Please find dates and venues for the 2011/2012 Commercial House. Back to 4 rivers and 2 canals this year, lovely jubbly! Reckon I'm due some good draws this year.
4th Sept Jack Whites, Crane, Swineford.
25th Sept Jack Whites, Crane, Swineford.
23rd Oct Newbridge.
27th Nov Jack Whites, Crane, Swineford.
8th Jan Canal
15th Jan Canal
(Xmas Match on canal is 17th Dec)
Tuesday, 17 May 2011
Sunday, 15 May 2011
Avon Angling open at Avalon
I was back to renew my acquaintance with Avalon, I hadn't been there since Jan when there was ice on the lake! I gave a lift to Warren Bates and he was impressed with the first part of the day (not me being on time) his first breakfast at the Fountain cafe. We arrived at the fishery with plenty of time to spare and so walked around the lake with Nigel Bartlett, straight away we saw a problem. The lake was clay grey in colour and whenever this is the case it usually means the fishing is hard. With the whole of the match lake being used I really wanted a draw on the left hand side (shop side) which had a favourable wind, but no, I go and draw peg 26. This peg is two up from the corner and I have seen many an angler struggle off it, then Warren comes and tells me he has drawn the corner peg 24!!!
When I arrived I was pleased that Tony has given me an empty peg either side, whereas many of the better areas had every peg in, I hoped this could help me. At this stage the wind was not to bad and so I set up a 4 swan pellet wag with 0.18 to 16 PR38, and a method feeder for the island chucks. I settled on 13mtrs for the pole as the wind could become a problem, a paste rig, a banded pellet rig on 0.6gm PB Inter 2 with 0.16 to PR36, and a soft pellet for skimmers in case I had to fish for them (but it never got me a bite)! I discounted the margins as I never seem to catch in them, but I did feed at 5mtr for paste which I didn't catch on!
I was not quite ready for the start as I needed the toilet, but then cupped in half a small Preston pot of 6mm pellets at 13mtr and started feeding 8mms to the island. I always start on the pole here hoping for an early carp and I started on paste, on my first drop I had what I thought was a liner and lifted into a foulhooked skimmer. Twenty minutes later I had my one and only bite on paste from a near 3lb bream. About this time Warren snapped his no4 section on his Tournament. One hour in and I had not had any other signs on the pole so I picked up the wag. The wind was a problem and I didn't land many casts on the money and after 45 mins I had not had a bite on it! Generally if there are a few fish feeding you do get indications, so I had to come off this, but what next? The wind was worsening and so I thought the method would be the best bet, I had to soak some micros first though and so I went back in on the pole. Just as Glenn Bailey rang me for an update I had a 2lb skimmer on 8mm pellet, but no more bites came.
Onto the method and I was pepped up when it went round first cast, the culprit a small carp of no more than 3lb. It then went quiet, and I was not sure the method was right as you cannot use short hooklengths or tuck the bait. After about 30 mins the tip went round again and after a very brief tussle the fish swam into a snag and I lost the lot. I set it all up again but it did not work. I was now fairly hacked off with my lot and the wind was now horrendous blowing all over the place. I thought I would stick to the pole in the hope of some more skimmers and have a chance of the silvers money. It wasn't pretty trying to hang onto 13mtrs of carbon, I had to lay quite a bit of line on the bottom to keep the rig still. Then with 2 hours to go I caught a skimmer, and then not long after a carp. Then the wind eased for a while and I could feed more accurately with the catty, now the swim started fizzing! I then had 2 more skimmers and 4 carp up to 10lb. Then at 5:05 I hooked another near 10lb fish, I landed it with 2 mins to go, dropped the rig back in and it went under within seconds, carp on "All out". It was about 5lb and a nice way to end the match.
Picture of my carp net courtesy of Roy Garland at toppeg.co.uk
Tony Rixon walked round from the other side and asked what I had, I guessed 55lb and he said that might win it! As it turned out I weighed 12lb of skimmers and 49lb of carp and my 61lb was enough to win. I only just beat Phil (Fabio) Harding who weighed 59lb 9oz and so the last carp I caught was crucial. Tom Magnol was 3rd with 53lb 8oz from peg 20 just beat Dave Roper by 1oz. John Bradford had by far the best silvers weight with 23lb on the worm. (I was actually 2nd in silvers today too)
I'll be very honest and say that I could have packed up with two hours to go, the wind was really getting me down and there were quite a few swear words around. However, Warren had had a few in the corner and I know that the carp can turn up late but I wasn't confident. Just goes to show you should never give up.
