2015 Review

I thought I would write a quick blog and explain the lack of posts in recent months and also have a quick look back on 2015.

Since early November I have only fished 3 matches at Partridge lakes, from which I had a section 2nd, section 3rd and a DNW on the Xmas match. I haven’t blogged these matches mainly due to my laptop packing up.

I do plan to blog in future, but until or if I get a new laptop, I will have to make the blogs a bit more compact as I will have to find some time in work to do them.  I will probably give more detail blogs on Club matches, fishomanias and Whiteacres and make my trips up to Partridge a bit more brief.

There is a couple of reasons I haven’t fished, firstly I had an elbow operation in November which put me out until the Xmas match at Partridge, then after fishing a couple of matches on the individual winter league, I slipped a disc 5 weeks ago and I still have excruciating Sciatica pain.  I don’t know when I will be back but it won’t be any time soon.  I have recently had to send two fishomania tickets back due to not being match fit – can things get any worse!!!

I read a small article in the latest edition of Pole fishing magazine which involves Matt Godfrey explaining what PUP is.  PUP stands for Percentage of Pick Ups.  I thought I would have a quick calculation of my PUP for 2015 and I can use this as a comparison for my performances in 2016.

44 matches fished, 17 Club + 27 Open

Overall PUP is 22 out of 44 giving me 50%

Club PUP is 16 out of 17, being 94%

Open Match PUP is 6/27, being 22%

As you can see from above I do much better at club level and although I have 22% at open level this is no disgrace as most of the time I up against some of the best anglers in the country at Partridge Lakes and on Fishomanias.  Furthermore a quick look back at my PUP on open matches since the start of August and it increases to 50% on the open matches (from 10 matches), which may mean I’m becoming more confident and improving whilst fishing these matches.

I will try to beat these figures this year (If I ever get back fishing!!), but although I fancy my chances on improving the open match percentage I think I will do well to beat the club figures as the standard I am up against is improving all the time.  Also I will have to draw as well as the likes of “End Peg Col”, “Always on the flyer Tim” and “peg 63 Spoon” – the last one being the flyer on Bessie’s at Hall Lane.

I have a fishomania at Partridge Lakes in 6 weeks and the club fixtures start a few days after this.  I am using this as my target return and hopefully I’ll be back blogging and picking up a few more brown envelopes!

Tight Lines

Partridge Lakes, Open Match, 07.11.15

Weather: Rain, 13C, 15-25mph wind, Air Pressure 1012

Peg: Covey 12

66 Fished

There was some bad weather forecast today, with a heavy wind that was due to keep changing direction coupled with persistent rain.  I sometimes back out of these matches when the weather is bad but with winning my section the week before I was in a positive mood and raring to go.  October had been a great drawing month for me with a couple of flyers and many good end pegs coming my way and I was hoping I could carry this through to November and continue drawing the better pegs.   I was left disappointed at the draw bag after puling out peg 12 on Covey 1, an area I had only ever fished once before about 4 years ago.  I asked a few people about the area and most people grimaced when I told them what peg I had drawn and one guy advised me to go home!  My draw became worse when I arrived at my peg to find out peg 13 was also in and we would have to share the reed beds that were between us. Peg 11 was spare and there was someone on peg 10, although he was in the first section.  I was in a 6 man section of 12,13,15,17,20,21.  I wasn’t aware of these sections until after the match and spent the match trying to compete with peg 10.

45lb was framing in some matches of late so my target weight wouldn’t be high today and with me not being too happy about my draw I reduced my target weight from 40lb to 30lb.

Set up:

Malman Secret 4 X 14, 6ft, .11 to .10 powerline, B510 18 – track

MW F1 Slim, 8X11, 3ft, B510 18 – far side, peg 11 pallet and left hand reeds

Malman Snake Mk2 4×10, .13 top .11 powerline, Guru LWG 18 – dobbing

Bait:

2 pints maggots

Handful of Sonubaits F1 Dark + Leam

Slice of bread

I wasn’t that optimistic of catching much by dobbing bread today, I don’t know why, it just didn’t seem a good area to do it.  The reeds looked good to my left, but with me only having half of them I would only be able to go up to 7M and with me not wanting to go pole tip to tip with peg 13, I decided to just plumb one 3ft swim at 5M and I wouldn’t dedicate too much time to that.  My 3 main swims would be 3ft across at 2 O’clock, 3ft by peg 11 and my track at 6M.

On the all in I started to dob at 2ft, against the reeds to my left, across and by the pallet of peg 11. I spent half an hour doing this with no success, but I did spend the quiet time watching other anglers to see where they had caught from.  Peg 10 was catching down the track, peg 13 had lost one carp dobbing against the reeds he was sharing with me and besides that little was being caught.  I decided to start fishing my 3ft swims whilst continuing to loose feed over my track line.  After 2 hours of the match had gone by I only had 2 F1’s in the net and although this was bad, most anglers were in the same boat, except for peg 10 who was on about 12 f1’s at this point, still catching from his track line.  It seemed the track would be the best place to catch fish from and although I don’t like going on this line this early in the match I felt I had no choice.  I had been loose feeding over the track from the start and when I went on it I decided to toss pot my maggots in to give a tighter feeding area. This worked a treat and I had a good run of about 12 F1’s in the next half hour until they spooked a little.  I had now put myself back in the section and I had myself ahead of everyone I could see.  With the fish backing off from the track line a little I decided I needed somewhere to go whilst I could give the track line 10 minutes rest spells and I chose to use the pallet of peg 11.  For the rest of the match it was a case of getting 2 or 3 F1’s from the track before resting it for 10 minutes and taking what I could from the pallet of peg 11, although I did only manage one solitary F1 from this pallet.

