Friday, April 27, 2007
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Sat 21st April 2007
Jasper called me mid-week asking me if we wanted to go to Woodlands, Thirsk, but that I would have to pick him up as his car was in for it's MOT and he wasn't sure what needed doing to it?
I had to make a little detour (work related) so agreed to pick up Jasper at about 7:15, then got to Moggies for a brekkie then head of to Woodlands.
I made a call to Purverted mid week and managed to persuade him to come along and join us.
upon arrival, I saw my nemesis, Rigsby, in the car park, because wherever he is, I tend to do crap and end up owing him a quid. The quid was hastily renewed as was the quid with my travelling partner for today, Jasper.
Chappy was away on the Whiteacres Festival, so I was gonna be safe one quid at least. Following a telecon with pretty boy Haircut, it was decided that either a meat or a pellet approach was the order of the day, dependant upon which lake you draw.
I put my hand in the bag and managed to snare Partridge peg 32. Purverted ended up with the best peg on the complex, Partridge 15 and Jasper was on Skylark 18, a corner peg. A meat and hemp approach it was going to be. Partridge 32 was indifferent to me, due to not going to Woodlands for a while. All the locals had told me that I had drawn out of it as the fish are at the other end. The lake itself has been fishing well of late, with over 220lb winning the 'old gimmers' match that takes place every Monday.
For company I had someone Scott on peg 30, Dave Owens on peg 33, Granddad was on peg 36 and Mick Lodge was on peg 29. All of these have been fishing the venue regularly, I had my work cut out.
For bait I had 2.5 tins of 6mm meat. 1 tin of Frenzied Hemp, 1 pt of 6mm expander pellets (already soaked) and about 1/2 pt of 4mm hard pellets.
I got to my peg and set up the following rigs:
Inside rig:
was a .2g Garbolino DC 6 float on .17 Preston Powerline tied direct to a size 14 Colmic B500 barbless hook.
My 2nd rig was a .3g Garbolino DC6 float on .15 Preston Powerline tied direct to a size 16 Colmic B500 barbless hook.
I also set up the following rigs for fishing at 14m.
The first of my rigs for 14m, was a .4g Garbolino DC2 set to fish at full depth (about 5ft deep). This was set up on .15 Preston Powerline tied direct to a size 16 Colmic B500 barbless hook.
My last rig was a little dibber float taking a couple of no.8 Preston Stotz, set to fish up in the water about 1ft deep. My rig line was again, .15 Preston Powerline straight through to a size 14 Colmic B500 hook. I also had a Korum Baitspike at the business end.
Hook choice, where big fish are concerned, my favoured choice of hook is the Colmic B500. They are quite heavy in the wire, but tend to stay sharp for a long time and if a fish straightens one of these hooks, you didn't want it on the bank with you.
When the all in went, I potted in some meat and hemp at 3m down the boards, a small pot of meat and hemp at 14m. I put the 6m rig on and shipped out with a Fox Tosspot full of hemp and about 10 pieces of cubed meat, with a piece of meat on the hook.
I tipped the bait in and sat back and waited. Before I even had chance to sit back, the black hydro was out doing laps of the lake. After a brief tussle, a mirror carp of about 4lb was soon in the net. Mick 1, Fish 0. Wonder if I should have a quid with the fish, then again, I might even lose that.
Next drop in resulted in a skimmer of about 10oz. Then nothing else. After 30 minutes of the match, I decided to go down the boards after I had lovingly prepared it for the past 30 minutes. I dropped in and the float hadn't even settled. The fish that you get down the boards are usually 'doubles' or not far off. I struck into said fish (elastic for this rig was the Drennan pink hollow) and a little tench of about 10oz came flying out of the water. A bit over zealous on the strike me thinks!!!
I dropped in again and after a 5 minute wait, the float proper shot under. I struck and the float stood still and the elastic came out, before the 'snag' decided to move. It was a bit like 'Jaws' at this stage. After plodding around my peg for about 5 minutes, I managed to fold a 10lb common carp into my butterfly net.
I decided to see if another one was present. After a further 5 minute wait, the float dipped. I struck. Solid resistance again. Don't you just love it when a plan comes together!!!. Another carp of about 9lb joined it's bigger brother. 2 carp for about 20lb. Not bad.
I decided to pot in some more bait and go out to the 6m line again. Whilst I had been fishing both down the inside and at 6m, I was constantly flicking a few bits of meat out to the 14m line.
Back on the 6m line and after about 10 minutes, no more bites, just a couple of liners.
I got out my deep rig and went out to the 14m line. Again, I baited up with meat on the hook. I tipped in some meat and help via the Tosspot and dropped the bait in. I waited a couple of minutes and got a sail away indication - were they up in the water? I waited a bit longer on the deep rig, the float dipped, then sailed away. A skimmer bream of about 1lb, thought that it was a trout, it must of leaped out of the water about 5 times, was soon in the net.
