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.

Maggot Drowning Rycroft knock up match 22nd January

Well after the Christmas break this was to be my first match of the year which was to take place down at Rycroft Fishery Hemmington Nottingham.

The match its self was a knock up match organised by one of the lads off the Maggot Drowners.com.

With 16 of us booked in the numbers were good and I was looking forward to catching a few fish and blowing the cob webs out. On stepping out of my back door early on the Sunday Morning I felt the cold gale force winds blowing on my face (looks like we were going to be in for a difficult match) the winds were howling.

After the 15-20 minutes trip down the motor way I was at the fishery waiting for everyone to turn up.

With the lads slowly but surly turning up we had the full 16 turn out which was good as there is always one or two that I thought wouldn’t have bothered due to the wind and weather in general. What a day for my first match of the year !!!

With the wind being like it was it was decided that we would split the match over 2 lakes 1 on Clover lake and one on Moat lake enabling us to peg it out with our backs to the wind (now that was a bonus)

On the draw I wanted to draw Clover Lake but ended up with drawing Moat lake peg 13. Oh well the draw never goes the way I would like it so of I went to my peg to have a look.

Even though the fishery is only 15-20 minutes its not a fishery I tend to fish on a regular basis I had collected snippets of information on both lakes and was told that moat had a sunken island running parallel to the bank running through the lake at around 13 meters.

After settling down I decided to keep this one simple with a line out on the pole at 13 meters and one on the inside just off slightly to the left with the wind the way it was I was going for anything fancy just 2 simple rigs fished in front of me.

With the match pegged on one bank and the wind blowing into the opposite bank I also set the bomb rod up to cast tight to the far bank/pegs.

For my pole lines I set up a Sackup SF Silver back 4x12 a true all rounder and has the benefits of a wire stem to help with stability but also sensitivity so I could see the bites clearly should the silver fish move in but also has the strength should the odd carp come in for a feed.

Line of choice is slightly different to what I have been fishing with and I am now using Browning Hybrid Power mono line supple, strong and durable I wanted to see how it preformed.  Main line was 0.12mm to a 6 inch 0.10mm hook length finished off with a Tubertini 808 size 16 hook. All connected to double 6 preston slip elastic set soft on a pulla bung. My shotting pattern was a bulk of number 9’s with a few droppers to register the float.

My inside line was exactly the same as my 13 meter line I wanted to keep everything as simple as possible.

As for feed on the pole lines this would dampened down micro pellet fed when required but in very small amounts just enough to catch one fish at a time. On the hook I planned to change between a 4mm expander, sweet corn and red maggot should the bites become hard. I wanted to feel my way into the match so no cupping kit was set up just toss pots on the top kits.

As for setting my bomb rod up this would be my trusty Browning force 10ft rod matched to a Browning Back fire reel with 5lb line. For those that are not familiar with Browning’s rod range the force range is one of the best I have used for what they retail at. Classy looks with a slim blank that has plenty of back bone in it to land any size of fish associated with today’s match fishing. It’s a rod that I like to use in the summer and is a proper bagging tool.

After clipping on a Browning Hybrid distance lead I attached a 1ft hook length plan was to fish a PR36 size 18 hook and fish popped up bread on the hair. This has caught me plenty of fish in the past and its just a case of finding the depth the fish are at through swapping and changing hook length lengths.

With the all in being called it was on to my 13 meter pole line. With the winds now blowing a full on gale that must have been reaching 40-50mph it wasn’t a line that I was going to stay on for long, even with the wind on my back it was still hard to control the pole. After an hour sat on the 13 meter line I fed my inside line and went out on the bomb casting tight to the far bank peg this is where I felt I could mug a fish or 2 should the fish follow the wind. After another hour and only a few indications that a fish or 2 could be there I reeled in and went on my inside pole line not a bite on that either after another hour!!

After another half hour the tip shot round and after a bit of a scrap carp number 1 was in the net (happy days)

With nothing else coming to the net after another hour and sitting on my pole lines I completely change tactics and swapped my distance lead for a small 20gram Kobra method feeder and threw it out just past my 13 meter pole line, within 15 minutes the tip shot round again and carp number 2 was in the net result!.

Straight back out saw the tip swing round again but this time I lost it gutted with the lake fishing hard every fish counted.

