Cob House Knock-Up Wednesday 27/7/11

Had to swap my day off to fish this one organized by two mates of mine Matt & Shaun on Wyatts pool at Cob house fishery, i had traveled down with my chauffeur Stav (aka uncle fester!) and after the usual belly-buster breakie in the excellent Mayfly cafe we made our way to the pool side to do the draw. It soon became apparent to us that it would be a harder than normal match as we had 16 blokes fishing and another 14 peg club match on the other side taking up all 30 pegs up on the pool!, we even had to pinch one of there pegs from the other side as there is only 15 pegs on each bank on Wyatts. So with every peg in i thought that a light feeding regime might be the order of the day and after the usual mickey taking and good banter it was time for the draw, i pulled out peg 12 and Stav got peg 5 which normally doesn't make any difference on this pool as it is solid of fish on every peg. After setting up my platform in the water which is allowed on the fishery as the pegs are quite high off the water due to the low water levels all the pools and rivers are experiencing this summer i set up my rigs as follows-
Rig 1, on the deck at 3m for pellet, 4x12 Maver invincible pellet pencil, 0.18 mainline to a 0.16 hook-length with a size 2 Tubertini 175, set just touching bottom in 3 1/2 feet of water with all the shot bulked up 8 inches from the hook.
Rig 2, shallow rig for the same line, 0.30gr Maver Jurassic dibber, 0.14 line straight through to a 18 Preston pr27 hook with a lasso for hard 6mm pellets set 18 inches deep with all the shot under the float.
Rig 3, margin rig down my left-hand edge to some grass cover for maggot (i only tend to feed 1 edge here so i can put my keepnets the other side to keep them away from my short line?), a Preston durra 10 float 4X12, 0.16 line straight through to size 3 Tubertini 175 hook set 2 inches over depth in 18 inches of water with all the shot bulked 6 inches from the hook.
For bait i had brought 4 pints of 4mm fishery feed pellets and 4 pints of dead maggots to make up my 8 pint limit of feed but with every peg in i was now looking to feed only around half of this amount, for hook bait i had brought 6mm expander's and hard pellets, some corn and a 1/4 of a pint of live maggots.
I started the match on the 3m deck rig feeding pellets in 6-8 at a time while starting feeding maggots down my margin line for later in the match as the last time i fished this pool i had some of the bigger stamp on this line, most of the carp in Wyatts range from 8oz to around 4lb with the fish averaging 1lb-1 1/2lb. I started catching the odd fish on the deck and while not setting the world on fire by the end of the first hour i had managed 21 fish which i thought with every peg in was OK, if i could keep it up and end up with around 100 fish this would give me around 120-130lb which should be enough for a top 3 place today with as-well as all the pegs in the sun was out 25'c and the pool flat calm from any breeze. Just as i thought everything was going swimmingly the bites started to go from hittable to UN-hittable and i started to foul-hook a lot of fish, i tried cutting back on the feed but this stopped the bites altogether so i had to feed to get bites but they were not on the deck anymore and after loosing around 6 fish on the bounce i reached for the shallow rig. I was catching odd fish shallow but i think that the amount of pressure on the pool was talking it's toll but the fish i was catching up in the water were of a slightly bigger stamp, by the end of hour 2 i had only managed another 12 fish so my 20 fish per hour had gone out of the window!

That was the pattern for the rest of the match I would have odd fish on the deck but it made no difference to my hooked fish ratio weather or not i fished soft expander's or hard banded pellets, after a time the bites would become almost impossible to hit so i would switch back to the shallow rig for a few fish and to be honest this is were i caught most of my fish. I had a couple of looks on the margin maggot line which only produced a couple of fish as with every peg in i felt that the fish would not settle on the feed properly, this thought was mirrored by a mate of mine Scott Jones a that works at the fishery and he knows the place inside out so I didn't pursue this line for very long. I ended the match with 76 fish which i thought would give me around the 90lb mark and hoped that would be enough for a frame place in today's hot and pressured conditions, a quick walk down the bank and chat with Stav reveled he had got 95 fish and was looking good for a top spot but he said that the guy on the end peg 1 had also got a few fish. After packing the gear away we started the weigh-in at peg 1 who put 109lb on the scales, Stav put 124lb on to take top spot so far, there was a 82 & 93lb weighed in before it was my turn and my bag went 105lb 4oz which put me 3rd with the guy on the opposite bank in the corner having 90lb. So well done to Stav for the match win which i think fished fantastic with every peg in, i know that most fishery's normally shut up shop with that much pressure, not this place, it's Solid! I was happy with 3rd place with a few fish in the net is better than a day at work anytime, me and Stav were talking on the journey back home about how the fish in Wyatts have packed some weight on in the last 12 months since the last time i fished it Stav's fish averaging 1.30lb and mine 1.38lb so roll on next week when we embark on our fishing week which we have booked into 2 opens at Cob house which we are both looking forward to.

Quick catch-up time

I have been doing a bit of work at home over the last couple of weeks and haven't found the time to update my blog regularly so i will just give you a quick run through of my last few matches in the hope of catching up before Stav and I start on fishing week which begins next week.

