Angling Trust Winter League Final

The last few weeks for me have all been about getting ready for this final and preparing for fishing on a commercial fishery called Rookery Waters. 25 teams of 10 were competing this year and the fishing was as ever in Cambridgeshire on the drains and lakes. 5 of my Preston Innovations Thatchers team would fish the drains and 5 the lakes. We were allowed to pick which commercial fishery we were going to and with my Welsh teammates Rob Jones and Luke Sorekin happy to go to Decoy Lakes, Shaun Townsend and myself went for Rookery, leaving Float Fish Farm for Andrew Mann.

Towner picked me up Friday morning and we started the 3 1/2 hour drive to Rookery to see the lakes. After the section draw in the week Towner knew he would be on Jay which is a snake lake, I could be on either Raven (snake) or Magpie an open lake with a central island where some pegs are on. Towner had drawn up a matrix of every pegs match weights and this allowed us to see the flyers. The recent mild weather had it appeared moved some of the fish around so nothing was guaranteed.

We stayed in March and it was great to have a night out with the boys a few beers and a curry. Next morning Andy Ottaway left early to draw our peg set, and soon after 8am I was going to Magpie 16. Looking at the matrix this had two good weights and two average but I was happy, Towner had missed the flyers but was on a peg which seemed better than average.

When I got to my peg I had lots of room to my left and a sunken boat creating an island at 16m. X marks my peg.

There was what appeared to be an island (later told it was a semi sunken boat) at 16m and the locals told me that would be where I would have to go for bites. Trouble was the wind was getting up and was blowing from left to right.

Off to my left on the point of the island was old team mate Geraint Powell who fishes with Starlets. I’d been told the day before that his peg and the one around the corner were the flyers.

I set up a dobbing rig but with the lake coloured wasn’t sure if I would try it. A 4x12 for the margins but never had a bite on these, a 4x14 for top set plus two which was 4 1/2 feet, a 4x12 would work but I thought it was too windy. I shipped out to the boat to find it was about 6”’deeper than the top set plus two line, so used a 4x14 here too. I left a fair bit of line above the float as my pole was being blown around. I did set up a maggot feeder to use by the boat in case the wind got worse but never picked it up.

We started at 11 and I shipped out to the boat and toss potted in a few maggots. I fished to the left edge as the middle had plants and twigs which I didn’t want to hook up on. After about 5 minutes I had a bite and hooked a fish which swam out nicely and then came off. Back over again fed a few more maggots and hooked another fish, landed a 2lb F1. Over the next hour I had a struggle getting odd bites with my pole being bent like a banana and hooking fish that were off the bottom. After hour 1 I had three F1’s, had lost about 5 and lost one rig which blew into the plants. 

Hour 2 was just as frustrating and I had tried fishing off bottom, half depth and dobbing, a couple of Rudd a couple of F1’s and more foulers. Clearly lots of F1’s in the peg but I wasn’t working it out!

Mid match I rang Towner, I said I had 10lb and he said he didn’t have that. Everyone was losing foulers it seemed. I tried feeding a bit heavier to get fish to go down on the bottom it gave me a couple of F1,s but then died. I was really worried that I was cocking up a great peg as everyone I could see was catching the odd fish and Geraint especially doing well getting out fouled carp lol. My one thought was stay positive they might come on the feed late for me.

With two hours to go the wind dropped and I was able to fish to the middle of the boat, it was a tiny bit shallower here. It started slow but then I had a great hour catching F1’s and was clawing my way back into the match. All of a sudden it slowed and it was back to odd foulers, so weird! My last hour was OK but not as much as I hoped for, I took two F1 on the short line one in the mouth one in the tail, and a few from 16m. Match over and I hadn’t had a carp and don’t think I hooked one, it was all F1’s. Whatever I weighed I was sure I had lost the same off the hook, Geraint said he was the same.

My fish went 23 Kilo 925g about 53lb, this got me 5th in the section an ok result but I feel I should have done better. That said a local angler in my section told me he drew my peg last week and said he fished it the same had 70lb and lost at least that in foulers. Typical of winter fishing the fish were in certain areas, Will Raison in my section beat two anglers with 8 kilos, if he can’t catch there’s no fish in his peg. Here’s my section sheet.

