Sunday 23rd July 2006. Cedar Lake, The Oaks, Sessay.
Panic was away on holiday duties, again, so I was travelling 'on my tod'.
In view of getting my meat cutter back of Mal Bailey, I had already prepared my meat ready for today, so it should save me some time after getting everyone else ready.
In view of running the matches and sorting out all of the monies, prior to starting the match, I still get one or two people who are always saying, can't we start earlier as I am ready with about 20 minutes to go, etc, etc. I do the draw at pretty much 10:00 (give or take 5 minutes and generally no more),and by the time that everyone has come through the draw and I have added up all of the money, sorted out the prizes and sections, etc, etc, I don't generally arrive at my peg until 10:30, that leaves me about 45 minutes to prepare myself, (30 minutes if I was to start the match at 11:00) hence the reason for an 11-15 (usually) start.
By the time that the draw came round there were 64 anglers (for want of another word) ready to try their best. We had 3 jackpot pegs, peg 8, 23 and 41.
Following my run of pegs (namely drawing pegs 4 or 5 over the last few matches), I asked Tom (the pond owners son) if he would do me the honour and draw me a good peg. He put his hand in the back and there was a look of anticipation from yours truly as he then pulled his hand out of the bag. Tom looked at the peg and gave a groan. Sugar. He showed me peg 70. Basket!!!!
Peg 70 is at the end of a straight of pegs, which goes from peg 66 - 70. It is on the inside of a bend with peg 71 being to your right about 15m away. Peg 71 can also go down to the bend. You do have the island to fish to, but it seems a short peg as the island has a 90 degree angle going away from you and from the marker in your peg to the end of the island only seems to be about 2m or so. The fish seem to come so far up the straight, turn round and go back down again. Oh well, I have got a peg, you can only do your best and sometimes you get the results.
The obligatory quid's were struck with Chappy, Orc, Bedpan (Roger Movley), Topshop, The Pacifier (Vinnie Diesel) and Macca (both £2 each).
I arrived at my peg to find that I had Tala on peg 71, Pacifier on peg 69 and Macca on peg 67 - peg 68 was empty (not put in the draw bag).
Bait Tariff
I recall a few weeks ago, Big Mark Calvert was in this area and had 40lb by fishing with maggots up in the water. So for today I had 3 tins of cubed meat, 1 tin of frenzied hemp, 3 pts of maggots and a handful of hook pellets.
I set up the following rigs:
Deep Rig No 1: a .4g DC6 float tied direct to .15 Preston Powerline straight through to a size 16 Colmic WN501 hook. I plumbed up at the base of the island slightly to my left where I found about 4ft deep. This rig was attached to grey hydro.
Deep Rig No. 2: a .5g Drennan Roach float tied direct to .15 Preston Powerline straight through to a size 14 Kamasan B611hook. This was also attached to grey hydro.
Shelf Rig: a .2g Garbolino DC6 float on .14 MAP Carptek direct to a size 16 Colmic WN501 hook. This was attached to white hydro through the no.2 section of my pole only.
Shallow rig: was a .1g Garbolino DC6 float set up as above, with approximately 18" - 2ft of line between pole float and pole tip (in order not to spook the fish).
At the all in, I potted some meat and hemp on both deep lines and went across to the far side with meat on the hook and a bit of hemp and meat in a Fox Toss Pot.
I waited for about 10 minutes and I got my first indication and I caught a scale, I ‘unhooked’ my scale, went to put it in my net and the wind blew it away – ho hum. I re-baited and went back out. Whilst fishing across I had been feeding maggots at about 8m all the time and I was now starting to see swirls and boils up in the water. I caught a small carp off the far side for about 8oz.
I decided, now was the time to attack it with the maggot approach. I dropped in with double maggot on the hook and missed an indication immediately. I dropped back in and caught a roach. It was that small I wondered, how had it got double maggot and a size 16 hook in it’s mouth?
I unhooked the ‘eyes’ and went back out. I caught another 'plip', then another, then another! Bugger!! I upped the amount of maggots and started to feed 15 – 20 each go. I managed to snare a couple of ide around the 12oz mark.
I carried on in this vein for the next 20 minutes or so catching the odd ‘plip’ and ide, when all of a sudden, the elastic shot out from the pole tip – carp No. 1 was on it’s way. I re-baited and did the same again and caught a few more 'plips'. I felt as though I was going nowhere – fast. I decided to try a pellet on the hook and feed maggots. I dropped in, had a few dips, then the elastic shot out. Carp No. 2 was in the net. I had got it sussed, they wanted pellet on the hook over loose fed maggot!!
20 minutes later, I had nothing further to add for my efforts. I had by now fished maggot/pellet hook bait over loose fed maggots for about 1hr 15mins. I had managed to feed 1.5 pts (nearly) of maggots. What to do????
Tala was struggling to catch on any line (albeit, he was fishing predominantly down the middle). The Pacifier was stringing the odd fish together and I could see that occasionally Macca had his elastic stretched out a bit.
I decided that the maggot approach wasn’t going to work and went back to a meat approach by fishing meat at the base of the slope whilst catapulting a few pieces over to the far side.
Landing 2 fish at once.
After about an hour of fishing in the deeps I caught a fish, to go with a couple that I caught earlier, as I played the fish, I swooped to net the fish and lifted the fish out of the water in the landing net. On closer inspection, there was a little F1 carp (about 1.5lb) in the net along with the fish that I had just caught (a mirror carp about 1lb). I had almost doubled my weight in one go, now then, where is my dragnet!!
Another spawny fish!!
Whilst I had been flicking the odd bit of meat and hemp across to the far side, I saw the odd fish come out of the water to get at the bait. Now was the time to go across and empty it. I baited up with meat, went across to the mud line and waited. After about 5 minutes, the float shot under and I played a fish. As I was bringing the fish to the landing net, a top kit appeared next to my float, as I lifted higher, a float appeared next to my float, then some shot, then the fish with the offending top kit and hook attached. I had caught a fish without hooking it. The carp was approximately 2.5lb (my biggest fish today) and was dragging round a paste float rig with a shark hook attached (which I later found to be a size 12 method feeder hook). The pole had broken just at the base of where the elastic was tied to the bung. The elastic seemed to be the Drennan pink hollow stuff (bit heavy). After the match, the lad that had lost his top kit was on peg 61, the fish had gone round to peg 56, as Chappy reported seeing the top kit, then it had gone past all of the anglers between pegs 56 and 69 to be caught in my peg.
Whilst all of this was going on and I was shouting to all and sundry, The Pacifier broke the number 5 section on his pole – he had caught a fish, got giddy and grabbed hold of his pole whilst the pole was jammed and snap. I didn’t laugh much. I offered him my spare section from my pole knowing that it wouldn’t fit. We were both using Garbolino poles, but my pole is made on a different mandrel. After trying the section and getting nowhere, he got out his replacement pole – a banana bazoocarp (or something like) and due to the stiffness (lack of), set the pole up at 14m but could only fish at 11m to allow for the bend in the pole.
I persevered to the end of the match picking up the odd carp, and I mean the odd carp.
That was it, time, thank god.
The scales
I felt as though I fished a really bad match and that all of my decisions were the wrong ones. By the time that the scales had arrived, Chappy had 69lb; there were a couple of 80lb weights and a couple of 70lb weights, that was on my half of the lake. Macca put 37lb on the scales, Banana man put 44lb (ho hum) on the scales and I have to weigh in as I have so many quid’s, that I hope and pray that at least someone won’t weigh.
I weighed in 19lb 1oz.
This weight put me LAST IN THE MATCH out of all those that weighed in. All of my other quid’s weighed in, it has cost me £8-00 today in £1's (including a couple of £2'ers), but hey, it is not that often that I end up having to cough up to all and sundry. After speaking to Age Concern, who was next to the lad that was 3rd, he said that he had probably tipped back no more than 20lb.
Tala on the next peg tipped back what I would assume to be less than me as most of his fish were skimmers.
Where did it all go wrong? My last 3 results have been 54lb, 63lb and 49lb (in that order) and today I weighed in 19lb 1oz. I think that it is time to take up golf; then again, just maybe I would be worse at golf than I am at fishing.
Full result:
1. Jon Jowett (Drennan Northwest)- 88lb odd (peg 54)
2. Simon Beswick (Tricast Rochdale Angling) - 83lb odd (peg 55)
3. G Scott (Mosella Rochdale)- 77lb (peg 61)
4. Dean Smith (Garbolino Elton) - 76lb
5. Dave Pimlott (Garbolino Elton) - 74lb
6. John Chapman (Garbolino Elton) - 69lb (peg 56)
Friday, July 28, 2006
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Saturday 22nd July 2006 – The Oaks Lakes, Sessay.
I must have scored some brownie points at home, or was it the fact that it was thundering outside, that our lass let me out on a Saturday. With comments like “bye darling, have a wonderful day”, and “I hope that the weather is not too bad for you” and the usual “will the fish feed more when it is raining because they think that there is more food going in the lake? I think that she was hoping that I would get struck by lightening.
Anyways, I made the long trek north, well it is 36miles from my house, to go to The Oaks, I had contemplated going to Woodlands instead, but my steering wheel veered off the A1 at Topcliffe and I soon found myself in The Oaks car park!!! Bloody auto-pilot.
Seeing as I wasn’t running the match (Saturday is Middy’s day), it was my turn to shout and holla’ “what time do we draw on Saturday’s?”, “Tom, can’t you get a decent match organiser on a Saturday?”, only to be greeted with the obligatory, Go forth and multiply. Nothing changes, does it?
There were approximately 40 of the regulars there (41 with myself). I put my hand in the draw bag and pulled out peg 48. So, so!!!
Following my weights from the previous couple of matches, a meat approach was the way forward. I planned on fishing and feeding meat up in the water at approx 10m (at the base of the far slope) and also fishing at depth with meat on top of the shelf. I was also going to feed hemp in addition to the meat.
I got to my peg and found that I was in good company, I had the resident venue expert and big weight specialist (Marco) on my left, peg 46 and the wise old man on peg 50 (Granddad). I wasn’t going to have a quid with either of them. Marco was going to fish up in the water and Granddad was going to meat it at both 10m and across to the far side.
My 3 rigs consisted of:
Deep rig: A .5g Drennan Roach set at 5ft deep at the base of the far side slope. I shotted this with a bulk of shot at half depth, hopefully, enabling me to be able to get bites on the drop as the fish start to come up in the water. This was set up on .15 Preston Powerline straight through to a size 14 Colmic WN501 barbless hook. This rig was attached to grey hydro.
Shelf rig: A .2g Garbolino DC6 float (read my user report below) set at 18” deep on .13 Preston Powerline straight through to a size 14 Colmic WN501 hook. Grey Hydro complimented the set up. I plumbed up at the very edge of the shelf before it fell away down the slope. Again, this float was shotted with the bulk weight at mid-depth.
Shallow rig: A .1g Garbolino DC6 float set at 12” deep on .15 Preston Powerline (I didn’t want to have the breakages that I had last week) straight through to a size 16 Colmic WN501 hook. White Hydro through the No2 section of my pole was the chosen elastic.
Following the return of my meat cutter, repaired (cheers Mal), I cubed 3 tins of truncheon meat to go along with 1 tin of Frenzied hemp.
