Today we were supposed to be off to the Dorset Stour to
practice for the impending AAF match that is going to be held on there, however,
the weather Gods had other thoughts so Pez organised a quick open on Ash Lake
at Todber Manor Fisheries.
As it turned out there were 9 of us for the draw, Pez had
decided to go a quid with both Pete and myself so only time would tell if he
had made the right choice there, it was good to catch up with everyone post-Christmas
and the talk was soon about the fishing, the favoured pegs were in the middle
of the lake so that is where we all wanted to draw. I pulled peg 14 which turned out to be permanent
peg 85 so it was off for the longest walk and another end peg. I am doing quite well at the draw bag of
late, I hope this continues. Pez and Mark, however, managed to bag the ‘flyers’
in the middle of the lake so I was in for a battle for my quid!
As you can see from the picture I had tons of room and
this was added to by the fact that Pete on the next peg was actually on 83! So there
was a blank peg to my left as well. I
had been told in the shop that the end pegs don’t tend to do too well so I
decided to concentrate on skimmers as I know that there are a few in the lake,
my main line was 13m in line with the big tree, I put a throwaway line long
down to my right, a waggler was set up and a short pole line just in case I
could get them to move closer to the bank.
Next job was the bait and I mixed 1 pint Sonubaits 50:50 method mix with
½ pint Sonubaits F1 and ½ pint VDE Secret Noire, I soaked some 2mm and 4mm
pellet and opened a tin of corn and before you knew it the all in was upon us.
I fed 3 tangerine sized balls of groundbait with chopped
worm and caster on the long line before feeding 20 4mm pellet at 13m down the
edge to my right, I then cast the waggler across and tried to feed some maggots
over the top, this proved to be a problem though as it turned out that it is
quite a bit wider than the middle pegs that I practiced on last time so I was
struggling to get any bait across to where I was fishing. Despite this I had a
skimmer on my first cast and then a few small roach graced the net, due to
their size and the fact that I was struggling to get any bait across to where I
wanted to fish the waggler was soon being put up the bank. I tried down the edge for a start and tapped
in 10 pellets and followed it up with a 4mm expander, I didn’t have a touch in
5 minutes and knew that this line was wrong for the day so it was back onto the
waggler for a bit as I wanted to let the long line settle for at least 45
minutes. I moved the waggler line to the
right so that I could actually cast into bait and again started to catch roach
so I decided to stop wasting bait on that line.
Greg two pegs to my left had taken a few fish on the tip at this point
so I got off my box and pulled the bomb rod out of the bag, a single piece of
corn was cast across and within 3 minutes or so carp number 1 was on its way to
the net. I managed a few more small carp
on single corn but I was itching to get onto the pole line as Pete had gone
onto his long line and caught almost straight away, the fish were smaller but
he was getting bites quicker.
The decision was made and I went over the long line with
the double bulk rig, and I started to catch skimmers straight away, they varied
in size from 4oz to a pound but were great fun to catch, the best bait was a
small worm head just bigger than a caster, and as it was a double bulk rig 4
inches overdepth every now and again I would get a very pronounced lift bite
that was usually a better skimmer. I
found that regular top ups were needed to keep the skimmers in the swim but
feeding on their heads would see them back off for a few minutes. The usual sign would be catching a roach or a
tiny tench and if that happened I would top up with a golf ball of worm and
groundbait mix, sometimes they would be straight on it sometimes a chuck or two
on the tip would see me putting a pound in the net whilst I was waiting for the
skimmers to return.
It was during one of these forays on the tip about an
hour and a bit from the end when I managed a carp on single corn that was close
to double figures so a nice boost to the net.
The short line failed to produce any real hope as I only managed two
small roach from it and the long pellet line got big potted onto for the last
couple of hours in an attempt to get a big fish feeding but due to the
strengthening wind the fish seemed to stay along the far bank and in the deeper
water.
I started to struggle at one point with presentation on
the light double bulk rig so got off my box and set up a 0.6g standard rig with
about two feet of line above the float, I kept it fishing well over depth and
this saw me continue to catch when Pete was struggling to present in the wind. I also lightened up the elastic from white to
yellow hydro on the double bulk rig as this then allowed me to ship the fish
back quicker without pulling the hook from their mouths. Throughout the day I only really lost two
decent skimmers and bumped a number of small fish when they turned the worm
over the hook point, usually when I increased the size of the worm (I am making
a note of that one), and I felt as though I had fished a good match, I even
managed to call fish on at the end, it was only a small stocky carp but they all
help.
At the end Pete and I mused as to what could have been as
he had been struggling to cast the waggler due to a slight oversight on his
behalf… he was not a happy bunny so enough about that, Greg had caught steady
all day on the feeder with mostly small carp falling to his tactics and to my left
I had seen Mark netting a few decent fish throughout the day so it was wide
open. I was pretty confident of over 40lb
of fish but as I had not been counting I could not be sure, fortunately Dave
was soon on hand to put me out of my misery and after 2 weighs it turned out
that I had managed 52lb 8oz which I was more than happy with.
History will show that it was enough for second on the
day with Mark taking 54lb mostly on the waggler, and Greg was third with 36lb (I
think) then Pete with 34lb? Pez….well
lets just say he gave both Peter and I a quid J.
Thanks to Pez and the team at Todber for running the
match, I look forward to many more in 2016, Watergate Farm tomorrow and it is
going to be an interesting day with 50mph wind forecast and torrential rain…eek!
What would I do different?
I think I should have scaled down my elastic on both long
rigs as very few big carp showed on that line, if any. I will also be getting some bigger floats for
double bulking, the Drennan Carp 2 is ideal due to the two toned bristle so I
will be stocking up on 0.6 and 0.8g floats in the future.
Tackle used:
Pole Long Double Bulk:
Elastic: White Hydro, swapped later to yellow Hydro
Line: 0.16mm to 0.12mm Cenex
Hook: 16 B911 F1
Float: 0.4g Drennan Carp 2
Pole Long Standard:
Elastic: White Hydro
Line: 0.16mm to 0.12mm Cenex
Hook: 16 B911 F1
Float: 0.6g AS2
Pole short:
Elastic: Double No. 5 slip
Line: 0.13mm N Gage to 0.12mm Cenex
Hook: 18 B911 F1
Float: 0.3g AS3
Pole Margin:
Elastic: White Hydro
Line: 0.15mm powerline to 0.12mm Cenex
Hook: 16 B911 F1
Float: 0.3g AS4
Bomb:
Rod: Drennan Ultralight 10ft bomb with 1oz tip section.
Reel: Daiwa TDM 3012
Line: 8lb sensor 0.16mm hooklength
Hook: 16 QM1
Feeder: 2/3oz Guru Inline bomb
Wagler:
Rod: Daiwa TD 11ft pellet wag
Reel: Daiwa TDM 3012
Line: 4lb sensor 0.13mm hooklength
Hook: 18 Drennan Red Maggot
Float: 4AA Dave Harrell Insert waggler.
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