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Monday, June 24, 2013

Moorfields Farm Fisheries, Big Match Lake and Lindholme Lakes, Bonsai

I must have done something right during the week as I was fishing another double header this weekend.

Moorfield Farm Fisheries, Goole

My first venture out and about this weekend was on a match to Moorfields Farm Fisheries, Goole.  A small group of us email each other on Monday to find out how we have got on and a couple of the emails come from resident Moorfields Farm venue experts, Martin Holmes and Chris Kitchen.  I emailed them during the week to get some info.  Basic info was to draw pegs 1, 27, 28 and 54. Oh and it was meat at 5m and margin and pellet across.

I arranged to pick up Buddy 'Anaemia' Keville and we were on our way.

At the draw, Chris Kitchen was first in the queue, Martin pushed me into the queue before him, then Martin then Anaemia then everyone else.  Chris put his hand in the bag and proceeded to draw peg 27 - WELL DRAWN CHRIS!!!.  I put my hand in the bag and ended up on peg 36/37.  I had a choice of peg once I arrived at my peg(s).  Martin drew peg 11 and Anaemia was on peg 30.  Andy Waters drew the other boss peg, peg 28.  I had Jamie Waters to my right on peg 34 and a young lad to my left in the corner on peg 40.

I arrived at my peg and Martin suggested that I fish peg 36 as I had a clump of reedmace to my left and bare bank to my left margins.  He said to fish meat at 5m and in the margins and to fish about 13m shallow and on the deck.

Rigs

I set up 4 rigs as follows:

Shallow rig - was a 4x12 Preston Innovations PB4 float set to fish about 18" deep.  I had a size 18 Kamasan B911 eyed hook on this rig with a bait band.
Preston Innovations - PB4 Pole Floats
PB4

13m rig was a 4 x 14 Carpa Chimp   I plumbed up and found that I had about 3ft deep on this line .I had a size 18 Kamasan B911 eyed hook on this rig with a bait band.
Carpa Chimp

Margin rig was a .3g Cralusso Capri float.  Due to the steep slope, I had about 3ft deep 12inches from the bank.  I had on a size 16 Colmic 501 hook on this rig.
Cralusso Capri Pole Float with Carbon Stem
Cralusso Capri

My final rig was a .4g Garbolino DC 4 float.  I had about 4.5ft at 5m.  This rig also had on a size 16 Colmic 501.

DC 4
DC4
Bait

For bait, I had 5 tins of 8mm cubed meat, 2 tins of corn, some micro pellets and some venue's own 6mm pellets.

The Match

At the all in, I potted in some meat at 5m, then threw in some meat and corn to both left and right margins.  I baited up the 13m rig for fishing on the deck with a 6mm pellet and put some 6mm pellets and micros in a tosspot.  I shipped out and dropped the bait in.  I had just settled the rig in when the wind grabbed hold of the pole and swung me round to the right LOL.  It was a tad windy.  I managed to settle the float and held onto the pole for dear life.  After 5 minutes, I got my first indication.  I waited a bit longer, the float shot under and I foul-hooked (and lost my first carp).

I dropped in again and waited.  After a further 10 minutes, the float buried and I got my first carp, an F1 about 2lb.  I put some more pellets in the tosspot, shipped out and dropped the bait and rig in and waited and waited.

This seemed to be the general indication of the events of the day.  I tried the margins with no success, although I did prick one down to my left. I did not get a bite on meat at 5mm.  I made up some 6mm expander pellets and dropped them in at 5m to my right (about 2 o'clock).  I caught a little roach.

I went for a walk to see how Chris was doing on peg 27, he was admitting to 70lb and was getting beat by Andy on peg 28.  Anaemia had about 30lb.  I was going nowhere.

At the all out, I had managed to get about a dozen carp for 28lb and no good.  Jamie Waters to my right tipped back and the young lad on peg 40 had about 20lb.  Chris Reilley on peg 32 had 77lb, Anaemia had 52lb.  Martin had 113lb from peg 11.  Chris plonked 163lb on the scales and Andy Waters won it from peg 28 with 175lb.

Results:
1.  Andy Waters (Peg 28) 175lb
2.  Chris Kitchen (Peg 27) 163lb
3.  Martin Holmes (Peg 11) 113lb.


Lindholme Lakes, Bonsai Lake

My second outing this weekend was with Robin Hood AC at Lindholme Lakes.  We were booked on Bonsai Lake.

I picked up Daz 'Frontrow' Harrison and we headed off to the match.

We have a little raffle before the draw to raise a few extra quid and up for grabs this week was 6 bottles of wife-beater Stella.  My ticket was pulled out of the raffle. Nice little start to the day.  In addition to the Stella, I also got to draw my peg first.  I was on the 1st leg (of 2 legs) of my knockout against Craig McKenny, so all was to play for.