All In
At the all in, I cupped in a small cup of both hemp and meat down the slope, on the deep rig.
I baited up the shelf rig with meat, and loaded a Toss-Pot with the same and went over to the far side. Fish were swirling and boiling up in the water already, it shouldn’t take long for them to get their heads down, so to speak. I dropped in and waited all of 5 minutes. The float buried and an F1 about 1lb was soon in the keepnet. I re-baited, dropped in again. All the while, I was feeding 3 or 4 bits of meat with the catapult over the deep line. I waited for a bite, the float shot under, another carp joined it’s mate in my net.
I re-baited and as I shipped out, I had a quick look with the shelf rig, to see if anything was up in the water. After about 20 second’s, nothing, so I went back over to the shelf. I continued in this manner for the next 20 minutes or so and had about 6 fish in total, it was time to drop in on the deep rig to see if anything was there. I baited up with a piece of meat on the hook, put a bit of bait in a Toss-Pot and dropped in and waited. The float had only just settled and a mirror carp of about 2lb was trying it’s best to get away, but it failed. Carp No 7 was soon in the net. Sounds easy this, doesn’t it?
On the very next drop in, I foul-hooked a fish, up in the water!!!. I very quickly came back and put on my shallow rig, baited up with meat and shipped out. I flicked a few bits of bait out with the catapult. The float was all over the place, going this way, then that, then all of a sudden, the float plummeted, the elastic shot out, and the fish came off, I came back with a scale (I wonder if it will add anything to my weight).
I dropped in again and also flicked a few pieces of meat tight over to the mud line, waiting for the backs of the fish to come out before I go over. After about 2 minutes, the float buried and an F! carp about 1lb was soon in the keep net.
I caught 3 more fish, then they seemed to back off. Granddad on the next peg was steadily putting a few fish together by fishing at the base of the slope. Marco on the other side was catching small fish on caster up in the water.
I went back over to the far side, the fish just would not settle. I was able to pick up the odd fish from both lines over the next few hours.
In The Final Straight
With just over an hour of the match left, I estimated that I had about 40lb (not good enough by a long shot) and thought that Granddad had nearer 60lb. Granddad had plugged away on the deep rig and occasionally flicking a few bits of meat over to the far side. Granddad went over with his shallow rig and caught very well for the last hour of the match. He pulled out of about 30 – 40lb.
I, on the other hand, struggled to string fish together. It was like the fish were coming to the noise of the bait hitting the water, but would not take the hookbait. I tried different depths, short line, long line, but nothing seemed to get me a string of bites or settle the fish. Following how I had got on last week by fishing meat up in the water, I tried to get the fish to be more competitive by feeding 3 – 4 pieces of meat (last week I was feeding 6 – 8 pieces), but nothing seemed to work, yet the fish were still boiling and swirling on the surface.
By the time that the scales had arrived, Andy Quarmby was leading with 137lb off a peg in the 30’s. He fished pellet up in the water.
Marco put 68lb on the scales, he started to get a better stamp of fish in the last hour. I weighed in 49lb and Granddad weighed in 88lb. Ho hum, where did I go wrong.
The Weather
During the first half of the match, we had 4 phenomenal thunderstorms with very heavy rain which lasted for approximately 10 minutes each time. Had these knocked the fish down a little bit as Marco started to get a steady stream of fish late on after the storms had disappeared.
137lb – Andy Quarmby
114lb - 2nd
107lb – Dave Topshop
Granddad was unlucky, he didn’t win anything with his 88lb. Must try harder heh?
User Report
A new addition to my blog is a User Report where I will give my opinion (and it is only that) on products that I have been using, either long term or short term.
This week I will report on the Garbolino DC6 series of floats.
I have been using these floats now for about 1 month. I bought a few of these floats as the first thing that caught my attention was the high visibility bristles. I bought a variety of sizes, from .1g to .4g, with different coloured bristles. Typically, the .2g float takes approximately 3 x No. 8 Preston Stotz and one tiny dropper (No. 11 shot). I have used the .1g for fishing v. light with maggot when fishing up in the water, but the main ones that I use are the .2g, which I find are ideal for fishing across to the far side at Sessay. If the wind picks up, you can take the tiny dropper off, add a couple of inches to your depth to lay on a touch, and the bristle is not dragged under by the wind. They are also sensitive enough that you can use the weight of your bait to pull the bristle down to dead depth, therefore, ensuring that your bait is just touching the bottom.
Since getting the floats, I have found that they don’t seem to take on any water (at the moment anyway), but they are not indestructible. The only float breakage that I have had so far, was when I got snagged on some reedmace and pulled my rig back. The float shot back, the bristle hit the pole and snapped clean off.
Tightlines
I must have scored some brownie points at home, or was it the fact that it was thundering outside, that our lass let me out on a Saturday. With comments like “bye darling, have a wonderful day”, and “I hope that the weather is not too bad for you” and the usual “will the fish feed more when it is raining because they think that there is more food going in the lake? I think that she was hoping that I would get struck by lightening.
Anyways, I made the long trek north, well it is 36miles from my house, to go to The Oaks, I had contemplated going to Woodlands instead, but my steering wheel veered off the A1 at Topcliffe and I soon found myself in The Oaks car park!!! Bloody auto-pilot.
Seeing as I wasn’t running the match (Saturday is Middy’s day), it was my turn to shout and holla’ “what time do we draw on Saturday’s?”, “Tom, can’t you get a decent match organiser on a Saturday?”, only to be greeted with the obligatory, Go forth and multiply. Nothing changes, does it?
There were approximately 40 of the regulars there (41 with myself). I put my hand in the draw bag and pulled out peg 48. So, so!!!
Following my weights from the previous couple of matches, a meat approach was the way forward. I planned on fishing and feeding meat up in the water at approx 10m (at the base of the far slope) and also fishing at depth with meat on top of the shelf. I was also going to feed hemp in addition to the meat.
I got to my peg and found that I was in good company, I had the resident venue expert and big weight specialist (Marco) on my left, peg 46 and the wise old man on peg 50 (Granddad). I wasn’t going to have a quid with either of them. Marco was going to fish up in the water and Granddad was going to meat it at both 10m and across to the far side.
My 3 rigs consisted of:
Deep rig: A .5g Drennan Roach set at 5ft deep at the base of the far side slope. I shotted this with a bulk of shot at half depth, hopefully, enabling me to be able to get bites on the drop as the fish start to come up in the water. This was set up on .15 Preston Powerline straight through to a size 14 Colmic WN501 barbless hook. This rig was attached to grey hydro.
Shelf rig: A .2g Garbolino DC6 float (read my user report below) set at 18” deep on .13 Preston Powerline straight through to a size 14 Colmic WN501 hook. Grey Hydro complimented the set up. I plumbed up at the very edge of the shelf before it fell away down the slope. Again, this float was shotted with the bulk weight at mid-depth.
Shallow rig: A .1g Garbolino DC6 float set at 12” deep on .15 Preston Powerline (I didn’t want to have the breakages that I had last week) straight through to a size 16 Colmic WN501 hook. White Hydro through the No2 section of my pole was the chosen elastic.
Following the return of my meat cutter, repaired (cheers Mal), I cubed 3 tins of truncheon meat to go along with 1 tin of Frenzied hemp.
All In
At the all in, I cupped in a small cup of both hemp and meat down the slope, on the deep rig.
I baited up the shelf rig with meat, and loaded a Toss-Pot with the same and went over to the far side. Fish were swirling and boiling up in the water already, it shouldn’t take long for them to get their heads down, so to speak. I dropped in and waited all of 5 minutes. The float buried and an F1 about 1lb was soon in the keepnet. I re-baited, dropped in again. All the while, I was feeding 3 or 4 bits of meat with the catapult over the deep line. I waited for a bite, the float shot under, another carp joined it’s mate in my net.
I re-baited and as I shipped out, I had a quick look with the shelf rig, to see if anything was up in the water. After about 20 second’s, nothing, so I went back over to the shelf. I continued in this manner for the next 20 minutes or so and had about 6 fish in total, it was time to drop in on the deep rig to see if anything was there. I baited up with a piece of meat on the hook, put a bit of bait in a Toss-Pot and dropped in and waited. The float had only just settled and a mirror carp of about 2lb was trying it’s best to get away, but it failed. Carp No 7 was soon in the net. Sounds easy this, doesn’t it?
On the very next drop in, I foul-hooked a fish, up in the water!!!. I very quickly came back and put on my shallow rig, baited up with meat and shipped out. I flicked a few bits of bait out with the catapult. The float was all over the place, going this way, then that, then all of a sudden, the float plummeted, the elastic shot out, and the fish came off, I came back with a scale (I wonder if it will add anything to my weight).
I dropped in again and also flicked a few pieces of meat tight over to the mud line, waiting for the backs of the fish to come out before I go over. After about 2 minutes, the float buried and an F! carp about 1lb was soon in the keep net.
I caught 3 more fish, then they seemed to back off. Granddad on the next peg was steadily putting a few fish together by fishing at the base of the slope. Marco on the other side was catching small fish on caster up in the water.
I went back over to the far side, the fish just would not settle. I was able to pick up the odd fish from both lines over the next few hours.
In The Final Straight
With just over an hour of the match left, I estimated that I had about 40lb (not good enough by a long shot) and thought that Granddad had nearer 60lb. Granddad had plugged away on the deep rig and occasionally flicking a few bits of meat over to the far side. Granddad went over with his shallow rig and caught very well for the last hour of the match. He pulled out of about 30 – 40lb.
I, on the other hand, struggled to string fish together. It was like the fish were coming to the noise of the bait hitting the water, but would not take the hookbait. I tried different depths, short line, long line, but nothing seemed to get me a string of bites or settle the fish. Following how I had got on last week by fishing meat up in the water, I tried to get the fish to be more competitive by feeding 3 – 4 pieces of meat (last week I was feeding 6 – 8 pieces), but nothing seemed to work, yet the fish were still boiling and swirling on the surface.
By the time that the scales had arrived, Andy Quarmby was leading with 137lb off a peg in the 30’s. He fished pellet up in the water.
Marco put 68lb on the scales, he started to get a better stamp of fish in the last hour. I weighed in 49lb and Granddad weighed in 88lb. Ho hum, where did I go wrong.
The Weather
During the first half of the match, we had 4 phenomenal thunderstorms with very heavy rain which lasted for approximately 10 minutes each time. Had these knocked the fish down a little bit as Marco started to get a steady stream of fish late on after the storms had disappeared.
137lb – Andy Quarmby
114lb - 2nd
107lb – Dave Topshop
Granddad was unlucky, he didn’t win anything with his 88lb. Must try harder heh?
User Report
A new addition to my blog is a User Report where I will give my opinion (and it is only that) on products that I have been using, either long term or short term.
This week I will report on the Garbolino DC6 series of floats.
I have been using these floats now for about 1 month. I bought a few of these floats as the first thing that caught my attention was the high visibility bristles. I bought a variety of sizes, from .1g to .4g, with different coloured bristles. Typically, the .2g float takes approximately 3 x No. 8 Preston Stotz and one tiny dropper (No. 11 shot). I have used the .1g for fishing v. light with maggot when fishing up in the water, but the main ones that I use are the .2g, which I find are ideal for fishing across to the far side at Sessay. If the wind picks up, you can take the tiny dropper off, add a couple of inches to your depth to lay on a touch, and the bristle is not dragged under by the wind. They are also sensitive enough that you can use the weight of your bait to pull the bristle down to dead depth, therefore, ensuring that your bait is just touching the bottom.
