Thursday, 22 July 2010
Milemead summer series round 11.
Just a little rain and a flat calm lake greeted us for this one. We had a rover again and you guessed it, I chose peg 9. This time however because i broke my pole last week, I set up just the one paste rig to be fished on a top 3!! It was shit or bust really but after last week I was confident of a few. The first hour was steady with a few carp and plenty of decent skimmers and tench. Carp bites were a bit 'snatchy' as they were obviously a bit spooky so close. Anyway I persevered and the second hour was a bit better, but I never really had the carp settled. Into the third hour and i upped the feed and my swim finally switched on. The carp had settled in numbers and I began to bag up, fishing the paste up the slope. The odd foul hooker became a problem and I pulled out of 3 fish. I also snapped 2 rigs but quickly settled back into a rhythm. I ended up with 81lb for second but if I could of had just another half an hour I would have done the ton. Still cant complain with 80lb in only 3 hours, with 30lb of that being skimmers and tench again. This is my heaviest weight so far during this series, but interestingly, speaking to Mark afterwards, he had fed 5 pints for 114lb compared to my 2 pints and 80lb!! So with one round left I have finally sussed out a formula for success; Break your pole so you are forced to fish short, feed heavily, at least 5 pints and convert those skimmers into carp. I am already looking forward to next week, its a shame as its the final match of the series, but Its been a fantastic learning curve for me. Perhaps I can draw the golden peg again, put what I have learned into practice and this time do the business!! We shall see.
Milemead summer league round 10
Thursday 15th July 2010.
Torrential rain and gale force winds that brought trees down greeted us for this one. We had a rover so I chose one of my favourites, peg 9. I set up just the one paste rig to be fished at 5 sections over 8mm pellets and with the wind blowing right to left it was a real battle to get decent presentation, but this was the closest flat spot i could find, just past the bottom of the near shelf. That said, I had a fairly decent first hour with a scattering of carp and some nice skimmers. The gusting wind was a nightmare however and I was really struggling to feed accurately. The second hour was a bit dire as the wind became increasingly stronger so I came in closer and started a new line at 2+2 up the slope. My catch rate improved in the third and final hour, but presentation was still a disaster. By the end the carp had pushed out the silvers and I was bagging. I had fed about 2 pints and ended up with 70lb 1oz for third again. Incidentally 30lb of that was skimmers and tench!!
Torrential rain and gale force winds that brought trees down greeted us for this one. We had a rover so I chose one of my favourites, peg 9. I set up just the one paste rig to be fished at 5 sections over 8mm pellets and with the wind blowing right to left it was a real battle to get decent presentation, but this was the closest flat spot i could find, just past the bottom of the near shelf. That said, I had a fairly decent first hour with a scattering of carp and some nice skimmers. The gusting wind was a nightmare however and I was really struggling to feed accurately. The second hour was a bit dire as the wind became increasingly stronger so I came in closer and started a new line at 2+2 up the slope. My catch rate improved in the third and final hour, but presentation was still a disaster. By the end the carp had pushed out the silvers and I was bagging. I had fed about 2 pints and ended up with 70lb 1oz for third again. Incidentally 30lb of that was skimmers and tench!!
Saturday, 17 July 2010
Tuesday, 6 July 2010
Milemead open.
Sunday 4th July 2010.
Given a half decent draw somewhere along the flat bank i was fairly confident of a few fish. No matter where I drew I was going to fish a paste line for carp and a soft pellet line for skimmers. So i was well chuffed when peg 3 stuck to my hand.
The golden pegs were still in place and we had a fairly decent turnout. After setting up paul got me to draw the golden pegs and you guessed it, first one out was peg 3!! So potentially and in all reality i was fishing for a hat trick of the match, silvers and golden peg. With my mate Kelvin bagging nearly 100lb from this peg in only three hours last week It should have been possible. I stared off well, after cupping in a big pot of 8mm pellets i had 4 carp and ten big skimmers in the first hour. But i was a bit concerned with the lack of carp. I stuck to my feeding pattern of a pouch full of pellets after every fish but by the end of the second hour i had only added 2 more carp and a few tench. With the benefit of hindsight i probably should have stared another line at this point, but i persevered with the single line as i really wanted to attack it for a big weight. Problem is the carp hadn't read the script and with the wind blowing down the other end of the lake i was beginning to get the feeling that there weren't too many fish in the area. So with this in mind i got my head down and made every put in count, even if i came back with a skimmer it was still adding to my overall weight. Third and fourth hours flew by and i had managed to add a few more carp and skimmers and into the fifth hour i was expecting things to pick up. The swim did get better and i continued to add to my tally, but a rum on lost fish got me agitated and i lost my focus and rhythm for a while. I added a few more in a pretty slow last hour and never really got going flat out. At the weigh in I put 75lb 10oz on the scales for fifth, which ordinarily would have probably got me a frame place but it fished pretty well with 3 more 80lb+ weights and a winning 90lb+ weight. Tony ounced me for the silvers so i came away with only a decent days fishing and the clean sweep wasn't to be, still there's always next week.
Given a half decent draw somewhere along the flat bank i was fairly confident of a few fish. No matter where I drew I was going to fish a paste line for carp and a soft pellet line for skimmers. So i was well chuffed when peg 3 stuck to my hand.
