the corner.
Hours 3 and 4 were very similar, in that I would have a spell of fish before foul hookers then back to fish again, and although I was still putting fish in the net, they were on the smaller side, averaging 2lb apiece. The last hour, saw a couple of bonus fish with one around 8lb and another about 6lb. but it was all much of the same. I thought I had beaten Mick Kelly on peg 6 and Garry Toole on 10, but was unsure about the rest of the field and more importantly Mick.
Lee opened up the weigh in with 251lb before a peg to peg battle on 2 and 3 with Dave edging Mick out 239-233. It would be close as I reckoned on 200lb. Terry Lancaster then chipped in with 294. Not bad seeing he only had 4 fish after an hour. Mick K had 143 before I placed 238 to take the MK Nugget and make it 5-4 overall. Garry had 126 before we turned the corner to peg 15 and Dave Howe, 267lb and second place with 2 to go. Up next was the Pasteman, Charlie Lancaster and 340lb, before Dennis Simpson recorded his own personal best from peg 21 and 106lb.
Having obtained a couple of bags of 4mm fishery pellet from the shop, I was going to continue my learning curve on the banded pellet. I did have 4 tins of corn with me but hoped to not have to use them. With all the monies paid including the new Matchman League, we had 10 anglers fishing with the cafe bank and the dam wall included in the draw. I went into the bag first and out came peg 9, Mick follows and peg 3 is to be his home.
I decided to try to keep things simple today, 2 rigs for 2+2 and 2 rigs for the margins in 15 inches of water. All tied to .18 stroft and size 16 B911F1 hooks. Elastic was red hydro and black hydro. I have found that recently I cannot get the red to work properly, It is either too tight or too loose and I pull out of fish when the elastic is coming back. So I tend to prefer to fish with the black and a puller kit, this seems to work better and the ratio of fish hooked and landed is greater.
At the all in a handful of pellets went out to 2+2 and down the right hand margin by a clump of grass sticking out into the water.Starting off at 2+2 I had a small 2lb carp after around 5 minutes followed by a couple of similar size fish. I was feeding around a dozen pellets every put in and started getting a few liners so came 6 inches off bottom and still it persisted, I was still getting a few fish but was missing more bites, I switched over to a shallow rig and this saw a few more fish in the net. After an hour I had around a dozen fish for about 30lb.
At this point I saw a swirl over my margin line, out with a rig and buried, a nice 4lb fish. Another followed and another. I was doing well now and getting bites as soon as the bait hit bottom. If not, I would lift it out and start again. I needed to also vary the feed as when I fed heavier to bring fish in, too many came and I would get foul hookers, cut back and back to normal bites before dying again. This was an occurrence I faced throughout the match, I never felt I got it right on the day. Word was that Lee Newsom, Dave Pantin and Mick were catching. I could see Charlie Lancaster catching well on the paste and Dave Howe was getting a few off peg 15 in the corner.
Hours 3 and 4 were very similar, in that I would have a spell of fish before foul hookers then back to fish again, and although I was still putting fish in the net, they were on the smaller side, averaging 2lb apiece. The last hour, saw a couple of bonus fish with one around 8lb and another about 6lb. but it was all much of the same. I thought I had beaten Mick Kelly on peg 6 and Garry Toole on 10, but was unsure about the rest of the field and more importantly Mick.
Lee opened up the weigh in with 251lb before a peg to peg battle on 2 and 3 with Dave edging Mick out 239-233. It would be close as I reckoned on 200lb. Terry Lancaster then chipped in with 294. Not bad seeing he only had 4 fish after an hour. Mick K had 143 before I placed 238 to take the MK Nugget and make it 5-4 overall. Garry had 126 before we turned the corner to peg 15 and Dave Howe, 267lb and second place with 2 to go. Up next was the Pasteman, Charlie Lancaster and 340lb, before Dennis Simpson recorded his own personal best from peg 21 and 106lb.
Overall
1st Charlie Lancaster 340-06
2nd Terry Lancaster 294-15
3rd Dave Howe 267-09
4th Lee Newsom 251-15
5th Dave Pantin 239-12
6th Keith Ashby 238-11
7th Mick Wright 233-15
So one 300+ and 6 200+ weights and the lowest weight was just over the ton mark.I will not be able to make the next couple of Tuesday's as that thing called work gets in the way, but do have a club match at Alders on the 17th.Saturday 3 September 2016
Marsh AC 03 09 2016 Colemans Cottage Wood Lake
After another midweek battering at the hands of Mick and another lost nugget, it was good to get back in the groove quickly and try to recoup some pride. Today's venue was Coleman's Cottage in Essex on Wood Lake and with 16 anglers booked in, should be a good match. I had fished it a few times over the years and it is lake I like, although the results from it have been a bit hit and miss.Problem is it also suits Mick.
Mick was driving and we made good progress from Milton Keynes to Witham, checked in for breakfast and monies paid to Chairman Dave. Although we had the whole lake, I thought the pegging was a bit strange, it was pegged to leave out the bowl and was just pegged along the straight on both sides. Giving both the end pegs a massive advantage. Still I would be on peg 38, with Mick on 9, a good peg by the aerator. I had two decent looking edges with room under trees either side, so these would be my option for later in the day. I was surprised to find around 6ft on 2+2 line and around 5ft on 12m. It was shallowing up towards the central islands. I also set up a shallow rig to go over these longer lines in case the fish came up. Bait would be 4mm Alders Fishery pellets with a 6 or 8mm hookbait. Nothing else. I have been trying to teach myself pellet fishing and slowly am coming to terms with it.
At the all in I cupped a halfpot onto the longer lines and threw a handful of pellet to me right hand side. I then started at 12m pinging a few pellets every 30 seconds. I had a few liners and finally connected with my first fish, a common around 2lb after about 10 minutes. With no further bites or liners I tried the 2+2 line. Nothing, no dips, liners or anything. Down both edges and a small carp from the left hand edge and a roach. Back out to 2+2 and a small skimmer, but found I had to feed heavier to get a bite. After an hour I had 4 fish for about 4lb. Not the start I wanted or expected.
Chairman Dave had come for a walk and was admitting to a couple of fish on the maggot, and that Simon was catching well on the end peg and both Mick and Tony were also doing well on the opposite bank. I needed to do something to provoke a response from the poor start. I shallowed my margin rig up to about 8inches deep and fished tight to the bank on my right hand side. I could see a couple of fish coming in and having a look and hoped to snagged a couple of them before they spooked completely. After around 5 minutes the float dipped and 5lb of angry mirror carp was in the net. Out again and another, unbelievable in such shallow water, that was it though. I deepened back to depth and by feeding a dozen pellets and dropping the rig through them picked off a few more carp, some ripping the elastic out before it touched bottom. With 3 hours gone, I was back in it, I had started a second carp net due to net limits and although I was missing a few bites I was also picking off odd fish to around 7lb. I could see Jim sneaking a few fish out regularly and John was also getting a few fish. Mick was still catching and I could see Tony netting some nice carp although they were slower than me.Whenever it went a bit quiet I simply re-fed and moved to the tight edge 8in swim as I could see a lovely ghost carp cruising in and out, alasI never did hook it, but it was a lovely fish.
With an hour to go I reckoned on 100lb in the net and opted to get a third net. I then started getting a lot of foul hooked fish, 6 on the trot at one point and made a slight tweak to the shotting pattern and this seemed to work a bit better. I did have a couple of looks down the left hand edge but was getting odd roach.
At the all out I was hopeful of beating Mick despite the poor start as my catch rate was a little better, I thought.Simon and Clive had both posted a ton on the weigh sheet before the scales arrived at my peg. With 4 weighs of 4lb, 56lb 50lb and 27lb, I was under on all nets (60lb Limit) for a total of 137lb and the lead. John had just under the ton, Jim 121lb, before it got to Tony and Mick, with Mick just edging it 95lb to 91lb. Jim E who I could not see, and the grapevine seemed to miss, was last to weigh with 125lb.
Mick was driving and we made good progress from Milton Keynes to Witham, checked in for breakfast and monies paid to Chairman Dave. Although we had the whole lake, I thought the pegging was a bit strange, it was pegged to leave out the bowl and was just pegged along the straight on both sides. Giving both the end pegs a massive advantage. Still I would be on peg 38, with Mick on 9, a good peg by the aerator. I had two decent looking edges with room under trees either side, so these would be my option for later in the day. I was surprised to find around 6ft on 2+2 line and around 5ft on 12m. It was shallowing up towards the central islands. I also set up a shallow rig to go over these longer lines in case the fish came up. Bait would be 4mm Alders Fishery pellets with a 6 or 8mm hookbait. Nothing else. I have been trying to teach myself pellet fishing and slowly am coming to terms with it.
At the all in I cupped a halfpot onto the longer lines and threw a handful of pellet to me right hand side. I then started at 12m pinging a few pellets every 30 seconds. I had a few liners and finally connected with my first fish, a common around 2lb after about 10 minutes. With no further bites or liners I tried the 2+2 line. Nothing, no dips, liners or anything. Down both edges and a small carp from the left hand edge and a roach. Back out to 2+2 and a small skimmer, but found I had to feed heavier to get a bite. After an hour I had 4 fish for about 4lb. Not the start I wanted or expected.
Chairman Dave had come for a walk and was admitting to a couple of fish on the maggot, and that Simon was catching well on the end peg and both Mick and Tony were also doing well on the opposite bank. I needed to do something to provoke a response from the poor start. I shallowed my margin rig up to about 8inches deep and fished tight to the bank on my right hand side. I could see a couple of fish coming in and having a look and hoped to snagged a couple of them before they spooked completely. After around 5 minutes the float dipped and 5lb of angry mirror carp was in the net. Out again and another, unbelievable in such shallow water, that was it though. I deepened back to depth and by feeding a dozen pellets and dropping the rig through them picked off a few more carp, some ripping the elastic out before it touched bottom. With 3 hours gone, I was back in it, I had started a second carp net due to net limits and although I was missing a few bites I was also picking off odd fish to around 7lb. I could see Jim sneaking a few fish out regularly and John was also getting a few fish. Mick was still catching and I could see Tony netting some nice carp although they were slower than me.Whenever it went a bit quiet I simply re-fed and moved to the tight edge 8in swim as I could see a lovely ghost carp cruising in and out, alasI never did hook it, but it was a lovely fish.
