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
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