Day 2 of our fishing week took us down to Woodlands View for the Tuesday affordable match which we found out would be on Ghost pool as the Starlets Vets were on High & Arles pool and the Midland Bears were on both Deans pools. Its been a couple of years since i last fished a match on Ghost so i was looking forward to it as some good weights can come from it, it is rarely used in opens due to only 22 pegs on it and is normally booked for clubs during the weekends. All through the summer months the top method has been to fish 3-6m or down the edge with 6 or 8mm hook pellet over a bed of 4mm feed pellets or corn. Only 8 people had turned out for the match so a least we would have a bit of room, i drew out peg 4 & Stav peg 19 but to be honest it looked like the winner could come from any peg today with this much room.
I set up 3 rigs one on the deck at 3m, one for up in the water from 11 to 14m & one for down the left edge near to the next pallet by some reeds, for bait i had got 2 bags of 4mm fishery feed pellets, 4 tins of corn plus various 6 & 8mm hard & expander's for the hook, i had also got some dead maggots left over from Sunday.
I started on the 3m line to see if the fish were there early but after only 2 early carp on this i left it for later and went out on the shallow rig after only 30 mins, the guy to my right on peg 6 got off to a flier having a fish a bung on the short line but kept saying they were only small fish up to 3lb. I started to have odd carp & f1's shallow at 13m but not as fast as i would have liked, an early look down the edge where i had been potting maggots produced only a couple of small perch. The guy to my right was still catching then the guy in the corner peg started to catch big lumps on both his short & edge line quite regularly. Stav on the opposite side to me was having odd fish on the deck & shallow long but without setting the world on fire, the rest of the pool was fishing ok but the guy in the corner peg was catching a lot of big fish quickly. The rest of the match went much the same just picking odd fish off here and there until the last hour & a bit when i went back down the edge for the 3rd time to see if any carp had turned up on my margin maggot line. I started to catch carp in the 4-6lb bracket with some sort of regularity with 3 maggots on the hook, the two guy's that were catching earlier were still catching & i thought the guy to my right must have 200lb+ by now! I caught on my maggot edge line until the final whistle where i caught a lot of fish in a short space of time. The guy on peg 2 had packed away before the whistle saying that he had lost more than he had got out complaining of lots of foul hookers so i was first to weigh, i was surprised when Ade added up my weight up and gave me 124lb 4oz mostly in the last hour when i must have had 70lb. The guy on peg 6 was as shocked as i was when Ade gave him 144lb i was sure he had got 200lb+ he was playing fish all day ( he must have had his canal kits on! ), there was a french guy in peg 8 over here for two weeks for fishing with his mate he had 126lb!. The guy in the opposite corner had caught well after a slow start catching some big lumps but we were all shocked when he put 254lb on the scales i would have sworn that his mate next to me had got more than him?The other french guy next to stav had 60lb odd and stav 78lb, the last guy on that bank had 105lb. So we had a few fish but no coin i just wished the fish would have come down the edge earlier? ( at least i was 1-o up on Stav in our series one big fat £1?).
Thursday 30 September 2010
Friday 24 September 2010
Larford Arena Pool? Sunday 19/9/10
This is the start of fishing week for me & Stav as week have both booked the same week off work and plan to go fishing 3-4 different venues through out the week. This match was a Cradley Heath club match booked on Arena pool but when we fished the C.I.U team match last week we thought we had got the match moved onto the Speci lake but we found out Friday that the other pools were booked so we would have to put up with it. Now before i start my write up on the match you will be well aware of the bad press that Larford has received in recent weeks and i agree with some of the comments on T/A and totally disagree with a lot of them, Yes there is a problem with the fishery what it is i don't know because i am not a fish doctor/ scientist and i think that a lot of people that surmise what is going on should keep there uneducated guesses to themselves that's how nasty rumors start! Yes we tried to get our match moved off the pool because it is fishing poorly and the staff at Larford to there credit tried to move us but got the dates mixed up with a cancellation so we were stuck with it. While i thank the staff & Phil Briscoe for trying to move us but when they know there is a problem and still charge £7 a peg with no compensation or another date when it is fishing better that's wrong! Now i have known Phil for a few years now and he assured us on Sunday that the Match and Arena pool's are going to get restocked very soon ( no good to us today ), but i know that Phil has put his heart & soul into building up the complex and its reputation over the last few years not to mention £100's of thousands of pounds and to have it go bad on you in this way must be gutting.
Enough of me on my soap box but there is still a match to fish which might be a struggle but someone has to win it, i had spoke to 2 mates Dan & Ian who as i said last week fished the Larford festival about how to go about tackling the hard Arena pool and they both said fish maggots 3-4m on the deck. They also said that during the festival week the fishery rules of no leads or feeders was in place(Arena pool is normally a float only pool) but as they had relaxed the rules in an attempt to boost weights they had both said they would fish the method at short range (on the pole line). Only 16 brave souls had turned out for this match so at least we would have a bit of room with 40 odd pegs on the pool, Dan & Ian said the hot draw is peg 24 on the end of the natural bank that has got lovely looking set of lily pads it had won the pool 4 out of 5 days on festival. Into the draw bag and out popped peg 30 on the burr which looked no worse than sum & not as good as others, i have only fished the pool once before on a late December fur & feather so i was none the wiser.
To tackle the peg i set up 4 pole rigs & a method feeder.
Rig 1, maver 1.ogr f1 float, 0.16 mainline to 0.14 h/l & 16 tosciro hook, set around 8ft deep at 5m & 11 hollo elastic.
