Even though Norwich is 3hrs drive, entry to this match was a no brainer as your £20.00 'entry fee' was actually your membership money to join the Angling Trust !
Andy Meadows had also decided to enter and we decided to take the wives and make a weekend of it in Norwich. We travelled over on Friday afternoon and stayed in Norwich City Centre on Friday night. We went relatively steady with the beer as we didn't fancy being too ill the next day !
The big dilemma for us was that we had never seen Barford before so we would be reliant on local info from the likes of Bob Bradford. I always like to fish a peg how I read it, however Barford seems to be slightly different in the fact that if you do something different from the norm, it doesn't tend to work.
I was in the Ultima team and my captain for the day was Andy May. There were 5 lakes in and due to the poor performance of Colton Lake in the Fisho qualifier 3 days before, this was where nobody wanted to be. Captains were dispatched to a room where sections were drew, and guess what - I was on Colton !!! There was then a further draw made for pegs and I ended up on peg 20 which is more or less in the middle of the far bank of the lake. I was advised to fish caster up in the water anything from 2ft to 5ft deep (the lake is 12 ft deep) with red maggot on the hook and in the margin to an edge of a reed bed which was on my left.
Bait was 4pts casters, 4 tins corn, 2 pts 4mm Barford pellets and 1/2 pt red maggots (for the hook).
Upon arrival at my peg, the sun was shining and there was a nice ripple on the water from the left to right breeze. I made up 3 shallow rigs at varying depths between 2ft and 5ft for fishing up in the water at 14.5 mtrs. I plumbed up my margin against the reeds to my left and found it to be 5ft deep ! - 2 rigs were made up for here. I was fairly optimistic as there were plenty of fish moving about in open water.
At the all in, I went straight out to 14.5 mtrs with a 3ft deep rig and double maggot on the hook. I flicked in about 10 casters and the elastic came ripping out of the pole. 10 mts later and a 7lb carp was in the net. Next drop in, the elastic ripped out again and another 7lb carp was safely landed. So, 20 mins in and I had 14lb in the net - I was gonna do 150lb and win the whole match.
What happened next was.............................not alot ! The sun shone more brightly, the wind dropped slightly and nearly every carp had come up into the first 1 ft of water with no interest in feeding whatsoever. I persevered with up in the water for the next 2 hours, constantly changing depths and feeding patterns to try and entice some carp to feed. About half way through the match, Sarah (from Barford) came round and said 3 carp was winning the lake and some people were blanking or only had one. This forced me to carry on up in the water for another 30 fruitless mins before I decided to go down the margin with 2 hours of the match left.
It was obvious after a while that there was nothing feeding down the edge but I had no other option as the fish in the open water were now doing some serious sunbathing.
The remaining one hour saw me have one bite and one fish from the edge (another 7lber) and so at the weigh in I totalled 3 carp for 21lb. The lake was won with 64lb (9 carp) and there were just too many people who picked up one else 2 more carp than myself so I got pushed down to 12th out of 14th on the lake - very disappointing.
Back at the Barford site, everyone was discussing there days fishing and Andy had also had a nightmare with a snag on railway Lake (another poor draw). It was quite funny though when said he was concerned that the MP Martin Salter had nearly beat him. What's funny about this you ask - well Andy has an £800.00 Rive and Martin Salter has one of those blue plastic Shakespeare boxes LOL.
All in all it was a disappointing day fishing wise as I really wanted to draw on the Match or Pleasure lake. HOWEVER, the night out in Norwich was good, Barford is an excellent fishery and most importantly the crack was excellent.
This Sunday, it's the start of the Gedling Pairs at Makins and I am fishing this with Mick Lees. We are reigning champs from last year when we scooped over £700.00 in prize money so here's hoping for more of the same.
Mark
Thursday, 23 April 2009
Sunday, 12 April 2009
Makins Teams of 3 - The Final
Today was a day when a good draw was important as there was a good amount of team money to be paid out afterwards.
Nigel came back with Crater 1 for himself (excellent draw for good points), Lake 2 B19 for Mick (awful), and Avon 3 for me.
You will see from last weeks write up that I was on Avon 1 and managed 2nd in the section and a default payout, whereas Peg 3 had 8lb. Despite this, I actually fancied this peg for a few as I didn't think the angler on it last week had done it justice.
For company on my left I had Richie Hull and we both agreed that we were fishing for 3rd & 4th in section at best as it would be difficult to beat peg 1 and there is normally one peg on Inner Avon that throws up a weight.
Behind us on Thames we also had Phil Ringer and Kelvin Acton for company and we all agreed on a £1 side bet - winner takes all !
Now then - on peg 1 was TF member 'Honest' and he knew I drew that peg the previous match and did well off it. He was asking where I caught and I wasn't likely to tell him as he was in my section ! I asked if he had read my Blog and for once he said he hadn't. Then he had a brainwave - he said he was going to ring home to get someone to fire the computer up and read out my Blog to him !!! (he didn't do this in the end as 'that' stick up I mentioned moving last week was at it again !).
Back to the match and I set up 2 rigs to fish against the far side reeds. Both used a MW Cookie and .12 Fox Micro to a PR21 18 and 10 latex. One was set dead depth (2ft) and one was for fishing varying depths of less than 1 ft. Due to the closeness of Richie on Peg 4, the left hand margin was a no go so I set up for 2 lines on my right - one at 6mtrs and one at 10 mtrs which was to pallet 2 and as far as I am allowed to go. My open water swims were both to my right - one at 13 mtrs fishing about 7 mtrs out and one at 11.5 mtrs fishing about 4 mtrs out. Both of these utilised a MW Power Diamond 2, .11 Powerline and 10 latex. The 4 mtr line directly in front of me at the bottom of the shelf was also catered for.
On the whistle, all lines were fed (apart from against the far reeds as this can ruin this line) and the 'at depth' rig was dropped in against the reeds. It was obvious at this time that there were plenty of fish there as the amount of liners was ridiculous. I immediately came back, and went straight on the shallow rig set 1 ft deep. After 1/2 an hour, Richie Hull had 3 carp and I had one while peg 1 was struggling. Peg 6 on Inner Avon was catching well but it was important for me to remember that there was likely to be one of the pegs on Inner Avon that would be hard to beat as stated above.
Fishing against the reeds for fish that are not feeding properly is something that I do not like doing and despite a couple more fish in the next 1/2 hour, Richie was now foul hooking (and losing) fish on a regular basis so I decided to look at my other swims. After about 1 hour of messing about with presentation on these lines, it was pretty obvious that there were not many carp present (either that or they weren't feeding) so it was back to 16 mtrs against the reeds !
At the start of the second half of the match, 'Honest' on peg 1 was catching a few down the edge, Richie and I were picking up odd fish from over, Peg 6 on Inner was still catching as was Steve Crocker on Peg 2 on Inner. Phil Ringer and Kelvin behind us on Thames (remember the £1 side bet) were both struggling so it was between Richie and I for the £4 'pot'.
At the end of the match, Richie had pipped me with 16 carp to my 14, while 'Honest' on peg 1 had 13 - one of which was pushing 7lb. I conducted the weigh in of our section with Honest and Steve Crocker on Inner weighed 46lb. Peg 6 on Inner weighed 48lb and I believed these would be 1st and 2nd in section.
Honest on peg 1 weighed 41lb and then I was disappointed to put 39lb 8oz on the scales. Richie Hull, as expected with those 2 extra fish, put 42lb on the scales to push me down to 5th in the 10 peg section and also to take the £1's of Phil, Kelvin and I.
All in all, the section (and in fact most of Outer and Inner Avon) had fished better than previous weeks as the fish seem to have dispersed around the lake. I was a bit peeved though as one more fish could've seen me come 3rd in the section which was the target I had set myself.
Back at the pub, Mick had not done well off B19 (he wasn't expected too) and Nigel had come back with 5 pts from Crater 1 (apparently it was black !!!). 13 points got you in the money on the day so our 17 point total was well out of it.
Next week I am travelling to Norwich to fish the Angling Trust match at Norwich where I am in a team that is captained by Andy May and also contains Bob Bradford (Swimfeeder off TF) so it should be a good day. This week will be spent trying to gain some info (I have never seen the place before) and getting my gear ready.
Nigel came back with Crater 1 for himself (excellent draw for good points), Lake 2 B19 for Mick (awful), and Avon 3 for me.
You will see from last weeks write up that I was on Avon 1 and managed 2nd in the section and a default payout, whereas Peg 3 had 8lb. Despite this, I actually fancied this peg for a few as I didn't think the angler on it last week had done it justice.
For company on my left I had Richie Hull and we both agreed that we were fishing for 3rd & 4th in section at best as it would be difficult to beat peg 1 and there is normally one peg on Inner Avon that throws up a weight.
Behind us on Thames we also had Phil Ringer and Kelvin Acton for company and we all agreed on a £1 side bet - winner takes all !
Now then - on peg 1 was TF member 'Honest' and he knew I drew that peg the previous match and did well off it. He was asking where I caught and I wasn't likely to tell him as he was in my section ! I asked if he had read my Blog and for once he said he hadn't. Then he had a brainwave - he said he was going to ring home to get someone to fire the computer up and read out my Blog to him !!! (he didn't do this in the end as 'that' stick up I mentioned moving last week was at it again !).
