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Saturday 14 February 2009

FISH O MANIA 2009 FIRST YEAR OF ENTRY AND WHAT A RESULT!!

Well as you all know by now the fisho mania draw is out so thought i would add a few words on it after watching it for a fair few years on the tv i deiced to have a go my self and entered into the draw for the first time.
Well I got a result getting to confirms and one reserve
I managed to get Viaduct as a reserve (going down there as si(ir0027 got a ticket) not to far down the reserves
for my confirms i got Maver Larford (be nice to rub sholders with some of the top match men that are down to fish)
and Willinghurst which i have had mixed results down there so should be interesting

as for every one else that got tickets good look and hope to see one or two of you around and about

April sees me having a busy month as well as May with the Andover Angling Club Spring Series starting in April which looks to be spot on venue wise and will throw up a couple of good results.
With the summer months fast approching you will notice my dairy dates will start to fill up very quickly.
May sees me taking part in the Peril evening leauge matches which there are seven off so will keep you posted on these as these are only three hour matches and can be quite tricky at times think i managed 4th overall last year so looking to improve on that this time round

BISHOPS CANNING CANAL STRETCH (THE ROLE GOES ON !)

Well as you can see from my fixtures my next match saw me back down to the K&A Canal once more at the Bishops and Canning stretch. With me not being able to get down there for a practise due to family and work commitments it was a slight stab in the dark (would my last results and methods work this time) sort of sketch!
Having made my way down through Peswey without crashing the car (ice on the road was lethal!) i booked in at the local and sat down to have my breckie (got to love a full fry up not the best i have had though) having a look around there didn't seem to be as many as the last match roughly around 33 booked in.With the ear out and about doing the listening thing looks like most people were on the bread punch ,which to be honest was all i brought with me as it worked last time and with the weather we had been having didn't see why it wouldn't work this time.
Having our team being called out i did the draw once again for our team ( me ,ir0027, tree)
with the pegs coming out of the bag having a good look at them i drew A section one of the end peg si (ir0027) drew on in his and tree middle of his section (not to bad two out of the three)
Off we went to our respected pegs good thing about the section i drew was it was just up from where i was last time i was down here.
Having got to my peg i noticed it was only around 9 meters to the far bank because of the reeds that had grown from the far bank straight away i thought fish heaven (it got to be!)
Having set up and broken the ice i decided to fish two swims one tight to the far bank and one around 3-4 meters out both using Tubertini Stix floats with a positive shotting pattern fishing one inch just of the bottom to start with.
All in was called and off I went straight to the far bank on the punched bread within 2 minutes i started to catch and was on fire fire for the first 30 minutes catching a fish a chuck with the end peg having a couple and to my right not catching. I deiced to give that line a rest as i didn't want it to dry up and went for my 3-4 meter line having spent 20-30 minutes with only a few fish it was back over to the far bank this time i was taking a couple of minutes to catch each fish then once again as i have learned down here it went dead.
I move my rig up another inch of the bottom and straight away started catching again only for it to dry up so i came away from the reeds by a foot and started catching there then once again it went dead!
Now i was scratching my head a fair bit as i wasn't putting a steady rate of fish in the net and i was having to adjust my rig on a regular basis to find them as soon as i did i would catch a few then it would go dead once more (this was turning out far trickier than i thought it would be) this carried on for the rest of the match with the end peg now catch slowly but steady i knew it would be close at the end i just didn't know how close.
With the all out called i didn't know if i had done enough for the section with the rest of the section finding it hard and having kept glancing over from time to time i noticed there wasn't much action going on.
I had a feeling i had framed but i didn't know if the end peg had done me well with the weigh in done i came out with 950 grams with the end Peg coming out with 1 kilo dead (dam it lol)
the weights through out the whole section were poor and it proved a hard match to fish si (ir0027) managed 1st in section and 3rd overall should do had a end peg lol and tree putting in a 5th place in his section gave us enough to finish top of the teams which was a result in its self.
Well that's it for the canals its on to the commercials now with the next match being greenridge farm which should be a good one get your feed and tactics right and its bag up time !