Rig 2, same float 0.16 straight through, a size 3 175 & 13 hollo elastic ( incase the carp turned up in numbers???).
Rig 3, Preston durra 10 4x12 float 0.16 straight through, 3 175 hook for down my left margin to the next empty pallet.
Rig 4, Maver 4x12 Jurassic dibber, 0.14 to a 16 pr27 for lassoed 6mm pellet, 13 hollo elastic for up in the water.
For bait i had brought a gallon of feeder maggots half alive & half dead (the dead's are for up the edge so they don't crawl away), a bag of 4mm feed pellets for shallow, some g/bait for the method + some hook-baits.
For company on peg 28 i had Steve Robson who was the last peg on our the burr bank ( corner peg flier) & the other side on peg 32 was our leader Ollie, at least if we were not catching we could listen to Ollie's radio as he is a Man U supporter and they were playing Liverpool today.
On the whistle i put a pot of dead maggots down to the next pallet and started on the maggot at 5m, i stared to catch odd silvers after around 10 mins small roach & perch then after 20 mins i had a small carp of around a pound. There was no one catching carp so after the first hour i had got 2 small carp + a few silvers, i new Satv was catching silvers as well on maggot but i new to only 1 carp caught on the feeder by Ada on the opposite bank. So with next to no carp being caught it was just a case of getting my head down on the silvers ( if it ain't broke don't fix it).
After 2 hrs i had not had anymore carp on the pole but i was happy catching silvers most of which were swingers but the odd one was a netter, then Ollie had a carp on the method in the 4lb range and 10 mins later another i now had to go on the method as all my hard work on the silvers had all but gone. I threw the method out on the pole line at 13-14m where i had been firing the odd 4mm pellet for a shallow line with 2 dead reds on the hook, it took around 30 mins on the method to get a bite a nice 8lb carp was in the net. Ollie had 3 carp and JB on peg 34 had 1, the odd carp was now showing all over the pool and at the end of the 3rd hour i had another carp of 3-4lb on the method. Then JB done the same as Ollie he had 3 carp on the method in 3 chucks, i had a go shallow on the pellet for 10 mins as there was a few fish showing up in the water but it didn't feel right as the fish were shying away from the pole tip in the clear water even with a long line on. I went back on my 5m maggot line and caught a few silvers plus another small 1lb carp, i now had a choice to make stay on the silvers & hope for a carp or two on that or stick on the method till the end? I decided to sit on the method as the fish seemed bigger but i had no more bites at all, Ollie had 2 carp on the bounce on the end of his rod, JB had a carp on his pole line and another on the method. We were now into the last 20 mins of the match when JB hooked & landed a carp from the margins, i had been putting the odd pot of dead maggots down there from the start but hadn't tried it due to the water clarity & Steve had fished his corner margin from the start with a nice set of lily pads as well without a fish although he could see carp down there! I thought why not have a go as there was no action at all on the feeder not even a liner, i had a bite first drop in from a small roach then a small carp of 1lb oh no what had i been doing not trying it earlier but with 10 mins to go i never had another bite down there?
It had been a very hard but strange match as you got the feeling there was a lot more fish in the pool than had been caught, i had ended up with 6 carp 1 skimmer + a few silvers, JB & Ollie had around the same number of carp with no silvers but 4 of my carp were 1lb fish and there's were normal 3-4lb fish. I think JB had 6-7 carp as did Shaun on flier peg 24 so it was going to be tight at the weigh in, Steve in the corner was first to weigh who had a bad match having only 1 lump carp & bits for 11lb odd. I was next to go with 26lb 4oz which i reckoned had around 7-8lb of silvers in it, Ollie on the next peg had 22lb odd then JB putting 32lb on the scales to go into the lead. Stav had a busy match on the silvers with only 1 carp & a couple of chub fishing shallow long with maggot for 22lb odd just beating Ollie but a few oz's , Brian on the next peg having mainly carp for another 22lb weight ( that's 3 so far). John Bab on the end peg 44 on the burr had another 6-7 all carp haul for 28lb odd putting him in second place so far, the opposite side on the natural bank had fished a lot harder with 16lb the best weight until we got to Shaun on the flier peg 24 and his carp haul going 27lb to just beat me for 3rd place. The Arena had fished as hard as we had been told it was going to but at least it was a close match with no one running away with big 100lb+ weights, i don't know that if fishing the maggot was the right way to go or should i have fished the method for 5hrs? and just waited? Ollie had fished most of the match on the feeder and i had beat him but lost out to JB who had a couple on the pole but most of his fish on the feeder but at least i had plenty of bites on the maggot.
At least me & Stav Hadn't got to go to work in the morning we had just got to spend the day getting the tackle right for the forthcoming 3 days of fishing!
Enough of me on my soap box but there is still a match to fish which might be a struggle but someone has to win it, i had spoke to 2 mates Dan & Ian who as i said last week fished the Larford festival about how to go about tackling the hard Arena pool and they both said fish maggots 3-4m on the deck. They also said that during the festival week the fishery rules of no leads or feeders was in place(Arena pool is normally a float only pool) but as they had relaxed the rules in an attempt to boost weights they had both said they would fish the method at short range (on the pole line). Only 16 brave souls had turned out for this match so at least we would have a bit of room with 40 odd pegs on the pool, Dan & Ian said the hot draw is peg 24 on the end of the natural bank that has got lovely looking set of lily pads it had won the pool 4 out of 5 days on festival. Into the draw bag and out popped peg 30 on the burr which looked no worse than sum & not as good as others, i have only fished the pool once before on a late December fur & feather so i was none the wiser.
