This weekend saw us back at Cob House Fisheries for a Cradley Heath club match on Laugherne Island pool and after winning the Halesowen match down here a couple of weeks ago on Wyatts pool I was hoping for more of the same, after Stav and I had another great breakfast in the Mayfly cafe we assembled for the draw on the car park there were 24 of us all eager for a good draw I drew out peg 26 on the right hand bank and Stav got peg 36 on the same bank but closer to the car park. I was happy with my draw as I was only a couple of pegs away from where I had won the same match from last year and only 1 peg away from where I had pleasure fished a few weeks ago with my old man and emptied it, peg 26 is in the middle of the last Island next to an aerator rope to my right I had a good mate of mine John Morgan, Kev Clarke had drawn the corner peg 21 and would be hard to beat today I thought and the other side of the rope on peg 28 was Gary Mason so at least we would have the crack if nothing else. When I fished peg 27 a few weeks ago I had 18 Carp in the first 2 hours on the method feeder tight to the Island while I knew it wouldn't fish like that today with 24 on the pool it would still be the opening method as the fish seem to push out to the Islands with all the early bank-side disturbance, I set up 4 pole rigs to cover the peg and the method feeder.
Rig 1, 13m on the deck a 4x16 Maver Jona set just touching bottom in 7ft of water, 0.18 mainline to a 0.16 hooklength to a size 3 Tubertini 175 hook, 13 hollo elastic.
Rig 2, 13m shallow rig a 0.30gr Maver Jurassic dibber around 18" deep 0.16 line straight through to a 16 Preston PR27 hook with a bait band, 13 hollo elastic.
Rig 3, 5m line on the deck a 4x14 Maver Jona set just touching bottom in 4ft of water, 0.18 line straight through to size 4 175 hook, black hydro elastic.
Rig 4, 5m to my left hand edge just before the rope a 4x12 Preston Durra 10 float set 3" over-depth in 2ft of water a size 3 175 hook, black hydro elastic.
The feeder rig was a simple small 24gr Guru in-line method feeder ( in-line only rules at Cob House ), 0.23 Maver Dual-band line, 3" hooklength of 0.20 to a 16 Preston PR27 hook with a bait band.
For bait I had brought a 3 pint bag of fishery 4mm pellets, around 2 pints of 1mm fishery micro pellets for the method feeder, 3 tins of corn and 4 pints of dead maggots, I had also got various 6 & 8mm expanders for the hook a few live maggots and some 6mm hard pellets for the bands.
On the whistle I fed a pot of 4mm pellets and half a dozen grains of corn at 13m and a pot full of dead maggots down the edge the 5m line I would feed now and again with 4mm pellets and corn by hand, I loaded the method feeder with micro pellets and a 6mm pellet on the hook and cast it the short 20m to the shallow water sat back and awaited my first bite. There were odd fish being caught around the lake but it took around 30 mins before I got my first bite a little 2lb job John to my right had a couple and Gary to my left had 3, around another 10mins I hooked and lost fish no2 I had noticed from around 5mins into the match there were odd fish coming and mopping up my maggots from down the edge but in order to give them a little confidence I had resisted going for them too early. With around an hour gone and only 2 fish in my net I was going nowhere fast as Gary had around 5-6 fish so had JB on peg 30 I couldn't wait any longer I put 3 live maggots on the hook and lowered the rig in amongst the fish I could see churning up the mud searching for my dead maggots, I had re-fed the line 3-4 times before trying it before long the float slid away and I was connected to a good fish I had to keep the pole low as the fish swam under the rope and before long I got the better of the fish a nice 8lb common. Next put-in I struck and missed a bite so I re-fed and soon hooked fish no2 around the same size as the first these were good fish, I missed another bite next put-in which marked the end of the margin line for a long time as the fish spooked and scattered. There were a few people around the pool catching a few fish like Kev in the corner who had caught a few fish from the off and was slowly building a weight along with Gary and JB I was a bit behind, things didn't get much better as I tried both the short and long pole lines which produced just a single 1/2lb Carp and two 6oz skimmers then I tried the 13m line for the second time and foul-hooked 3 Carp in as many put-ins. I was now getting worried as we were approaching the half way point in the match so I picked up the shallow rig despite not seeing any fish activity in the upper layers shipped out with a 6mm hard pellet in the band and before I could grab the catapult the elastic came out of the pole, the fish was around 5lb and very welcome the next drop in I fired around 6-8 pellets at the float and the same again a 4lb Carp hooked itself against the pole tip BINGO I had finally found the fish they were up in the water all along while I had been messing around on the deck and feeder. Around 20 mins later before I hooked shallow Carp no3 and it was not a solid as I first thought another 20 mins later without a bite it was time to try another line a quick look on the 5m line I had a couple of missed bites before I hooked a 5lb fish on the corn, the fish had returned down my edge but they wouldn't settle there I would have a couple of bites a fish or two or miss a couple of bites then they would go missing for 5-10mins. With the match entering the last hour I had got 9 Carp and 2 skimmers so I was going to concentrate on the margin and short line switching between the two trying to keep the bites coming as the fish on these lines seem to be bigger, Gary next to me had also caught some good fish from the edge on worm over g/bait and JB was hooking some margin fish as well I had another 4 fish in the next 30mins in the 4-8lb range before I hooked a proper tool from down the edge which tried to hit the Island after around 5mins I started to get the upper hand and landed a common around 12-13lb. The last 30mins saw me land another 4 Carp from the edge with 2 of them going around 7-8lb there seems to be a good head of fish this size in this pool finishing me with 16 Carp and those 2 skimmers, JB ,Gary & Kev had all caught well and it was too close to call I was estimating around 80lb for my fish as I had some big fish but also had 3 for around 5lb with most of the fish from 4-8lb.