Monday 9 February 2009

Back to the canal Bishops Canning 14th Jan 09

Well the next match saw me down on the canal again this time i wanted to improve on my earlier result in the first match.
This saw me down on the canal a few times once on Pewsey turning bay once on Wilcot road and once down to Bishops Canning to get a feel for the place.
With the weather temps dropping and ice being every where i decided to do away with ground bait squat and pinkies and to purely concentrate on the art of punched bread fishing as this is what i thought stood the best chance of winning at least the section if not the match.
Having played around with a crumb mix and also liquidized bread i opted for the liquidized kind as this looked as if it could give me the advantage.
After having practise sessions on the Peswey stretch i went down to the stretch that we would be fishing on the Saturday before the match on the Wednesday.
Having had a good day learning one or two things i was happy with the up and coming match.
Well match day came and doing the usual have a breckie and keep my ear out some of the methods that were going to be fished had me slightly puzzled?
Oh well come the draw bag i managed to pull C section drawing one peg of the end peg and it was looking good when i got there. Sticking to the bread i had a line 3 meters out using a Tubertini stix 4x10 and i had a line down the track 6-7 meters out same again Tubertini Stix this time 4x12 as with there being a slight tow i thought this one would do the trick.
All in called and a away i went (on my practise day i had on this stretch i noticed you had to feed quite often for your bites) so i kept that in mind and started of with slight caution so i could see how things developed it didn't take long before the fish started coming out the only drama was in all my practise sessions i had used one kind of bread on the hook not thinking before i went out that morning i pick up some bread which was a different make which in my eyes cost me a fair few fish. Reason being it wasn't coming out of the bread punch and when it did it didn't fluff up in the water it just stayed as a bread pellet the fish were biting but were backing off. This was turning into a bit of a distaster as i was losing half the fish i was catching I ended up switching between the two line more than i wanted this i feel was because of the bread on the hook.
Half way through the match it went dead lucky enough I had set up another rig and line to fish off down to the right of me just in case the fish move of my other two lines they were there thank god and off i went again.
With the bread on the hook being in my eyes shit i thought i had blown it and wouldn't be in the frame as there were some good canal anglers fishing in my section however i kept on going steadily catching fish switching now between three lines instead of two.
In the end i managed to get a total weight of 1 kilo 225 grams i thought i had blown it but it was enough for section second and a sigh of relief as i thought i had blown it.
By the looks of things certain people realised the bread was doing the damage and switched over to it but not in time to catch up i stuck to my guns and carried out the plan i had in my head it was the bread thing on the hook whiched got to me i reckon i would have doubled my catch but as they say lesson learned.
This time practise and preparation helped me on this match and at the moment seem to be picking up the results again 3rd 2nd 2nd in last three matches things seem to be looking up next match is back on the can at Bishops Canning 11th Feb 09 due to the Parrot down at Langport not being fishable.

Sunday 8 February 2009

BACK TO WITHY FARM FUR AND FEATHER 10TH DEC 08

Next match saw me back down withy farm for our groups fur and feather event. The match was to be held on on the snake lake which i was happy about as i hadn't fished the snake in a long while i knew if i drew well there was a good chance of fishing well.
The night before had seen some nasty frosts and most of the lake was iced over had a funny feeling the ice breakers would come out.
Well after a nice Beckie and a cup of coffee it was draw time i managed to draw the inner snake right hand side not to far off the car park cant remember the peg been a while.
I had the ice breaker out well bored it of si irwin (ir0027) and managed to brake to the far bank as i intended to do most of my fishing over there.
I decided to take a cautious approach to this one as i knew the snake at times can be tricky and with the frost it might prove difficult.I set up two lines one down the track and one tight to the far bank. I tried to keep my tackle as light as i could get away with as i knew the fish might not bother if they see a heavy hook and line.
For feed i was going to use micro pellet which i had soaked in liquid worm and added a few grains of hemp the night before and left it in the fridge. The way i was going to feed was to keep it positive and try and stay away from the negative approach and to keep the feed going in hoping the carp would come onto it later on in the match.
I started off down the track and sat on that line for half a hour not a bite and asked the fella to my right he was in the same position this line was quickly sacked for the mean time topped up and left.
The far bank swim i noticed started to show signs of fish there hook bait would be single red maggot fished over the pellet. For the next couple of hours i started catching a good stamp of roach and Rudd with every half hour topping up with a medium sized ball of pellet as i was still trying to draw the carp in.
The inside line was still not producing not a bite all match so after a few more times over it to see what was there and still nothing that was completely sacked for the rest of the match.
Back to the far bank and with a hour and a half to go the float shot under it was a carp (was this a lucky one or had they started to feed?) with light tackle being used it took me a while but it was landed.Straight back out there and once again another dip of the float and another carp looks like it had payed off after all.In it came and back out again same thing dip and i was into another carp i couldn't believe it now as i thought i might have blown it as there were one or two people catching further down the section. By this time now i had 3 carp in the bag i know it wasn't many and its hardly what you call bagging but it had put me in the frame all i needed to do was stop there now. I put back in on the far bank same again the float dipped and this time it took of down the lake this time i was snapped up by a bigger fish hook length gone. After resetting the rig up i went back over to the far bank and nothing had i spooked the fish off when i was snapped up ? i introduced more feed and sat back and waited with 15 Min's left i had another two carp which put me in a strong position for a section win.
All out was called and i found out i hadn't done enough for section win but i managed a section 2nd which made me smile as i had just done 3rd by 200 gr and first had done me buy a kilo which wasn't much its the story of the carp that got away again !! but still in the frame so i was happy.

