A sound breakfast in the Shipham cafe to start the day and I wondered if it would be the highlight of the day. I had read on the talk angling forum match results that a few fisheries had not fished so well on Saturday, strong winds and rain showers were sure to have cooled things down. As I was waiting for the draw I noticed Craig Edmunds, Shaun Townsend and Martin Reyatt wearing shiny new Bathampton T shirts with Maver on them. Seems Bathampton have also got a Maver sponsorship along with the Veals team, and after last weeks Superleague on the Huntspill Veals have the bragging rights as Bathampton came plumb last and Maver are scratching their heads "what have we done!"
Finally I pulled a peg on the Top lake and it was peg 10 which meant nothing to me, Tony explained it was a flyer with a tree and corner to fish in, then he said no it isn't that's peg 11! Still this peg had produced 50lb+ last float only series and so I was fairly buoyant, unlike Glenn who had pulled peg 25 where he struggled from before. When I got to my peg I found Brian Shanks on peg 11 and he was going to be hard to beat off this peg, Timmy Clarke was on peg 12 in the opposite corner to Brian, and I had both of these pegs in my section just to make things harder! I decided to set up one shallow pellet wag, and one deep wag, both with 0.20mm to 16 PR38. On the pole I just set up a paste rig to fish at 14.5 metres, with 0.18 to my usual size 10 Drennan Nu Hook.
On the whistle I potted in a mixture of 6 and 8mm pellets at 14.5 metres and loose fed 8mms to the island. As with last week I hoped for an early fish or two on the pole while letting the wag swim develop. This was the wrong thing today, as after 25 minutes I had not had one bubble or indication, whilst Brian had taken 2 carp on the wag and a couple of other carp on the wag had been caught. I changed to the wag and about 4th chuck I hit a carp for all of 3 seconds and then was left with nothing on the line. Strange one this, the hook length had parted, but the float and shot had also come off for some reason? Another 20 mins on the wag brought nothing, and then I noticed some fizzing on the pole and dropped back in on it with paste. First chuck back in and an 8oz skimmer and then the fizzing had subsided. After 10 mins I thought I might have to go back to the wag, but then a proper bite resulted in a 10lb common, off the mark! Next drop in and after a short wait I had a 3lb common, and then next chuck a 7lb common. Of course the fish then disappeared and in the next 3 hours all I did was loose one more carp on the wag which again snapped 0.20 immeadiately!
The middle of the match was dire for all except Timmy Clarke, I resorted to trying to hit the water boatman with the end of my pole, while Brian said he was trying to fire a pellet into his toss pot! Glenn had rang to tell me he was on one skimmer and that it was rock hard! Chris Fox 2 up from me was having a rant, justifiably, because he had yards of line in the water opposite him and he was losing loads of gear. I'll say it again, the middle of the match really was a bore, but we all did our best to keep a bit of banter up, Timmy Clarke helped most of all by losing more than he was landing, even Anton tried to help him but said it was like watching Benny Hill!
I had kept trying different feeding patterns on both pole and wag to no avail, but with an hour to go there was a bit of a fizz on the pole line again. I got a few liners on this but then had what looked like a proper bite, but when I struck I connected with the fish about a foot below the surface, fouler? Well it didn't charge off, it just plodded forcefully around and I soon realised I was attached a lump. After about 15 mins of me pulling as hard as I could (even Anton Page opposite thought I was gonna break my no 4 section) I landed what turned out to be a 16lb 4oz common, hooked just outside the mouth. As I pulled the lump out of the water my old faithful Drennan Team England landing net pole snapped at the ferrule, sad to see that pole go. Thankfully Adrian Bishop at the next peg kindly lent me a pole and next put in I was into another carp about 5lb. The pole line went dead then and for the last 10 mins I chucked the pellet wag, and last cast it went under and this time I landed a 7lb fish after the whistle.
Unfortunately I was not going to get any dosh as Brian had taken several carp in the last hour fishing to the bottom bank margin and he won the section (and framed) with 60lb, Timmy Clarke had 52lb (for section default) and my six carp weighed 48lb. We were the top 3 on the lake by some way and the rest of it was tripe. Hard to say I enjoyed today, and once again I was annoyingly just 1 fish away from picking up, still the 16lb fish was a highlight and the biggest fish I have landed on my Preston 2G10 pole. The other lake was also hard but it produced first and second overall in Dean Malin and Josh Garrett. See Tony's blog for the full result as I decided to leave before the results to get home before 8pm for a change!
