Unfortunately Part 2 of 2 has been postponed for a couple of weeks.
A couple of reasons, the clutch on my car has been playing up and needs fixing, the guy I was going with has called to say he cannot make it. The weather is planned for -2 degrees overnight with a plus 1 temperature and a wind chill of -3. Now I do not mind going fishing in the cold but when faced with this scenario a couple of weeks ago, three of us all blanked, with none of us even have an indication.
Winter fishing has a lot to answer for. Saying that if I was booked into a match I would have still gone.
Wednesday 29 November 2017
Tuesday 28 November 2017
Alders Farm Tuesday Open 28 11 2017
Working the shifts that both Mick and I do means we have a fair bit of time off midweek to go fishing. This week will be another double header for me, a Tuesday Open at Alders and another session on Linford Lakes Black Horse Lake (Thursday) hoping for a few bream.
Tuesday's match was on Pines Lake. The lake fished quite well over the weekend and with only ten anglers on the match space was not an issue. So hopefully we would all have a few bites. Overnight the temperatures had dropped and with a bit of rain, I suspected that the fish would be in the deeper water and not come up like last week when it was consistently milder leading up to the match. So a priority at the draw would be a deep water swim, please. Peg 5 stuck to my hand and I was happy with that. Peg 4 and 6 were empty so I had a bit of room and could see Mick on Peg 3. Pete Archer sat on peg 2. Dennis on 7 and Danny Wallace on peg 9. Opposite Trevor was on 16, Sean 17, Graham West on 18, Paul Higgins on 22 and John Light was last peg 24.
Peg 5 is a cracking peg, plenty of depth for both on the deck and fishing up in the water. I also had plenty of water behind the pole line to have a go with the waggler. It is something I must admit I do not do enough of. Strange really as, when I do fish it I enjoy it. I am starting to think that we all suffer with poleitis when we go out fishing.
I started off fishing a line at 7m fishing double maggot over a half cup of micros.10 minutes in and nothing. Out to 11m with the same rig pinging a few maggots every minute or so. 20 minutes and still nothing, no liners,bites or any form of indication. A switch to the 11m deep rig with a bulk around 18 inches from a size 18 B911x. Around 10 minutes spent on this and a first bite, a nice skimmer around 1 3/4lb. Nothing then for the next 20 minutes. A look on the waggler saw the wind blowing a big bow in the line and making the float travel through the peg too quickly. However when the wind slowed you could get decent presentation. After 20 minutes of perseverance I managed a couple of small carp on double maggot. The bites coming as soon as the hook-bait hit the bottom. Back into 7m and start the whole process again, hoping that during the rotation a run of fish come. Mick had started off very well on the maggot feeder in the open water and was nicking odd fish on the pole lines. Trevor opposite was catching well on the far bank fishing away from the island spraying maggot. And although I could not see Graham or Sean I could hear a bit of splashing from behind the island. Pete Archer was targeting silvers and ticking over. I would like to say that my plan worked, but it did not. I ended up with around 7 carp and 2 skimmers for 27lb odd and nowhere but that's winter fishing.
Overall
1st Graham West 60-04
2nd Trevor Price 55-00
3rd Danny |Wallace 50lb
That's winter fishing for you though, I think I managed to keep changing things around a bit better than last week. Feeding was a bit tidier and although I only had a few bites lost fish have cost me a better weight, I would still not have got in the frame, but I worked out why I was lost 5 carp in a row and corrected it. Now I am looking forward to a day's fishing for bream on Black Horse Lake. Cold clear water, Brilliant sunshine and a maximum temperature of 5 degrees, perfect bream conditions!!!!!!!
Tuesday's match was on Pines Lake. The lake fished quite well over the weekend and with only ten anglers on the match space was not an issue. So hopefully we would all have a few bites. Overnight the temperatures had dropped and with a bit of rain, I suspected that the fish would be in the deeper water and not come up like last week when it was consistently milder leading up to the match. So a priority at the draw would be a deep water swim, please. Peg 5 stuck to my hand and I was happy with that. Peg 4 and 6 were empty so I had a bit of room and could see Mick on Peg 3. Pete Archer sat on peg 2. Dennis on 7 and Danny Wallace on peg 9. Opposite Trevor was on 16, Sean 17, Graham West on 18, Paul Higgins on 22 and John Light was last peg 24.
