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Saturday, June 14, 2014

Robin Hood AC - Round 10 - Wholesea Grange Fishery, Howden

This week Robin Hood AC were at Wholesea Grange Fishery, Howden on pond 2.  Pond 2 is full of ide and carp and nearly every peg is a Mr Crabtree peg - with either a over-hanging bush, reeds, lily pads, island or all of the aforementioned features, everyone has something to fish to, feature-wise.  There are approximately 38 pegs on the pond.

By the time of the draw, there were 21 of us in attendance and Andy Limbert and I were fishing the first leg of our club knockout, the 2nd leg is taking place next week at Woodlands Lakes, Thirsk.

I put my hand in the lucky bag and snared peg 7.


Reeds to the left of the peg - these were about 18m away.

Small clump of lily pads out in front of me.

Tackle

I set up my 11ft Method Feeder rod which is really geared up.  It has 6lb Guru Drag Line and I fish with .19 and .21 hook-lengths on it.  My idea was to cast to the clump of reeds and basically hit and hold any fish that I hook.

My first pole rig was a 4x16 Colmic Jolly to fish chopped worm and caster straight in front of me at 11m.
I then set up two margin rigs - one to the left and one to the right.  I had about 2ft to my left and about 3ft to my right.  The left hand margin rig had a 4 x 14 Preston Durafloat and the right hand swim had a 4 x 14 chimp float.  Both margin swims were attached to Preston Innovations 15h elastic.

For bait I had 1kg of worms, 3 pts casters, some 6mm Bait-Tech expander pellets, 2 tins of corn, 6mm Dynamite Baits hard pellets and a 50/50 mix of Sonubaits Krill and Sonubaits Crushed Expander groundbait.  
Pellets, casters, worms, groundbait and corn.  The worms are under the towel, to stop them drying out.

The Match

I big potted some chopped worm, caster and corn at 11m and then baited up the method feeder with a 6mm hard pellet and cast it over to the reeds.  I set it down and was just picking up my catapult to fire some pellets over the top, when whooooosh, the freespool on my Shimano reel was spinning away.  I picked up the rod and proceeded to drag the carp out of the reeds.

My first fish was about 2lb and did not have much chance.  Mike 1 - Fish 0.

I re-baited and cast back out.  A minute or so later, fish 2 was on and then in the net.

I fished the method for the next hour or so and managed to catch 10 carp between 12 oz - 4lb ish for a total of about 25lb or so.  Craig MC had caught a couple of small carp, Frank was struggling as were most people from what I could see.

I fished the method for another 30 minutes or so and snared one more carp and lost 3 (they had kited into the reeds and shed the hook).

I had occasionally been feeding the worm line and I decided now was the time to have a look on the worm line.

I baited up with a small piece or worm, lowered the rig in and waited, and waited and waited.  Nothing.  I had been continually flicking some casters over the top of the float so decided to try double caster.  I dropped in, the float dipped, then sailed under.  Fish on.  Unfortunately it was a roach about 2 oz.

I decided to have another look on the method feeder and after 20 minutes, I had added one more pastie sized carp.

Going into the last hour, I decided to fish worm short for anything that swims in order to put a few more fish in the net.

I plumbed up on top 2 + 3 and found it was about 4.5ft deep.  I added some groundbait to my chopped worm mix to enable me to throw little balls of chopped worm and caster out over the top of the float.

I baited up with a small piece of worm, and dropped the rig in and proceeded to through little nuggets of bait over the top.  The float slowly went under, I struck and I was into a carp.  After a brief tussle, I soon had a carp about 4lb in the net.

I proceeded to fish this line until the end of the match and managed to catch a couple more carp and some ide and roach to add to my final tally.  Meanwhile, Craig MC was, and had been, bagging on the method for the last 3 hours or so, catching little stockie carp, one a bung more or less.

That was it match over.

I estimate that I had about 35 - 40lb ish and I was not sure how much Andy had caught.

I caught up with the scales at peg 4 (Stupot Wilson) and top weight was 39lb.  Stupot had a couple of weighs for a total of 64lb 8oz, Wilco Wilson put 45lb on the scales.  Gaz Jowett put 37lb on the scales.  Now it was my turn.  I put my first net on the scales and it went 24lb odd.  I then put my 2nd net on the scales and that went 25lb odd for a total of 50lb 1oz.  Frank to my left had 32lb, Dave Wathen had a similar weight.  Webster was next to weigh and put a total of 62lb on the scales.  I followed the scales round and finally arrived at Andy Limbert.  Andy put his first net on the scales and had 30lb.  He then pulled out his second net and put 10lb on the scales for a total of 40lb 15oz.  I had a 9lb 2oz (don't forget the 2oz) lead going into the second leg.