That's my lot for Commercials this year, when I look back it's been the best set of results I've had in Spring and Summer on commercials. I've had some good draws and caught, but also messed some pegs up, so still plenty more to learn. I've caught more fish than ever before on paste, and whilst nowhere near an expert I would like to think I have added this tactic to my armoury and have some confidence in it. A few weeks R n R now I think, and time to get the gear ready for the river, so my next post will probably be in September, in the mean time I wish you tight lines.
Sunday, 8 August 2010
Monday, 2 August 2010
Avalon Open
As it is round 5 of the float only next week at Avalon I decided Tony's open at the venue would be a good idea, I'll blame Glenn for giving me that idea. I've been having a few "bottom" problems of late and I found myself having to use the toilets at Avalon. They are very pleasant, but it is not a good idea to go into one to soon after Dean Malin, nuff said. Luckily for me I did not draw a shite peg and was happy with peg 7 which has won a match recently (but it was Gary Wall on paste and he is the master and I am just giving it a go so I could mess this up!).
The wind was not so bad on my side of the lake, but across where Glen had drawn on 39 it was a bit more vicious. I had a plan today, pole and paste early doors and then over to the island for the wag or the feeder depending on the wind. The paste rig was the same as that previously used at Cider Farm, a 3 swan Corby was more than enough to chuck to the island with 0.20 to a 16 PR36. The feeder was a grip mesh type and I would fill it with softened 6mms, same hook and line as wag. I also set up a margin rig but never had a bite (as usual) on that.
On the whistle I cupped in half a big pot of 6mms at 13 metres (I know a lot of people fish out further but I'm happy with that distance) and then fed 8mms by catty to the island regularly. Within about 15 mins bubbles appeared and I had a classic "dip dip" on the float before it buried and a carp of around 5lb was landed. An hour and a half in and I had taken 2 more carp, 2 skimmers and a bream but despite refeeding it had gone really quiet. With visual signs of carp across I had to throw the wag out, and I was expecting some instant action. However, it was not that responsive and I had to get exceptionally tight to get a bite. Four carp graced my net in the next hour and a half and so half way through I was fairly happy with my catch.
I'd like to say I carried on catching steadily, but thinks went pete tong and before I knew it time was running out. First the wag line went dead so I tried the pole for 10 mins, but with no bites and with the carp still on the island I tried the wag again. First chuck and a bite but the fish was in a tree to my right before I could blink, bye bye float. A couple of hook lengths were lost in the vegetation and then I pulled out of fish and another did me in the tree before the swim went quiet. Phil Harding seemed to be catching regularly on the lead so I decided to try the feeder, this produced 3 tiny carp and a 3lb fish, but also I got snapped twice on 0.20! Another try on the wag (because it was obvious to me the big fish in my peg were shallow) and I managed to drop the float (eventually) into the one spot where I seemed to be able to get a bite. I did get a bite and hooked a carp which somehow snagged me immediately, I lost the lot and chucked the rod up the bank. Although there was only the odd bubble showing on the pole line from what I thought were skimmers I decided it was pole and paste for the last 45 mins. I stuck on a big piece of paste to avoid the skimmers but I don't think there were any there because the float went straight under and I landed a 9lb common which I was convinced was foul hooked but wasn't! I had 2 more carp about 8lb and then it was end of match.
As I waited for the scales I knew I was unlikely to coin up, I weighed 9lb 15oz of silvers and with the carp the total went 70lb 14oz, and yes I picked up nowt as Phil won the section with 79lb. With 80lb taking 4th I was just 2 fish off framing, and those lost fish were very costly indeed, as was my decision to not try the pole earlier. Oh well you live and learn, and next week it could be totally different, but I hope the wind doesn't blow to much!
Well done to Gary Wall who once again showed his paste prowess to win convincingly with 165lb from a different peg again. Tony Rixon was 2nd on peg 12 and even he has found the power of the paste to be irresistible, could next years float only become pole and paste only? Well there is more to this paste than meets the eye me thinks, but next week will be the last time I use it this year as that will be the end of my commercial action.
The wind was not so bad on my side of the lake, but across where Glen had drawn on 39 it was a bit more vicious. I had a plan today, pole and paste early doors and then over to the island for the wag or the feeder depending on the wind. The paste rig was the same as that previously used at Cider Farm, a 3 swan Corby was more than enough to chuck to the island with 0.20 to a 16 PR36. The feeder was a grip mesh type and I would fill it with softened 6mms, same hook and line as wag. I also set up a margin rig but never had a bite (as usual) on that.
