Orchard Lakes Sunday Series, 19/06/2011

It was off to Orchard Lakes again with Pez in tow for the Sunday Series, after the customary banter and a bap I managed to pull peg 3 out of the bag. This draw did not fill me with joy as I knew it could be good or rubbish but unperturbed I decided to set up a small preston pellet feeder for the far bank. I also set up a margin rig that consisted of a 0.3g Frenzee FP800 on 0.19mm main and a 0.17mm bottom to a Tubertini 175 In size 3 (about a 14), I also set up a paste fig to fish on a 2+1 and that was it, I was done.

At the all in I put a pot of hemp and 6mm meat down each margin and then cast the feeder under a large plant on the far bank, after 30 mins I was in trouble with 3 fish on the tip to Baz‘s 10 to my right and the guy to my left on peg 1 was doing the same. I tried the margin early with no indications and also tried the paste to no avail; it was that desperate that on an hour I set up the pole to fish across at 13m but even that was really slow! At the end of 2 hours I only had about 25lb in the nets so I decided that a brew and walk could help the old brain matter, I took a brew over to Pez (we had a bet at the start for a brew to the winner, I thought pre-empting my defeat would save some blushes later in the day) to see how his day was going and saw elastics coming out all over the lake. I returned to my swim and decided to start again with something different, I still had a kilo of worm with me from the river matches so a pint was loosely cut and mixed with hemp, corn and pellet. I fed a pot down the RH Margin and toss potted the MUNGA down the left, the results were instant with Carp and barbell hanging themselves on half to ¾ of a dendra almost every put in. I stuck on these two swims until the end of the match and could only hope that it would be enough to drag me back up the section. I was on the board (Again) so got to see what people had caught, Baz had caught steadily all day and weighed in 190lb of fish all on paste (i know cause I was watching for 2 hours) the guy to my left had 165lb ish and I was in the middle with a comeback weight of 113lb. This considering my start was a respectable weight and my day was made even better when it turned out that Pez would be buying the brews as he had a poor couple of hours for 103lb.

1: I think that I struggled so much at the start as I had no real plan so I was flitting around 3 or 4, once I had a clear plan it was easier.

2: Orchard is bringing in bait limits as of the 1^st July so that could change the way to approach the venue!

3: Never give in ( if I had sacked it I would have been in dire straits in the league)

Regional National, River Huntspill, 18/06/2011

This was my first match for my new team Browning Andover Match Group and I had been looking forward to it for a while, all my prep had been done and I was confident of my approach. The team met at the draw and discussed the plan over a breakfast of sorts and before we knew it the draw was taking place. Barry went up and did the honours and out of the 10 pegs in our envelope I was off to permanent peg 78 at Woolavington Bridge.

When I arrived at my swim the tactics for the day were obvious as I had the downstream end peg of the section, I set up a feeder on 6lb braid with a 0.10mm bottom and 16 Drennan Wide Gape match and a medium feeder for fishing at 54 turns (easy when it isn’t windy). A long pole line at 13m just as the slope eased off had a 0.8g DS14 and a 4X14 Tubertini Stix get set up both on 0.11 main to 0.07 and 22 B511’s. These were both rigged on no.5 elastic through 3 sections and the depth was only about 4 ½ feet so expectations were high for that line, finally I set up a worm rig on 0.17-0.15mm line and a 14 Drennan Wide Gape to fish in the eel grass to the right over maggot and next to the reeds on my left with worm and caster.

The all in saw me cast a SPOMB out to the feeder line 8 times containing my Bream groundbait (Super Bremes and brown crumb 50/50) with worm, caster and dead pinkies in the mix. I then cupped 6 balls of Roach groundbait (Super Match, Roach and brown crumb) this again contained hemp, caster and dead pinkies. Finally a cup of worm and caster went next to the reeds and a cup of dead reds went into the eel grass.

