Right-o, I have to start with an apology for not updating this blog with round four of the winter league, I've just been busy!
I had another 4th place last week, but with my closest competitor finishing second there is very little gap between us - and my worst result to drop is better than theirs meaning I drop more points, what a bummer! I also lost a fish at the net when a new lot of Preston 13h broke as I stripped it through the pull bung, which cost me a place. I've used the stuff since it came out in the late summer/early autumn of 2004 and never had a problem with it until now - but once is enough and it's all been stripped out and replaced with the new Dura Hollo 12.
I had hoped to give said new elastic a run out yesterday, and it looked promising at the draw with a decent peg (one that I won off a couple of weeks ago!) but it fished hard - very hard! There were three good weights in the frame but then very little caught - I tipped back two big crucians, a 3lb bream and some perch, not exactly the test run I hoped for it. I was going to write a blog as I've a few free days this week, but I think that time is better spent rig tying rather than writing about a match where I never saw a sign of a carp in my swim.
I'll definitely have a write up of the final round for you at some point next week, hopefully with a write up of a good match!
Monday, 17 March 2014
Thursday, 27 February 2014
Winter League Rd 3 23/2/14
Well, I remembered to take the batteries out of my camera, recharge them and put them back in - but I still forgot to take a peg picture for you! Must be getting old I reckon...
The previous Sundays practice on the new lake went well, for me anyway. The lake fished hard all round (as did most places looking at the results quickly in the paper) I drew a well noted winter peg (27) and had seven carp and two big skimmers for 31lb - second weight was 8lb and I was the only angler who had more than one carp.
This weekend was different - it had been relatively mild for the week, and the Saturday night wasn't clear, cold and with a full moon. My draw saw me sat on peg 18 - I don't really mind the peg as it tends to be okay in the winter, although the week previous it was in the middle of three blanks.
I had four rigs up - one for on the deck across at 16.5m in about 3ft of water, one for dobbing along the bank, one for the track (14m angled left with the wind gusty) and a silvers rig for fishing at 5m.
With the match starting I fed the silvers line and the track line before going across on the deck rig with corn. No liners led me to try the dobbing rig, both left and right along the island (needing 17m of pole) but still with no joy. I could just see my peg from last week catching well from the off, and the peg to my right had a small carp too. Time to try and make something happen!
I fed across, just a tiny pinch of crumb and a few micro pellets, before having five minutes down the track on corn. I didn't expect it to go, and it didn't! Back across and a missed bite that may have been a liner was followed by what was certainly a liner. I picked up the shallow rig (set at about 2ft) and went across. The float only sat for a few seconds before plinking under and soon my first carp was in the net, a baby of about 1lb 12oz! I had an even smaller one next drop (small enough to go in the bits net) before I lost the next carp which felt much larger than the other two. I had a high tuft of grass behind me, and had to lift the pole high to ship back - it was awkward to play fish for sure!
I thought it made no difference when it was perhaps only two or three minutes for my next bite ( a common of about 3lb), but no sooner had the fish arrived than they vanished. I tried all over the peg but with no joy, so I re-fed a tiny amount and left it again.
Down the track gave no joy, so I went back across. Nothing where I'd had the first couple of bites, but a bit further to my right I had another bite and put another common of about 3lb in the net. After that bites became scarce again! I could still see peg 27 catching, and then the peg to my left had a run of three decent fish down the track. I couldn't make that line work though, despite it being the only line that produced for me the week previous!
It was simply a case of going through the motions - I had an odd try on maggot which gave me a few perch, before missing a bite across on the deck. Dropping the shallow rig in gave me a quick bite but that fish (it felt like a small carp, like the one I'd put in the silvers net of 1lb or so) came adrift, again as I had to lift the pole high to get it over the grass behind.
With perhaps three-quarters of an hour to go I saw a fish move well down my peg to my left. Going the full 17.5 down there the float plinked under instantly. After a lively tussle a common of a good 4lb went in the net, and perhaps ten minutes later his twin brother joined him. A missed bite after got me thinking of a late bag up, but the next bite gave me a roach of about 2oz, as did the next three drops! Too much like hard work at 17m+. I dropped in down the track, but with no signs I had a last drop across but no more carp came, just another small roach.
The lake had fished much better than the week previous, and in the end my 19lb 15oz was only good enough for fourth place, with weights of 21lb, 24lb and a runaway 62lb. The pegs either side had 9lb and 15lb.