On the whistle I cupped in half a big pot of 6mms at 13 metres (I know a lot of people fish out further but I'm happy with that distance) and then fed 8mms by catty to the island regularly. Within about 15 mins bubbles appeared and I had a classic "dip dip" on the float before it buried and a carp of around 5lb was landed. An hour and a half in and I had taken 2 more carp, 2 skimmers and a bream but despite refeeding it had gone really quiet. With visual signs of carp across I had to throw the wag out, and I was expecting some instant action. However, it was not that responsive and I had to get exceptionally tight to get a bite. Four carp graced my net in the next hour and a half and so half way through I was fairly happy with my catch.
I'd like to say I carried on catching steadily, but thinks went pete tong and before I knew it time was running out. First the wag line went dead so I tried the pole for 10 mins, but with no bites and with the carp still on the island I tried the wag again. First chuck and a bite but the fish was in a tree to my right before I could blink, bye bye float. A couple of hook lengths were lost in the vegetation and then I pulled out of fish and another did me in the tree before the swim went quiet. Phil Harding seemed to be catching regularly on the lead so I decided to try the feeder, this produced 3 tiny carp and a 3lb fish, but also I got snapped twice on 0.20! Another try on the wag (because it was obvious to me the big fish in my peg were shallow) and I managed to drop the float (eventually) into the one spot where I seemed to be able to get a bite. I did get a bite and hooked a carp which somehow snagged me immediately, I lost the lot and chucked the rod up the bank. Although there was only the odd bubble showing on the pole line from what I thought were skimmers I decided it was pole and paste for the last 45 mins. I stuck on a big piece of paste to avoid the skimmers but I don't think there were any there because the float went straight under and I landed a 9lb common which I was convinced was foul hooked but wasn't! I had 2 more carp about 8lb and then it was end of match.
As I waited for the scales I knew I was unlikely to coin up, I weighed 9lb 15oz of silvers and with the carp the total went 70lb 14oz, and yes I picked up nowt as Phil won the section with 79lb. With 80lb taking 4th I was just 2 fish off framing, and those lost fish were very costly indeed, as was my decision to not try the pole earlier. Oh well you live and learn, and next week it could be totally different, but I hope the wind doesn't blow to much!
Well done to Gary Wall who once again showed his paste prowess to win convincingly with 165lb from a different peg again. Tony Rixon was 2nd on peg 12 and even he has found the power of the paste to be irresistible, could next years float only become pole and paste only? Well there is more to this paste than meets the eye me thinks, but next week will be the last time I use it this year as that will be the end of my commercial action.
Sunday, 25 July 2010
The 5 metre challenge at Cider Farm
After returning the pole I borrowed from Warren Bates I was hoping my no 6 section had been repaired and delivered to Avon Angling. As I arrived Sat afternoon Tony told me the section was a no show, oh dear. Well in Tony's defense he does do a good job of repairing tap dancing shoes. I was very badly hung over from Friday night and so could not be bothered to do anything else to get a pole, so it was to be 5 metres maximum on Sunday.
Glenn picked me up with his usual military precision and we were off to Cider Farm chancing our luck. There was a good Bristol contingent with Mike Nicholls, Bela Bakos, Pete Sivell, Chris Gay, Roger Andonio as well as a few Brummies! I drew peg 19, which I have already drawn this year but a long time back when there was bare bank, and Steve Howells had really struggled on this peg the previous week. On the opposite bank appeared Pete Sivell on 20 and Chris Gay on 22, with Glenn next to me on 17 it was an all Bristol affair! It didn't take long for the banter to start from Mr Sivell and it never stopped all match. He asked if I wanted a pound on it, which I accepted despite being limited to 5mtr! I set up a paste rig with 0.18 to size 12 Drennan Nu hook, I fished it straight out at 5mtr, and to my right at 3 mtrs. I did set up a shallow pellet rig and a pellet wag but neither of those caught me a fish.
I fed half a big pot of 6mms and a couple of balls of paste on both my pole lines and started on the 5mtr line. I missed a bite first chuck, and Pete lost the first fish he hooked for the 2nd week running! It was a slow first hour for me with just 3 carp, although I was getting fizzes and plenty of indications. Glenn's brother Mark came down to watch him and this co-incided with him having his best spell of the match, then when Mark went he stopped catching! My second hour was a bit better but I was not connecting with many bites, and with the two lines I tried feeding one with a pot and one by hand. This didn't really help much but as although the fish remained present on both lines they were proving hard to line up. I'd get 1 or 2 fish by feeding a bit differently or resting a line, but then it would be a long spell of missed bites or foul hookers.
