Monday 27 April 2009

Back On The New Lake


After the joy of winning the winter league on the Old Lake the three matches since then on there had been a struggle for me so I was pleased to be fishing the New Lake for the first time in a good month or so. I had mixed emotions when I drew peg 18, it does have it's days but never when I've sat on it! Still, when I got to the peg I was quite happy to see a few fish moving up the far bank although my one worry was the floating scum in the corner of the lake to my right, which had led to peg 15 being left out. I just had to hope it didn't move!
First up was a pole rig set up to fish at about 16.5m strait in front to the island. I didn't go right up the bank electing to fish in about two and half feet of water just short as I could always go nearer later on. Gear for this was .16 line direct to a 16 B611, with a .2gr DC5 float and a Preston 15h lakky. I also put up a margin rig to fish to my left where there is a bay in the bank. Same line and float as the other rig but using a 14 latex and a wider gape Fox 2 hook as I intended to fish meat here. Depth was about three foot there. Lastly I decided to put up a small method feeder to fish in the small bay on the island just to the right, probably about 18.5m away.
I fed a small pinch of pellet and a few grains of corn across and a good pinch of hemp with a few bits of corn and meat down the edge and then went across on a pellet. I got almost instant liners before the first proper bite after only a few minites got me a crucian of about 10oz. Nothing next put led me to top up a small amount with a Toss-Pot and the liners started again, then I foul-hooked and lost a good fish. This led to a frustrating half an hour where if I didn't feed I got nothing but topping up, in any amount, got loads of liners but no proper bites, either on pellet or corn. With what seemed like a decent amount of fish in front of me I decided to chuck the small method into the bay and just wait for a yank round while I set up a shallow poly-ball rig for the cruising fish. On the first chuck the tip yanked round and a small common of under 2lb found it's way into the net. This led me to give it a few chucks more but again only the frustrations of liner after liner followed.
On the hour mark it was back onto the pole and again liners followed but no proper bites. With so many fish present on the far bank I'd elected not to strike at any dinks and shortened the line above the pole as much as I could and wait for fish to hook themselves, but it didn't happen! Out on the poly-ball rig and it went instantly with double caster but the lift just led to a bow-wave and no fish; I must have just laid the rig onto it's back. With nothing following I elected to feed a half pot of hemp and corn across, hoping that the heavy baits and decent amount would push some fish down while I had a quick drop into the margin which I had topped up after the method fish. This proved to be fruitless (it was a bit early for the margins really!)
With the fruitless margin try out of the way it was back over and an instant bite was met with fresh air! Back in again and no sooner had the bait settled than the elastic pulled out but somehow the fish didn't hook it's self! I wasn't the only one with the problem though as peg 20 to my left was having the same problem. With a fair few fish showing in the bay again the small method went out again and to my astonishment the rod flew round but when I picked it up there was nowt on it! Two proper yanks and no fish in as many chucks! nothing was wrong with either hook too! My lack of practice on the tip recently was showing and after a bit of erratic casting (I had to punch the feeder very flat to get it under the far bank tree's) I threw it up the bank as I'd spent as much time recasting as in the water! It's definitely much easier to chuck accurately to a feature at 25m+ than 18m, even with a 10ft bomb rod!
With the frustrations of the first third of the match it was time for a re-think. I stuck every pole section I had on and plumbed up as close to the bay as I could. With a short extension up the back of the 17.5m section I could just reach the corner of the bay where it was about 2ft deep. (Note: I always use the short 4th on my pole so it's a bit shorter than it sounds, but still probably just over 17m of pole) With the amount of fish present I decided to just drip tiny amounts with the Toss-Pot so after topping up the margin it was across on corn, a task made harder by some of the now drifting scum from the corner being in front. It proved to be worth the work as two quick fish on corn, the first a handy ghostie of about 5lb followed by a 3lb'er led me to believe I'd got it sussed, but then it tailed off!
An annoying spell followed again, no feed meant no bites and feeding meant liners and sharp jabs that I may have been able to hit had I been fishing shorter (or maybe not?) and with the scum on top and awkward light through the trees meant that things were again awkward. Still, from what I'd heard nobody other than peg 27 (golden peg too) was catching, so I was in with a chance. The next hour gave just one fish of 3lb that I foul-hooked lifting the rig plus one lost fish that hooked it's self, charging off and eventually breaking me! With just over an hour to go I noticed some signs of life in the margin so a cube of meat went down the edge and gave an instant response with a 4lb odd mental ghostie finding it's way in but nothing followed.
The last hour was a big frustration, going back across gave an instant 4lb'er but then the sun meant that I couldn't see my float, coupled with floating crud making fishing anywhere awkward. I managed to get back into the margins just before the end and did miss a bite there but I'm not unconvinced it wasn't a liner. Still, with six carp and a crucian it looked as if I'd be second but a long way behind first, and that was true with peg 27 having just over 49lb and my fish going just short of 23lb and 12lb odd I think was good enough for third. Many people had the same sort of day and it seems that after such a cold winter that if the sun comes out now the fish are more interested in catching some rays than eating! The other thing I learnt is that I may have to invest in an elbow pad as I have rather a sore elbow from fishing so long. I guess 16m+ is fine when you have winter layers but it's not so nice when it's just my boney elbow!
Next weekend is the bank holiday Monday pairs match, something I have a decent record in but have never won! With one angler on each lake I always fish the New Lake so it's time for a good think as to how to get those fish to feed (apart from praying for cloud!) I'll let you know how I get on next week!

