As you may have read previously I have the last round of Tony's float only series at Viaduct this Sunday, and when Glenn mentioned this match I was up for it! Warren Bates was the man in the van today, and picked both myself and Glenn up, which was nice!
I viewed this match more as a practice session and to see what is going on and how the place is fishing, after all it only costs £10 to enter this match and that's only a few quid more than a day ticket but with the chance of getting your dosh back! There was a good turnout of 30 people, and some had fished the day before when there had been two 200lb weights, I just wondered how the rain would have affected the fish. I drew peg 131 on Campbell which is in a good area, Barry Fitchew had my peg the day before and told me it was solid but he did not weigh in. In the corner peg 132 was Ray Haywood, Ray had taken 160lb from the same peg on Wednesday and it didn't take him long to set up! On my left was the fishery manager Paul Greenwood's daughter Maisie, no pressure then! Glenn and Warren were both on Carey, but the talk was that Carey wouldn't be so good today.
I didn't set a lot of gear up, a paste rig as normal for 13 metres, a shallow rig for banded pellet (never used) and a deep waggler for banded pellet. 0.18 to 16 B960 were used for pellet. I did not set up the lead as I would get no benefit from using it. I didn't set up a pellet wag because Ray and others didn't think the carp would come shallow. On the hooter I fed half a large pot of mainly 6mms plus a few 8mms at 13 metres, and stated firing out 6 to 8 8mms on the wag line. Starting on the paste I had a bite first chuck and missed it, next cast I had a carp, but Ray was already on 3 and Maisie 2! The first hour was though good for me and I reckon I had 35lb to 40lb on the paste, but then it went iffy and it was a struggle to catch so I picked up the wag. I had bites straight away at depth but 4 out of 5 were liners, so after 3 or 4 fish I was back on the pole. The pole only gave up a couple of fish and so I had to go back to the wag as there were fish there.
I took another couple of carp on the wag but it was wrong and halfway through the match I took the wag off and put on a 3 swan Corby pellet wag instead. I was a mile behind Ray at this stage who had bagged fishing down to the tree in the water, but I tried to block him out of mind! The carp were very wary of the pellet wag and I had been warned they don't like it anymore. It was frustrating as the fish were there but it was hard to get them totake my hook bait. I tried a long tail and this caught a couple but I fouled too many, in the end I settled upon about 12" and just worked hard to try to trick a fish to take the bait. The last hour and a half the peg was fizzing, fish were swirling and the water went black! I had some good spells, and when it went quiet once a look back in on the pole caught me two more carp. I finished the match landing a carp on the wag after the whistle. Frustrating today, I lost at least 12 foulers on the wag, and pulled out of 4 at the net (think I pulled too hard).
Ray had taken 249lb and I was only just behind him (lol) on 175lb, but I had lost 13lb by going over the 80lb net limit twice! Either the fish were heavier than I thought or I lost count, hmmm probably both. Congratulations to Maisie who caught 103lb next me, absolutely brilliant!
My weight was good enough for 3rd overall, and it was my second consecutive 170lb weight, what's going on! Carey had not fished so well, with Glenn being third best weight with 91lb off peg 86, and Warren struggled for 2 carp on peg 76.
I was a tad tired after the match, cos they are hard fish to get in on the wag (much easier on the pole) and was glad Warren was going to be driving home!
1st Ray Haywood 249lb
2nd Mash 195lb (peg 123 and included 73lb of tench)
3rd Tim Ford 175lb
Silvers were won by John Green on peg 126 he had 79lb 14oz of skimmers on corn!
So I learned a few things today, and it will be interesting to see how it fishes Sunday, it would be nice to draw Campbell again, please! Need to draw a section without the Viaduct regulars in though, they're bloody hard to beat!
Thursday, 26 August 2010
Sunday, 22 August 2010
Cider Farm Open 22/8/2010
Obviously with my holiday cancelled it was back on the commercials (well I've got lots of pellets left!) and I was booked in at Cider Farm. A good turnout meant that both Yarlington and Dabinett were going to be used today. Maybe my luck has changed because I pulled peg 7 on Dabinett, one of the flyers on this lake. If you haven't been here before it is basically a peg on a gap in between the 2 long islands. For company I had venue regular Derek Culip on peg 6 (another flyer) and Bristol's finest builder and window fitter Paul Haines on peg 8 (no where as good a peg as mine). Opposite me on 21 was Steve Howells, and the other danger men were John Paige on peg 12 and worst of all Pete Sivell on peg 28. Pete has drawn this peg 3 times now, and has the match record off it.