OFF TO WITHY FARM A CHANGE OF FORTUNE?05 NOV 08

Next match saw us off to witherington farm which was put in place as our standby venue due to the River Parrott being unfishable.
All three lakes were in Cottage ,Sellwood and Barnmoor and having a breckie and sitting down and keeping my ears open i decided best place to draw was sellwood as that where the fish were showing the most.Hand went into the draw bag and section B came out (Sellwood) happy days i thought cant remember the peg no been a while i know it was in a corner and the wind had been blowing into that area all week (has lady luck finally came to give us a hand?)
I decided to fish right into the corner using micro pellet on the deck with with a soft expander over the top.
I decided to set another line up straight out in front around the 10 meter mark however i was expecting to catch any thing on it the depth must have been around 1 foot !!
water levels must of gone down i knew it wasn't all that deep but not that bad.
I set another line up towards the empty peg i had just of the corner where i had set a line up this line was deeper and was going to use the same tatics with pellet,
if the fish moved out of the cornor i was could move with them and just switch lines.
Right all in was called and away i went started slow to start with picking up the small silvers
but by the looks of things these could play a part as i couldn't see any one catching much in my section.
Half way through the match i was beginning to wonder if there were any carp in this corner ?
then dip float gone slight lift i was into a carp happy days i thought with 13hollow being pulled out it didn't take long to have it in the net a nice 3 pound carp couple more and i knew that what be enough for a section win. I reckoned i needed another 5 six in total with two hours to go float shot under again once again my elastic was showing and same as before didn't take long to have another one in the net. Things were looking up as i glanced around the lake i noticed one other fella catching next to me which could cause a problem as he wasnt catching carp but he was on the skimmers and nice big ones to boot.
I had two carp and a some good silvers in the nets but i need more i went on to land another two carp which gave me four how ever the fella on the skimmers was catch a good rate and i knew i needed a least another carp. The float shot under again with half hour to go it managed to tangle its self in the weeds which pissed me off and should have taken it slightly more care getting it out you can guess what happened next SNAP ! yep hooklength gone and no fish i knew that fish could have cost me how much i didn't know. A ll out was called and i knew i had blown it the fella next to me had started catching skimmers and bream and they just kept coming i had had a few carp and news was some on the far side to me had had a monster or two.
With the results in i found out that i was third in section being beaten by 500 gr for second and wasn't far off 1st that lost carp had cost me but hey i was back in the frame which was good to see.

LOOKING BACK AT THE END OF LAST YEAR

Right before we can go forward i am just going to touch on the back end of last year and where i find myself at the moment.
Well after a bad outing in the Army indivduals and team matches (all week bad outing)
i decided to have a months brake and just look at where i went wrong. Having looked on how i approched my swimms i noticed i didnt once get my feeder rods out and that every thing was done with the pole looking at this mistake now i relise that if i have had of got my feeder out i might of been looking at better results as i find my self a dab hand at feeder work. Lesson learnt in the way of dont get tunnel vision and just plough into it!
Well after that our group matches were to start up again with the first being on the K&A Canal at Bishops Canning on the 1st of Oct 08.
With no practise going into the match i was a bit nervous (after having a shit festival) i was now looking a getting my results back up there (like they were before the festival) i drew my pegg which put me near enough in the middle of the section which i knew stright away i would have my work cut out.
I planned to have a line down the inside about three meters out and one down the track 7 meters out and not really bother with the far bank as i had heard there wasnt many bigger fish showing over there.
Having got the all in i potted in my ground bait and got to work fishing pinkey over the top of the ground bait.
Stright away my float shot under producing a good sized roach i caried on catching like this for around a hour then all of a sudden it went dead might have been the two pike me and the lad to my right had seen in the swims every thing was tried but just couldnt get a bite i looked down to the left and right of me i wasnt the only one alot of people had the same problem.
All out was called i knew i had done bad starting off so well for it to come to a bad slow end.
Results were collected 12th in section which was a shock as it looked like my bad run was going to carring on.