Looks like I may have found a few fish sat at the back of the sunken island. The last half hour saw no more action and all out was called.

What a match the weather was the worst I had seen it this year and to be honest I was glad the match was over.

On the weigh in it was clear that most had struggled with low weights coming to the scales 17lb odd was winning the lake even though I knew I didn’t have that my 8lb odd was enough for 2^nd on the lake.

With the results in from both lakes it was clear that Clover had fished a lot better that what Moat lake had.

Winner on the day had 20lb 9oz from clover with the other lad picking up 2^nd overall on my lake I was left to take the section money by default which was a surprise. 

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Dudley Rod n Reel Anging Club

Just a quick update on what I have planned for next year so far. Next year will see me fish with Dudley Rod n Reel Angling Club, and will see me travelling around the midlands to compete in their league matches. Here is a quick intro DRNRAC and what they are all about.

Past, Present & Future

Dudley R 'n' R was formed back in June 2006 and came about because some council workers used to spend their lunch break fishing the canal at the side of the Leys depot, Brockmoor.
An original member, Peter Hawthorne suggested one day that a competition should be arranged and that all anglers taking part should use a rod and reel to keep experienced and new comers on a fairly even keel, thus Dudley R 'n' R was born.We currently have 20 members and anyone wishing to join will be put on a waiting list. The club is a mixed ability angling club and has anglers of all ages. 2011 is our 5th full year and we have progressed at a steady rate and are made welcome at some of the top venues in and around the midlands area.
This club is all about enjoying a day out with mates and family members whilst enjoying your fishing, we try never to fish the same venue twice in any year and indeed if we do return to a venue we request a different pool be allocated to us. Our season consists of 12 (13 for the 2011 season) venues which are fished between March and October.
2012 match calendar looks like this
11/03/2012 Greenhill Farm Old Pool
01/04/2012 Hillview Fishery Canals 3&4
22/04/2012 Astwood Fishery Buddleia
20/05/2012 Cudmoor Fishery Suez Canal
10/06/2012 Packington Somers Little Gearys
01/07/2012 Woodland View Barley Pool Canal
22/07/2012 Boldings Fishery Sycamore Pool
19/08/2012 Ockeridge Lakes Oak Pool
26/08/2012 Cob House Fishery Wyatts Pool
09/09/2012 Larford Lakes Match Lake – Burr Bank
30/09/2012 Solhampton Fishery Dragonfly Pool
14/10/2012 Coppice Lane Bridge Pool

As you can see from the list some top notch veneues within the midlands that I look forward to fishing (some that I have fished before, some that are new to me so will be interesting to see how I get on

Army Angling Federation Group 3 match 3 Old Nene Ramsey St Mary 13/12/2011

Another match in the Army Angling Federation Group 3 saw me yet again on the Old Nene at Ramsey St Mary. I love this time of a year as the commercial’s slow down with the carp becoming less forth coming to normal summer tactics I like to switch my attention to rivers/drain and canals.

Today saw me on the Old Nene on a cold and windy day (around this side of the midlands there is no cover other than hoping for a steep bank to get away from the wind due to the landscape being very flat and open.

Having travelled the 1 and a half journey down to the venue we all met up in one of the local pubs for a good old fry up and a quick get together due to it being our annual fur&feather event.

With Royal Engineers having their own fur&feather event about 2 weeks ago it was decided to take out the first 6 pegs on the stretch due to them being flyers giving everyone a good chance overall.

On the draw as Engineer B team Captain I drew for my 3 man team, with me picking properly the best draw out of the 3 drawing peg A3.

Even though I had drawn well I felt it could of gone either way as I had drawn near the beginning of the section. With the rain it could of moved the fish further up river away from where I was. Or if the Old Nene hadn’t had a flush through it would only push the fish up willing to feed from the flyer pegs.

After looking down the stretch before my peg I had a feeling it was going to be hard, there was a lot of Canadian pond weed in the stretch which you could clearly see cut off certain stretches within the river due to it being thick all the way across. Another thing I noticed was how clear the river was no signs of a flush through or flood down here.

