Monday 28 December 2009

Last Of The Year

Well, with the Christmas Festivities out of the way I was really looking forward to getting out of the house! Which is why, after a few warmer days I was disappointed to find upon arrival that both of the lakes were still frozen solid! And my ice breaker was at home....




With 19 people booked in the decision was taken to spread out the pegs over the two lakes, using the pegs that would be easier to free up. Six pegs went on to lake one and eleven pegs on lake two - the others went home, poofs!




Some carp were visible in the reeds pegs on the old lake, and only one peg was in there so that's the one everyone wanted, but I didn't get it! I instead drew peg 67 on the old lake, in what would be the open water, except it had about an inch and a quarter of ice over it! I decided that trying to break the ice far enough out to catch a carp was a no-no, as I'd need to break out to at least 13m to have a realistic chance. Although I thought some pegs still would produce a carp I decided the only real hope I had of catching was fishing for small roach at 4m, just past the very sparse stick ups in the edge. One rig was all I put up, a 4x12 DC11 float which I'd changed the tip to a plastic one. Mainline was .12 to a .10 hook link and a 20 B611, depth was just over 4ft. A soft 10 latex is still the softest lakky I had so that was used, and I hoped would give me half a chance with a carp if I should be fortunate to hook one.




With the delayed start (for ice breaking) the four hour match started very slow, with the first hour just giving me just 7 tiny roach. To cut a long story short it picked up a bit and by the end of the match I had finished on exactly 70 roach. During the day I found that it was better to fish a touch over depth (unusual for small roach I thought) and that it was best to feed just very small amounts of bait before fishing it out. Trying away from the bait would pick up odd fish again while I waited for them to settle. The biggest fish I had was one fish about 2oz (most were a lot smaller!) and my 70 fish went 1lb 14oz, beaten for first on the lake by 2oz! (3lb was by far the best on lake 1) If I hadn't have stopped twice to talk on the phone to a mate pike fishing, and had I had a lighter lakky I almost certainly would have won. I did have one bigger roach that I went to swing not realising the size and it fell of. At a good 4-5oz it would have won me the match, and had I been using a more suitable lakky I probably wouldn't have lost it... Must shuffle my lakky's round to make a top kit available for tiddler snatching should I need to again!




So, the year finished as I started it match fishing wise - snatching tiny roach through an ice hole!
Thinking back over the it's been a strange one for me really, on the plus side I won the individual winter league, and I also set a new open match record on lake one. On the negative side though I've had just as many 'should have done betters' as I had good days and I've perhaps struggled for the proper consistency that I've had in previous years. Looking back through my match record for the year tells me I've had 9 wins from 46 matches, which is as near as dammit one win in every five matches. Not too bad I suppose but a couple of the frame places could have been turned in to 1st's and a few times I've come home thinking I'd not done the peg justice. So my aims for next year are simple - to try and turn the should have done better days in to days where I feel I've done okay (or better) from the peg. Holding on to the winter league title would be nice too! I'll certainly try my hardest....




Last of all I'd like to wish you all a Happy New Year, and I'll see you all next year!

Monday 21 December 2009

Sunday 20th December



Snow - it looks great in pictures and on cards, but is a nightmare for anything else! Predictably both lakes at Westside were frozen over but with a small turnout and the ice being a little thinner on lake 1 that's where the match was held. After the rigmarole of the ice breaking (and the death of my ice breaker, again!) pegs 11 to 18 were in the bag. I really wanted one of the lower numbers as that's where the roach tend to shoal up, a much more reliable target than carp I imagined. Typically I was as far away as it was possible to get on the day, with peg 18 in my hand. Normally a good draw but not when the carp probably wouldn't play ball.


As I started to plumb up it became apparent that the peg was freezing up again. At the time 14.5m was as far as I could reach but with no real depth difference than at 13m I fished there as it would be longer before the ice reached it! I also had a swim at 6m slightly to the right for later where it was a touch deeper. I have to be honest I wasn't really prepared for a bits match, the lightest elastic I had was a 10! With prospect of just catching 'wasp' perch I wasn't really fussed too much as you don't bump them! In the 5ft of water I had I used a 4x14 chianti on .12 mainline with a .10 hook link to an 18 B611, the lightest gear I had with me. I did put up a shorter rig in case I could get closer to the island later although I wasn't optimistic.


To cut a long story short I had 15 tiny perch, mostly from the 13m line although I did have a couple shorter. The longer I could leave the swim without clearing the ice the more bites I had, but the last two hours I was having to clear the lines every 20 minutes and so the bites went!