We started the weigh-in from peg 1 on the opposite side of the pool with Big Ritchie putting 60lb on the scales and all the way down that side of the pool weights were close from 35lb to the best weight on the bank was Mark Farley with 62lb, around the corner to Kev the first peg on our bank went into the lead with a good 81lb, John next to me had struggled all day for bites putting 45lb on the scales and I was shocked to see my fish go 108lb 12oz I honestly thought around 80lb'ish, Gary the other side of the rope had 91lb and then there was a 60lb next to him before JB pulled his net out and I new he had a few fish his two nets went 95lb, Stav said he had not got that much nor had anybody else up the top end of our bank, Stav had 75lb to win his section there was a 50lb next to him and the last to weigh was Steve on the end peg with 60lb. I was honestly gob-smacked to have won the match I knew the fish were big but I really thought Gary and JB had more then me but I was not complaining more beer tokens to spend in the Bell pub at the end of the road CHEERS!
Monday 21 May 2012
Sunday 20 May 2012
Dudley Canal No1 Woodside Sunday 29/4/12
This match was going to be a Cradley Heath club match on the Woodside stretch of the Dudley canal where a few of the lads regularly fish a winter league but for a change the weatherman had got it right and as a few of us had a breakfast in the Park Lane Tavern, none of us was looking forward to fishing out in that as the gale force winds were bending trees and snapping branches off and throwing recycle bins into the road the rain was puring down and good scene prevailed as we got onto the car park for the draw we put it to the vote and cancelled the match, thank god.
Blythe Pairs League Saturday 28/4/12
This was the last round of our pairs league which had been re-arranged due to snow in the winter and with club match and other commitments on Sundays had to be arranged for a Saturday, Stav and I were sitting on top of the league with a 10 point margin over the second placed Carl/Chris partnership so if we came no lower than 5th in each of our sections we were on for our 3rd league win on the bounce. We were both keen for a good draw to finish the 8th and final round off with so into the draw bag I went and pulled out peg 30 on the point for me and peg 17 on the straight for Stav which was not a bad draw and we both felt that we could do well from these pegs, I had fished my peg twice this league already with good results both times so I was confident that I could come higher than the target of 5th in the section. As the weather warms up a lot of the fish here are caught shallow from under the boom which I could reach with 14.5m of pole (Stav's peg is 17.5m! nice) I set up 2 shallow rigs and 1 for the deck on this line and 1 for the margin to my right, the 2 shallow rigs one with 0.14 line and 13 hollo elastic and the other with 0.16 line and black hydro elastic just in-case the bigger fish turned up, the deck rig had 0.16 line and 13 hollo elastic and the margin rig had 0.18 line with black hydro.