Peg 5 is a cracking peg, plenty of depth for both on the deck and fishing up in the water. I also had plenty of water behind the pole line to have a go with the waggler. It is something I must admit I do not do enough of. Strange really as, when I do fish it I enjoy it. I am starting to think that we all suffer with poleitis when we go out fishing.
I started off fishing a line at 7m fishing double maggot over a half cup of micros.10 minutes in and nothing. Out to 11m with the same rig pinging a few maggots every minute or so. 20 minutes and still nothing, no liners,bites or any form of indication. A switch to the 11m deep rig with a bulk around 18 inches from a size 18 B911x. Around 10 minutes spent on this and a first bite, a nice skimmer around 1 3/4lb. Nothing then for the next 20 minutes. A look on the waggler saw the wind blowing a big bow in the line and making the float travel through the peg too quickly. However when the wind slowed you could get decent presentation. After 20 minutes of perseverance I managed a couple of small carp on double maggot. The bites coming as soon as the hook-bait hit the bottom. Back into 7m and start the whole process again, hoping that during the rotation a run of fish come. Mick had started off very well on the maggot feeder in the open water and was nicking odd fish on the pole lines. Trevor opposite was catching well on the far bank fishing away from the island spraying maggot. And although I could not see Graham or Sean I could hear a bit of splashing from behind the island. Pete Archer was targeting silvers and ticking over. I would like to say that my plan worked, but it did not. I ended up with around 7 carp and 2 skimmers for 27lb odd and nowhere but that's winter fishing.
Overall
1st Graham West 60-04
2nd Trevor Price 55-00
3rd Danny |Wallace 50lb
That's winter fishing for you though, I think I managed to keep changing things around a bit better than last week. Feeding was a bit tidier and although I only had a few bites lost fish have cost me a better weight, I would still not have got in the frame, but I worked out why I was lost 5 carp in a row and corrected it. Now I am looking forward to a day's fishing for bream on Black Horse Lake. Cold clear water, Brilliant sunshine and a maximum temperature of 5 degrees, perfect bream conditions!!!!!!!
Wednesday 22 November 2017
Oakfield Revisited 22 11 2017
Many moons ago I used to fish Oakfield Fishery at Kingswood, Aylesbury. They have a couple of lakes back then and rotated between Brook and Kingfisher. The owners then added a couple of other new lakes and the place started to take off. Red Kite has become their main match lake nowadays and although quite open and wind affected offers plenty of sport for the regulars.
It was a chance meeting with Dave Stratful, who now looks after the catering and matches at Oakfield , that gave both Mick and I the desire to revisit the fishery and take our chances.
With 18 booked on it would be a good test for us. The MK Nugget series is over for the year as agreed by the both of us, and although we are fishing a match, it really is just a pleasure day for us both.
We both arrived nice and early and with Dave donning his pinny behind the counter, a full English breakfast was soon being devoured by both Mick and I, a couple of cups of tea washing it down.
I had exchanged a few texts with Gary Thorpe prior to the visit and he suggested that corn may start working on the pole lines. So that was one kilo removed from the freezer. I would also set up both a bomb rod and a Atomic laced maggot feeder. I would fish these for the first hour regardless of where I drew.
I was quite happy with peg 23, I would have the wind on my back and with the breeze gradually getting up to 50mph, I was glad of it. Mick had drawn 29, again a peg with the wind on his back.
Mick would base a lot of his fishing around fishery pellets and maggots, whilst my attack would be predominantly corn with maggot as a back up.
At the all in, I cupped in half a pot of corn onto the 11m line, whilst I could hold the pole out there. I also fed a line at 6m by hand. Leaving them to settle I started on the bomb with double corn, just over half way. I could catapult 4 or 5 grains over this line. I also fed a few grains at around 25m.
