MFS Viaduct day 2, 15 Jun 13

Day 1 had been a bit of a blow out for me with my weight only being good enough for 5^th out of 7 in my section, but it was another day so after the slating for throwing away another good peg at the draw I put my hand into the bag and pulled out peg 88 on Cary. Normally I would not be too excited about this draw but this time the wind was ploughing into that end of the lake and pegs 90 and 94 had not been draw so I had nearly the whole top corner of the lake to myself.

With so much room and the weather report saying that the wind would get worst throughout the day, I decided that it would mainly be a bomb match towards the corner, but I also needed somewhere else to go. I plumbed up a 13m pole line to my front and put a meat rig and shallow rig up for there, I had a really nice margin to my left so I plumbed up a rig for there and that was it basically.

At the all-in I fed about 30 6mm pellets and 20 cubes of meat on the long line, and then chucked the bomb down to my right and started firing 8mm pellet over the top, nothing happened so after about 20 minutes I had a look on my long line and managed to snare a couple of skimmers then a foul hooked carp killed the swim so I re fed and chucked the bomb. This was basically how my day panned out with me taking the odd carp on the bomb interspersed with a few skimmers and a couple of carp on the long line, one in fact came as whilst I was kinder cupping a few carp moved into the swim shallow. After seeing this I quickly used the big pot to pot in 8 cubes of meat and a few pellet shipped back and then shipped out the shallow rig, I s

Lapped this on the water 3 times and all of a sudden elastic poured out of the pole and resulted in a mid-double carp in the net. I tried this trick a few more times but it only worked the once.

The wind proved troublesome for everyone and throughout the day I had been watching Freddie on peg 97 getting amongst a few and Chris on the next peg was getting amongst them at the end as well. At the end of the match I was up to 11 carp, as was Chris on the next peg as was the guy on 85!

So I managed a section win on the last match of my R&R, it was a brilliant 2 days and hopefully it will happen again next year. Till the next time tight lines one and all.

MFS Viaduct day 1, 14 June 13

This was the first day of a two day session down at Viaduct Fishery in Somerset, it was quite fortuitous the fact that I had been able to fish these matches with them falling at the end of my R&R and there being a spare place when I looked online.  So I had booked in and day one saw us merry 28 congregating in the car park at the fishery, breakfast was dispatched and a few £1 side bets made with various people it was soon time for the draw. I was quite close to the front and we had all of Campbell and Cary booked so there would be plenty of room for us all, peg 114 stuck in my hand and I was sort of happy.

I spoke with Steve in the tackle shop and his advice was to fish long, 6m and also long down the left hand edge towards the empty peg 113, so I set up a couple of shallow rigs for the long pole, a meat rig for the short line and a margin rig. I also set up a depth waggler rod and also a pellet wag for if it was to be a middle of the lake day. I was ready (ish) before the all in and as soon as it sounded I fed 1/3 of a pot of hemp and 8mm meat on the short pole line and a little less down the edge, I then shipped out with a shallow rig and proceeded to slap the water 3 times hoping for a quick response, but it never happened so back to plan B.

 I cast out the depth waggler and started pinging out a few pellets around it, I did not have to wait long and soon had a carp on the end but it was foul hooked and quickly broke me, the inside was fizzing well so I shipped out the meat rig to see what would happen. I started to catch a few tench and skimmers but they quickly slowed down so I decided to have a quick look down the edge as it looked really fishy with loads of snags and overhanging brambles. I had geared up accordingly and quickly landed a couple of small carp, I could only think how easy it was when my nightmares began, there were that many snags that for every carp I landed I lost at least 1, these mostly ran through the brambles but there were at least 2 other solid snags that I lost fish on.

I was alternating between the margin and the short pole to try and keep weight going into the net but I could see guys on the far bank catching well and Steve next to me was starting to get a few fish strung together (this was not good as he is in the RAF and we had gone a quid). I made a change to fishing     with paste trying to alleviate liners down the edge and also act as a focal bait on the short line, it almost worked but not enough and I was still struggling to land fish right up to the final whistle.

As the scales came round it was clear that I had not done enough and I managed to weigh in 90 odd pounds including nearly 20lb of silvers. Steve had managed 160lb and that gave him the quid for the day.

AAF Gp2 Witherington Farm, 12 Jun 13

It was off to Witherington Farm today for an AAF Group match, normally I do not like fishing the snake at withy as I think that it can be really peggy and also really hard as it has had a few problems with predators in recent times, but I had been informed by John that I was fishing for Nomads so I had to give it a good shot.  There was a good bit of banter at the draw, and it was good to see a few familiar faces again, but it was soon to business, the team consisted of myself, John Dewbery and Ivan Oakey so I had a lot to live up to fishing with 2 local experts. Ivan did the draw and gave me peg 40, no I am rubbish at remembering the peg numbers on the snake so I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be the peg that Dave George was sat on last year for the Gp2 vs Andover MG match. I had been pegged next to him then so had an idea how to approach the peg.