I put my hand in the bag and drew peg 74, which is at the end of the spit.  Frontrow drew peg 73 to my left.  Craig 'Oddjob' Thompson has a new nickname.  He is a twitcher/bird keeper, we have now nicknamed him 'Kes'.  "Come here Kes, come here Kes" - he drew form peg 69.  I had Michelle 'Splash' Webster on peg 75 to my right, Splash falls in so often, she has started to take some Timotei with her on the matches.  Craig was within watching distance on peg 76.  Dave 'Mr Soft' Horsfall was on peg 72.  Dave's father usually comes on the fishing matches with him so that he can tell him what to do and to also eat Mr Soft's sandwiches.  He was not here today, so Mr Soft would be able to eat all of his own sandwiches.  Habitual complainer 'Pid' was on peg 77.  Mark Wright drew corner peg 85 and Mick 'Dumptruck' Aveyard was on peg 84 and Colin 'The Worm' Weaver was on peg 68.

There must have been about 60 anglers pegged from peg 20 round to peg 85.  It was going to be a hard match and to top it all, the wind was considerably worse than yesterday.  It was blowing over my left shoulder with strong gusts blowing left to right.

Rigs

I set up a method rod with a 15g Preston Innovations method feeder and a Preston Innovations C1 size 18 hook on a .19 Preston Powerline hooklength.

I then set up 3 pole rigs as follows:

Shallow rig, was a .2g Frenzee FD200 float set to fish 18" deep at 13m.

I set up a 4 x 14 Carpa Chimp to fish across to the island at 16m.  This had on a baitband on a size 18 Kamasan B911 eyed hook and a .13 Preston Powerline hooklength.  After plumbing up, I found that I had about 12-14" of depth.

I also set up a 4x14 Carpa Chimp to fish at 5m.  This had on a size 16 Colmic 501 hook on a .13 Preston Powerline Hooklength.  I had about 3.5ft of depth on this line.

Bait

For bait, I had some 6mm pellets, micro pellets (both Lindholme Lakes own pellets), some corn and meat which were left from yesterday.  For the baitband, I tend to use 6mm Bait-Tech 6mm Carp Pellets.  They are uniform in size and when mounted on a Preston Innovations micro baitband, tend not to come out and you can catch half a dozen fish on one pellet.

The Match

At the start of the match, I potted in a full pot of meat and corn at 5m.  I then picked up my rig to fish to the island.  I put a 6mm pellet in the band and put about ten 6mm pellets in a tosspot and filled it with micro pellets.  I shipped out to 16m, dropped the bait in and waited.  I was getting dips and blips on the float almost immediately.

I started to feed a few pellets down-wind at 13m to try to get them shallow.

The float buried, I lifted into it and nothing.  I dropped the rig back in.  The float settled.  Then shot under and 4m of green Preston 13h was trying to get out of the pole tip.  I was shipping the pole back with the fish on and the fish was kiting to my left, the wind grabbed hold of the pole and pulled it to the right.  The result was that I pulled the hook out of the fish. DAGNAMIT!!

The pellet was still in the baitband.  I shipped back out and dropped the rig in again.  Michelle shouted (shout being the operative word due to the wind, although she was on the next peg) that Craig had 2 carp (both of method feeder to the island) and she had caught 1.  I had some catching up to do.  Daz had caught 1 on bomb and pellet to the island.  The float went under slowly.  I lifted and pricked one.  I dropped the rig in again and the float shot under.  I struck and the elastic came flying out of the pole.  Let me see if I can get this one in.

A carp about 3lb was soon in the net.  Daz had by this point, dropped in on his 5m line with meat on the hook.  He got a bit and struck.  He played the fish for a couple of minutes then the elastic on his pole snapped or came undone from his bung and was lying on top of the water with the fish still attached.  He quickly managed to wrap the elastic around his pole tip and pole cup and shipped back gently.  He got hold of his elastic and hand-lined the carp to the landing net.  It was about 5lb.  THE SPAWNY B***$%K.  If that had been me, I would have lost it.

Over the next couple of hours, I managed to snare half a dozen carp on the pole to the island.  The wind was steadily increasing and was constantly changing direction.  One minute it was off my back, the next it was left to right.  All the while, I had been throwing in meat and corn at 5 minutes.  I was paggered holding the pole at 16m so thought that I would have a breather and fish short for 5 minutes or so.  I was holding my own.  Splash had about 4 or 5 carp, Craig had 3 or 4 and some bits, Frontrow was probably just in front.  Mr Soft had a couple of carp.  Kes had a couple and The Worm was catching at 7m on worm and I could see Pid floating his pole to the island.  He was getting one or two even though the wind was blowing off his back.

