Raygill Fisheries, Lothersdale, Keighley - MD War of the Roses 2011 - 15/05/2011

 

Other commitments had kept me off the bank for a few weeks but here was day that would turn out to be one to remember!!! I will be honest and say on Saturday I wished I wasn't fishing this match. After learning we would be fishing for small roach, never fished a Roses match before and the fact I would be out till 1am on Saturday at a Charity bash and would need to be up at 5am for this one to pick up the Big Dipper I could have stayed in bed - how glad I am that I wasn't! A fantastic day from start to finish that showed what social match fishing is all about - a top laugh.

I picked up Martin at 5:40am (yes sub 6am on a Sunday!!!) with a distinct taste of Guinness in my mouth and we set off for the rendezvous at Blackburn services on the M65 at 6:15 before heading onto Samsons Café and Delicatessen in Nelson for a hardy breakfast!!!

The plan for the day was to fish as a team at 8m with maggot on the deck and feeding small amounts of wet groundbait and 1 or 2 maggots every other fish or so. We arrived at Raygill at around 8:30 ready for the banter to begin. There is a great rivalry between Lancashire and Yorkshire (and as everyone knows - they lost the war!!!) and I honestly think nobody was bothered about catching fish...just beating the opposition! Batman scaled a cliff (or rather a large lump of concrete) to hang a Lancashire flag for all to see - we had arrived. 

Flag of Champions?

Whilst Methodgob had a poxy blue flag with a white rose on it hung from a telescopic pole - nice to see them flying a white flag of surrender even before the result!!!

Flag of Surrender

  The venue is lovely looking and has the potential I'm sure for a great day fishing - however Sunday 15th May 2011 was not going to be a great day for fishing!!! With gale force winds, driving rain at times (a typical Yorkshire Summer) and waves like tidal surges I did not fancy a peg facing the wind. As we draw I didn't want 17 - 21 so in typical fashion was ecstatic to draw out peg 20!!!! Oh well, tool myself up with waterproofs and get gooing wit yed down! The match was to be fished 10:15 till 3:15 with the Yorkies seemingly very confident  of regaining the trophy they haven't held since 2008 - although we had prepared and had some great lads in our team...they never stood a chance :-).

From my peg I only had open water with 6' depth at 8m and 7' at 14m. Our team plan was to have 2 lines, one at 8m as previously mentioned and a long line with pellet that we could try for bonus fish (preferably not carp as these only weigh 1lb regardless of size so a bonus bream or tench would be better). I setup 2 rigs, a 4x14 diamond bodies hand made float for swim 1 (8m) and the same float in a 4x16 with thicker tip for swim 2 (14m). Rig 1 had a strung out shot pattern to hopefully get roach on the way down in the groundbait cloud (with hindsight I should have bulked this rig close to the hook for better presentation in the conditions) and a size 20 B7111 hook to 0.09 line. Rig 2 had said bulk and a Tubertini 808 to 0.12 line.

On my peg

  At the all in I cupped in a medium pot of 4mm pellet at 14m at 2 o'clock (fighting the gale!!!) and a small ball of groundbait with a dozen red maggots at 8m at 10 o'clock. A single red maggot on swim 1 brought me a 1oz roach after 10 minutes, followed immediately by another. It was hard to spot bites at times as the waves were so high the float was disappearing under them regularly without the assistance of a fish. Then I had a small lull of 15 minutes before I had another fish - this time a small perch. So far I had only seen one fish come out and that was Dave to my right - I was feeling quite good. However - that perch was my last bite until 1pm!!! I tried the pellet line after half an hour and gave it 15 minutes before reverting back to my maggot line. Nothing. I worked the rig left and right. I tried 7m then 9m before deciding to give 14m at 10 o'clock a go. I potted in a little groundbait and red maggot and got an immediate response - another 1oz roach. I could see all round the lake that everybody seemed to be struggling - although discouragingly to my right, Dave had had a good number of quality roach and was way ahead of me. Also on the far bank Methodgob had hooked a few card an lost them (what a shame!!!) before landing a decent fish. By this time, the poor weather and even worse fishing was causing dissent in the Yorkshire ranks as Cleggy was bombarded with banter regarding the choice of venue (hehe!!!). I continued to get bites from small fish but somehow managed to lose 6 on the run after hooking them. This was so frustrating for me. After losing 2 I changed to a brand new hook and still lost 4 all around the 1oz mark. I was only fishing a number 4 latex so really should have got these fish to the net. I kept going though and at 3pm was beginning to think I would be weighing less than 5oz form the 5 fish in my net. At ten past 3 I hooked a better fish and brought to the net a skimmer that would boost my total to 1lb 1oz after 5 hours toiling!!!

The weigh in was quite a tense affair as Yorkshire seemed to dominate the far bank winning the first 3 sections and giving them hope that they were winning. This match is scored in a way I have never know a match score before. Although the match is a team event, it is scored by totalling up the individual points from finishing 1st to 34th (more like a singles match). Not only that, the allocation of points is backward (we were in Yorkshire after all) with the winner gaining 34 points and last gaining 1 point and the winning team gaining the highest number of points not the lowest. Walking round from the halfway point it seemed pretty close but Yorkshire had bigger weights and were looking strong, but then on the second half Lancashire fared much better getting consistently better weights than their Yorkshire counterparts. At the end of the weigh in the match was in the balance as we headed to the pub for the presentation not knowing who had won and with speculation rife. They had 4 of the top 5 (or so we thought) giving them a hatful of points but we thought we had more in the middle positions than them. Basically it would come down to whether or not we had more 20's than their 30's.

