AAF Gp2 Match 4, Chippenham

Again for this match it was a very early start with me picking Pez up at 0445 for the hour and a half drive up to Chippenham, we decided that because we only needed 33 pegs that we would spread the pegging out a bit more this time, this saw us having less pegs to lay over a much larger area. A section ran along riverside Drive down to the beginning of the shallows, B section was basically the line of trees all the way down to the dead stretch and finally C section ran from the blue bridge into Monkton Park. There was plenty of room for everyone and I fancied a few pegs A5, A6, A8, B1, B8, B11, C1 , C7, C9-11 for a decent weight and the golden peg was not safe on B10 either as that has form with a small out flow and a bush opposite. Just before the draw I had some news from my mum that started with “Don’t panic but I’m in hospital!!”, if you have ever had one of those phone calls you will know that the first thing you do is panic. She had broken her hip on Monday and I was finding out on Wednesday!! Nice. She was safe and sound however, and there was nothing that I could do so I agreed to let the family know and arranged to see her that night.

The draw went well with Tommy (the drawbag) pulling out a decent team draw, with himself on A5, me on B10 (the golden peg) and Pez on C6. This left us in high hopes of a good day and I dropped Pez off at Monkton Park before finding some off road parking in the housing estate near my peg. I loaded up my barrow and found B10:

As usual I had a general plan that would focus around a pole line and a waggler line; I set up a bolo rod with a small bomb tied under a stick float and plumbed around the swim to get an idea of the contours. I was happy with a steady 6-7ft down the middle and it got shallower by about a foot across the far side and under a small bush that pushed over the water by a meter or so. Due to the depth, colour and flow I decided to discount bread on the pole line in preference for a mix of 30% River, 30% Browning Canal, 20% Browning Etang and 20% brown crumb. This was darkened off with some black power dye wetted and left to settle whilst I set up the platform, box and top kits. Due to a lack of time before the all in I decided to set the waggler up first, this was on my 14ft Xitan Waggler rod with a 030 Black Magic reel loaded with 0.14mm slow sinking reel line. A 4SSG loaded waggler was attached to the line with 3 no.8’s spread down the line towards the 0.10mm bottom that ended in a size 20 wide gape match. I then had enough time to set up 1 pole rig so I decided that a 1.5g carbo on 0.12 mainline and a 0.08mm bottom with a size 20 B511 should fit the bill as when it towed it would be heavy enough to still control bbut not too heavy for when the weir was backing up, elastic was no.5 Cenex through the no. 2 and 3 sections of my Z9.

I balled in 10 Jaffas of groundbait containing 50ml Hemp, 50ml Caster and 50ml deadened pinkies at the all in on the 11.5m line and then catapulted out 6 pouches of hemp against the far bank bush before settling into a routine of feeding 10 maggots every couple of minutes over that line. I was expecting some quick action due to balling in but after an hour of not alot happening, a change to the wag saw the float dip and fish no.1, a chublet, came to the waiting net. A swap back to the pole saw a quick run of small dace then a chublet, back to the wag when it got quite saw another quick flurry of fish and so the pattern continued through the match. I found that a quick run of fish would see them back off so the pole line would get a ball of bait and left whereas the wag line would just get left alone for a while. This worked well and I steadily put fish in the net including a few small chub on the wag and 3 roach for nearly a pound in the last 20 minutes from on the pole line.

At the all out it transpired that the river had fished really hard in A section with only a few fish getting caught, the same fate had be fallen most of B section and finally C section had seen the fewest dry nets and a few big perch came in from the same peg that won the match before Christmas. My net of fish went 3.780kg and was enough for 2^nd in section behind a 3.86kg weight consisting of 2 bream! The rest of the team had equally good results, Tommy had snagged a small chub in the dying moments of the match to get 2^nd in A section (1 of 3 fish caught), Pez had a net of perch from the peg next to the winner again for a second in section giving 11Sigs a points total of 6 and first on the day by a 7 point margin.

Viaduct WL Round 3 12/02/12

For this round I was on Campbell but due to the recent cold snap there were areas that I wanted to avoid. The end closest to the car park was largely free from ice due to the aerator having been on for the last few days, but I was not sure if this would help as it would have been pouring cold water into that end. The far end had been under a lid for a few days so would be very thick but I thought that a few silvers might show under it. as it turned out Trev drew me 113, now I was quite excited about this until I saw it as it has produced two decent weights in the last 2 rounds both on running line. It had a proper lid on it when I got to it and due to the fact that it is about 8m behind the pegs to either side I needed to break the ice to around 16m by my guess, being weak however I only managed about 11m but thought that if I concentrated on the numbers of tiny fish I should be able to weigh something in. To that end I mixed a small amount of Browning Etang with some black dye and then plumbed up a light bread rig, a maggot rig and a perch rig for down the edge in the branches of the trees.

