Hi folks, with no club match on this week ( well that's not strictly true Halesowen were on the Severn at Trimpley STUFF THAT ) me & Stav had decided to go to Manor farm to fish the open which was on Island pool, i was just hoping that they didn't switch it on to Boundary pool as they did last time we were there. Luckily Stav & Bash fished a league match on there the day before and they confirmed that we would be on Island pool, Stav had won the league match on Saturday with a great 161lb all on the method feeder, well done mate! Stav had informed me that Dave the gaffer at Manor farm had cut back all the trees & vegetation on the island so you can now chuck the feeder tighter to the island than before. When we went to pay our pools money we were shocked to find out that there were 32 booked in for the open this meant that a good draw was going to be more important than normal, the pool has 39 pegs on it but with 4 corner pegs having to be left out that meant all the pegs bar a couple were in so it was going to be a hard match.
I drew out peg 6 which i was happy with as you have got the end of the island to throw at plus an aerator at 16m if you wish to, Stav drew out peg 23 only 2 pegs away from where he was yesterday but moaned that he had not got a throw to the island? Now if you have never been to island pool at Manor Farm this is basically a square pool with a round island and who has got the right to throw at the island and who's not is a bit of a dilemma, Stav's league he fishes produce a map with who can throw where and how far so there are no arguments. No such map for the opens Dave normally asks at the draw for common scene and if there is any dispute he will come and sort them out. Luckily for me i have drawn peg 6 & 7 before and i know that peg 6 is the last throw to the island 7,8,9 and so on have not.
With the amount of anglers on the bank and the result from the day before the method feeder was the first rod out of the bag followed by the pellet wagg and last of all the pole with just one rig to fish shallow with. I set up as follows,
Rig 1, 13ft Normark method rod, Shimano Stradic 4000 gtm loaded with 8lb maxima, 30gr small preston elasticated method feeder ( with the elastic changed to grey hydro from the stuff that comes on the feeders from the shop, Stav & Geordie take note it breaks ). Hooklength was a 16 or 14 pr27 to 0.18 dependent on bait.
Rig 2, 12ft Daiwa Tournament float rod, Shimano 2500 super gtm loaded with 5lb maxima, 3ssg styro foam wagg, 14 pr27 to 0.18.
Rig 3, 0.30gr Drennan carp 4, 0.16 straight through to a 16 pr27, 13h elastic for fishing 14-16m towards the aerator shallow.
Bait for the day was 1kg of Baitech new n-tice meaty mix which i was going to try for the first time today mixed the night before, various pellets 4mm,6mm & 8mm, dead red magg's & some n-tice polony meat for the hook.
On the whistle i chucked the method some 40m to the point of the island having 2-3 chucks to get my line clip just right with 2 dead reds on the hook then sat back and waited some 30 seconds before the rod tip pulled round with carp no1 on! A 3lb mirror was the culprit. During the first hour i had managed 8 carp and was happy with that as i could see no one around by me with more than that. Hour 2 went around the same sort of pace but i was waiting longer for bites during the last 30 mins of the second hour, most of my fish coming to maggs with odd ones on 6mm white pellets. I had been firing odd 8mm pellets some 25m out so decided to have a go on the pellet wagg and give the method a rest, after around 45 mins on the wagg i had 5 f1's to show for my efforts a lot smaller than the common's & mirror's i had been catching on the method. I had another 30 mins on the method for 3 fish then decided to have a quick look on the pole line for a bit to see if the f1's were there in numbers if not i would spend the rest of the match on the method, the guy to my left was catching well on the method casting 3/4 of the way over and firing 6mm pellets over the top. It took some 10 mins to get a bite on the pole just as i was about to give up i had a 2lb f1, i wasted another 10 mins on the pole before i gave up. With just over an hour to go it was time to sit on the method as the fish on the pellet wagg were to small plus i think i would have caught a few more if i had fished 6mm instead of 8's. The guy to my left was having a fish a chuck now a lot faster than me some times 2-3 fish to my 1, Jim to my right was having odd fish mainly on the baggin wagg or pellet wagg. The were a couple a guy's in the teens catching as well on the tappy pole method. If you haven't guessed yet most method go at Manor Farm with next to no bans, tapping pole, floating pole, bagging wagg floating baits? This is part of the attraction of the place for most, you can use your own pellets and drive all around the pool parking virtually behind your peg? If you don't agree with any of these methods then don't come, i personally don't like people firing floating baits around the pool but as long as you can put up with that the fishing is good. I had a few for fish on the method before the all out with the guy's son in the next peg reckoning he had 38 fish, i hadn't counted mine but new i had less than 30 just some better fish off the island a couple of 6lb+ fish. I fished a match on here last year and counted the fish into one net to see what they weighed most of these were f1's and they average 2lb, that what the guy's son said in the next peg doubling his fish then adding a bit for the odd 3lb'er meaning he had 80lb+. Being on peg 6 the scales are on to you quickly peg 4 had 53lb, Jim on 5 had 57lb, then me with 85lb 8oz, peg 7 pulled his nets out the first one 40lb odd then as he pulled his second net out i looked at Dave the gaffer and he said it was close, 85lb 4oz Phew that was close and with lower weights on the next 2 pegs meant that i had won my section by 4oz? Stav came around saying he had won his section with 80lb but there were 2 100lb+ weights in the teens, Dave only pays the top 2 on the opens but puts more money on the sections with only 5-6 pegs in a section ( another attraction of the place! a lot of people say they prefer to split it up that way, Steve winning his section up the top corner of the pool with 26lb?).
Match Results - Sunday 22nd August - Island Pool
1ST CHRIS TELLING 109-8-0
VESPE.com Peg 13
2ND JOHN ALDRIDGE 106-8-0
Banbury Gunsmiths Peg 16
3RD TOM HOBBS 98-0-0
Maver Farnborough Peg 14
32 fished. Carp and tench caught on pole, pellet and waggler.
As you can see all the weights came off the same bank in the teens i ended up 5th overall but i had learn't a few thing off the guy in the next peg, i think for what i had on the wagg & pole i should have stuck to the method. But you can always fish better after the event i was not to despondent as i had won my section on a venue i might visit 2-3 times a year.
Thursday 26 August 2010
Sunday 22 August 2010
Willow Marsh Sunday 15/8/10 pm
Back to Willow Marsh again this week for another afternoon match this time with Halesowen a.c which contains most of the same set of lads but with another couple of nutters for good measure and one foreigner Geordie Pet! Me & Stav went for the same routine of calvery + beer before the 1.30pm draw, when we got there they had done the draw for the pairs which is just a bit of fun for the day as well as a normal match. I was pleased to have drawn Martin Yardsley as he can catch a few all we needed now was a good draw, there were 3 more anglers than the week before so with 23 turning out we were all hoping to miss the dreaded dam wall. I pulled out peg 2 ( Stav's peg from last week) & Martin got peg 41 where Ritchie had 101lb from the week before, we were no more than 20m away from each other either side of the shallow bay. It looked like Stav's luck had deserted him drawing smack in the middle of the dam wall in the mid 20's, only time would tell if it was going to be the same as last week. After talking to the regulars a few fish were being caught on the pellet feeder early on as for some reason the fish don't seem to be caught shallow and after spending time on the pellet wagg last week for 1 fish i had set this up for this week. Great! after walking around to my peg waiting for the club anglers that were still packing up on the day match before we could start setting up, i realized that i was not going to be able to fish the feeder as i was stuck in the bay. If i had threw the feeder 30m out in-front of me i would have taken out 2-3 blokes out, the other thing i had not got was the long edge Stav had caught from the week before as due to the 3 extra blokes they had put in peg 43 which is next to peg 1 so cutting my edge in half! So within minutes i had no feeder line & no end peg advantage so i going to have to come up with another plan of attack quickly before the start. I decided to set up a shallow rig for the long pole and the same 4m line rig as i had used the week before the only difference i had made was to change the elastic, out with the red hydro and in went 2 preston 17h laccy's my margin rig was a preston durra 10 4 x 10. I had a nightmare with lost fish last week and while i didn't think that the red hydro was all to blame i certainly felt it was to strong in the shallow water, the 17h is still strong enough to play the fish out quickly but a lot softer than the red hydro? I had also decided to give the self-cocking paste floats another go so the jury was still out on these.
