PSV Match, Harescombe Fishery - Match Lake. 12-10-14

A new venue for me today, Harescombe Match Lake near(ish) Gloucester.
I knew it was a canal style lake with around 14m to the island and that it was a small fish match as you generally don't see many fish over 2 or 3lb, most being 1lb or less. But plenty of bites were expected. There are carp, roach, F1's, chub, barbel, perch and odd tench in the lake, with the carp and F1's being the main target.
The venue is rather exposed but is set in a beautiful valley and I am sure that there are not many better settings for a fishery.

View of Harescombe Match Lake

The trip up went ok, stopping at Mcdonalds for a Double Sausage and Egg Muffin. Lee Waller was here too so I followed him to the fishery which is around 10 minutes off jct 12 of the M5.
It was rather foggy and this never cleared until the early afternoon. It was rather nippy too and I should have wore something a bit more seasonal.

Anyway on to the draw, 14 of us down to fish and we were paying top 2 overall along with the top 2 in each 7 peg section.
I waited until 3rd last to draw and into my hand came peg 7, this peg is in the car park (in front of the van in the above pic). But it looked like most of the other pegs on the lake, with only peg 24 and 29 different due to a landslide that had wiped out the pegs in between those pegs. These 2 pegs were regarded as the pegs that everyone wanted and expected to do well and looked fishy.

I got to my peg and sorted my kit out, the pegs are pretty comfy, if not slippy and not level, they are spaced ok enough too, unlike some canal type lakes.
For company I had Lee Waller on peg 5 and Adam Caswell on peg 7, directly opposite me is 'retiring' PSV match secretary Steve Burgess, he had again drawn a flier in the form of end peg 24 by the landslide. He had club chairman Mike Wilson on peg 22 to his left.

Harescombe Match lake Peg 7.

I set up 4 rigs for the day, all on 0.14 mainline to 0.10 to size 16 hooks couple with soft no.8 solid elastic.
2 rigs would do for 14m across tight to the island/boards and down to my edges at 2+2. One had a band on a hair for 6mm pellet while the other had a bare B911f1 for using maggots or caster. Both of these floats were maver 4x8's.
The other 2 rigs were 4x14 versions of the same float and again 1 had a band the other didn't.
I plumbed up  in front and settled on a line just shy of 2+2, which coincided with the bottom of the near shelf, this is where the heavier floats would be used.

For bait I had 4mm and micro pellets, plus some 6's for the band. A couple pints of live maggot and a pint of caster completed my tray.

The all in was called and I cupped some bait at the 2+2 line plus some pellet went down my left hand edge and a little more against the boards in a couple spots.
I began across and I immediately lost a foul hooked fish, 10 minutes later I had a small f1 in the net. This was followed by a 1/2oz roach. A 2.5lb carp also soon found it's way to my keepnet.
In this time Lee had a fish as had Alan on peg 4. Mark Radford too had a couple carp.
It was still quite foggy and cold but odd fish were topping all over.

The 1st hour dragged and I only managed a few small roach on maggots, it was hard going for most, though the two Radfords had started well and Mr Burgess was starting to benefit from his peg, especially as he'd acquired a swim full of fish munching on some floating casters that'd drifted to his end bank.
It was at this point Adam Caswell decided to pack up and head off to one of the other on-site lakes as we all presumed that he hadn't found any fish that fancied his 6mm pellets or paste. Everyone had a laugh at that.

The 2nd hour was hard going, with maybe 4 small f1's and a few small skimmers graced my net along with a few baby roach, all these fish coming from my 2+2 line in front on either caster or maggot.
The far bank was dire and I couldn't buy a bite, my left hand margin never gave me a bite all day but I kept trying.
The 3rd to 4th hour was soon upon us and I took a look on my right hand margin at topkit distance gave me the false dawn of a f1 around a pound. Though a couple 4oz chub and a nice roach came from this spot.
Elsewhere Steve and Mark Radford were doing well, though Chris Szakcas and Chris Gay on pegs 14 and 30 respectively had been catching well, so had Ryan Radford. Mike Wilson was amassing a few fish but nobody was 'bagging'. Lee Waller was struggling on his peg and had just come in short with his worm attack and was starting to put a few fish together. Alan Healey on peg 4 probably was a few pounds ahead of me at this point thanks to a few early carp/f1's.
Rich Jones had gone for a walk and returned to his peg too find fish lined up for him, he spent the rest of the match catching a good few fish mostly from his short line.

