Gold Valley Lakes Fish O Mania Qualifer 23rd Apr

Today saw me fishing in my last Fisho Mania qualifier down at Gold Valley. After the disappointment of not being able to fish the Viaduct qualifier due to food poising I was keen to get down to Gold on the day and see what the draw bag gods gave me.
With most Fisho Mania qualifiers in the past the excitement of taking part normally leaves me tossing and turning the night before struggling to get a decent nights sleep, however I slept well knowing all my kit was prepared and ready.
With a hours drive down the road it didn't take long to get there, the car park was over flowing and knew if I had drawn bad or had a bad match there was no chance of leaving early as I would be blocked in, so the attitude was to fish no matter what and see what comes up.
Having met a few familiar faces and a chat it was time to business and the draw. With the que already formed I jumped on the back end of it and drew my peg when it came round to it. Peg 81 on middle wasn't what I was hoping for as I wanted to be on Gold in the early numbers. From the cafe you could see the wind moving across the lakes and down towards the cafe. With me being on peg 81 I was on the back end of it 3 pegs of the corner and hoping there were some fish that wanted to stay off the wind in the calmer water.
Arrival to the peg saw me set my kit up, this time the rods coming out before the pole as I planned on setting about fishing  feeder and bomb tactic's with the pellet waggler thrown in should the fish come up in the water.
The pole would come into play later on but first it was cast out clip up and ensure all my rods were hitting the same spot.
Kit setup was as follows

Method Feeder 
Browning Champion Choice 12ft feeder, Xitain FD 930 reel 6lb mainline to a running Kobra 20g method feeder, 4 inch 0.16mm hooklength finished of with a PR36 size 16 hook banded hair rig.
Bomb Line 
Browning Commerical King 10ft, Browning ultimatch reel 6lb mainline to a running Browning hybrid bomb to a 1ft 0.16mm hooklength on a size 16 PR38 hook banded hair
Pellet Waggler 
Browning Medium Commerical King Pellet Waggler, Xitian FD 940 reel 5lb mainline to weighted pellet wag starting with a 2ft hooklength size 16 PR36 hook banded hair rig.

These 3 rods gave me the option to change from one to another depending on where the fish were and what they wanted to feed on.

The pole was set up with 2 throw away lines 5 meters out and 13 meters out and planned to only sit on them should I be in trouble on the tip and planned on going over them should the day be slow and in the last 1-2 hours to see if the fish had come in short.
Set up was as follows
Pole Bowning Z9 
5 meter swim
Browning hollow green 12-14 rating Mick Wilkinson cane diamond 0.40g float to a 0.18mm main line,0.16mm 6 inch hooklength. Size 16 PR36
13 meter swim 
Browning hollow green 12-14 rating Mick Wilkinson cane diamond 0.40g float to a 0.18mm main line,0.16mm 6 inch hooklength. Size 16 PR36

With the all in Hooter being sounded it was off to work with the the bomb deployed first with an 8mm pellet on the hook and a few 8mm pellets catapulted out.
I had a feeling this was going to be a waiting game for the fish to come onto the feed, a few liners suggested there were fish in the swim. Looking left and right of me both anglers had deployed the same tactic but notice I had cast further out into the middle of the lake.
After 30 minutes the rod tip went round and it wasn't long before a 1 1/2lb Skimmer was in the net. Not the best of starts as I was after the carp in the lake as this was what was going to build my weight up. Looking left and right again I noticed they hadn't caught so couldn't complain. After an hour on the bomb and no indications of liners and with the tip not going round I switched over to the pellet wagger to see if they were up in the water. First cast and fish on, however by the way the fish was making a run for it it was foul hooked and this was confirm when the line went slack and all I came back with was a scale. 30 minutes and no more bites saw me back on the bomb, this time no indications what so ever and clearly the fish had backed off, where as before the were indications to say the fish were feeding, even if it was skimmers. With no one catching on both banks top end of the lake it was clear either the pressure of every peg in had caused the fish to not play game or they were down the bottom end.

