Milemead open.
I was pleasantly surprised that Just about 20 of us pitched up for this one including a few of the lads staying at white acres for the Maver pairs. The matches at this cracking little fishery are run very well & they deserve good attendances.
At the draw I was reasonably happy to pull out peg 9. With peg 10 left out, it effectively became an end peg along the straight bank. With Adam Rooney occupying peg 11 & Richie Hull on the flier peg 21, we had our work cut out. Pegs 7, 8 & 11 have beds of Lilly pads directly in front of them, which although hold lots of fish they can be restrictive, limiting options, especially if the wind is strong. Peg 9 however has plenty of open water with the addition of an island chuck approximately 30meters away.
Initially I intended to fish the 2 lines on pole & hair rigged hard pellet. But I also decided to set up a small method feeder to the island as back up for when the pole lines needed a rest. Pole rigs were the ever dependable Drennan carp 5’s in a size 4x14. Just about heavy enough for the depth & conditions. Hooks were the ever reliable Kamazan eyed B911’s with a .14 trace. The feeder was of the Fox mini variety, fished free running on 6lb Daiwa sensor with a 6 inch trace of .16mm, again to a size 16 eyed B911 & hair rigged 6mm pellet. This was fished with my trusty ABU Suveran feeder rod at 11 foot & coupled with the incredible Daiwa procaster reel. I must quickly mention the Daiwa, because for 30 quid you get an exceptional piece of engineering. It is slightly on the heavy/large side, but because it’s primarily a spinning reel, the power & smoothness is incredible. Hook a carp on this thing & you can literally put the rod to one side & reel it in all the way to the net effortlessly. The front drag clutch is reasonable & the line lay is acceptable. All in all it is an exceptional feeder reel that offers unbeatable value for money.
Anyway back to the first job of the day, soaking some micros for the feeder. Ordinarily I like to pre soak the pellets at home to ensure they have the perfect consistency. Too wet & they mush to a paste on the feeder, too dry & they do not bind well enough to resist the cast. But today I would just have to play it by ear. With the pellets out of the way I proceeded to set up the pole rigs & have a good plumb about. I settled on 2 lines, both at 9m, with one at 10 o’clock & the other at 2 o’clock. The depth was the same so I only had to set up 2 rigs. I did however use 10 & 12 latex, just in case.
By the time the whistle went for the all in the wind had become gale force with some torrential rain. I cupped in some micros with a few sixes on the pole lines but to be honest I didn’t fancy the pole at all. So out went the method feeder. I decided to sandwich the hook bait in-between 2 layers of pellets & squeezed them on quite hard in order to withstand a good chuck. Clipping up ensured a degree of accuracy; however the wind was so bad that I had to take it into account & aim to my right & feather the feeder down tight to the island, avoiding an overhanging bush & the vegetation. I caught fairly steadily in the first hour, with six fish. Nothing spectacular, but on a hard day I was pleased. The first half of the second hour was slow however, so I gave the pole lines half an hour. With only a few skimmers for my efforts by lunchtime, it was an easy decision to stick it out on the feeder. With hardly any liners & bites coming slowly it was a case of being patient & waiting for the tip too wrap around as a fish or two came onto that particular line. What was noticeable was that unless I got within a foot or so of the island, bites were even slower. Accuracy became key.
Throughout the next 4 hours I had a little look on the pole lines when the wind allowed, but more out of curiosity than anything else. Because I hadn’t really been able to feed them as I would have liked, I didn’t have much of a touch. Each time I tried, the wind would cause problems. So after it was pretty much an uneventfull match, apart from swapping the B911 for a Fox series 2 after the B911 opened out on a lump. At the whistle I had stuck it out on the method for +-30 fish including some skimmers & roach for just over 50lb & third. First was Ben Wright with a very good 70lb+ on the pole from a sheltered spot, so I was quite a bit of the pace. However it was an enjoyable afternoons fishing.
Monday, 18 May 2009
13 September 2008
Milemead Open. Milemead Open. A beautifully bright sunny September morning greeted the twenty-four of us that pitched up for this one.I drew peg eight & was reasonably pleased. Options are limited on this peg as you have a large bed of lilies at nine to eleven meters that cover just about the majority of the swim. In a way, it is not such a bad thing because at least you are committed to keeping it simple. Saying that, my plan was to rotate four lines, picking fish off from each one.I had about four feet of water at nine meters straight out tight against the lilies. The rig for this line was a HITL consisting of a size 4x14 Drennan carp five float attached to .16 Ultima power plus mainline. Attached to this was a twelve-inch hooklengh of .14 silstar match team finished with an eyed B911 in a two inch loop. Shotted with two no nines on the hook length knot & two no nines on the HITL knot. Bait would be six-millimetre hard pellet both banded on the hook & loose fed through one of my homemade pole pots.Rig no two & three were identical, but they were to be fished to the far left & far right of the lilies, slightly further out at 11m in roughly five feet of water. Bait would be the same.Rig four would be for paste later on over my mainline straight out in front & featured a Preston innovations Dura float five attached to the same mainline , but with a size twelve spade end B911. All of the rigs were fished with 1.4 mm Latex through two sections.At the all in, I shipped out to my mainline in front & began to put a steady stream of small skimmers, tench & just a couple of pasties in the net.After the first hour, it became obvious that bites were going to be at a premium so I decided to try the left hand line. First put in, the float shot under & a two & a half pound carp was safely in the net. Bites were very few & far between though & I only managed another two more carp in the second hour.The third hour was even harder & it was simply a case of rotating each line as planned, picking off a few better skimmers before moving on.After three hours, I only had approximately fifteen pound in the net, so decided to try the paste.Third & fourth hours were much more productive on the paste, with a steady succession of decent carp coming to the net.With an hour & quarter to go I rested the paste line & had another look on the left hand pellet line for just one more small carp. After fifteen minutes, I decided to go for broke on the main paste line, but I cut back on the pellets & potted in a small piece of paste along with the hook bait. The transformation was instant as eight more carp came in he last hour & typically, at the all out I was bagging.At the weigh in, I put 18 carp for thirty-four pound, plus a bag of skimmers & tench for eleven pound on the scales for a combined weight of forty-five pounds plus & second in the match. I have fed about half a pint of 6mm pellets. Fifty pounds plus won it & with the benefit of hindsight I spent far too long on the pellet. If I had switched over the paste much earlier I would have walked it, but that is match fishing.
Sunday 4th may 2008
Milemead open
Only 9 of us turned out for this one, as currently just about everybody is spread around a bit on various venues across the South West. The standard is getting very high as well so that might have something to do with it. It’s only the second match I have fished this year however, so I wasn’t at all disappointed, just happy to be out.I pulled out peg 3 & was very pleased as it’s an ideal peg for fishing the pellet waggler to the island, one of my favourite methods. It’s also a decent long pole & pellet shallow peg, but it’s probably still a bit early for that method yet, the fish need to lose a little bit more inhibition. Never the less I set up 2 shallow rigs, one with a Garbolino DC2 for small 6mm banded pellets, the other with a MAP 5 dibber for bigger hair rigged 8mm & 11mm pellets should the fish turn up in numbers, both tied to Ultima power match main line & Silstar hook lengths tied to eyed B911‘s & Fox series 2 barbless. As well as this I also set up a MAP 8 for fishing on the deck for a mixed bag should the carp fishing be slow, also incorperating the Ultima mainline & silstar hook lengths tied to spade end B911‘s in sizes 18 & 16 for soft pellets. The skimmer rig was tied to no.8 latex through a match kit & the shallow rigs to no.12 latex using power kits.A little tip here & something I got from the Total-fishing Forum is to paint your floats with 'hard as nails' nail polish, not only does it finish them nicely, but it also makes them completely waterproof as well as very strong.Anyway, with mild weather leading up to the match & a beautiful spring day, we were all confident of a few fish. I had the pleasure of Paul Carpenter next to me on peg 4 & the rest were well spread out on the best pegs giving us plenty of room. I set up 2 waggler rods, the first with 4lb maxima & the second with 3lb; it can make a difference, especially when the wind picks up. Both incorporated my own homemade balsa pellet wagglers, simply connected with the brilliant Drennan silicone adapters. Locked with 3ssg’s & finished with a micro swivel. Attached to this I used a variety of length hook lengths, but a 12 inch one was the most successful on the day. As the swim was about 25m-30m in distance, I decided on the ever dependable Skretting 8mm coarse pellets, both hair rigged & fed. Catapulting 2 or 3 pellets out regularly saw me get a fish first chuck. The next hour was steady with about 8 fish, the slighter bigger commons & a few mirrors. However it soon became apparent that I would have to cast tight to the island, with a brisk wind this was proving a challenge as I literally had to be within 2 foot, any further out & I couldn’t buy a bite. The fish here love the safety of features & it isn‘t until later on in the year that they really begin to move around a bit. This is where the skill factor kicks in & without being arrogant I feel I am very good at this. Time & again I managed to hit the spot & after half way I had about 15-20 fish for 40lb, although its still very frustrating when your off target. Meanwhile Paul was catching very well next to me & was ahead in numbers, some of his fish were smaller though, but I was sure he was pulling away. He was catching using the long pole tight to the island, literally fishing into the young stickups, where the fish live & love to feed confidently. Soon though both of our swims started to fade, Paul decided to rest his & came inside for silvers, catching some chunky roach & rudd shallow on maggot, as well as a few skimmers. I persevered a little longer but in hindsight it was a waste of time. The swim was now dead with no signs of any fish. I came in & had a go on the long pole shallow & decided I would only give it half an hour, because if you are going to catch on this method you will almost certainly get a couple straight away, if not then usually it becomes a waste of time. With not even a bite to show after half an hour I decided to have a go on the deck with the soft pellets. I wasn’t putting anything in the net & it was now costing me. Paul was still catching plenty of silvers & was forging ahead. I gave the pole line 45minutes & managed 2 small carp & about a dozen small skimmers for about 6lb but it wasn’t going to be enough so I decided to see the rest of the match out on the pellet wag. I had a few more fish & a good last hour but it was very difficult. The fish just were not there in numbers like they can be & it was a case of picking off one or two then nothing for a quiet spell when you would get another run of one or two fish.I was last to weigh in & the ever consistent John Hetherington had already put 80lb+ on the scales from flyer peg 21, disappointingly I knew that I had nowhere near that & with Paul bagging I was out of the frame. When the scales did arrive at Paul, he put a very very good 89lb+ on the scales 20lb+ of which were silvers. I put 68lb, mostly carp for third on the day, which considering the class of the field I was pleased with. Congratulations must go to Paul though, who not only won the day, but also the silvers pool & the golden peg. He did it from a fair peg, but by no means a flyer under pressure to do so as well. He is a class angler who is always looking to put something in the net & his tactical decision making on the day was spot on. It was a pleasure to be pegged next to a good performance like that as I came away learning something.
