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November 23 MDs Fur & Feather 18th Nov OakfieldNow Fur and Feather matches rekindle the spirit of fishing in my mind. No big money prizes to be won, just a bottle or two for Xmas, maybe a few small stocking fillers. A reminder of those halycon days where the winner recieved a turkey and a bottle, down to pheasants,chickens and rabbits as prizes for the lower placings. Many of these matches saw anglers double the normal turnout for a club match.So when Richie Dell asked about a Midlands Fur & Feather match on the maggotdrowning.com website I eagerly put my name down. The venue was localish so no real problems getting there. There is nothing worse than travelling through the pitch black winter nights and then have to do it again going home. Surprisingly leading upto the event only seven anglers had put their names down to fish. I know it was winter, but feel that Richie was a little let down by the response. Still he did not cancel so we braved the freezing cold wind and rain to show how insane us anglers are at times. After a cup of tea in the onsite cafe the draw was made thinking that the far side of SWALLOW lake would be best, as this offered the greatest protection from the elements. Now Richie had known the lake had been switched from Brook to Swallow on the Thursday beforehand, but had seemed to forget to tell anyone else. Dodgy as the two lakes require different approaches. Personally I drew peg 7 which mean't I was on Peg 25. Strange, I know,but it is a maggotdrowning match and nothing ever seems to go right on them. I had planned to fish at 9m for my main line with a margin swim close to a pallet in the water to my left. Bait was pellet and corn feeding micro pellets and a few expanders. I had also brought some new Atomic Cloud with me to try out. I started off with a half drennan pot of micro with a few GOT 4mm Expanders in with a single 6mm expander on the hook. Rig wise it was an old rig I had used at Stafford Moor (well it close to the right depth and had a size 16 B911 on, so it would do). However, after the first couple of bites from skimmers I felt the hookbait and hook were a problem, the fish seemed to be mouthing the bait for too long before a positive bite took place. I switched over to a size 18 B911 and a 4mm expander on the hook. More positive dips on the float took place and although the fish were small they were still coming to the net.By this time the wind was causing a problem as although only fishing at 9m it was ripping the pole all over the place and blowing fish off the hook whilst swinging them in. So a quick look down the side followed. Nothing, even though the depth was good, so I fed a cup of Aniseed Atomic Cloud into the swim and first put in over it resulted in a carp of about 1lb on sweetcorn. None of his mates followed so it was back out onto the 9m line. Still the skimmers and small blade roach came. It soon became apparent that the carp were not playing ball and it would be a tight afair with low weights being recorded down our end of the lake. For company, I had Peter on peg 23 in the corner, Lee Johnson on 21 and the match organiser on 19. Lee was catching small stuff and had snagged a small carp around the 1lb mark. Peter was foul hooking too many small fish. Richie was getting a few but could not keep them coming. Me, I was plodding along catching whatever swam in front of me. I managed to sneak another small carp around the 8oz mark and Lee followed soon after. Peter started connecting with a few silvers and was building a reasonable weight given the conditions. At the end of a very enjoyable 5 hours, I was soaked, wind beaten and could not wait to pack up. I knew Lee had done me as in the last hour I sat it out for a carp in the knowledge that one fish could win me the match, however it was not to be and the time messing around cost me the skimmers I would have caught. My 7lb 6oz was enough for third overall with Lee managing top spot with 9lb 8oz and Ray( sorry did not catch his last name) taking second with 8lb 4oz from the other side of the lake. October 31 Wakefeld LodgeI had been waiting for over 15 years to get a day ticket for this water. A very private estate lake stuffed full of big carp, tench and roach.Well it was all those years ago. Very scenic, like most estate lakes that have carried the tradition that Inigo Jones set all those years ago whilst planning the magnificent houses that accompanied them. The lake in question is around an acre in size and with overhanging willows, decaying lily pad beds scattered all across the lake and deer running behind you at every turn. Every time my sponsor spoke of the lake it was a tale of lost fish. The desire to get amongst them was growing. I had agreed to meet my fellow anglers, Steve, his grandson Connor and fellow workmate Mick at 0715 and on driving the 5 minute journey to the lake, we were soon unloading the gear from the cars. My first reaction was to think it had grown. When you have not fished a water for so many years you lose all sense of proportion of what it is really like. Those halycon summer days of full bodied lilies and tree lined margins, every peg had a feature during those bright, long days. Today the lily pads had died down to a odd pad scattered on the surface collecting leaves as they drifted past. Those leaves were making a carpet on the bank. Welcome to winter. The first frosts of the year preceded the much awaited day of action. I had decided to tackle the water with a simple set up. A margin pole for whatever swam close enough and waggler further out in the open water. Bait was simple enough with sweetcorn and pellets. A couple of pouches went flying out to the 25m mark followed by a 2 1/2AAA crystal waggler lightly shotted down the line with a size 16 B911 tipped with a single grain of corn. Another pouch of pellets sank into the 3ft depth. The margin swim was being fed by hand as I have started to believe that cupping in tends to congregate fish into a too tighter area and by spreading the feed cuts down on the amount of foul hookers. After an hour I had not even had a single bite, no indications regardless of depth changes, bait switches or method tried. After speaking to my friends on the day, a switch to the sunnier side of the lake saw us packing up and moving, hoping the slightly warmer water might spark the odd fish into taking one of our baits. I replumbed the waggler line and found it slightly shallower than the opposite bank. First cast out and whilst feeding the margin swim, the float dipped and a missed bite, lightning quick I had missed my only bite of the day. At least I had one and where there is one hopefully there would be another. I decided to fire out a few grains of corn along with some more pellets and this time the float dipped and I was into my first Wakefield fish for a long time. After a bit of persuasion with a bent doubled waggler rod, steering the still unseen fish through the maze of pads saw a big bed of weed come into the net followed by a pristine tench of around 5 1/2lb. It's red eye glinting at me whilst I removed the offending weed and hook it was returned safely after a rest in the landing net. Nearby I could see Mick playing a fish taken from the margins on big chunks of luncheon meat. A football shaped carp of around 15lb graced his net. Perhaps things were picking up. Another 40minutes went by before my next bite, again on the waggler with corn. This time the first run never seemed to stop, pulling line from the reel like no tomorrow. Eventually I managed to turn the fish and started pumping it back. After what seemed an eternity and some more line off the reel and then back a carp of around 14lb was seen foul hooked in the tail. I did not want to lose it at this stage and with careful play on the clutch it slid over the waiting net, just. This common was extreely long in shape and was quite narrow across the back. I decided after another 1/2 hor with no more bites to pack up as I had to take my daughter to work. As I walked back around the lake to say my goodbye's and Thanks,I glimpsed Mick into another fish, this time he was walking up the back and then back again, holding the rod halfway along the second section trying to play his capture into open water. Another pristine carp followed his first. I have been promised another ticket for 2008, when the weather warms up a bit and the glorious sight of the lake can be seen in its full glory. I cannot wait. September 06 Alders Farm 2nd Sept 2007 OpenIt seems ages ago that I last got out and fished a match at Alders Farm fishery. Then it was on the Specimen Lake and I managed to catch a few fish late on. This time I would be attempting to put a few fish together on the match lake. The best I have done is 87lb a few years ago in an evening match. Still breaking the ton barrier is the least on my mind with some top quality anglers in attendance today. The lake record is above 250lb and with some class bagging anglers on the water today anything could happen. After a bacon sandwich and a mug of tea the right hand went into the draw bucket and peg 32 comes out. A fairly good peg that has framed before although normally when the fish are on the island. Deciding to only fish two lines today saw me go out to 8m and find 1 1/2ft and around a foot to the right hand margin swim at 3m.
I rig up three kits all with red hydro, .2g MW Pellet floats and set them all to fish dead depth on .19 Powerline to B911 hooks. Bait was to be the 6mm GOT Soft Hookers in Liver flavour with some pineapple ones as a swap bait. Feed consisted of 4mm GOT Sinkers. At the all in 2 pots of feed pellets were dropped in at 8m and 4 handfulls onto the edge of the rushes to my right. As the float settled on the 8m line it dipped slightly and my first fish of the day was on. A small stockie of around 6oz, Not the fish I wanted to catch but at least I was off and running. Out again and the same thing happens. This continues for around 20minutes when suddenly I am connected to a proper fish of around 3lb. After a bit of coaxing a common carp graces the landing net. Then it was back to catching the stockies with the odd proper fish thrown in between. However I was missing a lot of bites even in this shallow depth. A look in the margin after an hour produced the first real fish going 8lb and as I was hitting more bites on this line I decided to concentrate on here and hoped it would last the remaining 4 hours. I contiued to catch fish throughout the remaining time and apart from the last 1/2 hour bites were consistent and steady. All caught on the 6mm Liver Pellets.
I weighed in 123lb for second in my section and had broke the ton barrier in a match for the first time, happy days. I think the psychological aspect has now gone and I hope for a few more weights to gain consistency on the water.
Gary Thorpe won the match from the out and out flyer peg 4 with a new open match record of 278lb with Mick Wilkinson 2nd with 220lb,peg 3, Simon Edwards third with 190lb from peg 2. The best weight on our side of the lake was 166lb by Michael Smith from 28. Stockton Reservoir 11 Aug 2007Stockton Reservoir is a water containing 64 pegs and normally the Jinx matches have been pegged along the boards section. They have produced well over the years, although you do need to be pegged with an island chuck to get the best out of them. The other section is the animal pegs and dam wall. There are well established reed beds or island because they are so vast and are a magnet for the carp living there. The dam wall is pretty even with reeds going out 3m either side and a decent 5ft depth from 3m to 14m and only inches in variation. I have only ever pleasure fished these pegs and done reasonably well, and with the fish backing off after the nets go in. I drew peg 54, if memory serves me right and with world record holder, Gary Thorpe and Tim Westmoreland either side, I knew I would have to fish well to get the section points I required. I settled for a line at 8m as my main line of attack, a margin swim on the edge of the reeds at 3m and a simple running feeder rig to fish further out towards the islands some 80 yards out. A chuck with the bomb without a hooklength saw me get no where close to the island so I clipped up at 40yards and settled for that in case the wind picked up. At least I would still be able to hit the same spot each time.
On the 8m line I set up a .5g MW Pellet float set to dead depth shotted with no 8 shot and a single no 10 stotz, on .19 Powerline and a size 12 B911. The margin rig consisted of a .3g float of the same design but to a size 14 B911. Bait was to be predominately catmeat on the 8m line and paste in the margins, feeding 4mm GOT sinkers across both lines. On the feeder I tied a knotless knot hair rig and this allowed me to switch between baits.
At the all in I potted 2 cuups of 4mm Sinkers onto the 8m line and threw by hand about 4 handfuls of pellets into the margin swim. A chuck with the feeder baited with double catmeat saw no action apart from a single liner. Gary, next door was throwing a method feeder to the island at around 50 yds and hitting the bankside vegetation and had already had one carp in the net after 1/2hour. So with no action on the tip I came in on the pole lines. Another pot of pellet at 8m and a single piece of catmeat on the hook saw my red hydro come pouring out, and out out, and out. It never stopped running and the hook straightened out. A new hook and out again, the float never moved, was that just a single fish. I decided to feed heavier in the hope of drawing a few fish in and this seemed to worked although the bites were just little dips on the float. Adding another stotz got the float down to a dimple and this seemed to worked as next put in resulted in a 10lb common carp. I was up and running and at least the dreaded blank was now out of the way. I perservered with this line continuing feeding all the time and should have tried to go up in the water (hiensight is a wonderful thing, but never before has it caught fish), hooking a couple more and losing them.