I was pleased to know a 100lb had come off my peg the day before in a match, and I decided to attack the peg full on with paste at 7 metres, what I thought was a very comfortable distance and one the fish would be happy to come to. The usual 0.18 to size 12 Drennan Nu Hook and Big H float would do for this. I set up a 4x10 PB4 at 12" for pellet shallow and the same float at 2 feet for the margin to my left which I would feed with hemp and corn.
To start the match I fed half a big cup of pellets (4mm, 6mm and 8mm!) at 7mtr and a full big pot of hemp and corn in the margin. I did not feed any pellet across at this stage as I did not want to split the fish, I wanted them all on the paste line! I had a massive fizz over my feed and thought I had fed too much bait, but after the first hour I had taken 15 carp! I was getting a bite or a liner within seconds of the float settling, it was awesome! This put me way ahead of my neighbours and gave me a nice buffer. The second hour and 12 carp graced the net (I think 12 cos I started to lose count and gave up) and just after 2 hours Glenn Bailey rang me from Newcastle and was shocked when I told him how many I had! I had tried mainly topping up with a full Preston cad pot of pellet, but I didn't do this after every fish as it seemed to cause liners and missed bites. I also put in a bigger amount in the big pot occasionally when things slowed, this caused the fizz to return and after a while I'd get a good run of fish.
Half way through the match I decided to put two more keepnets in, this way I could see what I caught in the two halves of the match. This had the usual effect of stopping me catching! In the next 30 mins I managed 2 carp whilst Derek took 10! I managed to get a few more on the paste but I was not catching anywhere near the amount I was earlier. In hindsight I stayed on paste probably 45 mins too long, but this was because I was still getting the float go under but not hitting them or getting the odd fouler and I thought it would come good again. Eventually about just under 2 hours to go I started feeding 6mms at 13 mtrs and went out with a banded 8mm. Within 15 mins I was into carp and by regularly feeding and slapping the rig in I was catching well. However, I did have the odd mishap, as about 5 fish did me in the reeds even though I was a way from them. I thought about going to a heavier elastic but when fishing shallow I don't like heavy elastic and so I just tried to yank the pole behind me quicker. I finished the match by landing a fish after the whistle and should say I took 2 fish from the margin on corn to give the shallow line a rest for 15 mins when it went iffy once, they wouldn't stay on the inside.
Dabinett had fished well and there was talk of the fishery match record being broken, I did not do that, but my 172lb 5oz was my best ever weight at the venue by some way, I guess I had around 60 carp, I did not see the bigger stamp fish that are in this lake and to be fair most people had the same stamp. My nets showed that I caught 98lb in the first 3 hours and 74lb in the last 3. The match was won by Pete Sivell with a new record of 195lb, fair play to Pete he has increased his catch off this peg every time. I had to give him a pound too, but luckily I passed him the one I gained from Andy Curry! As for my neighbours well Derek had 126lb and Paul 88lb so a good days fishing!
1st Pete Sivell 195lb peg 28 again pellet and paste
2nd Tim Ford 172lb
3rd John Paige 131lb peg 12 Dabinett pellet
4th Derek Culip 126lb
The next two weights were also over 100lb, with veteran Rich Coles having 102lb from peg 1. The average weight was 96lb on Dabinett, and I did say that if Gary Cross had tried harder and weighed in more than 47lb we could have hit the 100lb average!
On Yarlington 92lb was top and there was and 88lb and 75lb. Pellet shallow was best but paste had the 75lb weight.
Well that was a nice day, and it was great to be back on the bank again. Next week I have the last round of Tony Rixon's float only series, Tony has told me that if I get a section win on this match then I will be in top 3 for sure. However, my last time at Viaduct in the series saw me have a disaster and that was my only match there this year, gonna need a lot of luck then! Hope you enjoyed your weekend.
I was pleased to know a 100lb had come off my peg the day before in a match, and I decided to attack the peg full on with paste at 7 metres, what I thought was a very comfortable distance and one the fish would be happy to come to. The usual 0.18 to size 12 Drennan Nu Hook and Big H float would do for this. I set up a 4x10 PB4 at 12" for pellet shallow and the same float at 2 feet for the margin to my left which I would feed with hemp and corn.
