Watergate Farm, Open Match

Today I was off at Watergate Farm a small lake just 3 minutes from my house, the meet was at a local Toby Carvery and I am glad that I stopped in Mc Donalds as a few of the guys were complaining about the breakfast as I arrived… mine was fine.  It was good to see some friendly faces and it was easy to see that some of the best anglers in the area had decided to visit this little pond so my work was cut out from the star.  I had managed a quick practice session last week and the video can be found here:

Back to today, and peg 11 stuck into my eager mitt, ‘So what!’ I hear you say, well all I wanted today was the wind off my back as it was forecast to be gusting 50mph and with torrential rain also added to the mix the last thing that I wanted was a facing wind. That, however is exactly what I got as peg 11 turned out to be on the widest part of the lake at about 17m wide with the wind barrelling down my throat.

This made my plan of attack easy though and I set up a tip rod and two top kits to fish short to my left, I was ready for the all in and to cut a long story short although I caught in spells throughout the day, and I thought I was in the running with the guys around me.  It turned out that my stamp of fish must have been smaller than everyone else is, as I had caught as many if not more than some guys that I could see but I was well off the pace.

I had an early run on the feeder that can I set the action camera up for:

I also had three fish short in the last 30 minutes after I started to big pot maggot down there but it never really felt right, the wind was severely hampering presentation and I was having to fish 4 inches over depth and have a BB Back shot just to have a modicum of control over the rig.

I followed the scales around my half of the lake and bar a DNW I was second last on the board with 40lb 6oz (I had said I had 40lb), three 50lb plus weights were topped by Downer who scooped third overall with 56lb 3oz on my half of the lake.  On the other Gareth had made the most of a decent draw (and a bit of skill J) to catch 74lb odd for the win followed by Martin a bit further round with 57lb+.

What would I do different?

Speaking to a few guys at t eh end they caught closer to the bank than I had fished, but with the wind a 4 inch waves crashing over their heads I don’t know if it would have worked where I was, that’s it really apart from needing to find a way to select the bigger fish, if they were in front of me at all?

Tackle used:

Pole light:

Elastic: White Hydro

Line: 0.16mm to 0.12mm Cenex

Hook: 16 B911 F1

Float: 0.3g AS4

Pole WINDY:

Elastic: White Hydro

Line: 0.16mm to 0.12mm Cenex

Hook: 16 B911 F1

Float: 0.4g AS2

Feeder:

Rod: Drennan Ultralight 10ft bomb with 1oz tip section.

Reel: Daiwa TDM 3012

Line: 8lb sensor 0.16mm hooklength

Hook: 16 QM1

Feeder: Micro Guru Pellet feeder, started on white hydro X safe but swapped to inline as bites were easier to see in the wind

Todber Manor Fisheries, Open Match 29/12/2015

Today we were supposed to be off to the Dorset Stour to practice for the impending AAF match that is going to be held on there, however, the weather Gods had other thoughts so Pez organised a quick open on Ash Lake at Todber Manor Fisheries.

As it turned out there were 9 of us for the draw, Pez had decided to go a quid with both Pete and myself so only time would tell if he had made the right choice there, it was good to catch up with everyone post-Christmas and the talk was soon about the fishing, the favoured pegs were in the middle of the lake so that is where we all wanted to draw.  I pulled peg 14 which turned out to be permanent peg 85 so it was off for the longest walk and another end peg.  I am doing quite well at the draw bag of late, I hope this continues. Pez and Mark, however, managed to bag the ‘flyers’ in the middle of the lake so I was in for a battle for my quid!

As you can see from the picture I had tons of room and this was added to by the fact that Pete on the next peg was actually on 83! So there was a blank peg to my left as well.  I had been told in the shop that the end pegs don’t tend to do too well so I decided to concentrate on skimmers as I know that there are a few in the lake, my main line was 13m in line with the big tree, I put a throwaway line long down to my right, a waggler was set up and a short pole line just in case I could get them to move closer to the bank.  Next job was the bait and I mixed 1 pint Sonubaits 50:50 method mix with ½ pint Sonubaits F1 and ½ pint VDE Secret Noire, I soaked some 2mm and 4mm pellet and opened a tin of corn and before you knew it the all in was upon us.