I baited up with meat and dropped in at 5m.  I waited and waited and waited for about 5 minutes.  Nothing. I went back over to the island.  In view of pulling out of a 3 or 4 fish due to the wind, I swapped to Daiwa white hydro elastic.  The float settled, then shot under and my elastic was doing its best to get out of the pole tip.  I shipped back to the topkit and played it for about 4 or 5 minutes.  It turned out to be the biggest fish of the day - about 7/8lb common carp.

I decided to continue fishing to the island for the duration of the match, with the odd 5 minute spell on meat on the short line.

At one point during the match, Frontrow had caught a fish and shipped back.  He put his 4,5 and 6 section on the floor.  The wind picked it up and flung it into the back of me and it hit my box legs and broke on his number 5 and 6.

I was now catching steadily at 16m to the island.  That was it.  TIME!.  The match was over.  I asked Craig how much he thought that he had, he said 15lb.  I said that I had about 40lb (wink, wink).  I then asked him for his serious response, he said about 20lb.  I said that I had about 42lb (wink).

Weights

Mark on peg 85 was first to weigh and weighed in 35lb, Dumptruck had 31lb on 84.  Penfold Webster put 39lb on the scales from about peg 80 and was leading the match.  This was going to be close.  Pid put 45lb on the scales.  The scales arrived at Craig's peg and he put 20lb odd on the scales.  I had more than that.  Splash weighed in 28lb.  It was now my turn.  I lifted out my first net and put 24lb on the scales.  I then lifted out my 2nd net and that one went 35lb.  I had 59lb and was leading the match with about 4 left to weigh.  Frontrow had 28lb.  Mr Soft had 35lb.  Kes had a mid twenty pounds.  There was only Colin The Worm left to weigh and he was not sure what he had.  He lifted his net out and put it all on the scales.  They bottomed out.  We took 3 fish out and he weighed 45lb.  His last 3 fish went 8lb for a total of 53lb.  I had done it.  I won.  I was also carrying a 39lb advantage over Craig to the second leg of the knockout competition.  If it had not been windy, over 100lb was on the cards.  I had weighed in 59lb and lost about 25lb and I was struggling with presentation a lot of the time.  The wind was spinning me on my box.

Result:

1. Mick Herrington (Peg 74) 59lb
2.  Colin Weaver (Peg 68) 53lb
3. Paul Farley (Peg 77) 45lb
4. Dave Webster (Peg 80) 39lb

Thank you and tight lines until next weekend.

:-)

Monday, June 17, 2013

Barnburgh - Bottom Lake

The club were booked on one of my least favourite venues so I decided to book on the open match at Barnburgh Lakes, Doncaster which was to be staged on the bottom pond (Pond 3).

Barnburgh Lakes
Top Pond (1), Middle Pond (2) and Bottom Pond (3).
Frontrow Harrison was still on his jollies, so my travelling partner today was Chris 'Lurch' Moorhead.  He texted me to say that he was not fishing this weekend as the water pump had gone on his car, so I took pity on him and offered to take him for a session to Barnburgh.  His last 3 match results have been worse than disastrous with all of them being a DNW (I believe).  Stuart 'Swimming Donkey' Waterhouse and Craig 'Oddjob' Thompson were also booked on.  The club were mob-handed.

I picked up Lurch and we went for a breakfast with Oddjob and Donkey. Whilst waiting for our breakfast, the waitress and cook were on about serving someone breakfast and giving some black pudding that had not been paid for.  Intending to do the honourable thing, Lurch went to pay for the black pudding.  Following a few harsh words, Lurch got a refund of his breakfast and was escorted outside by the cafe bouncer. LOLOL.  He was stood outside licking the windows whilst we ate our full English breakfast.  To add further insult to injury, they had prepared Lurch's breakfast which was not going spare.  So Donkey had a second breakfast for free - with some free black pudding.

The Draw
By the time that we arrived and paid on there were 24 booked on the match.  I put my hand in the bag and snare peg 24.  On my very first trip, I was 5th off peg 23 with 105lb (peg 22 was empty) so was hopeful of a few fish.

I had venue expert - Les 'War and' Peace on peg 25, Lurch was on peg 20, Andy Stonner was on peg 21, Pete Gosney was on peg 3, Oddjob was on peg 5, Donkey was on peg 6, Paul Jenkinson was on peg 15, Rob Hitchens was on peg 16 and Mick Owen was on peg 17.  The obligatory £2 side bet was struck up with Lurch.

Resident Venue Expert - Les 'War and' Peace
Rigs
I set up 4 rigs as follows:
Left - Right - Jigga 1, Frenzee FD200, Jigga 2 and Teardrop

Rig 1 - was a yellow topped Jigga rig set to fish between 6 - 12" deep.  This had on a Trabucco T1 .12 hooklength with a size 18 Kamasan B911 hook and was attached to Preston Red 11h elastic.

