Fisho Qualifier Gold Valley, 27/3/16

Today saw me take a trip to Gold Valley to have a shot at getting into the Fishomania Final, I had put in for 5 tickets but this was the first of only the two that I received, such is life.  I did the normal trip but left home with too much time to spare, fortunately I am skint so couldn’t spend any money in the tackle shop but I did get to catch up with a few faces that I haven’t seen for a while.  We got to discuss how bad we were expecting the fishing to be especially since a lot of cold water had been dumped into the venue from the sky overnight.  We also put the world to rights generally and soon the draw was upon us, the normal rush to the front took place and I managed to pull peg 9 out of the pot, which I was reliably informed was not too shabby.

As I had the island the plan was going to be a simple one, method and wag to the island, then a skimmer line at about 13m, well I had taken a lot of worm with me, and finally a margin line as I had the biggest swim IN THE WORLD!! So there was an outside chance of a fish down the edge close to the end.

Tackle and bait sorted, I even had enough time to walk back to the van for my second pole roller that I had forgotten, net went in, worm got chopped and the all in was called.

I fed three balls of chop and groundbait mix at 13m before sending the feeder between the island and the reflection of the big tree, it felt about 2 feet deep maximum so the plan was to build the swim slowly through the day and hope for a few fish in the last hour.  I was leaving the feeder in for 15 minutes at a time and after the third cast I put another ball of worm mix in on the pole line, then the feeder went back out.  It was very slow around and Si to my left had managed a small carp on the feeder to the island by this point but it was one of only a couple I had seen come in on our bank, before I knew it I had a almighty drop back bite and a few minutes later my honour was satisfied and a small carp was in the net.  The feeder went straight back out but all I got to show for it this time was liners, so a change of hookbait and carp number 2, 3 and 4 were all in the net aver the next 30 minutes.

I thought that I was well on the way for a good weight but up until now the weather had been alright and there had been a bit of sun on the water.  The next thing to happen was a big cloud sat overhead and deposited loads of hail onto the lake, the liners stopped.  I came in on the pole line that I had been feeding for the last couple of hours but all I managed was bumping one small fish and paning a small hybrid.

I tried the big wag and started to feed the edge a bit more aggressively but over the last two hours all that happened was that the lake started to empty of people, Si had two carp in the final hour and we both also lost one in the final thirty minutes.  I saw two fish down my edge but had no liners or other indications.

The all out was called and to be honest I was glad, the guy to my right had packed up with an hour to go only having had one skimmer and he was not the only one.  Si had been getting reports of a weight coming from middle lake and a couple of guys on the other bank had managed 6 or so carp as we had been watching them.

The scales were on us quick and Si’s 4 carp went 28lb, mine 33lb 15oz, ok almost half of that weight was 1 fish but I am not complaining, as ther scales followed around the whiole of the next section did not weigh! And there were a lot of 20lb weights winning sections.  At the results I had managed to win my section but had missed out on 4^th by only 5lb…. that lost fish cost me dear, 3^rd had 50lb, 2^nd 70lb and the guy on peg 99 won it with 105lb so well done to you.  Farewells done it was the windy drive home along the M3.

What would I do differently?

I should have set up a bomb to try fishing a longer hooklength and possibly some meat on the hair.

I should have spent the last 30 seconds down the edge… not picked up my method rod and cast pointlessly to the island.

Other than that the weather gods were against me.

Tackle used:

Waggler:

Rod: Drennan Acolyte Carp Waggler 12 ft

Reel: Daiwa TDM 3012

Line: 0.20mm Colmic feeder 0.18mm hooklength

Hook: 18 Guru Pellet wag

Float: 14g Drennan XL pellet wag

Method:

Rod: Drennan medium feeder at 11.5ft

Reel: Daiwa TDM 4012

Line: 8lb Sensor and 0.19mm hooklength

Hook: 14 or 12  QM1

Weight: Various Hybrid feeders

Pole Long Double Bulk:

Elastic: Yellow Hydro

Line: 0.15mm to 0.12mm

Hook: 16 B911 F1

Float: 0.8g Drennan Carp 2

Pole Margin:

Elastic: Red Colmic Hollow

Line: 0.19mm to 0.18mm

Hook: 3 T175

Float: 0.3g Drennan Carp 4

23/04/14 Fishomania Qualifier Gold Valley

This was my last bite at the Fisho cherry and due to the distance from my house and the fact that I have fished there before I decided that I would just turn up on the morning and chance my arm, I met up with Ian fresh from his win the day before at Maccy D’s and after a quick chat we travelled down to the fishery.

The car parks were overflowing when we got there and there was a great buzz going around the fishery, the general consensus was that a the middle of Gold lake, a corner on Middle or Syndicate were the places to be. So when I drew peg 14 on Gold I was more than happy as it was smack bang in the middle of the lake and there were fish cruising in front of me all the time as I was setting up.

So with that amount of fish up in the water, that was where I was going to target them, Rig 1: Dobbing on the pole, 16m of pole, 3m of line, a small dibber and a 0.16mm hooklength to a 16 PR36 and a quick stop. This rig was for dropping a bit of meat in front of any fish that I see cruising close to me and I also used it to try and mug one for the first 5 minutes, it didn’t work so enough of that.

