16m Garbolino G995.
5 match tops (2 white Hydro, 2 grey hydro, 2 yellow dual core)
3 power tops (black hydro)
Extending cupping kit
2 short No. 4's
3 spare long No. 4
No.1 sections (somewhere) Rodbag & tubes
May be able to include some more top kits. £1100.
e-mail me at mike1herrington@aol.com

Not written,

Anything for a good while. I have been through a period of unemployment, which, although you have the extra time on your hands, I haven't been too inspired to do much by way of the blog. I am now back into work and it just woke me up a touch.

So, what have I been doing (apart from giving my autograph periodically), I have been on a few club matches with Bram and his club (Robin Hood AC, Leeds) and also with Coco, Tombstone and his cronies.

I have been to Risby, again, on the Folly lake. It just didn't fish anywhere near how if fished on my last visit. I ended up with 28lb odd, which was a reasonable weight on the day, Chris (Plughole) Kitchen managed to win the match with 70 odd pounds, by fishing his top 3 kit down the side. Bram ended up framing off the flyer pegs (pegs 25 - 30), Plughole was also on the same pegs. Paul 'Pid' Farley fished a tidy match on the waggler and just missed out with a low 40lb.

I entered a couple of matches at Woodland Lakes, Thirsk on Saturdays and during my period of unemployment, on Wednesdays. I always, always seem to draw the wrong end of the lake. Match 1, I draw Skylark 34, which is a corner peg, it is also shallow and the was blowing diagonally down to the opposite end of the lake. One time travelling partner, Panic Poole, was 3rd with 70 odd lb. Darrell 'Sir Tossa' Taylor was 2nd with a low 80lb. I managed 40lb dead. On my next outing I drew Skylark 9 and ended up with 49lb, everyone to my right all had 60lb+. I did manage to win my section as I was the last man in the section to my left. On my last session, I drew Partridge 19, and complained all the way to my peg. The pegs to be on have been pegs 22 - 25 on the same lake/bank. I fished corn at 16m, but actually feeding at 10m. By the all out 118lb was winning the match. I plonked 98lb odd on the scales. Steve 'Nightie' Richards managed to put 35lb on the scales, Andy 'Haircut' Bridge put 60lb on the scales, then you got to the flyers. Peg 23 had 145lb (for 2nd) and peg 24 had 100lb odd. 155lb won the match. I was 5th in the match, with my best weight at the venue. I went home empty handed though. They paid top 3, then sections and the 100lb was in my section.

I have just started going back to The Oaks after a self imposed rest. I have had some terrible results and with the weather, one method works one week, then doesn't work the next. John 'Chappy' Chapman and his travelling partner Dave 'Pimmy' Pimlott have been taking it in turns to take the place apart. Gareth 'Marco (remember the squealy queer one from BB) Drury has been holding own and Steve 'Ena' Sharples has been giving everyone a run for their money.

We have just started a new payout system at the oaks, £20 per match paying 5 or 6 man sections along with the top 4 or 5. This gives something for everyone to work for when they draw a hard section.

Bye bye for now.

Tightlines.

Mike

I went to Risby again on Saturday 29th July, to fish a match on the Tench Lake. I went with Tyersal Angling Club again, so I had the pleasure of fishing with Catkiller, Coco the Clown and Tombstone to name but a few.

I gave F1 a lift again, but this time I invested in one ear protector, due to being deaf in my left ear, I only needed to cover up my right ear and I couldn’t hear the little twerp. Saying that, he talked that much, he melted my only ear protector. Talk about enthusiasm!!!

Following a decent breakfast in the lakeside café, we were ready for the draw. At the draw, I put my hand in the hat and managed to snare Jackpot peg 25. There was the obligatory comment of ‘That’s safe then?’ and the like. But some one also said that I wasn’t eligible to win it as I was not a member of the club. Should I win, it will be interesting!!!

I arrived at my peg to find that a few fish were crashing about at 15m plus and there were a few carp cruising about. It looked promising. I had match organiser ‘Beamer’ to my left on peg 24, Catkiller was on 23, Pete Cressey drew peg 18, F1 was on about peg 30 and I had Lee ‘Spiceworld’ Helliwell to my right on peg 27, peg 26 was empty. Coco Harrison was on about peg 10 and Tombstone was on peg 14 (or thereabouts).

Some one told me that Tombstone had applied for a Jockeys Riding Licence, but was turned down for being too small. Ho Hum. During the match, whilst he was setting up, he went for a walk and went missing. It was only when the wind blew and moved a blade of grass could we see him. He owns a Brilo Stax box with about 10 empty pole trays on it. I think that they are so that people can see him when he is sat down on his box.