Only 9 of us turned out for this one, as currently just about everybody is spread around a bit on various venues across the South West. The standard is getting very high as well so that might have something to do with it. It’s only the second match I have fished this year however, so I wasn’t at all disappointed, just happy to be out.I pulled out peg 3 & was very pleased as it’s an ideal peg for fishing the pellet waggler to the island, one of my favourite methods. It’s also a decent long pole & pellet shallow peg, but it’s probably still a bit early for that method yet, the fish need to lose a little bit more inhibition. Never the less I set up 2 shallow rigs, one with a Garbolino DC2 for small 6mm banded pellets, the other with a MAP 5 dibber for bigger hair rigged 8mm & 11mm pellets should the fish turn up in numbers, both tied to Ultima power match main line & Silstar hook lengths tied to eyed B911‘s & Fox series 2 barbless. As well as this I also set up a MAP 8 for fishing on the deck for a mixed bag should the carp fishing be slow, also incorperating the Ultima mainline & silstar hook lengths tied to spade end B911‘s in sizes 18 & 16 for soft pellets. The skimmer rig was tied to no.8 latex through a match kit & the shallow rigs to no.12 latex using power kits.A little tip here & something I got from the Total-fishing Forum is to paint your floats with 'hard as nails' nail polish, not only does it finish them nicely, but it also makes them completely waterproof as well as very strong.Anyway, with mild weather leading up to the match & a beautiful spring day, we were all confident of a few fish. I had the pleasure of Paul Carpenter next to me on peg 4 & the rest were well spread out on the best pegs giving us plenty of room. I set up 2 waggler rods, the first with 4lb maxima & the second with 3lb; it can make a difference, especially when the wind picks up. Both incorporated my own homemade balsa pellet wagglers, simply connected with the brilliant Drennan silicone adapters. Locked with 3ssg’s & finished with a micro swivel. Attached to this I used a variety of length hook lengths, but a 12 inch one was the most successful on the day. As the swim was about 25m-30m in distance, I decided on the ever dependable Skretting 8mm coarse pellets, both hair rigged & fed. Catapulting 2 or 3 pellets out regularly saw me get a fish first chuck. The next hour was steady with about 8 fish, the slighter bigger commons & a few mirrors. However it soon became apparent that I would have to cast tight to the island, with a brisk wind this was proving a challenge as I literally had to be within 2 foot, any further out & I couldn’t buy a bite. The fish here love the safety of features & it isn‘t until later on in the year that they really begin to move around a bit. This is where the skill factor kicks in & without being arrogant I feel I am very good at this. Time & again I managed to hit the spot & after half way I had about 15-20 fish for 40lb, although its still very frustrating when your off target. Meanwhile Paul was catching very well next to me & was ahead in numbers, some of his fish were smaller though, but I was sure he was pulling away. He was catching using the long pole tight to the island, literally fishing into the young stickups, where the fish live & love to feed confidently. Soon though both of our swims started to fade, Paul decided to rest his & came inside for silvers, catching some chunky roach & rudd shallow on maggot, as well as a few skimmers. I persevered a little longer but in hindsight it was a waste of time. The swim was now dead with no signs of any fish. I came in & had a go on the long pole shallow & decided I would only give it half an hour, because if you are going to catch on this method you will almost certainly get a couple straight away, if not then usually it becomes a waste of time. With not even a bite to show after half an hour I decided to have a go on the deck with the soft pellets. I wasn’t putting anything in the net & it was now costing me. Paul was still catching plenty of silvers & was forging ahead. I gave the pole line 45minutes & managed 2 small carp & about a dozen small skimmers for about 6lb but it wasn’t going to be enough so I decided to see the rest of the match out on the pellet wag. I had a few more fish & a good last hour but it was very difficult. The fish just were not there in numbers like they can be & it was a case of picking off one or two then nothing for a quiet spell when you would get another run of one or two fish.I was last to weigh in & the ever consistent John Hetherington had already put 80lb+ on the scales from flyer peg 21, disappointingly I knew that I had nowhere near that & with Paul bagging I was out of the frame. When the scales did arrive at Paul, he put a very very good 89lb+ on the scales 20lb+ of which were silvers. I put 68lb, mostly carp for third on the day, which considering the class of the field I was pleased with. Congratulations must go to Paul though, who not only won the day, but also the silvers pool & the golden peg. He did it from a fair peg, but by no means a flyer under pressure to do so as well. He is a class angler who is always looking to put something in the net & his tactical decision making on the day was spot on. It was a pleasure to be pegged next to a good performance like that as I came away learning something.
11th November 2007
Milemead fishery open
Only 11 turned up for this one. At the draw I pulled out peg 5 & was reasonably happy.I had prepared for an open water swim, but peg 5 has some of the characteristics of a snake lake as it is 13m to an island, straight out on front. It drops of very quickly & down the track it is about 6” deep, shallowing up again towards the near margins. A careful plumb up found me a nice flattish spot approximately 2 thirds over.It was here that I decided to fish soft pellets & corn over kinder potted soaked hard pellets.I started on a hook in the loop rig, dead depth to a size 18, b911, to 3lb match team mainline.First 10 minutes & lots of bites but strangely all of them missed.Quickly I switched over to a standard rig & started to catch.My plan was to stay on this line for as long as possible, catching anything that swam, but in particular the big skimmers that are prolific.After a couple of hours I had a steady run of fish including one or two hefty carp pushing 4.5lb.I have recently switched to latex for winter & it never ceases to amaze me how quickly you can subdue big fish on a relatively light size 10 elastic.He old adage of the harder you pull, the harder they pull back is so true.I continued to catch steady for the duration of the match but as expected things slowed right down towards the end.A quick look over with half an hour to go on hair rigged hard pellet saw me snare two quick carp, which were the last fish I had.I had lost 3 carp, a suicidal one did me in the rushes & I suspect the other two were foul hooked.It didn’t really matter as I finished up with 29lb 7oz made up of 14lb+ of skimmers & the same amount of carp for second in the match.
Only 11 turned up for this one. At the draw I pulled out peg 5 & was reasonably happy.I had prepared for an open water swim, but peg 5 has some of the characteristics of a snake lake as it is 13m to an island, straight out on front. It drops of very quickly & down the track it is about 6” deep, shallowing up again towards the near margins. A careful plumb up found me a nice flattish spot approximately 2 thirds over.It was here that I decided to fish soft pellets & corn over kinder potted soaked hard pellets.I started on a hook in the loop rig, dead depth to a size 18, b911, to 3lb match team mainline.First 10 minutes & lots of bites but strangely all of them missed.Quickly I switched over to a standard rig & started to catch.My plan was to stay on this line for as long as possible, catching anything that swam, but in particular the big skimmers that are prolific.After a couple of hours I had a steady run of fish including one or two hefty carp pushing 4.5lb.I have recently switched to latex for winter & it never ceases to amaze me how quickly you can subdue big fish on a relatively light size 10 elastic.He old adage of the harder you pull, the harder they pull back is so true.I continued to catch steady for the duration of the match but as expected things slowed right down towards the end.A quick look over with half an hour to go on hair rigged hard pellet saw me snare two quick carp, which were the last fish I had.I had lost 3 carp, a suicidal one did me in the rushes & I suspect the other two were foul hooked.It didn’t really matter as I finished up with 29lb 7oz made up of 14lb+ of skimmers & the same amount of carp for second in the match.