On the all out I had 28 F1’s on my clicker so I reckoned I had about 35lb. Peg 10 weighed in 34lb before me and it was only then I realised he wasn’t in my section so I didn’t have to worry about beating him.  I weighed in 38lb for the section win with peg 15 32lb, peg 17 26lb, peg 13 21lb and pegs 20 + 21 DNW.

Peg 12 Section Win

On reflection, I thought it was a well-earned section win from not a great peg.  Having said that me and peg 10 had the 2nd and 3rd best weights on the lake, after Kieran Rich taking 55lb from peg 2, so maybe I wasn’t in such a bad area after all.  It just goes to show that these F1’s do move about and you shouldn’t always right off an area before you fish it.  I don’t like going on my track line as early as I did and I much prefer to take fish from elsewhere before hitting the track towards to the end of the match, but I felt I had no choice today.

I have booked on for Saturday 14th Nov, but I’m not sure I will be able to fish as I have had a little operation on my right elbow and it’s pretty sore right now, I will have a late fitness check on Friday.

Tight Lines

Partridge Lakes, Open Match, 31.10.15

Weather: Overcast, 15C, 10mph S wind, Air Pressure 1018

Peg: Covey 100

65 Fished

I have not been up to Partridge Lakes for about a month, but I have been keeping a check on the results and one thing I had noticed was that the pegs on the splits had started to frame a lot more lately; pegs such as 20-22, 72-75 and 97-100, although I haven’t noticed the split on Covey 2 framing that much.  Other pegs that have done well are pegs that are near the splits such 85,86,60.  I was hoping my run of good draws would continue and I wasn’t left disappointed when I pulled out peg 100 on Covey 4 – proper flyer!!  My section for the day was 95,96,97,98,100.

On arriving at my peg I realised I had left my heavier elastic tube of 4 top kits in the garage, so that meant the heaviest elastic I would have today would be white hydro which is heavy enough and can cope with any big bonus carp with the use of the side puller.

Set up:

Malman Secret 4 X 14, 6ft, .11 to .10 powerline, B510 18 – track

RW Dink 4 X 12, 2ft, .11 to .10 powerline, Guru LWG 18 – across and side of pallet

RW Dink 4 X 12, 3ft, .11 to .10 powerline, Guru LWG 18 – across

Chianti 4 X 10, 2ft. 11 to .10 powerline, B510 18 – shallow maggot

Later I set up a Malman Snake to replace my Chainti

Bait:

2 pints maggots

Micros

4ml expander

1/4 pint of Sonubaits Supercrush Dark

On the all in I started in 2ft of water tight against the far bank rushes where I had found a flattish spot at 11 O’clock, on pellet.  I fed about 30 micros and I would immediately get fish moving into the swim, but I was missing the bites an after half an hour of doing this without a fish I decided it was not right. I think a longer lash might have helped me get more positive bites in the clear water as the fished seemed happy to feed in that depth but were spooking from the pole tip.  I decided to concentrate in 3ft of water as I felt the fish would feed more confidently in this depth of water and I immediately got an F1 from my 11 O’clock swim.  That was a solitary fish as it took me about another half hour before I got another which was at 3ft towards the pallet of 99 and that was on maggot.

2 hours in and I was blowing a good peg with only 2 F1’s in the net, whilst peg 98 had about 6 and I could see the guy on peg 85 had about 4.  I decided to have a quick look on my track at 6M where I had been loose feeding about 6 maggots every couple of minutes from the off, but there was nothing there.  I could see that there was a lot of carp starting to top to my right so I decided to have a dob with my shallow rig.  I shortened the depth to about a foot which meant I had a long a lash and was able to swing my float well away from the pole tip and I put some bread punch on the hook..  After a few minutes the float shot under and I had my first carp of about 4lb.  Back out and after about another 10 minutes the float shot under again and I was connected with something much bigger and although it came in quickly it stayed deep under my feet for a long time.  I only had yellow middy shockcore elastic and this was too light to cope with such a large fish as even though I have the benefit of a side puller, the elastic is bottomed right out and this puts a lot of pressure on the hook length.  I did get a look at the fish at one point and it looked to be about 12lb, but just as I thought it was going to give in it shot to my right and broke the hook length.  I quickly set up another rig with a long lash for dobbing and I also change my elastic to white hydro. Back out and after a short wait I was into another which again snapped my hook length – this was my own fault as I just used the rig staright from my rig box and didn’t chang the hook length and it was probably too light maybe a .10 and not the minimum .13 that was needed.

I was really down at this point as I was blowing a good peg and I had lost about 20lb from just 2 fish.  On the positive side I was putting the odd 4lb carp in the net and I was back in contention for the section.  The activity of the topping fish and me catching them dobbing was slowing down and although I would get the odd one I would have to wait a long time for bites.  With about half an hour to go I hooked into another Barney Rubble and after getting this to the net my elastic snapped just as I was about to scoop it.  I was well gutted now!  I decided to have a quick go on my track to see if the F1’s had turned up yet as there was no sign off them on the previous quick looks I had given this line throughout the match.  If they weren’t there I would get another dobbing rig out.  They were there and I went on to put 7 F1’s in the net in the last 20 minutes.

On the all out I had 40lb on my clicker and although I thought this would be enough to win the section I should have been well ahead and looking at the framing spots.  I weighed in 42lb for the section win with peg 98 getting second with 32lb.

On reflection, I should have made top 3 overall and if I had dobbed from the start with the right tackle, who knows what weight I would have had, maybe even a ton!  I lost 30lb from 3 lost fish, 2 down to me fishing too light (elastics and hook lengths) and the other fish was lost from my white hydro snapping.  I’m not blaming myself for the elastic snapping as I do check it before every match and although it had the usual fraying look at the end it seemed okay – it must have wore out more as I was fishing.  Although I love the action of white hydro I have now had enough of it and lost all confidence with it, I will be using an alternative in future which will probably be NG microbore 8-12.  70lb would have given me 3rd overall, so those lost fish cost me big time.