The 4th and 5th hours were probably my best, I caught with a little more regularity and was now getting the odd better fish up to 4lb. Fouler hookers were still a problem though and one fish must have straighted my hook but I didn't notice it (Drennan Nu hooks are an odd shape anyway) until I pulled out of two decent fish by the net! By now I wished I had got a longer pole as I am sure a line further out near to the reeds could have been useful, also there was no margin line to fish as the reeds were to dense. My last hour was not so productive and Pete Sivell had a good run of fish which I thought we see him beat me by a long way. When the scales arrived Dave Roper was leading with 73lb from peg 7, Glenn weighed 50lb and I tipped 71lb 13oz on them. Pete then took back the pound he gave me last week by weighing 81lb, and he also took Chris Gay's who weighed 59lb (so that means I have beat you in the section at last Chris!). Pete was obviously very happy to have beaten me, but I did remind him it had taken him three attempts to beat me lol!
The bottom half of the lake was much more consistent, with Lewis Breeze winning the match with 88lb on pellet shallow. In the end I was 8th overall and won my section by default. So a tight frame, with only 17lb between 1st and 8th, I reckon I lost 14 fish (mostly foulers) so could have been up there, but to be fair everyone suffered losses. Glenn had fish feeding on the top shelf all day but could not catch them, he chucked a straight lead out in the end and took 5 fish on this!
Well that is the end of my "season" at Cider Farm this year, it has been very kind to me this year and I've enjoyed the challenge. Thanks to Mark Gibson for his good organisation, see if you can pull a few reed beds out over the winter Mark! I've now had 5 pick ups on the trot, but it will be a mighty effort to keep this run going as I am now at Avalon for the next two Sundays. Time to tie lots of hook lengths!
Glenn picked me up with his usual military precision and we were off to Cider Farm chancing our luck. There was a good Bristol contingent with Mike Nicholls, Bela Bakos, Pete Sivell, Chris Gay, Roger Andonio as well as a few Brummies! I drew peg 19, which I have already drawn this year but a long time back when there was bare bank, and Steve Howells had really struggled on this peg the previous week. On the opposite bank appeared Pete Sivell on 20 and Chris Gay on 22, with Glenn next to me on 17 it was an all Bristol affair! It didn't take long for the banter to start from Mr Sivell and it never stopped all match. He asked if I wanted a pound on it, which I accepted despite being limited to 5mtr! I set up a paste rig with 0.18 to size 12 Drennan Nu hook, I fished it straight out at 5mtr, and to my right at 3 mtrs. I did set up a shallow pellet rig and a pellet wag but neither of those caught me a fish.
I fed half a big pot of 6mms and a couple of balls of paste on both my pole lines and started on the 5mtr line. I missed a bite first chuck, and Pete lost the first fish he hooked for the 2nd week running! It was a slow first hour for me with just 3 carp, although I was getting fizzes and plenty of indications. Glenn's brother Mark came down to watch him and this co-incided with him having his best spell of the match, then when Mark went he stopped catching! My second hour was a bit better but I was not connecting with many bites, and with the two lines I tried feeding one with a pot and one by hand. This didn't really help much but as although the fish remained present on both lines they were proving hard to line up. I'd get 1 or 2 fish by feeding a bit differently or resting a line, but then it would be a long spell of missed bites or foul hookers.
The 4th and 5th hours were probably my best, I caught with a little more regularity and was now getting the odd better fish up to 4lb. Fouler hookers were still a problem though and one fish must have straighted my hook but I didn't notice it (Drennan Nu hooks are an odd shape anyway) until I pulled out of two decent fish by the net! By now I wished I had got a longer pole as I am sure a line further out near to the reeds could have been useful, also there was no margin line to fish as the reeds were to dense. My last hour was not so productive and Pete Sivell had a good run of fish which I thought we see him beat me by a long way. When the scales arrived Dave Roper was leading with 73lb from peg 7, Glenn weighed 50lb and I tipped 71lb 13oz on them. Pete then took back the pound he gave me last week by weighing 81lb, and he also took Chris Gay's who weighed 59lb (so that means I have beat you in the section at last Chris!). Pete was obviously very happy to have beaten me, but I did remind him it had taken him three attempts to beat me lol!
The bottom half of the lake was much more consistent, with Lewis Breeze winning the match with 88lb on pellet shallow. In the end I was 8th overall and won my section by default. So a tight frame, with only 17lb between 1st and 8th, I reckon I lost 14 fish (mostly foulers) so could have been up there, but to be fair everyone suffered losses. Glenn had fish feeding on the top shelf all day but could not catch them, he chucked a straight lead out in the end and took 5 fish on this!