To start the match I fed half a big cup of pellets (4mm, 6mm and 8mm!) at 7mtr and a full big pot of hemp and corn in the margin. I did not feed any pellet across at this stage as I did not want to split the fish, I wanted them all on the paste line! I had a massive fizz over my feed and thought I had fed too much bait, but after the first hour I had taken 15 carp! I was getting a bite or a liner within seconds of the float settling, it was awesome! This put me way ahead of my neighbours and gave me a nice buffer. The second hour and 12 carp graced the net (I think 12 cos I started to lose count and gave up) and just after 2 hours Glenn Bailey rang me from Newcastle and was shocked when I told him how many I had! I had tried mainly topping up with a full Preston cad pot of pellet, but I didn't do this after every fish as it seemed to cause liners and missed bites. I also put in a bigger amount in the big pot occasionally when things slowed, this caused the fizz to return and after a while I'd get a good run of fish.
Half way through the match I decided to put two more keepnets in, this way I could see what I caught in the two halves of the match. This had the usual effect of stopping me catching! In the next 30 mins I managed 2 carp whilst Derek took 10! I managed to get a few more on the paste but I was not catching anywhere near the amount I was earlier. In hindsight I stayed on paste probably 45 mins too long, but this was because I was still getting the float go under but not hitting them or getting the odd fouler and I thought it would come good again. Eventually about just under 2 hours to go I started feeding 6mms at 13 mtrs and went out with a banded 8mm. Within 15 mins I was into carp and by regularly feeding and slapping the rig in I was catching well. However, I did have the odd mishap, as about 5 fish did me in the reeds even though I was a way from them. I thought about going to a heavier elastic but when fishing shallow I don't like heavy elastic and so I just tried to yank the pole behind me quicker. I finished the match by landing a fish after the whistle and should say I took 2 fish from the margin on corn to give the shallow line a rest for 15 mins when it went iffy once, they wouldn't stay on the inside.
Dabinett had fished well and there was talk of the fishery match record being broken, I did not do that, but my 172lb 5oz was my best ever weight at the venue by some way, I guess I had around 60 carp, I did not see the bigger stamp fish that are in this lake and to be fair most people had the same stamp. My nets showed that I caught 98lb in the first 3 hours and 74lb in the last 3. The match was won by Pete Sivell with a new record of 195lb, fair play to Pete he has increased his catch off this peg every time. I had to give him a pound too, but luckily I passed him the one I gained from Andy Curry! As for my neighbours well Derek had 126lb and Paul 88lb so a good days fishing!
1st Pete Sivell 195lb peg 28 again pellet and paste
2nd Tim Ford 172lb
3rd John Paige 131lb peg 12 Dabinett pellet
4th Derek Culip 126lb
The next two weights were also over 100lb, with veteran Rich Coles having 102lb from peg 1. The average weight was 96lb on Dabinett, and I did say that if Gary Cross had tried harder and weighed in more than 47lb we could have hit the 100lb average!
On Yarlington 92lb was top and there was and 88lb and 75lb. Pellet shallow was best but paste had the 75lb weight.
Well that was a nice day, and it was great to be back on the bank again. Next week I have the last round of Tony Rixon's float only series, Tony has told me that if I get a section win on this match then I will be in top 3 for sure. However, my last time at Viaduct in the series saw me have a disaster and that was my only match there this year, gonna need a lot of luck then! Hope you enjoyed your weekend.
Friday, 20 August 2010
Thank F*** It's Friday!
I have taken the phone call from the BRI today, and they have told me the best possible news. The cancer has not spread from the rectum, phew, do I feel relieved about that.
As the cancer itself is rather bulky and very low down I have been advised they cannot operate to remove it just yet. So I now have to have chemotherapy and radiotherapy to shrink the little bastard!
Not sure how the treatment will affect my fishing, but hopefully I'll be able to get out and about as much as possible. As I said to couple of people this experience puts things into perspective, so perhaps I won't be that bothered by messing up pegs from now on!
Thanks to everyone for the positive vibes and support, I really cannot put into words how it has helped me over the last week or two.
As the cancer itself is rather bulky and very low down I have been advised they cannot operate to remove it just yet. So I now have to have chemotherapy and radiotherapy to shrink the little bastard!
Not sure how the treatment will affect my fishing, but hopefully I'll be able to get out and about as much as possible. As I said to couple of people this experience puts things into perspective, so perhaps I won't be that bothered by messing up pegs from now on!
Thanks to everyone for the positive vibes and support, I really cannot put into words how it has helped me over the last week or two.
Tuesday, 17 August 2010
Shit Happens
I think I ought to put on my blog what most people will already know, that is that I have cancer. There, I've said it because I have no issue talking about it with anyone.
I have actually seen the little bastard lump of cancer which resides in my arse, saw it on camera yesterday in the BRI hospital. Wednesday 18th Aug I have a CT scan, Thursday an MRI scan and after these I will know if the cancer is just in the one place or spread further. Until then I remain positive.
