Viaduct Open, Campbell Lake, Peg 115.

This was my first time to Viaduct for a while so my first port of call, post 2^nd breakfast was to get the low down on how it was fishing in the shop, and to pick up my bait. This was an interesting conversation as most of the carp had been coming from the top end for the last few weeks and everywhere else had been struggling, so it looked as though the caster I had ordered would come in handy.

At the draw peg 115 was in my hand and I was reliably informed that it would be a struggle as it wasn’t really fishing well for silvers and the carp may not be that far down the lake. On looking at the lake I decided to set up a bomb on my  Series 7 Carp Feeder, with 8lb mainline a ½ oz lead and an 0.19mm hooklength to a 14 Guru QM1 and a quick stop. I set up two waggler rods, a 13ft C Series to fish on the deck with an 8grm Carraluso Rocket with 5 no8’s above a 0.17mm hooklength and a 14 Pr 36 with a bait band (for pulling into meat) and the second had a 1.5grm Drennan crystal loaded insert waggler with a 0.14mm hooklength to an 18 B911 for fishing maggot in mid water. I also set up a margin rig to fish to the point in the reeds 8m to my right and this was on 0.17mm mainline to 0.15mm bottom and a 16 B911, the float was 0.2g as at the time the wind was not too strong (for the time being).

At the all in I fed a full pot of hemp, caster and corn on my margin swim and then cast out with the half depth mag wag as a few fish had been turning over in the gaps between anglers, it took 15 secs then buried but the strike met with very little resistance and I nearly caught the Rudd as it was catapulted towards me. Not the start I was after, I persisted for another 2 casts and Rudd were the result both times so up the bank it was thrown. Out went the bomb with a 10mm cube of meat on the hook, 20 mins later it went out again this time to the right hand limit of my swim and then 20 mins later back to the left. Throughout the first hour I had 2 line bites, everybody pegged to my left had had at least a carp and some had 6 or more, even the guys pegged to my right had caught fish on the running line so things were looking desperate. I put the deck waggler rig out for the next 30 mins but due to the steadily increasing wind it had been impossible to feed further than 20 meters out and there were no bite forthcoming on that. On the two hour mark I put the margin rig out in desperation and the float buried instantly as it settled with a 2lber stuck on the end but despite trying again that was it. I really needed to find a way of putting some weight in the net so I set up a whip rig and started feeding caster next to the reeds on my left, this saw me instantly catching small Roach and Rudd but at 10 to the pound I was still going nowhere fast so went up the shop for a bite to eat.

Upon returning I chucked’ the bomb out but had changed the bait to corn, within 8 mins the tip rapped a couple of times and a 1lb skimmer graced the landing net, recast and tried again and 5 mins later the tip went round positively. Upon striking I could tell it was no skimmer and a couple of minutes later an 8lber joined its little mate in the keep net. That was it again for a while and over the next couple of hours I would spend 10 mins catching a few Rudd before going out on the tip for an hour to try and snag a couple of carp and it worked to a degree with me taking a further 4 carp over the next couple of hours. With 30 mins left to go I decided to have a look down the edge so in went a grain of corn and carp number 7 can into the net without too much of a problem, within 5 seconds of the corn being in position on the next put in and again another carp was soon in the net. That was it though; despite re feeding and sitting on it for the remainder of the match I only had a little Roach to show for my efforts down the edge this was possibly due to the wind preventing me from holding the rig still for any length of time as it was bordering on a gale!!

The all out was called and I was only interested in beating the guys either side of me, this was made easier by the guy to my left packing up before the end and not weighing in and Mayo to my right weighed in 26lb of  mostly Tench, job done as I weighed in 43lb 6oz. This gave me 5^th overall and a much better insight as to how to approach the venue on this weds AAF group match there. Till the next time.

Orchard Lakes Sunday Series

First Sunday Series match of the year for me and after a coffee and bacon butty I pulled peg 8 out of the bag, this gave me 14.5m across to the far bank with a tree to fish under, a blank peg to my left and a hole in the margin reeds to my left. I set up 3 rigs to start a 4X12 Preston Inter 7 to 0.15mm and a 0.12mm bottom and 18 808 with Green Vespe hollow,  this I set to 2 feet deep and lined my pole up with the tree opposite shipped out till I hit that depth then marked my butt to get the same distance. The second rig was a Drennan Carp 6 on 0.15mm to 0.14 and an 18 B911, this was on doubled 8 and set to fish on a 2+2 line at 45ᵒ towards the blank peg to my left in about 4ft of water. Finally I set up a method feeder to fish opposite the peg next door if I needed to rest a swim or if it was hard, I also plumbed up the LH margin with my across rig for later.

Bait was a couple of pint of hemp, a tin of corn, a tin of meat in 8mm cubes, 2mm and 4mm pellet softened and mixed and a few expanders and at the all in I fed a pot of hemp and corn on my track line the shipped across with a 4mm expander on the hook and a kinder cup full of pellet. I lost 2 fish in the first 5 mins but then started to sort it out and the swim quickly got stronger, after 30 mins I changed my hooklength to a 0.15mm and a 16 B911, and shipped out with an 8mm cube of meat on with pellet in the kinder cup. This saw a marked and instant increase in the size of fish but it was not constant and I suffered from stints when the fish were in the swim but I could not get a proper bite, but by changing feeding and hookbaits I was able to keep fish coming all day of a decent average size.

