Fisho Qualifier Gold Valley, 27/3/16

Today saw me take a trip to Gold Valley to have a shot at getting into the Fishomania Final, I had put in for 5 tickets but this was the first of only the two that I received, such is life.  I did the normal trip but left home with too much time to spare, fortunately I am skint so couldn’t spend any money in the tackle shop but I did get to catch up with a few faces that I haven’t seen for a while.  We got to discuss how bad we were expecting the fishing to be especially since a lot of cold water had been dumped into the venue from the sky overnight.  We also put the world to rights generally and soon the draw was upon us, the normal rush to the front took place and I managed to pull peg 9 out of the pot, which I was reliably informed was not too shabby.

As I had the island the plan was going to be a simple one, method and wag to the island, then a skimmer line at about 13m, well I had taken a lot of worm with me, and finally a margin line as I had the biggest swim IN THE WORLD!! So there was an outside chance of a fish down the edge close to the end.

Tackle and bait sorted, I even had enough time to walk back to the van for my second pole roller that I had forgotten, net went in, worm got chopped and the all in was called.

I fed three balls of chop and groundbait mix at 13m before sending the feeder between the island and the reflection of the big tree, it felt about 2 feet deep maximum so the plan was to build the swim slowly through the day and hope for a few fish in the last hour.  I was leaving the feeder in for 15 minutes at a time and after the third cast I put another ball of worm mix in on the pole line, then the feeder went back out.  It was very slow around and Si to my left had managed a small carp on the feeder to the island by this point but it was one of only a couple I had seen come in on our bank, before I knew it I had a almighty drop back bite and a few minutes later my honour was satisfied and a small carp was in the net.  The feeder went straight back out but all I got to show for it this time was liners, so a change of hookbait and carp number 2, 3 and 4 were all in the net aver the next 30 minutes.

I thought that I was well on the way for a good weight but up until now the weather had been alright and there had been a bit of sun on the water.  The next thing to happen was a big cloud sat overhead and deposited loads of hail onto the lake, the liners stopped.  I came in on the pole line that I had been feeding for the last couple of hours but all I managed was bumping one small fish and paning a small hybrid.

I tried the big wag and started to feed the edge a bit more aggressively but over the last two hours all that happened was that the lake started to empty of people, Si had two carp in the final hour and we both also lost one in the final thirty minutes.  I saw two fish down my edge but had no liners or other indications.

The all out was called and to be honest I was glad, the guy to my right had packed up with an hour to go only having had one skimmer and he was not the only one.  Si had been getting reports of a weight coming from middle lake and a couple of guys on the other bank had managed 6 or so carp as we had been watching them.

The scales were on us quick and Si’s 4 carp went 28lb, mine 33lb 15oz, ok almost half of that weight was 1 fish but I am not complaining, as ther scales followed around the whiole of the next section did not weigh! And there were a lot of 20lb weights winning sections.  At the results I had managed to win my section but had missed out on 4^th by only 5lb…. that lost fish cost me dear, 3^rd had 50lb, 2^nd 70lb and the guy on peg 99 won it with 105lb so well done to you.  Farewells done it was the windy drive home along the M3.

What would I do differently?

I should have set up a bomb to try fishing a longer hooklength and possibly some meat on the hair.

I should have spent the last 30 seconds down the edge… not picked up my method rod and cast pointlessly to the island.

Other than that the weather gods were against me.

Tackle used:

Waggler:

Rod: Drennan Acolyte Carp Waggler 12 ft

Reel: Daiwa TDM 3012

Line: 0.20mm Colmic feeder 0.18mm hooklength

Hook: 18 Guru Pellet wag

Float: 14g Drennan XL pellet wag

Method:

Rod: Drennan medium feeder at 11.5ft

Reel: Daiwa TDM 4012

Line: 8lb Sensor and 0.19mm hooklength

Hook: 14 or 12  QM1

Weight: Various Hybrid feeders

Pole Long Double Bulk:

Elastic: Yellow Hydro

Line: 0.15mm to 0.12mm

Hook: 16 B911 F1

Float: 0.8g Drennan Carp 2

Pole Margin:

Elastic: Red Colmic Hollow

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

Trip to the Dorset Stour

I managed to get an early finish and a plan had already been hatched to go and try out my new Bolo rod before the end of the season, the Dorset Stour was the selected river and the Sturminster angling stretch called Colber had been selected, unfortunately Fate had different ideas and the parking that I had been told about was full so I was off to the Bull.

I trotted down to around peg 12 after chatting to a couple of guys who were already fishing, I had been hoping for a fair bit of depth but 7-8 foot would have to do me.  I got started by feeding 6 jaffas mid river before starting by running my light rig over the top, I had a bite first cast, and second and third and so the die was cast for the day.  I managed a skimmer randomly after about an hour and this was followed by a second about half an hour later, other than that it was all small roach and dace.