Predictably the first two pegs had roach, with 4lb 10oz winning and 2lb 7oz 2nd. My 'wasp nest' catch of 7oz was good enough for 3rd and took the fastest losers £7 from those that put there £1 in as the attendance wasn't large enough for the golden peg to go in.
I'll finish up by wishing those you you reading this a happy Christmas, especially to those among you I class as friends, and, just in case I don't fish next week a happy New Year too!

Sunday 13 December 2009

Sunday 13th December

There was the predictable poor post Christmas match turn out this week, probably due to other Christmas matches and possibly due to the weather! Yep it's definitely cold now (and due to get colder in the week) Still, with a little bit more room it should make catching some fish easier. At the draw I fancied either peg 62 or 72. The first is the current form peg (that in 35+ matches on the venue I've never drawn!) and 72 was the only reeds peg in. I didn't manage to draw them though although I wasn't too disappointed with peg 42 as it has steady winter form.

First up was a rig to fish at about 12m on the pole, this was a 4x14 Preston chianti on .125 line to a 16 B611 on a soft 12 latex. I also put up a shallow rig to try over this line (3ft deep in 5ft of water) with the same line and hook as the other rig and a smaller float of the same pattern, using grey hydro. In recent weeks a few fish had been caught in the margins of this peg next to a few straggly reeds to the right so I put two rigs up for here; a deck rig with a 4x12 Preston somo and a shallow rig with a 4x10 Preston black. Elastic, line and hooks were the same for both with 13h lakky and 16 B611's at either end of the rig. Lastly I put up a bomb rod to fish past the pole line, 6lb mainline with a free running 1/3rd oz Guru square pear lead on this, with a Korum quick change bead and a variety of different length hook links for it.

On the whistle the long line was fed with a tiny pinch of hemp with a few casters while the margin got the same but with three grains of corn too. I decided to try the lead first so a couple of punches if bread found there way out. No joy after quarter of an hour led me to try a single grain of corn. My optimism was lifted by a liner after a few minutes but nudging towards the hour mark the next three casts had produced nothing so I decided to try dropping on the pole line where I'd been flicking a few casters with the catty. This proved to be fruitless and the cold north-easterly breeze had nowpicked up, blowing right in at me. Brrrrr!

To cut the next few hours down a bit, nothing happened! With two hours to go only peg 62 had caught a carp (just one) and nobody I could see had even had a bite. Even the batteries in my little radio packed up as they were that bored, so no footie either! I'd tried everything but it just seemed that nothing was there. With just over an hour and a half left I had another liner, just as I was getting up to move about! Nothing came of it and the next cast on corn was dispatched just to the left of where the last drop went. I decided to try putting a smaller hook on the 12m line to fish just maggot but as I was tying an 18 on the tip yanked round! I rather gingerly played in a very sluggish common of about 3lb that wouldn't have been felt any colder if it just taken out of a freezer!

Nothing came on the next drop so I tried the pole again, both at 12m and in the edge but couldn't even get a bite from a roach on single maggot. Just as I went back on the bomb and single corn peg 72 opposite hooked their first fish- a brown goldfish. With an hour to go and totally out of the blue the rod went again and a minute later the twin of the first fish was in the net. I had hopes of the last hour producing a few but the only thing that happened was a cold rain shower that lowered the temperature just a bit more. Very shortly before the end peg 72 hooked another fish, this time a carp but it looked small.

Packing up it turned out that only three people had caught carp, with peg 62 having three. The weigh in was nice and quick as only four people troubled the scales, Peg 62 won with 10lb 13oz, I managed 2nd with 6lb 13oz with 3lb 14oz 3rd. Nine ounces of tiny roach was good enough for 4th! I'd expected the day to be tough but I didn't think it would be that much of a struggle. The strangest thing is that on hard days I'd have picked punch to be the banker bait but it just hasn't gone lately and corn is producing the bites, well, what few of them I'm getting! Looking at the weather forecast for the week I'm not that sure things will be any better next week, but here's hoping they are!

Monday 7 December 2009

Fur And Feather - Sunday 6th December




I have to admit I was looking forward the the Christmas match, I'd even had a good rig making session during the week! I had two preferences for where I wanted to draw - preferably on lake 2 as it's fishing better and secondly a peg with a bit of room as hopefully the fish would move there with 23 people on each lake. I should have really known that I'd draw lake 1 though, simply because it's the only lake I've drawn on in the Christmas match!