With two rounds to go I'm narrowly leading the league, although with the worst result to be dropped it's far from over. I promise next time I'll get a pic, and try to find a bit more time for a better write up. Back in a fortnight!
The previous Sundays practice on the new lake went well, for me anyway. The lake fished hard all round (as did most places looking at the results quickly in the paper) I drew a well noted winter peg (27) and had seven carp and two big skimmers for 31lb - second weight was 8lb and I was the only angler who had more than one carp.
This weekend was different - it had been relatively mild for the week, and the Saturday night wasn't clear, cold and with a full moon. My draw saw me sat on peg 18 - I don't really mind the peg as it tends to be okay in the winter, although the week previous it was in the middle of three blanks.
I had four rigs up - one for on the deck across at 16.5m in about 3ft of water, one for dobbing along the bank, one for the track (14m angled left with the wind gusty) and a silvers rig for fishing at 5m.
With the match starting I fed the silvers line and the track line before going across on the deck rig with corn. No liners led me to try the dobbing rig, both left and right along the island (needing 17m of pole) but still with no joy. I could just see my peg from last week catching well from the off, and the peg to my right had a small carp too. Time to try and make something happen!
I fed across, just a tiny pinch of crumb and a few micro pellets, before having five minutes down the track on corn. I didn't expect it to go, and it didn't! Back across and a missed bite that may have been a liner was followed by what was certainly a liner. I picked up the shallow rig (set at about 2ft) and went across. The float only sat for a few seconds before plinking under and soon my first carp was in the net, a baby of about 1lb 12oz! I had an even smaller one next drop (small enough to go in the bits net) before I lost the next carp which felt much larger than the other two. I had a high tuft of grass behind me, and had to lift the pole high to ship back - it was awkward to play fish for sure!
I thought it made no difference when it was perhaps only two or three minutes for my next bite ( a common of about 3lb), but no sooner had the fish arrived than they vanished. I tried all over the peg but with no joy, so I re-fed a tiny amount and left it again.
Down the track gave no joy, so I went back across. Nothing where I'd had the first couple of bites, but a bit further to my right I had another bite and put another common of about 3lb in the net. After that bites became scarce again! I could still see peg 27 catching, and then the peg to my left had a run of three decent fish down the track. I couldn't make that line work though, despite it being the only line that produced for me the week previous!
It was simply a case of going through the motions - I had an odd try on maggot which gave me a few perch, before missing a bite across on the deck. Dropping the shallow rig in gave me a quick bite but that fish (it felt like a small carp, like the one I'd put in the silvers net of 1lb or so) came adrift, again as I had to lift the pole high to get it over the grass behind.
With perhaps three-quarters of an hour to go I saw a fish move well down my peg to my left. Going the full 17.5 down there the float plinked under instantly. After a lively tussle a common of a good 4lb went in the net, and perhaps ten minutes later his twin brother joined him. A missed bite after got me thinking of a late bag up, but the next bite gave me a roach of about 2oz, as did the next three drops! Too much like hard work at 17m+. I dropped in down the track, but with no signs I had a last drop across but no more carp came, just another small roach.
The lake had fished much better than the week previous, and in the end my 19lb 15oz was only good enough for fourth place, with weights of 21lb, 24lb and a runaway 62lb. The pegs either side had 9lb and 15lb.
With two rounds to go I'm narrowly leading the league, although with the worst result to be dropped it's far from over. I promise next time I'll get a pic, and try to find a bit more time for a better write up. Back in a fortnight!
Wednesday, 12 February 2014
Winter League Rd 2 9/2/14
Back again, like I promised! I did forget to take a peg picture - I'm out of the habit now, but I'll try and remember next time.
So, on to round two of the league. The previous Sunday's practice match I won with 38lb odd, consisting of eleven carp down the edge in the first three hours, mostly on caster. The peg then died a death but with just 12lb being second the damage was done.
The wind was a bit wild (still, we've been very lucky in my area compared to many others) and I skilfully managed to avoid the reeds pegs where I drew the week previous! Peg 44 was to be my home for the day - a peg with little or no recent form. Actually (the wind aside which was left-to-right and slightly at me) I wasn't too upset with the peg, being in the bowl of the lake and having the small island to fish too.