It will probably 2 weeks before I am back out on the bank

Tight Lines

ULC Mini League Match 6, 24.10.15, The Cunneries – S-Canal

Weather: Rain, 12C, 12mph W wind, Air Pressure 1012

7 Fished

Peg 25

I had fished peg 25 the day before and after only getting 8 F1’s in the first 3 hours the peg came alive and I ended up with 75 F1’s for a 100lb+ weight.  Tim had also pleasure fished the day before on peg 1 (opposite me) but he didn’t have such a good day and ended up with 10 F1’s.

We were due to have 10 turn out today as a few couldn’t make it, but we had a few more drop out on the day leaving us with only 7.  The first 2 legs on the S-Canal can be really peggy, with the first leg, pegs 1-13 being narrower than the other leg and therefore this leg can be a bad place to draw if there are a lot of the pegs taken.  With this in mind we always try to put more anglers on pegs 14-25, even though there is one less peg on this side.   With only 7 fishing today we could give all anglers a lot of space and we pegged out 1,6,13,14,18,22,25.  If you have been reading my blogs you will know that I have drawn well in this mini-league, getting 3 corner pegs on the bounce, so when I drew the flyer, peg 25, I couldn’t believe my luck! The banter erupted when I drew and Tim even handed over the “winner takes all” pot.

With fishing this peg the day before, I decided to keep things simple and just fish maggot with my 2 main rigs being 4ft channel and 3ft top 2 to my right, down the side split.  My plan was to start short and then go across after half an hour, where hopefully the F1’s would have settled.

Set up:

MW F1 Slim, 10X11, 4ft, Guru LWG 20 – track

MW F1 Slim, 8X11, 3ft, Guru LWG 20 – top 2

RW Dink, 4×12, 3ft, .13 to .11 powerline, Guru LWG 18

Bait:

2 pints maggots

Handful of Sonubaits F1 Dark

I had set up two 3ft rigs with the dink having a slightly thicker tip of 1.5mm meaning it was easier to read when fishing at 11M across.  The MW f1 Slim, with a 1.2mm tip would only be used on my top 2.  I didn’t have to plumb up across as with fishing the peg the day before I could just plumb up one of my short lines and I knew the exact spots across, this meant I could leave the far lines untouched until I went on them.  I was expecting a slow start today, hopefully picking up the odd fish before the last 90 minutes when my channel swim would come to life.

The only down side today was that there was a 4 man Open on the third leg and peg 26 was being used – he may take away some of my fish.

On the all in I had a quick look short on my top 2, down the narrow channel and I had 2 F1’s in the first 10 minutes on maggot, I was loose feeding 6 maggots every minute.  I then went at 5M on the other side of the narrow channel, where I would feed the same amount of maggots, but this time I used a tosspot for accuracy, and I had another 2 quick F1,s before they backed off.  4 F1’s in the first 20 minutes was a better start than expected and if yesterday was anything to go by, this swim was going to get stronger – maybe I could ton up!

The 2 short swims died on me so it was time to go across, but I would continue to feed my top 2 swim and my track line – 6 maggots every minute or so.  It was slower than expected for the next 3 hours and I only managed about another 8 F1’s although I did foul hook a few.  I had most success my feeding about 10 maggots and some sloppy ground-bait and then keeping the rig perfectly still, laying on the slope about an inch.

I had a few looks on my track line but it didn’t produce until 75 minutes to go when I got 6 F1’s on the bounce and just when I thought I was going to bag up in the last hour the sun came out and the swim completely died.  I should have went back across in the shaded areas at this point but I rotated between my track and top 2 and with 30 minutes left I decided to abandon the track and just concentrate on my top 2, where the F1’s would have more cover.  I put another 4 F1’s in the net in this time.

On the all out I had 22 F1’s and I was sure this was more than everyone else, some had really struggled.  I was pushed close though as Paul had caught 25lb from peg 6 by fishing a maggot feeder.  I weighed in 33-8 for the win.

On reflection, I’m actually gutted with my weight as after a good start I thought I could do a good weight.  I think if the sun hadn’t of come out the fish would have stayed on the track line and I would have doubled my weight. It’s only 4ft deep down the channel, so at this time of year when they don’t feed like piranhas and they are easily spooked, shaded areas on sunny days is what you need to look for.  Furthermore, the water in front of me today was flat calm and I didn’t have a ripple like the previous day which would have given the fish more confidence to feed.  I don’t think my top 2 was as strong as expected because I had an angler on peg 26 who was also taking fish from the narrow channel.  Not a bad day though, as a wins a win, even in a small match like this.

Well that’s the club scene over now until next May and I don’t think we will be doing the optional Mini-League next year as the demand isn’t there.  We do have a couple more members for the club so we should end up with 16, which is a good amount for club matches.  I’m now looking forward to a winter of Open match fishing at Partridge Lakes, although I’m pretty busy right up until Xmas, so I’m not sure how many times I’ll be able to get up there before then.  I should be there next Saturday.

Tight Lines

ULC Mini League Match 5, 17.10.15, Wrightington Fisheries – Canals 1+2

Weather: Overcast, 12C, 8mph NE wind, Air Pressure 1028

14 Fished

Peg 1

I had never fished this place before, why I don’t know as it is a good match venue and it’s right on our doorstep.