I set up 4 rigs as follows:

Rig one was a Gaz Malham float taking 4x14. I set this up on .16 Ultima Power Match line direct to a size 14 Drennan Barbless Carp eyed hook. I made this rig from the hair backwards in order to fish direct and to also tie a Korum Baitspike onto the rig. I plumbed up at 5m slightly to my right, where I found 4ft of depth.

I also set up one rig to fish at 14m on the deck. I used a .5g Garbolino DC4 float, again with a Baitspike also, on .16 Ultima Power Match line. I used this diameter of line as it is quite thin, yet strong and supple and I wasn’t sure of what size of fish I was going to encounter. I plumbed up and found that it was about 6ft deep.

I then set up 2 shallow rigs as follows:

The first one was a 4 x 12 Gaz Malham float (still not sure of the pattern), which I set up on .16 Ultima Power Match line direct to a size 14 Drennan Eyed Carp Match hook, incorporating a Korum Baitspike. I set this rig to fish at half depth (about 3ft deep).

My second shallow rig was a rig that I was going to use by varying the depth, anything from 12” to 2ft deep. I used a .1g Garbolino DC2 float, which was attached to .16 Ultima Power Match line again, fishing direct to a size 14 Drennan Eyed Carp Match hook also with a Baitspike. When fishing shallow for carp and using either pellets or meat as bait, I am a firm believer in using the Baitspikes as you are able to slap your rig and bait down on the water, without the bait falling off.

For bait I had 3 tins of meat, ½ of which, I covered in Carp Vaders’ Predator Plus, which I then placed in the fridge overnight, and the other half ‘au naturale’, I also had some pellets and I took along a tub of Carp Vaders’ Method Mix Groundbait, in order to see whether or not I could put it to use. I mixed the two ‘meats’ together for feeding. Prior to fishing with the meat, I covered it in water for about 5 minutes, this pales the meat. Think about it this way. If you leave meat in water what colour does it go? It pales.

We’re off. At the start of the match, I put some meat in a Fox toss pot and shipped out to 14m with the full depth rig baited up with some red Predator Plus meat. I dropped the meat in and the rig over the top. I was in, literally as quick as that. I was the first one into a fish. Most other people on the match were still potting in their bait. After a brief tussle, I managed to get it into the net. 3lb first put in. Not bad. I re-baited and dropped back in. After a longer wait this time, about 3 minutes, I was in again. I started to feed a few pieces of meat with the catapult. I got my second fish out, this one weighed about 1lb. I managed to catch another one on the deep rig before I started to get linered, time to go shallow me thinks.

I baited up the DC 2 shallow rig with meat on the hook and set the rig to fish at about 2ft deep. I shipped out and dropped in. After a couple of minutes of feeding meat and lifting and slapping the rig back down, I was in. My first fish up in the water. I had it on for no more than 10 seconds before I lost it. Probably foul-hooked. I brought my rig back and threw the scale into my net (not really). I shallowed up a touch, to about 18” deep and went back out. 1 hour into the match and I had about 10lb. The only other person that I could see catching was Spiceworld on the next peg. What was he doing?

After seeing Spiceworld ship out some chopped worm and Predator Plus, I devised a cunning plan. In order to introduce some Predator Plus into the swim, I got the Method Mix and added lots and lots of water to create a sloppy mix. Once it was over-wetted, I then added a huge squirt of Predator Plus to the mix. Here goes.

I put some of the mix in a Fox Tosspot, baited up my hook with a piece of red Predator Plus meat and dropped the mix in and the rig over the top. After some 30 – 40 seconds, the float buried and with the way that it was nodding its head, I was attached to something quite substantial. The Black Hydro tried its best to get dragged from the pole and I found that I had to play the fish at 14m, which is against my religion as I usually, just start to ship back slowly. This was a good fish!!! After a 5 minute battle, I had the fish back to the top 4 kit. I unshipped there and played the fish on that for a while. I started to think that the fish might be foul hooked as I didn’t seem to be getting anywhere, when all of a sudden, it’s head poked out of the water. It was a really good fish. After a further 3 or 4 minutes, I managed to fold it into my landing net. I was giddy, and I would estimate that the fish weighed about 14lb. Boy, did I give a huge sigh of relief. I had a rest for a minute or so, to catch my breath.

I then proceeded to catch a carp every put in (considering not many other people were catching) whether I was having to wait 30 seconds or 10 minutes. The fish were moving up and down in the water and I had to keep swapping between the two shallow rigs. Since I had started to introduce the Predator Mix, my peg had turned into a Jacuzzi and bubbles were erupting everywhere. The fish were blowing all over and they were not on the bottom.