We were at the pub a good 20 minutes (seemed like AGES) before Tricky and Methodgob who had done the weigh in and subsequent totalling turned up with the result. Looking at their faces either Yorkshire had lost - or I don't want to play poker against these guys!!!! Then as debate ensued Captain Breamy looked at the results list and his face changed - I knew straight away the result!!! 

We've won! I'm not smug - honest

For the third year running we had beaten our Yorkshire rivals in a result that in the end wasn't as close as we thought as we won by 44 points. Yorkshire won the sections 3 to 2, and had more weight by 1lb but in overall points we had won prompting a sight to rival an African Sunset or the Taj Mahal, or even the Hanging Gardens of Babylon...Cleggy's face as he realised he'd lost and would have to hand the trophy once more to Breamy's team :-) 

Cleggy - Sick as the proverbial parrot!

Someone was confident

Well in lads, great day and bring on next year to make it four in a row!!!

Victory is SWEET!

Hordle Lakes, Hampshire

Hordle Lakes was somewhere I discovered whilst on holiday in the New Forest last year and had 2 really good days so when we decided to go back to the same caravan site this year, I was always going to go back. I chose quite a windy day to go and considering we had glorious weather for our 11 night stay, I chose the coldest and windiest day to go. Having wanted to fish Bob's Lake as I couldn't last year due to the Mrs not finding "a nice enough peg to sit at" I was put off by the number of carpers on the lake including one ignorant (insert insult here!) who had a bivvy on one peg and a rod on the peg to his left, in front of him and his right taking up the pegs and probably 5 pegs in terms of where his lines were!!! I decided on Long Lake as I had a good day there last year.

I picked a peg with an island at 13m to both the front on the right (2 different islands) and decided on a meat and pellet approach. I began by potting in a large cup of pellets on each line and began with a small cube of meat. It wasn't long before the float buried...and a 6oz roach was on the end, followed by another, then another - a change was needed. I changed hooklinks and fished a banded 8mm hard pellet and was immediately into a carp. So as not to waste the meat, I used this as feed as I alternated swims on pellet taking around 60lb between 8am and 1pm before packing up and heading back to the site. An eventless day really and also quite a cold one with only a T-Shirt on hence the early dart. The worst thing about it though was the quality of the fish. Everyone of them could have been straight out of a horror film. If it wasn't the twisted, deformed lipless mouths it was open wounds on the sides of the fish from birdlife or stunted tails. Not good quality and I think I'll give Orchard Lakes down the road a try next year.

Hayfield Lakes, Doncaster - Bob Nudd Masterclass - 18/04/2011

This was a day I had been waiting for since Christmas Day!!! The BEST present I have ever received - a days masterclass with Bob Nudd!!! As I am a little clumsy and the frailty of my pole, I decided to have the weekend off fishing as the last thing I wanted was to snap a section a day before a pole fishing masterclass. The day was arranged in February and was to be a general days pole fishing with me, my Granddad and Bob. I awoke to scorching conditions and had a trouble free drive to Hayfield and was greeted with a gorgeous water and somewhere I would love to visit again. Bob arrived 10 minutes after us and we were told that a whole bank had been reserved for us (felt like Royalty!!!) and it looked like the spot I would have chosen given the choice anyway. I rang up the day before to find out what I would be fishing for so I could balance my kit accordingly and decided I would try Hydro for the first time. I kitted 2 top 3's with Black hydro and setup rigs to 0.16 mainline and tied a load of Tubertini 808 size 16 and 14 hooks ready for a day of pellet bashing.

Bob provided all the bait (courtesy of VDE naturally) and it was decided we would start on the deck at 9m before looking at a long line shallow as the day heated up. Hayfield is a deep venue sloping down to around 10' and 9m and 12' at 14m where it was still sloping as I ran out of pole. I began by cupping in 2 large pots of 4mm and 6mm VDE hard feed pellets before going out with an 8mm Jellet on the hook. I waited 20 minutes for my first bite and in the meantime my Granddad had caught a roach in the margins on pellet. This bite proved to be the second largest fish of the day as a ghostie not far off double figures graced my net after a good 10 minute scrap. As I had never used Hydro before, I was over cautious playing the fish (plus didn't want to lose it and look an ar$e in front of Bob).

I waited 10 minutes without a bite before potting in another full pot of pellets and decided to try an expander on the hook. This led to 2 small skimmers so I reverted back to the Jellets. Meanwhile, Granddad was bagging up on the next peg with a diverse range of fish including roach, perch, skimmers, crucian and a lovely chub over 2lb!

Whilst I was fishing Bob sat at the back of me constantly firing in 4mm pellets over my swim and having a great chin wag about everything. What a top bloke!!! Nothing was too much trouble. He was frank and open and answered the list of questions I had which obviously will turn me into a matchman to be reckoned with (until the alarm clock goes off!!). Nothing was off topic and he went through a few things with his own kit showing me different ways to tweak my setup.

It wasn't long before I was into another fish a smaller carp of around 4lb - as the first the condition was superb. The fish looked like they had never been caught. The swim then went really quiet so we changed the depth and came 6" off bottom - this produced another fish. Then nothing. More feed went in before a large 12lb mirror took the bait. 