Rig 2 - was a .2g Frenzee FD200 float set to fish about 18" deep.  This had on a .11 Preston Powerline Hooklength with a size 18 Kamasan B911 hook and was attached to Preston Red 11h elastic.

Rig 3 - was a black topped Jigga rig set to fish between 6" and 2ft deep.  This had on a .12 Trabucco T1 .12 hooklength to a size 18 Kamasan B911 hook and was also attached to Preston Red 11h elastic.

Rig 4 - was a .3g teardrop shaped float and was set at 3ft deep to fish in the margin.  This had on a .13 Preston Powerline hooklength and a size 16 B611 hook.  This rig was attached to Diawa white hydro elastic.

All of the shallow rigs (1 - 3) had a baitband on a hair-rig.

Bait
For bait, I had some 4mm pellets (you have to use the venues own pellets), some Bob-co 4mm pellets (for the baitband) and some 4mm BaitTech expander pellets.

Pellets, pellets and more pellets!!
Following a couple of chats with Rob Hitchens and Pet Gosney, I invested in a new Sensas landing net specifically for places similar to Barnburgh - banded pellet fishing for small fish.  The net was fine mesh to eliminate the pellet coming off in the landing net and I also tied the bottom off to make it a shallower net so that I was not reaching too far down into the net when unhooking fish.


I had also, courtesy of ebay, purchased a brand new unused Preston Innovations keepnet which was going to get it's first outing today.  Let us hope that it is not a bad omen on using a new keepnet for the first time.

The Match
Let banter battle commence. I threw a small handful of pellets down the margin and then baited up the black topped jigga rig with a 4mm pellet and shipped out to 10m.  I fed some 4mm pellets over the top and then proceeded to 'jig' the rig. Lifting and dropping the pellet all the while.  After about 20 minutes, I had about 10 fish in the net. It was a slow start by Barnburgh standards. I decided to swap over to the Frenzee rig to see if they wanted a static bait.  After about another 20 minutes, I had about 25/30 fish.  I asked War and Peace how many he had.  He said that he did not know.

I was constantly feeding 20(ish) pellets every fish at 10m.  I had seen one or two swirls.  I decided to have a go on the shallower of the two jigga rigs (rig 1).

Over the next 1.5 hours I anticipate that I had about 25/30lb.  It was slow going.  War and Peace was pulling out of a few fish and was starting to get a little annoyed, especially seeing as I was smiling at him after every fish that he pulled out of.  I advised Lurch to fish shallow at 11m.  I looked down the lake and he had 14m of pole in front of him and was fishing to the island.  DOH!!!

Stonner decided to have a go down the edge at this point and dropped his rig in the margin and put the pole between his legs whilst he faffed about with his rigs.  Yep, you guessed it...WHOOOSH, his topkit was dragged into the lake, never to be seen again.

I proceeded to fish shallow swapping between the three shallow rigs.  The fish appeared to be at differing heights after every couple of fish or so.  I was now fishing about 11.5m out.  I would have a run of about 5 - 10 fish, then have to change a couple of minor things such as more bait, less bait, tap the water, don't tap the water, jig the rig, hold the rig.  Just little things caught a couple more fish.

I was now into the last hour and a half of the match and appeared to be doing OK.  I was beating War and Peace to my left and the angler to my right.  Pete Gosney was catching a few fish on peg 3 and I could also see that Oddjob Thompson and Donkey Waterhouse were getting one or two.  Lurch was now fishing down the bank and was catching a few fish as was Stonner.  Everyone seemed to be getting fish.

I decided to fish at 13m for the remainder of the match just up to some sedges that were over-hanging into my peg.  At this point, Pete Gosney struck into a fish, that also did a 'Stonner' and proceeded to pull his topkit off at 11m.  By some stroke of luck and fortune, the managed to get his topkit back - minus the fish.  There is a god after all.

I proceeded to catch one or two more fish before swapping lines and catching another couple of fish.  TIME!!! That was it match over.  How had I done??? I was not sure.  I had a slow start, good middle of match, then a slow end to the match.  Had I beaten War and Peace?  I said to him that I was about 40lb behind him, with a grin on my face.

As I was packing away my gear, Donkey walked round to me and decided to bet me £1 that he had more than me.  Another £1 was up for grabs.