Back to the match and I set up 2 rigs to fish against the far side reeds. Both used a MW Cookie and .12 Fox Micro to a PR21 18 and 10 latex. One was set dead depth (2ft) and one was for fishing varying depths of less than 1 ft. Due to the closeness of Richie on Peg 4, the left hand margin was a no go so I set up for 2 lines on my right - one at 6mtrs and one at 10 mtrs which was to pallet 2 and as far as I am allowed to go. My open water swims were both to my right - one at 13 mtrs fishing about 7 mtrs out and one at 11.5 mtrs fishing about 4 mtrs out. Both of these utilised a MW Power Diamond 2, .11 Powerline and 10 latex. The 4 mtr line directly in front of me at the bottom of the shelf was also catered for.
On the whistle, all lines were fed (apart from against the far reeds as this can ruin this line) and the 'at depth' rig was dropped in against the reeds. It was obvious at this time that there were plenty of fish there as the amount of liners was ridiculous. I immediately came back, and went straight on the shallow rig set 1 ft deep. After 1/2 an hour, Richie Hull had 3 carp and I had one while peg 1 was struggling. Peg 6 on Inner Avon was catching well but it was important for me to remember that there was likely to be one of the pegs on Inner Avon that would be hard to beat as stated above.
Fishing against the reeds for fish that are not feeding properly is something that I do not like doing and despite a couple more fish in the next 1/2 hour, Richie was now foul hooking (and losing) fish on a regular basis so I decided to look at my other swims. After about 1 hour of messing about with presentation on these lines, it was pretty obvious that there were not many carp present (either that or they weren't feeding) so it was back to 16 mtrs against the reeds !
At the start of the second half of the match, 'Honest' on peg 1 was catching a few down the edge, Richie and I were picking up odd fish from over, Peg 6 on Inner was still catching as was Steve Crocker on Peg 2 on Inner. Phil Ringer and Kelvin behind us on Thames (remember the £1 side bet) were both struggling so it was between Richie and I for the £4 'pot'.
At the end of the match, Richie had pipped me with 16 carp to my 14, while 'Honest' on peg 1 had 13 - one of which was pushing 7lb. I conducted the weigh in of our section with Honest and Steve Crocker on Inner weighed 46lb. Peg 6 on Inner weighed 48lb and I believed these would be 1st and 2nd in section.
Honest on peg 1 weighed 41lb and then I was disappointed to put 39lb 8oz on the scales. Richie Hull, as expected with those 2 extra fish, put 42lb on the scales to push me down to 5th in the 10 peg section and also to take the £1's of Phil, Kelvin and I.
All in all, the section (and in fact most of Outer and Inner Avon) had fished better than previous weeks as the fish seem to have dispersed around the lake. I was a bit peeved though as one more fish could've seen me come 3rd in the section which was the target I had set myself.
Back at the pub, Mick had not done well off B19 (he wasn't expected too) and Nigel had come back with 5 pts from Crater 1 (apparently it was black !!!). 13 points got you in the money on the day so our 17 point total was well out of it.
Next week I am travelling to Norwich to fish the Angling Trust match at Norwich where I am in a team that is captained by Andy May and also contains Bob Bradford (Swimfeeder off TF) so it should be a good day. This week will be spent trying to gain some info (I have never seen the place before) and getting my gear ready.
Sunday, 5 April 2009
Makins - Teams of 3 Round 6
The pressure was off a bit for the final round as our team have already qualified for the Final which takes place next Sunday.
Nigel Bond did the draw for our team and came back with Reptile 4 for himself (Andy Meadows was on it last round and came 3rd in section), Lake 4 peg 20 for Mick (no chance of winning the section from there), and Avon 1 for me (a consistent peg with the chance of doing well if it fishes).
Upon arrival at my peg there was no wind and the sun was shining - it was the first match this year I would be fishing in a T-Shirt ! My section contains Avon 25 (other side of the bridge), Avon 3 & 4 (Steve Crocker), and Inner Avon 2, 3 (Charlie Shaw), 5 (Sam Perkins), 7 (Roger Parnell) & 8.
My main attack would be the margins to my left, however I would also have two 14.5 mtr lines in open water, a short 4 mtr line at the bottom of the near shelf and a couple of lines against the bridge to my right.
Bait for the day was 3mm green swimstim pellets, corn, meat & hemp, and the new 4mm and 6mm Expanda Pellets from Bait-Tech. I was kindly sent some of these pellets by Wendy Lythgoe at Bait-Tech to try and I have to say they are superb. I pumped them before I left home and then put them in an airtight bag. When I took them out of my bait bag before the match they were very soft and spongey but excellent for putting on a PR21 hook (this hook has a wide gape and is perfect for fishing expanders). I would suggest that if you fish expander pellets then give these new Bait-Tech Expanda Pellets a try - you will not be dissapointed !
Back to the match, and the first hour was a struggle for all and the only person catching fish in my section was Roger Parnell on Inner Avon 7. This more or less forced my hand and I went long down the edge to my left where a reed bed started. I never had as much as a liner for 20 minutes, however I just caught sight of a sinle stick up 'knocking' at about 8 mtrs down this margin which was half way between me and where I was fishing !
I quickly shipped back and dropped the rig in next to the stick up and the float sailed away immediately and a 3lb mirror was in the net.
Despite having a fish as soon as I dropped in on this line, I made a decision not to feed as there had been a frost the previous night and sometimes feeding can spook the carp on Phase 3 unless they are really having it.
Most of the remainder of the match was spent fishing this line with either a 4mm or 6mm expander on the hook and as proof that the fish were not feeding, I had to constantly work the bait by lifting and dropping - most bites coming immediately after doing this. Odd forays onto my other lines proved totally fruitless and as the rest of the section (apart from Roger) was struggling, I was confident of doing well if I stuck to the 8 mtr margin swim.
At the end of the match I had amassed 14 carp which were all around the 3lb mark so estimated 40lb. I used a 4x12 Durafloat Bazzerla, .14 Fox line, PR 21 size 18 hook and Maver Pure Latex in a number 12 all of which seemed perfectly balanced.
My weight of 42lb was good enough for 2nd in the section (Roger had 57lb from Inner Avon) and I believe my ploy of fishing almost exclusively down the edge was justified as the guy to my right on Peg 25 had 9lb and the guy to my left on Peg 3 had 8lb.
It transpired that Roger Parnell was also 2nd on the phase (I was 5th on the phase) so I would be getting the section money by default - bonus !
Team wise, Mick did very well to get 4th in his section having been beaten by pegs 4, 6 & 25 (very difficult to beat these where he was from). So with my 2 pts and Micks 4, we had 6 pts awaiting Nigel, who once again came back with....... 7 ! (it's normally 7, 8 0r 9 !)
The section money made me £60.00 and I believe I got the most out of my peg on a day when the fish were not feeding properly on Phase 3. I also believe that those Expanda Pellets from Bait-Tech made a big difference !
Roll on the final next week - Avon 1 would be nice !!!!
Mark Tomlin
Nigel Bond did the draw for our team and came back with Reptile 4 for himself (Andy Meadows was on it last round and came 3rd in section), Lake 4 peg 20 for Mick (no chance of winning the section from there), and Avon 1 for me (a consistent peg with the chance of doing well if it fishes).
Upon arrival at my peg there was no wind and the sun was shining - it was the first match this year I would be fishing in a T-Shirt ! My section contains Avon 25 (other side of the bridge), Avon 3 & 4 (Steve Crocker), and Inner Avon 2, 3 (Charlie Shaw), 5 (Sam Perkins), 7 (Roger Parnell) & 8.
My main attack would be the margins to my left, however I would also have two 14.5 mtr lines in open water, a short 4 mtr line at the bottom of the near shelf and a couple of lines against the bridge to my right.
Bait for the day was 3mm green swimstim pellets, corn, meat & hemp, and the new 4mm and 6mm Expanda Pellets from Bait-Tech. I was kindly sent some of these pellets by Wendy Lythgoe at Bait-Tech to try and I have to say they are superb. I pumped them before I left home and then put them in an airtight bag. When I took them out of my bait bag before the match they were very soft and spongey but excellent for putting on a PR21 hook (this hook has a wide gape and is perfect for fishing expanders). I would suggest that if you fish expander pellets then give these new Bait-Tech Expanda Pellets a try - you will not be dissapointed !
Back to the match, and the first hour was a struggle for all and the only person catching fish in my section was Roger Parnell on Inner Avon 7. This more or less forced my hand and I went long down the edge to my left where a reed bed started. I never had as much as a liner for 20 minutes, however I just caught sight of a sinle stick up 'knocking' at about 8 mtrs down this margin which was half way between me and where I was fishing !
I quickly shipped back and dropped the rig in next to the stick up and the float sailed away immediately and a 3lb mirror was in the net.
Despite having a fish as soon as I dropped in on this line, I made a decision not to feed as there had been a frost the previous night and sometimes feeding can spook the carp on Phase 3 unless they are really having it.