Since getting the floats, I have found that they don’t seem to take on any water (at the moment anyway), but they are not indestructible. The only float breakage that I have had so far, was when I got snagged on some reedmace and pulled my rig back. The float shot back, the bristle hit the pole and snapped clean off.
Tightlines
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Sunday 16th July 2006 – The Oaks Lakes, Sessay.
Panic cried off this week, so I was left to travel by my own devices. I arrived in plenty of time and after a light breakfast, I started to get everyone in order and take the names for the match.
I was expecting low numbers this week as most of the Manchester contingent were absent due to practising for a forthcoming team match, but by the time of the draw, there were 56 of us hardy souls in attendance. The weather was forecast to be damn hot with a tad more heat for good measure with a slight breeze (no such thing at Sessay).
My now obligatory quid was struck with Purverted (£2), Chappy, Orc, Nightie, Topshop and Geri (atric Movley).
Two jackpot pegs were announced, pegs 25 and 31. Age Concern drew peg 25 and there was a slight anticipation that it may go following his 2nd place on last Sunday’s open. Mala Dunlop was on the other jackpot peg. I put my hand in the bag and drew peg 32, so I had Mala on one side and Timothy (Sorry) Moran on the other side, peg 34. Chappy drew peg 7, Purverted was on peg 69 (and cried his way to the peg, don’t know why, there was a few fish down the last week).
Preparation
I had been out to Bob-Co tackle shop and purchased a selection of Garbolino DC1 and DC2 floats in a variety of sizes from .05g to .5g. I like the floats has they have high visibility bristles and you can ‘read’ your bites. I had spent all last night making up about a dozen rigs on a variety of lines from .13 Preston Powerline to .16 Map Carptek line, all that was needed was for me to add shot to the rigs on the bank, which is the easy part. I was ready.
The rigs
I set up 3 rigs to start with as follows:
Shelf rig. I set up a .2g DC1 float for on top of the shelf at 12m. This was going to be my main line of attack. When plumbing up, I found approximately 2ft of depth. When fishing for carp I like to have most, if not all of my shot set at half depth. Mark Lucas got me doing this, as it allows the fish to watch the bait as it flutters down and your bites are positive when they take it as they feel less resistance than if the shot was closer to the hook. The rig was set up on .14 MAP Carptek line tied to a size 14 Colmic WN501 hook.
Rig 2. Whilst plumbing around my swim, I found that if I went both left and right of my peg number, the peg shallowed up so I set up a rig to fish the shallower water if needed. I used a .1g DC1 float and again had a couple of No.9 Preston Stotz just pulling the float to the base of the bristle. This float was set up on .13 Preston Powerline direct to a size 16 Colmic WN501 hook. (I realise that although .13 Preston Powerline may be thicker in diameter than .14 Carptek, the fact that it says .13 on the packet makes you assume that you are actually fishing finer??).
My 3rd rig was a Drennan Roach set up to fish in 5ft of water at the base of the far side slope. This was set up on .14 Maver Genesis line tied direct to a size 14 eyed barbless hook (Kamasan B981).
Both rig 1 and rig 3 were set to fish approx 3 – 4” over depth, this follows on from the bites that I was getting last week when it was a tad windy and I was having to fish well over depth.
A La Carte Menu
The menu for today was going to be pretty much basic. Meat, meat and more meat with a splash of hemp, just for something different.
I have finally got my meat cutter from Mal Bailey, but, assuming that he wasn’t going to turn up, I had asked Chappy if he could do me 3 tins of meat when I arrived in the morning. I let Charisma Pawlett, Kev McKie and Purverted use the meat cutter. When I went to get it back off Purverted, I wanted to do another tin of meat; the wires had been snapped at one end. I spoke with Mal; he has taken it back to repair it for me. Mal told me that they had snapped as whoever had used it, had done the meat on an angle and pressed the plunger onto the wires at an angle. So, I had to borrow Toddy’s cutter. Saying that about the meat cutter, most of the Woodland’s regulars have them, so if they are good enough for them, it is good enough for me.
On Your Marks, Get Set!!
At the all in, went out with the shelf rig. I filled a large Tosspot full of hemp and meat and shipped out to the 2ft deep swim. I dropped the bait in, waited about 5 minutes and caught my first fish, an ide of about 10oz. I rebaited, loaded up again and went back over. After about 5 minutes, I caught my first carp of about 10oz. Over the next hour, I was catapulting bits of meat onto the shelf line, with a few pieces of meat being fired over to the mud line at 14m.
After 1 hour, I estimate that I had 6 carp and 2 ide for about 6lb. I was now starting to miss bites, liners. I shipped out with the shallow rig (this was probably about ½ depth), dropped in with meat up in the water. The float buried and a mirror carp about 2lb was trying it’s best to get away. After a 5 minute battle the carp was in the net. I was using white hydro through the match 2 & 3. I immediately swapped over to white hydro through the match No. 2 only.
Over the next 2 to 3 hours, I proceeded to catch a steady procession of fish (although I wasn’t breaking any records), all of which came up in the water. Mala on the next peg was struggling (he fished paste down the middle) and Sorry on the next peg the other way was starting to string a few fish together. Granddad and Calvert were both bagging on pegs 28 and 29.
To save time and to create a bit of noise, when fishing shallow, I flick the rig from one side of the pole to the other, going up and over. This allows the rig to land in a straight line, which also slows the fall and as an added bonus, creates noise.
I tried to go shallower with the shallow rig, but it didn’t seem right. I quickly made up a polyball rig set about 6” deep on .14 MAP Carptek line to a size 14 hook. I dropped in; the float was bobbing, but not going under. After about 2 minutes, the float shot under and a carp of about 3lb was soon in the net. On the next drop in, the polyball buried, and I never saw the fish or the rig again, I had been snapped where you tie the knot at the top of the rig.
Going into the last hour, I felt that the fish had disappeared, I was still getting liners, I was fishing between 12” and 6” deep, (I kept on altering the depth to try to find the fish). I went back onto the bottom for about 20 minutes, thinking that they had followed the bait down to the bottom (I think that I got the feed amount wrong). I caught a quick succession of fish, but they were generally smaller.
That was it, time. I had caught a few fish and felt confident of a good 50lb weight. Both Granddad and Calvert had emptied it, and I felt that Granddad would have over a ton. Sorry had started to catch a good few fish at the end by fishing up in the water at about 7m. Mala had had a bad day and was already packing up.
How had I faired?
The scales finally arrived at Granddad and there were a few decent weight with the majority of the weights being between 50 – 65lb. Granddad put 95lb on the scales. I knew he had a good weight. Big Mark put 98lb on the scales off the next peg to win the match. I weighed 63lb odd (my best weight for a while) and Sorry, whom I kept on trying to cajole into a quid, weighed 68lb odd, thank god that he didn’t want to have a quid. Mal Bailey won my section from peg 41 with 75lb, by default, as Minty Whittaker had 86lb off peg 37.
Purverted tipped back about 40lb and he left without paying. Chappy weighed 54lb (up a quid), Topshop had a lowly 40lb (up another quid) and my other quid’s all went without paying, so presumably I had beaten them all.
I feel as though I was there or thereabouts, a little tweaking with the feeding pattern and a few more fish may be on the cards.
The full result
Mark Calvert (Garbolino Elton) 98-08. Meat over hemp. Up in the water at 12m. Peg 29
Bert Poole (Oaks/Westpark) 95-12. Meat over hemp in the deep water. Peg 28
Adam Richards (Garbolino Elton) 88-08
Mark Whittaker (The Oaks) 86-13
John Allerton (Tricast Oaks) 79-15
Andy Dargue (Shimano Quaker) 76-02
The lowest section winning weight was 61lb odd. I had 63lb for about 15th.
Dean Smith had 74lb and didn't win his section.
Panic cried off this week, so I was left to travel by my own devices. I arrived in plenty of time and after a light breakfast, I started to get everyone in order and take the names for the match.
I was expecting low numbers this week as most of the Manchester contingent were absent due to practising for a forthcoming team match, but by the time of the draw, there were 56 of us hardy souls in attendance. The weather was forecast to be damn hot with a tad more heat for good measure with a slight breeze (no such thing at Sessay).
My now obligatory quid was struck with Purverted (£2), Chappy, Orc, Nightie, Topshop and Geri (atric Movley).
Two jackpot pegs were announced, pegs 25 and 31. Age Concern drew peg 25 and there was a slight anticipation that it may go following his 2nd place on last Sunday’s open. Mala Dunlop was on the other jackpot peg. I put my hand in the bag and drew peg 32, so I had Mala on one side and Timothy (Sorry) Moran on the other side, peg 34. Chappy drew peg 7, Purverted was on peg 69 (and cried his way to the peg, don’t know why, there was a few fish down the last week).
Preparation
I had been out to Bob-Co tackle shop and purchased a selection of Garbolino DC1 and DC2 floats in a variety of sizes from .05g to .5g. I like the floats has they have high visibility bristles and you can ‘read’ your bites. I had spent all last night making up about a dozen rigs on a variety of lines from .13 Preston Powerline to .16 Map Carptek line, all that was needed was for me to add shot to the rigs on the bank, which is the easy part. I was ready.
The rigs
I set up 3 rigs to start with as follows:
Shelf rig. I set up a .2g DC1 float for on top of the shelf at 12m. This was going to be my main line of attack. When plumbing up, I found approximately 2ft of depth. When fishing for carp I like to have most, if not all of my shot set at half depth. Mark Lucas got me doing this, as it allows the fish to watch the bait as it flutters down and your bites are positive when they take it as they feel less resistance than if the shot was closer to the hook. The rig was set up on .14 MAP Carptek line tied to a size 14 Colmic WN501 hook.
Rig 2. Whilst plumbing around my swim, I found that if I went both left and right of my peg number, the peg shallowed up so I set up a rig to fish the shallower water if needed. I used a .1g DC1 float and again had a couple of No.9 Preston Stotz just pulling the float to the base of the bristle. This float was set up on .13 Preston Powerline direct to a size 16 Colmic WN501 hook. (I realise that although .13 Preston Powerline may be thicker in diameter than .14 Carptek, the fact that it says .13 on the packet makes you assume that you are actually fishing finer??).
My 3rd rig was a Drennan Roach set up to fish in 5ft of water at the base of the far side slope. This was set up on .14 Maver Genesis line tied direct to a size 14 eyed barbless hook (Kamasan B981).
Both rig 1 and rig 3 were set to fish approx 3 – 4” over depth, this follows on from the bites that I was getting last week when it was a tad windy and I was having to fish well over depth.
A La Carte Menu
The menu for today was going to be pretty much basic. Meat, meat and more meat with a splash of hemp, just for something different.
