Filham Park Lake Ivybridge 25/07/2015

After picking up a new seatbox from Ivybridge i was in two minds whether to fish Filham Park or Little Allers fishery as both were within 5 Minutes but after speaking to a PADCAC member i decided on Filham with the promise of lots of fish and a possible Chub.
So a quick stop at the Watermark Library for my ticket £6.25 for 12 hours or £8.25 for 24 then straight to the lake.
I arrived and found a few people fishing some Carpies and a few pleasure anglers and the lake looked lovely with lots of little Islands dabbed around.
I was assured peg 17 was a favoured peg so was surprised to find it empty but settled myself down for a pleasant days fishing.
I set up a method feeder for fishing tight to the Island and 2 pole rigs i for top 2 plus 2 in about 3ft of water and 1 for my right hand margin under a bush which looked very inviting but produced nothing.
I Started on the feeder loaded with Micro pellets and a 6mm hard pellet banded on a size 16 hook and soon had a small skimmer followed by a 8oz Roach but it was hardly hectic so tried my pole line.

I tried sweetcorn,6mm pellet 8 mm pellet and 6 and 8mm meat but all i could get was Roach admittedly nice ones mainly ranging from 6-10oz's so i managed to build a weight quite quickly.

I had another go on the feeder but every time i cast the feeder was attacked by small roach boiling over it so i decided to concentrate on the pole.

I tried the margins but never had a sign of anything big just little nibblers reducing my pellet into small pea shaped nuggets so i decided to try a little further out with an 8 mm pellet it took longer to get a decent bite but suddenly i had a Roach of around a 1lb and a quarter a really lovely fish then almost immediately a gorgeous Crucian of over a 1lb and a half.

I had a few small Carp but nothing over a pound and i couldn't find a tench or Chub.
looking around the lake it seemed to have fished quite hard for the larger species and with so many little roach attacking anything that went it i decided to call it a day a bit earlier than planned.

I will be back as i quite fancy doing a night to see if there are any larger Carp around and hopefully catch a Chub i will bring Robbie as he will have great fun catching the roach and smaller Carp that seem to be everywhere.

Goodiford Mill 19/07/2015

Unfortunately the match at Milemead was cancelled last minute due to lack of interest which is a shame as its a good fishery and i was expecting a decent day but as i had all the bait and tackle in the car i decided i had to go somewhere so i decided upon  Goodiford Mill  I must say it truly is a fantastic venue

Arrived to find a match had been booked on the lower part of the lake so fished the top bank surrounded by Carpies who had alarms all set up (why they do this on a match lake is beyond me)
I quickly set up a method feeder and chucked it towards the far bank whilst i attempted to set up my Pellet waggler but within 40 seconds the tip wrapped around and i had a lovely 4lb mirror carp in the net.
I decided to wait and set up the rest of my gear before casting again.

I set up up my pellet waggler and 2 pole lines one at top 2 plus 2 and a margin line for my left hand side in about 15" of water.

Once i all set up i cast the method over to the far bank waited 30 seconds then the tip wrapped round again but this time the fish came off.

This set the pattern for the day and i have never lost so many fish in one day not sure whether it was me my hook choice or just fish that had been caught alot and had bad lips

After half an hour i heard some lads arrive who were having the match and instantly recognized the voices as some of the Newton Abbot lads inc the Torbay Tart obviously none of them had my number or else I'm sure they would have rung?


I decided to try my luck and fish alongside the match so i left my swim for half an hour and started again on the all in  I had 35 Carp averaging 4/5lb rotating between a method feeder and Pellet waggler mainly on 8 mm pellets but a few on 6s also had 2 larger carp from the Margins on the pole late on.

I did fish before and after the match and emptied my keepnet twice during the match as i only brought 1 from the car so my weight wasn't a true measure of the day but in all i had well over 200lb inc the fish before and after the match so not a bad days fishing.

Next up will be another pleasure trip not sure where yet.

N.A.F.A Junior Summer league 11/7/2015

Decided to miss my summer league match at Spring ponds so Robbie could take part in his summer league we turned up at wheel pond and i instantly saw i had left his poles on the drive at home(Plonker)
No matter as it would only take 15 minutes to pop home so waited for the draw then made a quick dash home.
Robbie got first choice today and picked peg 1 a nice peg on the wooden gangway allowing him to fish the far bank with comfort but also 2 margins 1 along the gangway and 1 to his left were we new alot of Crucians hung around.
To my surprise the Torbay Tart turned up thinking he could fish a Junior match i suppose after his recent run he may get a top 3 here.
After the rules were explained he managed to find his Neice so she would be fishing in his place.

We set up 3 rigs for today 1 for the far bank 1 for top 2 plus 2 for silvers and 1 margin rig for meat luckily we found 2 spots with equal depth either side.

Bait would be Maggot for silvers and meat and pellet for the Carp.

The all in was called and Robbie went straight out for silvers it took awhile but he started to catch a few small roach and perch no-one seemed to be catching much except for the Tarts Neice who was getting a better stamp of roach than Robbie.