We then came up to around 6' to get bites before giving the long line a go. Never have I had to work a swim so much and I wouldn't have done so without Bob telling me too!! 

Every fish we caught almost was at a different depth and to keep bites coming we were constantly changing and varying from 6' to 12' as the fished moved up and down in the water. The first attempt shallow with a poly ball rig produced a lovely common around 6lb but again after this it went quiet and even on the long line shallow it was a case of varying the depth between 18" and 4' to keep the bites coming.

 We fished until 4pm at which point I had around 100lb in total (had to start putting fish back after 1:30 as the keepnet was quite full) and around 60lb in the net. 

My Granddad ended up with one of the best days fishing of his life. Never have I seen the worlds best exponent of how to miss bites catch so many fish - a very happy man indeed including a large mirror later on in the day. 

  

Great day with 2 top fishing companions - and if the Mrs reads this...same again next year please!!!

 

 

 

Raygill Fishery, Lothersdale - MD War of the Roses Practice - 10/04/2011

 

Sunday 10th April was a scorching day and I spent it at Raygill Fishery in Lothersdale, North Yorkshire with a bunch of Maggotdrowners as we got in a practice for the War of the Roses on 15th May. This year would be my first fishing the match and we were looking to retain our title on Yorkshire soil. As soon as we arrived on site we were rumbled by the Cleggy (Yorkshire team captain) clan who were also having a practice - no sneaky practice then!!!

A scorching day with flat calm conditions didn't bode well for a day of bagging up with numerous submarines cruising just under the surface not the least bit interested in feeding. We all decided to fish different parts of the lake to cover off all eventualities and try a variety of methods to see which worked well. Me and my travel partner Big Dipper fished the bottom end of the lake on the house side where we had depths of around 6' from 6m out to 13m before it shallowed up.

Due to the narrow width of the lake at this end, we decided to fish pole and I chose 2 swims initially. A long swim at 13m which would be my pellet line, and a closer in line at 8m to try maggot/caster. I began by dumping in a medium sized pot of 4mm pellet long and a few maggots short and went straight in on the pellet line. I spent over an hour on pellet trying different things but couldn't get a bite so switched to the maggot line. I caught steady here all day (and closer in) on maggot and got roach to 6oz with the average around 4oz. Walking round the lake showed the rest of the boys were doing similar with the occasional better fish coming out.

I finished with probably 5lb of silvers over 5 hours which while not a world beating catch showed that once it came to the big day (where carp only count as 1lb) if we all got 5lb of roach we may be onto a winner...watch this space!

Rufford Canal, Spark Lane, Rufford - NW MD Winter League Round 10 - 27/03/2011

I must say I wasn’t really looking forward to this match. Having not fished a canal since I was growing up in Hawkley Hall aged 14 I knew it would be a challenge and after I saw what Ray had caught earlier in the week having a practice, bit snatching seemed to be the order of the day. I drew peg 2 out of the bag which this week only contained 11 numbers - wonder if that was down to it being a canal? At least it meant a short walk, unlike Bob who I think might still be trying to walk to his peg as I write this on Monday morning it was that long a walk (what a shame). Anyway I was quite pleased with my peg - after negotiating the steepest embankment I have ever been down with gripless wellies and about 60kgs of kit on wheels. I had stick ups at 12m straight across and a moored barge to my right with reeds in front of it - I was certain I'd nick a perch or 2 from here. I decided on 3 swims, swim 1 would be down the track at 9m in 5' of water. Rig was a 0.1g Preston float, to 0.10 mainline and a 0.8 hooklink to a B611 size 20 hook - with a 4's elastic!! Never have I fished so light :-). Swim 2 would be at 12m to the stick ups fishing 2.5' deep to with the same rig but different float. A 0.1g Sensas float with a shorter body. Swim 3 would be to the barge/reeds 6m to my right fishing 2' deep with a homemade 4x10 margin float. As I would be fishing choppy here and not sure what I'd get this was to 0.12 straight through with a double 5 latex and a size 16 hook.

At the all in I cupped in a ball of liquidised bread mixed with a small amount of hemp to swims 1 and 2 (along with caster to swim 2) and a cup of chop and caster to swim 3. I was delighted to hook a small skimmer around 2oz first put in on 4mm punch. Next put in I had a tiny roach about half an ounce. I had 3 more of these before the first boat of the day went past when it dried up. Meanwhile to my left, Sluicer had a small Jack resting on top of his keepnet after it had watched his latest catch swim down the net. Raising the landing net above the pike's head soon saw it shoot off stirring half the bottom up with it. Not much later another Jack (maybe the same one) caused a commotion under my feet to the left as all the reeds moved followed by a splash and the dorsal of the fish cut through the water. An hour had gone now since the first boat and were over 90 minutes into the match and other than the first few fish for around 3oz total I hadn't had a touch. I had tried swims 2 and 3 but couldn't get a knock. I put a little more feed into swims 1 and 2 and tried 3mm punch on swim 2. This brought me an immediate roach smaller than the punch but again nothing else. I could see Noah to my right had got a few roach and Sluicer to my left was getting a fish a chuck before 2 boats crossed right in front of him killing his peg. Word had come that Bob had reached his peg and was actually catching a few decent skimmers. From this I could see that the weights were coming from ends of the pegging, Bob on 11 and Sluicer on 1. I kept plugging away searching the whole of my peg for something trying caster, worm, maggot and punch but I couldn't buy a bite. Then I started a new swim at 13m 10 o'clock from my peg and had been fishing it for 5 minutes before the swim parted like the Red Sea as another Jack shot through the swim.

