Thursday 25 June 2015

N.A.F.A Wednesday evening Match wheel pond 24/06/2015

I am considering taking up Golf after this Wednesday's match.
Managed to just about make it for the draw and found 14 other people waiting to participate in a lovely evening match with fantastic weather.
I had decided earlier in the week to try a different approach this week and concentrate on the silvers for the first hour hoping to put a couple of pound in the net and then try and snare a carp or 2 late on.
I fancied pegs 1,2 20 or 21.
I waited until the end to draw more pick and drew choice 2 this threw me and i started to panic and thought i should pick one of the better carp pegs around 14/18 and eventually settled on peg 16.

This put my game plan out the window as i would now be solely concentrating on Carp mainly straight across at roughly 13.5 Mtrs and down my margins,.
Bait for the night would be 6mm meat and 6mm pellet with only 30 minutes to get set up my rigs were already attached to my poles and i had a pellet and meat rig to fish in just over 2ft of water on the far bank a margin rig at 18 inches and i also had my silvers line set up so put it out but wasn't planning on using it unless everyone struggled.

At the all in i fed a big pot of micro's and meat over on the far bank and instantly had a bow wave and i thought this could be a good night i shipped out with my meat rig it settled and then disappeared almost immediately but i missed the bite.That was the only proper bite I had in the first hour as the swim seemed to be plagued with small roach who just nibbled the meat or pellet without registering a proper bite.

People around me were catching although Smithy lost his first fish again from peg 13.

After the first hour I changed my rig slightly with a lighter hook link and size 18 Hook and instantly hooked a lovely Crucian of about 1lb but again the swim died. I tried both margins but just had small roach so tried the far bank again but just had small fish nosing the bait i got very frustrated as people around me were catching but nothing great so i knew a few fish could give me a chance of a point.

With 30 minutes left i did get a nice bite but i believe it was foul hooked as it tore through the reeds snapping my rig.
I shipped out my spare rig and continued to fish with 5 minutes left i tangled my rig shipping back so thought about packing up then saw my roach rig and thought i might as well have 5 minutes of fun so put on 2 maggots on a size 20 hook and 2lb hook link i shipped out at top 2 plus 2 in about 4 ft of water the float hardly settled when it slid away as i struck i realised i had finally hooked a carp but on no 4/6 elastic it would be hard to get in.
I played it for 5 minutes but couldn't get it's head up the all out was called so i knew i had 15 minutes to land it and i may need all of that.
The fish surfaced quickly and would estimate it at around 5/6lb but then it decided to have 1 more run and i couldn't get mt sections on quickly enough and it snapped my elastic.

A perfect end to a dismal night.

I was so annoyed i didn't hang around for the full weigh in but knew there were 2 10 kilo weights possibly 1 bigger and another of 7kilos so i don't think i would have scored but would have been nice to have caught a nice Carp.

The only upside to the evening was the free savlon samples the Torbay tart was handing out I believe it to be part of his new sponsorship deal.

Possible pleasure trip Saturday evening after some skimmers or Tench with my son.


Thursday 18 June 2015

Pleasure Trip to Cefn Mably Lakes and the River Wye

I was working in Wales this week so took advantage and had a few hours at Cefn Mabley and then a few hours on the pituresque Wye.

I arrived at Cefn Mably to find the gates locked but only had to wait a few minutes until someone opened them.

I followed them up to the well stocked on site Tackle Shop and reception paid for my day ticket then headed straight for bridge pool.

I have always wanted to fish this pool after watching Steve Ringer and Adam rooney fishing it on one of the Fishing Guru's programmes.
 

 

 


I wandered around and set myself up n the same peg Mr Ringer fished and employed roughly the same tactics to begin (chucking a small method feeder to the point of the Island with Micro's and a 6mm Banded pellet) I also set up a Pole to purely fish the margins later on as every swim seems to have exceptional margin prospects.


Second chuck and the tip wrapped round and a nice 2lb carp was landed next chuck and another carp came to the net 3rd chuck i had a small drop back bite and landed  a small skimmer around 4oz.