Most of the remainder of the match was spent fishing this line with either a 4mm or 6mm expander on the hook and as proof that the fish were not feeding, I had to constantly work the bait by lifting and dropping - most bites coming immediately after doing this. Odd forays onto my other lines proved totally fruitless and as the rest of the section (apart from Roger) was struggling, I was confident of doing well if I stuck to the 8 mtr margin swim.
At the end of the match I had amassed 14 carp which were all around the 3lb mark so estimated 40lb. I used a 4x12 Durafloat Bazzerla, .14 Fox line, PR 21 size 18 hook and Maver Pure Latex in a number 12 all of which seemed perfectly balanced.
My weight of 42lb was good enough for 2nd in the section (Roger had 57lb from Inner Avon) and I believe my ploy of fishing almost exclusively down the edge was justified as the guy to my right on Peg 25 had 9lb and the guy to my left on Peg 3 had 8lb.
It transpired that Roger Parnell was also 2nd on the phase (I was 5th on the phase) so I would be getting the section money by default - bonus !
Team wise, Mick did very well to get 4th in his section having been beaten by pegs 4, 6 & 25 (very difficult to beat these where he was from). So with my 2 pts and Micks 4, we had 6 pts awaiting Nigel, who once again came back with....... 7 ! (it's normally 7, 8 0r 9 !)
The section money made me £60.00 and I believe I got the most out of my peg on a day when the fish were not feeding properly on Phase 3. I also believe that those Expanda Pellets from Bait-Tech made a big difference !
Roll on the final next week - Avon 1 would be nice !!!!
Mark Tomlin
Monday, 30 March 2009
Bait Tech Festival 2009
This was my 3rd Festival at Whiteacres and I only ever do the first one of the year.
The previous 2 years have seen me finish 126th and 108th, however during this time I have been on a very steep learning curve regarding the lakes and was determined to break into the top 100 this year. A more ambitious aim was to come high enough to automatically qualify for the Preston Festival which takes place in October.
Day 1 - Jennys / Python
My preffered option was Python as I had fished this lake before, however Jennys was completely new to me.
I drew Jennys 13 and upon arrival at my peg it was blowing an absolute howler ! Peg 11 to my left is the narrowest peg on the lake and the island is reachable at 16 mtrs. Peg 13 is approx 22 mtrs wide whilst peg 15 to my right is to the point of an island and an aereator which are both about 30 mtrs away. The rest of my 9 peg section was mainly open water or longer chucks too islands.
Having never fished the lake before, the basic information was sought and it was going to be feeder to the island for F1's and carp, and pole short (5 - 7 mtrs dependant on the shelf) for mainly tench or anything that swims !
The main thing I have learnt at Whiteacres over my 2 previous festivals is to keep bait going in on the feeder line so there is some bait there for when they turn up. This is a risky strategy as sometimes they may not ! I spent the first hour alternating between the meat and groundbait feeder for 2 small F1's. The guy on peg 11 to my left was blanking and Mark Malin to my right had approx 10 F1's chucking to the point of the island and the aereator. I could not see the rest of my section so had a decision to make as I felt the fish were in the open water of Jennys rather than the relative narrowness of the peg that I was on.
The feeder rod was thrown behind me and my attention would now be to fish the pole and catch anything that swimss ! I fished 2 lines at 7 mtrs, one with meat and one with worm and caster, and for the remainder of the match I picked up odd tench, F1's, skimmers and roach - all mainly caught on the worm line. The guy to my left had switched to the bomb and caught 4 big carp and Mark Malin had continued to catch F1's from the aereator and had some tench on the pole line late on. As soon as ther hooter went I wandered down the section to see who had caught and the way people were talking it was down to me and the guy on my left for last and second to last in the section.
I packed away and then waited for the scales as they had to weigh in Python first. When the scales arrived they started at the far end of the section and it transpires that people had caught less than what they thought. Ricky Teale and another guy had 40lb+ with the others having between 15 and 25lb. Mark Malin dropped 40lb+ on the scales and I knew I had chance of 4th insection. I weighed 28lb 7oz and just hoped that he guy on 11 hadn't beat me. His 4 big carp went 27lb 11oz and I was more than happy with 6 points as I thought 1 or 2 pts was on the card after I had walked the section after the match.
The best weight off peg 13 for the rest of the week was 35lb.
Day 2 - Twin Oaks / Trelawney
Having looked at the previous days results, you needed an end peg on Trelawney for good section points or pegs 12, 14, 16, 18 on Twin Oaks for the chance of a lake win.
I drew Twin Oaks 10 which was not good as I would struggle to beat the anglers to my right and in reality the best I could hope for was to beat the 4 anglers to my left and get 5 points.
For company, I had Steven Barraclough on peg 12 and to his right on peg 14, Mark Malin had drew out of his skin again !
On Twin Oaks there is a large undercut on the far bank where the carp reside and you have to chuck within inches of the far bank or you will struggle to get a bite. The first hour was a struggle and I had 3 F1's whereas the 4 pegs to my right were all catching carp and it was obvious that the wind was still holding the fish down at this end of the lake. Everyone to my left was struggling so I decided to come in on the 5 mtr pole line (which is another standard catching area on this lake). I began to catch odd skimmers between 12oz and 2lb and stuck at this for a while to try and build enough weight to produce a gap between myself and the anglers to my left incase they started to catch carp late. Over the next hour I put around 20lb of skimmers in the net but then bites started to really slow. The pegs to my right were still catching well and Ricky Teale on Peg 6 was catching odd carp on the meat feeder.
With about 2 hours to go, Steven and Mark both came in on the 5 mtr line and prosceeded to catch carp ! This was really frustrating as I had only caught skimmers on this line. Their decision to fish the pole forced my hand and I decided to stick it out on the feeder for the final 2 hours and try to draw some carp up from my right as they were no longer fishing the feeder. I began to pick up odd carp, however the final 40 miutes was frantic as every time I chucked in I had a fish on before my rod touched the rod rest ! I tightened the clutch and bullied carp in like never before but it was too little too late as the all in sounded (about 30 mins too early as far as I was concerned !) I was confidentt of beating all to my left and as the scales arrived, the best weight was Ricky Teale with 62lb. I put 80lb on the scales and the pegs to my right weighed as follows - Peg 12 - 120lb, Peg 14 (Mark 'Drawbag' Malin) - 138lb, Peg 16 - 112 lb, Peg 18 - 96lb.
5th in section gave me 5pts and in reality this was probably the best result I was ever going to get from this peg on the day.
It was predicted that later in the week the carp would move out from the far side of the lake to settle in the middle. Indeed this happened the very next day and for the remainder of the week you needed to be on pegs 6, 8 and you've guessed it - 10 !
Day 3 - Porth
I have to admit that, whilst not everyones cup of tea, I really enjoy Porth.
Looking at the first 2 days results, 6-8lb would give you good section points and I drew peg 89 which is an end peg on the far side of the reservoir. The previous day it had 12lb odd but only 4th in the section as there had been odd bigger bream caught on the earlier pegs of the section (including the 29lb weight).
There are some very uncomfortable pegs on Porth, however upon arrival I found that I could get my Space Station set up about 2 yards in the water from the bank and that the bottom was fairly solid. I set up a rod for the bream at 24 turns which would be a fishmeal based groundbait for the feeder and worm hookbait. Another rod was set up at 16 turns for the smaller palm sized skimmers and roach. Groundbait for this was more silverfish based and hookbait would be red maggot. It was windy so the pole was set up to 11 mtrs only and this was my banker line to catch small skimmers, roach and perch.
You normally get indication immediately on the short feeder line from the small roach and skimmers, however it turned out to be a real struggle and to make thigs worse I could only see the guy to my right (who was also struggling) so could not see what was happening in the rest of the section. I chucked the heavier feeder for about 45 minutes in the hope of a couple of bigger bream but there was no indications on that either.
My only hope was to get some silvers on the 11 mtr pole line and whilst picking up odd 1 oz roach and perch I was going nowhere fast !
With an hour left, and more in desperation than hope, I cupped in 2 big cup fulls of chopped worm at 4 mtrs. I grabbed a rig from my box and plumbed up, dropped in, and immediately came back with a 2 oz perch. The last hour was frantic and I was catching 1 - 2oz perch as quickly as I could and ended up with an estimated 60 of them.
I was first to weigh and put 7lb 8 oz on the scales and had really got out of jail with those perch. All I had to hope now was that noboby in my section had connected with a proper bream or two. The next 2 pegs weighed in 5 and 6lb respectivelly but the next bloke had a big bream and some bits for 12lb. There was one more big bream caucght in my section which poushed me into 3rd but to be honest I would've taken that at the start of the match. The 12 lb weight near to me actually framed on the lake so the guy who came 2nd and beat me by 9oz got the section money by default.
So, 7 points today and a look at the full list in the club that night put me in 64th place out of 180 and in a good position to get my best festival result.