I shipped out my DS14 rig with a pinkie on and caught a small roach first put in, then another and after 30 mins I had 8 fish in the net including a 4oz skimmer. All was well until I asked the guy in the next peg how he was doing and he admitted to 3 skimmers, this was enough for me to chuck the tip and again the response was pretty much instant with small roach and perch succumbing to dead maggot. It took a further hour of taking a couple of fish on the tip then swapping to the pole for a couple, the fish on the tip were a bit bigger but the pole saw them coming in almost every put in. Finally the tip went round and I was attached to a proper skimmer and this swayed me to keep going on these two lines till the end, I had a couple of looks on the choppy and maggot lines but only had 2 indications from the choppy line.

At the end of the match I had 2 bream and a smattering of bits for a respectable 3.650Kg, however, this was only good enough for second in section as the Thatchers lad in my section had smashed out 10kg+ of skimmers mostly in the last hour from a far bank feeder line. My result helped the team to 5^th on the day and gave me a default section win and more importantly I learnt loads about how to approach the river again next time.

1: do not cast further than your rod can do easily, the wind can change in an instant

2: try to keep your worm line towards the deeper edge of the reeds if the wind will let you.

3: playing bream on braid can be fun!!

AAF Match 9, Bristol Avon, Staverton, 16/06/2011

This was the penultimate match of the league and going into it myself and John Dewberry were drawing on 8 points (best 5 results) so when we both drew in the same section it was most definitely ON!!

I drew permanent peg 63 that turned out to be the most upstream end peg on the stretch, I needed to spend 15 minutes with the weed rake before I could settle down, to clear a lily bed from straight in front of me. Once done however I had a clear run through at 11m and a nice looking hole in the weed at 6m to my left, I decided on groundbait on the long pole and chopped worm and caster in the weeds.

For the long pole I set up 3 rigs, a 1.5g Preston Classic 2 on 0.11 to 0.08 and a 22 511, this was rigged on a top kit with No.8 solid through 3 sections. My second rig was a 1g Garbolino DS14H, with the same line and hook as the other rig but this time on a lighter 5 solid through 3 sections, both of these rigs were set with a bulk and 3 no.10 droppers. My final long pole rig was a strung shotted rig with a 4X14 Tubertini Stix on 0.11 main again but this time 0.07 to a 20 B511 and No. 3 elastic through the top 2. The worm rig was an over shotted 1g Drennan Trio on 0.17-0.13mm line and a 14 Drennan Wide Gape, this was rigged on Red Vespe hollow through a power kit.

At the all in I fed 5 Satsuma sized balls of groundbait, (half a bag Matchblend, ½ bag Noire, 2 pints brown crumb and 2 pints of molehill soil), this contained dead pinkie, caster and hemp. I also fed 2 similar sized balls of the same mix containing chopped worm and caster on my worm line before shipping my DS14H rig out with a pinkie on the hook. He float went under first run through and for the first hour I managed to put about 6 Roach to 6oz and 6 Perch to a similar size into the net for about 2lb. After the golden hour it turned into a scratching match but I was able to take a couple of fish and then change line a few times, I also set up a waggler at 4ft deep after about 2 hours and this was cast downstream into a large hole into the weed and produced a couple of small roach and bleak throughout the rest of the day.

I worked hard for the full 5 hours and with 10 minutes to go I tried hemp for a final time only to miss a bite that saw me persevere with it on the hook until the end to no avail. I was on the boards so I witnessed the whole section weigh in and I only needed to beat John to have had a good day, up until John the best weight was just over a kilo, John had 1.510Kg and looking at the size of his fish I started to worry, I thought I had over 3 lb but was not sure by how much. !.810Kg answered my prayers and helped my team 11 sigs to 1^st on the day, got me a section win and second overall on the day and finally has put me ahead of John in the league by section count back.

Next and last stop for this year will be Viaduct, I hope that I can continue my run there.

Todber Evening Match, 14/06/2011

So I have got a little behind on my blog but last Tuesday I had the joy of going to Todber for a quick 3 hour sprint on Park Lake. I pulled peg 1 from the bag in the car park and everyone fancied it as it was full of fish as they walked around and did the pegging. I got to it and decided to fish down the edge next to the bail to my left and tight into the left hand margin right in against the weeds at 11m with meat. To cut a long story short the last hour was my best hour after I started a new paste line at 2+2 straight out in front of me. I finished with 54lb odd for last but 1, however, Pez managed an awesome weight of over 133lb to win the match from an un fancied (by me) peg 36.