Well down to my peg and with my trusty Browning Z9 pole it was out looking through the swim to see what weed was in my peg. After having a good 15 minutes plumbing around I managed to find 2 free swims both 11 meters out at the 10 o’clock position and 1 at the 2 o’clock. Down the middle it was fully of weed about a foot of the surface with both swims being around 5 foot deep. After plumbing up the left swim was dead on depth but the right was 3 inch over depth which I decided to leave as this gave me the option of fish just slightly up off the bottom.

Rig wise as what I like to use is a Browning Cenex number 5 elastic set through a PMK (power match kit) to a 0.10mm main line to a 0.08mm 8 inch hook length. Reason why I like a 8 inch hook length is that’s the target area I want to catch in and with no shot on the line I feel with it gives the perfect slow fall at the last 8 inch.Shotting pattern is always a button shirt spread with smaller shot towards the hook length to give it than natural fall. Float choice today was a Sackup Aqua float 4x12. A float that I had not used before but had heard good reviews about and having owned some of the original  Sackup floats when they fist came online it was some thing I wanted to try as they are always true to what they are aimed at, and their build quality and finish is second to none.With a wire stem for stabiltiy and a bright orange tip as well as will as the finesse built into the float it was of the new range I hadnt tried before, but going on previous models it was one that I was looking forward to using.

Bait for both lines was Browning Champions Choice 2 parts Black magic to 1 part Gardons flour sieved  out (to take ou the larger particles finished off with 2 tea spoons of Sensas black dye as I wanted a really dark ground bait but with the dye put it a good dark haze to the water as it went down and broke up on the bottom.

No bonus line was set up today of hemp line I felt confident as long as a could keep the pinkie fish going I was sure to frame

With the all being called it was straight to work  3 golf ball sizes of grounbait with the last one have a pinch of pinkie in (firm believer  you can put in but you cant take out of the swim) and go carefully into the swim and build it up, both 11 meters swims were fed with the same amount which I feel create a trap, catch um down, swim or if they haven’t came right into the swim I could catch um on my right swim.

I started off on my 10’clock line and straight away the float went under for fish number 1. I knew this was going to be a fish/ speed race so chose to fish to hand once breaking down from my number 4 section. After an hour had past I was doing well with 50 fish in the net looking around the rest of the section it want going to well with the 2 pegs to the right catching steady but felt I was catching a better stamp, and as for the right it was pretty slow.

Not knowing how the rest of the lads were doing I just got my head down catching fish. As the bites started to slow down it was time to re-feed and move over to the 2 o’clock line which had been fed throughout the match and was further down towards the better pegs should the fish come up river and settle the bait. This turned out to be the best move of the match as it was averaging 2 fish every minute for the first hour and looks were coming from the peg from my right who had he also clocked onto what I was doing. It turned out to be a fish race to the end what let him down was he tried to get the hemp line going which he spent time on and didn’t work, mean while I just kept catching small pinkie fish.

With the left hand angler now picking one or two hemp fish off was this going to be a re-run of the last match were I lost it in the last half hour?

Keeping my head down I carrying on I kept switching between the 2 swims just to catch as much as possible some times moving after catching a fish in 1 swim just to move to the other and back just to keep the pace up.

With the all out being called word down the bank that C section had blanked except one and B section had a few bites between them (no where near my 200 odd fish which I managed to put in the net). On the weigh in it became apparent that the water flow not flushing out the top end sections and being clear lent for some poor fishing. With me being in A section it looks like the fish had slightly moved up to the feed in the section with my left hand peg taking 2^nd me finishing 1^st and my right 2 pegs taking 3^rd and 4^th overall through the match.

Looking back I feel I made the right decision of a good peg but still had to beat the angler to my right as well as the two anglers to my left which were sat on the end end pegs. With me moving between my 2 swims I feel I got the most from the peg under windy cold difficult conditions.

The final weigh in saw me win the match with 2.220kg which was a joy seems as I messed the last match up not making the right decisions.

TOP 5 WEIGHTS TAKEN FROM OLD NENE (RAMSEY ST MARY)

Chris Glover         Engineer B Team/ Browning                  2.220Kg

Mathew Jones      Engineer A                                              1.820Kg

Borris Kilner        Ind                                                            1.760kg

Stuart Abbot        Ind                                                             1.230kg

Gaz Arnold           EOD A Team                                           0.480kg

Army Angling Federation Group 3 match 2 Old Nene Benwick 23/11/2011

Well today saw me taking part in my first group match for the Army Angling Federation Group 3. Having moved from down south and fishing in group 2 for around 3 years it was nice to have a change and try and tackle some of the venues back up here in the midlands.

