Shearsby Valley Lakes Winter Series Match 1 29/01/2012

With the let off after fishing the Old Nene fishing 3rd in section it was off to aShersby Valley Lakes to take part in the first winter series match. The incentive of fishing these matches is that the top 2 finishers of the match then qualify for the final in March with money being paid into the final pot throughout the 8 matches.
Having not fished the venue in a few years it was nice to re-visit the venue, the surroundings and the up keep and maintenance is top notch and has always been a good place to go to have some friendly banter.
Having about remembered how to get there it was straight in the cafe for a breakfast and a coffee. Today saw the match taking part on Willow which wasn't a lake that I had fished before. With winter in full swing I had a lot prior to coming down for info on the Internet and leaned that a 100lb+  bag had been taken a week before from the one of the pegs in the 20's. Sounds like the fish had shoaled up and someone had found them in one of the matches.
With the clock hitting 0900hrs it was time for the draw in went my left hand and out came peg 26 an end peg (come on I thought bound to be a few fish there!!!) so out came the kit and a quick run from the car park to my peg found me sat on my box looking at the lake and where to fish. With me having an end peg and a bank running to my right first port of call would be to set up a margin rig and find some depth down the edge where the fish might be hiding. After carefully plumbing up down the edge I had managed to find a hole 11 meters down the edge where the depth was a 1ft deeper than the rest of the edge.
Setup for this line was a double Number 8 elastic set on a pulla bung. Line was the new Browning Hybrid Mono line 0.12mm to a 6 inch 0.10mm hook length hook of choice was a B911 size 18. Float choice was a Sackup Silver back 4x10. The plan was to fed very little and just drip feed in a few 3mm dampened down pellets and one or two pieces of corn that would also be used as hook bait, switching between that and a  4mm expander.
My other line saw me 11 meters straight out to the front where I had found 4 ft of water which was at the bottom of a sloping ledge that came of a underwater bar that ran left to right then gradually sloping off flat.
Set up choice was a double 6 elastic set on a pulla same main line and hook dia to a B911 size 18 hook. Float choice again was a Sackup Silverback 4x12 with  strung out bulk setup. Same as the margin swim feed would be 3mm dampened down pellet fed sparingly with a few pieces of corn. Hook baits would be corn, 4mm expander or if it got really hard then a double maggot.
These were the only 2 lines I set up for the match. With the all in being called it was off to work.
With no movement on the float for the first 15 minutes I sat and watched the angler to the left on me catch 2-3 fish in quick succession. To be honest it didn't concern me due to the fact that we had just started and there was along way to go. With myself fishing pellet on the hook I made a change over to double red maggot as he the lad to the left had had them on that. After another 20-30 minutes the float shot under and carp number one was in the net after a nice little scrap.
The float went out again and then came a run of roach to about  1 lb each. With no body really bagging on the lake and the lad to my left slowing right down I was happy with my progress so far.
Just on the 2 hour mark the float shot under again and in came a 5lb carp, now I was happy with the way my match was going I knew it wasn't going to be full on action and that every bite counted. At this point I had started to take notice of one of the other lads a few pegs down who had now increased his pole length to 16 meters towards the island and was now starting to catch a steady run of carp to 5lb a piece. By the talk on the bank the fish were shoaled up by the island in the middle of the lake and a piece of corn was enough to tempt them into a bite. My bites had now started to slow down on my 11 meter line so into the left hand edge I went for the float to bury and a 2lb carp in the net. the next hour or so saw me adjusting the depth of my margin rig and searching for any carp that might be sat tight to my margin bank further up the bank. This brought a few more carp but were only to about 1lb a piece.
By this time the lad that had sat at 16 meters on his pole to the island was putting a steady bag of carp together and was clearly out in front leading the match by a clear 20-30lb at this point.
With the margin swim not producing it was back onto my 11 meter swim to see if any carp had got there heads down and would be tempted by a piece of corn or a 4mm expander.

With the all out being called I knew I hadn't wont the match due to the lad a few pegs down putting at least 20 carp in his keep net. With the weighing in coming round I felt I may have done enough for 2nd in the match and put 22lb odd onto the scales only to be beaten by 27lb and the winner that had 68lb, so I was going to have to settle for a 3rd place over all which I was happy with due to the fact that it was the first time in a few years I had fished the place. After talking to some of the other lads about how the peg just dried up I learnt that it was common place for my peg and had done the same in the last 2-3 matches catching steady for the first few hours only to just die of half way through the match.
Well done to the winner with a fine bag of carp and a weight of 68lb its always nice to draw on the fish but you also got to have the angling skill to catch um and get um in the net which is what the winner clearly did adding a section to his pole and ringing changes to his pole rig which brought him his rewards.
At the time of writing this the weather is not at its best with snow falling and settling up to about 4 inches my next match sees me back down Shearsby Valley lake trying to qualify for the final in March tomorrow (must be made to go out in this weather!!!)

