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

Partridge Lakes, Open Match, 31.08.15

Weather: Sunny Intervals, 13C, 3mph N wind, Air Pressure 1018

Peg: Covey 31

59 Fished

                              Peg 31, Covey 2

I got there early at 8.10am today so I could hopefully get some casters and luckily enough the on site tackle shop had a few pints left.  I then had along wait until the 9.30am draw so to kill some time I took a couple of walks around the lakes.  One thing that was apparent was the large amount of carp swirling in the margins, particularly on Covey 4 between peg 85 to 88, incidentally peg 85 had won the day before.  There was not a lot of F1’s topping but there was a lot of bubbles coming up from the track.  With the weather forecast to be rainy with no wind I was anticipating the track line would be a good area today and that maybe the shallow line wouldn’t produce that well.  As usual I was one of the last to draw and I was disappointed when I pulled out 31 and a few of the lads behind me advised me to go home!  Even though I was a little downbeat about my peg, I tried to stay positive and in fact I think I have seen matches won from peg 29 and 33 this summer, so maybe I wasn’t in too bad an area after all.  Having said that I did reckon that pegs 23 and 25 would be the pegs to beat.  My section for the day was a 6 man one of 23,25,27,29,31,34.  By the time I had drawn and got to my peg I had 35 minutes to set up before the 10.30am all in – I had no chance of being ready!

Set up:

Malman Thin .4g, 6ft, .11 to .10 powerline, B510 18 – track

MW F1 Slim 8 X 11, 5ft, .11 to .10 powerline, B510 18 – top 2 (originally had a PR36 18 for banded pellet)

HB Ratchatcher 1, 2ft, .13 to .10 powerline,, B911 F1 18 – margins and far side

Jigga , PR36 18 – banded caster

Bait:

2 pints casters

1 pint maggots

1/2 pint of Sonubaits F1 Supercrush Dark

Micros + 4mls

Expanders

I decided to use the carbon stemmed Malman Thin for the track instead of a MW F1 slim as I wanted a slow fall with a spread out shotting pattern, and with the water being flat calm I could get away with not using a wire stem.  My plan was the usual one – start on the near side margins and try to nick a few quick fish before switching to 6M where I would feed casters from the off.  If the fish did not respond at 6M I would then venture across.  I had also decided to try a change of bait today and decided to concentrate on pellets a bit more – just fancied a change!

At 10.40am (10 minutes late going in) I fed my right hand margin (top 2) with micros and a few expanders and I went on my left hand margin at 5m, with maggot and I fed 6 maggots and topped it off with a nugget of ground-bait.  10 minutes later and 2 feeds later, I had my first F1 of about a 1lb and this was followed by a 3oz F1, so I fed about 20 maggots and a little ground-bait and went on my right hand margin with pellet.  It was obvious there was no fish in the margins, I wasn’t getting any bites and there was no movement on my float, so I decided to come off it pretty early and go across in the rat-hole at 2ft on pellet.  There was signs of fish there at first but they soon spooked and vanished so I had to move.  About 40 minutes of the match had gone by and I decided to have a look shallow at 6M and immediately I was into F1’s but just as I thought I was on for a god run they backed off after a quick 3 fish.  I had been feeding 4m pellets on my top 2 so I decided to give this a look but one quick bite followed by 15 wasted minutes and I had to move again.

I had noticed a few fish knocking the reeds across at 2 O’clock and I could reach this with 13M so I decided to push my jigga rig right up to it and feed a few casters over the top and I started to put the odd F1 in the net, but I made the mistake of keeping my light elastic on and I lost a couple of fish in the reeds, along with a couple of jiggas.  Even though the fish where still there and knocking the reeds, I stopped catching them and I must have went half an hour without a fish, maybe I had spooked them when losing the 2 fish in the reeds.  I didn’t catch much in the 3rd and 4th hour of the match, just the odd one shallow from 6m and across against the reeds and pegs 29 and 33 had overtaken me and I reckon peg 27 had been ahead of me from the start.

With an hour to go I decided to abandon pellets as I wasn’t catching on them and I decided to feed maggots on my top 2.  This worked well,  as I started to put a good run of F1’s together and I probably put about 20lb in the net in a 40 minute spell until they backed off.  I managed to nick a couple shallow before the all out.