I arrived early, a good 75 minutes before the draw, so I trollied up my gear and went to have a look at the two lakes.  The first canal, pegs 1-20 is a little narrower than the other and is about 13m across.  The other, pegs 21-40 is between 14.5m-16m.  The wind was blowing away from the car park as you look at the canals towards peg 20 on the first canal and peg 21 on the second canal.  I thought the better pegs today would be the car park side pegs 1 and 40, with 40 being the stronger as I had been told that the higher numbered canal is the stronger one in the colder months, which makes sense with it being deeper and wider.  If you have being reading my blogs you will know that I have moaned about how often Colin and Tim draw end pegs, but I have had 2 on the bounce before todays draw and when I drew peg 1 today the banter started and now I am known as “End Peg Bri”!  Tim did draw his usual end peg (39) and on the better lake, Spoon drew another flyer and Colin has gone two matches without an end peg……. somethings not right!  The sections today were section 1:1,4,7,10,13; section 2: 16,19,21,24,27; section 3: 30,33,36,39.

I was made up with my draw at first but after speaking to Paul (the owner) I wasn’t so optimistic.  Paul explained that the better pegs would be at the far end and this is where he expected the match to be won with about 35lb, with the wider canal being the better of the two canals he reckoned that pegs 21 and 24 would be the ones to beat and then he thought that the last peg on my canal would be next best and that would be peg 19.  He said the next best pegs would be 39 and then mine 1 and that I should definitely win the section as the anglers to my right in my section had the worst draws overall.

I’m gonna have to start taking pictures again so people reading this can visualise how I approached my peg.  Even though Paul didn’t think I could win the match I was still happy with my draw as it’s a great peg to fish, with lots of features.  I will definitely be back to fish this peg again.

The last 2 matches on here had been won with 28lb and 22lb, so although Paul thought I would need 35lb to win, I set myself a target weight of 25lb.

Set up:

RW Dink, 4×12, 3.5ft, .13 to .11 powerline, Guru LWG 16 – white hydro

Malman winter wire, 4X14, 5.5ft, 13 to .11 powerline, Guru LWG 16 – white hydro

Dobbing rig

Guru Hybrid feeder

Bait:

1 pint of maggots

Sweetcorn

Micros and 4ml pellets

At the 10am all in I cast my feeder towards the gap in the two lakes and gave it 10 minutes, during which I carried on tackling up my pole rigs as I was guilty of bad preparation and I had only managed to prepare my track rig before the all in, which incidentally was plumbed up to my left about 3ft from the left hand bank at 11m, where I had the deepest water.  On my third cast the tip went round and I netted a 3lb Mirror, next cast I had one of 2lb and then a smaller one on the next cast.  Nothing on the fourth cast, so I reeled in on 40 minutes and decided to have a plumb around with my mid depth rig.  I found a lovely flat spot to my left, tight against the left hand bank and although I couldn’t find a good flat spot across at 11M I settled on a spot at 11 O’clock against the steep slope.  After plumbing around for 10 minutes I recast my feeder and this time it went round within 1 minute and I had another stockie of about 1lb.  This made me think that resting this swim frequently could be the way to go as the fish had spooked a little after my initial run of fish and the rest had done it good.  Nothing on my next 2 cast so I came off it and had a dob around.  I began tight to the left hand bank and worked my way to the right, eventually finishing at 1 O’clock 11M across, where I got a small stockie of about 1lb.

90 minutes had gone by and I had 8lb on the clicker, which I was happy with as I was on for my target weight of 25lb.  During the next 3 hours I only managed one more carp of 2lb, which I got from fishing tight against the left hand bank feeding and fishing sweetcorn.  During this quiet spell I was switching between the feeder, the left hand bank and dobbing around and I purposely left my track line alone although I frequently fed it.  I wasn’t too downhearted, as John Battle who had packed up with 2 hours to go had told me that everyone was struggling and a few people had resigned themselves to fishing for Roach. During the fourth hour, Tim on peg 39 had come right back at me and after catching roach on maggot down the track, he started to get the odd bonus fish and he had surely overtook my 10lb.  Seeing that Tim was doing well down the track I decided to try my track rig where I had been feeding about 15 pieces of sweetcorn and about 50 micros every 30 minutes since the start of the match.  Almost as the rig as settled I had my first bite which I connected with and a 2lb Skimmer which came flying out of the water towards me and shed the hook.  Fair play to that Skimmer, it must have cleared the water by 2ft – it deserved it’s freedom!  Next put in and I was rewarded with a smaller skimmer of about 12 ounces.  Just as I thought I was going to get amongst the skimmers the bites stopped, maybe toss potting bait in over their heads was a mistake or maybe the carp had moved in?  I stuck with the track rig for another 20 minutes but the swim had died and before I knew it there was 25 minutes to go and Tim was probably about 5lb ahead of me now.  I decided to go on my left hand bank swim at 3.5ft, where I would feed 5 pieces of corn and lower my rig over it.  I had been cupping in on this swim for most of the match and had initially included micros with the sweetcorn, but this seemed to draw in too many of the small silvers so I made the decision to cut out the micros and feed sweetcorn alone.  I had a good finish to the match and I put 6 small stockies in the net – why didn’t I go on this swim an hour earlier!

I was confident I had beat Tim on the opposite bank and that I was way ahead in my section, but had I done enough to win the match.  Mitchy had packed up early from the other Canal and when he walked past as I was tackling down he told me that the far end pegs had done alright and there was a couple of weights around 30lb, I only had 19lb on the ticker so I had no chance.

I weighed in 19lb which was way ahead in the section, with the next best weight being 7lb.  Adam on the last peg of our lake put 23lb’s on the scales to overtake me and then Spoon bettered this with 30lb from end peg 21 before John Grimshaw overtook him from peg 24 with 32lb for the match win.  The last section was won by Tim from the other end peg with 17lb, with the next best weight in that section being 7lb.

1st – John Grimshaw 32lb – peg 24

2nd – Spoon – 30lb – peg 21

3rd – Adam Middleton – 23lb – peg 19

Section winners:

Section 1 : Me 19lb – peg 1

Section 2 : Spoon 30lb – peg 21

Section 3: Tim 17lb – peg 39

On reflection, I don’t think I got a lot wrong, although maybe I should have gone on my left hand swim a bit earlier as the fish had gone on the feed when I went on it.  I enjoyed this match and I am looking forward to the match we have here next August , when hopefully I can draw another end peg.