With an hour to go I reckoned on 100lb in the net and opted to get a third net. I then started getting a lot of foul hooked fish, 6 on the trot at one point and made a slight tweak to the shotting pattern and this seemed to work a bit better. I did have a couple of looks down the left hand edge but was getting odd roach.
At the all out I was hopeful of beating Mick despite the poor start as my catch rate was a little better, I thought.Simon and Clive had both posted a ton on the weigh sheet before the scales arrived at my peg. With 4 weighs of 4lb, 56lb 50lb and 27lb, I was under on all nets (60lb Limit) for a total of 137lb and the lead. John had just under the ton, Jim 121lb, before it got to Tony and Mick, with Mick just edging it 95lb to 91lb. Jim E who I could not see, and the grapevine seemed to miss, was last to weigh with 125lb.
Overall
1st Keith Ashby 137lb
2nd Jim Etherington 125lb
3rd Jim Boase 121lb
4th Simon Watkins 114lb
5th Clive Pritchard 107lb
6th Terry Goff 100lb
Overall, the lake fished well,after a slow start, the only anglers catching from the off were on the end pegs and the aerator. However as the wind increased and blew into the bottom of the lake, things improved. So with a MK Nugget in my pocket and the score looking a bit more acceptable at 5-3. Roll on Tuesday for another battle.
Wednesday 31 August 2016
Alders Farm Ash Lake 30 08 16 + Toft Lakes 31 08 16
Sorry for the delay but it seems I do not have a lot of time at present. Probably because I have been on the bank a couple of times a week for the last fortnight.
Anyway, the Alders Farm Costcutter matches on a Tuesday are starting to gain a bit of a following, with 14 anglers in attendance, especially seeing as the final of the Matchman League took place the previous day on the Bank Holiday Monday. Well done Colin Fossdyke on the win.
Mick the Meat was in attendance today, so the MK Nugget was resumed. It is 4-2 to Mick and if I had any chance of overtaking Mick I needed to start now and hope he falters towards the end of the year.
So with all the pegs sorted and monies paid ( I have also decided to have a go at qualifying for the next Matchman League final) it was into the drawbag. Mick had gone in first and out comes peg 21 ( flyer) I go in and out comes 19. Never far away, we spend all week at work together and then always seem to draw next to each other.
Arriving at my peg it looked good, I could see a few swirls at 5m and thought the fish would be up today, so set up a couple of deep rigs to fish 5m, and a couple of shallow rigs, one a foot deep the other 2ft. I also set up a margin rig to fish to my right hand side. I had Matt Kearns for company on 18 and the progress he has made this year has been outstanding, not only that but he is a nice young man without the attitude a lot of his generation seem to have.
At the all in, I cupped a half pot of fishery 4mm pellets onto the 5m line and started off on the deep rig with a banded 6mm pellet. I was getting a few bites, yet not turning them into net fish, I was either foul hooking fish or pulling out of them. This went on for about 30 minutes and with only 3 fish in the net I was already behind both Mick and Matt. I tried the deep shallow rig and this got me a few more fish but it was not quick enough to compete. I tried long and shallow and again I would get a few fish but then nothing. It was now 2 hours into the match and I only had around 30lb in the net.
The change came when i went down the margin, I had been feeding from the off, around a dozen pellets every minute. First put in and 10lb added to the weight, another of around 4lb followed by a 6lb fish. 20lb in less than 10 minutes. I would persevere for the remainder of the match, switching sides occasionally to rest the swim but only for 5 minutes at a time. During this switch I also managed a couple of fish from the left hand side but these were smaller fish. I was still way behind both Mick and Matt and this would follow through to the end.
At the all out I breathed a sigh of relief, and was quite glad it was over. I had wasted 2 hours and knew I should have done better. Lesson learnt. I even gave Mick his Nugget before the weigh in.
Anyway, the Alders Farm Costcutter matches on a Tuesday are starting to gain a bit of a following, with 14 anglers in attendance, especially seeing as the final of the Matchman League took place the previous day on the Bank Holiday Monday. Well done Colin Fossdyke on the win.
Mick the Meat was in attendance today, so the MK Nugget was resumed. It is 4-2 to Mick and if I had any chance of overtaking Mick I needed to start now and hope he falters towards the end of the year.
So with all the pegs sorted and monies paid ( I have also decided to have a go at qualifying for the next Matchman League final) it was into the drawbag. Mick had gone in first and out comes peg 21 ( flyer) I go in and out comes 19. Never far away, we spend all week at work together and then always seem to draw next to each other.
Arriving at my peg it looked good, I could see a few swirls at 5m and thought the fish would be up today, so set up a couple of deep rigs to fish 5m, and a couple of shallow rigs, one a foot deep the other 2ft. I also set up a margin rig to fish to my right hand side. I had Matt Kearns for company on 18 and the progress he has made this year has been outstanding, not only that but he is a nice young man without the attitude a lot of his generation seem to have.
At the all in, I cupped a half pot of fishery 4mm pellets onto the 5m line and started off on the deep rig with a banded 6mm pellet. I was getting a few bites, yet not turning them into net fish, I was either foul hooking fish or pulling out of them. This went on for about 30 minutes and with only 3 fish in the net I was already behind both Mick and Matt. I tried the deep shallow rig and this got me a few more fish but it was not quick enough to compete. I tried long and shallow and again I would get a few fish but then nothing. It was now 2 hours into the match and I only had around 30lb in the net.
The change came when i went down the margin, I had been feeding from the off, around a dozen pellets every minute. First put in and 10lb added to the weight, another of around 4lb followed by a 6lb fish. 20lb in less than 10 minutes. I would persevere for the remainder of the match, switching sides occasionally to rest the swim but only for 5 minutes at a time. During this switch I also managed a couple of fish from the left hand side but these were smaller fish. I was still way behind both Mick and Matt and this would follow through to the end.
At the all out I breathed a sigh of relief, and was quite glad it was over. I had wasted 2 hours and knew I should have done better. Lesson learnt. I even gave Mick his Nugget before the weigh in.
Overall
1st Charlie Lancaster 277-04
2nd Richard Brain 262-14
3rd Mick Wright 239-04
4th Pete Archer 230-09
5th Matt Kearns 217-01
6th Tim Jolley 176-09
7th Keith Ashby 154-14
Mick now leads 5-2 in the challenge and my work is cut out to regain the lead, but I will be trying.
Wednesday saw myself and Vic travel to another new venue for me, Toft Lakes near Dunchurch, Warks. I had heard good reports of the place from Vic and a couple of other people. It does not look like a hole in the ground carp puddle, but is very mature couple of lakes, with nice comfortable platforms. I decided to fish the pole as I had been told the margins can be good. Vic was to fish the pellet waggler and the bomb.
I set up 4 rigs, one at 5m in around 5ft of water, another at 11m with 6ft of water, a shallow rig and a margin rig for 2ft of water.
My plan was to fish corn at 5m, pellet at 11m and corn down the edge. I fed all the lines at the start and started off at 11m, with just a couple of small indications on the float to show for it, after 30minutes I was trying the corn at 5m, again I was getting small lightning bites which I suspected were from roach. I decided to refeed the margin line after an hour with corn, and went straight over it. The change was immense, 3 fish in 15 minutes, one around 10lb the others around 4lb. This line then went quiet and I was getting bitten corn, a sign of the red signal crayfish who seem to have a liking for sweetcorn. I refed and had a quick 10 minutes down the left hand swim for one fish around 5lb.
Vic was having a mare on the waggler 5 fish hooked and only one out, a switch to the bomb saw a couple of foul hookers. I just kept plugging away in the margins with a double corn bait. Occasionally I would drag out a crayfish, but I was still picking up odd carp to 10lb.
By rotating the margins I was able to keep in touch with the carp, finishing off with 18 carp and a couple lost due to hook pulls. Vic had got his act together and ended up with around a dozen fish in the net.
A good pleasure day out, a new venue and some more carp caught.
Tuesday 23 August 2016
Monday 22 August 2016
Meadowlands Pleasure Day 220816
When you are away with the Yam Yams you get talking about venues local to them, one of them was a place called Meadowlands, situated this side of Coventry. It consisted of two lakes, Lambsdown and Warren and is home to a good head of carp that have a liking for the pellet waggler and bomb. Again something I am still learning. I had been there last year for a look round on one of the Yam Yam matches and was impressed with the set up.
I had not been out for a while with a good friend Vic, so when it was mentioned about a trip up to Meadowlands I jumped at the chance. I arranged to meet Vic at Jack's Cafe at 0630 for the 45 minute journey to the fishery. On arrival we opted to fish Lambsdown, the larger of the two lakes. With a day ticket paid and a couple of bags of fishery 8mm pellets stored in the carryall we off around the lake. We decided to sit on pegs 47 and 48. No real reason why, probably because the car was not allowed any further round.
The plan was to fish the bomb and waggler, but I also set up a sneaky pole line just in case for corn. Not far out as it was very shallow but enough on a topkit and one. I had a selection of hookbaits that I could use, 8 and 10mm Jupiters, some 8 and 10mm standard skrettings and a few other samples that found there way into the tub.
I started off on the waggler, set around 3ft deep at around 40m, pinging was hampered by a strong left to right wind, that was gusting everytime you wanted to feed, so I was fishing slightly to me right to combat this.
Vic had started on the bomb and was soon into a couple of fish. I had my first after around 15 minutes on the bomb and a 10mm Jupiter, a good common touching double figures, another couple found there way to the net, smaller than the first but still averaging 5lb. A switch back to the waggler saw me pick up a odd fish, before it was back to the bomb. I then had a spell of foul hookers, some taking the tip round on the drop. I had a couple of looks on the pole line and was never really comfortable on it. The double corn would go and I would end up with a roach or skimmer. Understandable really when 100lb bags of silvers are caught on a venue.
Vic was still catching regularly and was always in front of me by a couple of fish. I am not sure how we should have approached the water, we just did what we thought was right and we caught on the day. Both of us had over the ton and a good practice session ahead of next years trip to Viaduct and Stafford Moor.
