Today was the chance to try and catch something at Landsend, my last couple matches on here have been kind of pants, but there is a good head of carp and a great head of silvers/greens/goldens aswell.
I was tagging along with PSV, courtesy of Mr Burgess, maybe he thought I would be pools fodder? More likely than maybe I guess.
Anyways, I made the short drive over, arriving a good half hour before the draw, so I unloaded the car, dipped the nets and had a chat with a couple of the members.
Now for all that Steve writes on his blog about the blokes who fish their matches, I can honestly say they all seem sound, friendly and good for a laugh.
Into the draw bag goes 14 numbers, the wind was pushing down from the far end and slightly across, meaning pegs 1-6 were the windiest, but Landsend always seems to be windy. It wasn't too strong, as there are a good few trees breaking it up. But it was due to get stronger.
I had the first peg as I was a guest and the golden pegs couldn't be mine.
I pulled peg 1, a peg I have never fished, even years back when it first opened. I was on scales duty too!! Now I really dislike corner pegs, they always seem to be hit or miss on every venue, more miss when I get them.
My rigs/bait would be simple today.
A margin rig for the end bank at 13m with 8mm meat over meat/6mm pellet. 0.2 NG Margin, 0.20>0.16>B911 size 14.
A shallow rig for mugging and a feeding 13m line towards the island with banded 8mm. 0.2g Preston pea type float, 0.20>0.16>16 B911. 13m was a struggle in the wind really, but I wanted to get towards the island.
2 rigs for silvers at 6m, 0.4g NG Decker, 0.16>0.14>size 16 B911. 1 with a band, 1 without. Otherwise identical, but for 10am direction (micro's line) and 2pm direction (6mm meat line).
I want ready for the all-in, as I really struggle on small pallets and long pole fishing, I cant seem to get sorted with the rollers, side trays and pole rig roost. So I spent the first 5 mins plumbing up. The water level was well down so rig lengths had to be amended too.
By the time I had potted my baits into the various swims and fired some 6mm towards my 13m line peg 3 (I think) was into a fish as were a few others. I started on the shallow rig hoping for a cruiser or 2, but they were not really up in the water properly, except under the tree on the end bank, out of range, and they stayed there all day. Just sucking stuff off the surface without reason to venture out.
After an hour I had tried all my lines without a bite, neither had peg 23 or 21. Will on p23 was trying the pellet wag towards the island, something I may have done if I had bought rods, and the trees above were trimmed, but neither were in my favour. There were fish getting caught elsewhere on the lake, they sounded carpy rather than silvers. So perhaps I should go for them?
I came onto the micro line with banded 6mm pellet and had a response, 2 skimmers in as many chucks, bargain. The 3rd never came!! Onto the 6mm meat line, nothing. Not a sniff.
I even tried soft pellet and maggots, but only had 2 rudd on these baits.
I did manage to mug a single ghost carp of 5lb or so on the 13m line.
With 3hrs gone I had maybe 3lb of silvers, 1 carp and not many other bites. I had managed a 8oz perch on my margin line with meat on the hook.
The next hour was sort of productive, the wind had got up and the fish seemed to be against the margin, but sadly right in amongst the debris and snags and taking off the top, but they were not easy to tempt, infact I only landed 1 more before the wind made me start a new edge line at 6m and I had abandoned the silvers for a single meat line over the original 6m area, just feeding a lot heavier.
The switch of lines/new lines helped as I managed to sneak another 4 carp, 2 from the margin and 2 from the heavier fed meat line, then the all out sounded.
I went and weighed a lump that Will had landed, but it was only 11lb less an ounce, he'd only had 3 or 4 carp I think. Peg 21 had 1, maybe 2 and a handful of bits, they both DNW'd. And word was it was hard today.
I packed my kit up and waited for the man with the weigh board. My peg was 1st, and I weighed around 37lb, which turned out ok, well not last anyways. But it seemed that it had not fished as well as it could and nobody did the 100lb mark, I think 70-odd pond won from one of the club's golden pegs. Top silvers was around 19lb (yesterday done loads of good silvers weights we were told---always the kiss of death).
See the PSV blog when it is done for the results.
So it was an enjoyable day, even if the fish were not playing ball.
I would like to thank Steve and the PSV guys for the day and for being welcoming again.
I would like to think that one day I will catch more than I actually have thus far at Landsend.
Also I wish we could at least have a few weeks without much wind, it doesn't seem to have stopped in months.
Next up for me is The River Kenn, next sunday. A venue I have yet to fish, or indeed take a look at. So I may drive up in the week to see.
Take care and tight lines
Lee
Sunday, 30 June 2013
Saturday, 29 June 2013
Clevedon Club Match - Acorn Top Lake - 29/6/13
Today was the 2nd round of Clevedon's Saturday series, held on Acorn Top lake.
The lake is not one I have seen before, well since the late 90's, but apparently it has been filled and re-dug and extended etc since then. After a quick look at the results of the recent-ish series held on the venue, the top lake looked more even with lots of skimmers and roach present. Carp would be needed to win though.
The weather was warm, but the wind was iffy blowning from the 'new end' towards the entrance end of the lake, so presentation would be tough at times.
The half past twelve draw saw 11 of us picking from the hat. I pulled peg 7, two pegs to the right across the bridge. On my right I had Adie Baker and on my left I had Paul Faiers.
Arriving at the peg I saw that I had bare bank(which was where the bundles of ducks and geese get in and out of the water!!), but getting a bait there would be hard due to the wind, which was blustery and from my left. I was set back a bit compared to Adie and to reach the far bank it was 13m near the grass and 14m to the bare bank bit.
I set up 3 rigs, 1 for shallow banded pellets on a 0.2g NG dibber type float, this rig was tried once, but didn't produce for various reason(mostly the wind). The 2nd rig was a 0.3g NG margin float, banded 6mm would be the bait for this, mostly across to the vegetation and bare bank areas across. This same rig would do for my r/h margin where the depth was the same, but the margin never gave a bite. Both were on 0.18>0.16>size 16 B911. Slack middy 14-16 elastic.
Finally the 3rd rig was for targeting the silvers, a 0.4g Maver model for soft pellet or maggot at topkit plus 2 sections infront and slightly right. This would be fished over a very cloudy groundbait laced with micros and a few 4mm offerings and maggot. The water was shallow all over, around 3ft deep. Line was 0.16>0.12>size 16 B911-f1 hook. Middy 8-10 was my elastic choice, set soft.
At the all in I cupped two loose balls of GB onto the silvers line, some 4mm pellets at 13m by the vegetation and catapulted some 6's towards the bare mud(most went on the grass-fed the ducklings),
I started on the silvers line and was into rudd and roach upto 6oz right away, on double maggot. I stuck at this for an hour or so and kept a few fish coming. I topped up every 4th fish with a toss pot of cloudy groundbait and micros.
Elsewhere Adie had a few silvers as had Paul, but further down to my right I saw a few carp landed and that end looked more and more likely to do better. I needed carp to get near the top 3, which was the payouts for the day. I tried the longer lines, but getting presentation was hard, but I stubbornly stuck at it, too long methinks, but never mind.
The 2nd hour was quiet for me, though Paul to my left had landed a few carp amongst his silvers, Adie was landing plenty of skimmers and I could see Rod Wotton getting a few carp on peg 10, but Mark Broomsgrove on the end peg 11 was struggling as was Nick Harvey on peg 5 and the chap on peg 9.
Into the 3rd and 4th hours I started to up my feed hoping to draw some carp to my shorter line, and I had re-started a new line at 11m out in front, I had dumped 3 pots of 4mm pellets there hoping that any fish that had been drawn to my original feed at 13m + 14m would move back to the new line.
By now Paul was catching a lot as was Adie and Rod, I was unsure on the far end on the lake from me as I couldn't see, but peg 1 looked fishy when I arrived as the wind was pushing into the reeds down there. I thought I was on around 10lb of silvers with 90 mins to go. I guessed Adie was on about 25lb and Paul nearly 35lb, so I was miles behind.
My 1st drop over the new line did provide my single carp, but again I sat over that line too long, but in reality I had no chance of coming anywhere, the carp were not in my area, neither Adie's either as he had not had any.
In the last hour I gave the silvers line another go, upping the feed of 4mm pellets, using maggot or soft 4mm pellets, but all I had was skimmers and roach. Hard banded pellet only gave 1 skimmer and a roach. I did try across when the wind dropped, but it only gave up a skimmer.