I started the match on the deck cupping in 4mm pellets and fishing a 6mm expander on the hook I had also fed a pot of dead maggots down my right-hand edge for later, all I had for the first 10-15mins was 3 liners as the fish were already up in the water so an early switch to the shallow rig was called for. Kev Clarke on peg 29 had suffered the same fate as were both switched at the same time and shipped out at the same time and both hooked a fish within 30 seconds of putting the rigs in the water, my fish was around 5lb which fell to a 6mm lassoed hard pellet while feeding 4mm's over the top Kev had chose to fish the worm feeding through the pot so it would be interesting to see which was the best. The next fish shortly after was around the same size and we both had around 6 fish each within an hour of coming shallow from around 1-5lb before the fish decided they had had enough, bites were now not coming at all so after a biteless 20mins shallow I picked up the margin rig and put 3 live maggots on the hook and lowered the rig in I had fed around 3 pots of dead maggots here since the start. After around 5mins the float buried and I was connected to a good fish so I just lowered the top kit into the water and held on hoping the black hydro would do its job and I soon had the fish under control which was a nice 8lb common, 5mins later I hooked another good fish but this time I just came back with a scale as I was sitting sideways I could see Carl catching on peg 3 which was a bit worrying as I needed to beat him or at least not end up too many places behind him. I had rang Stav earlier to see how he was getting on and he had just got a couple of Carp but over the last hour he was now catching quickly up in the water and coming back with a fish most put-ins, this was good as I could see Chris his main target in his section struggling on peg 8 so far it was looking good for us. For the rest of the match I just picked off odd fish shallow from the boom and I did manage another fish of around 8lb from my right-hand margin and ended the match with 16 Carp from 1-8lb while after that early flurry shallow Kev too my left had struggled for bites, Stav had found the going hard for the first hour but for the last 4 hours had caught steady all day and looked like the match winner from where I was sitting. The scales started weighing Stav's section first and Dave on peg 10 was the first to weigh anything of note with 36lb and there was not a lot until Stav, I just managed to get around the pool as he was weighing in his two net total went 95lb and easily won the section and the match. The best in my section was Ray on peg 26 with 35lb then Kev next to me put 27lb on the scales my net went 50lb 12oz which put me into the lead in the section until we got to Carl on peg 3 the last peg in my section and he weighed in 65lb for the section win, that left me 2nd in the section and 3rd in the match overall leaving Stav and I as league winners for the 3rd year on the bounce which we were both very pleased with. All that was left to do was retire to the cafe for the results and chew over the fat of the day over a cup of tea we ended the league 13 points clear of Chris & Carl in 2nd place, 3rd place went to Ray & Dave who snuck in by 1 point in-front of Kev & Tony on the last day putting them back to 4th. Thanks to Carl & JB for running the league and well done to Stav my pairs partner for catching a few fish in the end finally pulling his finger out Cheers Mate!!!!!
I started the match on the deck cupping in 4mm pellets and fishing a 6mm expander on the hook I had also fed a pot of dead maggots down my right-hand edge for later, all I had for the first 10-15mins was 3 liners as the fish were already up in the water so an early switch to the shallow rig was called for. Kev Clarke on peg 29 had suffered the same fate as were both switched at the same time and shipped out at the same time and both hooked a fish within 30 seconds of putting the rigs in the water, my fish was around 5lb which fell to a 6mm lassoed hard pellet while feeding 4mm's over the top Kev had chose to fish the worm feeding through the pot so it would be interesting to see which was the best. The next fish shortly after was around the same size and we both had around 6 fish each within an hour of coming shallow from around 1-5lb before the fish decided they had had enough, bites were now not coming at all so after a biteless 20mins shallow I picked up the margin rig and put 3 live maggots on the hook and lowered the rig in I had fed around 3 pots of dead maggots here since the start. After around 5mins the float buried and I was connected to a good fish so I just lowered the top kit into the water and held on hoping the black hydro would do its job and I soon had the fish under control which was a nice 8lb common, 5mins later I hooked another good fish but this time I just came back with a scale as I was sitting sideways I could see Carl catching on peg 3 which was a bit worrying as I needed to beat him or at least not end up too many places behind him. I had rang Stav earlier to see how he was getting on and he had just got a couple of Carp but over the last hour he was now catching quickly up in the water and coming back with a fish most put-ins, this was good as I could see Chris his main target in his section struggling on peg 8 so far it was looking good for us. For the rest of the match I just picked off odd fish shallow from the boom and I did manage another fish of around 8lb from my right-hand margin and ended the match with 16 Carp from 1-8lb while after that early flurry shallow Kev too my left had struggled for bites, Stav had found the going hard for the first hour but for the last 4 hours had caught steady all day and looked like the match winner from where I was sitting. The scales started weighing Stav's section first and Dave on peg 10 was the first to weigh anything of note with 36lb and there was not a lot until Stav, I just managed to get around the pool as he was weighing in his two net total went 95lb and easily won the section and the match. The best in my section was Ray on peg 26 with 35lb then Kev next to me put 27lb on the scales my net went 50lb 12oz which put me into the lead in the section until we got to Carl on peg 3 the last peg in my section and he weighed in 65lb for the section win, that left me 2nd in the section and 3rd in the match overall leaving Stav and I as league winners for the 3rd year on the bounce which we were both very pleased with. All that was left to do was retire to the cafe for the results and chew over the fat of the day over a cup of tea we ended the league 13 points clear of Chris & Carl in 2nd place, 3rd place went to Ray & Dave who snuck in by 1 point in-front of Kev & Tony on the last day putting them back to 4th. Thanks to Carl & JB for running the league and well done to Stav my pairs partner for catching a few fish in the end finally pulling his finger out Cheers Mate!!!!!