After 4hours I decided to have a look on the paste line. First put in and the float buried, an angry carp was heading straight into the reeds and after about 3minutes with the reedbed moving with the amount of pressure I was putting on the fish shed its hook leaving it attached to a bouquet of reeds. No more fish came to the landing net so I ended up with a single carp of 10lb, Tim had caught one next door for 8lb and Gary the other side had 3 fish for 27lb. Not too worried about that as I found out afterwards that Gary was in a different section and I had tied for first in section with Mark Causer, so although the fishing was frustrating I got the result I wanted and needed to keep the pressure on the leaders.
I was unable for fish the final match on Sept 1st as it was my daughter's 21st Birthday so I ended up 8th overall on weight difference, but ended up with a match win and section win from the 4 matches I fished so can say that I performed in at least 2 matches. Roll on next year.
July 25 Alders Farm Specimen Lake 22 July 2007Being at a loose end over the weekend with no match to go to, it was a pleasant surprise when Trevor Price rang to say he had booked 10 pegs on the Specimen Lake at Alders Farm. I have walked past it many times over the years and with plenty of fish upto 30lb promised to be a cracker. If the carp do not play ball then the rudd can be caught quite comfortably on a short line. The only problem was how to get them out as Trevor had made it a pole or waggler match. No bombs or feeders. Still it would be fun.
After breakfast in the cafe on site pegs were drawn and Mick Macmillan drew peg 1 and trotted off to wherever he wanted to fish. I drew 5 and settled into a peg on the far bank. I had reeds to my right and a tree to my left which I could just get under with a rig and short 6in line to the tip of my pole. I also decided to start off at 8.5m on the deck straight out.
Rigs were quite simple. MW pellet floats on .21 Powerline, bulk shotted a foot from the hook to avoid the hordes or rudd and a size 14 B911 hook. Coupled with red hydro running through the top twos of my margin pole. Feed wouuld be 4mm GOT hard pellets fed via a cup to start then catapulted over the top or thrown into the margins.
Two pots of pellet on the long line and three handfulls either side of the peg saw me kick off long. A 11mm GOT catmeat pellet sank to the bottom of the 5ft swim at 8.5m and the float dipped and a missed bite to start straight away, something was there at least. Thoughts of hooking into one of the thirties quickly returned to my mind and I thought how the hell would I manage to land one if I hooked it, still worry about that later. After a few more missed bites I finally nailed one, A lovely common of around 6lb, perfectly marked and scale perfect. My first fish from the Specimen lake. A few more fish followed although a lot smaller, round the 2lb mark. After an hour I had around 15lb and bites had dried up. A quick look under the tree brought a couple of small rudd but no carp on a 6mm GOT Halibut pellet. A switch to the right hand margin however brought a lot of bites which I could not hit. I decided to try the "hook in the loop" on this line and changed rigs to suit. The difference was amazing, from unhittable bites I started to connect to a few fish. They immediately took me into the reeds but proved to me on the day that the HITL method has something to offer. I persisted on this line throughout the match catching carp to 8lb with just a tremble on the float. I would not have seen this on a conventional set up. I lost plenty of fish as I was fishing alongside a reed bed and as soon as the carp were hooked they buried themselves into it. I trashed 5 rigs in the process and even with tightened red hydro could not keep the fish out of the reeds.
I ended up with 42lb of carp and 2 rudd for 3rd in the match behind Mick MacMillan on the opposite bank with 79lb of carp caught on the waggler and margin pole down the edge, and Trevor Price who weighed in 33lb of silvers to win the silver net followed by an estimated 100lb of carp, but did not want to win both pools so only weighed in one net.
Overall I really enjoyed the day, frustrated at what might have been, whilst learning another new method.
See you all soon. Next stop Stockton Reservoir for a practice session. July 15 Holly Farm 14th July 2007After the last match in the Jinx 2007 series, I was on a high having won my section and the match. However the elation was to be short lived as the next match in the series was on Holly Farm. A venue I like but cannot seem to catch fish from. There are 3 lakes on the complex, Moby, Trotters and Gils( the scene for this match) and all are very different. Gils pool has predominately small carp upto 2lb in weight and it can be frustrating catching them. Over the years I have tried all manner of baits and methods to try to work it out, but still seem to struggling. Today was no exception.
David could make this match after attending his friends wedding the previous match. Pulling into the carpark we quickly found the cafe and a bacon sandwich and a mug of tea later we were ready. I drew first and peg 22 stuck to hand, not where I wanted to be, but at least the wind would not affect presentation today. David drew in the fancied pegs on 5, although the direction the wind was blowing he would be lucky to fish 9m let alone tight across. For company I had Nick Jones to my left and Simon Mount on the right. Malc and Snakey were further round either side and I could see the Minx sitting ominously on her perch waiting to pounce straight opposite me.
I had planned to attack the swim by fishing on the deck to start with then switching to up in the water tactics as more feed went in. I took 4 pints of caster for feed and a big bag of meat, along with a selection of pellets. I plumbed up and found 4ft across about a metre away from the far bank and the plan was to fish here as the info I had recieved was to fish away from any reed beds. I set up another line at 6m for catmeat and fed the two margin swims by hand. Rigs for the day were .3g MW pellet floats to .15 Powerline and B911 hook.
At the all in I cupped a pot of catmeat at 6m and a cup of casters using a medium sized drennan pot, not wanting overfeed the swim at the start. I then flicked about a dozen casters over the 11m line followed by a pouch of cubed meat. After about the 5 feed the float dipped and a carp of about 1 1/2lb came to the net. Feed again and out with the float and the same occurred. Then nothing. Still feeding regularly and still nothing. A move to have a look at the catmeat line saw the float sail away straight after dropping it in. A foul hooked fish soon came off, but at least fish are there, I thought. WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A look in the margins saw me pick up a couple of small crucians but nothing regular and substantial. Back out to the 11m line and on shallow rig the elastic came ripping out and another small carp. I had been feeding this line all the time whilst playing around on the other lines and you would have thought they would be queueing up for it but no, nothing again. Simon and Nick either side were catching steadily throughout the match, not setting the world alight but still catching.
At the end of the match I still felt I had underachieved again and still cannot fathom out why. Matt Nutt had 24lb from his peg and fed exactly the same, Simon ended up with 43lb for second overall and fed caster and odd bits of meat with caster or meat on the hook. My 8lb odd was only good enough for third in section and it looks as if another Jinx series has passed me by as Ant Heywood is sitting on a perfect 3 point score after 3 matches. Nick Williams won the match with a fine 52lb with some proper lumps to go with his small fish.
At least the only consolation was the Minx not getting me for another match. David however, came close, catching a single carp in the last minute to pip her and keep his pound for another day.
The Jinx series rolls onto Stockton next on the 11th August and it is a venue I am looking forward to. Proper carp and proper fishing.
July 02 Tunnel Barn Farm 30th June 2007Today saw me travelling to Tunnel Barn Farm at Shrewley, just outside Warwick for the second of the Jinx 2007 Series of matches. I had had a third in my previous outing at Rolfs and to avoid dropping further behind the front runners a section win was required. Now Tunnel Barn Farm is strange in some respect that most of the fish are F1s are are caught literally inches from the near side bank. I had fished there twice before, once winning the first Maggotdrowning.com Individual match and secondly at a Jinx match a couple of years ago where I blew out big style.
At the draw it was plain to see that wet weather was forecast as the first few spots of rain descended onto the Top Pool and the huddle of anglers awaiting the Jinx were grabbing coats and wet weather gear, myself included.
Peg 5 stuck to my hand which is permanent peg 6. As I had no real previous knowledge of which are good pegs or which are bad I was pleased to be in the area where the snags used to be in the smaller section of the lake. This produced the better weights on my last visit.
I decided to fish 3 lines and keep rotating them all at 2 sections of pole to avoid breaking down and speed. Line one was straight out in front and in 2 1/2ft of water. Line two to my left saw just 10inches in tight to the grassy bank under a bush. Line 3 and "my banker" was at the end of my keepnet and at 18inches deep was hopefully going to do most of the damage. All rigs were tied to .13 Powerline, a size 16 B911 and a .2g MW Pellet float. I dotted every one down to a dimple on the surface as the F1's are delicate feeders and I was going to strike at everything.
After setting up I poured a cup of coffee and sat back to see what was going on around me. Carp were moving around in Simon's peg opposite and the rushes around Nick were moving so fish were present in there swims. Mine showed nothing. At the all in a fed around a dozen maggots on each line and started out on line 1 straight out. The float never settled as a small skimmer decided double bronze scopexed maggot was too tempting. I perservered with this line for about twenty minutes before switching to line 2. Again straight away the float sailed away and as before skimmers and small f1's came to the net. After another 20 minutes onto line 3 and it was carp carp and more carp. Regular feeding kept the fish coming through that first hour and a clicker showed 24 fish. The second hour proved better due to the regular feeding with more f1's and some decent net skimmers. Again rotating after 20 minutes each time saw me keep the fish interested and coming to my net. After 3 hours the clicker showed 68 fish and I thought 50lb was in the net. A trashed rig cost me tie in the 4th hour and although I was catching regularly I started to lose a few fish and some of them were 2lb fish so my thoughts of a ton weight were going quickly downhill. A play around with the shotting helped and I was soon catching again.
Those around me had caught well and altough I knew I had a decent weight was not sure exactly how much I had. I stopped clicking after the trashed rig with 71 on the clock. Paul Roberts was first to weigh with 48lb 8oz followed by Dave Moore on 46lb 2oz and it was these two weights I needed to beat for the all important section win. My weight of 85lb 4oz easily won the section and barring the trashed rig I think the ton was definately on the cards. Gemma, the Minx was also in my section and with her weighing in 14lb 8oz I was safe from joining the Minxed Club for at least the next fortnight. Eric Robathan popped up with 54lb and was in second until Mark Causer just pipped him with 55lb 4oz. Ant Haywood took second overall and another section win with Simon Mound a guest finishing 3rd.
My weight was enough to secure not only the section but the match win so travelling home was a lot more enjoyable.
My next Jinx match is at Holly Farm on Gils Lake. A venue I like but have never done well at. Don't know why. June 12 Marsh AC Rockells Farm 10th June 2007A good friend of mine, Dave Collier runs a small club and had invited myself and travelling partner Vic Nugent over to Rockells Farm, near Saffron Waldon in Essex. The lake is a prolific venue with many weights recorded over the ton over the years. We had 19 pegs on the venue and had advised Dave to peg eight on one side and the remaining eleven on the opposite bank. The pegs at the very top of the lake screamed fish and with features and near side cover.