I fed 3 tangerine sized balls of groundbait with chopped worm and caster on the long line before feeding 20 4mm pellet at 13m down the edge to my right, I then cast the waggler across and tried to feed some maggots over the top, this proved to be a problem though as it turned out that it is quite a bit wider than the middle pegs that I practiced on last time so I was struggling to get any bait across to where I was fishing. Despite this I had a skimmer on my first cast and then a few small roach graced the net, due to their size and the fact that I was struggling to get any bait across to where I wanted to fish the waggler was soon being put up the bank.  I tried down the edge for a start and tapped in 10 pellets and followed it up with a 4mm expander, I didn’t have a touch in 5 minutes and knew that this line was wrong for the day so it was back onto the waggler for a bit as I wanted to let the long line settle for at least 45 minutes.  I moved the waggler line to the right so that I could actually cast into bait and again started to catch roach so I decided to stop wasting bait on that line.  Greg two pegs to my left had taken a few fish on the tip at this point so I got off my box and pulled the bomb rod out of the bag, a single piece of corn was cast across and within 3 minutes or so carp number 1 was on its way to the net.  I managed a few more small carp on single corn but I was itching to get onto the pole line as Pete had gone onto his long line and caught almost straight away, the fish were smaller but he was getting bites quicker.

The decision was made and I went over the long line with the double bulk rig, and I started to catch skimmers straight away, they varied in size from 4oz to a pound but were great fun to catch, the best bait was a small worm head just bigger than a caster, and as it was a double bulk rig 4 inches overdepth every now and again I would get a very pronounced lift bite that was usually a better skimmer.  I found that regular top ups were needed to keep the skimmers in the swim but feeding on their heads would see them back off for a few minutes.  The usual sign would be catching a roach or a tiny tench and if that happened I would top up with a golf ball of worm and groundbait mix, sometimes they would be straight on it sometimes a chuck or two on the tip would see me putting a pound in the net whilst I was waiting for the skimmers to return.

It was during one of these forays on the tip about an hour and a bit from the end when I managed a carp on single corn that was close to double figures so a nice boost to the net.  The short line failed to produce any real hope as I only managed two small roach from it and the long pellet line got big potted onto for the last couple of hours in an attempt to get a big fish feeding but due to the strengthening wind the fish seemed to stay along the far bank and in the deeper water.

I started to struggle at one point with presentation on the light double bulk rig so got off my box and set up a 0.6g standard rig with about two feet of line above the float, I kept it fishing well over depth and this saw me continue to catch when Pete was struggling to present in the wind.  I also lightened up the elastic from white to yellow hydro on the double bulk rig as this then allowed me to ship the fish back quicker without pulling the hook from their mouths.  Throughout the day I only really lost two decent skimmers and bumped a number of small fish when they turned the worm over the hook point, usually when I increased the size of the worm (I am making a note of that one), and I felt as though I had fished a good match, I even managed to call fish on at the end, it was only a small stocky carp but they all help.

At the end Pete and I mused as to what could have been as he had been struggling to cast the waggler due to a slight oversight on his behalf… he was not a happy bunny so enough about that, Greg had caught steady all day on the feeder with mostly small carp falling to his tactics and to my left I had seen Mark netting a few decent fish throughout the day so it was wide open.  I was pretty confident of over 40lb of fish but as I had not been counting I could not be sure, fortunately Dave was soon on hand to put me out of my misery and after 2 weighs it turned out that I had managed 52lb 8oz which I was more than happy with.

History will show that it was enough for second on the day with Mark taking 54lb mostly on the waggler, and Greg was third with 36lb (I think) then Pete with 34lb?  Pez….well lets just say he gave both Peter and I a quid J.

Thanks to Pez and the team at Todber for running the match, I look forward to many more in 2016, Watergate Farm tomorrow and it is going to be an interesting day with 50mph wind forecast and torrential rain…eek!

What would I do different?

I think I should have scaled down my elastic on both long rigs as very few big carp showed on that line, if any.  I will also be getting some bigger floats for double bulking, the Drennan Carp 2 is ideal due to the two toned bristle so I will be stocking up on 0.6 and 0.8g floats in the future.