After missing the first match due to work commitments I couldn’t wait to get on the bank for this one which was to take place on the Old Nene at Benwick. Having not fished a river/drain for some time it was nice to get back to a spot of river fishing (some thing I enjoy around this time of year)

After a good half and a half drive (and a stop at the local truckers stop for a fry up) we got there with plenty of time to try and find out how it has been fishing from some of the lads that had fished it a couple of days ago.

Today saw me fishing in the Engineers A 3 man team due to them being a man down.

Looking at the river you could clearly see there was very little colour in the water and no flow what so ever. So the plan of action was to fish it like I would a canal.

With the team captain drawing I was to fish peg 24 (one of the furthest pegs down river)

On arriving at my peg I took 5 minutes out just to have a look at the water and see if I could see anything. One thing I did notice was the amount of small fish that kept bubbling and jumping on the surface meaning there were pike in the swim. Looking down the stretch you could see it happening everywhere. Looks like there were plenty of fish in the stretch but also pike too! So I decided not to bother with the punched crumb as I didn’t want to draw all the small fish in on that line as well as the pike so this was a no go.

Getting my box settled on the bank and in the water I decided to fish 10 meters out at 11 o’clock and at 2 o’clock dragging my plummet around the swim to see if there were any weed banks to the left or right and on the way back in as I didn’t want to have to mess around with the fish getting hooked and making a run for the weed.

For these 2 swims tackle wise I used Browning Cenex number 5 elastic (light enough on the strike but soft enough not to bump the smallest of fish off, plus I could get them in quick without a pike going for the fish.

Line choice as always was Browning Cenex 0.10mm main line to a 8inch 0.08mm hook length finished off with a B511 size 22 hook. Float choice was a Tubertini Concorde silver float. 4x12 and 4x14 with a spread out shotting pattern of number 10 shot.

Bait for this line consisted of 1 part Browning Champion’s Choice Gardons and 2 parts Browning Champion’s Choice Black Magic. Both ground baits sieved through a flour sieve to take out the larger particles then mixed with each other dry before adding water and mixing the ground bait the night before to make it inert.  As for the groundbait it’s something that I have full confidence in with the Browning Champion’s Choice range and its some thing that I tend to use more of when fishing for silver fish as I feel that it draws them in and keeps them there for a period of time.

The groundbait also contained a handful of pinkies as that’s what I planned to fish on the hook.

I also set up another line at 4 meters at about 2 o’clock to see if I could mugg a few bonus fish like Tench and perch which are known to stay close in. For this line I fished a double number 6 on a pulla bung as I wanted to hook the fish not lose it should it be a good size fish and not spend too much time playing it on lighter elastic. Line choice again Browning Cenex 0.12mm main line to a 0.10mm 6 inch size 18 B611 hook. Shotting pattern was positive with a bulk of shot 14 inches from the hook with 2 droppers as I wanted the bait to hit bottom in the target area as soon as possible. Bait for this line was to be finely chopped worm and caster with a small piece of worm on the hook.

After the all in was called it was off to work feeding both 10 meter lines with three small golf ball sized groundbait balls last ball containing some pinkie. The bonus line was fed with chopped worm and caster and then it was of to work on the 10 meter lines.

Plan was to catch as many fish off one before re-feeding and moving over to the other and catching on that hopping to move between the 2 all match and have a look at the bonus line for 5 minutes every hour.

The first hour saw me land about 40 fish in the 1-2oz bracket but at the same time had watched the lad on the next peg land a nice sized perch. Alternating between the 2 lines paid off as I put a steady run of small pinkie fish into the net which at the time saw me beating both pegs either side of me. Then three quarters through the match it went dead and I felt that I could be in trouble and needed to connect with the fish once again. I re-fed both lines and went over my 4 meter line to see if any bigger fish had moved in. With the float settling in it wasn’t long before the float shot under and a nice sized perch of -7oz was in the net after another 2 perch no more bites came. So back to the pinkie lines for the last half hour by now the lad to the right had started catching a good stamp of fish on his hemp line (why didn’t I set one up!!)  I felt that this match was slowing slipping away from me now as I could see further down the stretch that other anglers were catching on hemp. With me still going steady on the pinkie line I just couldn’t compete with the sized fish being caught on hemp.

