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Hampton springs. Rock pool peg 18. 28/12/14
Today
was the latest of the Hampton springs silverfish matches. Today's match
was Alice Springs and rock pool both of which had substantial amounts
of ice across them. Everyone knew this would be hard so a deep peg was
what most people were after. I drew peg 18 on Rock and although not a
bad area it was one of only 3 pegs on the lake where an ice breaker
would be needed. That said the ice would provide a bit of cover so I
smashed out as far as 12m and wide enough to put two lines in at that
distance. I also smashed a swim out down the left margin for perch.
Baits
for the day were 1 pint of casters, 1 pint of red Maggots, 1/2 pint of
pinkies. Worms, some micros and 4mm expander's. Being so cold expected
to use next to none of this!!
Rigs
Pellet line. Dino Chi Chi 0.5g 0.10 - 0.08 line and size 20 g point pellet hook. Sensas magic 4 doubled up.
Caster line. Dino Roach Cesar 0.4g. 0.10 - 0.08 size 20 g point wide gape maggot hook. Sensas magic doubled up.
Shallow Drennan Roach 4 x 10 120 g point wide gape maggot hook. 0.10 - 0.08. single Sensas number 5 elastic.
After
smashing ice for the first 30 minutes i was already boiling! The All in
had be changed to 10.30am just to allow everyone to get their swim fish
able. By the time the all in came my perch line had already frozen over
again. The main channel i had smashed and cleared was trying to do the
same! On the all in i fed 1 medium frenzee toss pot of just
casters at 11.5m to my right and also one medium pot of micros. I was
intending to leave this for an hour to see if anything would settle on
it.
I started the match very
negatively on pellet. fishing 4mm expander on the hook and just feeding
20 micros. I also started with about 20 casters at 7m with a view to
drip feeding this swim and hoping to catch on it later. To cut a long
story short the first 45 minutes came and went without any indication
even after introducing just a small amount of pellets every five minutes
just to get a response! This was the same all round so it was set to be
a tough day at the office.
I decided to try the line where i had put 2 medium pots of bait at the
start and never looked back! This is the only line i have caught on all
day. I was catching mainly small Ide and roach on the deck.
I was having to lay my rig in tight to the ice but had actually fed
just off the ice. In previous weeks on a practice i made the mistake of
feeding too tight to ice and when the fish backed off under it i
couldn't get to them!
Half way
through the match I've had a 2lb chub which was a very welcome visitor.
I've carried on catching bits and had fish anything form an inch over
depth to 4 inch's off the deck only catching 2 or 3 fish before chopping
and changing. I knew second in section was up for grabs as several
people were struggling but Andy Spencer had caught steady all day.
Gareth was catching quick towards the end of the match but hopefully a
late burst of roach was hopefully enough to get me over the line?!
The
all out came at 3.30pm. After a fruitless first 45 minutes I had then
managed to catch odd fish through the whole match so I couldn't
complain!! I ended up with 7lb 2oz which I was really happy with on a
very cold day! The angler to my left had not had a single bite anywhere
all day and some very good anglers had also tipped back so I had done
pretty well to winkle a few out! I held off Gareth who had 6lb 8oz so my
weight turned out to be good enough for 2nd on the lake (7 on lake)
meaning a default section win and 4th overall (21 fished) and saw me
taking home a few quid plus one of Gareth O Evans Shiny pound coins! ;)
I
enjoy matches as tight as this as it is all to play for! although i was
only 10oz ahead of 5th i was only 10oz behind 3rd overall so the
margins of success and failure are very small! With the weather up and
down like a yo yo God knows what next weekend has in store. Before then i
have a new years day on Badger at Lloyds Meadow. I love that place and can't wait to get back on it!
Hampton springs. Alice Springs peg 12. 21/12/14
Today
was the third of the Hampton springs silverfish matches. Today's match
was run over three lakes again. Alice springs, Rock pool and Willows.
The wind was howling so any peg that you could present a bait on today
would be a bonus! On the previous two matches I have been on willows and
poplars so I was hoping for Alice springs today as it is the most
consistent silver fish pool on the complex. My hand went in the draw bag
and out came peg 12 on Alice Springs. At first I wasn't overly happy as
Alice doesn't have set peg numbers so depending on anglers peg 12 would
normally back onto Rock pool, However today it was by the oak tree. An
end peg which would offer some space but again not really a noted area
on the lake.
Baits for the day were 1 pint of casters, 1 pint of red Maggots, 1/2 pint of pinkies. Worms, some micros and 4mm expander's.
Rigs
Pellet line. Dino Chi Chi 0.5g 0.10 - 0.08 line and size 18 g point pellet hook. Sensas magic 4 doubled up.
Caster line. Dino Roach Cesar 0.4g. 0.10 - 0.08 size 20 g point wide gape maggot hook. Sensas magic doubled up 3. 2 + 2 line plus it was the same depth down the right hand margin.
Shallow Drennan Roach 4 x 10 18 g point wide gape maggot hook. 0.10 - 0.08. single Sensas number 5 elastic.
Tip rod. 11ft Maver powerlite with 1/2oz tip in. 5lb main line. 0.11 hook length 18 wide gape maggot hook. 15g small cage feeder.
After
losing a plummet and hook length in a snag before the match started I
already wondered whether it would be one of those days?!
Imagine
my face when on the all in I shipped out my cupping kit to 14.5m with
some micros inside, upon tipping it up the cup fell off and proceeded to
blow across the lake before sinking!! Great start!
I
didn't want to risk losing another pot as the thread had gone on the
cupping kit. I then shipped out to 9m a couple of times with toss pots
on the pole and fed some casters. When shipping out on one of these my
hook length caught on a snag and also snapped. 5 minutes in and I'm
already fed up!