Tackle used:

Pole Long Double Bulk:

Elastic: White Hydro, swapped later to yellow Hydro

Line: 0.16mm to 0.12mm Cenex

Hook: 16 B911 F1

Float: 0.4g Drennan Carp 2

Pole Long Standard:

Elastic: White Hydro

Line: 0.16mm to 0.12mm Cenex

Hook: 16 B911 F1

Float: 0.6g AS2

Pole short:

Elastic: Double No. 5 slip

Line: 0.13mm N Gage to 0.12mm Cenex

Hook: 18 B911 F1

Float: 0.3g AS3

Pole Margin:

Elastic: White Hydro

Line: 0.15mm powerline to 0.12mm Cenex

Hook: 16 B911 F1

Float: 0.3g AS4

Bomb:

Rod: Drennan Ultralight 10ft bomb with 1oz tip section.

Reel: Daiwa TDM 3012

Line: 8lb sensor 0.16mm hooklength

Hook: 16 QM1

Feeder: 2/3oz Guru Inline bomb

Wagler:

Rod: Daiwa TD 11ft pellet wag

Reel: Daiwa TDM 3012

Line: 4lb sensor 0.13mm hooklength

Hook: 18 Drennan Red Maggot

Float: 4AA Dave Harrell Insert waggler.

Watergate Farm Fishery Practice Dec 15

Todber Manor Fisheries, Christmas Match

It was time for another Christmas match for me, this time I was off to Todber for and once again the weather forecast was awful.  Now it had been just as bad the week before when I had practiced on Ash Lake:

So after a bit of success that day I did fancy that lake but with the weather forecast the way it was, a nicer day would have been had on the lower lake at Whitepost as that should have seen some shelter from the wind that was forecast.  The draw was full of friendly faces and there was an air of expectancy, especially after Pete had done a ton off Ash the day before!

Hellos, Coffee and Mince pies done it was time for the draw and Lower White Post 26 was stuck in my mit, I had done it again as this one was 1 peg away from the end on the bottom lake at Whitepost and not a bad draw at all.

There are lilies across at about 16m and even as I was setting up there were numbers of fish moving through and behind them, so the plan was simple, a micro pellet feeder for in the lilies at the start, a margin line to my right and a 5m chopped worm and caster line. I decided on 5m for the worm line due to the wind, although most of the lake was pretty sheltered it was blowing in such a way that it was rebounding off the trees to my right and blowing across me at it would have been tricky to fish tidily any further out.  I also set up the waggler just in case I got the chance to fish it, plumbed at about dead depth for a start and I would see how the day went from there.

I was ready for the all in and dropped some kit off at the van before the start, on my way I picked up the normal abuse from Darryl and Pez. So back to the fishing, the all-in was called and I fed 2 balls of groundbait, worm and caster at 5m and then cast out the pellet feeder, the plan was 10 minute casts and for the first 6 casts I had an occurrence that was worth a strike, but the F1’s were playing hard to get.  Mrs Britain to my right had a few roach on the wag and since I had seen naff all else come in I thought that I would give it a go fishing to the front of the lilies.  I started to lightly loose feed maggot making sure that I didn’t get any going into the lilies and started casting the wag, after adding a floats depth the float sat still long enough for a bite from a roach that was soon followed by a couple more, I was catching at last.

On almost an hour I overcast slightly and the float went into a small gap in the lilies, as I sank the line I hit into a carp (I thought it was a snag at first!) and now I was cooking with gas.

The next couple of hours were made up of lots of casting and a few carp and f1’s on maggot on the wag, I had one spell when I got them going and managed 4 small carp and a couple of F1’s on the bounce but most of the time it was working between the feeding and where in the swim I was casting to try and keep a few fish coming into the net.  It wasn’t all plain sailing though and although I could keep the float out of  the snags, keeping angry carp out of them was another matter and I got done a few times in the lilies, the worst was losing a lump under the rod tip to a hook pull having done all the hard work though. I had a few looks down the edge and on the worm line but it wasn’t until about an hour from the end that I had my first indication on the pole.  It resulted in a foul hooked five pounder but the next look gave me a three pounder hooked in the mouth, I decided to treat it a bit like a margin line as they seemed to come into the feed soon after it went in so after every fish I would give it a small ball of the mix.  This did the trick and I managed another 5 or so carp in the last hour on the short pole line, although as I looked up just about every time I saw elastic coming out somewhere and Darryl had managed a few that I had seen.

