Thursday 28 May 2015

Wednesday night Match Newton Abbot Fishing Association

Arrived at the lake just after 5 for the 5.30 draw and saw a couple of new faces for Wednesday night unfortunately a few of the older faces were missing so only 16 were present.
I managed to draw pick 12 for the second week running so again was limited to my options and bottled it and went for peg 5 again rather than trying a new peg
I set up 4 rigs 2 for the far bank in 24" of water 1 for meat 1 for pellet another for the Margins either side and a short rig as there seemed to be a few fish moving.
Baits for tonight would be 6mm hard pellet some meat and i had some corn left from the weekend.
I had a few soaked micro's and some Red Lake groundbait to try.
On the all in I  hooked my keepnet and as i tried to unhook it snapped the keepnet attachment "signs of thing's to come".
I finally went straight across to the far bank and waited and waited and waited swapping rigs and bait.
After 50 minutes my floated started to move slowly to the right and started to disappear i struck gently expecting it to be a liner and was proved to be right as the carp took off and came off almost immediately.
After another 10 minutes I fed a ball of Soaked micros and was immediately rewarded with a lovely bite i played the fish to the net but as it surfaced it shook it's head and the hook popped out of a nice 4lb fish.

Straight back over with some more micro's and 10 minutes later another bite and this time the Carp went tearing through the reeds to my left just as i thought i had it out my dacron connector broke and i lost the fish my rig and the elastic back inside my pole.

I continued for another hour noting not alot was being caught apart from the man on peg 7 who had 3 carp and a couple of tench.

I tried both margins but only had little roach whittling my pellets down so concentrated on the far bank

pegs 4.6, and 8 were also fishless apart from a few small roach and perch.

I had another foulhooked carp who tore through the reeds mashing another float and tonight was turning into a very frustrating one.

with 40 minutes to go i finally hooked and landed a nice 3lb Carp and thought 1 more would possibly get me a top 5 position but unfortunately it never came

With 10 minutes to go my swim erupted about 5 mtr's out with tiny fizzing bubbles over some pellets i had thrown out but with only shallow rigs left i couldn't hook anything and i wished i had spent a minute to attach a new rig.

At the weigh Max Palmer of Tackle Trader won the match with 14kg 2nd was 13kg and 3 was 8 4th had 5kg and 3rd had similar i had 1.5kg so 1 more decent fish and i would have been ok i believe half the people dnw and thelake is still fishing quite hard apart from a few pegs.

Looking forward now to my son's Competition on Bradley which will be a nice change as it's mainly silvers and with some new stock being put in a few weeks back am hoping he has a nice day on the Waggler

Sunday 24 May 2015

Fish 5 Robbie and myself 3 Private lake

Spent a lovely Bank holiday afternoon at a private lake targeting wild carp that I am very privileged to have access too.
We arrived at the 1 acre lake mid afternoon and quickly set up a waggler for fishing at 18"  and 2 carp rods 1 with a 2foot zig rig style set up to fish some White chocolate and Chilli pop ups at half depth and 1 method feeder for the bottom fishing corn over groundbait this seemed to cover all bases.
I cast the zig rig out and then the feeder whilst Robbie was having a few quick chucks with the waggler.
10 minutes in I saw movement on the zig line and struck into a fish that tore across the lake and snapped my hooklink.
I quickly tied a new hooklink and cast out to the same spot.
Robbie was still stalking around the lake when the zig started moving again and agin the line tore away and the hook link snapped again this was 6lb line so I was very disappointed then realised I had the drag set quite tight hence the snap offs.
I was just tying another hooklink when Robbie called and he had a nice carp on I ran too him but again the hooklink snapped. 3-0 to the Carp these wildies are tough little carp.
Another 10 minutes passed and the feeder rod twitched and I struck into a lively fish that almost immediately snapped my hook link 4-0 to the carp and I was starting to get annoyed.
I double checked all thedrag settings and said to Robbie when the next fish comes just let it run .
We had to wait 30 minutes but the zig went flying off I played on a loose drag and finally brought a lovely carp of around 4/5Lbwas netted by Robbie

We persevered but the lake seemed to completely switch off so we took the opportunity to watch the local wildlife inc Herons, Buzzards some Geese and Swans.
I decided to do some stalking myself whilst Robbie was happy to climb some trees and have some fun.
I ventured around the lake then cam to the same corner where Robbie had earlier lost his fish I could see a fish moving and after 4/5 casts with waggler managed to hook into a lively carp of similar size to my previous ones.
The owner of the lake came to visit and we spent a pleasant 45 minutes catching up with recent events.
We decided to move all our rods to the corner of the lake and immediately  hooked a Carp on the zig rig which we lost in some weed.
Next Cast and we hooked another Carp which my son played well for a few minutes and then landed


He may not look happy but he was the carp slapping him in the face made him wince slightly but what a beautiful fish that had never been caught before.