When I eventually
primed my swims I then went on the tip toward the island. I had 6 fish
in the first 30 minutes. Two 8oz skimmers and 4 plump roach so I was off
to a good start. I stayed on this for another 10 minutes to allow my
line to settle whilst feeding little and often on my caster line. I
winkled another couple of roach out before putting the tip rod down and
going for the pole.
After 40 minutes
I shipped out to 14.5m with a pellet on expecting instant action and
sat there for 5 minutes before any indication. After a couple of very
small skimmers I began to foul hook fish. I dropped the shallow rig in
over the top and caught a couple of nice roach. Although I had prepared
this line as a skimmer line with pellets I was already thinking roach so
I start pinging casters over the top. I caught steadily for 30 minutes
at a time before coming short to rest the swim.
On
my 9m line I was also getting lots of line bites from the loose feed
bringing the roach up so I now had 2 fairly productive shallow lines on
the go. I chopped and changed between the two all day and felt like I
was competing with those around me as well as having a very enjoyable
day!
The wind was mainly off my back
but every now and again it was really wild from the side. I caught by
constantly tweaking depths. When i missed 3 bites in quick succession it
was time to shallow up by 2 to 3 inches until I found fish again and
hit bites. You would only catch a few fish before having to change so
you can't afford to be lazy using this tactic.
The
all out came at 3.15pm I had caught pretty much all day and although i
had some nice roach I also had a lot of small fish. This is fine if you
can catch them short but coming back 14.5m with 1oz roach isn't ideal. I
estimated about 10lb but didn't really know how everyone else had got
on so it would be interesting.
I've
followed the weigh in round. 25lb won overall from Peg 8 rock pool. 2nd
and 3rd were from the shallower pegs on Alice 19lb 14oz and 19lb 10oz.
Nearly
every angler on Rock pool and Alice had double figures silverfish
weights which proves how good the fishing can be when we get a settled
period of weather. I was the very last to weigh and was happy with 11lb
12oz. I managed to beat the angler to my left who had 7lb and the noted
red bush peg produced 12lb 8oz so it looked like the bigger skimmers had
backed off into the shallower water with the unseasonably mild
conditions in the week!
Everyone
had plenty more bites and fish then in previous weeks. Hopefully the
next match will be the same. I'd like to take the opportunity to wish
everyone a very merry Christmas and a happy new year!!
Tight Lines :)
Hampton springs, Poplars peg 12. 14/12/14
Today
was the second of the Hampton springs silverfish matches. Today's match
was run over three lakes. Alice springs, Rock pool and Poplars. The
weekend was a similar story to last weekend, a very hard frost on Friday
night left all lakes covered with ice. This had once again thawed back
into the lake for the match on Sunday. I think we all knew we were up
against it. The draw came at 9am and after going in the draw bag fairly
early last week and ending up on a lake I didn't fancy I waited until
near the end hoping that a nice peg on Alice springs would await me! No
such luck! Peg 12 on poplars was my home for the day. it is a very
shallow peg with a maximum depth of about three ft but it does have
Lilly cover. That said it is usually Carp soup but the silvers like some
cover too so was it was a bit of an unknown quantity.
Baits
for the day were 1 pint of casters, 1 pint of red Maggots with a
sprinkle of bronze, 1/2 pint of pinkies. Worms some micros and 4mm
expander's.
Rigs
Pellet line. Dino Duke 0.3g 0.10 - 0.08 line and size 20 g point pellet hook. Sensas magic 4 doubled up.
Caster line. Dino Roach Cesar 0.4g. 0.10 - 0.08 size 20 g point wide gape maggot hook. Sensas magic doubled up 3. 2 + 2 line plus it was the same depth down the right hand margin.
On
the all in i fed 3 lines. Top 2 + 2 with hemp and caster. Top 2 + 2 to
my right margin with casters and some chopped worm hoping to draw some
perch in later and tight to the Lilly's at 11.5m I put in
some pellets and a few casters. I started off tight to the pads and it
was about 10 minutes before my first indication on caster. That was a
plump roach about 5 oz. shipped back to the same area and it was about
another 15minutes before my second fish! yet another nice roach. I
wasn't concerned at this point as my peg was looking up the lake so
without taking my eye off my float for too long I could keep a mental
picture of what was happening.
Andy
Spencer had also winkled out a few early fish but no one was stringing
two bites together. My 3rd fish was a nice skimmer about 12oz and
although very slow I was happy just to pick off odd fish given how hard
it was. I decided to rest this swim after about 45 minutes so I put in
about 20 casters and a pinch of micros and then left it alone.
I
gave each caster line 5 minutes with no indications and the dropped in
on my top two where I had fed a few casters and to my surprise was
rewarded with a 12oz Chub.
After an
hour it was time to go back to the Lilly's and once again had 3 or 4
roach in the next half an hour before a small mirror carp joined the
party.
After about two hours I was
probably edging the section but it was going to be tight so I just kept
plodding on chopping and changing. I tried all baits on my side tray but
pinkies were now the only bait that was catching any fish.
I re plumbed past my initial line by 1.5m in water an inch shallower by the island. I also put 2 medium frenzee pots of micros to a different area of the pads and just planned to leave that hoping some skimmers or crucians
may settle on it. After trying all caster lines once again with not so
much as a sniff it was back over to the area where all my fish had come
from so far.
Sure enough a couple
more roach were had before another slow spell. This continued until 5
minutes before the all out when I tried the pellet line for the last
time. Having not had a bite on pellets I fished fluoro
pinkie over the micros and hooked a carp. Rushing to get it in so I
could get out again I was pleased when it broke the surface as it was a
1lb F1. These count and it was a proper bonus fish. I got back in a
caught a roach about 6oz right on the all out.
