Avoiding the Blank 22 part 11, Willow Park, Hampshire Avon and Todber Ma...

Todber Mid week open 21 Dec 22

Todber again for a mid-week open, I took an opportunity with my current work pattern to book in for this and it is always more practice for the postponed Christmas match. The lakes had been frozen 2 days earlier so we were all unsure about how well it would fish and this along with the standard banter was the start of the day.

John did his spiel and then it was time to dip into the bag of destiny to see what it held. Well peg 40 on Hillview, I need to work on my drawing hand….

 I had done a little prep and had a fairly clear game plan in my head, Bomb and meat to start, long pole and short pole with meat and pellet and a meat feeder rig to try later. I was almost ready for the start, but to be fair I was expecting it to be a slow start, I fed my pole lines, the long pole though I fed with micros and maggot to see if I could generate any interest from skimmers as well as the carp.

The first half of the match was slow, I had a few liners and quick raps on the tip, the long pole gave me 1 carp and some tiny silvers that were not worth catching at 14m and the short pole had given me a carp…. I was going nowhere, it was slow around the lake but everyone around me had had a few fish, many had come on the bomb and some on the short pole.  I decided to try the meat feeder, I was using the Preston interchange ICM bombs and had bought the small cage feeder in the week so that was swapped, and I shortened my hooklength to about 4 inches to try and reduce tangles. It took a few casts, but I had a couple of fish on it, it did still tangle a lot though so I will be looking at that for the next time, it had got some bait out into the area so that was one plus.

The last couple of hours saw me have a few fish on the bomb and short pole each, kinder potting on the pole was best, I think.  Greg to my left was getting a few, the guy to my right was catching well and then Guy on peg 42 was also catching very well on the short pole. Fortunately, the all-out was called and because the scales were coming my way first, I weighed in and got a catch shot.

 

I didn’t hang around though and was able to get a haircut ready for Christmas, the results can be found Here.

The results prove just how bonkers that place is, and I will be back soon.

 

What would I do different:

Draw better, target the silvers pool if I draw pants although it would have been hard to beat Rocky’s 35lb……My meat feeder needs to be sorted out before the next match so that will probably be 2 tip rods set up.  I need to spend longer on the short pole and possibly have 2 short line swims so that I can feed and rest. Like I said many lessons were learned.

 

Rigs used:

Pole long:
Elastic: White Hydro
Line: 0.17mm Powerline to 0.13mm Stream
Hook: 16 B 911
Float: 0.25g Guru Bobbie

 

Pole Short:
Elastic: Drennan power pull 1.8mm
Line: 0.17mm Powerline to 0.13mm Colmic Stream
Hook: 16 B911
Float: 0.25g Guru Bobbie

Feeder:
Rod: 9ft Matrix Aquos C Class feeder, 1oz tip.
Reel: Cadence CS5 4000 loaded with 8lb Sensor
Rig: 10 or 20g ICM bomb with 6-12” 0.19mm hooklength to a size 12 QM1 and bait stop. Tried an 25g inline cage feeder for meat feeder.

 

 

 

AAF Gp 2 Match, Todber, 7 Dec 22

It was back to Todber for an AAF Gp 2 match, this was also our Fur and Feather so it didn’t matter how bad the draw was I would be winning something, which as it turned out was a good thing.

Loads of ‘banter’ before the match at the café we were using for the draw, and I was tasked by Tree to draw the swims for the team, and what a crock of pants they were to. I put Tree in no fish bay and myself in the corner that had done the 2 lowest weights on Saturdays match peg 80.

On getting to my swim,

I had a bit of room either side a there was only 9 of us on the lake and again I bumped a few fish whilst plumbing up.  I decided not to do a long pole line this time as I thought it would get in the way of me looking around with the bomb and wag so it was a waggler, bomb, short poleand deep margin plan.

I bumped fish again whilst plumbing up and this gave me a little hope and at the all-in, I fed pellet and meat on my 6m line and started feeding pots of maggot down the edge to my left in 3ft of water.  I cast the waggler out and caught a few small roach in the first 20 minutes and the bomb wasn’t much better but at least it was the occasional carp that picked up my meat hook bait. At about the halfway stage I think I had 20lb or so mostly on the bomb, so I had a look on my pole lines and started to catch a few fish, I am still not sure if it was where they wanted to be or the time of day. The second half of the match was a lot better although I again never set the world on fire, but as long as I beat the weights from in the area from the weekend I would be happy. It was odd because Nic on peg 90 was having a similar day to me earlier in the week, I knew this because he was telling EVERYONE.