Well that is the end of my "season" at Cider Farm this year, it has been very kind to me this year and I've enjoyed the challenge. Thanks to Mark Gibson for his good organisation, see if you can pull a few reed beds out over the winter Mark! I've now had 5 pick ups on the trot, but it will be a mighty effort to keep this run going as I am now at Avalon for the next two Sundays. Time to tie lots of hook lengths!
Monday, 19 July 2010
A bit of rough at Cider Farm Lakes
Is it part of getting old, this last week I have been sleeping badly (4 to 6 hours a night) but have stopped feeling tired? Saturday night I was awake till 1am and then awoke at 5:30am but didn't feel to bad, weird. Unsurprisingly then Sunday morning I was waiting outside Glenn Bailey's house instead of his gear waiting for me!
We were off to Cider Farm Lakes and on the journey down Glenn and I talked about the previous days Fish'O'Mania and what a great advert for our form of angling it was. I have fished against Neil McKinnon before mainly at Hillview lakes, and know first hand how good an angler he is, well done Neil.
Glenn thought the fishing could be hard today as his brother Mark had fished a lake the day before and his winning weight was half of what is the norm. Cider Farm had produced 6 tons the week before so we were still expecting a decent day. The current anglers to beat at this venue are four welsh musketeers, and of them Howard Green drew plum peg 14, and Rob Jones drew the same peg he had taken 120lb from the week before! Still I was happy to pull out flyer peg 41 a regular framer and I was really looking forward to fishing it. As I sat surveying my peg I heard "Don't ever, ever, ever tell me you don't draw flyers Clucker!", it was none other than Pete Sivell. Now I've know Pete for a very long time, and for a long time we were team mates when we dominated the river matches with Avon Angling, so I knew what to expect from him, lots of winding up and mind games and a lot of laughs. Behind me on peg 40 was his travelling partner Ray Cooper and Chris Davies was opposite Ray on peg 32. This meant we could all keep tabs on each other with a bit of verbal, Glenn was inthe distance on peg 11.
AS I set up fish were showing themselves, but it was noticeable how the activity reduced as we got nearer to the 10am start. Pete asked if I wanted a £1 bet and I agreed even though I had already won a match this year off the peg he was on. I set up 4 rigs today, two dibbers one at 9" for right against the far island and one at 18" on the shelf (both for banded pellet on 0.16 to 16 PR36), a paste rig for the left hand margin and at 7mtr with a 12 Drennan Nu hook to 0.18 and big H float, and a deep pellet rig which was a waste of time!
On the whistle I potted in half a pot of 6mms onto the island shelf, and a full pot down the margin at 3mtrs (it was 6ft deep here). I did not feed the 7mtr line to start with as I hoped the island would be prolific. Three fish in 20 mins on the shelf was not a bad start but then it went dead, and after another 20 mins despite feeding with a catty I had not had a single indication. Pete had started off by fishing shallow in the open water but had also struggled, so I decided to start up the 7mtr line. Feeding with half a pot of 6mms it took all of about 30 seconds for it to start to fizzing! Dropping in with the paste rig I was into a fish within a few minutes, but then it got silly with lots of indications but no proper bites. I tried feeding with a pole pot, and with just a big pot, but nothing made a difference. I though I was getting liners but coming off the bottom with the pellet rig and it just sat there motionless. Much earlier than I had planned I tried the inside (as the island was still dead) and took just one fish here.
Half way through and I was completely jarred off, I just couldn't catch and the odd time I hooked a fish on the paste it was foul hooked and came off. I said to Pete I felt like packing up, but then it's too easy to give up isn't it? I was temporarily cheered up by the sight of Ray Cooper swinging out an old tin of sweetcorn that he hooked fair and square in the lid, I reckon he must have had his hookbait in the tin for ages! AS I sat there trying to decide what to do next I could tell nobody was bagging and the venue was having an off day, I realised I was behind Pete despite him saying he only had 4 carp when he had more like 14, and the Welsh lad to my right had 10, so I had to sort things out. I made up my mind to concentrate on the inside line with paste, as this had produced a couple more fish for me, and I would have to try to get the feeding sorted out. Actually in the end I don't feel I changed to much, just threw in three handfuls of 6mm pellet for every fish, but all of a sudden I started to get sensible bites. The last hour to hour and half I caught steadily, with fish mostly 2lb but up to 4lb, this co-incided with Pete's peg drying up after he said he fed too much corn on the line he was catching. I also took one 2lb skimmer in the last hour which flew out of the lake, haven't seen that for a while! After the whistle blew I was feeling better about things but still just thinking of a section win at best. That was until Glenn arrived to tell me had chucked back seven carp and his section was won with 27lb and Howard had just 61lb off peg 14. I weighed 55lb 7oz and this turned out to be good enough for 2nd, just beating peg 46 which had 54lb.