Bait for the day was 2 bags of fishery 4mm pellets ( 3 pints), 6 tins of corn, around 2 pints of paste made from 2mm pellets & some 8mm cubes of bait tech's polony meat. I was going to fish meat over corn down the edge so keeping my pellet supply for the paste & shallow lines.
At the all in i cupped a pot full of pellets on my 4m line & started throwing corn down my edge which was only on my top kit as the empty peg 1 to my right is cut back a bit and there is a mound of grass to fish to. I started on my shallow rig at 14.5m firing just 4-5 4mm pellets every 30 seconds lifting & dropping the rig, my rig was a drennan carp 4 0.3gr to 0.16 line and a 16 pr27 hook with a lasso for a 6mm hard pellet. Bob in the next peg hooked the first fish of the day after just 30 seconds a fight which lasted around 5 seconds as the fish ripped across the shallow bay taking his rig & 20 elastic with it ( he said he only had put the elastic in last year?). At around the same time Ritchie on peg4 had threw the feeder out apparently across Barry in peg 11 and a few swear words were exchanged between them, all this coupled with Bob's first Willow March carp encounter soon had all of the pool laughing and there was less than a minute of the match gone! After around 10 mins of pinging pellets out shallow & lifting/dropping the rig i hooked my first carp of the day, my 15h elastic soon had the carp in the net a 4lb'er. Martin foul hooked & lost his first carp shallow but most of the field was fish-less, after the first hour i had got 3 carp martin had got one & i was happy to be catching as most of the guy's hadn't caught anything. When i had my 4th fish only 10 mins into the second hour i was well happy to be catching a few as i thought if i could keep this up until the last 2 hours when the fish come in close like last week i would have a head start on all the others,(wrong). 2 hours gone i was still on 4 fish they were still there but wouldn't feed, all the fish i had so far were on my shallow rig with 6ft of line above the float so as to keep the pole off there heads. I tried a shorter line and spinning the rig with next to no feed but all this seemed to do was to get you a foul hooker as Martin was doing i lost 3 on the bounce, i came in on both pole lines but no fish & more worrying was that there were very little signs of life at all. It looked like the pool was fishing very hard as not a lot was being caught at all just the odd fish here and there, Geordie pet on peg 35 had played follow the leader by coming shallow on the long pole but i could see him spinning the rig and he too was loosing the odd fish. So back onto the long pole with the long line rig but despite changing depth i couldn't get another fish and now there were less sign's of fish moving so it was time to concentrate on my short pole lines, at last i started to get odd bites on the paste rig with 2 hours of the match to go i managed to hook 3 fish & land 2 of them 1 around 8-9lb. As far as i could see there was only me and Martin catching any fish with Ollie & Kev next to him having 2-3 fish each. Just as i was trying my margin line again an old friend & ex-club member came and sat on the grass behind me Matt Maginnis, as he asked how it was fishing my float buried and my one and only bite from the edge was on a nice 8-9lb fish. Matt was telling me how he had just been on a practice match at Evesham for the forth coming bank holiday weekend and how hard it was fishing even with worm & joker in, he had managed to weigh around 2lb of eye's with a couple of odd barbel the best he had heard of ( god do i miss the river like a hole in the head). I managed to land 2 more fish in the last hour on the paste and losing 2 more the last one 10 mins from the end breaking me on 0.20 line? Martin had caught well in the last hour down his edge saying he had got 10 fish at the all out, i had got 9 fish so it looked like he had done me in the last hour but a least we had caught a few most of the pool had fished very hard no where near as good as last week. We stared the weigh in on the dam wall, Dave last weeks ton virgin had 2 fish, Stav had 3 fish for 19lb winning the dam section? JB on the first peg off the dam wall had the first decent bag with 41lb, Stu managed a few beating Geordie off the next peg for the section 37lb to 35lb ( must try harder mate), the next decent weight was Ollie with 47lb then Martin with 71lb, i was next up with 60lb & that was about it next weight in my section was 22lb, Bash on peg 11 had 2 fish for 18lb & Jeff on flier peg 12 had 1 1/2lb of perch not hooking a carp all afternoon? The pool had totally switched off compared to last week but i was pleased to have drawn where most of the fish had come from ending up 2nd, yes i think me & Martin had won the pairs "just" with 131lb to Ollie & JB's 88lb from Stu & Geordie on 72lb. Well done to Martin for winning this one we showed "em the way mate!
Bait for the day was 2 bags of fishery 4mm pellets ( 3 pints), 6 tins of corn, around 2 pints of paste made from 2mm pellets & some 8mm cubes of bait tech's polony meat. I was going to fish meat over corn down the edge so keeping my pellet supply for the paste & shallow lines.
At the all in i cupped a pot full of pellets on my 4m line & started throwing corn down my edge which was only on my top kit as the empty peg 1 to my right is cut back a bit and there is a mound of grass to fish to. I started on my shallow rig at 14.5m firing just 4-5 4mm pellets every 30 seconds lifting & dropping the rig, my rig was a drennan carp 4 0.3gr to 0.16 line and a 16 pr27 hook with a lasso for a 6mm hard pellet. Bob in the next peg hooked the first fish of the day after just 30 seconds a fight which lasted around 5 seconds as the fish ripped across the shallow bay taking his rig & 20 elastic with it ( he said he only had put the elastic in last year?). At around the same time Ritchie on peg4 had threw the feeder out apparently across Barry in peg 11 and a few swear words were exchanged between them, all this coupled with Bob's first Willow March carp encounter soon had all of the pool laughing and there was less than a minute of the match gone! After around 10 mins of pinging pellets out shallow & lifting/dropping the rig i hooked my first carp of the day, my 15h elastic soon had the carp in the net a 4lb'er. Martin foul hooked & lost his first carp shallow but most of the field was fish-less, after the first hour i had got 3 carp martin had got one & i was happy to be catching as most of the guy's hadn't caught anything. When i had my 4th fish only 10 mins into the second hour i was well happy to be catching a few as i thought if i could keep this up until the last 2 hours when the fish come in close like last week i would have a head start on all the others,(wrong). 2 hours gone i was still on 4 fish they were still there but wouldn't feed, all the fish i had so far were on my shallow rig with 6ft of line above the float so as to keep the pole off there heads. I tried a shorter line and spinning the rig with next to no feed but all this seemed to do was to get you a foul hooker as Martin was doing i lost 3 on the bounce, i came in on both pole lines but no fish & more worrying was that there were very little signs of life at all. It looked like the pool was fishing very hard as not a lot was being caught at all just the odd fish here and there, Geordie pet on peg 35 had played follow the leader by coming shallow on the long pole but i could see him spinning the rig and he too was loosing the odd fish. So back onto the long pole with the long line rig but despite changing depth i couldn't get another fish and now there were less sign's of fish moving so it was time to concentrate on my short pole lines, at last i started to get odd bites on the paste rig with 2 hours of the match to go i managed to hook 3 fish & land 2 of them 1 around 8-9lb. As far as i could see there was only me and Martin catching any fish with Ollie & Kev next to him having 2-3 fish each. Just as i was trying my margin line again an old friend & ex-club member came and sat on the grass behind me Matt Maginnis, as he asked how it was fishing my float buried and my one and only bite from the edge was on a nice 8-9lb fish. Matt was telling me how he had just been on a practice match at Evesham for the forth coming bank holiday weekend and how hard it was fishing even with worm & joker in, he had managed to weigh around 2lb of eye's with a couple of odd barbel the best he had heard of ( god do i miss the river like a hole in the head). I managed to land 2 more fish in the last hour on the paste and losing 2 more the last one 10 mins from the end breaking me on 0.20 line? Martin had caught well in the last hour down his edge saying he had got 10 fish at the all out, i had got 9 fish so it looked like he had done me in the last hour but a least we had caught a few most of the pool had fished very hard no where near as good as last week. We stared the weigh in on the dam wall, Dave last weeks ton virgin had 2 fish, Stav had 3 fish for 19lb winning the dam section? JB on the first peg off the dam wall had the first decent bag with 41lb, Stu managed a few beating Geordie off the next peg for the section 37lb to 35lb ( must try harder mate), the next decent weight was Ollie with 47lb then Martin with 71lb, i was next up with 60lb & that was about it next weight in my section was 22lb, Bash on peg 11 had 2 fish for 18lb & Jeff on flier peg 12 had 1 1/2lb of perch not hooking a carp all afternoon? The pool had totally switched off compared to last week but i was pleased to have drawn where most of the fish had come from ending up 2nd, yes i think me & Martin had won the pairs "just" with 131lb to Ollie & JB's 88lb from Stu & Geordie on 72lb. Well done to Martin for winning this one we showed "em the way mate!