Tuesday 15 May 2012
Larford Open Sunday 15/4/12
With no club matches booked this weekend Stav and I had decided to fish the open at Larford which was to be held on the specimen lake with neither of us having not fished here for a while I dug around a bit trying to get some info on how best to approach the lake at the moment, I rang my old work college Dan Bache who fishes here quite regular and it looked like the old pellet wagg / straight lead was the way to go with the long pole line coming good the last half of the match unless you drew on the high bank by the chalets where you could catch on the pole all day. My only concern was that the week leading up to the match the weather had took a turn for the worse and gone from 18-20c to around 8c with one or two frosts thrown in for good measure, the match the week before was won with 100lb+ while we were at Cob House with some good backing weights but I think the weather will make a bit harder than that. I drew peg 18 halfway down the burr and Stav got peg 82 on the high bank (flier corner peg) I was happy with my peg as I have fished in this area before with good results although I prefer from pegs 10-16, I was going to fish the way Dan had said but I had a feeling the long range method which works in the winter might come back into play as the weather had cooled down. For company on my right on peg 20 was an old mate Joe Lowe (works for Maver) and on peg 22 was Paul Cook (sponsored by Maver) so I was in good company, there was 40 anglers on the match so the pegging was every other peg all the way around the lake.
I set up my 12ft Maver Reactolite for the pellet wagg with 5lb maxima reel line and a 8gr loaded John Bonney waggler set up with two gripper stops above and three below so I could alter the depth up and down with a 0.18 hook-length with a 14 Preston PR27 hook with a lasso. The lead rod was my 9/11ft Shimano Beastmaster with 8lb maxima mainline, 1oz lead set up so I could change hook-lengths between lasso for pellets and quickstops for meat & corn, all my hooklengths for the lead were 0.20 14's or 12's PR27's. I set up two pole rigs for the 13m line one light and one heavy both 1.0gr Maver f1 floats one with 0.16 hook length & size 3 175 hook with 13 hollo elastic, the other with 0.18 line straight through and black hydro incase the Carp started to show up in force both were set up on top 4's in around 10ft of water.
For bait I had brought 2 bags fishery 8mm pellets ( around 4 pints ), 2 bags of 4mm pellets, 3 tins of corn and 2 tins of 8mm chopped meat.
I kicked off the match on the straight lead at 25-30m with a single 8mm pellet on the hair while firing a few 8mm's over the top after around 20mins Joe was the first to catch with a Carp on the method on the same line as me while firing 8mm's over the top this is the normal starting method for many on this lake, the first hour passed without so much a a liner to shoe for my efforts despite trying meat & corn on the hook as well as pellets. There was not a lot of fish being caught around by me just the odd skimmer and by the end of hour 2 there were people starting to walk around it was that bad with most of the people to my right with either 1 or no fish, I was still dry at this point despite trying the pole for 15mins with a soft hook pellet not so much as a skimmer it was at this I began to question my own sanity as it was bloody freezing with a very cold wind blowing down the lake towards the Arena pool. I was sitting there wondering what to do next with my hood up trying to keep the wind from battering me wishing I had put my thermal gear on as my feet were freezing, I changed from the straight lead to a cage feeder in an attempt to put the feed down one hole as opposed to firing 8mm pellets all over the place because it was obvious that the fish were in no mood to chase the feed around. After around 3 chucks with the cage feeder with a 8mm piece of meat on the hair I got my first bite of the day a 1lb skimmer and the next chuck another of around 12oz so at least I was off the mark, I was putting a mix of 4mm pellets, corn & meat into the feeder and I had 5 skimmers in around 20mins and just when I thought this were looking up they vanished. I couldn't believe how bad the lake was fishing well around by me it was anyway I had all but given up when with around a hour and a quarter to the all out I got my first proper pull of the day a 6lb common was the culprit and around 5mins later another of around 4lb now with around an hour left it looked like the Carp had finally started to feed, the next bite saw me hook into something a lot bigger and after around 5mins a fish of around 15lb was ready for the net when the hook pulled out CRAP I knew that the way the lake was fishing that fish was going to cost me money. I managed to land another 4 Carp before the all out all falling to meat apart from one which I took on double corn I don't know if I would have caught a few more if I had started on the feeder instead of spraying pellets all over the peg on he straight lead? It had certainly been a cold and trying day too say the least and when Joe Lowe got to our pegs with the scales from the bottom of the burr 14lb was the best weight! that's worse than the middle of the winter for this lake, Joe himself put 17lb on the scales with just that one early Carp and a few skimmers, my 6 Carp and 5 skimmers went 36lb 6oz, the guy to my left had fished the pole all day for 2 Carp+ skimmers for 24lb. There were no weights of note until peg 12 where the guy had 59lb and the guy next to him had 41lb which was bad news as this was my section I had beaten 11 guys to my right but me and Joe were in the section from peg 2-20 of either of us had been in the section below we would have won it? I knew a soon as I pulled out of that fish it would cost me money I knew it would have given me around 50lb'ish made worse when a mate of mine Shunter (Brian Jones) was 3rd with 50lb, you win some you loose some. Stav had also had a bad day tipping around 15lb back off his flier peg, look at the match result below to see he had 3rd, 6th and 1st either side of him (peg 85 is the next peg in after 82 as is goes around the corner) ( sorry mate!!!!).