John, Kia and Matt arrived to do the weigh in and I was second on the bottom lake behind Ben who was on the narrows and had managed to sneak out over 62lb.  My weight was well off that at 50lb 2oz.

Back at the shop for results and the tales of woe as a lot of people had struggled with the wind on ash and lack of fish on areas of the whitpost lakes, but it is winter fishing and that’s what you get I am afraid.  The top ten can be found at this link as well as a mug shot of the top 3.  https://www.facebook.com/171663422847191/photos/a.171681679512032.45738.171663422847191/1222533171093539/?type=3&theater

I am looking forward to next years already as things are changing at Todber Manor and there should be some exciting new match lakes opening in the new year so watch this space.

As for me it is a bit of pleasure fishing, a late Christmas match at a place called Watergate lane that is literally 3 minutes from my house and a cheeky practice on the Dorset Stour with Pez and the rest of the Nodders team hopefully.

What would I do different?

The loose fed maggot worked well as did the wagler in the conditions, but I let myself down by feeding into the lilies with an hour and a half to go and once I did that the third time my bites all but stopped.  So that is one thing that I will try not to do again.  Also perhaps a second worm line at 11m or so, but the wind was troublesome and behind me was a 10 foot drop so I would have had to double break even at 11m.

Tackle used:

Pole short:

Elastic: White Hydro

Line: 0.13mm powerline to 0.12mm Cenex

Hook: 18 B911 F1

Float: 0.4g AS2

Pole Margin:

Elastic: White Hydro

Line: 0.15mm powerline to 0.14mm Cenex

Hook: 1 Tibertini 175

Float: 0.3g AS4

Feeder:

Rod: Daiwa Spectron 10/11ft feeder at 10ft, 1oz tip

Reel: Daiwa TDM 3012

Line: 8lb sensor 0.19mm hooklength

Hook: 14 QM1

Feeder: Guru Micro pellet feeder

Wagler:

Rod: Daiwa TD 11ft pellet wag

Reel: Daiwa TDM 3012

Line: 4lb sensor 0.13mm hooklength

Hook: 18 Drennan Red Maggot

Float: 3AA Dave Harrell thick Insert waggler.

Grand Union Practice take 2

It was back off the Grand Union at the Globe today for the grudge match between Alfie and myself, this time I had all of the kit that I would need, although I did have to get Alfie to make me some bread feed.

We walked up the tow path, left from the pub and this time we set up a couple of hundred meters up just off the back of the sewage treatment plant.

As you can see from the picture it was quite wide and there were not too many features across to go at, but there was one bramble so that was to be my main line of attack.  As usual I plumbed up a 5m bread line, a 13m bread line in about 3.5ft of water, a worm line next to the bramble at 16 meters (!) and finally a worm rig for next to the tins 5m to my right as we saw a few carp mooching about as we were setting up.

We had a bit of a staggered all-in as Alfie was ready before me and he went out on the short pole after feeding multiple lines, when I was ready I few 10 worms and a few casters on both worm lines and a small ball of licky on the 5m line.  I then shipped out the short bread rig and had an almost instant response, the fish were a variety of sizes but the bites were coming quite quickly, it was a bit like bread fishing on the K&A in that if the fish got too small then a small ball wold see the bigger fish return, for a short time.  I had a look on a new 13m bread line after tangling my short line rig and found that I could catch a small roach one a chuck on the bread on this line.  I was keen to try for skimmers and bonus fish though and was fishing a 5mm punch on the bottom or just off. After an hour I had over thirty fish to Alfies fifteen(ish) so I decided that I could risk a look on the worm lines.

The line against the inside tins was a non-starter, I think I needed a boat there to act as overhead cover to have any sort of chance really, but when I shipped across to the bramble I was rewarded with a perch of about a pound almost straight away, I was in two minds as to whether or not I should re feed but I thought I would give it a couple of minutes before possibly overfeeding the swim.  Second put in I was rewarded with an even bigger perch close to if not 2 pounds in weight and it was at this point that I decided top it up with a few worms and casters.

I went back on the 13m bread line and continued to shell peas, although I had a couple of quiet spells that I was hoping were skimmers moving in but was probably pike to be honest. After a while of catching a lot but not adding much weight as the roach had shrunk dramatically, I decided to have a few looks on the worm line and over the next hour or so I managed another perch and a couple of decent Hybrids, both getting on for a pound.  It was at this point that I decided to start a new worm line at 13m in 4ft of water well off to the right (away from Alfie) to see if I could make anything happen on it.  I fed it with 30 dendys chopped roughly and a ¼ pot of caster and went back across for another decent perch.