By the 4th hour I had generally stopped fishing across but continued to feed it as it could switch on if we got lucky!! There was the odd swirl at the feed so I tried my shallow rig on my 2+2 line and this gave me a couple small f1's and a chublet, but not enough action to get excited.
Then it went dead for me, the 4th hour and most of the 5th was spent trying to pick off the odd fish from my 2+2 line and right hand edge, but it was slow.

Into the last hour and things improved a little with a couple of small carp from my 2+2 line on triple maggot or double caster, a run of 4oz skimmers helped boost my weight too. A couple carp shallow across in the last 10 minutes was also a welcome boost, but I knew I was mile behind most on the lake, but I had enjoyed the match even though I was rather cold!!
The all out was called and I soon packed my kit away. We all knew that Steve Burgess had been doing well as had Mark Radford, though Chris Gay next to him had been prolific in the last hour or so. But with weights being relatively low and the fish small, we couldn't pin down anything or anyone with how they'd done. Although I was sure I hadn't won bum all yet not come last!!

Onto the weigh in, we started in the corner, peg 29 on one side of the landslide area, Mark Radford was on this peg and began the day catching plenty including half a dozen barbel. He weighed a very decent 51lb 4oz.
Mark was sure that Chris Gay had caught more but he was proven wrong with Chris putting 43lb 11oz on the board, Ryan Radford followed that with 40lb exactly.
Alan Healey on peg 4 amassed 39lb 8oz. Lee Waller DNW'd but probably had 15-20lb.
Next up was me and I didn't worry anyone with my 35lb 8oz, but I was pleased with that considering I'd not seen the place before.

I left the scales to go and sort my nets and stuff out before catching up with them as we got to Mike Wilson, his steadily caught net of fish weighed a little less than I expected at 35lb. Prior to him the sheet showed Chris Szakacs and Rich Jones had done okay.
Last to weigh from the flier peg 24 was Steve Burgess, he'd been putting fish in the net for most of the day and looked good for the win. This was proven correct as his catch of 61lb exactly was enough for 1st on the day.
He mostly caught shallow along the 'end bank' that is the landslide. Well done him.

Steve Burgess, match winner, with some fish...!!!

Results:
1st Steve Burgess, 61lb, peg 24.
2nd Mark Radford, 51lb 2oz, peg 29.
3rd Chris Gay, 43lb 11oz, peg 30 (section win).
4th Chris Szakacs, 43lb 7oz, peg 14 (section win).
5th Ryan Radford, 40lb, peg 2.

Weigh Sheet

So a decent day and plenty of bites if not many from f1's and carp. I have a lot to learn with f1 fishing but today  I learned a good deal of stuff and take that with me next time I head up the M5 to Harescombe.

Next week it is less of the low diameter lines and small fish, unless I target silvers, as I am fishing Shiplate Farm on either the Main Lake or Westpool.

Until then take care.
Lee.

PSV Match, Sedges Brick Lake, 05/10/14

Today saw 13 of us fishing a match on Sedges' Brick lake and hopes were iffy after a rather cool night.

I arrived in plenty of time so had a chat with a few of the guys plus one or 2 others who were fishing a match on Tile lake. The lovely Denise made me (and others) a nice cup of tea.
We discussed which areas we liked, the corner pegs were less than popular, especially as Saturday's match showed that the corners were not great. However should the wind pick up and push up to pegs 10 and 11 then they could produce, the wind on Saturday was back up towards the house and pegs 1 and 20.
Personally I wouldn't mind either bank anywhere along the middle pegs (3-9 and 12 to 17) as I went initially to target the skimmers and hoped for a few bonus carp along the way if it was tough going.

Anyway the draw was done and I had to draw 3rd last as Ron Hardiman and Mark Radford insisted on the last couple of balls. I wasn't too disappointed to pluck peg 7 as it can be decent for both skimmers and carp.  For company I had Matt Taynton on peg 6 and a couple of pegs to my left on peg 9 was John Bradford, whom I expected to have to beat to win the silvers pool as that is his bag!!

Sedges Brick Lake peg 7.