I tried loose feeding and lightened up the hooklength but I couldn’t seem to get the better roach to hang on the end.   I ended up after much chopping and changing with 50-80 small fish and the two skimmers, it had been a brilliant few hours.

What would I do different?

Not a lot really it was mainly a session to get the new bolo rod on the bank and that was a success. I am very impressed with it as it handled a 0.08mm hooklength under a 3g float very well and it had enough backbone when I hooked the skimmers that they never stood a chance.

Tackle used:

Bolo Light:

Rod: Matrix Reflex 6m light bolo.

Reel: Daiwa TDM 3012

Line: 0.18mm supplex to 0.08-0.10mm hooklength

Hook: 20 B560

Float: 3g Dave Harrell standard bolo

Bolo Heavy:

Rod: Browning Champions Choice 6m Bolo.

Reel: Daiwa TDM 3012

Line: 0.20mm supplex to 0.12mm hooklength

Hook: 18 B560

Float: 4g Dave Harrell standard bolo shotted bouble bulk

AAF Gp2 Match 5, Kennet and Avon Canal, 2/3/16

I was ably assisting Craig again on this match so I picked him up at half five with a coffee in hand and we started what would turn out to be an epic day.  It didn’t start too well with the bait supplier sending the bait to the wrong address so we would be waiting around for a courier until 0900, but chatting to Craig it just meant the match would start later.

We walked through the half light pegging the canal with a focus on making the pegging as fair as possible so tighter in the good areas and more spread out where it has been traditionally worst and we felt as though we had done all we could, the rest would be down to the anglers and the weather. 
I had managed a cheeky practice last Saturday on  what turned out to be A2, here is the video: 

It seemed as though the weather was trying to be as bad as it could for the day, and it looked like Armageddon as we looked out of the pub windows waiting on the draw.  It was almost just as well that we delayed the draw to miss the worst of the weather and it also  turned out that three of the guys could not turn up after a bit of a mishap on the way to the draw.  Anyway, the bait arrived and the draw commenced, along with the usual fun and games of the draw I ended up on B13, so one off the end of the section but the middle ish of 7 pegs as we had pegged C section either side of the swing bridge.

  It took me quite a while to get to my peg as Craig and I sorted the pub and then I had to drop him off in A section, before doubling back to park at the caravan park, I may have also got a little geographically challenged for a couple of minutes but my mind was elsewhere.  As I was unloading the van the weather was doing its best to make me stay in the van with sleet and hurricane force winds, but undeterred I carried on and got to my peg with 40 minutes until the all-in.  This gave me enough time to set up a short rig and a far bank rig, as well as sorting bait, but at least I was ready for the all important golden hour.

I called the all-in and fed the short line with a small pot of licky bread before cupping 3 soft balls of groundbait across onto the 3 foot line, I shipped out with a 5mm punch and then waited, and waited, and waited.  In fact I was getting very worried until after 20 minutes the float dipped and roach number 1 was soon swung to hand, this was followed by about another 20 roach and 2 decent hybrids in the first hour before the bread line petered out completely on me.

I shipped across and thankfully small roach were there in numbers, the wind made loose feeding squatt impossible so I started to feed 4-8 pinkies every couple of fish, this seemed to have the desired effect as the stamp of the fish started to get better and some of them were around the ounce in weight.

I had been joined by this point by Luke from the peg to my right, he had managed a fish but decided to keep me company as it was a cold a boring day, at least I was getting a few.

After a couple of hours I decided to plumb and feed a worm line down the track to my right, that didn’t give me an indication all day even though I went on it a few times.  The groundbait line was consistent with tiny fish for the rest of the match and I managed to get a couple more fish from on the bread line throughout the day.  Before I knew it, I had to call the all-out and for most I think it was a relief I had really enjoyed my days fishing but then the day started to turn a bit worst.  I packed up all my kit and managed to run most of my kit to my van before the scales even came into sight, then we had to hot swap them as they started to play up, eventually I was weighed in and had managed 2.520Kg and this was enough for only 4^th in the section, to be fair I was happy with that as the area I was in seemed to be full of tiny fish and most of the weights to my left had a  few decent hybrids or skimmers in them.

I finally got back to the car park only to have to wait to get out of there to go and get Craig, result was that we were the last two back in the pub for the results, Craig did his bits, I fed him, counted the pegs and discovered that two of the pegs that had not been drawn were still next to the canal, I was not impressed.