I was fishing double corn on a hair rig to a size 16 QM1 and although I was getting a few pulls, they were just liners, nothing concrete. A switch to the maggot feeder brought 2 micro roach impersonating fish. So back onto the bomb.With an hour gone I saw only 1 fish caught on the bomb but Pete Alland further down on 27 was getting a few on the pole.
Out to 11m with a single grain of corn and a tosspot of corn. After 5 minutes a bite and a good sized F1 was steadily coming back to the waiting net. One last ditch run for freedom and it was off, Damn or words to that effect. Back out and a longer wait, in hindsight I probably did not feed via the toss pot at this point. But a bite did come eventually. A run of 2 or 3 F1's would come but then nothing. I did lose a couple during this spell and found that by feeding 10 grains of corn and 6 or 7 6mm pellets after every fish or 5 minutes whichever was first was the way to go. I was still at 11m but the wind was getting stronger as the day wore on.
I have ended up with 6 F1's and a single mirror carp and a couple of more micro fish for 24lb 11oz and a thank you for coming. Beaten both sides by a couple of fish.
Mick done well creeping into 3rd spot with a few late fish down the edge on maggots and a nice brown envelope. Well done to all the framers.
It was a chance meeting with Dave Stratful, who now looks after the catering and matches at Oakfield , that gave both Mick and I the desire to revisit the fishery and take our chances.
With 18 booked on it would be a good test for us. The MK Nugget series is over for the year as agreed by the both of us, and although we are fishing a match, it really is just a pleasure day for us both.
We both arrived nice and early and with Dave donning his pinny behind the counter, a full English breakfast was soon being devoured by both Mick and I, a couple of cups of tea washing it down.
I had exchanged a few texts with Gary Thorpe prior to the visit and he suggested that corn may start working on the pole lines. So that was one kilo removed from the freezer. I would also set up both a bomb rod and a Atomic laced maggot feeder. I would fish these for the first hour regardless of where I drew.
I was quite happy with peg 23, I would have the wind on my back and with the breeze gradually getting up to 50mph, I was glad of it. Mick had drawn 29, again a peg with the wind on his back.
Mick would base a lot of his fishing around fishery pellets and maggots, whilst my attack would be predominantly corn with maggot as a back up.
At the all in, I cupped in half a pot of corn onto the 11m line, whilst I could hold the pole out there. I also fed a line at 6m by hand. Leaving them to settle I started on the bomb with double corn, just over half way. I could catapult 4 or 5 grains over this line. I also fed a few grains at around 25m.
I was fishing double corn on a hair rig to a size 16 QM1 and although I was getting a few pulls, they were just liners, nothing concrete. A switch to the maggot feeder brought 2 micro roach impersonating fish. So back onto the bomb.With an hour gone I saw only 1 fish caught on the bomb but Pete Alland further down on 27 was getting a few on the pole.
Out to 11m with a single grain of corn and a tosspot of corn. After 5 minutes a bite and a good sized F1 was steadily coming back to the waiting net. One last ditch run for freedom and it was off, Damn or words to that effect. Back out and a longer wait, in hindsight I probably did not feed via the toss pot at this point. But a bite did come eventually. A run of 2 or 3 F1's would come but then nothing. I did lose a couple during this spell and found that by feeding 10 grains of corn and 6 or 7 6mm pellets after every fish or 5 minutes whichever was first was the way to go. I was still at 11m but the wind was getting stronger as the day wore on.
I have ended up with 6 F1's and a single mirror carp and a couple of more micro fish for 24lb 11oz and a thank you for coming. Beaten both sides by a couple of fish.
Overall
1st Pete Alland 56-10 Peg 27
2nd Chris Davis 40-02 Peg 10
3rd Mick Wright 30-02 Peg 29
4th Paddy Mack 30-00 Peg 33
So not too far off and a few more lessons, I think a longer tail on the bomb with a softer hair and single baits may have been a better approach. Also A lighter rig .4g with spread out shotting worked better than a heavier .6g rig in the conditions.Also small corn worked well.Mick done well creeping into 3rd spot with a few late fish down the edge on maggots and a nice brown envelope. Well done to all the framers.