When I arrived I was pleased that Tony has given me an empty peg either side, whereas many of the better areas had every peg in, I hoped this could help me. At this stage the wind was not to bad and so I set up a 4 swan pellet wag with 0.18 to 16 PR38, and a method feeder for the island chucks. I settled on 13mtrs for the pole as the wind could become a problem, a paste rig, a banded pellet rig on 0.6gm PB Inter 2 with 0.16 to PR36, and a soft pellet for skimmers in case I had to fish for them (but it never got me a bite)! I discounted the margins as I never seem to catch in them, but I did feed at 5mtr for paste which I didn't catch on!
I was not quite ready for the start as I needed the toilet, but then cupped in half a small Preston pot of 6mm pellets at 13mtr and started feeding 8mms to the island. I always start on the pole here hoping for an early carp and I started on paste, on my first drop I had what I thought was a liner and lifted into a foulhooked skimmer. Twenty minutes later I had my one and only bite on paste from a near 3lb bream. About this time Warren snapped his no4 section on his Tournament. One hour in and I had not had any other signs on the pole so I picked up the wag. The wind was a problem and I didn't land many casts on the money and after 45 mins I had not had a bite on it! Generally if there are a few fish feeding you do get indications, so I had to come off this, but what next? The wind was worsening and so I thought the method would be the best bet, I had to soak some micros first though and so I went back in on the pole. Just as Glenn Bailey rang me for an update I had a 2lb skimmer on 8mm pellet, but no more bites came.
Onto the method and I was pepped up when it went round first cast, the culprit a small carp of no more than 3lb. It then went quiet, and I was not sure the method was right as you cannot use short hooklengths or tuck the bait. After about 30 mins the tip went round again and after a very brief tussle the fish swam into a snag and I lost the lot. I set it all up again but it did not work. I was now fairly hacked off with my lot and the wind was now horrendous blowing all over the place. I thought I would stick to the pole in the hope of some more skimmers and have a chance of the silvers money. It wasn't pretty trying to hang onto 13mtrs of carbon, I had to lay quite a bit of line on the bottom to keep the rig still. Then with 2 hours to go I caught a skimmer, and then not long after a carp. Then the wind eased for a while and I could feed more accurately with the catty, now the swim started fizzing! I then had 2 more skimmers and 4 carp up to 10lb. Then at 5:05 I hooked another near 10lb fish, I landed it with 2 mins to go, dropped the rig back in and it went under within seconds, carp on "All out". It was about 5lb and a nice way to end the match.
Picture of my carp net courtesy of Roy Garland at toppeg.co.uk
Tony Rixon walked round from the other side and asked what I had, I guessed 55lb and he said that might win it! As it turned out I weighed 12lb of skimmers and 49lb of carp and my 61lb was enough to win. I only just beat Phil (Fabio) Harding who weighed 59lb 9oz and so the last carp I caught was crucial. Tom Magnol was 3rd with 53lb 8oz from peg 20 just beat Dave Roper by 1oz. John Bradford had by far the best silvers weight with 23lb on the worm. (I was actually 2nd in silvers today too)
I'll be very honest and say that I could have packed up with two hours to go, the wind was really getting me down and there were quite a few swear words around. However, Warren had had a few in the corner and I know that the carp can turn up late but I wasn't confident. Just goes to show you should never give up.
Wednesday, 11 May 2011
New Blog
I've recently added blogs to my list of blogs I like to read. The latest addition is that of Chris Tellings, it was Chris who I battered (his words not mine) at Todber on Sunday. Good to read how anglers further afield are fishing other venues, and hopefully can pick up some tips!
Sunday, 8 May 2011
MFS website match Todber Manor
Mark Poppleton organised another website match at Todber and I was given a lift to the venue by fellow blogger Ken Rayner. We were slightly concerned at the gusty wind which was blowing and arriving at the lake other than the right hand end (pegs 20 to 25) it was blowing very hard. I drew peg 13 which put me on another flyer (I was told) the oak tree peg. I could see why it was good the far bank to the left has slipped in creating a recess to fish into, trouble was it was 14.5 metres away.
