Royal Signals Championship 23 Todber Manor

Firstly, sorry for not keeping this up to date, but I am going to try and get back on the blog as I can use it for other things aswell.  Anyway back to the champs, I was a little on the back foot as I had been coaching on the run up to this, so whilst everyone else was getting their eye in I was trying not to lose mine. Day 1 Hillview peg 40, not the best peg but I had tons of room and the pegging was fair so it was a get my head down job and catch what I could.

 

I started with maggot in the margin and fished that all day, I swapped between shallow and no shot rigs as I had carp crawling up the bank all day, I was a little rusty however and a few destroyed rigs- (should have used a no float rig!!), and not keeping up with the clicker cost me dearly in the end.  I weighed in 653lb 13oz but had gone over in 3 nets so had lost out on at least 50lb, DJ smashed the lake on the day with 733lb but I feel that may have been possible from that peg if I had just done some small things better, but Hey Ho, onto day 2.

 

Day 2 Homeground, I was on peg 85 for this match, not what I wanted but I had the wind and rain in my face all day so that may have been a benefit by pushing the fish into the margin.  Plan was the same as day 1, maggots in the margin but I also added a meat line on a top kit as a resting line.  It was another good day and I barely noticed how crappy the weather was because I was catching so well throughout the day, I had a small cut out to my right and at times I was able to mug the individual fish as they were slurping the maggots off the reeds.  When they backed off for a few minutes I was able to drop on my meat line and tick over with a slightly bigger stamp of fish, although the bites were slightly slower.

I knew it had been a good day and I weighed in 508lb 9oz, I was pleasantly surprised when this was enough for a section win and with DJ having a  mid 400lb I knew it would be close for second place in the champs.

 

History will show that Greg was totally dominant with a 750lb on day 1 and 1081lb on day 2 he romped to winning the Corps Champs with a perfect score and total weight of 1830lb!!!, DJ piped me with 3 points and 1178lb to my 3 points and 1162lb.  Those nets I went over on Day 1 cost me dearly.

 

Thankyou to Greg for running the event and to all that fished, we just need to find more anglers now that want to get involved.

 

What would I do different:

Practice, I firmly believe that fishing the match before the camps would have stopped me from going over on my nets day 1 and this would have been the difference between 3^rd and 2^nd.

 

Rigs used:

Pole meat:
Elastic: Preston 17H
Line: 0.19mm Powerline to 0.17mm Powerline
Hook: 14 Kaizen
Float: 0.3g RWC Avenger

 

Pole shallow maggot:
Elastic: Preston 17H
Line: 0.19mm Powerline to 0.17mm Powerline
Hook: 14 Kaizen
Float: 0.4g Drennan inline dibber

 

Pole No float:
Elastic: Preston 17H
Line: 0.19mm Powerline to 0.17mm Powerline
Hook: 14 Kaizen
Float: none

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.

 

 

Avoiding the Blank 20 Part 4 (SADAC, WADAC lakes and Todber)

Avoiding the blank 19 part 2

After the last hard session on linear Jase and I decided to go somewhere a bit easier to fish and a plan was hatched to visit Todber Manor the next weekend, Jase was there first and secreted himself onto little Hayes so once I finished work I drove up to join him.  To be fair my heart wasn’t in it and I would have been much rather blanking on the little lake, but I was there so I gave it a go.  My main attack was a variety of maggot rigs and small bags of

maggots during the daylight hours and then I switched to zigs before I went to bed.  Jase had our only real action at about 10pm with a 14lb carp but to be fair we were not sat in the best pegs and we had missed the chance to get on them so it was our own fault.  Needless to say I blanked and went home with my tail firmly between my legs.

The next weekend it was back to the club lakes, I did a lap around the little lake and saw nothing so I decided to have a look up the north bank of the big lake and a bit of a think, I came across numbers of fish moving around towards the shallower end of the lake so I decided to give it a go on the big lake for the night.  Maggot rigs and small bags of maggots were fished on a silty area and also on a gravel spot I knew of and I awaited the night’s events.  I managed to land a bream and drop another bream in the night and the morning was far less eventful, in hindsight I should have sat on the little lake as that was playing on my mind again all night but I will never learn.