Last November, I had the good fortune to win Dave's last match on the water with a low 29lb weight, but the sharp frosts and freezing conditions that day made it nigh on impossible to induce bites. Today however the sun was trying to break through the cloud and the weather the preceding days was good, so we were hopefully of catching a few fish.
Vic had drawn peg 18 and myself peg 4. Vic was a bit disappointed not to be further up the lake but at least he could fish the bush to his left. I was pegged in a small bay with an overhanging willow tree stretching out into the water. Tight to the bank was some brambles and would hold some fish if i could get them there. A gap between the leaves of the willow provided another swim at 6m and tight to the bank to the right would finish the swim set ups.For company I had Graham Manning on peg 5 who would set up a pole to fish the edges and a waggler to fish bread on the top. Kevin Loveland was on peg 3 and was concentrating on the pole with corn and paste.
Myself I only set up a margin pole as 6m was the furthest i planned to fish. Coupled with red hydro through the kits ws .17 Powerline to size 14 B911 hooks, my MW Pellet floats were .3g with 2 no8 shot spaced out on the 6m line to provide a slower drop in 3ft of water and bulked beneath the float for the 18inches found in the margins. One side for paste and the other for pellet.
I started off potting in 2 pots at 6m and throwing a couple of handfulls of pellet down the edge to my left and a pot of pellet and watered down paste to the right. At the all in a look on the 6m saw the float dip after 10seconds and a small roach of 4oz was swung in. Another drop in saw the float dip and a small carp of 2lb came to the net. A few foul hookers was mixed in with a few more carp coming to the waiting net. Changes to depth and shotting did not seem to make a difference and although I was catching I thought that it was not quick enough. So into the margins with paste and the float never settled screaming off straight away with a 4lb common attached. Next put in and the float settled but was being pushed around so I put a pellet on and was soon whittled away by roach. A move to the left hand side saw my catch rate improve dramatically with a fish every put in. After an hour I had around 20lb in the net and the left hand margin swim was getting better.Lifting and dropping the pellet saw me cut down on the foul hookers and after 4hours thought I had a ton in the keepnet. Feeding was the key as you had to keep the pellet going in and I managed to get through 10 pints of 4mm GOT sinkers in just 18inches of water. The water level never rose so the fish must have been eating them. I could see both Vic and Colin Sharrod on pegs 17 and 18 catching constantly and was hoping their fish was smaller as mine were only on average 2lb apiece.
At the all out I packed up and with Graham achieving his target weight of double figures I was hoping for 150lb. The scales came and 180lb was put on the weigh sheet. This was enough to secure the section and maybe frame. Round the opposite bank reports of numerous ton plus weights were correct as 219lb (Vic) and 196lb (Colin) saw me pushed into 3rd on the day. There was another 4 weights over the ton and a total of 1600lb caught between the 19 anglers fishing with an average of 87lb per man.
All in all a very enjoyable day with a great bunch of lads. Thanks again for the invite Dave and I look forward to seeing you all again soon. June 04 Rolfs Lake 2nd June 2007Well it has finally arrived and with baited breath everything would run smoothly, I would draw a flyer every match and win the series with a perfect score. However this is not called the Jinx series for nothing, Malc Doyle, the Jinx himself was late for the 1130 draw, a quick phone call and he was only a mile away but had problems with his beloved fishing wagon and taxi. Considering we had no rain for a few days the water levels were a good 3 ft up on the normal with every peg under water. The pegs around the top end 19 to 21 were refitted with plastic crates as the water had gone over the top and into the grassy area behind them. And to really sum up the day the fish were crashing around in the margins trying to climb up the banks. Spawning time for the love struck carp.
I had travelled down with David for this one and as he had just finished a night shift I knew by the end of the day he would be completely knackered. After dipping and washing the nets we proceeded to the drawbag and David goes in first and draws peg 2 (23) and I follow in with peg 1 (22) Not ideal draws due to the water levels and spawning, I would have preferred a peg in the shallow lake as this offered a better average depth and a proper margin swim. At least we would be able to have a chat. I set up two rigs for the pole one at 6m and another for the margins, both set ups were the same with MW Pellet floats on .19 Powerline to a size 14 B911. I had around 11ft on the 6m line and at least 9 ft in the margins due to the water levels being up.I also set up a feeder rod for fishing to peg 19 as this was not in the draw and woould give me another option.
A couple of pots of the new pellets rolfs sells on each line followed by a few chucks on the feeder saw nothing moving on the tip. A look onto the 6m line saw my piece of baited meat dip straight away and I was playing my first carp of the day. A common of 6lb graced the landing net. I had heard a lot of splashing around from the pegs the other side of David but could not see anything. The carp were still crashing around in the margins and it was either them or fish being caught. Word reached me that Steve Wilson had caught a couple as had my pairs partner Neo on peg 4 (25). Both fishing shallow, one on the pole and the other on the pellet waggler.
My swim then gave me a skimmer and another small carp of around the pound mark. A look into the margin produced another carp, but although carp were there they did not seem interested in feeding. I was by now throwing in the pellet feed and feeding heavily to try to get there heads down. All to no avail, I ended up with 2 small stockies and a couple of skimmers to go with 4 proper carp and a mirror of 11lb 8oz for a total of 36lb 4oz. David had really struggled throughout the match both with tiredness and lack of action and weighed in a single carp of 8lb. My partner in the pairs this year fished well and continued his good run of results lately winning the section with 76lb to beat Steve Wilson into second with 59lb. I ended up 3rd in section and although not ideal, not too disappointed considering the day.
Dave Moore won the match with 150lb from peg 8 and included some nice chub in his catch. Antwood was second only one carp behind with 145 and Roy Ravenhill again a fish behind on 139lb.
Tunnel Barn Farm on the 30th June sees the second in the series. May 25 TalkAngling 24th May 2007Sorry for no report from Holly Farm Gils lake but it was a nightmare and an experience i would rather forget. The wind was blowing down the track and you could only fish the margins.
A fortnight ago I fished Rolfs lake and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Neil McMurran from Talk Angling had arranged a 30 pegger on this prolific venue and with both myself and son David booked in, everything was looking good. I knew some of the TA lads from fishing the Jinx series and knew the craic would be good as in another week the Jinx series 2007 would be underway.
Drawing peg 31 right by the hut saw me set up 2 lines of attack. One in the edge by a bush on my right and another at 11m, with 30 anglers present I thought it may push the fish further out than normal although I did plumb up a rig to fish at 6m, not really expecting to use it. I had a good 2 1/2 ft at 2m and tackled this with a .3g MW pellet float on .19 Powerline and a B911 14 hook. The longer line was around 5ft deep and sloped from left to right. Using a marker on the far bank I plumbed up to fih dead depth with a .4g MW pellet float again to .19 Powerline and a size 14 B911. Both rigs were tackled up with my old Maver Powerlite and red hydro through the top kits.
Two pots of Rolf's new feed pellets went in on both lines and a piece of meat on the hook saw me ship out to 11m and start fishing. The peg was absolutely fizzing, bubbles everywhere, not a good sign as this is usually skimmers. The float buries and I find myself hooked up to a 1lb skimmer, typical. Out again and the same. After 15minutes and 2 skimmers I finally hook a carp which I managed to pull out of. Then aother and another. After an hour I had still got 2 skimmers and a solitary carp around the 2lb mark, but had lost 5 carp through hook pulls. A quick look on the inside resulted in a solitary roach. Not good news. Martin next door had caught one on the pellet waggler and was now on the pole and not doing a lot, Brian the other side was getting roached out. The carp were just not having it at the moment. Out with another pot of feed and time to get the 6m rig off the winder and onto the pole, so ditching the margin line in favour of the 6m one I put a pot in and threw pellets regularly onto this line. After around 10 minutes a 5 1/2lb bream surfaced and I felt this would be the right decision and concentrated on this line throughout the match. The carp still showed and a procession of carp came to the waiting landing net with fish uupto 13lb. I was still losing fish though and at the end of the match I had lost 18 carp. Too many as the fish average 6lb a piece and that is a lot of weight.
David was having his own personal battle with the Minx and was slightly ahead and feeling confident leading up to the weigh in. All his fish caught on pellet hook baits.
David weighing in 89lb to Gemma's 68 and with me weighing in 130lb I had done enough for the section, but those lost fish cost me.
Overall it fished well with 203lb winning from peg 15 Rive T and peg 3 throwing up a decent weight of 192lb with 187 Third from peg 9 and 185lb from peg 8. Only a couple of fish seperating the top 4.
The Jinx 2007 tour gets underway next week and if I can keep up the good results from Rolfs next week who knows. As always I will keep you informed. May 14 Malc's Knock Up Rolf's May 12th 2007I have not fished Rolf's since last September and was looking forward to fishing this match as it was a prelude to the Talk Angling Match on the 24th and the first of the Jinx 2007 series of matches in early June. A good time to practice for both of these matches. A few emails to some of the venue regulars saw me going there with a pellet and meat approach and hopeful of a few fish. This match was an invitational match and with anglers coming from Yorkshire, Birmingham, London and Wales to the Oxfordshire water everyone was looking forward to a good days fishing. The weathermen had predicted light showers and this turned out to be true although some of them were quite heavy in patches.
Drawing a good peg in 34 saw me make the short walk to the lily pads that are guarded by a string of buoys going across to peg 33. Peg 34 is a holding area for a lot of fish, having lily pads to the right hand side and a bush down the edge. Open water straight in front and a line to the 7th buoy along.
I set up only two rigs, one to fish the margin and another at 6 1/2m. Both coupled with red hydro on my margin pole. The open water swim was tackled with .19 Powerline to a size 14 B911 and a .6 MW Pellet float. The margin was tackled with the same tackle but with a .3 Pellet float.Bait was meat or pellet. I started off on the open water swim and after feeding 2 pots of Rolf's feed pellets on both swims I baited with a piece of meat and shipped out the required distance. The float stayed motionless for about 5 minutes and then a slight dip saw me connect to a carp which tore the red stuff straight out the pole and headed straight towards the lilies. Bending into the fish to steer it away saw me gain a little ground before it got a second wind and I pulled out of the fish. Boy, I had forgot how hard these fish fight. This happen on my first four connections to fish and each time I lost. Opposite me I could see Brian Bevan and Keith Fallows into fish and putting them in the net. Increased pressure. However the next fish saw the tide turn and a prime 7lb common opened my account. I plugged away at this line for about 2 hours putting the odd fish in the net but not really causing a stir on the overall stakes. Losing a few along the way. A look into the margins saw me catch more regular but smaller fish but at least I was still putting them in the net. Back out on the meat saw me get a few liners and although the rig was set at dead depth I had to come slightly off bottom by about two inches to connect with anything.
After 5 hours I had totally enjoyed myself on a venue where the fish really do pull a bit. I had met some new people and some old friends so all in all a good day. My weight of 88lb 4oz was good enough for the section win and 5th but way behind the overall winner and fellow GOT angler Matt Nutt who fished 11mm Catmeat pellets over hemp and caster for a total weight of 160lb. Gemma Doyle who weighed in a creditable 73lb from peg 28 added a few new faces to the Minxed Club, luckily for me I was not one of them, but the time is getting closer.