Sunday 3rd may
Milemead open.
Sunday 3rd May Milemead open. A very disappointing 8 of us pitched up for this one.At the draw I pulled out peg 20 & was pleased with that. It is a very good peg, one of the best. At 11m on the deck it drops of nicely. It is an open water peg with the main island to the left & a huge bed of lilies straight out in front at about 30m. Both of these features can be attacked with the pellet wag or lead or you can fish on the deck just past that drop off. However I decided on a long pole & pellet shallow approach, simply because I like the method & if you can get the fish going then a weight is possible. It is also a far more efficient method.At the all-in I decided to cup in a pot full of 8mm coarse pellets to get a bit of bait down. The plan was to then fish shallow over the top, alternating baits & depths if necessary. I started off with my usual shallow rig, with a 12 inch hook length & an 8mm pellet. Over the top I pinged out a couple of 8mm pellets. Instantly the float buried and a carp was on as it bolted against the tip.The first hour was steady with about 8 carp coming to the net. What became evident though was that I was going to have to work for the fish. Also john Hetherington had drawn peg16 AGAIN & he was catching well fishing 16m tight over to the Island, I needed to keep an eye on him.The second hour was pretty much the same as the first, although I had made a couple of changes. Firstly I shallower right up as I could see the odd swirl, telling me I had them very shallow. I also tried the big 11mm pellet on the hook. This bought me a couple of fish but it didn’t really have the impact I wanted, so I switched back to the 8mm.The third and fourth hours were a bit frustrating as I constantly had to change depth & bait to keep the fish coming, It was enjoyable but John was catching very well & I had fallen behind.What I really wanted was to find the right depth & bait combination in order to maximise my bite ratio, but it seemed that the fish were not going to settle at a particular depth today.The fifth hour was much better as I concentrated on getting them right up, by just flicking 2-3 pellets at the float continuously. It worked slightly & I began to catch John up. At one point I felt I was only 5 or 6 carp behind. I needed the carp to really settle, but they they were never really going to.The last hour started much better as I had a run of F1’s & some big bream & roach. John however pulled away with some proper lumps. I finished with 6 more decent carp.At the weigh in everybody had caught a few, John weighed in before me & put a very impressive 111lb on the scales. I weighed in 79lb. Gordon mears was the last to weigh in with 50lb+ which put me in second place again.On reflection I was quite pleased, I really had to work for them today which was rewarding, as apposed to them hanging themselves, which In order to beat John & win, I needed them to do.
Sunday 3rd May Milemead open. A very disappointing 8 of us pitched up for this one.At the draw I pulled out peg 20 & was pleased with that. It is a very good peg, one of the best. At 11m on the deck it drops of nicely. It is an open water peg with the main island to the left & a huge bed of lilies straight out in front at about 30m. Both of these features can be attacked with the pellet wag or lead or you can fish on the deck just past that drop off. However I decided on a long pole & pellet shallow approach, simply because I like the method & if you can get the fish going then a weight is possible. It is also a far more efficient method.At the all-in I decided to cup in a pot full of 8mm coarse pellets to get a bit of bait down. The plan was to then fish shallow over the top, alternating baits & depths if necessary. I started off with my usual shallow rig, with a 12 inch hook length & an 8mm pellet. Over the top I pinged out a couple of 8mm pellets. Instantly the float buried and a carp was on as it bolted against the tip.The first hour was steady with about 8 carp coming to the net. What became evident though was that I was going to have to work for the fish. Also john Hetherington had drawn peg16 AGAIN & he was catching well fishing 16m tight over to the Island, I needed to keep an eye on him.The second hour was pretty much the same as the first, although I had made a couple of changes. Firstly I shallower right up as I could see the odd swirl, telling me I had them very shallow. I also tried the big 11mm pellet on the hook. This bought me a couple of fish but it didn’t really have the impact I wanted, so I switched back to the 8mm.The third and fourth hours were a bit frustrating as I constantly had to change depth & bait to keep the fish coming, It was enjoyable but John was catching very well & I had fallen behind.What I really wanted was to find the right depth & bait combination in order to maximise my bite ratio, but it seemed that the fish were not going to settle at a particular depth today.The fifth hour was much better as I concentrated on getting them right up, by just flicking 2-3 pellets at the float continuously. It worked slightly & I began to catch John up. At one point I felt I was only 5 or 6 carp behind. I needed the carp to really settle, but they they were never really going to.The last hour started much better as I had a run of F1’s & some big bream & roach. John however pulled away with some proper lumps. I finished with 6 more decent carp.At the weigh in everybody had caught a few, John weighed in before me & put a very impressive 111lb on the scales. I weighed in 79lb. Gordon mears was the last to weigh in with 50lb+ which put me in second place again.On reflection I was quite pleased, I really had to work for them today which was rewarding, as apposed to them hanging themselves, which In order to beat John & win, I needed them to do.
24th may 2007
Peg 3 on the match lake.Milemead Summer Series. Round 3.
Fishing from 6pm-9pm, 16 of us pitched up for this one, even with a few of the regulars fishing the Stafford Moor festival.At the draw I pulled out peg 3 & was pleasantly surprised as it is the first time in ages that I have drawn it. To the left you have the island, but it shelves down very deep very quickly so is a bit of a red herring. It isn’t really in reach of a sensible amount of pole so the other options are the lead or pellet waggler. I chose to ignore it completely & concentrated on just the one line, shallow pole & hair rigged pellet at 13m straight out in front. I chose this simply because I have caught well there during pleasure sessions so was confident of a fish or two. I am continuing to use my shallow pole rig, only this time I set it up with only a 6inch hook length. These 3 hour matches are a bit hit or miss & you have to be positive if you wish to frame. Knowing that the big fish like to come very shallow, I decided on these as my target.Harry shouted the all in & I shipped out, I decided to try something slightly different this time & started feeding 8mm pellets very heavily. The idea was to try & get a bit of bait down on the deck & then draw the fish up. I could have used a pole cup but I like the noise of the pellets hitting the water.Unfortunately after about 25minutes I hadn’t had a bite, I had fed about half a pint of pellets So decided to cut right back & see if I could get a few up. It was obvious there was a few fish on the deck, mostly skimmers by the look of all the fizzing. After about 5minutes of feeding just 2-3 pellets I had my first bite as the pole slammed under, carp no.1 had hooked itself against the pole tip.Safely in the net it was a good one at about 3lb.The rest of the first hour was a bit disappointing as I only managed a few more carp & roach.I had to do something so I switched from an 8mm pellet on the hook to an 11mm. The reaction was instant as carp after carp hit the net. Funnily enough though bites were harder to come by If the bait was moving, I had to keep it dead still &just flick a couple of 8mmpellets at it every 5 seconds. Most of the fish hooked themselves against the pole, a bit like they do when you float it. I wasn’t complaining however as they were obviously competing well & that is how the fish wanted it on the day.So the next 2 hours were very productive, in total I probably added another 25 carp, which was quite pleasing. I finished with about 30 carp & 5 big roach for 61lb 4oz. I was last to weigh in & the top weight before me had been 49lb, so I had won quite easily. More importantly though I now have 3 points after 2 matches, if I can keep that up….well who knows?Crucially switching to that big pellet made all the difference. It would be tempting to try & fish the same way again on another day, but you never know how they want it, you just have to work it out, however I won’t be forgetting it in a hurry.
Sunday 20th May.
Peg 16 on the match lake.
Milemead open.
Only 8 of used turned up for this one. What with a festival at Stafford moor on Monday & a couple of other regulars fishing elsewhere it was a bit of a disappointing turnout.At the draw I pulled out peg 16 again!!! However I was reasonably pleased as now the weather & more importantly the water has warmed, the fish are moving & feeding freely. I had the end of the island to fish to with the pellet waggler, or straight out in front with 16m of pole….Pellet waggler it was then.I decided to use Martins (pictured below) pellet wagglers today, as it was a chance to give them a real workout, as the wind was light I set up 2 rods, ! With a 1.5 ssg wag & the other with a 2 ssg wag. Both were tied to 3lb maxima & a .20 hook length of power plus & a size 14 fox eyed barbless series 2 hook, with a knotless knot & hair rigged 8mm pellet.First cast & I didn’t even have time to feed as the float buried, a firm strike & carp no.1 at about 1.5lb was on its way into the net. Then a pouch full of pellet went over the top again about a meter from the end of that Island. Instantly the float buried, only this time the carp snagged me in a weed bed at the bottom of that island shelf. I pulled for a break & the main line went at the knot.I then set up a new rig but with that snag there I couldn’t take any chances, so I used 8lb sensor main line & quickly tied up a hook length of the same line. It worked a treat as I was now able to apply plenty of pressure & stop those carp from snagging me.After the first hour I had about 8 carp & some stonking roach for about 15lb. That was pleasing, but I felt I needed to catch quicker, so I concentrated on my feeding & accuracy, to minamalise wasted time. It worked a treat as I now had the fish competing heavily & they were coming to the splash.The second hour saw my catch rate improve slightly, but that thick main line was causing problems with presentation, I was beginning to struggle with accuracy, I persevered however & continued to put fish into the net, by constantly casting & flicking the float to induce a take.I got broken up a couple more times as a few fish made it to those snags; there was little I could do really as when I tried to catch further away from the island, bites slowed up. The fish wanted to be fairly tight today & there was little I could do. I just had to persevere.At the weigh in I put 10lb of quality roach on the scales along with 84lb of carp to 3.5lb, totalling 94lb 1oz. This was comfortably enough for the win, with Paul carpenter coming second with 60lb+ of peg 5. That is my biggest weight so far from this fishery, slightly short of the ton, but I wasn’t complaining as it was a very enjoyable day.I’m not sure if there was anything I could have done really to improve, the crucial moment really was changing over to the much heavier gear. In open water I think you can get away with lighter gear, but with those snags I couldn’t take any chances.Martin’s wagglers performed admirably, I lost 2 of them but that was because I got snapped up, they are very boyant, therefore the smaller ones can be cast a fair distance because of their shotting capacity.Incidentally all fish were caught on the Mosella impact pre drilled 8mm pellet & Skrettings 8mm coarse pellet for feed.