I had not been out for a while with a good friend Vic, so when it was mentioned about a trip up to Meadowlands I jumped at the chance. I arranged to meet Vic at Jack's Cafe at 0630 for the 45 minute journey to the fishery. On arrival we opted to fish Lambsdown, the larger of the two lakes. With a day ticket paid and a couple of bags of fishery 8mm pellets stored in the carryall we off around the lake. We decided to sit on pegs 47 and 48. No real reason why, probably because the car was not allowed any further round.
The plan was to fish the bomb and waggler, but I also set up a sneaky pole line just in case for corn. Not far out as it was very shallow but enough on a topkit and one. I had a selection of hookbaits that I could use, 8 and 10mm Jupiters, some 8 and 10mm standard skrettings and a few other samples that found there way into the tub.
I started off on the waggler, set around 3ft deep at around 40m, pinging was hampered by a strong left to right wind, that was gusting everytime you wanted to feed, so I was fishing slightly to me right to combat this.
Vic had started on the bomb and was soon into a couple of fish. I had my first after around 15 minutes on the bomb and a 10mm Jupiter, a good common touching double figures, another couple found there way to the net, smaller than the first but still averaging 5lb. A switch back to the waggler saw me pick up a odd fish, before it was back to the bomb. I then had a spell of foul hookers, some taking the tip round on the drop. I had a couple of looks on the pole line and was never really comfortable on it. The double corn would go and I would end up with a roach or skimmer. Understandable really when 100lb bags of silvers are caught on a venue.
Vic was still catching regularly and was always in front of me by a couple of fish. I am not sure how we should have approached the water, we just did what we thought was right and we caught on the day. Both of us had over the ton and a good practice session ahead of next years trip to Viaduct and Stafford Moor.
Wednesday 10 August 2016
Alders Farm Pines Lake 09 08 16
With my secondment to working in Dagenham now over, I am now working back in Milton Keynes, but not scheduled to go back until the 16th, so it made sense to fish the Tuesday Costcutter at Alders Farm. I did not know which lake it was to be on, but have decided I need to try to learn how to fish hard pellet. Now this may sound simple to most, but trying to get the best from it, is what you need to work out. I do not take these matches too seriously, they are more relaxed and people tend to open up a little on these events.
There were 10 of us in the queue for the draw, pegs 10 to 25 on Pines Lake. My draw saw me sitting on peg 16 in the open water. I would have preferred a peg on the dam wall or the top end of the lake but it was not to be.
As I have already stated I wanted to practice my pellet fishing, so I only took a tin of corn as a change of hookbait, no corn feed, a couple of fishery 4mms bags and a bag of 6mm fishery pellets as hookers. I also had a few 8mm hookers, again as a change bait. I was going to fish the open water, 2+2 line, so set up 3 rigs to cover the 2ft depth. Two set dead depth, one at half depth. I also set up a margin rig to fish top three to my right. The two at dead depth were .20 to a size 16 B911F1 hook and a Del Smith Margin float. The half depth float was also one of Del's green slimmer range.Over the last couple of weeks I have tried a hair rigged band on the hook and this was not right. A straight band on the hook resulted in more fish in the net and less foul hookers.
I had Paul on 14 and Matt on 18, so needed to keep an eye on them. At the all in I started off on the deck feeding around a dozen pellets every 20 seconds or so. This saw me put my first fish in the net after around 10 minutes. I felt that there were not a lot of fish in the peg at this point as it was a slow start. Both Matt and Paul had a couple of fish and I was already behind. However after the first hour I had 11 fish for about 30lb and going well. Hour two saw the trend continue. I was getting bites but missing a lot, probably liners and tried the shallower rig for a couple of fish but was waiting longer for a bite. Back onto the deeper rig, and by adjusting the depth by an inch I managed to cut out a lot of the liners. A small difference but a learning, none the less.
Into the third hour, I started having a few problems, losing fish for no apparent reason, they did not seem foul hooked. I had a quick look shallow on two added sections for a single carp. I changed the feeding on the 2+2 line slightly, by doubling up the feed and sitting on it before re-placing the rig after a minute if no bite came. Feeding again and leaving for the minute and so on. I now had around 75lb in the net and pulling ahead of Matt and Paul. Matt was now concentrating down the edge. I had had a couple of quick looks down the edge for no fish, so it was time to leave it and concentrate on the 2+2 line.Hour four saw the perseverance pay off, I was fishing just off the feed by coming a half section closer and the bites were more direct. Into the last hour I was getting a few fish, but they were all small fish at around 2lb. I thought I had done enough to beat either side of me so was happy with my days work. I had learnt a few new things and had a couple of ideas I think my help in the future, so a positive day.
Overall
1st Del Smith 250-08 Peg 22
2nd Terry Lancaster 164-11 Peg 25
3rd Keith Ashby 145-09 Peg 16
4th Charlie Lancaster 144-15 Peg 12
5th Neil 129-03 Peg 10
6th Roy Makins 123-03 Peg 13
Unfortunately Charlie fell foul of the weight limit on his keepnet and was knocked back to 50lb for the net costing him second place.
There were 10 of us in the queue for the draw, pegs 10 to 25 on Pines Lake. My draw saw me sitting on peg 16 in the open water. I would have preferred a peg on the dam wall or the top end of the lake but it was not to be.
As I have already stated I wanted to practice my pellet fishing, so I only took a tin of corn as a change of hookbait, no corn feed, a couple of fishery 4mms bags and a bag of 6mm fishery pellets as hookers. I also had a few 8mm hookers, again as a change bait. I was going to fish the open water, 2+2 line, so set up 3 rigs to cover the 2ft depth. Two set dead depth, one at half depth. I also set up a margin rig to fish top three to my right. The two at dead depth were .20 to a size 16 B911F1 hook and a Del Smith Margin float. The half depth float was also one of Del's green slimmer range.Over the last couple of weeks I have tried a hair rigged band on the hook and this was not right. A straight band on the hook resulted in more fish in the net and less foul hookers.
I had Paul on 14 and Matt on 18, so needed to keep an eye on them. At the all in I started off on the deck feeding around a dozen pellets every 20 seconds or so. This saw me put my first fish in the net after around 10 minutes. I felt that there were not a lot of fish in the peg at this point as it was a slow start. Both Matt and Paul had a couple of fish and I was already behind. However after the first hour I had 11 fish for about 30lb and going well. Hour two saw the trend continue. I was getting bites but missing a lot, probably liners and tried the shallower rig for a couple of fish but was waiting longer for a bite. Back onto the deeper rig, and by adjusting the depth by an inch I managed to cut out a lot of the liners. A small difference but a learning, none the less.
Into the third hour, I started having a few problems, losing fish for no apparent reason, they did not seem foul hooked. I had a quick look shallow on two added sections for a single carp. I changed the feeding on the 2+2 line slightly, by doubling up the feed and sitting on it before re-placing the rig after a minute if no bite came. Feeding again and leaving for the minute and so on. I now had around 75lb in the net and pulling ahead of Matt and Paul. Matt was now concentrating down the edge. I had had a couple of quick looks down the edge for no fish, so it was time to leave it and concentrate on the 2+2 line.Hour four saw the perseverance pay off, I was fishing just off the feed by coming a half section closer and the bites were more direct. Into the last hour I was getting a few fish, but they were all small fish at around 2lb. I thought I had done enough to beat either side of me so was happy with my days work. I had learnt a few new things and had a couple of ideas I think my help in the future, so a positive day.
Overall
1st Del Smith 250-08 Peg 22
2nd Terry Lancaster 164-11 Peg 25
3rd Keith Ashby 145-09 Peg 16
4th Charlie Lancaster 144-15 Peg 12
5th Neil 129-03 Peg 10
6th Roy Makins 123-03 Peg 13
Unfortunately Charlie fell foul of the weight limit on his keepnet and was knocked back to 50lb for the net costing him second place.
Saturday 6 August 2016
Arrans Lake 06 08 16 Marsh AC
There are some venues that I frequent that challenge me, fishing wise, Hartleylands Farm Nicks Lake is one I cannot get to grips with but am slowly increasing my weights and starting to compete. It does not help living 100 miles away and only fishing it once or maybe twice a year, but slowly it has taken shape. Another venue is Oakfield, this time only 25 mile away but still the same issue, I cannot get to grips with Red Kite Lake although I think I should be doing better. However, Today's match was on Arran's Lake near Chelmsford, a prolific water capable of anglers catching well in excess of 700lb and on its day a 1000lb of fish. I must admit I do not enjoy it, but I can understand why anglers go there. At least I only go there once a year.
Mick had volunteered to drive at promptly arrived at 0600 for the 1hr 20m trip to the main highlight of the day, Breakfast at Rosie's Cafe just 10 minutes from the venue.I can highly recommend it.
Onto the fishing, we had the first car park bank and upto the willow tree on the far bank. We had 13 anglers and could easily fit leaving a bit of space where possible. With the peg fees and pools paid it was onto the draw and with that I wanted a low number on the far bank, anything from 1-5 would have been nice, however peg 10 was to be my home. Mick had decided to hang back and where does he draw, peg 4. But he did have 2 good anglers in his section and would have his work cut out to compete. Still he did have another MK Nugget in his sights after leading 4-1 for quite a while now. I also had my eye on it and peg 10 although not ideal, looked good for a few fish.
I decided I was going to fish one line only today and set up four rigs to cover it, all shallow from 8 inches to 18 inches deep.This was on a top 2 plus short 4 but feeding shorter, I wanted to catch on a top kit if I could.However because the venue is so prolific, I knew that keepnets could be an issue in there placement. I had four out in front of me and hoped I would not need the other 3 sitting behind me. This cuts down on the amount of water in front of you, and pushes you further out than you want to fish. Hence the short four.
At the all in I started off on the 18inch rig flicking it out with a 6mm hard pellet to avoid the hordes of roach and rudd in the venue. This did not work very well as I was getting plagued with them, so a switch to 8mm and although I was still getting a few around the 8oz mark I also started to catch carp to around 5lb but mainly 4s. I was feeding regularly around 12 pellets every 20 seconds and lifting the rig out and placing it in again with regular rhythm. After an hour I reckoned on 50lb in the first net so switched to another, Tony on peg 11 had said he had about 70lb and 18 fish, I had 14 fish at this time.Clive the other side of me was getting odd fish but did not seem to be build his swim. John and Terry were catching well making regular trips to the scales with larger fish. Hour two flew by and before long I had done the second net and was into net three. Still feeding a dozen pellets short every 20 seconds or so, even if I was playing fish or unhooking them. Hour three saw me complete the 4 four nets and an estimated 200lb bag of fish. Tony was also admitting to a double ton.