Monday 20 April 2009

A Chance For A Tan!


Before the draw on Sunday I specifically said I wanted to draw peg 70, and blow me I put my hand in the bag and out that came! (actually, I wanted to be fishing the Lake 1 after last weekend!) One person did mention something about spawney (but less polite), erm, they obviously didn't pay much attention to what I had in both days last weekend did they! Added spice was put into the day as I was loading what seems to be increasingly heavy gear onto my back as it was called out that I had the golden peg. It's a peg I'm not over fond of in the cold weather but I've always caught well from it in milder weather and so was confident of catching a few.
There is a small island at about 14.5m in front of the peg in the open water part of the lake, plus an overhanging tree at about 6m to the right makes for an inviting looking margin to fish too. I decided on nothing too complicated for the day; one line at 14m, as opposed to tight to the island as the bottom is very uneven there and makes it hard to settle fish, and makes for foul hookers I find. Depth was about 5ft. I used the normal doctored Preston Chianti in a 4x14 for this on .14 line to a 16 B611 and a soft 14 latex. With the warm weather I also put up a half depth rig which as it was just shallower than anywhere along the island would do for searching along it if I wanted to. This was a 4x10 PB2, same hook and line as the other rig but on a 13h hollo lakky. The last rig I put up was a margin rig for under the tree. With decent colour in the water I plumbed up to fish in about 2.5ft of water. Float was a .2gr DC5 and the gear a bit heavier with .16 line to a 15 B711 and a Preston 15h lakky.
At the whistle the longer line was fed with a few grains of corn and a pinch of hemp, while the margin got the same but with a few 6mm cubes of meat too. It didn't take long for my first bite and fish of the day and a pastie mirror of a pound was quickly in the net. For some reason I was worried about catching so early, but the float buried next chuck and a much bigger fish was being played. As I got down to the top kit I began to suspect it was foul hooked and then the hook pulled!
That was the death of the swim for a good few hours, besides an odd line bite. Nobody was catching except 72 in the reeds who had an occasional fish, and 42 started to get an odd fish, but many anglers were still fish less despite numbers of fish cruising about, but they were most defiantly not interested. Still, I kept feeding the margin confident of a few fish there later on. With 2hrs to go I'd been flicking a few casters long with the catty for a bit and decided to try the shallow rig again but that bought just a solitary liner from fish I could see cruising. With that giving no joy I dropped into the margins and I started to get signs of life. just as I was thinking of leaving I had a bite but missed it. Back on with a cube of meat and away goes the float again and a slow moving fish hugged the bottom for a few seconds before the hook came up with a scale bigger than a 50p on it. That'll be foul hooked then!
Nothing followed so I re-fed with a reasonable amount and gave it a rest. With nobody catching a lot that I could see a good last hour could give me a potentially lucrative pay day so it's all or nothing now! Back in the margins with an hour to go and two quick fish in two drops on meat gave me hope, albeit that at only just over 2lb a piece they were small for margin fish. However, it wasn't to be as as quick as they arrived they were gone again and I never had another bite.
At the weigh in (I didn't bother) peg 42 had put a low 30lb weight on the scales to win, ahead of a 19lb weight and then a 12 followed by a couple of 11's. The day had been slow for everyone and it seems the fish in Lake 2 are more interested in the sunshine than food lately. Still, I'd got to listen to Spurs beat Newcastle on the radio! I still packed up frustrated as after the high of winning the Winter League I've really struggled. I do wonder wether I should have fished a bit shorter and shallow on the day; I really didn't give it that long shallow and I wasn't fishing for a huge weight. Also I do wonder if on days like that (despite the warm days it was near a frost over night, plus the air pressure had gone up a lot in a day) if it's better to fish smaller baits like worm and caster or maggot. The thing that puts me off that now is that away from the reeds there are hoards of tiny roach that may just bit you out. Ah well, there's always next week!