The swim died for awhile after that and it was very difficult to feed the swim with a catapult as the wind was blowing directly at me and was quite strong.

I started to notice some movement in my left hand margin so fed a large pot of Groundbait,meat and sweetcorn and left it for half an hour.


The Island started to produce a few more carp including 2 beautiful Ghost Carp and F1's as well as a few more skimmers.

I decided to have a look in my margin so lowered my pole float in waited around a minute then saw a big bow wave come in and my float buried the carp tore off but i soon had it under control and landed a beautiful mirror carp around 8lb.

Second drop and this time the meat didn't reach the bottom before the float sailed away and another carp around 6lb was netted.

I refed the swim and went back on the feeder and instantly had a skimmer of over 1lb followed by another Carp.

A glance to my left revelaed tails and heads popping out the Margins so i came back on the pole line and again had  instant bites from Carp.

I continued to rotate between the feeder and pole for the rest of my time and was pleasantly surprised to land 2 lovely crucians inc a personal best 2lb beauty who was extremely chunky.


I did go and fish the same peg Mr Rooney fished as i really wanted to catch a decent Barbel but could only land more Carp

final numbers were 35 Carp averaging 4lb a few F1's  2 Crucians and a dozen or more skimmers and Roach to a decent size.

In all a lovely days fishing from a lovely well maintained fishery.

After packing up i travelled up to Monmouthshire to have a few hours on the Wye i'm not sure if the weather affected it but i struggled to catch anything decent but had a lot of small Roach,Bleak and a few small Chublets on Maggots I will be returning later in the year and will be more prepared.

This was my first attempt on a river and i was a bit overawed by the whole experience so i need to do some more research and spend a few more days wandering around the area as it truly is one the best rivers in the country especially Symonds Yat which is Beautiful.

Wednesday 17 June 2015

Take the Bait Summer League Rd 1 SpringPonds 13/06/2015

Expectation was quite high for the first round of the summer league after the last match and with £50 for the first 50lb weight I was expecting someone to win it.

With the ponds being small there are only 16 entrants but only 10 were present for the first round and most were Spring Pond regulars.

Speaking with most people the end pegs were the ones to draw and with peg 1 being the bonus peg everyone expected the bonus peg to go and when Mike Smith drew the peg everyone thought it would be a dead cert to go with Mike being an excellent angler and winner of the last League and peg 1 winning the last open with 59lb.
Smithy on peg 1

I drew peg 2 not the best peg on the lake and the chance to watch Mike bag up didn't fill me with joy but nothing ventured nothing gained and I started to set up my gear for the day.


                                                              My peg for the day



I set up a bomb line for the far bank just left of the tree and 4 pole rigs 1 for  and 1 for pellet at 13 Mtr's and top 5 as  I had the same depth at both a Margin rig for my left hand side and a silvers rig for top 2 plus 2 for the larger roach that inhabited this lake.

Bait for the day would be meat & Pellet for the carp and sweetcorn for the silvers although I never used this rig. If I had maggots I would have been on it so a lessoned learned there.

The all in was called and I cast the lead ot outwith a 6mm pellet sunk the line and sat back for all of 10 seconds when the tip wrapped round and my first carp was on a si got it closer I realised I hadn't got my landing net so faffed around and landed a small common with just the head of the net.

A quick recast and landing net assembled I sat back and waited thinking I was in for a good day how wrong could I be.

After fifteen minutes and no bites I had a quick look on my 13 mtr line, Mike on peg 1 ( who was so confident of catching the carp in the margins He didn't set up a bomb rod) was just telling me how he was having a bad patch of losing his first fish in comps when he  duly hooked and lost his first fish I was watching and giggling when my float buried I struck late felt resistance but then it was off.

Jason on peg 4 had started to catch a few small carp and MR H on 6 was rotating his catches with fish and then a bush.

Mike landed his next carp and I had another in the first hour but it seemed it may be a slow day.