The scales arrived at peg 18 and proceeded to weigh from there.  Not sure what weights they had.  Lurch was one of the first weights that I remembered and he put 74lb on the scales.  He was chuffed to bits.  I felt that I had £2 coming my way as I knew that I had more than that.  Stonner on peg 21 had 3 weighs and put 128lb odd on the scales.  Pegs 22 and 23 had 70 - 80lb each.  It was now my turn.  I lifted out my first net and plonked 52lb on the scales.  I think that I had an even split which would give me about 100lb.  I thought that I had more than that.  I then lifted out my 2nd net and had two weighs and put 82lb on the scales, giving me a total weight of 134lb.  I was currently leading with the big hitters yet to weigh.  Oh, I was up £2 already due to Lurch, thank you very much.  Les 'War and' Peace plonked 116lb on the scales (he probably lost about 20lb or so today).  Pete Gosney on peg 3 weighed in 154lb which pushed me into 2nd place.  Oddjob put 84lb on the scales.  Next to weigh was Donkey.  He had 2 weighs for a total of 112lb.  I was up another pound.  But I was also please for Donkey as he had had his first 100lb+ weight in a match.  He was really made up.  Good for him.  From pegs 7 - 14, there were a few 80 - 110lb weights.

The last 3 to weigh were Jenkinson, Hitchens and Owen in that order.  I was currently lying 2nd, where was I going to finally end up?  Jenkinson put 180lb odd on the scales, all caught on paste on the top 2.  I was in 3rd place.  Hitchens put 170lb on the scales, again all on paste on the top two. I was now in 4th place.  Owen put 117lb on the scales.  I was 4th.  I was very pleased with the result.

I went to get my £1 off Donkey, and he shook his empty pockets.  (The following day, I sent him a text asking for my quid and he texted me back to say double or quits next time we go, hmmmmm).

Lurch paid up - all £1.50 of it..  He still owes me 50p.  I will have to start up my own Wonga.com payday loan company to lend them the money so that I can get it back. :-)

Lurch needed a confidence booster and was very happy with catching a few (well a good few) fish today.  Stuart 'Donkey' Waterhouse was on cloud 9, having broke the 100lb barrier.  Well done fella's.  Glad you enjoyed it.

Full Result
1. Paul Jenkinson (peg 15) - 180lb odd
2. Rob Hitchens (Peg 16) - 170lb
3. Pete Gosney (Peg 3) - 154lb odd
4. Mike Herrington (Peg 24) - 135lb
5. Andy Stonner (Peg 21) - 128lb odd

When checking the results at the Anglers Mail website on the Monday, I have always had to email them to get the results right.  I have been called Nick Terrington, Mick Hammington, Mick Harris and god only knows what else.  Best have a word with the match organiser!!

Tightlines.

MICK HERRINGTON :-)

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Redwood Lakes - Canal Lake

The club had booked a match at Redwood Lakes near Easingwold.  We were booked on Canal Lake.

Redwood Lakes Map
There are approx 38 pegs on the long part of Canal Lake and about 6 or 7 pegs on the little spit coming off the Canal Lake (if you look closely, it looks like a bath tub).  Peg 1 is the end nearest the main car park with 38 at the other end of the lake and pegs 39 to 45 on the little spit.  The venue provide keepnets, 1 net for silver fish and one net for carp.

I went for a walk round the lake on Saturday with Lurch Moorhead to get a better idea of what we needed to do.  The rumour mill was saying that it was all pellet and corn to catch bream down the middle of the lake.  On Saturday, if was fishing hard when we walked round and a new game plan was devised.  MAGGOTS!!!!

15 of us attended the match and we were given the whole lake including the private lake (the spit, LOL).  I put my hand in the bag and ended up on peg 12.  The peg was just before you got to the bridge that separated the 'private lake' from the main canal lake. Due to John Macca McCall having a duff knee, he was on peg 2, Sadsack himself (Pid) was on peg 4 or 6 or something.  Swimming Donkey was on peg 21 and we decided (after advice of the pond owner) to put 1 peg on the spit.  This peg went to Paul 'Woofer' Clough.  I had a look at his peg, he was pleasure fishing.  I had Gary to my right on peg 10 and Dave 'Mick, what have you got, have you got 5lb yet, Mick what have you got, have you got 6lb yet, Mick what have you got, have you got 8lb yet' Horsfall to my left on peg 14, the bridge peg.  Dave 'Penfold' Webster was on about peg 17.

I arrived at my peg and decided on a multi-pronged attack.

I was going to fish the following rigs:

Rig 1 - 4m whip to hand.  I have an old Daiwa 5m Zoom whip and decided to take this to fish maggot shallow for the little roach and rudd that were evident the day before.  The float that I used on this was an old Image whip float for fishing bottom end only taking 2bb and a couple of droppers.  I put on a .10 hooklength with a size 20 Kamasan B611 hook.  I set this rig to fish about 2ft deep on the drop.