I persevered on the deep rig and managed to snare a couple of pastie carp. Dave Owen (nickname to follow, I have one in mind, but I can't think of the guys name at the moment) had by this time managed a couple of carp and a couple of tench.
I was still getting linered on the deep rig and I had been feeding a few bits and pieces over the top of the float. I got the shallow rig out and baited up with meat again, on the baitspike.
After some 20 minutes 'up in the water', I had 1 carp and a chub to show for my efforts, I am sure that I will catch more on the bottom.
With about 2 hours of the match remaining, I decided to get my head down on te 14m rig at full depth and change my feeding to try to keep them on the bottom. This meant cupping in meat and not loose feeding at all. After about 10 minutes, I caught a carp of about 4lb. A couple more skimmers and tench followed, then I was into a steady procession of carp to about 3lb or so.
With about 30 minutes of the match remaining, I decided it was time to have another look down the side for another submarine. I dropped in and got a couple of liners and managed to snare a couple of little tench. I looked at my watch, there was about 2 minutes to go. My float moved sideways. Go on, Go Under, I thought. I looked at my watch anxiously, there was about 30 seconds left.
The float dipped, I struck. The float stood still and the elastic came out. Job Done. Or so I thought. I the last fish on when all of a sudden the all out was given. I now have 15 minutes to get the fish out for it to count. A quick 'Fish On' shout was given.
After a brief tussle, a small 8lb'er was in the net. Now it was Job Done!!
I would estimate that I had about 45lb - 50lb in weight, with the inclusion of the last fish. I hadn't really seen anyone catch apart from Mick Lodge, and the lad next to him. How had I done.
Haircut was admitting to about 55lb. Dave Owen tipped back his 5 or 6 fish. By the time that the scales had arrived, 'Sir' Tossa Taylor was leading with just short of 70lb. Lodgey, put 67lb on the scales and Haircut had 64lb. The lad next to me had 45lb. I managed 56lb 13oz. If Lodgey gets in the money, will I win my section.
Meatcutter Bailey came up to me after the match with a fistful of dollars (well pounds to be precise). I had managed to win my section.
I quickly accosted both Jasper and Rigsby for my quids. Where's Chappy, I would have won his quid today, wouldn't I?
S Bell 77lb.
M Bailey 71lb
D Taylor 69lb
M Lodge 67lb
?
A Bridge 64lb
I was about 8th overall and came 3rd on my lake. If I had persevered on the deep rig rather than trying to get them up in the water, would I have faired any better? Lodgey and Haircut both caught the majority of their fish up in the water, whilst I really struggled.
Jasper called me mid-week asking me if we wanted to go to Woodlands, Thirsk, but that I would have to pick him up as his car was in for it's MOT and he wasn't sure what needed doing to it?
I had to make a little detour (work related) so agreed to pick up Jasper at about 7:15, then got to Moggies for a brekkie then head of to Woodlands.
I made a call to Purverted mid week and managed to persuade him to come along and join us.
upon arrival, I saw my nemesis, Rigsby, in the car park, because wherever he is, I tend to do crap and end up owing him a quid. The quid was hastily renewed as was the quid with my travelling partner for today, Jasper.
Chappy was away on the Whiteacres Festival, so I was gonna be safe one quid at least. Following a telecon with pretty boy Haircut, it was decided that either a meat or a pellet approach was the order of the day, dependant upon which lake you draw.
I put my hand in the bag and managed to snare Partridge peg 32. Purverted ended up with the best peg on the complex, Partridge 15 and Jasper was on Skylark 18, a corner peg. A meat and hemp approach it was going to be. Partridge 32 was indifferent to me, due to not going to Woodlands for a while. All the locals had told me that I had drawn out of it as the fish are at the other end. The lake itself has been fishing well of late, with over 220lb winning the 'old gimmers' match that takes place every Monday.
For company I had someone Scott on peg 30, Dave Owens on peg 33, Granddad was on peg 36 and Mick Lodge was on peg 29. All of these have been fishing the venue regularly, I had my work cut out.
For bait I had 2.5 tins of 6mm meat. 1 tin of Frenzied Hemp, 1 pt of 6mm expander pellets (already soaked) and about 1/2 pt of 4mm hard pellets.
I got to my peg and set up the following rigs:
Inside rig:
was a .2g Garbolino DC 6 float on .17 Preston Powerline tied direct to a size 14 Colmic B500 barbless hook.
My 2nd rig was a .3g Garbolino DC6 float on .15 Preston Powerline tied direct to a size 16 Colmic B500 barbless hook.
I also set up the following rigs for fishing at 14m.
The first of my rigs for 14m, was a .4g Garbolino DC2 set to fish at full depth (about 5ft deep). This was set up on .15 Preston Powerline tied direct to a size 16 Colmic B500 barbless hook.