I then had 2 pellet waggler rods set up for my short line, one with a loaded float and one with a float with shot, these were both on 4lb mainline, 0.20mm hooklengths and I had a 14 on the loaded float and a 16 on the shotted float.

The rigs for the long line, next to the rope was a method feeder and a large loaded pellet wag, again big hooks and strong hooklengths were the name of the game.

My bait tray was pretty sparse with a couple of bags of 11mm pellet for feed and a few 8mm and robin reds for change baits, I also dampened off half a pint of 2mm for around the method and I was ready for the all in.

I walked the bank for a little while trying to see if I could glean any tips and also trying to give the fish somewhere to hide in front of my swim, it worked as they moved in and milled around until the keepnets went in…grrrr.  Also on my wanders I ended up going a quid with Ian and Ray Hayward so that would be interesting and a reason to stay.

As the hooter went I shipped out on the pole and slapped the dobbing rig around a bit to see if any carp were still close in, the answer was no as shed loads of bait was getting thrashed in at around 20-25m and all the carp started running away to the middle of the lake. I started pinging in a few pellets further out than the guys either side of me helped along by the light breeze off our backs, however the fish had obviously backed right off to the middle of the lake as I managed one missed bite in the first hour and a half and fish were head and shouldering further out. So out went the big wag, in the next 30 minutes I landed 1 hooked in the mouth, one foul hooker and lost a further 2 foul hookers before they moved to the other side of the rope. So it was back to working hard on the shorter line.

This finally paid off with 2 more bites coming over the last 3 hours both on the shorter line and both hooked in the mouth, so that was it the match was over and all I could do at the end was chuckle at how hard the section had been.  The guy top my left had 2 small carp and a couple of skimmers on the method, he had to wait 33 minutes for his fist bite and 36 for his second??!! The guy to my right blanked, in fact the only indications he got was when he cast into my swim… Yes I had noticed but the pegs were a bit tight and I was feeding to one side so that I could give the fish somewhere to hide within an easy cast, it kind of worked. It did seem as though the fish did not want a lot of feed and did not appreciate big loaded wags on their heads as both of my short line fish came on the shotted pellet wag, I might explain the rigs one day, but not today.

Will Raison was weighing us in so I went up to see how Ray had done, 46lb saw me losing a quid so I quickly got back to my peg as loads of people were not weighing in, I had 4 (of the smallest gold lake) carp for 21lb and due to the fact that no-one else weighed in this won me the section. The big test was if I had beaten Ian though and the answer was no as his 40lb+ was enough to win his section as well, so a hard earnt section win for the pair of us.

Well that was my last chance at Fisho this year, but I may have a pop at a couple of Maver Match This events in the locality, I will just have to see if I am feeling lucky closer to the time.

Gold Valley Open 9 Jun 13

For a spot of fun I had decided to book into an open match at Gold Valley lakes near Hampshire today, I have not been to this complex since I won a Match Fishing magazine Club Angler southern qualifier a few years ago off Syndicate Lake so I was interested to see how it had changed. The answer was a lot, there were very few trees around the complex and it looked almost like a new fishery, but not to be perturbed I went in to the shop, got some pellet and then had a brew whilst waiting for the draw. There was a plethora of stars at the fishery for this match, Will Raison, Steve Saunders and Tommy Hillier to name but a few that I recognised, so I knew that I would need to draw on some fish to stand a chance. Peg 51 Gold lake was what stuck in my hand  not where I had wanted but it stood a chance of a few fish so off I went.

I decided to split the swim down into 4 areas and try to find out where the fish wanted to be, there was the middle of the lake next to the rope for the method and BIG waggler, 25m out for the bomb and pellet wag, the 5m line for meat and then finally I had a spare platform to my left so I decided to put a margin line in down there for good measure.

At the all in I fed half a pot of hemp and meat on my 5m line before starting on the method, with an 8mm pellet as hookbait with a 50/50 mix of groundbait and pellet around the feeder. I was aiming for a buoy on the rope but due to a little rustiness only managed to hit it a few times in the opening 45 minutes, in this time I had 2 liners whilst the guy on the peg to my right was casting tight to the island and had managed a couple of carp already. I had a couple of quick chucks on the big wag but to no avail so I tried an early look on my 5m line, this resulted in an almost instant reaction and a skimmer of nearly a pound was soon in the net. I thought that if there were a few of them there then I might have been in with a chance but it was not to be and I was soon rotating around my lines looking for indications. The feeder was that good that I started to use the groundbait mix down the edge but this did not work either, the only carp I caught were 3 of the smallest carp in Gold lake on the bomb and I also managed a couple of skimmers and perch on 8mm meat at 5m.

I did not even bother the scales at the end and tipped back around 20lb (if I was lucky) of fish, John took the quid with 4 odd pounds from middle lake, he was still the lowest of the 3 weights that were recorded from the lake. I learnt a few things, such as the fact that I need a 12 foot rod for fishing the big wag, and that I should have had Robin Red Pellets with me but other than that it was a windy day art Gold Valley.