At the all out I guessed it had 15lb of fish. But the carp never arrived and this meant that I would be down the weights.
The weigh-in was done and the results were as expected, those I could see doing well had done so, as had Chris Fox on peg 1.
Results:
1st - Chris Fox, peg 1, - 66lb 14oz
2nd - Rod Wotton, peg 10, - 64lb 12oz
3rd - Brian Slipper, peg 3, - 55lb 6oz
4th - Kev Perry, peg 4, - 52lb 4oz
5th - Paul Faiers, peg 8, - 43lb 4oz
6th - Phil Deacon, peg 2, - 34lb 13oz
Top silvers weight was Adie Baker with 30-odd pound of silvers from peg 6, a great weight of mostly skimmers.
So in hindsight, I should have sat and fished for the silvers as I think I could have had 30lb of these.
I found out that Paul had been using meat, although I had some prepared, I never really tried it. Something to remember for next time.
Next up for me I a match tomorrow at Landsend, then the River Kenn next sunday(another 1st time venue).
Take Care
Lee
Note to self....don't wear trousers with holes in the pocket, I found my self a few quid lighter as all my coins must have fell out when wandering around watching the weigh-in.........Wally!!
The lake is not one I have seen before, well since the late 90's, but apparently it has been filled and re-dug and extended etc since then. After a quick look at the results of the recent-ish series held on the venue, the top lake looked more even with lots of skimmers and roach present. Carp would be needed to win though.
The weather was warm, but the wind was iffy blowning from the 'new end' towards the entrance end of the lake, so presentation would be tough at times.
The half past twelve draw saw 11 of us picking from the hat. I pulled peg 7, two pegs to the right across the bridge. On my right I had Adie Baker and on my left I had Paul Faiers.
Arriving at the peg I saw that I had bare bank(which was where the bundles of ducks and geese get in and out of the water!!), but getting a bait there would be hard due to the wind, which was blustery and from my left. I was set back a bit compared to Adie and to reach the far bank it was 13m near the grass and 14m to the bare bank bit.
I set up 3 rigs, 1 for shallow banded pellets on a 0.2g NG dibber type float, this rig was tried once, but didn't produce for various reason(mostly the wind). The 2nd rig was a 0.3g NG margin float, banded 6mm would be the bait for this, mostly across to the vegetation and bare bank areas across. This same rig would do for my r/h margin where the depth was the same, but the margin never gave a bite. Both were on 0.18>0.16>size 16 B911. Slack middy 14-16 elastic.
Finally the 3rd rig was for targeting the silvers, a 0.4g Maver model for soft pellet or maggot at topkit plus 2 sections infront and slightly right. This would be fished over a very cloudy groundbait laced with micros and a few 4mm offerings and maggot. The water was shallow all over, around 3ft deep. Line was 0.16>0.12>size 16 B911-f1 hook. Middy 8-10 was my elastic choice, set soft.
At the all in I cupped two loose balls of GB onto the silvers line, some 4mm pellets at 13m by the vegetation and catapulted some 6's towards the bare mud(most went on the grass-fed the ducklings),
I started on the silvers line and was into rudd and roach upto 6oz right away, on double maggot. I stuck at this for an hour or so and kept a few fish coming. I topped up every 4th fish with a toss pot of cloudy groundbait and micros.
Elsewhere Adie had a few silvers as had Paul, but further down to my right I saw a few carp landed and that end looked more and more likely to do better. I needed carp to get near the top 3, which was the payouts for the day. I tried the longer lines, but getting presentation was hard, but I stubbornly stuck at it, too long methinks, but never mind.
The 2nd hour was quiet for me, though Paul to my left had landed a few carp amongst his silvers, Adie was landing plenty of skimmers and I could see Rod Wotton getting a few carp on peg 10, but Mark Broomsgrove on the end peg 11 was struggling as was Nick Harvey on peg 5 and the chap on peg 9.
Into the 3rd and 4th hours I started to up my feed hoping to draw some carp to my shorter line, and I had re-started a new line at 11m out in front, I had dumped 3 pots of 4mm pellets there hoping that any fish that had been drawn to my original feed at 13m + 14m would move back to the new line.
By now Paul was catching a lot as was Adie and Rod, I was unsure on the far end on the lake from me as I couldn't see, but peg 1 looked fishy when I arrived as the wind was pushing into the reeds down there. I thought I was on around 10lb of silvers with 90 mins to go. I guessed Adie was on about 25lb and Paul nearly 35lb, so I was miles behind.
My 1st drop over the new line did provide my single carp, but again I sat over that line too long, but in reality I had no chance of coming anywhere, the carp were not in my area, neither Adie's either as he had not had any.
In the last hour I gave the silvers line another go, upping the feed of 4mm pellets, using maggot or soft 4mm pellets, but all I had was skimmers and roach. Hard banded pellet only gave 1 skimmer and a roach. I did try across when the wind dropped, but it only gave up a skimmer.
At the all out I guessed it had 15lb of fish. But the carp never arrived and this meant that I would be down the weights.
The weigh-in was done and the results were as expected, those I could see doing well had done so, as had Chris Fox on peg 1.
Results:
1st - Chris Fox, peg 1, - 66lb 14oz
2nd - Rod Wotton, peg 10, - 64lb 12oz
3rd - Brian Slipper, peg 3, - 55lb 6oz
4th - Kev Perry, peg 4, - 52lb 4oz
5th - Paul Faiers, peg 8, - 43lb 4oz
6th - Phil Deacon, peg 2, - 34lb 13oz
Top silvers weight was Adie Baker with 30-odd pound of silvers from peg 6, a great weight of mostly skimmers.
So in hindsight, I should have sat and fished for the silvers as I think I could have had 30lb of these.
I found out that Paul had been using meat, although I had some prepared, I never really tried it. Something to remember for next time.
Next up for me I a match tomorrow at Landsend, then the River Kenn next sunday(another 1st time venue).
Take Care
Lee
Note to self....don't wear trousers with holes in the pocket, I found my self a few quid lighter as all my coins must have fell out when wandering around watching the weigh-in.........Wally!!
Sunday, 23 June 2013
Pawlett Club - The Sedges, Brick and Tile Lakes 23/6/13
Today was Pawlett's match on the popular Sedges Fishery, using both Brick and Tile lake.
It also combined the 'secret pairs', which there is a trophy for the winners.
There was 37 down to fish, leaving 1 odd person, who's partner will be the average of the peg either side of where his non-existant partner would have been pegged.
At the 9am draw the banter and chat flowed and Denise supplied the teas and coffee.
The weather was rather windy, with odd shower predicted throughout the day. The wind was blowing up and across the lakes from pegs 1/2 on Brick or 21/22 on Tile across to 12/11 or 31/32 respectively.
Into the bucket and out comes peg 11 on Brick, a nice draw, somewhere I have not fished, but with the wind blowing that way perhaps the fish will have been up there too. Alas the wind was strong, limiting my pole to top-kit plus 3 sections.
So I made up 3 pole rigs, 1 for the right hand edge, not too close as the reeds were being folded onto the water in the wind. This rig was for 8mm meat over a mix of 6mm pellet and 8mm meat, only fed by cup or toss-pot as the wind limited my hand and catty feeding. This rig was also used for top-kit length out in front, alas it didn't produce here, well except for a 6oz roach.
My 2nd line was at top-kit plus 3 sections directly in front, fishing chopped worm and caster, the same rig would be used for the 10 o'clock line at the same pole length, here would be dampened 4mm pellets, using a banded pellet or a 6mm expander as bait. Targeting skimmers really on both lines, you can catch 30-50lb of skimmers at times on all the lakes at Sedges.
I also set up a shallow rig incase the wind dropped, more in hope, and was never used.
I also set up a bomb/8mm pellet rod and an open end groundbait feeder(using soft pellet) with banded pellet in mind. I had set the 2nd rod with a pellet feeder, but it snagged in the margins, thus me setting up the standard feeder.
The horn sounded the all in, lines were fed and 1 chucked the feeder out towards the central rope. 15 minutes later a skimmer was in the net, soon followed by another, both of these were 4oz fish, not the usual 12oz-2lb fish. During the 1st hour a couple skimmers and a couple of carp had been landed on the opposite bank, including a couple to Tom Mangnall, fishing his 1st Pawlett Club match, he was on peg 6.
Just as we headed into hour 2 I had a wrap around on the feeder and I gingerly played a bream of around 4lb to the net. And that was all the action on the feeder or lead rods for the day.