I reckoned I had beaten the pegs either side of me but I wasn’t sure what peg 27 had done – I had seen him catch a few.  When the scales arrived peg 23 and 25 had already weighed and 23 had put 64lb on t he scales which I knew I couldn’t beat.  I weighed 43lb for 3rd in the section. Peg 34 – 39lb, peg 29 32lb, peg 27 50lb+, peg 25 had about 25lb.

On reflection, I should have caught a lot more as there was loads of fish in my swim to my right.  They were topping in the track to my right and there was plenty knocking the reeds across at 2 O’clock.  I caught plenty at 5ft on my top 2, so instead of trying to catch them shallow to my right, I should have realised the fish would be easier to catch in deeper water and come off the reeds a little and fished down the slope in deeper water –  a foot off the reeds at about 3ft. I didn’t feed much today, only 1 pint of casters and half pint of maggots, so maybe I wasn’t aggressive enough with my feeding, particularly on my shallow line at 6M.  I did try the track a couple of times but surprisingly I didn’t get a bite, so maybe the best feeding depths were between 3 to 5ft and not shallow or full depth at 6ft.  I’m kicking myself a little as if I could have worked out how to catch the large amount of fish I had in my swim I could have had a good weight, but I couldn’t figure it out.  I reckon one of the top anglers would have worked out quickly that the fish could be caught between 3 and 5ft to the right of the swim and put a good weight together – I can only work this out afterwards, never mind, lesson learnt!

There were no framing weights from our lake, Covey 2, today and there was only one weight over the ton from the lakes used, Covey 1-5.

Not sure if I can get back at Partridge before November as I have a few clubbies and a week at Whiteacres, but hopefully I’ll squeeze one or two in.

Tight Lines

Partridge Lakes, Open Match, 12.04.15

Weather: Rain, 8C, 25-50 mph SW Wind, Air Pressure 1016

Peg: Covey 45

87 Fished

I wasn’t sure whether to turn out today, as there was some pretty miserable weather forecast, with gusts up to 50mph, but as my club season is about to start and I will frequent the open scene much less, I decided to take the opportunity of a free Sunday.  With there being so many fishing today we were informed that Coveys 1-5 and Spey would be in the draw bag.  Considering the poor weather I was hoping for anywhere that was slightly sheltered, although with the winds due to get up to pole breaking conditions, I’m not sure any peg would have any shelter.  I drew peg 45 and my 6 peg section would be 42,44,45,46,48,49.  I didn’t know what to make of the draw as I have never fished this split, but I predicted that peg 42, which has some current form, would be the peg to beat.

Set up:

MW F1 Slim 14×11, 6ft, B510 18 – Track

MW F1 Slim 10X11, 5ft, B510 18 – top 2

MW F1 Pear 8 X 11, 3ft, B911 F1 18 – Expander

Malmans Snake 8 X 10, 1.5ft, B510 18 – Shallow maggot

All rigs on .11 powerline to .10 bottom

Bait: 2 pints maggots

Ringers 4ml expanders

1/2 pint micros

1/2 pint of sonubaits F1 Dark

On arriving at my peg I could see there was a strong right to left wind but I anticipated that this would change as the match went on and would end up off my back.  I also noticed that I was a little boxed in with peg 46 in to my right, peg 23 fishing towards my corner point and peg 44 the other side of the bridge.  I did however have the margins to my left and the wind was blowing in the right direction for me to target them early on.  I decided to leave across for the first part of the match with the wind being so strong, making presentation extremely difficult.