I wasn't overly happy with the peg I'd drawn (9) as it's not often in, plus it's sat back meaning you can't reach the island with the pole as it's about 20m wide. Some people did say about catching lumps in the edge in the bay area to my left, citing that it produced some in the summer - obviously they didn't realise it's not summer!
First out of the bag was the lead rod, my trusty 10ft puddle chucker coupled with a small Daiwa front drag reel with 6lb mainline. Terminal gear was a 1/3rd oz Guru square lead with a range of different hook lengths on .15 powerline. Hooks were 18's for corn and 16's for punch. Two pole rigs were put up, the first for the deeper water at about 9m in just over 6ft of water. With no wind a 4 x14 Prston chianti was the float with .12 line to a 17 B711 hook. Lakky was a soft 12 latex. The second rig was for about 9m down the margins between the remains of two lilly beds. I had about three and a half foot of water on the slope here and the rig was a bit heavier with a 16 B611 to .14 line and a 13 Hollo elastic. Float was a 4 x 12 Preston somo.
On the whistle the track line was fed with a small pinch of hemp and a few casters, while I planned to flick casters here with a catty every now and then hoping that if nothing else I could get a roach or two here ( I wasn't that confident about catching a carp!) The margin got the same but with a few grains of corn added before the bomb rig was baited with a couple of punches of bread and cast about a meter and a half off the island in about four feet of water. I have to say I nearly fell of my box with surprise when I had a liner after only a minute or two, but nothing came of it. The first hour's monotony was only broken when I decided to cup a few more casters along the margin as the four casts after that, trying both corn and bread punch produced nothing else, and dropping tighter was fruitless too.
An hour and a quarter in and I was just contemplating trying the track line when I had another liner on the bomb. Hoping that odd fish may move in front of me into the quieter un-fed area I sat it out without recasting but no more signs of fish showed. At this point the only activity I'd seen was the angler on peg 11 to my left catching odd small roach and the angler to my right potting half cup-fulls of bait in every twenty minutes! I slipped a grain of corn on the track rig and gave that a try. No sooner had the bait settled than I had a sharp 'dig' on the float but I missed it! No no indications followed on corn so suspecting the knock was a roach I buried the hook in to a caster. After five minutes, just as I was thinking about coming off the line the float plinked then slowly sank away. Expecting a small fish I was surprised when the lift was met with three feet of latex coming out of the pole! The fish then moved off to my right and just as it reached the edge of my peg what felt a heavy fish pulled off. I didn't swear.... much. A new (and bigger hook, a 16 B611) went on but another ten minutes gave no more so I topped up both the pole lines and went back on the bomb.
The first go back across was on punch and while this was out I decided to make a tiny pva bag up with about a dozen 3mm green Swim-stim pellets and eight maggots in it. This was dispatched over with a single grain of corn after trying the punch for fifteen minutes. It hadn't been out for that long before the rod pulled, dropped slack. It then pulled again before sharply pinging back again. I picked the rod up fully expecting a fish to be on and couldn't believe that there wasn't! Nothing on the next chuck on corn so I tried punch again. This had been out about ten minutes before it did the same again, including there not being a fish on the end! I really couldn't work out why they weren't on...
With two hours to go I decided it was time to catch a fish so on went maggot and down the track. No joy! not even a tiny perch. It may have been the Christmas match but I was hardly full of Christmas cheer at this point! In fact I was wondering if the sausage rolls and mince pies were done.... I tried the margins on caster with no joy so I slipped a red maggot on. A tiny perch followed next chuck by his twin brother then no more bites. Still, I hadn't blanked! Back on the bomb with a single grain of corn and time for a coffee and a sarnie. Half way through the sarnie and the rod slowly pulled round and kept going. After a sluggish fight a common of about five and a half pound was in the net. Yes! I have to admit next chuck gave another liner and I started to hope that some fish had started to move in but the rest of the match passed without so much as a sniff despite trying everything. Long hook links, short hooklinks, punch or corn. Even trying maggot on a smaller hook on the track rig failed. It just seemed like there was nothing there!
I have to admit after struggling so much I was surprised to find I was 4th on the lake with 5lb 9oz, one ounce behind 3rd! One fish of double figures and a few perch for about 11lb was second and three fish for 18lb was first. As I thought lake two had been better - 31lb winning with a couple of 20lb weights. I have to apologise to everyone drawn in the reeds though as after tipping one of those pegs to win last week they all blanked, ooops! Still, the day wasn't all bad as I managed to catch up with a few people I hadn't seen for a while, plus I managed to win a few beers for myself and some chocolates to keep my other half happy! I also found that I wasn't the only one to have had a few myth bites on the tip. Not something I've ever had before. Answers on a postcard as to what happen though as I'm sure they wernt liners....