I set up my 12ft Maver Reactolite for the pellet wagg with 5lb maxima reel line and a 8gr loaded John Bonney waggler set up with two gripper stops above and three below so I could alter the depth up and down with a 0.18 hook-length with a 14 Preston PR27 hook with a lasso. The lead rod was my 9/11ft Shimano Beastmaster with 8lb maxima mainline, 1oz lead set up so I could change hook-lengths between lasso for pellets and quickstops for meat & corn, all my hooklengths for the lead were 0.20 14's or 12's PR27's. I set up two pole rigs for the 13m line one light and one heavy both 1.0gr Maver f1 floats one with 0.16 hook length & size 3 175 hook with 13 hollo elastic, the other with 0.18 line straight through and black hydro incase the Carp started to show up in force both were set up on top 4's in around 10ft of water.
For bait I had brought 2 bags fishery 8mm pellets ( around 4 pints ), 2 bags of 4mm pellets, 3 tins of corn and 2 tins of 8mm chopped meat.
I kicked off the match on the straight lead at 25-30m with a single 8mm pellet on the hair while firing a few 8mm's over the top after around 20mins Joe was the first to catch with a Carp on the method on the same line as me while firing 8mm's over the top this is the normal starting method for many on this lake, the first hour passed without so much a a liner to shoe for my efforts despite trying meat & corn on the hook as well as pellets. There was not a lot of fish being caught around by me just the odd skimmer and by the end of hour 2 there were people starting to walk around it was that bad with most of the people to my right with either 1 or no fish, I was still dry at this point despite trying the pole for 15mins with a soft hook pellet not so much as a skimmer it was at this I began to question my own sanity as it was bloody freezing with a very cold wind blowing down the lake towards the Arena pool. I was sitting there wondering what to do next with my hood up trying to keep the wind from battering me wishing I had put my thermal gear on as my feet were freezing, I changed from the straight lead to a cage feeder in an attempt to put the feed down one hole as opposed to firing 8mm pellets all over the place because it was obvious that the fish were in no mood to chase the feed around. After around 3 chucks with the cage feeder with a 8mm piece of meat on the hair I got my first bite of the day a 1lb skimmer and the next chuck another of around 12oz so at least I was off the mark, I was putting a mix of 4mm pellets, corn & meat into the feeder and I had 5 skimmers in around 20mins and just when I thought this were looking up they vanished. I couldn't believe how bad the lake was fishing well around by me it was anyway I had all but given up when with around a hour and a quarter to the all out I got my first proper pull of the day a 6lb common was the culprit and around 5mins later another of around 4lb now with around an hour left it looked like the Carp had finally started to feed, the next bite saw me hook into something a lot bigger and after around 5mins a fish of around 15lb was ready for the net when the hook pulled out CRAP I knew that the way the lake was fishing that fish was going to cost me money. I managed to land another 4 Carp before the all out all falling to meat apart from one which I took on double corn I don't know if I would have caught a few more if I had started on the feeder instead of spraying pellets all over the peg on he straight lead? It had certainly been a cold and trying day too say the least and when Joe Lowe got to our pegs with the scales from the bottom of the burr 14lb was the best weight! that's worse than the middle of the winter for this lake, Joe himself put 17lb on the scales with just that one early Carp and a few skimmers, my 6 Carp and 5 skimmers went 36lb 6oz, the guy to my left had fished the pole all day for 2 Carp+ skimmers for 24lb. There were no weights of note until peg 12 where the guy had 59lb and the guy next to him had 41lb which was bad news as this was my section I had beaten 11 guys to my right but me and Joe were in the section from peg 2-20 of either of us had been in the section below we would have won it? I knew a soon as I pulled out of that fish it would cost me money I knew it would have given me around 50lb'ish made worse when a mate of mine Shunter (Brian Jones) was 3rd with 50lb, you win some you loose some. Stav had also had a bad day tipping around 15lb back off his flier peg, look at the match result below to see he had 3rd, 6th and 1st either side of him (peg 85 is the next peg in after 82 as is goes around the corner) ( sorry mate!!!!).
Classic Qualifier - Specimen Lake
Sunday, 15th April 2012
A good attendance saw forty five anglers show up for the draw on this latest Classic qualifier on the Specimen lake. Again, as with the previous days qualifier on the Match lake, conditions were not ideal with a cold wind and bright sunshine.
