Shearwater Practice

So I have a match coming up on Shearwater soon and I thought that a days practice on my normal match kit was in order, Bri was in the same mind so a date was set that we would meet up and give it a go.

We decided to fish along the road bank around the triangle as it is an area where a few bream weights had been coming out of lately, mostly at range.  I had already decided that I would be fishing a longish range method so I was quickly set up with my one rod to start with, the rig was a simple 45g Guru Hybrid feeder with a 0.19mm hooklength and a size 14 hook with a bayonet on the hair.  This was so that I could mount my boilie hookbait easily, my feed bait was a mix of pellet and some secret additives that I was hoping that the fish would like.

I was fishing before Bri, but it wasn’t as quick as I thought it was going to be, it took around half an hour for my first bite but then they started to come with a bit of regularity and most casts I was bringing in a bream of between 1 and 3lb in weight. I was experimenting with the bait around the feeder and the hookbait colour and to be honest I don’t think it made a lot of difference as Bri barely 10 meters away could not buy a bite.  Now, I was fishing clipped up at 72 meters at this time, I know this as I had used my distance sticks at the beginning to ensure accuracy, to see if it was the distance that was giving me the bites I got off my box and set up a rod to fish closer, well 50 meters to be precise, again clipped up on the distance sticks. 

It was around 12 o’clock at this point and I had 20 bream under my belt in around 3 and a half hours fishing, first cast and the tip flew round and I struck at a massive liner, same on the second cast and on the third I had a skimmer of about a pound and a half.  I was getting worried but I was soon back on status quo with decent bream coming in one a chuck although it was taking them longer to find it.

I gave the short line a couple of hours or so and managed 8 bream on it, I even tried the big wag over the top of it for a10 minutes to see if there was anything lurking in the surface layers but the answer was no.  (Bri was a bit shocked when I was fishing a waggler on his feeder line thoughJ)  Back to the long line and the fish were still there and it was steady away, the fishing had slowed so I went out to 80 meters and again had a couple of quick bream before they seemed to back off, but by this time it  was getting dark and time to go home.

It had been a very good day with plenty learnt and plenty of casting practice, I ended up on 35 bream to Bris 8, whether that was the distance, swim or bait we are not too sure as I was catching on my shorter line quicker than Bri so it may have just been where I was sat.

I am looking forward to the match now and there is a high probability that I may be back soon.

What would I do differently?

I should have started short and then pushed out longer and I wish that I had tried the waggler short with either maggot or corn, always next time.

Tackle used:

Feeder long:

Rod: Browning Black Viper 13S

Reel: Shimano Ultegra 5500 xtd

Line: 8lb sensor, 0.19mm powerline hooklength

Hook: 14

Feeder: 45g Guru Hybrid

Feeder shorter:

Rod: Drennan Matchpro medium feeder at 11.5ft, 2oz Glass tip

Reel: Daiwa 4012 TDM

Line: 6lb Drennan feeder and method, 0.19mm powerline hooklength

Hook: 14

Feeder: 36g Guru Hybrid

Waggler:

Rod: Drennan Acolyte Carp wag 12ft

Reel: Daiwa 3012 TDM

Line: 4lb sensor, 0.17mm powerline hooklength

Hook: 14

Float: 14g Drennan XL pellet wag

AAF Gp 2 Match 3, K&A Sells Green and Foxhangers

It’s that time of year again and I was starting my quest to do well in group 2 again and I am not sure if I will even be able to fish 5 matches again this year, but this was my first.  It was off to the K&A again but this time on a stretch that I have only every carp fished a few years ago, so I popped down over the festive period for a couple of cheeky practices.  The first went well in a pound behind the Barge Inn I managed around 8lb of small skimmers and roach over groundbait, the next day I went along pound lane and struggled in atrocious weather conditions for 4 small roach and 3 waspie perch.  I knew where I didn’t want to draw.

Back to the day in question and we all met up in Devizes for the draw, pleasantries were passed and we were soon to business, there was a section around the marina at Foxhangers, a section down the straight and a final section behind the three magpies, as long as I wasn’t in B section along the straight I would be happy.  I waited until last out of the bag and peg A6 was waiting for me, which was the last peg before the bridge at Foxhangers, I was quite happy.