I set up a dibber rig for shallow with banded pellet, 0.16 to 18 PR36, a 4x10 Durafloat 10 for on top the far shelf where it was about 18" deep, also for banded pellet. A 4x14 Preston PB14 for meat at 5 metres with 0.16 to 14 PR47. The margin was very deep and I couldn't get into shallow water so a 4x12 Durafloat was set up for this in about 3.5ft of water. Lastly I decided to set up a small 15g Preston method feeder, I used my 10ft Preston mini carp rod for the first time with 0.20 and a 16 PR38 to take an 8mm boilie. I mixed up some gbait for this, Thatchers original.
To my right was a lad called Chris from Gloucester, and to my left was Garbolino BMV angler Johnny Atkins, when the whistle went we all started differently! I fed corn and pellet in the margin, and a pot of 6mm pellets across into the recess, and some meat at 5mtrs. I went straight over into the recess with the 18" rig with 8mm pellet and had 2 small carp in the first 2 chucks, followed by a couple of F1's. I was trying to feed with a catty but it was hard to hold the pole and feed, within 20 mins I was struggling to hold the rig in position and as a result fouled a couple. I tried the shallow rig but it was no good and the wind forced me to change. So i picked up the method and cast it under armed into the recess. It was obvious there were a lot of fish there as the tip was moving all the time! I was catching F1's and some small carp on this and still feeding pellet over the top. I had a good first couple of hours and then Guy Manton turned up and I couldn't catch well, he did advise me to feed even more pellet across and this worked after a while.
I had some really good spells on the method when I would get 5 or 6 carp in as many chucks, then it would be funny bites from F1's. I tried the pole and had a couple on the meat but was missing lots of bites, the margin never produced a bite all day! I had to keep persevering with method, and from what I could see I seemed to be doing better than most and I had taken three carp around 5lb and an 8lb fish which is a lot of those F1's! With 45 mins to go things went wrong, the method dried up (but I still had liners) and I could not hit the bites on the meat line, and I probably only had 3 fish in this last spell and I knew it would cost me.
The scales came down from peg 1, there had already been three tons, with peg 7 having 133lb 9oz, John weighed 71lb and I weighed next with 134lb 5oz which was just enough to win the section. Chris next to me was in the next section and had 95lb which was not good enough for any coin. Ken Rayner will show the full result on his blog (he had the sheets) but it was something like this :-
1st Will Bohne 171lb ( a lot of F1's shallow at 11mtr, then carp on meat in the margin)
2nd Mark Poppleton 151lb
3rd Mark Brennan 151lb (ounces in it)
4th Missed the name sorry 144lb
So I was 10lb off the frame and the last 45 mins had cost me as expected, I must try and sort out the meat on this place! Despite the terrible wind the venue had fished well again, I would say the opposite side of the lake to me was better for some reason , in fact I was top weight from peg 1 to peg 20 although Mark Poppleton on 21 with no wind caught at 5mtr with paste. Ken Rayner had 66lb a lot of F1's in his peg.
Amazing place really when people weighing in around 100lb get nowhere, so many fish in this lake it amazes me. Shame I cannot fish the next match here.
I set up a dibber rig for shallow with banded pellet, 0.16 to 18 PR36, a 4x10 Durafloat 10 for on top the far shelf where it was about 18" deep, also for banded pellet. A 4x14 Preston PB14 for meat at 5 metres with 0.16 to 14 PR47. The margin was very deep and I couldn't get into shallow water so a 4x12 Durafloat was set up for this in about 3.5ft of water. Lastly I decided to set up a small 15g Preston method feeder, I used my 10ft Preston mini carp rod for the first time with 0.20 and a 16 PR38 to take an 8mm boilie. I mixed up some gbait for this, Thatchers original.
To my right was a lad called Chris from Gloucester, and to my left was Garbolino BMV angler Johnny Atkins, when the whistle went we all started differently! I fed corn and pellet in the margin, and a pot of 6mm pellets across into the recess, and some meat at 5mtrs. I went straight over into the recess with the 18" rig with 8mm pellet and had 2 small carp in the first 2 chucks, followed by a couple of F1's. I was trying to feed with a catty but it was hard to hold the pole and feed, within 20 mins I was struggling to hold the rig in position and as a result fouled a couple. I tried the shallow rig but it was no good and the wind forced me to change. So i picked up the method and cast it under armed into the recess. It was obvious there were a lot of fish there as the tip was moving all the time! I was catching F1's and some small carp on this and still feeding pellet over the top. I had a good first couple of hours and then Guy Manton turned up and I couldn't catch well, he did advise me to feed even more pellet across and this worked after a while.