So final score carp 5 Me & Robbie 3 but I well happy with the result and to see my little one catch a beauty.

Thursday 21 May 2015

Newton Abbot Fishing Association Wednesday Evening Match Wheel

Well another poor match by me which started so well.
Arrived for the draw with 10 minutes spare (5.30 draw/6.00 all in) and a quick look around showed it to be a bit blowy around pegs 12-18 so i really fancied a a peg between 1 and 8 with a few fish showing.
This series is a rover and we had 18 attend so pretty good for an evening match.
I drew number 12 so had to wait whilst most of the good pegs were taken and when it came to my pick i was surprised to see peg 5 still available so picked it.
I arrived at my peg with 3 rigs already set up as 30 minutes to set up is a bit of push so attached my pole rigs at work.
A few slight adjustments were made after plumbing up but my 3 rigs consisted of a shallow rig for the far bank a Pellet rig set at 2 foot for both my margins and a 3 foot roach rig for top 2 plus 2 straight in front of me.
The all in was called and the bloke next to me cast his pellet feeder onto the island and made quite a commotion getting it back through the reeds opposite (This continued all evening) i noticed the lad on peg 3 had a small carp first put in I started on the far bank at just under 13 mtrs with meat and  after 10 minutes my float buried and i managed to land a lovely 4lb mirror
Peg 3 had another small carp and peg 7 had a carp similar to me.
 After 30 minutes i had another bite but this it went darting through the reeds and although i believed i had it out twice it finally went solid and i had to pull the elastic and lost my hook.
This is where it all went wrong i reached for another hook link and realized i only had size 22 hook links to 1lb bottom or size 12 hooks on 6lb line Knowing it would be a battle with the reeds all night i opted for the larger hook maybe that was a mistake.
I tried on the roach line and had quick bites from some nice roach and probably put a quick 1lb in the net.
I tried both margins but to no avail so went long again to the far bank i lost another carp in the reeds and despite seeing the reeds jostling all night i couldn't get another bite.
I ended with between 4/5lb which wouldn't be enough so dnw.
Top 5 get points and i heard pegs 12 through to 18 had fished quite well.
The lad with heavy casting and pellet feeder somehow managed to get 8kg (perhaps i need to make more noise) and peg 3 weighed 4kg i missed the rest of the weigh in as i was talking with my Wife's Uncle but will update when i get the final results.
I feel i need to master the art of feeding a little better but do feel more confident with every match i attend and i am constantly learning by watching the better anglers.
Hopefully going to have a pleasure session over the bank holiday weekend at a private lake for some wild Carp.

Monday 18 May 2015

John Loveridge Memorial Match Wheel/Wapperwell NAFA

Game of 2 Halves today.
Arrived for the draw to find 16 people we would be split with 11 on wheel and 6 on Wapperwell not sure why it was split that way and it seemed to confuse a few other peoples.

As previously mentioned I was hoping for 5/16 or 18 so when I drew 17 I wasn't to disappointed.
Being a pole only match it was a simple set up a 1 rig for the margins, 1 for the far bank at 2ft deep and a rig for 2 plus 2 for roach.
My peg for the day

Baits for the day would be Pellet and Meat for the carp and some maggots for the silvers.
The all in was called and I started on the far bank it was clear from the onset that peg 12 would be a flyer as he had the whole left half of  the lake to himself whilst peg 9 had the other half of their end.
Within 30 minutes peg had 12 had 5 carp and was streaking away from everyone else.
A few other fish were being landed mainly small carp.
I had never fished at 14.5 Mtrs and was finding it tricky, I missed a few bites but after 40 minutes had a decent take and my Elastic went shooting out and the fish swam straight towards and I was expecting a small carp to pop up then it woke up and it took me  a few minutes to lland a nice Carp of around 6 lbs straight back out but nothing  so after 30 minutes I had a brief spell on the roach line and had a few small roach and a little Crucian.
Another look on the far bank produced a quick bite and a small carp of around a pound was landed.
I stayed on the far bank and had another small carp followed by a Tench.
After the first 3 Hours I though I was second on the lake and doing well.
Unfortunately the second half of the match didn't go to plan and apart from small roach and Perch and 1 lost Carp I had nothing whilst watching either side of me land a number of fish.
Long story short I ended with 4Kg 270g  top weights came from Peg 12 and 9 followed by 18 and 16 Top weight was 19kg second was 14kg third and fourth were 13 and 12 kg
In all a good day and I enjoyed fishing long looking forward to the start of the Wednesday evening league run by NAFA on Wheel and Island hoping for a similar draw as today although I do fancy peg 18 to fish it's socks off.