First up was a bomb rod - unsurprising given the weather! I then had a good plumb around trying to see if I could find the remains of any lillies but there seemed to be little there - in the summer the peg has a huge lilly bed in. With nothing to find I settled on a line at 9m which was as much as I dared get out in the wind, and even then I couldn't hold it all the time. Last up was a rig to fish for a few silvers - this was at just 5m.
With the match started I had a few chucks on the bomb, trying to find signs of any carp - none were had, although the pegs opposite had no such trouble and were in to carp pretty quick! On the forty minute mark I decided it was best to put something in the net and picked up my light rig. I'd been flicking odd casters here but my first drop was on a single red maggot. It didn't take me long to get off the mark as two small roach fell on my first two drops. At least it was the dreaded "nil points" avoided!
My third drop took longer to get a bite, and when I struck the slow chugging and copious amounts of number 8 lakky suggested it wasn't a roach! The fish chugged around for a minute or so before charging off and snapping me - DOH! In all honesty, I do think it may have been foul hooked.
A new hook link on and I decided to have a quick look on the corn line, but with no joy. That said, I didn't give it long with the wind making any sort of decent presentation very hard, even with a long line and well back-shotted rigs.
Back on the silvers line and a slightly better roach gave hope that I could at least keep up with any one-carp weights with silvers. The next drop didn't produce the hoped for better stamp roach though - it saw quite a bit of number 8 lakky streaming out again! A very lively 2lb ghostie was subdued so I decided against scaling up. Perhaps a bad choice when the float was instantly away again with another carp on - this one felt bigger and plodded to my right and eventually found a snag (most likely a lilly stem, further along from where I plumbed as it was further right than the boundary of my swim). So another rig back without a hook-link! Enough was enough and I got off my box to get a top-kit with 11h in it to give me a better chance.
Predictably, scaling up proved the end of the action so I went back on the tip, this time much closer to the small island. It had been out about five minutes before the tip flew round and a common of about 3lb joined the smaller ghostie in the net. Next cast and after a similar amount of time the rod absolutely flew round again but to my disbelief there was nothing on the end when I picked it up! No way could that have been a liner. I did however get a liner next cast, but the next half an hour was wasted on the tip for no more action.
With an hour and a half left I started to get odd silvers again on maggot. Caster didn't seem to produce at all so I plodded away on the small roach. I had an odd try longer on the pole on corn but nothing came (and the wind was still a pig!) and I also tried bigger baits on the closer line. Nothing came on corn, while a big punch yielded roach that were smaller than the ones on maggot!
With half an hour left the roach seemed to fade a little, and briefly so did the wind. With all the carp bites coming just as my bait had settled I took the brief lull in the weather as a chance to spread the shot out to get a slower drop on the rig. It turned out to be a good decision as two drops in a row the float zipped under just as it was settling, and two more 3lb commons found their way in to the keepnet!
No bites came after that quick flurry, so with twenty or so minutes left I had another chuck on the bomb and corn. Barely had I put the rod down when the tip hurtled round - it wasn't a carp, but a crucian of about a pound was welcome all the same! I had another cast on the bomb, but I wasn't convinced it was going to go again so I finished up on the close in maggot line, putting two better roach about 3oz a piece in the net, but no more carp.
It was clear that the two pegs opposite were first and second (weights of 55lb and 25lb they had), but third looked a tight run thing. Two other people had three carp that looked bigger than mine, and actually they did weigh more than my four smaller carp. Lucky I had the crucian and a few roach then, and my 3lb of bits meant I just snuck in to third with 14lb 4oz! From memory the next two weights were 13-4 and 12-6, but I do know without the bits I'd have finished fifth or sixth.
The third place means that after two rounds I'm leading the league, although there are still three rounds to go with the worst result being dropped. Still, it's a nice position to be in - hopefully I can still be there after round five!
Tight lines all, and if I don't manage to report on the weekends practice I'll definitely report back in a fortnight on round three.
So, on to round two of the league. The previous Sunday's practice match I won with 38lb odd, consisting of eleven carp down the edge in the first three hours, mostly on caster. The peg then died a death but with just 12lb being second the damage was done.
The wind was a bit wild (still, we've been very lucky in my area compared to many others) and I skilfully managed to avoid the reeds pegs where I drew the week previous! Peg 44 was to be my home for the day - a peg with little or no recent form. Actually (the wind aside which was left-to-right and slightly at me) I wasn't too upset with the peg, being in the bowl of the lake and having the small island to fish too.