Rig 2 - short-line shallow rig.  This rig was a .2g Garbolino DC6 float set about 2ft deep also with a .10 hooklength. I used Preston 9h elastic for this rig.

Rig 3 - Deep rig down the track.  I set up a Langwith Lakes float (not sure what it is called, it is a long teardrop shape, similar to the old Milo Miranda floats), the float was a .3g model.  I shotted this up to fish 1 inch on the bottom and I would be fishing this at full depth where I would be fishing maggot shallow, incase any fish settle over any maggots that managed to get to the bottom.  I used Daiwa white hydro elastic down the middle.

Rig 4 - Margin Rig - I set up a 4.12 Chimp float and this was just touching the bottom about 1 ft from the bank, where I had 2.5ft of depth.  The rig was set to fish with a .13 Preston Powerline Hooklength and was attached to green Preston 13h elastic.

The Margin - a few nice looking reeds.
Rig 5 - across to the reeds rig.  At this stage, ignore where the pole is as I initially started off to the front of the reeds into a gap in the reeds.  I set up a 4 x 12 Chimp for this line also.  I attached a .15 Preston Powerline hooklength and attached it to Preston 15h Blue elastic.

Across - Look at the reeds!!!
Bait - For bait I had 3 pints of white maggots, 4mm and 6mm Bait-Tech Expander pellets, 6mm cubed meat,  small tin of sweetcorn and some micro-pellets.

Pellets, Meat, Corn and Maggots.

The Match

At the start of the match, I fed some meat to the margin to my left and a few maggots to my right.  I put a single maggot on the whip rig and flicked it out to 7m or so.  I threw about 15/20 maggots over the top of the float and soon swung a 2oz roach to hand.    I rebaited the whip rig and proceeded to catch about 15 or so little rudd and roach for about 1lb in weight.  After about 30 minutes of this, the whip rig shot under and I was attached to something a little bigger than 1oz. I played it and eventually a carp about 1lb was on it's way to the landing net.  With one final shake of its head, if shot off to the reeds in the margin and shed the hook.  BASKET!!!!

Dave to my left had a couple of carp down the edge (fishing across to the otherside of the bridge), I decided to have a go in my margin.  I baited up the margin rig with a piece of meat.  I dropped the rig in, pulled it up the slope a little, then I threw about 8 pieces of meat over the top and waited.  After a couple of minutes, the float went sideways a little, then dipped.  I waited like a coiled spring.  The float shot under and I struck into a better fish.  After playing it for a few minutes a carp about 2.5lb was in the keepnet.

I rebaited and dropped the rig back in the edge and waited and waited.  Nothing.

I decided to go back out on the whip.  Even the roach and rudd seemed to be having an off day.  There was barely a breath of wind and the sun had most definitely come out to play.  Not exactly ideal conditions.

We were now about 1 hour into the match and Dave had asked me about 4 times 'Mick, how much have you got, have you got 5lb (or swop with any indiscriminate google number) yet'.  I had about 6lb and was admitting to 3lb.

For the past hour, I had been flicking a few pellets over to the reeds and the reeds were now knocking occasionally. Right. Time to have a go!!!

I baited up the across rig with a 6mm expander pellet, dropped it in.  The float shot away and a roach about 2oz was soon in the net.  It didn't put up much of a fight on Preston 15h hollow LOL.  I rebaited and went back out to the reeds and promptly caught another roach. Hmmmm, best try a different bait.  I put meat on and waited and waited and nothing.

Sadsack had now walked the bank and was promptly doing laps up and down.  Reports were coming back that it was fishing absolutely rock hard.  Some of the anglers had only had a couple of plips.  Gary to my right had 1 fish.  Woofer who was pleasure fishing his own private lake was catching one or two F1's.

For the next hour or so, I must admit that I faffed about a bit as I was not really making anything work.  Even the roach and rudd seemed to have shut up shop.

Now I was going to revert to plan twentyeleventyseventysix.  I decided to set up a mudline rig across with maggots.  I plumbed up the across rig and cut the line down to suit.  I had about 12" of depth tight across at 13m in the bay  at the back of the reeds.  I baited up with 2 maggots and filled up the large tosspots full of maggots.  I shipped out, tipped the maggots in and caught an ide straightaway.  I did the same again and caught a perch about 12oz.

Tight to the far bank at the back of the reeds.
As I was bringing the perch back, I could see a couple of swirls across at the mudline.  I rebaited and shipped back out to the mudline.  I tipped the maggots in (I was now feeding a full large tosspot of maggots each drop in to try to feed the bits off).  The float settled. It then seemed to swirl a bit, then sent under slowly.  I lifted into the bite, the fish woke up and shot round the back of the reeds and shed the hook.  NOT A CHANCE.  1 - 0 TO THE CARP.  BAUBLES.  I managed to get my rig back, or what was left of it.