I have finally got my meat cutter from Mal Bailey, but, assuming that he wasn’t going to turn up, I had asked Chappy if he could do me 3 tins of meat when I arrived in the morning. I let Charisma Pawlett, Kev McKie and Purverted use the meat cutter. When I went to get it back off Purverted, I wanted to do another tin of meat; the wires had been snapped at one end. I spoke with Mal; he has taken it back to repair it for me. Mal told me that they had snapped as whoever had used it, had done the meat on an angle and pressed the plunger onto the wires at an angle. So, I had to borrow Toddy’s cutter. Saying that about the meat cutter, most of the Woodland’s regulars have them, so if they are good enough for them, it is good enough for me.
On Your Marks, Get Set!!
At the all in, went out with the shelf rig. I filled a large Tosspot full of hemp and meat and shipped out to the 2ft deep swim. I dropped the bait in, waited about 5 minutes and caught my first fish, an ide of about 10oz. I rebaited, loaded up again and went back over. After about 5 minutes, I caught my first carp of about 10oz. Over the next hour, I was catapulting bits of meat onto the shelf line, with a few pieces of meat being fired over to the mud line at 14m.
After 1 hour, I estimate that I had 6 carp and 2 ide for about 6lb. I was now starting to miss bites, liners. I shipped out with the shallow rig (this was probably about ½ depth), dropped in with meat up in the water. The float buried and a mirror carp about 2lb was trying it’s best to get away. After a 5 minute battle the carp was in the net. I was using white hydro through the match 2 & 3. I immediately swapped over to white hydro through the match No. 2 only.
Over the next 2 to 3 hours, I proceeded to catch a steady procession of fish (although I wasn’t breaking any records), all of which came up in the water. Mala on the next peg was struggling (he fished paste down the middle) and Sorry on the next peg the other way was starting to string a few fish together. Granddad and Calvert were both bagging on pegs 28 and 29.
To save time and to create a bit of noise, when fishing shallow, I flick the rig from one side of the pole to the other, going up and over. This allows the rig to land in a straight line, which also slows the fall and as an added bonus, creates noise.
I tried to go shallower with the shallow rig, but it didn’t seem right. I quickly made up a polyball rig set about 6” deep on .14 MAP Carptek line to a size 14 hook. I dropped in; the float was bobbing, but not going under. After about 2 minutes, the float shot under and a carp of about 3lb was soon in the net. On the next drop in, the polyball buried, and I never saw the fish or the rig again, I had been snapped where you tie the knot at the top of the rig.
Going into the last hour, I felt that the fish had disappeared, I was still getting liners, I was fishing between 12” and 6” deep, (I kept on altering the depth to try to find the fish). I went back onto the bottom for about 20 minutes, thinking that they had followed the bait down to the bottom (I think that I got the feed amount wrong). I caught a quick succession of fish, but they were generally smaller.
That was it, time. I had caught a few fish and felt confident of a good 50lb weight. Both Granddad and Calvert had emptied it, and I felt that Granddad would have over a ton. Sorry had started to catch a good few fish at the end by fishing up in the water at about 7m. Mala had had a bad day and was already packing up.
How had I faired?
The scales finally arrived at Granddad and there were a few decent weight with the majority of the weights being between 50 – 65lb. Granddad put 95lb on the scales. I knew he had a good weight. Big Mark put 98lb on the scales off the next peg to win the match. I weighed 63lb odd (my best weight for a while) and Sorry, whom I kept on trying to cajole into a quid, weighed 68lb odd, thank god that he didn’t want to have a quid. Mal Bailey won my section from peg 41 with 75lb, by default, as Minty Whittaker had 86lb off peg 37.
Purverted tipped back about 40lb and he left without paying. Chappy weighed 54lb (up a quid), Topshop had a lowly 40lb (up another quid) and my other quid’s all went without paying, so presumably I had beaten them all.
I feel as though I was there or thereabouts, a little tweaking with the feeding pattern and a few more fish may be on the cards.
The full result
Mark Calvert (Garbolino Elton) 98-08. Meat over hemp. Up in the water at 12m. Peg 29
Bert Poole (Oaks/Westpark) 95-12. Meat over hemp in the deep water. Peg 28
Adam Richards (Garbolino Elton) 88-08
Mark Whittaker (The Oaks) 86-13
John Allerton (Tricast Oaks) 79-15
Andy Dargue (Shimano Quaker) 76-02
The lowest section winning weight was 61lb odd. I had 63lb for about 15th.
Dean Smith had 74lb and didn't win his section.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Sunday 9th July 2006 – The Oaks, Sessay
Kamasan British Open Final, Browning Cudmore
Before I start to go into the events of this weekend (well, Sunday), I would just like to make a big mention of the exploits of the Saturday match organiser, Andy Middleton (The Oaks).
Andy has won the Kamasan Open Final, which took place at Browning Cudmore fisheries. Andy amassed 20 points in the Kamasan table, which was enough to take him to the final, and he ended up winning the final with 106lb, beating local venue experts and previous Kamasan final winners and table toppers. Andy has only fished the venue once previously, and that was for the Premier League Final, which he also won (I know I came second). Not bad work if you can get it, 2 visits to the venue and over £2400 richer!!
Andy drew a corner peg on Pool 4 and had a few empty pegs to one side. He told me that he had a few fish down the side, but the majority of fish came up in the water feeding with a shaker pot, with pellet as hookbait. He caught mainly carp to 3lb with the odd chub and ide.
Former Kamasan Final Winner (2005) and Kamasan Table Topper (2003 or 2004), Dean Smith (Garbolino Elton) was 2nd with 93lb 5oz, Steve Rothery (Diawa Goldthorpe) 90lb and Gregg Norris (Daylite Baits/The Oaks) 89lb 12oz. I would also like to point out that all of the main framers (I think the nearest a venue regular got was 8th, according to www.total-fishing.com) have been venue regulars to The Oaks Lakes at some point or other).
All I can say is that The Oaks Lakes must be a good training ground!!!
Here Goes!!!
I made the trip to The Oaks Lakes, as you do, seeing as I am the match organiser (or something like) and promptly had to ring a couple of lads that have been in recent weeks to get an idea what I needed and general consensus was that meat and hemp are the order of the day at present, fished either on top of the shelf or down the middle.
After travelling with Panic to the Lindholme Fisho Qualifier, I persuaded Panic to make the long trek north and join the mass.
I had to make a special mention at the start of the match. There is a 2-keepnet rule currently in place at The Oaks Lakes, with 50lb per net, then alternate between the two. During my absence last week, venue regular, Chappy managed to weigh in over 70lb, all of which, was in one net. If I had been there, should I have paid him a quid or would I have got off on a technicality? I was tempted to give him a quid from last week, although we didn’t have a quid, and also pay him in advance for this week so that he could hire a net from the venue.
53 anglers turned up to fish the match.
My pegs for the last few matches have been peg 4 (29lb), 54 (49lb), 36 (55lb), 5 (31lb) and 5 (29lb). I was hoping for a good draw.
The Jackpot pegs were pegs 16, 55 and 61. Peg 55 had the best chance of going, 61 would be a better peg due to peg 62 not being in the draw and peg 16 throws up a weight now and then. So all in all, there was a chance that the jackpot may go today, angling ability dependant.
My bank Account
I had the obligatory bets as follows:
Chappy - £1
Macca - £2
Vinnie Diesel - £2 (roped in courtesy of Macca)
Nightie - £1
Panic - £1
Roger (Geri(atric)) Movley - £1
Orc - £1
I put my hand in the bag first and promptly drew peg 5. Flippin' Eck or words to that effect quickly followed with lots of expletives for good measure. I have fished 6 matches and drawn the same peg 3 times (with today) and drawn next door on one other occasion. My best weight from the area has been 31lb. I was absolutely gutted. One wise person asked me, if I didn’t like the peg, why put it in? I told him to go forth and multiply.
I arrived at my peg to find that I had General Patton on peg 1, the Quite One was on peg 2, John (Bradders) Bradshaw was on peg 4 and Orc was on peg 7. I also had venue expert Tim Moran in my section along with Kamasan Open Winner, Andy Middleton. I was out of it before I had even started!!! Paul (Toddy) Todd was on peg 8 and promised me £2 if I shut up for the full match. Well, I lost that in the first few minutes.
I set up 3 rigs as follows:
Deep rig was a .75g Drennan Roach float on .14 MAP Carptek line straight through to a size 16 Colmic B501 hook. I planned on fishing with paste on this line. I plumbed up at the base of the far slope and found it to be about 5ft deep.
My shelf rig was a .2 DC2 float on .13 Preston Powerline straight through to a size 16 Colmic B501 hook. Meat and hemp was the preferred bait on this line. I found that I had about 18” of depth. I also plumbed up at the next platform (peg 6) with this rig until I found the same depth.
Inside rig was a 4 x 14 patterned float direct on .13 Preston Powerline straight through to a size 14 Colmic B501 hook. I was going to paste it on this line. I found about 3.5 ft on the top 2 kit fishing to hand.
All In
At the all in, I cupped in some meat and hemp across to the far shelf, put some pellets and hemp down the middle, a bit of meat/hemp at the next peg and some groundbait and pellets on the top two line.
I went over to the far side, fed a little hemp and meat and caught an ide straight away, it was solid. I dropped in again and caught a carp of 10oz, after about 40 minutes or so, I probably had about 5lb, but the fish had seemed to disappear on me. I fed it again and left it whilst I explored my other lines.
I dropped in on the deep swim with a blob of paste and caught a carp about 1lb, then nothing for the next 10 minutes. I came in close with the top 2 rig and caught a succession of carp on paste, albeit the fish were on the small side. I was now 2 hours into the match and had approximately 10 – 12lb of mainly small fish.
I put on my shelf rig, baited up with meat and dropped in on the next peg. By this time the wind had started to pick up considerably and was blowing down the lake from peg 12 – corner peg 7, where Orc was getting a few by rotating the margin and the deep swim. The wind was also blowing from peg 1 to peg 7 (Orc should win today with all the fish being blown his way – literally) and was causing presentation problems when fishing across. The float buried next to the platform and I foul hooked a fish which shot off towards peg 7, told you it was solid down in peg 7.
Orc probably had about 20lb by now, so I was playing catch up. Bradders was probably a couple of pounds in front of my by now. I was getting battered.
I decided that there was one thing for it. I hastily set up a .4g DC2 float rig on another top kit with white hydro set soft through a match 2 and 3. This rig was on .12 Maver Genesis line straight through to a size 16 Colmic B501 hook. The rig length was approx 3ft long. I plumbed up across and added about 5” to the depth and kept the remaining line above the float.
I baited up with meat and put some meat and hemp in a Toss Pot (the small one) and shipped across to the far side. The float buried and a carp of about 2lb was trying it’s best to get to peg 62 (which is over the mud mound for those that don’t know the venue). Soon in the net, that was easy.
I proceeded in this manner for the next 2 hours and put together an estimated 40lb in that period. The fish seemed to be backing off, or were being pushed/forced down to peg 7 by the wind. Alas, I could hold on no longer, the wind was getting stronger and I was knackered, I had backache and was sweating buckets. It was warm as well as windy. At one point, I thought that I was going to smash my pole as it was pulled round by the wind. If I had held on and fought against the wind, I would have smashed it for sure.
I had a look down the inside again and caught odd fish until the end of the match, but again, they were too small.
I estimate that I had a good 40lb – 45lb.