My next session was a fortnight later due to a spot of snow and work, I had decided by this time that a fruit machine tactic should be the way to get a bite from the little lake so I had earmarked an area that I fancied for the fish to start moving over once they decided to wake up.  I set my stall out in the swim and had 1 rod on a short range spot and the other across the far bank as I believe that it might be good for an opportunist bite across there.  Long story short was that I put 6 spombs of maggot and crushed boilie over both area and then sat back, I may have had a liner in the night but cannot be sure, the rods stayed out all night until it was time to go home and prep for next week.

Next trip was a Wednesday afternoon where I managed to get a few hours in, same area, almost the same bait as I was trying something new but no indications or signs in my short time on the bank. However I was back 2 days later on Friday, again same swim and tactics but nothing to show for my efforts, not even a sign.  I must be honest that by this point even I was questioning my sanity, but I was now targeting 1 fish so had the fish the lake it is in.

The following week it was turning into groundhog day, same swim, same tactics although this time I had 2 nights at my disposal, I may have seen a carp on the first morning at about 10am but it was hard to tell as it was a small movement under the far bank trees, but I put a rig on it just in case.  And again on the last morning as a small working group from the club I was involved in was walking around we saw what was probably a carp in one of the corners, just a swirl and some fizzing but it was hope.

That week saw a lot of plans change and I decided that it would be a good time to start a new adventure with Jase, he had already joined a club that was closer to work so I decided to join him.  My first trip was a Thursday night to Saturday lunchtime and I had the first night to myself, on turning up at the lake that Jase had suggested I managed to get a good look around and decided to settle in the shallow end for a couple of hours and to get a feel for the place. 

I had seen a few fish behind an island but the water there was only a couple of feet deep and I did not expect the fish to stay there.  I was using method feeders on carp gear for a start and after a couple of hours I was getting itchy feet, since I was one of only 2 people on the complex I set my deeper up and went for a plumb around the lake looking for any interesting features.  I found a few and I also found a pod of large fish tucked away towards a snaggy corner, so at 10pm I was soon moving my kit around to a new swim. 

The new swim was up a narrow arm of the lake and by using my 18m baiting pole I was able to place my 2 rods in likely looking area with the minimum amount of disturbance, I was soon settling down for the night. I was woken up a couple of times with big liners on my left hand rod, but nothing materialised and come the morning I was feeling quite deflated that nothing had happened.

Jase turned up mid-morning and this coincided with me moving swims one hop to my right, I had seen a fair bit of fizzing up against some bushes on the far bank so I thought that it was worth a shot and moved expecting it to be better the next morning. 
We went off for a bit of stalking in the afternoon and found a few fish in the shallows, but they had obviously seen bread before as I dropped a bit of flake in front of one and it near enough ran out of the bay screaming for its mum!!  We settled in for the night, Jase in a swim that he had fished before and I sat next to him, I had changed my rigs to naked helicopters by this point and at about midnight I got done, Jase on the other hand had 17lb and 15lb commons for his efforts.  

Late in the evening another of the club members tipped up and managed a 10lber in the early evening so even though he was fishing 4 rods in every available swim I had still messed something up and I needed a change.

I was next out the following Wednesday having decided to start focusing on other species and trying to enjoy my fishing again as chasing carp had become a bit of a chore to be fair, I went on to a water that I know has a number of tench to over 7lb but average a lot smaller and thought that I could try out some new specialist rods.  I was fishing helicopter feeder rigs and over the course of a reasonably short session had my fires stoked by a few small skimmers and rudd, but it had been great fun and a plan was getting hatched for the weekend.