Lessons learnt are not to chance fish you can see every time as sometimes they are not feeding.

And paste is king at Todber!!

Coking Farm Evening match, Rush Lake

This was my third visit to Coking on evening matches and the attendance this time was only 8 but with the strong wind and rain it was not too surprising, at the draw I pulled out peg 2 and this gave me 20m to drive my van to my peg. On looking at it I decided that a simple method to the island and meat down the edge was to be how I would approach the evening and with my method groundbait already mixed it took me next to no time to get set up. My margin rig was a Frenzee pf800 on 0.19mm main and a 0.15mm bottom to a size ‘2’ 175. This was rigged on a 2+1 as I found 2.5 feet of water on both sides of my margin and I had it all on Red Vespe elastic as usual. My method rig was my standard 30g inline method free running on the 8lb mainline with a 0.19mm bottom and 14QM1 attached to the mainline with a quick change bead. The cast was only about 30yds to the tree opposite and I fancied it for a few fish so I used my 10ft Drennan carp feeder and a 2508 Daiwa TDM.

At the all in I fed a pot of bait on both sides of my swim and cast the feeder about a meter short of the tree, it took 20 minutes for my first fish and in this time the guy to my right had landed two but to cut a long and breezy evening short the fish came in 1’s and 2’s usually after changing either the hookbait or how close to tree I was casting. I ended up with 9 carp but had lost another 5 that had come off due to hookpulls halfway across. I was not the only one to suffer this and I can only put it down to the fish not feeding properly on the evening.

In the end all my fish had come on the method and I only had 3 rudd to show for my efforts down the edge, I finished with 33lb10oz and this was enough for 5^th out of 8!! The guy to my right had 10 carp for 38lb but the two pegs to his right took 1^st and second with 40lb+ bags. Always Todber next week!!

AAF Challenge Match, Witherington Farm

This was the inaugural AAF challenge and we were against Andover AC at Witherington Farm, talk over breakfast was about how paste would be a good tactic and that we were likely to get wet by the end of the day. We were half right, John drew peg 24 out of the bag for me on outer snake and this gave me 13m to a piece of collapsed bank opposite, two blank pegs to my left and a gap in the reeds opposite peg 25 at 16m to my left. On plumbing up I found 2 ½ feet across next to the reeds and 3 feet on my 16m line, I set up a standard far bank rig for here with a 0.13mm bottom and 18 B911 for fishing pellet and set it on yellow Vespe hollow. I plumbed a paste line at 11m to my left and this was on Red Vespe hollow to a 0.19mm mainline and 0.17mm bottom to a 12 B911, my float of choice was a 4X10 Big H Paste. And finally I plumbed the margins on a 2+2 line to my left where there was a small overhanging plant, it was quite deep under it so I did not hold my breath.

The match itself was an interesting affair with me not catching alot in the first hour until I saw a lump swim across the shallows tight over, this saw me rig up a 0.1g Sconezone Wellhardz on 0.17mm main to a 0.15mm bottom and a 16 B911 to green Vespe Hollow. I cupped about 4 toss pots worth of bait into the shallows and tried the paste line before going back over and catching carp steadily through the day to low doubles. I would feed if I had not had an indication for a couple of minutes and found at the end that it was best to fish almost straight after feeding as that was when the fish were most aggressive. I had 2 Goldfish and a skimmer on paste and lost a foulhooker down the edge but still managed to finish up with 33kg. I won my section (of 2) and had the biggest weight on our board (pegs 11-31) but the other arm of the lake had fished slightly better than ours and I ended up in 4^th overall. Andover AC took the win by 2 points and the match was won by an Andover Angler with 66kg, so well done gents but we will have the trophy back next year.

AAF Gp2 Match 8, Todber Manor

After the team success that 11 Sigs achieved on the last Todber match, we were looking forward to trying to repeat it. After a brekkie in the cafe it was Pez to draw for the team and I had told him that I wanted C section, Whitepost Lakes again. He managed that for me and put himself on peg 35 on Park and Craig was on peg 15, so we had a decent draw but we still had to make it count. The team tactics were loosely based around carp to start then loads of F1’s if you were struggling followed by carp at the end down the edge or on the 5m line.