The results showed that some good weights came from A section and once again Daz dished out a lesson. B section saw Ivan take the points from fancied peg 10 it was close for 2-4^th though and finally Lee took the honours from C section with a standout weight from his area. Overall it was Daz with 5.5kg, then Rocky also from A section with 3.890kg and Ivan in third with 3.780Kg.

The results were concluded and everyone went home leaving Craig and I to tidy up, and find the missing pegs!  Then once back to Craigs office we smashed out the results so that was one less job to worry about in the morning.  At least the next match sees us on a commercial with permanent pegs.

What would I do different?

Although I enjoyed my day I dropped a couple of school boys whilst chatting to Luke, the biggest was not trying the Raison line as it only needed a few roach or a hybrid for me to go up to 2^nd in section, I don’t think I could have won the section from there as the bigger fish did the off early leaving me to scratch for small roach.

Tackle used:

Bread short:

Elastic: Double 4 slip

Line: 0.12mm to 0.08mm

Hook: 20 PR311

Float: 0.6g DS14H

Worm Track:

Elastic: Yellow Vespe through 1 section

Line: 0.17mm to 0.12mm Cenex

Hook: 12 B560

Float: 4X12 Dibber

Groundbait Across:

Elastic: Double No. 2 slip

Line: 0.12mm to 0.08mm

Hook: 22 PR311

Float: 0.2 AS3

K&A practice, 27/2/16

So it was off to the K&A for a cheeky practice before the group match this week, I actually had a lay in and still managed to be on a peg and set up by half past 10, although I didn’t set everything up to start.  I was a bit restricted as I only had a bit of bread, some caster, lobs and dendys with me so I had a few feeding ideas that I wanted to try out.

Once set up I had decided to start on bread short whilst feeding two lines across, one with caster and the other with just chopped worm, once the lines had been fed I shipped out onto the short pole line with a 5mm  punch and fortunately I didn’t have to wait long and hybrid number 1 was soon getting panned.  I managed one more before the draw of my first experiment with punch on the whip got too strong and it was a fish a chuck for about the first hour, I had several good hybrids to around 2lb and numbers of roach that were barely swingers, not that I let that stop me. I noticed however that the bank was starting to fall away under my platform so I quickly made the decision to move it before I got very wet This involved a lot of huffing and swearing but about ten minutes later I was safely positioned a few feet to the right of where I had started, unfortunately this time I was on the top of the bank.

I had a quick re plumb and ended up having to fish the short line with another section added, but the fish were still there.  I had a quick look on my two across lines and didn’t get a sniff, so it was soon back to fishing short but the fish had faded massively, it was at this point that I decided on a quick rejig and I plumbed up a worm track rig and a bread rig for across close to the weed where it was 3 1/2ft deep.

I fed both lines and the across rig started almost straight away with small roach and the occasional better specimen getting in on the action, it was not solid but it was steady at around 20 fish per hour pace.  As the day wore on I continued to try and find another bonus fish on worm but I failed miserably, I did drop back in on the short line for a few better stamp fish on the whip but it was only 4-5 before they did the off again, so at half three I decided to call it a day.

I showed my final catch on the video camera and it must have been around 20lb, I had several big hybrids and skimmers to 2-3lb, numbers of smaller hybrids and a rake of 2-4oz roach that I had mostly picked up in the first hour or so on the short line.

I decided to pack up most of my kit but spend half an hour or so chasing a perch, well it worked and I finally got one at half four, at about a pound it was most welcome.  After this I packed up the rest of my kit and did a quick peg recce up the rest of the stretch, there were tons of small fish moving in certain areas so the whip may play a big part in my plan come Wednesday.

What would I do different?

I would have liked to have had some groundbait and squatt to try out on the far line.

Tackle used:

Bread short:

Elastic: Double 4 slip

Line: 0.12mm to 0.08mm

Hook: 20 PR311

Float: 0.6g DS14H

Whip:

Whip: Daiwa ZR at 4m

Line: 0.13mm N Gage to 0.1mm

Hook: 20 Colmic B957

Float: 0.8g Drennan Stillwater Blue Waggler

Worm across:

Elastic: Double 5 slip

Line: 0.17mm to 0.12mm Cenex

Hook: 16 B560

Float: 4X10 Dibber

Worm Track:

Elastic: Yellow Vespe through 1 section

Line: 0.17mm to 0.12mm Cenex

Hook: 12 B560

Float: 4X12 Dibber

Caster Across:

Elastic: Double No. 2 slip

Line: 0.13mm N Gage to 0.10mm

Hook: 20 Colmic B957

Float: 5-11 MW F1 rattie

Bread Across:

Elastic: Double No. 2 slip

Line: 0.12mm to 0.08mm

Hook: 20 PR311

Float: 4X12 KC Carpa F1