Our matches here are split into 2 x 3hour matches with a combined weight deciding overall placings.
On our bank weights were
Mick had volunteered to drive at promptly arrived at 0600 for the 1hr 20m trip to the main highlight of the day, Breakfast at Rosie's Cafe just 10 minutes from the venue.I can highly recommend it.
Onto the fishing, we had the first car park bank and upto the willow tree on the far bank. We had 13 anglers and could easily fit leaving a bit of space where possible. With the peg fees and pools paid it was onto the draw and with that I wanted a low number on the far bank, anything from 1-5 would have been nice, however peg 10 was to be my home. Mick had decided to hang back and where does he draw, peg 4. But he did have 2 good anglers in his section and would have his work cut out to compete. Still he did have another MK Nugget in his sights after leading 4-1 for quite a while now. I also had my eye on it and peg 10 although not ideal, looked good for a few fish.
I decided I was going to fish one line only today and set up four rigs to cover it, all shallow from 8 inches to 18 inches deep.This was on a top 2 plus short 4 but feeding shorter, I wanted to catch on a top kit if I could.However because the venue is so prolific, I knew that keepnets could be an issue in there placement. I had four out in front of me and hoped I would not need the other 3 sitting behind me. This cuts down on the amount of water in front of you, and pushes you further out than you want to fish. Hence the short four.
At the all in I started off on the 18inch rig flicking it out with a 6mm hard pellet to avoid the hordes of roach and rudd in the venue. This did not work very well as I was getting plagued with them, so a switch to 8mm and although I was still getting a few around the 8oz mark I also started to catch carp to around 5lb but mainly 4s. I was feeding regularly around 12 pellets every 20 seconds and lifting the rig out and placing it in again with regular rhythm. After an hour I reckoned on 50lb in the first net so switched to another, Tony on peg 11 had said he had about 70lb and 18 fish, I had 14 fish at this time.Clive the other side of me was getting odd fish but did not seem to be build his swim. John and Terry were catching well making regular trips to the scales with larger fish. Hour two flew by and before long I had done the second net and was into net three. Still feeding a dozen pellets short every 20 seconds or so, even if I was playing fish or unhooking them. Hour three saw me complete the 4 four nets and an estimated 200lb bag of fish. Tony was also admitting to a double ton.
Our matches here are split into 2 x 3hour matches with a combined weight deciding overall placings.
On our bank weights were
Gino 58lb
Tony R 228lb
Keith 213lb
Clive 80lb
Terry 123lb
John 202lb
However on the far bank, Al (again) had plundered the larger fish and placed 372lb onto the scales. To lead overall by nigh on 150lb. The match was his to lose. Mick had 132lb, a large gap between us, but not unassailable on this water.The Watkins brother were also battling it out for family bragging rights and Tony was just sneaking it 202 to Simon's 182lb.
With keepnets repositioned I was aware that generally in the afternoon things improve. Hard to believe but the larger fish seem to turn up and things get madder. I had the three back up nets ready.
This time I started off on an 8mm pellet and just the top two, It took around 5 minutes for the bites to arrive, but they did and the stamp of fish improved to 5lb fish. A small difference but one that makes a huge difference to the end result. I was still feeding regularly and tried to up the feed and changing to shallower rigs to combat liners, but I was still catching and putting fish in the net. After an hour I had 21 fish for about 100lb, Hour two saw me fill the remaining two keep nets so it was onto the spares.The best depth seemed to a foot deep,but i had to keep ringing the changes as the feed was going in. With my nets replaced and back fishing It was a case of head down for the final hour. I was still catching well and a couple of foul hookers did not seem to bother the resident shoals of carp swimming in my peg. I knew Tony was still catching well and needed to keep going to the end to pip him for the section win. John was also catching but not in my section, so less focus was on him. All I could do was to keep going. Hour three saw those keepnets put to good use with regular fish filling them up. ALL OUT.
Again our bank was weighed.
Gino 151-12
Tony R 268-08
Keith 337-04
Clive 239-12
Terry 169-08
John 237-00
The far bank weights were
Tony W 283-08
Rod 72-00
Al 489-00
Keith P 245-08
Mick 241-00
Simon 244-08
Jim 154-00
Overall
1st Al Loader 861-00
2nd Keith Ashby 550-04
3rd Tony Roberts 497-04
4th Tony Watkins 486-08
5th John Holdswoth 439-08
6th Simon Watkins 428-08
7th Mick Wright 373-08
8th Clive Pritchard 320-04
9th Terry Goff 293-04
10th Keith Powell 245-08
11th Jim Boase 231-00
12th Gino Exell 209-12
13th Rod Turner 118-00
What a match, however to me it was not fishing, it was catching and to be honest although I enjoy the fact it is a one off club match aimed at boosting their personal best match weights, it does nothing for me.I have fished some big weight waters before with varied successes, as I have said at the top. Viaduct fishery in Somerset is an awesome venue, but you do have to work for your catch, Stafford Moor is the same. Alders Farm is not just another carp puddle, you have to work for the results. The more you put in and learn will only improve you. Give me that anyday
Well Done Al on breaking your own club record, I did say at the start you will have 700lb plus mate. MK Nugget came my way to make it 4-2. And Tony took a nugget off both Gino and his brother Simon.
Tuesday 26 July 2016
Alders Farm 26 07 16 Pines Lake
Seeing as I managed a pick up last week I thought it would be rude not to give it back to them this week. Todays match was on Pines lake at Alders Farm, and with the Maggotdrowning.com website holding their annual pairs match this weekend I thought I had better post this so people attending have an idea of how it is fishing. After a net dip including the stink bag, I was off to the cafe to await the others.
There were only 7 Anglers fishing the knock up today but the lake had a few pleasure anglers on to spread the fish out a bit. There was a slight breeze blowing into the corner of peg 1 and an area that normally fishes quite well with a ripple on the water.
With all the monies paid in the draw could take place. Ricky was on Peg1, Ken on 2 Ash on 4 with Brian on 5, Dennis on 8, Matt on 10 and myself on 12. So we all had a bit of room to fish.
One thing I have found on this lake is that we over complicate things by having too many lines and fishing them all quite negatively. Today, I set up 4 rigs,two for up in the water and two deck rigs. However they were all to be fished over one line, 2+2. I had one deck and uitw rig set with a plain size 16 B911x on .20 Stroft, the other two both incorporated a hair rigged band. Bait was Corn and both 6 or 8mm fishery pellet over 4mm fishery feed pellets.
At the all in, I threw around 20 4mm pellets and started off on the banded pellet, promptly foul hooking and losing my first five fish. It was shallow, at around 20 inches so out came the shallow rig at 1/2 depth. This worked with hooking fish in the mouth but the black hydro was too soft so I switched to red and this cured the problem.After a couple of hours I had 18 fish for about 40lb. However the third hour was slow, with only 4 fish coming to the net.all taken on corn, I was having to drip feed pellets regularly with 3 or 4 grains of corn every couple of minutes.and fish shallow to get a proper bite, when it was on the deck the float was moving around too much on both corn and pellet hookbaits.
Hour 4 improved with me doubling my weight to around the ton mark, I was still having to chase the fish up and down in the water, but at least I was still catching. The only downside to the peg is that all you can see are the anglers on 8 and 10 so you do not know how it is fishing properly and whether you need to increase the catch rate.
Going into the last hour I was catching quite well, only small fish around 2-3lb but regularly and I reckoned on putting 50lb in the net in this spell. I thought I had beaten Matt and Dennis but the better pegs I could not tell. When the Scales came round I was pleased to place 156-04, Matt had 129-02 while Dennis did not weigh in. Brian then placed 226-03 on the scales with plenty of peg 5 edge fish. Ash secured only his second ton on the complex with 113-09 whilst Ken put 152-06 before Ricky was last to weigh with 222-03, pushing me into 3rd place.
Overall, it fished well and with the MD's Friday match on the lake it should continue to do so. If I was fishing the weekend I would take with me to cover the 3 days, 12 tins of corn, 8pints of maggot and at least 6 bags of 4mm fishery pellets. You do not need a lot of 6mm and 8mm pellets, but they do come in handy on the hook. It is a shame I cannot be with you guys, but that cursed word Work gets in the way. Have a good one and good luck to all of you.
There were only 7 Anglers fishing the knock up today but the lake had a few pleasure anglers on to spread the fish out a bit. There was a slight breeze blowing into the corner of peg 1 and an area that normally fishes quite well with a ripple on the water.
With all the monies paid in the draw could take place. Ricky was on Peg1, Ken on 2 Ash on 4 with Brian on 5, Dennis on 8, Matt on 10 and myself on 12. So we all had a bit of room to fish.
One thing I have found on this lake is that we over complicate things by having too many lines and fishing them all quite negatively. Today, I set up 4 rigs,two for up in the water and two deck rigs. However they were all to be fished over one line, 2+2. I had one deck and uitw rig set with a plain size 16 B911x on .20 Stroft, the other two both incorporated a hair rigged band. Bait was Corn and both 6 or 8mm fishery pellet over 4mm fishery feed pellets.
At the all in, I threw around 20 4mm pellets and started off on the banded pellet, promptly foul hooking and losing my first five fish. It was shallow, at around 20 inches so out came the shallow rig at 1/2 depth. This worked with hooking fish in the mouth but the black hydro was too soft so I switched to red and this cured the problem.After a couple of hours I had 18 fish for about 40lb. However the third hour was slow, with only 4 fish coming to the net.all taken on corn, I was having to drip feed pellets regularly with 3 or 4 grains of corn every couple of minutes.and fish shallow to get a proper bite, when it was on the deck the float was moving around too much on both corn and pellet hookbaits.
Hour 4 improved with me doubling my weight to around the ton mark, I was still having to chase the fish up and down in the water, but at least I was still catching. The only downside to the peg is that all you can see are the anglers on 8 and 10 so you do not know how it is fishing properly and whether you need to increase the catch rate.
