Coking Farm Evening match, Rush Lake

This was my third visit to Coking on evening matches and the attendance this time was only 8 but with the strong wind and rain it was not too surprising, at the draw I pulled out peg 2 and this gave me 20m to drive my van to my peg. On looking at it I decided that a simple method to the island and meat down the edge was to be how I would approach the evening and with my method groundbait already mixed it took me next to no time to get set up. My margin rig was a Frenzee pf800 on 0.19mm main and a 0.15mm bottom to a size ‘2’ 175. This was rigged on a 2+1 as I found 2.5 feet of water on both sides of my margin and I had it all on Red Vespe elastic as usual. My method rig was my standard 30g inline method free running on the 8lb mainline with a 0.19mm bottom and 14QM1 attached to the mainline with a quick change bead. The cast was only about 30yds to the tree opposite and I fancied it for a few fish so I used my 10ft Drennan carp feeder and a 2508 Daiwa TDM.

At the all in I fed a pot of bait on both sides of my swim and cast the feeder about a meter short of the tree, it took 20 minutes for my first fish and in this time the guy to my right had landed two but to cut a long and breezy evening short the fish came in 1’s and 2’s usually after changing either the hookbait or how close to tree I was casting. I ended up with 9 carp but had lost another 5 that had come off due to hookpulls halfway across. I was not the only one to suffer this and I can only put it down to the fish not feeding properly on the evening.

In the end all my fish had come on the method and I only had 3 rudd to show for my efforts down the edge, I finished with 33lb10oz and this was enough for 5^th out of 8!! The guy to my right had 10 carp for 38lb but the two pegs to his right took 1^st and second with 40lb+ bags. Always Todber next week!!

Coking Farm Evening Match

This was another evening match at Coking Farm however, this time we were on Rush lake, the carp in here tend to run a bit bigger than in Meadow so fewer fish would be needed for a bigger weight. I drew peg 13 that had an island chuck and a reedy margin to my left so I fancied a few fish from both of those areas and set up a method for the island and a meat rig for down the edge. The method was on my 10ft Carp feeder rod and a small Preston 30g inline method running on 8lb sensor stopped by a quick change bead. The hooklength was 4 inches of 0.19mm powerline to a 14 QM1 with a bait band to mount Boilies or pellet. The edge rig was a 4X14 Duro 10 on .19mm to a .15mm bottom and a 16 B911, this was plumbed next to the reeds in just over 2 feet of water and had Red Vespe in the top kit.

At the all in I fed a full pot of hemp and about 30 8mm cubes of meat down the edge before casting about 4m short of the island and I started to count to 120. At 80 the tip went round and I was attached to fish no.1, it turned out to be a mirror about 6lb so was a good start. During the first hour I had 6 carp to 8lb all from the method line but it had gone strangely quiet so I decided to clip up a couple of meters further out but before casting I had a look down the edge. I had a quick bite that resulted in a slightly smaller carp but then lots of activity from silvers so I fed a big pot of bait and went back out on the method. This pattern continued with me taking another 5 carp, a bream and a roach over the last 2 hours but I knew that this would not be anywhere near enough to win even thought the lake had fished hard as I had watched the guy on peg 20 take nearly twice as many carp as me! The weigh in however, was interesting as his 20 odd carp went 90 odd pound and my 11 went 59lb so my fish were alot bigger but it was still only enough  for second on the evening with 48lb coming third.

I felt as though I had fished a better match than the last evening one, even though I had most of my meat trying to float away (so I need to look at how I store it). I believe that I approached my swim correctly but next time I would fish paste down the edge as I believe that it would have been a better choice on the day. Next stop is the K&A for the final round of the teams of 4 so I need to get my squatt rigs out!!

Coking Farm Evening Match, Meadow Lake.

It was time for me to try my luck at an evening match and Meadow Lake at Coking farm was the place to be, peg 27 was my destination for the evening. This gave me an island 30m to my 11 o’clock and then loads of open water. My plan consisted of a paste line at 2+2 where I would loose feed 6mm pellet and pot in hemp with my paste with a method chuck as a backup. I set up 2 rigs for the pole, a 4X14 Big ‘h’ paste rig on 0.19mm mainline to 0.17 and a 12 B911. And a 4X14 Duro 7 on 0.17m main to 0.15mm and a 16 B911, both rigs were set up on Red Vespe E2 hollow elastic.

At the all in I shipped out on the pole and dropped my paste and a pinch of hemp in before feeding 30 pellet by hand over the top, I received a couple of liners over the opening 20 mins and in this time Craig on the next peg had taken 2 carp. This saw me try a pellet to get a bite and first put in I had a carp of 3lb that was soon followed by a roach, I put a pot of hemp and pellet in on the pole line and chucked out the method.

My method set up was my Drennan 10ft carp feeder with a 2508 Daiwa Whisker loaded with 8lb sensor mono, a 12” twisted loop had a small Guru inline method feeder stopped by a Korum quick change bead. My hooklength was 4 inches of 0.19mm to a 14 Guru QM1 with a bait band on the hair, this allows me to use boilies, pellet and meat as hookbait all on the same rig. A 10mm white boilie was encased in my pellet mix and the feeder was dispatched out to the island margins, over the next 30 minutes I had 3 more carp but was now 3 fish behind Craig to my left and 5 fish behind the guy opposite.

