Thoughts on 2010....

Well, it seems the year has ended in the same way it started, with ice covering everywhere! Being as I've not been fishing for a couple of weeks (and it's been even longer since I caught a fish!) my withdrawal symptoms have led me look back on the year fishing wise.


The year didn't start on the best note, I blanked on the first weekend of the year, and also on the first round of the winter league, both times through the ice. I managed to save the winter league in the end, dropping the blank as my worst result. I was very pleased with a second place as in three matches on the old lake I never drew a favourable peg in the conditions, but managed frame placings in all three rounds on the new lake to have a respectable result.


The early spring brought a respite from the frosts and a few more fish but it still wasn't great with no real stand out results but at least an end to blanks or scraping out a few tiny roach! As the weather warmed into late spring and early summer my results started to improve as the frame places went away from being a bit of a lottery and more to those who sussed out the feeding!


As the carp got into the feeding habit my results picked up markedly, and this also gave a rise in confidence which always helps when fishing. I had an enjoyable summer really, winning a match first time out with a new pole will always stick in the mind but perhaps the most enjoyable was the two occasions I finished second on the old lake fishing long pole shallow in the open area of the lake. The lake really isn't known for producing weights shallow but when the island pegs were dominating the frame places I was by a long way doing the best from the open water and sneaking into the envelope places! I find it easy to work hard (if that makes sense!) when fishing shallow, and while I admit a slight rustiness at it perhaps cost me a few fish it's a way of fishing I really enjoy.


As Summer turned to Autumn I perhaps managed my highlight of the year in breaking the match record on the new lake, notching up my first match ton for five years in the process with a weight of just over 104lb. It bucked a trend a touch too in that most people were shovelling in corn down the edge to catch where as the majority of my fish came across to pellet where I fed about a pint of bait. This was followed up with a win the weekend after on the old lake with a catch of 59-5 taken predominantly from the 2+2 line (perhaps the tactic that has dug me out of more holes than any this year) although I'll always remember the day for it being the wettest I've sat in for a long while!


With the onset of the cooler weather the weights took an expected drop but I still found myself doing well, more so on the new lake where I seemed to have found it a lot easier to win on this year! One of the more memorable days (on the old lake) would have to be at the end of October when I struggled for much of the day until the 2+2 line produced five very late lumps to leave me just short of first and second place who'd caught all day. Just goes to show you should never give up as with an hour left I was nowhere. Into November and the start of the month was a struggle with me notching up a 2nd place with just 18lb odd. I missed a weekend and getting back onto the bank the 21st of November is quite a memorable date, as it's the last time I caught a fish at the time of writing, nearly six weeks ago! A narrow win that day with 43-2 on maggot taught me the merit of having a hook-length box stocked with plenty of identical hook-lengths as a quick change near the end led me to go strait back out quickly and a late fish won me the match. I'd only bought the box (the small blue Preston one) the day before too!


After that memorable day the ice has arrived and I've only been out twice since then, my longest spells without fishing since the winter of 96/7. Both times have been blanks but the lack of others catching has led me to stay off the bank. I don't mind breaking the ice if there are fish to be caught, but it seems there aren't! I was going to go on the river but even the Cam has been frozen over too so at the moment I'm sitting climbing up the walls! Looks like I'll manage the coming Sunday but the frosts are coming back after it looks like, so what happens is anybodies guess..


So what have I learnt this year? As mentioned not long ago the hook-length box paid for it's self on the first time out, although I admit I still don't use hook-lengths on my shorter rigs. Maybe more experimenting in the summer will see a change to that? Fishing to my strengths is an obvious one (or not following the crowd) I'd consider myself a competent shallow angler and really enjoyed the days I caught on it, considering the venue isn't known for it. I didn't win, but I done considerably better than the sit-and-wait paste and cat meat heads drawn in the same area. I like it as it keeps me busy! I also had a run of results fishing slightly different ways on the same venue, having good days not only fishing pellet, or meat and corn but also a result on the worm in the summer. Perhaps I'd have done just as well fishing exactly the same each time but something told me something slightly different was needed and it done the job for me doing it! I like to feel I can switch to something else if plan A doesn't work and I have to admit I have a bit of pride in myself for being able to pick up fishing different methods and baits rather than being an angler that only does well at one way of fishing! Lastly the 2+2 line has been a good line for me, only trying it after watching Tommy Pickering fish it on a free Preston DVD given out in tackle shops! I only won one match outright off that line, but it gave me valuable extra fish on other days and got me a frame place from nowhere in the last hour on two occasions! That said, I had days where it was deader than a dodo too- you can't have it all! It's one not to give up on and I find it's so easy to keep topped up as feeding it by hand you don't have to stop what your doing!


