Match Fishing Scene, FLE Fishery (formally Greenridge Farm Fishery) 25/03/2012

I had been looking forward to this match for ages and it was well worth the wait. The pre match buzz was of big weights on meat from Canal 2 so when I drew peg 20 I was well happy as it is an end peg with bags of features, it was made better when the peg to my left was actually blank as well. I asked for local advice at the beginning and got told that the day before 60lb ish had come off it but he had lost alot more in the snags down to the right.

I decided on a 3 pronged approach and plumbed a rig up for across that consisted of a 0.1g Scone zone Wellardz on 0.2mm mainline and a 0.16mm bottom to a size 16 B911, due to the snags I used a length of medium elastic through just the number 2 of my Z9 to try and drag the fish out of the corner. I also plumbed up in the corner to the right down the inside with a 0.3g FP800 with the same lines but a size 2 Tubertini 175, this was rigged on 17H elastic through a heavy tension puller. I plumbed up a meat line at 5m into the open water to my left with a Drennan carp 2 on 0.18mm to 0.14mm and a 16 B911, this was rigged with yellow reflex elastic.

For bait I prepped a pint of 4mm hard pellet, 4 pints of 6mm meat, 2 pints of 8mm meat, a few 4mm and 6mm expanders and some hemp. The plan was to feed pellet across and fish 8mm meat or pellet over the top for a start and feel my way into the match, so at the all in I shipped the rig across and within a minute had lost a foul hooker. This happened again on the next put in and then Eureka I figured out how to lay the rig in and I stopped the foul hookers instantly, around 10 carp up to 5lb made their way into the landing net in the first hour and then a few more before the line died off. I rotated through my margin and meat line for a while but after 30mins I was back across and the carp were waiting again and another good run saw a smile return to my face.

That swim slowed again and the other 2 lines never really took off and I suffered a slow spell until the last 15 minutes when I went back across and caught regularly again.

At the all out I knew it would be quite close on my lake as a couple of the guys further down started motoring in the last couple of hours. As it turned out (after weighing in 2 lakes) my 139lb 2oz was enough for second on the lake and 4^th overall. The craic had been brilliant and I can’t wait till the next one.

AAF Gp2 Match 5, Bishops Canning, 14/03/2012

Match 5 and we were back off to Bishops canning for a day of hopefully bagging on bread, I was given peg A11 at the draw and I fancied it apart from the amount of decent anglers pegged around me including my Browning Andover team mate John.

The stretch itself was looking really good with a nice tinge of colour and not too much flow or rubbish on top, I plumbed my swim up and found 5 ½ ft down the track and around 2 ft tight over against the far bank brambles. My plan was simple, bread at 5m in 4ft of water, squatt across in 3ft, caster tight across in 2 ft and if I was in trouble I would start a new bread line down the middle in 5ft of water.

My bread rig was the normal DS14h on 0.12mm Cenex mainline to a 0.08mm hooklength of the same material, the hooklength is 4 inches long and finishes in a 20 B511 hook. This is set up on number 5 elastic through 3 sections of my Z9 so that I can swing as many fish as possible. My squatt rig consisted of strung no.13 shot under 0.2g Classic 6 on 0.09mm mainline to 0.06mm bottom and a size 22 B590 hook, this is rigged on number 3 elastic through 3 sections, this is so that it can be set pingy but still soft enough to prevent small fish from splashing and attracting Pike. My caster rig was a 4X12 thin dibber type on 0.12mm to 0.08mm line and a size 18 B511 to fish single or double caster, due to the fact that I was only expecting small perch or skimmers this was quite light and set up on number 5 elastic through 3 sections.

At the all in I fed a Satsuma size ball of bread and a small amount of loose at 5m, 5 balls of Browning Canal mixed with 25% Etang with a few squats and hemp on the 3ft line and 100 casters across. I shipped my bread rig out, lowered it in and it kept going. Roach number 1 was in the keepnet, this was followed by an awesome first 45 minutes that saw nearly a fish a chuck including a couple of small hybrids that I needed to net. However, after the 45minute spell was over it was down to trying to scratch a few fish out, I started my new bread line about halfway through the match and this produced a few roach, including a 4oz netter in the last 10 minutes. My Squatt line produced very little with my best run being about 6 fish at 25 to the pound and finally despite trying to nurture it my caster line did not even give me an indication. At the end of the match I ended up with 1kg 750, this turned out to be good enough for 6^th in section but John, Dave and the others to my left had a really good day with a top weight of 4kg and 2 three kilo weights coming from barely 100 meters away.

Pez had another section win so well done to him and for me to retain my title I will have to really pull my finger out on the commercials that will start next month.

In Hindsight I should have concentrated on bread and not even taken squatt with me but since it would have worked on the last match I am finding myself in a catch 22 situation with whether or not I should take it again.

Viaduct WL teams of 5 Round 5 4/03/2012

It was my turn for the float only section on Lodge and Cary, with persistent rain and a very stiff breeze the last place I wanted was to be facing into it. Peg 103 on Cary was my destination and all I could do was laugh, not only was I facing the weather all day but the swim had not produced more than 2lb of fish in any of the previous rounds.