Friday night I got down to the big lake a bit later than usual due to vehicle problems but I was soon setting up in open water in an area where I have caught my target species before, bream.  The target was a 6 pound bream but I had heard rumours of larger getting caught by some of the carp anglers so there was always a chance of a surprise.  I found a silt gully beside a gravel bar and tried to feed 2 pints of particle mix (dead maggot, pellet and corn) as accurately as I could through the spod in the strengthening wind.  I started with 2 paternoster rigs over the baited spot, one on worm and the other fishing dead maggot on the hook, but by 9 pm and with no signs I decided to swap one rod onto a method feeder and ping it into the middle of the lake where I had an inkling that there may be some fish holding up.

I was proved right as an hour later the baited area rod was away, as I picked the rod up I could tell it was a decent fish and a few minutes later I was slipping the net under a very decent looking bream.  As I was in the process of sorting the scales and camera the other rod was away as well and this was another slightly smaller bream, what a start to the campaign.  I weighed the second fish first and it was 6lb 8oz, a sfew quick snaps and then it was the bigger fishes turn, it pulled the scales down to 8lb 10oz and was only 2 ounces under the lake record!!  That was it I would have been happy packing up then which is just as well as I didn’t get any more signs throughout the night, I was up early though and I saw a few carp showing off to the left in the area that I had had the bream on the method the night before.  As the bream tend to hang around with the carp the method was dispatched back out in that area, I kept working the main spot but with no signs, then about 10 minutes after I had recast the method the rod pulled up tight and I was away.

As soon as I lifted into the fish I knew it was a carp, I started to worry straight away about the size 12 hook and 8lb mainline but it was very well behaved apart from swimming straight into and then out off a large snag down the left of my swim. After a bit of messing about under the rod tip a LARGE carp was nestled into the landing net and to say I was happy was a massive understatement.  It weighed 32lb 12oz and is a new PB after over 10 years.

Photos done I gave it another hour but the fish had stopped showing and with storm Hannah closing in I went home a very very happy bunny………….

So thats the story of the last month or so and you can watch it all here:

 Avoiding the blank 19 Part 2

Knock up Todber Manor Hill view 23 Jun 16

Today started with a proper giggle as we had all slept over in a variety of tents/ bivvies at the fishery ready for the knock up this morning, I awoke to find Pez sleeping under the stars due to his tent mates snoring (Craig) and this set the tone for the morning.  We waited for John to come in as we were supposed to have Whitepost lower for our knock up but we decided to see if we could get it moved onto Hillview lake, the answer was yes so whilst John sorted the pegging we all disappeared off for a breakfast at the local farm shop.

We were all soon back at the shop waiting for the draw and the numbers that I wanted were in the 50’s, so when I pulled 37 out of the hat I was not too happy, but with an island chuck and loads of room for margin lines it wouldn’t be too bad I thought.

I started to decide on a simple plan but that was complicated by the fact that I had got my mits on some caster the day before so a shallow line was going in somewhere, I also set up a waggler and feeder for the island and then plumbed up a short paste line and a couple of margin lines.  I was ready for the all in and I decided to start on the method whilst priming my shallow lines.  The method was a slow start but I started to get a few fish after about half an hour or so, all the time I was watching Craig along the bank to my left as he was fishing shallow and would be my guide to when |I would give it a go.  It was after about another ten minutes and as Craig was netting another better fish I decided to have a look on the shallow caster line.

In ten minutes I managed 3 roach and a tiny carp so since I was catching the odd 2-4lber on the tip I threw the rig up the bank and gave it a pot of pellet as it was the same depth there as my short paste line.

Back on the tip however and the swim started to get stronger and stronger, I was catching steadily all day but due to the makeup of the lake I was struggling with liners and fish knocking the feeder down the far slope.  To try and alleviate this I tried heavier feeders and casting further up the slope and although the fish followed the food and the feeder would sit still the splash seemed to spook them out for the swim for longer and it still took longer for a bite.

Coming into the last hour and a half as I was getting frustrated I decided to try my pole lines, this was a mistake in hindsight but as again I started chasing the fish that I could see down the edge, but I did get a few good fish on a shallow rig pushed tight in down the edge over pellet and I also managed to mug a couple of carp short as well.