Right, I guess that's enough of my ramblings, anyway I'm not sure if thinking so much about fishing has helped or made my withdrawal symptoms worse. Like I said I hope to get out this weekend and hopefully the arctic weather won't hang around too much longer so we can all get our fix. I hope you all had a good Christmas and tight lines all for 2011!

Sunday 12th December

After last weeks hard slog I was hoping that this week I'd manage to catch a fish! Despite some warmer weather we didn't manage to get rid of the ice though, with quite a sharp frost in the morning following a very pleasant day on Saturday- the weather really is against us at the moment!

With the typical low post Xmas match turnout (only 8 stayed) the ice was partially cleared quickly with the boat. Seven pegs on one bank in the late number pegs and peg 48 on the other bank- all pegs that weighed in last week. The one peg I didn't want was peg 48 as it's by far the shallowest peg and the sun barely touches the water on it. I suppose it's no real surprise then that it's the number I drew! Still, the one time the sun touched it was when I was taking the picture!


The ice was fairly well broken as the boat had been taken across to the other side from here so it took just two chucks of the ice breaker to clear the ice a touch to my left and let me fish in deeper water, and then my swim was pretty much ready. Two rigs were the order of the day, the first at 13m but towards the corner of the ice rather than the island. This was a 4x10 Preston Chianti in just over 3ft of water, on .12 line to a .10 hook-link and an 18 hook. Lakky was Preston 11h. The second rig was at 10m, again to my left on the edge of the ice. The water here was the deepest I could find at about 10cm deeper than the far line! Rig here was practically the same except on .12 direct and lakky was grey Hydro. The idea was corn here and maggot long. I was fishing pretty much just for a carp (but wouldn't complain at roach!) as a couple showed last week and the others also had holes cleared to allow them to fish long and I figured someone would catch one! Probably from the noted reed pegs as there were signs of carp there.


On the whistle I fed just two casters and the same of corn on the shorter line before trying long on an 8mm piece of punch without feeding there (yes, punch is now allowed again, hooray!) The punch gave no response so I switched to single maggot and set about dripping the odd maggot in long. To cut a long story short I grafted every bit as hard as last week, changing the shoting, trying different baits, working the rig, fishing up and laying line on the bottom but I never had a bite! Nobody else had a bite either until fifteen minutes before the match finished when one of the reed pegs actually had a fish- a bitterling! They went on to be the only catcher out of everybody with a haul of three bitterling and a roach in those last few minutes. We didn't bother t weigh them but my guess is less than 2oz for the lot of them! The only improvement over last week is I know I had a fish in my swim this week, as while fishing corn on the shorter line I'm sure I felt a fish brush the line as I lifted the rig, and this was followed about ten seconds later by the venues notorious monster ghostie swimming lazily past my keep net without a care in the world!


I'm not sure now when the next blog update will be, as to be honest I've had enough of ice breaking then working hard for no reward, and with the weather not looking like offering us a respite until the New Year I may skip the still water matches for a bit. If I need a fishing fix (no doubt I will!) between now and then I shall put some number 4's and 5's in my pole and visit some old river haunts with a few slices of bread and some punch crumb (now the collages have finished so there aren't thousands of rowers, grrr!), and yes, I do know how to catch a few fish from a river! So if I don't update this between now and then I'll wish everyone a great Christmas and a Happy New Year, and hopefully I'll pick up again with a hopefully un-weather interrupted winter league!

Fur and Feather- Eskimo Style!

I'll start off by apologising to those who checked last week for an update when there wasn't one! It wasn't because I done badly, I just didn't go because of the weather. It seemed I made the right choice as I enjoyed the Tottenham game where as the match was won with sixteen perch for 80z! 7oz and 4oz completed the frame weights and on a day when the temperature never got above -2 I think I made the right decision.

On the Saturday a few people had gone to the venue with ice-breakers and used them and the boat to clear a little of the ice, and with the temperature holding above zero overnight coupled with a little rain too it kept the venue fishable. On arriving an area of the new lake was actually ice-free (it had been for a few days) and some carp could be seen cruising near the surface, but they most definitely didn't look like they were in a mood to eat! Still, it's where everyone wanted to draw. I actually fancied a draw on the old lake as the masses of tiny roach would give a busy day, even through the ice but I didn't get my way and drew peg 18 on the new lake, where the ice was!