The
all out came at 3.15pm and like last week I don't think I could have
done much more. The main problem today was that when I had to come off
the Lilly swim to rest it there wasn't another area I could get a bite! I
was basically just going through the motions for 10 minutes before
going back on the line and catching 2 or 3 fish before they backed off
again. It was going to be close but if I'm being honest I thought I had
managed sneak a section win in what was a very tough 5 peg section. I
ended up with 6lb 12oz and chucked back 3 carp. unfortunately for me
Wendy Locker pipped me by 8 ounces for the section but left me second in
my five pegs so I was happy enough on a rock hard days fishing!
18lb
won overall from Alice springs. 2nd and 3rd also from Alice 12lb 4oz
and 11lb 4oz and 11lb 2oz the best weight from rock pool. That shows how
hard all lakes have fished and the effects the cold water has had going
into the lakes.
Another
tough day at the office but i think it is days like this that you
really learn something about fishing. Roll on next Weekend!
Hampton springs, Willows peg 21. 07/12/14
Today
was the start of the Hampton springs silverfish matches. I have been
wishing the summer away to get to these and then as predicted the cold
snap kicks in making everything slightly unpredictable. Trying to stack
the odds in my favor I had a practice on the same lake yesterday. After
breaking the ice fishing was hard so with numbers around the lake on
match day i knew it would be a struggle. Being 2nd hand in the draw bag I
knew all the fliers were in there and still found myself on peg 21
Willows. In summer i'd take that all day long as it is a noted carp peg
but a bit of an unknown at this time of year.
Baits
for the day were 1 pint of casters, 1 pint of red Maggots with a
sprinkle of bronze, 1/2 pint of pinkies. Worms some micros and 4mm expander.
Rigs
Shallow
rig. Float, Preston Chianti 4 x 10. 0.10 - 0.08 line and a size 20 g
point wide gape maggot hook. Number 5 sensas magic elastic.
Pellet line. Dino Chi Chi 0.5g 0.10 - 0.08 line and size 18 g point pellet hook. Sensas magic 4 doubled up.
Caster line. Dino Roach Cesar 0.4g. 0.10 - 0.08 size 18 g point wide gape maggot hook. Sensas magic doubled up 3.
On
the all in i fed 3 lines. Top 2 + 3 to my left (10 o clock position)
with chopped worm and caster. Top 2 + 3 to my right (2 o clock) with
micros and a line straight in front at 13m on a little flat spot slightly
up the shelf.
Started
on caster as the chopped worm line tend to give you a good indication
straight away of how things will pan out and after 3 skimmers in the
first 10 minutes things were looking good. Up steps Mr carp and three on
the bounce had me looking elsewhere!!
I dropped in on my pellet line and 2 more carp followed. Mmmm one of those days?
After
an hour of chopping and changing picking off odd fish I probably had
around 2lb in the net. I continued picking off odd skimmers on pellet
and chopped worm and caster but couldn't make a lot happen.
I
started firing a few casters into the vacant peg 20 at an angle at 13m
and did this for half hour or so planning to get a few shallow. In the
mean time I had shallow up on the caster line and got a good run of
about 10 roach. Not big fish but bites all the same.
After
about 2 hours I was on about 3lb but everyone else was struggling so I
wasn't too concerned. I went onto the shallow line I had been feeding
and had a few nice roach and an 8oz skimmer and then spooked them. I
continued to feed that line just dropping on it for a few fish before
they backed off again. All i could catch on pellet was gudgeon and Carp
so concentrated the last couple of hours on caster.
At
1.30pm the sun vanished behind the hedge line and I really struggled
for bites until the end of the match. I went long and tried to force the
peg as I wasn't exactly ruining it and had a run of 3 more carp shallow
on maggot and then a couple of lost hook lengths. The wind made it
difficult to present a bait properly as it was cutting right across me.
That said I had more fish while it was breezy so it was a no win
situation really!
The
all out came at 3.15pm and I don't think I could have done much more. I
rotated swims on a regular basis and fed little and often but they
weren't really having it. I ended up with 6lb 12oz of mainly small roach
and chucked back 8 carp for about 25lb. As it happened it was a pretty
low weight affair with 23lb being the stand out winning weight assisted
by 2 big barbel. 2nd and 3rd overall had 13lb 9oz and 13lb 3oz all from
willows and the top weight on Alice was 12lb so on reflection not sure
i'd have fired much better on there either.
Still good to be on the bank whatever the weather. looking forward to next weeks match already.
Tight lines :)
Patshull Park. peg 49. 19/10/14
After 2 hours ish i now had 7 skimmers in the net for about 3 1/2 lb, I decided to come onto the 11.5 m line now which i had been feeding caster over the top of. Roach were there from the off and a had a few very quickly. I then thought id hooked a big perch! :) I played it very carefully to the net only to find its a 3lb jack pike! The pike had taken my worm segment hook bait and was hooked perfectly in the side of its mouth.
I'd already been off my box to get the time from the angler on the next peg. After 4 hours i was probably looking at about 6 1/2lb
Today I was off to Patshull Park again. After speaking to a few people in the week it was clear the fishing was going to be on the hard side.
That
said i enjoy the challenge! The forecast wasn't great with the back end
of a hurricane coming our way! This could be interesting.
We had a bacon butty before the draw. Always sets you up for a good days fishing. Draw time came and i drew peg 49. This is a peg in the bay and could be a bit hit and miss today.
Baits
for the day were a Ringers fish meal based ground bait. 1 pint of
casters 1 pint of red maggots. 1/4 of pinkies. 1/2 kilo worms
Rigs
11ft tip rod as you are fishing at between 25 and 30 yards.
5lb mainline 0.12 hook length with size 16 swept gape micro barbed hook.