With angler to my right moving to his pole line and losing a carp it was time to have a look and see if any fish had settled on my line, straight away the float went under and a 2lb skimmer was in the net. Back out and another 30 minutes saw me bite less. Back onto the tip and this time on the method with dampened down micro pellets wrapped around it. This method didn't see any action so it was back out on the bomb, by now I was quite happy to pack away with an hour to go with only 2 skimmers to show for it. With the bomb out I collapsed my pole rigs and sat it out.
I then had a 30 minute spell which saw me land 3 carp on the bomb and lose a fish of considerable size and things were looking up. By now the angler to the right had 1 carp on his pole line and there were signs the fish were starting to move in, with my pole rigs back on the winders which I came to regret it but it was now a matter of sticking at it on the bomb hoping for a few more fish. This didn't happen and I watched the angler to the right catch one in the last 5 minutes as well as one of the anglers across the far bank.
3 of us in the section with 3 fish were up for the section win however when the scales came round I was short by a pound in weight and lost the section with the other 2 angler weighing in the same weight.
With the wind blowing down lake and having a chat with the lads I knew I wasn't going to compete with the better pegs on Gold, still a day out on the bank fishing in a Fish O Mania qualifier is a day not at work. Always next year.
Well done to Pemb Wrighting winning the qualifier with 115lb 15oz from peg 5 on Gold lake.

Lychgate Fishery Stoke Golding Saturday Open 19th Apr

With my Easter leave in full swing it was time to go back up to the midlands to see the family as well as get back out on the bank, this time at a local fishery just down the road where I had not fished

before.
Leading up to me fishing I had kept an eye on the open results and noticed due to a few cold nights and frosts had knocked the fishery slightly in regards to weights with the fish not wanting to play game, but with a chance to fish somewhere new and pit my skills against the venue locals I thought it was worth a shot.
I arrived nice and early for the draw and sat down ears to the ground to find out how the match fished the day before and where the fish were appearing. With sketchy info my hand went into the draw bag and out came peg 46 which meant nothing to me at this stage other than it was on the strip/canal part of the lake and hadn't been fishing that well.
Having arrived at the peg I noticed I had a spare peg to my right with another angler being on the left so had space to play with.
To my left I had around about 8 meters to the far bank with it getting wider the further right I went, opening up into a small bay before splitting off further down towards the island and the next angler pegged.
With the wind blowing down the lake from right to left the plan would be to set up 2 lines to the left where the bank was 8 meters out then off to the right where I had space I would set up another line 13 meters out before deploying the bomb and pellet towards the far bank which was out of pole reach that way if the fish backed off I might be able to keep in touch with them.
Rigs for the day were as follows

Pole Browning Xitain Z9
Top 2 plus 2 left swim 
Browning yellow hollow 8-10 rating on a preston pulla. Hillbilly Frostie 0.20gr 0.12mm main line, 0.10m, size 18 B911F1 hook.
8 meter swim  on the far bank

Browning blue hollow 10-12 rating on a preston pulla. Hillbilly Oliver 0.1gr 0.14mm main line, 0.12mm, size 18 B911F1 hook.
13 meter swim 
Browning yellow hollow 8-10 rating on a preston pulla. Hillbilly Frostie 0.30gr 0.12mm main line, 0.10m, size 18 B911F1 hook.
Bomb setup 
Browning Commerical King 10ft Bomb rod, Browning Ultimatch reel loaded with 5lb line to a running bomb setup to 1ft 0.16mm hooklength, PR 36 size 18 hook pellet band.

With the fish not wanting to play i chose a light setup so that I could land every fish and make them count, understandably there are large carp in the lake and bags of over 100lb are recorded in the warmer months. But with yet another frost I didn't think this would be the case today and with the average fish being 3-4lb I could land these with ease on the setup above.

With the all in being called all lines were fed from left to right with 3mm dampened down pellets and 5-10 pieces of meat. The plan was to feed light and ease into the the match. I started on my short line (2 plus 2) of to the left first half way from the far bank to see if I could get the fish to get there heads down and catch a few as the came down the lake from the top. After 15 minutes and a few indications the float went under and fish number 1 was in the net with a weight of 4lbs, result ! so went straight back on the line to see if I could get another. After a fruitless 30 minutes and no more indications I swapped swims and went for the 8 far bank line to see if the fish had backed off and were moving tight to the bank, this wasn't the case and after 30 odd minutes it was time for a change.