Winner on the day was Frenzee / Bait-Tech sponsored rod, Andy Neal. Andy drew peg 78n on the chalet bank and fished pole and pellet at 14m to weigh in a match-winning 62-14-00, booking his place in the May final in the process.
Neil Taylor (Bath Spartans) finished close behind in second place with 59-11-00 from peg 12 on the burr bank. Neil offered meat fished on the pole and 5m to catch all his fish.
Brian "shunter" Jones (Maver / King William) finished third on the day afte drawing peg 85 on the chalet bank.
Fourth place on the day was taken by Matt Barnes (Whitehall / MFS), who drew peg 76. Matt fished bomb and pellet at approximately 30m to weigh in 46lbs exactly to book his place in the final.
Mark Jones (Tredegar Angling) made a worth while the trip from Wales to draw peg 70 and weigh in 45-04-00. Mark fished pole and pellet at 14m to book his place in the May final alongside Andy Neal and Matt Barnes and Neil Taylor.
Winner on the day was Frenzee / Bait-Tech sponsored rod, Andy Neal. Andy drew peg 78n on the chalet bank and fished pole and pellet at 14m to weigh in a match-winning 62-14-00, booking his place in the May final in the process.
Neil Taylor (Bath Spartans) finished close behind in second place with 59-11-00 from peg 12 on the burr bank. Neil offered meat fished on the pole and 5m to catch all his fish.
Brian "shunter" Jones (Maver / King William) finished third on the day afte drawing peg 85 on the chalet bank.
Fourth place on the day was taken by Matt Barnes (Whitehall / MFS), who drew peg 76. Matt fished bomb and pellet at approximately 30m to weigh in 46lbs exactly to book his place in the final.
Mark Jones (Tredegar Angling) made a worth while the trip from Wales to draw peg 70 and weigh in 45-04-00. Mark fished pole and pellet at 14m to book his place in the May final alongside Andy Neal and Matt Barnes and Neil Taylor.
| Position | Name | Peg | Method | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Andy Neal (Frenzee / Bait-Tech) | 78 | Pole and pellet | 62-14-00 |
| 2nd | Neil Taylor (Bath Spartans) | 12 | Pole and meat | 59-11-00 |
| 3rd | Brian Jones (Maver / King William) | 85 | 50-13-00 | |
| 4th | Matt Barnes (Whitehall / MFS) | 76 | Bomb and pellet | 46-00-00 |
| 5th | Mark Jones (Tredegar Angling) | 70 | Pole and pellet | 45-04-00 |
| 6th | Chris Jones (Crewe Carp & Match) | 80 | Pole and pellet | 43-10-00 |
Monday 7 May 2012
Cob House Sunday 1/4/12
Today we were on Wyatts pool at Cob House near Worcester for a Halesowen club match and after the disaster on the canal last week I was looking forward to catching some fish, I know its a bit early in the year but this match had been voted for the fur and feather at the A.G.M due to us rotating the 3 different venues river,canal & pool. 24 of us had turned up for this one which was going to be a bit tight on the pool has Wyatts has only got 30 pegs and although we had had some good weather lately we were greeted by a white frosty morning so I didn't think that the big weights that come from this pool on the opens was on the cards, after another great breakfast in the Mayfly cafe we did the draw and I pulled out peg 4 and Stav got peg 26 ( flier where a mate of mine James had won the open from the previous Saturday with 202lb! ) I wasn't really bothered about the draw as this pool is normally even all the way around. The weight James had the week before had been caught shallow but with the frosty start I was a bit sceptical as to weather it would work today but after a quick word with Scott in the cafe he assured me they were still up, I have fished this pool a few times before and normally you can catch from 2-4m out but would it be too close this early in the year and with nearly every peg in it was a bit tight. The water level on most of the pools here is low at the moment like a lot of other pools and lakes in the area Wyatts is no exception you can still fish off the bank or you are allowed by the fishery to put a platform in the water which I prefer to do instead of sitting 3ft off the water level like a garden gnome, after setting up my platform in the water I could see there were fish cruising just under the surface all over the pool mostly on the long pole line as Scott had said it was just going to be a case weather they wanted to be caught or not. I set up 4 pole rigs to cover my peg
Rig 1, 13m deck rig 4 x 16 Maver Jona, 0.18 mainline to 0.14 hooklength and a 16 Tosciro hook, 13 hollo elastic set just touching the bottom in 7ft of water ( I thought this pool had no water in it! I have never drawn up this end before ).
Rig 2, 13m shallow rig 0.30gr Maver Jurassic dibber with the same line and elastic as above but with a 18 Preston PR 27 hook and Bait band on the hair.
Rig 3, top 2+ short 4 (3m), 4x14 Maver Jona with the same line & hook as rig 1.
Rig 4, I did set up a margin rig but with the pegs in both sides didn't fancy it and never bothered using it.