Tuesday 21 November 2017
Alders Farm Tuesday Open 21 11 17
It feels strange to be going fishing with no real purpose, other than going fishing. I am attending the Alders Farm Tuesday Open and you may be saying to yourselves that surely I should be going there with the sole intention of winning it. There are 10 other anglers in attendance today, not many I know but some good ones amongst them. See the difference is I go match fishing because I enjoy it. I am NOT very good at it when you consider the quality of some of the anglers I fish against, but I enjoy it. I will make plenty of wrong decisions during the lead up to the match in bait selection, I will make numerous mistakes when I get to my peg and Christ knows how many during the 5 hour duration.I am competitive and want to do well but it is not the be all and end all. When I stop enjoying it I will stop going, but for now I enjoy it. We were chatting about this whilst waiting to draw and it was quite surprising how many agree with me.
Anyway on to today's match Pines Lake I draw peg 24, middle of the dam wall and a good peg, in fact I like all the pegs on Pines, they all have there days. The wind was blowing up over my shoulder towards the opposite end of the lake so at least I would be comfortable. I was the only one on the dam wall but had Ash Bunnage on 19 and Madd on peg 1.
I set up a couple of rigs to fish short 2+2, a light one and a heavier rig for fishing maggot. A deep rig for 11m, again for maggot. I also set up a long line at 11m to my right about 5m off the platform as I had around 3ft there. Bait was 4 and 6mm hookers pellets, fishery micros and 4mm for feeding plus 2 pints of maggot.
I started off fishing 2+2 on a light rig and did not get any bites in the first 20minutes. A switch to the heavier rig saw a couple of small dips but nothing hitable. A move to 11m saw a couple of liners so changed the depth slightly and the shotting on the rig to a more spread out rig. I still had a couple of liners and finally settled on the fact that the fish were higher up in the water than I originally thought. After 90 minutes I had not had a fish, but it was fishing hard, with only Lee Newson, Danny Wallace and John Light really catching well. Colin Kidd was stringing a few together on the opposite bank.
I then grabbed my shallow 3ft rig and went over the 11m line and started pinging a few maggots out, to my surprise the float dipped and my first carp was on and soon in the landing net. Out again and another 10 minutes passed before fish number two was joining his mate. Now lets get real, It is the back end of November and I am catching shallow. Imagine what Pete Archer would have been doing now. However as quickly as the bites came they disappeared. I came a section closer and nicked another smaller fish, added a section to 12.5m and had another one. I now had 4 carp.Nothing followed except the odd crayfish caught fishing on the deck at 11m, when I started getting a few liners, I just grabbed the shallow rig again and nicked a couple more.
Going into the last hour it was obvious that all the prizes were going elsewhere. But I still persevered and ended up with 9 carp and a couple of skimmers.
Anyway on to today's match Pines Lake I draw peg 24, middle of the dam wall and a good peg, in fact I like all the pegs on Pines, they all have there days. The wind was blowing up over my shoulder towards the opposite end of the lake so at least I would be comfortable. I was the only one on the dam wall but had Ash Bunnage on 19 and Madd on peg 1.
I set up a couple of rigs to fish short 2+2, a light one and a heavier rig for fishing maggot. A deep rig for 11m, again for maggot. I also set up a long line at 11m to my right about 5m off the platform as I had around 3ft there. Bait was 4 and 6mm hookers pellets, fishery micros and 4mm for feeding plus 2 pints of maggot.
I started off fishing 2+2 on a light rig and did not get any bites in the first 20minutes. A switch to the heavier rig saw a couple of small dips but nothing hitable. A move to 11m saw a couple of liners so changed the depth slightly and the shotting on the rig to a more spread out rig. I still had a couple of liners and finally settled on the fact that the fish were higher up in the water than I originally thought. After 90 minutes I had not had a fish, but it was fishing hard, with only Lee Newson, Danny Wallace and John Light really catching well. Colin Kidd was stringing a few together on the opposite bank.