I had some really good spells on the method when I would get 5 or 6 carp in as many chucks, then it would be funny bites from F1's. I tried the pole and had a couple on the meat but was missing lots of bites, the margin never produced a bite all day! I had to keep persevering with method, and from what I could see I seemed to be doing better than most and I had taken three carp around 5lb and an 8lb fish which is a lot of those F1's! With 45 mins to go things went wrong, the method dried up (but I still had liners) and I could not hit the bites on the meat line, and I probably only had 3 fish in this last spell and I knew it would cost me.
The scales came down from peg 1, there had already been three tons, with peg 7 having 133lb 9oz, John weighed 71lb and I weighed next with 134lb 5oz which was just enough to win the section. Chris next to me was in the next section and had 95lb which was not good enough for any coin. Ken Rayner will show the full result on his blog (he had the sheets) but it was something like this :-
1st Will Bohne 171lb ( a lot of F1's shallow at 11mtr, then carp on meat in the margin)
2nd Mark Poppleton 151lb
3rd Mark Brennan 151lb (ounces in it)
4th Missed the name sorry 144lb
So I was 10lb off the frame and the last 45 mins had cost me as expected, I must try and sort out the meat on this place! Despite the terrible wind the venue had fished well again, I would say the opposite side of the lake to me was better for some reason , in fact I was top weight from peg 1 to peg 20 although Mark Poppleton on 21 with no wind caught at 5mtr with paste. Ken Rayner had 66lb a lot of F1's in his peg.
Amazing place really when people weighing in around 100lb get nowhere, so many fish in this lake it amazes me. Shame I cannot fish the next match here.
Sunday, 1 May 2011
Sedges Brick lake Open
I was chauffeured to the venue today by Paul Elmes and sat squeezed into my seat by Bela Bakos. A very nice ride down, but for some reason we started talking about car accidents and very quickly all seat belts were on the conversation was changed!
No early draw for me today, as I can pull my trolley along now, and so into the scrum for a peg. Tony Rixon reckoned pegs 1 to 10 would be the best (wind into them) and I pulled out 16, but I thought it would be OK as it is in the middle of the lake. On my right was Ron Hardiman and to my left the Gimp John Bradford. I've had some good weights on this lake over the years, but Ron had fished the week before and said it was hard. With the wind blowing and no signs of spawning I thought the fishing wouldn't be that bad this week. I set up a pellet wag which I was going to start on in the hope of mugging a few early carp, a 4x18 rig with 16 B911 to 0.14, a 4x18 with 16 PR36 to 0.16 a margin rig and a shallow rig. I decided against paste due to the wind.
On the whistle I cupped in a pot of 4mms out to 13 mtrs and began loose feeding 8mm pellets on the wag. I did't get a sign on the wag and after 15 mins the pole line was fizzing so I went out on soft pellet. In my first three casts I had three 1.5lb skimmers and as I have done here before I fed some 4mms with a catty over the top. I caught a few more smaller skimmers but things slowed right down and I could see Tom Thick bagging on skimmers on peg 14. I tried altering how I fed and how much but nothing got them lined up, I got the odd bite but was missing as many as I was hitting and also losing a few which I'm sure were fouled. I went on the wag to rest the pole completely and lost one fouled carp on this, and I never had another bite on the wag all day!
It was a bit frustrating, I knew I had fed far too much bait at the start for skimmers and no car responded, I had cocked the peg up. Eventually I managed to get the odd skimmer by feeding a few 4mm pellets in a toss pot (like winter feeding) and by opening up another line. Ron had taken 2 carp and some good skimmers on the straight lead, and I was wishing I had set one up! I knew I was miles behind Tom in the silvers stakes but was hoping I could reach the 2nd prize. However, despite my frugal feeding (in the last few hours) with 45 mins to go both my pole lines produced 1 carp each and the skimmers vanished. My skimmers weighed 26lb+ and the 2 carp went 9lb+ (I think). Tom Thick won the silvers with 45lb but only admitted to 25lb (no comment) and I was edged out of 2nd place by Steve Hutchinson who did well to hang onto to his pole on the far bank and had 28lb of skimmers. My chance of coin was gone, and Tony took the section by default with 42lb. So I ended betwixt and between and a straight lead may have done me better than the wag, but my feeding was wrong and I lost enough skimmers to easily had 30lb+, damn things were flying everywhere!!!