The bait for today was simple a 3 pint bag of fishery 4mm pellets which at £3 is great value for money (unlike some fishery's!) some 6mm hard pellets for the hair rigs and some 6mm expanders, 1 tin of corn, I did bring some dead maggots just in-case I drew an end peg or one with a empty peg I didn't so I left them in the bag.
At the all in I didn't feed any of my lines with a pot I just started on the 3m line with a 6mm expander on the hook and fed half a dozen pellets over the top every now and then, I have found out on previous occasions if the fish are there in numbers and you feed too much the fish just come off the bottom and you end up suffering from liners and foul-hookers. Despite feeding carefully and working the rig after 10 bite-less minutes I soon realised that the fish weren't on this line yet and picked up the shallow rig as there were fish cruising about further out, Ade next to Stav had one shallow first put-in so out went the rig at 13m with a 6mm white Sensas pellet on the lasso set around 18" deep I fired around 6-8 4mm pellets around the float spun the rig and my 13 hollo elastic came out of the pole as Carp no1 was on. The fish in this pool average 1-3lb this one was around 1 1/2lb and this set the pattern until the end of the first hour when my fish counter read 12 fish and while not setting the world on fire I was happy with this as I was catching better than those around me, Stav and Ade were also catching opposite so I just got my head down and tried to keep a good rhythm up keeping the bite rate up by altering my feeding and depths as the fish were clearly not going mad.
By the end of the second hour I had got 25 fish but I was having to work hard at it as after every 2-3 fish they would just vanish for 5mins until they came back or you found them again but by spinning the rig this seemed to get you more bites than just feeding and lifting the rig, now and then I came back in on the 3m line and managed 3-4 fish before they drifted off again I think this was due to the amount of people on the pool and a cold night. The rest of the match was followed the same pattern until disaster struck with around an hour to go I hooked into a fish on the 13m shallow line and as I shipped back with the 13 & 11.5m in my hands the rest of my pole came apart and shot into the pool (SHIT!!!!), I was just about to jump in after my top 7 sections when I realised that I had got my waders on and there was 4 1/2ft f water on the 3m line I had to stop myself from jumping otherwise I would have sunk like a stone. The pole remained afloat going forwards and back at one point I thought it was coming back but with nothing to grab a hold of the Carp pulled it back into the middle of the pool, my main worry now was that there was a rope next to me with the aerator attached and the Carp was dragging it dangerously close towards it and if it got tangled in the rope it would be curtains. Then Steve Robson a few pegs to my left shouted that he had got a lead rod set up so I ran and got it then ran back passed around my peg and around the corner of the pool as I had to get to the other side so I had something to cast over and try to hook my rig, when I got to the other side my pole was only a rod-length out and as I tried to cast over the pole with the lead I hooked my finger ( SHIT & BOLLOCKS! ) as I was pulling the hook out of my finger Bob who's peg my pole had come into managed to hook my rig with his and as I scrambled down the bank I just caught hold of the top end and I had got it back. Phew that was close I thought it was going to sink for sure the Carp was around 3lb and after dragging my pole around the pool for 5mins looked knackered I told Bob to put it in his but he wouldn't and after pulling my pole out of the water I made it back to my peg, I took Steve his rod back and after drying all my sections off I sat down and soaked up all the mickey taking as some of the lads had made some comments like " if you don't want it there is no need to chuck it in" or " he's trying to give us all a chance by throwing he's pole in". After sorting out another shallow rig I decided to have a look on the short with around 45mins left of the match I had around 6 fish on this before they tailed off then another 7 fish with the shallow rig on the 3m line before the all out sounded, I had ended the match with 62 Carp which was not a bad day after the episode with my pole Stav and Ade had also caught opposite but I couldn't see what had gone on at the top end of the pool. We started the weigh-in off on the other side and Stav was the first to weigh in anything of note with 89lb and Ade next to him had 70lb, the top end of the pool had fished hard as Barry Robson won the top 6 peg on that bank with 45lb and Martin Yardsley winning the top 6 peg section on my bank with 36lb ( that is hard for this pool ), there was two 60lb weights from Steve & John in my section before I weighed in my 62 fish that gave me 107lb 8oz for the match win. I was happy with my days fishing apart from nearly loosing my pole, the pool had fished as I expected with 24 anglers on it and a sharp overnight frost and all that was left to do was to retire to the Bell pub for a couple of Stella's and chew over the fat as Stav and I were first and second we had won some beer tokens?
Rig 1, 13m deck rig 4 x 16 Maver Jona, 0.18 mainline to 0.14 hooklength and a 16 Tosciro hook, 13 hollo elastic set just touching the bottom in 7ft of water ( I thought this pool had no water in it! I have never drawn up this end before ).