I am back there on the 24th and all will be revealed but a small matter of the MDs Team of Four event at Gils Lake at Holly FArm looms this weekend. May 03 Alders Farm 03 May 2007 Silver LakeIt was with a sense of purpose that saw me drive upto the Alders Farm car park. Vic had fished there the week before and sacked up on Big Tench, Carp and Bream. The weatheer then was absolutely baking, well hotter than it had been for a while. Today, however was overcast and perfect for the big Bream that live in the Silver Lake.
Roughly about the same size as the match lake but with a lot more depth and two smaller islands, it offers the perfect tonic for someone who is happy not knowing what they are going to hook next. It may be a 3oz Carp or a big double, skimmers or proper slabs, bars of soap Tench or the green flanked monsters which live in its depths, couple that with Barbel to 7lb and some very good Rudd you just never know what is coming out next.
A cold wind was blowing into the early pegs on the water and we both settled into pegs 2 and 3. I was only going to set up one method and that was a margin pole with red hydro through it and a .4g MW Pellet float to a size 16 B911. A small bulk down the 2 1/2ft depth with a small no8 stotz dropper. After plumbing up I realised the peg sloped slowly away from me but 3 sections of pole was enough for today and I could always follow the fish out if needed.
Two pots of 4mm GOT Sinkers was followed by a 6mm GOT Halibut soft hooker pellet impaled onto the hook. 30seconds later and the float dips and a small carp of around the pound mark sits in the landing net. A fast start and with Vic catching as well it showed signs of a promising start. After an hour I had around 8 carp in the net upto 6lb for around 20lb. Another top up pot when bites tailed off slightly kept the fish coming in the second and third hour building up a good weight at the same time with fish now up to 8lb in stamp. Then bites started to get finicky but by moving the bulk away from the hook and spreading them out a bit saw me connecting with a few more. I also had to keep ringing the changes bait wise switching between 6mm Expanders and the 6mm Halibut pellets but throughout I managed to keep fish coming to the net.
After 5 hours i managed to put 30 carp, 4 tench and 2 Rudd in the landing net for an estimated 100lb. Vic had fared slightly worse having suffered with many bumped fish, but did include 2 Bream in his haul of around 70lb. All in all, a good few hours fishing before the cold wind finally got the better of us.
The venue is well worth a look for those who want to try something different to the norm and offers good feeder fishing as well as the waggler.
My next outing should be on the 12th May at Rolf's. See you soon April 15 Matt Nutt's charity match 14th April 2007I have been fortunate over the year's to meet some really nice, genuine people through fishing. One of them is Matt Nutt, a young man who can fish and takes the time to help you and others out at any opportunity. Matt arranged a charity match in support of the disabled-angler.co.uk website to help raise funds for MacMillan Nurses and the Rainbow Children's Hospice. 32 intrepid souls had booked into this match without it even being advertised. Such was the demand for tickets. Luckily for me I managed to sneak one, along with fellow Maggotdrowning.com moderator Peter Morton and Disabled-Angler.com Dirk Williams.
During the week leading upto the match there was a bit of banter going on during a couple of onsite auctions including rods and nets etc, but the real money getter for the chosen charities was the burning of GOT Baits supremo Trevor Price's infamous slippers. Now these slippers had not left Trevor for years and he could be regularly seen wearing them complete with brown tape holding them together at many of the summer matches. The Topliss brothers had even made a wooden viking boat for the ceremonial trip to Valhalla.
Well onto the fishing side of things. Personally I had a mare, well not really I drew a bad peg and although I thought I could have had a few more fish, the lake in eneral did not fish as well as previous weeks. Peg 24 is tucked away in a corner and can be devastating if the wind blows into the corner, but with it being flat calm thought i might struggle at the start. I had Young Gun next to me for company and got battered. My weight of 35lb 5oz got me absolutely nowhere. My 12 carp and 5 Rudd were nearly all caught in the last 1 1/2 hours from down the edge on a top 3 with .17 Powerline to a 14 B911 and .25 MW cookie float which i also used for fishing shallow at 11m. My regular travelling partner Vic had fared even worse with 34lb 9oz from peg 7 and Nick Bryan, my workmate could only muster 31lb from peg 34. At least I had a quid from each of them to look forward to.
The match itself was won from peg 32 by GOT angler Gary Page with Wayne Panting second with 82lb.
However the true success of the event can only be the amount of readies given to the charities involved. A total of £1417.00 going into some much need coffers. There was also a promise of more to come from some outstanding collections still to boost the kitty. A Remarkable achievement.
Photos were provided by Peter Morton. Who needs David Bailey?? April 12 Alders Farm Talk Angling 8th April 2007A while back some of the lads from the Talk Angling website asked me to organise a match at Alders Farm. They had heard me talking about and as some of them had never seen the place before it was good to get it off the ground. Some of the anglers I had met before through the Jinx series, others I had not. It was good to meet up again after the long winter and the perfect tonic before the Jinx 2007 tour starts again in June.
Alders does a cracking breakfast and I arranged for everyone to meet up at 0800 with the draw being made at 0900 with fishing from 10 til 1500. We had 20 booked in and had the whole lake at our disposal so some of the not so good pegs were left out. Trevor Price from GOT Baits organised the pegging, using his vast experience of running the regular opens at Alders. Malc Doyle collected the pools and between us we did the draw.
With all the better pegs in and not so much pressre on the lake everyone was hopeful of a good match, it had been fishing well lately with some good weights coming out on the pellet. the favored cafe bank saw Pete Morton, Phil Young aka Madd and the ginger one Simon Edwards on 3, 4 and 5. With Pete Thompson on peg 1 and Vic drawing 38 there was plenty of hope if the fish were in the shallows. I drew 36 next to my regular travelling partneer Vic and set up the customary pound side bet. With Trevor Price, Mick Wilkinson and Matt Nutt occupying 28,29 and 32 they would have to watch the banter with young Gemma Doyle(the Minx) on peg 27. Gary Thorpe had Eric Robathan and Mark Causer for company on the dam wall.
Peg 36 is situated opposite the cafe and offers a bush to the left and an open water swim. I decided to fish at 12m with expander pellet over 4mm sinkers and after potting in 2 pots at the start pinged 5 or 6 pellets every 20 seconds to try to get the fish interested. My rig of .17 Powerline to a B911 size 16 hook with a .3g MW pellet float dotted right down to a dimple. I would be lifting and dropping the rig regularly and striking into every little movement. I set up a rig for the bush but with only 12inches of water there was not hopeful of catching so close in. Still i fed the line and waited for it to settle.
I started off fishing the 6mm expander on the 12m line and it was slow, I could see others catching and hear Vic in the next peg getting plenty of splashing around his peg. After an hour I only had 3 fish in the net for about 6lb and was starting to worry. Perhaps a more cautious approach would have been better rather than attacking the peg. However after landing my fourth fish I noticed some tails in the bush swim and decided to have a look. Within 30 seconds of dropping a baited hook in, it sailed away and I was into a lump of around 5lb, followed by a smaller fish of 2lb. I had doubled my weight in two minutes. After 3 hours I had managed to put around 50lb in the net and things were looking good for a decent weight. However, as is the norm, the swim dried up and after moving back out for 15 minutes on the 12m line with no joy it was back in and picking off odd fish.
Everyone seemed to be catching, so at least people were getting there string pulled which was the aim of the match. Eric had decided to have a paddle for a section which had been blown in and Gemma was treated to the site of Trevor, Mick and Matt shirtless, not a pretty sight as they are all albino looking in the colour stakes.
Overall the match went well with Vic winning from peg 38 with 111lb 12oz of expander caught fish, Simon came second and led the cafe bank with 100lb 7oz with Roy Ravenhill sneaking 3rd with a fine 82lb 3oz from unfancied peg 23 on the waggler and shallow fishing. Personally I came 6th overall and only 2oz behind Trevor Price for the section win with 70lb 4oz. Some lost fish would have got me a few places higher but I am sure those above me also lost a few so who knows. Gemma won her side bet with David, my son and added another scalp to the Minxed Club list.
Overall the match was a success and one I was glad to arrange on behalf of Talk Angling.
Next match is again at Alders Farm on the 14th in aid of MacMillan Nurses.
April 02 Alders Farm 1st April 2007With anticipation of the forth coming Talk Angling website match next week I thought it was prudent to fish the latest GOT Open at Alders Farm. The fact it was April Fool's day was not lost on me, but why not give it a go and see what happens. I had arranged to meet up with a couple of work colleagues in Vic, my normal travelling partner and Nick Bryan, a sponsored angler with Champion Baits. As always the banter was quick off the mark and bragging rights for the week ahead needed sorting out. After a few previous attempts at getting money off each other the ante was raised from a pound to a fiver. Plenty enough to keep the concentration going.
The draw would be the key as always. I put my hand in and had a shuffle around only to see peg 2 on Wood lake stick to my palm. Not a framing peg but should see me have a few fish although small carp and rudd. Nick was next in and 34 on the match lake, a good peg which won last weekend's match. A favoured peg which would have seen most happy with. Vic was dreading the dam wall and when 21 stuck in his hand he could be heard cursing. But like most things you never know what will happen on the day.
Wood lake is full of small carp and plenty of rudd. My peg is bang in the middle of the pool and offers a bush at 12m. This is where the carp mainly are caught from. The other two pegs used on the pool are in the corners and the top one could frame if the gods allow. I plumbed up and found 2 foot of water by the bush and only a slightly shallower a metre closer. Rigs were .15 Powerline to a 16 B911 with a .25g MW Pellet float. Baits were GOT 6mm Expanders and GOT Soft hookers.
At the all in I put two big pots of 4mm sinkers in at 12m with a view to pinging a few across as the match went on. First put in was met by a dip and a small rudd, followed by another and another. After the first half hour I had about 15 Rudd. Not a single carp. Pete Thomas on peg 1 was catching well and putting carp into the net and a change was required. I switched to fishing a metre short and first put in on this new line which was never fed initially produced a carp straight away. This was the story of my match, I would catch a few carp at 11m then the Rudd would appear, back out to 12m and catch a few carp until the Rudd came again. Then back to 11m. All the time feeding via a catapult. Pete was still catching as was the guy on peg 3 so I knew it would be close at the death between us two for second on the lake.
My weight of 38lb 11oz of Rudd and small Carp was never going to win but I managed to get the section by default. Vic had fared badly with the wind blowing into his face and across him at will. 25lb from an average peg was not good but he still managed to beat those around him and win his bank. In reflection this was probably the best he could have hoped for. Nick, having suffered with wind all day, make of that what you will, struggled to put 14lb in the net. The side bets came my way and coupled with the £30 section default win made April Fool's day a profitable one for yours truly.
Richard Brain won with a waggler net of fish with 71lb, Pete Thomas came 2nd with 67lb and a 66lb was 3rd
Next Week Talk Angling match at Alders. March 17 Alders Farm 16th April 2007Since I was working this weekend and needed to recharge my batteries before going in, a day's fishing was planned with Vic for Friday. The weather was pleasingly mild although we did have a frost the night before and may put a dampener on things. Still the fish at Alders would keep me warm, at least I hoped so.