I started on bread for the first hour without a bite, then decided to concentrate on my groundbait line as a few skimmers had come in but again no indications. I tried a look on my caster edge line, dobbed bread in every nook and cranny around my peg and twitched a piece of worm across nearly every inch of my swim none of these even produced a line bite and at the end of the match my nets were dragged from the water empty.....

I reported my failure to the rest of the team as all I had really needed to do was catch something but mine was not the only tale of woe, Trev on peg 3 had lost 3 carp due to the ice, Pez had struggled in a corner peg on lodge after some creative ice breaking, Stu got to watch John Moody pull a couple of lumps out of Cary whilst his tip remained motionless and finally John dobbed a mid double out of peg 9 for a team saving performance. Thankyou John, we are still in 5^th and only 2 points behind 3^rd so it is all still to play for over the last 2 rounds.

Viaduct Winter League rd 2

For this match I was in E section, this saw Spring pegs 7-38 in the section and I must be honest after what I had seen a fortnight before I would have been happy with a few of the pegs. I really wanted pegs 8, 15-18, 24-26 or in the back bay on 36 & 37, I felt that any of these could produce enough for decent section points so I was really happy when Trev gave me peg 25. This won the match a fortnight ago and I had been able to watch the guy all day so I had quite a good idea how to approach the peg.

As you can see from the picture I had an aerator and rope about 35yds out in front that was in my swim, so I decided that I would chuck a bomb towards that, it went without saying that a meat waggler line would go in after a fortnight ago, I fed a skimmer line at 13m in the reflection of the island and also plumbed up a 2+2 line at the base of the shelf to my right.

At the all in I fed a ball of sweet meal groundbait with 20 dead maggots on the skimmer line and then cast the bomb with bread out next to the aerator. My bomb tackle was a 10ft Force Commercial bomb rod, a backfire FD reel loaded with 0.20mm Cenex feeder line, a 3 inch twisted loop over which a link swivel free ran and then a 12 inch hooklength of 0.18mm Cenex line with a 14 QM1 and a quickstop to hold the 2 X 10mm bread discs in place. I was surprised by just how well my new reel line cast and my first go was right next to the aerator (nearly over the rope but I checked it mid flight). I started to sort my peg out as I rushing to be ready at the all in when the tip banged twice heavily, I thought it was a pick up so lifted the rod and carp No. 1 was hooked. After a heavy and tense struggle a foul hooked 12lb carp was nestled in the landing net and my job for the day was half done, section points done I decided to have a look for another but over the next 45minutes even with a few liners nothing else was forthcoming on the bomb. At this point I shipped my skimmer rig out onto my groundbait line, this was a 0.4g handmade float on 0.16mm mainline, to a 0.12mm bottom and an 18 808 hook. I baited it with two dead red maggots and waited expectantly, after a short wait a small skimmer was on its way into the net and it was closely followed by a roach and perch that I could almost see through. I decided to re feed the pole line with another loose cup of groundbait with a few dead maggots and casters in it, before casting the bomb back out. I alternated between bread and meat and after a few funny bites on meat I saw a carp roll by the rope, put a bit of bread on it and 5 minutes later carp number 2 was on its way to the keepnet. I had been pinging 2 pieces of 8mm meat to a line at 20m since the end of the first hour and decided to have a quick look on the waggler, within a minute I had foul hooked a carp that I lost and that was the end of the liners on the bomb and indications on the wag until about an hour and a half from the end.

I had rotated through my pole lines and bomb for a couple of hours with very little to show but then I put the waggler out and within a couple of minutes I had caught a carp on 8mm meat, this was closely followed by 2 skimmers before I bumped a skimmer off and that was again the end of bites for about half an hour. Another look on bread on the bomb and on the pole line gave me not alot so I cast the wag back out and in the last 30 minutes 3 more carp found the keepnet. I hooked a double with 8 minutes to go, managed to get it in the net with about 2 minutes to go the waggler hit the water, bait settled, dipped under I struck into my last carp just as the all out was called. This was my hardest fighting fish and I was sure it was foul hooked but after a few minutes an 8lb psycho common was nestled in the landing net firmly hooked in the top lip.