Wednesday 15 April 2009

More Of The Same!


After the struggle of the Friday I started Monday with renewed optimism and the hope of a few bites! For some reason I went into the draw queue early, something I rarely do as I prefer to draw quite late. As I put my hand into the bag I said I would be happy as long as I didn't draw around the back of the island and when I saw what I had I wasn't happy! peg 59 was in my hand, the next peg along from where I sat on Friday!
I sat my box down at the peg and decided that I wouldn't fish the pole across as the fish that swim across on the far side defiantly spook from the pole. I put up my 10ft Puddle Chucker with a small method feeder, hoping to get an odd fish as they went past. As the only place I'd caught on the next peg a few days previous was down the track I decided to fish two lines here, feeding one as I did before and one more sparingly. I could fish a bit further on this peg, just as it had started to slope up. You can't do that really on 57 as it's like a cliff wall going up to the far bank! I was a bit happier with this and hoped to do better! I also had a rig up for down the margin to my right. The rigs were the same as Fridays!
To cut a long and pretty boring story short the only line I had a bite off was the more generously fed line down the track. The tip gave just one liner, and that was a cruising fish that I could see. I had 3 carp for exactly 10lb and missed two very sharp bites on the same line, not sure if they were roach or that I was not expecting them as they were few and far between! To make matters worse I couldn't listen to my little radio, as I like to when not getting many bites, as the batteries were dead as it must have got knocked back on or not turned off properly last time. Normally I have spare batteries in my box but for some reason I didn't!
The lake as a whole didn't fish that well, 22lb won and 16lb was good enough for 3rd so had I not missed those bites or had I managed to winkle a fish or two from another line a frame place was achievable. Never mind, there's always next week!

Saturday 11 April 2009

Good Friday, Or Was It!