20 gram block end feeder free running on a korum feeder bead.
Loop to loop hook length to mainline. Hook length was varied between 2ft and 4ft.
Pole
line was a standard top 2 rig. 0.4 gram float as i was only planning on
fishing on the top of the shelf. bulk of shot and size 18 hook.
11.5m line. 0.14 - 0.12 float 2g AS3 g tip 18 micro barbed hook. started on 6 - 8 bungy but it wasn't setting the hook properly in 12 ft of water striking through a heavy float so i went up to 10 - 12 bungy.
I put in 4 big balls of ground bait on my pole line at 11.5m in about 12ft of water. These balls were a combination of fishmeal ground bait laced with chopped worms and casters. I put half a dozen quick casts out on the feeder at 30 turns. Then re cast and started the waiting game for the first bite. My
first bite as usual came after 20 minutes. This was a 4 oz skimmer.
After a couple more casts another slightly bigger skimmer was in the
net. Time
goes out of the window a bit here as the battery on my phone died. I
didn't have a watch and i normally like to time my bites on the tip to
gauge when a re cast is due! I had 4 skimmers in 4 consecutive casts and
things were looking good. The wind was a pain but with the bites being
very positive they were hard to miss!
After 2 hours ish i now had 7 skimmers in the net for about 3 1/2 lb, I decided to come onto the 11.5 m line now which i had been feeding caster over the top of. Roach were there from the off and a had a few very quickly. I then thought id hooked a big perch! :) I played it very carefully to the net only to find its a 3lb jack pike! The pike had taken my worm segment hook bait and was hooked perfectly in the side of its mouth.
After unhooking i took it about 3 pegs to my right and put it back. Hopefully it would go and annoy someone else!
Now
that was out the way the roach came back. It was a case of catching a
few changing hook bait and continually working the rig to get bites.
The
wind was now very strong straight in my face. Presentation was
difficult as was bite detection. I missed a lot of bites as you would
miss the early stage of it as the float was riding the crest of the
waves.
I'd already been off my box to get the time from the angler on the next peg. After 4 hours i was probably looking at about 6 1/2lb
I
now felt it was time to try the top 2 line. I fed some casters and
ground bait and caught a trout straight away! Not a good sign.
The
next few put ins were nice roach and perch to 5oz. This was to be the
method until the end of the match now as presenting anything wasn't
great. I caught in little bursts and had to keep swapping between red
maggot caster and worm to keep bites and fish coming.
Once
again I knew it was going to be a very close match as the skimmers
didn't really feed! When the scales came round I had 11lb 11oz. this was
only good enough for 5th overall but no envelopes this week. I missed
my section by 11 oz and Wendy locker won overall with 13lb 4oz so i
wasn't too far away.
Despite
the hard fishing i had a very enjoyable day. The battle against the
elements, the fish, and the predators made for some interesting fishing.
I need to invest in a watch as not knowing the time through the match
was a pain. I couldn't time my bites on the tip or make changes at
certain times during the match. Every time i got up to ask the time i
was actually wasting time. When the frame is that tight the time I've
wasted could have been the difference between 5th and 1st. Every session
is a learning curve so it's onwards and upwards.
Tight lines :)
Patshull Park. peg 28. 28/09/14
Today i was off to Patshull Park again for some skimmer fishing. (or so i thought) I left the house at 6.30am to get to the fishery for around 7.50am.
I got there in good time to have a bacon butty from the lodge and a brew. We all had a good chat and it's always a good chance to pick peoples brains which i was certainly doing.
Draw
time came and my hand went in the bag to pull out peg 28. This is a
flier! I always worry when people tell me this as i either ruin them or
they're not really a flier but more of a moral booster so you just don't
go straight home.
Baits for the day were a Ringers fish meal based ground bait. 1pint of casters 1 pint of red maggots. 1/4 of pinkies.
Rigs
10ft tip rod as you are fishing at between 25 and 30 yards.
5lb mainline 0.12 hook length with size 16 swept gape micro barbed hook.
20 gram block end feeder free running on a korum feeder bead.
Loop to loop hook length to mainline. Hook length was varied between 2ft and 4ft.
Pole
line was a standard top 2 rig. 0.4 gram float as i was only planning on
fishing on the top of the shelf. bulk of shot and size 18 hook.
I
put in 3 big balls of ground bait on my pole line at the start hoping
to draw in some silvers for later. All it seemed to do initially was
attract trout as i could see the flashes of their silver flanks as they
took any freebies mid water. I put half a dozen quick casts out on the feeder at 25 turns. Then re cast and started the waiting game for the first bite.
Today
it was a waiting game and it was about 20 minutes before my first bite
which i missed! It was very fast and id imagine Roach were the culprit.
A couple more casts then resulted in my first skimmer quickly followed be a second. After
one hour this left me with about 1lb which was not the start i was
after. I persevered for a further hour putting another 3 skimmers in the
net but it was slow going and everyone was struggling in the bright
conditions.
It
was now time for plan B!! The guy on peg 29 had started fishing the
whip and was catching so i used this as a gauge and decided it was time
to make a tactical change. I fished the pole on and off for the rest of
the match going back on the tip to rest the line after landing trout
that were ruining my swim on a regular basis! I put a steady run of big
perch to 1 1/2lb and roach to 4oz for the rest of the match. I did try
the tip and managed to sneak one more skimmer but that was about it on
the tip rod!
I
knew it was going to be a very close match as the skimmers didn't feed!
When the scales came round i owned up to 8lb and was pleasantly
surprised when they went 13lb 12oz ;) That was enough to secure my 5 peg
section and send me home with a little white envelope and a few pennies
richer. 30lb won and then 15lb 7oz 2nd two 14lb + weights and me in 5th
overall which i was very pleased with.