My last rig was a little dibber float taking a couple of no.8 Preston Stotz, set to fish up in the water about 1ft deep. My rig line was again, .15 Preston Powerline straight through to a size 14 Colmic B500 hook. I also had a Korum Baitspike at the business end.
Hook choice, where big fish are concerned, my favoured choice of hook is the Colmic B500. They are quite heavy in the wire, but tend to stay sharp for a long time and if a fish straightens one of these hooks, you didn't want it on the bank with you.
When the all in went, I potted in some meat and hemp at 3m down the boards, a small pot of meat and hemp at 14m. I put the 6m rig on and shipped out with a Fox Tosspot full of hemp and about 10 pieces of cubed meat, with a piece of meat on the hook.
I tipped the bait in and sat back and waited. Before I even had chance to sit back, the black hydro was out doing laps of the lake. After a brief tussle, a mirror carp of about 4lb was soon in the net. Mick 1, Fish 0. Wonder if I should have a quid with the fish, then again, I might even lose that.
Next drop in resulted in a skimmer of about 10oz. Then nothing else. After 30 minutes of the match, I decided to go down the boards after I had lovingly prepared it for the past 30 minutes. I dropped in and the float hadn't even settled. The fish that you get down the boards are usually 'doubles' or not far off. I struck into said fish (elastic for this rig was the Drennan pink hollow) and a little tench of about 10oz came flying out of the water. A bit over zealous on the strike me thinks!!!
I dropped in again and after a 5 minute wait, the float proper shot under. I struck and the float stood still and the elastic came out, before the 'snag' decided to move. It was a bit like 'Jaws' at this stage. After plodding around my peg for about 5 minutes, I managed to fold a 10lb common carp into my butterfly net.
I decided to see if another one was present. After a further 5 minute wait, the float dipped. I struck. Solid resistance again. Don't you just love it when a plan comes together!!!. Another carp of about 9lb joined it's bigger brother. 2 carp for about 20lb. Not bad.
I decided to pot in some more bait and go out to the 6m line again. Whilst I had been fishing both down the inside and at 6m, I was constantly flicking a few bits of meat out to the 14m line.
Back on the 6m line and after about 10 minutes, no more bites, just a couple of liners.
I got out my deep rig and went out to the 14m line. Again, I baited up with meat on the hook. I tipped in some meat and help via the Tosspot and dropped the bait in. I waited a couple of minutes and got a sail away indication - were they up in the water? I waited a bit longer on the deep rig, the float dipped, then sailed away. A skimmer bream of about 1lb, thought that it was a trout, it must of leaped out of the water about 5 times, was soon in the net.
I persevered on the deep rig and managed to snare a couple of pastie carp. Dave Owen (nickname to follow, I have one in mind, but I can't think of the guys name at the moment) had by this time managed a couple of carp and a couple of tench.
I was still getting linered on the deep rig and I had been feeding a few bits and pieces over the top of the float. I got the shallow rig out and baited up with meat again, on the baitspike.
After some 20 minutes 'up in the water', I had 1 carp and a chub to show for my efforts, I am sure that I will catch more on the bottom.
With about 2 hours of the match remaining, I decided to get my head down on te 14m rig at full depth and change my feeding to try to keep them on the bottom. This meant cupping in meat and not loose feeding at all. After about 10 minutes, I caught a carp of about 4lb. A couple more skimmers and tench followed, then I was into a steady procession of carp to about 3lb or so.
With about 30 minutes of the match remaining, I decided it was time to have another look down the side for another submarine. I dropped in and got a couple of liners and managed to snare a couple of little tench. I looked at my watch, there was about 2 minutes to go. My float moved sideways. Go on, Go Under, I thought. I looked at my watch anxiously, there was about 30 seconds left.
The float dipped, I struck. The float stood still and the elastic came out. Job Done. Or so I thought. I the last fish on when all of a sudden the all out was given. I now have 15 minutes to get the fish out for it to count. A quick 'Fish On' shout was given.
After a brief tussle, a small 8lb'er was in the net. Now it was Job Done!!
I would estimate that I had about 45lb - 50lb in weight, with the inclusion of the last fish. I hadn't really seen anyone catch apart from Mick Lodge, and the lad next to him. How had I done.
Haircut was admitting to about 55lb. Dave Owen tipped back his 5 or 6 fish. By the time that the scales had arrived, 'Sir' Tossa Taylor was leading with just short of 70lb. Lodgey, put 67lb on the scales and Haircut had 64lb. The lad next to me had 45lb. I managed 56lb 13oz. If Lodgey gets in the money, will I win my section.
Meatcutter Bailey came up to me after the match with a fistful of dollars (well pounds to be precise). I had managed to win my section.
I quickly accosted both Jasper and Rigsby for my quids. Where's Chappy, I would have won his quid today, wouldn't I?