Arriving in the car park I knew Vic was already there as I recognised his car and two missed calls on my mobile whilst driving there. A quick call and pegs 33 and 34 were sorted out. Peg 33(mine) is on the opposite side to the cafe and slightly set back. My plan was just to fish one line today for as long as I could and try to make it last five hours. It did not take me long to set up. Tourney Pro, black hydro, .15 Powerline, MW .3g pellet float to a B911. All set to fish 2ft deep. Bait for today was 6mm GOT Expanders and two of the new flavours that are just about to hit the shops, Pineapple and the Liver varieties.
Vic set up similar and was planning to see if the paste was working yet, as sometimes it takes a while to kick in.
Two medium pots of 4mm GOT sinkers were duly deposited at 12m and a prime looking Liver pellet attached to the hook. Gently does it and I lay the line out perfectly where the sinkers had gone in. Lovely. What am I talking about? Nothing happened except looking out of the corner of my eye and seeing Vic land his first fish and then another whilst I looked at a motionless float. Lifting and dropping made no difference. A switch to a Pineapple saw me at last see some action although the fish were smaller than Vic's. At least I was now getting bites. After about 1/2 hour I was starting to catch regularly, not every 30 seconds but every few minutes and I found I had to tease the fish into snapping at the bait was best on the day. Vic was catching a slightly better stamp of fish but the going was slower. I would catch a couple of fish then they seemed to back off a bit but another pouch of 4mm pellets got them back each time.
A switch to the 6mm expanders saw the catch rate improve although the quality was the same. Vic, by now had decided to go walkabout and after a cup of tea and a sausage sandwich he decided to help the young lad on peg 1. We both mustered up some 4mm pellets and gave him some hookers to use and Vic went round to show him how to catch and where from in the peg. The results were amazing and from my side of the lake I could see the young un playing an Alders carp and sticking his thumbs up whilst playing it. That's what the GOT lads are all about. Helping others.
Trevor Price, the owner of GOT Baits popped round the lake and talked to us about the latest plans and the way forward for the company. Watch this space and the GOT Forum.
I suppose we both had in the region of 25 to 30 carp each for a conservative estimate of 65-70lb, not bad fishing considering we did not really try too hard, but we came away having learn't a few more things.
There is an open there on the 1st April. I am booked in on it and would be happy with that sort of weight on the day.
February 25 20th February 2007 Lakeside FisheryI am always on the lookout for new venues that are within easy reach of my home that could allow me to fish the maximum amount of time in winter months to fulfil my needs. A few of the GOT lads had been invited to fish a venue throughout the winter called Lakeside Fishery. Good weights could be had, so after my planned trip to Alders was called off because the owners were away, it seemed the ideal time for a first visit.
Lakeside is situated just outside the village of Duncote and is a private fishery, day tickets are available but must be booked in advance (something we found out on arrival). Lynn, the owner was very understanding and allowed us to fish as the lake was not booked. On looking at the water, we found a good colour in it and plenty of features including a small island and a narrow spit going out into the lake. There were small bridges, and willow trees set the tone for the pleasant surrondings. Very picturesque.
My travelling partner for the day as usual was Vic, another GOT angler who had also never fished the place before. We settled on a couple of pegs in what looked like a dammed area. A sloping bank meant the poles would be set high but at least we would be comfortable. I set up a couple of rigs, consisting of MW Pellet floats on .17 Powerline to a B911 size 16. On plumbing up I found a good depth of around 4ft at around 11m. This would be my main line of attack. Feed was 4mm GOT sinkers and hookbait was the new Halibut 6 and 11mm pellets. This was to be my first time of using them and decided they would be my only bait today.
Vic had settled in next door and was fishing similar but was going to try the 6mm Pineapple flavour from the GOT range.
Two pots of 4mm sinkers went in and I opened up a brand new tub, they certainly smelt fishy and were very dark in colour. I pierced the outer skin and pushed the hook through and found the colour ran all the way through the pellet. A good sign, a lot of pellets are just coloured with a flavour and in my mind are not as effective when they have been in the water a few minutes, the colour/flavour dropping out of the pellet. Shipping out I marked up against a far bank willow and first put in came a small carp of around 3/4lb stretched the black hydro. Out again with another 6mm pellet and the same happened. As the float settled, after around 10 seconds the float would dip and I was in. I was continually feeding around 15 4mm sinkers every put in, with a view to trying to catch up in the water later in the day. After about an hour I had 18 carp for around 20lb. Not big fish, but plenty of bites. I then started missing a few bites as the bait dropped through. I switched to the shallow rig set at 2ft and was soon back into fish again. However the stamp was slightly better with fish averaging 2 1/2lb although I did have to keep lifting and dropping the rig, before connecting with fish. Perhaps, shallower would have been better still.
Vic was catching well on his 6mm Pineapple hookers and was experimenting with 6mm GOT Expanders on the hook as a change bait. Bites were still coming but the expander pellets were coming off on the strike and a missed bite meant shipping the pole in so as thhere was no real difference in catch rate the soft hookers were better on the day. Vic included a scale perfect carp of around 8lb in his bag of fish. 89 carp and a few dog roach and skimmers to 3lb meant he had a weight of over a ton.
I had been playing around with different shotting patterns as fishing shallow is not something I did before as I felt the pole itself was too heavy to both hold and feed at lengths. Now I have a Tourney Pro this has changed quite dramatically and I feel it is something I can achieve with a lot of practise. Still I managed 64 carp and a few skimmers and roach for around 80lb, plus a bonus couple of red signal crayfish.Aaaaarrrggggghhhhhh.
We both thoroughly enjoyed the fishing at Lakeside and will go back when the weather warms up to see what it is like when the bigger fish are feeding. The new range of GOT Soft Hooker Pellets stood up and look to sell well in the shops around the country. First impressions are the team at GOT have got it right again.
February 05 Alders Farm Open 4th Feb 2007 Well it was time to dust off the old cobwebs and start to get motivated again with my fishing. The lovely Grand-daughter has had plenty of my time over the last few month's and cost me a packet over the Xmas period, do not know how as she is only 5 months old, but they do don't they.
I had booked into the Alders Open and was really looking forward to it. The weather leading up to the match was good and settled, not cold but bright skies. However, on checking the overnight temperature and finding all the degrees in the negative it made me wonder whether I had done the right thing. Still I had a new pole to try out and nothing was going to stop me.
At the draw you wanted to be on the Snatch lake or the Match Lake. Me I pull out Wood peg 1. The worst peg on Wood. I had armed myself with some 4mm and 6mm GOT expanders and a small tin of corn. For feed it was GOT micros and a few 4mm sinkers. I had some groundbait made up in case I drew a feeder peg on the Match lake, this would be staying in my bag. I also took possession of some of the NEW soft hooker pellets being marketed around April time. These are on first impressions very good and have accounted for some match wins already. New flavours are Pineapple, Catmeat, Liver and Green Lipped Mussel. Watch out for them.
Anyway back to the peg, I could reach the far bank with 12m of pole and I planned to fish at 11m allowing me the chance to follow the fish if they backed off. This would be fed with a small pot of micros and a few expanders. I would then ping 3 or 4 4mm sinkers over them regularly. Another line was set at 90 degrees into the open water. Two pots of micro and around 5 grains of corn. Due to the peg being only 2ft deep no matter where I went in the peg I only set up two rigs, both with Black Hydro to .15 Powerline and a size 18 B911. A .3g MW Pellet float finished the set up.
After 5 motionless minutes, I switched from a 4mm expander to a 6mm version and first put in on the new bait and the float dips, missed it. Out again and this time it buries and a small carp of 1/2lb comes to the net. Another put in results in the same only this time I pull out of it shipping back. I look to slacken the elastic off and realise there is not enough to do it with so I have to perservere. A switch after an hour to the 90 degree line produced nothing, so back again. This was really the story of my match, sadly. I kept putting odd fish in the net and adjustments to shotting patterns and bristle size improved things slightly, but not significantly. I ended up with 20lb 12oz for second on the lake which was won with 22lbs. So in reality I should have won the lake bar the lost fish. I have since removed the hydro and put more into the sections allowing me to adjust it better.
Good to be out on the bank again.
December 11 Rockells Farm 10th December 2006I had been lucky to secure 4 places on a fellow Maggot-Drowners Dave Collier's work's Xmas match at Rockells Farm in Essex. This is the venue where many believe the next world five hour match record will fall. Set in some stunning countryside with sweeping willows lapping the water's edge it sure was picturesque, to say the least. As is the norm when I go away it was Vic who accompanied me and served as guide and map reader for the trip.
An early 6am start saw us set off from Milton Keynes to Duddenhoe End, just out Saffron Walden. We made good time and only went wrong once or twice, but arrived safely at around 0740. We met up with fellow GOT anglers Phil Young (Madd) and Gary Thorpe, the current 5hour record holder. Slowly everyone arrived and although a hard frost had fallen over the previous two night's hopes were still high of a good weight and match. Now after paying our monies to Dave and drawing our pegs should have really told us what sort of day we were to expect. See, Dave thought the pegging was already done and proceeded ahead with the draw. Pegs 1 to 9 to the left and the rest to the right. The peggers had decided then to work backwards from 24 to 10 to fill the rest of the lake.OK off we trot to find our pegs, except there wasn't enough pegs to accomodate the peg numbers. A miscount had taken place and the whole lot needed to move to allow more pegs in. Now, being a friendly bunch and people accepting that this was the norm for their works matches, it took us by surprise really. We all switched to accomodate the extra pegging and with Gary on what looked like a flyer of a peg in front of him, he dug in his heels and said he was not moving. It was funny at the time seeing a grown man crying as his flyer peg was being taken away but then all of a sudden they relented and pegged around him.
My peg looked alright, an island at around 30 metres and some cover inside, an area I had been informed to concentrate on as the fish do tend to be on the inside a lot. I plumbed up and had 2 1/2ft at 5m straight out and a depth of 2ft down the edge to my left. I had not brought any rods with me as "my info" had told me you won't need a rod, its all pole work. For company, I had Pete Morton and Madd and at least I would have a laugh, tales of body chocolate and Madd spring to mind and Peter's as well.
With the depth being shallow and following the hard frosts I decided to tread carefully and fish conservatively. A .3g MW Pellet attached to .17 Powerline and a size 16 B911 would go onto the 5m line and be fished with corn. The margin line with the same float but .19 Powerline and a size 14 B911, this is because there were brambles and plenty of debris in the swim so I thought a stronger heavier rig was required.
A pot of corn and 4mm GOT Pellet was deposited on the 5m line and just pellet in the margin. A quick look for a "mug" fish on the inside line produced nothing, not a murmor. A look onto the 5m line with corn fared no better, in fact the only time my float moved was when the cold wind blew it. A switch to pellet had a similar result. Tales from the bank said Madd had snared a carp of around 3lb and Gary Thorpe had 1 fish and bumped another couple. After a rather uneventful hour and a half the float dipped and I was into my first fish of the day, a common of around 1.5lb. A dry net was saved. No one else seemed to be catching so I was not too far away should the switch on. Different permutations where tried and both lines and I found the most successful to be on the margin pellet line fished with 6mm GOT Expanders. Madd was catching well considering the cold weather and was admitting to 8 fish at the end. I had snagged 7 throughout the day but would they be enough. When the scales came round I was surprised to see a 19lb weight from the opposite side of the island in front of me. My weight of 22lb 8oz took the lead and with Madd weighing 20lb 12oz secured myself a match win. Overall a good win and second place for GOT. Vic had fared not so good ending up with 9lb (2 carp and some roach), Gary 7lb 8oz (2 carp and roach).