Not a lot left really - the eye from the float, the float rubber and a couple of stotz LOL 
I decided that Preston 15h was not strong enough, so had to get out my topkit loaded with Preston 17h.

At this point, Dave 'Mick what have you got (oh forget it, you get my drift) Horsfall had hooked a carp that was doing its best to get under the bridge.  It then shot towards him and he did not ship his pole back fast enough and the fish managed to snap his top 4 kit and tow it back under the bridge and into Woofer's private pond and was gone, never to be returned.

I managed to get a couple more carp and a couple of F1 carp and a small barbel over the duration of the match, by potting in maggots and fishing with double maggot over the top.

That was it, the match was over.  THANK GOD!! THAT HAD BEEN A BIT OF A GRUELLER.

The scales arrived and Macca was winning the match with 9lb.  Yes, NINE pounds it is not a mis-print.  Gary tipped back to my right.  It was now my turn.  My first weigh went 4lb 6oz of silver fish.  My second weigh went 9lb 10oz of carp for a total weight of 14lb 0oz.  I was winning.  But not for long.  We were now going to weigh in Lord Longleat at his private lake.  He weighed in 2lb of silvers and 26lb odd of carp. I was now in 2nd place with about 6 more left to weigh in.  'Mick, what have you got?' weighed in a total of 11lb 1oz.  There were a couple of other 11lb weights with not much else above it until we got to the end peg where Ian 'Syd' Waddell had spent the day hiding away.  As soon as he lifted his net out, I knew that I had been beaten into 3rd place.  He managed a combined weight of 18lb odd.

The Result:

1. Paul Clough - 28lb 9oz
2. Ian Waddell - 18lb odd
3.  Mick Herrington - 14lb 0oz
4. Stuart Waterhouse - 11lb 7oz
5. Craig McKenny - 11lb 3oz
6.  Dave Horsfall - 11lb 1oz

Well done (oh and woofer, well drawn, don't forget to send your private gardener to to the pond to carry your gear to the car for you. hahaha.)

Sunday, June 02, 2013

Barnburgh - Bottom Lake

The club (Robin Hood AC) were booked on a match at Woodland Lakes, Thirsk on Curlew Lake.  The lake is a 24 peg lake and there were 23 booked on the match and the lake cannot really handle that many anglers on it, so Frontrow and I decided to book on at Barnburgh as it was on the bottom lake.  On our last venture here Frontrow had 70lb for nowhere, I had had 105lb for 5th in the match.  I was hoping for similar today.

At the draw, there were 4 jackpot pegs pulled out, the numbers being pegs 1, 6, 17 and 25.  Andy Stonner pulled out peg 6, Rob 'Zebedee' Hitchens drew peg 2, Mick Owen was on peg 7, Frontrow was on peg 10, Les 'War and Peace was on peg 15.  I put my hand in the bag and drew peg 1.  One of the jackpot pegs.  Hmmmm!!!

The Rigs

I set up 3 rigs as follows:

Rig 1 - was a .2g Frenzee FD200 float on .15 Preston Powerline with a 4" .12 Trabucco T1 hooklength with a size 18 hook and baitband.  This was attached to Preston 11h red elastic.  I set this rig to fish about 18" deep.

Rig 2 - Was a Ian Heywood 'Jigga' float.  This was also attached to .15 Preston Powerline with a 4" .13 Preston Powerline Hooklength to a size 18 hook and baitband.  Again this was also attached to Preston 11h red elastic. - What is a Jigga??  A jigga is a free running float that is locked above and below the float by a float stop.  Underneath the bottom float stop you put on some shot.  The idea being that you ship out, drop the rig in and then lift and drop the shot and bait whilst the float stays in the water.  Today will be the 2nd day that I have used one of these floats.  This was set to fish between 8" and 18" deep (allowing for 12" of lifting and dropping).

Rig 3 - was my margin rig.  This consisted of a .4g Sensas Powerpencil float set up on .15 Preston Powerline to a .13 Preston Powerline hooklength and a size 16 hook.  This rig was attached to Preston 13h green elastic.  I plumbed up down the edge and found that I had about 3 - 3.5ft deep - too deep to be honest.

Both of the shallow rigs were set up to fish about 11m and the margin rig was set up to fish on top 2.

Before the start of the match, I slapped the Frenzee FD200 rig a couple of times next to my keepnet on the top two, just to get an indication of how the float was going to sit in the water.  The float shot under and F1 carp No 1 was in the net. LOL.  Only joking, this one was a catch and release.  It was solid. LOL.

Bait

For bait, I had 1 bag of the venues own 4mm pellets, some 6mm Bait-Tech expander pellets, some Bait-Tech 4mm hard pellets and some meat.