Sunday 26/6/11- This was a Cradley club match fished at Packington Sommers on Geary's pool, i drew peg 7 on the high bank and fished mainly the method at long range on a very hot sunny day( the hottest so far this year i think at 29-30 c!), the match was very hard in the hot conditions and i managed to win my section with 16lb odd made up of 2 carp + bits, Stav won the match with 31lb a nice bag of skimmers on the pole & pellet so well done to him.

Sunday 3/7/11- This was a Halesowen club match fished on the Woodside stretch of the Dudley canal near Merryhill and the less said about this match the better as someone changed the pegging before the start of the match putting 4 pegs in at the top end of the stretch that have not been fished for 12 months? There has been a 10 match winter/spring league run on this venue and these pegs have not been used ( if they were any good they would have been used during the league), yes i drew one of them and amassed an awesome 1lb 4oz for the second best weight off the 4 of us the match was won by Ollie on peg 51 with 15lb odd of chub.

Sunday17/7/11- Another Halesowen club match this time on the river Severn at Trimpley i only normally fish the river once a year to remind how bad they are ( Stav and i call it our 12 monthly injection!) but this year we have two on the bounce and i decided to fish both of them come rain or shine or dry net! I drew the bottom of the island at the top end of the stretch and had 4 small Barbel and 2 chub for 11lb 10oz and 4th overall all on caster & hemp. I think i would have had a few more if i had not have had 3 canoes get stuck on rocks while going over the very shallow ford, the joy's of river fishing where exterior forces can ruin you day out on natural venues! The match was won by Baz Robson with 29lb made up of 8 small Barbel & a few bits off a peg on top of the bottom island below the outfall.

Sunday 24/7/11- Cradley club match at the Stanley waters on the river Severn, a right gruler this one as the river seemed to be carrying a rusty tinge of colour but with no extra water on? Whatever the reason the fish just refused too feed at all and i finished with 1 Barbel & 3 eel's for a grand total of 5lb 9oz for 5th overall and a section win, the match was won by Kevin (Sid) Sidaway with 6 Chub for 15lb odd but there were a lot of good river anglers with nothing or next to nothing to show for 5 hours of fishing? Now while i have enjoyed my break from the commercials over the last few weeks i have to say that i am looking forward to catching some fish, i am not knocking the guys that only fish the rivers but if i had to go back to fishing them week in week out i think i would seriously consider taking up golf ( or drinking lots of Stella). Double injection over and done with and i am now cured of the running water disease for another 12 months! ( now it's your turn Stav you have to have a big injection as you missed your booster jab last year?).

Now that i am up to date i hope to bring you a normal full length blog as there should be lots to write about as Stav and i embark on our fishing week soon, CHEERS.

SOAP BOX TIME

I felt i must have my say on the madness that is going on at some of my local fishery's in this era of mad 50lb keepnet rules most fishery's insist on at least 2-3 nets and some where big weights are common there have been some crazy weights 250-300lb with anglers using 6-8 nets has fishing gone MAD! I am going to have my say on the stupid net rule that some fishery's are imposing i believe that a 3m keeepnet can easily hold 100lb without harming the fish at all take a look at some of the BIG commercial fishery's in my area Tunnel Barn, Moorlands Farm & Woodlands view that allow you up too 100lb in one net now these fishery's have been around for a long time and produce regular big weights. Some of the smaller up and coming fishery's should take note of the big boy's and stop imposing stupid rules knocking anglers weights down if they go over the 50lb limit, now most of these anglers are working guy's with 1 day off a week to go fishing away from the misses & kids with a few mates to have the crack a bit of fishing with a bit of competition thrown in for good measure. Now the lucky guy has finally managed to draw a flier and catch a few fish only to have some jumped up Hitler type fishery owner on a power trip knock a few pound off his weight for going over in one of his umpteen keepnet's and costing him the match, now don't get me wrong i am all for fish welfare but i think that 3 nets is more that ample for most fishery's and these fishery owner's had better watch out as i work in tackle shop and hear all the moaning from a lot of dissatisfied anglers about certain fishery's with all the rules and regulations of bait restrictions YOU MUST BUY OUR PELLETS AS THEY ARE BETTER FOR OUR FISH, B******S BETTER FOR YOUR BANK BALANCE! Coupled with you carn't do this and carn't do that the pleasure of going out on your day off is slowly wearing a bit thin and i think that those fishery's with to many rules in the future might come unstuck when the majority start voting with there feet and boycotting these fishery's. Now i know on the pellet front how much they cost and how much you can sell them for to make a decent profit but there are a couple of my local fishery's that are BIG hitters in the world of commercials that are ripping there customers off big style with the price of there pellets, i know they are making stupid amounts of profit on these pellets some in excesses of 200-300% what they should be and they have even got the nerve to make the measures shorter every time you go! In the future you might see a swing back towards rivers and canals as people get sick to the back teeth with all the commercials ripping them off and treating them like naughty little boys don't do this and don't do that F**k this they will be back on the rivers with next to no rules?
Sorry rant over.