To tackle the peg i set up 4 pole rigs & a method feeder.
Rig 1, maver 1.ogr f1 float, 0.16 mainline to 0.14 h/l & 16 tosciro hook, set around 8ft deep at 5m & 11 hollo elastic.
Rig 2, same float 0.16 straight through, a size 3 175 & 13 hollo elastic ( incase the carp turned up in numbers???).
Rig 3, Preston durra 10 4x12 float 0.16 straight through, 3 175 hook for down my left margin to the next empty pallet.
Rig 4, Maver 4x12 Jurassic dibber, 0.14 to a 16 pr27 for lassoed 6mm pellet, 13 hollo elastic for up in the water.
For bait i had brought a gallon of feeder maggots half alive & half dead (the dead's are for up the edge so they don't crawl away), a bag of 4mm feed pellets for shallow, some g/bait for the method + some hook-baits.
For company on peg 28 i had Steve Robson who was the last peg on our the burr bank ( corner peg flier) & the other side on peg 32 was our leader Ollie, at least if we were not catching we could listen to Ollie's radio as he is a Man U supporter and they were playing Liverpool today.
On the whistle i put a pot of dead maggots down to the next pallet and started on the maggot at 5m, i stared to catch odd silvers after around 10 mins small roach & perch then after 20 mins i had a small carp of around a pound. There was no one catching carp so after the first hour i had got 2 small carp + a few silvers, i new Satv was catching silvers as well on maggot but i new to only 1 carp caught on the feeder by Ada on the opposite bank. So with next to no carp being caught it was just a case of getting my head down on the silvers ( if it ain't broke don't fix it).
After 2 hrs i had not had anymore carp on the pole but i was happy catching silvers most of which were swingers but the odd one was a netter, then Ollie had a carp on the method in the 4lb range and 10 mins later another i now had to go on the method as all my hard work on the silvers had all but gone. I threw the method out on the pole line at 13-14m where i had been firing the odd 4mm pellet for a shallow line with 2 dead reds on the hook, it took around 30 mins on the method to get a bite a nice 8lb carp was in the net. Ollie had 3 carp and JB on peg 34 had 1, the odd carp was now showing all over the pool and at the end of the 3rd hour i had another carp of 3-4lb on the method. Then JB done the same as Ollie he had 3 carp on the method in 3 chucks, i had a go shallow on the pellet for 10 mins as there was a few fish showing up in the water but it didn't feel right as the fish were shying away from the pole tip in the clear water even with a long line on. I went back on my 5m maggot line and caught a few silvers plus another small 1lb carp, i now had a choice to make stay on the silvers & hope for a carp or two on that or stick on the method till the end? I decided to sit on the method as the fish seemed bigger but i had no more bites at all, Ollie had 2 carp on the bounce on the end of his rod, JB had a carp on his pole line and another on the method. We were now into the last 20 mins of the match when JB hooked & landed a carp from the margins, i had been putting the odd pot of dead maggots down there from the start but hadn't tried it due to the water clarity & Steve had fished his corner margin from the start with a nice set of lily pads as well without a fish although he could see carp down there! I thought why not have a go as there was no action at all on the feeder not even a liner, i had a bite first drop in from a small roach then a small carp of 1lb oh no what had i been doing not trying it earlier but with 10 mins to go i never had another bite down there?
It had been a very hard but strange match as you got the feeling there was a lot more fish in the pool than had been caught, i had ended up with 6 carp 1 skimmer + a few silvers, JB & Ollie had around the same number of carp with no silvers but 4 of my carp were 1lb fish and there's were normal 3-4lb fish. I think JB had 6-7 carp as did Shaun on flier peg 24 so it was going to be tight at the weigh in, Steve in the corner was first to weigh who had a bad match having only 1 lump carp & bits for 11lb odd. I was next to go with 26lb 4oz which i reckoned had around 7-8lb of silvers in it, Ollie on the next peg had 22lb odd then JB putting 32lb on the scales to go into the lead. Stav had a busy match on the silvers with only 1 carp & a couple of chub fishing shallow long with maggot for 22lb odd just beating Ollie but a few oz's , Brian on the next peg having mainly carp for another 22lb weight ( that's 3 so far). John Bab on the end peg 44 on the burr had another 6-7 all carp haul for 28lb odd putting him in second place so far, the opposite side on the natural bank had fished a lot harder with 16lb the best weight until we got to Shaun on the flier peg 24 and his carp haul going 27lb to just beat me for 3rd place. The Arena had fished as hard as we had been told it was going to but at least it was a close match with no one running away with big 100lb+ weights, i don't know that if fishing the maggot was the right way to go or should i have fished the method for 5hrs? and just waited? Ollie had fished most of the match on the feeder and i had beat him but lost out to JB who had a couple on the pole but most of his fish on the feeder but at least i had plenty of bites on the maggot.
At least me & Stav Hadn't got to go to work in the morning we had just got to spend the day getting the tackle right for the forthcoming 3 days of fishing!