First up was a bomb rod - unsurprising given the weather! I then had a good plumb around trying to see if I could find the remains of any lillies but there seemed to be little there - in the summer the peg has a huge lilly bed in. With nothing to find I settled on a line at 9m which was as much as I dared get out in the wind, and even then I couldn't hold it all the time. Last up was a rig to fish for a few silvers - this was at just 5m.
With the match started I had a few chucks on the bomb, trying to find signs of any carp - none were had, although the pegs opposite had no such trouble and were in to carp pretty quick! On the forty minute mark I decided it was best to put something in the net and picked up my light rig. I'd been flicking odd casters here but my first drop was on a single red maggot. It didn't take me long to get off the mark as two small roach fell on my first two drops. At least it was the dreaded "nil points" avoided!
My third drop took longer to get a bite, and when I struck the slow chugging and copious amounts of number 8 lakky suggested it wasn't a roach! The fish chugged around for a minute or so before charging off and snapping me - DOH! In all honesty, I do think it may have been foul hooked.
A new hook link on and I decided to have a quick look on the corn line, but with no joy. That said, I didn't give it long with the wind making any sort of decent presentation very hard, even with a long line and well back-shotted rigs.
Back on the silvers line and a slightly better roach gave hope that I could at least keep up with any one-carp weights with silvers. The next drop didn't produce the hoped for better stamp roach though - it saw quite a bit of number 8 lakky streaming out again! A very lively 2lb ghostie was subdued so I decided against scaling up. Perhaps a bad choice when the float was instantly away again with another carp on - this one felt bigger and plodded to my right and eventually found a snag (most likely a lilly stem, further along from where I plumbed as it was further right than the boundary of my swim). So another rig back without a hook-link! Enough was enough and I got off my box to get a top-kit with 11h in it to give me a better chance.
Predictably, scaling up proved the end of the action so I went back on the tip, this time much closer to the small island. It had been out about five minutes before the tip flew round and a common of about 3lb joined the smaller ghostie in the net. Next cast and after a similar amount of time the rod absolutely flew round again but to my disbelief there was nothing on the end when I picked it up! No way could that have been a liner. I did however get a liner next cast, but the next half an hour was wasted on the tip for no more action.
With an hour and a half left I started to get odd silvers again on maggot. Caster didn't seem to produce at all so I plodded away on the small roach. I had an odd try longer on the pole on corn but nothing came (and the wind was still a pig!) and I also tried bigger baits on the closer line. Nothing came on corn, while a big punch yielded roach that were smaller than the ones on maggot!
With half an hour left the roach seemed to fade a little, and briefly so did the wind. With all the carp bites coming just as my bait had settled I took the brief lull in the weather as a chance to spread the shot out to get a slower drop on the rig. It turned out to be a good decision as two drops in a row the float zipped under just as it was settling, and two more 3lb commons found their way in to the keepnet!
No bites came after that quick flurry, so with twenty or so minutes left I had another chuck on the bomb and corn. Barely had I put the rod down when the tip hurtled round - it wasn't a carp, but a crucian of about a pound was welcome all the same! I had another cast on the bomb, but I wasn't convinced it was going to go again so I finished up on the close in maggot line, putting two better roach about 3oz a piece in the net, but no more carp.
It was clear that the two pegs opposite were first and second (weights of 55lb and 25lb they had), but third looked a tight run thing. Two other people had three carp that looked bigger than mine, and actually they did weigh more than my four smaller carp. Lucky I had the crucian and a few roach then, and my 3lb of bits meant I just snuck in to third with 14lb 4oz! From memory the next two weights were 13-4 and 12-6, but I do know without the bits I'd have finished fifth or sixth.
The third place means that after two rounds I'm leading the league, although there are still three rounds to go with the worst result being dropped. Still, it's a nice position to be in - hopefully I can still be there after round five!
Tight lines all, and if I don't manage to report on the weekends practice I'll definitely report back in a fortnight on round three.
Sunday, 26 January 2014
Winter League Rd 1 26/1/14
Right, I promised a friend I would blog for my winter league, so here it is! I can't promise that every update will be early, but I will do it for all five matches fortnightly from now on. I may even manage to fill the weeks in between too, if I can.
The weather was forecast to turn wet and windy after the draw, but thankfully lake one is quite sheltered. In terms of pegs, as long as I avoided the front of the lake (2-9 and 34-40) I wasn't too fussed. When peg 13 came out I was quite happy - it's normally a bit of a nursery peg, but bites are the name of the game really in the winter league!