Thursday 19 August 2010
Willow Marsh Sunday 8/8/10 pm
Hi folks, this weekends match saw me and Satv back out with our Cradley lads for an afternoon match at Willow Marsh on the Dragonfly pool, the draw was set at 1.30pm fishing 3-8pm. I have only fished this place about 2-3 times before one of which was Halesowen club match on here last year which i managed to come 3rd with 97lb on corn & paste, since then the pellet ban that was in place then had been lifted so i asked a few of the lads who fish the opens on here how best to attack it. The main attack still seemed to center around fishing the paste short & down the margins but you have to find some way of catching a few early before the carp started to feed avidly, they don't normally start to feed until 5.30-6pm then it's bag- up time as they have some very big weights from here and the carp run big with lots of 10lb+ & some 20lb+!. Now paste fishing & me don't normally get on, i have caught fish on it over the years but after fishing a lot of venue's where it is not allowed has made it not a normal plan of attack for me. The other plan of attack i was told is to feed heavily with corn and fish either meat or macaroni over the top, both these baits are allowed but on the hook only.
As this was a late match me & stav had decided to go for a pint & a carvery instead of the normal fry up before the draw, after we came out of the pub both me & stav felt bloated as we had eaten to much dinner & felt like going to kip on the grass instead of fishing. At the draw both of us were still puffing a bit with big belly's and most of the talk was which lucky sod was going to draw the flier which is peg 12, the pool has 43 pegs on it and has a point( peg 12) which is almost a horse shoe shape. There were 20 blokes booked in for the match which sounds good on a pool with 43 pegs but because of the shape of the pool there are 5 corners which you need to leave out so it cuts the pegs down a bit + peg 42 in the shallow bay doesn't exist? the pegs go 40, 41, 43 then 1, 2 and so on? The friday afternoon match had been won with 97lb the lowest winning weight of the summer so far ( the cradley curse strikes again), normally there are a few 100lb+ weights with young James winning a match here a few weeks ago with just short of 200lb. The open boys said the the best place all summer had been along the dam wall in the mid 20's until Friday when there were next to no fish caught off it and a draw in the 30's better, i was pleased with my draw peg 36 opposite peg 12 & Stav had a good draw in the shallow bay on peg 2 with 3 spare pegs to his right!
I set up two pole rigs both for paste fishing, one for 3m out in-front and the other for my right hand margin. Rig 1, set 2 1/2 deep at 3m a preston self cocking pb paste 1, o.20 silstar to a size 10 pr27 hook. Rig 2, a j-range margin cocker with the same line & hook as the other rig set just over 12" deep, both rigs were hooked up to red hydro. I had also set up a pellet waggler rod to try and catch an odd fish or two before the paste line kicked in, my wagg set up was a 3ssg stryo wagg, 5lb maxima line to a 12" hook-length of 0.20 to a 12 pr27, 12ft Daiwa tourney rod and Shimano 2500 super GTM reel.
On the bait front i had made my own paste from soaked 2mm pellets, 2 bags of 4mm & 1 bag 8mm fishery pellets and 6 tins of corn ( i had done some 8mm pellets for the hook but left them in the fridge at home? plank!) & some 8mm cubes of red meat.
On the whistle i fed both pole lines with pellets & corn then started on the pellet wagg at around 30m, by feeding 3-4 pellets 3 times a cast and re-casting every minute or less it took my around 20 mins before i had my first fish a 5lb fish. Despite working hard for the first hour i couldn't get another fish changing depths & altering the feed pattern, meanwhile Satv & Ritchie up in the shallow bay seemed to be the only people catching with around 3-4 fish each. The whole pool seemed to be living up to what we had been told by fishing very hard early doors with only odd fish being hooked, trying both pole lines & back on the pellet wagg i only managed to land 1 more carp on the 3m line on paste a 8lb fish. There were a few people foul-hooking fish especially The Boson in the next peg he managed to break 2 pole sections while playing the 1 fish don't ask me how he managed to do it i don't think he new either, this was all of course met with the usual howls of laughter mainly from Ollie the other side of him, i did offer him a sticky plaster and told him that we sold a full range of new poles in the shop. Before i knew it we were 3 hours into the match then as we were instructed the fish turned up and boy did they turn up, i stared to get bites every drop in on the 3m line. The fish started to boil when i fed a few pellets or corn hooking some but missing more bites than i was hooking and pulling out of more than i liked, i couldn't catch down the margin despite fish boiling down there from time to time. It looked like i wasn't the only one loosing fish as all around the pool you could see guy's loosing as many fish as they were getting out, Stav, Ritchie and now Dave Wood next to Ritchie were all catching well as well as Mark on the point peg who was now having a few fish on the feeder by throwing at the aerator ( yes the same aerator i could have thrown to if i had bother to get the feeder rod out of my bag?). In the last 2 hours i had managed to extract a total of 13 fish but loosing as many in the proses if not more, i had been pulling my hair out at one point loosing 6 fish on the bounce? All sorts of reasons were going through my head as to why i had lost so many fish, was the float right with no shot on the line?, was the hook to big or the elastic to strong? but at the same time everybody who had caught had lost a lot of fish but this is a pet hate of mine i don't like loosing that many fish. The 3 guys up in the bay were all admitting to around the same amount of fish 12-13 but as usual some of them lie, the dam wall had fished very hard with Barry winning the section on there with 20lb odd? Stav put a good 109lb on the scales and was far the best weight until we got to Mark on peg 12 who put 121lb of fish on the scales of mainly feeder caught carp, as i have said the weights were then bad along the dam until we got on to or bank in the 30's Ollie having 50lb odd, Boson having 2 fish & losing 13! my fish went 100lb 12oz and Shaun to my left 50lb odd. Dave on peg 39 had caught well the last 2 hours down the edge and just missed out on beating Stav with his first ever ton with 108lb ( not bad for a canal angler), Ritchie on corner peg 40 put 101lb on the scales beating me by 1lb and knocking me out of the frame! Shit i was 9lb off Stav and second, weighed 100lb only winning the section loosing around 15 fish more than i had got in? ( shit happens, could be worse, could have drawn the dam wall???). Well done to Mark for winning the match, all the lost fish were re-lived for a short time in the Dog at Harvington over a pint or two of Stella & a bag of scratchings. Hope we can sort it out for next week as were have got the same venue same time next week.