The method mix had lots of particles in it (pieces of corn, hemp, maize, pellets and such) and was a very sticky mix until I added copious amounts of water. I think that due to the varying weights and sizes of the particles, and the Predator Plus, the fish were feeding at all depths in the water column and I was having to find them by continuously changing depths and rigs. Every time that I dropped in on the deep rig, I got linered to death and couldn’t connect with a fish.

Halfway through the match, I observed Coco playing a fish. Observed is sometimes a scary word. Just as Coco struck, I am sure a jumbo jet in the jet stream had to swerve to avoid the top of his pole. He then proceeded to try to drag it to the top of the lake whilst trying to bend his pole past the realms of technology and beyond. It looked like he was using a 10m swingtip. After everyone had observed that he can catch a fish, he then went on to net the fish to a round of applause. It must have weighed all of 4lb, but at least everyone knew that he had it on.

With about an hour and a half of the match left, I decided to try to up the pace by shortening the line between the pole float and pole tip and also introduce more meat by the catapult whilst still feeding the Predator Mix. Over the next hour, I managed to snare about 4 fish. Something wasn’t right. I put my other rig back on that was set to fish at half depth and added 3 more fish in the last 20 minutes or so. I had messed up, big time, but would it cost me?

Towards the end of the match, Mark, who is the travelling companion of Captain Mainwaring, snagged the near side reeds using his Daiwa Tournament Professional pole. After a prolonged tussle, he managed to break his pole at the No. 4 and 5 sections, leaving his top 3 floating in the lake. He then grabbed hold of his sections that were behind him and threw them into the trees behind him, with such force that Steve Backley would have been proud of his javelin attempt, breaking some further sections. ‘YOU DIDN’T WANT TO DO THAT, DID YOU?’ At the end of the match, I asked him what line had he been using and he replied 20lb, as he had been done on 16lb line!!! Yeah, whatever.

I was hoping to have 70lb + with a possibility of having nearly 80lb. I had managed to snare a few, but not sure on numbers as I don’t really count the number of fish that I have caught. Coco failed to catch any more fish following the Sonic Boom that was created from his strike.

As I lifted my net out and I saw the big carp again, I had a change of heart about its size. I would estimate that it weighed about 12lb and not my original 14lb guess. I got Spiceworld to take a photo, but upon looking at it, they had made a mini movie and Catkiller was in the back ground taking the piss. Catkiller is that ugly, I won’t bother scaring all you readers away from this or any future blog's by publishing the movie or any stills. My first weigh went 49lb odd and I still had a few fish left in the net.

Spiceworld's first weigh went 53lb 4oz. He had a few fish in his net, this was gonna be close. His second weigh was just shy of 15lb. Bugger - he has ounced me (8oz to be precise).

Spiceworld (He informs me that he is no relation to Ginger Spice), won the match with 68lb 2oz. I was second with 67lb 10oz and Alan (?) was 3rd with 44lb.

Following the results, and after having a chat with a couple of the other lads on the match, I was still left with a question. Why do they call it the ‘Tench Lake’ as there were no more than a dozen tench caught throughout the match by 25 anglers?

Went to the Fisho this year for the first time, here are one or two pictures that I took...

So, are we gonna have that quid side bet?

I had a couple of quid on Jacko. Go on my son!!

It was this big - Honest.

Shame about the coat.

I can always dream......

Mid July

I am having a rest from The Oaks at the moment due to my inability to be able to catch fish there. On my last match a couple of weeks ago, I managed to tip back somewhere in the region of 25lb, and that is after walking round the lake for about an hour or so. I was on peg 47 on Cedar Lake and I had Andy Hampson to my left on peg 46, with Gary Jubb for company on peg 49. Andy fished his peg all day and tipped back approximately the same weight whilst Jubby and John Allerton, on peg 50, both weighed in approximately 50lb.

So this week, I ended up going with Tyersall club, who are based in Bradford, to Risby Park lakes, just outside of Beverley. I had heard good reports about the place, and the match was taking place on Folly Lake, so I was looking forward to the trip. I offered to give a lift to one of the young lads who goes up to None-Go-Bye lakes, Louis Hamilton aka F1. F1 is very keen and on the way to the venue I got the usual questions, what line, how deep, what hook, what elastic, which peg, what line, what line, how deep, what hook, what elastic, which peg and so on and so on. By the time that we arrived I hurriedly went for a breakfast in order to give my bleeding ears a rest. Whilst eating my breakfast at the onsite café, all I got was would I be ok with one net or do I need to buy another? F1 chill out!!!

Tombstone, Catkiller and Coco to name but a few, where all in attendance. After asking one or two people that had fished the venue before the general consensus was that you needed to draw pegs 25 – 30 as most of the big fish lived there. After breakfast, I had a quick walk round the lake to see what was what. I started at peg 40 and walked round to peg one. To be fair, apart from a few extra reeds on the inside, there was nothing special that separated the so called good pegs from the bad pegs.