As you can see I had loads of room and a bridge to aim at, with the weather saying that it was going to be wet and windy the first item of tackle out of the bag was an 8 ft wand set up with a method feeder, once that was done I plumbed up a paste rig for 5m, pellet rig for 13m and I also set up a shallow rig (Just in case) and a margin rig. Bait was also simple with 2mm pellet and groundbait for the feeder, 4mm softened pellet and maggot for the long pole, hemp and corn for the paste line and meat for down the edge.

At the all in I did my normal trick of just shipping out a paste rig to 5 meters and waiting for a mug carp, except that this time the fish had not read the script and I did not get a sniff on it. I thought that it was odd but continued any way, then found that the lake on a whole was fishing hard, I managed to snare a few skimmers at 13m in the first couple of hours but was going nowhere fast.

It was at this time that I spotted a carp turn over next to the reed on the far bank, I had been trying to avoid having to go over there with the pole the wind was stiffening from left to right, but I bit the bullet and shipped my shallow rig the 16 meters across to the far side, I slapped the pellet on the surface 3 times and the elastic poured out of the pole tip. That’s the way to do it I thought, but alas, that was it for that line apart from another small carp that I mugged from the left hand side of the reed bed about 15 minutes later. So it was back to trying to find the fish, it was at this point that I noticed Freddie further up the bank to my right netting a lump on the method. I decided to give it 30 minutes casting towards the bridge again, except that I changed the hookbait from a banded pellet to dead maggot. This also was a non-starter with a quick small carp and then a couple of see through skimmers, I was starting to get desperate so a new plan was hatched.

I was confident that if I could attract the carp over my feed then at some point they would start feeding, so I picked up the catty and started feeding half pouches of 4 mm softened feed pellet over my 13 m line, I also re plumbed the paste rig to fish over this line. The change worked and although it was not hectic I managed to land around 6 carp in the final hour and a half, including one on the whistle that was quite handy.

Again the margins had not produced for me and I can only think that it was because I had not gone in tight enough, the rustiness of a couple of months away was still showing in a couple of decisions I made, I regret not casting the method to the bare bank on the right of the reeds as I feel in hindsight that the carp would have been easier to catch in the shallower water. I also need to measure my pole so I know exactly where 16m is as I could not reach the far bank with 16 m of pole, only the reeds this would have negated the need to cast the method as I would have fed a line there.

I still managed to weigh in just over 13KG and this was enough for 4^th in section (although I picked up for third as someone did not pay into section pools!) I was beaten by Freddie and his method caught lumps, he had 17KG, there was a 15KG and then Griff in the peg to my left who would have smashed it up if he had not run out of maggot had 14KG. The point of interest was that Griff was big potting maggot in down the track and catching skimmers well with the odd small carp, I was struggling to get bites over 4mm pellet with a 4mm expander but I have since been shown that a 4mm pellet when softened grows to 6mm so you need to fish a 6mm expander over the top!!?! You live and learn.

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.

Wadmill 06/06/13

Todber Practice, 6/6/13

Having been back I the country for less than 48hrs, it was guaranteed that I was going fishing very soon and Wadmill Lake at Todber manor fishery was my destination for the day.  My goal for the session was simple, a twenty pound carp on the float, so I walked around the top end of the lake to find an empty peg with plenty of room, between the third and fourth islands.  I decided to start on the long pole fishing shallow, so I pulled out two top kits both rigged with blue reflex elastic, the first rig was my ‘normal’ shallow rig and consisted of a 0.2g FP 850 float, 0.18mm mainline to a 0.14mm bottom and an 18 PR36 with a hair rigged bait band. The second was a ‘slapper’ rig, on this one the line, elastic and hook were all the same but the float was a small 0.2g FS200 dibber. I shipped the standard shallow rig out and started to ping some 6mm pellet around it, it didn’t take long for a response and I soon had an 8lb carp in the net, this was followed by a twin after about 40 minutes but it didn’t quite feel right.

I decided on a change of tack and set up a pellet waggler and also a short pole rig for meat, the meat rig was again blue reflex and 0.18 mainline but the hooklength was 0.16 and I had a size 2 Tubertini 175 and the float was a 0.3g MW diamond as it was around 6ft deep and a bit of a breeze was causing a little tow.

I fed half a pot of hemp and meat on my 5m line and then started to work the pellet wag, the rig started off as a small loaded float trapped on the line with float stops (pellet slider) but the presentation did not feel right especially with the sun being out and all the carp in the lake seemed to be in the top foot. I decided to make a change, stripped the rig down and set up an unloaded pellet waggler set 2 feet deep, this proved to do the trick and I managed to sneak a few fish out on it up to around 14lb.

The meat line produced a couple of big skimmers and a carp but it was much harder work, I mostly used the day to try some things out on the waggler and this was successful. I ended up with 13 carp and a couple of bream for well over 100lb, I just hoped that I could do the same at the weekend.