As this was a late match me & stav had decided to go for a pint & a carvery instead of the normal fry up before the draw, after we came out of the pub both me & stav felt bloated as we had eaten to much dinner & felt like going to kip on the grass instead of fishing. At the draw both of us were still puffing a bit with big belly's and most of the talk was which lucky sod was going to draw the flier which is peg 12, the pool has 43 pegs on it and has a point( peg 12) which is almost a horse shoe shape. There were 20 blokes booked in for the match which sounds good on a pool with 43 pegs but because of the shape of the pool there are 5 corners which you need to leave out so it cuts the pegs down a bit + peg 42 in the shallow bay doesn't exist? the pegs go 40, 41, 43 then 1, 2 and so on? The friday afternoon match had been won with 97lb the lowest winning weight of the summer so far ( the cradley curse strikes again), normally there are a few 100lb+ weights with young James winning a match here a few weeks ago with just short of 200lb. The open boys said the the best place all summer had been along the dam wall in the mid 20's until Friday when there were next to no fish caught off it and a draw in the 30's better, i was pleased with my draw peg 36 opposite peg 12 & Stav had a good draw in the shallow bay on peg 2 with 3 spare pegs to his right!
I set up two pole rigs both for paste fishing, one for 3m out in-front and the other for my right hand margin. Rig 1, set 2 1/2 deep at 3m a preston self cocking pb paste 1, o.20 silstar to a size 10 pr27 hook. Rig 2, a j-range margin cocker with the same line & hook as the other rig set just over 12" deep, both rigs were hooked up to red hydro. I had also set up a pellet waggler rod to try and catch an odd fish or two before the paste line kicked in, my wagg set up was a 3ssg stryo wagg, 5lb maxima line to a 12" hook-length of 0.20 to a 12 pr27, 12ft Daiwa tourney rod and Shimano 2500 super GTM reel.
On the bait front i had made my own paste from soaked 2mm pellets, 2 bags of 4mm & 1 bag 8mm fishery pellets and 6 tins of corn ( i had done some 8mm pellets for the hook but left them in the fridge at home? plank!) & some 8mm cubes of red meat.
On the whistle i fed both pole lines with pellets & corn then started on the pellet wagg at around 30m, by feeding 3-4 pellets 3 times a cast and re-casting every minute or less it took my around 20 mins before i had my first fish a 5lb fish. Despite working hard for the first hour i couldn't get another fish changing depths & altering the feed pattern, meanwhile Satv & Ritchie up in the shallow bay seemed to be the only people catching with around 3-4 fish each. The whole pool seemed to be living up to what we had been told by fishing very hard early doors with only odd fish being hooked, trying both pole lines & back on the pellet wagg i only managed to land 1 more carp on the 3m line on paste a 8lb fish. There were a few people foul-hooking fish especially The Boson in the next peg he managed to break 2 pole sections while playing the 1 fish don't ask me how he managed to do it i don't think he new either, this was all of course met with the usual howls of laughter mainly from Ollie the other side of him, i did offer him a sticky plaster and told him that we sold a full range of new poles in the shop. Before i knew it we were 3 hours into the match then as we were instructed the fish turned up and boy did they turn up, i stared to get bites every drop in on the 3m line. The fish started to boil when i fed a few pellets or corn hooking some but missing more bites than i was hooking and pulling out of more than i liked, i couldn't catch down the margin despite fish boiling down there from time to time. It looked like i wasn't the only one loosing fish as all around the pool you could see guy's loosing as many fish as they were getting out, Stav, Ritchie and now Dave Wood next to Ritchie were all catching well as well as Mark on the point peg who was now having a few fish on the feeder by throwing at the aerator ( yes the same aerator i could have thrown to if i had bother to get the feeder rod out of my bag?). In the last 2 hours i had managed to extract a total of 13 fish but loosing as many in the proses if not more, i had been pulling my hair out at one point loosing 6 fish on the bounce? All sorts of reasons were going through my head as to why i had lost so many fish, was the float right with no shot on the line?, was the hook to big or the elastic to strong? but at the same time everybody who had caught had lost a lot of fish but this is a pet hate of mine i don't like loosing that many fish. The 3 guys up in the bay were all admitting to around the same amount of fish 12-13 but as usual some of them lie, the dam wall had fished very hard with Barry winning the section on there with 20lb odd? Stav put a good 109lb on the scales and was far the best weight until we got to Mark on peg 12 who put 121lb of fish on the scales of mainly feeder caught carp, as i have said the weights were then bad along the dam until we got on to or bank in the 30's Ollie having 50lb odd, Boson having 2 fish & losing 13! my fish went 100lb 12oz and Shaun to my left 50lb odd. Dave on peg 39 had caught well the last 2 hours down the edge and just missed out on beating Stav with his first ever ton with 108lb ( not bad for a canal angler), Ritchie on corner peg 40 put 101lb on the scales beating me by 1lb and knocking me out of the frame! Shit i was 9lb off Stav and second, weighed 100lb only winning the section loosing around 15 fish more than i had got in? ( shit happens, could be worse, could have drawn the dam wall???). Well done to Mark for winning the match, all the lost fish were re-lived for a short time in the Dog at Harvington over a pint or two of Stella & a bag of scratchings. Hope we can sort it out for next week as were have got the same venue same time next week.
Monday 9 August 2010
Earlswood Engine Pool 1/8/10
Hi Folks, today's match was a Cradley Heath club match on the council bank of the engine pool, we had got from pegs 50-80 but with only 15 booked in we had a bit of room to go at. The question most of us was wondering was that if everybody would turn up after some of us had gone to Ollie's the night before for a BBQ & a few beer's??? Yes just the odd beer just to be sociable? To be honest we were more worried about dodgy guts after Stav had brought some meat on sticks, yes just meat! that we all found very funny when someone said they reminded them of dog shit? the colour was right too? Stavi's Shit Sticks? Although there are plenty of fish in Earlswood i was a little worried that there had been an open match on the pegs we were using the day before, a quick phone call to a mate of mine had reveled that it have fished well with weights of 220,189,171,170 and so on. I was a little concerned that the fish might have had a belly full the day before. For the benefit of those that have not been to Earlswood it's a BIG lake 25 acres with 105 pegs, the carp were stocked in around 2000 with over five tons of carp 8-10 oz each. They are now 8-12lb with the odd one to 20lb+, so you don't need many to build a big weight. At the draw i was hoping for one of the hot pegs around 75-80 on the point which are a few meters in-front of the rest or around peg 60 were there was 189lb the day before. Out of the draw bag i pulled peg 66! Great in the middle of no-mans-land, still i was confident of a few fish as the lake responds to a very well to an attacking approach something a few anglers fail to get on with when faced with a big expanse of water. I have had a few good weights from here in the past and one of BW's other water Boddington buy putting plenty of feed in, bait and tactics are simple the pole stay's at home on here unless you want a 17 section 13m pole, the water is shallow and the fish are big and only run one way when you hook them OUT!. The main line of attack is to fish the pellet wagg at around 30-35m with the lead set up to fish underneath it if the wagg fails or the wind is to strong, i bring around 8-10 pints of 10mm halibut pellets as you can fire these further than standard carp pellets. I also bring some stiff halibut paste to wrap around the pellet plus some different sizes and colours of bollies for the hook. Your gear needs to be strong as it will be tested to the max here so i set up 3 rods.
First is a Maver reactolite 12ft 2 piece, 6lb daiwa tdr line, 5ssg stryo foam wagg, size 12 pr27 hook to 0.20 silstar hook-length.