By the time of the draw there were 25 of us in attendance. I put my hand in the cap and ended up with peg 14. I would have preferred it on the other side. F1 snared peg 28, Tombstone was on peg 12, Ray Keay was to my left on peg 13, Catkiller was on peg 25 and Coco was on peg 35.

In view of the depth of the lake and the amount of fish swirling in the upper layers of the water, I opted to have a shallow approach as the basis of my attack. I set up the following rigs:

Rig one was a .2 Garbolino DC6 float on .18 Ultima Power Match line tied direct to a size 14 Colmic B500 hook. This was attached to Purple Hydro elastic. I plumbed up down the side next to nearside reed cover and found that I had approximately 2.5ft of depth next to the reeds.

Rig two was a Gaz Malham float taking 4x10 shot. I set this up on .16 Ultima Power Match line. I hair-rigged a Korum Baitspike at the business end of the rig, attached to a size 16 Colmic B500 hook. I attached this to the Drennan pink elastic. I set the rig to fish approximately 12” deep.

Rig three was a duplicate of the above rig, set to fish slightly deeper at up to 2ft deep should the fish drop down in the water a bit.

My fourth rig was set to fish at depth at about 4m where I had 5ft of depth. I set up a .4g Garbolino DC4 on .16 Ultima Power Match straight through to a size 12 Gamakatsu Pellet and Paste hook. I planned to fish paste on this rig.

For bait I had put 3 tins of luncheon meat through a Mal Bailey 6mm meatcutter. I then separated half of this and covered one half in Carp Vaders’ Predator Plus liquid additive (http://www.carpvader.com/index.asp?function=DISPLAYPRODUCT&productid=3) This gave the bait a red tinge and also added additional flavouring.

I also made some paste from some micro pellets to which I added some scopex liquid, additive also from Carp Vader. In addition to the meat and paste I also had 2 pts of casters, just in case. I was ready.

At the start of the match, I cupped in some micro pellets in at 5m, then I cupped in some casters and meat (both the normal and the Predator Plus) at 13m. I immediately started to fire some casters and meat over the top. I threw some pellets in down the side. I baited up the deep rig with some paste and dropped it in on the 4m line. I waited less than a minute, carp no.1 was in the net. My first fish was about 1.5lb, but at least I was off the mark.

I managed to snare another 3 before I got linered(?) to death. I went out on the shallow rig at 13m. After feeding a few pieces of meat, the float shot under and a ‘ghostie’ carp of about 2.5lb was on it’s way. I fished up in the water for the next couple of hours catching the odd ghostie along with some corking ide, to about 2.5lb.

I fed a few pieces of bread down the margins, when all of a sudden, I heard some slurping. There was about 5 or 6 carp down the side in the marginal reeds, taking the bread off the top. I quickly knocked up another rig consisting of .20 Ultima Powermatch line tied direct to a size 12 Colmic B500. No float, no shot. I baited up the hook with a piece of bread about the size of a 50p piece and dropped in. After about 2 minutes, a ghostie approaching 6 or 7lb came up and slurped on the bread. What an awesome sight. Your heart is thumping, you’re a coiled like a cobra, waiting to strike, when..

Whack. I was in. The carp went mad in the reeds, it shot out into the lake (with the line still in the reeds), then went back into the reeds, like some sort of slalom. The hook pulled and embedded itself in the reeds. I pulled for a break and ended up dragging in some of the reeds instead. I quickly inspected the line and although it had appeared to be stretched, it seemed ok. I’ll tell you what. The Ultima Powermatch line is incredibly strong.

About time to go back out on the shallow rig. I dropped and immediately caught a carp of about 5lb.

I continued to fish up in the water until the last hour, when I decided to go down the side. I had been baiting up down the side with meat and pellets for the duration of the match. I dropped in down the side with meat on the hook, in about 3ft of water and caught a ghostie of about 3lb first drop in. Over the next hour I managed to snare another 8 carp to 4lb. That was it. Time over.

I would estimate that I had about 80 – 85lb, mostly caught on meat either up in the water or down the side.

I thought that I would have a top 3 finish. By the time that the scales arrived, Tombstone had snared 70 odd pounds, which included a fish of 11.5lb. Ray Keay snared 95lb odd, that included a near double figure fish that he played after time. My first weigh went 59lb and my second weigh went 18lb for a 77lb total. I walked round with the scales and watched as I got further away from framing as Peter Cressey plonked 114lb on the scales, all caught on paste at 4m.

One of the last to weigh was ginger Kenny. He weighed in 127lb odd to win the match by using 20m floating pole and floating dog biscuit as bait. I ended up 4th and they only pay top 3. Blinking Eck!!