Sunday 17 May 2015

Junior Summer League key

Tough day at Key where it seems the resident Roach population are either on strike or have been devastated by Cormorants.
With this in mind Robbie would be concentrating on the Skimmer/Bream population that have been feeding recently.
We arrived after our visit to Tackle Trader and there were 8 kids all excited about the day.
Robbie drew peg 12 which gave him lots of open water to fish.
We arrived at the peg and set up an open feeder with a 9" 2lb hook link to a size 18 Hook and a .4g pole float set at 4ft to fish at top 2 plus 2 for some Roach and Perch, bait for the day was some dead red Maggots some worms we found in the garden and some Baittech Super G groundbait
On the all in Robbie started on the Feeder but had nothing for the first 45 minutes so tried his pole rig and had 3 quick Roach including 1 of 6/7 oz which was a lovely little fish.
Unfortunately that was it for the day he kept rotating between feeder and pole and missed 3 good bites on the feeder.
Most kids struggled  with 4 of the 8 weighing under 1kg
Winner on the day was the oldest kid who knows the lake well with 3kg+ of skimmers
Tough day but beautiful weather.
Hopefully I will get good a draw today would like 5/16/18 on Wheel or 17/18 on Wapperwell.

Monday 11 May 2015

Double Bubble

Well quite a busy Saturday first my son had a Match The Jenkins Trophy run by Newton Abbot Fishing Association on Wheel Pond in the Rackerhayes complex.
Secondly I had a pleasure session at a relatively new fishery called Spring Ponds in Rocombe.
I will start with my sons Match which brings back fond memories as this was his first ever match which he won so we were both looking forward to it.
We awoke to a very grey and wet morning which put a slight dampner on it but with a weather forecast of the raining clearing we set off.
A quick stop at Tackle Trader http://www.tackletraderfishing.com/ for some maggots led to us buying some more tackle and a tin of Scopex flavoured sweetcorn.
We headed to the Lake and found a reasonable turnout out of 10 kids.
Most of the junior matches are run as rovers as this was no different unfortunately Robbie drew no 8th choice so missed his first choice peg but was happy enough with peg 7 as he wanted to try and fish to the far bank and this peg gave him this option.
We quickly set up 3 pole rigs 1 for the small silvers and 2 for Carp 1 for the far bank in two and half feet of water the other to the right hand margin in around 18 inches of water amongst some very fishy reeds at top two plus 2
We also set up a straight lead for the far bank which he likes to use when eating his lunch.
The all in was called and Robbie cupped in a few micro's and dead Maggots then started on his Roach rig at top two plus 2 with double maggot on a size20 hook and was rewarded with 3 small roach in as many put ins
He continued catching small roach for the first hour and had 15 small roach and looking around seemed to be doing OK as no big fish had landed.
A quick look on the far bank produced nothing and watching the older kids it seemed the far bank was devoid of fish and the Carp and Tench were more interested in spawning than feeding so he returned to the roach line.
A few small perch and more Roach were landed and then the lad on the next peg landed a small Tench so we knew we had to up our catch rate to stay in touch.
The second and third hour really didn't go to plan including a few chucks on the lead so we could have Lunch (Cheese & Onion Pasty today)
With an hour to go the lad on the next peg caught a nice Crucian to go with his Tench  and I reckoned he had gone ahead. Robbie put 2 cups of Groundbait, Corn and Dead Maggots in the Margin and let it settle
Within 5 minutes we could see the reeds starting to jig so were hopeful of a bonus Carp or Tench
Robbie went in with a 6mm hard pellet on a size 18 hook and had a small touch which he missed 30 seconds later the float dipped and he struck into a 1oz roach.
Another cup of Groundbait and Maggots went in Robbie lowered his rig in the perfect place and there were definite signs of line bites but no real bites he persevered and was rewarded with another small roach. 3rd put in saw him snag a reed and lose his hook link and scare any fish lurking away.
We saw 1 of the older lads a little Tench and a small Carp and were aware of another carp being landed around the 2 pound mark so knew we were now struggling for a top 3 finish.
The last hour was frustrating as Robbie seemed to loose patience and sat watching everything but his float so lots of missed bites ensued.
The all out was called  and i though we had around 1.2 to 1.5 kg so it all came down to how big the small carp and Tench were.
1st to weigh was 1 of the Carp the only fish caught by one of the youngest anglers on the lake it weighed 900g so i thought Robbie would beat that and perhaps a top 3 finish wasn't out of the question.
Second weigh was a lovely bag of slightly larger Roach than Robbie had and it went 1Kg 650(back to being Worried) 3rd weigh was 300g then fourth was a bumper bag of Roach,Rudd and Perch which went 2kg 800g and all hopes of a top 3 vanished a few small weighs followed then the lad with Tench and Crucian weighed 1kg 550 followed by Robbies 1kg 150g and finall the oldest lad weighed his Carp & Tench fo 1kg 800ish so a pleasant 4 hr match with all kids catching and Robbie coming 5th out 10 which is good as he is the 2nd or 3rd youngest.