Sometimes
you have to adapt and make the best of a bad situation. If I'd of stuck
it out for skimmers i may have scraped 4lb. As it was by fishing the
pole short i had plenty of bites. I also had 7 trout to about 2lb which
don't count and lost a further 7! They are really good fun but they
don't count so are a real pain in the backside!
Trust me to draw a flier when the resident skimmers weren't feeding! :(
Next weekend sees me make my official debut in the Greens of the Fishing in the northwest team! :) Badger at LLoyds meadow is a fantastic mixed fishery and bites are guaranteed!
Tight lines :)
Old Hough Fishery. Peg 9 Lower Benbo, 27/09/2021
After
a brilliant first visit to old hough last week i couldn't wait to get
back there today! I left Chester at 7.30am and arrived at the fishery at
8.05am to give me enough time for a brew before the draw.
I
drew peg 9 lower benbo and despite everyone saying its crap as i didn't
know the fishery too well all I could do it give it my best and find
out for myself how good or bad it was!
Baits for the day were a bag of ringers crushed expander ground bait. Corn, 2 pints red maggots, worms and 1 pints 4mm pellets.
Rigs
16.5 m shallow rigs 2 depths 6 nches and 1ft 0.13 guru n gauge, size 16 lwg on Drennan 10 - 12 elastic.
2+2
line. Preston Durafloat. bulk 12 inches from the hook and a couple of
droppers. size 16 g point hook and 10 - 12 bungy elastic.
Margins 0.19 - .0.17 guru n gauge. Mick Wilkinson 0.2g margin float size 14 xs spade hook. 14-16 Drennan bungy.
As
my game plan from last week seemed to work i thought I'd stick with
tried and tested. On the all in i fed some ground bait ground bait at 9m
and 5m laced with corn and some pellets which i planned to fish over
with worm or corn for anything that swims.
I fed the left margins with ground bait and corn.I fed a big pot of 4mm pellets tight to the island at 16.5m.
I
started tight over on the deck but similar to last week had several
foul hooked fish early which had me thinking shallow! It was 5 degrees
when i left the house so i was a bit cautious but went for it anyway. After 20 minutes i had 2 carp on 4mm pellet feeding 4mms little and often but then the whole line just died on me.The
next couple of hours saw me chop and change between lines short and
long but with very little success. I was just picking up the odd Ide but
not much else.I
continued to feed the far bank and managed to mug a couple of confident
Carp before it died again. With an hour to go i was needing miracles. I
manged to pick up 2 late carp out of the margins on bunches of maggots
over ground bait but it was all far too little far too late!
I
ended up with 18lb 4oz which was 2nd on my bank as everyone else except
the eventual section winner (37lb) had decided enough was enough and
tipped back and headed home.
I
made the school boy error off feeding far too much on all lines on the
all in! I didn't take into account how hard the lake normally fishes
compared to upper benbo and the cool conditions and probably killed my
swim within the first 5 minutes of the match!
Oh well, now the weather is changing I'll try to keep that in mind for next time!
Patshull Park again tomorrow! :)
Tight lines :)
Patsull Park. peg 39. 21/09/14
Today
i was returning to a fishery which i hadn't fished for 10 years! Last
time I fished it half the match blanked so i think it was fair to say i
had mixed feelings! Patsull
park is a 75 acre natural lake. It has depths up to about 30ft so some
people are put off before they start but It is stuffed full of skimmers
Bream and Roach. It is also a trout fishery and they quite frequently
like to play ball which makes things interesting.
Mark
Mealing picked me up from Chester at 6am and we made our way to the
fishery. We had a good chat all the way talking about today's tactics
and also previous matches that we had fished together. We
arrived at the fishery at 7.30am and with mist rising from the surface
it had the making of a great days fishing. we paid our money and had a pre match Bacon butty and we were set for the draw. I drew 39 and Mark drew 41.
Baits
for the day were a Ringers fish meal based ground bait. 1pint of
casters 1 pint of red maggots. 1/4 of pinkies. I wanted to keep my plan
of attack fairly simple today!
Rigs
10ft tip rod as you are fishing at between 25 and 30 yards.
5lb mainline 0.12 hooklength with size 16 Drennan silverfish maggot hook.
20 gram block end feeder free running on a korum feeder bead.
Loop to loop hooklength to mainline. Hooklength was waried between 2ft and 4ft.
On
the all in the mist was just about clearing off the water. Sitting on
my box which i had positioned in the shallow water in the side of the
lake it really was a picturesque setting! I
filled the feeder and cast it to the clip at 25 yards. I did this a
couple more times just to get a bit of bait in the swim before baiting
my hook with single red maggot and casting it out again. I cast every 4 -
5 minutes to build the swim and had my first bite after 20 minutes.
After an hour i had 4 skimmers in the net for about 4lb. Some of the bites nearly had the rod off the rest and some were very small indications that needed striking at so it took me a while to get to grips with hitting the bites.
After
the 2nd hour i had 8 fish for about 8lb and was on track for a decent
weight. In previous weeks 25lb has been enough to win so i had a good
feeling. the next few fish i had were 1 1/2lb+ and were also followed by a few Roach.
I
continued to catch odd fish for the duration of the match and to be
honest enjoyed working for every fish and not the hustle and bustle of
commercial matches. I ended up with 25 skimmers and 3 Roach.
When
the scales came round I had estimated 20lb and was pleasantly surprised
with 24lb 2oz. Unfortunately for me that wasn't anywhere near enough
today. The end peg had 41lb there was another 30 something and Simon
from Chester Tackle Locker had 29lb so i wasn't really in the running.