On the all in I started off at 8M to my nearside left in 3ft of water on pellet, where I tapped in about 20 micros and lowered my expander down amongst them.  I immediately got a bite and missed it, but I had to reefed 3 minutes later to instigate another bite which again I missed.  This continued for about 15 minutes until I finally foul hooked something and lost, the fish were responding to the feed but they were taking it at about 2ft and I couldn’t get them down.  I could also see a lot of fish topping, which made me think the fish wanted to be in the upper 2ft of water, so I reached for my rig box and got a 2ft rig out and plumbed a new swim tighter to the bank.  One missed bite here and everything seemed to go quiet and I went searching for F1’s mainly to the left so the wind was off my back, I even tried shallow with maggot but to no avail.  I think I went 2 hours without a bite and with the ever increasing wind followed by persistent rain, I was pretty miserable and considering packing up, as a few anglers had already done. 3.5 hours in and no fish and at this point peg 44 had his holdall and roost, along with 3 or 4 top kits ripped up by an incredibly strong gust of wind (must have been 80mph) and thrown into the middle of the track.  He reacted quickly, running onto the bridge and managed to get them as they emerged on the other side, unfortunately he had at least one snap.  I stood up at this point and decided to take my kits off my roost (mine had tipped once) and I also broke down my pole and secured everything on the floor, just leaving my track rig and 2 sections of pole to play with.  I stood there for a moment considering whether to go, get my rod out or just concentrate on the track.  I decided to give the track a go as peg 46 had spent most of his day on it and was putting the odd fish in the net, I however, hadn’t had a bite on it on the few occasions I had tried it.  I had been feeding it by hand all day, so I hadn’t neglected it and I began to be rewarded with a quick 8 F1’s coming to the net and with 40 minutes of the match remaining I was hoping for a strong finish, but unfortunately they backed off a little.  I didn’t have another swim to go on and give the track a much needed 10 minute rest and with me also feeling cold an miserable I decided I couldn’t be bothered doing anything else and would stick it out on the one swim.  I managed to put another 3 F1’s in the net before the all out.  I hadn’t a clue what anyone else had caught as I had my hood up all day restricting my vision, so I decided to weigh them in for 11lb 4oz.  Peg 42 won the section with over 50lb, peg 46 had 28lb, peg 48 had about 18lb and pegs 44 and 49 DNW.

On reflection, fishing in gale force winds means broken pole! Go Home!  – Enough said!

I may be able to get another open in next Saturday before my first club match Hall Lane on Sunday.

Tight Lines

Partridge Lakes, Open Match, 21.03.15

Weather: Sunny, 6C, NNE 15mph wind, Air Pressure 1029

Peg: Covey 31

67 Fished

Spring is here and there are much more daylight hours, but still the weather remains cold and there have been some frosty nights.  Considering the cold wind I was hoping to get a sheltered peg on the opposite side to the road away from the bitter wind, so I was disappointed when I drew peg 31 as it was towards a corner that would have a right to left fresh wind. My section for the day was to be 23,25,27,29 and me on 31.  Although I don’t think this is a great area I think the section is one of the fairer ones, but I did fancy the 3 lower peg numbers would be favourite.

PEG 31, COVEY 2

With me having some success with my track line last week I decided on the same rig, although part of me was telling myself it was not right and a more stable wire stemmed float would be better in the strong wind and undertow, but I ignored my doubts and set up a carbon stem one for the track.

Set up:

Malman Secret, 4 x 14, 6ft, Drennan Silverfish Match 18, Yellow Middy Shockcore – track

MW Pear, 6 X 11, 3ft, B510 20, Orange Middy Shockcore

Malman Secret 4 X 14, 5ft, B510 20, Orange MIDDY Shockcore,

All Above on .10 Powerline to .09 6 Inch bottom.

Malman Snake 4 X 10, .11 to .10 powerline, B911 F1 18, white hydro – dobbing

 

Bait:

2 Pints maggots

Micros

4ml Ringers expanders

Bread and sweetcorn for dobbing

 

On the all in I started off dobbing with bread and it took 20 minutes before I connected with my first fish which I lost as I was shipping back. I gave the dobbing about another half hour but with no success and peg 29 having 5 F1’s across at 10M I decided to go chasing the F1’s with maggot and my MW Pear rig. I plumbed up one swim at 11 O’clock and one about 4M further left at 10 O’clock where I would try pellet.  It was difficult to control the float in the strong crosswind but I eventually connected with a decent F1 on pellet, but unfortunately I lost this one just as I was about to scoop it. 2 hours had passed and I didn’t have a fish, but all was not lost as besides an early run of 5 F1’s from peg 29, I hadn’t seen anything else caught in my section.  As I was struggling I decided to go on my track line earlier than anticipated, as I had planned to leave it until 90 minutes to go.  I immediately caught an Ide and although it was only about 6 ounces, at least I had something in the net. I went back out and fed about 15 maggots and after about 5 minutes I connected with something decent, but again I lost this one before I could see it and I think it may have been fouled hooked from the way I seemed to connect into it about 8 inches off the bottom. I went back out but after a biteless 15 minutes I decided to come off the track swim, but as I was shipping back I foul hooked a big F1 in mid-water. I had this fish on for about 3 or 4 minutes and I was agonizingly close to netting it on several occasions, but again I lost this fish and I was cursing my luck as the fish was over 2Lb.  I gave the track another 15 minutes but I couldn’t get a bite and felt it wasn’t right yet and so I decided to leave it until the last hour. 3 Hours had gone and I was struggling and it was at this point I decided to plumb a swim up tight to the platform of peg 32, where I could position my float in the shadow of the platform and I would also have the wind off my back. I used my MW pear but had to adjust it to about 2.5ft and I also changed the hook to a B911 F1 18 for using pellet.  I had a good run of about 10 F1’s in the next hour by feeding about 15 micros and a couple of expanders every 5 minutes, until this swim died.  For the last hour I alternated between the track and the platform of peg 32, but I was having no success until the last 20 minutes when I started to get a few bites from the track  and during this time I managed 3 Ide and an F1.