Next my old barbel rod a silstar traverse-x heavy feeder rod, 8lb maxima mainline, 1oz fox lead set up as a running rig, size 10 Maver mt5 hook to 0.22 silstar.
I also set up a splasher wagg on a Prseton carbon-active 13ft power float rod, 6lb maxima, 10 gr middy splash wagg, 12 pr27 to 0.22 line, this can pick up odd fish on windy days.
With me set up in no time as all my rods were all made up in my fox 4 rod gun sling it was time to walk the bank and take the mick. I decided to take a few pics of all the gang so you can put faces to the names, some of the lads were a bit reluctant to smile for the camera i think they were a bit worried in case they ended up in the wrong hands CRIME WATCH?
I had decided to start on the pellet wagg as there had been a few fish caught on it the day before
but after the first hour with out a bite it was time to try the lead. Stu on peg 68 had 1 carp on the method after fishing the wagg for 45 mins without a bite on the wagg, Mark on peg 69 had got 1 carp on the wagg first chuck and had added another on the feeder. To my left Ada was the same as me biteless and Stav on peg 63 had got one fish on wagg, i threw out the lead on the same line as the wagg with a 10mm hali pellet and paste wraped around it. But after around 45 mins on the lead all i had to show for my efforts was a 6oz skimmer and with no line bites on the deck it was obvious that there were no fish in the peg. Swapping back to the wagg and trying the splasher wagg i managed to get my first carp bite on the 2 hour mark a typical 8-9lb mirror carp falling to the splasher, but after another 30 mins without another sign it was time to switch back to the lead. By now we were half way through the match the word on the bank was that Steve & Martin on the point pegs were catching as expected so was Bash on peg 59, it looked like the fish were in small pockets in the same areas where they were the day before but not feeding as well. I was loosing the plot feeling that there were no fish in my peg yet 2 pegs away Mark & Stu had around 4-5 fish each, as Stu was getting bites only a spare peg away from me all i could do was hope that if i kept up the heavy feeding regime they might move into my peg.
For most of the match when fishing the wagg i tend to feed more often probably 4-5 pellets 2-3 times every cast, but when i fish the lead i really pile the bait in not putting the catty down feeding 6-8 pouch fulls every cast. When i have told some of the club members how much bait i have put in they seem to scoff saying that you don't need that much bait to catch? OK if you draw on a lot of fish then you don't have to get them there you just have to keep them there, Earlswood is a big expanse of water and as i have said the fish run big so if you think you will catch a lot of fish on 1 bag of pellets you are sadly mistaken. I won this corresponding match last year with 129lb using my first 1kg bag of pellets after only 45 mins not putting the catty down until they had gone in, i look at these waters as a big open fields and the carp as big grazing cows moving up and down the field eating so when they pass by me i want enough fodder down for them to stop and have a munch? I have seen it here and other places when someone a few pegs away has started catching, then the guy next to him then the next guy and so on as the fish move up or down the lake feeding.
I foul hooked a fish on the lead after around 2 3/4 hrs in that ripped the rod around tore about 30m of line off the reel but as i put the brakes on the hook pulled out GREAT, i was starting to think that it was going to be one of those days when on the 3hr mark i started to get something that i had not had all day LINERS. I cast out the lead again and within seconds the rod started to pull round then jump back, little nods and twitches on the tip signaling there was life in the peg at last. A few seconds later i was into carp number 2 about bloody time too all i was hoping was this was not a loner, no around 5 mins later and carp no3 was in the net. At long last the fish had turned up but after a 3hr wait for them to come i was thinking that it was too late for me as Mark and Stu were still catching odd fish Ada still had not got off the mark and Stav had around 4 fish. In the 4th hour i had managed to land 6 carp so i was now on 7 and was hoping that they carried on coming during the last hour as you only normally need only 10-11 fish to break the ton barrier. The last hour went the same as the one before landing another 6 fish all of them the bigger mirror carp, some of the carp in here are commons but were stocked a few years later and are much smaller ( a mate of mind once had 26 carp on a match here for only 120lb odd which is unheard of we thought he would have 230-250lb).
Both Mark & Stu were calming 12-13 fish, Ada next door managed 2 in the last half hour and the only other person i could see was Stav who ended up with 6. The word on the bank was that Martin on peg 78 had got 16-17 big fish, Steve on peg 75 was calming around a dozen fish, Bash on peg 59 had 13 so only the scales would tell as that put 5 of us on around the same amount of fish.
We started the weigh-in from the bottom end which was Martin on end peg 78 his fish going 159lb 8 oz which we all new then and there was too much for anyone else so we were all playing for 2nd place all ready! Steve on peg 76 was next to weigh putting 109lb 8oz on the scales. The next pegs from 75-70 failed to produce any fish Mark was up next on peg 69 with 104lb 2oz and Stu on peg 68 just missing the ton with 94lb 20z both he and Mark having some of the smaller common's. I was next my 13 fish went 122lb 12oz putting me into 2nd place so far with only Bash left to go with double figures of fish he too had a couple of stockies putting his weight to 112lb 10oz for 3rd. Stav's 6 fish went 57lb and JB on the end had 74lb, i had managed 2nd from nowhere in the last 2 hours and was helped by the fact all my fish were the bigger mirrors. You can see where all the big weights come from here if you could catch early 200-300lb weights are possible and done a few time per season, it is not always the same as i have fished match's here with only 3-4 fish to show for 5hrs as they say" if they ai'nt there yo car'nt cath 'em"? I was happy to have caught in the end but i was also left wondering what might have been if the fish had moved into my peg earlier?
First is a Maver reactolite 12ft 2 piece, 6lb daiwa tdr line, 5ssg stryo foam wagg, size 12 pr27 hook to 0.20 silstar hook-length.
Next my old barbel rod a silstar traverse-x heavy feeder rod, 8lb maxima mainline, 1oz fox lead set up as a running rig, size 10 Maver mt5 hook to 0.22 silstar.
I also set up a splasher wagg on a Prseton carbon-active 13ft power float rod, 6lb maxima, 10 gr middy splash wagg, 12 pr27 to 0.22 line, this can pick up odd fish on windy days.
With me set up in no time as all my rods were all made up in my fox 4 rod gun sling it was time to walk the bank and take the mick. I decided to take a few pics of all the gang so you can put faces to the names, some of the lads were a bit reluctant to smile for the camera i think they were a bit worried in case they ended up in the wrong hands CRIME WATCH?
I had decided to start on the pellet wagg as there had been a few fish caught on it the day before
but after the first hour with out a bite it was time to try the lead. Stu on peg 68 had 1 carp on the method after fishing the wagg for 45 mins without a bite on the wagg, Mark on peg 69 had got 1 carp on the wagg first chuck and had added another on the feeder. To my left Ada was the same as me biteless and Stav on peg 63 had got one fish on wagg, i threw out the lead on the same line as the wagg with a 10mm hali pellet and paste wraped around it. But after around 45 mins on the lead all i had to show for my efforts was a 6oz skimmer and with no line bites on the deck it was obvious that there were no fish in the peg. Swapping back to the wagg and trying the splasher wagg i managed to get my first carp bite on the 2 hour mark a typical 8-9lb mirror carp falling to the splasher, but after another 30 mins without another sign it was time to switch back to the lead. By now we were half way through the match the word on the bank was that Steve & Martin on the point pegs were catching as expected so was Bash on peg 59, it looked like the fish were in small pockets in the same areas where they were the day before but not feeding as well. I was loosing the plot feeling that there were no fish in my peg yet 2 pegs away Mark & Stu had around 4-5 fish each, as Stu was getting bites only a spare peg away from me all i could do was hope that if i kept up the heavy feeding regime they might move into my peg.