From a fishing point of view, I struggled as I have in recent weeks although I must say it made a nice change to fish a more natural water (not something I want to do regularly but wouldn't object to a couple of times a year) and I must say on a sunny day like we had the venue is a nice looking place. Speaking with Sluice and Ray the stretch can throw up some decent fish on its day so I may go back for a pleasure session. At the weigh in, it had fished hard for most of the stretch with just over 4lb winning from peg 11, Sluicer 2nd on peg 1 with over 3lb and (I think) Mark 3rd with 2lb from the top end (toward 11). There were a lot of weights under 1lb but at least I wasn't last...well not on my own as Stu joined me in joint last as we shared the embarrassment. Knowing he had 4oz I was praying for 4oz or more on the scales. My confidence couldn't take another last place - especially as after being in the top 5 of the league after 5 matches I have now shipped 45 points in 4 matches which has to be some kind of record!!!

Horns Dam, Preston - NW MD Winter League Round 9 - 20/3/2011

I fished Horns Dam a few years ago when I stayed on site in my caravan and thought the place was really nice and picturesque. There are 3 lakes, a pleasure lake, a match lake and the old 4 acre dam. Last time I had a great day on the match lake (200lb+ in a full day) but mixed fortunes on the Dam (around 10lb silvers) however this was a match I was looking forward to. I arrived on site 15 minutes before the draw and had a look at the lake which looked ideal in the early morning light. We had pegged out 14 pegs starting with the peg closest to he car park as peg 1 - which is where I drew. A relief to be honest after the wheels on my box broke when I got it out of the car and I did NOT fancy a long walk carrying my gear.

I assessed the peg and had a few approaches however it was hard to know exactly what we would  be fishing for. The lake is noted for skimmers and small silvers but also holds some absolute lumps to over 30lb. A brick feature (possibly an old well or extraction system) to my left at 7m which I was sure would have fish around it. Open water in front of me at 11m and an aerator just short of the island for a 30 yard chuck with the feeder. As I set up the pole, it became apparent the aerator bomb rod wouldn't really be an option. As I was on a corner I had Stu to my right and Ste Leather to my left who were both also setting up rods and looking where they cast it would have taken incredibly accurate casting from me (which as Breamy can testify isn't always the case) to not cross lines.

I plumbed up 3 swims. Swim 1 was the feature to my left and I chose a 4x12 inline pencil float to 0.14 mainline, a 0.12 hooklength and a Kamasan B711 size 19 hook. This swim gave me around 6' close to the brick wall where it dipped down. I then had two swims in open water. An 10m swim (swim 2) and a 13m swim (swim 3). I found a very flat bottom here so could use the same rig to search around for the fish. I chose a 4x14 inline pencil float with same line and hook. I had a little over 7' of depth on this line. I also set up a shallow rig to try over the top of swims 2 and 3.

The match started at 8:15 and as this is an out and out fishmeal water due to the amount of carp fishing that goes on, I decided to cup in 2 tangerine sized balls of green swim stim mixed with micro pellet and caster and start with a 4mm pellet over the top. I started on swim 3 to let the close swims settle down after the disturbance. Immediately to my right Stu was into a small silver fish, then another whilst I was waiting for my first bite. I eventually caught a small skimmer (only a few ounces) and this was all I'd had in the first hour so I switched to swim 1 and was immediately into small roach on caster. This continued for 45 minutes but the roach were tiny, 1oz maximum and no matter what I tried I couldn't get through them. Even triple caster brought me a pair of eyes with 2 casters hanging outside its mouth. I then went out to swim 2 and 3 again on pellet but could only get one bite - another tiny skimmer. It was clear that the roach wanted caster and the skimmers wanted pellet, but I just couldn’t find enough skimmers and waiting 30 minutes was just too long for a 2oz blade. Meanwhile around the lake a few fish were being caught but all seemed to be small apart from a rumour that Breamy had lived up to his name and had a largeish slab (a rumour that turned out to be true as it was a lovely bream over 4lb). I tried again on pellet and caster but could only hit small roach whilst Stu to my right had got something right as he was hitting a fish every put in - I later found out on Pellet!!!! To my left, Ste Leather was hitting a better stamp of roach fishing to the same feature on worm - the one bait I hadn't got. He then landed a small eel - not the nicest of creatures but still nice to see one as they seem to have become so rare.

I stuck out the last hour on swim 1 on caster trying to build as big a weight as I could of small roach but struggled to get anything bigger than 1 oz. At the weigh in, the nets were all similar - plenty of bits with a few skimmers to add to the weight. Mine was the same...but with no skimmers (other than the 2 I had at 2oz each). I finished a very disappointing last with 2lb 9oz to pick up another 10 points with what has been a disastrous second half of the winter league. 

Wrightington Fisheries - Charity Match - NW MD Winter League Round 8 - 13/03/2011

After missing last weeks match at Martin Hall (where if you haven't heard - Breamcatcher came last!!) due to a life threatening dose of man flu, I was really looking forward to this weeks match. It was decided that this would be a charity match in aid of Wigan and Leigh Hospice, a very worthwhile cause for a great institution in Wigan looking after those with little time left here and what a great job they do to! Hopefully I will never require their services personally! So a great day was in prospect as we began at 7:15 at the White Lion on Mossy Lea rod for a cracking Fry Up - breakfast of champions. One nice thing was I believe all that committed to fishing turned up meaning no charity money was wasted covering for no shows. The match was at Wrightington Fisheries, a place I've never been today but is a lovely water - especially on a sunny winters day! The day was to end with a raffle and auction for plenty of fishing gear supplied by local shops and businesses! Great to see everyone chipping in during these strained times financially! Also before I carry on, a HUGE thanks to Dave for organising a great day.