Finally at the end of the day a peg draw saw each angler attending win a prize, bottles of booze and tackle and bait prizes.GOT kindly donating some pellets, paste and soft hookers. Personally I won a rather large bottle of rum. Very nice. Thanks Dave for inviting us, a good day out and good craic, just sort the weather out next time. November 19 17th November Alders FarmIt has been over a month since my last outing at Stafford Moor and a bit of sport was required. Due to working long hours and trying to get the building site of the house finished in time for Christmas, time has been precious.
I had arranged to meet Vic at 08.30 at the Alders Farm but with daughter number two needing a lift to school as it was pouring with rain, a revised time of 0900 was agreed. Piling the gear into the car I was certain to have missed something but I knew I had bait and a new pole to try out. We met up in the car park and started unloading the car and putting it onto the barrow. This was when I first started noticing things missing from my kit. No boots and no coat. Great, I hope the rain doesn't get worse. It was mild and not cold so I should be ok.
After paying Dinah the day ticket money we positioned ourselves on pegs 3 and 4. Two good pegs and since peg 2 had a weight of 195lb at the weekend should hold some fish. I unpacked my gear and set about attacking the peg. I had opted to fish 6mm GOT Expanders feeding 4mm hard pellets from the same range. A .3g MW Pellet float tied onto .17 Powerline and a size 14 B911 completed the rig. Set at 2ft deep and just touching bottom at 8m. Soft Black Hydro set soft mean't nothing was too complicated, I just wanted to see how the Diawa Tournament Pole handled. I have never owned a top of the range pole before and this was going to be pleasure session so I could see how much stick I could give it.
I cupped in a pot and a half of 4mm sinkers to start and went straight over it with an expander, the float dipped and I was in. A small carp of 3lb was soon into the landing net. This happened throughout the first hour and plenty of carp to 8lb. I had been feeding by hand a small amount of pellets, around a dozen each put in. Vic had decided to fish soft hookers and although was catching thought the bites to fish was slower. He came over and grabbed a handful of expanders and things improved. With both of us now catching regularly, it was hard to keep a track of fish being caught although I think the longest I waited for a bite was around 2 minutes. I only foulhooked and few fish during the session and the pole handled them comfortably. With 5 hours gone and both of us conservatively admitting to a ton it was decided to pack up. I was soaked as the rain had not stopped all day, my feet squelched in my trainers and a shower was needed, but a good session out.
October 18 Stafford Moor Week Oct 7th-Oct 14thDay One
What had I let myself in for, I thought as Pete Thompson and Vic Nugent arrived at the unholiest of hours 3am. Even bats and Owls are asleep at that time of night. And there I was humping copious amounts of pellets, catfood and tackle into Pete's van. The fourth member of our party was travelling down alone on the Sunday due to prior commitments and would meet us there.
Let me elaborate a bit more. Back in July we were all invited to fish a place called Stafford Moor in Devon by a local angler called Dave Brittain. Twelve of the GOT lads stayed in local B&Bs and fished two matches over the weekend. We had a good time then and was looking to go back, so a week was booked to explore then venue more. Andy Seery,the owner of Stafford Moor had told us he had suffered a fish kill but the fishing was still good and the clean up operation was completed.
A rather uneventful trip down saw us arrive at the venue at 8am and after a brief chat saw us book into Aspen Lodge, a large Canadian Log cabin. These are massive, sleeps 6 and include all mod cons and a tackle room for storing your gear. Andy had asked us to fish one of his stock ponds and after the travelling, it suited us to have a pleasure bash, catching skimmers and small carp. Andy asked to leave our nets in at the end and he would transfer the fish to his main lakes. Setting up just one rig, a MW Pellet rig taking 4 no 8 shot and dotting it right down to a dimple saw me load it up with a piece of corn ship out to 3m and dip straight away and my first fish of the weekend was on. A perfect looking mirror carp of around 8 oz. Then another and another. I think the most time I waited for a bite was 30 seconds. Pete was doing the same but with pellet as bait. Vic was fishing further out at around 5m and was catching well. At the all out we left the nets in the water and packed up. Andy was going to collect hem and after he weighed them in(so he knew how much fish he was transfering) Pete had 50lb, Vic 60lb and myself 70lb.
A quick wash and change saw us travel into the neighbouring village of Dolton for a few pints and a meal in the Royal Oak. During the evening we discussed how the day went and what worked and what did not, thats the beauty of fishing with like minded anglers, no secrets. Day 2 Sunday
Sunday was the first proper day's fishing we intended to do. Fishing on the lawns in front of the lodge on Tanner's Lake. This mean't no long walks to the pegs. I had my gear dropped onto peg 6, an open water peg with an island at around 40m. I had already decided my attack was to be based around GOT 6mm pellets and catmeat. I opted to fish at 10m and 4m both with catmeat and feeding pellet only on one line, the 10m one. I plumbed up and found a nice depth of around 6 feet at 10m and only inches different at 4m. I set up my favourite .5g MW Pellet rig tied to a size 14 B911 on .19 Powerline. I cupped in a pot of meat on both lines and a pot of pellet at 10m and waited for my first bite. It didn't take long as the black hydro came streaming out of the pole on the longer line before I had time to strike. A lovely mirror of around 5lb graced the net straight away. A good start. I had a few skimmers and roach on this line, but no more carp. I switched to the shorter line and again within 5 minutes the elastic was being pulled out of the pole and another mirror of around the same size ended up in the keepnet. Then more skimmers and roach. Refeeding on both lines both instant results with carp coming to the net ( lesson learned ) although you had to wait for the bites and did not know whether it would be a carp, skimmer or roach. A switch to corn or pellet seemed to result in crucians to the 2lb mark along with skimmers and roach. I carried on feeding and catching ending up with 62lb and another win between the rest of the lads.
Troy (our fourth inmate in the lodge) had arrived and plonked himself on what was to be a flyer during the week peg 11 and proceeded to catch some decent fish at 4m on corn, worm and caster. Vic weighed in with 57lb and Pete 48lb. So it was close again.
Day 3 Monday
After a good meal and decent night's sleep we descended onto the Joseph's Lake. This lake is 12-14feet deep in places and was supposed to be full of double figure carp. How would they react to a catmeat approach. Plumbing up I found a depth of 10ft and attacked this with a .8g MW Pellet float (as you can see I really rate these floats), coupled with a size 12 B911 and .19 Powerline. A couple of pots of pellet and catmeat was dumped in at 10m and the wait began. After about 30minutes the float dipped and a skimmer of 10oz came to the net. This on double catmeat, I ask you. Out again and this time the float buried and a lively mirror around 8lb. Feeding a pult of pellets every put in made no real difference, although I thought the fish may be coming up in the water. Still we continued to fish on the deck and slowly the skimmers responded with the odd carp. I managed to snare 4 for around 40lb and coupled with around 10lb of skimmers and roach ended up with 50lb. Vic had done slightly better catching 6 carp for 50lb and about 10lb of skimmers. Troy did not do so well on Joseph's catching 1 fish in the margin before switching over to Woodpecker Lake and finishing up with 12 carp and a shed load of crucians on corn. Pete did not fish prefering to sort out the van and his gear. Still an enjoyable day and the nagging feeling that we had missed out on some good sport. Lesson number two should have been to try up in the water.
Day 4 Tuesday
The events of Joseph,s Lake left us in the mood for a bagging session and our attentions turned to Tanner's again. This time further round the lake on pegs 13,14,17 and 18. Vic in 13, Myself in 14, Pete 17 and Troy on 18. This peg looked like something from Jurassic Park with massive leaves hanging in the water and a tree at 11m to your right. The wind was blowing in our end and hopes were high of a good day's fishing. Pete was first to catch a carp and Troy was enjoying himself catching silvers close in while his 11m tree line settled. Personally I set up a bomb rod for fishing the island at 30m and set up a pole line at 9m just in case. A rig of .5g MW Pellet float on .17 Powerline and a 14 B911 set to fish in 5ft of water. Vic had set up similar to me but with a feeder set up rather than a bomb. First cast on the tip saw it pull straight round and nothing on the other end. Liner, I thought so out again and the same thing happened. So I came in a couple of feet and no indications at all. A look on the pole line which I had fed with catmeat saw a small knock which I managed to connect with and a carp of 5lb came to the net. Vic was struggling to get bites let alone fish but did manage to foulhook a crucian of around 1 1/2lb in the eye. After seeing me catch the carp on the pole, he quickly went out onto this his line at 11m. But still he struggled. I managed another 2 carp before the skimmers moved in. Troy had finally switched from silvers to his carp line by the tree and first put in saw him hook a good 10lb+ fish which proceeded to take him round the lake on his white hydro set up( Troy lesson one, don't fish for lumps with light elastic), hhowever after about 15minutes he slipped the landing net under a fine looking mirror carp. Pete was enjoying himself catching some decent roach on the tip and plenty of silvers. I caught a few more carp on the tip and banded pellet, before this line dried up. A move back to the pole got me a couple more fish. Vic had had enough and decided to pack up early and go for a walk. He went down to peg 11, the flyer I mentioned earlier and saw a guy called Lenny emptying it on a margin pole fishing 3m to hand feeding loads of corn, there was around 8 tins around him. He was getting silvers and proper skimmers around the 2lb mark and some decent carp were being caught. We had not thought of feeding heavily with corn at this time but it certainly opened our eyes to what could be achieved. Lesson three.
The evening was full of hope for the Wednesday fish and chip open held on Tanner's. This being that included in your entry fee was the option of having fish and chips delivered to your peg at the end of the match.We pooled all the corn we had and ended up with about 4 pints each.
Day 5 Wednesday Fish & Chip Open
Both Vic and myself were booked into the weekly open. Fishing matches is something we both enjoy and like the competitive edge it gives us. On paying our pools we both drew for pegs. Peg 35 for Vic and 26 for me. Lenny was on peg 27 a flyer tight to the island with the pellet waggler would surely see him catch the resident fish that hug the island.I had a tree to my left and it certainly looked fishy, plenty of brambles dripping into the water and a depth of 2 feet should encourage the fish to feed. At 9m I had a slight trough and would use this as a back up pole line. I had around 6 feet on this line and set it up on a .5g MWP rig. However, my main line was going to be at 5m feeding corn vigourously. A shallower rig set at 4ft saw me catching right from the off on corn, skimmers, crucians and roach. Then the float went and an angry carp of 4lb sat in the landing net. This was the story of my match, catch a few silvers and then bang a carp. I ended up with 51lb of carp and 27lb of silvers on a method learnt from the day before. Lenny had struggled on the pellet waggler and reverted back to yesterdays method of 3m to hand fishing to secure 61lb. Vic was further round from me and I could see he was catching, but how well I did not know until the final whistle. Now Vic had been catching all his fish when whilst unshipping lost control of his top kit on his tourney pro. The fish feeling freedom bolted off into the next swim and luckily enough the guy on the next peg managed to snag it. Returning the kit to Vic, he realised a fish was still attached and eventually another 9lb was added to his weight. Ethical or morally right I do not know.A fine net of carp weighing 76lb and 43lb of silvers gave him a total of 119lb and a good match win by only 3lb. He fed exactly the same as me. Just more carp in his swim. Well done Vic. Second,Third and Fourth place was filled by local anglers so overall we did not let the GOT Baits company down.