With the all out being called I knew I had blown it and I was just interested to see where I finished within my section with the lad to the left having a nice perch and the lad to the right catching a better stamp of fish on hemp.

With the scales coming round I managed to put 2.010Kg of pinkie fish onto the scales (not too bad). Having followed the scales down the bank I was slipping slowing down the positions ending up 5^th overall and 3^rd in sections so things weren’t to bad and a result I can clearly see where I went wrong.

Looking back I wished I had set up a hemp line as I might have been able to land a few better stamp fish as the overall top 5 were very close.

Full results below taken from Match Fishing Magazine

The 23 anglers who attended the third AAF group 3 match were met with a cold, clear River Nene at Benwick. An overnight drop in temperature had taken an adverse effect on the fishing and small roach were the mainstay of weights, with anglers mainly catching on punch, pinkie or maggot. A few persevered with hemp and these were rewarded later on in the match. EOD team captain Russ Compton alternated with punch and pinkie before a late switch to hemp saw some better fish grace his net, his weight of 2.740kg was well ahead of team mate Gaz Arnold who fished similar tactics for 2.450Kg and his own section win. The EOD’s third angler, Tony Dale, managed a second in section and this saw them clear team winners on the day, 3 points clear of 5 Trg Regt RLC.

Top 5 anglers and weights:
1: Russ Crompton (EOD) Weight: 2.740Kg
2: Gaz Arnold (EOD) Weight: 2.450Kg
3: Paul Hallybone (5 Trg Regt RLC) Weight: 2.250Kg
4: Boris Kilner (5 Trg Regt RLC) Weight: 2.020Kg
5: Chris Glover (Engineers A, Browning) Weight: 2.010Kg

Army Angling Federation (Coarse) Group 3 2011-2012

With myself being in the British Army I also fish within the Army Angling Federation as well as the open match scene. Here is a quick insight into the Army Angling Federation group 3 and how it works.

Depending on where you are around the UK depends what group you belong too. With myself being in Nottinghamshire I find myself in group 3 which takes into account the East Midlands.

Our group currently has 10 fixtures spread over the space of a year fishing 1 match per month. The venues we fish range from River/Drains, Canals to commercial carp waters so to take into account the different styles and disciplines within coarse match fishing.   

Each match contains of 3 sections with a team of 3 split between the sections to gain points overall to see which team has won the match.

So not only are you fishing to do well individually you are part of a team that is required to pick up points as well.

Each match we fish you are awarded individual points within your section that then go into a league to see not only who the best angler is within the group but also who has the best 3 man team within the group. All this becomes apparent later on in the year as the top end individuals and teams qualify for the Army individual and team finals fishing against other individuals and teams that have also qualified in their respected groups throughout the UK to find out who is the best match angler within the British Army but also who has the best team.

This is achieved by a week long festival normally around September time when everyone with the Army Angling Federation (coarse) comes together to fish a series of matches which turns out to be a good laugh and lads that have not seen each other in a while get to have a catch up.

Here are the fixtures that I will be fishing this year in group 3

Q1	Wed 26 Oct 11	Old Nene (March) Bypass length
Q2	Wed 23 Nov 11	River Nene Benwick
Q3	Wed 14 Dec 11	Ramsey St Mary Fur & Feather
Q4	Wed 25 Jan 12	Old Nene (March) Bypass length
Q5	Wed 15 Feb 12	Old Nene Benwick
Q6	Wed 14 Mar 12	River Nene (Venue TBC)
Q7	Wed 18 Apr 12	Decoy Beastie
Q8	Wed 16 May 12	Decoy 6 Islands
Q9	Wed 13 Jun 12	Decoy Cedar or Elm
Q10	Wed 18 Jul 12	Decoy Willow
FW	01 Sep 12 to 08 Sep 12	Heronbrook AAF(C) Group 1

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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.

