Higham Lane (Hinckley) Saturday Open 19th November

Today saw me down at Higham Lane Fishery for their local Saturday open. I always like fishing down here when I can. It’s a place where I spent a lot of my early days fishing when I first got into the sport with my brother.

After a good turn out of 25 anglers it was game on for the draw and out came peg 25 (seem to have a knack at drawing peg 25 at the minute on different fisheries) and off I went to my peg which was a short walk from the car park which is always a bonus. The peg its self has plenty of space to the left as you are more or less in the corner with the bank running down the left about 18 meters away. The peg also has the befits of cast straight out into the bowl near middle of the lake running against the bank. With the wind blowing into the left corner I knew I was on for a few fish either there or against the bank. First line to be set up was a pole line 14 meters into the corner. Plumbing up it was only 4 ft deep so choice of float would be a HillBilly 0.4gr Chump float. Same main line as I normally use Browning Cenex 0.16mm to a 6 inch 0.14mm hooklength finished off with a B911 size 16 hook. Elastic would be a double 10 set on a pulla bung. Nice and forgiving giving you the chance to walk the carp out of the swim then when the fish knows it’s been hooked and bolts off it powers up nicely with pulla kit at the net. With some fish in the lake going just above the 20lb mark it’s a setup that I like to use.

For feed I decided on yet again chopped worm and caster and see what comes of it.

As for the other swims I planed on fishing a bomb straight out at 40 reel turns with a 2ft hook length finished off with a PR 36 size 18 hook with a white size 8mm pop up boillie. Reason being the fish were active up in the water and I didn’t feel there would be many feeding on the bottom.

I also set up my Browning commercial force 8ft wand with a 10gr inline method feeder which I intended throwing down the left hand side of the lake due to the wind blowing in the corner and down that bank hopefully might turn in a few carp that may have followed the wind.

With the all in being called out went every angler on the tip having fed my pole line at 14 meters it was out on the method feeder to mug the odd carp that my be down the edge there all ready. Soon enough carp number one was in the net. Throwing down there again saw plenty of indications on the tip that the fish were there but not interested in my bait. One thing I like to do is search down the bank casting as tight as I can to features like reeds, shrubs and trees hoping to catch one or two fish that maybe hiding. This wasn’t the case and after a good hour and half searching and sitting on my hands waiting for the tip to go round it was time to change to another swim.

Out went the bomb and soon enough a 10lb carp was in the net. Looking across the lake I could see another angler who had had 5-6 carp and I was lacking with only 2. This time I just kept plugging away at the bomb line and it paid off with another carp. 3 in the net and not too bad due to the lake not fishing well. With 2 hours to go it was time to go on the pole put still ping some 8mm pellets over the bomb swim every now and then.

Onto the pole line saw the float shoot under and after a healthy battle another carp was in the net. As the match came to an end I had now 6 carp in the bag and around 35lb which I felt stood me a chance of taking the match. I decided to give the bomb swim a few more casts to see if any other fish were in the swim. Just as the all out was called about a second before the rod bent round and I was into another fish, just what I needed due to the fact that the angler on the opposite bank was also into a fish and I had managed to come from behind and level up with him fish for fish. I knew it was going to be tight between me and him and one other lad a few pegs down who had caught steady all day. With scales coming round to my peg I put 39lb on them. As the scales went further down one lad put 42lb on and another 37lb so I had done enough for 2^nd overall which I was happy with as its another lake that has always been kind to me at times and it was nice to come back after not fishing it for a year and getting straight back into the frame.

Sunday should of saw me down Lytchgate Fishery in Stoke Golding for the last of the Rod&Reels Autumn Series but due to poor turn out the match was cancelled. Gutted!!! 

 

Rods&Reels Autumn Series Packington Somers 6th November

After missing the last round of the Rods&Reels series at Maynes Fishery, Stoke Golding due to family commitments the next round of the Rods&Reels series saw me down at Packington Somers on Molands Lake. Having never fished it before I was going into this round blind. Having a look at the results in the Angling Times and on the net it was either being won with pole and pellet or method feeder tight to the far bank.

Having found my way down there and yep you guessed it having a fry up (anyone see a pattern developing here?) it was a matter of waiting round for the lads and the draw.

In went the hand and out came peg 25 happy days I thought as this was one of the pegs I fancied after having a walk around and had some form from what I had been told.

After collecting my kit and carting it down to my peg (remembering my trolley system this time round!!) I took 5 minutes out to have a look at the peg in a bit more detail. With the far bank being about 20-24 meters away I planned on a feeder and bomb approach to the far bank, so out came my Browning commercial force 12ft feeder and 10ft bomb rods it wasn’t long before I had gauged the distance after a few casts and clipped up both rods.

The feeder rod would be set up with a 0.16mm mainline with a inline Browning Kobra method feeder to a 0.14mm 4 inch hook length size 18 PR 36 hook hair rigged.

As for the bomb rod this was set up with a free running Browning Hybrid bomb with a 1ft hook length same as the feeder set up a PR 36 size 18 hook hair rigged for pellet and corn.