Summer evening series round 2
Milemead fisheries.
This was the first match of the series for me as I missed the first one.16 of Devon & Cornwall’s finest pitched up for this one (its amazing what a bit of sunshine will do!!).It is a series of 15 matches fished every Thursday evening from 6-9pm through out the summer with a trophy for whoever gets the best 7 results at the end, You get 1 point for a win, 2 for second & so on.At the draw I pulled out peg 7& with Andy Seery on peg 9 & John Hetherington on peg 5, I had my work cut out.Peg 7 is a bit of a bogey peg to be honest, straight out in front at 11m there is a big bed of Lilly pads, which restrict you somewhat and limit your options. Obviously however, it is next to peg six, a noted shallow pole peg. So it was with this in mind that I set up just the one rig.I am still using my shallow dibber rig (picture somewhere below) but have modified it slightly. With summer approaching & a possibility of big weights on the cards I am now using 8lb daiwa sensor main line to a .20 ultima power plus hook length (with a load of spares in my box), the hook remains the same but I am going to experiment with the float a little. Two reasons for this really, firstly a bigger float with a bigger capacity for long lining & hence heavier for swinging out & secondly a much smaller float for fishing directly under the pole tip. The whole point is to help stop spooking iffy carp as you inevitably get.So with the rig set up I angled my box slightly so I could fish at 13m about 8 foot to the right of those lilies & about half way towards peg 6, fortunately peg 6 hadn’t been put in, otherwise I would have been stumped. At the whistle I shipped out with a hair rigged 8mm coarse pellet & immediately without even feeding a thing had a 6oz golden Rudd, what a beautiful fish the golden Rudd is. Next put in same thing, then again & again. I then upped the feed a bit to try & get things going & after about 20mins had my first carp, a proper one at about 3.5lb.Now the fact that you only have 3 hours means that making the right decisions is vital as there is very little time to chop & change. So it was with that in mind that I began to concentrate heavily on my feeding pattern. You see the Rudd is a great weight builder & now they are ravenous a good weight of them is due to somebody who sets their stall out for them. But you are better off targeting them at a much shorter distance.Now in most fisheries the bigger carp will come very shallow if you get the feeding right, so I quickly switched to a 4 inch hook length & flicked 3 or 4 pellets at the float, instantly there was a change as carp no2 went in the net.What I did next was to change my feeding pattern in order to keep bites coming. Occasionally I needed to fire a pouch full of pellets, then lift & drop the rig 5 times before getting a bite. Sometimes it was better not to feed anything & keep lifting & dropping. Then sometimes is was better to leave the rig dead still & just flick a 2 or 3 pellets over the top & wait for the carp to hook themselves as they slammed into the motionless pellet.Anyway, by chopping & changing my feeding pattern I managed to keep the fish interested & more importantly got them to compete.After the 3 hours was up I had managed to catch 10 carp, a dozen or so of those better Rudd & even 3 proper bream that had decided to come as shallow as the 4 inches. I had a very enjoyable evenings fishing & I put 37lb 1oz on the scales & I was pleased with that.Steve foreshaw had 55lb off peg 21 (the flyer, as always) & I was second with my effort.More importantly though, I battered Andy & John either side (revenge is sweet).So with 2 points after round 2, I am leading, although obviously it is very early days get.
This was the first match of the series for me as I missed the first one.16 of Devon & Cornwall’s finest pitched up for this one (its amazing what a bit of sunshine will do!!).It is a series of 15 matches fished every Thursday evening from 6-9pm through out the summer with a trophy for whoever gets the best 7 results at the end, You get 1 point for a win, 2 for second & so on.At the draw I pulled out peg 7& with Andy Seery on peg 9 & John Hetherington on peg 5, I had my work cut out.Peg 7 is a bit of a bogey peg to be honest, straight out in front at 11m there is a big bed of Lilly pads, which restrict you somewhat and limit your options. Obviously however, it is next to peg six, a noted shallow pole peg. So it was with this in mind that I set up just the one rig.I am still using my shallow dibber rig (picture somewhere below) but have modified it slightly. With summer approaching & a possibility of big weights on the cards I am now using 8lb daiwa sensor main line to a .20 ultima power plus hook length (with a load of spares in my box), the hook remains the same but I am going to experiment with the float a little. Two reasons for this really, firstly a bigger float with a bigger capacity for long lining & hence heavier for swinging out & secondly a much smaller float for fishing directly under the pole tip. The whole point is to help stop spooking iffy carp as you inevitably get.So with the rig set up I angled my box slightly so I could fish at 13m about 8 foot to the right of those lilies & about half way towards peg 6, fortunately peg 6 hadn’t been put in, otherwise I would have been stumped. At the whistle I shipped out with a hair rigged 8mm coarse pellet & immediately without even feeding a thing had a 6oz golden Rudd, what a beautiful fish the golden Rudd is. Next put in same thing, then again & again. I then upped the feed a bit to try & get things going & after about 20mins had my first carp, a proper one at about 3.5lb.Now the fact that you only have 3 hours means that making the right decisions is vital as there is very little time to chop & change. So it was with that in mind that I began to concentrate heavily on my feeding pattern. You see the Rudd is a great weight builder & now they are ravenous a good weight of them is due to somebody who sets their stall out for them. But you are better off targeting them at a much shorter distance.Now in most fisheries the bigger carp will come very shallow if you get the feeding right, so I quickly switched to a 4 inch hook length & flicked 3 or 4 pellets at the float, instantly there was a change as carp no2 went in the net.What I did next was to change my feeding pattern in order to keep bites coming. Occasionally I needed to fire a pouch full of pellets, then lift & drop the rig 5 times before getting a bite. Sometimes it was better not to feed anything & keep lifting & dropping. Then sometimes is was better to leave the rig dead still & just flick a 2 or 3 pellets over the top & wait for the carp to hook themselves as they slammed into the motionless pellet.Anyway, by chopping & changing my feeding pattern I managed to keep the fish interested & more importantly got them to compete.After the 3 hours was up I had managed to catch 10 carp, a dozen or so of those better Rudd & even 3 proper bream that had decided to come as shallow as the 4 inches. I had a very enjoyable evenings fishing & I put 37lb 1oz on the scales & I was pleased with that.Steve foreshaw had 55lb off peg 21 (the flyer, as always) & I was second with my effort.More importantly though, I battered Andy & John either side (revenge is sweet).So with 2 points after round 2, I am leading, although obviously it is very early days get.
7th May 2007
Bank holiday weekend Milemead open.
