Monday 24 September 2012

Wet, Wetter and Soaked! 23/9/12

No picture today folks, as I didn't have time to take it before the match - no way was the camera coming out after in that!

I was pretty happy with my draw on the new lake - peg 29 has had some decent form recently so I fancied it for a few fish. It's a wide peg (17.5m) and I did put up a pole rig to fish across to the nearest part of the island. However, I've been struggling during the week with a sore shoulder and didn't fancy fishing it, and more so with the forecast weather! I also set up a 10ft Preston Mini Carp to fish a small method feeder in the little bay slightly to the left which was about 18m away. I set up a rig for 13m which was just up from the deepest part of the channel, and also a rig to fish both margins.

It hadn't rained until dead on the whistle, and from then on that was it for the day! It took me ten minutes to get my first bite on the small method, and when the thirty minute mark came it was looking to be a decent day despite the weather as I had three carp in the net, all falling to corn. No big fish at 3lb a piece, but steady fishing.

After my third fish the swim seemed to die - indications and everything just stopped. I was toying with trying the pole on the hour mark when I had a bite out of the blue and a lively scrap saw me put a ghostie of about 5lb in the net. I plugged away a bit longer and the same thing happened - half an hour with no sign, and then just as I was about to leave it a bite from nowhere! A small 3lb mirror this time.

No more followed for a bit so I tried the pole but with no joy. Nobody on my part of the lake was catching, but I could see pegs 23 and 34 both plodding away. I have to admit I started to wish I'd bought a fleece with me and the cold and damp meant I relented and put my brolly up! I hate the sitting under it, but with no bites I decided on a bit of shelter. The batteries in my little portable radio also decided they'd had enough and died, so I didn't even have the football for entertainment!

I was rotating the swims but it just wasn't happening, and I never had a bite on the pole at all. Pegs 23 and 34 were still plodding on, and I was watching them with ten minutes to go (having packed away my pole rigs already) when the tip wanged round and near took the rod in! Another small 3lb common was soon netted, and another followed on the next cast. Marvellous! No bites for four hours and that happens...

I packed away rather soggy and went to follow the scales around. Peg 5 was the first to weigh and they had around 35lb, and few DNW's followed before peg 11 put just short of 60lb on the scales for the win. I think there was a DNW, a 21lb weight and a 27lb weight before the scales got to peg 23 who put 43lb odd on the scales. Only two people bothered to weigh in along my side of the lake - the peg to my right didn't make double figures and my seven pasties went 23lb odd. Peg 34 who I'd seen catching had lost a few fish but still managed 41lb for third but they perhaps lost enough to challenge first place. I'm not sure what the last couple weighed as I trudged back to get my barrow before I needed a boat instead!

So not a great day for me, but given the conditions it didn't fish too bad overall. Perhaps if I'd fished the long pole in to the little bay all day I may have had a bit more - but perhaps not. I know it would have just made my shoulder worse anyhow so it was ultimately for the best. At the end of the day I never had enough fish in front of me to win and at least I had the best weight on my part of the lake. It's going to take days to get everything dry now (no chance of it going in the garden in the next few days!), so I hope next weekend brings some drier weather!

Monday 17 September 2012

Sunday September 16th


This weeks open was again on the old lake as there had been a club booking on the new lake on the Saturday. I don't know how they fared but it was a cracking day on the Saturday, which led to me feeling not the best first thing due to an impromptu bar-be-que! Still, helping with the on-going tree removal around and between the lakes for an hour before the draw soon saw the night before's excess worn off!

I really wanted a draw in the open water on the lake but didn't get my wish an ended up sat of peg 57 which is right round the back of the island. In years past it's been the area you want in late summer / early autumn, but it's current form has been pretty poor in all honesty. Still, I had a bit of room so I set about making the best of it! The gardening theme carried on for a bit as I had ten minutes cutting bankside vegetation to allow me to get tight to the edge, and I also trimmed the reedy-like things that were overhanging in to the peg. Not only does it make it look tidy, but it stops you grabbing one when reaching for the net or a section - they can give nasty cuts much like a paper cut! I learnt that the hard way!