S Bell 77lb.
M Bailey 71lb
D Taylor 69lb
M Lodge 67lb
?
A Bridge 64lb
I was about 8th overall and came 3rd on my lake. If I had persevered on the deep rig rather than trying to get them up in the water, would I have faired any better? Lodgey and Haircut both caught the majority of their fish up in the water, whilst I really struggled.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
I'm back, well the blog is atleast.
I have been so, so, so busy over the past few weeks. Had staff issues (had to dismiss one of the new staff for Gross Misconduct) so I have been busy re-recruiting and training, then there has been the month end accounts to complete and also get time in for my fishing.
As you can see below, I took my kids fishing to The Oaks, Sessay. They really enjoyed it. I will take them a bit more as the summer arrives.
Well, back to the fishing. In a nutshell 'Loopyhead' has lost his loop and my head is now in a noose!! I have been getting blown off the bank and struggling to hold onto 14m of carbon in a side on wind, nigh on every week.
I am still going every weekend (Sunday's in particular), but just finding it so hard to do anything at the moment. Worm fishing has been taking The Oaks apart of late. Lee Harrison (VDE Scunthorpe) has been winning or framing in the majority of matches with half a dozen weights over 100lb. Big Mark 'Cali' Calvert has set the best weight of the year so far with over 145lb.
My best weight of late has been 72lb and that was only good enough for 15th, but the saving grace was that I beat the River Legend known as John Allerton of the next peg. He fished the little boys method down the side and ended up with 61lb odd. I fished across to the farside all match. I had an enjoyable day and really thought that I would have atleast won something, but alas NO. Jonny Kenning won my section with 83lb. I was second in the section. Lee Harrison won with one of his 'tons - 119lb odd.
Woody Baron is continuously complaining about is inability to draw. Take the weekend just gone for instance, he drew peg 55, which if anyone knows the venue, will tell you, it is a good peg. Darryll 'Sir Tossa' Taylor (I am allowed to call him that, provided that I call him Sir first) was next to him on peg 56, with peg 57 empty. Woody came upto me after the match and asked me 'Oi, Loopyhead, why did you leave peg 57 out. The reason being that Sir Tossa Taylor had 45lb compared to Woody's 20lb.
I drew peg 9, which was in the right area and managed to plonk 38lb odd on the scales which would have put me about top 15 again as 67lb won, and 48lb was last in the money.
At the end of the match last week, John 'Plonker McG' McGarrell was walking up to telling me that I had to nominate Cali for the numpty of the week competition on The Oaks Banter website. Just as he approached my peg, he had a snapping sound and abruptly stopped, the snapping sound was quickly followed by a crunching sound. I looked down at his size 10's in horror. He had only managed to stand on one of my power top kits snapping the kit in half then crunched the bottom of the number one section when he stopped. We instantly had a new winner of the numpty of the week award. In his defence he managed to get me a new (well second hand) topkit of Cali.
My quids are being fired from a scatter gun at the moment. Byron the Full Stop is managing to get a leg up onto his box and is proving that he can catch a few by taking my quid occassionally, but the soon bounce back. Rumpole has finally set up a direct debit to pay me my shiny ones. On one of my matches, I drew peg 61 and had Rumpole at the side of me on peg 63, with Shrek Middleton on peg 65. It was a bleeeeeedddddinnnggg cold day and I was wrapped up nice and warm. Rumpole had somehow managed to leave all of his external clobber at home. I would have lent him my jacket, but he might have stretched it a little, so thought better of it (anyway, there was a quid at stake). Shrek lent him his outer jacket (Basket!!), which was a little baggy on Rumpole. Anyway, by the end of the match Rumpole was a quid down. His mate, Homer Simpson was on peg 67, which was at the back of me. I managed to drag him into our quid bet and promptly took that, which I felt a little guilty about as he never manages to take a quid off Rumpole, who has never managed to take a quid of moi!!
The Chappy quid is on one way ticket at the moment, with no return in sight. Chappy has finally found a bit of form and has even managed to frame (including a couple of wins) on a few occasions, but ask him how many Kamasan points he ended up with and you will get a Chappy slap, whilst I ended up with double figures atleast.
This week back in the pub was the safest that Xman has felt in ages. Of late, Chappy has been lining up a couple of slaps with Xman on a weekly basis and due to Chappy being in sunnier climes (Whiteacres is sunnier than North Yorkshire), Xman is actually relaxing in the local- for now.
The Orc made his return this week to the Oaks and continued his good form from last year by promptly handing me a quid in a peg to peg battle. He was next to me and managed to plonk a respectable 29lb odd on the scales (G2E was next to him on peg 7 and was joint 2nd with 61lb 15).