Day 4 - Bolingey
Bolingey is very peggy, however the organisers get around this by having 'split' sections. To get a lake win you really need a peg in the 'big hit' section where most of the 9 pegs are capable of winning the lake. The downside of this is that you could have a very good weight only to come half way in your section.
I drew peg 44 which is not in the good section and therefore not in with a chance of main lake money. During the week, the section I was in was won from a different peg every day and the day previous, peg 44 had come second. Peg 45 to my left is a flyer and therefore not in my section so I knew I would have to try and ignore him if he started bagging ! For company, I had Grant Albutt (a £1 side bet was made) to my right and former World Champion Tommy Pickering to his right so i was certainly up against it today !
Mark 'drawbag' Malin was directly behind me on peg 47. He was not in my section but was at on a peg that had won that particular section for the last 2 days !
I set up today - a rod for fishing PVA bag incase it was hard, 2 pole lines at 13 mtrs, short margins left and right, and the obligatory 5 mtr line. The wind had died down slightly today but was still strong enough to make fishing the 13 mtr pole uncomfortable, however this was how I started but, along with the rest of the section struggled. The one exception was the guy on the end peg on the opposite bank who had approx 5 carp in the first hour.
The PVA bag was chucked around the peg to try and locate a fish but this also proved fruitless and after 2 biteless hours I was forced to have a look in the margins. I did not have so much as a liner down the edge so looked on the 5 mtr line where I had been throwing 6 cubes of meat every 2-3 minutes. Again this produced nothing and I was looking at a major disaster when suddenly a carp topped in front of peg 45. I hastily catapulted 2 pouchfulls of meat out at 16 mtrs and grabbed a shallow rig (2 1/2 foot deep) from my box (I hadn't set this up initially because of the wind). I shipped out to 16 mtrs and immediately the 12 latex ripped from my pole and 1 6lb carp was safely in the net. 3 more carp in the next 20 minutes followed and suddenly I had an estimated 25lb in the net. Then disaster - the sun came out ! The carp dissapeared and I could not get a bite, however I had already decided that the section was fishing poor enough to warrant sticking with this method for the remaining hour of match. 4 more carp followed including a nice double figure mirror and at the hooter I knew the section would be tight.
I was the last one in the section to weigh and the top weight before me was 48lb. My 8 carp went 52lb and not only had I won the section for a maximum 9 points and a pick up, I had also took a quid of Grant Albutt and the scalp of Tommy Pickering - I was very pleased with myself.
Looking at the results in the club that night I was sat on 27 points and 34th place overall out of 180 anglers. If I had a section win on the last day enabling me to drop my worst result (the 5pts on Twin Oaks), I could get 31 points and an outside chance of sneaking into the top 20.
Day 5 - Pollawyn
Pollawyn is probably the lake where the drawbag determines your points ! At the start of the week the carp were still in the arms of the lake, however as the week progressed they had gradually made their way out of the arms making a bee line for the famous High Bank section - this was the place to draw.
Out came Peg 10 - I was not happy ! It had done nothing all week and come 8th in the section the previous day. The dominant peg in the section was Peg 13 (point of the island) and Peg 9 to my left is on the end of the lake and has a very inviting margin swim where some resident carp live. It fished extremely hard and after searching for carp and big skimmers gor the first 3 hours of the match and catching nothing, I got one of my Porth tops out armed with 3 latex and caught 10lb 9oz of roach on my top 3 !
At the weigh in the carp had moved out of Peg 13 and the guy there had 6lb odd. The guy to my right had 11lb of skimmers and the guy to my left on peg 9 fished long to his left down the end of the lake marginn for 5 hours to win the section with 44lb.
I ended up 5th in the section and with 14lb coming 3rd I knew that if I had gone for those roach earlier then I could have got 7 pts instead of 5 pts.
A big congratulations to fellow Swad lad Kelvin Acton who drew on Peg 28 on the High Bank section and went on to win the lake with 142lb - not only his highest ever match weight but also his first lake win in a festival (and Callum Dicks was also 2 pegs away). Kelvin was reallly chuffed - well done mate.
The results
Points for the week were 6, 5, 7, 9 & 5 so dropping one of the 5's as my worst result I ended up with a 27 point total. Looking at the final leader board this put me in 53rd overall which was a vast improvement from my last 2 festivals.
The top 50 get an automatic invite tio the Preston festival in October where the top 24 qualify for the Parkdean Final on the Saturday, however with a few of last year finalist fishing this week this number get increased as they already get an automatic invite. This effectively means I have qualified for the Preston Festival and the caravan is already booked and deposit paid for !
Finally a big word of thanks to Clint and his team for the excellent organisation of the festival - it is amazing how efficient they are at getting the results out.
Snooty
The previous 2 years have seen me finish 126th and 108th, however during this time I have been on a very steep learning curve regarding the lakes and was determined to break into the top 100 this year. A more ambitious aim was to come high enough to automatically qualify for the Preston Festival which takes place in October.
Day 1 - Jennys / Python
My preffered option was Python as I had fished this lake before, however Jennys was completely new to me.
I drew Jennys 13 and upon arrival at my peg it was blowing an absolute howler ! Peg 11 to my left is the narrowest peg on the lake and the island is reachable at 16 mtrs. Peg 13 is approx 22 mtrs wide whilst peg 15 to my right is to the point of an island and an aereator which are both about 30 mtrs away. The rest of my 9 peg section was mainly open water or longer chucks too islands.
Having never fished the lake before, the basic information was sought and it was going to be feeder to the island for F1's and carp, and pole short (5 - 7 mtrs dependant on the shelf) for mainly tench or anything that swims !
The main thing I have learnt at Whiteacres over my 2 previous festivals is to keep bait going in on the feeder line so there is some bait there for when they turn up. This is a risky strategy as sometimes they may not ! I spent the first hour alternating between the meat and groundbait feeder for 2 small F1's. The guy on peg 11 to my left was blanking and Mark Malin to my right had approx 10 F1's chucking to the point of the island and the aereator. I could not see the rest of my section so had a decision to make as I felt the fish were in the open water of Jennys rather than the relative narrowness of the peg that I was on.
The feeder rod was thrown behind me and my attention would now be to fish the pole and catch anything that swimss ! I fished 2 lines at 7 mtrs, one with meat and one with worm and caster, and for the remainder of the match I picked up odd tench, F1's, skimmers and roach - all mainly caught on the worm line. The guy to my left had switched to the bomb and caught 4 big carp and Mark Malin had continued to catch F1's from the aereator and had some tench on the pole line late on. As soon as ther hooter went I wandered down the section to see who had caught and the way people were talking it was down to me and the guy on my left for last and second to last in the section.
I packed away and then waited for the scales as they had to weigh in Python first. When the scales arrived they started at the far end of the section and it transpires that people had caught less than what they thought. Ricky Teale and another guy had 40lb+ with the others having between 15 and 25lb. Mark Malin dropped 40lb+ on the scales and I knew I had chance of 4th insection. I weighed 28lb 7oz and just hoped that he guy on 11 hadn't beat me. His 4 big carp went 27lb 11oz and I was more than happy with 6 points as I thought 1 or 2 pts was on the card after I had walked the section after the match.
The best weight off peg 13 for the rest of the week was 35lb.
Day 2 - Twin Oaks / Trelawney
Having looked at the previous days results, you needed an end peg on Trelawney for good section points or pegs 12, 14, 16, 18 on Twin Oaks for the chance of a lake win.
I drew Twin Oaks 10 which was not good as I would struggle to beat the anglers to my right and in reality the best I could hope for was to beat the 4 anglers to my left and get 5 points.
For company, I had Steven Barraclough on peg 12 and to his right on peg 14, Mark Malin had drew out of his skin again !
On Twin Oaks there is a large undercut on the far bank where the carp reside and you have to chuck within inches of the far bank or you will struggle to get a bite. The first hour was a struggle and I had 3 F1's whereas the 4 pegs to my right were all catching carp and it was obvious that the wind was still holding the fish down at this end of the lake. Everyone to my left was struggling so I decided to come in on the 5 mtr pole line (which is another standard catching area on this lake). I began to catch odd skimmers between 12oz and 2lb and stuck at this for a while to try and build enough weight to produce a gap between myself and the anglers to my left incase they started to catch carp late. Over the next hour I put around 20lb of skimmers in the net but then bites started to really slow. The pegs to my right were still catching well and Ricky Teale on Peg 6 was catching odd carp on the meat feeder.
With about 2 hours to go, Steven and Mark both came in on the 5 mtr line and prosceeded to catch carp ! This was really frustrating as I had only caught skimmers on this line. Their decision to fish the pole forced my hand and I decided to stick it out on the feeder for the final 2 hours and try to draw some carp up from my right as they were no longer fishing the feeder. I began to pick up odd carp, however the final 40 miutes was frantic as every time I chucked in I had a fish on before my rod touched the rod rest ! I tightened the clutch and bullied carp in like never before but it was too little too late as the all in sounded (about 30 mins too early as far as I was concerned !) I was confidentt of beating all to my left and as the scales arrived, the best weight was Ricky Teale with 62lb. I put 80lb on the scales and the pegs to my right weighed as follows - Peg 12 - 120lb, Peg 14 (Mark 'Drawbag' Malin) - 138lb, Peg 16 - 112 lb, Peg 18 - 96lb.