I re-fed the pole lines before dropping in over the chopped worm line, double caster bought an immediate response, a 4oz skimmer netted. This was a false dawn as bites were limited.
Meanwhile the guys across the way were catching odd carp and it seemed like plenty of skimmers spread along all 9 of the anglers.
A look on the banded pellet line bought another skimmer of 10oz, again a false dawn. So I went onto the line to my right, a bit of 8mm meat bought an instant response and a skimmer was netted, this was soon followed by a carp around 6lb. Bites coming as the wind dropped.
The next couple of hours bought me another couple skimmers, but more helpfully 7 carp, 2 of which went 26lb 15oz combined, they fought like demons, but bites came in 2's, then I had to re-feed a decent helping of pellet/meat.
I was looking ok for a place on the lake as all I could see was Tom on p6 catching a few lumps, indeed he went to get a 3rd keepnet. Peg 10 had landed a few, but I think they were silvers and Nick on peg 7 had landed a couple too. My bank was difficult, but then I couldn't see anyone. I thought I had maybe 50lb of carp and 10lb of silvers.
I wasn't sure how Tile was doing, but I thought to myself that they'd probably done better than Brick lake.
Anyway the wind put paid to an interesting match, though I did lose a rig to a fish, the loop came off the connector, also I managed to find a few snags leading to broke hooklengths.
The all out sounded and I figured, from what I had seen, caught less than Tom and maybe the 2 Chris' on pegs 3 and 4. But I was hopeful my 2 larger carp were going to help.
So I packed up while the scales weighed the far bank of Tile, eventually I caught up with the scales and the weigh sheet showed a few 60lb weights. A fair few 40's and odd 50lb nets too.
Along the pegs 31-40 we saw Jamie (venue owner) weigh in 115lb-ish from peg 37, but other than that we saw a 73lb weight from peg 40, Phil Clapp being the angler in that case.
Onto Brick lake, pegs 1-10, these saw pegs 3 and 4 weigh in 46lb and 44lb respectively, however peg 3 was mostly carp and peg 4 was more 50/50 split of carp and silvers. Tom Mangnall weighed 105lb, then weights dropped off.
My turn to weigh, my silvers went 13lb 12oz, plus my carp tally meant I totalled 71lb 15oz. Other than 2 weights of 20lb there was not much to shout about. The lake had been tricky, especially on my bank which the wind was no doubt the factor with presentation hard to come by. The silvers weights on the calmer bank were by far better.
As it turned out my weight was enough for 4th on the day, but only a section place as the payout was top 3 overall, 2 silvers spots and 3 sections.
I don't have the full results but the top spots were:
1st, Jamie Cook - Tile p37 - 115lb + oz's
2nd, Tom Mangnall - Brick p6 - 105lb + oz's, includes best silvers weight of 25lb 4oz.
3rd, Phil Clapp - Tile p40 - 73lb + oz's
4th, Lee Williams - Brick p11, 71lb + oz's
Silvers winner was Chris Pike, with the 2nd best silvers weight of 24lb 5oz
I didn't get all the section winners, and the Pairs title went to Tom and Phil.
Overall the venue fished fair, if not patchy, but all enjoyed their time on the bank today.
Next up for me is Saturday on Acorn's little lake and Landsend on Sunday.
Take Care
Lee
It also combined the 'secret pairs', which there is a trophy for the winners.
There was 37 down to fish, leaving 1 odd person, who's partner will be the average of the peg either side of where his non-existant partner would have been pegged.
At the 9am draw the banter and chat flowed and Denise supplied the teas and coffee.
The weather was rather windy, with odd shower predicted throughout the day. The wind was blowing up and across the lakes from pegs 1/2 on Brick or 21/22 on Tile across to 12/11 or 31/32 respectively.
Into the bucket and out comes peg 11 on Brick, a nice draw, somewhere I have not fished, but with the wind blowing that way perhaps the fish will have been up there too. Alas the wind was strong, limiting my pole to top-kit plus 3 sections.
So I made up 3 pole rigs, 1 for the right hand edge, not too close as the reeds were being folded onto the water in the wind. This rig was for 8mm meat over a mix of 6mm pellet and 8mm meat, only fed by cup or toss-pot as the wind limited my hand and catty feeding. This rig was also used for top-kit length out in front, alas it didn't produce here, well except for a 6oz roach.
My 2nd line was at top-kit plus 3 sections directly in front, fishing chopped worm and caster, the same rig would be used for the 10 o'clock line at the same pole length, here would be dampened 4mm pellets, using a banded pellet or a 6mm expander as bait. Targeting skimmers really on both lines, you can catch 30-50lb of skimmers at times on all the lakes at Sedges.
I also set up a shallow rig incase the wind dropped, more in hope, and was never used.
I also set up a bomb/8mm pellet rod and an open end groundbait feeder(using soft pellet) with banded pellet in mind. I had set the 2nd rod with a pellet feeder, but it snagged in the margins, thus me setting up the standard feeder.
The horn sounded the all in, lines were fed and 1 chucked the feeder out towards the central rope. 15 minutes later a skimmer was in the net, soon followed by another, both of these were 4oz fish, not the usual 12oz-2lb fish. During the 1st hour a couple skimmers and a couple of carp had been landed on the opposite bank, including a couple to Tom Mangnall, fishing his 1st Pawlett Club match, he was on peg 6.
Just as we headed into hour 2 I had a wrap around on the feeder and I gingerly played a bream of around 4lb to the net. And that was all the action on the feeder or lead rods for the day.
I re-fed the pole lines before dropping in over the chopped worm line, double caster bought an immediate response, a 4oz skimmer netted. This was a false dawn as bites were limited.
Meanwhile the guys across the way were catching odd carp and it seemed like plenty of skimmers spread along all 9 of the anglers.
A look on the banded pellet line bought another skimmer of 10oz, again a false dawn. So I went onto the line to my right, a bit of 8mm meat bought an instant response and a skimmer was netted, this was soon followed by a carp around 6lb. Bites coming as the wind dropped.
The next couple of hours bought me another couple skimmers, but more helpfully 7 carp, 2 of which went 26lb 15oz combined, they fought like demons, but bites came in 2's, then I had to re-feed a decent helping of pellet/meat.
I was looking ok for a place on the lake as all I could see was Tom on p6 catching a few lumps, indeed he went to get a 3rd keepnet. Peg 10 had landed a few, but I think they were silvers and Nick on peg 7 had landed a couple too. My bank was difficult, but then I couldn't see anyone. I thought I had maybe 50lb of carp and 10lb of silvers.
I wasn't sure how Tile was doing, but I thought to myself that they'd probably done better than Brick lake.
Anyway the wind put paid to an interesting match, though I did lose a rig to a fish, the loop came off the connector, also I managed to find a few snags leading to broke hooklengths.
The all out sounded and I figured, from what I had seen, caught less than Tom and maybe the 2 Chris' on pegs 3 and 4. But I was hopeful my 2 larger carp were going to help.
So I packed up while the scales weighed the far bank of Tile, eventually I caught up with the scales and the weigh sheet showed a few 60lb weights. A fair few 40's and odd 50lb nets too.
Along the pegs 31-40 we saw Jamie (venue owner) weigh in 115lb-ish from peg 37, but other than that we saw a 73lb weight from peg 40, Phil Clapp being the angler in that case.
Onto Brick lake, pegs 1-10, these saw pegs 3 and 4 weigh in 46lb and 44lb respectively, however peg 3 was mostly carp and peg 4 was more 50/50 split of carp and silvers. Tom Mangnall weighed 105lb, then weights dropped off.
My turn to weigh, my silvers went 13lb 12oz, plus my carp tally meant I totalled 71lb 15oz. Other than 2 weights of 20lb there was not much to shout about. The lake had been tricky, especially on my bank which the wind was no doubt the factor with presentation hard to come by. The silvers weights on the calmer bank were by far better.
As it turned out my weight was enough for 4th on the day, but only a section place as the payout was top 3 overall, 2 silvers spots and 3 sections.
I don't have the full results but the top spots were:
1st, Jamie Cook - Tile p37 - 115lb + oz's
2nd, Tom Mangnall - Brick p6 - 105lb + oz's, includes best silvers weight of 25lb 4oz.