Paul’s predictions before the match were spot on, with him getting the top 3 and the section winners correct and he also was pretty close with the winning weight.  It just goes to show that getting venue knowledge from owners or venue regulars can give valuable information before a match.

We are at Sycamore next week for our final match of the season.

ULC Mini League Match 4, 10.10.15, Sycamore Fisheries – Rowans

Weather: Sunny Intervals, 12C, 5mph SSE wind, Air Pressure 1018

12 Fished

Peg 21

I wasn’t really bothered where I drew today as this place doesn’t seem to be too much of a draw bag match with all pegs capable of winning.  Having said that wind end pegs are favourable in the summer, but today with no wind and low overnight temperatures I wasn’t sure what pegs would be best.  I drew end peg 21 and got a little bit of stick for drawing my second end peg on the bounce.  I was happy with my draw as I had a lot of options, including a couple of swims up the right hand bank, where I plumbed up to find 2.5ft, the same depth I was fishing across.   I had planned to fish sweet corn today but on setting up I realised I didn’t have the expected tin in my bag, but I did have a tin of meat so I cubed this into 4ml.  I had spoken to Phil, the fishery owner, before the match and he had told me that some anglers were really struggling in the first few hours of the matches and it was only in the last hour that they would catch and that was between 3pm to 4pm.  Considering we were only fishing until 3pm this didn’t fill me with confidence.  Even before speaking to Phil I had expected the first few hours to be slow and most of my weight would be taken in the last half hour. I had set a target weight of 30lb.

Set up:

MW F1 Slim 8 X 11, 5ft, .11 to .10 powerline, Guru LWG 18 – track

MW F1 Slim 8 X 11, 2.5ft, .11 to .10 powerline, Guru LWG 18 – far side + right hand bank + margins

Small dibber, 18 inches, .13 to .11 powerline, PR36 20 – banded caster

Bait:

2 pints maggots

1 pint casters

4ml meat

Micros, 4mls, 2ml expanders

Sonubaits F1 Supercrush Dark – 1 pint

I had decided to start on meat across to the island in 2.5ft of water at 13M and I would rotate this with a pellet swim at 11M up the right hand bank at the same depth.  I kinder potted in about 8 pieces of meat and immediately I could see the fish responding to the feed and moving over it and I was getting a lot of liners.  After about 5 minutes the activity stopped and the fish has backed off so I decided to feed again but this time I would only feed 4 pieces.  Again this brought some activity but I was getting a lot of liners and I didn’t want to strike at anything as I didn’t want to foul hook anything. Eventually after 20 minutes I had my first carp of about 3lb and considering no-one was catching this was a good start.  At this point I decided to rotate to my pellet swim where I had fed twice with about 100 micros and 10 expanders.  I filled my small kinder pot with micros and lowered my small expander amongst them and again I was getting an immediate response and lots of liners but no positive bites.  I stuck on this swim for the next 20 minutes and eventually I got another 3lb fish.  I had decided not to wait for the positive bites as the bites were not like that today and I had to strike at the fast sharp dips, the problem was the carp were sucking and blowing the bait that quickly, the bites were hard to hit.   I tried laying up the slope a little to see if this would produce more positive bites but it didn’t and I would continue to miss bites and see the carp spooking from my swim.

Even though I was struggling a little with missed bites I was well on to my target weight after 40 minutes with 6lb in the net.  The next 2.5 hours went by without a fish and I had tried a few different swims to find some pockets of fish but the carp were not responding to the feed and I would just get the odd fast bite that I would miss as I was not ready for it.

Spoon on peg 23 and Dillon on 24 had caught the odd carp on the method feeder across, so I decided to get my rod out and fish over my island swim with a pellet feeder.  Maybe I needed a self hooking rig as I wasn’t hitting them with my pole rig.  This was slow but I stuck with it for half an hour and I was rewarded with a small stockie of about 2 lb.  We were into the last hour and I only had 3 carp and I was a couple of carp behind Spoon and Dillon so I decided to come onto my short lines and I would try the track line first.  First 2 put ins on my deck rig produced two stockies and just when I felt I was going to keep catching the bites stopped.  I had a look on my short margin lines but they were dead and seemed void of fish so I went back on my track rig, where I had not stopped feeding maggots.  I could see the fish were now shallow, so I reached for my shallow rig and after a few minutes I hooked and landed a carp of about 3.5lb.  I stuck at this line for the remainder of the match trying up and down in the water but I never got another fish.

At the all out I had 6 or 7 carp and that was the same amount that Spoon and Dillon were admitting to.  Simon, who was out of my eyeshot on peg 26 said he had about 9 and Adam on the other bank on peg 35 had finished strongly with a few fish shallow, so it was going to be close although we all felt that Simon had probably won it.  I weighed in first for 16-6, Spoon then weighed 15-5, Dillon weighed 16-3, Simon then put 19-5 on the scales for the win with Adam getting second with 17-4.  There was a few DNW’s today and one of the 3, 4 man sections was won with 2-9, so it just goes to show how hard it fished.  I managed a default section win, just beating Dillon by 3 ounces.

On reflection, I missed about 15 bites that if I had just hit one or two of them would have given me the win.  There were plenty of fish in my swim, I just couldn’t work out how to catch them.  I wish I had tried dobbing and although I didn’t have any bread or Sweetcorn which are my preferred baits when dobbing, I could have pumped some larger expanders and dobbed with these.  I think we are in that time of year now when 20lb is a good weight on some days and patience comes into play a lot more and forcing swims is not the way to go.  I didn’t feed much today, but I still wish I had fed even less on my track swim as a more regulated feed of about half a dozen maggots every few minutes would have been better than the 20 casters / maggots I was chucking in very minute or so.

