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
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