I had plenty of time to pack up but the scales came around and told me that I had caught my 6 carp went 68lb and my silvers were just shy of 5lb, this gave me a total of 72lb 3oz and this was enough for 2^nd on the lake with over 100lb coming from peg 8 down the edge. This time I had also payed into the super pools and managed to pick up 5^th through double default so 7^th overall is not bad. The team however, did not fare as well with Stu on 131, finding that the fish had moved from a fortnight ago, he beat everyone around him but it was not enough, Trev and John had gruellers but Pez managed to find a couple of Carp on Cary and got 6^th in section with just over 12lb. We were 10^th on the day and now sit 3trd overall in the league. The full results can be seen at http://parttimematchfishing.blogspot.com/

AAF Gp2 Mt 3 K&A Bishops Cannings

This match was the third of the AAF season and I needed a confidence boost on the canal after a poor showing on the last match along there. As usual my alarm sounded at 4am so that I could pick Pez up at 0500, then we could get up to the canal and have it pegged by 0730.

The pegging went without any real incident, apart from having to walk for miles to get it done and we were both at the pub enjoying a breakfast on time.

We let Dave draw for the team as we had borrowed him from a Bulford team after his recent move and his orders were simple, draw well. He did for himself and pez with A1 being the end peg of the match stretch and a reknowned roach peg, B7 was on a bend and always has a bit of form, if the skimmers don’t show then the roach usually will and then mine, would it be C1 or 2? Could it be C12 or 13 which were the only 4 pegs I fancied for a few fish along the whole stretch? NO C7 smack bang in the middle!!

After breaking the ice with the breaker and also using the cupping kit on my Z9 to cut and clear some of the ice at11m (WHO SAYS THEY BREAK EASY!!!) I started to set up my rigs.

The peg was 11m wide and 5 ft at top kit +2 sections, I set up a bread line for down the track, a worm line for the near shelf (if I was desperate) and also a shallower bread rig for across, I did not plumb up the far bank rigs in the hope that resting them may see a few fish sit in them as the water was painfully clear and I knew that it would be very hard.

At the all in I fed a small ball of licky down the track, and after 20 minutes I had my first bite, then 10 minutes later my second, an hour later I had a run of 2 perch on worm, then another roach on a new bread line. Hour 3 saw a tiny perch come to a twitched bit of worm and the last 2 hours saw me waiting for the roach to turn up but 1 bite in the last 6 minutes was all I could muster. My 7 fish went 220g, I beat  the next 2 guys to my left and 1 to my right so I was the best of the DREGS but I am never pegging that bit in again. IT IS PANTS.

Team 11 sigs was second on the day with Pez taking a section win and second in the match, Dave also walked away with 3 team points but 4^th in section. Bristol Avon Next Month and things can only get better.

Viaduct WL Rd 1, 15/01/2012

This match saw 95 pegs spread over all 5 lakes at Viaduct, the section breakdown was:

A – Campbell

B – Cary Pegs 77 to 102

C – Lodge and Cary Pegs 74, 76, 103, 105, 107 – This section is Float only

D – Match and Spring Pegs 1, 2, 3 (flyer), 4, 5,

E – Spring 6 to 28

The first match would be a random draw and then you would rotate through the other sections in turn. It was after reading this that I made my first mistake and started panicking about bait even before I had got to the venue. I booked Caster, worm and maggot well in advance of the event even though I was not sure of where I would be pegged, and then ion the morning the team met up at Mac Donald’s and gave Trev the captain the money for team Tosspot. He went to the draw and we bomb burst to the venue, I picked up my bait, sorted my kit onto my barrow, had a brew and waited. Trev arrived and gave out the pegs; I instantly had mixed feelings about my destination for the day. As I had wanted to get loads of bait to be ready for all eventualities I had saved my super pools money to pay for wrigglies, as a team plan this was sound especially if I ended up in a pants peg scratching. However, Trev passed me peg 3 on Spring and I knew that I had wasted 30 pounds on bait and that I should have paid into the super pools.

Peg 3 on Spring has been a very consistent winter peg at Viaduct for a few years due to the carp congregating in it tight to the island, to that end when I got to my peg I set out my keepnets, made sure that my seat box was comfy on the ample platform and then clipped up 2 identical bomb rods tight to the island.

My tackle for the day was a 10ft Force Commercial Bomb rod with a Backfire 30 reel loaded with 8lb mainline. The business end consisted of a free running snap link swivel on the mainline resting on a small bead protecting the knot on the back of another snap link swivel. I use a snap link swivel as it allows me to change hooklengths quickly and also unlike a quick change bead the swivel reduces spin in the hooklength on the retrieve. My hooklengths were 0.18 or 0.20mm Cenex line with a size 14 QM1 attached to the end and a quickstop set to hold the bait on the hair. Both rods were set up identically and then I walked around the lakes annoying the rest of the team for an hour.