We are on one of the Wrightington Canals next week and I have never fished them before, so I haven’t got a clue on my approach.

Tight Lines

UFC Mini League, Match 3, Hall Lane – Bessie’s, 04.10.15

Weather: Sunny 12C, SW 5-10mph wind, Air Pressure 1015

12 Fished

Permanent peg 61

We had been given are usual area on this lake which was pegs 53-72 and although there are some good pegs within these, it would be nice to try the other areas of this lake for a change.  Everyone wanted peg 62 which had won 2 of the 3 matches we have previously had on here. I pulled out peg 61 which, although wasn’t a bad draw, I felt it was on the wrong side and that pegs 62-72 would throw up the better weights.  Although there was a match on the opposite bank and I would have to compete and share some of the fish from the corner of the island,  I had a lot of room and a lovely looking margin to my left.    My big problem was that I had snapped my number 6 section of my pole the day before at Partridge Lakes so I couldn’t fish my pole at more than 5M, I would have to target across and long in the margins with my rods.   By the way I’m not gonna bother writing a blog of my match at Partridge as it would just be about me breaking my pole after 2 hours just as I was getting amongst the fish across.  Spoon had drawn peg 62 as he did back in April when he won the match and Colin had drawn end peg 72, these would be the 2 anglers to beat.

Set up:

Micro pellet feeder, PR36 18, lasso – 4ml pellet and micros

Malman winter wire, 4×14, 5ft, .11 to .10 powerline, Guru LWG 18 – track maggot

MW pear, 8×11, 2ft, .11 to .10 powerline, Guru LWG 16 – margins, meat

Bait:

4 ml meat

pint of 4ml pellet

Hemp

Maggots

Sonubaits crushed expander

On the all in I went across with the pellet feeder casting about a foot from the mudline.  I got one on the 2nd cast and then another on the 3rd and then it went dead for half an hour.  At this point I went at 5M on maggot, where I had been loose feeding maggots since the start and I immediately got 2 Ide on the drop and then a couple of small stockies made an appearance before this swim died.  I decided to have an early go on my margins to the left, with me having such long margins I felt that there was a chance the fish would already be there and I would not have to wait for them to come in.  I had been loose feeding meat over my margins from the off and I had cupped in half a pot of ground-bait about 5 minutes before I went on it.  I was immediately into carp of about 2lb and after getting 3 on the bounce, I foul hooked the 4th and then the swim died.   2 hours in and I had 16lb on the clicker, which was not good and to make things worse I was told Spoon was putting his second net in and Colin had about 30lb.

The 3rd and 4th hours went completely dead for everyone on our side and I think I was the only one to catch any fish in this time and these were only Ide! I had gone back on my pellet feeder across and I had given up a little, daydreaming, eating crisps and picking my nose, until the last hour when my tip flew round and I got a 2lb stockie.  I went back out and although I had to wait 5 minutes I got another – had they turned up?  I had to wait a little longer for my next one and whilst I did I noticed that the anglers on the opposite bank had began to catch again and the fish had definitely come back on the feed.  Even though I was catching on the pellet feeder I made the decision to come off it and go back on my margin as I was sure they would now be feeding there and I would catch quicker.  I was right and for the last 40 minutes I got one after another and I put about 25lb in the net in this time.

1st – Spoon 69lb – Method feeder

2nd – Colin 52lb – Pellet shallow

3rd – Me 44lb – Meat margins

On reflection, I should have targeted the Ide during the 3rd and 4th hours, but after getting a few I quickly came off it as I felt the only way I could compete was to catch carp.  I reckon I could have caught around 20lb of them during this time, maybe even more and this would have given me a chance of first spot.  Having said this, Spoon did pack up with 20 minutes to go after snapping up on his method feeder, so he probably missed out on at least 10lb of fish.  That’s 3 times out of 4 that peg 62 has won on our matches at Hall Lane, Bessie’s and it’s 2 on the bounce for Spoon in the mini league.

We are back at Sycamore on Saturday for the 4th match of the mini league and if I get my pole repaired in time I may go to Partridge on the Sunday.

Tight Lines

Partridge Lakes, Open Match, 26.09.15

Weather: Sunny Intervals, 15C, 5mph SW wind, Air Pressure 1034

Peg: Covey 25

40 Fished

With Covey 5 not being in today, due to a low turnout, I was hoping to get on a North side of one of the lakes, pegs such as 23-25, 50-54,1-6 and 76-80, so I was well happy when I drew peg 25 on Covey 2.  The only down side was that Steve Openshaw had drawn just before me and pulled out peg 28, which would be in my section of pegs 23,25,28,30,33.  Peg 23 has some recent form so I felt I would have to battle it out with the pegs either side of me and to be honest I had already resigned myself to be fishing for a default section win as Steve Openshaw is ripping this place apart at the moment.  I felt I was in a good area, so even if there was to be no brown envelope today I would hopefully catch a few fish.

Set up:

MW F1 Slim 8 X 11, 5ft, .11 to .10 powerline, B510 18 – top 2

MW F1 Slim 8 X 11, 6ft, .11 to .10 powerline, B510 18 – track

Chianti 4 x 10, 3ft, .11 to .10 powerline, B510 18 – 6m nearside left

Jigga , PR36 18 – banded caster

Malman Elko .2g, 2ft, .11 to .10 powerline, Guru LWG 18 – Margins and across

Bait:

2 pints casters

2 pint maggots

Micros / expanders

1/2 pint of Sonubaits F1 Supercrush Dark

I had a lovely looking reed bed to my left and just before this I had a nice hole in the margins at about 5M which was about 2ft with a slightly sloping bottom and I had also trimmed a nice gap in my right hand margin.  I had decided to start on the margins, before going across, whilst loose feeding my track line with casters and my top 2 with maggots.  I had also plumbed my 3ft Chianti rig tight against the reeds at 6M to my left.

