After 2 cancelled matches due to the recent Weather the Newton Abbot Juniors finally managed to get back on the bank.
We arrived early and it was nice to see an old face back but with only 4 others fishing attendance was disappointingly low.
So with only 5 fishing hopes were high of Robbie getting a top 3 Place.
The draw was called and yet another rover was going to take place Robbie drew last but pulled out first choice.
Peg 2 was chosen again as Robbie likes it and has done well from it before I believe each child chose the same peg they did in the last match why I'm not always in favour of Rovers.
Robbie wanted to fish for silvers mainly today and would see how the match went and if he needed to go for some Carp late in the match he would.
Simple set up today 1 Drennan Roach rig setup for top 2 plus 1 or 2 as we had similar depth's at both straight in front and at 2 o'clock to his left a lead rod for fishing the far bank although it was only cast twice whilst he ate his lunch (which was a nice pot noodle) but didn't produce a bite.
We also had a Margin rig for fishing both the Right and left Margins with pellet
We also made up some groundbait with some white crumb and a few maggots
The all in was called and Robbie Started on his Roach rig baited with double maggot and potted in some groundbait via a cad pot.
The float hardly settled when it dipped and Robbie struck into a small roach straight out again and another Roach was soon swung in.
20 minutes in and Robbie had 8 fish for around 8/10oz including nice Roach of around 3oz.
The bites started to slow and we noticed the lad on peg 19 had hooked an early Carp this meant we had to think early about feeding the margin line so Robbie cupped in some Groundbait and a few pellets into his right hand margin.
Unfortunately the lad on 19 took a swipe at the Carp with his landing net and knocked the hook out and lost the fish and also damaged his landing net.
This meant Robbie could continue going for silvers and after an hour had around a 1lb of small Roach and Perch
We had a very welcome visit from Brendan who gave Robbie a bit of advice unfortunately this advice hampered Robbie and bites slowed to nothing (I can see why Brendan struggles in Matches in fact I heard he came 13th in the Xmas match held on Sunday which was bad as only 12 were fishing)
Only joking he always helps the juniors when he can and has aided Robbie in the last 2 matches to catch a few extra fish which have made a big difference and it would be nice if more seniors would assist the Juniors as a few need it and the Juniors are the future of the club.
The second hour went very similar but the cold wind swung around and was now blowing straight at Robbie and he started to get quite cold.
We heard that Joe on 16 had a couple of small Carp and a skimmer but no-one else had much so Robbie was happy in 2nd and was to continue going for the silvers.
the bites were slowing down but he managed to keep fish coming by rotating his lines from Top 2 plus 1 then following the fish out with an extra section.
He had a quick look down the margin but was pestered with small fish nibbling his pellet and with no signs of Carp he went back to Silvers and continued to get bites especially after cadpotting in a small nugget of Groundbait.
The Last Hour was a real struggle with the wind and Cold but Robbie stuck at it and it seemed he would be ok for a place as long as no more Carp were caught.
Finally the all out was Called and Robbie who stopped a minute early weighed in 1kg 300g of small fish which I felt would be good enough for third as we had heard that Bailey on peg 12 had had a late run of Skimmers.
Bailey weighed second and had 2kg plus which was nice to see as the skimmers don't show often.
3rd weigh was Joe on 16 who a nice bag of fish that went over 5Kg this was followed by Freddie on 18 who did well as he fished mainly on his own and had 800g finally the lad on peg 19 was saying he may have 2Kg so I was worried for a while but didn't think he had anywhere near this as I had been watching land some fish but nothing big and not as many as Robbie so when his net came out I wasn't surprised that it went 730g which was still a good weight especially as he lost a nice Carp earlier.
So Robbie came third and was very pleased with his effort.
The presentation was done and all the kids won a voucher for Tackle Trader who always supports the kidsso a big Thank you to Max
Looking Forward to the next Match which will be the start of the winter League fishing Wapperwell on the 2nd of January
This has been a good year for Robbie in which I believe has framed in 6 of the7 Matches he has fished so for a 10 year old that's not bad.
Finally I would like to Thank Paul and Pete for looking after the Juniors theis year not the easiest job but I believe the kids do appreciate it.