For most of the match when fishing the wagg i tend to feed more often probably 4-5 pellets 2-3 times every cast, but when i fish the lead i really pile the bait in not putting the catty down feeding 6-8 pouch fulls every cast. When i have told some of the club members how much bait i have put in they seem to scoff saying that you don't need that much bait to catch? OK if you draw on a lot of fish then you don't have to get them there you just have to keep them there, Earlswood is a big expanse of water and as i have said the fish run big so if you think you will catch a lot of fish on 1 bag of pellets you are sadly mistaken. I won this corresponding match last year with 129lb using my first 1kg bag of pellets after only 45 mins not putting the catty down until they had gone in, i look at these waters as a big open fields and the carp as big grazing cows moving up and down the field eating so when they pass by me i want enough fodder down for them to stop and have a munch? I have seen it here and other places when someone a few pegs away has started catching, then the guy next to him then the next guy and so on as the fish move up or down the lake feeding.
I foul hooked a fish on the lead after around 2 3/4 hrs in that ripped the rod around tore about 30m of line off the reel but as i put the brakes on the hook pulled out GREAT, i was starting to think that it was going to be one of those days when on the 3hr mark i started to get something that i had not had all day LINERS. I cast out the lead again and within seconds the rod started to pull round then jump back, little nods and twitches on the tip signaling there was life in the peg at last. A few seconds later i was into carp number 2 about bloody time too all i was hoping was this was not a loner, no around 5 mins later and carp no3 was in the net. At long last the fish had turned up but after a 3hr wait for them to come i was thinking that it was too late for me as Mark and Stu were still catching odd fish Ada still had not got off the mark and Stav had around 4 fish. In the 4th hour i had managed to land 6 carp so i was now on 7 and was hoping that they carried on coming during the last hour as you only normally need only 10-11 fish to break the ton barrier. The last hour went the same as the one before landing another 6 fish all of them the bigger mirror carp, some of the carp in here are commons but were stocked a few years later and are much smaller ( a mate of mind once had 26 carp on a match here for only 120lb odd which is unheard of we thought he would have 230-250lb).
Both Mark & Stu were calming 12-13 fish, Ada next door managed 2 in the last half hour and the only other person i could see was Stav who ended up with 6. The word on the bank was that Martin on peg 78 had got 16-17 big fish, Steve on peg 75 was calming around a dozen fish, Bash on peg 59 had 13 so only the scales would tell as that put 5 of us on around the same amount of fish.
We started the weigh-in from the bottom end which was Martin on end peg 78 his fish going 159lb 8 oz which we all new then and there was too much for anyone else so we were all playing for 2nd place all ready! Steve on peg 76 was next to weigh putting 109lb 8oz on the scales. The next pegs from 75-70 failed to produce any fish Mark was up next on peg 69 with 104lb 2oz and Stu on peg 68 just missing the ton with 94lb 20z both he and Mark having some of the smaller common's. I was next my 13 fish went 122lb 12oz putting me into 2nd place so far with only Bash left to go with double figures of fish he too had a couple of stockies putting his weight to 112lb 10oz for 3rd. Stav's 6 fish went 57lb and JB on the end had 74lb, i had managed 2nd from nowhere in the last 2 hours and was helped by the fact all my fish were the bigger mirrors. You can see where all the big weights come from here if you could catch early 200-300lb weights are possible and done a few time per season, it is not always the same as i have fished match's here with only 3-4 fish to show for 5hrs as they say" if they ai'nt there yo car'nt cath 'em"? I was happy to have caught in the end but i was also left wondering what might have been if the fish had moved into my peg earlier?
Monday 2 August 2010
Greenhill Farm Open ( Jim's Pool ) 27/7/10
Hi folks, Today's match is on the new pool at Jim's and only about the third time i have fished this pool over the years, they have some big weights from time to time here so i was looking forward to a good day's fishing. The match was being run by a mate of mine Jim Greenaway who i used to fish with at Woodlands View on a Tuesday which is normally my day off from work but this week i had the whole week off! yep he! There was one or two more old faces that i new so i didn't feel like a total stranger like Macca Cox, Ernie Tilley and my mate Dave ( Crack-off the legend ). There a few strange rules at Jim's like, no pole cups or leadgering from April to October, no hair rigs, no swim-feeders at all? On the bait front there is no pellets, meat only on the hook, casters, maggots, corn & worms. The main attack seems to be feeding heavily with corn and fishing meat over the top or feeding loads of maggots.
I drew out peg 8 which put me on the opposite side to the car park about 4 pegs down from the top corner ( we used our own pegs i think it was permanent peg 29 ) peg 7 was Mr. meat cutter himself Ernie Tilley and on peg 9 was Dave Crack-off the Legend so at least we could have the crack if nothing else. Now my mate Dave has not been fishing long and is always willing to learn but seems to always be stuck up a tree, losing fish or generally breaking things. In the short space of time he has been fishing he has become something of a local legend has Dave and already has a full collection of DVD's for sale with some top title's such as HOW TO PULL THE ISLAND CLOSER, HOW NOT TO ELASTICATE YOUR POLE and during filming today the release of his next dvd HOW TO GET DONE UNDER THE PALLET. LEGEND!
Right back to the fishing if i can stop laughing.
I set up 4 rigs for today.
RIG 1, 4 x10 preston durra 10, 0.16 line to a size 3 turbetini 175.
RIG 2, same float but 0.18 line to a size 4 175.
RIG 3, 4 x 12 maver jona, 0.18 line to a size 4 175 set around 3 1/2ft deep at 6m ( this is the shallow end of the pool)
RIG 4, 4 x 12 maver Jurassic dibber 0.16 line to a 3 175 for shallow work.
On the bait front i had about 8 tins of corn, 4 pints casters and some meat cut into 8mm cubes for the hook some plain some dyed red.
I planed to feed casters and corn down both edges at around 3m but feed just corn on the 6m line and on the whistle i did just that. After around 10 mins the float shot under with cube of red meat on, the fish felt quite good but didn't pull much black hydro out and within 20 seconds a 6lb common was in the net Bingo! On close inspection i soon found out why the fish had put up next to no fight, it had got no tail fins a bit ugly to look at but i wished the all fought like that! While fishing at 6m and feeding the margins around 30 mins in i had seen a few silvers intercepting the casters down my left-hand edge, then i started to see odd carp swimming in the shallow 1 ft deep swim. There was the odd fish being caught down the bottom end of the pool in the deeper water down by the car park but not a lot up our end, after ringing the changes with baits and depths on the 6m line i failed to get another bite so after only 45 mins it was time to have a look down the edge. I could see odd carp swimming about in the area of my hook bait but couldn't get one to take it, when i feed casters the rudd were first to them so i put some on the hook. After around 10 silvers roach, rudd and perch i decided that these were not worth fishing for as normally need 100lb+ to win a match on here. With the first hour gone i was still stuck on 1 carp and after another 30 mins at 6m i was going no where fast, Ernie had got 3 carp and Dave 2 so we were all struggling for bites the guy's opposite Alan & Charlie were in the same boat. Things didn't really improve until around 2 1/2 hours into the match when i started to notice odd carp coming down my left hand edge, i managed to hook odd carp down there but they seemed to spook very easily when one was hooked. With around a hour of the match left i had my best period of the day with four fish i four puts-ins but no soon as i started to think i was going to sack up then the fish disappeared again. What i was noticing was that when i fed casters the silver fish were on it like a flash then the carp moved in underneath, when i stopped feeding casters and fed just corn the carp were very reluctant to come into the shallow water it was like the carp were waiting to see if the coast was clear before they felt that it was safe to feed! I had odd fish from the margin until the whistle went but i knew that we were miles off the pace of the match as the guys in the deeper pegs had caught well. When the scales arrived the bottom corner peg had weighed 119lb but the rest of the bank had struggled to my surprise, Ernie to my right had 46lb and i was shocked when my fish went 67lb 12oz. Crack off to my left had 38lb but had lost a few and the guy in the top corner peg on our bank had 54lb putting me second on our bank! On the opposite side the fared a little better with three 70 + lb, the weights were getting better as we got down the bottom end Macca Cox the first to break the ton barrier with 136lb. Macca was saying that Jim on the next had got more and he was right as Jim put a great 154lb on the scales, now i was starting to sweat as Jim had told me that he was paying top 3 and 2 sections so with me second on my bank the guy with 119lb was lying 3rd with 1 left to weigh in the bottom corner. As he pulled his nets out it was going to be close very close, luckily he fell just short with 112lb and winning the section on his bank leaving me with the far bank section. I was well pleased to have got something out of the day as i thought we were well out of it due to the reputation of the fishery, so all's well that ends well so to speak.