Going into the last hour I was catching quite well, only small fish around 2-3lb but regularly and I reckoned on putting 50lb in the net in this spell. I thought I had beaten Matt and Dennis but the better pegs I could not tell. When the Scales came round I was pleased to place 156-04, Matt had 129-02 while Dennis did not weigh in. Brian then placed 226-03 on the scales with plenty of peg 5 edge fish. Ash secured only his second ton on the complex with 113-09 whilst Ken put 152-06 before Ricky was last to weigh with 222-03, pushing me into 3rd place.
Overall, it fished well and with the MD's Friday match on the lake it should continue to do so. If I was fishing the weekend I would take with me to cover the 3 days, 12 tins of corn, 8pints of maggot and at least 6 bags of 4mm fishery pellets. You do not need a lot of 6mm and 8mm pellets, but they do come in handy on the hook. It is a shame I cannot be with you guys, but that cursed word Work gets in the way. Have a good one and good luck to all of you.
Wednesday 20 July 2016
Alders Farm Ash Lake 20 07 16
With a day off, I made my way over to Alders Farm for the Cheap Tuesday Open. These events normally have around 8 to 20 anglers attending and although they are competitive they also encourage plenty of banter.
I arrived nice and early, dipped my nets at the net dip and got some fishery 4 and 6mm pellets for feeding. I had with me a kilo of corn defrosting in the carryall and although the corn has not been working of late I was confident that a few fish would come to it.I also had some 6mm's for hookers and some prepared expanders.
Today, we would have the shallow bank and dam wall areas of Ash lake and with 10 of us in attendance, it was decided to pay out the winner and 2 x 5 peg section winners. One of which will be default due to the winner coming from one of them. With all the monies paid and the draw underway, peg 29 stuck to my paw. Everyone fancied it today as it had a good shaded area, which in 32 degree heat would be welcome.
I had Brainy, Hugh, Lee Newson and Nick Pringle in my section, with Charlie,Dennis, Pete Archer, Smithy and Colin Spencer making up the other section. So my first priority was to win my section and then take it from there.
I decided to fish 4 lines and see which was producing best and then concentrate on 2 lines towards the end. I opted to fish 2+2 in around 18inches of water with a Del Smith blue pattern float, dotted right down and the plan was to fish corn over pellet. Down both edges with some of Del's shallow floats, one in 10 inches the other around 14inches of water. My last line was to my right at around 2+2 at 2 o'clock. There was a slight depression here and and used the same 2+2 rig dropping 3 inches off. All were tied to .18 Stroft to a PR36.
At the all in, I opted to drip feed rather than pot in, It was hot and I did not really know how the fish were going to respond, just using a toss pot I could see how fish were reacting and fish accordingly. Placing a couple of grains of corn and filling up with 4mm pellets every put in, I was soon getting indications and fish in the net. I was feeding the other lines by hand and soon these were showing signs of fish activity. After an hour I had around 7 fish for 30lb. These fish were noticeably larger than the resident 2-3lb standard. I had a look down the left hand edge and still fishing the corn and pellet I was getting regular bites. I could see the fish coming in and going out of the swim. However by chopping and changing baits I could keep the fish coming with a 50/50 split on corn and 6mm pellets. I was hearing plenty of splashing to my right but due to a bush in the way, I could not tell whether it was Richard or Hugh catching.
With around 70lb in the net after 2 hours, I was going along nicely. This continued throughout the third hour with most of my fish coming to corn before I started foul hooking fish. I decided to stop feeding as I felt I had too many fish in the swim and this was causing the foul hookers. I did try shallowing up but in 10 inches of water there is not a lot of scope to change. I even left the swim to settle down again and tried the other edge and 2+2 2 o'clock swims, nicking a few fish from these lines before going back to the left hand edge for the last hour. I already had a ton weight and would be happy with my day.
Going into the last hour, I switched rigs to one with a shorter length of line between float and crows foot and this seemed to work better, landing a far better percentage of fish hooked. During the spell I placed 50lb in the net to end up with around 150lb and a good days fishing.
I arrived nice and early, dipped my nets at the net dip and got some fishery 4 and 6mm pellets for feeding. I had with me a kilo of corn defrosting in the carryall and although the corn has not been working of late I was confident that a few fish would come to it.I also had some 6mm's for hookers and some prepared expanders.
Today, we would have the shallow bank and dam wall areas of Ash lake and with 10 of us in attendance, it was decided to pay out the winner and 2 x 5 peg section winners. One of which will be default due to the winner coming from one of them. With all the monies paid and the draw underway, peg 29 stuck to my paw. Everyone fancied it today as it had a good shaded area, which in 32 degree heat would be welcome.
I had Brainy, Hugh, Lee Newson and Nick Pringle in my section, with Charlie,Dennis, Pete Archer, Smithy and Colin Spencer making up the other section. So my first priority was to win my section and then take it from there.
I decided to fish 4 lines and see which was producing best and then concentrate on 2 lines towards the end. I opted to fish 2+2 in around 18inches of water with a Del Smith blue pattern float, dotted right down and the plan was to fish corn over pellet. Down both edges with some of Del's shallow floats, one in 10 inches the other around 14inches of water. My last line was to my right at around 2+2 at 2 o'clock. There was a slight depression here and and used the same 2+2 rig dropping 3 inches off. All were tied to .18 Stroft to a PR36.
At the all in, I opted to drip feed rather than pot in, It was hot and I did not really know how the fish were going to respond, just using a toss pot I could see how fish were reacting and fish accordingly. Placing a couple of grains of corn and filling up with 4mm pellets every put in, I was soon getting indications and fish in the net. I was feeding the other lines by hand and soon these were showing signs of fish activity. After an hour I had around 7 fish for 30lb. These fish were noticeably larger than the resident 2-3lb standard. I had a look down the left hand edge and still fishing the corn and pellet I was getting regular bites. I could see the fish coming in and going out of the swim. However by chopping and changing baits I could keep the fish coming with a 50/50 split on corn and 6mm pellets. I was hearing plenty of splashing to my right but due to a bush in the way, I could not tell whether it was Richard or Hugh catching.
With around 70lb in the net after 2 hours, I was going along nicely. This continued throughout the third hour with most of my fish coming to corn before I started foul hooking fish. I decided to stop feeding as I felt I had too many fish in the swim and this was causing the foul hookers. I did try shallowing up but in 10 inches of water there is not a lot of scope to change. I even left the swim to settle down again and tried the other edge and 2+2 2 o'clock swims, nicking a few fish from these lines before going back to the left hand edge for the last hour. I already had a ton weight and would be happy with my day.
Going into the last hour, I switched rigs to one with a shorter length of line between float and crows foot and this seemed to work better, landing a far better percentage of fish hooked. During the spell I placed 50lb in the net to end up with around 150lb and a good days fishing.
Overall
1st Hugh Crawford 242lb
2nd Colin Spencer 229lb
3rd Charlie Lancaster 223lb
4th Pete Archer 182lb
5th Keith Ashby 158lb
6th Nick Pringle 136lb
Overall it fished well, and with Hugh winning the match, I managed to secure the section by default and a brown envelope. Colin picking up the other section. Lowest weight was just under the 100lb mark.Considering that Colin drew peg 15 in suicide corner, with no wind blowing in and flat calm, he has done well to amass 229lb. Well done Mate.
Tuesday 12 July 2016
Alders Farm Pines 12 07 16
What a difference a couple of month's away from a fishery makes. I have popped down for a social cup of tea and viewed Ash lake and Oak lakes but had not ventured up to Pines since about April. I had booked into the Cheap Tuesday Open on Pines lake as I had a day off and fancied a day's fishing. On arrival I did the norm and took my gear straight up to the lake and was blown away. Gone are a lot of the trees and bankside hazards. Nice solid platforms changing it from 31 dodgy pallets to a comfortable 25, all with plenty of space.It looked and felt so different.
As I just fancied a day out and was not really bothered about the match itself, I just took a couple of kilos of corn, a couple of bags of fishery 4mms and had a few 6mms for the hook. With 9 in attendance, it was simply about recharging the batteries. I drew peg 1, which used to be a decent area, when the hazards were there, as fish congregated by the brambles and it was a case of hit and hold. With no brambles now, it would be interesting to see what would happen.
My approach. Corn at 2+2 and down the left hand margin, 6mms for fishing up at 12m. Rigs for 2+2 were MW Diamonds .3g to a size 16 PR36 on .18 Stroft. For the edge it would be a Del Smith Green to a size 14 PR36 and .20 Stroft. All elastics were red hydro.
At the all in I cupped a small pot of corn and 4mm pellet onto both the 2+2 line and down the left hand edge at 11m. I started on the 2+2 line and started throwing in 6 grains of corn every 30 seconds. After around 10 minutes I had my first carp, around 2lb. Keeping the feeding to 6 grains, it was slow going, so moved a foot closer and sneaked another couple of fish before getting pestered by crayfish, 6 in 10 put ins is a little steep.I shallowed up by 6inches a nicked another fish.
After an hour I had a look down the edge as this was where I expected to catch the bulk of my catch. I was already behind both Pete Archer and Nick Pringle. After a few changes to the rig I got it to settle properly and started to catch a few more carp, nothing big but they were still pulling hard,attempting to get right into the corner or undercut banks. I lost a few fish trying to get them into open water. I was also foul hooking a fair few fish. Something we all do at Alders.
By chopping and changing lines I reckoned on 60lb at the end of the match. Not the glorious return to Alders but at least a days fishing. Both the end pegs had performed well with Pete Archer winning with 199-10, Lee Newson second with 181-15 and Charlie Lancaster third with 167-02. The rest of us had between 43lb and 80lb.
As I just fancied a day out and was not really bothered about the match itself, I just took a couple of kilos of corn, a couple of bags of fishery 4mms and had a few 6mms for the hook. With 9 in attendance, it was simply about recharging the batteries. I drew peg 1, which used to be a decent area, when the hazards were there, as fish congregated by the brambles and it was a case of hit and hold. With no brambles now, it would be interesting to see what would happen.
My approach. Corn at 2+2 and down the left hand margin, 6mms for fishing up at 12m. Rigs for 2+2 were MW Diamonds .3g to a size 16 PR36 on .18 Stroft. For the edge it would be a Del Smith Green to a size 14 PR36 and .20 Stroft. All elastics were red hydro.