At this point with 1 carp in the net I wasn't worried due to the anglers either side of me not catching either and knew it could be hard fishing for the day. A move over to the 13m line saw me land another carp and overall whilst it was slow was happy. All the time I had been on the pole lines I had been feeding little and often 8mm pellets across on my bomb line. With no more indications on the pole lines it was time to re feed and switch to the bomb. I had been watching a few of the rushes on the far bank twitching whilst sat on the pole.
With the bomb out about 2ft of the far bank It was time to sit it out and wait. After a few re casts and another 60 minutes it was time to shift back onto the pole lines (I had noticed I had a few liners whilst the bomb was out so there were fish passing through)
On moving back onto my left lines and spending a hour back on them it produced no more fish, slightly surprised as this was the narrowest part of the peg and with me having 2 lines I thought it would catch a few fish moving through with the less space and more chance they would feed.
Back on the 13 meter line saw me land another carp to 4lb and with 12lb in the net was slightly worried as the peg to my right was now catching and losing a few.
The next 45 odd minutes saw me land another carp and approx 15-16lb in the net and no indications that other anglers were doing well other than the lad to my right who was now starting to catch carp at a steady rate I re feed all my pole line and went back out on the bomb. With another fruitless 30 minutes and time fast running out it was now make or break.
However the "make" didn't come into it and the "break" did with me not catching any more fish throughout the rest of the match.
On the all out I had been soundly beaten by the angler on the peg to my left who had put in a good display (taking 3rd in the match) With word that a few anglers out of sight had caught steady I made the choice to throw back to save time with the weigh in and to hide my blushes.
What had started well turned into a crash and burn match with me not being able i believe to keep the fish in the peg with there heads down.

1st Andy Swift, peg 26 - 63lb 8oz pole/corn
2nd Steve Brindley, peg 2 - 42lb 11oz pole/corn
3rd John Waples peg 72 - 40lb 15oz pole/pellet
4th  Mick Smith peg 68 - 39lb 11oz pole/maggot 
5th Albert Bray, peg 12 - 28lb 7oz pole/meat

Overall I enjoyed my visit to the fishery and found the lads to be friendly. Having a bad match has deterred me and I plan on fishing the venue again once back in the midlands to see if I can improve my results. 
Next match sees me at Gold Valley for my last Fish O Mania qualifier of the year. Just hope the drawbag gods are on my side for that one.

Army Angling Federation Group 2 Todber Manor

Well it’s been a while since I have fished an Army Angling Federation match and with me being on Easter leave gave me the perfect opportunity to get back on the bank.

Todays venue was Todber Manor with 38 anglers split between 2 lakes with 2 sections on Park lake and the other section on white posts. Ideally I wanted to draw park lake due to the fact I had fished it a few times in the past but by no means an expert.

Having made the journey down the A303 I pulled up at the café for a breakfast, nice to see so many familiar faces, some I had not seen in a while.

With the draw soon taking place it wasn’t long before my hand was in the bucket and out came Park lake peg 7 (meant nothing to me at all but was happy with the lake I had drawn).

On getting to my peg I had the island 16 meters across with the island finishing just off to my left. Having fished the lake before the first plan of attack was to fish pellet long and see if we could drum up the F1’s from the far bank.

With a bit of space to my left I wanted to use this to see if any fish moved into the area as it couldn’t be covered by the surrounding anglers and with a ripple on the water was an ideal spot to see if I could get the fish up in the water and catch F1’s.

With a margin to my left with a tree starting to over hang the water I noted this as my margin swim and with another line on the inside of top 2 plus 2. 4 lines in total and was confident I would be able to get a good run of fish going throughout the day.

My long line rig was made up of the following; Browning hollow reflex yellow 8-10 rating, Browning Cenex 0.12mm main line to 0.10mm 4 inch hook length. Float of choice would be a 0.2gr Hillbilly Oliver finished off with a B911F1 hook.