As for the pole I planned on fishing 11 meters out setting up a Hillbilly F1 wire taking 5x10 stotz with a bulk 1ft from the hook with 2 droppers. Line of choice was as always Browning Cenex 0.16mm main line to a 0.14mm 6 inch hook length to a Tubertini 808 size 16 hook. For feed this was to be my chopped worm and caster line and was to be used as a back up should the fish not be on the far bank.

On hearing the all in it was straight onto my pole line with a big cup of chopped worm and caster with a few dampened down micro pellets added to the mix just to keep the fish searching for the feed and hopefully keep um in the peg longer. Then it was straight onto my feeder lines to see what was on the far bank. After an hour with no indications of any fish on the far bank I did a bit of searching in the cut outs on the far bank with my bomb rod to see if they were around. After another 30 minutes and still no fish I decided to cut my losses and move onto the pole line as the far bank wasn’t producing for anyone else either and where as they were happy to stick it out on the tip I wanted to change.

I had been watching the pole line and could see signs of fish feeding on the baited area so it was now time to get my head down and catch whatever was feeding. This is one reason this time of the year I will always set up a worm and caster line as it catches everything that swims and has got me out of jail a few times when conditions are hard.

Within a minute of the float settling I was into a nice 3lb tench and it wasn’t long before it was in the net. Next put in saw me land another 2lb tench and in quick succession was in the net. At least I was on the score board with a few or two and now felt more relaxed. With not much else going on within the match I had a feeling 30lb would win. So I just kept plugging away at the pole line taking small F1’s to about a pound at a steady pace whilst other anglers sat watching their tips. I could see now that one of the lads had also started catching on his pole line. So I decided to force the peg a little more by feeding another big cup of worm and caster which in the end I came to regret later on. Reason being my swim went dead it was as if the fish had backed off due to me re-feeding. It took another 30-40 minutes before the fish turned up again and I now felt that I had blown any chance of winning the match let alone framing in it. I look back now and still kick myself for being so aggressive in feeding and forcing the peg when conditions were hard and the fish didn’t want to feed to much, that alone should of told me to go carefully but me being me and the nature of angler I am that some times gets put to the back of my mind. With the all out being called I was frustrated with myself for doing what I did. When the weigh in came round I couldn’t believe how low the weights were on went my fish to give me 23lb odd being beaten by 24lb to leave me in second. But with another lad having 34lb it pushed me down into third place overall. Not bad considering I had messed the peg up but I had put enough fish in the net to get me a result.

Must remember to go steady and to read the water more one thing I can at times forget and being an inpatient and aggressive angler I need to calm slightly down this time of year as the weather gets cooler. 

  

Rods&Reels Autumn Series Barston Lake 9th October

Having missed the last round of the autumn series due to me getting up late and not being able to find the fishery (cheers sat nav!) I was looking forward to fishing this round at Barston lakes.

My history at Barstons has never been good and I always tend to blow out every match I have fished there, this time round I was hoping to change all that and come away with a good result.

Having got there nice and early and settled down to a nice fry up breakfast (one of the only reasons I go fishing to have a good fry up) it wasn’t long before the rest of the lads shown up ready for the draw.

We had been allocated pegs 34 upwards to the high 60’s with the island swims in this is where I fancied on drawing and was hoping one of these pegs would come out. That wasn’t to be and out came peg 56. Not knowing too much about the peg off I went to the car to sort my kit out.

On getting my kit out I had noticed that I had not packed my trolley and knew with the kit I carry it was going to be back breaking getting it to the peg.

Well after half an hour up and down the bank getting my kit to the peg I took time out to decide what I wanted to do. With the wind blowing a gale left to right I knew it wasn’t going to be easy fishing the pole but wanted to set up a chopped worm and caster line 11-13 meters out.

The other swim would be the method feeder straight out to the front at about 55 reel turns.

After sitting down and I started setting up for the pole line I opted for a Sensas Jean Desque 0.8gr with a bulk shot and 2 droppers fished 2 inch over depth due to the wind and tow on the lake. Line of choice as always was Browning Cenex line 0.12mm main line to an 8 inch 0.10mm hook length finished off with a Tubertini 808 size 16 hook. Elastic choice would be a Browning solid latex size 12 on a pulla bung set soft for the skimmers but handy should the carp turn up.

For the method line I fished a mix of 3mm pellet and ground bait on a 30gr Kobra inline method with a 0.14mm 4inch hook length with a PR36 size 16 hook. Bait choice for the hook would be Browning marbles in different flavours and colours (mini bollies) to see what the fish were having if any at all. All of this attached to a 0.16mm main line with my Browning Force 12ft feeder rod.

As the all in was called is was off to work feeding my pole line then going straight out on the method casting every 2 minutes for the first 20 minutes to get some bait down in the swim then I slowed it down and cast every 15 minutes watching the tip for indications to see if the fish had moved in. My plan was to sit most of the day on the tip looking over my pole line every hour to see if any fish had moved in and were feeding; it wasn’t some thing I wanted to stay on all day due to the wind as it was getting worse.