3rd, Phil Clapp - Tile p40 - 73lb + oz's
4th, Lee Williams - Brick p11, 71lb + oz's
Silvers winner was Chris Pike, with the 2nd best silvers weight of 24lb 5oz
I didn't get all the section winners, and the Pairs title went to Tom and Phil.
Overall the venue fished fair, if not patchy, but all enjoyed their time on the bank today.
Next up for me is Saturday on Acorn's little lake and Landsend on Sunday.
Take Care
Lee
Sunday, 16 June 2013
MFS Matches Viaduct 14th & 15th June -- 15th June.
Saturday saw me arrive at the draw a bit later, around 9:45 as the weather was predicted to be wetter and windier, plus I had decided at 8:30am to walk up to the end of the road and buy some Middy 18-20 elastic, which was put through 2 top kits in preparation for Cary's munters.
So I left home at 9:20-ish.
Anyways it would be Cary for me, and after the fee for the day was paid, my hand went into the bag and out popped 77. Not ideal, out of the wind for the best part and unlikely to produce much, given the fact the lodge bank pegs did the damage on the previous day and they had some wind too. There were plenty of fish in the area though, but looked more like cruisers than feeding fish.
Tactics for me would be in most, to try and get the skimmer's heads down and get 30lb+ of these and hope for a bonus carp or 2 early and late on as I knew that the weights would be further up the lake.
Rigs were the same pellet wag and lead set ups as Friday, the same margin and 6m meat rigs, but more importantly a couple skimmers rigs on a slack 14 elastic and lighter 0.14 hooklength to a size 16 B911 hook under 0.4g NG Decker floats.
Baits for the silvers would be a 6mm meat line and a groundbait line for use with 6mm soft pellet.
On the all in I fired a dozen pellets over the wag/lead line and cupped 4 loose balls of groundbait (sensas white cloud stuff) over 1 skimmer line at 7m at 1 o'clock position. A helping of 6mm meat went a bit further out, but this was not used as the wind got tricky on and off and didn't want to play hit and miss with the silvers.
Herbie on peg 74 had hooked a carp, and lost it 1st put.
The 1st hour saw the chap next to me on 78 land a fish or 2, but I couldn't see what as the trees and angle were against me. On the opposite bank 1 or 2 chaps had landed or lost fish in the 1st hour too.
Mark Poppleton was struggling on his peg 105, as was the angler next to him.
There were still a few fish cruising and they were swirling after my pellets, but taking them right of the top, which was a pain, when I fed a bit heavier they moved off.......
After about 80 minutes a proper rain shower came and my waggler rod was bent round, a 6lb fish was duly netted. At least it was a start. I kept topping up my other lines as the wind was not yet up to much, but there were no amount of bubbles. So I tried the lead/wag for half an hour more with only 1 more smaller carp to show on the lead.
Entering hour 3 (I stayed fishing for carp too long) I tried the silvers lines, 20 minutes in and only 1 little skimmer was all I had, they were not even wanting to play ball.
The lodge bank pegs were now producing fish, but peg 74 and 105 were slow, 107 a little better, but the and Campbell behind looked to be fishing well as each time I looked several lengths of elastic were on show.
The last 3 hours dragged, I couldn't buy a bite on my silvers lines let alone the carp set-ups, and most on Cary were disappointed on the slowness of the fishing, very fits and starts. I did manage a couple more fish on the pellet wag after a blank 2hrs. With an hour left I tried my 6m meat line (using my now scary blue 18-20 elastic!!). 1st drop, bam, skimmer bumped, then a couple landed. Then it died. I re-fed and tried the margin towards peg 75 and bumped another skimmer on the heavy gear, but I did land a couple more on my next 2 drops.
Back over the meat for carp line and a sail-away bite saw me connected to a carp, it tore off towards the aerator, so tip pushed under the surface and hope, well it worked and the fish turned and came back to me, a few seconds later it was netted, a mirror of maybe 12lb, my largest of the weekend, but not as big as a couple Mark and Ken had landed on the opposite bank, a couple of their fish looked real lumps.
So into the last half hour, well nothing happened except being bitted out on meat, no bites on hard 8mm pellets, I really needed 6 or 7 lumps to get anywhere on the lake as the lodge bank were doing decent and most looked good for 80lb each. Peg 74 had packed up with 90 minutes left and Mark on 105 had drawn a few carp/skimmers onto his feed and had a run of fish, as had Ken from his peg.
I even tried 15mm meat with no joy. The all out sounded and I was relieved to pack up. It had been hard work.
I reckoned I had maybe 30lb for my 5 carp and possibly 8lb of silvers.
Campbell had fished well by all accounts and Cary had fished better than Friday.
I loaded the car, had a chat to a couple guys and watched a few nets get weighed in. At this point there were some decent weights, plenty of 100lb+ weights on Campbell and a few decent weights on Cary.
The scales arrived at my peg, both silvers and carp went 47lb odd. Well off the pace and ended up 22nd of 25 overall. Poor.
I packed up and left right away as I was shattered, but it turned out Campbell fished excellent with 4 weights over 200lb and another three over 175lb.
What I did learn was not to stay on the carp tactics too much without a response and that the skimmers like to fall off when they stray onto heavy rigs. Still all the info I gained will help me next time out.
Results:
Overall (all on Campbell)
1st - Adam Mitchell - p110 - 249lb 15oz (the fish weren't there in that number on Friday!!)
2nd - Dave Brittain - p123 - 211lb 10oz
3rd - Richard Wyatt - p132 - 207lb 12oz
4th - Alex Murray - p115 - 200lb 13oz
Silvers (all on Campbell)
1st - Alex Murray - p115 - 69lb 8oz
2nd - Roland Lucas - p125 - 58lb 4oz
3rd - Steve Musitano - p126 - 37lb 2oz
Overall a successful weekend overall was had, despite my results, I learned a fair bit. Everyone seemed helpful and I am looking forward to the next MFS match in july, in which I should be better prepared.
So what a quality fishery. Producing some very decent weights and not one tactic dominating. Which is how is should be.
Next up for me is a match at Sedges next Sunday.
Until then take care and happy fathers day, I spent the late afternoon watching Somerset win in a reduced overs match in Taunton. Also plenty of anglers fishing the Tone too.......good good. Proper fishing.
Lee
So I left home at 9:20-ish.
Anyways it would be Cary for me, and after the fee for the day was paid, my hand went into the bag and out popped 77. Not ideal, out of the wind for the best part and unlikely to produce much, given the fact the lodge bank pegs did the damage on the previous day and they had some wind too. There were plenty of fish in the area though, but looked more like cruisers than feeding fish.
Tactics for me would be in most, to try and get the skimmer's heads down and get 30lb+ of these and hope for a bonus carp or 2 early and late on as I knew that the weights would be further up the lake.
Rigs were the same pellet wag and lead set ups as Friday, the same margin and 6m meat rigs, but more importantly a couple skimmers rigs on a slack 14 elastic and lighter 0.14 hooklength to a size 16 B911 hook under 0.4g NG Decker floats.
Baits for the silvers would be a 6mm meat line and a groundbait line for use with 6mm soft pellet.
On the all in I fired a dozen pellets over the wag/lead line and cupped 4 loose balls of groundbait (sensas white cloud stuff) over 1 skimmer line at 7m at 1 o'clock position. A helping of 6mm meat went a bit further out, but this was not used as the wind got tricky on and off and didn't want to play hit and miss with the silvers.
Herbie on peg 74 had hooked a carp, and lost it 1st put.
The 1st hour saw the chap next to me on 78 land a fish or 2, but I couldn't see what as the trees and angle were against me. On the opposite bank 1 or 2 chaps had landed or lost fish in the 1st hour too.
Mark Poppleton was struggling on his peg 105, as was the angler next to him.
There were still a few fish cruising and they were swirling after my pellets, but taking them right of the top, which was a pain, when I fed a bit heavier they moved off.......
After about 80 minutes a proper rain shower came and my waggler rod was bent round, a 6lb fish was duly netted. At least it was a start. I kept topping up my other lines as the wind was not yet up to much, but there were no amount of bubbles. So I tried the lead/wag for half an hour more with only 1 more smaller carp to show on the lead.
Entering hour 3 (I stayed fishing for carp too long) I tried the silvers lines, 20 minutes in and only 1 little skimmer was all I had, they were not even wanting to play ball.
The lodge bank pegs were now producing fish, but peg 74 and 105 were slow, 107 a little better, but the and Campbell behind looked to be fishing well as each time I looked several lengths of elastic were on show.