This was close to the end of the action though, I managed one perch from the track line and a missed bite and I had two more perch from the bramble but the last couple of hours were a struggle for both of us. Alfie even went back onto his short line with squatt to try and put a few fish in the net, I refused to and started yet another worm line at 6m just beyond where I had been fishing bread, but I had no indications off that line.

We packed up about 3pm as we were starting to lose the light and a bit of drizzly rain was coming in, Alfie weighed first in the grudge match and he had a respectable 4.5-5lb of small roach with a rogue Perch thrown in, If I hadn’t have been catching a few bonus fish he would have probably got his head down on the bits for 6lb or more, but that isn’t how the day panned out.  My net came out the water and I had 6 or seven Perch, two Hybrids and around 50 small roach for twelve pound and change, I can’t remember exactly but it was good day.

We finished packing up and said our farewells as I am back to a real job in the New Year so will no longer be anywhere near the GU Canal which is a shame as it is a brilliant bit of water, I have managed 3 sessions on there now and the fishing has been really good each time. 

Alfie went on his merry way and I had my tea in the Globe inn again and the food is good…., then the final drive into Watford, some last minute Christmas shopping and then back to my room to turn it around and write this.

What would I do different?

I should have nurtured the long bread line for a bit longer but I was catching bonus fish and I was heading towards a section win so to speak so I kind of forgot about it. Next time if I topped up a worm line I would drop a nugget on the bread line, and possibly catch 10 roach then count to 100 on each worm line and rotate like that?

Tackle used:

Pole Bread Short:

Elastic: Double 4 Slip

Line: 0.13mm N Gage to 0.08mm Cenex

Hook: 20 PR311

Float: 0.6g AS5

Pole Long Bread:

Elastic: Number 5 slip

Line: 0.13mm N Gage to 0.08mm Cenex

Hook: 20 Polemaster Wide Gape (one of my last few L)

Float: 0.3g AS3

Pole worm track:

Elastic: Yellow Vespe (through 1 section)

Line: 0.17mm powerline to 0.14mm Cenex

Hook: 15 B711

Float: 0.3g Frenzee FP500

Pole worm across:

Elastic: Yellow Vespe (through 1 section)

Line: 0.17mm powerline to 0.14mm Cenex

Hook: 15 B711

Float: 4X12 Drennan Dibber

Grand Union Practice

As the title implies it was off up to the Grand Union Canal for a practice/ coaching session with Alfie, as it had been a short notice trip I had left a few vital bits of canal kit at home, like keepnets and rigs but I would cope.  We met up just outside Milton Keynes and then travelled down to the Globe Inn stretch and I have to be honest I was very impressed with the initial look at the stretch with good parking and easy access.

We trundled down the towpath past a few boats and stopped in an area that Alfie had fished before, last time he had caught numbers of small fish on bread and other anglers nearby had caught bonus fish on worm, this gave me a few ideas on how to approach the area and we settled not far apart at the end of a wood line on the far bank.

  

I had cobbled together some rigs in the week concentrating on squatt and worm fishing, so these were my main plan, I mixed my groundbait and went about plumbing the swim up. I found that it was shallower closer and that the deepest line was at around 9m, then it shallowed up again towards the far bank but since I was still with only 13m of pole I decided to settle on a line that would give me room over if I needed it.  I found 4ft at 11.5m and decided that I would fish squatt there so I set up a couple of rigs for that line, then I plumbed up a worm line down the track at 13m to my right, this was for the skimmers and perch so Lobworms were the bait.

I made a 50/50 mix of secret dark and supercup that was on the damp side just in case there was a bit of boat traffic and as we started I cupped in 4 small balls laced with squatt and a few pinkie.  They were small balls as I had forgotten the cup for on the end of my cupping kit, and had to borrow one of Alfies!

Alfie started on bread and had a slow start and after half an hour or so I had 5 small Roach to his 1, so he moved onto his squatt line that he had a lot shorter than me in the deepest water but we both found it slow going.