And also I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New year
Tuesday, 15 December 2015
Monday, 5 October 2015
Newton Abbot Juniors Carp Match 26th/27th September
Newton Abbot Juniors Carp Match Sept 26th/27th
This match took place over 2 days day 1 fishing on weedy lake not a lot to report as only 1 fish was caught between the 6 anglers and the sooner the club change the venue for day 1 the better, but congratulations to young Ben on Catching an 11lb Carp in the last 5 minutes and winning on the day
Day 2 was on Wheel and with prospect of a few more fish and with the sun shining Robbie and myself set off early to have a quick look around.
We arrived with plenty of time to spare and found a few other anglers already there.
Robbie had already decided on the swim he fancied and when he drew 2nd choice I was confident he would get his swim and he would get a few carp.
He chose peg 2 which is a lovely swim on the disabled platform it gives him lots of options with a margin under the platform to his left a lovely Margin next to some reeds to his right and a far bank at 12 mtrs which is hard for him to fish all day on the pole but he candle it in short bursts but can also be fished with a straight lead.
Bait for the day would be mainly pellet with some meat as back up.
We only had to setup 3 rigs for today as the margins were pretty similar on the right and far bank slightly deeper to the left and 1 meat rig that we could alter to suit if necessary.
At the all in Robbie had a quick look down his right hand side as the reeds were already knocking and within 5 minutes the float buried unfortunately the Carp buried himself in the reeds and the hook transferred to a reed.
The swim was disturbed so he went down his left margin and again within 5 minutes another Carp took the pellet but again it came off but with little disturbance so Robbie went straight back in and was soon rewarded with a little Carp of around a 1lb and all seemed set for a bumper day but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't winkle out another bite so after an hour he tried to his right but with no bites coming and with no other fish being caught he decided it was lunch time so out came th lead rod and he dropped it over to the far bank and started to munch when the tip flew around and he landed another small carp.
He kept on the lead for another 30 minutes but no further bites and with lunch over he tried his left Margin again.
He kept lifting and dropping his float and was rewarded with 2 more bites but lost both possibly foul hooked.
Into the last hour and we had heard that 1 lad had landed a couple of bigger Carp and 2 other lads had a similar weight to Robbie.
Robbie decided to try his left margin again and with signs of Carp there he was confident of getting a bite.
It Didn't take long for Carp number 3 to come again a small 1 but this put him in second place for the day and with the reeds knocking he felt there were more Carp there for the taking and he was right.
He lowered his float in and his elastic streamed out unfortunately the Carp didn't want to stop and the hook link snapped.
In again and another bit almost immediately this time the Carp came out then dived back into the reeds and went solid with no other than pulling for a break he disappointingly pulled only to find he was still attached and played carp number 4 into the net.
We heard that young Danny had landed another Carp also so it would be close between the 2 of them so when Robbie hooked another Carp with 5 minutes to go things looked good only for the Carp around 4lb to shake the hook out.
So it ended Robbie 4 Carp 6 the weigh in started and Robbie had 2Kg 180 on to Danny and he also weighed 2kg 180 so a tie for 2nd place as everyone knew Joe had landed 4 large Carp in his weight of 13Kg.
So a good day and Robbie coming joint 2nd on the day and joint 3rd over the weekend.
A big thank you goes out to Paul Gay for looking after the youngsters as both the Junior officers were absent on Sunday
Also a big thank you to Western Towing for sponsoring the event
This match took place over 2 days day 1 fishing on weedy lake not a lot to report as only 1 fish was caught between the 6 anglers and the sooner the club change the venue for day 1 the better, but congratulations to young Ben on Catching an 11lb Carp in the last 5 minutes and winning on the day
Day 2 was on Wheel and with prospect of a few more fish and with the sun shining Robbie and myself set off early to have a quick look around.
We arrived with plenty of time to spare and found a few other anglers already there.
Robbie had already decided on the swim he fancied and when he drew 2nd choice I was confident he would get his swim and he would get a few carp.
He chose peg 2 which is a lovely swim on the disabled platform it gives him lots of options with a margin under the platform to his left a lovely Margin next to some reeds to his right and a far bank at 12 mtrs which is hard for him to fish all day on the pole but he candle it in short bursts but can also be fished with a straight lead.