5th in section gave me 5pts and in reality this was probably the best result I was ever going to get from this peg on the day.
It was predicted that later in the week the carp would move out from the far side of the lake to settle in the middle. Indeed this happened the very next day and for the remainder of the week you needed to be on pegs 6, 8 and you've guessed it - 10 !
Day 3 - Porth
I have to admit that, whilst not everyones cup of tea, I really enjoy Porth.
Looking at the first 2 days results, 6-8lb would give you good section points and I drew peg 89 which is an end peg on the far side of the reservoir. The previous day it had 12lb odd but only 4th in the section as there had been odd bigger bream caught on the earlier pegs of the section (including the 29lb weight).
There are some very uncomfortable pegs on Porth, however upon arrival I found that I could get my Space Station set up about 2 yards in the water from the bank and that the bottom was fairly solid. I set up a rod for the bream at 24 turns which would be a fishmeal based groundbait for the feeder and worm hookbait. Another rod was set up at 16 turns for the smaller palm sized skimmers and roach. Groundbait for this was more silverfish based and hookbait would be red maggot. It was windy so the pole was set up to 11 mtrs only and this was my banker line to catch small skimmers, roach and perch.
You normally get indication immediately on the short feeder line from the small roach and skimmers, however it turned out to be a real struggle and to make thigs worse I could only see the guy to my right (who was also struggling) so could not see what was happening in the rest of the section. I chucked the heavier feeder for about 45 minutes in the hope of a couple of bigger bream but there was no indications on that either.
My only hope was to get some silvers on the 11 mtr pole line and whilst picking up odd 1 oz roach and perch I was going nowhere fast !
With an hour left, and more in desperation than hope, I cupped in 2 big cup fulls of chopped worm at 4 mtrs. I grabbed a rig from my box and plumbed up, dropped in, and immediately came back with a 2 oz perch. The last hour was frantic and I was catching 1 - 2oz perch as quickly as I could and ended up with an estimated 60 of them.
I was first to weigh and put 7lb 8 oz on the scales and had really got out of jail with those perch. All I had to hope now was that noboby in my section had connected with a proper bream or two. The next 2 pegs weighed in 5 and 6lb respectivelly but the next bloke had a big bream and some bits for 12lb. There was one more big bream caucght in my section which poushed me into 3rd but to be honest I would've taken that at the start of the match. The 12 lb weight near to me actually framed on the lake so the guy who came 2nd and beat me by 9oz got the section money by default.
So, 7 points today and a look at the full list in the club that night put me in 64th place out of 180 and in a good position to get my best festival result.
Day 4 - Bolingey
Bolingey is very peggy, however the organisers get around this by having 'split' sections. To get a lake win you really need a peg in the 'big hit' section where most of the 9 pegs are capable of winning the lake. The downside of this is that you could have a very good weight only to come half way in your section.
I drew peg 44 which is not in the good section and therefore not in with a chance of main lake money. During the week, the section I was in was won from a different peg every day and the day previous, peg 44 had come second. Peg 45 to my left is a flyer and therefore not in my section so I knew I would have to try and ignore him if he started bagging ! For company, I had Grant Albutt (a £1 side bet was made) to my right and former World Champion Tommy Pickering to his right so i was certainly up against it today !
Mark 'drawbag' Malin was directly behind me on peg 47. He was not in my section but was at on a peg that had won that particular section for the last 2 days !
I set up today - a rod for fishing PVA bag incase it was hard, 2 pole lines at 13 mtrs, short margins left and right, and the obligatory 5 mtr line. The wind had died down slightly today but was still strong enough to make fishing the 13 mtr pole uncomfortable, however this was how I started but, along with the rest of the section struggled. The one exception was the guy on the end peg on the opposite bank who had approx 5 carp in the first hour.
The PVA bag was chucked around the peg to try and locate a fish but this also proved fruitless and after 2 biteless hours I was forced to have a look in the margins. I did not have so much as a liner down the edge so looked on the 5 mtr line where I had been throwing 6 cubes of meat every 2-3 minutes. Again this produced nothing and I was looking at a major disaster when suddenly a carp topped in front of peg 45. I hastily catapulted 2 pouchfulls of meat out at 16 mtrs and grabbed a shallow rig (2 1/2 foot deep) from my box (I hadn't set this up initially because of the wind). I shipped out to 16 mtrs and immediately the 12 latex ripped from my pole and 1 6lb carp was safely in the net. 3 more carp in the next 20 minutes followed and suddenly I had an estimated 25lb in the net. Then disaster - the sun came out ! The carp dissapeared and I could not get a bite, however I had already decided that the section was fishing poor enough to warrant sticking with this method for the remaining hour of match. 4 more carp followed including a nice double figure mirror and at the hooter I knew the section would be tight.
I was the last one in the section to weigh and the top weight before me was 48lb. My 8 carp went 52lb and not only had I won the section for a maximum 9 points and a pick up, I had also took a quid of Grant Albutt and the scalp of Tommy Pickering - I was very pleased with myself.
Looking at the results in the club that night I was sat on 27 points and 34th place overall out of 180 anglers. If I had a section win on the last day enabling me to drop my worst result (the 5pts on Twin Oaks), I could get 31 points and an outside chance of sneaking into the top 20.
Day 5 - Pollawyn
Pollawyn is probably the lake where the drawbag determines your points ! At the start of the week the carp were still in the arms of the lake, however as the week progressed they had gradually made their way out of the arms making a bee line for the famous High Bank section - this was the place to draw.
Out came Peg 10 - I was not happy ! It had done nothing all week and come 8th in the section the previous day. The dominant peg in the section was Peg 13 (point of the island) and Peg 9 to my left is on the end of the lake and has a very inviting margin swim where some resident carp live. It fished extremely hard and after searching for carp and big skimmers gor the first 3 hours of the match and catching nothing, I got one of my Porth tops out armed with 3 latex and caught 10lb 9oz of roach on my top 3 !
At the weigh in the carp had moved out of Peg 13 and the guy there had 6lb odd. The guy to my right had 11lb of skimmers and the guy to my left on peg 9 fished long to his left down the end of the lake marginn for 5 hours to win the section with 44lb.
I ended up 5th in the section and with 14lb coming 3rd I knew that if I had gone for those roach earlier then I could have got 7 pts instead of 5 pts.
A big congratulations to fellow Swad lad Kelvin Acton who drew on Peg 28 on the High Bank section and went on to win the lake with 142lb - not only his highest ever match weight but also his first lake win in a festival (and Callum Dicks was also 2 pegs away). Kelvin was reallly chuffed - well done mate.
The results
Points for the week were 6, 5, 7, 9 & 5 so dropping one of the 5's as my worst result I ended up with a 27 point total. Looking at the final leader board this put me in 53rd overall which was a vast improvement from my last 2 festivals.
The top 50 get an automatic invite tio the Preston festival in October where the top 24 qualify for the Parkdean Final on the Saturday, however with a few of last year finalist fishing this week this number get increased as they already get an automatic invite. This effectively means I have qualified for the Preston Festival and the caravan is already booked and deposit paid for !
Finally a big word of thanks to Clint and his team for the excellent organisation of the festival - it is amazing how efficient they are at getting the results out.
Snooty
Saturday, 14 March 2009
Thorpe Constantine Open - Sat 14th March
Due to other commitments on Sunday, I decided to fish a match on Saturday this week at Thorpe Constantine.
I had never even seen this venue before, however my normal travelling partner for a Sunday, Andy Meadows, had recently started fishing the Saturday Opens and had begun to get a feel for the place.
The bait rules on this venue are very strict with regards to what you can actually use. Meat and pellet are both banned which leaves corn, caster, worm, maggots and groundbait as your only options and following advise from Andy I decided to go with groundbait and corn only.
There were 20 in attendance and as far as I was told, I drew a goodish area however I was at the other end of the lake from where an island and various aerators are dotted about. In fact I was double banked as I had someone opposite me !
Target fish are small carp up to 3lb and small barbel up to 1lb. In summer alot of the weights are caught using paste on a Top 3, however at this time of year the fish are further out in 8-10 ft of water.
I assembled a feeder rod with a small groundbait feeder for chucking 25 yards, a rig for corn at 11 mtrs in 8ft of water, a rig for both margins at the edge of the reeds that jut out and finally a paste rig for 5 mtrs in 5ft of water.
On the 11 mtr pole line was fed with a jaffa size ball of green swimstim groundbait and a few grains of corn via the pole cup. The margins received a small smattering of corn and 2 small balls of paste were cupped onto the short line.
First cast in on the feeder with hair rigged corn and the tip flew round after 30 secs and a 2lb carp was soon in the net - I was going to empty it ! Sixty biteless minutes later on the tip and I decided to try the pole - Bugger !
The wind was horrendous from right to left and the undertow was strong the opposite way which made presentation very difficult. After much fiddling about, I found the best way to counter this was to lay in with the wind and when the float had settled let the tow hold it against the wind. To achieve this I had to lay about 8" on the deck with my final dropper shot just off bottom.