Jason on peg 4 then set about emptying the lake and after 2 hours had around 15 carp to my  5 with Mike and MR H on similar Gaz on peg 8 was yet to catch anything of note and it seemed Jason's Brother was copying him as he was the only 1 catching regularly on pond 2.

If I had maggots I would have started going for silvers as I couldn't seem to get a run of carp but without them I struggled on.

Myself and Mike then seemed to get plagued by Gudgeon even on 6 or 8 mm pellet.

Mike relented and set up a bomb rod which lasted 15 minutes as he lost 2 carp in the far reeds so changed to a small waggler which also lasted around 15 minutes.

With 90 minutes left I landed a lovely 5Lb common which put me on 9 carp and clear in second place but that was to be my last fish as broken rigs and small Gudgeon frustrated me.

Mike and MR H both had late fish and I thought I may have slipped down to fourth

The all out was called and Gaz weighed 11lb MR h then weighed 21lb Jason hada lovely bag weighing 53lb including a 8lb 2oz beauty I weighed 15lb and Mike had 20lb so thelate fish did cost me.

Pond 2's weights were similar with Elliot getting 47lb then it went down to 20lb and 14lb.

Not the best start but will take the positives and will definitely take some maggots next time.

Thursday 4 June 2015

Beaten by the Torbay Tart N.A.F.A evening league 3rd June 2015

Well thing's went bad enough during the match but to then find out the Tart from Torbay had come second was a bitter blow.
The match itself started well 18 fishing and i managed to draw pick 10 so 2 better than the previous 2 weeks i decided on peg 2 a nice peg with easy reach to the far bank at just over 13Mtr's and 2 nice margins 1 in some reeds the other under the wooden walkway used for disabled anglers Duncan was on here but it was only his pole that was disabled as he smashed a topkit during the first hour.

I had the same depth at the far bank and both Margins so set up 2 rigs to fish here 1 for past and 1 for meat and also a silvers line for top 2 plus 2 as i wanted to see if the new stock of rudd and skimmers had started feeding (They hadn't or at least not in my peg)

Bait was going to be meat 6mm hard pellets and some maggot/sweetcorn for the silvers

At the all in i cupped some meat and wetted micro's across to the far bank and balled some micro's down both margins

First drop and i had a small carp I then spotted a carp mooching in my right hand margin so i dropped a small chunk of meat near him, 30 seconds later the float slid away and i struck into a right lump that tore through the reeds and snagging me I managed to retrieve half a rig so thought i would try on pellet for a awhile.

30 minutes passed and I had baby carp number 2 from the far bank but the fishing was slow so i thought i would try at some silvers as every time i threw some maggots in i could a boil just under the surface.

I spent 15 minutes catching some small roach, rudd and perch biggest being around 3/4 oz this is when Duncan hooked a large carp that dived straight under the walkway Duncan held his ground and without putting too much pressure on his pole the topkit disintegrated into 3 pieces.

He re rigged went straight back into the same spot and within 5 minutes hooked another that looked to be going the same way but he managed to turn it and land a lovely 5lb fish.

I decided small fish weren't going to get me anywhere so I redid my meat rig and went down the left hand margin.

Within 10 minutes I had a large carp on that shot thankfully straight out into open water I happily played the fish thinking this would get me back in for a top 5 finish as not much was being caught the carp plodded around in front of me for a couple of minutes and then somehow just stopped and it seemed to have snagged me in some underwater obstruction i tried to free it but had no luck and eventually pulled free losing another hooklink.

To say i was disappointed would be an understatement I was so frustrated I tried shipping out too quickly and tangled my pellet rig so badly i couldn't use it again so I had to redo another meat rig and start again

40 minutes to go I had another small carp smash me up in some reeds on the far bank and lost a foul hooked fish
Duncan lost another large carp under the walkway and the night just fizzled out.