Day 6 Thursday
Completely knackered from the previous day's exertion's and a few extra pints in the Royal Oak and after watching England being totally outplayed by Croatia, saw Pete and Troy have a session on Pines whilst Vic and myself opted to practice again on Tanner's for the Friday resident's match. Pete and Troy fishing the GOT 6mm expander whilst we continued on the corn. Pines reminded me a bit like Makins with islands within pole range and fishing tight to them seemed to be the answer for Troy. However, Pete bucked the trend of fishing across by settling for a line down the track for close to 100lb of mixed carp of all sizes, skimmers, tench and some crucians 2lb+. Troy managed to get close with a similar net of fish. As for me and Vic we settled on pegs 23 and 25 for our relaxing day. Around a dozen carp came to our baited hooks and the confidence in the method was growing. Time to get some more corn. Packing up we knew we would have to travel out to get more corn. Troy and Pete volunteered and after visiting numerous local villages and emptying the shelves of all the stock both in tins and frozen packs returned with enough to last the week.
Day 7 Friday Resident's Match
This was to be our last day's fishing as Troy and Vic were leaving early in the morning with Pete and I following behind later after breakfast. Troy opted to fish Joseph's again, this time shallow. This would see if my feelings were right after our excursion on it. Pete, Vic and myself were to fish the match and could not believe it when we drew all on the same bank on pegs 13, 9 and 11 respectively. I was on the flyer peg that was catching all week. Pressure is on. We decided just for a laugh to try to estimate our weight using a clicker. Vic was on a peg that screamed margin whilst Pete had a bush to his right where fish had been caught from during the week. Myself had open water but I was on a slight point into the water. My intention was to fish exactly as I had previously with corn. Fishing at 4m. This time though I potted in 4 balls of GOT micro pellets and a tin of corn right at the start. After 10minutes the fish arrived and two carp in two chucks had me really up for it. I was catching still though which was the main thing and catching well, good sized skimmers and crucians along with roach to a pound were being swung into my waiting arms. When it tailed off I simply cupped in another pot of corn. I think more micro's would have helped but hindsight is a wonderful thing. Another carp in the last 30minutes gave me renewed hope of a framing place. Top weight when the scales arrived was 47lb on the peg Vic had on the Wednesday. Pete weighed in first and recorded 36lb of carp and silvers. Not bad seeing he had clicked 19lb. Myself next with 76lb with 59lb of them silver's (clicker said 35lb ooooppppsssss) Vic did not weigh in his 3 carp. However he did lose 8 and the result could have been very different. My weight was enough for second on the day behind a waggler weight from peg 7. Troy proved that fishing shallow works on Joseph's catching 21 carp for an estimated 160lb. A new PB for him.
Overall
What a cracking week of fishing, nothing spectacular carp wise apart from Troy's effort on the last day, but the silver fishing was a sheer joy. Never before in this country have I caught so many silvers in one match. Andy Seery made you feel welcome and wanted right from day one and nothing was too much trouble for him. The complex was clean and the accomodation better than home. A lot of thought has gone into providing one of the best fisheries I have ever visited. The company was good with the craic all week and wind ups being part of it all. Everyone pitched in and helped each other. We have booked up for next year and are even trying to get into the festival being run the week after so we will seeing more of Stafford Moor in the future. If you have never been, put it on your list of places to visit. It is that good. September 10 Rolf's Lake 09 September 2006 Jinx SeriesThe Finale
Today saw the last round of the 2006 Jinx Series. Over the last few month's anglers from all over the country have descended on various venues around the midlands for what was promised would be bumper bags of fish. Some did manage to meet their expectations, some didn't. On a personal level I think I have drawn badly this year and although caught some fish I have had too many days where I ended up scratching my head wondering what to do next. Still with all to play for on the final day hopefully my luck would change and a few fish would be had. Today saw a few guests join us due to a few drop outs. Probably seeing what torment lies ahead should they join us next year.
The leaders going into round six were Brian Bevan, Peter Morton and Eric Robathan. A good result for any of these and it was over, although there were 3 anglers close by should they all blow out. I was languishing in mid table.
As usual my travelling partner for the day was my son David. However a phone call from Kevin Lake the day before saw me pick him up as well. David had drawn peg 23, a peg which is not too bad and if the fish are having a go he could win his section, Kev had peg 32 an out and out flyer, while I had peg 15, a poor peg except in winter and to make it worse it was the golden peg. For company I had Pete Morton, Paul "the belly" Roberts and Mark Causer.
Peg 15 sits on a small point and I had decided to fish it short as this was a later match than the regular opens on the venue and the fish tend to come in as the day wears on. I set up a .6g MW Pellet float on .19 line and a size 14 B911 on 5ft of line. This would be used at 5m and a margin rig consisting of the same set up but with a .4g MW pellet float. I also at the last minute set a shallow rig up for fishing long, just in case. Bait was to be meat with Rolf's pellets as feed. I had a few pellets with me as back up should the meat not work. But I was confident that by doing something different to everyone else would see the fish queueing up.
At the all in I potted 2 cups of pellet onto the 5m line and a pot in the margins for later on in the day. I would top all of these lines in by hand. Out goes the 5m rig and nothing, 5 minutes go by and still nothing, lifting and dropping and still nothing, 20mins, 45mins and still nothing. Ooops have I got it all wrong again. I have seen David opposite land a fish and Mark Causer next door has had one shallow. Pete like me has not had a bite and the anglers opposite are also struggling. A look in the margins and nothing, A look on the shallow rig and nothing, not a liner or bite. I had been feeding both the 5m line and margin swims by hand and noticed that after each feed swirls appeared as if the fish were there but not feeding. I put the shallow rig in on the 5m line and although the swirls were still there I could not get a bite, adjusting the rig to fish just under the surface to 3 ft deep still had no effect.
After about 90 minutes I went back to the original rig and decided to stop feeding, hoping the fish would get their heads down on what was in the peg already. If I got a fish I would top up after each one. All of a sudden the float dipped and I was into my fish fish of the day, a common around the 8lb mark, safely into the net I looked round to see Pete Morton also playing his first fish on the paste. Perhaps they had switched on after all. No, its was not to be. Another wait of around 30 minutes saw me land a fish of 13lb 8oz and pull in front of Pete. David had 3 fish and Eric was now starting to catch fishing long on peg 25. I just could not believe what was happening, the fish were there but not feeding, they could be seen cruising and crashing on the surface, swirling after people fed but still not giving the bait a look. Reports of a few people catching in the bottom lake but the top lake where we were was fishing hard.
At the end of the match I had three fish in my net and the weigher and that was it nothing more. Enough for the section but way off the leading weights. Peter had 3 fish and Mark had 4. The belly had come fresh from a couple of ton weights at Drayton and Boddington to snag a couple of roach for 6ozs. David managed 3 fish and lost his pound to Gemma again.
Clive, a guest had 120lb from peg 37 and Brian Bevan weighed in 109lb from peg 30 for the top two places. Brian result being enough to secure the Jinx series in his first year. A commendable performance considering he had never seen the venues before this year and made all the travelling from Wales worthwhile.
I have enjoyed the series again, although I would look closely at the venues next year before committing myself again. Saying that, I will probably still join in. The craic is what it is all about really and a good laugh can be had with all the guys who fish it.
Roll on next year.
August 16 Manor Farm 12th August 2006 Jinx Series If you have been reading this blog religiously then you may have picked up on the fact my daughter was due to have a baby on the 1st August and like most women was running late. However midweek and considerately, she decided to deliver my wife and I a beautiful baby Grand- Daughter, Katie on the Wednesday leading up to this match. To say I was pleased is an understatement.
The first outing of the newly formed Grandad and Uncle David club was the fifth match of the Jinx series, Manor Farm near Evesham. I was not really bothered about this match but wanted to go as David was close to the leaders and with his good fortune in the series so far anything was possible. Personally I was just going to make up the numbers and hopefully start getting back to section winning ways, having come last in my section on all the matches I fished in this year's series. I know I am better than that.
This is a place I quite liked the last time I was there, although I was told it is all up in the water work. The complex consists of around 6 lakes of various stocking density and size. The pool we were on was Windmill, just behind the cafe. You really needed to draw the island pegs on this lake as the fish hover around them. If not, then open water with depths upto 12ft could be expected to produce a few fish including skimmers. After the rigours of what was happening during the week, I was far from prepared and decided that what was in my box was going to do.
After everyone turning up and getting shown the obligatory baby photos, the draw was made. I drew peg 16, no, not the permanent peg 16 which is a flyer by an island but a Jinx 16 off the island. Uncle David drew peg 4 opposite me. David had come straight from work for this match and had been awake since 7pm the previous day and was looking decided tired by the draw time. Still he has started having a pound with the Minx, Miss Gemma Doyle, and with the section at stake he plugged away.
I set up 3 rigs to cover my open water peg, A shallow rig set at a foot and two bottom rigs to fish the deck at both 11m and 4m. The two bottom rigs were MW Pellet floats of .7g and .4g shot with a bulk and one dropper to a size 16 B911 and .19 Powerline. The up in the water rig was a MW Cookie taking 2 number 8 shot to a size 14 B911 also on .19 Powerline.
At the all in I potted in at 11m and fed by hand the 4m line hoping to draw them close in. After a couple of fish on the pellet, mainly small tench and baby carp (nothing was over 6oz) I switched to corn as a hookbait, this bought a better stamp of fish averaging a pound. I had a quick look after around an hour on the inside and caught a few more carp although nothing over a pound came to the net. I was however taking too long to land fish on white hydro so switched rigs to accomodate some black set soft. This seemed to sort out the problem. I could see Matt Nutt catching very well feeding sloppy groundbait and fishing paste up in the water, this being totally new to me. Antwood was next door and struggling as was Gemma. Head down and you never know. Mark Causer could be seen catching a few. Steve Wilson was getting a few fish on paste on his top three and Simon Rowley was plugging away on his mission to catch every gudgeon in Manor Farm. The rest of the lake I could not see. A switch to the up in the water rig saw me miss more bites than connecting so I moved the float down a couple of inches and started catching some pound fish. I decided I needed the practice on this method as it is something I do not do very often and was enjoying it so carried on. Feeding a pouch every 20 seconds seemed about right and the fish were darting in and taking the pellet hookbait as soon as it touched the water.
At the weigh in my weight of 43lb was not going to trouble the leader board, being beaten again in my section by Mark "Endpeg" Causer with 55lb and Tim Westmoreland with 44lb. Matt Nutt tried something different and won with a fine 107lbs and another Jinx ton to his credit. Dirk Williams had 92lb for second with Brian Bevan scrapped in third with 84lb. David gave up with nearly an hour to go and sat with Gemma who convincingly took his pound off him. She is taking quite a few scalps since her return to fishing. I hope I am not next.