I was sat down and ready to go with my hook baited and ready at the all in, my plan was soo simples, cast out a bread hookbait every 15minutes and hope that a few carp ate them. After an hour I had 3, so not a bad start, I then had a lean spell with only another 4 carp finding their way into the keep net over the next 2 ½ hours but as the light started to fade the fish turned on and I landed another 4 and lost 2 more (both in incidents with the tree to my left) over the last hour and a half. All of the fish had been caught on popped up bread 6 inches to a foot off bottom and I also had a couple of indications that I am sure were fish getting away with it. My 11 fish weighed in at 110lb 15oz and the last fish weighed on its own went 17lb odd (HORSE), the rest of the team had had mixed results, Pez on Campbell had struggled for 4 hours and then found a run of carp on the wag at 13m!!!!! For a 4^th in section. John Dewberry had been sat in a corner on Lodge and caught a few carp in the first half of the match before the wind changed and he was able to watch the guy opposite start to catch. Trev managed 4 fish from a difficult area on Cary and Stu managed to avoid a blank from peg 9 on Spring that seemed devoid of any fish life for most of the day. On the day the team was top and I was second overall, first had come from a peg to my right and he had caught around 6 carp for over a ton in the last hour, IMPRESIVE!!.

All we need to do is keep these results coming and with the team we have got we should do alright, I just hope Trevs drawing arm stays fit.

New Year Update

It has been a few weeks since my last blog, so I am catching up. I have fished 2 matches and had a few pleasure sessions since my last  post so here we go from the start. Firstly there was a trip to the Dorset Stour at Nutford to use up some maggot from the weekend, I decided to try out my new King Feeder All season feeder rod that I had got hold of for my river fishing and I thought that a few roach and chub should christen it nicely. I teamed it up with a Backfire reel and some 0.18mm Cenex feeder line, dropping a blockend feeder into a far bank slack for 2 hours gave me a tiny roach that hung itself on a long hooklength. I moved downstream into deeper water and missed a couple of rattles but that was it, the river had switched off as another guy only had a couple of tiny roach to show for a whole days trotting.

The rod however stood up against the flow well and was easy to cast the short distance across the river.

Moving on my next trip saw me at Revels fishery on an open match just after Christmas, I drew Trendalls this pond is usually reserved for the visitors to the camp site and after drawing I was told that I was on a flyer (Again!!). On getting to the peg I had an island 10m in front of me and a nice looking margin to my left, I also had Knocker sat in peg 3 about 10m to my right that cut off the point of the island and another guy in the peg to my left, that again restricted how far I could go.

As you can see the pegging was tight in areas but most of the carp in the lake hid behind the island that was in front of me as soon as we started fishing. I set up a maggot rig on yellow reflex elastic with 0.14mm mainline, 0.12mm bottom and a size 18 B911, and a margin rig that didn’t work and a short pole rig that didn’t work. My day was basically a non event with a lone carp and a handful of gudgeon on maggot to show for my line rotation and starting of new lines when I thought the fish may had backed off. My 4 1/2lb was not last on the lake but I lost £2 in the car park to Dave and Tom whom were both sat on the main lake and caught over 20lb. Next door to me Nick fished at 14.5m just past the point of the island and ended up with 35lb+, and the guy in the bottom corner had around 40lb for the lake win.

This prompted me to go out to Todber in the week to catch some fish and I basically fished exactly the same tactics that I had done at Revels to end up with around 40lb of fish in 4 hours off Whitepost Lake. I basically fished the same rig as the weekend with maggot, I started by kinder cupping in small amounts buy soon realised that because I was the only person on the lake more aggressive feeding got rid of the roach and pulled the small carp in.

The next trip was off to Shearwater to try the King Feeder at long range method fishing and also to get some fish in the net, I set up a 10ft and 11 ft Force commercial feeder rods with the bomb and method respectively and also the King Feeder with a method feeder with a Backfire 030 reel and 0.18mm Cenex Feeder mainline. The methods were set up inline and I clipped the long rod up at 60 turns and the 11fter at 35 turns. I caught 46 Bream to 5lb, a 12 lb Carp and a perch all on the method, when one line slowed (no bite within 5 mins) I would switch t the other line and was usually rewarded with a fish straight away.