The scales arrived and General on peg 1, set the standard, 30 odd pounds. The quite one had just over 30lb, Bradders (who wouldn’t be roped into a quid) put 35lb on the scales, the new target to beat. I put 24lb on the scales………. With my first net. I then put 29lb on the scales with my second net and had a 54lb 1oz total. Orc weighed just over 40lb (one quid up). Toddy had 46lb. The next best in my 10 peg section was 50lb (caught by the Kammie Open Champ). I was going to get an envelope. But the question was, how many quid’s had I done in?
Chappy told me that had 2 fish in the last 2 drop in’s for nearly 5lb (one of 3.5lb and 1 of 1.5lb) and beat me for the quid by 5lb (59lb odd). Oh Hum. Chappy also said that Macca had battered him, I was gonna be down a few quid at this rate. Macca put his fish on the scales and weighed in 56lb, I thought that Macca had battered Chappy? But I was still down £2 quid now (-3 +1). Although I caught, the information that I received came from both Macca and Chappy who both beat me. Where they hiding something in order to save their quid’s?????
Andy was entitled to a share of Granddad’s purse, but declined and his comments went along the lines of, ‘It’s alright Bert, you don’t have to give me any money, I have got some’. I should have had a quid with Topshop seeing I also beat him, but we weren’t on next pegs so, no chance.
Every cloud has a silver lining – Yeah, they may have both beaten me, yet, I still won my section!! I am not going to put myself in an 11 peg section if I can help it am I???
My other quids:
Vinnine, Nightie, Geri, Orc and Panic all owed me some pennies.
The full result:
53 Fished on Cedar Lake.
1. Dave Pimlott (Garbolino Elton), 91-04. Peg 44. Meat across to the island
2. Bruce Poland (The Oaks), 70-05. Peg 31. Meat over to the island.
3. Paul Taylor (The Oaks), 70-02
4.Bert Poole (Oaks/West Park), 65-08
5. Simon Beswick (Tricast Rochdale) 62-12
6. Anthony Stock (Nutrabaits) 61-03
Over 50lb was needed to win every 10 peg section and over half of the field had 40lb+. Panic came 25th with 41lb odd.
Sections (for the record)
S1. Me - 54 - 01. Peg 5
S2. A Stock 61-03. Peg 16
S3 Vinnie Martin 53-04. Peg 43 (Next to the winner)
S4. G Scott 59-04. Peg 54
S5. Mark Calvert 53-04. Peg 66
Kamasan British Open Final, Browning Cudmore
Before I start to go into the events of this weekend (well, Sunday), I would just like to make a big mention of the exploits of the Saturday match organiser, Andy Middleton (The Oaks).
Andy has won the Kamasan Open Final, which took place at Browning Cudmore fisheries. Andy amassed 20 points in the Kamasan table, which was enough to take him to the final, and he ended up winning the final with 106lb, beating local venue experts and previous Kamasan final winners and table toppers. Andy has only fished the venue once previously, and that was for the Premier League Final, which he also won (I know I came second). Not bad work if you can get it, 2 visits to the venue and over £2400 richer!!
Andy drew a corner peg on Pool 4 and had a few empty pegs to one side. He told me that he had a few fish down the side, but the majority of fish came up in the water feeding with a shaker pot, with pellet as hookbait. He caught mainly carp to 3lb with the odd chub and ide.
Former Kamasan Final Winner (2005) and Kamasan Table Topper (2003 or 2004), Dean Smith (Garbolino Elton) was 2nd with 93lb 5oz, Steve Rothery (Diawa Goldthorpe) 90lb and Gregg Norris (Daylite Baits/The Oaks) 89lb 12oz. I would also like to point out that all of the main framers (I think the nearest a venue regular got was 8th, according to www.total-fishing.com) have been venue regulars to The Oaks Lakes at some point or other).
All I can say is that The Oaks Lakes must be a good training ground!!!
Here Goes!!!
I made the trip to The Oaks Lakes, as you do, seeing as I am the match organiser (or something like) and promptly had to ring a couple of lads that have been in recent weeks to get an idea what I needed and general consensus was that meat and hemp are the order of the day at present, fished either on top of the shelf or down the middle.
After travelling with Panic to the Lindholme Fisho Qualifier, I persuaded Panic to make the long trek north and join the mass.
I had to make a special mention at the start of the match. There is a 2-keepnet rule currently in place at The Oaks Lakes, with 50lb per net, then alternate between the two. During my absence last week, venue regular, Chappy managed to weigh in over 70lb, all of which, was in one net. If I had been there, should I have paid him a quid or would I have got off on a technicality? I was tempted to give him a quid from last week, although we didn’t have a quid, and also pay him in advance for this week so that he could hire a net from the venue.
53 anglers turned up to fish the match.
My pegs for the last few matches have been peg 4 (29lb), 54 (49lb), 36 (55lb), 5 (31lb) and 5 (29lb). I was hoping for a good draw.
The Jackpot pegs were pegs 16, 55 and 61. Peg 55 had the best chance of going, 61 would be a better peg due to peg 62 not being in the draw and peg 16 throws up a weight now and then. So all in all, there was a chance that the jackpot may go today, angling ability dependant.
My bank Account
I had the obligatory bets as follows:
Chappy - £1
Macca - £2
Vinnie Diesel - £2 (roped in courtesy of Macca)
Nightie - £1
Panic - £1
Roger (Geri(atric)) Movley - £1
Orc - £1
I put my hand in the bag first and promptly drew peg 5. Flippin' Eck or words to that effect quickly followed with lots of expletives for good measure. I have fished 6 matches and drawn the same peg 3 times (with today) and drawn next door on one other occasion. My best weight from the area has been 31lb. I was absolutely gutted. One wise person asked me, if I didn’t like the peg, why put it in? I told him to go forth and multiply.
I arrived at my peg to find that I had General Patton on peg 1, the Quite One was on peg 2, John (Bradders) Bradshaw was on peg 4 and Orc was on peg 7. I also had venue expert Tim Moran in my section along with Kamasan Open Winner, Andy Middleton. I was out of it before I had even started!!! Paul (Toddy) Todd was on peg 8 and promised me £2 if I shut up for the full match. Well, I lost that in the first few minutes.
I set up 3 rigs as follows:
Deep rig was a .75g Drennan Roach float on .14 MAP Carptek line straight through to a size 16 Colmic B501 hook. I planned on fishing with paste on this line. I plumbed up at the base of the far slope and found it to be about 5ft deep.
My shelf rig was a .2 DC2 float on .13 Preston Powerline straight through to a size 16 Colmic B501 hook. Meat and hemp was the preferred bait on this line. I found that I had about 18” of depth. I also plumbed up at the next platform (peg 6) with this rig until I found the same depth.
Inside rig was a 4 x 14 patterned float direct on .13 Preston Powerline straight through to a size 14 Colmic B501 hook. I was going to paste it on this line. I found about 3.5 ft on the top 2 kit fishing to hand.
All In
At the all in, I cupped in some meat and hemp across to the far shelf, put some pellets and hemp down the middle, a bit of meat/hemp at the next peg and some groundbait and pellets on the top two line.
I went over to the far side, fed a little hemp and meat and caught an ide straight away, it was solid. I dropped in again and caught a carp of 10oz, after about 40 minutes or so, I probably had about 5lb, but the fish had seemed to disappear on me. I fed it again and left it whilst I explored my other lines.
I dropped in on the deep swim with a blob of paste and caught a carp about 1lb, then nothing for the next 10 minutes. I came in close with the top 2 rig and caught a succession of carp on paste, albeit the fish were on the small side. I was now 2 hours into the match and had approximately 10 – 12lb of mainly small fish.
I put on my shelf rig, baited up with meat and dropped in on the next peg. By this time the wind had started to pick up considerably and was blowing down the lake from peg 12 – corner peg 7, where Orc was getting a few by rotating the margin and the deep swim. The wind was also blowing from peg 1 to peg 7 (Orc should win today with all the fish being blown his way – literally) and was causing presentation problems when fishing across. The float buried next to the platform and I foul hooked a fish which shot off towards peg 7, told you it was solid down in peg 7.
Orc probably had about 20lb by now, so I was playing catch up. Bradders was probably a couple of pounds in front of my by now. I was getting battered.
I decided that there was one thing for it. I hastily set up a .4g DC2 float rig on another top kit with white hydro set soft through a match 2 and 3. This rig was on .12 Maver Genesis line straight through to a size 16 Colmic B501 hook. The rig length was approx 3ft long. I plumbed up across and added about 5” to the depth and kept the remaining line above the float.
I baited up with meat and put some meat and hemp in a Toss Pot (the small one) and shipped across to the far side. The float buried and a carp of about 2lb was trying it’s best to get to peg 62 (which is over the mud mound for those that don’t know the venue). Soon in the net, that was easy.
I proceeded in this manner for the next 2 hours and put together an estimated 40lb in that period. The fish seemed to be backing off, or were being pushed/forced down to peg 7 by the wind. Alas, I could hold on no longer, the wind was getting stronger and I was knackered, I had backache and was sweating buckets. It was warm as well as windy. At one point, I thought that I was going to smash my pole as it was pulled round by the wind. If I had held on and fought against the wind, I would have smashed it for sure.
I had a look down the inside again and caught odd fish until the end of the match, but again, they were too small.
I estimate that I had a good 40lb – 45lb.
The scales arrived and General on peg 1, set the standard, 30 odd pounds. The quite one had just over 30lb, Bradders (who wouldn’t be roped into a quid) put 35lb on the scales, the new target to beat. I put 24lb on the scales………. With my first net. I then put 29lb on the scales with my second net and had a 54lb 1oz total. Orc weighed just over 40lb (one quid up). Toddy had 46lb. The next best in my 10 peg section was 50lb (caught by the Kammie Open Champ). I was going to get an envelope. But the question was, how many quid’s had I done in?
Chappy told me that had 2 fish in the last 2 drop in’s for nearly 5lb (one of 3.5lb and 1 of 1.5lb) and beat me for the quid by 5lb (59lb odd). Oh Hum. Chappy also said that Macca had battered him, I was gonna be down a few quid at this rate. Macca put his fish on the scales and weighed in 56lb, I thought that Macca had battered Chappy? But I was still down £2 quid now (-3 +1). Although I caught, the information that I received came from both Macca and Chappy who both beat me. Where they hiding something in order to save their quid’s?????
Andy was entitled to a share of Granddad’s purse, but declined and his comments went along the lines of, ‘It’s alright Bert, you don’t have to give me any money, I have got some’. I should have had a quid with Topshop seeing I also beat him, but we weren’t on next pegs so, no chance.
Every cloud has a silver lining – Yeah, they may have both beaten me, yet, I still won my section!! I am not going to put myself in an 11 peg section if I can help it am I???
My other quids:
Vinnine, Nightie, Geri, Orc and Panic all owed me some pennies.
The full result:
53 Fished on Cedar Lake.
1. Dave Pimlott (Garbolino Elton), 91-04. Peg 44. Meat across to the island
2. Bruce Poland (The Oaks), 70-05. Peg 31. Meat over to the island.
3. Paul Taylor (The Oaks), 70-02
4.Bert Poole (Oaks/West Park), 65-08
5. Simon Beswick (Tricast Rochdale) 62-12
6. Anthony Stock (Nutrabaits) 61-03
Over 50lb was needed to win every 10 peg section and over half of the field had 40lb+. Panic came 25th with 41lb odd.