Only nine of us pitched up for this one which was slightly disappointing, but at least we would be well spread out with plenty of room either side of us.At the draw I pulled out peg 5 & was fairly pleased. Some seasons ago this peg was considered to be the out & out flyer, simply because it is opposite an Island that is reachable with thirteen meters of pole.The island shelves down very steeply & coming only six inches back towards you it is 1.5" deep. It then drops of very steeply with about six foot down the track, shallowing back up again in the margins.As you look straight in front of you there is a nice piece of bare bank to fish to, snags come in the way of bulrushes’ either side & tree roots to watch out for as well.My plan for the day was to concentrate on just the one line. Fishing pellet up & down tight over in the shallower water as close to the island as was possible, feeding with a kinder cup so not to put to much bait in, causing liners & foul hookers. Past experience told me that this was an area the carp live & patrol.My rig consisted of a big dibber float, with 5lb line straight thought o a size 16 fox series 2 eyed barbless hook, coupled to orange Drennan Bungee elastic, through my Trabucco GM Carp 1 pole. An animal rig, or so I thought.First put in with a 6mm Ringers expander & the float buried. A quick lift resulted in a 4 oz roach. Second put in & the same thing. A switch to corn bought me my first carp at about 2lb.Next put in & back to the expander & the float buried again, only this time I did not need to strike as the fish had hooked itself & bolted into the bulrushes‘. A brief tussle & the fish had slipped the hook leaving me snagged up. I shipped the pole back to the top 2 & pulled for a break, but the orange Drennan bungee elastic just carried on stretching.Eventually with about 30' of elastic loose, the hook pulled & he whole thing shot back in a massive tangle.Cursing my stupidity I quickly tied on a spare rig, of which I had 4 made up.Now most decent anglers, who when faced with a problem situation like this change things, However me being a total numpty decided to persevere with my original set up & guess what, half an hour, loads of swearing & four trashed rigs later I had managed to land not diddly squat,nadda.Now at this point in the match I had had enough & with an hour gone, I really was going nowhere fast. With a couple of other lads catching well I had to make some changes, quickly. So after digging through my tackle box, I pulled out a spool of 8lb daiwa Sensor, that I use for feeder fishing snag pits. I rigged up again only this time I fished the sensor straight through to a size 12 fox eyed series 2 barbless hook, which I tied with a knotless knot leaving a hair. I decided to hair rig hard pellets instead as these were more resilient to the silvers & saved me time shipping in & out having to re bait. I also chopped a foot & a half of elastic off, so it was nice & tight. The whole rig was a bit severe, but it was the only way I could see myself stopping the carp continuously snagging me, causing unnecessary damage all around. It worked a treat & I was now able to get the carp away from the island quite quickly, by shipping back very fast as soon as I hit the bite, the fish came back quite easily. Surprisingly there once in front of me they pulled a fair bit of elastic out & with the fish averaging only 2lb it got me thinking just how little pressure that there must be at the business end of the elastic. A lot less I think than we imagine.Anyway that set the tone for the next five hours, which became very enjoyable, I managed to snare 35+ carp for just shy of 70lb, changing depths every know & then to keep the fish coming.Unfortunately there were no lumps, which you need a few of really, with the average being slightly smaller than I expected, but still rewarding none the less.At the weigh in my total was good enough for third, behind an 80lb weight off of flyer peg 21 & 108lb of, you guessed it…peg 19 (the peg I have been dreaming about for weeks), with all of the fish coming to the shallow wag & pellet.It just goes tho show that sometimes when you know you are to far behind, if you persevere, you might not come away with any coin, but you can come away with that all important knowledge for the next time.
Only nine of us pitched up for this one which was slightly disappointing, but at least we would be well spread out with plenty of room either side of us.At the draw I pulled out peg 5 & was fairly pleased. Some seasons ago this peg was considered to be the out & out flyer, simply because it is opposite an Island that is reachable with thirteen meters of pole.The island shelves down very steeply & coming only six inches back towards you it is 1.5" deep. It then drops of very steeply with about six foot down the track, shallowing back up again in the margins.As you look straight in front of you there is a nice piece of bare bank to fish to, snags come in the way of bulrushes’ either side & tree roots to watch out for as well.My plan for the day was to concentrate on just the one line. Fishing pellet up & down tight over in the shallower water as close to the island as was possible, feeding with a kinder cup so not to put to much bait in, causing liners & foul hookers. Past experience told me that this was an area the carp live & patrol.My rig consisted of a big dibber float, with 5lb line straight thought o a size 16 fox series 2 eyed barbless hook, coupled to orange Drennan Bungee elastic, through my Trabucco GM Carp 1 pole. An animal rig, or so I thought.First put in with a 6mm Ringers expander & the float buried. A quick lift resulted in a 4 oz roach. Second put in & the same thing. A switch to corn bought me my first carp at about 2lb.Next put in & back to the expander & the float buried again, only this time I did not need to strike as the fish had hooked itself & bolted into the bulrushes‘. A brief tussle & the fish had slipped the hook leaving me snagged up. I shipped the pole back to the top 2 & pulled for a break, but the orange Drennan bungee elastic just carried on stretching.Eventually with about 30' of elastic loose, the hook pulled & he whole thing shot back in a massive tangle.Cursing my stupidity I quickly tied on a spare rig, of which I had 4 made up.Now most decent anglers, who when faced with a problem situation like this change things, However me being a total numpty decided to persevere with my original set up & guess what, half an hour, loads of swearing & four trashed rigs later I had managed to land not diddly squat,nadda.Now at this point in the match I had had enough & with an hour gone, I really was going nowhere fast. With a couple of other lads catching well I had to make some changes, quickly. So after digging through my tackle box, I pulled out a spool of 8lb daiwa Sensor, that I use for feeder fishing snag pits. I rigged up again only this time I fished the sensor straight through to a size 12 fox eyed series 2 barbless hook, which I tied with a knotless knot leaving a hair. I decided to hair rig hard pellets instead as these were more resilient to the silvers & saved me time shipping in & out having to re bait. I also chopped a foot & a half of elastic off, so it was nice & tight. The whole rig was a bit severe, but it was the only way I could see myself stopping the carp continuously snagging me, causing unnecessary damage all around. It worked a treat & I was now able to get the carp away from the island quite quickly, by shipping back very fast as soon as I hit the bite, the fish came back quite easily. Surprisingly there once in front of me they pulled a fair bit of elastic out & with the fish averaging only 2lb it got me thinking just how little pressure that there must be at the business end of the elastic. A lot less I think than we imagine.Anyway that set the tone for the next five hours, which became very enjoyable, I managed to snare 35+ carp for just shy of 70lb, changing depths every know & then to keep the fish coming.Unfortunately there were no lumps, which you need a few of really, with the average being slightly smaller than I expected, but still rewarding none the less.At the weigh in my total was good enough for third, behind an 80lb weight off of flyer peg 21 & 108lb of, you guessed it…peg 19 (the peg I have been dreaming about for weeks), with all of the fish coming to the shallow wag & pellet.It just goes tho show that sometimes when you know you are to far behind, if you persevere, you might not come away with any coin, but you can come away with that all important knowledge for the next time.
Sunday 29th April 2007
Stafford moor open.
Approximately Sixty plus of us lined the banks of Tanners, Woody & Josephs for this Sunday open.The weather forecast was sunny spells with a risk of the odd shower. Temperatures had dropped slightly because of high pressure & a cold night coupled with a chilly wind.Being that this was my first match here since last August, I was very excited at the prospect. I have fished matches here on & off pretty much since it opened, but this was by far my biggest break. So although excited, I wasn’t expecting too much of myself today as I lacked a bit of confidence. Although I have kept in touch with the fisheries form through mates & the press, I didn’t really posses that all-important hands on experience that you need to get a result. I was going to need a big helping of luck & would be very happy just to catch some fish & possibly sneak a section.At the draw I pulled out peg 25 on Josephs & my initial reaction was one of disappointment. The peg itself is a very good one to look at, with loads of features. The main ones being an island & a load of partially sunken rotting tree stumps charmingly called ’the mangrove swamps’ at about 40-50 m out in quite a vast expanse of water. The margins either side are an abundance of plant life & more decaying trees.After a bit of advice from Andy I decided to target the ‘mangroves‘. The going method was hair rigged big pellet on the lead, but as I always like to do my own thing, I rigged up a free running feeder instead. I incorporated a snap link swivel, so I could change over to a lead if necessary. The reason for the feeder being that I like to fish positively, often to much so, but that is my style.Mainline was 5lb maxima to a .20 ultima power plus hook length & a fox series 2 eyed barb less hook, completed the set up. My plan was to fish the big pellet, run some 4mm pellets through the ground bait & feed some 11mm pellets over the top with a catty. This should hold some fish in the swim, or so I thought.Andy shouted the all in & first chuck the tip whacked around instantly catching me by surprise. Needless to say the fish headed straight for the ‘mangroves‘. I held firm & it turned. A couple of minutes later & a pristine mirror of about 3lb went in the net. Nice one.Second chuck & exactly the same thing, only this one didn’t get a chance to head for the mangroves as I hit & held it, turning it instantly. However at the net it decided to bolt for those tree stumps in the margins & I had stupidly forgot to set the clutch on my reel. Needless to say it was too tight & I felt that horrible grating feeling as the main line shred & every thing went slack.A couple of minutes later & I had rigged up again, however I had that horrible feeling that I was going to run out of tackle!!!!Third chuck & unbelievably the tip whacked around instantly again, however for some reason I pulled out of this one. So with just 10 minutes gone I had 3 casts, 3 bites & 1 fish in the net……. Briefly, the thought ‘shed full’ came into my head.Now this is where the wheels fell of slightly, you see there had obviously been a few fish present in the swim, but as bites started to slow up, I got the feeling that the feeder landing on there heads in the relatively shallow water was having an adverse effect. It appeared that I was spooking them, as apposed to attracting & holding them. Now this is a funny situation because in the past there have been times when the fish react positively to the feeder & come straight to the splash & you need to keep casting very frequently in order to keep the fish coming. With this in mind I continued to cast every 3-4 minutes or so, but with just the odd fish to show & couple of hours gone I think it was a mistake.I think what happens is that it is such a prolific fishery that it is easy to get carried away wit the feed. On a flyer or in the height of summer it probably wouldn’t be a problem, but with he fine weather it is easy to forget that we are still in April & the water hasn’t really warmed up yet. With that I then decided to switch to the lead & cut right back on the feed. It worked & although I needed to cast within inches of the ‘mangroves’ over the next 4 hours I put about another dozen fish for 50lb in the net Although not a huge weight, under the circumstances I was pleased with it & felt that towards the end just about sussed it out. With hindsight if I had fished a bit more conservatively & a bit more accurately I recon I could have doubled my weight. On a more positive note, I did beat both anglers either side of me, one of whom was Clayton Hudson , former fisho’mania qualifier no less…coupled with a few good draws & that has got to be good for the confidence.