As you can see from the pic, I had four rigs up - three for the far bank (two identical shallow rigs, but one with 11h lakky and one with 13h) both were finished with .12 hook-links and 16 B611's. I had a deep rig up too, with 4ft of water tight to the vegetation on the far bank. This was a .3gr Nick Gilbert Power Finesse, with a .12 hook-link to a size 18 Drennan Wide Gape Match, paired with 11h lakky. Last up was a roach rig and somewhere to drop on to if the wind got too much! I had a little over 6ft of water here (at 11m), and the rig was a .4gr Nick Gilbert Power Finesse. Hook was a size 20 Drennan Wide Gape on a .10 hook-link. Matched to original no8 Preston lakky, it was light enough for roach, but enough to give a fighting chance should a carp show there!
On the whistle I fed a pinch of hemp and caster on this line, before going across on the punch on the lighter lakky shallow rig. A few knocks showed there were some fish present before the float went away and a tiny roach was on the end! After a few missed bites I tried caster on the shallow rig and had a couple of slightly better roach (twelve-to-the-pound) before a few tiny fish muscled their way in.
As the rain started I went on the deck across and the first bite was from a better roach of about 3oz, before again the fish turned tiny. I decided to try a corn skin on the hook, and it had barely been in the water a minute before the float burried and the lift was met with lakky streaming out. The fish tore off to my left before coming off. That said, I'm sure it was foul-hooked.
Predictably it slowed the swim so I decided to have a drop on the roach line, after feeding four grains of corn across. It was slow to begin with, and I was just toying with leaving the line when the float slipped away. A slightly better roach was the result, and a three or four followed, including one about 4oz that needed the landing net!
As the line faded I topped it up with half-a-dozen casters and went back across on corn. I had a near instant bite which I missed, before a much slower and dithery bite bought me a 2oz roach on corn. No more bites led me to try caster, both on the deeper and shallower rigs but any bites were just tiny roach. I came back on the deeper line and had two reasonable roach before the rain got even heavier and the line seemed to die.
About two hours in and having had enough of the rain, I relented and put my brolly up! I hate sitting under the thing, but the trees were keeping the worst of the wind off and with bites hard to come by now (even on maggot) it was a bit of welcome shelter. Odd carp had been caught to my left, so increasingly I plugged away on corn hoping for a carp.
Eventually, with a little over two hours to go the float plinked under in the manner that you just know is a carp, and the lift was met with a sluggish chugging on the end as a 2lb common that looked as cold as me made a mistake! No more bites followed, so I topped up with four grains of corn and had a look on the roach line, but nowt was doing.
Back over on corn but I had no more more bites. I plugged away for about twenty minutes when the slightest movement about three feet to the left of my float caught my attention. Even as I write I'm not entirely sure it was a fish... Anyway, in for a penny and all that, I picked up the lighter shallow rig and baited it with a 9mm punch. I laid the rig in, the float cocked and then simply wasn't there! The lift saw the lakky stream out as carp number two made it's mistake. Again, a small one about 2lb, but a fish all the same!
The next three drops all did the same, except the last fish was about 4lb instead of 2lb. A change to the slightly heavier rig didn't make any difference (well, the fish don't know what lakky is on it!), but the 13h just helped me get the fish away from the brambles hanging in the water! The last part of the match went pretty smoothly and odd fish kept coming. I had a tiny area between two yellow brambles at 16m where if I could hold the rig nicely I got bites. I missed a few, and as tends to happen when I was on thirteen carp the next one came off - five minutes before the end. I did manage to get one more after, so I must not grumble! I had one mirror of about 4lb, while the others were all between 1lb 12oz and 3lb.
I guessed my fourteen carp would go around 40lb, which as it turned out was pretty accurate as they totalled 40lb 12oz. My bits went 1lb 14oz for a total of 42lb 10oz. A decent days fishing given the weather, and more so as it was good enough for first place(and my first win in three months!), with peg 20 having 25lb odd for second. A good start to the winter league, even if it'll probably take until the next round for my gear to dry out!
Tuesday, 31 December 2013
Ending The Year With A Whimper!
Well, I know I promised you a blog after Sunday, but in all honesty there's nowt to write about! A very sharp frost Saturday night seemed to upset most fishery's from what I've heard. I drew one of the two peg's I didn't want and didn't really catch a lot. Five small roach and a small skimmer to be exact. I could have caught small fish but it's hard to get your head down for them when only a couple of pegs up someone is bagging, and on the golden peg too!
