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.

FLE Fishery (formally Greenridge Farm Fishery) Open

So it was off to Greenridge Farm to see if the lessons I had learnt last month would come in handy, it had been decided that we would fish Canals 1&2 and the buzz was pegs 9-11 on Canal 1 and 12 &13 on Canal2 was the place to be. Again my drawing hand was spot on as peg 9 was on the card.

When I looked at my peg I decided on fishing pellet across, paste in the middle and for the margin I decided to try a tactic that I had used at Heronbrook with good effect, it consisted of feeding large quantities of dead maggot and loose groundbait down the edge so a bag of green swimstim was mixed, 2 and 4mm pellet got softened and my expanders got pumped. My rig for across consisted of 0.15mm mainline and a 0.13mm bottom to an 18 B911, this had a 4X12 Big ‘H’ Border float and was rigged on yellow Vespe E2 hollow elastic. This was nice and soft to try and stop the fish bolting along the far bank, however, it was set on a puller bung to allow me to get control of the fish close in. My paste rig started a s a KC Carpa Margin set at 4ft but due to the stiffening wind later got changed to a 4X14 Big ‘H’ Paste on 0.19mm mainline and 0.17mm bottom with a 10 Drennan Margin Carp, this was set on red Vespe E2 hollow. And finally down the edge it was a doctored 0.4g Sconezone Double Deez on 0.19mm main to a 0.17mm bottom and the same hook as the paste rig but in a size 14, this was set on Orange Vespe E2 Hollow to try and control any bigger fish that I may have caught quickly.

At the all in I cupped some hemp and pellet in on my 11.5m paste line before shipping across to the far bank with a kinder cup of 2mm pellet and a 4mm expander on the hook, I managed a couple of quick carp before the Topmouth Gudgeon became a problem and a change to 4mm pellet in the toss pot saw another 2 carp in the net. After an hour the wind however increased and saw an increased amount of wind tourette’s that saw me decide to try the paste line, due to the fact it was facing slightly into the stiffening wind rig control was tricky but I had a quick Carp before I decided to start a new line at the same distance downwind in my swim. This improved matters and I had another carp, but a short line between float and pole was causing problems, I changed rigs and had a bit more line andf weight down the line, this instantly gave me two more fish before I overfed the swim and fizzing became a real problem.

Because of this and the fact it was now halfway through the match I started feeding my margin with pots of groundbait and dead maggot, i also plumbed up a new line at 2+2 straight out for my paste rig and started loose feeding 4mm pellet over the top by hand. The next 2 hours saw me catch 10 carp all but one from the new paste line but with an hour to go I had overfed my swim and started to suffer badly from liners and Topmouth Gudgeon. This saw me lose a couple of fish and the will to fish in the last 20mins so I packed up early for the first time in ages and waited for the weigh in (as I was on scales). Peg 8 had been catching all day as had both the guys to my right, peg 8 won the pond with 80lb, end peg 11 had 79lb, peg 10 and myself were both sat on 48lb 15oz. Basically I came nowhere with over a ton winning the match from the other lake, but I learnt some valuable lessons for the future.

1.    Not all venues respond to the pot it in approach on the paste line, I had more success fishing a line that I could accurately loose feed 4mm pellet by hand.

2.    Don’t feed too much, as soon as I had done this on all my lines the Gudgeon became a problem and fizzing made it tricky to get bites.

3.    To get around the fizzing fish the paste on the slope, requires accurate fishing but is well worth the effort.

4.    Don’t quit, another couple of fish in the last 20 mins could have seen me in the top 5 and 1 fish would have beaten 2 people on my lake!!!

Anyway there is always next time.