As I mentioned, the day previous some of the ice had been broken and I (like the others in the ice) had a small hole to about 5m out. I took off a few layers and set about making the hole a bit bigger! I cleared the ice to about 9m but struggled to chuck my ice breaker much further. Still, at least my breaker went through as someone else two pegs up was doing bouncing bomb impressions with a 7lb breaker. My breaker found it's self being used by a couple of others (it even made it to the other lake!) but not one person by way of thank-you took it back to the car park for me, just to my peg! They ALL had barrows too, where as I lug my gear on my back- think I'll be wanting a small usage fee for it next time.....

I decided to keep things simple as the only species I've ever caught on this lake through the ice are small perch which tend not to be tackle shy. Indeed the last time through the ice on that lake was just before Christmas last year on the same peg! I had one rig set up for two areas of my peg, at 9m on the edge of the ice as far as I could get, and one section closer but to my left and again on the edge of the ice. A slim 4x14 DC9 float was on .10 main line to a .09 hook-link and a size 20 B611. Lakky was Preston 9h. I found in the past I got just as many bites of the small perch on that gear as I did on anything lighter, while red maggot had been as good a bait as any
so I stuck with that in the hope that it would also cope with a bonus fish should one happen along. These would most likely be a skimmer or big perch above anything else given the conditions. Others were fishing much finer with pinkie or punch (allowed again for this match) but I was confident enough on maggot! Bait-wise I had red and white maggots (including some older ones that would hopefully still have some life in the cold water) a few casters and a small amount of Sonubaits F1 groundbait darkened down with black dye, hoping it may bring in a skimmer.

On the whistle I fed the furthest line with a marble sized pinch of crumb with just two maggots and casters in, while the closer line had just four maggots. I was going to drip odd maggots over the longer line to try and provoke life, while just leaving the other line. Normally it takes perhaps half an hour to get a bite in similar conditions so I played around with the rig over the longer line, trying just on or off the bottom, red or white maggot, lifting and jigging the rig or leaving it still. On the hour mark I have to admit I was worried about not having had a bite, and none of the four or five others I could see had either. I had a drop on the other line and tried the same things to provoke a bite but with absolutely no joy. Word came round that someone on the favoured reed pegs on the other lake had a carp, while the early pegs on my lake (where it was ice free and fish seen) had lost odd foul hookers.

On the two hour mark a carp had been caught in those early pegs, but again everyone I could see was bite less and odd people started to walk about. I decided to chop up a half a dozen maggots and feed them on the closer line but this failed too. I could see no point in scaling down as people fishing squatt or pinkie on much lighter gear were all bite less too! I kept up the rotating of the two swims, dripping an odd maggot on the far line while tinkering with the rig in an attempt to make a bite happen, but despite working hard to get a response I couldn't find it. I have to admit I was worried as I'd never blanked on the lake before, but it was looking likely!

With an hour to go the temperature dropped and cat-ice started to form around the edge of my ice hole. I got up and went for a bit of a walk to get the circulation going again and saw one of the early pegs dropping their second carp into their net before walking back and joining the ranks of the bite less (those that were still there) in the Eskimo holes. I gave it till ten minutes before the end before doing something I rarely do and packed up early! The sausage rolls and mince pies in the barn were calling me.......

In the end out of the sixteen or so drawn on my lake there were only three to weigh in, one angler with two carp (who won overall), one with one carp (second overall) and one with one carp and a small perch, beaten by two anglers on the other lake who'd had carp. Incidentally, all the carp on my lake were foul-hooked, meaning that just the one small perch was the only fish caught "properly" on my lake! There were a few catchers on the other lake- three anglers had caught a single carp while most of the others had a few small roach so I was right in wanting a draw on that lake! To cap the day off my peg number came out late in the peg raffle so my choice was a little limited, and had to "make do" (ahem!) with twelve cans of Carling-the brightest part of the day!

I have to admit that's the hardest I'd ever worked for a blank, but in the end I just had the feeling that there wasn't a fish in front of me to catch, and like I said even those fishing finer on my lake also failed to get a bite. It was just one of those days and I think that had I had bloodworm and joker it would have been no better. The weather is forecast to stay cold for a bit, albeit with a slight improvement by the weekend. Fingers crossed that will be the end of it!