After the first hour I had managed 2 small F1’s I had plenty of indications on the tip and I thought to myself just to stick it out. With 2 and a half hours gone and just 2 F1’s to show for it and nothing happening on my pole line I had a feeling of deja vous. Looks like another blow out on the cards. With this in mind I unclipped from 55 reel turns changed the setup to a cage feeder with a 1ft hook length and fed chopped worm and caster in the feeder plugged both ends with a mix of 3mm pellet and ground bait and cast it 65 reel turns feeding half a worm on the hook and let it settle. Within 5 minutes the rod tip bent round and in came another F1. Another 15 minutes saw me land another one and things were looking up, as from what I could see people around me were also struggling. This carried on for another hour landing small F1’s totalling 5 in an hour it was nice to be catching but needed some thing larger to start bumping my weight up. I changed the hook bait for an 8mm red boillie to see if one of the resident large carp would be tempted.

After 2 casts in half hour nothing happened on the tip just as I was about to reel in the tip shot round and this time it was a larger carp. It didn’t take long for it to power up and then it was gone. I was gutted that would have done nicely in the net but that’s fishing.

With only an hour remaining and still gutted I had lost a big carp I decided to sit it out on the pole line. And sure enough the skimmers had moved in with a steady last hour of skimmers coming to the net I had added another 10-12lb to my net. With the all out being called I was unsure where I had finished in the section and match overall.

With the scales coming round I put 28lb on the scales enough for section 3^rd with the winning weight coming from 10 pegs down who had managed to get them going all day on his pole line landing a carp to 19lb.

Another blow out from a lake that I just can’t get to grips with and need to visit more often to suss out what works when and where.

It has left me thinking of ways to tackle the venue and one I am still looking forward to fishing in the future get the tatics and feeding right and a good day is in the cards.

Rods&Reels Autumn Series Lychgate Fishery 25th Sept

Today saw me down at Lychgate Fishery for the second round of the Rods & Reels autumn series. This venue was completely unknown to me and a few anglers on how to approach it due to it being a private lake that doesn’t see many matches.

After visiting to the venue the day before and catching up with the manger of the lake I decided on an all out silver fish attack. Reasons being there were carp in the lake but were to double figures and didn’t show all the time.

Well after watching a few anglers mixing up buckets of groundbait and the likes it was time for the draw in went my hand and out came peg 34 which meant nothing to me as there was no past form on how the peg produced so it was a suck it and see.

When I got to the peg I was in kind of a bowl with a bit space to play around with.

The advice I had been given was that I didn’t need to fish too far out to catch the roach which moved around in shoals around the lake. With this in mind I decided on a 3 prong attack fishing 4m straight out then a swim 10m at the 2o’clock position. I would also set up a pole line down the left hand margin at 6m.

For the 4m line I set up a Hillbilly F1 Wire taking 5 number 10 shot spread down a 0.10mm main line to a 6inch 0.08 hooklength finished off with a Drennan silverfish maggot hook size 18 elastic choice was a Browning Cenex number 6. Bait for this line as well as the 10m line was a fine dark groundbait mixed the night before to make it inert laced with red maggot. For the 10m line I used the same set up just a heavier Hillbilly F1 Wire float.

The idea being to catch off one line then move to the other once that line had gone dead and just to keep feeding and alternating between the two swims.

For the 6m margin line I set up a Hillbilly Chump 0.30gr with a bulk of number 9 shot with 2 droppers to register the float once settled. Line dia would be 0.12mm main line to a 0.10mm 6 inch hooklength finished off with a size 18 Tubertini 808 hook eslatic choice would be a Browning Cenex number 10 elastic. Bait for this line would be chopped worm and caster hopping to draw out one or two of the bigger perch that were residents in the edge helping to hopefully bump the weight up.

With everything all it set the all in was called and out I went with the pole feeding all three lines 4m,10m with 2 golf ball sized groundbait balls each and my 6m line with a 250ml cup of fine chopped worm and caster.

Moving straight onto the 4m line saw the float shoot under and a 2oz roach on the end. This continued for the first 30 minutes then the line went dead so a move over to the 10m line saw me bag a few more.

Then both swims went dead, adjusting the shotting and depth failed to pay off to the point of me scratching my head. I moved across to the margin line and managed to bag a few 2oz-3oz perch but not the 1lb-2lb+ perch I was looking for. I re-fed that line and went back over to the 4m,10m lines to see if the fish had turned back onto the bait this was not to be and with an hour to go I knew I needed to temp a bonus perch out of the edge.

In went the rig and this time shot under this wasn’t a perch it was a carp not what I was looking for and as the elastic ripped out and shot across the lake I just held on knowing once the elastic bottomed out it was a case of waiting for the hooklength to go which in the end it did.

That was about it and I saw no more action (if there were fish moving back into the swim that carp made sure the backed off again.

With the all out being called I was disappointed with what I had caught as I feel if I had off been more opened minded I think a hemp or a bread punch line could of worked .

With the weigh in coming around I managed to put 1lb8oz on the scales leaving to take 2^nd in section.

Oh well always next time.