I
had lost a few nice fish during the match and it wasn't until we were
half way home that i realised I had made a BIG school boy error! On the
natural venues it isn't uncommon for barbed and micro barbed hooks to be
allowed. This also applies at Patsull and i had forgotten about it and fished with barbless
hooks all day. I lost a few big skimmers as they nodded their head
trying to shake the hook free. Losing the fish would never have been
enough for me to frame but would probably have seen me closer to 30lb so
i will be remembering them for next time.
Well done to Mark on winning his section. 27lb of silvers all caught short!
Next weekend depending on work commitments could be a repeat of this weekend. Old Hough Saturday and Patsull Sunday. There aren't that many venues in the Northwest that offer that sort of skimmer fishing in such a tranquil setting.
Looking forward to going back to Patsull already! :)
Tight lines :)
Old Hough Fishery. Peg 7 Upper Benbo, 20/09/2021
Today I fancied a change from Weston so it was off to Old Hough Fisheries near Middlewich.
The fishery is just over 30 minutes from Chester and has been really
well thought out. All pegs were very spacious. There was loads of room
for shipping poles back and no long walks to any peg. I had also been
told it was a very fair venue which is great. Couldn't wait to get stuck
in.
We drew at 8.30am and i got peg 7 Upper benbo. I was reliably informed by pretty much everyone that this was a good peg! NO PRESSURE! The match was on upper and lower benbo which are almost identical in layout. upper benbo being slightly narrower at 15m across with lower benbo being 17m in places. Upper benbo also tends to fish slightly better than lower so i was happy with the peg.
Baits for the day were a bag of ringers crushed expander ground bait. Corn, meat, worms and 2 pints 4mm pellets.
Rigs
15 m shallow rigs 2 depths 6inches and 1ft 0.13 guru n gauge, size 16 lwg on Drennan 10 - 12 elastic.
2+2 line. Preston Durafloat. bulk 12 inches from the hook and a couple of droppers. size 16 g point hook and 10 - 12 bungy elastic.
Margins 0.19 - .0.17 guru n gauge. Mick Wilkinson 0.2g margin float size 14 xs spade hook. 14-16 Drennan bungy.
On
the all in i fed some ground bait ground bait at 9m and 5m laced with
corn and some pellets which i planned to fish over with worm or corn for
anything that swims.I fed the left margins with ground bait and corn.I fed a big pot of 4mm pellets tight to the island at 15m.
I
went straight across with worm on the hook a couple of inches over
depth. I had already seen some activity and had a 2lb carp first put in.
This was followed by 3 foul hooked fish in 3 put ins. This got me
reaching for the shallow rig 5 minutes into the match. :)
I started feeding 4mm pellets tight to the far bank little and often and this would continue all day.
Apart
from very occasionally looking on the other lines to rest the shallow
line i pretty much fished across all day. It was too tight to the sedges
to slap the rig so lifting and dropping was the key. Most bites came on
the drop just as the pellet settled. I caught fish all day between 8oz
and 2lb at depths between 4 and 12 inches deep.If
the shallow line went quiet i put my margin rig over the top with
double worm and caught a few on the bottom before they came shallow
again.
Come
the all out i thought i had about 60lb which i was happy with. First
time at a new fishery and I'd caught loads of fish and had a really good
day.The
scales came round and i was a bit too close for comfort to the 50lb
limit on one of my nets! I had 44lb of carp in one net and 31lb 8oz in
the other giving me a total of 75lb 8oz and 2nd in section which i
narrowly missed by 4lb. This was good enough for 6th overall out of 24 anglers so for my first visit to old Hough i was over the moon.
All
the lads were really friendly and open with how best to fish it which
was great. The key to the shallow fishing really is feeding little and
often even when playing fish by resting the pole across your legs and
varying depth to keep in touch with the fish. if you enjoy Roach fishing
you would enjoy shallow fishing carp!
Same again next weekend?! Don't mind if i do!
Tight lines :)
Cudmore fishery. Arena pool peg 21 14/09/2014.
Today myself and
Gareth Evans were guests of Saughall AC at Cudmore fisheries in
Staffordshire. Its been a good few years since i had fished arena pool,
having watched this years Fishomania final where some great anglers
struggled we didn't quite know what to expect! On arrival there were fish cruising around and i've got to say i quite fancied it!
We
drew at 9am and i got peg 21 which was an area in calm water with the
wind off my back. I thought it might me a tough area as Arena is known
for the fish following the wind.
Baits for the
day were a bag of ringers crushed expander ground bait. Corn, meat small
amount of 4mm and 6mm expanders and 2 pints of 6mm pellets.
Rigs
14.5 m shallow rigs 2 depths 3ft and 2ft 0.13 guru n gauge - 0.11 powerline. size 16 lwg on Drennan 10 - 12 elastic.
Skimmer
line. Preston Durafloat. bulk 12 inches from the hook and a couple of
droppers. size 18 g point hook and 6-8 bungy elastic.
Margins 0.19 - .0.17 guru n gauge. Mick Wilkinson 0.2g margin float size 14 xs spade hook. 14-16 Drennan bungy.
Bomb rod 3/4 way over/ and up to island.
On the all in i fed 3 cups of ground bait at 9m laced with corn and some pellets hoping the skimmers would come over it.
I fed both margins with ground bait and corn.I
started on the tip but had a fruitless 15 minutes. There were plenty of
fish showing so while waiting for my ground bait line to settle picked
up the shallow rig.Wanting to leave the skimmer line for at
least 45 minutes before looking on it i started feeding 6mm pellets
little and often and slapped the rig in 3 times before letting it fish
for a few seconds.