Bait for the day would be mainly pellet with some meat as back up.
We only had to setup 3 rigs for today as the margins were pretty similar on the right and far bank slightly deeper to the left and 1 meat rig that we could alter to suit if necessary.
At the all in Robbie had a quick look down his right hand side as the reeds were already knocking and within 5 minutes the float buried unfortunately the Carp buried himself in the reeds and the hook transferred to a reed.
The swim was disturbed so he went down his left margin and again within 5 minutes another Carp took the pellet but again it came off but with little disturbance so Robbie went straight back in and was soon rewarded with a little Carp of around a 1lb and all seemed set for a bumper day but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't winkle out another bite so after an hour he tried to his right but with no bites coming and with no other fish being caught he decided it was lunch time so out came th lead rod and he dropped it over to the far bank and started to munch when the tip flew around and he landed another small carp.
He kept on the lead for another 30 minutes but no further bites and with lunch over he tried his left Margin again.
He kept lifting and dropping his float and was rewarded with 2 more bites but lost both possibly foul hooked.
Into the last hour and we had heard that 1 lad had landed a couple of bigger Carp and 2 other lads had a similar weight to Robbie.
Robbie decided to try his left margin again and with signs of Carp there he was confident of getting a bite.
It Didn't take long for Carp number 3 to come again a small 1 but this put him in second place for the day and with the reeds knocking he felt there were more Carp there for the taking and he was right.
He lowered his float in and his elastic streamed out unfortunately the Carp didn't want to stop and the hook link snapped.
In again and another bit almost immediately this time the Carp came out then dived back into the reeds and went solid with no other than pulling for a break he disappointingly pulled only to find he was still attached and played carp number 4 into the net.
We heard that young Danny had landed another Carp also so it would be close between the 2 of them so when Robbie hooked another Carp with 5 minutes to go things looked good only for the Carp around 4lb to shake the hook out.
So it ended Robbie 4 Carp 6 the weigh in started and Robbie had 2Kg 180 on to Danny and he also weighed 2kg 180 so a tie for 2nd place as everyone knew Joe had landed 4 large Carp in his weight of 13Kg.
So a good day and Robbie coming joint 2nd on the day and joint 3rd over the weekend.
A big thank you goes out to Paul Gay for looking after the youngsters as both the Junior officers were absent on Sunday
Also a big thank you to Western Towing for sponsoring the event
Wednesday, 16 September 2015
Spring Ponds Summer league Final Round 12th September
Just a quick post about this match as not a lot happened for me in fact I didn't get a bite for 4 hours but then had 5 nice carp for 12.5lbs all from the margins.
The match as whole fished hard with Jason Fay winning pond 1 with 27lb11oz and Phil Bailey winning pond 2 with 12lb
I would like to thank Elliot for running the league and I wish I had managed to be at more but sometimes work or Robbies competitions have been more important but next year maybe different as someone needs to beat Smithy.
The match as whole fished hard with Jason Fay winning pond 1 with 27lb11oz and Phil Bailey winning pond 2 with 12lb
I would like to thank Elliot for running the league and I wish I had managed to be at more but sometimes work or Robbies competitions have been more important but next year maybe different as someone needs to beat Smithy.
Bill Berry Memorial match Island Pond 5th sept 2015
Robbie had his first match for awhile and was really looking forward to this one as he came second last year.
Only 5 Children turned up which was disappointing but may show that Newton Abbot has a problem with their Junior section.
Robbie was keen to fish peg 5 as it had some deep water in front and not much weed which seemed to be hampering a few other pegs.
The Match was run as a rover which I'm never fond of as this helps the more experienced anglers who know the lakes this was quite obvious as 2 of the lads kept picking pegs that weren't available during the match as they had no idea where the numbers that were in the bag were on the lake.