Sunday 12 September 2010
C.I.U Teams of 5 Larford sat 11/9/10 speci lake
I had booked the day off work for this annual event the C.I.U teams of 5 which my club Cradley Heath Labour have fished for years many different venues like the Severn, Trent, Poole hall, Blodings pools but for the last few years has been at Woodlands view. We have had some good success on this match over the years winning it a few times and producing the winner on more than one occasion. The main thing we have found out over the years fishing this event is the the organization is next to none they send one bloke normally who couldn't run a piss up in a brewery, that's why over the last few years the event has been held at Woodlands because Mike Mason has done all the hard work for them. To repay Mike for all his hard work weighing in, sorting the draw out & working the results out this year they have canceled Woodlands and moved it to Larford? Now don't get me wrong i like Larford but if they think that Phil Briscoe will do all the pegging and sorting the results out at the end they are living in cook-oo land. Stav had gone away on holiday so i was traveling with an old mate Kev Clarke and when we got there we soon found out how downhill this event has gone, 8 teams had booked in for the event and one of them didn't bother to turn up leaving 7 teams of 5. When we first had this event at Woodlands i can remember having 5 pools booked with 1 person from each team on a pool and that was your section, we were worried that the pegging on Ghost pool would be tight as every peg was in that's 20 pegs so we had 20 teams now down to 7? It might have something to to with the organization??? Yes true to form they had sent 1 old guy to run the match that hadn't got a scooby?. I did our team draw then we drew our own pegs out of the envelope i ended up with peg 16 in the middle of the lake on the burr side. I thought that our team draw was good as we were on the last peg in every section supposedly giving us 2 end pegs 1 on the burr & 1 on the chalet bank?? wrong, the C.I.U had struck again Steve Robson should have been on end peg but they had put Chris Owen on the next peg to him but all the rest of the section was on the opposite bank? Kev who i had traveled with had drawn end peg 82 and with the wind blowing into it i told him that i thought he would win the match off his peg, our other 2 pegs were Bash on 50 odd and Mark Farley on 70 odd ( the exact peg numbers escape me). When i got to my peg i found out that Big Ritchie was next to me on 17 fishing for one of our other teams ( we had 3 of the 7 teams fishing and Beach-dale from Walsall had 2 teams?). I had spoke to a couple of mates Dan & Ian who had fished the festival down here for advise and set up the following kit, the pellet wagg, straight lead and the pole at 6m. Most of the fish had been coming to the lead & pellet with a few on the pole for some reason the pellet wagg was not catching many fish, i set up 2 pole rigs both 1 gram 0.18 & 0.20 respectively 1 with a size 3 175 & a 4 175 if the were having it in around 7 feet of water. For bait i had got 2 bags of Larford 8mm pellets for the lead & wagg line, a jar of hemp and 5 tins of 8mm cubed meat for the pole line, i had also got some super g groundbait & dead reds for the method if it all went tit's up!
On the whistle i put a big pot each of hemp & meat on the 6m pole line then threw out my 1oz fox lead with a 8mm lassoed pellet to around 30-35m and started to fire 8mm pellets over the top. Ritchie on the next peg started on the lead the same and had 6-7lb carp first chuck? I had to wait 20 mins for my first fish a 5lb job, after the first hour i had got 4 fish and Ritchie was on 3 i potted some more hemp & meat on the pole line and thought that we were doing as well as anyone i could see. Over the next 30mins i couldn't get a bite yet Ritchie had 2 putting him back in the lead 4-5, i had 2 more in the next 30 mins without response from Ritchie so i was back in-front 6-5. I had the next 30mins on the pellet wagg changing depths from 12" to 4ft but it was all to no avail as i hooked only 1 fish which came off after 5 seconds, we were now at the half way point in the match and the word on the bank was that it was not fishing too good. I thought to myself that i would have another go on the lead before i tried the pole as people around me were fishing the the pole but only catching the odd skimmer & no carp. I went back on the lead and had 3 fish in the next hour putting me on 9 fish and losing 1 in the process, luckily Ritchie had stopped catching but there was the odd carp now being caught on the pole now. With 1 hour 10 mins to go i had got 10 carp & 4 skimmers but there was still the odd fish coming to the guy's on the pole so i decided to give it a go for 10 mins, but if i didn't get a bite i would have the last hour on the lead. I had feed the pole line all match with pots of hemp & corn so i put a 8mm cube of meat on and shipped out, i was just about to go back on the lead with the 10 mins up and only 2 skimmers to show for it when i hit a bite that i knew wasn't a skimmer. I soon had a 6-7lb fish in the net on the 0.18 rig & 15 hollo elastic so it made me stay on the pole a bit longer, another 10 mins went by before the next bite which was a 10lb fish. The next fish i hooked made a b-line for Ritchie in the next peg ripping loads of laccy out and soon had me adding a couple of panic sections, despite me putting the pole under the water in an attempt to slow the fish down we soon parted company the fish and broke me! Out came the 0.20 rig & 17 hollo i had 2 more fish on this rig one being around 10lb then i hooked a fish with around 5 mins left to go that pulled loads of laccy out again i just held the pole under the water and prayed! The all out was sounded but i was still playing the fish, some 5 mins after the whistle and i had got the fish to the net twice but he didn't like the look of it and the hook pulled SHIT! I would have put the fish at 15-16lb and turbo charged. God i hate losing fish! At the all out i had got 14 carp & around 6 small skimmers which i was happy with as i felt that i had got more than the guys around me and that will do for me on a team match. When the scales came up from the bottom end of the burr Chris Owen on the end peg had 67lb but my team mate Steve Robson had suffered a battering on the next peg with 30lb odd but as i said earlier Chris was not in Steves section as the rest of his section was on the chalet bank opposite ( blind pegging). There was a couple of 5olb+ weights in Steve's section ending with Ritchie who had 48lb so Steve was well down in his section, I put my fish on the scales for 88lb 6oz and i went off for a walk up the section to see how the rest had got on. There was a 49lb & 52lb on the next two pegs up then the weights got worse as they got higher up the pool, so i had won the section with 35lb+ to spare and i was well pleased to win my section for the team, Job Done! all we could do was hope that the lads on the other side had got on ok. When we got back to the cafe to sort the results out i was told that i had won the match as 70lb was the best weight off the chalet bank, Result, but this is a team match and there is nothing for individual only a team payout. Kev had won his section with 46lb, Mark has suffered a bit in the middle section with 27lb and Bash had done well in his section with 48lb, it looked like it was going to be tight as all the teams had good and bad results. After a lot of working out we won the team event after tying on points with one of our other teams and tying on section wins so we had to go back to weight overall we had 244lb the others 213lb. A good day was had by all despite the low turnout and the lack of organization from the C.I.U , I was well happy with the way i had fished it ( despite losing that lump and costing me the ton!) and the team win was great. I might have an extra stella tonight to celebrate?