Sections (for the record)
S1. Me - 54 - 01. Peg 5
S2. A Stock 61-03. Peg 16
S3 Vinnie Martin 53-04. Peg 43 (Next to the winner)
S4. G Scott 59-04. Peg 54
S5. Mark Calvert 53-04. Peg 66
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Lindholme Lakes – Fisho Qualifier – Wednesday 5th July 2006.
I arranged for Panic to come and pick me up at 7:00 for the trip to Lindholme for the penultimate Fisho Qualifier.
My Gardener
Yesterday I had a word with my gardener and asked him if he could come and tidy the front and back garden, the hedge needed trimming, the front garden needed turning over and the back garden needed a good seeing to!!!
When I opened the door at 6:45 to get my stuff ready for when Panic arrived, I found my gardener sat on my doorstep (it’s 6:45 in the morning), waiting to get on with the garden. I showed him where all the tools were and left him to get on with it.
Panic was early for once, I thought that either he’d dropped a turd in bed or he’d been out all night. It was about 10 to 7 and everyone was present and correct. Panic was laughing and joking about me having a gardener, but when you work 5 days a week, fish on a Sunday, that only leaves Saturday (if I am not fishing) and I like to spend the day with the kids and our lass, hence I have little time left so I have a gardener.
With my directions and Panic’s turbo-charged van, we arrived at Lindholme in good time, although we did have a scary moment when 2 eeejit’s (move over Jonesey and Sam) over took us on a narrow country lane.
Upon arrival, I was in the company of Nightie, Jonesey, Tommy Pick, Matt Hall, Rob Hitchens, Steve Greggs, Beanhead, Daylite, Marco and a few others. Both young Adam and Darryll arrived on spec. to try to get on the match on the day. Apparently, the first one on the reserve list had arrived at 6:30 to ensure that he went down as first reserve.
As I queued for brekkie, I finally arrived at the counter and ordered a brekkie, my ticket number was 72, they were only just serving number 54!!. Adam ordered a sandwich, hoping that it was going to arrive quicker, but no!, they do the orders in number order.
Only £2 to worry about this week, as quid side bet’s were struck with Daylite and Nightie.
The Draw
I joined the queue for the draw and some 5 minutes later there were as many people behind me in the draw as there was in front. Daylite was nearer to the back than the front, and as usual, he found some sort of excuse for him to join our little tete a tete!!
6 lakes were being used, Beeches, Loco, Willows, Laurel, Strip and Bonsai.
Bonsai
At the draw Neil G made an announcement that the Bonsai Lake was suffering as a result of a lack of oxygen and that a pump/aerator was promptly being moved into position on the lake and that he apologised, but the aerator would have to run all day. One or two of the anglers that had had a look at Bonsai commented that there were fish belly up and they were gasping for air. There were 50 pegs on Bonsai – OOOpppss.
At the draw, most of the anglers wanted to draw either Loco or Beeches. Beeches because this lake was a converted trout lake and was used in the North V South match that took place a couple of months ago. Loco was wanted as they had only pegged 10 anglers on a 60 odd peg lake.
I put my hand in the bag and pulled out Willow 32??? In view of never having fished the lake before, I sought out local advice from Rob Hitchens and Johnny Howard. Apparently I had drawn a flyer as it was a corner peg (peg 31 was not in) and the wind was blowing into the corner.
Daylite had drawn Strip Pond, Panic was on Laurel 67, Nightie was on Laurel 3 (both Nightie and Panic were pegged next to each other????), Adam was at the back of Greggs on Willows Lake, on about peg 24, another quid side bet was promptly struck.
I arrived at my peg and the two waggler rigs that I had so lovingly prepared were left in the van. It was approx 25m wide to the other bank which was occupied by venue expert and all-round good guy, Steve Gregory!!!
Does the peg look fishy or what!!, This picture was taken about halfway through the match when the wind had stopped blowing into the peg and was blowing the opposite way.
I sat and observed my peg for 5 minutes or so just to try to formulate a plan of attack. I decided on the following:
Shallow Rig was a little poly ball attached to .16 MAP Carptek line straight through to a size 14 Kamasan B981 hook. The total amount of line on the rig was about 3ft to allow me to move up or down in the water and to also allow me to put a bit of line between pole float and pole tip, should I need to. Pellet or floater was the order of the day.
My Deep Rig, was a Colmic patterned float of 4 x 16 in size. It has a thick nylon bristle. I attached it to .15 dia. Preston Powerline straight through to a size 14 Kamasan Animal hook. I plumbed up and found about 5ft of depth, both in front and down the side at 15m. I planned on fishing paste at 11m in front and pellet down the side. I decided upon pellet down the side as I had great difficulty shipping in and out and if I had fished paste, it would have probably come out of the shipping pot and come off as I shipped out. The reason for the difficulty was that I was down a steep bank, and I didn’t even have enough room to lay a section behind me without it going up hill.
I also set up another rig, but this one was a shallow rig for fishing at 16m right into the corner up the mud bank. I set the rig about 2ft deep and plumbed around until I found the correct depth. I couldn’t find a flat spot as there was a steep slope (I know for sure as you will find out later) from grass/reed bank to the base of the slope.
Whilst I was assembling my various rigs, I could see fish swimming around up in the water, they appeared to be a good few fish about 3 – 7lb in size. The wind was still blowing into my corner. I decided to go for a little walk to see Beanhead to get some more advice and to ensure that I was going down the right track with regards to tackling my peg.
I arrived at Beanhead’s peg, I thought that I had a lot of fish in front of me, you ain’t seen Beanhead’s peg. It was solid between 6m – 14m and they were all over 5lb. Beanhead had a grin from here to here (I say with my arms open wide). Beanhead confirmed my plan(s) of attack.
Le Menu
I brought that much bait with me (as I thought that I may be fishing up in the water at distance), I had 6mm Sensas Pellets, 8mm Bob-Co pellets, micro pellets, 4mm pellets, expander pellets, sinking pellets, banded pellets, drilled pellets and some more pellets for good measure. Oh, almost forgot, I had a tin of corn should I need it.
At the all in, I cupped in some micro pellets at 16m to the corner, have you tried to feed a pole cup full of pellets at 16m whilst trying to hold the pole horizontal, when you are having to stand up to ship the bait out, if not try it. A large pot full of pellets at 2m doesn’t weigh a lot, when you are trying to ship out to 16m whilst standing up, the pot gains weight, a lot!!!
I cupped in at 11m and started on the up in the water rig, flicking a few 4mm pellets over the top of the float. Steve Greggs cupped in some sloppy pellet or groundbait down the side (for him it was about 13m and it was even, he could ship out normally) and he cupped in some pellets at 8m in front of him.
The Match
The actual match write up is v. short, if you are not catching, there is not a lot to write about, sorry.
Well, over the next 5 hours I managed to catch 1 carp and 1 chub after 2 hours 45, both on expander pellet down the side by feeding micro pellets over a 5 minute period I then snared another chub up in the water on a floating pellet with about 30 minutes to go. I could not buy a bite and it didn’t matter what permutation of bait and feeding that I carried out.
I tried down the side on both deep and shallow rigs, I tried at 7m, 11m and 13m both on the bottom and up in the water. I just could not get a bite and indications were very few and far between. Steve Greggs ended up with about 7 carp for 10lb odd, he caught 3 on paste down the side and 4 on floating bread (I didn’t have any).
Matt Hall won the match with over 140lb and one of the Ringers was second with 88lb. Nightie had about 10lb, Panic tipped back about 30lb, Adam weighed 24lb and I am not sure what Daylite had (oops, I forgot to give him his quid, oh well, we will fish for it next time).
The Slippery Slope
I lost one of my DC floats that I set up (I se this rig up on thinner line, smaller hook and tried to catch a fish the Oaks way). I went to go get my DC float back and took my landing net handle only. I managed to dislodge the float from the line that was still tethered to the snag and persuaded the float to come into the bank to my feet, I bent down to get said float and started to slip into the water. I went just over my knees (and I was still sliding down the slope that I mentioned earlier) until I managed to grab hold of something to slow down my slide down the slippery slope and pull my self out. I went and got my landing net head and scooped my float out!!
Uniformity
If there is one thing that I would like to see is a uniform set of rules for all Fisho qualifiers. I say this because:
On the Fisho qualifier, you could use floating pole, it is banned in the final and it is also banned in the open matches at Lindholme.
You can use floating baits, but not feed which is always open to abuse.
A pole limit, to make it more of a level playing field.
What do we do/not do at The Oaks, which you will be able to do/not do in the final, as I am not entirely sure of the rules for the Fisho final.
The rules should also reflect what can and can’t be used in the final, in that if you can use catmeat in the final, why not allow people to fish it in qualifiers.
I have fished 2 Fisho qualifying matches this year and I have, I must admit, I have enjoyed them both. They are on different venues, using different methods and catching different size fish to the usual methods used at The Oaks.
Viaduct was good because of the practice sessions and the ‘craic’ and the size of the fish also meant that a weight was possible from most pegs. Lindholme was good because of the apprehension and the hope of drawing the right lake. I was hoping to be able to draw a peg where the splashing wag could be used, or at least catch up in the water. When you go to a new venue, you are usually excited as you just do not know what to expect and it can invigorate you when you feel as though things are going stale.
All I can say, is keep at it. Life has some strange ways of evening itself out.
I arranged for Panic to come and pick me up at 7:00 for the trip to Lindholme for the penultimate Fisho Qualifier.
My Gardener
Yesterday I had a word with my gardener and asked him if he could come and tidy the front and back garden, the hedge needed trimming, the front garden needed turning over and the back garden needed a good seeing to!!!
When I opened the door at 6:45 to get my stuff ready for when Panic arrived, I found my gardener sat on my doorstep (it’s 6:45 in the morning), waiting to get on with the garden. I showed him where all the tools were and left him to get on with it.
Panic was early for once, I thought that either he’d dropped a turd in bed or he’d been out all night. It was about 10 to 7 and everyone was present and correct. Panic was laughing and joking about me having a gardener, but when you work 5 days a week, fish on a Sunday, that only leaves Saturday (if I am not fishing) and I like to spend the day with the kids and our lass, hence I have little time left so I have a gardener.
With my directions and Panic’s turbo-charged van, we arrived at Lindholme in good time, although we did have a scary moment when 2 eeejit’s (move over Jonesey and Sam) over took us on a narrow country lane.
Upon arrival, I was in the company of Nightie, Jonesey, Tommy Pick, Matt Hall, Rob Hitchens, Steve Greggs, Beanhead, Daylite, Marco and a few others. Both young Adam and Darryll arrived on spec. to try to get on the match on the day. Apparently, the first one on the reserve list had arrived at 6:30 to ensure that he went down as first reserve.
As I queued for brekkie, I finally arrived at the counter and ordered a brekkie, my ticket number was 72, they were only just serving number 54!!. Adam ordered a sandwich, hoping that it was going to arrive quicker, but no!, they do the orders in number order.
Only £2 to worry about this week, as quid side bet’s were struck with Daylite and Nightie.
The Draw
I joined the queue for the draw and some 5 minutes later there were as many people behind me in the draw as there was in front. Daylite was nearer to the back than the front, and as usual, he found some sort of excuse for him to join our little tete a tete!!