The wind was proving troublesome so I started to feed small balls of feed rich groundbait and I cut out the loose feed completely, this sorted it out and I was soon catching reasonably well, I even had a small skimmer of 8-10oz along with some gudgeon and nice stamp roach.

I had a few early looks on the worm line, I had kick started it with 4 lobs roughly cut and I topped it up a couple of times in the first few hours, but I only had a couple of small perch off it all day. Since I had caught around 60 small fish on the pinkie line I decided to concentrate on catching a few lumps for the last hour and a half or so on worm so I started by plumbing up a second line down the track, short of my groundbait line and I then spent the next 30 minutes or so alternating these two lines for very little return.  Alfie in the meantime had a worm line across in shallower water and he managed a couple of small perch on this , so not being proud, I copied him and soon had a worm line as far across the canal as I could with 13m of pole, I was about a meter shot of where I would have wanted to be under the brambles but hey ho.  I fed it with 5 lobs and then fed a 150ml of caster and 15 lobs down the track line to the right.

It didn’t take too long for signs to start in the shallower water and Alfie had a couple of decent perch both in the ¾ to a pound bracket, in short order and then I managed a couple of smaller perch and a net hybrid.  Then as quickly as it started the feeding spell stopped and we were both scratching again.

We decided to call it a day just as it was getting dark, plus the rain that had been promised all day was starting to arrive, Alfie had managed 5-6lb of fish and I had managed to click 67 fish so would have had about the same.  We decided to hang around so that we could miss the traffic and this saw us popping into the Globe Inn for tea and it was very good, I will be going back.  Thankyou Alfie for a quality days fishing filled with plenty of laughs, I will bring a keepnet and scales next time so we can actually call it a return grudge match!

What would I do different?

Other than not leaving most of the gear that I needed at home I would have fished Dendrabenas over Lobs as the fish did not seem big enough for the specimen tactics I was using. Alfie had his better Perch on Dendy over lobs.  I will also take my whips if I go there again so I can fish a short line.

Tackle used:

Pole long Light:

Elastic: Yellow Hydro

Line: 0.13mm N Gage to 0.08mm Cenex

Hook: 22 PR311

Float: 0.2g AS3

Pole Long Bagging:

Elastic: Yellow Hydro

Line: 0.13mm N Gage to 0.08mm Cenex

Hook: 20 Polemaster Wide Gape (one of my last few)

Float: 0.3g AS3

Pole worm track:

Elastic: White Hydro

Line: 0.17mm powerline to 0.12mm Cenex

Hook: 12 B560

Float: 4X12 Drennan Dibber(Treack and across) and 0.3g Frenzee FP500 (Track only)

AAF Fur and Feather, Furnace Lakes

So yesterday had been the F&F for the South West of England, today was the F&F for the whole Army. Yesterday we had 46 angler booked in today 18, go figure.  On the bright side it meant that there should be some good prizes at the end of it.  Myself and Alfie were the only two anglers from outside the host group so we agreed to meet up at a Café in Guilford I think, and we discussed life and tactics there before joining the others at the lake.  I was a bit later due to a slight detour but I got there…ok I missed the turning.

First point of call was the shop and they told me that the lake had been fishing hard and that only 16lb had won at the weekend, so after getting a brew and dipping my nets I was soon parking up and meeting the rest of the hardy souls who had turned out for this event.

There was a nice atmosphere as usual at these matches and H decided to come out with the quote of the year with “If you have less than 20lb you have done it wrong!”  Well we would see.

I drew A6 which was middle of the left hand bank as we  were looking at it and I had Alfie for company on A5, as it turned out he was about 10m to my left, but I did have a blank swim to my right so the pegging was not that tight.

Looking at my peg the plan was going to reasonably simple: Feeder at 25 turns, Method at 25 turns, pole and caster at 5m and worm at 13m.  I set up and spent a good 5 minutes chopping my half kilo of worm, minus a few for the hook, into a mush, I then opened my groundbait from the day before to suddenly panic and have to mix some more with about 20 minutes until the all in.  I was still ready for the all in (Sorry Ian) and as it was called I fed three balls of minced worm mixed with 2mm pellet and groundbait onto the 13m line, I then threw 15 caster on the short line and finally pinged the cage feeder out to the clip. The feeder was incredibly slow and after 45 minutes I had had a couple of tiny indications on the ¾ oz tip so I decided to have a look on the long pole.