At times the wind was very severe and the sound of my G10 creaking was not pleasant. I managed to pick some odd fish up on the pole at 11 mtrs for the remainder of the match but never had a touch on either margin line or the 5mtr paste line. Odd chucks with the feeder also proved fruitless.
At the all in I had 2 carp, 2 barbel, 3 skimmers, 4 tench and a rogue chub for around 10lb. I knew I had not framed (no sections paid) so deposited the fish back before the scales arrived.
The match was won with 33lb, 2nd was 30lb and 3rd 23lb so it hadn't fished too bad based on recent results.
The obligatory chat was had with the match winner to see if I could glean some information for future reference and he stated that he struggled at 11 mtrs so half way through the match took 2 section's off, re-plumbed (2ft shallower) and began to catch.
All in all I enjoyed the day as it was the challenge of a fishery I have never seen before and entry fee was only £10.00.
Next week the gear has to be sorted as I'm sure I've got something on next weekend ?...............................ah yes, WHITEACRES !
For people who read this and are going to the Bait Tech Fest - see you there. For people who read this and are not going to the Bait Tech - tough luck.
Snooty
2009 Pools so far - £114
2009 Winnings so far - £80.00
I had never even seen this venue before, however my normal travelling partner for a Sunday, Andy Meadows, had recently started fishing the Saturday Opens and had begun to get a feel for the place.
The bait rules on this venue are very strict with regards to what you can actually use. Meat and pellet are both banned which leaves corn, caster, worm, maggots and groundbait as your only options and following advise from Andy I decided to go with groundbait and corn only.
There were 20 in attendance and as far as I was told, I drew a goodish area however I was at the other end of the lake from where an island and various aerators are dotted about. In fact I was double banked as I had someone opposite me !
Target fish are small carp up to 3lb and small barbel up to 1lb. In summer alot of the weights are caught using paste on a Top 3, however at this time of year the fish are further out in 8-10 ft of water.
I assembled a feeder rod with a small groundbait feeder for chucking 25 yards, a rig for corn at 11 mtrs in 8ft of water, a rig for both margins at the edge of the reeds that jut out and finally a paste rig for 5 mtrs in 5ft of water.
On the 11 mtr pole line was fed with a jaffa size ball of green swimstim groundbait and a few grains of corn via the pole cup. The margins received a small smattering of corn and 2 small balls of paste were cupped onto the short line.
First cast in on the feeder with hair rigged corn and the tip flew round after 30 secs and a 2lb carp was soon in the net - I was going to empty it ! Sixty biteless minutes later on the tip and I decided to try the pole - Bugger !
The wind was horrendous from right to left and the undertow was strong the opposite way which made presentation very difficult. After much fiddling about, I found the best way to counter this was to lay in with the wind and when the float had settled let the tow hold it against the wind. To achieve this I had to lay about 8" on the deck with my final dropper shot just off bottom.
At times the wind was very severe and the sound of my G10 creaking was not pleasant. I managed to pick some odd fish up on the pole at 11 mtrs for the remainder of the match but never had a touch on either margin line or the 5mtr paste line. Odd chucks with the feeder also proved fruitless.
At the all in I had 2 carp, 2 barbel, 3 skimmers, 4 tench and a rogue chub for around 10lb. I knew I had not framed (no sections paid) so deposited the fish back before the scales arrived.
The match was won with 33lb, 2nd was 30lb and 3rd 23lb so it hadn't fished too bad based on recent results.
The obligatory chat was had with the match winner to see if I could glean some information for future reference and he stated that he struggled at 11 mtrs so half way through the match took 2 section's off, re-plumbed (2ft shallower) and began to catch.
All in all I enjoyed the day as it was the challenge of a fishery I have never seen before and entry fee was only £10.00.
Next week the gear has to be sorted as I'm sure I've got something on next weekend ?...............................ah yes, WHITEACRES !
For people who read this and are going to the Bait Tech Fest - see you there. For people who read this and are not going to the Bait Tech - tough luck.
Snooty
2009 Pools so far - £114
2009 Winnings so far - £80.00
Tuesday, 10 March 2009
Makins Teams of 3 - Sunday 8th March
The next round was upon us and due to his drawing prowess in the last round, Nigel was pushed into the draw queue.
He came back with - Thames 7 for me (crap), Crater 10 for himself (average), and Lake 4 B22 for Mick Lees. Now Mick had a word with one of the bailiffs before the draw and on the previous day fish were present in his area so he was more than happy.
Thames 7 , as any Makins regular will confirm, is on the wrong side of the lake. That side is so rubbish that Mark perkins only puts 2 pegs in - 5 & 7. Still, I was pretty buoyed by my performance the previous week and was confident I could catch a few even though the chances of winning money was very remote indeed.
Upon arrival, the wind was blowing a howler from left to right which immediately meant the obligatory 1/2 hour over to the far side reeds at 16 mtrs was out of the question. Lines were - 11mtrs at 10 and 2 0'clock, 14.5 mtrs directly in front at the bottom of the far shelf, margins left and right, and finally that killer line at 4.5 mtrs at the bottom of the near shelf.
For the first half of the match it was a total struggle with only one bite and one carp to show - this being from my left hand margin. I had been trickling casters in on the short line and finally decided to give this a try. It was obvious that there wasn't a tremendous amount of fish in the peg so the decision was made to sit on the short line for the duration of the match - shit or bust !
Odd bites on the double caster produced a chub of about 2lb, a couple of 12oz skimmers and a couple of 4oz roach but there was no definitive pattern emerging in regards to feeding. There were carp being caught elsewhere on the lake on the better pegs but I tried to not let this affect my decision to sit it out on this line.
Then the float sailed away and a firm strike met with lots of resistance. My 10 latex went shooting out down to my right and did not stop - was snapped on 0.11 Powerline. A new rig was dropped in and straight away exactly the same happened. This time I didn't get snapped but my PR21 hook was straightened. T A new rig of .13 and PR28 hook was dropped in and guess what - same again immediately and snapped !
There was still half an hour of the match left at this point so I began to feed corn and beefed up to .15 Powerline. First drop in and and something else shot down the lake. After a brief struggle, I managed to get this fish in (a mirror about 6lb), however it was foul hooked in the belly and I suspect that this could have been the cause of my earlier problems.
2 more large carp followed in the final 20 mins and my 4 carp and a few silvers weighed 21lb for 4th position in my 8 peg section. I was very satisfied with this as the peg had produced virtually nothing the week before. The lake was won with 45lb from peg 1 (end peg) which was a tremendous performance as this peg had not produced for a long time.
Teamwise, Mick won his section so we had 5 points up to this stage. Unfortunately Nigel had a bummer and came last in the section with 10lb for 8 pts.
I would like to take this opportunity to say a big well done to Paul Twigg who was the winner of the whole match from peg A14 on Phase 1. Paul is a mate of mine and this was only his 3rd ever match at Makins - well done Paul !
Next week, Woody999 from TF is standing in for me as I have to take my daughter to the Midlands Finals of the Under 13's Gymnastics competition. I will instead be fishing an open at Thorpe Consadine on the Saturday, a place I have not even seen before !
Snooty
2009 Pools so far - £109.00
2009 winnings so far - £80.00
He came back with - Thames 7 for me (crap), Crater 10 for himself (average), and Lake 4 B22 for Mick Lees. Now Mick had a word with one of the bailiffs before the draw and on the previous day fish were present in his area so he was more than happy.
Thames 7 , as any Makins regular will confirm, is on the wrong side of the lake. That side is so rubbish that Mark perkins only puts 2 pegs in - 5 & 7. Still, I was pretty buoyed by my performance the previous week and was confident I could catch a few even though the chances of winning money was very remote indeed.
Upon arrival, the wind was blowing a howler from left to right which immediately meant the obligatory 1/2 hour over to the far side reeds at 16 mtrs was out of the question. Lines were - 11mtrs at 10 and 2 0'clock, 14.5 mtrs directly in front at the bottom of the far shelf, margins left and right, and finally that killer line at 4.5 mtrs at the bottom of the near shelf.
For the first half of the match it was a total struggle with only one bite and one carp to show - this being from my left hand margin. I had been trickling casters in on the short line and finally decided to give this a try. It was obvious that there wasn't a tremendous amount of fish in the peg so the decision was made to sit on the short line for the duration of the match - shit or bust !
Odd bites on the double caster produced a chub of about 2lb, a couple of 12oz skimmers and a couple of 4oz roach but there was no definitive pattern emerging in regards to feeding. There were carp being caught elsewhere on the lake on the better pegs but I tried to not let this affect my decision to sit it out on this line.
Then the float sailed away and a firm strike met with lots of resistance. My 10 latex went shooting out down to my right and did not stop - was snapped on 0.11 Powerline. A new rig was dropped in and straight away exactly the same happened. This time I didn't get snapped but my PR21 hook was straightened. T A new rig of .13 and PR28 hook was dropped in and guess what - same again immediately and snapped !
