Tirley Court- Orchard Lake 26/5/2012

Was thinking about this one through the week as i knew big weights were on the cards, but in the back of my mind was the fact that the fish could be spawning and would make the fishing hard.
Still a plan was formed in my mind which would be just the two lines one at 4 metres and the other would be just the top two. Well the day finally arrived and i woke up to bright blue skies and  warm weather which was a nice change from the weather we've had to fish through lately. Got to the venue and there were in fact a few fish spawning but not the amount i thought there would be so " who knows i thought". At the draw one of our members Steve was saying that he come over the day before and the water was alive with spawning fish, so we really had no idea how it was going to fish.
We decided before the draw to leave the shallow part of the lake out so the randy fish had somewhere to spawn and we also decided we would not fish any closer than a metre to the bank, again to protect the spawning fish.
We finally did the draw and i drew peg 10 which was the opposite side of the lake and i wasn't too disappointed as there's that many fish in there it doesn't really make a difference. I arrived round at my peg and as usual studied my peg to see if my plan would still stand as i planned it.

( looking out from my box, as you can see no feature but pleasant surroundings)

(the rest of the lake)
So i set up two rigs, on the 4 metre line i had around 4 feet of water so i went with the 4x4 maver invincible on 4.6lb line to a size 16 preston hook, the shot was spread out on the last 18" from the hook with the last shot about 8" from the hook.
The top two rig was a smaller size maver float again on 4.6lb line straight through to again a size 16 preston hook, same shotting pattern and i still had about 3ft of water on this line.
On the whistle i cupped in a 250ml pot of 4mm pellets on each line and started out at 4 metres and for the first 15 to 20 minutes had nothing but a few dips on the float, Steve on the peg to my left went out on the method and had a fish first cast and Tim to my right had gone on the top two and had a fish almost immediately, not what i was expecting.
Anyway this made my mind up and i too went on the top two and had a fish straight away on the paste and for the next hour i had another 5 or 6 and also had foul hooked and lost about 20.
For the next couple of hours this carried on the same i even tried different depths, not feeding and fishing away from my feed but the foul hooking and losing fish continued but i was still in contention as Tim was having the same problem. I could see the rest of the guys round the lake were struggling so i knew it was going to be close going in to the final hour.
The last hour arrived and suddenly Tim was starting to catch well almost every put in so i came off the paste and tried some sweetcorn and then i was too catching well but a bit too late i thought.
So the final whistle was blown and i knew it was going to come down to myself, Steve and Tim for the win and i did notice Pete down the other end of the lake had a good last hour so even he could figure.
It turned out that Tim had done enough with 98lb 7 oz and i Had come in second with 87lb 2 oz Steve was third with 55lb 6oz.
I actually think the fish were just on the process of finishing spawning as not one fish was caught round the lake was carrying any spawn, but they were still not feeding right. So when we return later in the year the weights could be huge so i'm looking forward to the return.

Harescombe Meadow lake (top lake) 12-05-2012

Had no idea at all how to fish this lake and having posted on line i had a general idea, And also decided to ask in my local tackle shop Gloucester Angling Centre as i know they frish there quite a bit and the basic information gleaned was to fish the feeder be it method or cage feeder and also feed the margins and have a rig made up for up in the water. I have only really ever fished the match lake at harescombe and was pleasantly surprised how pretty the other lakes are it really is a pleasure to sit there and fished (the weather helped too).
So the day of the match arrived an the baits i was taking were, 4mm feed pellets, corn, meat, expanders, 2 pints of caster, a few worms, half a pint of red maggot and finally some hard pellets for using on the band if i decided to fish up in the water.
Arrived at the (venue which now has a cafe and sells bait too if you didn't already know this), and when all arrived we did the draw and i drew peg 11 which was to be midway along the far bank. You can drive all way round this lake which at least means no trolley, all pegs are great too concrete and level.