So a disappointing year in angling finished in a disappointing way - my worst year results wise for a good few years. The brightest point would have to be away from match fishing too with my pb river carp which I nabbed early one morning before work in September. I'd really like a river 20lb'er next year, but it seems I've been saying that for a long while too. Hopefully 2014 is a much better year for angling for me all round!
Hopefully you all had a good Christmas, and a Happy New Year to you all. I hope it's a fish filled one!
Gavin
So a disappointing year in angling finished in a disappointing way - my worst year results wise for a good few years. The brightest point would have to be away from match fishing too with my pb river carp which I nabbed early one morning before work in September. I'd really like a river 20lb'er next year, but it seems I've been saying that for a long while too. Hopefully 2014 is a much better year for angling for me all round!
Hopefully you all had a good Christmas, and a Happy New Year to you all. I hope it's a fish filled one!
Gavin
Monday, 23 December 2013
Sunday December 22nd
Well, it's certainly a bit blowy of late! Apologies for the lack of pictures - in the rush of getting things sorted for Christmas I forgot to give the batteries in my camera a proper charge. And before anyone suggests I could have used my phone, my "smartphone" is apparently smarter than my ageing laptop and the two really don't seem to get on very well together!
Anyhow, along with the wind yesterday morning it also decided to rain as I was leaving the house too, although thankfully it stopped before the draw. I'd not walked round but could see the wind was blowing down the lake and slightly off the back of the lower number pegs on the right side of the lake as you look at it from the car park. It was about right then that I found myself right at the windward end on the left-hand bank - peg 62 was to be my home for the day.
People who know the venue will know it's a corner peg on an island, and you can just fish to the up the side of the point without leaving your own peg. Fishing across was going to be fun with the wind, but on the times it abated a little I had a small area of calmer water where the point of the island protected it a little. I had two rigs up for here - a .3gr Nick Gilbert Power Finesse for fishing on the deck in just over 3ft of water on the slope, and a 4x10 Preston PB2 for fishing punch shallow. The deeper rig also doubled for my margin rig at about 12m to my left near some straggly reeds. Last up was a .4g Power Finesse set to fish in about 5ft of water at 12m angled to my left (downwind). all the rigs had .125 Garboline hook-links, with the two deeper rigs fished finished with a size 18 Drennan Wide Gape Match hook. The shallow rig had a size 16 B611 on as it was only going to be used with punch. All the rigs were matched to Preston 11h elastic. I also put up my 10ft CarbonActive Mini Carp with a small strait lead, just in case the wind increased any more!
I only fed the deepest swim from the off - giving it just three grains of corn and a tiny pinch of hemp. I plugged away with either the shallow punch rig or the slope rig when the wind allowed, or on the bomb otherwise for the first hour with nothing to show for it. With other people having caught odd carp that I could see I risked a bit of feed across, and give it just three grains of corn.
A fruitless try on the other two lines saw me back across but had only one tiny roach on a 9mm punch to show for my efforts. At times the wind was outrageous but I plugged away, occasionally using the bomb to get through the worst of it. On around the two hour mark, during a slight lull in the wind I lowered my punch rig down and the float simply went with it. I was quite surprised to see that my lift saw several feet of red lakky come out! The wind chose that time to start blowing again, and I was thankful for the nice forgiving elastic as the wind buffeted the pole around as I gingerly shipped back. A nice looking common of about 4lb was my reward.
With one carp in the net my efforts didn't seem so much in vain, and about forty minutes later - again when the wind allowed me to fish the pole - I had two carp in as many drops. I was like bagging-up, for those two drops! Both were again about 4lb each. For a while after the wind didn't allow my to try across on the pole, while the tip remained steadfastly motionless.
The last hour loomed and the temperature started to cool a bit. Any signs of life across had gone now and I plugged away mostly in the deep water. My faith in a line that had not given me a bite was rewarded with about twenty minutes to go when the float dipped with a grain of corn on the hook. After a few minutes a carp that looked nearer 6lb than 5 was in the net, but sadly I didn't get any more.
My four carp in the end weighed in at just under 18lb and was good enough for third place - 28lb won and 25lb was second. Both those weights were taken from the end pegs on either bank nearest to the car park - and off the wind for pretty much all but the worst gusts! It was hard work, but at least I had some reward for it. It's just a shame that the worst of the wind eased away while packing up - when the scales came round there was barely a ripple, as usually seems to happen!