The all-out was called and I although I had caught well for long periods I thought that I had blown it as both Craig and Pez had strong last parts of the match, fortunately the scales showed that I had just done enough to hang on for the win.  We did the results in the car park and then parted our separate ways, Craig, Pez and I needed to sort our lives out for the Inter services next week but more of that in a minute.

What would I have done differently?

I should not have come off the method in the last hour and I think I was targeting the fish too far up the shelf at the end in too shallow water.

Tackle used:

Pole Long and short Paste:

Elastic: Preston 17H

Line: 0.19mm to 0.17mm Powerline

Hook: 5 Tubertini 175

Float: 4X10 Big H Paste

Pole Long shallow:

Elastic: White Hydro

Line: 0.19mm to 0.13mm Powerline

Hook: 20 Guru Pellet wag

Float: 0.2g Drennan crystal dibber

Pole Margin:

Elastic: Red Vespe

Line: 0.19mm powerline to 0.17mm Powerline

Hook: 5 Tibertini 175

Float: KC Carpa Margin

Method:

Rod: Drennan series 7 Carp feeder 10ft.

Reel: Daiwa TDM 3012

Line: 8lb sensor 0.19mm hooklength

Hook: 14 QM1

Feeder: various Guru feeders, Hybrid, method and pellet

Waggler:

Rod: Drennan Ultralight 12ft

Reel: Daiwa TDM 3012

Line: 4lb sensor 0.17mm hooklength

Hook: 18 Guru Pellet wag

Float: 3.5g Drennan crystal pellet wag

AAF Gp 2 Match 9 Todber Manor

The run up to this match had been quite hectic, I had managed to get my new pole sections delivered the week before whilst I was away on holiday, however I could not collect them until the Monday, at this point I got them home Monday night only to find that the number 4 section had been broken in transit…. Tuesday saw an aggravated Ben on the phone to the shop and they are going to order a new section and replace it for free but I was still left without a pole for the next day.  Fortunately Reids Tackle had something that would fit the bill so my late afternoon saw a frantic dash to the shop to pick up my new toy and then the evening was spent elasticating it.

The following morning Craig picked me up and I am glad that I had managed a small breakfast when I got up as we got caught up in the after mouth of a crash on the A303 just 4 minutes from my house.  We ran up the road to have a quick check and all bar one bloke who had hurt his arm and was in shock everyone else seemed to be walking wounded so with nothing else that we could do… bar telling the emergency services the exact location we were soon back on the road.  On the road I managed to get the best selfie EVER:

We got to the café a little late but not as late as many others coming from our way, breakfast was half eaten as it was huge and then it was time for the AGM, there were some good points and bad points but you had to be there really… no you really should have.

Onto the draw and with only 36 booked in there was going to be tons of room as the 3 sections covered Ash, Hillview and both Whitepost lakes, Pete and I were discussing where we wanted, Pete wanted Ash, I was happy wherever and Pez just didn’t want Ash.  I did the draw and put Pete on the end peg of Ash, Pez on Peg 54 on Hill view and myself on peg 6 on the top lake of Whitepost, Craig hed drawn the Golden peg, 9 so the transport was easy.

We did a trip to the shop to drop off the BBQ food for the evening and then went to the lake, I found that I had Griff on peg 4, Ivan on the peg I thought I was on, 7, and Craig once again had half a lake to himself on peg 9.  On the bottom lake Rocky was sat on a good peg and there were a few other pegs that I thought would have a chance to beat the tip lake as historically it is better on the bottom lake, anyway I went about setting up my gear.

I was more than ready for the all in and after a lack lustre 15 minutes looking on the feeder and wag across I started properly on paste at 13m, this gave me 5 carp in pretty quick succession and I thought that I was I for a very easy day, but as is often the case I soon started to suffer from fizzing so had to look elsewhere.  Shallow was the answer for 1 carp and 4 F1’s before again I was struggling and it was then a case of trying to put a couple of bites together on a line before moving and starting again on another.  The forth hour was the best with several carp falling to paste down the edge after I changed from meat, it seemed to get better bites and no liners.  I also moved my short line closer towards the end and started to feed 8mm pellet over it and this again gave me a few more fish in the last hour when it got hard across the whole lake.