I quickly packed the car and drove Robbie home for his Birthday Party that had been put back a week left him with my wife and 2 other children and headed to Spring Ponds https://www.facebook.com/Springpondsfishery
I arrived and was greeted by the owner who i happily paid and saw 4 anglers on pond 1 and no-one on pond 2 although i was expecting the fishery manager to arrive soon as i had just met him(Elliot Fay) back at Racherhayes.
I got to the first corner peg and could see fish showing so set my gear down and started to set up 2 rigs for the pole and a straight lead for the far bank which i didn't use.
Elliot arrived and headed for the far corner peg so we would both have plenty of room.
He was very helpful and explained the swim to me and best places to fish and what to expect so with that in mind my first rig was a Maver Black Ice 4x 12 to a 4lb hook link with a size 16 hook set at 41/2 ft fishing at 5 sections straight in front of me.
Second rig was a margin rig set at around 2 foot with a size 16 hook with a pellet band on the Hair.
I started straight in front of me and cupped in some groundbait and sweetcorn and followed this by some micros and groundbait in the margin.
I went straight out with a single grain of corn and waited and waited and nothing happened so i shipped back in and put 3 maggots on shipped back out and the flaot boobed then disappeared and i had a nice 2 oz roach another roach followed by 3 gudgeon so i went back on corn, i had to wait around a minute a small dip in the resulted in slightly more resisitance than a i had from the roach and i knew i had my first Spring Pond Carp only a small one at around 12oz the next put in and again a small carp came to the net around the same size. 5 more \carp followed in the next hour and i could see Elliot catching at a similar rate.
I thought i would have a quick look in the Margin but had nothing so went straight back out.
Elliot was still catching at a good rate but my swim seemed to have died.
Elliot came down for a chat and advised going out to 13 Mtrs as the fish tended to hold up at that length and also gave me some meat to try.
I did try at 13 mtrs with meat and corn but couldn't get a bite so came back to around half way between where i had started and 13 mtrs and immediately had another Carp on corn 3 more followed before it died again.
I kept trying the margin but it seemed devoid of any fish apart from 1 foul hooked Gudgeon.
Back out in front and I had 1 more small carp and was starting to check the time as I promised to be home before all the kids left when the float moved slightly to the left than dipped slightly i struck and my elastic shot out to the far bank.
I played the fish for a few minutes and Elliot came to look and take a photo if i managed to the land which i nearly didn't as i missed with my first attempt with the net.
Second try and i landed a beautiful Mirror carp of around 6lb which had the largest shoulders i have seen on a Carp.
Elliot took a few photo's and then i slipped it back that was to be the last fish of the trip but a nice ending to the evening.
Elliot finished with 23 and certainly knows his lakes well.
I am now looking forward to the Take the Bait Summer league which starts next month and also the nNewton Abbot wednesday night matches which start next week,but my next outing will be At Key Transport for my sons Summer League on Saturday follwed by the John Loveridge Memorial pole Match on Sunday
Happy Fishing