Right, must be off - things to sort out before Christmas, but all being well I'll be back out next Sunday and will have a blog for you the following Monday or Tuesday. Have a good Christmas all who read this, and may Santa bring you lots of nice fishing related goodies! If not, do as I most likely will and go buy your own!
Anyhow, along with the wind yesterday morning it also decided to rain as I was leaving the house too, although thankfully it stopped before the draw. I'd not walked round but could see the wind was blowing down the lake and slightly off the back of the lower number pegs on the right side of the lake as you look at it from the car park. It was about right then that I found myself right at the windward end on the left-hand bank - peg 62 was to be my home for the day.
People who know the venue will know it's a corner peg on an island, and you can just fish to the up the side of the point without leaving your own peg. Fishing across was going to be fun with the wind, but on the times it abated a little I had a small area of calmer water where the point of the island protected it a little. I had two rigs up for here - a .3gr Nick Gilbert Power Finesse for fishing on the deck in just over 3ft of water on the slope, and a 4x10 Preston PB2 for fishing punch shallow. The deeper rig also doubled for my margin rig at about 12m to my left near some straggly reeds. Last up was a .4g Power Finesse set to fish in about 5ft of water at 12m angled to my left (downwind). all the rigs had .125 Garboline hook-links, with the two deeper rigs fished finished with a size 18 Drennan Wide Gape Match hook. The shallow rig had a size 16 B611 on as it was only going to be used with punch. All the rigs were matched to Preston 11h elastic. I also put up my 10ft CarbonActive Mini Carp with a small strait lead, just in case the wind increased any more!
I only fed the deepest swim from the off - giving it just three grains of corn and a tiny pinch of hemp. I plugged away with either the shallow punch rig or the slope rig when the wind allowed, or on the bomb otherwise for the first hour with nothing to show for it. With other people having caught odd carp that I could see I risked a bit of feed across, and give it just three grains of corn.
A fruitless try on the other two lines saw me back across but had only one tiny roach on a 9mm punch to show for my efforts. At times the wind was outrageous but I plugged away, occasionally using the bomb to get through the worst of it. On around the two hour mark, during a slight lull in the wind I lowered my punch rig down and the float simply went with it. I was quite surprised to see that my lift saw several feet of red lakky come out! The wind chose that time to start blowing again, and I was thankful for the nice forgiving elastic as the wind buffeted the pole around as I gingerly shipped back. A nice looking common of about 4lb was my reward.
With one carp in the net my efforts didn't seem so much in vain, and about forty minutes later - again when the wind allowed me to fish the pole - I had two carp in as many drops. I was like bagging-up, for those two drops! Both were again about 4lb each. For a while after the wind didn't allow my to try across on the pole, while the tip remained steadfastly motionless.
The last hour loomed and the temperature started to cool a bit. Any signs of life across had gone now and I plugged away mostly in the deep water. My faith in a line that had not given me a bite was rewarded with about twenty minutes to go when the float dipped with a grain of corn on the hook. After a few minutes a carp that looked nearer 6lb than 5 was in the net, but sadly I didn't get any more.
My four carp in the end weighed in at just under 18lb and was good enough for third place - 28lb won and 25lb was second. Both those weights were taken from the end pegs on either bank nearest to the car park - and off the wind for pretty much all but the worst gusts! It was hard work, but at least I had some reward for it. It's just a shame that the worst of the wind eased away while packing up - when the scales came round there was barely a ripple, as usually seems to happen!
Right, must be off - things to sort out before Christmas, but all being well I'll be back out next Sunday and will have a blog for you the following Monday or Tuesday. Have a good Christmas all who read this, and may Santa bring you lots of nice fishing related goodies! If not, do as I most likely will and go buy your own!
Wednesday, 4 December 2013
Autumn/Winter Update
Well, I keep meaning to sit and do a proper write-up but I just can't seem to find the time!
I've had an odd decent days fishing but it has been largely hit and miss - I think with one win and a second place since my last update, but also some real slow days. This weekend gone was the Fur and Feather and regular readers will know that they haven't been the kindest of matches to me since I started this blog back in 2008.
This year the weather looked to be better as at least the lakes didn't have a lid on them. I have to admit though, when I drew peg 53 - the same peg I drew and blanked off last year in the Christmas match - I was a little despondent!