Robbie drew number 5 so had last choice but luckily still managed to get peg 5 so was quite happy as was I as its close to the carpark'
We set up a pole for fishing at 6 Mtr's in around 8ft of water a margin rig for our left and a waggler for open water I also set up a bomb rod.
for bait it was going to be maggot all the way targeting small perch and roach and the plan was to catch all day and hopefully get close to 2kg (How wrong I was)
The all in was called and Robbie started at the 6mtr line cupping in some Bait tech super g gold groundbait and a few maggots.
The float stayed motionless then after half an hour as Robbie was shipping out he caught a little perch of 20g. unfortunately that was the only bite he had in the full 4 hours luckily 2 other kids blanked so he came third and wins a trophy.
It was a bad all round on the lake with 2nd place only having 90g and the winner only having 270g.
Maybe a rethink is needed and another lake chosen next year which may give the kids a chance of catching a few fish.
Still a nice day was had and it was good to catch up with a few old faces and Robbie to catch up with some young faces
Only 5 Children turned up which was disappointing but may show that Newton Abbot has a problem with their Junior section.
Robbie was keen to fish peg 5 as it had some deep water in front and not much weed which seemed to be hampering a few other pegs.
The Match was run as a rover which I'm never fond of as this helps the more experienced anglers who know the lakes this was quite obvious as 2 of the lads kept picking pegs that weren't available during the match as they had no idea where the numbers that were in the bag were on the lake.
Robbie drew number 5 so had last choice but luckily still managed to get peg 5 so was quite happy as was I as its close to the carpark'
We set up a pole for fishing at 6 Mtr's in around 8ft of water a margin rig for our left and a waggler for open water I also set up a bomb rod.
for bait it was going to be maggot all the way targeting small perch and roach and the plan was to catch all day and hopefully get close to 2kg (How wrong I was)
The all in was called and Robbie started at the 6mtr line cupping in some Bait tech super g gold groundbait and a few maggots.
The float stayed motionless then after half an hour as Robbie was shipping out he caught a little perch of 20g. unfortunately that was the only bite he had in the full 4 hours luckily 2 other kids blanked so he came third and wins a trophy.
It was a bad all round on the lake with 2nd place only having 90g and the winner only having 270g.
Maybe a rethink is needed and another lake chosen next year which may give the kids a chance of catching a few fish.
Still a nice day was had and it was good to catch up with a few old faces and Robbie to catch up with some young faces
Sunday, 23 August 2015
A few trips but busy at work
Been a busy time at work but have managed a few pleasure trips recently with Robbie and my Daughter decided to tag along for an overnight session at Filham pond hoping for her first Carp.
But lets start back a week or so and a very pleasant evening spent at Upham Farm we arrived around 4.15pm and as the evening rate doesn't start until 5pm we decided to have a quick walk around.
We instantly noticed some Carp feeding in lake 6 and although we had planned to fish lake 5 we thought we may come back and have a quick go here.
Upham Farm is a lovely Fishery set in some beautiful countryside and offer 6 pretty easy lakes with lots of fish and is aimed mainly at Tourists and pleasure anglers, it also has a specimen lake which does hold some Bigger Carp.
People seemed to be catching a few small carp on pegs 2,3 and 4 but as no one was fishing on 5 or 6 we headed back and got set up.
I quickly assembled a Margin rig for Robbie to try and catch the feeding Carp in lake 6 they were just under a bush at around 8 mtr's away.
Robbie managed to Manoeuvre the rig into the exact spot and within 30 seconds the float buried and a 2lb Carp was quickly Netted.
The same happened on the next 6 drops with fish from 8oz to 3lb being caught.
I set up a feeder rod and tried down the opposite margin and instantly caught a few carp but 3lb seemed to be as big as they got in this lake so after 45 minutes and 20+ fish between us we decided to settle back on lake 5.
I gave Robbie a slightly heavier Set up as I knew the Carp grew bigger in this lake sat him on his seatbox and showed him whereto lower his rig. There was a lovely cut in about 4 Mtrs to his left andi had pre baited it with some pellets and corn.
Robbie lowered his rig and within 2 minutes had a 6lbcarap pulling his elastic all around his peg he landed it and caught a few more before the lure of tree climbing overcame him and I started to fish instead.