Remember my prediction at the end of my last blog? Well, pre-draw I stated that I didn't really mind where I drew as long as I wasn't round the back of the island. Well, the peg I drew was as far around the back as I could get! Despite some people saying that 57 was a good draw it never has been whenever I've drawn it. My confidence dropped a notch when walking to my peg with my gear as the water was definitely clearer once I got to the island pegs, a definite sign that there were not as many fish in those pegs.
I put up three rigs to cover four areas of my swim to try and make the most of it. First up was a 4x10 PB2 on .14 line to a 16 B611 and Preston 13h elastic in a little over 2ft of water. I fished slightly to my left where the water was deeper near the island rather than go into the bay where it was shallower due to the clarity in the water. Next rig was set up to fish at 6m. The depth here was a good 6ft, maybe a touch more which is deeper than I'd like. Float was a .3gr hand made jobbie from Mark Haskins. The diamond shape and long glass stem makes them very stable and means you can fish with a smaller float, and as there was little wind I didn't need to go heavier. Lakky was a soft 14 latex, while the line was .14 and again a 16 B611. Last rig was to fish left and right in the margins in about 3ft of water at about 6m. Float was a .2gr DC5 on .16 line to a 16B611. Lakky was a Preston 15h to hopefully cope with the lumps I hoped would move in here.
I fed the far line with just caster hoping for anything that swims while the others were fed with a decent pinch of hemp and a few grains of corn. After 10 minutes without indication, even on maggot I started to drip four or five casters in every few minutes but the next 20 passed without joy. Odd bubbles had risen from the track line so I decided to have a quick try on it. Hardly 10 seconds had passed when the float vanishes and out streams the lakky. A few minutes later a mad 3lb common which had the body of a chub found it's way to the net. After such a quick bite I dropped in without feeding hoping there were a few fish there but nothing after a few minutes led me to top up with 3 grains of corn and a small pinch of hemp. Another 10 minutes passes without joy so I went back across as I didn't want to try the margins yet.
The next 40 minutes were barren, even on maggot, either across or down the track. By this time a few fish had started to move to my left in the edge at about 13m, where there was some bank side growth hanging in the water. However, the match rules state you can't fish past the next peg and that was where I'd fed at 6m to my left! This was to prove frustrating as the nearest person to me that side was round the corner on 53, with 3 empty pegs and a corner between us I could have fished 18m down the edge and still not been anywhere near half way to the next person, but rules are rules as I had to watch the fish taking the micky in the margins there for the rest of the day and not being able to fish it, even though they were closer to me than the island opposite! An hour after my only bite so far I had a bite down the track that was an exact repeat of the first and another lean 3lb common found it's way to the net, but again nothing followed. It took an hour again to get a bite from any swim, a carbon copy of the last two but this one came off.
That was the last action of any sort for the day apart from one tiny roach across on maggot and one even smaller carp in the margin on maggot. Then 10 mins before the end a liner down the track was followed by a proper bite which I missed clean as a whistle! Thus ended a frustrating day in which my landing net got used more for clearing out the floating crud which shifted from the far end of the lake half way into the match. Shame the fish didn't follow it, which they normally do! Still, at least the rain stopped at the end of the match so I could pack up in the dry! The match was won with 48lb from peg 48, and the open water pegs fished much better than the pegs around the island. Still, I shall back out on Monday hoping for some Bank-holiday cheer!

Monday 6 April 2009

Winter League, Final Round

I have to first apologise for the lack of picture, I actually totally forgot to take one and didn't realise until I was on the way home! Still, I drew peg 72, not my favourite peg on the lake as regular readers will know! Still, it looked good for a few fish and for the first time that I've ever drawn it peg 73 wasn't in, allowing me to fish further along to the margins to where the fish hold up. The swim has reeds both sides and these two were my main lines of attack, the reeds to my left are much thicker and hold more fish, but you can't get into the back of them where the fish hold! I put up my usual rigs for the reeds, fishing shallow against them, using 4x8 Preston Pink floats, which I like as they are in-line and don't catch in the reeds when a fish goes through them. Lakky was Preston 13h and line was .14 Garboline to a 16 B611 hook. With the warmer weather I also decided to put up a stronger rig up, using the same float and hook but using a stronger .16 line and 15h lakky. I did this as there are a lot of stick-ups under water away from the reeds. I also set up to fish at about 12m into the open water in about 5ft of water. Rig for this was a 4x14 Preston Chianti which I'd doctored to take a plastic tip. Line was .14 with a 16 B611 and a very soft 14 latex. I also put up a shallow rig set at about 2ft using a 4x10 PB2 float. Line was .14 with the hook the same as the others, lakky was 13h. Task for the day was simple as I was 5 points clear in the league (taking dropped scores into account), finish in the top four and win the league!

On the whistle I fed the 12m swim with a reasonable pinch of hemp and 8 grains of corn, then came into the margins. With the warmer water I decided to start on the heavy rig and double caster, trying to my left where a few fish could be seen in the reeds. After a few minutes fishing about 20 inches deep with nothing to show I shallowed up as fish could be seen higher in the water, but again with no joy. At this point the angler opposite had already had 2 carp in the open water. I set the rig at about 18 inches deep and went to my right in the margin. After a short time I had a bite and the amount of lakky and fight suggested a bigger fish than the 3lb'er that found it's way to the net, hooked in the cheek. No more bites followed so I tried single caster both left and right and shallower (about 12in) as many fish were starting to mill around in the sun, both in the reeds and in the open water. I topped up the 12m swim then tried back deeper again, around 18in deep to my right and a quick run of 3 fish about 3lb a piece on single caster which meant I finished the first hour on 4 carp.