On the all in I fed my right had margin with a nugget of ground-bait and about 20 maggots and I went over my left hand margin with an expander on the hook and about 20 micros in tosspot.  I spent about 20 minutes on the 2 margins with no sign, so I decided to go across with pellet.  A further 10 minutes with no sign and I decided to switch to fishing maggot across and I would feed 6 maggots and a pinch of ground-bait.  This worked and I got 2 F1’s before I foul hooked one and had to rest the swim, so I went on my top 2 and immediately got an F1.  Next put in on my top 2 and I hooked into a lump which shot off to the right and unfortunately I didn’t react quick enough and get the rest of my pole on before it bottomed out the elastic and pulled the hook.  I spent the next hour or so switching between across and my top 2 lines and before I knew it nearly half the match had gone and I only had 3 F1’s.  Steve Openshaw on peg 28 and peg 23 both had about 10 F1’s apiece, so I had some catching up to do.

At the half way point I decided to concentrate my efforts to the left in front of the reeds and I did manage a couple of F1’s at 3ft at  6M before they spooked a little.  I decided I would rotate this line with a shallow attack at 11M in front of the reeds towards the platform of peg 26.    I spent the next hour catching well shallow and I had probably pulled myself back into the section with an hour to go.  The last hour slowed down for me and although I did catch the odd one shallow I felt I hadn’t done enough to get the section as peg 23 had done OK from catching shallow under the bridge.

I weighed in 36lb 7oz for 3rd in the section, peg 23 had 42lb, Steve Opensahw had 39lb from peg 28, peg 33 had packed up and gone home and peg 30 had weighed in less than 20lb.  Peg 23 actually had the best weight on the lake and was only 7lb off from framing overall.

On reflection, I am a little disappointed as I don’t think I made the most of a good draw and it took me too long to target the reeds to my left which obviously held a lot of F1’s, in fact I could see them topping and knocking the reeds.  Steve Openshaw had a quick chat afterwards and told me he had fished the peg recently and found that the reeds held a lot of F1’s and he even told me where he had fished them, which was the same spot where I had plumbed up my 3ft Chianti rig.  At least I have learnt a lot about the swim and where to target should I draw it again.  50lb was needed to frame today and I think that was easily achievable from my swim, never mind, lesson learnt and I’ll know better next time.

I might get back to Partridge next Saturday before the club match at Hall Lane next Sunday.

Tight Lines

ULC Match 12, 20.09.15, River Weaver – National length

Weather: Cold to start then Sunny intervals 18C, 12mph wind, Air Pressure 1028

With there being very little rain of late and the bright sunny, high pressure weather we have been having and would also have on the day of the match, I predicted that todays match would be won with roach and I didn’t expect to skimmers to show.  For this reason,  I prepared an active roach ground-bait on the morning of the match, but I also mixed up a little brown crumb for the feeder, just in case the skimmers were showing.

I was hoping for an early number in the draw as these pegs were to be right near the car park and they were also a lot shallower than the far end pegs, with 9ft at 13m compared to 16ft on the higher numbered pegs.  I got my wish and drew peg 1, Colin was on peg 2 and Tim on peg 3.  I got a lot of stick from the “End Peg Tim” and “End Peg Colin” for drawing the end peg – if only I could draw them as much as them 2 on commercials!

My aim for today was not to finish more than 8 places behind Colin and Tim, as if I did and one of them won they would overtake me in the overall season’s averages.

Set up:

Feeder rod – 3ft paternoster to B560 18, .10 powerline

Drennan Quad 1.5g, 9ft .10 to .08 powerline, b511 18, Middy 4-6 purple – 11M maggot over groundbait

Drennan Quad .5g,5ft, .10 to .08 powerline, b511 18, Preston 4 slip – 5m caster

Bait:

1 pint red maggots

1/2 pint pinkies

1 pint casters

Brown crumb

Black Lake / Sensas Noire/ Damp leam

At the all, I balled 10 jaffas on my 11M line and about 50 casters on the 5M line and then I went out with a large feeder and would cast every minute putting the bed of brown crumb down and on most casts I would come back with a roach.  After 3 roach and 30 minutes gone I was now convinced that the roach lines would be good and although I was sure the feeder line would be a waste of time today, I gave it another 15 minutes, not to catch fish but to let my roach swims settle longer and besides I was putting a good bed of feed down should I have needed to go back on the feeder line.  After half hour it was on to the 11M line and there was a bite every put in but a lot of them were less than an ounce.  I gave this 90 minutes and put a steady stream of roach into the net, but not one was over an ounce and they were probably averaging 1/2 ounce.

Colin wasn’t catching as many as me but he was ticking along and he was getting amongst the better roach.  Tim was struggling during the first half of the match, whilst I just plugged away catching eyes and at the half way point I had 50 roach for about 2lb.  I had a break at this point, as it was hard work double shipping to 11M for a pair of eyes, and I had a walk along the bank.  Tim said he had just started to catch roach and he was getting better samples by running through hemp at 5M and besides him and Colin, no one was catching much.  I returned to my box with 2 hours to go and I decided to plug away with what I was doing.  I didn’t expect to win by doing this as I couldn’t get amongst the better Roach like Colin and Tim, but I knew I would secure the overall season win by doing so.  I had meant to get a tin of hemp from Partridge Lakes the day before, but I had left the fishery a little hastily and forgot all about it.

At the all out I had about 100 roach which I thought would go around 4lb, but in fact they weighed less and I put 3lb 9oz on the scales.  Colin weighed in 6lb 5oz for the win, with Tim getting second with 5lb 5oz and I finished 3rd.