  

As I got to the peg I had a massive 10 meter walk from my van to my peg, and then it just got better as I had all the boats moored up to my left and I knew that this was a good holding area for fish.  My plan was simple, two groundbait lines one at 11 O’clock and one at 1 O’clock both at 13m as the bottom was nice and flat there, a method cast down towards the boats and finally a worm line that I would fish along the wall to my left.  I was almost ready for the all in, I am quite rusty at getting ready in time but as soon as it was called I fed 3 balls to the left and 1 ball to the right on my groundbait line.  My groundbait was a mix of black canal and lake with a few dead pinkies and caster in it, and then I cast the method down toward s the boats and set my stop watch for 15 minutes.  The plan was to try and mug a carp from down there but I decided to use dead maggots as hookbait so that it shouldn’t put off any skimmers from picking it up.

The first half an hour was uneventful so I was soon having a look on the groundbait lines, the right hand swim was the best at the start and I managed 5 small roach off it before it died and a short time later I bumped a skimmer off on the left hand swim so It was time to rest it and look elsewhere.  I had a look on the worm line for a small perch and another blank 15 minutes on the tip before having a look on the left hand groundbait line again.  This time the float dipped within seconds and skimmer number 1 was soon in the keep net and at nearly a pound it was very welcome.  But long story short at this point I refed my groundbait lines once too often and killed them both off so although I kept on looking I only managed another couple of small roach off them for the rest of the day.

I kept on having the odd look on the method and through the course of the day I was rewarded with 3 nice skimmers and I lost one but enough of that as it was a case of casting and if they were there I would get a bite pretty quick, if not it was a long 15 minutes.  The worm line produced 4 small perch throughout the whole day and at 1 point I plumbed a bread rig up to fish towards the boat at 14.5m, I was able to get a bit a chuck on that line but the fish were transparent so I discarded that and sat it out for bigger fish on my other lines.

I kept my tip rod in until last and had most of my kit packed up by the all out.  I only had my net and flask out still when Bri and Pete walked down with the scales and wow it had fished tricky for most.  I started to hear stories that along B section there had been a number of blanks, we walked up to the Crabtree part of the section and the guy on the end peg had managed a kilo and a half ish then there were two sub 1kg weights.  When the scales got to me I thought I had 3.5-4lb of fish, I actually had 2.1KG which is about 4lb 8oz by my dodgy maths so I was well happy.  Following the scales up Bri was the last to weigh and he had nearly a kilo and a half but had lost a big perch in the last 10 minutes, so I had managed to win the section so I was well happy.  When I got back for the results it turned out to be enough for 2^nd in the match as well so not a bad day in all.

Thankyou Bri and your team for the seamless running of the match.

What would I do differently?

I should have started on a bread line and also possibly fished just 1 groundbait line further over towards the boats so that the fish had some shelter overhead.  I could have cast the feeder closer to the boats perhaps but there were people ion them and the last thing I wanted to do was hit one of the boats by accident.

Tackle used:

Feeder:

Rod: Drennan 10ft Series 7 Carp feeder.

Reel: Daiwa TDM 3012

Line: 6lb Drennan feeder to 0.19mm powerline

Hook: 14 QM1

Feeder: 24g small Guru Hybrid

Pole Groundbait heavy:

Elastic: 5 slip

Line: 0.11mm powerline to 0.08mm Colmic Stream

Hook: 20 Polemaster wide gape

Float: 0.3g Drennan AS1

Pole Groundbait light:

Elastic: double 2 slip

Line: 0.11mm powerline to 0.08mm Colmic Stream

Hook: 20 Polemaster wide gape

Float: 0.2g Drennan AS3

Pole worm:

Elastic: Yellow vespe through 1 section

Line: 0.19mm powerline to 0.11 Powerline

Hook: 16 B560

Float: 0.3g Frenzee FP500

Pole bread:

Elastic: 5 slip

Line: 0.11mm powerline to 0.08mm Colmic Stream

Hook: 20 Polemaster wide gape

Float: 4X10 Carpa F1