After making the peg nice and comfortable it was time for the rigs. I had three up for the day - one for the far bank, on for 5m and a margin rig. The far bank was plumbed up until I found a nice clear area with about 16in of depth. Float was a .1gr NG XTM on .17 line to a .15 hooklink and a size 16 hook, the lakky was Preston 15h. The 5m rig was a .3gr NG Decker in about 5ft of water. Lines and hooks were the same as the far bank rig, but the lakky was Preston 13h. Last up was a margin line for the edge to my left, about 6m away. Gear was slightly stepped up here, with .19 to .17, with a .2gr NG XTM used in the 2ft of water I had here. Lakky was Preston 17h.

With the match under way I fed the 5m line with half a medium pot of hemp and corn before going across on an 8mm banded pellet with just half-a-dozen 6mm pellets in a Cad-Pot. It took about ten minutes before I had odd signs of a fish, and shortly after my first carp was in the net. Only a small common of about 2lb, but a fish still! I carried on dripping in a few pellets with the pot, and the signs of life started to pick up.

It wasn't until the half hour mark when my next fish fell, a slightly bigger fish of about 3lb. This triggered a little bit of a flurry and by the hour mark I had five carp. The biggest about 5lb, but the rest the more usual 3lb. As tends to happen after the flurry the swim faded a bit. I was still getting knocks but it seemed they were from the small carp as I could see no signs of fish across. My thoughts were proved correct when I had a small common of about 6oz, and then on the ninety minute mark a small mirror of about 12oz.

I decided that to try and bring the proper fish back I'd use the catty to feed rather than the pot, hoping the noise would encourage the fish. Upping the feed tends to make the small fish problem worse! Hopes that this was the trick were raised when my sixth proper carp fell - a mirror about 4lb, but after that I only added a small 6oz common in the next half hour or so.

With the half way point in the match approaching I fed the margin, but after last weeks bits problem it didn't get a lot - a third of a pot of corn with a few bits of meat in. I dropped in on the 5m line which I'd been feeding by hand, but ten minutes here gave me just a liner. I had a brief foray across again, but a small 4oz common was the only result. I gave the 5m line a bit of a hit with a pinch of hemp and corn via the pot, before dropping in the margins.

Two cubes of meat in the edge got a pretty quick response, but again it was one of those little palm sized commons. I put a pot on the pole and topped the swim up with a pinch of corn, and had double corn on the hook. I missed the first bite, but not the second. It wasn't the margin pig I wanted, but it was another 3lb in the net. Two more followed in pretty quick succession, but then the bites stopped. I topped it up with a decent pinch of corn and left it alone.

Dropping in at 5m I started to get a response, but after a flurry of three fish quickly it slowed up. They were perhaps a little bigger than the margin fish mind. The last part of the match was spent rotating between the margins and 5m. I never managed to line up a run of fish, but after every rest the 5m line would give me a proper carp, and sometimes two. The margins gave me only one more 3lb'er, and a few more little baby carp! I did lose a good fish from the 5m line, which led me a merry dance before snagging me on a bramble hanging from the island. It may have been foul hooked, from the swirls it was much bigger than any fish I'd landed.

I finished the match with seventeen or eighteen proper carp and the ones in the bits net, but didn't really know how I'd done as I could only see three other anglers. Two of those tipped back just one fish a piece, and the next peg to my right had at best half of what I'd had. I packed away and met the scales just as the first peg was being weighed in, and they put 47lb on the scales. I knew I had that, but others were telling me that pegs 70 and 72 had caught well. When the scales got to me I totalled 63lb and a few ounces, while next door just scraped 30lb. In the end pegs 70 and 72 totalled 49lb and 53lb respectively to make the frame places close, but I finished 10lb clear for what is my first win off that peg!

I'm sure next week is on the new lake after a couple of weeks away from it - it'll be nice to fish it rather than just cut down tree's around it!