After about 5 minutes the elastic was
ripped out the end of the pole and the first fish was on. 5 minutes
later a mirror carp of about 6lb was in the net. After losing a lot of
fish yesterday i just took my time as i had a feeling every fish would
count today! I went straight back out and continued the feeding pattern. 10 minutes later carp number 2 was making tracks for the far bank! Within
5 minutes another 5lb mirror was in the net. Capitalising on this early
part of the match is often key on venues like this. Sure enough no more
shallow fish for the rest of the day despite feeding the line all day
and trying it on and off.
The skimmer line didn't produce a lot! I had about 12 small skimmers off it throughout the day.The
left hand margin i decided to fish at 14.5m to a clump of grass. In the
last half hour i have had 3 carp averaging 5lb of the line.
I
weighed in 27lb 8oz (5 carp for 25lb and 2 1/2lb of bits) which was
good enough for 3rd overall. The top 2 were in the pegs that had a
favourable wind so i was happy with that.
From
fishing Weston over the last couple of months my shallow fishing has
improved a lot. Still a long way to go but last year id of probably
missed out on those 2 early carp by not having the confidence to give it
a go. It's always best to have a plan of attack and plan B and C just
in case.
At a lot of these commercial fisheries it is easy to
get confused with baits and tactics so the best thing to do is just fish
to your strengths.
After lots of lost fish yesterday other
than bumping a few small skimmers i landed 5 carp out of 5 so i am
putting yesterday down as one of those days and wiping it from my
memory!
Not sure what next weekend holds yet!
Tight lines :)
Weston pools rover. Peg 13 Canal 13/09/14
Today
I fished the Weston pools rover match. I fancied canal pool as i had
never fished it before so was hoping for a low ball at the draw. I drew
ball 4 entitling me to 4th pick of any peg on the complex. Peg 13 is
tucked away on its own with plenty of options. It is a very good peg so
that was good enough for me!
Baits for the day that made up my 5 pint limit were 2pints of 4mm fishery pellets. 1/2 pint of corn 2 1/2 pints of maggots.
Rigs.
Shallow at 2 + 2 i used Drennan crystal dibber 0.2g to Guru n gauge mainline 0.13 to 0.11 Preston powerline hook length Guru size16 lwg. Elasitc 6 - 8 Drennan bungy for Ide and 10 - 12 for F1s
Top 2 pellet line AS1 0.4g float 0.15 silstar match team - 0.13 Guru n gauge size 16 lwg with a bulk 12 inches from the hook and a dropper just above the hook length making it very positive. Elastic 10 - 12 drennan bungy.
Margin rigs AS2 float 0.3g 0.18 - 0.16 with a size 14 Guru XS spade. bulk of no.8 shot with a dropper. Elastic Drennan Bungy 14 - 16 and black hydro. Method feeder on the tip..
On
the all in fed both margins one with corn and one with maggots. I
started to feed maggots shallow little and often while i chucked out the
tip rod. 2 minutes in i had my first fish a 2lb barbel
followed quickly by a 2lb F1. A couple more fish less casts and i picked
up the pole. I decided to fish deep shallow on the 2+2 line
so set the float about 3ft in 4ft of water. I baited the hook with
single maggot and began slapping the rig / lifting and dropping to get a
response. Over the next hour with constant feeding every 30
seconds i had put about 10 F1s in the net. I was probably looking at
20lb after 1 1/2 hours so decided to make a few changes.This is where thing started to unravel!!
Over
the next few hours i hooked and lost (through hook pulls) about 30
fish! Nothing would stay on the hook. I went up hook sizes, tinkered
with elastics, changed hook thinking they were blunt but nothing seemed
to make a difference. The main issue was when the carp and barbel took
off towards the aerator at 100mph you cant afford to give them an inch
so by applying maximum pressure that was resulting in the hook pulls.On a couple of occasions i was just waiting for my top kits to snap but the hooks would give just in time! In a swim with less hazards id of just gone down a grade of elastic but on 13 (unlucky for me) canal this wasn't an option!
I
even dropped the method in the margins and the barbel took me round the
back of the aerator and snapped my line! These are big fish and far too
clever for me! I plugged away catching odd fish but this proved to be one of those days!
The scales came round and i had 56lb 8oz. I honestly think i lost double that so it was a very frustrating day!
Cudmore Sunday. lets hope for a better day!
Tight lines! :)
Weston pools Memorial match. Peg 4 wier 07/09/14
Today
I fished the annual Weston pools memorial match. The match was in
memory of all angling friends who are no longer with us as well as
raising money for the Claire's house Children's hospice which is a local
charity. The who event went very smoothly and with 80+ anglers on the
bank this is a credit to the whole team at Weston pools. I thought the minutes silence before the draw was a very nice touch.
Having
broken my match PB the previous day I was full of confidence. I drew
peg 4 wier which is a very good peg but with 15 anglers on the lake
everyone expected it to fish hard. My
plan of attack was a short pellet line on the deck, shallow with pellet
long 13m and maggot short 6m. I also plumbed both margins.
Baits for the day that made up my 5 pint limit were 2pints of 4mm fishery pellets. 1/2 pint of corn 2 1/2 pints of maggots.
Rigs.
Shallow
at 2 + 2 i used Drennan crystal dibber 0.2g to Guru n gauge mainline
0.13 to 0.11 Preston powerline hooklength Guru size16 lwg. Elasitc 6 - 8
Drennan bungy for Ide and 10 - 12 for F1s
Top
2 pellet line AS1 0.4g float 0.14 silstar match team - 0.13 Guru n
gauge size 16 lwg with a bulk 12 inches from the hook and a dropper just
above the hooklength making it very positive. Elastic 10 - 12 drennan
bungy.
Margin
rigs AS2 float 0.3g 0.15 - 0.14 with a size 16 Guru XS spade. bulk of
no.8 shot with a dropper. Elastic Drennan Bungy 14 - 16 and black hydro.