No more fish followed so I went to the left which produced nothing until I shallowed up to around 14 inch, when I had a fish of about 2lb, followed by another about ten minutes later. An hour and a half in I topped up the long swim again, and although there were now a few big groups of fish cruising in the open I elected to stay in the margins and try and catch shallow there rather than loose feed over the deck line. With cloud forecast for later I was sure the fish would drop down out there and with two margin lines both with fish it didn't make sense to me to split what was out in the open. Back into the right hand margin on single caster gave me one quick fish then nothing else. Trying the left gave nothing until I tried shallower and another 2lb'er came to the net. Next drop I pricked a fish and this triggered the start of a barren spell in either margin, not to panic though as I was ahead of everyone else I could see. With fish still in both margins it was strange that fishing at any depth couldn't get a bite. Sod it, double red maggot on into the right hand side, expecting a roach and after only a few seconds I had my biggest fish of the day so far, a ghostie mirror of about 5lb. Next chuck gave a smaller fish of about a pound and a half and then a 3lb'er dead on the 2hr mark.

The next fish was a while coming, again from the left side on a caster. It was noticeable that I had to fish shallower to the dense reeds to my left to get a bite than to the straggly ones to my right. Another fish next drop then the fish seemed to move back into the reeds where you couldn't reach them. Switching back to the other margin, on double maggot again gave me two fish putting me on 13, then typically the next one came off! This moved the fish to where I couldn't reach them so a back into the other margin and another fish hooked then that came off too. That always seems to happen when I'm on 13! The loss of a few fish seemed to leave the margins lifeless, but as it had started to cloud over I tried the open water swim which I'd been religiously topping up every 45 minutes. A fish was hooked instantly though not that big, then that one came off just as I unshipped! Topping up with a few few grains of hemp and some corn via a toss-pot and that loss was forgotten as a run of 3 carp came quickly, although they were a bit smaller than the margin fish. The next bite after was missed as the fish went a bit iffy so I topped up with a reasonable pot of hemp and corn and came back to the margin.

I had two quick carp in the right hand margin before hooking something much bigger than any others I'd had so far. I'm not sure if it was foul-hooked as my rig broke after a few minutes. There had been some very big fish present in the margin and it may have been one of them. I cursed myself for not checking the rig as I'd felt it rubbing on the stick ups a few times but as I was using the stronger rig I just carried on; bad decision! with no more bites in the margin after putting on a fresh rig it was back out into the open water. A quick bite gave me what turned out to be my biggest fish of the day at about 7lb but the swim was slow then after. For a bit it was just a case of nabbing an odd fish with no runs of bites or patterns to follow. Nothing came from the left margin and the open water fish were noticeably smaller.

Going into the last hour ( due to the changing of the clocks and light evenings it was a 6hr match) the margin swim started to come back strong and a couple of quick fish meant that with an hour to go I had 25 carp and big hopes of beating my pb match weight of 82lb from the venue. Unfortunately this wasn't to be as I hooked a fish in the margin when not concentrating properly and it got stuck solid in the straggly reeds. I couldn't move it and the fish was splashing on the top and ping! of it came. This signalled the death of the margin swim, even trying further along the right margin which I'd resisted until now so as not to push the fish along to the next peg, and the open water swim had faded out with the re-emergence of the sun. Not a single bite followed until the last 10 minutes when I tried a metre behind where I'd fed out in the open and had another 2 carp before the whistle.

After the match I knew I'd done enough to win the league overall, and hopefully the match ( I couldn't see the pegs round the back of the island, but I could see the only angler who could beat me in the league and I easily had more) but was kicking myself as I could perhaps had my first 100lb match weight for a long while had it not been for me reaching for my phone and losing that fish when I was planning to empty the margin in the last hour! It was a shame as I felt that I had worked hard to keep fish coming during the day and ruined it with a lapse in concentration. Still, the flip side was that I'd actually won a league ( and the match, with 81lb 1oz, about 25lb was second ) as opposed to finishing 3rd as I always seemed to have in the past, normally losing out on weight!

With next weekend being a bank holiday I'll be fishing on good Friday and maybe the Monday. You can check back then to see how I struggle, as I inevitably will after winning!