Tuesday 11 September 2012

Sunday September 9th


It seems (this weekend at least) that the start of autumn has bought a little touch of summer with it!

I dipped in the draw bag earlier than I normally do this week, and was happy enough with the result - peg 46 was sitting in the palm of my hand. It's not every body's favourite peg but I like it as you have options. Along with the deeper open water it has nice shallow margins which allow you to get tight in to the bank. It'd do me for the day!

I had three rigs set up for the match, and the first up was a shallow rig for 13m. Realistically this would only get used for the first hour to nick an odd fish until the other lines settled, else I may have set one up for deeper. It was fished 12in deep to comply with the fishery rules, with the float a small NG Floats Extra Tough dibber on .17 line with a .15 hook-link. The hook was a 16 Kamasan animal tied knotless knot style with a pellet band on the hair. Lakky was Preston 15h, and all the shot was under the float to let the bait sink slowly. The next rig was for the 2+2 line. This did start as a .3gr NG Decker, but was later stepped up to a .4gr with the wind. It was on the same lines as the shallow rig but with a size 18 Fox Series 2 hook. The lakky was black hydro on a pull-bung and the swim was about 5ft 6in deep. Last up was a margin rig for the right-hand side at about 5m. In 2ft of water a .2gr NG XTM was fished on .19 line to a .17 hook-link tied to a size 16 Fox Series 2, with the lakky being 17h.

I went for quite a positive start on the 2+2 line, giving it a whole medium pot of hemp and corn before picking up the shallow rig. I'd only had one flick of the catapult before the elastic pulled out - I call that a good start! It was only a small fish of about 2lb, but I was off the mark. Unlike the last time I fished shallow on the lake, I wasn't besieged by bitterling out long, so could flick a few pellets out in an attempt to make something happen rather than just trying to mug cruising fish as others were.

It was only about ten minutes later when I had my next bite - just a very slow but deliberate pull down of the pole tip. A slow, almost breamy fight saw me net a big old crucian that was probably 2lb! After this the cruising fish seemed to vanish, and the next bite didn't come until the 45min mark, just as I was going to leave the swim. Again, this fish was only about 2lb, but it led me to give the swim another twenty minutes which didn't produce.

Just after the hour saw me pick up the 2+2 rig, after first giving the margins it's first pot of bait as others had started to catch odd fish in the edge. It's perhaps worth pointing out that albeit early in the match, we didn't start until midday so it was after 1pm now. The 2+2 didn't take long to start getting indications and I was soon plodding away on the line quite nicely, albeit again the fish were very small average size. Two and a half hour in to the match saw me up to ten carp, but not one was bigger than 3lb. I was getting nearly every bite by lowering the rig slowly through the potted in corn with strung shotting. If I didn't get a bite after a few minutes I re-potted some corn and did the same again and it was working nicely. Others were catching faster (pegs 44 looked to be, as was peg 70 opposite to the left, who was fishing under a tree in the edge)

The steady run wasn't destined to last forever, and actually, it died a very rapid death! I bumped a fish at the same time as the louder jet planes started their aerobatics over the nearby Duxford airfield. The two combined was like a switch was flicked, and I couldn't get a bite! It's not the first time it's happened, and while the older prop planes don't seem to bother them much (and I quite like watching the Spitfires that are regularly seen over head even when there isn't a display), having F15's and Eurofighters low flying over the airfield really does. I wouldn't mind, but I couldn't see them most of the time! Even a low flying C47 direct over head and a Catalina Flying Boat that looked like it was going to land on the lake didn't upset them, but they absolutely don't like the jets!

A while later the Red Arrows meant a finale to the show with just over an hour of the match left, and odd bites started to happen again. Carp number eleven was my first bite in the edge and a touch bigger at around 4lb, but no more followed and the bitterling moved in! I came tighter in to the edge in about 14in of water in an attempt to avoid them, re-feeding before going back to the 2+2 line.