The weigh in started and it seemed it wouldn't take a big weight to get a top 5 finish but my kilo and a half wouldn't be enough

The scales went around and with plenty of dnw's it didn't take long for everyone to be packed up and back in the car park

Then the bitterest of blows i could smell the salt & vinegar before seeing him and he was smiling as he had a decent night (possibly his first this year) and had secured second with 5kg+ winning weight was 7kg+ but 5th was only 3kg 200g so i knew if i had landed my decent carp i would have been close i know we all lose fish but i seem to be losing more than others for whatever reason.

Still another pleasant evening with a great bunch of lads, hopefully next week Kentucky will be open (Closed for nearly 7 weeks in Newton Abbot for a refurb) so i can at least drown my sorrows with some of the Colonels finest

Until next time tight lines

Monday 1 June 2015

Spring Ponds Open 31st May 2015

I was really looking forward to this match as there aren't many bagging waters around my area so the chance to catch a net full of Carp makes a change.
I arrived and found only 9 were fishing today which meant we would use both ponds.
Pond 1 has larger fish and a good head of silvers where the second pond has a lot of stockie carp and the odd bigger fish.
It was decided to payout the winner of both ponds and best silvers.

I drew peg 9 which is the first corner peg on pond 2 and i was happy with this as i fished it the only other time i had visited so knew the depths and range to fish at.

I set up 4 topkits a 4x12 for meat in 5ft of water at 11.5mtrs a pellet rig for the same spot and a Shallow Rig for my Right hand Margin towards the empty Pallet I also set up a Rig for top 2 plus 2 for silvers in case the carp didn't show and a pellet Feeder for the far bank which is about a 20 mtr chuck but i knew the carp hang out over there and there were signs of carp mooching around that bank.

There were 4 fishing on my pond inc Mr H (Peg 16) who had just won the overnight match at Rackerhayes and who won the Anniversary match at this fishery last time out, the fishery manager's brother (Peg 15) who fishes the ponds regularly and Father Christmas(Peg 12) who also fishes the ponds on a weekly basis during his off season so i was the novice on the lake.

At the all in i potted in a big pot of meat and hemp over the 11.5mtr line and balled in some groundbait down the right hand margin.

I went straight out on the meat rig and had to wait 10 minutes but then my float bobbed and my first carp was landed at around 1lb it was a good start next drop and again the float sailed away but this time the fish darted off and the hook came off.

I fed some meat via a kinder pot and sat back and waited for another 10 minutes then carp number 2 came along i netted it quite quickly  this seemed to be the pattern for the first hour and i ended with 5 carp for around 5lb I heard that the lad on 15 had 7 carp whilst Father Christmas was targeting silvers and was having a few but quite small Roach and Gudgeon.

The second hour went much the same as the first although i did land a lovely 3lb carp so i tough i would be neck & neck with the lad on 15 i could only hear moaning from MR H so i guessed he was struggling.

The third hour started frustratingly One of my back seatbox legs suddenly gave way and i neede to get off my box to sort it so quickly chucked out my pellet feeder i was around the back of the box when the rod flew around and depsite my catching it the hooklink snapped. I tied another and cast out to same spot with a 6mm pellet and agian the rod wrapped around but this time i was ready and managed to land a nice pound and half fish next cast i had a slight drop back bite which turned out to be a Gudgeon.
A few more chucks resulted in nothing so i was back on my pole line.
I had a quick look down my margin but had nothing so went back out to 11.5 Mtr's I had a bite almost immediately but lost it  and then had to wait another 20 minutes before i had 2 quick carp
After 3 hours i had 12 carp but the lad on 15 had 17 so it was possible he may have been just ahead

My peg seemed  to switch off for 45 minutes and suddenly the lad on 15 now had 27 carp to my 15 so i thought it was all over so had a quick 10 minutes on my silvers line which produced a few small roach but i was missing more bites than hitting them so gave that up.

With 45 minutes to go Mr H packed up with only 5 small carp he had enough i knew FC was off the pace so i was siting comfortably second on the lake and thought 1 big fish could get me back in the frame.

I saw the first tail pattern of the evening to my right about a metre from the bank and 2 mtrs further down the margin past the empty pallet so id ropped my rig on top of it and instantly had a bit which i landed.
Straight back in and the float didn't have time to settle before it flew off but so did the carp.