Towner had a great last hour to end with 26 kilos also coming 5th in section so steady enough. Andrew Man on Float Fish was 5th, on Decoy Rob 3rd but Luke never had a bite and blanked. Having blanked there myself in the past I knew how he would be feeling, gutted for him. The lads on the drains had all done steady and our penalty points were 60. This put us 9th just 1 point off 8th which was the last team payout. Diawa Dorking and Barnsley both had 58 points and 55 points was 4th so it was very close. Congratulations to Geraint and his Starlets team who won convincingly, local team Tackle & Bates were second.

Weather permitting I will get one chance to get on the river next week for a bit of feeder chucking! 🤞

Westerleigh Lakes Open Match

Fishing has taken a back seat for me for a few weeks. Mainly because I just couldn’t be bothered to get soaked and cold, and obviously the rivers are not match fishable. However, I’ve got the Angling Trust Winter League Final next Saturday and so I wanted a chance to use some new elastics and rigs and Westerleigh was just the ticket.

Most of my prep has been done for a few weeks and so Saturday it was nice to see a Rovers win 😃.  Went to Emerson’s Wetherspoons for breakfast on Sunday where Martin Reyat, Freddie Wojtyla and Shaun Townsend also filled their bellies. Shaun likes to hide his breakfast beneath pepper 🤣.

There were 19 people fishing today so one lake would have 10 anglers and the other 9, this would be random depending on the last peg not drawn. I was happy to draw peg 11 on Shipps canal, a peg I’ve won off before in winter. However it would depend where the carp were shoaled, and top bagger Martin Reyat was on peg 5 with 6 not drawn and would be hard to beat if the carp were that end of the lake I thought.

I made three rigs today, a 4x10 for against the left hand island at 13m, a 4x12 for near the right hand island, and a 4x14 for fishing in the deep open water. All rigs had 16 SFL to 0.11 accu power. I was pinning my faith in maggots today and decided not to dob bread. On peg 12 was evergreen Mike Nicholls who would fish for silvers, on peg 10 was Chris who normally fishes with PSV he told me. 

We started at 10:30 and I fed all my lines with maggots and started over by the left hand Island. It was just roach here, as was the other island, as was the deep water. Hmmm, kept toss potting in maggots to try to get the roach full. After an hour I managed to catch a 2lb F1 from the RH island but it was a one off. Chris had managed a couple on meat and I was thinking I had made a mistake not bringing any.

Halfway through the match and not much had been caught my end of the lake, I was probably best with three F1’s. Mat Tainton on 8 had a few carp and Martin after a terrible start was now getting the odd fish. About 2 hours to go the RH island swim came to life I caught 3 F1’s and 2 carp, plus I pulled out of 2 carp that I think were fouled.

It went quiet after this and I also managed to hook a branch and trash a rig. 

Chris had a similar run but more carp, on meat but then his swim also went quiet. Try as I might I couldn’t catch in the deep water despite trying it all match. I did get an F1 from the LH island which was the only one there, and 5 mins before the all out I hooked another carp from the RH island which I landed before the all out. 

With the top 2 and 1 silvers being paid on each lake I knew I was not going to pick up as Martin 76lb and Mat 54lb had both caught well. Chris had just under 30lb and then I had 43lb which was more than I thought as I think the F1’s were decent size. Mike took the lake silvers with 7lb.

Weigh sheets below…

Well done Matt Challenger on winning the other lake catching mainly on pellets.

It was nice to fish in dry conditions and a bit milder, but the wind was in my face blowing through the gap just to keep me cool lol. I hope the weather stays mild this week which will surely help the carp feed next weekend, fingers crossed!

Westerleigh Lakes Open Match

Had a message in the week from Mike Nicholls asking if I wanted to fish a match at Westerleigh. As the river was wrecked and I hadn’t fished Westerleigh for a couple of years I thought why not. With me fishing the ATWL at the end of February I need to get my head and my gear around carp as I’ll be fishing a lake, did quite a few top sets with Preston Hybrid elastic, I like the green 11, and did some rigs and hook lengths

Had a nice time out Saturday that culminated with a lovely meal at the Beirut Mezze in Bristol. The picture is the sharing starter. 

Woke up before the alarm Sunday morning and headed to the new Wetherspoons at Emerson’s Green where I met Martin Rayet. He had a large breakfast and for the first time ever I had a small, I was still feeling full from yesterday 🙈.