For bait I had 3 pints of dead maggots, a couple of kilos of groundbait, 2 tins of 8mm chopped meat and some of the usual 6 and 8mm pellets. I also had some wet 4mm pellets. Lastly I had some worms for the hook, but these remained unused.
Tackle wise I set up 2 rigs to fish at 14.5m, one with maggots, worms and maybe meat over the top of groundbait. I'd fish this in the 10 o'clock direction. The 2nd rig had a band on the hair to fish banded 6mm pellet over wet 4's more or less in front of me. Both of these would be for the skimmers.
A rig for meat at 2+2 was made up for later on in the match, while the margin rig I put together remained unused.
Lastly I set up an open end feeder with a hooklength of around 12" long to use with banded pellet. I would fish this for the skimmers should the wind pick up too much.
I never bought my usual pellet waggler tackle that I used on the fishery, though I did have a method feeder rod and a standard waggler rod in the holdall.

The all in was called and I cupped 2 balls of maggot laced groundbait to the desired spot, plus half a pot of wet 4mm pellets were emptied onto the 2nd 14.5m line. A half cup of meat was well spread over the 2+2 line and would be topped up on an as and when basis.
I started on the feeder while most of the guys opposite went in on the pellet waggler.
The first 20 minutes or so saw most of the lads on the opposite bank catch a fish or two on the waggler, I had a 3lber on the tip, but then I saw a swirl at the loose fed pellets I was feeding over the feeder line.
When the guys across had a couple more carp on the wag I decided to get off my box and set up one for myself. I had my 1st chuck on it and had my 2nd carp of the day, 40 minutes or so had passed thus far.

Into the 2nd hour and the wind picked up a touch and the waggler became tricky and most guys had switched to the pole but it was not exactly prolific.
I soon came onto my skimmer lines, well the groundbait line, as I had a few bubbles in the area and I hoped the fish had arrived.
After half an hour of trying various ways of catching a skimmer I hadn't had one!! A look on the pellet line was just as blank.
I re-fed and went back on the waggler. The next period of the match gave me a couple more carp, but so far all four had been small 3lbers and a couple fish I could see that had been had elsewhere probably weighed more than my 4 put together.

Next door on peg 6, Matt was finding it tricky, I think he'd had a couple skimmers and a solitary carp.
Otherwise some peeps had caught 4 or 5 carp each. Oh and over on peg 33 on Tile, Steve King weighed in an 18lb 10oz lump, well done him.
The next hour or so gave me a couple more carp on the pellet waggler, but the largest was maybe 6lb so I wasn't doing brilliant, just okay. Rich Jones and Chris Gay on pegs 16 and 14 respectively had been actively landing fish.

By now the breeze was constantly pushing up towards peg 10 and I fully expected Ryan Radford to catch well from there during the remainder of the match. I also lost a carp on the waggler, probably foul hooked as it broke my 0.18 hooklength.
I was soon out on the groundbait line and I soon had my 1st skimmer from there, a 1lb fish caught on triple dead red maggot. This was a false dawn as apart from a lost foul hooked carp I never had another fish from that area for the rest of the match.
A quick look on the pellet line never gave me a bite, so I decided to pot a big pot of mixed 6 and 8mm pellets onto that spot in the hope it'd spur some carp into feeding.

With 2 hours to go I fed the 2+2 line a bit more accurately and left it for 20 minutes while I had another look on the pellet waggler, this wasn't too great but it gave me another carp of around 4lb.
Onto the meat line, where I had decided to concentrate on for most of the remainder of the match, I toss-potted some meat onto my float and I was soon into a skimmer, number 2 followed before 3 and 4 arrived......I hoped this would continue. It didn't. I re-fed and went out over the 'was skimmer - now carp' line at 14.5m, banded 8mm pellet was bait and immediately I had a bite and a skimmer made it's way to my net.
That fish was a loner as I never had another from that line in the following 15 minutes.
So back onto the meat line and the 1st drop saw me hook a lumpy carp, which after a spirited scrap was netted,  at 13lb it was a bonus and took my carp tally to about 7 carp. Another 6lb carp soon followed.

Into the last hour and it seemed that everyone had started to catch, Matt on peg 6 was having a few as were Chris Gay and Rich Jones, both bagging lumps from the margins. Further down my bank young Ryan Radford was getting a fish a chuck and I could also see Ron Hardiman and Adam Caswell's elastics being stretched regularly.
I stayed on the meat line and I had a nice run of skimmers to about 2.5lb, plus another small carp.
I figured I was leading in the skimmers, but wasn't completely sure as I had seen a few flying bream further down towards pegs 3 and 4 throughout the day.