A couple of weeks back, I was nigh on suicidal. I had drawn a decent peg and just couldn't get a bite. I hardly spoke to anyone after the match, I didn't go to the pub afterwards, I just sloped off home. I'm taking this fishing mullarkey too seriously!!!
Gonna go now, keep coming back and I will update more frequently, staff issues permitting.
I have been so, so, so busy over the past few weeks. Had staff issues (had to dismiss one of the new staff for Gross Misconduct) so I have been busy re-recruiting and training, then there has been the month end accounts to complete and also get time in for my fishing.
As you can see below, I took my kids fishing to The Oaks, Sessay. They really enjoyed it. I will take them a bit more as the summer arrives.
Well, back to the fishing. In a nutshell 'Loopyhead' has lost his loop and my head is now in a noose!! I have been getting blown off the bank and struggling to hold onto 14m of carbon in a side on wind, nigh on every week.
I am still going every weekend (Sunday's in particular), but just finding it so hard to do anything at the moment. Worm fishing has been taking The Oaks apart of late. Lee Harrison (VDE Scunthorpe) has been winning or framing in the majority of matches with half a dozen weights over 100lb. Big Mark 'Cali' Calvert has set the best weight of the year so far with over 145lb.
My best weight of late has been 72lb and that was only good enough for 15th, but the saving grace was that I beat the River Legend known as John Allerton of the next peg. He fished the little boys method down the side and ended up with 61lb odd. I fished across to the farside all match. I had an enjoyable day and really thought that I would have atleast won something, but alas NO. Jonny Kenning won my section with 83lb. I was second in the section. Lee Harrison won with one of his 'tons - 119lb odd.
Woody Baron is continuously complaining about is inability to draw. Take the weekend just gone for instance, he drew peg 55, which if anyone knows the venue, will tell you, it is a good peg. Darryll 'Sir Tossa' Taylor (I am allowed to call him that, provided that I call him Sir first) was next to him on peg 56, with peg 57 empty. Woody came upto me after the match and asked me 'Oi, Loopyhead, why did you leave peg 57 out. The reason being that Sir Tossa Taylor had 45lb compared to Woody's 20lb.
I drew peg 9, which was in the right area and managed to plonk 38lb odd on the scales which would have put me about top 15 again as 67lb won, and 48lb was last in the money.
At the end of the match last week, John 'Plonker McG' McGarrell was walking up to telling me that I had to nominate Cali for the numpty of the week competition on The Oaks Banter website. Just as he approached my peg, he had a snapping sound and abruptly stopped, the snapping sound was quickly followed by a crunching sound. I looked down at his size 10's in horror. He had only managed to stand on one of my power top kits snapping the kit in half then crunched the bottom of the number one section when he stopped. We instantly had a new winner of the numpty of the week award. In his defence he managed to get me a new (well second hand) topkit of Cali.
My quids are being fired from a scatter gun at the moment. Byron the Full Stop is managing to get a leg up onto his box and is proving that he can catch a few by taking my quid occassionally, but the soon bounce back. Rumpole has finally set up a direct debit to pay me my shiny ones. On one of my matches, I drew peg 61 and had Rumpole at the side of me on peg 63, with Shrek Middleton on peg 65. It was a bleeeeeedddddinnnggg cold day and I was wrapped up nice and warm. Rumpole had somehow managed to leave all of his external clobber at home. I would have lent him my jacket, but he might have stretched it a little, so thought better of it (anyway, there was a quid at stake). Shrek lent him his outer jacket (Basket!!), which was a little baggy on Rumpole. Anyway, by the end of the match Rumpole was a quid down. His mate, Homer Simpson was on peg 67, which was at the back of me. I managed to drag him into our quid bet and promptly took that, which I felt a little guilty about as he never manages to take a quid off Rumpole, who has never managed to take a quid of moi!!
The Chappy quid is on one way ticket at the moment, with no return in sight. Chappy has finally found a bit of form and has even managed to frame (including a couple of wins) on a few occasions, but ask him how many Kamasan points he ended up with and you will get a Chappy slap, whilst I ended up with double figures atleast.
This week back in the pub was the safest that Xman has felt in ages. Of late, Chappy has been lining up a couple of slaps with Xman on a weekly basis and due to Chappy being in sunnier climes (Whiteacres is sunnier than North Yorkshire), Xman is actually relaxing in the local- for now.
The Orc made his return this week to the Oaks and continued his good form from last year by promptly handing me a quid in a peg to peg battle. He was next to me and managed to plonk a respectable 29lb odd on the scales (G2E was next to him on peg 7 and was joint 2nd with 61lb 15).
A couple of weeks back, I was nigh on suicidal. I had drawn a decent peg and just couldn't get a bite. I hardly spoke to anyone after the match, I didn't go to the pub afterwards, I just sloped off home. I'm taking this fishing mullarkey too seriously!!!
Gonna go now, keep coming back and I will update more frequently, staff issues permitting.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Alwin Ingham Testimonial Match.