I don't mind admitting that when I was first told by the Doctor I was bricking it, and going home to tell the wife and kids was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do and I was in floods of tears. I also felt sorry for the kids because I had to cancel our two week holiday to Kos (my planned RnR). Since that day (Mon 9th August) I have felt better and better every day in my mind and am just getting on with life as normal. If I see you on the bank I want to have a laugh and joke, wind ups as normal, because fishing is the one thing that has always taken me to a different place for a few hours, switching the rest of the world off so to speak. I do not want sympathy or people to fear the worse, because I am not!
I don't intend to turn this blog into a cancer site, but I will advise what I am up to as it may help people in the future who have to face the same thing. Up until now the hospital staff have been superb, support from friends and family has been amazing, in fact blown me away and put me in the right frame of mind.
I've booked in for the open at Cider Farm this Sunday and hopefully I'll get in amongst the carp and rain or shine bag up!
I have actually seen the little bastard lump of cancer which resides in my arse, saw it on camera yesterday in the BRI hospital. Wednesday 18th Aug I have a CT scan, Thursday an MRI scan and after these I will know if the cancer is just in the one place or spread further. Until then I remain positive.
I don't mind admitting that when I was first told by the Doctor I was bricking it, and going home to tell the wife and kids was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do and I was in floods of tears. I also felt sorry for the kids because I had to cancel our two week holiday to Kos (my planned RnR). Since that day (Mon 9th August) I have felt better and better every day in my mind and am just getting on with life as normal. If I see you on the bank I want to have a laugh and joke, wind ups as normal, because fishing is the one thing that has always taken me to a different place for a few hours, switching the rest of the world off so to speak. I do not want sympathy or people to fear the worse, because I am not!
I don't intend to turn this blog into a cancer site, but I will advise what I am up to as it may help people in the future who have to face the same thing. Up until now the hospital staff have been superb, support from friends and family has been amazing, in fact blown me away and put me in the right frame of mind.
I've booked in for the open at Cider Farm this Sunday and hopefully I'll get in amongst the carp and rain or shine bag up!
Saturday, 14 August 2010
December 1990
Dec 1st saw me on the banks of the Avon at Frys for the Commercial House Xmas match. I was drawn up in the 50's, what I call opposite the lily pad pegs on Jackies, an area that could through up bream. However, on this day the river was clear and I wasn't sure they would feed and so I settled on a crowquill approach. Using a 22 to 1.8lb Tectan I loosefed maggot and hemp I caught dace, roach, perch and small skimmers for 6lb 5oz and a section win. However, bream had fed in many pegs and I should have spent some time on the feeder, but the trouble is I love catching on the float!
The following day and it was back on the Avon for the Portcullis Xmas match at Crane and Swineford. I had one of the shortest walks when I pulled out the boys hole! I decided to fish exactly the same method as the day before (since bream had disappeared from this ares by now) and ended with an improved 7lb 15oz. Whilst that got me a prize it was not good enough for any coin, as the pegs by the cattle grid produced 12lb and 14lb of roach on the stick with caster. If I recall correctly the heavier weight was caught by Mark Harper, and it was a lesson in the quality caster could produce. But did I learn the lesson, no, I put it down to the pegs and would stick to maggots and hemp for a while longer!
1990 must have been a very dry year, because I have recorded on the 3rd Dec that a hose pipe ban was still enforced in Bristol, and that Chew Valley lake was only half full. On Saturday 8th December I fished the Silver Dace Xmas match, again this was from Crane to Swineford, and I drew 2 pegs into the cornfield (walking upstream). It was a cold day and it snowed all day, but it didn't pitch, and my match was awful with just a solitary 1lb 7oz chub to show for my efforts, although I did lose 2 chub to a 10lb+ pike! I walked a bit that day, and saw Leigh Nutland catch 30lb of chub of the "beach" peg on the waggler, and an angler had 40lb of bream in the middle of the cornfield. My next day on the Bathampton Xmas was even worse, I could only manage 2 roach and 1 gudgeon from peg 217 at Kelston straight.
I had only 2 Xmas matches left now to try to put some decent fish in the net, and next up was the Bristol Sensas Xmas match fished from Chequers to Jack Whites. I drew at Chequers, opposite the concrete outflow on Frys. I was not happy with this draw as I wanted to be at Jack Whites on a big fish peg. It was freezing on this morning and for the first 2 hours of the match the rod rings were freezing. Fishing once again with crowquill hemp and maggot I was amazed to catch 7lb 4oz of all roach, virtually unheard of in such conditions. Although this won me the section the river had fished well at Jackies, with bream weights of up to 30lb, chub weights of up to 18lb and there was even a 12lb carp caught. Looking back I never gave myself a chance of big fish in these matches by not fishing the feeder, but perhaps I benefited in the long run by working at catching on the float.