 So got round to my peg and always i sit there for a few minutes just to study what I've got, to my left going out about 5 metres i had some pads behind them i had some clear water and then a few reeds against the bank so i had a good feature to go at, Out in front i had open water and to my right i had a small patch of reeds.
So time to set up, the first thing i did was set up a method feeder i like to use a small method feeder when its not just carp to go at.
then i set up 2 rigs for the pole, the first was a 1 gramme rig to fish the end of the pads in about 5ft of water, the comprised of 4.6lb straight through just in case any of the resident carp decided to have a go.
the next was a margin rig which was a small dibber float again 4.6lb straight through both these rigs were finished off with a size 16 hook.
Finally it was time for the all in and first thing i did was pot some bait in and i shipped out a large pot of chopped worm and caster out to the edge of the pads, a pot of feed pellets topped off with some meat and corn down either margin.the first bait i decided to try was a worm tail out to the pads and had a bite almost immediately and in came a small roach about 3 ounces this was followed by 4 or 5 more before the swim just died and this happened for the next hour or so until i had a few more small roach and then it died again so i decided I'd feed again. I let this settle and went down the edge for half an hour without anything to show for it, by this time i could see the end peg which had the wind blowing into catching a few carp and new i needed carp to have any chance of some coin, also the guy opposite went on the pellet waggler and had a couple of carp also.
So i decided to set up the pellet waggler too, i used a 6 gramme pellet waggler set at about two and a half feet deep finished off with a hair rig with a pellet band attached and first bait was to be a 6mm light coloured pellet. For feed i was using the same pellets on the hook but in different shades and colours, these were catapulted out after each cast about 4 or 5 each time and in between this i would catapult out some caster to get the silver fish active and attract the carp to the commotion (this is something that has worked for me in the past when allot of silver fish are present). In the first few casts i had had 2 carp about 4lb a piece and had a extremely large carp break me. then it died but i had to keep going at it as i had seen no movement down the edge and i was still in touch with the leaders. i changed bait to a larger 10mm halibut pellet and this did the trick i had another 6 carp to the end of the match to finish second with 29lb which was 26lb of carp and 3lb of silvers the match was won with 34lb so i was one fish away but felt i had fished a good match and the only regret was not fishing the pellet waggler earlier, the guy who initially went on the pellet waggler didn't catch like i did and i really feel the feeding of casters made the difference, it really is worth trying if theres plenty of silvers in there "give it a go".

Drummonds Dub/Hartleton lake 28/04/2012

With the poor weather of late i was not expecting great results today. Plan for today was going to be groundbait feeder line and a pole line about 13 metres out. The 13 metre line was to be fed with chopped worm and caster as i felt this maybe the way to go bearing in mind it was going to be a day where you needed to catch anything that swims just to put some sort if weight in the net.
Arrived at the lake in plenty if time for the draw and eventually when held i drew out peg 4 which was a peg i fancied as it is one of the pegs that normally get pleasure fished allot. got to the peg and the water was chocolate brown , i didn't know how this was going to affect the fishing as I've never fished it when it was as coloured up as this.

I set up the usual feeder rig starting with the largest Drennan feeder i had just to get some bait in the swim then i would put a smaller version on as the match progressed. Reel line was 6lb Guru and the hooklenght was 2.6lb WB Clarke matchteam to a size 16 hook.
Out at 13 metres i had probably 5 feet of water so i set up a 1 gramme float to combat the tow and the windy conditions, this was set up on 4.6lb mainline to a 2.6lb hooklenght and a size 16 hook.
At the whistle i dropped in two large cups of chopped worm and caster on the pole line and whilst this was settling i went out on the feeder casting every couple of minutes to build the swim up. Anyway 2 hours in and not even a touch on the feeder i had a go on the pole line fishing a small section of worm on the hook and had a bite second put in this turned out to be a small roach so at least i was off the mark. I stayed on this line for another 45 minutes and with no more bites i decided to really attack the feeder line and for the next 30 minutes just continually cast bait in to the swim. And i started to notice fish topping over my baited area these where good sized fish to also i started to get line bites every put in. As the time past i was still getting liners but no bites (I'll explain my thoughts on why this was happening later). I decide to open up a tin of corn and fish it on a hair rig and just sit on it and wait, and almost immediately i had a cracking bite which result in a hard fighting tench around the 4-5lb mark but then nothing but liners again. Over the next hour or so until the end of the match i had 2 more fish Bream around the 2lb mark and just before the whistle blew i had a cracking bite which broke me. Luckily it didn't cost me and i still ended up winning the match with 8lb 1oz second place was very close behing with 7lb 3oz and everybody apart from one other angler had fish. So yes you could say it fished hard, my theory on this is that the particles in the water colouring it up made it almost impossible for the fish to find the hookbait, they could find the bed of bait laid down but nit the hookbait, which is why I'm guessing more liners than bites, because I'm sure there were allot if fish out in front of me.