Approximately Sixty plus of us lined the banks of Tanners, Woody & Josephs for this Sunday open.The weather forecast was sunny spells with a risk of the odd shower. Temperatures had dropped slightly because of high pressure & a cold night coupled with a chilly wind.Being that this was my first match here since last August, I was very excited at the prospect. I have fished matches here on & off pretty much since it opened, but this was by far my biggest break. So although excited, I wasn’t expecting too much of myself today as I lacked a bit of confidence. Although I have kept in touch with the fisheries form through mates & the press, I didn’t really posses that all-important hands on experience that you need to get a result. I was going to need a big helping of luck & would be very happy just to catch some fish & possibly sneak a section.At the draw I pulled out peg 25 on Josephs & my initial reaction was one of disappointment. The peg itself is a very good one to look at, with loads of features. The main ones being an island & a load of partially sunken rotting tree stumps charmingly called ’the mangrove swamps’ at about 40-50 m out in quite a vast expanse of water. The margins either side are an abundance of plant life & more decaying trees.After a bit of advice from Andy I decided to target the ‘mangroves‘. The going method was hair rigged big pellet on the lead, but as I always like to do my own thing, I rigged up a free running feeder instead. I incorporated a snap link swivel, so I could change over to a lead if necessary. The reason for the feeder being that I like to fish positively, often to much so, but that is my style.Mainline was 5lb maxima to a .20 ultima power plus hook length & a fox series 2 eyed barb less hook, completed the set up. My plan was to fish the big pellet, run some 4mm pellets through the ground bait & feed some 11mm pellets over the top with a catty. This should hold some fish in the swim, or so I thought.Andy shouted the all in & first chuck the tip whacked around instantly catching me by surprise. Needless to say the fish headed straight for the ‘mangroves‘. I held firm & it turned. A couple of minutes later & a pristine mirror of about 3lb went in the net. Nice one.Second chuck & exactly the same thing, only this one didn’t get a chance to head for the mangroves as I hit & held it, turning it instantly. However at the net it decided to bolt for those tree stumps in the margins & I had stupidly forgot to set the clutch on my reel. Needless to say it was too tight & I felt that horrible grating feeling as the main line shred & every thing went slack.A couple of minutes later & I had rigged up again, however I had that horrible feeling that I was going to run out of tackle!!!!Third chuck & unbelievably the tip whacked around instantly again, however for some reason I pulled out of this one. So with just 10 minutes gone I had 3 casts, 3 bites & 1 fish in the net……. Briefly, the thought ‘shed full’ came into my head.Now this is where the wheels fell of slightly, you see there had obviously been a few fish present in the swim, but as bites started to slow up, I got the feeling that the feeder landing on there heads in the relatively shallow water was having an adverse effect. It appeared that I was spooking them, as apposed to attracting & holding them. Now this is a funny situation because in the past there have been times when the fish react positively to the feeder & come straight to the splash & you need to keep casting very frequently in order to keep the fish coming. With this in mind I continued to cast every 3-4 minutes or so, but with just the odd fish to show & couple of hours gone I think it was a mistake.I think what happens is that it is such a prolific fishery that it is easy to get carried away wit the feed. On a flyer or in the height of summer it probably wouldn’t be a problem, but with he fine weather it is easy to forget that we are still in April & the water hasn’t really warmed up yet. With that I then decided to switch to the lead & cut right back on the feed. It worked & although I needed to cast within inches of the ‘mangroves’ over the next 4 hours I put about another dozen fish for 50lb in the net Although not a huge weight, under the circumstances I was pleased with it & felt that towards the end just about sussed it out. With hindsight if I had fished a bit more conservatively & a bit more accurately I recon I could have doubled my weight. On a more positive note, I did beat both anglers either side of me, one of whom was Clayton Hudson , former fisho’mania qualifier no less…coupled with a few good draws & that has got to be good for the confidence.
Sunday 22 April 2007
Milemead open.
From bad to worse.Due to the 2 day festival being cancelled 17 of us pitched up for this one. I had been keeping a close eye on the forecast all week, because we have had a number weeks of very favourable weather & I was concerned about it changing. Fortunately the forecast was mild again with long periods of sunshine, so you guessed it, as I arrived at the fishery it started raining, typical!!!!!Eager to get on with it I was first at the draw bag & out came 24...Now, you know at your regular fisheries there are always one or two pegs that everybody hates because they are devoid of fish & you question what sort of mad man would put the peg in the first place, well 24 is one of them. My heart sank to be honest as I knew I was in for a grueller, you see the peg itself is one of the most attractive on the lake. Being in a shallow bay there is a small island reachable with 13m to your left, a tasty margin to your right with some nice reed beds & a fair bit of open water out in front. It is one of those pegs that can become a bit confusing as you set up a multitude of rigs & rods to cover the posibilities.Harry blew the whistle & I went out at 13m in front with the intention of fishing the pellet shallow into that open water. After last weeks experience I played it slightly cautiously with the feed. An hour later I had a grand total of nothing, not even a bite….erm!!! Plan 2, out to the point of that island with a pellet waggler…another hour later & a slight improvement, no fish but 1 missed bite & bolting carp.Plan 3, I had been constantly flicking the odd pellet into that margin & so decided it was time to have a look, First put in a 8oz tench, O.K. better than nothing. Second put in a carp of 2lb. That’s better; I could do a weight at this rate. An hour later & guess what, no sign of any more decent fish.So with 3 hours to go I decided on all or bust move & concentrated on the pellet wag to that island. If I could get a good couple of hours out of it then a framing place wasn’t out of the question as the whole lake had seemingly switched off. So as it was with an hour to go, I had not even had a bite I decided to pack up early& tipped back a grand total of 2 carp, 1 tench, 1 roach & a gudgeon. The last half hour I sat & watched Eddie bag up on peg 20 on the pellet wag…….. Well at least I got the method right.So there you have it, one of nightmare days that gets you questioning your own sanity…..so much for drawing peg 19 & doing 150lb…..still there is always next week.
From bad to worse.Due to the 2 day festival being cancelled 17 of us pitched up for this one. I had been keeping a close eye on the forecast all week, because we have had a number weeks of very favourable weather & I was concerned about it changing. Fortunately the forecast was mild again with long periods of sunshine, so you guessed it, as I arrived at the fishery it started raining, typical!!!!!Eager to get on with it I was first at the draw bag & out came 24...Now, you know at your regular fisheries there are always one or two pegs that everybody hates because they are devoid of fish & you question what sort of mad man would put the peg in the first place, well 24 is one of them. My heart sank to be honest as I knew I was in for a grueller, you see the peg itself is one of the most attractive on the lake. Being in a shallow bay there is a small island reachable with 13m to your left, a tasty margin to your right with some nice reed beds & a fair bit of open water out in front. It is one of those pegs that can become a bit confusing as you set up a multitude of rigs & rods to cover the posibilities.Harry blew the whistle & I went out at 13m in front with the intention of fishing the pellet shallow into that open water. After last weeks experience I played it slightly cautiously with the feed. An hour later I had a grand total of nothing, not even a bite….erm!!! Plan 2, out to the point of that island with a pellet waggler…another hour later & a slight improvement, no fish but 1 missed bite & bolting carp.Plan 3, I had been constantly flicking the odd pellet into that margin & so decided it was time to have a look, First put in a 8oz tench, O.K. better than nothing. Second put in a carp of 2lb. That’s better; I could do a weight at this rate. An hour later & guess what, no sign of any more decent fish.So with 3 hours to go I decided on all or bust move & concentrated on the pellet wag to that island. If I could get a good couple of hours out of it then a framing place wasn’t out of the question as the whole lake had seemingly switched off. So as it was with an hour to go, I had not even had a bite I decided to pack up early& tipped back a grand total of 2 carp, 1 tench, 1 roach & a gudgeon. The last half hour I sat & watched Eddie bag up on peg 20 on the pellet wag…….. Well at least I got the method right.So there you have it, one of nightmare days that gets you questioning your own sanity…..so much for drawing peg 19 & doing 150lb…..still there is always next week.
Sunday 15th April 2007
Milemead Open.