I had a great 30 minutes landing half a dozen Carp with the biggest topping 10 pound and a few Skimmers upto 1lb or so
Robbie finished with a nice 6lb carp
The Following Monday I returned to Filham Park to see if I could get a Decent Carp or Chub from the lake
I decided on doing a night as I had a weeks holiday so plenty of time to get over it.
We arrived early and popped into the donkey sanctuary which is right next to the lake and then had a nice picnic and play in the park before settling down on a lovely double peg either 10and 11 or 9 and 10 can't remember
My daughter had decided to stay with us for the night so I set up a quick silvers rig for her and Robbie showed her how to put a maggot on and she tarted to catch small Roach and Rudd
We had a nice trip catching F1s, Crucians some small carp, Tench and Skimmers I also believe I hooked a quite large pike that mullered a 6oz roach that had taken a 6mm pellet but it let go about 5 mtr's from the bank without us seeing it but I can't work out was else it could have been.
My Daughter did catch a small carp of around 2lb so a good trip but nothing large enough to warrant a third trip anytime soon.
But lets start back a week or so and a very pleasant evening spent at Upham Farm we arrived around 4.15pm and as the evening rate doesn't start until 5pm we decided to have a quick walk around.
We instantly noticed some Carp feeding in lake 6 and although we had planned to fish lake 5 we thought we may come back and have a quick go here.
Upham Farm is a lovely Fishery set in some beautiful countryside and offer 6 pretty easy lakes with lots of fish and is aimed mainly at Tourists and pleasure anglers, it also has a specimen lake which does hold some Bigger Carp.
People seemed to be catching a few small carp on pegs 2,3 and 4 but as no one was fishing on 5 or 6 we headed back and got set up.
I quickly assembled a Margin rig for Robbie to try and catch the feeding Carp in lake 6 they were just under a bush at around 8 mtr's away.
Robbie managed to Manoeuvre the rig into the exact spot and within 30 seconds the float buried and a 2lb Carp was quickly Netted.
The same happened on the next 6 drops with fish from 8oz to 3lb being caught.
I set up a feeder rod and tried down the opposite margin and instantly caught a few carp but 3lb seemed to be as big as they got in this lake so after 45 minutes and 20+ fish between us we decided to settle back on lake 5.
I gave Robbie a slightly heavier Set up as I knew the Carp grew bigger in this lake sat him on his seatbox and showed him whereto lower his rig. There was a lovely cut in about 4 Mtrs to his left andi had pre baited it with some pellets and corn.
Robbie lowered his rig and within 2 minutes had a 6lbcarap pulling his elastic all around his peg he landed it and caught a few more before the lure of tree climbing overcame him and I started to fish instead.
I had a great 30 minutes landing half a dozen Carp with the biggest topping 10 pound and a few Skimmers upto 1lb or so
Robbie finished with a nice 6lb carp
The Following Monday I returned to Filham Park to see if I could get a Decent Carp or Chub from the lake
I decided on doing a night as I had a weeks holiday so plenty of time to get over it.
We arrived early and popped into the donkey sanctuary which is right next to the lake and then had a nice picnic and play in the park before settling down on a lovely double peg either 10and 11 or 9 and 10 can't remember
My daughter had decided to stay with us for the night so I set up a quick silvers rig for her and Robbie showed her how to put a maggot on and she tarted to catch small Roach and Rudd
We had a nice trip catching F1s, Crucians some small carp, Tench and Skimmers I also believe I hooked a quite large pike that mullered a 6oz roach that had taken a 6mm pellet but it let go about 5 mtr's from the bank without us seeing it but I can't work out was else it could have been.
My Daughter did catch a small carp of around 2lb so a good trip but nothing large enough to warrant a third trip anytime soon.
Monday, 27 July 2015
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.
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.
Friday, 24 July 2015
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.
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.
Monday, 13 July 2015
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
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
Wednesday, 8 July 2015
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
Sunday, 19 April 2015
Introduction
Hi this a new blog about My son Robbie and Myself and our fishing exploits in and around South Devon.
My son fishes local matches held by Newton Abbot fishing Association and I take part in Senior matches (I say take part as I don't really catch much yet)
My son fishes local matches held by Newton Abbot fishing Association and I take part in Senior matches (I say take part as I don't really catch much yet)
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