The last Xmas match was at Bristol docks and I drew at "halfpenny Bridge" OK where the f%ck that I asked! After finding someone to follow I was told it was only worth fishing for dace. I imagine I put together a rig on the day for this but I don't know what sort, but I used a 20 to 1.1lb bayer. I fished at 7 metres but went to 10 metres of pole to control the float. By loose feeding just maggot I caught for 3 1/2 hours, but then the flow picked up tremendously and the fish went with it. I'm guessing I framed as I picked up £41 but I did not record my position. On the day 30lb of roach won the match from the then famous lightship.
I did not fish the following weekend, as I went to Nottingham for a Xmas piss up with Paul Benson, Kev Winstone and Nick Tutty. I remember regretting wearing a white shirt one night when drinking Murphys, as I spilt loads down me! It was also rather funny on Xmas eve when the B&B owner came into our room to fix a blocked sink, unfortunately for him this was about 2 minutes after Nick Tutty had taken a dump. He came out of the bathroom glassy eyed and struggling for breath, but he was a good spirit and saw the funny side!
The following day and it was back on the Avon for the Portcullis Xmas match at Crane and Swineford. I had one of the shortest walks when I pulled out the boys hole! I decided to fish exactly the same method as the day before (since bream had disappeared from this ares by now) and ended with an improved 7lb 15oz. Whilst that got me a prize it was not good enough for any coin, as the pegs by the cattle grid produced 12lb and 14lb of roach on the stick with caster. If I recall correctly the heavier weight was caught by Mark Harper, and it was a lesson in the quality caster could produce. But did I learn the lesson, no, I put it down to the pegs and would stick to maggots and hemp for a while longer!
1990 must have been a very dry year, because I have recorded on the 3rd Dec that a hose pipe ban was still enforced in Bristol, and that Chew Valley lake was only half full. On Saturday 8th December I fished the Silver Dace Xmas match, again this was from Crane to Swineford, and I drew 2 pegs into the cornfield (walking upstream). It was a cold day and it snowed all day, but it didn't pitch, and my match was awful with just a solitary 1lb 7oz chub to show for my efforts, although I did lose 2 chub to a 10lb+ pike! I walked a bit that day, and saw Leigh Nutland catch 30lb of chub of the "beach" peg on the waggler, and an angler had 40lb of bream in the middle of the cornfield. My next day on the Bathampton Xmas was even worse, I could only manage 2 roach and 1 gudgeon from peg 217 at Kelston straight.
I had only 2 Xmas matches left now to try to put some decent fish in the net, and next up was the Bristol Sensas Xmas match fished from Chequers to Jack Whites. I drew at Chequers, opposite the concrete outflow on Frys. I was not happy with this draw as I wanted to be at Jack Whites on a big fish peg. It was freezing on this morning and for the first 2 hours of the match the rod rings were freezing. Fishing once again with crowquill hemp and maggot I was amazed to catch 7lb 4oz of all roach, virtually unheard of in such conditions. Although this won me the section the river had fished well at Jackies, with bream weights of up to 30lb, chub weights of up to 18lb and there was even a 12lb carp caught. Looking back I never gave myself a chance of big fish in these matches by not fishing the feeder, but perhaps I benefited in the long run by working at catching on the float.
The last Xmas match was at Bristol docks and I drew at "halfpenny Bridge" OK where the f%ck that I asked! After finding someone to follow I was told it was only worth fishing for dace. I imagine I put together a rig on the day for this but I don't know what sort, but I used a 20 to 1.1lb bayer. I fished at 7 metres but went to 10 metres of pole to control the float. By loose feeding just maggot I caught for 3 1/2 hours, but then the flow picked up tremendously and the fish went with it. I'm guessing I framed as I picked up £41 but I did not record my position. On the day 30lb of roach won the match from the then famous lightship.
I did not fish the following weekend, as I went to Nottingham for a Xmas piss up with Paul Benson, Kev Winstone and Nick Tutty. I remember regretting wearing a white shirt one night when drinking Murphys, as I spilt loads down me! It was also rather funny on Xmas eve when the B&B owner came into our room to fix a blocked sink, unfortunately for him this was about 2 minutes after Nick Tutty had taken a dump. He came out of the bathroom glassy eyed and struggling for breath, but he was a good spirit and saw the funny side!
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