I was always destined to leave the match an hour before the end to attend the Wigan v Hull game (Breamy told me not to bother as it would be a walkover...how wrong???). Anyway, the draw was made just after 8 and we were spread over 2 lakes. On one lake would be us MD'ers fishing for points and on the Horseshoe would be a few not in the lead and a delegation from Platt Bridge Tackle and Bait (68 Warrington Rd, Platt Bridge, Wigan WN2 5JA 01942 864777) who along with their 'leader' Gary Smith raised a huge amount toward a total - a HUGE thanks to them too! I drew peg 13 (I think anyway - I'm writing this a week later and my memory is a blur). I knew nothing of the peg other than I had the longest possible walk to get there - and when I got there discovered I had Breamcatchnowt (Wokkie christened that one and I like it!) was my partner.

My peg didn't look too bad. I had an island at around 30 yards, a pallet to my right to fish up to and plenty of open water in between. Early signs were good as while tackling up Breamy had a nice little carp stuck on top of his keepnet - thought he'd resorted to trawling early! Also I landed my plummet directly on a fish on my first put in - but first impressions can be misleading. I decided on a small pellet method feeder (cheers to the Big Dipper for the loan - mine were at home DOH!)  to the island in front. I then decided on 3 lines, 13m straight in front was a level bottom at just over 6' deep so I decided on a 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock swim fishing pellet and caster. Float was a 4x14 pencil float to 0.14 line to a 0.12 hooklength and B711 size 19 hook. At 7m I had 5' so decided on the same rig but a 4x12 float. I also had a swim 9m to my right in front of the next pallet at 3' deep with a small 4x10 margin float to 0.14 straight through.

I began by potting in 2 small pots of micro one the long line, a pot of maggot/caster on the short line and a cup of 6mm soaked expanders to the pallet next door. I then decided on 30 minutes on the long line on 4mm and 6mm pellet. Immediately to my left, Matty fishing long pole to the island had a small card first put in and a couple down the right hand side were bringing carp in on the bomb rod. After 30 minutes, I hadn't had a bite and all around me was looking slow. Those that were catching were close to the island so I decided to have a go on the method feeder with pellet hookbait. I stuck this out for an hour but only managed one liner. So I decided on going back on the pole and tried the short line on caster - nothing. Back out on the long pole fishing 4mm expander and feeding small amounts of micros wasn't working when I witnessed the strangest site in fishing I have ever witnessed. Bernard to my right struck into a fish that didn't move then took off in front and then went right. I then watched Martin next to him strike into a fish before one of them joked "we've got the same fish"...which they had!! I think Bernard had it through the dorsal but not sure where Martin hooked it. If it was through the mouth that is one dumb bream! Turned out to be a nice fish over 2lb I would have said.

In an attempt to get 10 points rather than 12 I put on a single red maggot and decided to go over the short line for some small roach. Which came but man were they small!! Breamy was also struggling and only managed to get 1 roach in the net of a similar stamp to mine. Around the lake there were pockets of pegs catching but on the whole it was slow all round. I packed up at 1:45 and left my net in for Breamy to weigh in for me. I finished with I believe 7 fish for 4oz! Not good and I have now dropped 25 points in 2 matches which after being in the top 5 is a little gutting! But you never know what lies ahead!!

I missed out on the auction but believe it was a great success with the overall total for the day over £1100!!! A great result for 40 blokes on a Sunday!! Congrats to all involved - a great day out! Off to Horns Dam next week a lovely 4 acre lake I have fished a few years ago and am looking forward to it! Lets hope this sunny weather stays in for then!!!

Croft Fisheries, Adlington - NW MD Winter League Round 6 - 27/02/2011

Sunday the 28th February and day that turned out to definitely be a day of 2 halves! I had never been to Croft before so didn't really know what to expect other than it was clear, deep and not too dissimilar to Coppull Mill in that respect. I had also been told that there was a dam wall which was the deeper end, and it shallowed up to the far bank to around a foot - needless to say I wanted somewhere near the dam wall for a bit of depth. The weather was mild (ish) but with sporadic winds that were bleedin' cold and heavy showers blowing all over the place. The draw was made at 8:00am, and I put my hand in and drew out 13 - unlucky for some. I am not superstitious, so this didn't concern me in the slightest. I made my way to the peg and had my first view of Croft Lake number 1. I must say I rather liked the venue, however the pegging was incredibly tight with only around 15' between some pegs, and the peg I had was on a towpath between the lake and a stock pond around 8' wide which I knew was going to make shipping the pole in and out a real ballache!

I am still without a pole, as it is taken an eon to get a new number 5 for my Exage BX, so I am very grateful (again!!!) to Ray for the loan of his Exage AX! I assessed my peg and noticed quite a few fish topping throughout the lake, so decided on 3 approaches. I would fish at 13.5m on the deck giving me an extra metre should the fish back off a little. This swim (swim 1) had around 9' of water, so I chose a 1gr hand made float dotted down, to 0.14 main line and an 0.12 hooklink to a B711 size 19 hook. Swim 2 was going to be at around 6m and would again be on the deck. I had just over 7' of water here, so chose a 4x16 diamond pattern hand made float dotted down to the same line and hook. As there was sight of fish on the surface, I also decided on a small 4x12 margin float on a 6' rig allowing me to fish anywhere from 1' with a long line right down to 5 and a half foot in both swims. I had brought a selection of baits including maggot, pinkie, pellet and worm so was satisfied I would be able to snaffle at least 10 points.