This match had fished much harder than the previous week and Glenn's prediction was spot on. I was gutted not win, especially as I had pulled out of 8 fish, mostly foulers, but I think we were all caught out by how hard it fished.
Pete said he was not looking forward to reading my blog when he presented me with his nice shiny pound coin, but I assured him I would say he fished like a hero to win his section......... I'm not saying too much because we all know in this game, what goes around comes around!
We were off to Cider Farm Lakes and on the journey down Glenn and I talked about the previous days Fish'O'Mania and what a great advert for our form of angling it was. I have fished against Neil McKinnon before mainly at Hillview lakes, and know first hand how good an angler he is, well done Neil.
Glenn thought the fishing could be hard today as his brother Mark had fished a lake the day before and his winning weight was half of what is the norm. Cider Farm had produced 6 tons the week before so we were still expecting a decent day. The current anglers to beat at this venue are four welsh musketeers, and of them Howard Green drew plum peg 14, and Rob Jones drew the same peg he had taken 120lb from the week before! Still I was happy to pull out flyer peg 41 a regular framer and I was really looking forward to fishing it. As I sat surveying my peg I heard "Don't ever, ever, ever tell me you don't draw flyers Clucker!", it was none other than Pete Sivell. Now I've know Pete for a very long time, and for a long time we were team mates when we dominated the river matches with Avon Angling, so I knew what to expect from him, lots of winding up and mind games and a lot of laughs. Behind me on peg 40 was his travelling partner Ray Cooper and Chris Davies was opposite Ray on peg 32. This meant we could all keep tabs on each other with a bit of verbal, Glenn was inthe distance on peg 11.
AS I set up fish were showing themselves, but it was noticeable how the activity reduced as we got nearer to the 10am start. Pete asked if I wanted a £1 bet and I agreed even though I had already won a match this year off the peg he was on. I set up 4 rigs today, two dibbers one at 9" for right against the far island and one at 18" on the shelf (both for banded pellet on 0.16 to 16 PR36), a paste rig for the left hand margin and at 7mtr with a 12 Drennan Nu hook to 0.18 and big H float, and a deep pellet rig which was a waste of time!
On the whistle I potted in half a pot of 6mms onto the island shelf, and a full pot down the margin at 3mtrs (it was 6ft deep here). I did not feed the 7mtr line to start with as I hoped the island would be prolific. Three fish in 20 mins on the shelf was not a bad start but then it went dead, and after another 20 mins despite feeding with a catty I had not had a single indication. Pete had started off by fishing shallow in the open water but had also struggled, so I decided to start up the 7mtr line. Feeding with half a pot of 6mms it took all of about 30 seconds for it to start to fizzing! Dropping in with the paste rig I was into a fish within a few minutes, but then it got silly with lots of indications but no proper bites. I tried feeding with a pole pot, and with just a big pot, but nothing made a difference. I though I was getting liners but coming off the bottom with the pellet rig and it just sat there motionless. Much earlier than I had planned I tried the inside (as the island was still dead) and took just one fish here.
Half way through and I was completely jarred off, I just couldn't catch and the odd time I hooked a fish on the paste it was foul hooked and came off. I said to Pete I felt like packing up, but then it's too easy to give up isn't it? I was temporarily cheered up by the sight of Ray Cooper swinging out an old tin of sweetcorn that he hooked fair and square in the lid, I reckon he must have had his hookbait in the tin for ages! AS I sat there trying to decide what to do next I could tell nobody was bagging and the venue was having an off day, I realised I was behind Pete despite him saying he only had 4 carp when he had more like 14, and the Welsh lad to my right had 10, so I had to sort things out. I made up my mind to concentrate on the inside line with paste, as this had produced a couple more fish for me, and I would have to try to get the feeding sorted out. Actually in the end I don't feel I changed to much, just threw in three handfuls of 6mm pellet for every fish, but all of a sudden I started to get sensible bites. The last hour to hour and half I caught steadily, with fish mostly 2lb but up to 4lb, this co-incided with Pete's peg drying up after he said he fed too much corn on the line he was catching. I also took one 2lb skimmer in the last hour which flew out of the lake, haven't seen that for a while! After the whistle blew I was feeling better about things but still just thinking of a section win at best. That was until Glenn arrived to tell me had chucked back seven carp and his section was won with 27lb and Howard had just 61lb off peg 14. I weighed 55lb 7oz and this turned out to be good enough for 2nd, just beating peg 46 which had 54lb.