Got to the lakes and paid my pools to Mark Taylor, the match was being run as two separate matches, so each lake would pay out top 2 and top silvers. I hoped to draw Shipps lake (some call it the canal lake) as this has been producing better than the main lake. I got my wish by drawing peg 1, but the carp have been up the other end I was told. Rang Glenn Bailey who I knew had drawn this peg a few weeks ago and he told me what he did and that he had to wait 3 hours to get a carp. Hopefully I wouldn’t wait so long!

Lots of options on this peg with an island and some open water that was about 5 1/2 feet deep.

Also a bush on my right side margin, you’ve only got a little bit of it to fish to from this peg but a definite fish holding spot. On peg 2 was the latest addition to the pensioners list Tony Rixon. I’d won the coin toss as to who of us would be on the scales, so I thought at least I had beat him at something lol.

I made up three rigs; a dobbing rig for by the island (thanks to Bela Bakos for giving me a couple of slices of bread) with 0.13 powerline to 16 GPM. My deep rig was a 4x14 F1 maggot again with 0.13 to 16. My last rig for the bush was a 4x12 but I used 0.11 to 16 SFLB, I went a bit lighter here as I was expecting a few F1s. Bait choice was maggots.

We started at 10:15 and I began by feeding maggots on top set plus 2, top set plus 4 and the bush. I then went dobbing bread by the island. I dobbed bread all along the island and all I got was roach bites. I felt there were no carp here so tried my deep water swims. I could get the odd bite but this was also from roach.  After an hour I had a handful of roach as did Tony, further up the lake Bela, Vince Shipp and Mike Nicholls had netted some carp / F1. I plugged away just catching the odd small roach, Tony managed a couple of F1s and then I finally got an F1 from the bush. 

After three hours I had 2lb of roach and the F1, and was really thinking I should set up a light roach rig and go for the silvers prize. Then I foul hooked and lost a carp on my top set plus 4 line. Ten minutes later I had another carp on and landed this one as it was hooked in the mouth about 5lb. Next drop a 4lb carp hooked in the dorsal and next drop a 7lb carp in the mouth. That little run was great but that line died and I had to rest it. My top set plus 2 line was useless and I couldn’t get a fish here. But then the margin bush got me an F1 and small carp.

Last hour and I was still thinking I was miles behind those at the other end of the lake. Tony had a few F1’s but he was missing a few bites and lost a few foulers. I had dropped the top set plus 2 and rotated the margin and top set plus 4, feeding maggots by toss pot and increasing what I fed if the roach were in the peg. I had another F1 and carp from the margin, and another couple of carp and a decent F1 from my long line. Match over and I thought I might have 40lb if lucky. 

Whilst packing up Bela said he only had 20 odd pound as did others, except for Mike Etheridge on 8 who had caught well and I would probably be second. I was weighed first and my roach went 2lb 5oz, my carp and F1s 39lb 14oz, so 42lb 3oz. My carp net picture courtesy Tony.

Tony weighed 21lb 12oz and wasn’t impressed by his next peg battering, picture courtesy Tony 😂.

Bela was correct and I did end up second on the lake quite comfortably, with Mike running out an easy winner on peg 8 with 64lb 8oz all caught on dobbing bread. Silvers was won by Mike Nicholls who …. See his blog.

The main lake was harder, Mark Taylor also caught on bread but near the bottom. Martin Rayet got a dozen F1 for second and Andy Gard won the silvers with just 1lb 7oz.

Well I was very happy to get amongst the fish today and it was good to get some elastic pulled out. After the match carp were eating the slices of bread that were thrown in the lakes proving that they were there all the time.

South West Disabled and over 50’s - Acorn Fishery

Happy New Year.

The last couple of weeks have been frustrating on the fishing front. First a match on the Crane was cancelled due to flooding, and then Saturday morning Dean Harvey messaged me to say he had cancelled a match at Newbridge due to flooding. All plans messed up, but I really wanted to get on the bank, I saw Eddie Wynne had posted on Facebook that his club were looking for guests on their match at Acorn. I got a place in the match and then did a bit of last minute gear sorting and changing!