If I could have done a couple of things different, I could have added another 15lb or so, I reckon. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Halfway through the match, I added more Predator Plus to my meat to form a red cloud that hung in the water. When I did this, I managed to catch more carp than ide. Maybe if I had gone down the side half an hour earlier, I could have added a few more.

As far as the weights go, F1 weighed in 44lb, which was a good result for the ‘young un’. The lowest weight weighed in by those that knew(?) what they were doing was 49lb by Coco Harrison. Nobody DNW’d. What a place. There were 6 other 70lb plus weights without the top 4. What a place.

If you decide to have a dabble, take your net as you can use them whilst pleasure fishing.

Tightlines!!!

Saturday 7th July 2007

My lad had his 12th birthday party last Sunday, and I spent the day with a group of kids running round a wood with a paintballing gun. If you haven’t been paintballing before, I suggest that you have a go. It was a better day due to the weather as it has rained on and off (mostly on) for the last 3 weeks or so and the place was muddy, so when you dived to the ground in some sort of SAS manoeuvre you got absolutely blathered in mud.

One of the games consisted of plastic barrel at the halfway point between two teams and the idea was to keep the barrel on the oppositions side of the field. I had the task of making the first run for the barrel (minus my gun), whilst all and sundry took pot-shots at me. Have a go if you get chance. I am contemplating organising a little ‘do’ with a few mates, hopefully in the near future if I can get the commitment.

Anyway’s, back to the fishing. Due to the party last weekend, there is no report, so I made up for it with a trip to Hosticks ponds, Beverley.

I made midweek arrangements to pick up the Anaemic Milk Bottle, who was formerly known as ‘Dudone’. On a recent match one of the anglers said to Dudone, ‘You know what you need don’t you? Dudone replied ‘What’. The angler said ‘A good suntan’.

As most of the readers in the UK are aware (and no doubt some of the readers from other shores), there are certain areas of England that have been under 6ft plus of water. Up until a few days ago, there were only parts of Doncaster and Sheffield that had suffered. Kingston upon Hull has also had similar problems and Hosticks had their fair share. There are 3 lakes on the complex and the rain was so severe that the lakes merged to become one and you needed chest waders just to get to your peg and the car park was under 2ft of water.

After a good breakfast at the onsite café courtesy of Val, I was ready for the draw. Steve Cromie turned up and a £2 side bet was set up. At the draw Cromie drew number 2, whilst I was number 7 and Anaemia pulled out number 15. With the matches being a rover, the number indicated your turn to choose your own peg.

Cromie chose the peg that had won the match on Thursday, Kingfisher peg 1. I snared Moat peg 29 and by the time that it was Anaemia’s turn, he didn’t have much of a choice, so ended up on Island peg 13. He got to his peg to find it was under water. A quick word with the match organisers, and he had moved to peg 12. By the time that the match had started he had moved again to Island peg 18. Don’t ask!!!

At the start of the match I set up 3 rigs as follows:

Rig one was a Gaz Malham special, I say a Gaz Malham special as I am not sure what pattern the float is. I like the Malham floats as they are virtually indestructible and you can fish them next to reeds/snags etc with no worries of damaging the floats. I set the rig up on .16 Ultima Power Match. I set the rig up to fish across to the island and in view of the far side being a slope, I settle on about 2ft deep. The float took 4x12, which roughly equates to 3 No. 8 and 1 x No.11 Preston Stotz. This rig was attached to the Pink Drennan hollow elastic. I also plumbed up down the side on the top 3 kit until I found the same depth allowing the float to have a dual purpose (nearside and far side).

I set up the usual .2g Garbolino DC6 float on .18 Ultima Power Match line direct to a size 14 Colmic B500 hook. This was attached to black hydro. Again, I plumbed up across to the island in the same spot as my first rig.

My 3rd rig was a .4g Garbolino DC4 float. This was set up on .18 Ultima Power Match line direct to a size 12 Gamakatsu Pellet and Paste hook. Black Hydro completed this set up. I plumbed up at the base of the far slope and found that I had about 4.5ft of depth.

For bait, I had 2pts of micro pellets, 1 tin of corn and a large ball of paste made from my micro pellets.

At the all in, I potted in some pellets to the base of the far slope and put in a few grains of corn and pellets on the inside line.

I went across to the far side with the Gaz Malham rig baited up with pellet on the hook and a Toss pot full of micro pellets. I tipped the pellets in and dropped my rig over the top. The float hadn’t even settled before the elastic was dragged from the pole tip as the fish made a mad dash for the car park (it would have made it had it not been for the fact that the water was back in the lake!!!).