I drew out peg 8 which put me on the opposite side to the car park about 4 pegs down from the top corner ( we used our own pegs i think it was permanent peg 29 ) peg 7 was Mr. meat cutter himself Ernie Tilley and on peg 9 was Dave Crack-off the Legend so at least we could have the crack if nothing else. Now my mate Dave has not been fishing long and is always willing to learn but seems to always be stuck up a tree, losing fish or generally breaking things. In the short space of time he has been fishing he has become something of a local legend has Dave and already has a full collection of DVD's for sale with some top title's such as HOW TO PULL THE ISLAND CLOSER, HOW NOT TO ELASTICATE YOUR POLE and during filming today the release of his next dvd HOW TO GET DONE UNDER THE PALLET. LEGEND!
Right back to the fishing if i can stop laughing.
I set up 4 rigs for today.
RIG 1, 4 x10 preston durra 10, 0.16 line to a size 3 turbetini 175.
RIG 2, same float but 0.18 line to a size 4 175.
RIG 3, 4 x 12 maver jona, 0.18 line to a size 4 175 set around 3 1/2ft deep at 6m ( this is the shallow end of the pool)
RIG 4, 4 x 12 maver Jurassic dibber 0.16 line to a 3 175 for shallow work.
On the bait front i had about 8 tins of corn, 4 pints casters and some meat cut into 8mm cubes for the hook some plain some dyed red.
I planed to feed casters and corn down both edges at around 3m but feed just corn on the 6m line and on the whistle i did just that. After around 10 mins the float shot under with cube of red meat on, the fish felt quite good but didn't pull much black hydro out and within 20 seconds a 6lb common was in the net Bingo! On close inspection i soon found out why the fish had put up next to no fight, it had got no tail fins a bit ugly to look at but i wished the all fought like that! While fishing at 6m and feeding the margins around 30 mins in i had seen a few silvers intercepting the casters down my left-hand edge, then i started to see odd carp swimming in the shallow 1 ft deep swim. There was the odd fish being caught down the bottom end of the pool in the deeper water down by the car park but not a lot up our end, after ringing the changes with baits and depths on the 6m line i failed to get another bite so after only 45 mins it was time to have a look down the edge. I could see odd carp swimming about in the area of my hook bait but couldn't get one to take it, when i feed casters the rudd were first to them so i put some on the hook. After around 10 silvers roach, rudd and perch i decided that these were not worth fishing for as normally need 100lb+ to win a match on here. With the first hour gone i was still stuck on 1 carp and after another 30 mins at 6m i was going no where fast, Ernie had got 3 carp and Dave 2 so we were all struggling for bites the guy's opposite Alan & Charlie were in the same boat. Things didn't really improve until around 2 1/2 hours into the match when i started to notice odd carp coming down my left hand edge, i managed to hook odd carp down there but they seemed to spook very easily when one was hooked. With around a hour of the match left i had my best period of the day with four fish i four puts-ins but no soon as i started to think i was going to sack up then the fish disappeared again. What i was noticing was that when i fed casters the silver fish were on it like a flash then the carp moved in underneath, when i stopped feeding casters and fed just corn the carp were very reluctant to come into the shallow water it was like the carp were waiting to see if the coast was clear before they felt that it was safe to feed! I had odd fish from the margin until the whistle went but i knew that we were miles off the pace of the match as the guys in the deeper pegs had caught well. When the scales arrived the bottom corner peg had weighed 119lb but the rest of the bank had struggled to my surprise, Ernie to my right had 46lb and i was shocked when my fish went 67lb 12oz. Crack off to my left had 38lb but had lost a few and the guy in the top corner peg on our bank had 54lb putting me second on our bank! On the opposite side the fared a little better with three 70 + lb, the weights were getting better as we got down the bottom end Macca Cox the first to break the ton barrier with 136lb. Macca was saying that Jim on the next had got more and he was right as Jim put a great 154lb on the scales, now i was starting to sweat as Jim had told me that he was paying top 3 and 2 sections so with me second on my bank the guy with 119lb was lying 3rd with 1 left to weigh in the bottom corner. As he pulled his nets out it was going to be close very close, luckily he fell just short with 112lb and winning the section on his bank leaving me with the far bank section. I was well pleased to have got something out of the day as i thought we were well out of it due to the reputation of the fishery, so all's well that ends well so to speak.
Sunday 1 August 2010
Cob House Open Wyatts Pool 25/7/10
Hi Folks, back fishing this week after a weekend off but with no club matches on me & stav decided to fish the open at Cob House as we could have a bit of a lye-in due to the 11am draw fishing 12-5. We fished a club match on a different pool a few weeks ago which was our first visit and we gave the fishery the thumbs up so we were hoping for more of the same this time. After a few phone calls and questions about tactics it seemed to be a bit of a fish race with small stockie carp from around 4oz-1lb the main target with a few bigger fish in the 3-4lb bracket showing up now and then. On the bait front it seemed to be all pellet and paste with some catching on maggot if you take enough of them.
There were 12 of us that turned up for the match which made it nice and easy 6 pegs each side of the pool, with no one saying that there were any better areas than others i wasn't really bothered when i pulled out peg 19 as it meant nothing to me. The peg was around 3-4 pegs down from the top end on the left hand side of the pool, Stav had drew peg 27 which was on my side of the pool and looked good for a few fish as it was the end peg.
On the tackle front i set up 3 rigs one for top kit+ short no4, one for down the edge and a shallow rig. Bait wise i had around 3 pints each of 2 & 4mm pellets for feed and some 4 & 6mm expanders for the hook plus a few 6mm hard pellets for banding or lassoing i was going all out pellet attack!