My mood improved a little when I sat down on my box - despite the tighter pegging with the higher attendance. There were a few leaves drifting about in the corner, and one thing that everyone knows about the venue is that the carp love leaves! Not that there were any of those showing.
I had a few rigs up - one for the deepest water I could find, at 11m angled to my right, a margin rig for 8m to my right about 3ft deep that also doubled up for fishing just on the slope up to the island. I also had a 2ft deep dibber rig and a roach rig for 6m.
I fed the margin and the deep line with just six grains of corn and a tiny pinch of hemp and started flicking a few casters to the roach line, before starting to explore along the far bank with the slope rig and corn, looking for any signs.
After twenty minutes it looked as though no carp were present, so I decided to have one drop on the 2ft punch rig before I had a go for the roach. I was somewhat shocked when the float burried after about a min but I missed it! Next drop it went again and the lift saw my 13h lakky streaming out! A decent carp of around 4lb was the culpret.
The next two hours saw odd bites out of the blue in different places along the far bank, and at the halfway mark I had five carp and had lost one which had picked up a stick in a raft of leaves and the hook pulled near the net.
The last part never saw me hook any other carp, but I plugged away getting odd roach on punch but largely missing the bites.
At the end my carp went 19-3, and was third on the lake with 21lb second and 22 winning - both weights taken from the deepest area of the lake in the open water. Not losing that carp, or having the last spell after roach almost without doubt would have won me the lake (I never picked up my roach rig), but never mind! I skillfully in not winning managed to avoid the lake winners bottle of Champagne (which I don't drink!) and managed a choice from the table instead. The bottle of Jack Daniels winter punch is much more to my taste, although a case of beer was tempting!
In all honesty, I was pretty happy to have broke my duck of poor Fur and Feather matches and have caught some fish! The other lake was just as close, with 33lb and 32lb being top weights and giving the overall winner.
I hope to give you a couple of proper blogs soon as I have time off over Christmas, but if I don't write before then have a great Christmas all, and a Happy New Year!
I've had an odd decent days fishing but it has been largely hit and miss - I think with one win and a second place since my last update, but also some real slow days. This weekend gone was the Fur and Feather and regular readers will know that they haven't been the kindest of matches to me since I started this blog back in 2008.
This year the weather looked to be better as at least the lakes didn't have a lid on them. I have to admit though, when I drew peg 53 - the same peg I drew and blanked off last year in the Christmas match - I was a little despondent!
My mood improved a little when I sat down on my box - despite the tighter pegging with the higher attendance. There were a few leaves drifting about in the corner, and one thing that everyone knows about the venue is that the carp love leaves! Not that there were any of those showing.
I had a few rigs up - one for the deepest water I could find, at 11m angled to my right, a margin rig for 8m to my right about 3ft deep that also doubled up for fishing just on the slope up to the island. I also had a 2ft deep dibber rig and a roach rig for 6m.
I fed the margin and the deep line with just six grains of corn and a tiny pinch of hemp and started flicking a few casters to the roach line, before starting to explore along the far bank with the slope rig and corn, looking for any signs.
After twenty minutes it looked as though no carp were present, so I decided to have one drop on the 2ft punch rig before I had a go for the roach. I was somewhat shocked when the float burried after about a min but I missed it! Next drop it went again and the lift saw my 13h lakky streaming out! A decent carp of around 4lb was the culpret.
The next two hours saw odd bites out of the blue in different places along the far bank, and at the halfway mark I had five carp and had lost one which had picked up a stick in a raft of leaves and the hook pulled near the net.
The last part never saw me hook any other carp, but I plugged away getting odd roach on punch but largely missing the bites.
At the end my carp went 19-3, and was third on the lake with 21lb second and 22 winning - both weights taken from the deepest area of the lake in the open water. Not losing that carp, or having the last spell after roach almost without doubt would have won me the lake (I never picked up my roach rig), but never mind! I skillfully in not winning managed to avoid the lake winners bottle of Champagne (which I don't drink!) and managed a choice from the table instead. The bottle of Jack Daniels winter punch is much more to my taste, although a case of beer was tempting!
In all honesty, I was pretty happy to have broke my duck of poor Fur and Feather matches and have caught some fish! The other lake was just as close, with 33lb and 32lb being top weights and giving the overall winner.
I hope to give you a couple of proper blogs soon as I have time off over Christmas, but if I don't write before then have a great Christmas all, and a Happy New Year!
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