The last 3 hours dragged, I couldn't buy a bite on my silvers lines let alone the carp set-ups, and most on Cary were disappointed on the slowness of the fishing, very fits and starts. I did manage a couple more fish on the pellet wag after a blank 2hrs. With an hour left I tried my 6m meat line (using my now scary blue 18-20 elastic!!). 1st drop, bam, skimmer bumped, then a couple landed. Then it died. I re-fed and tried the margin towards peg 75 and bumped another skimmer on the heavy gear, but I did land a couple more on my next 2 drops.
Back over the meat for carp line and a sail-away bite saw me connected to a carp, it tore off towards the aerator, so tip pushed under the surface and hope, well it worked and the fish turned and came back to me, a few seconds later it was netted, a mirror of maybe 12lb, my largest of the weekend, but not as big as a couple Mark and Ken had landed on the opposite bank, a couple of their fish looked real lumps.
So into the last half hour, well nothing happened except being bitted out on meat, no bites on hard 8mm pellets, I really needed 6 or 7 lumps to get anywhere on the lake as the lodge bank were doing decent and most looked good for 80lb each. Peg 74 had packed up with 90 minutes left and Mark on 105 had drawn a few carp/skimmers onto his feed and had a run of fish, as had Ken from his peg.
I even tried 15mm meat with no joy. The all out sounded and I was relieved to pack up. It had been hard work.
I reckoned I had maybe 30lb for my 5 carp and possibly 8lb of silvers.
Campbell had fished well by all accounts and Cary had fished better than Friday.
I loaded the car, had a chat to a couple guys and watched a few nets get weighed in. At this point there were some decent weights, plenty of 100lb+ weights on Campbell and a few decent weights on Cary.
The scales arrived at my peg, both silvers and carp went 47lb odd. Well off the pace and ended up 22nd of 25 overall. Poor.
I packed up and left right away as I was shattered, but it turned out Campbell fished excellent with 4 weights over 200lb and another three over 175lb.
What I did learn was not to stay on the carp tactics too much without a response and that the skimmers like to fall off when they stray onto heavy rigs. Still all the info I gained will help me next time out.
Results:
Overall (all on Campbell)
1st - Adam Mitchell - p110 - 249lb 15oz (the fish weren't there in that number on Friday!!)
2nd - Dave Brittain - p123 - 211lb 10oz
3rd - Richard Wyatt - p132 - 207lb 12oz
4th - Alex Murray - p115 - 200lb 13oz
Silvers (all on Campbell)
1st - Alex Murray - p115 - 69lb 8oz
2nd - Roland Lucas - p125 - 58lb 4oz
3rd - Steve Musitano - p126 - 37lb 2oz
Overall a successful weekend overall was had, despite my results, I learned a fair bit. Everyone seemed helpful and I am looking forward to the next MFS match in july, in which I should be better prepared.
So what a quality fishery. Producing some very decent weights and not one tactic dominating. Which is how is should be.
Next up for me is a match at Sedges next Sunday.
Until then take care and happy fathers day, I spent the late afternoon watching Somerset win in a reduced overs match in Taunton. Also plenty of anglers fishing the Tone too.......good good. Proper fishing.
Lee
MFS Matches Viaduct 14th & 15th June -- 14th June.
This week saw me head to the Viaduct fisheries for a Match Fishing Scene (MFS) organised gathering.
They were held over Cary and Campbell lakes, and having only match fished both only once each, I wasn't too optimistic regarding how I would do. Especially as there were a fair few venue regulars fishing. It is an awesome fishery, and somewhere I should go more often.
The draw on the Friday would dictate your Saturday lake ie Campbell Friday = Cary Saturday.
Payouts were 1st, 2nd, 3rd in overall and silvers pools along with 4 sections paying top 2. No defaults either.
Well I made the 20 minute trip over to Somerton on Friday, getting there at around 9am, the draw would be 10am, fish 11:30 - 17:30 each day. I arrived to the venue with around half the guys already present, a few had stayed in local hotels/b&b's etc as they had travelled from various places.
I didn't know anyone there, but recognised Ken Rayner from his blogs and Alex Murray from a few years back when I was younger!!
I had a quick scout around and decided that the far end of the lakes, or at least halfway would be good, but Campbell would be preferred on Friday as Saturdays weather looked windier and wetter. I had read about Campbell and knew it'd be 8mm meat and pellet, but loads of silvers are in the lake. The fish also pull a bit, even averaging 4lb they fight hard.........which I later found out to be true enough. There are also a decent amount of snags in the edges, branches, brambles, stumps and old pallet footings etc.
Cary, well that is generally bigger fish, the carp average maybe 8-10lb, lots of doubles and odd scraper 20. They go like trains too I was told. Lots of silvers too.
Back at the draw I paid my dues, pulled out 110 on Campbell, it never weighed in on Thursday's costcutter, they may have blanked too. Also I had read about the brambles to the left at 14.5m being fish hold and tackle busting.......I didn't want to go there, so didn't. Also there is a tree stump at 6m to my left and the fish run behind it when hooked. Also I had peg 132 opposite, the peg won Thursday with 250lb on wag to the empty pallet peg 133.
Tackle and bait for the day was 6mm pellet, 8mm pellet and 2 tins of 8mm meat. 1 pellet wag for just shy of half way, a lead rod for the same line and for lobbing towards empty peg 134 on the end bank.
A shallow pellet rig for 13m(0.2g preston brand), a meat rig for 6m in front(NG Margin 0.3g) and a margin rig for my left and right margin swims (NG Margin 0.2g).
All pole rigs were 0.22>0.20>size 14 B911x. Running lines were 6lb mainline to 0.20>14 B911x.
I purposely did not get 14.5m or 16m sections out of the pole, just to stop me trying the brambles (I have bought a few sections recently....cant afford more!!).
Anyways on the all in I fired pellets out to the wag line, there were one or 2 fish swirling in the calm waters, but they didn't look into feeding much. Potted some meat in the edge, the same at 6m and just a small amount at 13m.
It took 20 minutes for me to get a fish in the net, during that 20 minutes I had to re-tackle the wag as the float adaptor broke on me. Anyways the 4lb mirror on the wag was welcome, alas the chap on peg 132 was on number 4 or 5, he was fishing pellet wag towards the end bank.
To cut a long story short, I though I did ok at a push, the chap on 132 kept fish coming, peg 130 watch patchy and Ken on 128 was catching consistently, the guy on 112 was catching odd fish but I was just ahead I thought. These are the only anglers I could see.
I did lose 3 or 4 fish, 1 trashed a shallow rig when it decided to visit the aerator 30yrds away at 1000mph, 1 went around the tree stump as soon as it was hooked and 1 snapped a hooklength on the pellet wag. Some people lost upwards of 15 fish, no doubt most were foulers, but either way they hang on. So my losses were ok.
During the day I kept rotating the swims as I was struggling to keep them coming consistently, I never had a fish on my r/h margin swim. But meat at 6m was the best bait on the pole, but I had fish on the lead and wag on pellet along with a few shallow at 13m. Not one method stood out, maybe I should have tried 1 or 2 lines, but having read that they could come to any method I had to see what worked best.
Anyways after 6 hours I had 1 net around the 70lb max level and a couple fish in another net. Along with a handful of mad tench, they fight like mad too. I thought I maybe had 80lb of carp and 5lb of silvers. I guessed p132 had 150lb+ as he had caught all day, Ken had a load, p130 caught a lot late including some better stamp of fish. P112 had possibly less than me.
As I was 1st to weigh, I cleared behind me a bit before Steve came along. My 1st net went 4lb 12oz over the limit, so 70lb, my 2nd and silvers nets went 32lb 5oz. Total 102lb 5oz.
Campbell 'only' produced 7 weights over 100lb, good fishing but not the usually high Campbell weights
My weight was ok but was not getting me money (10th of 25 overall), but I learned a bit.......especially a need for heavier laccy than my 14-16 I had in my top kits.
It turned out Cary was not so great and only three 100lb+ weights caught with a lot of weights lower than expected.
Results 14th June
Overall
1st - Fred Roberts - p126 Campbell - 164lb 2oz
2nd - Steve Hutter - p120 Campbell - 160lb 6oz
3rd - Gary Mitchell - p102 Cary - 148lb 1oz
Silvers
1st was Fred again with 44lb 9oz
2nd was Mike Walker with 43lb 7oz from p125 on Campbell
3rd was Alex Murray with 36lb 5oz off Cary peg 86.