A carp of 2lb was soon subdued and in the net. I rebaited and dropped in again. I waited a little longer before the elastic was dragged out again. Another carp, this one was about 1lb or so. I repeated the process and got a million missed bites before I connected with an ide of about 10 oz. A roach and some more ide followed. Time to move to another spot.

I dropped in, in another spot to the right of where I had been fishing and immediately caught a carp of about 2lb. Ide and roach followed. I dropped in down the side to my left and caught what turned out to be my smallest carp of the day at about 8oz.

All the while, I could see carp milling about up in the water. I decided to try shallow. I dropped in and got ‘dinked’ to death. I was getting a million indications, the pellets were getting dragged off the hook and there was nothing there. When I finally connected with the ‘dinks’, I managed to snare an Ide of about 2lb, now these where worth catching.

I dropped in again and suffered the same problem before I caught an ide of about 10oz. I switched to corn on the hook, but fished up in the water. I sprinkled a few micro pellets over the top of the float. The float buried and I caught my biggest carp so far. It was a common approaching 4lb. I had found the method, corn up in the water, of so I thought.

After about 30 minutes and one more carp, I decided to sack that method as the fish weren’t going mad for it. I dropped in on paste down the middle and managed to snare some more ide. I couldn’t catch a carp for the life of me.

I went over to the far side with paste on the hook and immediately caught a carp before the ide and the roach moved back in. There was now only 2 hours of the match remaining and I would estimate that I had about 25lb to 30lb in the net. I made a decision. I would try to catch the ide and the carp closer in, on the top 3 kit rather than shipping 14m of pole across to the far side and wasting time shipping in and out.

As you can see, I was now on plan 20-Z.

I plumbed up with the deep rig to find the depth on the top 3 and found approximately 3ft of depth. I baited up with paste and fed some micro pellets and corn by hand. The float had barely settled before I caught my first ide of about 12oz. Sorted. I snared about 10 ide and a couple of roach before I caught my first carp down the side. This one weighed approximately 5lb. Over the remainder of the match I would catch predominantly ide/roach/skimmers before catching a carp, but I was keeping them coming.

Now, let me ask a question, why don’t anglers know better????? Whilst fishing, I must have received 4 or 5 calls from anglers asking ‘How are you getting on?’, ‘What weight have you got?’, ‘What time do you finish?’, ‘Have you tried….?’, etc, etc. This is whilst I am trying to get a method sorted or whilst I am in bagging mode.

By the end of the match, I felt as though I had got a game plan together and I was catching steadily away.

I had caught 23 carp averaging 1.5 – 2lb and about 40lb of silvers. Phil Chapman was admitting to 28/29 carp with the biggest one approaching 10lb and about 6lb of silver fish.

The scales arrived at Phil’s peg first and he plonked 80lb on the scales. The lad next to him managed to snare 122lb (what had Phil been doing, watching him). There was another 120lb + weight from peg 14. The lad next to me weighed in 90lb and I put 39lb of mainly silvers and small carp (carp to about 1.5lb) on the scales. My second net went 45lb (this was made up of larger carp, about 7 of them, and larger skimmers, tench and ide). This gave me a combined weight of 83lb odd.

As I was being weighed in, there was a roach in my net that would have weighed no more than about ½ oz wet through. I said to the Anaemic One that I had caught it on paste. His reply of ‘God, did you mate?’ was unbelievable.

The only person that Phil managed to beat on our lake was a blind 80 year old who had a bell at the end of his pole for bite detection.

123lb won, 122 – second, 120lb 3rd (Steve Cromie), 114lb, 113lb. First and second came off my lake, the next 6 placings came off Kingfisher Lake.

I had had a thoroughly enjoyable day and started to enjoy myself when I had finally got my method sorted. This is the first time that I had been on this lake and I have learnt a lot for the next time that I am on this lake.

Ultima Power Match Line

After using the Power Match line for the last few weeks or so, I am a true convert. The line is incredibly strong, yet very supple and very abrasion resistant. I have been using the .20 on a local lake fishing to the staging on the next peg, the fish have been running round the post and today, I have used the .16 and .18 breaking strains with no worries. The largest carp ran through some fine tree routes from the overhanging willow tree and I managed to pull it back through.

The final thing that I must add is that ‘I haven’t been broke (yet)’.

Just like to say a quick hello to my readers in:

Oslo, Mumbai, Nairobi, Mugla, Washington, Wood Dale, Tucson and BROADSTAIRS

Thanks for reading peeps.

Darrell Taylor was trying to convince John 'Chappy' Chapman that fish eat water. I asked Darrell how he had got on after yesterdays match. He said not very well. I said 'Imagine how many more fish you would have caught if they hadn't been full up on all of the water that they had eaten'.

Billy Brierley was overheard to say that he tried water, but was having trouble keeping it on the hook.