On the whistle i put a big pot each of hemp & meat on the 6m pole line then threw out my 1oz fox lead with a 8mm lassoed pellet to around 30-35m and started to fire 8mm pellets over the top. Ritchie on the next peg started on the lead the same and had 6-7lb carp first chuck? I had to wait 20 mins for my first fish a 5lb job, after the first hour i had got 4 fish and Ritchie was on 3 i potted some more hemp & meat on the pole line and thought that we were doing as well as anyone i could see. Over the next 30mins i couldn't get a bite yet Ritchie had 2 putting him back in the lead 4-5, i had 2 more in the next 30 mins without response from Ritchie so i was back in-front 6-5. I had the next 30mins on the pellet wagg changing depths from 12" to 4ft but it was all to no avail as i hooked only 1 fish which came off after 5 seconds, we were now at the half way point in the match and the word on the bank was that it was not fishing too good. I thought to myself that i would have another go on the lead before i tried the pole as people around me were fishing the the pole but only catching the odd skimmer & no carp. I went back on the lead and had 3 fish in the next hour putting me on 9 fish and losing 1 in the process, luckily Ritchie had stopped catching but there was the odd carp now being caught on the pole now. With 1 hour 10 mins to go i had got 10 carp & 4 skimmers but there was still the odd fish coming to the guy's on the pole so i decided to give it a go for 10 mins, but if i didn't get a bite i would have the last hour on the lead. I had feed the pole line all match with pots of hemp & corn so i put a 8mm cube of meat on and shipped out, i was just about to go back on the lead with the 10 mins up and only 2 skimmers to show for it when i hit a bite that i knew wasn't a skimmer. I soon had a 6-7lb fish in the net on the 0.18 rig & 15 hollo elastic so it made me stay on the pole a bit longer, another 10 mins went by before the next bite which was a 10lb fish. The next fish i hooked made a b-line for Ritchie in the next peg ripping loads of laccy out and soon had me adding a couple of panic sections, despite me putting the pole under the water in an attempt to slow the fish down we soon parted company the fish and broke me! Out came the 0.20 rig & 17 hollo i had 2 more fish on this rig one being around 10lb then i hooked a fish with around 5 mins left to go that pulled loads of laccy out again i just held the pole under the water and prayed! The all out was sounded but i was still playing the fish, some 5 mins after the whistle and i had got the fish to the net twice but he didn't like the look of it and the hook pulled SHIT! I would have put the fish at 15-16lb and turbo charged. God i hate losing fish! At the all out i had got 14 carp & around 6 small skimmers which i was happy with as i felt that i had got more than the guys around me and that will do for me on a team match. When the scales came up from the bottom end of the burr Chris Owen on the end peg had 67lb but my team mate Steve Robson had suffered a battering on the next peg with 30lb odd but as i said earlier Chris was not in Steves section as the rest of his section was on the chalet bank opposite ( blind pegging). There was a couple of 5olb+ weights in Steve's section ending with Ritchie who had 48lb so Steve was well down in his section, I put my fish on the scales for 88lb 6oz and i went off for a walk up the section to see how the rest had got on. There was a 49lb & 52lb on the next two pegs up then the weights got worse as they got higher up the pool, so i had won the section with 35lb+ to spare and i was well pleased to win my section for the team, Job Done! all we could do was hope that the lads on the other side had got on ok. When we got back to the cafe to sort the results out i was told that i had won the match as 70lb was the best weight off the chalet bank, Result, but this is a team match and there is nothing for individual only a team payout. Kev had won his section with 46lb, Mark has suffered a bit in the middle section with 27lb and Bash had done well in his section with 48lb, it looked like it was going to be tight as all the teams had good and bad results. After a lot of working out we won the team event after tying on points with one of our other teams and tying on section wins so we had to go back to weight overall we had 244lb the others 213lb. A good day was had by all despite the low turnout and the lack of organization from the C.I.U , I was well happy with the way i had fished it ( despite losing that lump and costing me the ton!) and the team win was great. I might have an extra stella tonight to celebrate?
Tuesday 7 September 2010
Manor Farm Open Sunday 5/9/10 Island Pool
Hi folks, it's back to Manor Farm for the third week on the trot as we had a club match on the flowing thing ( the river Severn ) at Hallow that me & Stav had decided to give a miss. We were shocked at the draw to find out there were 38 booked in for today's open on Island pool and with only 39 pegs on the pool it was going to be tight! Most of the talk before the draw was that a peg with a throw to the island would be of paramount importance today, i drew peg 34 and with Stav on peg 27 we both had drawn with a chuck to the island first job of the day done. Peg 34 is next to a rope/aerator ( 1 0f three on the pool) so at least i wouldn't have the problem of someone throwing in my peg from that side, for company on peg 35 i had John Cattermole the other side of the rope and local rod Mark Hemming on peg 33.