This match had fished much harder than the previous week and Glenn's prediction was spot on. I was gutted not win, especially as I had pulled out of 8 fish, mostly foulers, but I think we were all caught out by how hard it fished.
Pete said he was not looking forward to reading my blog when he presented me with his nice shiny pound coin, but I assured him I would say he fished like a hero to win his section......... I'm not saying too much because we all know in this game, what goes around comes around!
Sunday, 11 July 2010
Tony Rixon Float Only Series Round Four
This match was at Landsend, and many people were thinking the fishing would be hard with some of the lakes 2 foot down due to the long dry spell. I had not been able to get my no6 pole section repaired or replaced, and as 5mtrs would not give me much hope I was thankful that Warren Bates lent me his old 16mtr Diawa Connesior Ultra and some top sets. I was desperate not to draw lakes 3 and 4 today as I feel these are currently very patchy and you cannot frame from them. I was therefore not best pleased when I drew peg 75 on lake 4! Last time I was on this lake I was on peg 71 and I easily won the section with the rest of this side of the lake fishing very badly. I could only fish for the section money now, but when Josh Garrett rolled up on peg 71 I thought that was my chance gone. With Vince Brown, Brian Shanks and Jason Radford in the section it was going to be hard graft today!
I have to say I was feeling a bit more positive about things today due to the fact there were carp boshing up and down the lake, and I reckon I saw more before the start than I did in the whole of the last match. I mentioned this to Glenn who was on laske 3 behind me on peg 62, but he was still not keen on the outlook! As I set up Warren's pole I got out his cupping kit only to find it was a Drennan fixing, when all I had were Preston pots, but luckily the guy behind me had a spare Drennan pot and passed it to me. (You wouldn't get such sportsmanship in football would you!) I set up rigs fairly light as I knew the carp were on the small side, a 4x12 rig for 5 mtrs and 14mtrs at 10'o'clock and 2 o'clock with 0.12 to a 16 PR28 was for soft pellet, a 4x12 PB4 for down the margins with 0.14 to 16 PR28, and 2 dibbers one at 10 inches and one at 4 inches deep for banded pellet on 0.16 to 16 PR36.
I started by cupping some micros and dampened 4mms at 5mtr, corn and caster and pellets on the 14 mtr swims. At this stage I did not feed the margins, waiting to see how it fished, I fed some 4mms by catty across to the islands. In on the 5mtr swim and a couple of tiny skimmers came on the soft pellet before my first carp I took another 3 carp here and a few bits in 30 mins before I tried the o'clock swims and never had a bite on them at all! After this I went across and took 1 carp on banded 6mm pellet but the fish were not there in numbers, in fact I could see carp swirling in the empty peg to my left so there were some nearby!
After an hour and a half I was off the pace, Josh had caught well, and so had Brian and Vince and I changed to feeding 6mms across as I felt the noise might attract the carp in the empty peg. I also fed some pellet and corn to my left margin and had started loose feeding decent amounts of casters to my right margin. The 5 mtr line was now shot and I was just catching the odd carp across by trying both dibber rigs, but it is very frustrating when you can see carp on the mud line but they wont take your bait readily. Lifting and dropping didn't work for me, and I felt the pole movement was spooking the fish, so I just waited for a bite or the elastic to come out.
Mid match the left hand margin produced 3 carp on corn in as many chucks, but then nothing. I then tried this rig across, I pushed the rig out across until the float bristle was showing (about 1.5 mtr off the far bank) and this was on the edge of my short loose fed 6mms. This was a smart move and I took odd fish on this line during the rest of the match. Basically I would always seem to get a carp first drop in, and might get one 2nd drop, then it was dead and you had to go back in tight on the dibber. By switching between the two lines I kept fish coming slowly (plus I took another 3 in the margin) during the 4th and 5th hour. The last hour was very hard, but I could see the whole lake had switched off, and I managed 6 carp when most had nothing.
I estimated I had 45 to 50lb, but I thought that would be beaten by Vince Brown who seemed to catch steady for the first 5 hours, although he had virtually nothing the last hour. Josh had 39lb off peg 71, and I weighed exactly 50lb, Brian Shanks had 32lb and then Vince weighed 45lb so I had won the section, and as it turned out I had won the lake. Those last few fish had been crucial for me when most could not catch. Of course I knew I could not frame with such a low weight but I was chuffed to top the lake from the peg I had. Lake 4 had fished much better than last time I was here, but I had learnt from my previous visit when Rod Wootton had caught well on corn. I fed about 3 pint of 6mm, 2 pint of 4mm, 2pints of caster and 1 tin of corn over the whole match.