Cob House- Wyatts-15/04/2012

Leading up to this match i was very optimistic of big weights to be had as from all accounts it had started to fish well. A couple of days before hand i asked on the website (http://www.talkangling.co.uk/) for any up to date information on Wyatts as the last time i fished that pool was a practice for a pairs match run by Cob House sometime back. Luckily for me i had a very informative PM back from Jake (thanks mate) which helped me decide what my plan would be for the day. Anybody who is not a member of this site (its free by the way) I thoroughly recommend joining as its great site and a perfect way to find out information as it i shared by everyone.
Now back to the plan  firstly as per information gathered i did plan to start at 13 metres with pellet on the deck and also have lines at 4 metres and one down the edge, baits were going to be Pellet, Paste and maggot.
So i arraived at the venue nice and early so i could enjoy the great breakfast that is served at Cob House and i must say i thoroughly enjoyed it, bought my bait and went to draw my peg, I managed to be last to draw (sorry Timmy) and drew out peg 19 which was the opposite bank in the shade and with the wind in my face, which was cold and blowing quite hard.
I got to my peg and as the water level is so low at the moment it would have been better to set up my platform and fish in the water, the only problem being that i had forgotten my waders so that was out the question and i decided i would sit on the bank so i was as low as possible to the water level. I also had to alter my plan slightly as with the wind being so strong i decided against the 13 metre line and just set up at 4 metres and the inside line. i set up two identical rigs for both line as speed really is the key to this place  if i get lots of bites (usually). My set up would be 4.6lb WB Clarke Matchteam line with a size 14 PR 28 hook couple with a series 6 Maver Invicible float 4x14 at around 4 metres i probably had 2 1/2 feet of water so this would be my main line if attack.
My inside line would again be all tied to the same line and hook patterns but with a lighter Maver float (sorry i forget which one now), Elastics were black hydro.
Feed would be fishery pellet, and hookbaits would be paste and some 4mm and 6mm ringers expanders and i also had some red maggot with me just in case.

Just waiting for the whistle

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Cob House- Wyatts-15/04/2012 CONTINUED

Right so finally the whistle goes a bit premitually (which i'm told Gerry is known to be ) and i feed both line by hand, an drop in on the paste at 4 metres and expecting fast furious action was soon to be dissapointed it was a good 15-20 minutes before i had my first fish, whislt over on the tropical side of the lake they where in to fish almost straight away. The wind blowing in our face was freezing cold and i think this was just keeping the temperature down over ourside as they where catching steadily over the other side. Anyway i had 5 fish in the first hour all around the 2lb mark with the biggest probably 4lb at least from what i could see my fish were bigger than they were catching opposite, up the bank on the opposite side i could see Gerry catching very consistantly, Myself and Ken Rose to my left and Jon Cook to my right were all struggling in fact i was the only one to have some fish, anyway as the match progressed and the tow on the water getting worse i decided to set up a heavier float as i,m sure the lighter rigs just weren't getting the correct presentation, and this turned out be a good move as 3 1/2 hours in i had 16 fish (i know bad for Wyatts but for the day i was keeping up) all i had caught on paste , i had tried the inside line but had no bites or indications so decided to concentrate on 4 metres, I had also tried the other baits but to no joy.
So into the last hour from what i could see i was only being beaten by Tim Gibbs and Gerry Chivers, I couldn't see what was going on up the other end to my right, In the last hour i decided that i would fish slightly to my right at 4 metres away from my feed as sometimes this can work and luckily it did i added another 7 fish to my net and ended the match with 23 fish for 52lb odd and second in the match. So apart from being feezing most of the match i did ok.
As it happens Tim Hunt on my bank to the right on end peg won the match with 60lb + well done.
All in all it did fish harder than expected as the overnight cold snap put the fish off but everybody caught so cant argue with that and the placings were very close.
The final result where
1st Tim Hunt 67lb - 9oz
2nd Andy Gardner 52lb - 5oz
3rd Gerry Chivers 50lb - 11oz
and the three section winners were
Dave Stockford 49lb - 15oz
Tim Gibbs 37lb - 11oz
Nick Hancock 50lb - 7oz