There was still half an hour of the match left at this point so I began to feed corn and beefed up to .15 Powerline. First drop in and and something else shot down the lake. After a brief struggle, I managed to get this fish in (a mirror about 6lb), however it was foul hooked in the belly and I suspect that this could have been the cause of my earlier problems.
2 more large carp followed in the final 20 mins and my 4 carp and a few silvers weighed 21lb for 4th position in my 8 peg section. I was very satisfied with this as the peg had produced virtually nothing the week before. The lake was won with 45lb from peg 1 (end peg) which was a tremendous performance as this peg had not produced for a long time.
Teamwise, Mick won his section so we had 5 points up to this stage. Unfortunately Nigel had a bummer and came last in the section with 10lb for 8 pts.
I would like to take this opportunity to say a big well done to Paul Twigg who was the winner of the whole match from peg A14 on Phase 1. Paul is a mate of mine and this was only his 3rd ever match at Makins - well done Paul !
Next week, Woody999 from TF is standing in for me as I have to take my daughter to the Midlands Finals of the Under 13's Gymnastics competition. I will instead be fishing an open at Thorpe Consadine on the Saturday, a place I have not even seen before !
Snooty
2009 Pools so far - £109.00
2009 winnings so far - £80.00
Tuesday, 3 March 2009
Makins Teams of 3 - Sunday 1st March
As written in my last post, I had resigned from drawing duties for this match and the mantle was taken up by Nigel Bond. The team was the same with Mick Lees on Phase 1, Nigel Bond on Phase 2 and myslef on Phase 3.
The draw was on time this week (for a change) and Nigel came back with Lake 4 peg 4 for Mick, Snake 12 for himself and Avon 6 for me - at last we all seemed to have a half decent draw.
Avon 6 is a good peg but the section contains two better pegs in Avon 1 & 25. Also included in the 9 peg section are Avon 2 & 4 + another 4 pegs on Inner Avon. I was confident of coming at least 3rd in the section, hence getting 3 points only (25 & 1 would be hard to beat).
Bait for the day was 1/2 pt casters, one tin of corn, 1 pt of 3mm feed pellets and some paste.
As usual, the starting point was across to the far bank where a single grain of corn at varying depths was constantly lifted and dropped to try and induce a bite. Foul hookers are always a nightmare at Makins on this line as it is a fish patrolling area even when they are not feeding. On this line I use a MW Cookie which is perfect for the job as the weight of the corn still leaves some of the float showing even when you shallow up off the bottom. Anyway after 2 carp about 3lb each (foulhooked) and 2 lost foul hookers I gave up the ghost with this line as it is obvious the fish were not feeding. It sometimes amazes me how people continue to fish this line for nearly the whole match and constantly foul hook fish only getting the odd one in.
I had primed a couple of lines down the track with either caster or pellet and also been dripping some corn in down the edges at 4mtrs either side of me. The track lines produced not even an indication for 45 mins and neither did the margin lines. 'Stabber' on peg 1 was catching odd fish and Carl Williams on Inner Avon 3 had got 5 fish and was leading the section at this stage.
Up to the final 1/2 hour most of the section had been picking up odd fish and my guess was that Baz Smithson on peg 4 was now leading and I was probably 4th at best. Despite me picking up odd fish now and then (including my first fish of the year on paste !) I only had 6 in the net. What I did next changed my position dramatically.........................
I plumbed up at 4 mtrs which is just going down the nearside shelf (remember what Carpmagic says ?????) and fished so that the rig was swung out directly in front of me and then 'dragged' back up. A small kinder of maybe 40 3mms and a single grain of corn on the hook and 2 mins later 5lb carp was in the net. Two more followed on that line in the final 20 minutes and I felt I had pushed myself up to 2nd behind Baz.
The scales went round Inner Avon first with the best weight from those 4 pegs being Keith Dawes with 32lb. Peg 25 weighed 28lb and peg 1 weghed 30lb and Peg 3 hadn't caught much at all. Baz on 4 weighed 34lb and was leading the section with just me to weigh. I tipped my 9 carp into the weigh sling and knew it was close but was more than happy when the needle settled on 37lb 2oz.
Not only had I won the 9 peg section but was also 2nd on the phase behind Andy Findlay who had weighed 45lb from Avon 22. With 2 being paid out on each phase, this would make me a bit extra winnings and Baz Smithson was happy because it meant he would get the section money by default !!
Teamwise my 1 point was joined by 3 from Mick Lees but Nigel came back with 6. Our 10 point total put us 6th on the day which is not too bad out of 26 teams.
The £80.00 winnings was welcome (we do not share individual winnings within the team) as this was my first 'drag' since the back end of December !!!
It's round 3 next week and Nigel will be drawing again !!!!!!
2009 Pools so far - £89.00
2009 Winnings so far - £80.00
The draw was on time this week (for a change) and Nigel came back with Lake 4 peg 4 for Mick, Snake 12 for himself and Avon 6 for me - at last we all seemed to have a half decent draw.
Avon 6 is a good peg but the section contains two better pegs in Avon 1 & 25. Also included in the 9 peg section are Avon 2 & 4 + another 4 pegs on Inner Avon. I was confident of coming at least 3rd in the section, hence getting 3 points only (25 & 1 would be hard to beat).
Bait for the day was 1/2 pt casters, one tin of corn, 1 pt of 3mm feed pellets and some paste.
As usual, the starting point was across to the far bank where a single grain of corn at varying depths was constantly lifted and dropped to try and induce a bite. Foul hookers are always a nightmare at Makins on this line as it is a fish patrolling area even when they are not feeding. On this line I use a MW Cookie which is perfect for the job as the weight of the corn still leaves some of the float showing even when you shallow up off the bottom. Anyway after 2 carp about 3lb each (foulhooked) and 2 lost foul hookers I gave up the ghost with this line as it is obvious the fish were not feeding. It sometimes amazes me how people continue to fish this line for nearly the whole match and constantly foul hook fish only getting the odd one in.
I had primed a couple of lines down the track with either caster or pellet and also been dripping some corn in down the edges at 4mtrs either side of me. The track lines produced not even an indication for 45 mins and neither did the margin lines. 'Stabber' on peg 1 was catching odd fish and Carl Williams on Inner Avon 3 had got 5 fish and was leading the section at this stage.
Up to the final 1/2 hour most of the section had been picking up odd fish and my guess was that Baz Smithson on peg 4 was now leading and I was probably 4th at best. Despite me picking up odd fish now and then (including my first fish of the year on paste !) I only had 6 in the net. What I did next changed my position dramatically.........................
I plumbed up at 4 mtrs which is just going down the nearside shelf (remember what Carpmagic says ?????) and fished so that the rig was swung out directly in front of me and then 'dragged' back up. A small kinder of maybe 40 3mms and a single grain of corn on the hook and 2 mins later 5lb carp was in the net. Two more followed on that line in the final 20 minutes and I felt I had pushed myself up to 2nd behind Baz.
The scales went round Inner Avon first with the best weight from those 4 pegs being Keith Dawes with 32lb. Peg 25 weighed 28lb and peg 1 weghed 30lb and Peg 3 hadn't caught much at all. Baz on 4 weighed 34lb and was leading the section with just me to weigh. I tipped my 9 carp into the weigh sling and knew it was close but was more than happy when the needle settled on 37lb 2oz.
Not only had I won the 9 peg section but was also 2nd on the phase behind Andy Findlay who had weighed 45lb from Avon 22. With 2 being paid out on each phase, this would make me a bit extra winnings and Baz Smithson was happy because it meant he would get the section money by default !!
Teamwise my 1 point was joined by 3 from Mick Lees but Nigel came back with 6. Our 10 point total put us 6th on the day which is not too bad out of 26 teams.
The £80.00 winnings was welcome (we do not share individual winnings within the team) as this was my first 'drag' since the back end of December !!!
It's round 3 next week and Nigel will be drawing again !!!!!!
2009 Pools so far - £89.00
2009 Winnings so far - £80.00
Thursday, 26 February 2009
Makins Teams of 3 - Sun 22nd Feb
Back to Makins again for Teams of 3 !
Our same team of myself, Mick Less and Nigel Bond are now back at Makins for 6 rounds of Teams of 3.
The drawbag was especially unkind to us during the last series and we hoped for better this time - however it was not to be.
I ended up on Avon 16 which is a bad peg in the section (8-22), Nigel was on Crater 13 - not good with 14 being in aswell, and Mick was again on a crap peg in a good section - Lake 2 peg A9.
To cut a very long story short I had a dry net with only 1 bite all day (that was on the paste). Steve Crocker to my left had 1 carp for 8lb (foul hooked in the tail) and the 2 anglers to my left had 1 carp apiece. Charlie Shaw was on the recent flier (10) and only mustered 16lb with the section being won with 23lb from peg 12.
On the other phases, Nigel was well down with a few pound of bits and Mick came about halfway in his 8 peg section with 11lb.
Despite everyone thinking it would fish well because of the relative mild weather we have had - it didn't.
Next week I am resigning from drawing duties to let on of the other 2 have a go !
On the bright side - Bait Tech Festival is only 3 weeks waway - HIC !
Snooty
Our same team of myself, Mick Less and Nigel Bond are now back at Makins for 6 rounds of Teams of 3.