As the all-out was called I knew that I had a half tidy weight but I was not too sure how much exactly I had managed, it was over a ton for sure but I didn’t think it would be a ton fifty.  The main thing was to stop Craig taking the Golden peg and my 58Kg was enough for that as he had managed 43Kg, he really struggled for periods of the match with foul hookers and lost fish.  As it turned out I was right about the bottom lake and Gav had 70Kg off the end peg and then Rocky had 62Kg from the narrows so I was third in section.

Pete had a blinding day from Ash with 76Kg for a section and match win and Pez pulled a section win out of the bag from Hill view with over 60kg, so the team was first on the day with the other two carrying me again.

The evening saw a few of us having a BBQ and it was a good way to end the day and prep for the Knock up the next day.

What would I have done differently?

I would have liked to have drawn the lower lake on Whitepost and that’s about it really, I got more than what I thought the peg was worth so it was a good day on that front.

Tackle used:

Pole Long and short Paste:

Elastic: Preston 17H

Line: 0.19mm to 0.17mm Powerline

Hook: 5 Tubertini 175

Float: 4X10 Big H Paste

Pole Long shallow:

Elastic: White Hydro

Line: 0.19mm to 0.13mm Powerline

Hook: 20 Guru Pellet wag

Float: 0.2g Drennan crystal dibber

Pole Margin:

Elastic: Red Vespe

Line: 0.19mm powerline to 0.17mm Powerline

Hook: 5 Tibertini 175

Float: KC Carpa Margin

Method:

Rod: Drennan series 7 Carp[ feeder 10ft.

Reel: Daiwa TDM 3012

Line: 8lb sensor 0.19mm hooklength

Hook: 14 QM1

Feeder: various Guru feeders, Hybrid, method and pellet

Waggler:

Rod: Drennan Ultralight 12ft

Reel: Daiwa TDM 3012

Line: 4lb sensor 0.17mm hooklength

Hook: 18 Guru Pellet wag

Float: 3AA Dave Harrell Insert waggler

AAF Gp2 Match 6, Todber Manor

It’s that time of year again when all the AAF Commercial matches start, there is always an air of expectation on the first one as we are all back in the mix on the commercial knock out that we are all trying to win. Todber was the venue for the day and we were split over 4 lakes again, one section on Ash, one on Hill View and a section split over the two Whitepost lakes.  I fancied Whitepost for the individual win although Ash is a fair lake and Hillview was my last choice as I had only managed a quick practice at the weekend but the weather had been pants and I had not learnt a lot. John had helped me to peg the match in advance so Craig and I had a pretty easy morning to be fair, a nice brekkie at Skevvys and then the draw.

The draw was an interesting affair with me having to remove pegs from the tins as people were again not turning up after booking in, for my team Pez ended up on Whitpost, Pete Ash and that left me with Hill view peg 40. Craig was on White post peg 6, I had pegged it with pegs 5 and 9 left out but thyen due to people not turning up pegs 7 and 8 also were not drawn!!!!  This gave him most of the lake to himself so he was a very happy bunny.

I dropped him off and then got to my peg, my plan was simple, a method and wagler to the island, a long pole line at 13m because the depth was no different at 11 or 16m and finally I plumbed up a couple of margin lines in 2 feet of water both to the left and right of my swim, although I mainly planned to fish to the right as there was more room to the next angler that way.

At the all-in I fed the long pole line and started on the method, over the next 5 minutes or so I had no indications so I started to loose feed with pellet, 6mm would not reach so it had to be 8mm that I was not too happy about but a swap to the waggler soon saw me landing carp number 1.  The waggler line became hard after this so a swap back to the method was called for but that was cut short by Rikki catching shallow on the pole opposite me.

I decided to have a go on the pole line, but on the deck I managed 2 small fish and I didn’t even have a bite shallow so after 20-30 minutes of faffing about it was back onto the method as I was well off the pace at the time.