There were a few more weights of about 30 - 40lb ish and the scales finally arrived at Craig MC's peg.  Craig had 2 weighs for a total of 69lb 7oz.

My travelling partner, Frontrow Harrison was 2nd last with 15lb odd from peg 19.

I had come 4th.

The club have a team of 4 competition going based on total weights and after 9 matches the table is as follows:

My Team (Team 6) are doing well in the overall team weight competition - this is correct as at last week and this week's weight needs adding to the above.
Full Result:
1.  Craig McKenny - Peg 28 - 69lb 7oz (Method Feeder)
2.  Stuart Wilson - Peg 4 - 64lb 8oz (Worm/Caster top 5)
3.  Dave Webster - Peg 11 - 62lb 9oz (Method then meat down the edge)
4.  Mike Herrington - Peg 7 - 50lb 1oz (method then worm short)
5.  Paul Wilson - Peg 5 - 45lb 2oz.(worm short and long)

It was quite a good match in that the majority of people had between 30 - 40lb and it was made up of a mixed bag of ide, roach, skimmers and stockie carp in the main.

Thanks for reading.

Tightlines.

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Robin Hood AC Round 9 - Sykehouse Lakes - Stockpond

For round 9 of the league we were on the Stock Pond at Sykehouse Fisheries near Goole.  Daz wasn't in attendance so I travelled with Chris 'Lurch' Moorhead.  Following a breakfast at the local George hotel in Sykehouse we arrived at the venue.  The club had a match on the venue last year and the winners came from the pegs in the twenties.

There is 31 pegs on Stock Pond, but they usually leave out peg 31.  The pond is approx 15 - 20ft deep in places and about 10-12ft deep at 10m out.

By the time of the draw, there was about 16/17 of us on the match.  I put my hand in the bag and peg 15 stuck to my hand.  I arrived at my peg to find that I had Woofer Clough on peg 13 and Lurch Moorhead on peg 17.  Paul 'Wilco' Wilson, Ian 'Syd' Waddell, Gaz Jowett, Pid Farley and Craig McKenny were all on the favoured pegs in the 20's.

The view from peg 15

The left hand margin
Tackle

I set up my pellet waggler rod and the pole with the following rigs:


Rigs 1, 2 and 3
Rig 1 was was an in-line dibber float set to fish about 18" deep.
Rig 2 was a Jigga float set to fish between 6" - 2.5ft deep.
Rig 3 was a 4 x 14 Carpa Gent set to fish to the margin to my left and right and was set at about 5ft deep (that was the depth as close to the margin that I could get).

Some bait - keep it simple.
For bait, I had some mixed 6mm cubed meat with corn and some 6mm and 8mm pellets.

The Match got under way and I had a quick look to both my left and right margin swims - just in case something was milling about down the edge.  After a fruitless 15 - 20 minutes, I decided it was time to have a look out on the long pole shallow.

I went out on the jigga rig and proceeded to work the bait up and down whilst feeding some 6mm pellets over the top.  I had been lifting and working the bait for approx 10 minutes or so, when all of a sudden there was a couple of swirls around my float and then it sailed under slowly.  I lifted into the fish, it then decided to wake up.  I shot off to the dark and deep depths - it must have gone down about 6 fathoms before it got the bends and decided to come to the top.  After a frantic battle my biggest cap of the day was in the landing net (see photo below).

I proceeded to fish the long pole line for another fruitless 30 minutes or so.

Now it was time to have a go on the pellet waggler.  I cast out the pellet waggler to about 30 yards and fed some 8mm pellets over the top.  The waggler shot under and I was in.  Some 10 seconds later, it had got off. Crap!!

Lurch Moorhead had managed to snare a couple of carp, Dave Webster, who was on peg 8 had managed to snare 3 carp shallow on the long pole and I could see that generally everyone was struggling.  There was literally no wind whatsoever.  The lake was flat calm.  It was possible to see carp cruising around all over the place.

I started to try casting towards the fish topping, but in doing so, they bolted off out of the peg.

I managed to snare another 9 carp over the duration of the match (2 on pole and 7 on pellet waggler) for a total of 10 carp.  I also caught a couple of skimmers and roach on the long pole shallow.  I had a bottle-top skimmer down the edge on double corn.

I could see that Wilco had caught a few down the margins late on.  Woofer Clough was stringing a few fish together.  Eric the Pheasant, Webster, Stu-pot Wilson, Big Macca and Wrighty were all struggling on the low numbers (pegs 1 - 10).  Moorhead had caught a few carp, but hopefully he was playing catchup with me.  I could see that Craig and Pid had also caught a few fish.

That was it, time, end of the match.