There is an overhanging tree to the left that got filled in with maggot, nothing, I fed and fished a meat line at 6m for nothing, I put a groundbait line in at 13m and this produced half a dozen little skimmers on dead maggot and finally my plan was to catch a carp on the wag for mega points. I fished it up and down all over my swim concentrating on maggot as a hookbait and managed to snare 20 odd little roach for a grand total of 3lb 3oz. This was not the end of the bad news for the team however, as John had been pegged opposite me and he managed to snare 1 roach for 7 oz and last in section, Stu had a grueller on Match for 4 points, Trev had to endure watching Des Shipp on his way to 130lb plus whilst he picked up 8 points or so and Pez blagged a few silvers for 10 points. Not a good day at all.

Witherington Farm Teams of 4 03/03/2012

I was looking forward to this match as the previous round had been cancelled, I was on Selwood as usual and when asked all I really wanted was peg 11 as it usually holds a few decent carp down the edge and it had won the last two rounds. Steve did the draw and the last peg on the lake was peg 9, I didn’t think too much of this after watching Pez struggle on it in December but I am starting to learn the lake so had a fair idea how to approach it.

As you can see I had the island at around 18-20m in front of me, I also spent a good amount of time plumbing around and found 2 depressions, one at 11m and the other at 6m. These would be my 2 main pole lines and I decided to fish pellet on the longer line and meat short. I also set up a small method feeder on my 10ft Force Commercial bomb rod with 0.20mm Cenex feeder line and a 4 “ 0.20mm Cenex hooklength with a size 16 QM1 with a hair rigged band. My long line was pink reflex Elastic connected to 0.16mm mainline with a 0.12mm bottom and an 18 808 hook, my float was a 4X14 preston Carp 5 as it is a really short float in the shallow water. My meat rig was a 4X14 Drennan Carp 2 float on 0.18mm mainline with a size 2 Tubertini 175 on a 0.14mm bottom, elastic was yellow Reflex hollow. I also set up a margin rig but it didn’t see the water really and a waggler was put up just before the all in as alot of Roach and small carp were splashing just off the island.

I mixed up my groundbait for the pole line and dampened down my 2mm pellet for feeding, this was mixed together for the feeder and then I was ready. At the all in fed 4 balls of groundbait on the long line with a few dead maggots, half a pot of hemp and about 20 6mm cubes of meat went out on my 6m line then I cast the wag towards the island. I struggled with presentation because of the stiff cross breeze so decided to chuck the feeder to the clip, I set the timer for 10mins on my watch and poured myself a brew. Within 3 minutes the tip banged and went round and Skimmer no.1 was on its way to the net, after this the next few hours saw me steadily add to my weight with skimmers, a Crucian and a small carp all falling foul of a 6mm banded pellet. I was getting plenty of liners but a change to a dead maggot saw a spell of no bites so back to the pellet and the fish came back. Every 30minutes I put about 100 grains of hemp and 10 cubes of meat on the short line and after an hour I abandoned the longer line to try and concentrate the skimmers towards the island. In the forth hour I decided to have a look on the short line and dropped in with a cube of meat, After counting to 30 seconds the float dipped and a crucian was on its way to the net a couple of skimmers followed and the a 10lb+ carp showed up. This killed the swim so I topped up and cast the feeder again, within 5 minutes I was catching again. I had seen a few fish getting caught all day and Mayo on peg 16 had a few, and everybody had caught. When the scales came round I had 25lb of skimmers and 15lb of carp for 40lb 6oz of fish a section win and second in the match. The team of me, John, Keith and Steve managed 3 section wins to romp away with the day but we still have alot of work to catch up with the leaders of the league.

Viaduct WL Rd 4 26/02/2012

It was time for the penultimate round of the Viaduct winter league, I was to be on Cary and had one request for Trev at the draw, not pegs 81 or 82 as they were caught in a corner with no form of late. Trev came across the car park and said that I would blank just as he told me that I was on 82, the plan was simple catch a fish and then try to catch another.

Although in the picture it looks nice with an overhanging tree to my left at 11.5m and a monk to my right at the same distance I was hemmed in by both peg 81 to my right against the spit and peg 85 to my right that was just in line with the spit. I made a plan that consisted of a meat waggler, bomb and bread at 20m for the first 20 mins, a skimmer line and then the two margins. To be honest my day was a non starter, I had a liner whilst plumbing up the wag so chucked the bomb whilst everybody else fed pole lines, this didn’t move so I put groundbait and dead mag on my pole line and fished the margins hoping for a quick carp. That was a non event so it was out on the skimmer line and after an hour the line died, I had taken about 5 small skimmers and a couple of small roach from it so then it was a case of rotating around my swims looking for a fish.

All the time I was able to watch as Andy Power on peg 80 was casting into a shoal of carp that were hanging off the end of the spit over the shallow gravel bar. In the last hour (after 2 hours without a bite from anything) I fed 4 balls of groundbait on my skimmer line and took a 12 oz skimmer of it 30 minutes later but that was it for my day. I weighed 3lb 7oz and this was enough for 3^rd from bottom of the section. The team ended up with around 50 points that was just enough to keep us in the top 6 but Pez and myself were being held up by John and Stu who both picked up money from Campbell and Lodge. John Managed 4^th overall but had not paid into the super pools DOH. Next week is the last round and I am in the float only section, all I want is a few fish as I have gone from leading the league to around 40^th in two matches.