FLE Fishery (formally Greenridge Farm Fishery) Open, 26 March 2011

So it was off to Greenridge for a Saturday Open, and there were some well known local rods lingering around at the draw as well as the usual suspects. Peg 23 was to be my destination and on first looks it was quite good with a bay on the far bank that had been made by the bank falling in and a small bush almost straight in front of my peg and a tree in my right hand margin. On plumbing up things got better with the depth on each corner of the bay being 2 feet with cover and the depth in tight next to the far bank bush was 2 ½ feet, this however ,saw me having to set up two rigs for the two spots. I also plumbed up at 10m at an angle of 45degrees towards the blank peg to my left as a track swim and this was 3 feet deep all over the peg from about a meter out to tight over, and I set up a margin rig to go under the tree to my right and amongst some brambles to my left. My far bank swims were a 4X12 Big H Border float on 0.15 mainline to a 0.13mm bottom and an 18 B911 and another 4X12 Big H float on 0.17mm main to 0.15mm bottom and a 16 B911 for the deeper rig. Both were on Green Vespe E2 Hollow elastic and had a small toss pot fitted to the top kits. My paste rig consisted of a modified KC Carpa Margin Paste Float on 0.19mm Mainline and 0.17mm Bottom to a 12 B911, this was on Red Vespe E2 Hollow. My Margin rig and Corn rig were my standard rigs however did not get used alot.

At the all in the standard pot of hemp, corn and pellet went on the Paste line and I shipped my shallower rig across with a 6mm punch of bread on hoping for a quick mug fish but all I caught in the first 15 mins was the far bank bush (Twice!!!). this saw me decide to start a standard pellet match so I shipped over with my deeper rig and a 4mm expander on the hook and softened pellet in the toss pot and things started to happen with 4 fish falling to this in the first hour. All of them ran me behind the trailing branches of the bush and led to some tourettes kicking in however, I managed to keep them all on the hook. The next hour was much the same but the fish were starting to move around up in the water so I put a 6mm hard pellet into a bait band a foot deep and continued to toss pot pellet in. This led to a quick run of fish but then they wised up so I pulled a catty out of my bag and started to ping pellet towards the bay on the left hand side of the swim.  This again saw me put some more fish in the net but their average size was quite small and after having been topping up my paste line regularly I decided to give it a look with paste on. Second drop in saw me attached to a 6 lber so I decided to rotate from the far bank line and the paste line for the last 2 hours and this saw me double my weight in this time.

At the all out I ended up with 88lb 2oz for third on my lake (Beaten out of 2^nd by 8oz) and 4^th overall so it was a good day 107lb won my lake and the match was won with 131lb. After the match it was the annual prize giving so a buffet had been laid on that was really needed and was really good. Next match is an AAF qualifier at Todber so much of the same.

FLE Fishery (formally Greenridge Farm Fishery) Open

So it was time to start chasing some County Champs points and so it was off to Greenridge farm for an 18peg open. I arrived at the draw on time even after a diversion through the Golden Arches and it was to be peg 21 on Canal 3 that I would be sat in all day.

Looking in front I had a ton of options but decided that with the info I had managed to pick up about the place and the clarity of the water I would fish a far bank line or two with maggot, a track line with corn or maggot and finally a far bank/ margin rig for dobbing bread about the nooks and crannies. All the rigs had 0.15mm main to 0.14 hook lengths and size 18 B911 so I was ready to go with plenty of time to spare, elastics were either Green Vespe E2 Hollow for the mag and bread rig and doubled 8 on the track rig.

At the all in I potted a little hemp, 20 grains of corn and about the same number of maggots out onto my track rig at 9m in the deepest water, and then I shipped a 6mm punch across and under the far bank foliage. It took 20 mins but the float dipped in my 10^th choice spot across on the far bank and a 2lb carp was soon in the keepnet, however, that was when I started to notice problems. Greenridge is full of Topmouth Gudgeon and these love bread, if there were no carp around the float would be constantly moving as they decimated the hookbait. So I tried my maggot line to no avail and then I fed a little on one line and tried another. Nothing was working so I started to explore the margin to my left with the bread rig, pushing it in amongst the snags I was able to extract 13 Carp in total for just over 30lb and I believe 8th Place.

During the day all the guys catching to my left were fishing up the far bank slope in about 2ft of water and barely feeding if at all. Next time I would use more durable floats as I trashed seven rigs on overhangs and other snags and I would think about starting closer to myself and then chasing the fish as they backed off, give it a rest by fishing the track for a period then starting again in a more logical manner. Possible even fishing a deck maggot rig in the same spots as maggot seemed to produce the bigger fish today.

Anyway hopefully points on the Table so job done.