This tempted me to try my paste line again and I had a quick run of carp to 6lb ish saw my hopes raise before another quite spell dashed them again. With an half an hour to go, and only 9 fish in the net I decided to sit it out on the method till the end as I was now being beaten by 3 people who I could see. In the last 15mins I had a flurry of fish that saw my total increase to 13 Carp and I decided then that I may have made a mistake by setting the pole up. The scales were on me first and my bag of carp went 43lb 8oz, Craig on the next peg had just over 60lb but was beaten into 3^rd by a 69lb and 85lb. My net was enough to squeak 4t from the guy to my right who had a good second hour but I should have just fished one line and taken the consequences if it had not worked. The method would have been the right tactic for the night but it was a lesson learnt in speed fishing as the last 4 fish were all landed in double quick time and scooped under the rod end. Now I can’t wait till the next one!

Dorchester Winter League, Round 1, Hanford Farm.

This match was due to be held on the Dorset Stour on the Hanford Farm stretch, however, due to heavy rain through the week before it was moved to Coking Farm Fishery, Rush Lake. We all met up in the car park next to meadow lake with most people deciding not to risk the drive along the grass to save themselves a 5 minute walk with their kit. I decided otherwise and drove my van to the side of the lake,(I later came very close to regretting this).
 All the usual suspects were in attendance and it was decided that it would be an out and out silvers match with carp not counting. I was second in the draw queue and peg 7 was my destination for the day, oh and I had the scales for company, Joy!!
 I got to my peg a whole thirty yards from the back of my van and found a big hole on the bank exactly where I would have set my platform up for the day. Much huffing, puffing and cursing saw me eventually find a comfortable place to sit my box without the threat of a swim however, it placed me about a meter back from the bank. Not good in winter when the fish tend to back off so I started plumbing my pole up and out to 16m.
 I decided that my plan would revolve around two lines, 5m loose feeding maggot for Roach with a 4X12 Drennan Roach float, a spread shotting pattern, 0.10 main, 0.08 bottom and a 20 Drennan silverfish match hook. Elastic was no.5 through three sections, strong enough to swing most Roach in and soft enough not to bump them off. The second line turned out to be at 14.5m and was going to be fed with groundbait, caster, hemp, pinkie and a few grains of corn. My groundbait mix was 50/50 Marine halibut and Sensas lake and was mixed quite stiff as it turned out to be about 10 feet deep and towing, my rig for this line consisted of a 4X20 KC Carpa Chimp on 0.15mm Main to 0.12mm bottom and an 18 808 for a start, elastic was blue hydro through a big bore power kit.
So the all in sounded, I cupped in 6 balls of groundbait containing 50ml (small drennan pole pot) each of hemp and caster, a pinch of pinkies and about 40 grains of corn, these were spread over an area about a meter square as I was looking for Bream or Skimmers on that line and I like to give them a bit of room to feed over. All the time I was pinging in 10-12 maggots over my 5m line and this is where I started, once again after 20mins without so much of a sniff on my maggot alarm bells were ringing so I had already reduced the amount of feed going in to 4 maggots regularly, I now started using a light catty to try and group them even closer. 40 mins in and no indications I thought it was time to go on the skimmer line as by all accounts no one on the lake had caught a silver fish yet. I hooked on 2 red maggot and shipped out resting my pole between my legs and on a front support to keep the float dead still, after another 20 minutes without an indication I decided it was time for lunch and with the long pole out I started my sandwich. Just as I was finishing I thought I saw a slight indication, then it dipped under, I dropped my sandwich and struck like Zorro! I missed it! My first indication in nearly 2 hours and  I had missed it, I made up a couple of new swear words under my breath, swapped hookbait to a chunk of worm and hoping for a tiny perch, if nothing else, shipped back out. After 10 minutes my float slipped under and my well timed (ish) strike met with about 4 feet of Blue Hydro coming out and the unmistakable nod nod of a decent skimmer, however, a few minutes later I slipped my net under 5lb of very cold foul hooked carp. Back it went and the news came across the lake that my mate Craig had just had two skimmers in two casts on the feeder, with nothing to loose I got off my box and set up a pellet cone rig on my 11ft light feeder rod, a foot of 0.15mm powerline and a 16 QM1 finished the set up however although I received a few liners I didn't get any real bites. Most of the fish were shoaled up on the other side of the lake and most of the fish around us were up in the water. This was proved with the weigh in, Craig won the match with a little over 5lb, second had a Roach for 3oz, the remaining 11 of us failed to bother the scales with a silver fish, nobody in my section weighed in, but the guy pegged on the other side of the lake to me had 22 Carp and a fantastic days fishing on the maggot feeder chucked to the island. A few fish came from down our end on wagglers chucked at the island set to about 3ft.
Can't wait for Round 2 at Warmwell fishery.
As a final note I decided to fish on for an hour to try and catch a carp on the tip, I still failed and then Craig came round and told me that everyone whom had driven up to the lake had struggled to get away from the bottom corner, yep you guessed it THANK YOU Craig for pushing me out the mud.