At the all in I cupped a small pot of corn and 4mm pellet onto both the 2+2 line and down the left hand edge at 11m. I started on the 2+2 line and started throwing in 6 grains of corn every 30 seconds. After around 10 minutes I had my first carp, around 2lb. Keeping the feeding to 6 grains, it was slow going, so moved a foot closer and sneaked another couple of fish before getting pestered by crayfish, 6 in 10 put ins is a little steep.I shallowed up by 6inches a nicked another fish.
After an hour I had a look down the edge as this was where I expected to catch the bulk of my catch. I was already behind both Pete Archer and Nick Pringle. After a few changes to the rig I got it to settle properly and started to catch a few more carp, nothing big but they were still pulling hard,attempting to get right into the corner or undercut banks. I lost a few fish trying to get them into open water. I was also foul hooking a fair few fish. Something we all do at Alders.
By chopping and changing lines I reckoned on 60lb at the end of the match. Not the glorious return to Alders but at least a days fishing. Both the end pegs had performed well with Pete Archer winning with 199-10, Lee Newson second with 181-15 and Charlie Lancaster third with 167-02. The rest of us had between 43lb and 80lb.
Sunday 3 July 2016
Viaduct 250616-020716 Yam Yam
It seems like only yesterday that we were packing the gear and travelling to Viaduct fishery in Somerton for another week of fishing,drinking,eating, fishing eating, drinking and so on. This time for the Yam Yam festival, this is very much a fun festival, where your main priority is to enjoy yourself, even if it is at the cost of others. Last year Vic fell off a platform and needed 3 months off work, we have seen some off the lads sleeping on the bank, trying to get rid of the effects of the previous nights social events, but it is all taken in your stride.This year would see 10 of us fishing the festival with another 2 lads coming just for the weekend leading upto it. Both Vic and I were travelling from Milton Keynes and Del would be meeting us en route from Hemel. The rest of the lads were from the Black Country.
Saturday
We had booked Cary Lake for our first match at the venue, this was not part of the festival as this did not start until the Monday. We were all hopeful of a few fish, but the lake had not been fishing too well of late. Still we had the whole lake and could spread out.I had drawn peg 86 on the far bank. I had Soupy for company on 88 and with the wind blowing into our end of the lake was hoping for a few fish. I set up a bomb rod, a Pellet waggler for fishing around 30m and a short pole for 2+2. I also set up a shallow rig and would be trying to mug any cruising fish.
At the all in, I started pinging 3 or 4 pellets every 30 seconds to the bomb and PW lines, but no indications. After an hour I had a single skimmer on an 8mm Jupiter pellet.A look onto the short pole line bore no fruit, so back onto the bomb. After around another 30 minutes, I had my first carp of around 12lb. By switching from bomb and waggler I managed another 4 carp to weigh in 56lb and nowhere in the match. Soupy had snagged a couple of fish on the waggler short, over his long pole line for around 80lb but Fred had done the business with 94lb from peg 94 fishing the waggler into the bay.
Sunday
Sunday saw the lads travelling off complex for a trip to Goodiford Mill. A venue around an hour away near Cullompton. We have fished this lake before and it can be good on the pellet waggler or pole if you can get them in later in the day. I drew peg 1 which is in the open water section and not too good. Either side on 3 you had islands to chuck to. I had Fred and Bob,either side with Nobby, Del and Cotty in view. I started off on the PW and had a couple of quick fish and noted that Bob and Nobby were fishing lighter wagglers. They were fishing the same distance, but made less of a splash when hitting the water. I was trailing after an hour and tried to pull fish from Bob by upping the feed. This work for a short burst but not in the longer term. Fred was struggling in the open water whilst Del, Cotty, Bob and Nobby could all catch tight to the islands.
A look onto the pole line brought roach, skimmers and crucians but I was going backwards and at the end of the match threw 60lb back. Fred had also thrown back. Cotty won the match with 143lb with Dave W on 141lb, Frenchy, 140lb, Bob 125lb and Vic sneaking in fifth with 123lb.
Monday
Monday saw the start of the festival. the format is quite simple, 2 sections of 5 anglers, 1pt for winning section 5pts for last in section. Winner is the person with the lowest points followed by overall weight if there is a tie.
My home for the day was on Campbell 114. It is positioned on a jetty with a good depth down the margins. I hoped to catch on the bomb early on, then come into 2+2 and spend the last hour down the edge. I had Gongo on 116 and Soupy on 112. I started off on the bomb and although I was getting liners and small plucks on the tip, it refused to go round. I came in earlier than expected and in hindsight was a wrong move as the fish had not settled over the pellet and corn feed. I had a couple of early fish on this line and with the skimmers going 2lb apiece and odd carp coming to either double corn or an 8mm hard pellet, I was putting a few fish in the net.Soupy was chopping and changing and nicking odd fish and I thought it was close. Gongo was catching well. I had a few fish down the side and felt that I should have fished it earlier as it died with 30 minutes to go. My weight of 96lb was last in section, not the ideal start to the festival. Bob on 125 had won the match with 202lb with a mix of bomb fish and paste fish.
Tuesday
Tuesday came and again on Campbell and keen to put yesterday behind me, I needed a good result today, as another last in section would see my dreams of a top 3 finish go. I managed to draw the winning peg from yesterday 125, never a good sign, as you expect fish to be there, yet they rarely are, preferring to sulk. I again had a similar plan to yesterday, fishing the bomb whilst the 5m line settled and inside late on. I had Fred on 123 and Soupy on 127 and could see there pegs were black with fish stirring up the bottom from the off. I started off on the bomb for a single carp of around 6lb and was already 6 fish behind Fred within the first half hour. Soupy had a couple and I was now hoping the 5m line was solid. It was not to be, as I struggled to get the feeding right. I am sure the fish were there but my feeding was wrong on the day instead of dumping feed in I should have dripped it in. My weight of 76lb was never in contention with the rest of the section and my festival was over. 2 last in sections. Paul D had caught plenty of fish on 132 and would have had 213lb yet fell foul of the net limits and had a net over the 80lb upper limit and the net was disqualified leaving him on 132lb. Fred won the match with a new PB match weight of 206lb.
Wednesday
Todays match was on Cary, it was fishing hard and the feeling was that you needed to be in the bowl on pegs 87,88 or 94. My drawing arm continued to let me down and 102 was to be my home.I set up the normal bomb and PW rods and also set up a margin rig for last on. I had Vic next door on 100 with Soupy on 98. I started off on the bomb and had a carp around 7lb within 10 minutes and the area I was fishing, around 3/4 across to the aerator had started fizzing. I was hopeful of a good day. By chopping and changing between bomb and waggler I was able to snare 7 fish in total for 56lb 15oz. Vic won the section with 60lb, and Soupy was third in section with 56lb 14oz. I had done Soupy by an ounce to pick up the 2nd in section envelope. Gongo won the match with 123lb from 87 with Cotty second with 88lb from peg 88. Everyone else had nicked odd fish and it was a struggle for everyone.
Thursday
The regular Thursday open on the complex meant we could not have our fixed sections so we work it out to be first 5 pegs are in one section whilst the second 5 pegs are in the second section, despite which lake you draw on. My draw saw me on peg 68 on Lodge lake, Bob was on 70, Vic on 72, Dave W was on Cary 74 and Paul D was on Cary 81. I set up 4 rigs to fish the pole. 2+2, a margin rig to fish to the platform on 67, a shallow slapping rig and a long line deep rig. I started of fishing long pinging a few 4mms over the top and saw a few swirls so went out on the slapping rig to connect with a carp which bottomed out the black hydro and came flying back with a vengeance. 1-0 to the carp. Back on the deck I caught a few roach and skimmers but the were on the small side so with 4 hours left I decided to fish the margin. Within 10 minutes I had my first carp in the net, at around 12lb it was a nice addition. A couple more skimmers and another lost carp (2-1) before I started getting a few iffy bites. Next door a local was catching well on pellet so tried an 8mm and I started hooking a few carp. Some went straight under the platform and into the large bush and I lost the rig, others I managed to get out. I weighed in 5 carp for 48lb and 10lb of skimmers/roach for a total of 58lb and third in section. Vic had 63lb, so any of the lost carp would have got me second. Bob won our section with 102lb. Again Cary had fished hard with Dave having 57lb and Paul D 26lb. Gongo won the match with 140lb from peg 111 on Campbell's with Del coming 6th overall with 109lb from 129.
Friday
Last day of the festival and I was bottom of the table with 15points (5-5-2-3) Bob was leading but anyone could still win it. The chasing pack of Cotty Dave W, Gongo, Del and Vic could all still win it with a good result. The draw was interesting, Bob had drawn probably the most consistant peg on Campbells throughout the week 129 but the chasing pack were all on decent pegs. I had drawn peg 132 and knew it was an out and out bomb peg. I did set up a shallow PW rod and a 2+2 pole rig but never had any intention of using them unless I was struggling. There were fish about in the peg and I was hoping for a good day. Starting off on the bomb, I lost my first three fish, pulling out of every one, so adjusted the clutch and changed the hooklength and I was soon up and running. I was already behind Gongo on 110, who had got off to a flyer. After the first 2 hours he had sneaked in 14 fish to my 11 and I felt mine were on the small side, averaging 4lb each. I kept plugging away and although reports were coming down that people were catching I needed to keep my head and not panic. In hours 3 and 4 I added another 15 fish and reckoned on having 150lb in the net. In the last two hours I started struggling for bites and found the by fishing away from the feed area I could keep fish coming. Switching between 8mm and 10mm coarse pellets worked on the day and ended up with 37 fish for 233lb. A few larger fish coming towards the later stages of the match. I had won the section and the match with Vic coming second, Del third, after having a mix up with his nets and getting a disqualification on one net. Cotty was fourth and Bob last in section. The other section had also fished well, with everyone recording a weight over the ton, but Gongo managed to win it with 156lb and take the overall title by one point from Vic in second.
Overall
I have been going to this festival for the last few years and have some great memories. I really enjoy it. It is not about the fishing, although it can be awesome and also poor. Yet it is the expectations and standards that make it so special. The highlights are the inquests after the match in the restaurant or bar, no one is safe and if you fished well they congratulate you and if you fish poorly they slaughter you, this week I have had a mix of both. As have everyone. My stomach hurts from laughter and my liver hurts from alcohol abuse but it is well worth it, for the craic. I am booked in for next year and am already looking forward to it.