Fortunately things started to happen on the method and I was soon starting to put a few fish together, by loose feeding pellet I was able to draw fish into the area that I was fishing the method and I was able to pick up a few F1’s and small carp. I tried the waggler intermittently and I also tried to mug some fish from time to time as there were some decent sized fish cruising around, I failed for quite a while.

With a few hours left to go I started to feed micros and meat down the edge to my right and I was soon having the odd look down there with mixed results, it might have been the changeable weather or the fact that I fed too much but I had a few runs of Carp mainly around 3lb but with a couple of lumps thrown in for good measure and some silvers and small carp.

As the last hour started I was struggling, the margin had become iffy, I could get the odd bite but there was no size to the fish, the method had also died off as the fish seemed to have moved up in the water, but I did manage to mug a carp on the pole off to my right where there were numbers held up and I also managed an F1 on the pellet wag.

I called the all-out and there was a collective sigh, a quick pack up and then I had to wait for the scales, Carl Dave and the lad to my left had all struggled with less than 10Kg each, my 2 nets went 36Kg and change so I thought that I was in with a chance of a frame but I had been watching a few people catching well around the lake and it sounded as though Docs had managed a few again.  As it turned out it was enough for second, Docs on peg 55 had managed to line some of the better carp up down the edge to his left for an impressive 51Kg weight.  As for the team, we had two seconds and a third I believe that gave us second on the day….again, I am off to Larford At the weekend for a 48Hr Carp match so tha should be fun…watch this space J

I did manage to get a bit of video and it can be found here:

What would I do differently?

I fished a hard pellet on the pole line, perhaps a worm line would have been a better option for the middle period when I was struggling on other lines.

Not a lot else to be honest, I think it went ok.

Tackle used:

Pellet Waggler:

Rod: Team Daiwa 11ft pellet wag

Reel: Daiwa TDM 3012

Line: 4lb sensor to 0.18mm hooklength

Hook: 18 Guru Pellet wag

Float: 4g Drennan stumpy pellet wag

Pellet Waggler:

Rod: Drennen Ultralight 12ft

Reel: Daiwa TDM 3012

Line: 0.18mm reel line 0.11mm  hooklength

Hook: 20 Guru Pellet wag

Float: 5BB Dave Harrell insert

Method:

Rod: Drennan Series 7 10ft carp feeder

Reel: Daiwa TDM 3012

Line: 8lb Sensor and 0.19mm hooklength

Hook: 14 QM1

Weight: Various Guru feeders

Long Pole Deck:

Elastic: White Hydro

Line: 0.17mm to 0.12mm

Hook: 20 Guru Pellet wag with Bait band

Float: 0.4g AS5

Long Pole Shallow 3ft:

Elastic: White Hydro

Line: 0.17mm to 0.12mm

Hook: 20 Guru Pellet wag with Bait band

Float: 0.3g Crystal dibber

Long Pole Shallow 1ft:

Elastic: Pink Vespe

Line: 0.17mm to 0.12mm

Hook: 20 Guru Pellet wag with Bait band

Float: MW pea

Long Pole mugging:

Elastic: Blue Colmic

Line: 0.17mm to 0.16mm

Hook: 18 Guru Pellet wag with Bait stop

Float: 0.4g Crystal Dibber

Pole Margin:

Elastic: Blue Colmic Hollow (17H later)

Line: 0.19mm to 0.18mm

Hook: 3 T175

Float: 0.3g Drennan Carp 4

Ash Lake Open, 12/3/16

I had booked into this match a while ago and had been looking forward to it as it marks the start of my ‘commercial’ season, Simon was running it and after a quick stop at Maccy D’s for fuel I was soon booking in with him at the shop at Todber.  It was going to be tight with all 14 pegs on the lake getting filled and amongst the other anglers were the other two members of team Baggers’ Pez and Pete. John was also in attendance so I was hoping for some revenge after Shearwater and finally I was a little perturbed when I bumped into Rolly in the shop, as I thought that that would be one of the fliers gone, but he assured me that he had been drawing badly of late at viaduct, he then listed the pegs and I agreed.