They were held over Cary and Campbell lakes, and having only match fished both only once each, I wasn't too optimistic regarding how I would do. Especially as there were a fair few venue regulars fishing. It is an awesome fishery, and somewhere I should go more often.
The draw on the Friday would dictate your Saturday lake ie Campbell Friday = Cary Saturday.
Payouts were 1st, 2nd, 3rd in overall and silvers pools along with 4 sections paying top 2. No defaults either.
Well I made the 20 minute trip over to Somerton on Friday, getting there at around 9am, the draw would be 10am, fish 11:30 - 17:30 each day. I arrived to the venue with around half the guys already present, a few had stayed in local hotels/b&b's etc as they had travelled from various places.
I didn't know anyone there, but recognised Ken Rayner from his blogs and Alex Murray from a few years back when I was younger!!
I had a quick scout around and decided that the far end of the lakes, or at least halfway would be good, but Campbell would be preferred on Friday as Saturdays weather looked windier and wetter. I had read about Campbell and knew it'd be 8mm meat and pellet, but loads of silvers are in the lake. The fish also pull a bit, even averaging 4lb they fight hard.........which I later found out to be true enough. There are also a decent amount of snags in the edges, branches, brambles, stumps and old pallet footings etc.
Cary, well that is generally bigger fish, the carp average maybe 8-10lb, lots of doubles and odd scraper 20. They go like trains too I was told. Lots of silvers too.
Back at the draw I paid my dues, pulled out 110 on Campbell, it never weighed in on Thursday's costcutter, they may have blanked too. Also I had read about the brambles to the left at 14.5m being fish hold and tackle busting.......I didn't want to go there, so didn't. Also there is a tree stump at 6m to my left and the fish run behind it when hooked. Also I had peg 132 opposite, the peg won Thursday with 250lb on wag to the empty pallet peg 133.
Tackle and bait for the day was 6mm pellet, 8mm pellet and 2 tins of 8mm meat. 1 pellet wag for just shy of half way, a lead rod for the same line and for lobbing towards empty peg 134 on the end bank.
A shallow pellet rig for 13m(0.2g preston brand), a meat rig for 6m in front(NG Margin 0.3g) and a margin rig for my left and right margin swims (NG Margin 0.2g).
All pole rigs were 0.22>0.20>size 14 B911x. Running lines were 6lb mainline to 0.20>14 B911x.
I purposely did not get 14.5m or 16m sections out of the pole, just to stop me trying the brambles (I have bought a few sections recently....cant afford more!!).
Anyways on the all in I fired pellets out to the wag line, there were one or 2 fish swirling in the calm waters, but they didn't look into feeding much. Potted some meat in the edge, the same at 6m and just a small amount at 13m.
It took 20 minutes for me to get a fish in the net, during that 20 minutes I had to re-tackle the wag as the float adaptor broke on me. Anyways the 4lb mirror on the wag was welcome, alas the chap on peg 132 was on number 4 or 5, he was fishing pellet wag towards the end bank.
To cut a long story short, I though I did ok at a push, the chap on 132 kept fish coming, peg 130 watch patchy and Ken on 128 was catching consistently, the guy on 112 was catching odd fish but I was just ahead I thought. These are the only anglers I could see.
I did lose 3 or 4 fish, 1 trashed a shallow rig when it decided to visit the aerator 30yrds away at 1000mph, 1 went around the tree stump as soon as it was hooked and 1 snapped a hooklength on the pellet wag. Some people lost upwards of 15 fish, no doubt most were foulers, but either way they hang on. So my losses were ok.
During the day I kept rotating the swims as I was struggling to keep them coming consistently, I never had a fish on my r/h margin swim. But meat at 6m was the best bait on the pole, but I had fish on the lead and wag on pellet along with a few shallow at 13m. Not one method stood out, maybe I should have tried 1 or 2 lines, but having read that they could come to any method I had to see what worked best.
Anyways after 6 hours I had 1 net around the 70lb max level and a couple fish in another net. Along with a handful of mad tench, they fight like mad too. I thought I maybe had 80lb of carp and 5lb of silvers. I guessed p132 had 150lb+ as he had caught all day, Ken had a load, p130 caught a lot late including some better stamp of fish. P112 had possibly less than me.
As I was 1st to weigh, I cleared behind me a bit before Steve came along. My 1st net went 4lb 12oz over the limit, so 70lb, my 2nd and silvers nets went 32lb 5oz. Total 102lb 5oz.
Campbell 'only' produced 7 weights over 100lb, good fishing but not the usually high Campbell weights
My weight was ok but was not getting me money (10th of 25 overall), but I learned a bit.......especially a need for heavier laccy than my 14-16 I had in my top kits.
It turned out Cary was not so great and only three 100lb+ weights caught with a lot of weights lower than expected.
Results 14th June
Overall
1st - Fred Roberts - p126 Campbell - 164lb 2oz
2nd - Steve Hutter - p120 Campbell - 160lb 6oz
3rd - Gary Mitchell - p102 Cary - 148lb 1oz
Silvers
1st was Fred again with 44lb 9oz
2nd was Mike Walker with 43lb 7oz from p125 on Campbell
3rd was Alex Murray with 36lb 5oz off Cary peg 86.
Sunday, 9 June 2013
Clevedon Club Match - Shiplate Main Lake, 9/6/13
Today I had a choice of Clevedon's match on Shiplate main lake or Pawlett's one on the little lake at Trinity, I chose the former as I never realised that the other match existed until it was too late, lol.
I arrived at the car-park 15 mins before the draw, we would draw at 9, fish 10:30 - 16:30. I paid my fee and unloaded the kit onto my trolley. The weather was due to be warm and sunny with a north/north-easterly wind blowing for the day. We had 18 on the list to fish and expectations were high as the fish had spawned and they were all over the lake, swirling, jumping, blowing etc.
After a quick walk around half of the lake (I still have not been any further around than peg 9!), it was time fro the draw. Pay-outs were 1st, 2nd and 3rd with a couple silvers pots. I picked the 2nd to last ticket in the hat, revealing a peg I really was not wanting, Peg 5a, a new peg it seems, but with 5 and 6 in the match it would be kind of close knit. I had Kev Perry on my right in 5 and Les? who had a decent island chuck from peg 6, loads and loads of carp were around the island, but still a few in open water as well.
I actually had some rigs made up, which is kind of unheard of for me, but being home alone on Friday night and yesterday saw me knock up 8 or so new rigs.
So for today I had a 0.4 Nick Gilbert XT Decker for 13/14.5m, this would be my bream/silvers rigs and consisted on 0.12 hooklength to a B611-f1 pattern. I had prepared some groundbait and decided to pot in 8 balls along with some caster and micros. But I only had 1 drop with this, resulting in a 4oz skimmer. My only silverfish of the match.
I also had, but didn't use an NG Margin float for my left hand edge swim, 0.18>14 B911 for corn and meat. I fed this throughout the match but no signs indicated for me to try, although I did have a couple looks without a response.
My final pole rigs was a long lined dibber type float (0.2g) for banded 8mm pellet, to be fished over the silvers line, as there were loads of carp in the upper layers. Line was 0.20>0.18>14 B911. This would be used in the 2nd half of the match (in theory).
I also rigged up a pellet waggler for 30-35yrds or so and a small method feeder for the same line and searching, both rigs had 0.20 hooklengths and 14 B911's. Cast was lined up with left hand tall tree opposite.
I arrived at the car-park 15 mins before the draw, we would draw at 9, fish 10:30 - 16:30. I paid my fee and unloaded the kit onto my trolley. The weather was due to be warm and sunny with a north/north-easterly wind blowing for the day. We had 18 on the list to fish and expectations were high as the fish had spawned and they were all over the lake, swirling, jumping, blowing etc.
After a quick walk around half of the lake (I still have not been any further around than peg 9!), it was time fro the draw. Pay-outs were 1st, 2nd and 3rd with a couple silvers pots. I picked the 2nd to last ticket in the hat, revealing a peg I really was not wanting, Peg 5a, a new peg it seems, but with 5 and 6 in the match it would be kind of close knit. I had Kev Perry on my right in 5 and Les? who had a decent island chuck from peg 6, loads and loads of carp were around the island, but still a few in open water as well.
I actually had some rigs made up, which is kind of unheard of for me, but being home alone on Friday night and yesterday saw me knock up 8 or so new rigs.