The all in sounded at 9:15 and my immediate approach was to cup in a small cup 3/4 full of wetted micro, a few casters and 4mm expanders into swim 1, followed by 1/3 cup of maggot, caster and pinkie into swim 2 and begin to fish swim 1 on the deck with a 4mm expander on the hook. After 30 minutes, I hadn't had a sniff, and hadn't noticed anything come out. Mick Peet to my left was striking furiously on the feeder at what later turned out to be gudgeon but other than that it seemed quiet. A few were opting for the pellet waggler or large loaded crystal - a method I really want to get to grips with this year as it’s a method I have never fished and after my 3 year sabbatical from fishing it looks like if I expect to frame in any match over summer I need to know this. After around 50 minutes I switched to double red maggot on the deck in swim 1 and got my first bite, a very (VERY) shy bite saw a small skimmer around 10oz come to the net. Meanwhile, a few were beginning to catch on the waggler, notably Bernard who seemed to be getting one a chuck and a few smallish lumps (if that makes sense!) seemed to be coming his way, and Matt looked like he was beginning to take a few opposite. Around me things were quiet, with Ray 2 pegs down taking a small F1 and a couple of bits but at least he seemed to be getting bites. To my right in the corner, Noah and Mick Cole seemed to be struggling. After an hour and a half and only one bite and one fish, I decided to cup in some more pellet to swim 1 and then rest it and give swim 2 a try.

I started on swim 2 with a single red maggot and missed a completely unmissable bite  which by the way it went under and the few I had later of the same kind were pairs of eyes - not going to get me any points. I continuously flicked 3 or 4 maggots around the float every couple of minutes when I got a small dip and was into something that took off like a jet. Careering toward Mick's peg to my right it felt a lot bigger than the tench around 2lb that finally came to the net - but what a fight it put up! By now looking around the lake that I could see, I thought I might be lying 3rd behind Bernard and Matt who was catching more steadily and also possible behind Martin who I think had a couple of carp in the net. That one bite proved to be my only bit in swim 2 so at 12:45 I tried back out on swim 1 but there was nothing doing and by now Matt was steadily catching and Martin too seemed to be hitting a few alternating between pole and waggler. Norman was also into the fish on the waggler and gave me a right chuckle with some of his strikes. I'm convinced he almost lost an eye at one point when he looked like he was trying to set the hook into a great white at a range of 300 yards and 200' deep. I just saw a loaded waggler heading like a bullet in his direction...without a fish on the end. I tried my shallow rig on my main swims but couldn't get a touch.

I now realised that the fish seemed to be in an area from Matt round to Ste Leather on the dam wall as these seemed to be the only people catching. I decided to open a new swim (swim 3) 10' to the left of swim 1 and cupped in micro pellet and put a small worm head on the hook. Immediately a dip brought me a nice bream of around 2.5lb - a welcome addition to boost my net. But again, nothing followed it at all. With an hour to go I opened another new swim around 2 sections short of this new swim and fished a foot off the deck and 3' off the deck but could only hit small roach about 1oz. Around this point, Dave Matty hooked what looked to be a large carp and was playing it for around 10 minutes with elastic halfway across the lake. Then a bit of jiggery pokery between him and Tel and a landing net met with plenty of abuse from my side of the bank followed by uproar of laughter as the next time I looked up either Dave's carp had scaled the tree next to him, or it had come off and fired him straight into the tree - selfishly at least I thought he hadn't overtook me :-) but did feel a bit (a tiny bit!) of sympathy for him. With 30 minutes to go I went back to swim 3 and decided to stick it out on double red maggot and was rewarded with 10 minutes to go with a chub about 1lb.

The All out sounded at 2:15pm and by my reckoning I had sixth. Matty was first with 35lb 1oz, followed by Martin with 19lb 12oz followed by Bernard with just over 18. I was delighted to find my net topped that of Bob (who coincidentally missed 10oz off my total when recording it to give me and him joint fourth tut tut) and Norman to give me 4th place leaving me 3rd in the league table and had me leaving Croft a happy man! This happiness ended a few hours later when Wigan were narrowly beaten (but slightly outclassed) by St George in the World Club Challenge! Oh well, there's always next year...and next week at Martin Hall, in Preston. Another new venue for me.

Hall Lane Fishery, Rufford, Lake 1 - 20/02/2011

No picture this week as although I believe this water has been open for almost 3 years, neither Google Maps or Bing Maps currently have the venue on their maps, just fields. But it's down Hall Lane between Parbold and Rufford on the left hand side (coming from Parbold) and consists of 3 (it may even be 4) match lakes all in the new commercial style of islands at 14m or just a canal length.

Well after last week's debacle, this week couldn't be any worse surely, an so it proved not to be and for me was definitely a match of 2 halves, or more realistically two thirds and a third!