Chris Davis won the match from peg 18 with 7 carp and some skimmers for 72lb. Taking fish from various lines and depths and the margin. See Tony's blog for the full and detailed result. Either side of my the gimp DNW and Ron's lead tactics beat me by 5oz, well done Ron.
I did manage to pick up £2 from the van sweep, Paul really struggled opposite me and DNW, Bela had a creditable 21lb of skimmers. The skimmers I caught were very rough and had sores on them, sure signs of the ravages of spawning, perhaps they need a bit of R&R before they feed properly again? Anyway, as Bela rightly said we caught plenty of fish, and if we had that weight on the river we'd been chuffed, keeps things in perspective.
No early draw for me today, as I can pull my trolley along now, and so into the scrum for a peg. Tony Rixon reckoned pegs 1 to 10 would be the best (wind into them) and I pulled out 16, but I thought it would be OK as it is in the middle of the lake. On my right was Ron Hardiman and to my left the Gimp John Bradford. I've had some good weights on this lake over the years, but Ron had fished the week before and said it was hard. With the wind blowing and no signs of spawning I thought the fishing wouldn't be that bad this week. I set up a pellet wag which I was going to start on in the hope of mugging a few early carp, a 4x18 rig with 16 B911 to 0.14, a 4x18 with 16 PR36 to 0.16 a margin rig and a shallow rig. I decided against paste due to the wind.
On the whistle I cupped in a pot of 4mms out to 13 mtrs and began loose feeding 8mm pellets on the wag. I did't get a sign on the wag and after 15 mins the pole line was fizzing so I went out on soft pellet. In my first three casts I had three 1.5lb skimmers and as I have done here before I fed some 4mms with a catty over the top. I caught a few more smaller skimmers but things slowed right down and I could see Tom Thick bagging on skimmers on peg 14. I tried altering how I fed and how much but nothing got them lined up, I got the odd bite but was missing as many as I was hitting and also losing a few which I'm sure were fouled. I went on the wag to rest the pole completely and lost one fouled carp on this, and I never had another bite on the wag all day!
It was a bit frustrating, I knew I had fed far too much bait at the start for skimmers and no car responded, I had cocked the peg up. Eventually I managed to get the odd skimmer by feeding a few 4mm pellets in a toss pot (like winter feeding) and by opening up another line. Ron had taken 2 carp and some good skimmers on the straight lead, and I was wishing I had set one up! I knew I was miles behind Tom in the silvers stakes but was hoping I could reach the 2nd prize. However, despite my frugal feeding (in the last few hours) with 45 mins to go both my pole lines produced 1 carp each and the skimmers vanished. My skimmers weighed 26lb+ and the 2 carp went 9lb+ (I think). Tom Thick won the silvers with 45lb but only admitted to 25lb (no comment) and I was edged out of 2nd place by Steve Hutchinson who did well to hang onto to his pole on the far bank and had 28lb of skimmers. My chance of coin was gone, and Tony took the section by default with 42lb. So I ended betwixt and between and a straight lead may have done me better than the wag, but my feeding was wrong and I lost enough skimmers to easily had 30lb+, damn things were flying everywhere!!!
Chris Davis won the match from peg 18 with 7 carp and some skimmers for 72lb. Taking fish from various lines and depths and the margin. See Tony's blog for the full and detailed result. Either side of my the gimp DNW and Ron's lead tactics beat me by 5oz, well done Ron.
I did manage to pick up £2 from the van sweep, Paul really struggled opposite me and DNW, Bela had a creditable 21lb of skimmers. The skimmers I caught were very rough and had sores on them, sure signs of the ravages of spawning, perhaps they need a bit of R&R before they feed properly again? Anyway, as Bela rightly said we caught plenty of fish, and if we had that weight on the river we'd been chuffed, keeps things in perspective.
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