Rods&Reels Autumn Series first match Mill on the Soar

Today saw me down at Mill on the Soar for the first match of the Rods&Reels Autumn Series. When I found out that this would be the first match I was happy as its always a place that has been kind to me with regards to results.
Having got to the fishery and met up with the lads it was a quick walk round the lake. With the wind blowing hard i think most lads opted to fish the tip. I fancied pegs 10,6 and 36 at the draw and was hoping one of them would be pulled out, this was not so and out came peg 31 (not where I wanted to be) other side of the lake but knew there were some big fish that visited that side of the lake and liked the margins.
When I got to my peg I realised that I had some space to my left which would prove to be productive later on in the match.
The plan of attack was to fish the pellet method to the far bank that was about 20 meters away. I knew this could be a hit or miss if the fish were there it would be a busy day. For this line i set up my Browning 8ft wand to a Browning Backfire reel loaded with 6lb line. For the end tackle I choose a Kobra 20gram in line method feeder to a 4 inch hook length matched to a PR36 size 18 hook with a quick stop. Plan would be to fish 3mm dampened down pellet to a 6mm meat hook bait.
My pole line would be to the out to the front at the 11 o'clock position at 7 meters. Tackle was a double no8 elastic set to a pulla bung. Line would be 0.16mm Browning Cinex line to 0.14 6 inch hook length with a size 16 B911 hook. Pole float choice was a HillBilly F1 Wire (I wanted a float that was sensitive and would stay stable in the water due to the wind blowing a gale. Shot wise would be a series of no 10 shot bulked on the line 7 inches from the hook idea being I wanted to get the bait down as quickly as possible.
Feed for this line would be dampened down 3mm and 4mm pellet, fed little and often and see what comes of it.
The last line I set up was down the margin. I had a bush sticking out of the bank by a meter about 7 meters to my right and to me it screamed a fish holding area.
Tackle for this line would be a 16 latex set tight but not too tight to bump of smaller fish should it come to needing them. Line of choice again was Browning Cinex 0.20mm main line to 0.18mm 6 inch hook length to a PR36 size 14 hook. Float of choice was again a HillBilly this time an AK47 margin float. For feed this would be fed with chopped worm and caster mixed with  (ABC) Grand Prix Liquid Detonator (which is a soluble protein liquid that works a treat with this type of bait). On the hook would be half a lob worm. This line would be fed every half an hour from the all in with with half a large pot of worm and caster and would go over it every half and a half to see if any thing was there.
Well the all in was called and off to work I went throwing the pellet feeder out every 3-4 minutes waiting for the fish to turn up on the far bank. After a half and a half of changing hook baits and no sign of fish on the tip moving on the far bank it was time to check the 7 meter pole line. With the wind blowing even harder it was always going to be a line that I could throw away if needed if the wind picked up after another hour sat with no bites it was time to check my margin swim.
I had been over that line an hour earlier and no fish were there so it was a great surprise when the float settled and shot straight under and fish number one was in the net. Sticking the float out again it shot under and fish number 2 was in the net (happy days the fish have turned up) Out it went for the third time and nothing, had I had the only 2 fish down there feeding at the time? out went some more feed then came of that line to let it resettle. Back on the tip for a while to see if the fish had moved in on the far bank proved to be fruitless so it was back to the margin swim.

This time with a half and a half left of the ,atch I didnt look back It was fish after fish, even landing a fish that weighed just under 20lb. My Browning Z9 pole stood up to the challenges that were threw at it and I landed it with ease.
After the all out had been called I was slightly disspointed with my self as I lost a few big fish in the reeds and being too heavy handed and lost a few after struggling to get them to the net for the fish to spit the hooks so I feel I could of doubled that weight.
Looking around the other pegs whilst the match was on I didnt feel I had done enough to place in the top 3 and I could see what was going on around the side of the lake, so felt like I had blew it.
Well as the sclaes came round I had to beat 58lb which I was suprised about and thought I had a chance of 2nd or 3rd. The fish went on to the scales and tipped them at 70lb I had won the match which I was well happy with.
As always Mill on the Soar was kind to me but could of lost the match need to be slightly less heavy handed with my tackle at times.
Next match sees me at a place called Litchgate fishery on the 25/09/2011 for round 2 and hopfuly another good result