Pleasantries done it was time for the draw and in amongst the scrum I managed to pull peg 3 out of the bag, I knew where I was going and was soon looking at this view:

The plan was simple, due to the weather man saying that there would be very little wind all day a waggler would be dispatched to fish the far side with meat, I would also set up a bomb if a disaster happened.  I plumbed up my skimmer line at 14.5 meters as the peg was set back compared to the pegs on my right so I needed to push further out into the open water, this had a double bulk rig and a hairy fairy rig.  Finally I plumbed up a short line to fish meat.

I had just finished murdering worms as the all in was called and I fed 2 balls of worm, groundbait and micro mix on the 14.5m line, a few cubes of 6mm meat at 5m and then I cast the waggler across with a small cube of meat on the hair.  It was not immediate but the first hour was actually quite good, I managed a 3-4lb Carp as my first fish on meat in about 4 foot of water, a little later I saw Simon to my left have a decent carp in the shallow water on the wag so I chased the fish over and managed a good spell with 4 carp for around 30lb in nearly as many casts. Unfortunately that was it for the big fish action and due to the conditions almost any action, I plugged away on the wag for a few smaller carp and had the odd look on the skimmer line but they never really turned up.  The weather was warm and still so I even tried fishing shallow over the skimmer line and also on the wag but to no avail.  I didn’t have a single indication on the short line all day, but the bank was quite busy.

With around an hour to go people started to pack up all around me and before long Simon and Mark to my left were packing up as were the three pegs between myself and Rolly!  This was possibly caused by Rolly having been netting good sized skimmers and a few carp nearly all day and Pete further down had managed a few on the wag as well.  The last 15 minutes saw a few more indications on the waggler line and I even managed a small carp with 3 minutes to go and missed a bite on the whistle. 

It had been a nice but frustrating day, I was still miffed that the bigger fish had just disappeared on me but I had still had a better day than most, Simon weighed first for 24lb, then it was my turn, 5lb of bits and 45lb of carp for a total of 50lb 4oz was more than I had thought so I was a happy bunny.  The scales went up the lake and I had decided to fish on for a bit to see if I could find out where the better fish had disappeared to.  Rolly had 70lb, Pete 45lb and that was the rest of the top three and I had managed another second on the lake.  Baggers had managed a good day with myself and Pete in the main frame and Pez managed to pick up the silvers pool with around 15lb from the far end, I even got a quid back off John so that was a plus.

Thankyou Simon for running the match and also to all the team at Todber for the friendly welcome and great fishing.

  

What would I do different?

I will definitely be investing in an 8mm meat cutter for the summer so that I can fish it at a greater range.

The short line needs to be plumbed correctly and not just fished 2+2 because it works on pleasure sessions.

Tackle used:

Waggler:

Rod: Drennan Matchpro Ultralight 12 ft

Reel: Daiwa TDM 3012

Line: 4lb to 0.11mm hooklength

Hook: 20 Guru Pellet wag

Float: 4AA Dave Harrell thick tip insert

Bomb:

Rod: Drennan Ultralight Bomb 1oz tip.

Reel: Daiwa TDM 3012

Line: 0.20mm  to a 0.15mm fluorocarbon hooklength

Hook: 16 QM1

Weight: 8g inline olivette

Pole Long Double Bulk:

Elastic: Yellow Hydro

Line: 0.15mm to 0.12mm

Hook: 16 B911 F1

Float: 0.8g Drennan Carp 2

Pole Long Standard:

Elastic: Yellow Hydro

Line: 0.15mm to 0.12mm

Hook: 18 B911 F1

Float: 0.3g AS3

Pole shallow:

Elastic: White Hydro

Line: 0.15mm to 0.12mm

Hook: 18 B911 F1

Float: 0.3g AS3

Pole Short:

Elastic: White Hydro

Line: 0.19mm to 0.14mm

Hook: 2 T175

Float: 0.2g Drennan Carp 3