The golden pegs were still in place and we had a fairly decent turnout. After setting up paul got me to draw the golden pegs and you guessed it, first one out was peg 3!! So potentially and in all reality i was fishing for a hat trick of the match, silvers and golden peg. With my mate Kelvin bagging nearly 100lb from this peg in only three hours last week It should have been possible. I stared off well, after cupping in a big pot of 8mm pellets i had 4 carp and ten big skimmers in the first hour. But i was a bit concerned with the lack of carp. I stuck to my feeding pattern of a pouch full of pellets after every fish but by the end of the second hour i had only added 2 more carp and a few tench. With the benefit of hindsight i probably should have stared another line at this point, but i persevered with the single line as i really wanted to attack it for a big weight. Problem is the carp hadn't read the script and with the wind blowing down the other end of the lake i was beginning to get the feeling that there weren't too many fish in the area. So with this in mind i got my head down and made every put in count, even if i came back with a skimmer it was still adding to my overall weight. Third and fourth hours flew by and i had managed to add a few more carp and skimmers and into the fifth hour i was expecting things to pick up. The swim did get better and i continued to add to my tally, but a rum on lost fish got me agitated and i lost my focus and rhythm for a while. I added a few more in a pretty slow last hour and never really got going flat out. At the weigh in I put 75lb 10oz on the scales for fifth, which ordinarily would have probably got me a frame place but it fished pretty well with 3 more 80lb+ weights and a winning 90lb+ weight. Tony ounced me for the silvers so i came away with only a decent days fishing and the clean sweep wasn't to be, still there's always next week.
Saturday, 3 July 2010
Milemead summer series round 8.
Thursday 1st July 2010.
After last weeks disappointment i was determined to get my act together this week and as we decided on another rover i chose one of my favourite paste pegs, no.9. 5 sections out, green swim stim over loose fed 8mm's with a nick Gilbert paster on Nguage 7lb line to a size 12 B911 and Preston 17h. No Messing about. I had a fish first put in but unbelievably pulled out of 8 of my first 10 carp!! I was just pulling back far to hard and trying to bully them in, which for me goes against my character. Anyway i settled down and caught steadily for the rest of the match. I did do 'a Squirrel' and hooked the tree above me once and i also ran out of paste!! With a torrential downpour of rain all evening it was a struggle to keep the paste right let alone have to make any up during a three hour match. I finished up second with 69.4. but to be honest i should have done a ton, there were that many fish prepared to have a go. I just fished a sloppy match, with no discipline. Still I'm well up for this Sunday's open and just pray i draw a decent paste peg, if not its all out for the skimmers and tench with a view to bagging the silvers pools.
After last weeks disappointment i was determined to get my act together this week and as we decided on another rover i chose one of my favourite paste pegs, no.9. 5 sections out, green swim stim over loose fed 8mm's with a nick Gilbert paster on Nguage 7lb line to a size 12 B911 and Preston 17h. No Messing about. I had a fish first put in but unbelievably pulled out of 8 of my first 10 carp!! I was just pulling back far to hard and trying to bully them in, which for me goes against my character. Anyway i settled down and caught steadily for the rest of the match. I did do 'a Squirrel' and hooked the tree above me once and i also ran out of paste!! With a torrential downpour of rain all evening it was a struggle to keep the paste right let alone have to make any up during a three hour match. I finished up second with 69.4. but to be honest i should have done a ton, there were that many fish prepared to have a go. I just fished a sloppy match, with no discipline. Still I'm well up for this Sunday's open and just pray i draw a decent paste peg, if not its all out for the skimmers and tench with a view to bagging the silvers pools.
Milemead summer series round 7.
24th June 2010.
This one is hardly worth reading about. Only 5 of us turned up so we had a rover. The first thing you have to ask yourself is why the hell would anybody pick a peg that they hardly caught from the week before? Well i did just that and walked to peg 1 again. I don't know why but i just had to have another crack at it after my last disappointment. My determination to have another go should have been focused on fishing a match winning peg instead, but there you go. Anyway to cut a long story short i pole fished soft pellets and corn to the same outlet overflow as before and got of to a fair start. I thought that if i went for everything that swam i could so a decent weight providing the fish continued to feed. Problem was it was very flat and calm and after the first hour the fish just backed right off and even the tench and skimmers refused to feed confidently. I ended up with a pathetic 15.5 lb for last and have now slipped well down to third overall.
Its time to re focus.
This one is hardly worth reading about. Only 5 of us turned up so we had a rover. The first thing you have to ask yourself is why the hell would anybody pick a peg that they hardly caught from the week before? Well i did just that and walked to peg 1 again. I don't know why but i just had to have another crack at it after my last disappointment. My determination to have another go should have been focused on fishing a match winning peg instead, but there you go. Anyway to cut a long story short i pole fished soft pellets and corn to the same outlet overflow as before and got of to a fair start. I thought that if i went for everything that swam i could so a decent weight providing the fish continued to feed. Problem was it was very flat and calm and after the first hour the fish just backed right off and even the tench and skimmers refused to feed confidently. I ended up with a pathetic 15.5 lb for last and have now slipped well down to third overall.
Its time to re focus.
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