AAF Gp2 Match 2, K&A 12/11/14

We were supposed to be on the Avon at Chippenham for this one, but due to the amount of rain that has fallen lately we decided to move it to the K&A at Bishops Cannings, The main reasons were the fact that I would be very difficult fishing making it unfair for the less experience members of the group and the fact that the banks would be treacherous.  It proved to be a good decision as the river broke the banks in the morning and we stayed reasonably dry.

I had volunteered to peg the stretch, well I do live 6 minutes away, so I was walking up and down the bank with a small headlamp and a set of shears at 6 am, I did my best at cutting out some of the worst pegs and even managed to check the depth on 1 swim, it was deeper than my wellies!!!!!  I finished pegging with wet feet, unlocked the gate and went to the pub for my breakfast where everyone seemed to be moaning about the rain. I hadn’t noticed it really as I had been too busy pegging the venue, and my Team Army Gortex held up to the onslaught.  Breakfast eaten, pools paid, banter had, team briefs given and the draw done I was soon zooming towards C11.

As I had not prepped a lot for the canal the attack would have to be simple, bread short, groundbait long ish and a couple of worm lines, it was only 11m wide so I was limited on the number of swims that I could put in.

The bread line went at the base of the near shelf at 2+2 and for the groundbait line I found a nice plataue at 10m lest to the left of centre in the swim. Here is a picture of the rigs:

I

I decided that I would fish Lobs tight over in the shallower water, and I also plumbed a rig for down the track to fish Dendys:

I was ready well before the all-in so abused Si and Rikki on the last 2 pegs on the stretch to my right, sorted Shaun some groundbait on the next peg, as I thought it would do him better than the pellet on his side tray.

As Kev called the start I cupped a small ball of bread in, and then 3 balls of 50/50 groundbait and leam with a pinch of dead pinkie, caster and hemp went in on the long line.  I shipped the bread rig out and had to wait 5 minutes for my first fish which was then followed by another 15 or so of his mates in short order all at 10pp, then the stamp of the fish reduced to tiny fish and I took the decision to feed a thumbnail of bread again.  This did the trick as I had a 4oz roach, a few bread fish and a rogue perch before I had to re-feed and this was the pattern for the first hour and a half, I even managed a run of 3 small hyrids that got my hopes up for a big weight but as they disappeared so did the rest of the fish on the line. I dropped in another small ball and tried the groundbait line.

I shipped out with a pinkie and had a similar stamp of fish straight away, maggot and caster resulted in smaller fish so I stayed on the pinkie.  Managed a run of fish from here but as the sun came out and the colour started to drop out of the canal the fishing got harder and harder, I fed 2 lobs on the across line and 10 dendies with some caster and maggot down the track.

I tried the lobby line for a couple of small perch, the track line didn’t result in anything all day and the fishing got harder and harder, I ended up twitching flouro pinkies around the swim for micro perch just to keep something going in the net. I was happy to hear the all-out.

The scales came down and every one from my left was regaling tales of woe and pike as well, Rikki and Si had caught well from the end and I estimated about 2KG as I had not been counting my fish. Rikki had 3.00kg from the end, Si pipped him with 3.49kg then there was a kilo and a smaller weight before I managed to tip 2.76kg on the scales which was enough to do everyone to my left for third in section.  Ben in A section managed a 3^rd in section with 2.69kg and Daz had a mare in b section for 0.94kg and 9 points, it was still; enough for team 4^th on the day which is enough to get us into the team final if we stay there.

All in all it was a good day, I would have preferred to be on the river but there is always January.

What would I do differently?

I will try to get some squatt next time as that may have given me a few more fish when it got hard,

I spent too long on the worm line again so need to get that out of my system somehow.

Jefferies Cup, 05/11/2014

I was rudely awoken by my alarm at 0315 this morning so that I could drive across the country and take part in the Jefferies Cup at on the Nene in March.  It was an easy run at that time in the morning and I was soon enjoying a breakfast and waiting for the rest of the Army Teams to turn up.  The morning went too smoothly when I missed out on being a team captain and was soon having A8 thrust into my hand, in Army B was myself, Rikki, Bri and Gaz so we had half a chance if it was a good draw.

Kev said he knew the way so Craig, who was pegged next to me on A7, and I followed him to the wrong section, oh how we laughed, not Kevs fault; he had been given a bum steer.  Five minutes later we were pulling up in the right section and finding our pegs.

Settling down I decided to fish bread short, groundbait by the boats and a worm line down the river to my right, my groundbait was the first job and a mix of Gros Gardons, No.1, Lake and brown Crumb with a few special bits was soon ready for a rest. I then spent a bit of time plumbing up and found a few problematic bits of weed in the swim, but after 10 minutes I soon had 3 areas of the swim earmarked and finished my prep.