On the whistle i put a 4mm expander on the hook shipped out to my 3m line threw a few 2mm pellets around the float while feeding my right hand edge with the same and started flicking a few 4mm pellets at 6m. As i looked up around 4 people on the other side were playing fish already, it took a couple of mins for me to get my first bite and a 60z carp was the culprit. After around 45 mins i was catching a few fish but seemed to be waiting a lot longer than the people on the other bank for bites so a change was called for, i re-plumbed up taking off the short 4 so i was down to fishing at 2m. While i started feeding a bit shorter for the new line i had a quick look on my shallow line at 6mm where i had been feeding from the off, Bob Baker on the opposite bank was catching very well shallow and after only 20 seconds my elastic shot out and a carp was netted. Next put-in the same result but after another 5 mins bite-less it was time for a look on the 2m line, i was catching fish on the new line and the odd better fish also in the 2-3lb bracket. The fish seemed to be coming in short bursts of 3-4 fish then i would have to wait a long time for another, after a while Scott in the end peg opposite Stav was talking to Carl in the next peg saying they were on 60-70 odd fish each that was bad news as i had only got 30 odd! That seemed to set the theme for the day i only had around 6 fish all-day form both my margin and shallow line, my 2m line came in fits and starts all-day try as i might with changing feeding, shotting and hook-baits i couldn't make the fish come any faster. Evey time i looked over Bob, Carl & Scott were all hammering the fish one a bung with Bob seeming to be catching fish very fast shallow, Phil the gaffer sat on the grass watching Bob catch for a bit then went away for a time came back and Bob was still having one a bung. Word on the bank was that Scott was now catching bigger fish short on paste with Carl backing him to break the current match record which stands at 254lb by Chris Cameron? All to soon the all out was called and while i had enjoyed it i thought that i had not got the best out of the peg, when you fish a new pool for the first time it is always going to be hard to be up to speed straight away. Stav was the first to weigh with a good 140lb on the scales but had to put up with Scott and Carl bagging opposite all-day, i think there was 65lb,92lb & 82lb weights coming up the pool i put my fish on the scales and Phil gave me 118lb 8oz the guy to my left had 98lb 14oz. The first guy on the opposite side had caught but put back so was recorded a D.N.W, Bob was next and after many weigh-ins and adding up his total was an astounding 294lb 150z a new lake and venue record. Trevor on the next peg had 159lb 5oz, Carl was next and he had 181lb 9oz, Scott was the last to weigh and he looked to have another big weight as his first 2 of 4 nets were over the limit at over 60lb odd in each ( hope you gave yourself a telling off for to many fish in your nets mate?) after lots of weighing and adding Scott had a brilliant 234lb 15oz. Sorry i think i missed a weight out on the other bank somewhere was a 96lb.
What a great match and a great venue:
1st Bob Baker 294 - 12 Peg 9 NEW VENUE RECORD
2nd Scott Jones 234 - 15 Peg 3
3rd Carl Jones 181 - 9 Peg 5
4th Trev Hodges 159 – 5 Peg 7
5th Jon Baker 140 – 3 Peg 27
6th Simon West 118 – 8 Peg 19
7th Carl Falconer 98 – 14 Peg 17
Back-ups 96, 92, 82, 65, DNW.
This place is solid if you haven't been there already get yourself down there a catch a few fish. Going back to the weigh-in it is nice to see a sensible attitude to net limits, there is a 50lb limit imposed on nets here but there were one or to that had a few more than that but rather than knock the excess off we were just weighed in as normal ( well done Phil ). Some of the fishery's now a days are getting a bit silly and petty, i know it's all for the welfare of the fish but especially with small fish it is very hard to guess what you have got. You end up more worried about what fish are in what net and how many instead of concentrating on fishing and enjoying the day. Penalizing someone for having a few to many fish in his net is getting a bit silly it might be someones best ever day or breaking a club record cut short by a few pound because he had 2 fish to many in his net!!! Ok enough of me on my soap box.
Cheers to Phil for a great day with plenty of fish in nice clean surroundings hope to see you all soon.
Well done to Bob for emptying the pool and breaking the venue record.
Bad luck Scott there are not many times you can have 234lb and come second? (must try harder mate?)
There were 12 of us that turned up for the match which made it nice and easy 6 pegs each side of the pool, with no one saying that there were any better areas than others i wasn't really bothered when i pulled out peg 19 as it meant nothing to me. The peg was around 3-4 pegs down from the top end on the left hand side of the pool, Stav had drew peg 27 which was on my side of the pool and looked good for a few fish as it was the end peg.
On the tackle front i set up 3 rigs one for top kit+ short no4, one for down the edge and a shallow rig. Bait wise i had around 3 pints each of 2 & 4mm pellets for feed and some 4 & 6mm expanders for the hook plus a few 6mm hard pellets for banding or lassoing i was going all out pellet attack!
On the whistle i put a 4mm expander on the hook shipped out to my 3m line threw a few 2mm pellets around the float while feeding my right hand edge with the same and started flicking a few 4mm pellets at 6m. As i looked up around 4 people on the other side were playing fish already, it took a couple of mins for me to get my first bite and a 60z carp was the culprit. After around 45 mins i was catching a few fish but seemed to be waiting a lot longer than the people on the other bank for bites so a change was called for, i re-plumbed up taking off the short 4 so i was down to fishing at 2m. While i started feeding a bit shorter for the new line i had a quick look on my shallow line at 6mm where i had been feeding from the off, Bob Baker on the opposite bank was catching very well shallow and after only 20 seconds my elastic shot out and a carp was netted. Next put-in the same result but after another 5 mins bite-less it was time for a look on the 2m line, i was catching fish on the new line and the odd better fish also in the 2-3lb bracket. The fish seemed to be coming in short bursts of 3-4 fish then i would have to wait a long time for another, after a while Scott in the end peg opposite Stav was talking to Carl in the next peg saying they were on 60-70 odd fish each that was bad news as i had only got 30 odd! That seemed to set the theme for the day i only had around 6 fish all-day form both my margin and shallow line, my 2m line came in fits and starts all-day try as i might with changing feeding, shotting and hook-baits i couldn't make the fish come any faster. Evey time i looked over Bob, Carl & Scott were all hammering the fish one a bung with Bob seeming to be catching fish very fast shallow, Phil the gaffer sat on the grass watching Bob catch for a bit then went away for a time came back and Bob was still having one a bung. Word on the bank was that Scott was now catching bigger fish short on paste with Carl backing him to break the current match record which stands at 254lb by Chris Cameron? All to soon the all out was called and while i had enjoyed it i thought that i had not got the best out of the peg, when you fish a new pool for the first time it is always going to be hard to be up to speed straight away. Stav was the first to weigh with a good 140lb on the scales but had to put up with Scott and Carl bagging opposite all-day, i think there was 65lb,92lb & 82lb weights coming up the pool i put my fish on the scales and Phil gave me 118lb 8oz the guy to my left had 98lb 14oz. The first guy on the opposite side had caught but put back so was recorded a D.N.W, Bob was next and after many weigh-ins and adding up his total was an astounding 294lb 150z a new lake and venue record. Trevor on the next peg had 159lb 5oz, Carl was next and he had 181lb 9oz, Scott was the last to weigh and he looked to have another big weight as his first 2 of 4 nets were over the limit at over 60lb odd in each ( hope you gave yourself a telling off for to many fish in your nets mate?) after lots of weighing and adding Scott had a brilliant 234lb 15oz. Sorry i think i missed a weight out on the other bank somewhere was a 96lb.
What a great match and a great venue:
1st Bob Baker 294 - 12 Peg 9 NEW VENUE RECORD
2nd Scott Jones 234 - 15 Peg 3
3rd Carl Jones 181 - 9 Peg 5
4th Trev Hodges 159 – 5 Peg 7
5th Jon Baker 140 – 3 Peg 27
6th Simon West 118 – 8 Peg 19
7th Carl Falconer 98 – 14 Peg 17
Back-ups 96, 92, 82, 65, DNW.
This place is solid if you haven't been there already get yourself down there a catch a few fish. Going back to the weigh-in it is nice to see a sensible attitude to net limits, there is a 50lb limit imposed on nets here but there were one or to that had a few more than that but rather than knock the excess off we were just weighed in as normal ( well done Phil ). Some of the fishery's now a days are getting a bit silly and petty, i know it's all for the welfare of the fish but especially with small fish it is very hard to guess what you have got. You end up more worried about what fish are in what net and how many instead of concentrating on fishing and enjoying the day. Penalizing someone for having a few to many fish in his net is getting a bit silly it might be someones best ever day or breaking a club record cut short by a few pound because he had 2 fish to many in his net!!! Ok enough of me on my soap box.
Cheers to Phil for a great day with plenty of fish in nice clean surroundings hope to see you all soon.
Well done to Bob for emptying the pool and breaking the venue record.
Bad luck Scott there are not many times you can have 234lb and come second? (must try harder mate?)
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