The drawbag was especially unkind to us during the last series and we hoped for better this time - however it was not to be.
I ended up on Avon 16 which is a bad peg in the section (8-22), Nigel was on Crater 13 - not good with 14 being in aswell, and Mick was again on a crap peg in a good section - Lake 2 peg A9.
To cut a very long story short I had a dry net with only 1 bite all day (that was on the paste). Steve Crocker to my left had 1 carp for 8lb (foul hooked in the tail) and the 2 anglers to my left had 1 carp apiece. Charlie Shaw was on the recent flier (10) and only mustered 16lb with the section being won with 23lb from peg 12.
On the other phases, Nigel was well down with a few pound of bits and Mick came about halfway in his 8 peg section with 11lb.
Despite everyone thinking it would fish well because of the relative mild weather we have had - it didn't.
Next week I am resigning from drawing duties to let on of the other 2 have a go !
On the bright side - Bait Tech Festival is only 3 weeks waway - HIC !
Snooty
Saturday, 24 January 2009
Sunday 18th January 2008 - Friezland Match Lake
Readers of my Blog will already know that the 'Swad' lads are holding some 10 - 12 peg knock ups whilst awaiting the start of the next Makins Teams of 3 series which starts at the back end of Feb. This latest one was at Friezland Lakes near Bosworth.
There were a couple of cry offs due to work commitments, however a post on Total Fishing and the spare places were soon filled by Jad (Jarrad Smith) and RobB (Rob Bailey).
The last match at Friezland was just before the New Year and was won by myself from peg 20 with pegs 6 and 8 completing the frame. With similar conditions, any of these pegs would have done. At the draw, out came Peg 4 which I wasn't particularly happy with as it is just fishing open water with no features.
The anglers on the 'frame' pegs from last match were - Nigel Bond on 20, Pete Jupp on 6, and Dan Morgan on 8.
My match was really limited to fishing a couple of 14.5 mtr lines and a shorter 6mtr line on the pole. The 9ft bomb rod was also utilised for fishing either the bomb or tiny cage feeder.
Mick Lees started like a train on peg 24 by fishing 17.5 mtrs to the island. Now Mick is a real advocate of the Clever Claw and will openly admit that he would not manage to fish at this distance without it for any lengthy period of time. Anyway, he was catching small carp on a regular basis and was not having the same problem with foul hookers that Andy Meadows had on the last match. At this point, no-one else was catching apart from odd fish including me with a solitary 4lb carp and Dan Morgan on peg 8 with one that looked to be about 6lb.
This set the tone for the first half of the match and then something happened that pushed the fish from peg 24 over to the opposite side of the island where Martin Dean was on peg 15. Martin made no mistakes and began to catch small carp nearly every cast with the bomb rod and hair rigged corn (it's 21 mtrs to the island from peg 15). Poor old Mick never had a bite for the final 2 hours.
Pete Jupp on peg 6 had a few larger carp and Jad on peg 2 also started to catch a few right near the end. At the whistle, no-on was sure who had won although most were sure that Mick, Martin and Juppy were in the first three - but what order ?
1. Martin Dean (15) 38-08
2. Mick Lees (24) 32-12
3. Pete Jupp (6) 28-12
4. Jarrad Smith (2) 20-14
5. Rob Bailey (10) 16-00
6. Mark Tomlin (4) 12-14
7. Nigel Bond (20) 12-12
8. Tom Tolley (25) 10-04
10= Andy Meadows (12) & Dan Morgan (8) DNW
In the end a close match with Martin making no mistakes once the fish turned up in front of him. My match consisted of 3 bites and 3 carp in the net for 12lb odd - all on the bomb rod.
Pools spent so far - £24.00
Winnings £0
There were a couple of cry offs due to work commitments, however a post on Total Fishing and the spare places were soon filled by Jad (Jarrad Smith) and RobB (Rob Bailey).
The last match at Friezland was just before the New Year and was won by myself from peg 20 with pegs 6 and 8 completing the frame. With similar conditions, any of these pegs would have done. At the draw, out came Peg 4 which I wasn't particularly happy with as it is just fishing open water with no features.
The anglers on the 'frame' pegs from last match were - Nigel Bond on 20, Pete Jupp on 6, and Dan Morgan on 8.
My match was really limited to fishing a couple of 14.5 mtr lines and a shorter 6mtr line on the pole. The 9ft bomb rod was also utilised for fishing either the bomb or tiny cage feeder.
Mick Lees started like a train on peg 24 by fishing 17.5 mtrs to the island. Now Mick is a real advocate of the Clever Claw and will openly admit that he would not manage to fish at this distance without it for any lengthy period of time. Anyway, he was catching small carp on a regular basis and was not having the same problem with foul hookers that Andy Meadows had on the last match. At this point, no-one else was catching apart from odd fish including me with a solitary 4lb carp and Dan Morgan on peg 8 with one that looked to be about 6lb.
This set the tone for the first half of the match and then something happened that pushed the fish from peg 24 over to the opposite side of the island where Martin Dean was on peg 15. Martin made no mistakes and began to catch small carp nearly every cast with the bomb rod and hair rigged corn (it's 21 mtrs to the island from peg 15). Poor old Mick never had a bite for the final 2 hours.
Pete Jupp on peg 6 had a few larger carp and Jad on peg 2 also started to catch a few right near the end. At the whistle, no-on was sure who had won although most were sure that Mick, Martin and Juppy were in the first three - but what order ?
1. Martin Dean (15) 38-08
2. Mick Lees (24) 32-12
3. Pete Jupp (6) 28-12
4. Jarrad Smith (2) 20-14
5. Rob Bailey (10) 16-00
6. Mark Tomlin (4) 12-14
7. Nigel Bond (20) 12-12
8. Tom Tolley (25) 10-04
10= Andy Meadows (12) & Dan Morgan (8) DNW
In the end a close match with Martin making no mistakes once the fish turned up in front of him. My match consisted of 3 bites and 3 carp in the net for 12lb odd - all on the bomb rod.
Pools spent so far - £24.00
Winnings £0
Monday, 12 January 2009
Sunday 11th January - Shortheath
For the next few weeks, prior to the next Teams of 3 League at Makins, I have organised some small 10-12 peg knock ups on some local waters with the first of these being at Shortheath Water near Moira.
Half of the lake was ice free due to the owner doing his best to keep it ice free when possible by using his rowing boat. We could just get 12 pegs and were able to leave out 2 corners as they would've been very tight for room.
Breakfast was had in the on site cafe and before the draw we held a minutes silence for Dave Nash. Dave was from Derby and used to fish matches with us before he, along with his wife and 4 children emigrated to Australia nearly 3 years ago. Unfortunately Dave died of a heart attack just prior to New Year so we paid our respects in the most fitting way we could.
The idea for all of us was to catch anything that swims ! There had been a 12 peg Open on the previous day which heralded 10 dry nets and a wining weight of 4lb made up of 2 carp !
For half of us (me included) the wind was horrendous, whilst the other half were fishing on the proverbial 'mill pond'.
I will not go into too much detail other than to say the match was won by Tom Tolley with 2lb (2 carp), followed by Kelvin Acton with 1lb 10oz (1 carp). In 3rd was Mick Lees with 1lb 3oz - again with 1 carp. There were only 2 others that caught and both of them only had a gudgeon apiece !
Next week we are at Friezland Lakes at Bosworth and with the temperatures slowly climbing we are all hoping for a few more bites !
Finally, I have decided to keep a running total of pools money spent and winnings gained throughout 2009. I have decided not to include peg fees as this is not really fished for in the final payout.
Pool Spent so far - £10.00
Winnings £0.00
Fish Hard
Snooty
Half of the lake was ice free due to the owner doing his best to keep it ice free when possible by using his rowing boat. We could just get 12 pegs and were able to leave out 2 corners as they would've been very tight for room.
Breakfast was had in the on site cafe and before the draw we held a minutes silence for Dave Nash. Dave was from Derby and used to fish matches with us before he, along with his wife and 4 children emigrated to Australia nearly 3 years ago. Unfortunately Dave died of a heart attack just prior to New Year so we paid our respects in the most fitting way we could.
The idea for all of us was to catch anything that swims ! There had been a 12 peg Open on the previous day which heralded 10 dry nets and a wining weight of 4lb made up of 2 carp !
For half of us (me included) the wind was horrendous, whilst the other half were fishing on the proverbial 'mill pond'.
I will not go into too much detail other than to say the match was won by Tom Tolley with 2lb (2 carp), followed by Kelvin Acton with 1lb 10oz (1 carp). In 3rd was Mick Lees with 1lb 3oz - again with 1 carp. There were only 2 others that caught and both of them only had a gudgeon apiece !
Next week we are at Friezland Lakes at Bosworth and with the temperatures slowly climbing we are all hoping for a few more bites !
Finally, I have decided to keep a running total of pools money spent and winnings gained throughout 2009. I have decided not to include peg fees as this is not really fished for in the final payout.
Pool Spent so far - £10.00
Winnings £0.00
Fish Hard
Snooty
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