Again I had a good spell this time down the edge in the last 10 minutes or so but I thought I might have a ton if I was lucky at the all out. As we can see I had 47.525Kg (104lb 10oz ish) so I had achieved the ton and I was happy.  The results saw  the same 3 pegs being top weights in this section, although Jamie to my right went over on a couple of nets and this cost him dearly.

** The Christmas Match I was prepping for was cancelled as the lakes froze over the next day**

What would I do different:

Possibly tried to push one of the swims more and maybe switch to a meat feeder instead of the bomb especially in the later stages of the match.

Rigs used:

Pole Short:

Elastic: White Hydro
Line: 0.17mm Powerline to 0.13mm Stream
Hook: 16 B 911
Float: 0.25g Guru Bobbie
Elastic: Preston 13H
Line: 0.17mm Powerline to 0.15mm Colmic Stream
Hook:  2 Tubertini 175
Float: 0.4g  Drennan AS4

 
Feeder:
Rod: 9ft Matrix Aquos C Class feeder, 1oz tip.
Reel: Cadence CS5 4000 loaded with 8lb Sensor
Rig: 10 or 20g ICM bomb with 6-12” 0.19mm hooklength to a size 12 QM1 and bait stop.
 
Waggler:
Rod: 11ft Cadence number 1 wag
Reel: TDR 2508 loaded 3lb Maxima
Rig: 3AAA insert waggler with only a small QC swivel at the top of a 0.12mm hooklength to size 16 hook.

Todber Manor Open 3 Dec 22

This was my first open in a while, but I was supposed to be on the venue for 3 matches in just over a week and a competition I dearly want to win is on there later this year, so this was my first recce.  I decided to work largely on tactics that I know would give me a bite so I had been out in the week and bought a new, short bomb rod and some maggots as I thought it may be tricky due to the rapidly descending temperatures.

On the day I was there nice and early to get any last-minute bits from the shop and then it was time for the draw, there was 111 of us and we were all on Homeground, a lake that I had only ever fished once before with floaters for a giggle as we came out of lockdown.  My had went into the bag of dreams and I pulled out peg 90….. apparently, the best peg in Europe, we would see.

It was a short distance from the car to the peg but peg 91 was a landing net away to my left which confused me, then it transpired that peg 91 had been put in to stop peg 90 being so dominant, well at least I was on a few fish.  The plan was to start on the wag and bomb then find somewhere in open water to fish the pole and possibly something down the edge. It was a very loose plan as all I really wanted to do was catch a few fish and see what all the locals did before but being out of practice I was just about ready early enough to take the micky out of Greg for feeling fragile and forgetting his flask of tea.

At the all in I cupped a small amount of 4mm pellet and maggot towards the stand pipe at 14m and then cast the waggler baited with maggot at about 3ft deep towards the island, I hadn’t bothered plumbing the waggler because when I was plumbing up the pole line I was bumping fish with the rig. I had a couple of quick indications and carp number 1 was soon in the landing net, but the waggler wasn’t right due to a strengthening breeze so I swapped to the bomb. I was getting the odd fish on double 8mm meat and topped up my long pole regularly with pellet and maggots and after about an hour I decided to have a look.

I got a steady runs of fish but never set the word on fire, I spent more time trying to watch the anglers around me and judging what tactics were working and what were not, my best spell of the match was in the last 10 minutes when I had 4 fish in 4 casts on the bomb.  It had been a good day and I was admitting to 120-150lb (a bit vague as I was out of practice clicking).

 As we can see I ended up with 128lb, so not last but not far off and properly "Harried", but I did learn a hell of a lot. 

What would I do different:

I should have set up a short line that I actually fished.

Rigs used:

Pole long:
Elastic: White Hydro
Line: 0.17mm Powerline to 0.13mm Stream
Hook: 16 B 911
Float: 0.6g Drennan AS5

Pole Short:
Elastic: Preston 13H
Line: 0.17mm Powerline to 0.13mm Colmic Stream
Hook: 16 B911
Float: 0.4g  Drennan AS4
 
Feeder:
Rod: 9ft Matrix Aquos C Class feeder, 1oz tip.
Reel: Cadence CS5 4000 loaded with 8lb Sensor
Rig: 10 or 20g ICM bomb with 6-12” 0.19mm hooklength to a size 12 QM1 and bait stop.
 
Waggler:
Rod: 11ft Cadfence number 1 wag
Reel: TDR 2508 loaded 3lb Maxima
Rig: 2AAA insert waggler with only a small QC swivel at the top of a 0.12mm hooklength to size 16 hook.