My 14 meter shallow line of to the left would be a jigger float set 2 ft deep with a banded pellet on a size 18 B911F1 hook elastic choice Browning hollow Reflex blue 10-12 rating.

My short line (top 2 plus 2) consisted of a 0.2gr hillbilly Chump and was set on the yellow 8-10 hollow and would be a positive rig with the bulk shot closer to the hooklength with 2 droppers.

My margin line of to the left saw me reach for another Hillbilly pattern this time an AK47 which I would dot right down. This time the elastic was upped to cope with the fish that might be lurking down the side and my choice was Green Reflex Hollow 12-14 rating.

The plan was to feed sparingly on my of my lines with a little and often approach less for the margin swim.

Bait for my of the day would be hard 4mm & 6mm pellets fed on all 3 lines with 4mm expander upping it up to a 6mm if needed.

For my margin swim I planned on lose feeding groundbait adding a few grains of corn and meat with every put in. This gave me the option to change hook baits when required.

With the all in it was time to get to work and try and build some form of rhythm up. It wasn’t long before I was into fish on the far bank with small F1’s coming to the net on a regular basis. I could see there was quite a bit of activity on the far bank with fish topping it was just a matter of keeping them there. The float shot under with yellow elastic streaming out of my top kit (this clearly wasn’t an F1 and gave me a run about for about 5 minutes before it was scooped up with an 8-9lb carp in the net. With the feed going in on a regular basis on the far bank and shallow line it didn’t take long before 2-4 ducks on the lake took notice with them closing in on my far bank swim as well as hovering around my shallow line intercepting my bait as I fed with my catapult, not what I wanted or needed but carried on never the less.

This sort of affected the fish and I could see that the activity of the far bank was becoming less and less with the ducks started to muscle their way in. Then it came, I couldn’t buy a bite switching between my far bank and shallow line brought a few fish but nothing constant (it was all starting to go wrong and I quickly needed to put some fish in the net)

Having persevered for the next hour or so trying to get the fish back in the swims I decided to have a look down the margins as I was slipping down the pecking order and looking like doing nothing within the match with it half way gone I was positive there would be a few down the left hand side.

Looking down the edge there were signs of fish as the water was starting to colour up as the fish gained confidence and started to feed. On went an 8mm cube of meat and it didn’t take long before the float buried and a better stamp of fish started to come to the net. Over the next hour the margin seemed to be holding a fair few fish, with regular top ups of lose groundbait and a few pieces of corn and meat things seemed to be on the up.

Looking at my watch there was an hour and a half to go and I was thinking to myself if I could keep this up I should be able to redeem myself and scrap a frame within the section (the fish must have heard me as it turned out to be the famous last saying) I foul hook a fish in the next put in which completely destroyed the margin, there were bow waves everywhere as the fish within the swim were clearly spooked by the commotion of the foul hooker and made a bee line for the open water.

After that I spent the other hour and 15 mins as a spectator as Danny Jones and Mick Craddock caught fish after fish down the edge and were putting a good run of fish together.

With the all out called I knew I hadn’t done well and had a guess I had 40lb in the net with the pegs to my right easily beating me.

With the scales coming round my thoughts were proven with me weighing in 23kg’s with Danny and Mick respectably weighing 30kg and 45kgs clearly and soundly beaten.

On the bright side the weather had been nice with the sun shining with a steady breeze, couldn’t help think that the sun seemed to play a part in the fish not wanting to play once it was up at midday as the fish could be seen cruising just under the surface also enjoying the sun.  

Looking back I could have changed things earlier which could of seen me land more fish but at the time I tried to push the swim to make what I had set out work.

Oh well always next time and as always its good to just get out on the bank and catch a few fish.

Day on the K&A Canal at Pewsey Wharf

Well with the start of my Easter leave period it was time to forget about work for a few weeks and focus back on my fishing (something I have been unable to do for the past couple of month)

Not looking to fish a match I either had the choice of local commercial waters, Shearwater reservoir or the Kennet & Avon Canal. After a bit of too and throwing I decided that I would nip down the canal for the day to blow off the cob webs. With near enough 6-7 miles of canal to fish due to being a member of Pewsey District Angling Association I opted for Pewsey Wharf due to the ease of getting there and a parking space which is close to the bank side.