The day had been that much fun that I decided to return the following week and try further up the lake in the shallower water to try and catch more carp. I also decided to just fish at range so I set up the King Feeder again this time with a 30g Banjo feeder on my 3^rd cast I had a bream and caught steadily throughout the day on 8 and 10mm magic marbles in white and yellow. Over the last few sessions I found the King Feeder All Season to be an really good medium to long range bream rod, it coped very well with carp to double figures and the soft tip prevented any hook pulls under the rod end that you usually get with more tippy long range offerings. Anyway, I finished this time with only 35 Bream to 6lb and a lone carp, I caught fewer fish due to having to bring them all in from 65yds out, and the last couple were from 72 and 82 turns that is around 75 yds out.!!!

Todber Christmas Match, Wadmill, 18/12/2011

I had been looking forward to this match for a couple of months and come the morning of the match, bait was ready, rods were made up and I even had a few rigs ready. What was not ready was me, I thought the draw was at 9 o’clock and had aimed off to get there for around half eight, I was spot on with the time I picked Dave up and that we arrived but the draw was going on when we got there. Not the best start!

There were a few areas that I would have been happy to draw and they were all in open water, in fact experience has told me that the best area In the winter on Wadmill is between the 3^rd and 4^th island on the right hand bank from the car park, but any open water would have done me for my type of fishing. The draw gods were against me however, and I drew peg 14, this put slap bang in the middle of the 4^th island and I was not sure that many carp would be in that area.

As you can see from the photo, the island was around 20m away but I knew that the margins are reasonably shallow in that area so I decided to fish a small groundbait method around 3 meters from the far bank, I also thought that I would fish a short pole line on front of the reeds to my left so that I had somewhere to go if it all went wrong. There had been a decent frost in the morning and as I was setting up there was cat ice all the way across my peg, I thought that this may slow the fishing and took a proper gamble by concentrating on Carp and skimmers on the method rather than taking a safer option of perhaps fishing for silvers.

I set up a 10ft Force Commercial bomb with a small inline method feeder on 8lb mainline and had a 0.16mm Cenex hooklength 4 inches long with a size 16 Guru QM1 hook. This would have a sweet fishmeal groundbait around the feeder and a single dead red maggot on the hook to try and catch anything swimming. My pole rig was a 0.7g Frenzee FP500 on 0.18-0.14mm Cenex with an 18 B911hook, this was rigged on blue Reflex elastic to start and plumbed up to be fishing 2inches overdepth on 6m of my Z9 pole. I decided to feed hemp, corn and 6mm tiger nut pellet on the short pole line to try and attract in a fish at a time.

The all in sounded and I was ready for it, half a cup of bait went in on the short pole line, and then I cast the method across towards the island. The next few minutes amazed me as anglers all around me continued to pile in bait all over their swims as though it was the middle of summer, I had thought about recasting every 10 minutes but all the bait going in saw me revise this to 20 minutes minimum as I wanted to create a safe area in front of me for the carp to swim in freely.

The first three hours passed with only 3 small skimmers and a roach to show for patience on the tip, most of the guys to my left had caught carp from the open water, the peg 2 to my left had caught 5 by this time and lost a few more on the method, even the guy to my right had lost a carp on the bomb but he was casting towards the point of the island. At this point I decided to change my pole rig slightly and I plumbed up a swim at 11.5m just to the right of centre of the peg down wind, I then fed 4 balls of groundbait laced with dead maggot and a few pellets before going back out on the tip for 20mins. By this time I had tried casting a bomb to the extremities of my swim, the short pole and also popped up baits to try and tempt a carp so plan z was in order. I shipped my rig onto the new spot with double dead maggot and I caught a couple of small roach quite quick but thought it could be quicker. I cast the feeder out again after putting out a cup of loose groundbait at 11.5m and also 2 balls on my short pole line again with dead maggot in. I changed my hooklength down to a 0.12mm and also changed the elastic to a pink reflex so that I should not bump the small fish. I went back out at to 11.5m and found that lifting and dropping the bait gave me a quick run of skimmers and small roach, this also worked at 6m but it was still slow. The last 10 minutes saw me cast out the tip and pack up the rest of my kit around it, it did not move!

I finished with 3lb 13oz, this was enough for 25^th out of 35, importantly I beat Pez who was sat on the opposite bank in the gap between the 3^rd and 4^th island, and Dave who was sat to my right and had lost a carp around halfway through the match. It was still a giggle just a shame that the fishing was not as expected with 53lb winning the match from 2 pegs to my left, then a couple of 30lb weights. All the top 3 came from gaps in the islands I believe, I hate being right!!

I hope that you all have a Merry Christmas.