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.)