Saturday
We had booked Cary Lake for our first match at the venue, this was not part of the festival as this did not start until the Monday. We were all hopeful of a few fish, but the lake had not been fishing too well of late. Still we had the whole lake and could spread out.I had drawn peg 86 on the far bank. I had Soupy for company on 88 and with the wind blowing into our end of the lake was hoping for a few fish. I set up a bomb rod, a Pellet waggler for fishing around 30m and a short pole for 2+2. I also set up a shallow rig and would be trying to mug any cruising fish.
At the all in, I started pinging 3 or 4 pellets every 30 seconds to the bomb and PW lines, but no indications. After an hour I had a single skimmer on an 8mm Jupiter pellet.A look onto the short pole line bore no fruit, so back onto the bomb. After around another 30 minutes, I had my first carp of around 12lb. By switching from bomb and waggler I managed another 4 carp to weigh in 56lb and nowhere in the match. Soupy had snagged a couple of fish on the waggler short, over his long pole line for around 80lb but Fred had done the business with 94lb from peg 94 fishing the waggler into the bay.
Sunday
Sunday saw the lads travelling off complex for a trip to Goodiford Mill. A venue around an hour away near Cullompton. We have fished this lake before and it can be good on the pellet waggler or pole if you can get them in later in the day. I drew peg 1 which is in the open water section and not too good. Either side on 3 you had islands to chuck to. I had Fred and Bob,either side with Nobby, Del and Cotty in view. I started off on the PW and had a couple of quick fish and noted that Bob and Nobby were fishing lighter wagglers. They were fishing the same distance, but made less of a splash when hitting the water. I was trailing after an hour and tried to pull fish from Bob by upping the feed. This work for a short burst but not in the longer term. Fred was struggling in the open water whilst Del, Cotty, Bob and Nobby could all catch tight to the islands.
A look onto the pole line brought roach, skimmers and crucians but I was going backwards and at the end of the match threw 60lb back. Fred had also thrown back. Cotty won the match with 143lb with Dave W on 141lb, Frenchy, 140lb, Bob 125lb and Vic sneaking in fifth with 123lb.
Monday
Monday saw the start of the festival. the format is quite simple, 2 sections of 5 anglers, 1pt for winning section 5pts for last in section. Winner is the person with the lowest points followed by overall weight if there is a tie.
My home for the day was on Campbell 114. It is positioned on a jetty with a good depth down the margins. I hoped to catch on the bomb early on, then come into 2+2 and spend the last hour down the edge. I had Gongo on 116 and Soupy on 112. I started off on the bomb and although I was getting liners and small plucks on the tip, it refused to go round. I came in earlier than expected and in hindsight was a wrong move as the fish had not settled over the pellet and corn feed. I had a couple of early fish on this line and with the skimmers going 2lb apiece and odd carp coming to either double corn or an 8mm hard pellet, I was putting a few fish in the net.Soupy was chopping and changing and nicking odd fish and I thought it was close. Gongo was catching well. I had a few fish down the side and felt that I should have fished it earlier as it died with 30 minutes to go. My weight of 96lb was last in section, not the ideal start to the festival. Bob on 125 had won the match with 202lb with a mix of bomb fish and paste fish.
Tuesday
Tuesday came and again on Campbell and keen to put yesterday behind me, I needed a good result today, as another last in section would see my dreams of a top 3 finish go. I managed to draw the winning peg from yesterday 125, never a good sign, as you expect fish to be there, yet they rarely are, preferring to sulk. I again had a similar plan to yesterday, fishing the bomb whilst the 5m line settled and inside late on. I had Fred on 123 and Soupy on 127 and could see there pegs were black with fish stirring up the bottom from the off. I started off on the bomb for a single carp of around 6lb and was already 6 fish behind Fred within the first half hour. Soupy had a couple and I was now hoping the 5m line was solid. It was not to be, as I struggled to get the feeding right. I am sure the fish were there but my feeding was wrong on the day instead of dumping feed in I should have dripped it in. My weight of 76lb was never in contention with the rest of the section and my festival was over. 2 last in sections. Paul D had caught plenty of fish on 132 and would have had 213lb yet fell foul of the net limits and had a net over the 80lb upper limit and the net was disqualified leaving him on 132lb. Fred won the match with a new PB match weight of 206lb.
Wednesday
Todays match was on Cary, it was fishing hard and the feeling was that you needed to be in the bowl on pegs 87,88 or 94. My drawing arm continued to let me down and 102 was to be my home.I set up the normal bomb and PW rods and also set up a margin rig for last on. I had Vic next door on 100 with Soupy on 98. I started off on the bomb and had a carp around 7lb within 10 minutes and the area I was fishing, around 3/4 across to the aerator had started fizzing. I was hopeful of a good day. By chopping and changing between bomb and waggler I was able to snare 7 fish in total for 56lb 15oz. Vic won the section with 60lb, and Soupy was third in section with 56lb 14oz. I had done Soupy by an ounce to pick up the 2nd in section envelope. Gongo won the match with 123lb from 87 with Cotty second with 88lb from peg 88. Everyone else had nicked odd fish and it was a struggle for everyone.
Thursday
The regular Thursday open on the complex meant we could not have our fixed sections so we work it out to be first 5 pegs are in one section whilst the second 5 pegs are in the second section, despite which lake you draw on. My draw saw me on peg 68 on Lodge lake, Bob was on 70, Vic on 72, Dave W was on Cary 74 and Paul D was on Cary 81. I set up 4 rigs to fish the pole. 2+2, a margin rig to fish to the platform on 67, a shallow slapping rig and a long line deep rig. I started of fishing long pinging a few 4mms over the top and saw a few swirls so went out on the slapping rig to connect with a carp which bottomed out the black hydro and came flying back with a vengeance. 1-0 to the carp. Back on the deck I caught a few roach and skimmers but the were on the small side so with 4 hours left I decided to fish the margin. Within 10 minutes I had my first carp in the net, at around 12lb it was a nice addition. A couple more skimmers and another lost carp (2-1) before I started getting a few iffy bites. Next door a local was catching well on pellet so tried an 8mm and I started hooking a few carp. Some went straight under the platform and into the large bush and I lost the rig, others I managed to get out. I weighed in 5 carp for 48lb and 10lb of skimmers/roach for a total of 58lb and third in section. Vic had 63lb, so any of the lost carp would have got me second. Bob won our section with 102lb. Again Cary had fished hard with Dave having 57lb and Paul D 26lb. Gongo won the match with 140lb from peg 111 on Campbell's with Del coming 6th overall with 109lb from 129.
Friday
Last day of the festival and I was bottom of the table with 15points (5-5-2-3) Bob was leading but anyone could still win it. The chasing pack of Cotty Dave W, Gongo, Del and Vic could all still win it with a good result. The draw was interesting, Bob had drawn probably the most consistant peg on Campbells throughout the week 129 but the chasing pack were all on decent pegs. I had drawn peg 132 and knew it was an out and out bomb peg. I did set up a shallow PW rod and a 2+2 pole rig but never had any intention of using them unless I was struggling. There were fish about in the peg and I was hoping for a good day. Starting off on the bomb, I lost my first three fish, pulling out of every one, so adjusted the clutch and changed the hooklength and I was soon up and running. I was already behind Gongo on 110, who had got off to a flyer. After the first 2 hours he had sneaked in 14 fish to my 11 and I felt mine were on the small side, averaging 4lb each. I kept plugging away and although reports were coming down that people were catching I needed to keep my head and not panic. In hours 3 and 4 I added another 15 fish and reckoned on having 150lb in the net. In the last two hours I started struggling for bites and found the by fishing away from the feed area I could keep fish coming. Switching between 8mm and 10mm coarse pellets worked on the day and ended up with 37 fish for 233lb. A few larger fish coming towards the later stages of the match. I had won the section and the match with Vic coming second, Del third, after having a mix up with his nets and getting a disqualification on one net. Cotty was fourth and Bob last in section. The other section had also fished well, with everyone recording a weight over the ton, but Gongo managed to win it with 156lb and take the overall title by one point from Vic in second.
Overall
I have been going to this festival for the last few years and have some great memories. I really enjoy it. It is not about the fishing, although it can be awesome and also poor. Yet it is the expectations and standards that make it so special. The highlights are the inquests after the match in the restaurant or bar, no one is safe and if you fished well they congratulate you and if you fish poorly they slaughter you, this week I have had a mix of both. As have everyone. My stomach hurts from laughter and my liver hurts from alcohol abuse but it is well worth it, for the craic. I am booked in for next year and am already looking forward to it.
Sunday 5 June 2016
Hartleylands Nicks Lake 040616 Marsh AC
The Marsh AC bandwagon is still travelling across the South East of England, this time stopping off at Hartleylands Farm Fishery to fish the prolific Nicks lake.
The day itself had started alright, I picked Mick up at the agreed 0500 and we travelled to the Knoxbridge Cafe for breakfast. Shut for the weekend. Not to worry they have a burger van at HLF so we will get a roll there. Arrived at fishery, No van. Things were not looking good, hungry and without a cup of tea, quickly turns me into a grumpy old git. They say that things go in threes and they do, Keith, can you help doing the pegging?. I live the furthest away from the lake, and get asked to peg it, nothing like local knowledge is there?
So with the pegs sorted and monies paid, it was into the draw. Peg 7 was to be my home.This is not the normal peg 7 but actually around peg 26. Mick had drawn peg 10, so we were in the same section.
My peg looked good for what I planned to do, pellet wag or bomb for the first hour, then 2+2 then margins or shallow at 11m. Bait would be 8mm pellet on the wag or bomb and corn down the edges. Shallow would be either 6 or 8mm pellet dependant on how it went.
I had Tony on peg 8, Gino 9 Mick 10 and Chairman Dave on 11 in my section so had my work cut out to win the section. The other section saw Rod on 1 Al on 2, Al Junior on 3 Tony W on 4, John on 5 and Clive on 6.
I started off on the pellet waggler fishing to the point of the island, pinging a few 8mms I was soon getting a few bites fishing 2ft deep.Only small fish around the 1 1/2lb mark but they were coming regularly. I did need to keep switching depths to keep them coming but at least the float was going under.After an hour, I had around 16 fish and was doing well.