My peg gave me 13m across to a lily bed and a really nice margin under a bush on a 2+2 line, I set up a method rod for casting in between the lily beds opposite, three rigs for the 134m line that were also the same for a 2+2 straight out in front and a margin under a tree to my left. The rigs for the open water lines were a 4X12 float on 0.17mm to 0.15 and a 16 B911 running on Green Vespe E2 Hollow for fishing meat for proper carp. A 0.2g D Burns special on 0.15mm main to a 0.13mm bottom with an 18 B911 for F1’s on the deck, the elastic was yellow Vespe and finally a Sconezone slapper on 0.19mm main to a 0.15mm bottom with an 18 PR36 and a micro baitband on a hair again on yellow Vespe E2 hollow. The edge rig consisted of a 4X10 Duro 10 on 0.19mm mainline to a 0.15mm bottom and a 16 b911 on red Vespe E2 Hollow, this was the only top kit not on a pull bung.

At the all in I fed half a pot of hemp and about 50 6mm cubes of meat down my edge line then chucked the tip across the far bank, My method rig was a 25g Drennan small inline method with a 4 inch length of 0.19 to a 14 QM1 to which a baitband was hair rigged. This was baited with a 10mm white boilie and encased in Sensas Crazy bait gold and a few 2 and 4mm pellet. The third cast saw a small carp in the net but then 10 minutes of silly indications and half bites, plus watching the guy in the next peg pull in 5 F1’s really quick saw me swap to the pole line and a pellet on the hook. This I fed with a toss pot and I had a small roach first put in followed by a couple of quick bites and alot of fizzing so I swapped hookbait to an 8mm cube of meat and fed hemp and 6mm meat through the toss pot. Within 3 mins I was playing a 4lb carp that I had hooked in the tail but on returning I was able to get a quick run of F1’s at about 12oz apiece. They were coming regularity but not quick enough to do any real weight so I decided to try and catch them shallow after an hour and started pinging out 4mm pellet over my meat line and sent out the shallow rig with a 6mm pellet in the band. The 6mm pellet was to try and reduce the number of Rudd eating it as Steve to my right was having a nightmare with them. I slapped the rig in once and yellow elastic poured out, F1 no.1 was quickly in the net and then for the next hour it was nearly an F1 a minute all taken at 13m on the shallow rig, I was however, getting fed up of trying to ship my pole back through the tiny gap in the trees behind me so I started to feed 4mm pellet on my 5m line and the F1’s were there almost straight away. They were not coming as quickly as out long so I decided to have a quick look down the edge with 3hrs to go just to try and build the short shallow swim, however, I didn’t really get the chance as carp from 2 to 6lb were queuing up for my 8mm meat hookbaits. Every put in I topped up with a toss pot ¾ full of hemp and filled to the brim with 6mm meat, for 2 hours it was a fish a put in down the edge and when it went quiet I would put half a pot in and try for a few F1’s shallow short.

Coming into the last hour I knew I was on my way for a big weight so I quickly threw a third net in (I had 1 for silvers and F1’s the other for proper carp) and watched in disbelief as my margin swim dried up over the next hour only giving me 8 Carp. At the end I had 15 proper carp (4lb+) twice as many smaller carp and god knows how many F1’s I had landed during my spell on them, Keith came down with the scales and asked me for an estimate, 140-150lb was my answer and we started to weigh in. 4 weighs later and I had taken about 20kg of F1’s on a total bag of 71.760KG, this was enough to win my section by a clear margin and due to the fact that Park did not fish to its usual potential I won the match as well. I must point out at this point that I had a massive advantage after the guy pegged to my left had to pack up and leave after 30mins leaving me with half the lake to myself, so I was pulling fish in from far and wide. On the day 11 Sigs had a reasonable result with both myself and Pez winning our sections, however, Craig had a bad day and his result dragged us down as a team to 4^th on the day. Our next group match is on the Bristol Avon at Staverton so I am dusting off my size 26’s and getting ready for a grueller.