The all out was sounded and I felt I could be in with a chance of the section as I had me ahead of peg 29 who I reckoned had 9 F1’s, but I wasn’t sure what the early number pegs had caught. Peg 29 decided not to weigh and pegs 23 and 25 weighed in before the scales went the other way round the lake. When the scales eventually arrived at me I was told I had 17lb 5oz to beat and as expected I fell just short of this and weighed 15lb 12oz, but I wasn’t as agonizingly  close as peg 27 who weighed in 17lb 2oz.

On reflection, it wasn’t a bad performance after such a bad first half of the match.  The big mistake I made was not tying any B510’s up beforehand, meaning I had to use A Drennan silverfish match hook on the track line and although they are a good hook they are more suited to Ide, Skimmers and small F1’s on light elastics as they are a wide gape, springy hook that are prone to opening up a little when putting pressure on them.  If I had the B510 on I am confident I would have landed that big, foul hooked F1 to win the section and I may have also got that foul hooked carp in.  I should have also used a more stable wire stemmed float on the track line to cope with the strong wind and tow –  I had my track line all wrong.

I’ll be back next week and better prepared with plenty of B510’s tied up!

Tight Lines

Partridge Lakes, Open Match, 15.03.15

Weather: Cloudy, 5C, 15mph ENE wind, Air pressure 1031

Peg; Covey 38

53 fished

The weather was a lot cooler than that of last week and there had been an easterly wind leading up to this match, so unlike last week when I was confident the fish would follow the warmish 13C wind and want to sit shallow in it, I was guessing the opposite would be the case this week.

Peg 38, Covey 2

Today I drew peg 38 on Covey 2, which is an area I have never fished before and I was a little disappointed with this as I don’t recall it framing much and I also feared I would be in a wind end corner.  On arriving at my peg I was pleased to see that although I was towards the corner, the water in front of me would be sheltered from the cold wind.  My section today was 33,36,38,40,42 and I anticipated that the anglers to my left on 40 and 42 would be the anglers to beat.  We were in at 10.15am.

I have not been very successful with my track swim this winter, which has cost me several sections, with me leading the section on some matches only to lose it to an angler having a good last hour down the track.  So today, having sheltered calm water in front of me, I decided on a slight change to my track approach.  I would use a carbon stem Malman Secret float and string out number 8’s about 10 inches apart, but I would stick to my approach of feeding 20 maggots every 20 minutes and not go on to it until the final 90 minutes.

Set up:

Malman Secret 4X14, B510 18, yellow middy shock core – 5.5ft track

MW F1 Slim 10×11, B510 20, orange middy shockcore – 4.5ft top 2

MW F1 Slim 6×11, B510 20, orange middy shockcore – 3ft swims

All above on .10 to .09 powerline

Malman snake 4×10, B911 F1 18, white hydro – dobbing

Bait:

1 pints maggots

Micros

4ml ringers expanders

Sweetcorn and bread for dobbing.