I was readyish for the all in apart even though I had been chatting to Craig for most of the time; we had already decided to go a quid when we found out that we were in the same section so I was surprised when he started giving me tactical gems. I repaid the favour, sit on the dry stuff and use a hook. I fed a small ball of licky bread at 2+2, then 3 balls of groundbait across to the boat, all quite hard as I wanted them to take a while to break down and reveal the goodies inside them. I went straight out on the bread line and started catching straight away. I was on a 0.6g float with a 0.08mm hooklength to a 20 B511, this was set on doubled 4 again and it was working a treat even letting me swing 4oz roach with ease but still remaining soft enough not to bump any off. It was 30 minutes in and Craig had his second bite on the worm that I had seen and I was swinging my 30^th fish to hand for close to 2lb. It was at this point that my day went wrong as I decided to feed my worm line, now this could have been an inspired decision and I could have had 20lb of skimmers or tench but I didn’t.

After feeding the worm line it was back on the bread fish but they had reduced in size drastically, a small nugget of bread and depth change sorted it for 3 more fish but then it started to turn into a grind. I tried on the worm line for a couple of small perch and across for a couple of roach before they backed off but it was head down time.

I rotated trough the swims taking as many fish as I dare from each one, a few eels started coming out on worm to my left and right so I swapped my hooklength to a 0.16mm bottom and a size 13 B711, this didn’t put the fish off, so is one to remember. I tried loose feeding over the groundbait line but the fish seemed to spook off to many loose offerings, so a small nugget of groundbait after every rotation was the plan.

The flow was tricky, it was going left to right, then it stopped and flowed the other way for 2 ½ hours before going back left to right for the last hour, odd. The fish preferred it going left to right. The wind and leaves on the water and bottom were also a pain but I was steadily amassing a weight.

The last 30 minutes saw a quick flurry of better roach and then it was all over, I was confident that I had done Craig but the guy to my left had been sneaking fish in all day from one line down the track, Craig had 6lb odd, I beat that with 9lb 4oz then the guy to my left had 10lb dead.  I ended up 7^th in section, Craig was12th and kev was last, I didn’t Hang around for the results as I had to do the 3 hour drive home.

What would I do different

Not a lot really I could say leave the worm in the car but if I had done that it would have been a worm day. Next time I will be stricter on myself for 100 seconds on the worm and if they are small I will come off it as they were taking longer to catch than the Gustas.

Withy Teams of 4, 01/11/2014

A couple of weeks ago I got asked if I would fish for Dandys K2 on the withy Teams of 4, well being at a loose end most Saturdays because my better half works I accepted not even asking what lake I would be on.  I arrived at the café to a nice welcome from my old team mates and new ones as well as everyone else at the draw.  Bacon butty eaten, worm collected and tactics discussed the draw took place and I was off to peg 36 on the outer snake.

I will be honest and I do not get on too well with the outer snake most of the time so when I drew middle of the section, on the wrong bank and with the ripple finishing just to my left I thought that I was in for a grueller.  I set up a skimmer rig for 11.5m, a meat rig to try and mug a couple of carp on and a margin rig, I also set up my new Spectron 10ft tip rod with a small method feeder.  Bait was just as simple, 4mm pellet, method mix consisting of 50/50 micros and groundbait, 6mm meat, a few expanders and some dead maggot.

The all in sounded and I cast the feeder against the mud on the far bank and started loose feeding pellet on my skimmer line and that sums up my first hour and a bit, one positive indication that I missed.  I tried the skimmer line at this point and managed a couple of quick fish but they didn’t like me catching there friends and got finicky really quickly so I decided to try fishing down the edge like I would across.  This consisted of using my big pot to feed a walnut sized ball of method mix and 5-10 cubes of meat next to the platform down to my right. Over the next 30 minutes or so I had 4 or 5 decent skimmers on this line, re feeding after every fish with the same amount of bait.

At this point I moved back onto the skimmer line and had another quick run and this is how my day panned out until the last 30 minutes of the match, I had a half decent net of silvers but needed a final push of carp to get decent points.  I went down the edge over the top of a small ball and 5 cubes of meat and within 45 seconds I was attached to a big angry carp, it gave me a bit of a run around before I was able to net it but at close to 8lb it was worth it. I managed 3 more carp and a couple of silvers over the next 25 minutes in the best spell of my match and the all-out came as I was least expecting it.

I had gone a quid with Nick Mac and he was claiming that I had won it, I agreed but we still had to weigh in to prove it, Jay on the end peg had 58lb 1oz then there was a mid 40lb a 58lb 2oz then Nic mac on 20lb odd. Next to Nick was Ray ‘the bagger’ Hayward and he managed about 30lb. I had 17lb of skimmers and 18lb of carp for 35lb plus change, and this beat all but 2 to my right, one of which was Jon Gray on the end who had over 70lb, all this gave me 5 points .

The team did well with Stumpy coming second in his section and John winning the second round on the bounce. I am off to the Nene this week so I need to swap all my kit back over…..again.

What would I do differently?

 Would use bigger hookbaits on the method, the double dead res was getting ragged by tiny fish with me failing to hook a fish. 

I would fish a pole line where I was chucking the feeder until the wind became too strong rather than just fishing the tip.

I would put in a couple more lines just to try and find a few fish, 5 hours is a long time.