Sixteen of us graced the banks on Sunday at my local Milemead fisheries in tavistock. At the draw I pulled out peg 6 & all my pre prepared plans (as you do) of fishing the pellet wag to some sort of feature went out the window. You see the bank holiday Monday previous, I had sat my bum on peg 19 & caught all day long on the pellet wag for an estimated 75 fish & close on 170lb, the only time I didn‘t catch was when I was untangling line from my new reels. Now these reels are brilliant, but it doesn’t matter how good they are, if you overfill them with line as I did then you are in all sorts of trouble. Anyway back to peg 19, it is a noted flyer & naturally come match day I was going to draw a similar peg wasn’t I? Well no peg 6 it was and I must say I was a little disappointed. You see the peg to the right was empty and I did have a feature being the end of the island with a clump of moving reeds sticking out of it. Perfect for the pellet wag I hear you think, well not really as I forgot to mention it is only 11m away. Now I was very tempted but pellet wag at 11m……..The other option were those reeds & this is where a lot of anglers who are unfamiliar with the venue target, however as I am sure you are aware, these features are often a bit of a red herring, in as much as you spend most of the day trashing & re tying new rigs as the fish drag you straight through them. The other main feature is an under water one, being a bar that slopes down from the island right in front of peg six. Now in the warmer months plenty of carp cruise up & around this bar & if you target it either at dead depth or even better shallow, then a big weight can be on the cards. I have had 87lb from there in a match before, however that was in the middle of summer when the water was nice & warm & this fish were feeding well. But what about today? Well I knew the fish were feeding well, but the water was still slightly cold, well a decision had to be made & I decided on an all or bust pole & pellet shallow approach to that bar.The norm is to fish & feed 4mm & 6mm pellets, but I have been experimenting with 8mm & even 11mm. The reason being is that there are hoards of silvers & they seem to pay the bigger pellets less attention & the carp do not seem bothered. As for rigs well I have incorporated the korum quick change beads into my shallow rigs now, I use a team mosella dibber & a Fox, size 16, series 2, eyed barbless hook with a hair rigged pellet all tied to .20 ultima power plus. The reason for the beads is so I can change hooklenght quickly if I need it longer or shorter without having to set up loads of rigs using up all of my top kits.As you can see it is a very positive set up, with little room for finesse, but I feel you need to give shallow fishing your full attention to get the best out of it so your rigs might as well be robust & positive.Harry blew the whistle & out I shipped to that 11m bar with an 8mm pellet hair rigged at 12‘depth. I trickled in 6 pellets every 10 seconds & after only a couple of minutes the pole tip slammed under & pink drennan bungee poured out of my pole. I didn’t even see the bite as the fish hooked & bolted as they often do when hair-rigging on the pole.Good start, a couple of minutes later same thing & carp no 2 in the net Then a couple of minutes later & a 1lb roach went into the silver fish net. After an hour I had 8 carp, a roach, & a big skimmer for about 20lb. Awesome I was on target for my estimated 100lb. Now mark who was pegged next to me decided he was going to do the same….”if your giong to spray pellets all day, then it is pointless me fishing on the deck were his exact words”…he had a point. The difference was however our rigs, mark’s had a lot more finnesse about it & he was fishing a lot deeper, he also had a lily bed to his right & not a lot of room to manoeuvre next to it. After about another hour he to had caught a few carp & was catching me up.Now this is where the wheels almost fell of my day. You see I don’t know about you but when I am pegged next to anglers who are also fishing shallow as me then I tend to get a bit nervy & start overfeeding. If you are not careful you can get yourself into a bit of a race scenario with the feed & all to often the fish bugger off…..as they did in my swim. Now I faced a bit of a dilemma, I had about 30lb & was falling behind because I had started feeding to much, to often & the fish didn’t like it.I kicked myself, stopped what I was doing & went for a pee. Sort your bloody self out I told myself & concentrate on what YOU are doing. I went back out again. Only this time I cut my feed down to just 2 pellets every 10-15 seconds. After about half an hour bang the tip went under again & a carp was on, Phew. The remainder of the match saw me pull away from mark as I continued to put carp into the net. I had to ring the changes, changing depth & altering different sized hook pellets, but I kept to that strict feeding routine & managed to get the fish competing again. All in all It was a very good match for me, not only did I come third (with a little brown envelope) with 64lb, more importantly I also taught myself a lesson with the feeding & learned something in the process. On reflection it was a brave move to fish shallow, it was a bit of a gamble but it paid of as the fish were prepared to feed. Mark began to struggle with those lily pads halfway through, losing several fish & getting annoyed. He ended up with 30lb odd. The winner bagged over 100lb from noted flyer peg 21; he did fish it very well though & second was 80lb again from another flyer peg 12 all down the edge.Roll on next week, the owner has put £150.00 on the first person to bag 150lb……now if only I can draw that peg 19.
Sixteen of us graced the banks on Sunday at my local Milemead fisheries in tavistock. At the draw I pulled out peg 6 & all my pre prepared plans (as you do) of fishing the pellet wag to some sort of feature went out the window. You see the bank holiday Monday previous, I had sat my bum on peg 19 & caught all day long on the pellet wag for an estimated 75 fish & close on 170lb, the only time I didn‘t catch was when I was untangling line from my new reels. Now these reels are brilliant, but it doesn’t matter how good they are, if you overfill them with line as I did then you are in all sorts of trouble. Anyway back to peg 19, it is a noted flyer & naturally come match day I was going to draw a similar peg wasn’t I? Well no peg 6 it was and I must say I was a little disappointed. You see the peg to the right was empty and I did have a feature being the end of the island with a clump of moving reeds sticking out of it. Perfect for the pellet wag I hear you think, well not really as I forgot to mention it is only 11m away. Now I was very tempted but pellet wag at 11m……..The other option were those reeds & this is where a lot of anglers who are unfamiliar with the venue target, however as I am sure you are aware, these features are often a bit of a red herring, in as much as you spend most of the day trashing & re tying new rigs as the fish drag you straight through them. The other main feature is an under water one, being a bar that slopes down from the island right in front of peg six. Now in the warmer months plenty of carp cruise up & around this bar & if you target it either at dead depth or even better shallow, then a big weight can be on the cards. I have had 87lb from there in a match before, however that was in the middle of summer when the water was nice & warm & this fish were feeding well. But what about today? Well I knew the fish were feeding well, but the water was still slightly cold, well a decision had to be made & I decided on an all or bust pole & pellet shallow approach to that bar.The norm is to fish & feed 4mm & 6mm pellets, but I have been experimenting with 8mm & even 11mm. The reason being is that there are hoards of silvers & they seem to pay the bigger pellets less attention & the carp do not seem bothered. As for rigs well I have incorporated the korum quick change beads into my shallow rigs now, I use a team mosella dibber & a Fox, size 16, series 2, eyed barbless hook with a hair rigged pellet all tied to .20 ultima power plus. The reason for the beads is so I can change hooklenght quickly if I need it longer or shorter without having to set up loads of rigs using up all of my top kits.As you can see it is a very positive set up, with little room for finesse, but I feel you need to give shallow fishing your full attention to get the best out of it so your rigs might as well be robust & positive.Harry blew the whistle & out I shipped to that 11m bar with an 8mm pellet hair rigged at 12‘depth. I trickled in 6 pellets every 10 seconds & after only a couple of minutes the pole tip slammed under & pink drennan bungee poured out of my pole. I didn’t even see the bite as the fish hooked & bolted as they often do when hair-rigging on the pole.Good start, a couple of minutes later same thing & carp no 2 in the net Then a couple of minutes later & a 1lb roach went into the silver fish net. After an hour I had 8 carp, a roach, & a big skimmer for about 20lb. Awesome I was on target for my estimated 100lb. Now mark who was pegged next to me decided he was going to do the same….”if your giong to spray pellets all day, then it is pointless me fishing on the deck were his exact words”…he had a point. The difference was however our rigs, mark’s had a lot more finnesse about it & he was fishing a lot deeper, he also had a lily bed to his right & not a lot of room to manoeuvre next to it. After about another hour he to had caught a few carp & was catching me up.Now this is where the wheels almost fell of my day. You see I don’t know about you but when I am pegged next to anglers who are also fishing shallow as me then I tend to get a bit nervy & start overfeeding. If you are not careful you can get yourself into a bit of a race scenario with the feed & all to often the fish bugger off…..as they did in my swim. Now I faced a bit of a dilemma, I had about 30lb & was falling behind because I had started feeding to much, to often & the fish didn’t like it.I kicked myself, stopped what I was doing & went for a pee. Sort your bloody self out I told myself & concentrate on what YOU are doing. I went back out again. Only this time I cut my feed down to just 2 pellets every 10-15 seconds. After about half an hour bang the tip went under again & a carp was on, Phew. The remainder of the match saw me pull away from mark as I continued to put carp into the net. I had to ring the changes, changing depth & altering different sized hook pellets, but I kept to that strict feeding routine & managed to get the fish competing again. All in all It was a very good match for me, not only did I come third (with a little brown envelope) with 64lb, more importantly I also taught myself a lesson with the feeding & learned something in the process. On reflection it was a brave move to fish shallow, it was a bit of a gamble but it paid of as the fish were prepared to feed. Mark began to struggle with those lily pads halfway through, losing several fish & getting annoyed. He ended up with 30lb odd. The winner bagged over 100lb from noted flyer peg 21; he did fish it very well though & second was 80lb again from another flyer peg 12 all down the edge.Roll on next week, the owner has put £150.00 on the first person to bag 150lb……now if only I can draw that peg 19.