Rig 2, 13m shallow rig 0.30gr Maver Jurassic dibber with the same line and elastic as above but with a 18 Preston PR 27 hook and Bait band on the hair.
Rig 3, top 2+ short 4 (3m), 4x14 Maver Jona with the same line & hook as rig 1.
Rig 4, I did set up a margin rig but with the pegs in both sides didn't fancy it and never bothered using it.
The bait for today was simple a 3 pint bag of fishery 4mm pellets which at £3 is great value for money (unlike some fishery's!) some 6mm hard pellets for the hair rigs and some 6mm expanders, 1 tin of corn, I did bring some dead maggots just in-case I drew an end peg or one with a empty peg I didn't so I left them in the bag.
At the all in I didn't feed any of my lines with a pot I just started on the 3m line with a 6mm expander on the hook and fed half a dozen pellets over the top every now and then, I have found out on previous occasions if the fish are there in numbers and you feed too much the fish just come off the bottom and you end up suffering from liners and foul-hookers. Despite feeding carefully and working the rig after 10 bite-less minutes I soon realised that the fish weren't on this line yet and picked up the shallow rig as there were fish cruising about further out, Ade next to Stav had one shallow first put-in so out went the rig at 13m with a 6mm white Sensas pellet on the lasso set around 18" deep I fired around 6-8 4mm pellets around the float spun the rig and my 13 hollo elastic came out of the pole as Carp no1 was on. The fish in this pool average 1-3lb this one was around 1 1/2lb and this set the pattern until the end of the first hour when my fish counter read 12 fish and while not setting the world on fire I was happy with this as I was catching better than those around me, Stav and Ade were also catching opposite so I just got my head down and tried to keep a good rhythm up keeping the bite rate up by altering my feeding and depths as the fish were clearly not going mad.
By the end of the second hour I had got 25 fish but I was having to work hard at it as after every 2-3 fish they would just vanish for 5mins until they came back or you found them again but by spinning the rig this seemed to get you more bites than just feeding and lifting the rig, now and then I came back in on the 3m line and managed 3-4 fish before they drifted off again I think this was due to the amount of people on the pool and a cold night. The rest of the match was followed the same pattern until disaster struck with around an hour to go I hooked into a fish on the 13m shallow line and as I shipped back with the 13 & 11.5m in my hands the rest of my pole came apart and shot into the pool (SHIT!!!!), I was just about to jump in after my top 7 sections when I realised that I had got my waders on and there was 4 1/2ft f water on the 3m line I had to stop myself from jumping otherwise I would have sunk like a stone. The pole remained afloat going forwards and back at one point I thought it was coming back but with nothing to grab a hold of the Carp pulled it back into the middle of the pool, my main worry now was that there was a rope next to me with the aerator attached and the Carp was dragging it dangerously close towards it and if it got tangled in the rope it would be curtains. Then Steve Robson a few pegs to my left shouted that he had got a lead rod set up so I ran and got it then ran back passed around my peg and around the corner of the pool as I had to get to the other side so I had something to cast over and try to hook my rig, when I got to the other side my pole was only a rod-length out and as I tried to cast over the pole with the lead I hooked my finger ( SHIT & BOLLOCKS! ) as I was pulling the hook out of my finger Bob who's peg my pole had come into managed to hook my rig with his and as I scrambled down the bank I just caught hold of the top end and I had got it back. Phew that was close I thought it was going to sink for sure the Carp was around 3lb and after dragging my pole around the pool for 5mins looked knackered I told Bob to put it in his but he wouldn't and after pulling my pole out of the water I made it back to my peg, I took Steve his rod back and after drying all my sections off I sat down and soaked up all the mickey taking as some of the lads had made some comments like " if you don't want it there is no need to chuck it in" or " he's trying to give us all a chance by throwing he's pole in". After sorting out another shallow rig I decided to have a look on the short with around 45mins left of the match I had around 6 fish on this before they tailed off then another 7 fish with the shallow rig on the 3m line before the all out sounded, I had ended the match with 62 Carp which was not a bad day after the episode with my pole Stav and Ade had also caught opposite but I couldn't see what had gone on at the top end of the pool. We started the weigh-in off on the other side and Stav was the first to weigh in anything of note with 89lb and Ade next to him had 70lb, the top end of the pool had fished hard as Barry Robson won the top 6 peg on that bank with 45lb and Martin Yardsley winning the top 6 peg section on my bank with 36lb ( that is hard for this pool ), there was two 60lb weights from Steve & John in my section before I weighed in my 62 fish that gave me 107lb 8oz for the match win. I was happy with my days fishing apart from nearly loosing my pole, the pool had fished as I expected with 24 anglers on it and a sharp overnight frost and all that was left to do was to retire to the Bell pub for a couple of Stella's and chew over the fat as Stav and I were first and second we had won some beer tokens?
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