The Wind, The Wind, The Wind.
Since my last entry from a match, the weather seems to have done nothing but be windy, especially at the weekends. You know how it is. You work in a nice warm office all week, the sun is beating down on the glass, and you are baking hot. The trees are not moving an inch. You throw a blade of grass in the air to check for wind and it hits you on the head. You book on a match. You arrive, you pay on, you get to your peg and set up – still no wind. The match organiser shouts time, then the wind goes mental!!!
Anyway, going back to one of my earlier matches. We held a ‘Testimonial Match’ for Alwin Ingham, who is suffering from 2 tumours on his brain. Alwin is a true gent in every sense of the word. In the time that I have known Alwin, I have never heard a bad word from him. You ask him how he fished and he tells no lies. He makes his own floats and if you ask him nicely enough, he would make you a couple of floats. Alwin did a recent article Match Fishing magazine, titled ‘Make Mine A Pint’ due to his liking for fishing maggot all year round.
Apologies if I upset anyone here, but we decided to hold a match for him now whilst he has got time to spend it as things are not looking good and if we did a match for him at a later stage, he may not be around to enjoy our efforts and hard work. Alwin doesn’t smoke or drink, so we are sure that the money raised will be put to good use.
By the time of the draw, there were 96 anglers in attendance, sadly, Alwin wasn’t feeling too well so didn’t attend. I pegged the match across Alders Lake and Cedar Lake, with 70 pegs on Cedar and 34 pegs on Alders lakes. Everyone was hoping for a Cedar Lake draw, but as I explained, the match wasn’t about winning a large amount of money; it was about raising funds for Alwin. With this in mind, the only prizes on offer were 5 man section prizes of £50. The pond owners had provided the lakes for free and raffle prizes were donated by Bob-Co angling centre, Oaks Tackle, Mal Bailey meat cutters and the local Moor & Pheasant pub to name but a few.
I put my hand in the bag and managed to end up with Alders 34. I really (really, really) didn’t want this peg. It is about 19m to the island, so was out of reach as I only had 16m with me. I had Fullstop within earshot on peg 30, Pat Bailey on peg 31 (he could also reach the island with 16m), someone else on peg 33 and Kev ‘Penfold’ Grainger on peg 34. Rumpole was a couple of pegs further away and Sorry Moran was on peg 38 in’t corner. Dynamite Dave Newman was on peg 41, with Magnum the Porno star on peg 40.
Chappy was on Cedar Lake as was my travelling partner, Bram.
My £50 quid section ran from pegs 32 – 36, which as far as the pegs are concerned, no one has a real advantage, so was reasonably fair. Alders Lake holds a lot of ide from ounces to 3lb or so, with carp, skimmers, roach rudd and gudgeon.
My plan of attack was to fish for the ide up in the water, as was most of the anglers on the lake.
For bait I had casters and maggots and a bit of corn for fishing over to the island on either the bomb or the waggler.
I borrowed Bram’s waggler rod – he wouldn’t be needing it. Whilst setting up, I had a few chucks with the waggler rod to ‘get my eye in’. I was getting the waggler to land on a dustbin lid. Penfold commented that ‘I had done that a few times before’. I also had the bomb rod ready set up, so all I had left was to set up the pole. I set up 3 rigs, 2 shallow and 1 deep.
The deep rig was set up hook in the loop style. The rig was a 4x14 Drennan Roach on .10 Silkshock line direct to a size 18 Kamasan B911 eyed hook.
My 2 shallow rigs both incorporated .2g Garbolino DC6 floats. One was set up on .10 Silkshock line and the other was set up on .12 Fox Match Plus line. The .10 rig was set to fish at 1ft deep, with a short line and the .12 was set to fish at 2 – 2.5 ft deep. White hydro on all of the rigs completed the set ups.
At the start of the match an ‘air horn’ sounded from another match. People on my lake started fishing. Let me ask a question, since when have I used an Air Horn to start the matches. Never, so why have people started now? Byron ‘Fullstop’ Dell was one of the said culprits.
When I officially started, I baited up the waggler rod with double maggot and cast over to the island in the hope of catching an early easy carp. First chuck and I managed to cast onto the one single branch that was just touching the water. I pulled and pulled and the rig snapped. No more waggler fishing for me then. Ho Hum!!!
I catapulted a few casters out to 9m and went over the top on the shallow rig, baited up with double red maggot. After about 5 minutes of drip-feeding maggots, the float buried and a 1oz rudd was soon in the net.
I managed to snare a couple more ide and more roach. One thing that I did realise was that whilst fishing the hook in the loop for the roach, I hardly missed a bite, and most of them were lift bites.
When the Air Horn sounded for the match to finish, I told Fullstop that he had to stop fishing, or he will have had more time than those around him. He told me to go forth and multiply.