I then grabbed my shallow 3ft rig and went over the 11m line and started pinging a few maggots out, to my surprise the float dipped and my first carp was on and soon in the landing net. Out again and another 10 minutes passed before fish number two was joining his mate. Now lets get real, It is the back end of November and I am catching shallow. Imagine what Pete Archer would have been doing now. However as quickly as the bites came they disappeared. I came a section closer and nicked another smaller fish, added a section to 12.5m and had another one. I now had 4 carp.Nothing followed except the odd crayfish caught fishing on the deck at 11m, when I started getting a few liners, I just grabbed the shallow rig again and nicked a couple more.
Going into the last hour it was obvious that all the prizes were going elsewhere. But I still persevered and ended up with 9 carp and a couple of skimmers.
Overall
1st Danny Wallace peg 7 91-00
2nd Lee Newson peg 5 83-14
3rd Colin Kidd Peg 17 60-07
My weight of 33-14 was well off the pace but I enjoyed it, I had to work for every fish and although I came nowhere, I stuck it out and learnt. I seem to be learning a lot at the moment, always too late to do any damage. But not one word of complaint, the guys who framed have all served their apprenticeships, can adapt and change that little bit quicker than me and deserve all their successes.
And tomorrow I can do it all again on another venue I have not fished for years, a rare day out to Oakfield Fishery near Aylesbury.
Tuesday 14 November 2017
Alders Farm Ash Lake Costcutter 14 11 2017
There I was congratulating Mick on his win as Marsh AC club champion for yet another year, when it dawned on me that the all important MK Nugget was not finished and we still had one last agreed match to finish off the season. Today, was the day. Conveniently the score was 10 each, so it was all to play for. It's not the we do not go fishing anymore because we do. It is just that the matches tend to dry up, as we both do not like breaking ice, and we can focus on different aaspects of our sport. Myself, trying my hand for skimmers and proper bream on a local complex, Mick tackling the local rivers with a loaf of bread.
Ash Lake was the chosen venue, and as it had got decidedly cooler, the ball would fall nicely into Mick's court. he had completely dominated the start of the campaign winning a lot of his matches during the cooler spring months, before I managed a comeback during the summer months. Still the weather was fair with little wind and odd showers planned for later on towards the 3pm finishing time.
With only a few hardy souls in attendance. Nice to see Dave Stratful there as it has been a few years since our paths last crossed. We spread out along the cafe bank and the dam wall. Mick was again one of the first into the bucket and end peg flyer 21 sticks to his mitt. My attempt would see me on peg 19. So after 11 months of fishing, travelling and being pegged next to each other on numerous occasions we were also together on this last MK Nugget match of the year.
I planned to fish at 11m just out of the shaded area of the peg, this stretched to 14m before going completely dark with shadows. I also set up a line for top four and three but did not think the fish would come so close. I had good depth there, just a strange feeling around the time of year when a lot of fish are shoaling up in the bowl and island pegs. I also set up a small drennan crystal dibber which doubled up as a margin rig and shallow rig.
At the all in I started on a banded 6mm feeding a small amount of micros and a pinch of maggot. No bites after 20 minutes, I tried lifting and dropping, switching to a 6mm expander and even a 4mm banded. Still no bites. For 90 minutes, nothing no bites at 11m despite trying a variety of baits. Mick was faring better and had secured 3 carp before my float dipped and a small carp around 3lb graced the net taken on worm. Another fish on worm ten minutes later saw me close the gap to 3-2 before Mick pulled away again.I was looking around the lake and no one seemed to be setting the world alight and it was a case of trying to nick odd fish throughout. However, Trevor and John on pegs 6 and 7 were getting odd fish on the waggler.
Coming in on the closer lines proved fruitless with 30 minutes wasted for no bites or indications. Dennis decided he was going for a swim after falling off his box, so I was quick to ship back in and run to his aid. He did not look too good and was quite shaken but after a change of clothes was was soon back fishing. Back out to 11m and another carp, Mick was still nicking odd fish by the tree, however I found that by feeding a line at 11m and fishing 12.5m I would get odd bites. Strange I know, but who am I to argue.