On a more serious note, there is only one person to blame for all of the drains being blocked and that is Haircut. He got his wig stuck in a swimming pool filter and this has had catastrophic effect on the UK as a whole in view of all of the rain.

A quick update….

I have fished a few of the evening matches at a local lake called None-Go-Bye. It is on a farm and the owners are still learning and boy, do they have a lot to learn.

I have fished a total of 7 evening matches and won money in all but one of them. I have had weights of 20lb (2nd), 42lb (1st), 47lb (1st), 38lb (2nd) and a few other weights in between. This isn’t bad for a 3 hour evening match, where the bonus fish are about 2lb and the main stamp of fish are in the 10 – 12oz bracket. I have been fishing pellet across to the farside and I have just started to fish paste down the middle.

I have started to fish with a maggot and Groundbait approach on the Sessay Opens and the weights are steadily increasing, the first time that I used it I caught 36lb (13lb one side of me and 7 fish the other) for 2nd in section. I have also had 57lb (with a DNW (about 20lb) one side and 22lb the other) for a section win and about 10th overall. I used it a couple of weeks ago and had 42lb, again, coming 2nd in my section with 44lb winning the section. I got broke by one as I couldn’t get my top kit back on to my pole and it bottomed out my elastic. Dave Pimlott had 57lb one side of me and I had a DNW on the other side. I used it yesterday and had 52lb with 74lb one side (Dave Pimlott (again) – 4th overall) for 2nd in section again.

I went to Woodland View, Droitwich for a charity do taking the format of the old ‘uns v young ‘uns and took Total Fishing.com poster ‘Budnudd’ with me. I quickly renamed Budnudd – Dudone as it had a better ring to it than budnudd. I had a quick chat to Giles to see if he had any top tips and to also say thank you for helping me to win £600 quid when I first started to us the HITL method. I managed to draw Front Deans pool, peg 9. I had Steve May a couple of pegs away on about peg 6 or 7 and Corndawg was next peg to Steve. A quick quid was struck up with both. I had Steve’s Lad – God, opposite me and Dudone was within earshot on Front Deans peg 3. Giles was unsure about which way to swing due to his age as the average age was 42 years old. If you were this old or older, you was classed as an oldie. Giles stood there with a look of what do I do. I am only 42. A quick shove from yours truly and he was soon on his way to the old ‘uns.

I fished with caster up in the water and ended up with 31lb for 2nd in my section (again). Gary Thorpe won my section with 47lb. The lad next to me was tapping with water, I thought that this wasn’t allowed and I told him on a couple of occasions. But he still continued. God managed to win our lake with 80 odd pounds. Peter1984 (not sure of his real name, who organised the match) was a clear winner with 168lb. Giles was 2nd with 118lb. I was on the wrong lake and wrong side. Everyone on the opposite bank had 40 – 80lb, whereas on my bank we mainly struggled. Steve ended up with 14lb odd and Corndawg had 15lb odd. I had to beat an old fella next to me (Mike someone was his name) and he had 4 fish. Job done. I won an envelope for 2nd in section, which I donated to the cause (and additional £35).

Back at Hosticks, I was 14th to draw, so all I did was to look around for a bit of room. Dudone was in attendance again, courtesy of yours truly. He was even further down the draw than I was. I ended up on Kingfisher peg 26 and Dudone ended up on Kingfisher peg 24. He only managed to get done 8 times and ended up with about 8 fish out. I fished maggot for a couple of hours and then switched to pellet to end up with 70 odd pounds and a most enjoyable days fishing.

I have just taken delivery of some Ultima Power Match line and I am totally impressed with it on my initial trials. I used it at None Go Bye on the old original lake. I rigged up my G995 pole with some Red Hydro elastic and rigged up with .20 line direct to a size 12 hook. I plumbed up about 5” away from a lily bed. I used a short power No. 4 which had a small crack in it that I had taped up, so I wouldn’t be too bothered if I broke the section or not. I let Jasper have a go and he only went and broke the said section as a large carp made a big for freedom. After a 4 minute tussle (if you could call it that), we managed to grab hold of the end of the section that had broken and tried to pull the fish back through the lily bed, but no such luck. It managed to break me, but not without a battle first.

On Sunday, I gave a bit of line to Dave Pimlott and asked him to break it. He couldn’t, and it nearly cut his hands. I did the same with Andy Stonner and the same happened. I then showed them the breaking strain. 0.14!!!!

That’s all for now, but more will follow.

Tightlines

Mike

About time for an update.


In the last few weeks since my last match I have fished at Hosticks, Cudmore (Arena), None-Go-Bye, Oaks, Sessay and Woodland View, so here goes.