By the end of the match I had tried my 2+2 line twice for 4 fish and had one from the margins, the rest had come from the far bank predominantly on meat over pellet. I ended up with a very un Februaryish weight of 104lb that gave me a section win and a second overall. It was won with 117lb so again I was about 10lb off the pace.

AAF Gp2 Match 4, Bristol Avon Chippenham

At the draw there were the usual suspect present for a group match and plenty of banter flying around, I was less interested in this and more interested in where my breakfast was after my hour and a half drive up from Blandford. I did the team draw (mid way through my breakfast!!) and pulled out B12 for my self that was 1 peg away from the end of the section, the other 2 were not so good and a difficult day was being expected on the team front.
After parking the van, sorting the bait and trying to brief the others on where their swims were and the best approach, i then made the 20 min stroll to my peg. It was on the back of a bend opposite a sailing club, I knew the area had some form for chub so waggler was to be my main approach but I needed a back up line so I decided to mix some groundbait before I plumbed up.
On plumbing up I found that I had 3 1/2 feet out to 14.5 M then it dropped off to about 5’ before getting shallow again under the far bank boards. I had already mixed my Groundbait so that was going in on my pole line with caster, hemp and pinkie, I then set up a waggler, Bolo and feeder in reserve hoping to pick up some chublet from the deeper water further across.
I tried to ball in at 13m however, it ended up from 10-14m, ‘ah well’ I thought should still get a fish over it. 3 hours later I had my first and only proper bite, it was on the feeder chucked tight over to the boards opposite and it resulted in a 40gm Chub. I had tried the wag but this was getting minnowed and the flow and wind were a nightmare with the wind moving the top 6” quicker than the rest and most of the flow in my peg was under my rod end (not what I was expecting). A no wading rule at imposed at the draw was a pain in the backside with there being less than a foot of water for 3M in front of me. All in all I struggled for float control and I think the groundbait may have ruined my pole swim.
I did learn a few things today though, firstly I had started on a 3AA waggler and found later that I got better control with a 2 swan float, Caster was proving to me when it was a bite and not me catching up on stray bits of weed, I still could not hit the bites though even when I tried smaller hookbaits and finally I do not believe that the shoals of Roach that once lived there are still there so the groundbait backfired quite badly. I should have fished bread on the pole/stick line and caster on the wag.
Chub and Perch were taken along the whole length mainly on waggler and feeder tactics but on a variety of baits and the biggest Perch I weighed in was 2 1/2lb.
Viaduct is our next stop in the Group Matches so back to commercials ,however, I bet I draw Cary pegs 88-92 as I always do!!

Orchard Lakes Open

Peg 42

At the draw I was reliably informed that this was an end peg so I was quite expectant for a good days fishing however I will point out now that we had a strong gusting south westerly pushing straight across me from right to left and in my mind (at the start) this ruled out the long pole. I could however chuck a method into the wind towards the peg next door as that was blank with me being on an end peg, so that was to be my main attack for the day. I needed a second line of attack though and decided that 2 pole lines at the same distance at 10 and 2 would be a good idea, this was in about 5 feet of water and due to the undertow being created by the stiffening breeze Hemp and Corn were to be my baits for these two lines. I decided that I would feed the left hand swim negatively by potting a small amount of bait at the start then loose feeding over the top and that I would dump feed on the RHS swim. The rig for this line was a 4X14 Drennan Carp 5 (I think) on 0.15 main with a 0.14 bottom to an 18, B911, this started on Green Vespe hollow elastic but changed later to doubled 8.

At the all in i fed both my pole swims with Hemp and Corn before dispatching a small preston 15g inline method feeder with a single dead red on an 18 Drennan Margin Carp hook to 0.15mm hook length of 4”. My ground bait was Sonubaits F1 with some 1mm, 2mm and 4mm Skrettings mixed in to give the fish a little something to look for. I had the dream start with 5 fish in the net within 20 mins however the guys to my left were trying to fish the long poles across and seemed to be catching bigger fish. After another 30mins in which I only landed 2 fish due to hook pulls I decided to try a long pole line, I got off my box set up a rig at 3ft deep, plumbed it up and had to fish 13m to find that depth, cupped in a small amount of softened pellet, mag and corn (so I didn’t have to use a kinderpot) and shipped out my rig behind it. Five minutes were enough and that rig was chucked up the bank behind me in disgust, I was struggling to hold the pole anything like steady so decided to concentrate on the method for an hour. However, in that brief look I had landed a small carp and lost another fish which got me thinking ‘What if I could find that depth closer to me?’

I had a look in the margins with the 3ft rig and found a flat spot on my top 2, with 2 hours left to go I potted in hemp and mag into the margin before having a look on my corn lines.

The rest of the match was very busy with me catching the bulk of my fish from the RH corn line and my margin swim in quick succession, the best feeding regime on the day was to dump half a pot of bait, rest the swim by catching from another line until you had to feed then move onto the next line. The signal to swap swim was when silvers invaded the swim.

I finished with 75lb 14oz for a second in the match, I was beaten into 2^nd by 10lb but had lost that much off the hook during my bad spell and I feel as though I should have looked on my corn lines earlier, perhaps, don’t know. Ah well nearly my first win of 2011. Til the next time.