6 lakes were being used, Beeches, Loco, Willows, Laurel, Strip and Bonsai.
Bonsai
At the draw Neil G made an announcement that the Bonsai Lake was suffering as a result of a lack of oxygen and that a pump/aerator was promptly being moved into position on the lake and that he apologised, but the aerator would have to run all day. One or two of the anglers that had had a look at Bonsai commented that there were fish belly up and they were gasping for air. There were 50 pegs on Bonsai – OOOpppss.
At the draw, most of the anglers wanted to draw either Loco or Beeches. Beeches because this lake was a converted trout lake and was used in the North V South match that took place a couple of months ago. Loco was wanted as they had only pegged 10 anglers on a 60 odd peg lake.
I put my hand in the bag and pulled out Willow 32??? In view of never having fished the lake before, I sought out local advice from Rob Hitchens and Johnny Howard. Apparently I had drawn a flyer as it was a corner peg (peg 31 was not in) and the wind was blowing into the corner.
Daylite had drawn Strip Pond, Panic was on Laurel 67, Nightie was on Laurel 3 (both Nightie and Panic were pegged next to each other????), Adam was at the back of Greggs on Willows Lake, on about peg 24, another quid side bet was promptly struck.
I arrived at my peg and the two waggler rigs that I had so lovingly prepared were left in the van. It was approx 25m wide to the other bank which was occupied by venue expert and all-round good guy, Steve Gregory!!!
Does the peg look fishy or what!!, This picture was taken about halfway through the match when the wind had stopped blowing into the peg and was blowing the opposite way.
I sat and observed my peg for 5 minutes or so just to try to formulate a plan of attack. I decided on the following:
Shallow Rig was a little poly ball attached to .16 MAP Carptek line straight through to a size 14 Kamasan B981 hook. The total amount of line on the rig was about 3ft to allow me to move up or down in the water and to also allow me to put a bit of line between pole float and pole tip, should I need to. Pellet or floater was the order of the day.
My Deep Rig, was a Colmic patterned float of 4 x 16 in size. It has a thick nylon bristle. I attached it to .15 dia. Preston Powerline straight through to a size 14 Kamasan Animal hook. I plumbed up and found about 5ft of depth, both in front and down the side at 15m. I planned on fishing paste at 11m in front and pellet down the side. I decided upon pellet down the side as I had great difficulty shipping in and out and if I had fished paste, it would have probably come out of the shipping pot and come off as I shipped out. The reason for the difficulty was that I was down a steep bank, and I didn’t even have enough room to lay a section behind me without it going up hill.
I also set up another rig, but this one was a shallow rig for fishing at 16m right into the corner up the mud bank. I set the rig about 2ft deep and plumbed around until I found the correct depth. I couldn’t find a flat spot as there was a steep slope (I know for sure as you will find out later) from grass/reed bank to the base of the slope.
Whilst I was assembling my various rigs, I could see fish swimming around up in the water, they appeared to be a good few fish about 3 – 7lb in size. The wind was still blowing into my corner. I decided to go for a little walk to see Beanhead to get some more advice and to ensure that I was going down the right track with regards to tackling my peg.
I arrived at Beanhead’s peg, I thought that I had a lot of fish in front of me, you ain’t seen Beanhead’s peg. It was solid between 6m – 14m and they were all over 5lb. Beanhead had a grin from here to here (I say with my arms open wide). Beanhead confirmed my plan(s) of attack.
Le Menu
I brought that much bait with me (as I thought that I may be fishing up in the water at distance), I had 6mm Sensas Pellets, 8mm Bob-Co pellets, micro pellets, 4mm pellets, expander pellets, sinking pellets, banded pellets, drilled pellets and some more pellets for good measure. Oh, almost forgot, I had a tin of corn should I need it.
At the all in, I cupped in some micro pellets at 16m to the corner, have you tried to feed a pole cup full of pellets at 16m whilst trying to hold the pole horizontal, when you are having to stand up to ship the bait out, if not try it. A large pot full of pellets at 2m doesn’t weigh a lot, when you are trying to ship out to 16m whilst standing up, the pot gains weight, a lot!!!
I cupped in at 11m and started on the up in the water rig, flicking a few 4mm pellets over the top of the float. Steve Greggs cupped in some sloppy pellet or groundbait down the side (for him it was about 13m and it was even, he could ship out normally) and he cupped in some pellets at 8m in front of him.
The Match
The actual match write up is v. short, if you are not catching, there is not a lot to write about, sorry.
Well, over the next 5 hours I managed to catch 1 carp and 1 chub after 2 hours 45, both on expander pellet down the side by feeding micro pellets over a 5 minute period I then snared another chub up in the water on a floating pellet with about 30 minutes to go. I could not buy a bite and it didn’t matter what permutation of bait and feeding that I carried out.
I tried down the side on both deep and shallow rigs, I tried at 7m, 11m and 13m both on the bottom and up in the water. I just could not get a bite and indications were very few and far between. Steve Greggs ended up with about 7 carp for 10lb odd, he caught 3 on paste down the side and 4 on floating bread (I didn’t have any).
Matt Hall won the match with over 140lb and one of the Ringers was second with 88lb. Nightie had about 10lb, Panic tipped back about 30lb, Adam weighed 24lb and I am not sure what Daylite had (oops, I forgot to give him his quid, oh well, we will fish for it next time).
The Slippery Slope
I lost one of my DC floats that I set up (I se this rig up on thinner line, smaller hook and tried to catch a fish the Oaks way). I went to go get my DC float back and took my landing net handle only. I managed to dislodge the float from the line that was still tethered to the snag and persuaded the float to come into the bank to my feet, I bent down to get said float and started to slip into the water. I went just over my knees (and I was still sliding down the slope that I mentioned earlier) until I managed to grab hold of something to slow down my slide down the slippery slope and pull my self out. I went and got my landing net head and scooped my float out!!
Uniformity
If there is one thing that I would like to see is a uniform set of rules for all Fisho qualifiers. I say this because:
On the Fisho qualifier, you could use floating pole, it is banned in the final and it is also banned in the open matches at Lindholme.
You can use floating baits, but not feed which is always open to abuse.
A pole limit, to make it more of a level playing field.
What do we do/not do at The Oaks, which you will be able to do/not do in the final, as I am not entirely sure of the rules for the Fisho final.
The rules should also reflect what can and can’t be used in the final, in that if you can use catmeat in the final, why not allow people to fish it in qualifiers.
I have fished 2 Fisho qualifying matches this year and I have, I must admit, I have enjoyed them both. They are on different venues, using different methods and catching different size fish to the usual methods used at The Oaks.
Viaduct was good because of the practice sessions and the ‘craic’ and the size of the fish also meant that a weight was possible from most pegs. Lindholme was good because of the apprehension and the hope of drawing the right lake. I was hoping to be able to draw a peg where the splashing wag could be used, or at least catch up in the water. When you go to a new venue, you are usually excited as you just do not know what to expect and it can invigorate you when you feel as though things are going stale.
All I can say, is keep at it. Life has some strange ways of evening itself out.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Lindholme Lakes – Fisho Practice – Sunday 2nd July 2006.
With the impending Fishomania qualifier just round the corner, I felt that a visit to the venue was required and I promptly booked myself on the open match.
There were 32 anglers present including such names as Rob Hitchen, Jonny Howard, Matt Hall and Ben Fisk (???)!!
I had managed to talk Purverted into attending the match and had arranged for him to come and pick me up. I spoke to Daylite, Beanhead and Marco to get an idea of what was/might be required and promptly had to ring Purverted back. A waggler rod was needed!! And Purverted ain’t got one of those. After telling him that he WILL need a waggler rod he very, very quickly cried off. No amount of coaxing was going to make him change his mind. A quick call to Panic and a new travelling partner was arranged.
I picked Panic up at about 7:15 for the trip to Lindholme in order to get there for the draw. The draw at Lindholme takes place at 9:00 am and they have 6 hours matches (might have to have a word with Tom on this).
3 of the lakes being used in the Fishomania qualifier were being used for the match today with each lake having approximately 10 anglers on and if you won your lake you got a good payout in terms of there was no 1st, 2nd or 3rd prize. The prize consisted of £100 (ish for winning your section). The 3 lakes being used were Beeches, Willows and Loco. No-one wanted to draw Loco!! And everyone (in the know) wanted to draw Beeches.
Beeches is an old trout lake that has been stuffed full of fish and was used for the North V South match. Loco is a rectangular lake with approx 60 pegs on. There is a tiny island some 40m out in front of about 6 pegs (2 from 3 sides of the lake), what is that all about, other than that, it is featureless. Not sure about willows, as I don’t even know which lake it is.
Panic put his hand in the draw bag and drew Beeches Peg 16 and I drew Loco Peg 34 – we were both none the wiser. I was told (by Beanhead) to fish paste at 6m and pellet up in the water at 14m or further with a waggler rod. Beanhead drew Loco 42, Daylite was on peg 30 (ish, on the bottom bank and had no-where to go). Cromie was on Beeches peg 30 (a quid down already). Daylite promptly roped me into a quid side bet.
Upon arriving at my peg, I had Chris (Sherlock) Watson on peg 38, Beanhead was further round on about peg 42/44. Matt Hall was on my lake on about the peg 2nd from the end (about peg 60).
I set up 1 waggler rod which consisted of 5lb Maxima mainline (I don’t know how big they go), with a 3AAA MAP pellet float and a 12” length of Preston Powerline (.15 diameter) tied to a size 14 Kamasan Eyed Barbless Hook (B981, me thinks!!). I had hair-rigged a baitband and attached it using a knotless knot. The rod that I was using was an old Daiwa Amorphous Whisker. The Whisker rod is quite a tippy rod, with plenty of power in reserve.
In view of not knowing too much about the lake and the venue, I set up my pole rigs on the bank as follows:
6/7m paste rig: was a 0.5g Drennan Carp 2 float on .15 Preston Powerline straight through to a Kamasan B981. I was told that the lake was deep. When I plumbed up the depth was deeper than the 2 & 3 pole kit by some 3 inches. (I didn’t fancy the deep rig from this moment forward and would keep an eye on all those around me to see if I had made a mistake).
I then set up 1 shallow rig for 14.5 metres (there is a pole limit of 14.5m on the lake), this consisted of a 4 x 12 Garbolino DC 2 float on .16 MAP Carptek line straight through to a Kamasan B981 hook. Again, as the waggler rig, I had attached a baitband as a hair, also using the knotless knot (have you tried to make up a float rig from hook to loop?)
I also set up a rig to a overhanging tree to my right, the lad on Peg 32 was planning on fishing this area as his main swim (did he know something I didn’t). Whilst I was setting up my deep rig, I could see the odd fish boil and swirl tight in to the side under the tree. I plumbed up expecting to find about 10ft, but alas no, it was a reasonable depth – some 2ft. My rig was a Garbolino DC2 float taking 0.2g. This was set up on .16 Carptek line, direct to a size 14 (same pattern as above).
My bait table consisted of every pellet and size known to man with some more for good measure. I had some Sensas 6mm, Viaduct 6 and 8mm and some 10mm pellets that I was planning on using as hookbait. I also had some paste, groundbait, micro pellets and sweetcorn. Was I prepared or what?