Unfortunately after an hour Robbie started to feel ill and despite trying to carry on i made the decision to call it a day so we had to pack up early.
I knew it was the right decision because as soon we got home he went straight to bed and slept for 2 hours only waking when he a nightmare involving the Torbay Tarts legs in shorts only Joking he was thankfully his legs were fully covered today.

Will try and get the full the results and update soon.

Next up hopefully a trip to Milemead if i can persuade my wife to let me out on my eldest son's birthday

Pleasure session Anglers paradise 4/5th June 2015

Decided to have a pleasure trip with my son looking to catch a catfish at Anglers Paradise.
We set off nice and early on Saturday morning arriving at Anglers paradise around 10 and paid for our day and night tickets at £15.00 each  it seemed very reasonable.
Had a quick wander around the main complex but found no-one fishing so went back to the car and went off site to Anglers Eldorado.
There are 4 lakes on this site a Koi Lake a Golden Tench and Orfe lake plus 2 Carp and Catfish lakes.

We decided to fish the Koi lake first as it was right next to 1 of the catfish lakes so unloaded all our gear and set up 2 camps again no one else seemed to be on site so we had all swims to choose from.

We could see loads of fish moving so I quickly set up a waggler for Robbie who started catching 4oz golden rudd on every cast.
I set up a pole for fishing at top3 with a size 6 elastic as the fish we could see seemed quite small.
I started on Maggots (£3.80 a pint not quite so reasonable) and was instantly
plagued by small Rudd as well.
I fed some groundbait and corn hoping to feed the smaller fish off and after half an hour I managed to get a take which stretched my elastic fully but then I pulled the hook.

I quickly changed to a size 10 elastic and went back in and had a lovely White Koi of around a pound

 

I could see the reeds to starting to move a lot more now so got Robbie to try the pole and he was almost instantly into a beautiful Golden & Black Koi

I then had a nice Koi on the Waggler and Robbie continued getting Koi's of up to 2Lb on a regular basis.
We were both starting to get hungry so decided to have something to eat and then we  try for species 2 on our list a Golden Tench so we headed up to the Golden Tench and Orfe lake again we were pestered by tiny Rudd and Roach for a good half hour before we managed to land a couple of nice Blue Orfe.  We persevered and eventually Robbies float buried and a little Golden Tench came to the net followed by a few others.

 

It was now getting on for late afternoon so we went to set our Bivvy up and get our Carp/Catfish rods ready

 

I had bought Robbie a small cricket set as the Ashes are on the Horizon and thought he could get some practice in just in case he got a call up to replace Ian Bell

 

Robbie set the cricket up and I sopped an area then cast 1 rod out onto it and put 1 rod into the margins as there seemed to be a few fish moving.

 

We were happily playing cricket when suddenly a loud alarm went off it took a second but we both realised it was our alarm so ran around and Robbie lifted into a lovely carp of around 6lb

 

I recast the rod and we resumed our cricket practice no more bites came until around 7.30 in the evening again we were at the cricket around 300 mtrs from the rods and when I arrived it was clear a fish swum through the line and got attached but soon came off.

 

We satand watched our rods for a little while and noticed the rod in the margins was constantly having tiny bites so I suggested to Robbie that we try a pole line with some maggots to see what was down there instantly we started to catch miniature carp of around 3-6 oz Robbie was quite happy getting a few bite when suddenly the number 10 elastic shot out and a larger fish tore off and broke the hooklink.

 

I tied another and Robbie went back in 10 minutes and the elastic shot out again Robbie almost ahd it under control but again the hooklink pulled.

 

I shot back to the car and got out a size 16 Elasticated topkit determined that Robbie would land a decent carp from the margin.

 

I attached a stronger hooklink to a size 16 hook and put 4 maggots on, almostimmediately theelastic shot out and Robbie played a lovely 7lb carp to the net followed by a couple of sixes and a 8lber.

 

I t was almost a carp a chuck and it was getting late and the light was starting to go whenhe hooked into his largest carp of the night a lovely 9lb common

 

 

 

Followed by another of similar size we continued into dark taking more carp roughly 15 in 2 hours before we settled down for the evening.

To be honest I didn't try hard enough overnight to get a bite and decided to get some sleep.

 

We woke around 6.15 sunday morning to a lovely sunny morning and with Carp crashing around in the reeds further up the lake.

Robbie wanted to go stalking so he set off with his rod and some pellets and within 10 minutes was shouting that he had 1 on.

Only a small one of around 5lb which would be our last fish.

 

With a bad forecast of heavy rain coming in around 9 we decided to pack up and try our luck at anglers Shangri-La (Another off site venue attached to Anglers Paradise)  just down the road and fish the silver rose lake as Robbie really wanted to try for a Barbel.

 

we only took a top 3 kit to the lake as we only had a few maggots and some corn left and I was happy to watch Robbie fish. Within 10 minutes the float buried and a fish tore but pulled free Robbie rebaited dropped back in and had to wait all of 2 more minute before the float went and little BARBEL   came to the net

 

Size isn't always important and he was delighted with his first Barbel.

 

We added more orfe and a some skimmers upto 2lb before we set off home

 

In all we had a lovely weekend and managed to leave just before the heavens opened.