I arrived at Hall Lane to be greeted by relatively calm conditions, with a slight tow (it was at this point) toward the car park, and the site of a Barn Owl flying low across the complex. Owing to last weeks broken pole, Wokkie brought his spare Exage AX as surely my BX tops would fit it...not a chance. The BX number 3 section is about the same diameter as the AX number 2 section - luckily Ray had been feeling generous the day before and elasticated some tops for me (cheers for that) which would prove crucial later on...or maybe not! Anyway,  The draw was made and I drew out peg 2 - at that point not having a clue which peg this was. I carted my gear off and was really pleased to have drawn a peg right between the islands with a bit of open water to fish to. A bomb rod was definitely going to be an option today. As I began to setup, the anglers opposite arrived and I discovered I would be fishing opposite Laurel and Hardy (Wokkie and Breamy) so a quiet, peaceful match was never on the cards :-)

The peg I had gave me the point of the island at 14.5m to the front left and open water dead centre with rushes to the right between the islands. I decided to plumb up 3 pole swims, swim 1 would be to the point of the island in 3' of water to a 4x10 homemade float, 0.14 mainline and a 0.12 hooklink with size 19 B711. Swim 2 would be 14.5m out into open water between the islands at 6' deep with a 4x10 homemade pencil float to the same line and hook. This rig would also suffice for swim 3 which would be between 9 and 11m dead centre down the track. I would also set up a 1/4oz running lead to fish between the islands to the rushes. By this point I had got all my bait out my bag to a little oversight, I thought I had maggots left from last week so didn't buy any...then remembered I threw them in as there was only a few left - major faux pas it turned out to be!

The all in sounded at 9:16, it would have been 9:15 had Dave not tried to signal the all in by blowing into a matchman hook tyer instead of his whistle - surprisingly there was no noise so back into the box to find the whistle! By now the wind had picked up, especially on the side opposite me however it was still bloody freezing! I potted in a small cup of corn and wetted micros to the island, and a small cup of wetted micro and caster to swims 2 and 3 with 1 or 2 grains of corn on and decided to sit out the first 30 minutes on the bomb. Now I must confess, having not done much fishing at all over the past 3 years (until October last 2010) and then mainly fishing pole it has been around 4 years since I really attempted some accurate casting (give or take the brief stints I have done over the past few weeks). So it took me a fair few casts to get where I wanted, but after 30 minutes I hadn't had even a liner. I could hear from across the way that Dave Matty was into them from the start on the same peg Norman bagged up last time...not a good sign, especially as more than one person had claimed I had drawn the winning peg.

After 30 minutes I went to swim 1 with a 4mm expander pellet and waited...i lifted and dropped and waited...then waited some more but not a touch! By now Dave across had started to catch one or two, and I believe Wokkie had something in the net (hard to know really as he seemed to be claiming only 4 fish in the net from about ten past 9 to ten past 2!). So I decided to switch to swim 2 (dead opposite where Dave was catching steadily - funny how this started to happen about 15 minutes after he 'borrowed' some pinkies off Wokkie, not that I'm suggesting anything...) and started on caster - nothing. I stuck it out on caster for around an hour, trying to tempt the fish with little helpings here and there. Changing shotting, raising the rig, going overdepth, lifting and dropping but I couldn't buy a bite and was now getting concerned. Further down I could see Matt and Martin had both had a carp and I knew something had to change but here was my mistake. I went to swim 3 when in hindsight, I should have gone straight on the bomb rod and searched around as there was clearly nothing in front of me. To my left, neither Chippy Dave nor Arky had had a touch and Don to my right had a couple of small roach in the net. It was now approaching 12:30 and Arky got a carp followed by Chippy Dave at around 1. Shit. I was blanking and it appeared everyone else had a fish when Tel came down to say him, Noah and Stewart were also biteless so maybe I wasn't doing THAT bad (but I was!).

At 1:30 after far too long wasted on the pole I decided to spend the remainder of the match on the bomb rod. After a fair few casts to get exactly where I wanted I put the rod on the rest and relaxed when the tip moved slightly. Was it a liner?? It moved again and I thought it wa sseeing things as it rattled round and I was into a fish. As I netted it, I could see it was a better stamp than any others I had seen come out around 4lb, and whilst I knew Dave had at least 15lb or so, had images of a mighty shoal of carp just waiting to be plucked out one by one over the next  hour and a half. Next cast in at 1:45 and I got too lcose to the reeds, I pulled on the rod and the line was singing when it finally came free of the reeds...followed by that jerking thud thud motion. How had I got a fish on?? And in true Wokkie style, I hadn't hooked it through its mouth! Must have lnaded right on top of it and had it through the dorsal but hey, they all count and at around a pound and half it boosted my weight. My spirits had lifted now (as noted by Chippy Dave) and I was hopeful of more but it wasn't to be. Save for a liner just on the all out. The last hour was the strangest I have known, as by 1:45, almost all my bank had packed up or were in the process of packing up, and across the way people seemed to be packing up early but I had kept going just in case.

At the weigh in, I was hopefull of a top 5 finish to help my points, but my 5lb 13oz got me 6th, as Ray finished 5th, with Mick C in 4th with Mark the Chub (way to go Partner!!!) in 3rd, Dave Matty 2nd with 8lb 15oz and a brilliant 26lb 8oz first for Breamy!

Off to Croft in Adlington next week, a totally new venue for me and I have no idea what to expect - other than to take maggots!