So for today I had a 0.4 Nick Gilbert XT Decker for 13/14.5m, this would be my bream/silvers rigs and consisted on 0.12 hooklength to a B611-f1 pattern. I had prepared some groundbait and decided to pot in 8 balls along with some caster and micros. But I only had 1 drop with this, resulting in a 4oz skimmer. My only silverfish of the match.
I also had, but didn't use an NG Margin float for my left hand edge swim, 0.18>14 B911 for corn and meat. I fed this throughout the match but no signs indicated for me to try, although I did have a couple looks without a response.
My final pole rigs was a long lined dibber type float (0.2g) for banded 8mm pellet, to be fished over the silvers line, as there were loads of carp in the upper layers. Line was 0.20>0.18>14 B911. This would be used in the 2nd half of the match (in theory).
I also rigged up a pellet waggler for 30-35yrds or so and a small method feeder for the same line and searching, both rigs had 0.20 hooklengths and 14 B911's. Cast was lined up with left hand tall tree opposite.
View from Peg 5a
The whistle went and everyone started cupping bait, and within 10 seconds the chap in peg 6 had attached himself to a carp, this he landed, looked around 10lb, he was fishing the method to the island.
After I had put baits where I wanted, I began to fire 8mm pellets out to my wag line, casting my loaded Middy float in the area of the pellets, I stuck at this for nearly 2 hours, occasionally dropping the method over the line, but bites were not forthcoming, as it seemed for everyone else, it was dire really.
Still I had a look over my groundbait line with soft pellet and didn't get a knock, though I did have my solitary skimmer. So this wasn't used again. I think it was too bright for the proper bream and no doubt all the silvers were well spread with spawn.
2 1/2hrs in and I was connected to my 1st carp, on the pellet waggler, and a 5lber was netting after a little bit of a scrap.
In the meantime, not much was occurring, the swim 1-5 were not doing anything, with some not even getting a bite, peg 6 was struggling and Brian Slipper next to him was finding the odd carp, either properly or not, he was also doing well on landing ducks too, I think he had 4 or 5 during the day. The bloomin birds didn't learn.
By 2pm everyone was moaning how hard it was, and reality was that 2 or 3 quick carp could be a result as other than Andy Hembrow on the far bank (who was catching ok-ish), nobody had more than a couple carp in the nets and silvers were pretty absent for everyone.
I did hook and land a 2nd carp, banded pellet on the method bought me a 6lb fish, and I did lose a couple, possibly foul hookers.
At the 3 o'clock stage I did hook a proper lump of a fish on the wag, it bow waved on the take and looked like a defo upper double at least, but alas it came off after 10 mins and a hard fight. I did leave me a nice scale though!!
A look on the long pole/shallow rig, after seeing the odd swirl at the loose feed, saw me connect and land a 6lb fish, a massive tangle on the pellet wag saw me waste 10 mins re-rigging, but other than a lost foul hooked carp, it didn't bring me any more fish. The wind was iffy all day and consistent presentation was hard, as was feeding accurately.
So a busy half hour had passed, Brian on Peg 6a was on 5 carp now and Nick Harvey had landed a few fish, but he had lost a load during the match so far. A few guys had packed up and left, including a couple venue regulars, it must have been hard!!
With less than an hour to go my clicker showed 17lb, but I am pants with the counter, as my Thursday evening match on Sedges saw me click to 18lb, when it weighed 25lb!! I am crap at guessing carp weights.
Anyways, I went back on the shallow pole line as there was some fizzing and odd fish swirling at the freebies. A few minutes later I was connected to another carp, and after a spirited fight, a 5lb fish was landed.
Anyways, I went back on the shallow pole line as there was some fizzing and odd fish swirling at the freebies. A few minutes later I was connected to another carp, and after a spirited fight, a 5lb fish was landed.
The all out soon sounded and it was hard to decide if I had done ok or not. I had clicked 22lb on the carp and 1 pound on the silvers(but knew only it would only be 4oz).
All in all I had landed 4 carp, lost a lump and also lost 3 others, but all the lost fish, I believe were foul hooked. I had fed 4 pints of 8mm pellets and 3 of 6's to at least keep some activity in my swim.
I loaded the gear on to the barrow, had a quick ask around about what had been caught, and my 4 carp might do ok. With the weigh in taking a while due to the Shiplate summer series on the other 2 lakes, I loaded the car while waiting.
By the time the scales got to me, Andy had weighed 54lb, there were a couple low 20 pound weights and Brian's 5 carp and few silvers weighed 35lb, so with only me and Kev Perry to weight I knew I could either just miss or just make 3rd spot as Kev was weighing for silvers.
So onto the scales went my 4oz skimmer, followed by 4 carp, totalling 23lb 12oz, taking 3rd spot......just!
Make shift weigh sheet...on 9 weighed in!!
So all in all it was a tough day, as you can see from the weights, or lack of. But I do like the venue and will defo return, there are plenty of fish and not all carp either.
I also used a pulla on a carp for the 2nd time today, after using it on for the 1st time on Thursday at Sedges, and is defo something I need to practice, but the 14-16 Middy lacy is soft, which when shallow, has done me ok getting back to the top-kit. Whether or not it'll be ok at Viaduct remains to be seen......
Results:
1st - Peg 14 - Andy Hembrow - 54lb 12oz (14lb 4oz of silvers plus 40lb 8oz of carp)
2nd - Peg 6a - Brian Slipper - 35lb 6oz
3rd - Peg 5a - Lee Williams - 23lb 12oz
Silvers:
1st - Peg 14b - Paul Faiers - 7lb 6oz
2nd - Peg 13 - Nick Harvey - 4lb 12oz
Next up for me is 2 days on Viaduct, Campbell and Cary, this Friday and Saturday. Maybe Sedges on Thursday evening,
Take care and have Fun
Lee
Sunday, 2 June 2013
More Bream.....Newtown Lake, Highbridge. 01/06/13
So we are almost halfway through the year, the winds have not really left us, and when they have, the temps have not been great. Catches on the whole have been really patchy, plenty of crap weights and struggles, often combined with someone drawing well and running away with the match.
This year hasn't been too bad for me, no outright wins(but then I don't expect any for a while), but a few sections and silvers pick-ups. But more to the point, I am getting back in the swing of going fishing, the last few years have been slack in bankside time. All I need to do now is become just a bit more prepared...........and catch a few more fish.
So this last weekend was due to be warm and sunny.......with a reasonably strong wind!!
I didn't have any matches to go at, although on Friday evening I ventured upto look at Acorn fishery, dragging the family in doing so. It was the 1st time I had seen the venue since the late 90's, but with reading more and more blogs which mention the place, I deemed it a good idea to have a look. I also momentarily consider fishing their Saturday match, but changed my mind on arrival a the fish were all over the 1st pegs you come to, Toby (of Cadbury Angling) was catching a few from the margins with a bit of help with the feeding from Mark Bartlett. Nobody else was fishing, but there seemed plenty of carp in there. I will give it a bash at some point for sure, but maybe a recce session 1st is sensible.
So Saturday came and with nothing to do, I faffed around the house before we decided to go fishing. After a bit of deliberating (I didn't fancy fishing for carp) I had a choice between Walrow, Apex and Newtown. I decided on the latter, a) because I have fished Walrow recently, b) Apex would be rammed with dog walkers and have a great wind on it and c) I haven't fished Newtown for a decade or so.
By the time the car was loaded and I had driven the 10 minutes to Highbridge it was nearly 10am. Now Newtown used to have a reputation for attracting all sorts of 'roughians' due to the location of the lake, but in days past I had some really good bags of bream, tench, eels and odd rudd/roach/perch. It is a deep lake, with an average of maybe 12ft (over 7ft in most margins), going upto 15ft in spots.
I had a quick look over the lake, and the strong wind was blowing towards the far bank, it was warm and very sunny though, however a few fish were spawning and plenty cruising, I saw carp, bream and tench, so I didn't expect it to be easy.
I settled on a swim on the road bank, a nice comfy carpers type peg with room for wife/kids to catch some rays and read books/play cards. I am really enjoying taking the family at the moment, it gets them away from the ps3 and stuff. And they seem to like it too.
It also means I cant take everything I would take to a match, which is not a bad thing.
Tactics would mostly be a feeder at 45yrds, or so I thought. This was 4lb line, 0.12 hooklength (30 inch long) to a size 16 B611 barbless. Rod was Drennan Series 7 12ft competition feeder rod.