On reflection, I wish I had brought some hemp and maybe I could have got amongst the better Roach.  Having said that Colin fished with maggot and pinkie on the peg next to me and he got amongst the better samples.  I balled in more than Colin and maybe I used a more active mix attracting smaller fish into the swim. To be honest I’m not sure, I’m not a roach angler!  The only decent fish I got into was when a pike took my little roach on the way in!

Well the club season is over and I have managed to retain my title.  There has been a better spread of trophies this year and the weights are on the up.  There has been the emergence of the sleeping giant or “new kid on the block” – Spoon, and Chrissi has taken the biggest fish prize for the second time in 3 years.

Our presentation night is to be on the 14th Nov at the Brittania.

Although our club season is over we have a mini series to complete and there are 4 commercial matches throughout October.  I just hope the lads follow through with the commitment they promised when I booked these matches and actually turn up for them.

Tight Lines

Partridge Lakes, Open Match, 19.09.15

Weather: Sunny Intervals, 17C, 5mph SW wind, Air Pressure 1028

Peg: Covey 117

59 Fished

I was reasonably happy with my draw today as I haven’t fished Covey 5 for quite some time, so it would make a nice change.  The slight wind which was forecast today would be blowing towards the North side of the lake, but with it being so light I didn’t think it would have much effect on the fishing.  There was to be 6 in my section, starting with me, then 119, then a gap to  Connor Barlow on 123 and 3 on the track starting with peg 125.  I knew I was probably in for a battering from Connor so I was resigned to fishing for a default section before the start.

Set up:

Malman Thin .4g, 5ft, .11 to .10 powerline, B510 18 – top 2

MW F1 Slim 10 X 11, 6ft, .11 to .10 powerline, B510 18 – track

Chianti 4 x 10, 3ft, .11 to .10 powerline, B510 18 – 5m nearside left

Jigga , PR36 18 – banded caster

Bait:

2 pints casters

2 pint maggots

1/2 pint of Sonubaits F1 Supercrush Dark

I had decided on a maggot and caster attack today, I would feed the track line at 7m slightly to my left, where I would try to catch shallow and later on the bottom.  I set up the Chianti to the left in front of the line of reeds as it looked like a fishy area with it being a corner with the cover of the reeds.  I was late getting to my peg and I didn’t have time to set up a mudline and margin rig, but I would do this if I wanted it as I went along.  The 1ft mudline and margin line has started to fade a little of late, probably down to the cold nights we are now having, so it wasn’t part of plan A,B or C and I would only go on it if I felt there was fish to be had on it.

On the all in I went on my 3ft line to left, where I could loose feed maggots by hand.  I would feed about 10 maggots on this and my top 2 line every minute and I would also feed about a dozen casters, every 30 seconds, over my track line.  I could only really see the anglers on 119 and 115 ( I could just about see Connor in the distance) and I was first to catch, although I wasn’t getting the quality F1’s and my first four fish were all about 8oz’s.  I plodded away for the first 40 minutes alternating between my 3ft line and my top 2 and although I had 12 F1’s in this time I only had about 7lb on the clicker.  Pegs 119 and 115 had about 3 fish each but they were a better stamp than mine and there wasn’t nothing between us at this point.

I went shallow on my track after 40 minutes and I began to put a few better F1’s in the net but I found I would have t come off it after 2 or 3 fish and go on my top 2 where I would get 1 or 2 before returning shallow.  For the next 90 minutes I alternated between the 2 lines and took my clicker weight to about 30lb, which was made up of about 40 F1’s.  Just when I thought I had it sussed and I would go on for a decent weight the fish backed of from all my lines. From this point up until the last hour I alternated between 3 lines; shallow, 3ft near side left and top 2, but it had slowed right down for me and I was going about 10 minutes between each fish and when I did get one it was usually one of the smaller stamp of F1’s.  I did hook one larger sample of about 3lb, but after missing about 5 netting opportunities I lost it at the net…… gutted!  I managed to have a run of small stockies, around the pound mark, in the last hour by feeding casters by hand over the top and then laying my track rig in amongst the loose feed.  I made the mistake of feeding ground-bait on this swim after foul hooking a couple, thinking this would get them back down, but this seemed to kill the swim off.

At the all out I knew I had beaten both pegs either side of me and when the guy on peg 115 told me that the split had fished hard I started to think about the section.  I knew Connor on peg 123 had caught well as although he was well away from me, he was in my eye line and it seemed he was always playing a fish.  Connor weighed in 104lb which not absolutely blitzed the section but he went on to win overall.  With a default section up for grabs I had 44lb to beat from peg 125, which I was confident I could do.  When I emptied my net into the net bag there didn’t seem as much as I had anticipated and it was going to be close.  I weighed 43lb 7oz, just 10oz’s short of the section win.

On reflection, I actually think I fished a good match and I got a lot out of the swim.  The better weights from the lake all came from the North side, with 123, 103,104 and 106 all making the top 5 overall and the guy who pipped me for the section was also up the North end on peg 125.  I had about 65 fish today, but I was catching the smaller stamp of F1’s.  I’m a little gutted I missed out on the section after losing that big F1 at the net and having a few chances to net it.  I lost a few others through foul hooking and hook pulls, but I should have had that one – it was just bad netting and a £40 mistake!

I’m actually starting to feel I can compete at Partridge in the summer as I am usually beating those around me and I have had a few section wins and a few near misses of late.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not at framing standards yet, far from it, but I have lost the “out of my depth” feeling and I am fishing with a lot more confidence.  The fast approaching winter months will be a different kettle of fish and the confidence will probably take a knocking, but hopefully I have learnt enough from last winter to pick up a few more brown envelopes.

Off to the River Weaver tomorrow on a clubby and back at Partridge one day next weekend.

Tight Lines