I managed to get on a match at Cudmore on the Arena pool with a club from around Leeds. I put up a thread on Total Fishing discussion forum asking for a little bit of advice and Steve May told me to give Jellybaby a ring to find out what to do. I spoke with Andy, who advised that I fish the Method feeder for the first hour, then go in on the pole at 14m with meat on the hook. The lake is full of barbel in the 1lb bracket.


Including pools and the coach hire, it only cost me 20 quid. Whilst waiting for the club to organise the draw, someone suggested a £1 winner take all. I suggested that we make it a £2 winner take all, just to add a bit of fun. There were 20 of us there for the match on a 30 peg lake. I was left to sort out the pegging on a peg 2, miss one basis. We were ready. I put my hand in the cap and managed to draw peg 20. I walked to my peg and made a quick call to Andy May to just find out a little bit more about the peg. Jellybaby said that peg 19 is a flyer, but I should do ok off it. I asked about Jasper’s peg (peg 30) and he said that he was on a good silverfish peg if he fished chopped worm and caster.

I set up according to what Jellybaby said so I had:

Method/Bomb rod. I have just loaded the reel with .18 Ultima Power Plus. I attached the method and tied on a .16 Ultima Power Plus hooklength. I attached a snap swivel allowing me to pre-load a method feeder whilst one was in the water. It would also give me the option of clipping on a bomb at a later stage.

I set up 3 pole rigs, one at 6m to my left, one down the edge and one for the 14.5/16m line.

The 6m rig was a .3g Garbolino DC 6 on .16 Ultima Power Plus line straight through to a size 14 Gamakatsu pellet/corn hook. The depth at 6m was 3.5ft deep.

The inside rig was a .1g Garbolino DC6 float tied direct to a size 14 Colmic B500 hook. I plumbed up down the side until I found 1.5ft of depth, this was about 1m from the bank.

My final rig was a .5g Drennan Roach set up on .13 Preston Powerline straight through to a size 16 Colmic B500 hook. At 15m, I had 4.5ft of depth.

At the start of the match, I loaded the method with a bit of Browning Champions Choice Groundbait. Baited up with 3 red maggots on the hook and lobbed it about 1m off the island (it was that far from where I was sitting). I then proceeded to catapult some casters/hemp and meat to the pole lines.

After 5 minutes, I wound the method feeder back in, reloaded and fired again. I proceeded in this manner all the time waiting a little longer in between casts (I would have said bites, but I didn’t have any!!!). After feeding the pole line for about 45 minutes or so, I decided it was time to have a look.

By this time, Catkiller Hawkins on the next peg had managed to snare 3 large carp for an estimated 20lb or so and I hadn't had a fish on the method. But, according to the game plan, there was still time.

I caught a barbel first put in. Then another, then another, the peg was solid. I had a quick drop in at 6m to see if I could either catch a bonus carp of to see whether or not I could the barbel closer.

After about 5 minutes and nothing, enough was enough. I continued to bait the margin swim with neat meat (no hemp or casters – and for those down south that read this, that may be said as caaaassters).

I went back out to the 15m line and plundered the peg. I swapped the method feeder to a straight bomb and every so often I would chuck the bomb just past the pole line and snare another barbel. Craig at the next peg was struggling as was Jasper. Daz ‘Coco the clown’ Harrison was catching the odd fish which included carp to 8lb. He managed to get his rig snagged and the float shot back and went into his thumb. Diddums!!

Catkiller hadn’t managed to snare much more to add to his initial tally. That was it. Match over. I don’t know how I have faired as I can only see about half of the lake and I haven’t been watching them all match. I packed up and followed the scales. Steve ‘Captain Mainwaring’ Hargreaves was moaning about the tails swirling down the side, but he was too scared to drop his pole rig down the side – WUSS!!!

Pete Cressey set the standard by plonking 37lb on the scales, which included a double figure zoo creature. Coco had a couple of weighs and managed to snare 46lb – how the bleeding heck had he done that? I had seen him catch a couple of fish, but not that many. Daz ‘Tombstone’ Aveyard was a DNW again – might have to start calling him Empty Net.

I was next to weigh. I lifted my first net out and plonked 27lb and a few ounces on the scales. This was my heaviest net. I got my second net out – I needed 19lb or more. It was looking close. I plonked the fish on the scales and watched as the needle swung round past 18lb, then 19lb and finally settled at 20lb odd for a combined weight of 48lb dead. Catkiller managed to weigh in 25lb. There was only Glenn ‘Nightwatch’ Crossthwaite left to weigh who I had seen catch some fish. Nightwatch fished a tidy match and managed 39lb of silver fish and barbel by fishing chopped worm.

I had won, including the £2 optional.

I had enjoyed today. I had caught a few fish, won a few quid (which I shared with Jasper) and had a nice relaxing day.

More blog to follow.

Tightlines

Big Pellet.