Winner Tim Hunt ( Warning viewing this picture may cause nightmares)

Church Lane Staunton 31/03/2012

The day started with the weather report saying it would be light drizzle showers on and off during the day, looking outside it was overcast but not too cold so looked ok, so hopefully the fishing would be good, I had been to this venue once before but had fished the other lake and had a decent day so was looking forward to fishing it again. I had planned to fish a method i hadn,t used before which was the floating feeder that would be my main attack but also had taken the kit to fish the pellet waggler or on the surface with pellet/bread if needed. Upon arriving at the venue we had alook at the rules which stated no bread whatsoever and also not floating baits, I know that floating feeder is not floating baits but i thought i may be pushing the rules just a bit too far by going down that route so decided against it, plan A out the way.
Asking the guys it seemed that this lake was solid with carp so i decided to go down the pellet and paste route.
At the draw i drew peg 3 which was apparently on the wrong side of the lake but such is my confidence in paste i thought i would catch carp no matter what if there really was that many fish in the lake. I arrived at the peg which i basically the same as all the other pegs on the venue a grass bank not more than 10" above the water surface, I decided on two lines one at 4 metres and one down the edge about a top three along the left hand bank.
I set up the usual Maver invicible 4x14 float with a bulk and 2 small no10 droppers with a size 14 pr28 hook all on wb clarke matchteam 4.6lb line. This would be the rig i would use for the 4 metre line.
On the inside line line i used the same float but in a smaller size (sorry i forget which size) the shotting pattern however would be the bulk directly under the float as i only had 12" of water again wb clarke matchteam line 4.6lb with a size 14 pr28 hook.
On the 4 metre line i had roughly 3 to 4 feet of water.
I started out by cupping in a small amount of pellet at 4 metre and a few small pots on the inside line, this would be left as my last hour line and i would feed this regularly during the match whilst looking out for any signs  of fish.
First put out on the 4 metre line and i had signs of fish there straight away and actually had 8 fish in the first hour on the paste a good start, by 12 o'clock i had 28 fish all around the 1-2lb size , meanwhile Tim (supposedly on the good side of the lake) was also catching regularly but not quite as fast as me, the next 2 hours was different as i would have 2 or 3 fish then have a quiet spell for 5 - 10 minutes whilst Tim was starting to catch me up as his swim seemed to improve. I decided to go against the grain and stop feeding to see if i could force them to take the paste instead of feeding on the pellets that i was feeding every put in.
The swim suddenly improved and i was getting fish more frequently and funnily enough they were starting to get bigger.This seemed to be the opposite of Tim's swim as he said he had to feed more bait to keep the fish coming.
At the end of the match i finished up with 62 fish for 127lb and the win Tim was a close second with 107lb third was around 50lb but everybody had fish so it did fish well.
Manor Farm Boundary tomorrow so we will see how that fishes hopefully better than the open last week which i fished but never saw the final whistle that's how hard it was!!!