The scales started at Wrighty's peg and he set the ball rolling with 17lb, then there were weights of 20lb (Macca), 23lb (Stu-pot), 26lb (Webster), 19lb (Eric).  The scales arrived at Woofers peg and he plonked 39lb 7oz on the scales.  I lifted my net out (it was going to be close) and managed to plonk 39lb 2oz on the scales.  Moorhead was still here and put 27lb on the scales (PHEW!!!).  Dave Wathen put 39lb on the scales.  Michelle Webster has just got a sponsorship deal with Sharkskin wetsuits after going into the lake to retrieve a topkit that had got dragged off her pole.  She managed to get the topkit (and fish) back and put 19lb on the scales.  That is the 3rd time this year that she had had a lake bath (Barnburgh - to find her glasses and The Oaks were her previous swimming lessons).  I think that she is in secret training for the triathlon, but has not quite made it to the cycle and running part yet.  It is a good job she has a pair of big water wings.  I was currently in 2nd place with the twenties to weigh.

The scales arrived in the twenties.  After a couple of weighs, Wilco Wilson put 88lb on the scales, Gaz Jowett had 43lb, Syd Waddell had 46lb, Pid weighed in 50lb and MC Mckenny put 41lb on the scales.

Here's one that I caught earlier.
Full Result:

1. Paul Wilson - 88lb 9oz (peg 23 ish)
2. Paul Farley - 50lb 9oz (peg 29)
3. Ian Waddell - 46lb 15oz (peg 25 ish)
4. Gary Jowett - 43lb 13oz (peg 24 ish)
5. Craig McKenny - 41lb 14oz (peg 30)

Wholesea Grange, Pond 2 next week.

Tight Lines 

Thursday, June 05, 2014

Kippax, Woodlands and Sykehouse

Kippax Lakes, Leeds - Osprey Lake.

Got 3 matches to catch up on.  Last weekend, I fished round 8 of the Robin Hood AC League at Kippax Lakes, Leeds.  We were on Osprey again.  O Crap, that said on our last match here I was a happy 5th from this lake.  Did I fair any better this time?

Due to how difficult it was on our last match here, there was only 13 of us in attendance.

I wanted to draw any of the 4 corner pegs (2, 15, 17, 30).  I put my hand in the lucky bag and peg 30 stuck to my hand - happy days.

I arrived at my peg to find that I had Eric the Pheasant on peg 28, Michelle was on peg 25, Dave Horsfall was on peg 23, Mark Wright was on peg 21 and Paul Wilson was on peg 18 (17 not in).  In addition, there was no one on peg 2, instead I had Dave Webster on peg 1.  We have fished this lake a few times and this was the first time that I had known for peg 1 to be put in.  Hmmmm.

I set up the obligatory 9ft method rod and mini baitrunner. Then I made up 3 pole rigs:

Rig one was a 4 x 16 Colmic Jolly set to fish top 2 + 2 straight out in front of me where it was about 5.5-6ft deep.

Rig two was a 4 x 14 float set to fish about 2ft deep across to the island.  The end of the island was about 14m away, but was featureless, so I added the 16m section to my Garbolino M1 and fished away to the left where I had some reeds growing out of the island and upon  plumbing up I found that I had 2ft deep.  I put on a heavier rig as there were some reed strands under the water and needed to ensure that my float (and bait) had settled correctly.

Rig three was my margin rig.  I plumbed up to the platforms to both left and right (the platform to my right is peg 31 which is rarely used in matches) and found that I had about 3ft deep to them both.

For bait I had a couple of pints of white maggots (for the top 2 + 2 line), 6mm Bait-Tech expander pellets, some 6mm hard pellets and some micro pellets for the method feeder. I also knocked up a bag of Sonu-Baits krill groundbait (for potting down the margin - and for the method if needed) and I also had a tin of corn.

That's it, I was ready.

The match started, I went straight out to the island with the long pole and lowered the rig in near the reeds, the float settled for all of 15 seconds, then buried.  I was into my first carp of the day (hopefully), as I was bringing my fish in, Eric had got a bite on his pole and where as my fish was about 1lb, Eric's was about about 7lb.  Crap, I was playing catchup all ready.  I managed to get a couple more carp claw back some of the deficit, that everything went wrong.  I received a call from work!!!!  The time was now 10.42.

I am the manager of a domiciliary home care company employing some 80 staff or so and one of our clients wanted to bring their father home from hospital (yes on a Sunday) and wanted us to provide round the clock care for a few weeks or more.  I had my admin staff ringing me, the Director of the company ringing me, the Associate Director ringing me, the client ringing me, the carers ringing me.  This went on for the next couple of hours.  I finally managed to resolve the issue and got one of my live-in carers to go and the client was able to be sent home from hospital.  I sent a text to my boss at 12.36 saying that it was all sorted out.