Marco won the match outright with 77lb from Cedar Lake peg 28 and Lee ‘The Legend’ Barrett won our lake from peg 4 with 60lb. Unfortunately, Pimmy ended up about 4th or 5th and didn’t win a penny as his section was won by Marco, but at the end of the day, the match was about raising funds for Alwin, hence paying section prizes only.
Back at the local pub, the raffle took place and, following on from the stunt that I pulled at Christmas, Woody Baron decided to hide his raffle tickets, but alas, not before Chappy had seen them and informed me of one of his ticket numbers. I needed a yellow ticket to come out first. Middy put his and in the bucket and pulled out a yellow ticket. Right, here goes. Yellow 419, I shouted. Everyone looked at their tickets in anticipation. Woody suddenly stood up and started dancing around. In view of his ticket (?) being the first drawn, he had a choice of raffle prizes. He was calling everyone names, until I told him to sit down. He had me pinned against the wall by my throat. Everyone was falling about laughing. I had got him again!!!!
I was laughing so much, I can’t even remember who won the first prize.
With about 10 raffle prizes to go, Tom asked me, where was the Mal Bailey Meatcutter. I said that Marco had brought it with him. Macro had forgotten that he had it, or did he????
Anyway, in view of the Meatcutter not being available for all the prior raffle winners to pick it, it was decided that the Meatcutter would be the last raffle prize and would go to the winner of that lucky ticket. After all of the raffle prizes had gone, with just the Meatcutter to go, Middy put his hand in the bucket and pulled out none other than………
My ticket!!!! One Meatcutter in the bag, so it wasn’t a bad day after all.
The total amount raised was £1685.00 for Alwin, which is staggering, considering the timescale involved in pulling this event together.
I would personally like to extend a warm welcome to all concerned. I received a telephone call from Alwin, that same night thanking me for everything that we had done. But to be fair, we did it because in Alwin, you couldn’t meet a nicer bloke.
The Wind, The Wind, The Wind.
Since my last entry from a match, the weather seems to have done nothing but be windy, especially at the weekends. You know how it is. You work in a nice warm office all week, the sun is beating down on the glass, and you are baking hot. The trees are not moving an inch. You throw a blade of grass in the air to check for wind and it hits you on the head. You book on a match. You arrive, you pay on, you get to your peg and set up – still no wind. The match organiser shouts time, then the wind goes mental!!!
Anyway, going back to one of my earlier matches. We held a ‘Testimonial Match’ for Alwin Ingham, who is suffering from 2 tumours on his brain. Alwin is a true gent in every sense of the word. In the time that I have known Alwin, I have never heard a bad word from him. You ask him how he fished and he tells no lies. He makes his own floats and if you ask him nicely enough, he would make you a couple of floats. Alwin did a recent article Match Fishing magazine, titled ‘Make Mine A Pint’ due to his liking for fishing maggot all year round.
Apologies if I upset anyone here, but we decided to hold a match for him now whilst he has got time to spend it as things are not looking good and if we did a match for him at a later stage, he may not be around to enjoy our efforts and hard work. Alwin doesn’t smoke or drink, so we are sure that the money raised will be put to good use.
By the time of the draw, there were 96 anglers in attendance, sadly, Alwin wasn’t feeling too well so didn’t attend. I pegged the match across Alders Lake and Cedar Lake, with 70 pegs on Cedar and 34 pegs on Alders lakes. Everyone was hoping for a Cedar Lake draw, but as I explained, the match wasn’t about winning a large amount of money; it was about raising funds for Alwin. With this in mind, the only prizes on offer were 5 man section prizes of £50. The pond owners had provided the lakes for free and raffle prizes were donated by Bob-Co angling centre, Oaks Tackle, Mal Bailey meat cutters and the local Moor & Pheasant pub to name but a few.
I put my hand in the bag and managed to end up with Alders 34. I really (really, really) didn’t want this peg. It is about 19m to the island, so was out of reach as I only had 16m with me. I had Fullstop within earshot on peg 30, Pat Bailey on peg 31 (he could also reach the island with 16m), someone else on peg 33 and Kev ‘Penfold’ Grainger on peg 34. Rumpole was a couple of pegs further away and Sorry Moran was on peg 38 in’t corner. Dynamite Dave Newman was on peg 41, with Magnum the Porno star on peg 40.
Chappy was on Cedar Lake as was my travelling partner, Bram.
My £50 quid section ran from pegs 32 – 36, which as far as the pegs are concerned, no one has a real advantage, so was reasonably fair. Alders Lake holds a lot of ide from ounces to 3lb or so, with carp, skimmers, roach rudd and gudgeon.
My plan of attack was to fish for the ide up in the water, as was most of the anglers on the lake.
For bait I had casters and maggots and a bit of corn for fishing over to the island on either the bomb or the waggler.