Tony had been nicking a few fish fishing shallow and down the edge so at least I knew a few fish were about close in. Clive on the other side was getting a few fish on the pole at 11m.Word was that Mick and Al were both emptying the lake. I had my work cut out. I had planned to fish my match in 3 stages of 2 hour bursts, 2 hours on the waggler or bomb( never did use it), 2 hours on the long line or shallow and 2 hours late on in the margins.
Hour 2 saw me put another 12 fish in the net to give me 28 fish around the 1 1/2lb mark. Hour 3 saw me go to 2+2 line for no bites so started fishing long shallow again starting off at 2ft deep. I was nicking odd fish, and found that by fishing a long line and a float set a foot deep was the ideal. I was getting a few better fish around the 2 to 3lb mark. Hour 4 saw me continue in this vain. Hour 5 was a nightmare, Fishing in the margins I was getting a few better fish to 5lb and was snagging on the thin stringy weed that cost me time and rigs. Still I managed to place another dozen fish in the net.
Hour 6 saw me struggle. I broke a top kit on a fish. Snagged again on a piece of the stringy weed and lost the rig, so went back out shallow for the remainder of the match, putting another 12 fish in the net.
Packing away I thought it would be close between myself and Tony, he had kept fish coming throughout the day.
Overall
1st Al Loader 241-00
2nd Mick Wright 166-00
3rd Keith Ashby 154-00
4th Tony Roberts 151-08
5th John Holdsworth 119-00
6th Clive Pritchard 104-08
The lake fished well and I was pleased with the result. Everything I tried worked. I did lose around 1/2hr whist fishing the margins and this I feel cost me second today. Well done to Al on thew win and Mick for another performance worthy of the MK Nugget. 4-1 to Mick now, I must try harder or start sabotaging his gear.
Due to working away and the next match coinciding with the Yam Yam week away at Viaduct, I will miss the Tylers Common fixture which is a shame as it is a new venue and one I am sure I would have enjoyed.
The day itself had started alright, I picked Mick up at the agreed 0500 and we travelled to the Knoxbridge Cafe for breakfast. Shut for the weekend. Not to worry they have a burger van at HLF so we will get a roll there. Arrived at fishery, No van. Things were not looking good, hungry and without a cup of tea, quickly turns me into a grumpy old git. They say that things go in threes and they do, Keith, can you help doing the pegging?. I live the furthest away from the lake, and get asked to peg it, nothing like local knowledge is there?
So with the pegs sorted and monies paid, it was into the draw. Peg 7 was to be my home.This is not the normal peg 7 but actually around peg 26. Mick had drawn peg 10, so we were in the same section.
My peg looked good for what I planned to do, pellet wag or bomb for the first hour, then 2+2 then margins or shallow at 11m. Bait would be 8mm pellet on the wag or bomb and corn down the edges. Shallow would be either 6 or 8mm pellet dependant on how it went.
I had Tony on peg 8, Gino 9 Mick 10 and Chairman Dave on 11 in my section so had my work cut out to win the section. The other section saw Rod on 1 Al on 2, Al Junior on 3 Tony W on 4, John on 5 and Clive on 6.
I started off on the pellet waggler fishing to the point of the island, pinging a few 8mms I was soon getting a few bites fishing 2ft deep.Only small fish around the 1 1/2lb mark but they were coming regularly. I did need to keep switching depths to keep them coming but at least the float was going under.After an hour, I had around 16 fish and was doing well.
Tony had been nicking a few fish fishing shallow and down the edge so at least I knew a few fish were about close in. Clive on the other side was getting a few fish on the pole at 11m.Word was that Mick and Al were both emptying the lake. I had my work cut out. I had planned to fish my match in 3 stages of 2 hour bursts, 2 hours on the waggler or bomb( never did use it), 2 hours on the long line or shallow and 2 hours late on in the margins.
Hour 2 saw me put another 12 fish in the net to give me 28 fish around the 1 1/2lb mark. Hour 3 saw me go to 2+2 line for no bites so started fishing long shallow again starting off at 2ft deep. I was nicking odd fish, and found that by fishing a long line and a float set a foot deep was the ideal. I was getting a few better fish around the 2 to 3lb mark. Hour 4 saw me continue in this vain. Hour 5 was a nightmare, Fishing in the margins I was getting a few better fish to 5lb and was snagging on the thin stringy weed that cost me time and rigs. Still I managed to place another dozen fish in the net.
Hour 6 saw me struggle. I broke a top kit on a fish. Snagged again on a piece of the stringy weed and lost the rig, so went back out shallow for the remainder of the match, putting another 12 fish in the net.
Packing away I thought it would be close between myself and Tony, he had kept fish coming throughout the day.
Overall
1st Al Loader 241-00
2nd Mick Wright 166-00
3rd Keith Ashby 154-00
4th Tony Roberts 151-08
5th John Holdsworth 119-00
6th Clive Pritchard 104-08
The lake fished well and I was pleased with the result. Everything I tried worked. I did lose around 1/2hr whist fishing the margins and this I feel cost me second today. Well done to Al on thew win and Mick for another performance worthy of the MK Nugget. 4-1 to Mick now, I must try harder or start sabotaging his gear.
Due to working away and the next match coinciding with the Yam Yam week away at Viaduct, I will miss the Tylers Common fixture which is a shame as it is a new venue and one I am sure I would have enjoyed.
Friday 27 May 2016
Puddledock Farm Marsh AC 21 05 16
Another Marsh AC match on a venue that we only get to fish once a year and is difficult to work out a steady method for catching fish regularly. To do well on the Road Lake you need to catch carp and regularly. They are not big fish, 2 to 5lb average but you tend to get bitted out on small baits or expanders. I have had some success fishing catmeat on the long pole and waiting for it to bury, but felt this was no quite right.
Today saw Mick and I travel the relatively short journey to Essex for the match and surprisingly we were the first to arrive, a quick look at the lake and it had a decent ripple on one side, the other flat calm. Please put me in the ripple, I thought. First mistake of the day was changing the drawing pattern, I normally go towards the back of the queue, not today, get in before Mick was my strategy. After all, I won the last leg of the MK Nugget challenge. Peg 22 was to be my home in the flat calm. Mick waits and draws peg 2, right by the car park and the wind blowing into it.
We only fish for sections on these matches, it keeps it real, and with the most you are likely to win is a tenner, it normally costs more to fish than you will get back. So with this in mind I set out a stall to win the section. My section consisted of John Holdsworth, Tom Exell, Tony Watkins and Kevin Loveland.
I was today going to start of long on the pole at 12.5m with another line at 7m and a margin swim to my left. I also set up a shallow rig in case the fish came up in the water. It was cloudy but still warm.
At the all in I started off at 12.5m for 20 minutes on meat, this brought a few finicky bites which I never connected with, A look onto the 7m brought a small roach and a skimmer around the pound mark. At least I was off and running. At this point I saw a swirl over my 12.5m line and thought perhaps they were shallow. Grabbing the shallow rig I started lifting and dropping the rig and after 10 minutes, my first carp was on the way in, only to lose it at the net. Out again and pinging a few 4mms saw fish number 2 came cleanly to the net and around 2lb I was pleased. This carried on for around 2 hours, in between the carp, I was getting some nice roach around 8oz and odd skimmers all on either a small cube of meat or a 6mm pellet. I was being kept busy and I was enjoying it without really building a weight to compete. Still fish were going into the net.
During a lull in the proceedings I looked onto the 7m line and for an hour I was getting a skimmer a chuck and odd carp. I was going along quite nicely now. I had about 30lb of fish in the net, mainly skimmers and roach and 8 carp. A look on the catmeat did not bring any bites, so it was back out on the long pole for the duration. Fishing deep and up in the water brought a few more skimmers, and a couple more carp but it was not to be. I felt at the end of the match I had around 40lb and the scalesman gave me 39lb 8oz. so was not far away with my estimation.
Today saw Mick and I travel the relatively short journey to Essex for the match and surprisingly we were the first to arrive, a quick look at the lake and it had a decent ripple on one side, the other flat calm. Please put me in the ripple, I thought. First mistake of the day was changing the drawing pattern, I normally go towards the back of the queue, not today, get in before Mick was my strategy. After all, I won the last leg of the MK Nugget challenge. Peg 22 was to be my home in the flat calm. Mick waits and draws peg 2, right by the car park and the wind blowing into it.
We only fish for sections on these matches, it keeps it real, and with the most you are likely to win is a tenner, it normally costs more to fish than you will get back. So with this in mind I set out a stall to win the section. My section consisted of John Holdsworth, Tom Exell, Tony Watkins and Kevin Loveland.
I was today going to start of long on the pole at 12.5m with another line at 7m and a margin swim to my left. I also set up a shallow rig in case the fish came up in the water. It was cloudy but still warm.
At the all in I started off at 12.5m for 20 minutes on meat, this brought a few finicky bites which I never connected with, A look onto the 7m brought a small roach and a skimmer around the pound mark. At least I was off and running. At this point I saw a swirl over my 12.5m line and thought perhaps they were shallow. Grabbing the shallow rig I started lifting and dropping the rig and after 10 minutes, my first carp was on the way in, only to lose it at the net. Out again and pinging a few 4mms saw fish number 2 came cleanly to the net and around 2lb I was pleased. This carried on for around 2 hours, in between the carp, I was getting some nice roach around 8oz and odd skimmers all on either a small cube of meat or a 6mm pellet. I was being kept busy and I was enjoying it without really building a weight to compete. Still fish were going into the net.
During a lull in the proceedings I looked onto the 7m line and for an hour I was getting a skimmer a chuck and odd carp. I was going along quite nicely now. I had about 30lb of fish in the net, mainly skimmers and roach and 8 carp. A look on the catmeat did not bring any bites, so it was back out on the long pole for the duration. Fishing deep and up in the water brought a few more skimmers, and a couple more carp but it was not to be. I felt at the end of the match I had around 40lb and the scalesman gave me 39lb 8oz. so was not far away with my estimation.
Overall
1st Jim Boase 69lb
2nd Tony Roberts 66lb
3rd Mick Wright 54-08
4th Tony Watkins 52lb
5th Simon Watkins 48-08
6th Keith Ashby 39-08
To be fair the lake fished a lot better than previous years, a lot more carp coming out from all over the lake. Mick regained his nugget to make it 3-1 in his favour. Next up for me is in a fortnight, Hartleylands Farm Nicks Lake. Should be a good one.
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