I set up 3 rods and just 1 pole rig as i felt that with this many anglers on the bank that the pole wouldn't produce enough fish to win ( unless you are one of the 16m tappy, tappy piece of line anglers?), i had my 13ft Normark method rod for chucking to the island, my 9-11 Shimano Beastmaster set up for the lead to the areator, my 12ft Daiwa Tournament wagg rod for pellet wagg and my 1 pole rig for an 8m pole line that i had a few fish on last week just in-case.
For bait i had got 6mm pellets for firing on the pellet wagg/lead line, some 4mm pellets & corn for the pole line and some n-tice meaty mix g/bait for the method plus various hook baits for the method like dead reds & meat.
On the whistle as expected most of the people with a throw to the island started there ( me included) the poor carp must have thought that it was the battle of the Somme, John was the first to catch as he had the only cover left on the island after Dave the gaffer has hacked all the vegetation back in the form of a reed bed. I saw Stav have a fish and then Mark on my right have one i was the only one without a fish, it stayed like that for 45 mins before the tip finally pulled round and carp no1 was in the net.
I must have a little rant at this point because of the metcheck straight form the met office weather report online, i went online at around 10pm Saturday night to check the weather for Sunday and the forecast no rain at all until Monday night/Tuesday morning? they said sunny
periods with a bit of cloud and 20c? SO WHY WAS IT ABOSLUTLEY PISSING IT DOWN???
I don't mean a bit of rain it threw it down for the first 2 hours, there must be millions of pounds spent every year on weather forecasting and loads of that in peoples wages i wouldn't pay them in PEANUTS. Not that the rain bothers me that much as i fish all year round through ice and snow but how do they get in so wrong?
The fishing was a bad as the weather with only odd fish coming out around the lake, John was the only one i could see catching with any sort of regularity. My match was going very slow and after 2hrs on the method i had got only 4 fish, John was on 8 and Mark on around the same as me. I switched to the pellet wagg and had a fish on it straight away then nothing else? i was going nowhere fast, nothing on the straight lead over the pellet wagg either the day was going from bad to worse now Mark on my right was catching as well as John. A session on the pole produced 2 fish but i just couldn't get a run of fish on anything or settle on a method i was happy with. Stav was having odd fish on the method but i general it was slow, i was having a bad day at the office!
John's fish on the method had dried up but was having a few fish on the pole on the bread up and down in the water, Mark was starting to catch fish regular and during the last 45mins i had 1 fish on the method and he had 8? I had tried all the different hook-baits i had got but to no avail, i was casting tight to the island but Mark seemed to be catching about 1m short so i had taken 3-4 turns off my line clip to no avail, i was struggling to come up with reason why i was not catching and all i could come up with was that i was using a red coloured g/bait and Mark was on green! that was the only thing i could see different because our feeders were only 5-6m apart? At the all out i had been well and truly slapped from both sides ( both cheeks were rosy red), i tipped my 11 fish hall back before the scales arrived to save myself the embarrassment of the slapping i thought that i had around 30lb. I packed up and got around to Stav just before the scales got to him, he thought that it was going to be close for the section between himself and the guy to his left, the best on the scales was Chris Cameron with 108lb and 2 weights of 70lb+. Stav put 44lb on the scales and when the guy to his left put 40lb on the scales he new he had won the section, Mark put 94lb on the scales and John 71lb to win the section as Mark had come in second. I am still racking my brain to think of why they had caught and i hadn't? ( yes i know i am crap) but i have no answers. Well done to Stav for doing the ha-trick of section wins on the trot at Manor in the last 3 weeks ( he made me say that or threatened to make me walk home) you can now buy some more sandals mate?
I set up 3 rods and just 1 pole rig as i felt that with this many anglers on the bank that the pole wouldn't produce enough fish to win ( unless you are one of the 16m tappy, tappy piece of line anglers?), i had my 13ft Normark method rod for chucking to the island, my 9-11 Shimano Beastmaster set up for the lead to the areator, my 12ft Daiwa Tournament wagg rod for pellet wagg and my 1 pole rig for an 8m pole line that i had a few fish on last week just in-case.
For bait i had got 6mm pellets for firing on the pellet wagg/lead line, some 4mm pellets & corn for the pole line and some n-tice meaty mix g/bait for the method plus various hook baits for the method like dead reds & meat.
On the whistle as expected most of the people with a throw to the island started there ( me included) the poor carp must have thought that it was the battle of the Somme, John was the first to catch as he had the only cover left on the island after Dave the gaffer has hacked all the vegetation back in the form of a reed bed. I saw Stav have a fish and then Mark on my right have one i was the only one without a fish, it stayed like that for 45 mins before the tip finally pulled round and carp no1 was in the net.
I must have a little rant at this point because of the metcheck straight form the met office weather report online, i went online at around 10pm Saturday night to check the weather for Sunday and the forecast no rain at all until Monday night/Tuesday morning? they said sunny
periods with a bit of cloud and 20c? SO WHY WAS IT ABOSLUTLEY PISSING IT DOWN???
I don't mean a bit of rain it threw it down for the first 2 hours, there must be millions of pounds spent every year on weather forecasting and loads of that in peoples wages i wouldn't pay them in PEANUTS. Not that the rain bothers me that much as i fish all year round through ice and snow but how do they get in so wrong?
The fishing was a bad as the weather with only odd fish coming out around the lake, John was the only one i could see catching with any sort of regularity. My match was going very slow and after 2hrs on the method i had got only 4 fish, John was on 8 and Mark on around the same as me. I switched to the pellet wagg and had a fish on it straight away then nothing else? i was going nowhere fast, nothing on the straight lead over the pellet wagg either the day was going from bad to worse now Mark on my right was catching as well as John. A session on the pole produced 2 fish but i just couldn't get a run of fish on anything or settle on a method i was happy with. Stav was having odd fish on the method but i general it was slow, i was having a bad day at the office!