On the all in went 10M at 1 O’clock at 3ft dobbing bread and within 10 seconds my float shot under and I had my first F1 of about 14oz. Encouraged by this great start I went back over the same spot but no more bites were forthcoming.  I proceeded to work my way to the left, dobbing bread and after an hour I had searched my entire swim, even going as long as 14M, but I could not muster another bite.  So an hour had gone and it was tough and at this point peg 40 started to catch by fishing tight against the far stick ups at 2.5ft towards peg 41 on maggot.  I had a quick go on pellet, but with me not getting a bite and with peg 40 doing well on maggot, I decided it was not a pellet day and I would concentrate on maggot.  I spent the next hour at 3ft on maggot and I started at 1 O’clock, feeding 6 maggots every 10 minutes.  I would give each swim about 15 minutes, feeding twice and when I didn’t get a bite I moved a couple of metres to the left and eventually I caught an F1 which was at 14M across in front of peg 39.  I was really struggling at the half way point, but besides peg 40 who really motoring and had about 15 F1’s, everyone else in the section was struggling too.  I hadn’t seen peg 36 catch anything and I actually felt a bit sorry for him as he had the fresh cold wind hitting his water and I hadn’t seen peg 42 and peg 33 catch much either, although they were slightly out of eyeshot. So although I was way behind peg 40 I wasn’t giving in and I was hoping his peg would die and mine would come alive.  For the next hour I did a bit of searching through the depths and concentrated my efforts to the left, where I thought the F1’s would be but I had no success and with 90 minutes to go I worked out I had only had 5 bites all day – this was bad! It was time to try the track, but before I did I thought I would give it one last feed before I went on it. I got my 3 ft rig out and put about 25 maggots in the toss pot and as I was shipping across I emptied most of these down the track line and continued across to 3ft, where I would empty the remaining 3 or 4 maggots at 1 O’clock across. I kept my bait static and after a couple of minutes my float shot under and I had my 3rd F1 – whoo-hoo only 20 behind peg 40!  That must have been a solitary F1 as I couldn’t get another bite on this line, so I picked up my track rig and baited it with double white maggot.  I put a dozen maggots in the toss pot and laid in by holding the float a bout 18 inches out of the water for about 20 seconds and then slowly lowered the rig down, hopefully through the falling maggots.  After a couple of minutes I had a missed bite which was closely followed by another and an F1 nicely hooked in the lips and in the next half hour I had another 8 F1’s and an Ide.    If I could keep up this catch rate I could possibly pull it back and catch up to peg 40.  With there being Ide present and the fish now seeming to want the feed I had started to give them a bit more, probably about 20 maggots every fish.  I didn’t want to feed to lightly as I wanted to keep the F1’s down and feed off any Ide, but I think I made the mistake of feeding too frequently as the swim died. I decided to give it a 20 minute rest and try at 3ft again and during this spell I fed the track twice with about 10 maggots each time. Nothing at 3ft, so with 20 minutes remaining I decided to go back on the track and the little rest and lighter feeding had done it some good as I went on to put another 4 F1’s in the net, by feeding about 10 maggots every 5 minutes.

At the all out, I knew I was well beaten by peg 40 who had caught about 25 F1’s to my 14, but I decided to weigh to see how I had finished in the section.  Peg 40 won the section with 32lb and also finished 6th overall,I think I was second with 18lb, peg 36 DNW, peg 33 had about 10lb and although I didn’t see peg 42’s weight I don’t think he caught much.  I don’t think they pay 6th place as a framing position with the amount that fished, it will probably be top 3, so no jammy default section win for me!

On reflection, I’m going to take the positives out of this match and the fact that for once I got my track line working in the last hour.  I think, although I may have gone a little overboard with the feeding at one point which may have caused them to back off,  it may have just been a case of the swim needing a quick rest and letting the fish regroup and settle on feeding again.  Feeding 10 maggots every fish (every 5 minutes) seemed to get me a run of F1’s before they backed off.  Maybe feeding 20 maggots every 2 fish (every 10 minutes) might have prevented them from backing off, but I’m leaning towards it not being the feeding and the theory that the fish will become a little spooked after catching a few and the swim needs a 10 minute rest.  I didn’t get any fouled hooked fish today and very few liners which leads me to think I didn’t get too much wrong with the feeding.  Did the less positive strung out track rig, as opposed to the more positive strung bulk and 1 or 2 droppers, make a difference? – I’m not sure, but I will continue with it when conditions allow and time will tell.

Hopefully I will get to fish next Saturday as next Sunday me and the missus are doing a car booty, which I have been promising to do for about 2 years and with a busy fishing schedule coming up I want to get it out-of-the-way……………… can’t wait!  I have also realised that Liverpool V Man Utd are on next Sunday and I will probably miss that too….gutted!