I also had my Drennan 13ft Series 7 silverfish rod, I did want to fish the slider, but ended up on a fixed insert waggler, 3AA loaded, with 5 o.8 shot bulked and a single 8 dropper. 3lb mainline to 0.10>size 18 B611 barbless. Fished to my left at maybe 4 rodlengths away from me at 10 o'clock position in 11ft of water.
Bait was simple, 1/2pt red mags, 1pt caster, a handful of worms and 1.5kg of explosive feeder/sonu tigerfish mix for groundbait, which I got my 9yr old daughter to knock up, she's learning well.
There were a couple of guys opposite, fishing the feeder and catching a few as I was setting up, so I had a dozen quick chucks of the feeder to get some bait out. I had a bite after 20 mins, and bumped a little fish, 20 minutes later a more solid pull saw me play a fish for 20 seconds before it fell off, I think it could have been a bream (these deep water bream hang on a bit at times too, especially on light kit). I then started chucking golf ball sized lumps of groundbait to where I was to try the float later on.
As we sat there for a while, loads of fish were moving and they guys were still picking up fish now and then, it looked like they were getting bream and tench. The wind remained strong, but I was sheltered, and honestly thought that the far side would be a better option, but I was comfy so stayed put.
In the next hour I did land a bream of 2.5lb and a roach of 6oz, I also bumped another.
I sat on the feeder another hour, still feeding my waggler swim, but never had another bite. Though the 2 grebes working my side of the lake were catching a few, so it wasn't devoid of fish!!
I set the float up, plumbed the ample depth and cast out, 10 seconds later I was into a bream, on single red maggot fished 2" over depth. As I said, these fish hang on in the deep water on light gear, but it was all good fun, with the fighting like tench rather than bream.
The next 3 hours saw me land around another 10 bream upto 5lb (they go to over 10lb in the lake) and a solitary skimmer on the feeder, all caught on single or double red maggot. I also pulled out of 3 or 4 fish too. I couldn't buy a bite on caster, and worm just gave me bites which I kept missing, all the fish were not well hooked and the bites were delicate. Maybe if I had fished a slider it may have been different.
So at around 4pm I packed up after 5 or so hours fishing.
So all in all it was a decent day, I had to keep the groundbait going in, small golfball sized lumps each cast seemed to keep the fish interested.
Newtown is a venue that is underfished, but people should give it a whirl (it is on the Highbridge/NSAA ticket). There are some cracking roach and rudd to over 1lb 8oz, plenty of bream to double figure, a decent smattering of tench too along with odd rogue carp. Some big bags of fish will be had if the conditions fall right.
I did see a shoal of a rudd, some were definitely over 1lb, and there were maybe 100+ fish in the group. I did see a few carp, but they were no bigger than 10lb. Then sun had kept a lot of the fish in the upper layers and it was good to see the fish.
Next up for me is Clevedon's match at Shiplate, on the main lake, next Sunday.
Also, I may fish Thursday's evening match at Sedges (Brick pond), as I never fished last weeks on their canal lake.
Until then, take care and have fun
Lee
This year hasn't been too bad for me, no outright wins(but then I don't expect any for a while), but a few sections and silvers pick-ups. But more to the point, I am getting back in the swing of going fishing, the last few years have been slack in bankside time. All I need to do now is become just a bit more prepared...........and catch a few more fish.
So this last weekend was due to be warm and sunny.......with a reasonably strong wind!!
I didn't have any matches to go at, although on Friday evening I ventured upto look at Acorn fishery, dragging the family in doing so. It was the 1st time I had seen the venue since the late 90's, but with reading more and more blogs which mention the place, I deemed it a good idea to have a look. I also momentarily consider fishing their Saturday match, but changed my mind on arrival a the fish were all over the 1st pegs you come to, Toby (of Cadbury Angling) was catching a few from the margins with a bit of help with the feeding from Mark Bartlett. Nobody else was fishing, but there seemed plenty of carp in there. I will give it a bash at some point for sure, but maybe a recce session 1st is sensible.
So Saturday came and with nothing to do, I faffed around the house before we decided to go fishing. After a bit of deliberating (I didn't fancy fishing for carp) I had a choice between Walrow, Apex and Newtown. I decided on the latter, a) because I have fished Walrow recently, b) Apex would be rammed with dog walkers and have a great wind on it and c) I haven't fished Newtown for a decade or so.
By the time the car was loaded and I had driven the 10 minutes to Highbridge it was nearly 10am. Now Newtown used to have a reputation for attracting all sorts of 'roughians' due to the location of the lake, but in days past I had some really good bags of bream, tench, eels and odd rudd/roach/perch. It is a deep lake, with an average of maybe 12ft (over 7ft in most margins), going upto 15ft in spots.
I had a quick look over the lake, and the strong wind was blowing towards the far bank, it was warm and very sunny though, however a few fish were spawning and plenty cruising, I saw carp, bream and tench, so I didn't expect it to be easy.
I settled on a swim on the road bank, a nice comfy carpers type peg with room for wife/kids to catch some rays and read books/play cards. I am really enjoying taking the family at the moment, it gets them away from the ps3 and stuff. And they seem to like it too.
It also means I cant take everything I would take to a match, which is not a bad thing.
Tactics would mostly be a feeder at 45yrds, or so I thought. This was 4lb line, 0.12 hooklength (30 inch long) to a size 16 B611 barbless. Rod was Drennan Series 7 12ft competition feeder rod.
I also had my Drennan 13ft Series 7 silverfish rod, I did want to fish the slider, but ended up on a fixed insert waggler, 3AA loaded, with 5 o.8 shot bulked and a single 8 dropper. 3lb mainline to 0.10>size 18 B611 barbless. Fished to my left at maybe 4 rodlengths away from me at 10 o'clock position in 11ft of water.
Bait was simple, 1/2pt red mags, 1pt caster, a handful of worms and 1.5kg of explosive feeder/sonu tigerfish mix for groundbait, which I got my 9yr old daughter to knock up, she's learning well.
There were a couple of guys opposite, fishing the feeder and catching a few as I was setting up, so I had a dozen quick chucks of the feeder to get some bait out. I had a bite after 20 mins, and bumped a little fish, 20 minutes later a more solid pull saw me play a fish for 20 seconds before it fell off, I think it could have been a bream (these deep water bream hang on a bit at times too, especially on light kit). I then started chucking golf ball sized lumps of groundbait to where I was to try the float later on.
As we sat there for a while, loads of fish were moving and they guys were still picking up fish now and then, it looked like they were getting bream and tench. The wind remained strong, but I was sheltered, and honestly thought that the far side would be a better option, but I was comfy so stayed put.
In the next hour I did land a bream of 2.5lb and a roach of 6oz, I also bumped another.
I sat on the feeder another hour, still feeding my waggler swim, but never had another bite. Though the 2 grebes working my side of the lake were catching a few, so it wasn't devoid of fish!!
I set the float up, plumbed the ample depth and cast out, 10 seconds later I was into a bream, on single red maggot fished 2" over depth. As I said, these fish hang on in the deep water on light gear, but it was all good fun, with the fighting like tench rather than bream.
The next 3 hours saw me land around another 10 bream upto 5lb (they go to over 10lb in the lake) and a solitary skimmer on the feeder, all caught on single or double red maggot. I also pulled out of 3 or 4 fish too. I couldn't buy a bite on caster, and worm just gave me bites which I kept missing, all the fish were not well hooked and the bites were delicate. Maybe if I had fished a slider it may have been different.
So at around 4pm I packed up after 5 or so hours fishing.
My catch.
So all in all it was a decent day, I had to keep the groundbait going in, small golfball sized lumps each cast seemed to keep the fish interested.
Newtown is a venue that is underfished, but people should give it a whirl (it is on the Highbridge/NSAA ticket). There are some cracking roach and rudd to over 1lb 8oz, plenty of bream to double figure, a decent smattering of tench too along with odd rogue carp. Some big bags of fish will be had if the conditions fall right.
I did see a shoal of a rudd, some were definitely over 1lb, and there were maybe 100+ fish in the group. I did see a few carp, but they were no bigger than 10lb. Then sun had kept a lot of the fish in the upper layers and it was good to see the fish.
Next up for me is Clevedon's match at Shiplate, on the main lake, next Sunday.
Also, I may fish Thursday's evening match at Sedges (Brick pond), as I never fished last weeks on their canal lake.
Until then, take care and have fun
Lee
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