I quickly rebaited and went back in and had another.
In the last half hour i landed 6 Carp and lost 3 putting me close to the lad on peg 15 who ended with 30 carp

At the weigh in he said he thought he around 25lb as his carp were small but he did have a 2lb Tench I thought  also had between 20-25lb and wished i had found the fish to my right 10 minutes earlier.

The Scales came along and my net weighed 25lb 10oz so again i was close with mt estimate and the lad on 15 seemd worried as my carp were mainly larger than his.

FC weighed 12LB with 4.5Lb of silvers and taking the silvers cash.

We got to 15 and the lad was looking more worried the net came out and it looked really close but it went 27lb 2oz so he beat me by 1lb 8oz.

I was disappointed but my biggest match weight to date and a second on the lake against more experienced anglers shows that i may be learning a few things  and it was good practice for the summer league.

Lake 1 was won with 59lb with a few lovely carp over 5lb (this was the first 50lb net in a competition and things are looking really good for some big weights during the summer) second was 49lb 14oz

Not sure when i will be fishing again as work is getting really busy but hope to be on the bank soon.




Newton abbot Juniors Match Bradley Lake 30th May 2015

9 kids turned up for todays match and with the restocking of some large bream some bigger weights were expected than we usually have and the match lived up to it for some.

Another Rover which I'm not entirely happy with as the older kids know the lakes better than the newbies and it seems to favor them but  robbie had 5th choice and picked peg 8 a good peg with 8ft of water 5mtrs out unfortunately the trees and bushes have grown well and using the waggler proved to be a problem.

We set up a Waggler and 2 pole rigs 1 to fish at depth at 5 Mtrs and 1 to fish 3 ft just on the drop off and the Margin to the right.

Bait was Maggot with more maggot and maggot as back up.
We used to Baittech Special G Gold Groundbait
At the start Robbie started on the waggler and was casting well and managing to fire his maggot's roughly where he wanted we heard a young lad on peg 7 start catching well on a short pole and after catching 2 trees and a bush we decided to give the pole a go.
We balled in 2 balls of Groundbait and lowered the double maggot hookbait over it and immediately had a nice 2oz Roach next dip and a 3oz hybrid was netted.
It went quiet for 15 minutes but then a perch and skimmer were netted along with a small Trout (Trout count in Junior matches)
Again it went quiet but by keeping the maggot's dripping through the water a few more small roach came to the net.
We could the lad on peg 9 had caught a nice skimmer of around 2lb and heard the lad on peg 10 was also catching a few on the waggler so Robbie that again but the wind made it very difficult so we stayed on the pole for the rest of the afternoon.

Suddenly all hell broke lose as the lad on peg 9 thought he had hooked 1 of the large carp that inhabited the lake but were rarely caught it took him 45 minutes to land it but when he did it had shrunk and changed species as it turned out to be a 6lb Bream foulhooked in the tail so he did really well to land it on a size 20 hook.

The last hour & half was frustrating as bites dried up but Robbie did get a nice |perch of about a pound and i thought he had a nice bag of fish weighing around 5lb which was easily his top weight from this lake and in the past would have easily seen him take a top 3 spot.

The weigh in started and the first lad 2.6Kg of nice Rudd,Roach and Skimmers then we got to peg 11 and realised the large Bream had shoaled up in the top Right Corner Peg 11 had 7.5Kg and Peg 10 Had an incredible 20kg+ of lovely bream and Skimmers all on the Waggler

Peg 9 had 10Kg then Robbie weighed in 2Kg 320g so my estimate was spot on.
The weights in the other pegs slowly decreased and it seemed to fish harder in the shallower end of the lake.

Robbie ended up 6th but with his biggest weight from the lake so a real positive to take away from the day.

Next up
Spring Ponds Evening Open and a chance to get some more practice in before the Summer League starts.

I should also mention the club record for Tench was Broken during the week a fish of 12lb 2oz so well done to Dean Bradford