Sunday the 18th febuary 2007
Milemead fisheries open.
Clear skies, about 10-12 degrees with very little wind was a welcome sight to the 15 of us that had booked in on this regular bi-weekly Sunday open at Milemead fisheries in tavistock. Pre match banter was a bit flat because of an outstanding issue that had to be clarified regarding pole length limits. With that out of the way the draw commenced & feeling confident of a good days sport I went into the draw bag about mid way. I pulled peg 16 out & proceeded to walk up to the lake fairly pleased with myself.As you approach the match lake, Peg 16 is situated at the opposite bank. As you arrive at the peg the most obvious feature is an island about 16-17.5m away. The island is about 35-40m long and is closer to the near bank at each end; the bank is like a half moon shape so it provides quite a nice retreat for fish. Recently the owners had cut all of the overhanging vegetation away from the island so what was left allowed you to get tight over. This is very welcome & as long as they maintain it I can see the peg becoming a flyer in the warmer months. The only problem is that the whole peg is very shallow; from your feet to tight over you only have a maximum of 2 foot. With this in mind & a reluctance to fish my Trabucco gm carp 1 pole at 16m all day, I decide to set up 2 waggler rods.Fishing a little 3bb waggler tight over alternating either maggot or soft pellet was the plan, carefully loose feeding 3-4, 6mm pellets would hopefully draw a couple of fish at a time. If I could pick them off then 50lb wasn’t out of the question. With recent winning weights at about that weight I was reasonably confident of framing.First I had to plumb up against that island and draw the rig back slowly to get the exact depth & see if there were any drop-offs. Using a swan shot on the hook to act as a plummet I soon found out that tight to the island was 6 inches deep, coming back about a foot is suddenly dropped off to about 18-24 inches, Weird! It didn’t leave me with to many options really. I decided to set my float at that 18 inches & fish at the bottom of that drop of. Later on having a look at that very shallow 6 inch line tight to the island.Harry The bailiff sounded the all in. First cast and I flicked the waggler over towards the island. You guessed it snagged up on the only bit of twig that was left there, & I found it….typical. I pulled for a break & the 0.13 bottom went at the loop. Grrrrrr!!!!!After attaching a new hook length I cast over again with double maggot on the hook & catapulted 4/5 pellets over the top. The float dipped & that familiar sideways pull led to a nice 3-4oz roach. This continued for about 15minutes, I wasn’t too bothered about the lack of carp activity as the plan was to build the swim slowly & carefully, teasing the carp into having a go. After about half an hour the float went again, I struck only this time I could feel the resistance of something better. A swirl on the surface showed me it was carp no.1. A brief spell & a 1lb stocky was in the net.After the first hour I had 3 carp & a handful of roach for about 6lb.Pleased with this but decided that I needed to get amongst more of the carp, so on went a 6mm Ringers soft pellet. First cast…bang, carp no 4 safely in the net & a better one to at about 2lb.For the next half hour I couldn’t buy a bite on the pellet so after seeing a small carp cruise tight to the island I decided to shallow up & get right in close to the far bank. Pinging pellets with the catty right up close & I started to catch again with what turned out to be the biggest fish of the day with a carp of around 5-6lb. Nice!!!! A few more of those & we shall be well away or so I thought.Now here is the bit where it all goes wrong as it so often does. I guessed by know I had about 12lb, but felt I needed to make something happen a bit quicker, so I upped the feed, BIG mistake. The problems started because the odd pellet was going up onto the bank. No problem I though until a pair of ducks decided it was lunch time. Not content with the pellets on the bank, the bloody things decided to invade my shallow swim. The only thing I could do was to stop feeding & hope they would bugger off.Finally they did but it had cost me time & knocked my rhythm, not to mention ballsed up my swim.Oh well I thought, I shall just have to persevere & build the swim again. An hour goes by & I have only added one more carp to the net when Daddy duck decides to come back for dessert. Well it turned out to be a tale of cat & mouse or duck & angler so to speak. I had to feed to keep the fish coming but in doing so that bloody duck spooked everything that swam.In the end I managed to add a few more pasties for an estimated 20.lb. Geoff Andrew to my right had bagged down the margins later on & won the match with 56lb, at least my target was correct. Gordon Maerrs had 34lb to my left fishing similar to myself (minus the ducks). So it looked like my 24lb8oz might be enough for third. It was, until Stuart Snape, the last to weigh in piped me into fourth with25lb 7oz.Bugger I thought if it wasn’t for those bloody ducks…..never mind, Guess what I am having for Sunday lunch next week?
Clear skies, about 10-12 degrees with very little wind was a welcome sight to the 15 of us that had booked in on this regular bi-weekly Sunday open at Milemead fisheries in tavistock. Pre match banter was a bit flat because of an outstanding issue that had to be clarified regarding pole length limits. With that out of the way the draw commenced & feeling confident of a good days sport I went into the draw bag about mid way. I pulled peg 16 out & proceeded to walk up to the lake fairly pleased with myself.As you approach the match lake, Peg 16 is situated at the opposite bank. As you arrive at the peg the most obvious feature is an island about 16-17.5m away. The island is about 35-40m long and is closer to the near bank at each end; the bank is like a half moon shape so it provides quite a nice retreat for fish. Recently the owners had cut all of the overhanging vegetation away from the island so what was left allowed you to get tight over. This is very welcome & as long as they maintain it I can see the peg becoming a flyer in the warmer months. The only problem is that the whole peg is very shallow; from your feet to tight over you only have a maximum of 2 foot. With this in mind & a reluctance to fish my Trabucco gm carp 1 pole at 16m all day, I decide to set up 2 waggler rods.Fishing a little 3bb waggler tight over alternating either maggot or soft pellet was the plan, carefully loose feeding 3-4, 6mm pellets would hopefully draw a couple of fish at a time. If I could pick them off then 50lb wasn’t out of the question. With recent winning weights at about that weight I was reasonably confident of framing.First I had to plumb up against that island and draw the rig back slowly to get the exact depth & see if there were any drop-offs. Using a swan shot on the hook to act as a plummet I soon found out that tight to the island was 6 inches deep, coming back about a foot is suddenly dropped off to about 18-24 inches, Weird! It didn’t leave me with to many options really. I decided to set my float at that 18 inches & fish at the bottom of that drop of. Later on having a look at that very shallow 6 inch line tight to the island.Harry The bailiff sounded the all in. First cast and I flicked the waggler over towards the island. You guessed it snagged up on the only bit of twig that was left there, & I found it….typical. I pulled for a break & the 0.13 bottom went at the loop. Grrrrrr!!!!!After attaching a new hook length I cast over again with double maggot on the hook & catapulted 4/5 pellets over the top. The float dipped & that familiar sideways pull led to a nice 3-4oz roach. This continued for about 15minutes, I wasn’t too bothered about the lack of carp activity as the plan was to build the swim slowly & carefully, teasing the carp into having a go. After about half an hour the float went again, I struck only this time I could feel the resistance of something better. A swirl on the surface showed me it was carp no.1. A brief spell & a 1lb stocky was in the net.After the first hour I had 3 carp & a handful of roach for about 6lb.Pleased with this but decided that I needed to get amongst more of the carp, so on went a 6mm Ringers soft pellet. First cast…bang, carp no 4 safely in the net & a better one to at about 2lb.For the next half hour I couldn’t buy a bite on the pellet so after seeing a small carp cruise tight to the island I decided to shallow up & get right in close to the far bank. Pinging pellets with the catty right up close & I started to catch again with what turned out to be the biggest fish of the day with a carp of around 5-6lb. Nice!!!! A few more of those & we shall be well away or so I thought.Now here is the bit where it all goes wrong as it so often does. I guessed by know I had about 12lb, but felt I needed to make something happen a bit quicker, so I upped the feed, BIG mistake. The problems started because the odd pellet was going up onto the bank. No problem I though until a pair of ducks decided it was lunch time. Not content with the pellets on the bank, the bloody things decided to invade my shallow swim. The only thing I could do was to stop feeding & hope they would bugger off.Finally they did but it had cost me time & knocked my rhythm, not to mention ballsed up my swim.Oh well I thought, I shall just have to persevere & build the swim again. An hour goes by & I have only added one more carp to the net when Daddy duck decides to come back for dessert. Well it turned out to be a tale of cat & mouse or duck & angler so to speak. I had to feed to keep the fish coming but in doing so that bloody duck spooked everything that swam.In the end I managed to add a few more pasties for an estimated 20.lb. Geoff Andrew to my right had bagged down the margins later on & won the match with 56lb, at least my target was correct. Gordon Maerrs had 34lb to my left fishing similar to myself (minus the ducks). So it looked like my 24lb8oz might be enough for third. It was, until Stuart Snape, the last to weigh in piped me into fourth with25lb 7oz.Bugger I thought if it wasn’t for those bloody ducks…..never mind, Guess what I am having for Sunday lunch next week?
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