Having never fished it before thought it would be a good place to go and see how it fished.

Having arrived at about 9 in the morning with just some punch, pinkies and groundbait it soon became apparent with the water having plenty of colour that the punch would be out of the question and  I didn’t see it playing a major part of the day to temp many fish.

I opted for 3 lines in total 1 short, 1 down the centre of the canal and 1 at 13 ½ meters across. On plumbing up I noticed there wasn’t the define track you normally got down the centre of the canal with it being nearly 4-4 ½ ft all the way across, it was also towing through at a steady pace bringing with it plenty of surface leaves, twigs and shrubs add to the fact that the warf can get busy with boat traffic I was having second thoughts on if this was a good idea or not, but still I was here now so of I went.

The first line I set up a Tubertini Stix 4x12 to fish punch short (with the water being a chocolate colour I knew this could be hit or miss but thought I maybe able to mug a few fish whilst my other lines settled.

My main line was Browning Cenex 0.08mm to a 4inch 0.06mm hooklength with a positive shotting of a bulk and 2 droppers. Hook pattern for nearly 90% of my canal fishing was a B511 size 22.

My centre line consisted of 2 rigs one was a Tubertini  4x14 set up exactly the same way as my short line. The 2^nd rig was a Tubertini Concord 4x14 which would be used for when the canal started towing through giving me more control over the float and presentation as I could hold it back.

My 13 ½ meter line consisted of a Tubertini Concord float again this time in a 4x12 with a spread out bulk, I later changed to a Dardun slim 4x12 later on in the day. This line would be purely a groundbait and pinkie line and this is where I intended on catching most of my fish depending of the boat traffic. 

My Groundbait consisted of 50/50 mix of Browning Champion Choice Gardons and Canal, giving it a nice colour and sweetish smell but with not to much feed contained with in it.

Having got everything ready I fed all my lines and went straight for the short line, after a fruitless 30-45 minutes with no bites I shifted to my centre line. After a slow run of fish and trying both rigs adjusting the depth up and down as well as the shotting pattern I was stumped, 2 hours in and I had single figures to show for it, there wasn’t much boat traffic and there were plenty of fish showing over the far side so plan C came out and it was to concentrate on the far bank and see if anything became of it.

I fed another 2 golf ball sized balls of groundbait. What I like to do as well is push my thumb into the ball so it creates a whole this gives me the option of filling the void with pinkies then plugging the gap up then least I know my all my bait is getting to the bottom and not being intercepted half way down.

With my Tubertini Concord float over at on the far side it didn’t take long for it to shot under and a better stamp fish was in the net. This carried on for a while and I was steadily putting a few fish in the net and was well into double figures. With the afternoon approaching and the sun moving it was getting difficult to see the float tip due to it being fine and dotted down. This is where my new Dardum slim 4x12 float came in. A thicker more visible tip allowed me to see the float perfect. Having only just got hold of these floats I was keen to give them a go. It proved to be stable and well balanced and considering they are handmade there seems to be a lot of thought and time put into these. A steady design yet strong and sensitive. With the change of float I started adding more fish into the net before the float shot under and number 4 elastic was flying out the top kit. After careful and nervy fight I managed to net a Bream/hybrid to just over 2lb, Result!!

After a run of 4-6 fish I noticed I was having to constantly top up my feed with groundbait and pinkie to keep the fish there and biting. By now I had 40-50 fish. Once again the float shot under and it wasn’t long before a nice 1lb skimmer was in the net (I was hoping this would carry on as the smaller stamp were still weight builders with the odd bonus fishing making an appearance)

It wasn’t to be after a boat came through crashing into the far bank vegetation and then revving the living hell out of its motor to get unstuck, that had just sent every fish packing down the canal and away from the noise and disturbance. I soldiered on for another half hour with no luck and decided to call it a day. On looking in my net I must have put together 6-7lb worth of fish maybe a bit more. Overall not a bad day considering the boat traffic and the conditions on the canal with all the floating debris towing through. What looked like turning into a slow day changed into some what a steady day with a few bonus fish.