I was getting odd bites but not as fast as before, albeit the next few fish were bigger than it had been producing at around 3lb. I was on fourteen fish with forty minutes left and saw some tails in the edge - time to have a go for them! I harboured brief thoughts of a late bag-up when an 8lb ghostie was followed by a 4lb'er, but they proved to be the last fish I had as the bitterling came up to the bank and shredded everything in sight. Damn things! I tried upping the feed in an attempt to get the carp to push them out, but in hindsight that was the wrong thing to do, and made them worse!

I finished up with sixteen carp and a crucian. I knew I didn't have what peg 70 did - they had around twenty carp from what I'd seen. Peg 44 was admitting to eighteen carp but said they were all small, while I could see others with a couple less fish than me, but bigger. Still, I'd get to see them all, as I was on the scales!

First up was peg 44, and their fish totalled just over 50lb by a couple of ounces - it was going to be tight. I totalled just over 53lb, and we held of a few high 40lb weights until we were pushed down by peg 70 who we knew had more. I can't remember the exact weight, but they totalled just over 80lb and that's the second win in a row for that peg - something that doesn't happen often in the warmer months on the venue.

I was quite happy to make the frame in the end - I wasn't sure I was going to at one point. The phenomenon of the air display affecting the fishing is one I've had before, and it was the same for others in open water swims. It's the last display of the year mind, so it's not something that'll bother us again until next year anyway!

Monday 3 September 2012

Sunday September 2nd


I have to admit September is probably my favourite month of all for fishing, as nature has a habit of making everything look at it's best as yellow, orange and gold starts to mingle in with the greenery. I think the fish are at their best too, with spawning a distant memory and a summers worth of feeding they are full, fit and healthy - what better time to catch them?

I have to admit that when I went in to the draw bag all the pegs I really wanted were gone, but was fairly happy with peg 23 in the corner as it's had good recent form (I think second in the last two matches on the lake). Also, being too wide for the pole makes it a simple peg to tackle!

Set up for the day was simple - a 10ft feeder rod to fish the method to the island, and two pole rigs. One for the open water at 13m, one for 14m across the bay to my left in the margin. Nothing complex! The open water line was about 6ft deep and had a .4gr Nick Gilbert Decker on .17 line to a .15 hook-link and a size 18 Fox Series 2 hook, and this was matched to black hydro on a pull bung. The margin rig was a .2gr XTM on .19 to a .17 hook-link and size 16 hook. This was matched to Preston 17h lakky. I had a variety of hook-links tied up for the method (all 4in of .17 line to a size 16 Kamasan Animal hook) so I could try a mixture of baits - either hair rigged hard pellets, corn or some Sonubait's Band-Um's that I'd bought recently to try. I had both soaked 2mm pellets and groundbait (Sonubait's Krill) to try in various percentages on the feeder.

I didn't feed the margin initially, and gave the 13m line a pot of hemp, meat and corn before starting on the feeder. It took around twenty minutes before I started getting the odd liner, and my first bite wasn't until the forty-five minute mark which gave me a skimmer of about 1lb which fell to a grain of corn. It was dead on the hour mark when my first carp fell to the feeder, and only a small one at about 3lb in weight. Again, this one fell to corn, and on the first chuck when I left the bait visible on the top of the feeder.

It didn't take too much longer for my second carp to fall, and a proper rod-wrencher gave me a common of about 8lb which again fell to corn. After that it was a case of getting just odd liners, so I switched to one of the Band-Um's which got me a bite pretty quickly - although a bream nudging 3lb wasn't what I was expecting!

After that flurry the swim seemed to fade, so on the 2hr mark I fed the margin with a pot of bait before having a drop on the pole line in the open water. I was pretty surprised to not get any bites here, as I'd seen a few bubbles from over the feed. Never the less, I topped it up with half a cup as I had been doing every forty minutes of so, and then went back on the feeder.