Sunday morning was very dark, dull and damp a complete change from Saturday. I grabbed a breakfast roll at the H&H cafe and was soon at fishery. Great to see some old faces like Bob Feltham and Alan Jones, still braving the elements to have a fish. Acorn is great for these guys with no walks and safe pegs, they also get to draw first to avoid the island pegs. The pegs to draw at the moment are 5, 7, 9 with 10 and 12 also holding a few carp. I got peg 23 which didn’t give me good vibes, and venue expert Gary Bowden said he’d fish for silvers on my peg, and he would on his peg 4.

Rig wise I set up a 4x10 with 18 to 0.10 for fishing across to the boards with pinkies. A 4x14 rig with same hook etc for fishing in the deep water.  I started the match tapping pinkies in by the boards whist feeding gbait and pinkies in a couple of spots in the deep water. In the first 30 minutes I lost 2 foul hooked carp, I was hoping to get among the ide across as these are fairly reliable feeders. Unfortunately I had no signs across from ide or anything else all match!

It was 2 hours into the match when I finally caught a roach from my deep line at 10m. On bridge peg 21 Mark Britton had 1 ide, but on my left on 25 Mark Bromsgrove had a couple of carp, a tench and skimmer. I finally found a skimmer which perked me up a bit. Sadly my peg never showed any signs of fish being there, or willing to feed. I managed 2 more skimmers and another roach for a DNW. Can’t really say much more about it lol. Mark Britton also DNW after a couple of skimmers joined his lonely ide.  Mark Bromsgrove had a decent day getting 14lb silvers and 17lb of carp.

The framers were…

Result of the Southwest over 50's and Disabled match fished on the Paddock at Acorn Fishery today.

1. Mike Wilson                   69-09 p5

2. Mark Walsh                    51-14 p9

3. Eddie Wynne                  46-09 p7

4. Alan Smith                      42-15 p12

5. Mark Broomsgrove       31-10 p25

6.  Gary Bowden                27-09 p4

Silver's 

1. Gary Bowden                 18-10 p4

2. Eddie Wynne & Mark Broomsgrove    

14-00      pegs 7&25

Well done Mike on the win, and GB on the silvers win with ide. 

Not sure what is up next, let’s see what the weather does!

Jerry Pocock Christmas Match Newbridge

I sincerely hope that you had a great Christmas. Sadly my step dad passed away on Christmas Eve, he was at home on the farm where he wanted to be. A difficult time for the family but we are sure he suffered no pain.

I was booked on this match and decided to go, the river was going to be clearer with a bit of pace but I thought it would be tough after the cold easterly wind. We met in the Midland Spinner for breakfast and the draw. I think there were 21 people fishing and I danced drawing the first 7 pegs and the last 6, but I managed to pull peg 12 and that was middle of the straight peg 36, not going to be good I reckoned.

I got to my peg and with the vicious easterly wind blowing downstream and the conditions I could not see setting a float up was worth it. A one rod job for me, using a Supera 12 foot feeder rod with a 2oz tip. A 45g open end feeder would just hold 2/3 over with 14 to 0.15. I didn’t set up a block ended feeder as I reckoned I would catch any around on gbait feeder and that would give me the chance of a bream.

After 15 minutes of the match I had a nice bite and was pleased to net a 12oz chublet, not blanking was a major achievement for me today.  Ten minutes later a similar bite and this resulted in a 6oz chublet. An hour later and no more bites and as it was so cold I went for a quick walk and the peg upstream of me Warren Bates was blanking. Downstream Jan Mazyk was also blanking. During the match a number of people were walking the bank and mid match just a few anglers had 1 bream and there was an odd chublet. As the match progressed I never had another bite so it was a bit of a bind, but I gave it my best.

My wanting to be in the first 7 pegs was a bit off, as 1 angler had 2 bream and another one chublet, I expected a few chub to come out. But the other end the match bream did show and the top 3 came from here.

1st Derek Coles 25lb (Norfolk Reeds)

2nd Kev Boltz 15lb 15oz

3rd Nick Coles 12lb 13oz

My section was won by Jerry Pocock with 3 chublets for 2lb 15oz. My two went 1lb 2oz, which was 9th in the match beating two other catchers and 10 blanks. Not a single roach was caught.

Actually I did have some luck in the end, I picked up a bottle of whisky for my prize and three prizes on the raffle 😊 

Must say thank you to Jerry and Dean Harvey for running the match.

Potentially I may be fishing next Sunday but with another cold week forecast it’s probably going to be another draw bag job.

Wishing you a Happy New Year.