Wait and See.
At the all in, I waited to see what everyone else was doing and where they were feeding. The general consensus was to feed at both 6/7m and also at 14m and splash a little bit of bait at 2m to one side. I followed suit.
The majority of people then went straight out onto the 6/7m line. There was one lad who was bucking (yes bucking) the trend and he went straight out on a splashing wag. He had what appeared to be a big ping pong ball attached to the top of his float, painted day-glo orange. He was on peg 38.
I baited the waggler rod and chucked out about 20 – 25m. There was a slight breeze blowing from left to right diagonally across the lake coming towards me.
I catapulted out 2 pouches of 6mm pellets and promptly cast out over the top. I put another pouch over the top and waited. I kept on catapulting a few pellets out over the top of the float, trying to get a rhythm going. I could see the odd fish boiling about 35m out. The float buried and a carp of about 3lb was soon in the net.
I repeated the process and after a further 20 minutes another carp was doing it’s best to run to the other side of the lake, but it failed and was in the landing net. This one was about 5lb.
When waggler fishing, I have a tendency to fish with the anti-reverse on and let the reel free spool, playing the fish using the drag. This is a good method until you get them under the rod tip. I used to fish by back winding, but I feel that sometimes, you give line when you don’t really need to.
Over the next 3 or 4 hours, I only managed to catch one fish and lost 2. The highlight was catching one of the Canadian Geese that inhabit the lake and watching it swim and flap all around Daylite’s peg – he wasn’t pleased (don’t know why, he wasn’t catching anything). Shortly after, I am sure that a couple of stones (or such) came flying my way and landed in my peg.
I tried the paste rig – nothing. I tried the margin rig, under the tree, nothing – the lad on peg 32 had a tench about 4lb from the margin and a couple of small bottle top carp. I plumbed up at 14m (just to get and idea and possibly have a go at full depth) using the same 6m rig. When the pole tip touched the water and the float hadn’t touched bottom, I sacked that idea straight away.
Sherlock on the next peg was catching all of his fish in the deep water at both 6m and 11m. He was getting a lot of small carp (6 to the lb) and the odd bonus fish (now and then), but wasn’t breaking any records. The lad with the ping pong ball was catching the odd fish but would have spells where he caught 2 or 3 then nothing.
There was a lad next to Daylite on about peg 28 (2 pegs away from Daylite) who was starting to get a few fish. He seemed to be fishing about ½ depth (to me, as I don’t know how deep it was for him) and was starting to get a few fish.
I added more depth on to the waggler rig and started to get a few more indications. I now cottoned onto what I needed to do (there was about 40 minutes of the match remaining). I cast out the waggler rod, placed the rod to my right side and catapulted pellets over the top, periodically and waited for the rod tip to go round. In this 40 minute spell, I managed to snare 4 more carp of between 2 and 3lb and lost another 2. I had felt as though I had finally got something together. I had previously been striking at every indication. That was that. Time!!!
My Weight!!!
The scales arrived and confirmed what everyone already knew, you didn’t want to be on Loco Lake. Someone on Willows had 115lb, Rob Hitchens had won the match with 125lb from Beeches, Panic tipped back 40lb, Cromie had 82lb and my lake was won with 44lb. Sherlock had 34lb, Beanhead had a similar weight, Ping Pong had 44lb and won the lake, Daylite was a DNW and the lad next to him, also had a 40lb + weight. I had 7 carp for 24lb odd. My winning quid off Daylite promptly left my palm and made it’s way to Cromie.
I haven’t got a clue where I need to draw for the fisho, but hopefully if I catch a few fish, I will have enjoyed myself and that is what fishing is all about.
With the impending Fishomania qualifier just round the corner, I felt that a visit to the venue was required and I promptly booked myself on the open match.
There were 32 anglers present including such names as Rob Hitchen, Jonny Howard, Matt Hall and Ben Fisk (???)!!
I had managed to talk Purverted into attending the match and had arranged for him to come and pick me up. I spoke to Daylite, Beanhead and Marco to get an idea of what was/might be required and promptly had to ring Purverted back. A waggler rod was needed!! And Purverted ain’t got one of those. After telling him that he WILL need a waggler rod he very, very quickly cried off. No amount of coaxing was going to make him change his mind. A quick call to Panic and a new travelling partner was arranged.
I picked Panic up at about 7:15 for the trip to Lindholme in order to get there for the draw. The draw at Lindholme takes place at 9:00 am and they have 6 hours matches (might have to have a word with Tom on this).
3 of the lakes being used in the Fishomania qualifier were being used for the match today with each lake having approximately 10 anglers on and if you won your lake you got a good payout in terms of there was no 1st, 2nd or 3rd prize. The prize consisted of £100 (ish for winning your section). The 3 lakes being used were Beeches, Willows and Loco. No-one wanted to draw Loco!! And everyone (in the know) wanted to draw Beeches.
Beeches is an old trout lake that has been stuffed full of fish and was used for the North V South match. Loco is a rectangular lake with approx 60 pegs on. There is a tiny island some 40m out in front of about 6 pegs (2 from 3 sides of the lake), what is that all about, other than that, it is featureless. Not sure about willows, as I don’t even know which lake it is.
Panic put his hand in the draw bag and drew Beeches Peg 16 and I drew Loco Peg 34 – we were both none the wiser. I was told (by Beanhead) to fish paste at 6m and pellet up in the water at 14m or further with a waggler rod. Beanhead drew Loco 42, Daylite was on peg 30 (ish, on the bottom bank and had no-where to go). Cromie was on Beeches peg 30 (a quid down already). Daylite promptly roped me into a quid side bet.
Upon arriving at my peg, I had Chris (Sherlock) Watson on peg 38, Beanhead was further round on about peg 42/44. Matt Hall was on my lake on about the peg 2nd from the end (about peg 60).
I set up 1 waggler rod which consisted of 5lb Maxima mainline (I don’t know how big they go), with a 3AAA MAP pellet float and a 12” length of Preston Powerline (.15 diameter) tied to a size 14 Kamasan Eyed Barbless Hook (B981, me thinks!!). I had hair-rigged a baitband and attached it using a knotless knot. The rod that I was using was an old Daiwa Amorphous Whisker. The Whisker rod is quite a tippy rod, with plenty of power in reserve.
In view of not knowing too much about the lake and the venue, I set up my pole rigs on the bank as follows:
6/7m paste rig: was a 0.5g Drennan Carp 2 float on .15 Preston Powerline straight through to a Kamasan B981. I was told that the lake was deep. When I plumbed up the depth was deeper than the 2 & 3 pole kit by some 3 inches. (I didn’t fancy the deep rig from this moment forward and would keep an eye on all those around me to see if I had made a mistake).
I then set up 1 shallow rig for 14.5 metres (there is a pole limit of 14.5m on the lake), this consisted of a 4 x 12 Garbolino DC 2 float on .16 MAP Carptek line straight through to a Kamasan B981 hook. Again, as the waggler rig, I had attached a baitband as a hair, also using the knotless knot (have you tried to make up a float rig from hook to loop?)
I also set up a rig to a overhanging tree to my right, the lad on Peg 32 was planning on fishing this area as his main swim (did he know something I didn’t). Whilst I was setting up my deep rig, I could see the odd fish boil and swirl tight in to the side under the tree. I plumbed up expecting to find about 10ft, but alas no, it was a reasonable depth – some 2ft. My rig was a Garbolino DC2 float taking 0.2g. This was set up on .16 Carptek line, direct to a size 14 (same pattern as above).
My bait table consisted of every pellet and size known to man with some more for good measure. I had some Sensas 6mm, Viaduct 6 and 8mm and some 10mm pellets that I was planning on using as hookbait. I also had some paste, groundbait, micro pellets and sweetcorn. Was I prepared or what?
Wait and See.
At the all in, I waited to see what everyone else was doing and where they were feeding. The general consensus was to feed at both 6/7m and also at 14m and splash a little bit of bait at 2m to one side. I followed suit.
The majority of people then went straight out onto the 6/7m line. There was one lad who was bucking (yes bucking) the trend and he went straight out on a splashing wag. He had what appeared to be a big ping pong ball attached to the top of his float, painted day-glo orange. He was on peg 38.
I baited the waggler rod and chucked out about 20 – 25m. There was a slight breeze blowing from left to right diagonally across the lake coming towards me.
I catapulted out 2 pouches of 6mm pellets and promptly cast out over the top. I put another pouch over the top and waited. I kept on catapulting a few pellets out over the top of the float, trying to get a rhythm going. I could see the odd fish boiling about 35m out. The float buried and a carp of about 3lb was soon in the net.
I repeated the process and after a further 20 minutes another carp was doing it’s best to run to the other side of the lake, but it failed and was in the landing net. This one was about 5lb.
When waggler fishing, I have a tendency to fish with the anti-reverse on and let the reel free spool, playing the fish using the drag. This is a good method until you get them under the rod tip. I used to fish by back winding, but I feel that sometimes, you give line when you don’t really need to.
Over the next 3 or 4 hours, I only managed to catch one fish and lost 2. The highlight was catching one of the Canadian Geese that inhabit the lake and watching it swim and flap all around Daylite’s peg – he wasn’t pleased (don’t know why, he wasn’t catching anything). Shortly after, I am sure that a couple of stones (or such) came flying my way and landed in my peg.
I tried the paste rig – nothing. I tried the margin rig, under the tree, nothing – the lad on peg 32 had a tench about 4lb from the margin and a couple of small bottle top carp. I plumbed up at 14m (just to get and idea and possibly have a go at full depth) using the same 6m rig. When the pole tip touched the water and the float hadn’t touched bottom, I sacked that idea straight away.
Sherlock on the next peg was catching all of his fish in the deep water at both 6m and 11m. He was getting a lot of small carp (6 to the lb) and the odd bonus fish (now and then), but wasn’t breaking any records. The lad with the ping pong ball was catching the odd fish but would have spells where he caught 2 or 3 then nothing.
There was a lad next to Daylite on about peg 28 (2 pegs away from Daylite) who was starting to get a few fish. He seemed to be fishing about ½ depth (to me, as I don’t know how deep it was for him) and was starting to get a few fish.
I added more depth on to the waggler rig and started to get a few more indications. I now cottoned onto what I needed to do (there was about 40 minutes of the match remaining). I cast out the waggler rod, placed the rod to my right side and catapulted pellets over the top, periodically and waited for the rod tip to go round. In this 40 minute spell, I managed to snare 4 more carp of between 2 and 3lb and lost another 2. I had felt as though I had finally got something together. I had previously been striking at every indication. That was that. Time!!!
My Weight!!!
The scales arrived and confirmed what everyone already knew, you didn’t want to be on Loco Lake. Someone on Willows had 115lb, Rob Hitchens had won the match with 125lb from Beeches, Panic tipped back 40lb, Cromie had 82lb and my lake was won with 44lb. Sherlock had 34lb, Beanhead had a similar weight, Ping Pong had 44lb and won the lake, Daylite was a DNW and the lad next to him, also had a 40lb + weight. I had 7 carp for 24lb odd. My winning quid off Daylite promptly left my palm and made it’s way to Cromie.
I haven’t got a clue where I need to draw for the fisho, but hopefully if I catch a few fish, I will have enjoyed myself and that is what fishing is all about.
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