First put in I used my double bulk rig as according to H it would be quite a busy day but that didn’t even twitch so it was onto my light rig and trotting it through on the tow.  It was on my second run through that I had a small indication that gave me a small skimmer and then on the third I lifted and found myself stuck onto a foul hooked fish that felt like a big skimmer. It dropped off and I fed a small ball of worm mix to try and regroup the fish. It was back onto the feeder for another stint without an indication, I set up the method at this point and gave it a few casts to no avail so I decided that I would re rig it to look for a carp on popped up bread.  In hindsight a bit of punched meat would have been better due to the water colour, but I had it in my head to fish bread so I did.  Back on the long pole for a look and first run down I hooked and landed a good skimmer of about a pound and a half on a worm segment about a meter down tow of the bait, then I had another two over the top of the bait but these were half the size, and then the swim went quiet for ten minutes so I re fed and tried my caster line whilst resting it.

Although it wasn’t solid I was putting a few small roach and hybrids into the net from the short pole line, and I thought that I was doing alright as Alfie to my left was struggling and I had not seen too much coming in on the far bank.  I rotated through the long pole, short pole and bread on the bomb for the next couple of hours and I managed a few more skimmers on worm and a few better roach on the caster line but I wasn’t setting the world on fire by any stretch of the imagination. I did notice that I was having to feed quite positively to keep the bites coming so since Alfie was still struggling I popped round and told him what to try. He fed a couple of balls of groundbait and within 30 minutes had an eel and a skimmer!

The last couple of hours were slow for everyone as the wind and tow picked up making presentation tricky, but I did manage a skimmer on the groundbait feeder during this slow spell and before long the all-out was being called.

All around it seemed to have fished hard, Rick in the peg to my right was admitting top 5-6lb, I thought I would have about 10-11lb and we were just waiting on H and his 20lb.  As it turned out H had 4kg odd and Rick it would appear is rubbish at guessing weights as he had 5kg (11lb)  but I squeaked him with 5.15kg for the section.

Back at the car park I found out that I was second as Ken had managed 6kg from the shallow end to take the win, but on my first visit to the venue I couldn’t help but be happy with a second in tricky conditions J.

We all went to the pub for the results and courtesy of the AAF I managed to pick up a nice Hamper for my troubles of the drive along the M25, due to the traffic I sat in the pub and had a meal whilst I waited for the roads to calm down a little and on my return to my room I admired my spoils from the last couple of days.

Thanks again to Craig and his team for the Tuesday and to Ian for the running of the AAF Fur and Feather as it is a thankless task.  Don’t know when my next trip out is but it might be a cheeky session on the Grand Union with Alfie.

What would I do different?

The only two things that I would change would have been to fish method feeder rather than a groundbait feeder for the skimmers and I should have fished a smelly bottom bait on the bomb rather than bread which only received one tap probably off a roach. The water was too coloured for it.  Oh and I needed more than ½ a kilo of worm but I should have tried big potting or loose feeding caster or maggot when it went quiet, but it’s easy after the match.

Tackle used:

Pole long Light:

Elastic: Yellow Hydro

Line: 0.13mm powerline to 0.10mm Cenex

Hook: 18 B911 F1

Float: 0.6g AS2

Pole Long Heavy:

Elastic: Pink Vespe

Line: 0.13mm powerline to 0.10mm Cenex

Hook: 18 B911 F1

Float: 1.0g Drennan Carp 2

Pole Short:

Elastic: Yellow Hydro

Line: 0.13mm powerline to 0.10mm Cenex

Hook: 18 B911 F1

Float: 4X10 MW Carbon F1

Feeder Groundbait:

Rod: Drennan Ultralight Bomb with 3/4oz tip

Reel: Daiwa TDM 3012

Line: 0.16mm Cenex Feeder to 0.12mm Cenex

Hook: 18 B911 F1

Feeder: Micro Drennan cage

Method and Bomb:

Rod: Drennan Series 7 Carp feeder 10ft

Reel: Daiwa TDM 3012

Line: 8lb sensor 0.19mm hooklength

Hook: 14 QM1 12QM1 on Bomb

Feeder: Guru Micro Hybrid, inline and Guru 2/3 inline lead

AAF Gp2 Fur and Feather, Witherington Farm

It is funny how the old saying ‘Doesn’t time fly’ can sometime ring true, but it feels like last week that I was fishing shallow and melting in the heat on the banks of various lakes. Anyway it was off to Withy for the annual Gp2 Christmas match and as I had volunteered to help I was soon begrudgingly getting up in the dark and cold before winding my way to the venue.