Up until this point I'd been using a mixture of pellets and groundbait on the feeder, so decided to try cutting out the pellet to see if that slowed the liners. This led to a little flurry of activity with three fish falling in the next eight or so casts. All the bites were pretty quick in coming, so I started to leave the feeder in for no longer than about three minutes. Two fish fell to corn, and one to a Tigerfish Band-Um. No real big fish, but all decent stamper's of about 4lb. Unfortunately, my little bagging spell came to an end when I lost a fish after the hook-link parted in the middle. I can only assume it was damaged or cut under the water as it wasn't under any more pressure than the other fish had given.

I plugged away for a bit on the feeder, and went back to putting a few pellets in the feeder too, to keep some bait in the swim. After a dozen or so fish-less casts I came off the feeder to try the pole lines. I could see peg 29 catching a few down the edge (now the tree's are gone!) but I couldn't get a bite from my margin. A switch to the open water line saw me miss two bites on meat in quick succession. I tried corn as a change, which didn't work! Going back on meat and nothing came, so I topped the swim up again.

Back on the feeder and the rest gave me an instant bite while the line was still tightening up, this one on one of the Sonubaits Band-Um's (a dumbell shaped boilie/pellet). Incidentally, I couldn't get a bite on a normal pellet! Again, it wasn't a big fish, but a decent weight builder at about 4lb. No more bites came and I was chopping and changing things again in an attempt to bring a bite. With a little over an hour left carp number seven fell, a touch smaller this one at about 3lb, before the next cast saw a proper rod wrencher which I thought I'd missed! It turned out to be a roach of about 3oz!

Going in to the last hour the feeder had faded away dramatically, so I plugged away on the pole lines, spending longer on the open water line as I'd at least had bites there. With about forty minutes to go I had a small mirror of about 2lb, but no more bites followed. I topped it up with a small amount of bait, and had a brief try in the margin but it was lifeless. Going back on the feeder brought a liner but I'm sure it was from a fish well away from the island, and it just didn't have the feel that it was going to go.

With a little under half an hour left I decided to plug away on the open water line, and was rewarded ten minutes before the end with a ghostie of about 3lb, and then with just five minutes to go a plump common of about 5lb. Both fell to a single cube of meat. Despite liners after, I didn't quite have enough time to nab another!

Packing away and I wasn't sure quite how well I'd done - I'd well beaten the anglers either side of me who only had two carp a piece, but peg 29 had a few and I was led to believe that peg 14 had caught well, as had peg 11. I got to the scales as peg 7 was weighing and they put just over 47lb on the scales - I didn't think I'd quite have that. Peg 11 then put 43lb on the scales, which is about what I thought I'd have. Peg 14 had a fair few fish, but not so many proper carp and they had a weight somewhere in the 30's. The next couple to weigh didn't trouble the frame weights and then it was my turn. With 4lb odd in the silvers net I lifted the carp out and it was obvious it was going to be close. With 45lb in there I had just enough to take the lead with a total of just over 49lb.

I finished packing away and met the scales again as the last person weighed in. Peg 29 who I thought was going to have more than me turned out to have less than I thought, and had a mid 30's weight, before the end peg had an upper 30's weight.

In the end it was hard work for the win, as the lake didn't fish as well as many of us thought it was going to. I think I was guilty of over feeding the pole lines - the open water line had bubbles for most of the day, but my bites came on it as I cut back on the feed late on. It could have just been the case of they fed better (as they tend to everywhere), but I wasn't the only one who felt that they'd perhaps over done it a little.

The method perhaps showed that lot's of feed wasn't best - just crumb on the feeder proved to be best on the day, as did a visual hook bait (both in terms of left on top of the feeder, and colour, due to corn getting the most bites). I quite like the idea of the Band-Um's, and am going to seek out some of the other flavours which have nice bright colours! The Tigerfish ones I have are a nice subtle brown. I think they may be useful as bright single hookbait's in the winter too.

I think next week is back on the old lake, and with the weather forecast to get quite hot also I think Autumn may be put on hold for just a short while. It's also the last Duxford air display of the year, so if the water isn't worth watching, the sky may well be!