I observed Zebedee Hitchens and he set up 2 rigs, both of which were to fish paste in the margins.

The Match

At the start of the match, I picked up rig 1 and baited up with a hard 4mm pellet, shipped out to 11m, flicked a few 4mm pellets over the top, and..... fish on.  All this within 30 seconds.  F1 carp number 1 in the net.  Can we please shout time now.  :-)

I continued to catch fish, quite frequently for the next 40/45 minutes at 11m using the Frenzee rig.  All the while, I was flicking a few pellets and a couple of bits of meat to my right on the top 2 line.

Zebedee asked me how many fish did I have.  I replied that I did not know and how many of you got, he said that he had 39 fish.  I said that I did not think that I was that far behind him. I needed to up my fish rate. I swapped over to rig 2, the Jigga.  I baited up with a 4mm hard pellet again.  Shipped out to 11m, slapped the rig in a couple of times, then let the pellet 'fall' through the float. The elastic shot out and another F1 carp was soon in the net.

The fish seemed to be coming in spells, you caught 3 or 4, then they disappeared, then you caught again.

I was now about 1.5 hours into the match and I could see Rob catching steadily from the margins.  I decided it was time to now have a look on the top 2.

I baited up the margin rig with a 6mm cube of meat.  Dropped in on the top 2, the float dipped, then shot under.  The carp was soon subdued on the green 13h elastic.  I then dropped in again, and got a few liners before the float went under.  Nothing, missed it.  I re-baited, dropped in again and the float shot under.  Nothing.  I proceeded in this manner for the next 30 mins or so.  During this time, I would estimate that I had managed to get about 6 or 7 carp.  Rob had about 20 in the same period of time.

I decided to go back shallow again as I was not catching anywhere near fast enough down the edge.

Over the next couple of hours, I swapped between the jigga rig (when working the bait) and the shallow Frenzee rig when letting the bait settle.

I tried a 6mm pellet as these will stay in the band longer and are easier to put in a band (OMG trying to band a 4mm pellet with wet hands and no nails is nigh on impossible) but they would not take a 6mm, as you can guess by the stamp of the fish. 

After about 3.5 hours, Rob asked me how many fish I had, I said that I did not know.  I asked if he knew how many he had and he replied that he was bored of counting.

I then proceeded to swap between the two rigs until the end of the match.  Someone said that Les 'War and Peace' superglued his pellets to his hook, then varnished them to make them stay on longer.  Another angler said the he used porcelain pellets.  Never mind war and peace, maybe have to rename him Team Tiles R Us.

That was it, the match was over.  I had caught a few.  Frontrow came round to me as he was putting his gear in my car and asked how I had got on.  I said that I had more than 100lb, I think!!?  Thing is, when you are catching big numbers of small carp, you do not know what sort of weight you have got.

Weights

Seeing as I was on peg 1, I was first to weigh.  I lifted my first net out and put it on the scales and it went 66lb 15oz. The scalesman then realised that they had not deducted the weight of the weigh-sling, they deducted 1lb 11oz, so my first weigh was 65lb 4oz.  I lifted my 2nd net out (well tried to as Frontrow had to give me a hand), and after two weighs the 2nd net went 97lb 2oz for a total weight of 162lb 4oz.  I had set the bar quite high. Oh and I was in first place (at the moment) LOL.

But not for long.  After Rob's 3 weighs, he had 173lb 3oz - all on paste on his top 2.  Then there were a few weights between 40 - 70lb by the time that the scales had got to Stonner.  He had 4 weighs and his total weight went 164lb 4oz, pushing me into 3rd place.  Mick Owen put 159lb odd on the scales.  Frontrow weigh in 69lb 12oz.  Everyone had said that Ian 'Jigga' Heywood had caught a lot of fish.  After 3 weighs he had 130lb 1oz.  There were then weights of 129lb, 131lb, 136lb, 109lb and quite a few weights between 70 and 100lb.

I had come 3rd.  Had I done a couple of things different, I feel that I could have won the match or at least been 2nd.  I estimate, that I had in the region of 210/220 F1 carp.

Result

1. Rob Hitchens - 173lb 3oz
2. Andy Stonner - 164lb 4oz
3. Mick Herrington - 162lb 4oz
4. Mick Owen - 159lb odd.
5. ??? - 136lb odd.

What a venue, 162lb for 3rd in the match.  I was totally cream crackered.  When the match finished, I stopped and ate a red 'Bounty' for sustenance LOL.

I rang up a couple of lads who went on the match to Woodlands, Mark Wright won it with 50 odd pound, a couple of forties and most seemed to struggle for carp.

Looks like I made the right choice.

Until next week.  Tightlines.

Big Pellet.