The last in the series is at one of my favourite venues, Rolf's in a few weeks so here's hoping for a good one. August 07 MDs Pairs Rolfs Lake Aug 5/6 2006After my recent run of bad luck, bad draws and poor fishing I was not really looking forward to the Maggotdrowning.com pairs event being run at Rolf's Lake near Oxford. My daughter was overdue on delivering my wife and I a Grandchild and I was waiting for a phone call at anytime meaning I had to rush back the 45 minute journey back to Milton Keynes, meaning preparation was at a late stage. However I had fished there before and knew I had rigs to cover most situations in my box.
Day One Saturday
For company over the weekend I had my son David, who the last time we went to Rolfs absolutely battered me off the next peg. With Maggotdrowning.com being an internet forum site the anglers from all over the country, Wales and Scotland had descended on the venue. The banter was flowing from all angles as people renewed old acquaintances and made some new friendships. The format for the matches was set from two lists of people, One being venue regulars experienced matchmen, the other being, less experienced matchmen and "numpties". A draw took place with one from each list fishing together as a pair. For my part I drew with Colin the Pike, a good angler who could do some damage if the fish switched onto paste. David had drawn SteveB. David also had to suffer the challenge of a pound side bet with Gemma Doyle, the daughter of Malc Doyle,The Jinx.
A random peg draw saw myself on peg 25, a fair peg with a bush to my left and a bar at around 13m. These would be my main lines with a back up line at 6m for the paste, just in case. I set up an up in the water rig consisting of .19 Powerline, B911 size 14 and a MW Cookie float. My deep water rig water rig was set at 6ft after plumbing up and consisted of .21 Powerline, B911 hook and a .7g MW Pellet float. Bait was to be pellet, both up and down on the 13m line. For my margin I had a .4g MW Pellet float, .21 Powerline and size 14 B911. Bait for this line was to be either meat or paste dependant on which responded better. The back up line was a home made paste float, no shot and a size 12 B911. This was my paste only rig for 6m.
After setting up we had a bit of time spare so a quick walk along the line of anglers saw me pegged between Dave the Fish and Bigladwigan (Ady), further along were Simon and Gaz Malman followed by my partner Colin.
At the start of the match I potted in two pots of pellet on the 13m line and threw a couple of handfulls of 6mm Squid and Liver pelets into the margin. A look on the 13m line saw me put a couple of carp around the 4lb mark into the net and was off and running. I noticed though that every time I fed there were swirls on the surface and a quick change to the shallow rig was called for. However no bites were forthcoming. After 45 minutes I had a quick look in at the margin swim and baited up with a piece of meat. No sooner had it settled the float shot under and a common of 11lb graced the net, this was followed by another and another. After just over an hour I had put 50lb in the net and was looking good. I plundered this line for most of the match catching on meat most of the time and paste if bites dropped off. The response was the same. After 5 hours, I knew I had beaten my previous best weight of 183lb, also taken from Rolf's. I had 157lb of weighers and roughly 50lb in the net. The scales arrived and the previous best was Kevin Arathoon with 230lb from peg 32. After 4 weigh's I had put 242lb onto the scales, a new personal best. Nearly all taken fishing no more than 4m out. Ady had weighed in 102lb, Dave the Fish 125lb and Gaz Malman 178lb for a new PB. Colin, my partner chipped in with 135lb of paste caught fish from peg 22 and overall a good team performance from two fair pegs.
The venue fished well and with over 14 weights over the ton from the 26 anglers fishing showed the potential of the place. Many Personal bests were taken, either in size of fish or match records broken.
Overall I won the match with Kevin second and Brian Bevan third with 180lb. Both Colin and myself also led the pairs trophy after day one. David lost his pound bet with Gemma, on her first fishing match for 5 years.
After packing up and sorting the gear out, many of the anglers set up camp on the venue, erecting tents and bivvies. A barbecue was rolled out with people sticking burgers, sausages and bacon onto the grill. Everyone sat around chilling and talking about everything from fishing to makes of whiskey. At around 2am it was time to catch some kip in the car.
Day Two Sunday
Day two saw me awake at 7am, stiff and aching after my nights sleep on the back seat of the car. A cup of tea kindly provided by Dirk was gratefully recieved. After the previous day's match which fished well it was hopeful the fish would respond to the previous day's pellets that were fed.
Another draw was made just for peg numbers as we kept the partners from the previous day's exertions. After leading day one, I was more than happy to keep with Colin and after seeing him draw peg 19 was even better pleased. Peg 19 was not fished the previous day but is renowned as a flyer. This was the peg that saw Gary Thorpe break the world record for 5 hour matches. Myself I drew Peg 12, the peg Gemma drew the previous day. My plan was to attack the margins on this peg. It is set back in a bay and is normally a hit or miss swim. The fish are either there or not. Two margins rigs consisting of .21 Powerline, .4g MW Pellet floats and size 14 B911 hokks set at 3ft and 3 1/2 ft both left and right. Left hand side was to be paste at 4m and equally to the right was going to be meat.
Starting off on the left side saw me connect with a skimmer of about a pound first put in followed by a small common of around 8oz. Not the start I was looking for, but still fish. A move to the right saw my meat bait go in and bury, red hydro followed out of the pole and round the corner and into a snag. One lost fish. In again and the same happened. Try about a foot further out from the bank and this time I managed to turn the fish and safely land it. A mirror of about 6lb. This continued for the rest of the match, everytime I put the bait close to the bank it tore off at a rate of knots straight into a snag either snapping the hooklength or fraying the red hydro. If I fished away from the edge I could turn the fish and land them. I managed plenty of fish again for the second day running and with fish to 15lb being weighed I ended up with a total of 124lb in weigher's so another big weight was on the cards. Kevin Arathoon and Gary Thorpe had drawn well with 34 and 36 respectively and had a few fish between them with 228lb and 206lb. My weight of 230lb tipped the scales in my favour with only a few more to weigh in. Chin on peg 7 had caught well throughout the match putting 175lb of weighers alone and coupled with 97lb from his net gave him a total of 272lb. A tremendous achievement. David managed to nick his pound back off Gemma from there peg to peg battle.
Overall I had a great weekend in good company, many old friends seen and new ones made. A Personal best match weight of 242lb on day one followed by another double ton on day two. We also tied on points for the Pairs trophy with Kevin Arathoon and Black Hydro. Although our superior weight total gave us the title.
This match has already been booked for 2007 and I for one will be back to defend our title. Confidence has been rebuilt and I cannot wait for the next match to come.
July 31 Stockton Reservoir 29 July 2006 Jinx SeriesAfter 3 rounds of the Jinx series, I have come to the conclusion that the Jinx has targeted me this year. It all started back in January when the pairs were drawn out. Simon was my unlucky partner throughout this year's series and the partnership seems to be going from bad to worse. We started off alright at Rolf's catching a few fish between us but then there was both Earlswood and Drayton wheree both struggled. How would Stockton fare for us both.
Stockton is a cracking water, one of my favorite venues. Situated between Daventry and Banbury it contains plenty of carp averaging 7lb with a fair few proper carp thrown in, Tench and Rudd. We were pegged on the boards which are good pegs with the end pegs being flyers fishing against some reeds that go out into the lake. Pegs 8 and 9 always throw up a good weight as you can fish between the islands. Pegs 10 to 15 have an island that can be reached by the pole. Depth is fairly consistent all the way out and 3 1/2feet being the average.
After getting there early a quick pint in the local pub saw most of the sufferers meeting there before the draw. Laughter and banter followed with people hoping for a low draw. Peg 17 stuck to my hand and although not ideal I was still hopeful of a few fish. My plan today was to fish tight to the boards later on in the match and a line at 8m with catmeat and paste feeding 4mm GOT sinkers. I set up 3 rigs for the day ahead.
First was a margin rig. A 2 x no8 Mick Wilkinson pellet float tied to 8lb maxima and a 14 B911. This was set at 18inches deep next to the platform stantions. The 8m line I set a MW self cocker rig tied again to a 14 B911 but with .21 Powerline. This would be used if the tow was not too bad. My main rig would be a 5 x no 8 MW Pellet float, .21 Powerline and a size 12 B911. Catmeat was going to be the main bait on all lines.
For company I had fellow GOT angler Matt Nutt and the Jinx himself Malc Doyle either side, followed by "Turkey Boy" Paul Roberts, Pete "Mugger" Morton and Real Madrid's new signing Rude van Dirk Williams. If nothing else it would be noisy with plenty of banter flowing.
The all in sounds and I cupped it 2 pots of pellets and a pot of catmeat on the 8m line followed by a pot of catmeat and pellet in the margin. Out with the self cocker rig and 2 lumps of catmeat and even after adding another couple of inches to the float depth to try to combat the tow, it just did not feel right, so a switch to the pellet rig was called for. This was better as I could hold the bait still. However no bites followed. After an hour with nothing to show for it I decided to have a quick look in the margin. Matt had had a fish on expander pellet and was feeding to go up in the water. Malc had one, Pete Morton had a couple on the paste. A dip of the float in the margin saw me strike and out pops a miniscule roach of around 1/2oz. This on double catmeat. I ask you. Then nothing,no dips,knocks or anything. Back onto the 8m line and time to plug away. Matt was starting to catch shallow on the pole with banded pellet. Me I was getting slight dips and trying to hit them was a nightmare. These were not proper bites, but liners I think. I tried coming shallower but still no bites were forthcoming. Then bang the float goes quickly under and a fish is on. The red hydro came out and out and out. The pole was bending as the fish tried to get behind an island 2 pegs away. Sinking the pole tip and trying to ship back the elastic came back with a bang. The fish was lost. Boy, can my neighbours take the Michael? Out again and nothing.
After around 4 hours I had lost 2 carp on the 8m line and was thinking about the piss-taking I was going to recieve at the end of the match when the float dipped and a crucian carp of around a pound came to the net. A last look onto the margin saw me hit into a carp of around 9lb which provided a sense of relief and boosted the weight considerably. Next put in and I was in again, only for this fish to wrap it self around Malc's platform and snap me up. Malc said " he felt his platform move whilst I was playing it".
The end of the match saw me weigh 10lb, not what I had hoped for and last in the section. David, my son, had a better day ( again) and weighed in 3 fish for 24lb. Overall Dave Moore had 84lb from peg 8 fishing between the islands. Matt had 71lb and Mark Causer 70lb from peg 2. It fished well really and although I could not get to grips with it today I think a heavier rig may have solved the problems on the 8m line.Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but at least a lesson learned.A special mention should go to the winner who travels all over the country trying to have a good day out with us lot and a worthy first time winner. Also to Nick (Monkey) who actually managed to put a few fish together and managed a creditable section win with 41lb.
Photos courtesy of Pete Morton Photography
Manor Farm is next in the Jinx series. Maggotdrowning.com have arranged a weekend at Rolfs next week so that should be good for a laugh if nothing else. A full report will follow. See you soon. |
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