John's fish on the method had dried up but was having a few fish on the pole on the bread up and down in the water, Mark was starting to catch fish regular and during the last 45mins i had 1 fish on the method and he had 8? I had tried all the different hook-baits i had got but to no avail, i was casting tight to the island but Mark seemed to be catching about 1m short so i had taken 3-4 turns off my line clip to no avail, i was struggling to come up with reason why i was not catching and all i could come up with was that i was using a red coloured g/bait and Mark was on green! that was the only thing i could see different because our feeders were only 5-6m apart? At the all out i had been well and truly slapped from both sides ( both cheeks were rosy red), i tipped my 11 fish hall back before the scales arrived to save myself the embarrassment of the slapping i thought that i had around 30lb. I packed up and got around to Stav just before the scales got to him, he thought that it was going to be close for the section between himself and the guy to his left, the best on the scales was Chris Cameron with 108lb and 2 weights of 70lb+. Stav put 44lb on the scales and when the guy to his left put 40lb on the scales he new he had won the section, Mark put 94lb on the scales and John 71lb to win the section as Mark had come in second. I am still racking my brain to think of why they had caught and i hadn't? ( yes i know i am crap) but i have no answers. Well done to Stav for doing the ha-trick of section wins on the trot at Manor in the last 3 weeks ( he made me say that or threatened to make me walk home) you can now buy some more sandals mate?
Thursday 2 September 2010
Manor Farm Open Sunday 29/8/10 Island Pool
Hi folks, back to Manor Farm this week for the open on island pool hoping that a few lessons learned last week would help us out if we got a good draw. There were 29 names down this week so there would be a lot of pegs in again, as we looked out across the pool from the car park there was one thing we all agreed on it was a lot colder than it had been last week and the wind a lot stronger. Now aybody that know's me will tell you that i don't feel the cold normaly but today was the first time in months that i have fished with a fleece all day( plus a jacket when the heaven's opened a couple of times), the wind was blowing in the usual was down into the teens and off the back of the 30's. At the draw i pulled out peg 12, crap no island throw, Stav drew 23 the same peg he fished last week with apparently no island throw but the guy's either side said nothing last week when he threw it? I got to my peg and tried to asses what to do for the best, i decided to fish the method at 30-35m ( as far as i was allowed to go ), the straight lead at 20-25m as far as i could fire 6mm pellets in the strong side wind & the pole at 8m so i could hold it steady, i left the pellet wagg in the bag in the strong wind.
The method rod was set up the same as last week, i used my 9-11ft Shimano beastmaster rod for the straight lead with 6lb maxima reel line to a 0.18 H/L to a 16 pr27 a 3/4oz fox lead, the pole rig was a maver jona 4x14 0.16 to a 175 size 3 topped with 13h preston elastic. Bait was the same as last week g/bait, lots of different pellets & some dead reds for the hook.
The first hour was less than eventful with just 3 fish on my method line a 3lb carp, 8oz ghostie & a 8oz tench, the only good thing was that while i was watching a motionless tip i had noticed that the other 5 blokes in my section weren't catching either. I changed to the straight lead line where i had been firing 6mm pellets all the time i was on the method, 1 hour later and 3 more carp in the bag it was turning out to be a very slow day with just odd carp being caught. Steve Heitzman on peg 6 was having a few floating the pole 16m to the aerator, yes peg 6 was the peg i was on last week but i refuse to fish that method. I noticed that there was a feeder landing on the point of the island in-front of Steve at first i thought it was peg 7 next to him but on closer inspection it was the guy in 8 casting across 2 pegs but no one said anything, as i said last week how has got the throw??? i know for a fact peg 8 cannot cast to the island with 6 & 7 in & it made it worse when i saw him catching he was in my section. The guy's on peg's 14 & 15 started to catch odd fish on the pole so i gave it a go as i had fed it from the start with 4 pots of 4mm pellets now and then, 15 mins later with no bites i was going now where fast. I went back out on the straight lead trying some halibut paste i had pulled out of the freezer wrapped around the 6mm pellet i had got on the hair, straight away i had 3 carp i as many throw's one around 6lb but just when i thought i had sorted it the bites dried up again. Then i had a strange thing happen as i was playing a carp on the lead around 5-6lb just as i was about to net it the rod shot back, CRAP i had pulled out, NO i had been broken on the mainline, 6lb maxima doesn't break like that normally i can only think that i had caught it some time. The guy on peg 14 was now catching well on the pole so it was time to try it again, this time the 6mm expander shot under and i was playing a 3lb carp as far as i could see most of the fish peg 14 was catching were f1's. I wasn't getting many bites on the pole but when i did get one it was a carp not an f1 which is most unusual here. The last hour went the same way as i stuck to the pole getting odd bites but the only one in my section that was catching was still peg 14, with 10 mins to go i hooked a carp which felt like a good fish with lots of 13h elastic out i got the fish under control but then it all went slack again, Shit i had pulled out, NO i had been broke again! 0.16 with a soft 13 hollo elastic takes some breaking, my elastic is brand new which is set so soft that i had to use the puller to tighten it back up. With no time left to put another rig on i just threw the lead on the pole line and prayed that it shot round! But with no bites the match was over. It had been a very hard day with not many fish being caught around me all i could see was Steve catching on peg 6, i think a combination of the weather and a lot of pressure form anglers had took it's toll. Steve had put a good 83lb on the scales for the best so far with a 80lb off peg 4 the next best, i watched the my section weigh in with 30lb the best next to me on peg 11, i was next with 46lb 6oz and 19lb on peg 13 on my left. The guy on peg 14 pulled his nets and i thought he had done me for the section and he had by 4lb with 50lb odd, Shit those 2 fish that broke me had cost me dearly. I know that we all loose fish from time to time that's the nature of the game but it's a bit of a pet hate of mine losing to many fish, the one that broke the mainline on the feeder was the one i couldn't get my head around, I WAS NOT HAPPY. Stav came around saying that he had won his section with 65lb on the method again (up his i haven't got a throw up the island peg again?), he had won the section peg default as John Cattermole on peg 17 had 118lb had won the match with the only ton of the day. We watched the last section in the 30's weigh in and 56lb won that so i think the weather had done the damage.