As it turned out my help was not actually needed as all the pegs have nice shiny tags marking them so we were able to paper peg the lakes.  I say lakes as most people had been expecting to turn up and fish the Snake, but at the last minute there was a change of plans, so Selwood and Cottage were brought into the equation as well. Not ideal if you had only packed a pole, especially with the weather forecast that we were expecting.

Everyone had booked in, Craig had given his brief and a breakfast had been dispatched (second of the day!) so onto the draw, now some say that I am a lucky bugger at times, and this was one of those times that I will agree as I pulled 54 on the outer snake out of the bag, not too shabby.

Normally I would have set up a rig to fish tight over on the pole and prepared for a tug of war day, but I had dropped a couple of sections off for precautionary wraps so I only had 13m of Z9 with me and although that would have reached the front of the bush opposite I wanted to fish alongside it, so I set up a micro hybrid feeder to go into the lions den.  I also plumbed up a line at 11.5m for silvers and two margin lines, then I mixed some 50:50 F1 dark and Sensas Lake and sorted the rest of my bait.

I had Dave to my right for company and I had also gone a quid with Craig and Pez, who were both also in my section even though they were sat on Selwood?!? You have to love it when people don’t turn up!

The start came and I cupped 3 balls of groundbait in on the silvers line before pinging out the feeder across, my watch was set for 15 minutes and after about 7 minutes Dave had a proper lump on, I also hooked a fish pretty quick but I would have needed 4 of them to catch up with Daves fish.  It was steady away really throughout the day with a few carp on the tip and I broke this up with a few skimmers and a rogue carp on the long pole line.  That is about all I can say about the fishing, I had quicker bites by putting less feed in the feeder but if I didn’t get a bite within the 10 minutes on my stopwatch (I reduced the amount of time after the first two fish came at 8 minutes) I would move onto the pole to rest the feeder line for 10-20 minutes.

I did’t have a single indication down the edge even though I was an end peg but other than that the day went as planned apart from losing a fish on the whistle under the tree.

It was a quick pack up and we were soon all back in the café eager for the results, Dave won it from my right with 24kilo, then Dave H on Selwood 15 had an impressive 22Kg on the waggler by all accounts, then I rounded off the section top 3 with 18.860kg.  But I was still only in 4^th overall as Rocky on Cottage 16 had 19Kg, the venue other than that had fished quite hard and there were even a couple of DNW’s on Selwood.

Fortunately Craig had sorted a prize for everyone and there was plenty of banter after the match and the post-match soup helped this along no end.

I ended up with a couple of boxes of sweets and some other goodies, after a bit of trading, so I was well happy as I started my journey back to North London.

Thanks to Craig for the organisation and all the team at Witherington Farm for an enjoyable day.

What would I do different?

If I had wanted to win I should have gone into the shop and bought some stronger elastic than I had packed, I would have also needed to have borrowed a section from John.  This would have allowed me to fish against the snags where the fish were, but I was quite happy with my plan to fish the feeder and I learnt a few bits and bobs. I would have liked some different hookbaits and possibly a second size of pellet in the feeder mix, i.e 2mm and 4mm not just 2mm. I also think that a short maggot line for roach would have been a better option than trying down the edge for carp.

Tackle used:

Pole long Light:

Elastic: Yellow Hydro

Line: 0.13mm powerline to 0.10mm Cenex

Hook: 18 B911 F1

Float: 0.4g AS2

Pole Long Heavy:

Elastic: Yellow Hydro

Line: 0.13mm powerline to 0.10mm Cenex

Hook: 18 B911 F1

Float: 0.6g Drennan Carp 2

Pole Margin:

Elastic: White Hydro

Line: 0.15mm powerline to 0.14mm Cenex

Hook: 1 Tibertini 175

Float: 4X8 MW carp slim

Feeder:

Rod: Drennan Series & Carp feeder 10ft

Reel: Daiwa TDM 3012

Line: 8lb sensor 0.19mm hooklength

Hook: 14 QM1

Feeder: Guru Micro Hybrid, inline