I borrowed Bram’s waggler rod – he wouldn’t be needing it. Whilst setting up, I had a few chucks with the waggler rod to ‘get my eye in’. I was getting the waggler to land on a dustbin lid. Penfold commented that ‘I had done that a few times before’. I also had the bomb rod ready set up, so all I had left was to set up the pole. I set up 3 rigs, 2 shallow and 1 deep.
The deep rig was set up hook in the loop style. The rig was a 4x14 Drennan Roach on .10 Silkshock line direct to a size 18 Kamasan B911 eyed hook.
My 2 shallow rigs both incorporated .2g Garbolino DC6 floats. One was set up on .10 Silkshock line and the other was set up on .12 Fox Match Plus line. The .10 rig was set to fish at 1ft deep, with a short line and the .12 was set to fish at 2 – 2.5 ft deep. White hydro on all of the rigs completed the set ups.
At the start of the match an ‘air horn’ sounded from another match. People on my lake started fishing. Let me ask a question, since when have I used an Air Horn to start the matches. Never, so why have people started now? Byron ‘Fullstop’ Dell was one of the said culprits.
When I officially started, I baited up the waggler rod with double maggot and cast over to the island in the hope of catching an early easy carp. First chuck and I managed to cast onto the one single branch that was just touching the water. I pulled and pulled and the rig snapped. No more waggler fishing for me then. Ho Hum!!!
I catapulted a few casters out to 9m and went over the top on the shallow rig, baited up with double red maggot. After about 5 minutes of drip-feeding maggots, the float buried and a 1oz rudd was soon in the net.
I managed to snare a couple more ide and more roach. One thing that I did realise was that whilst fishing the hook in the loop for the roach, I hardly missed a bite, and most of them were lift bites.
When the Air Horn sounded for the match to finish, I told Fullstop that he had to stop fishing, or he will have had more time than those around him. He told me to go forth and multiply.
Marco won the match outright with 77lb from Cedar Lake peg 28 and Lee ‘The Legend’ Barrett won our lake from peg 4 with 60lb. Unfortunately, Pimmy ended up about 4th or 5th and didn’t win a penny as his section was won by Marco, but at the end of the day, the match was about raising funds for Alwin, hence paying section prizes only.
Back at the local pub, the raffle took place and, following on from the stunt that I pulled at Christmas, Woody Baron decided to hide his raffle tickets, but alas, not before Chappy had seen them and informed me of one of his ticket numbers. I needed a yellow ticket to come out first. Middy put his and in the bucket and pulled out a yellow ticket. Right, here goes. Yellow 419, I shouted. Everyone looked at their tickets in anticipation. Woody suddenly stood up and started dancing around. In view of his ticket (?) being the first drawn, he had a choice of raffle prizes. He was calling everyone names, until I told him to sit down. He had me pinned against the wall by my throat. Everyone was falling about laughing. I had got him again!!!!
I was laughing so much, I can’t even remember who won the first prize.
With about 10 raffle prizes to go, Tom asked me, where was the Mal Bailey Meatcutter. I said that Marco had brought it with him. Macro had forgotten that he had it, or did he????
Anyway, in view of the Meatcutter not being available for all the prior raffle winners to pick it, it was decided that the Meatcutter would be the last raffle prize and would go to the winner of that lucky ticket. After all of the raffle prizes had gone, with just the Meatcutter to go, Middy put his hand in the bucket and pulled out none other than………
My ticket!!!! One Meatcutter in the bag, so it wasn’t a bad day after all.
The total amount raised was £1685.00 for Alwin, which is staggering, considering the timescale involved in pulling this event together.
I would personally like to extend a warm welcome to all concerned. I received a telephone call from Alwin, that same night thanking me for everything that we had done. But to be fair, we did it because in Alwin, you couldn’t meet a nicer bloke.
Took my two youngest boys fishing on Good Friday to The Oaks, Sessay.
Joshua with one he caught earlier!!!
Thomas looking like he knows what he is doing.
Joshua used a his new 2nd hand pole that I got off one of the lads from the Total Fishing website (www.total-fishing.com). It is a 14.5m Maver Deliverance pole, which came with 5 top kits. I removed the No.1's from the pole and re-elasticated the No. 2 & 3 Sections. I re-elasticated it with some grey hydro and it seems to be bang on!!
They both fished maggot over Pallatrax Groundbait to start with until the carp showed, then they both switched to pellet over groundbait.
Joshua finished with this fine net of fish, for an estimated 25lb. He caught Ide, Roach, Skimmers, Tench and Carp (Crucians, Mirrors and F1's).
Included in his net was this fine sample. A common carp of about 4lb.
Thomas ended up with about 15lb of carp and tench. His biggest tench was pushing 3lb and his biggest carp was the mirror carp below, which nearly dragged him in.
I didn't fish, I just observed and assisted.
Looks like they had a cool day.
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