Army Angling Federation Group 3 match 4 Old Nene March 25/01/2012

Well after being battered by the winds on Saturday down at Rycroft fishery I was looking forward to meeting up with some of the lads again and getting back on the Old Nene for the next instalment of our group matches within the Army Angling Federation group 3.
This match saw us on the March stretch which I had not fished before due to missing the first match because of work commitments. After the 2 hour journey down to the venue and a McDonalds on the way it wasn't long before we got there safe and sound to be met by a slightly coloured river with a slightly cold conditions. After having a look at the stretch we were going to fish and getting some advice on where the fish tend to show I wanted to be in the middle section or the end section further up the stretch.
With the team all sorted in went my hand to draw for the team picking 2 good pegs for the other lads and me picking out peg 2 within the first section (not where I wanted to be but that's fishing make the most of the peg and see what it throws up)
On getting to my peg which was right at the beginning of the section so a nice short walk with my kit I settled down to see where I was going to fish.
With punched crumb being a safe bet on this venue and with slight colour in the water I planned to set up a punch line 5 meters out to the left and ground bait line 10 meters out to the front another punch line 10 meters out to the right and a 13 meter hemp line just slightly right of my 10 meter line.
Plan was to start on the inside left line on the punch and then rotate through my lines should the fish back off.
My set up for my punch line was a Sackup Aqua float 4x14 to a 0.10mm main line and a 6 inch 0.08mm hook length matches to a size 20 B511 hook a set up that I have full confidence in, the shotting was a bulk half a foot from where the hook length and the main line met followed by 2 droppers. I am a firm believer in keeping the shooting pattern positive as I wanted the bait to get down to the bottom where the bigger stamp of fish will be, this was matched to a Browning Cenex solid number 4 elastic. This set up would also be the same for the right hand side punch line at 10 meters.
My ground bait line at 10 metres straight out consisted of a Sackup Aqua 4x14 to a 0.10mm mainline and a 0.08mm hook length with a size 20 B511 hook. For the shotting pattern I went for a shirt button style pattern so the hook bait had a slower fall through the water. Elastic of choice was a Browning Cenex solid number 5.
Last line I had to set up was my hemp line witch was at 13 meters. A size 5 elastic was again my preferred elastic set to a 0.10mm main line and a 0.08mm hook length to a size 18 B511. For my shotting pattern this was spread out across the line to give a more slower natural fall of the bait.
Looking back at my set ups for each line I am a firm believer of keeping things as simple as possible hence the main line and hook lengths all being of the same diameters as well as the hooks which I believe are a good all rounder for this type of fishing should I need to ring the changes within the match I have a starting point to start from.
With the all in being called it was off to work feeding my lines, both punch lines were fed with a big ball of punched crumb with a little aquarium gravel added to get it down to the bottom. My hemp line was feed with 250ml of hemp with the plan of going over it every half hour to see if the roach had turned onto it. If they had then it would be a matter of catching as many off this line as possible due to the roach normally being a better stamp.My ground bait line was fed with 3 balls with one containing a pinch of pinkie.
With me starting on my punch line at 5 meters and spending a good half hour on with only a few bites it was time to move around my swims to see if the fish had settled on one of my other line. With a full rotation complete and only a few bites this was going to be a hard match and one where I was going to have to ring a few changes. First change was to alter the depth of my ground bait rig and come up of the deck 2 inches at a time to see if the fish were off the bottom this brought a few small fish to the net but nothing that was going to get me in a rhythm to put a good bag of fish together. With over half the match left which was proving difficult and both anglers catching to my left I knew I was going to have to get the fish feeding one way or another.
Having spent most of the match being very cautious with feeding I decided to go all out and feed my punch line 10 meters out to my right with 2 big balls of punched crumb and then come 5 inch of the bottom. This proved to be the right choice as the float buried time and time again with a steady run of fish coming to the net for the last hour. Having spent most of the match going in cautiously over my swims and persistently trying to get my hemp line working I had now managed to put at least a kilo in the net in the last hour which was a sigh of relief and more to do with damage limitation with placing within the section and getting a few points.
With the all out being called I knew I had blown the section but felt I had done enough to come at least 3rd in the section. With the weigh in starting at the top end of the stretch it was clear that's where the fish were with the top ends pegs weighing in just over 5 and 4 kilos. As we moved further down the stretch the weights became less and less however with most anglers having well over a kilo of fish each. With me weighing in I put 1 kilo 300 odd grams on the scale for 3rd in section and what might prove to be a valuable 3 points and a let off for not reading the signs and fishing in a more positive manner.