Although I had still been fishing during this time, I wasn't really fishing, I was just going through the motions as I was not focused on what I was doing.  I had however managed to snare a couple of carp and roach during this time.  Unfortunately, fishing does not pay the mortgage and work does!!!

Right, back to the fishing.  It had gone belly up in this two hour spell.  Dave on peg 1 had caught a couple of carp and had a bream that was about 4lb.  Eric the Pheasant had managed to get another couple of carp.  I was still playing catch up.

There was not bites forthcoming from the island, and I could only catch roach and small bottle-top skimmers on the short 2 + 2 rig.

I decided to go down the side to the next platforms to see if I could get any signs.  I dropped in to the left margin and after a fruitless 10 - 15 minutes, I had lost one fish - I got a dip, struck, the fish went to the middle of the lake and then the hook pulled, I had it on for about 5 seconds.

I went to the margin to my right and after about 10 minutes, I managed to get one about 4lb.  That made me feel better.  I proceeded to fish the margins for the duration of the match.  That's it.  Match over.

I walked around with the scales and everyone asked me what I had caught - I replied not a lot and they said that I was lying as rumour had it was that I had caught.  Webster set the ball rolling by putting 22lb on the scales.  Frank Brook (the winner of the last match here with 39lb) was next to weigh and plonked 5lb on the scales.  Frontrow Harrison was on my peg from the last match (peg 6) and was the new leader with 22lb 8oz.  He asked what I had caught and I said about 20lb or so (with my fingers crossed in my pockets).

There were a few weights between 15lb and 26lb or so.  Then the scales arrived at Paul Wilson and he promptly plonked 47lb 3oz on the scales from peg 18.  Mark Wright was next to weigh and managed to put 47lb 1oz on the scales from peg 21.  Dave Horsfall had 26lb 6oz, Michelle had 15lb, The Pheasant had 22lb 13oz.  I was last to weigh.  I lifted my first net out and put 6 carp on the scales, I then lifted my second net out and put another 4 carp with them and the scales bounced around to 29lb 11oz.  I had managed to snare 3rd place.

Full Result

1.  Paul Wilson (Peg 18) - 47lb 3oz
2.  Mark Wright (Peg 21) - 47lb 1oz
3.  Mike Herrington (Peg 29) - 29lb 11oz
4.  Ian Waddell (Peg 10 ish) - 27lb
5.  Dave Horsfall (Peg 23) - 26lb 6oz


Woodlands Lakes, Thirsk

I fished the Whitsun Bank Holiday pairs match with one-time travelling partner - Lee Bramham (Bram).  We both wanted to fish either Skylark or Partridge, then Bram said that seeing as I had driven us both there, I could fish them.  I said no, we will flick a coin for it.  Bram flicked the coin, I called heads.  I was fishing on either Skylark or Partridge and Bram was fishing Curlew/Wagtail or Kestrel.

There was about 42 pairs on the match so we had a bit of room.

I put my hand in the bag and peg 24 on Skylark stuck to my hand.  Hmmmm, feast or famine.  Bram drew peg 15 on Wagtail.

I arrived at my peg to find that I had Josh Newton on peg 20, Steve Richards on peg 13, Gordon Poole on peg 15 and young Ross Pickles was on peg 11.

I had pellets, corn and groundbait for feed and I set up the ubiquitous bomb/pellet waggler/method rods and also 2 shallow pole rigs, 1 margin pole rig and 1 rig to fish top 2 + 2.

To cut a long story short, I ended up with 9 carp for a total of 48lb.  Bram had 6 carp for about 40lb ish.  35lb won Curlew lake, 55lb won Wagtail lake.  Jonny Maddison won the match with 135lb  from Partridge (about peg 23), 88lb won my lake from peg 18, Josh Newton was second on the lake with 83lb ish, there was a 'ton' weight from Kestrel.  Fellow Robin Hood club member Dave Webster won his section with about 73lb from Partridge 3 (or 5).

Josh Newton and Andy Dargue won the pairs match.

FellowAfter the match Robin, the pond owner, did two random peg draws to win £25 and £50 respectively.  The first random peg to be drawn was peg 3 on Partridge.  Dave had added to his funds from today.  The second random peg to be drawn was peg 11 on Skylark and seeing as Ross wasn't there (he was still fishing), they re-drew the peg.  Wagtail peg 15 came out.  Bram, the lucky so and so, had won the £50 prize.  Did he go halves??? Did he baubles!!.

Next week, we are on Stock Pond at Sykehouse.  Never fished it before.  Well, we will see.