Bannister House Farm, Old Match Lake - 13/02/2011

So after an unhappy match last week, I wished away all of last week waiting to put things right this week. The weather said rain, but no hurricane force winds, the results from the match lake in the AT have been OK, so I was hoping the old match lake would be similar and also Wales won on Saturday (however Wigan did throw away a 16 point lead in 15 minutes against the scouse shite!!!) so all in all life was rosy. What a match it would be, I couldn't wait, nothing could go wrong and surely I was about to set a new match record for the lake...or so everything went in my head. In reality, I woke up to hurricane strength winds, driving rain (in Wigan anyway) and after 3 hours shut eye due to watching said Wigan game after a night out things hadn't started as planned!

I arrived at the complex with around 2minutes to spare to draw time and had a look at the lake. We had 18 pegs and I would have taken any from 1 - 13 with the win at my back. The other 5 I really wanted to avoid, as it would either be a strong left to right wind (14 - 16) or a gale straight in my face  (17 - 18) and a surface ripple akin to the Bay of Biscay in the depths of winter! After a draw I didn't want at all last week, surely the gods would be looking down on me this. I put my hand in the bag and it turned out they were looking down on me...doing evil laughs and a little dance as I drew peg 15! A force 10 left to right wind and only 13m of water to fish at to the island which would make presentation a bit of a challenge.

I got to my peg (20 feet from my car), setup my station and decided on my game plan. I would choose a swim near the island on the far shelf, a swim at around 8m at the bottom of the far shelf, I would feed short under the trees to my left and right if the weather got too bad, and would also setup a small bomb rod where I could try to the head of the island however casting would be difficult due to the trees. I plumbed my chosen swims and found around 3' on the far shelf at 13m(swim 1) which I would fish with a 4x12 margin float to 0.16 main, an 0.12 hooklink and a size 19 B711. I found just shy of 6' where the shelf dropped off at 8m (swim 2) and this was flat all the way in to around 6' from the bank. For this I chose a 4x12 pencil float with the same line and hook. I also used the same for swim 3 as swim 1 as there was only around 4" difference in depth. My plan was to feed a small cup of wetted micros, corn and caster into swim 2 at the all in, then spend 30 minutes dobbing around swim 1 with corn and pellet and also trying a small pellet cone to the head of the island trying to mug an early fish whilst swim 2 settled down. I also decided to target small silvers close in and so decided to loose feed pinkie and maggot throughout the match just throwing in a few now and then and only try it after a few hours.

The all in sounded and I began executing my plan. After 30 minutes, I had had no indications on the long pole in swim 1 or on the bomb rod so baited up with a small 4mm micro and shipped out to swim 2. One thing I had noticed with swim 1 was that the water close to the island was quite calm and sheltered, however the wind was really blowing through the middle of the peg and holding the pole straight was hard enough. Immediately I thought I had a knock, but missed it if it was one so dropped it back in and within 30 seconds the float dipped and I was into a nice skimmer of around 1lb 10oz. I was pleased with this, as I had only seen 2 fish caught at this point, both small carp from pegs  14 and 12 to the rushes. I was buoyed by the early skimmer and decided to cup in around 6 micros before shipping out again. The wind was that strong, I wasn't convinced I would get my pole out using a cad pot and have anything left in so cupped in via my main cupping kit. Baited my hook again and started to ship back out when CRACK!!! Not for the first time since I bought it in August, another pole section cleanly snapped in 2 just above where the insert from the section below finished. It happened on number 5 section and my heart sank! I tried to make it telescopic, but it wouldn't go, so I trimmed it down a little got it through, taped it up but it was just too weak - the wind was bending it like crazy so immediately I thought my chance had gone!

I spent the next hour on the bomb rod and had one liner but no proper takes - accurate casting was an absolute nightmare due to the trees overhanging my peg. I decided to switch to the waggler for an hour but that brought nothing, even when fishing swim 2 where I had thoughts of a hug shoal of skimmers just waiting for my bait (they are my thoughts - they are hurting nobody). I tried close in to no avail and noticed that nobody in my eye line was catching either. Martin had taken a couple of small carp and Dave Matty had taken a small carp from peg 13 whilst the 2 unlucky sods on pegs 17 and 18 were only taking small silvers I was beginning to be thankful for my skimmer! I wandered round the lake to see what was happening and also to pass a bit of time to the all out as I was pretty p****d off to say the least! A few carp had come almost all against the stick ups, and a few had been lost but beyond the reeds it was mainly silvers - oh and a pretty goldfish for Breamy!

I went back to my peg with 90 minutes to go, and decided to stick my top 5 on (I could fish up to half way on my number 5) and fish 3 swims at 10 o'clock, 12 o'clock and 2 o'clock close in and hope to add to my bag. It was slow and I could get nothing on pellet, corn or caster but did manage to add 3 roach and what looked suspiciously like a bitterling - no weight in it but still counts more than Norman's crayfish which would had made a nice snack!

At 2:15 the whistle blew and I knew it was a second consecutive 10 point match for me! And still no sign of a carp in 2011! Stuart took the match with 13lb 12oz from the Dolly Peg, Matt took a good second place with 10lb 14oz in open water (I think he was beyond the stick ups from memory anyway) and 3rd went to Martin with 8lb 5oz. I can't help wondering what could have been, and now have a week to either get Shimano to swap out my section FOC (AGAIN!!) or buy another before Hall Lane next week. Otherwise the Wokkster has very generously offered to loan me his Exage AX should I be struggling! Top man!

Anyway, as me and Breamy have forgotten what a carp looks like - here you go Dave:

Tight Lines.