The all out was called at 4pm and going by guess work, I thought that Chris Gay and Rich Jones were 1st and 2nd, though I wouldn't have been shocked if Ryan took the spoils as every time I looked down to him he was into a carp, but I figured that they weren't as large as the Chris and Rich. They were both on their 2nd carp nets and were likely to have over 100lb each.
Word had it that Ryan admitted to 15 carp which would give him about 130lb I suggested.
I guessed that I had around 15 to 20lb of skimmers and 40lb of carp.

I packed up and waited for the scales and asked Matt what he'd had, he estimated 10lb of silvers and 40lb of carp. John Bradford had struggled for his silvers and said he'd got around 8lb plus chucked a couple carp back. Steve Wynne over on peg 17 had tipped his carp back earlier so Rich Jones could use that net, but he'd had a good amount of skimmers.

The scales soon arrived at Matt and Adam told me that Ron's net had gone just under 57lb and of that 8lb 9oz was leading the silvers.
Matt's silvers weighed 9lb with his carp totting his total to 53lb 10oz.
I weighed my carp first as I was more concerned with my skimmers, my 9 or 10 carp weighed a total of 50lb 8oz. My silvers surprised me though with a decent 32lb 9oz, which was likely to take the silvers pot. I guess I caught more than I realised (really? not a surprise say some!!)  My total was 83lb 1oz.

I continued to pack up and then went and had a chat to Steve King on peg 33, he told me that the guy over in peg 30 had a quiet match until the wind got up and the fish arrived on the breeze, just like they had for Ryan in our match. So a fresh wind definitely helped the far end corner pegs, well 10 and 30...!!

I took my kit back to the car and loaded it up before having a cuppa made by Denise, I didn't get to see the rest of the weigh in but it turned out that Ryan was leading with 142lb 14oz. Chris Gay didn't have much as I expected (80lb 10oz) but that could have been better for him but he had a lump of a fish jump from his landing net just as he netted it, he then promptly lost it in the reeds to his left...!! Gutted..!!
Rich Jones had put 102lb 11oz on the board to take the winning pools by default as Ryan doesn't do the pools. I was third with my weight, taking the 2nd pools prize. I did joke to Mark Radford that I should have the silvers pot, which he was happy with, though I did insist on the 2nd placed dollar...lol.

Results:

1st, p10. Ryan Radford - 142lb 14oz
2nd, p16. Rich Jones - 102lb 11oz (1st pools)
3rd, p7. Lee Williams - 83lb 1oz (2nd pools)
4th, p14. Chris Gay - 80lb 10oz (3rd pools)
5th, p4. Ron Hardiman - 56lb 14oz
6th, p20. Lionel Legge - 56lb 3oz
7th, p6. Matt Taynton - 53lb 10oz
8th, p13. Mark Radford - 51lb 1oz
9th, p1. Brian Shanks - 39lb
10th, p3. Adam Caswell - 34lb 9oz
11th, p11. Lee Waller - 30lb 2oz
12th, p17. Steve Wynne - 17lb 6oz
13th, p9. John Bradford - 9lb 9oz

Silvers:
1st Lee Williams - 32lb 9oz
2nd Steve Wynne - 17lb 6oz (Silvers 1st)
3rd Lee Waller - 9lb 10oz (Silvers 2nd)
4th John Bradford - 9lb 9oz
5th Matt Taynton - 9lb

All payouts ended up being defaulted, lol.

I think Ryan caught towards the end bank, feeding caster. Rich caught mostly on meat down the edge while Chris caught on worms over groundbait and dead maggots, a tactic that does him well at Sedges.

So it was a tricky match after the first half hour and before the last 2hrs......but it was pretty fair to be honest. I knew my meat line would give me a few fish, I did hope for lumpy carp but skimmers saved my day..............shame they didn't want to play ball on the lines I aimed to catch them on!! Maybe if my carp had all been of the usual average then 100lb could have been on the cards?

I am not to sure where I am fishing next weekend. I may make a trip to Harescome or perhaps I may fish Trinity Woodlands.

Until next time, Take care.
Lee