Tight Lines

Partridge Lakes, Open Match, 14.12.14

Weather: Rain, 3C, 15-20mph S wind, Air pressure 1015

Peg: Covey 31

43 Fished

Covey’s 1-4 where to be in the open today, so at least I would avoid Covey 5 for a change.  The lakes had thawed out for today and a strong wind was arriving along with persistent rain.  I drew peg 31 which I didn’t know much about as I haven’t fished Covey 2 for a few years.  I had noticed that Andy Bennett had got 2nd from peg 34 the week before so hopefully I was in a good area.  Peg 29 was in and there was a gap of 2 pegs to my left before the angler on peg 34 and before the match I could see Andy Bennett offering the angler some advice, he was pointing towards the pallet of peg 35 and across towards the split (mental note made).

Peg 31, Covey 2

Set Up:

MW F1 Slim 8 x 11, 4ft

MW F1 Slim 6 X 11, 3ft

Malman winter wire 4 x 14, 6ft

All above to .10 Colmic line, .08 exceed 6 inch bottom, B510 18 hook, orange middy shockcore

Bait:

1 Pint Maggots

Handful of ground bait

1 slice of bread

I had decided to stick to my feeding strategy of 3 maggots every 10 minutes today but I would start the match off with dobbing bread at 3ft for the first half hour. So on the all in I began to dob around my peg, starting to the spare peg to my left and slowly working my way round the spare peg to my right, but the big carp I was hoping to mug was not forthcoming.  I went across at 3ft to one of the 3 swims I had plumbed up (11 O’clock, 1 O’clock and straight ahead) and dripped in 3 maggots. After 20 minutes I hit my first fish but lost it at the net and immediately I caught another from the same swim but this was also foul hooked and I lost this one a couple of seconds after I hooked it.  I felt like going home at this point as I was sick to death of constantly losing fish, but I composed myself and had a think about where I was going wrong and it dawned on me that in this 20 minute spell on the 3ft line I had fed on one of them about 7 times, which meant the frequency of feeding was about once every 3 minutes.  I told myself to be more disciplined and not feed more than once every 10 minutes on any one line.  After another 15 minutes of disciplined feeding I got a run of 5 fish all nicely hooked in the top lip and just as I thought I had cracked it they backed off.  This settled me down a little as my 5 fish were probably good for 8lb and the pegs either side of me seemed to be struggling a little and I hadn’t seen peg 27 catch anything either. I had a quick look further down the slope at 4ft on the 2 swims that seemed to have fish in (1 O’clock and straight ahead) but nothing was there. I had decided to scrap fishing any point left as the wind and rain had picked up and it was blowing hard from left to right, so at this point (2 hours in) I decided to have a look to the platform to my right (peg 30). I gave this 20 minutes and with no sign of fish I decided to have another go across at 3ft and I immediately hit something as I was laying in but with it surely being foul hook it shed the hook.  The foul hooked fish must have spooked my 3ft lines as no more bites where forthcoming.  With about 90 minutes to go I had my first look on my track line where I had been cupping 20 maggots every half hour but this was biteless, as was all my other lines that I tried from this point until the end of the match.  The pegs either side of me had packed up with half hour to go and I don’t blame them to be honest as the weather had been miserable and they had only caught 1 or 2 each.  When the scales arrived to me they told me 20lb was winning my section which  was 23,25,27,29 and 31 as they had weighed in 23 and 25 before coming all the way round the lake before weighing in 27,29 and 31.  I declined to weigh in but seconds later I had a little panic , thinking that if peg 23 frames I could of sneaked a default section.  I went to watch peg 27 weigh and he put 11lb on the scales which he had caught down the track in the last hour.  So even though weighing in wouldn’t have made a difference I think I will always weigh, in future as it only takes a few seconds ………. unless I catch one Ide like yesterday!

On reflection, It think I could of got a bit more out of the peg in the first hour when the fish were in front of me. The foul hooked fish will surely spook the swim as they really bolt away when they are not hooked in the lip.  By the time I got my feeding right after an hour I had missed an opportunity of a few fish from either incorrect feeding or the time wasted dobbing.  We all know how important it is to feed little in the winter, but it has become apparent over this weekend that the frequency of feeding is so important if you want to avoid foul hookers and risk totally spooking the fish you have in front of you.  Over the weekend, even though I have had a plan of feeding 3 maggots every 10 minutes, I have been guilty of feeding too much and I have probably been feeding every 5 minutes which will encourage the F1’s to sit above the hook feed and lead to foul hooked fish. Well even though the weekend wasn’t successful in terms of catching fish, it has certainly given me a lot to think about and I have learnt a few things. Hopefully I can put what I have learnt into practice with some success on my next match, which will be at Partridge Lakes on the 27th Dec.