Tony of course won the match from peg 29 on specimen, his peg was drawn by Trigger, and Trigger won the silvers from peg 13 on match, his peg was drawn by Tony. Pair of draw bag merchants! To be fair you've got to catch them, and they both did very well and made no mistakes. See Tony's blog for the full results of course.
The lakes really are desperate for water, I heard tell that Mike Duckett has some water coming to fill them up this week, I shan't see the effect as I won't be at landsend again now for a long time due to the leagues I will fish.
I have to say I was feeling a bit more positive about things today due to the fact there were carp boshing up and down the lake, and I reckon I saw more before the start than I did in the whole of the last match. I mentioned this to Glenn who was on laske 3 behind me on peg 62, but he was still not keen on the outlook! As I set up Warren's pole I got out his cupping kit only to find it was a Drennan fixing, when all I had were Preston pots, but luckily the guy behind me had a spare Drennan pot and passed it to me. (You wouldn't get such sportsmanship in football would you!) I set up rigs fairly light as I knew the carp were on the small side, a 4x12 rig for 5 mtrs and 14mtrs at 10'o'clock and 2 o'clock with 0.12 to a 16 PR28 was for soft pellet, a 4x12 PB4 for down the margins with 0.14 to 16 PR28, and 2 dibbers one at 10 inches and one at 4 inches deep for banded pellet on 0.16 to 16 PR36.
I started by cupping some micros and dampened 4mms at 5mtr, corn and caster and pellets on the 14 mtr swims. At this stage I did not feed the margins, waiting to see how it fished, I fed some 4mms by catty across to the islands. In on the 5mtr swim and a couple of tiny skimmers came on the soft pellet before my first carp I took another 3 carp here and a few bits in 30 mins before I tried the o'clock swims and never had a bite on them at all! After this I went across and took 1 carp on banded 6mm pellet but the fish were not there in numbers, in fact I could see carp swirling in the empty peg to my left so there were some nearby!
After an hour and a half I was off the pace, Josh had caught well, and so had Brian and Vince and I changed to feeding 6mms across as I felt the noise might attract the carp in the empty peg. I also fed some pellet and corn to my left margin and had started loose feeding decent amounts of casters to my right margin. The 5 mtr line was now shot and I was just catching the odd carp across by trying both dibber rigs, but it is very frustrating when you can see carp on the mud line but they wont take your bait readily. Lifting and dropping didn't work for me, and I felt the pole movement was spooking the fish, so I just waited for a bite or the elastic to come out.
Mid match the left hand margin produced 3 carp on corn in as many chucks, but then nothing. I then tried this rig across, I pushed the rig out across until the float bristle was showing (about 1.5 mtr off the far bank) and this was on the edge of my short loose fed 6mms. This was a smart move and I took odd fish on this line during the rest of the match. Basically I would always seem to get a carp first drop in, and might get one 2nd drop, then it was dead and you had to go back in tight on the dibber. By switching between the two lines I kept fish coming slowly (plus I took another 3 in the margin) during the 4th and 5th hour. The last hour was very hard, but I could see the whole lake had switched off, and I managed 6 carp when most had nothing.
I estimated I had 45 to 50lb, but I thought that would be beaten by Vince Brown who seemed to catch steady for the first 5 hours, although he had virtually nothing the last hour. Josh had 39lb off peg 71, and I weighed exactly 50lb, Brian Shanks had 32lb and then Vince weighed 45lb so I had won the section, and as it turned out I had won the lake. Those last few fish had been crucial for me when most could not catch. Of course I knew I could not frame with such a low weight but I was chuffed to top the lake from the peg I had. Lake 4 had fished much better than last time I was here, but I had learnt from my previous visit when Rod Wootton had caught well on corn. I fed about 3 pint of 6mm, 2 pint of 4mm, 2pints of caster and 1 tin of corn over the whole match.
Tony of course won the match from peg 29 on specimen, his peg was drawn by Trigger, and Trigger won the silvers from peg 13 on match, his peg was drawn by Tony. Pair of draw bag merchants! To be fair you've got to catch them, and they both did very well and made no mistakes. See Tony's blog for the full results of course.
The lakes really are desperate for water, I heard tell that Mike Duckett has some water coming to fill them up this week, I shan't see the effect as I won't be at landsend again now for a long time due to the leagues I will fish.
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