Are well there is always next week as we have another window in our diary's as one of our clubs Halesowen have Hallow booked on the lower Severn ( stuff that ).
PS well done to Stuart for winning the club match at Trimpley last week with 25lb again, that the first 3 club matches on the river Stuart has won them all with the same weight 25lb? Are the scales bust?
The method rod was set up the same as last week, i used my 9-11ft Shimano beastmaster rod for the straight lead with 6lb maxima reel line to a 0.18 H/L to a 16 pr27 a 3/4oz fox lead, the pole rig was a maver jona 4x14 0.16 to a 175 size 3 topped with 13h preston elastic. Bait was the same as last week g/bait, lots of different pellets & some dead reds for the hook.
The first hour was less than eventful with just 3 fish on my method line a 3lb carp, 8oz ghostie & a 8oz tench, the only good thing was that while i was watching a motionless tip i had noticed that the other 5 blokes in my section weren't catching either. I changed to the straight lead line where i had been firing 6mm pellets all the time i was on the method, 1 hour later and 3 more carp in the bag it was turning out to be a very slow day with just odd carp being caught. Steve Heitzman on peg 6 was having a few floating the pole 16m to the aerator, yes peg 6 was the peg i was on last week but i refuse to fish that method. I noticed that there was a feeder landing on the point of the island in-front of Steve at first i thought it was peg 7 next to him but on closer inspection it was the guy in 8 casting across 2 pegs but no one said anything, as i said last week how has got the throw??? i know for a fact peg 8 cannot cast to the island with 6 & 7 in & it made it worse when i saw him catching he was in my section. The guy's on peg's 14 & 15 started to catch odd fish on the pole so i gave it a go as i had fed it from the start with 4 pots of 4mm pellets now and then, 15 mins later with no bites i was going now where fast. I went back out on the straight lead trying some halibut paste i had pulled out of the freezer wrapped around the 6mm pellet i had got on the hair, straight away i had 3 carp i as many throw's one around 6lb but just when i thought i had sorted it the bites dried up again. Then i had a strange thing happen as i was playing a carp on the lead around 5-6lb just as i was about to net it the rod shot back, CRAP i had pulled out, NO i had been broken on the mainline, 6lb maxima doesn't break like that normally i can only think that i had caught it some time. The guy on peg 14 was now catching well on the pole so it was time to try it again, this time the 6mm expander shot under and i was playing a 3lb carp as far as i could see most of the fish peg 14 was catching were f1's. I wasn't getting many bites on the pole but when i did get one it was a carp not an f1 which is most unusual here. The last hour went the same way as i stuck to the pole getting odd bites but the only one in my section that was catching was still peg 14, with 10 mins to go i hooked a carp which felt like a good fish with lots of 13h elastic out i got the fish under control but then it all went slack again, Shit i had pulled out, NO i had been broke again! 0.16 with a soft 13 hollo elastic takes some breaking, my elastic is brand new which is set so soft that i had to use the puller to tighten it back up. With no time left to put another rig on i just threw the lead on the pole line and prayed that it shot round! But with no bites the match was over. It had been a very hard day with not many fish being caught around me all i could see was Steve catching on peg 6, i think a combination of the weather and a lot of pressure form anglers had took it's toll. Steve had put a good 83lb on the scales for the best so far with a 80lb off peg 4 the next best, i watched the my section weigh in with 30lb the best next to me on peg 11, i was next with 46lb 6oz and 19lb on peg 13 on my left. The guy on peg 14 pulled his nets and i thought he had done me for the section and he had by 4lb with 50lb odd, Shit those 2 fish that broke me had cost me dearly. I know that we all loose fish from time to time that's the nature of the game but it's a bit of a pet hate of mine losing to many fish, the one that broke the mainline on the feeder was the one i couldn't get my head around, I WAS NOT HAPPY. Stav came around saying that he had won his section with 65lb on the method again (up his i haven't got a throw up the island peg again?), he had won the section peg default as John Cattermole on peg 17 had 118lb had won the match with the only ton of the day. We watched the last section in the 30's weigh in and 56lb won that so i think the weather had done the damage.
| Match Results - Sunday 29th August - Island Pool |
| ST JOHN CATTERMOLE 118-14-0 Frenzee Peg 17 2ND STEVE HEITZMAN 83-0-0 Magic Lantern Peg 6 3RD CHRIS BELL 80-8-0 MFL Peg 4 29 fished. Carp and tench caught on pole and pellet and groundbait feeder. |
PS well done to Stuart for winning the club match at Trimpley last week with 25lb again, that the first 3 club matches on the river Stuart has won them all with the same weight 25lb? Are the scales bust?
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