On
the all in i cupped some bait onto my chosen lines and went straight on
my top kit on pellet. Within 10 seconds my float buried and 1 minute
later a 2lb F1 broke the surface and I was off to a flier! Must of been
alone though as 5 minutes later with only a couple of missed bites to
show for my efforts I had no more fish and decided to go long. First
couple of put ins i had a lot of indications but no proper bites so i
put the shallow rig on the same line and starting pinging pellets little
and often. I had 4 F1s in as many put ins and then nothing. The whole
lake seemed to be struggling. I
chopped and changed for the next hour but only found an Ide in my left
hand margin and a barbel around 4lb on the shallow line. 2 hours in and i
had about 14lb in the net! Things were not going to plan!
At
this point I thought i've got the tip rod with me so I'll give it a go!
Got it out the hard case and put the rod together. I had a banjo feeder
already set up as i prefer these to method feeders in slightly deeper
water. I soaked a few 4mm pellets while i was setting up and these were
ready to go. I banded a pellet loaded to feeder and plopped it in over
the pole line at 13m. it didn't sit there for 2 minutes before the rod
was almost off the rest! To cut a long story short this happened 15 more
times with carp between 1 and 5lb.
I tried to pole line in the margins every now and again but it was no good! The all out came and i think its fair to say most people on the lake struggled. I ended up with 43lb 14oz which was 2nd in my 5 peg section section.
Today
was a prime example of not being lazy which i have been guilty of far
too many times in the past! I could have easily sat it out on the pole
and maybe scraped 25lb but making the decision to put the feeder rod up
gave me an enjoyable few hours sport on a method i don't use too often
so I was happy. The moral is 'If you think it..... DO IT!'
After
the weigh in we went back to the cafe area to have a hog roast butty
and share a few stories about the ones that got away and congratulate
the winners.This
was a great day supporting a very worthy cause and once again have to
say a massive Well done the the team at Weston pools and Deeside tackle
for promoting the event. The fishing may not have gone exactly to plan
but i did win a raffle prize! :)
On
a personal note i was thinking about my dad while i was fishing. He
passed away 3 years ago and we shared many a day on the bank of rivers
canal and lakes here there and everywhere. I hope he was catching a few
up there too! :)
I'm looking forward to next weekend already wherever that may be!
Tight lines! :)
Weston Pools Rover. Peg 6 Stretton 06/09/2021
Today I
decided to fish the rover at Weston Pools in Oswestry. Although fairly
new to the fishery from looking at match results and spending some time
walking around the complex it is easy to see which areas hold a lot of
fish! Having drawn ball 3 entitling me to have 3rd choice of any peg on
the complex (excluding lakes booked for club matches) I decided on peg 6
Stretton.
I already had a plan of attack which
I had come up with after a couple of previous matches where I felt I
hadn't done myself or the peg justice and just generally got it wrong.
Today's plan was maggots shallow and Margins with pellet and maggot and
nothing more complicated than that. Baits for
the day that made up my 5 pint limit were 2pints of 4mm fishery pellets.
1/4 of a pint of 6mm expanders. 2 1/2 pints of maggots.
Rigs
had been tinkered with as I felt the change in temperature over the
last few weeks meant the crude summer margin rigs may have to stay in
the rig tray for the rest of the year.
Shallow at 2 + 2 i used
Drennan crystal dibber 0.2g to Guru n gauge mainline 0.13 to 0.11
Preston powerline hooklength Guru size16 lwg. Elasitc 6 - 8 Drennan
bungy for Ide and 10 - 12 for F1s
Top 2 pellet line AS1 0.4g
float 0.14 silstar match team - 0.13 Guru n gauge size 16 lwg with a
bulk 12 inches from the hook and a dropper just above the hooklength
making it very positive. Elastic 10 - 12 drennan bungy.
Margin
rigs AS2 float 0.5g 0.15 - 0.14 with a size 16 Guru XS spade. bulk of
no.8 shot with a dropper. Elastic Drennan Bungy 14 - 16 and black hydro.
On
the all in I fed both margins one with maggots and one with pellets and
started to feed maggots shallow. I started shallow on maggots at about
12 inches deep and was into Ide straight away. I continued to drip feed
bait onto all my other lines and stayed on the shallow line at 2+2 for
about 2 hours catching steadily F1s and Ide up to 1 lb. When they are
feeding well they just rip the elastic out of the pole which makes it a
very exciting method of fishing! :)
At the 2 hour mark I
estimated 35 - 40lb in the net but no bigger fish were showing so I
decided to go down the right hand margin. I fished a 6mm expander and
had a few Crucians and small F1s but not what i was after really. Having
still fed the shallow line it was now boiling with fish so I went back
over it and had a few more Ide and F1s before it slowed right down.For
the last 2 hours I have gone done the left hand margin on maggots and
had carp and barbel nearly every put in until the end of the match.I
foul hooked and lost a few fish and a lot of the fish were hooked on
the outside of the mouth and face indicating they weren't really feeding
properly.
Pellet line to right hand margin and top 2 didn't
produce many fish which made me happy I had taken a punt on the good old
maggot. When the scales came round I wasn't quite sure what I
had in my nets. I had put a 4th net in with 1 hour to go as i didn't
know how close i was to the net limit on my silvers net. the first 3
nets went 96lb which meant i needed the 5 barbel to go 4lb to break the
100lb barrier. Thankfully they did and the total came to 104lb 14oz
which was good enough for a new match PB and 4th overall (but 1st out of
the money lol)
I had a great day and I am
convinced that the slightly more refined rigs made a massive difference
for me today. Feeding all lines little and often was by far the best
approach. I am looking forward to the memorial match tomorrow.
Another great days fishing and in memory of all angling friends who are
no longer with us. Who knows given the right peg maybe another ton too?
:)
Tight lines.