I was now fishing double maggot on my 11m rig at 12.5m. Another seven carp came before the end of the five hours. It would be close between us, we both had 10 or 11 carp with Mick having a couple of Rudd and a skimmer to me solitary skimmer. Everyone seemed to have struggled.
Overall
1st Trevor Price 57-07
2nd John Light 56-04
3rd DanWallace 40-00
4th Dave Stratful 36-00
5th Keith Ashby 34-07
6th Mick Wright 27-02
7th Dave Adams 20-02
8th Pete Archer 14-10
9th Dennis Simpson DNW
So that's it for another MK Nugget year. A close one to call, I just nicked it at the death, 11-10. I still do not know how I managed to scrape in, I had a horrendous start to the year, worse than previous years, but managed to claw some results back during the summer and autumn.
Now for a few pleasure sessions to see the year out.
Ash Lake was the chosen venue, and as it had got decidedly cooler, the ball would fall nicely into Mick's court. he had completely dominated the start of the campaign winning a lot of his matches during the cooler spring months, before I managed a comeback during the summer months. Still the weather was fair with little wind and odd showers planned for later on towards the 3pm finishing time.
With only a few hardy souls in attendance. Nice to see Dave Stratful there as it has been a few years since our paths last crossed. We spread out along the cafe bank and the dam wall. Mick was again one of the first into the bucket and end peg flyer 21 sticks to his mitt. My attempt would see me on peg 19. So after 11 months of fishing, travelling and being pegged next to each other on numerous occasions we were also together on this last MK Nugget match of the year.
I planned to fish at 11m just out of the shaded area of the peg, this stretched to 14m before going completely dark with shadows. I also set up a line for top four and three but did not think the fish would come so close. I had good depth there, just a strange feeling around the time of year when a lot of fish are shoaling up in the bowl and island pegs. I also set up a small drennan crystal dibber which doubled up as a margin rig and shallow rig.
At the all in I started on a banded 6mm feeding a small amount of micros and a pinch of maggot. No bites after 20 minutes, I tried lifting and dropping, switching to a 6mm expander and even a 4mm banded. Still no bites. For 90 minutes, nothing no bites at 11m despite trying a variety of baits. Mick was faring better and had secured 3 carp before my float dipped and a small carp around 3lb graced the net taken on worm. Another fish on worm ten minutes later saw me close the gap to 3-2 before Mick pulled away again.I was looking around the lake and no one seemed to be setting the world alight and it was a case of trying to nick odd fish throughout. However, Trevor and John on pegs 6 and 7 were getting odd fish on the waggler.
Coming in on the closer lines proved fruitless with 30 minutes wasted for no bites or indications. Dennis decided he was going for a swim after falling off his box, so I was quick to ship back in and run to his aid. He did not look too good and was quite shaken but after a change of clothes was was soon back fishing. Back out to 11m and another carp, Mick was still nicking odd fish by the tree, however I found that by feeding a line at 11m and fishing 12.5m I would get odd bites. Strange I know, but who am I to argue.
I was now fishing double maggot on my 11m rig at 12.5m. Another seven carp came before the end of the five hours. It would be close between us, we both had 10 or 11 carp with Mick having a couple of Rudd and a skimmer to me solitary skimmer. Everyone seemed to have struggled.
Overall
1st Trevor Price 57-07
2nd John Light 56-04
3rd DanWallace 40-00
4th Dave Stratful 36-00
5th Keith Ashby 34-07
6th Mick Wright 27-02
7th Dave Adams 20-02
8th Pete Archer 14-10
9th Dennis Simpson DNW
So that's it for another MK Nugget year. A close one to call, I just nicked it at the death, 11-10. I still do not know how I managed to scrape in, I had a horrendous start to the year, worse than previous years, but managed to claw some results back during the summer and autumn.
Now for a few pleasure sessions to see the year out.
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