Tunnel Hill Cheltenham 18th March 2012

What a difference a day makes, Got out of my lovely warm bed and went out to a frozen car (great). Yes bloody frost not what i was expecting. Of course the venue location is on high ground above Cheltenham and its all ways colder up there so you could bet it would have an impact on the fishing.
The bait i was taking to the match was basically what was left from the day before, 1pint of maggot, 4 pints of feed pellets,tin of corn, paste, expanders (4mm & 6mm) and some bread.
Arrived at the venue the usual banter followed pus Pete turning up minutes before the draw as allways, And finally it was draw time i fancied the trackside of the lake as I've always found it decent but as luck would have it i drew peg 3 which was the grass side which is slightly deeper so you'd think with it colder it would fish better but we would find out today.
 I decide to fish 3 lines one out at about 13 metres one closer in  at 6 metres and one down the edge against some reeds i had to my right .
the rigs for each were as follows.
At 13 metres i set up a Maver Invicible 1 Gram float with a bulk 18 inches from the hook 2x no8 droppers below to a size 14 pr 28 hook all made up using 4.6lb line straight through.On this line i had around 5ft of water.
At 6 metres the rig was exactly the same as above.but had around 4 and 1/2 ft of water.
The inside line rig was a 4x14 Maver Invicible floar with a small bulk and 2x no 10 droppers again to a size 14 pr 28 hook on 4.6lb line straight through.
At the all in i fed a 250ml cupful on each line. i decided i would try the paste first(although i wasn't that hopeful) and had  a bite first put in which turned out to be the smallest Gudgeon i have ever caught next put in was the same result.So i decide to have one more try and this time i had a small carp about 1lb so had to try again and had nothing for about 30minutes, so gave up on that line.
i went out to 13 metres and had 4 carp on the pellet nothing big i expect the biggest was around 3lb mixed in with a couple of roach and some small skimmers, i did try up in the water at 13 metres and had one carp but they weren't really there, so that was my match really i don't think I could have done much more except maybe tried the tip or waggler.
I didn't weigh in i estimate i probably had 15lb in the net.
the match was eventually won by Gerry with 57lb but it really didn't fish how it can for anybody, but there's always next time.
Next match for Breakingstone is Manor Farm Boundary which if the temperature keeps improving now it should fish well.

Staunton Court, Saturday 17th March 2012

Arose from slumber land to find a somewhat mild morning,We had however had allot of rain overnight and i was hoping it hadn't cooled the water temperature too much.I'd really enjoy fishing Staunton and had been looking forward to this match all week so was hoping the sudden downpour wouldn't dampen my enthusiasm for the match.
Anyway bait wise for the match i decided to take,5 pints of feed pellets,1 1/2 pints of paste, a tin of corn, a pint of maggot, expanders in 6mm & 4mm sizes and finally three slices of bread just in case it was really hard.
Arrived at the venue in plenty of time for the draw and promptly drew peg 8 which was halfway along the grass bank. i decided to set up just to fish 2 lines one at around 5 metres straight out in front where i had around 5-6ft of water, the second line was to be at around 2 o clock where i had 2ft of water.
The 5 metre rig comprised of a 1gram Maver Invincible float with a bulk of shot around 18 inches from the hook with 2 no8 droppers below and hook size was a pr28 size 14.
The second inside line rig was a 4x14 Maver Invincible again with a small bulk just 12 inches from the hook with 2 no10 droppers below the hook again was a size 14 pr28.
both rigs were made using WB Clarke Matchteam line in the 6.6lb breaking strain.
On the all in i cupped 2 x 250ml pots of pellet on the 5 metre line and 1x 250ml pot on the inside line. First put in
 at 5 metres and i had a carp around the 8lb mark and then had 2 more around the same size within minutes of one another then the bites dried up so i re-fed and straight away had another 2 fish so they obviously wanted the feed so i decided to come in a metre so i could feed easily by hand every put in, so i had the 5 carp in  the first hour and a hand full of skimmers, as it happened the carp went off the feed but the skimmer just kept coming all in the 1lb - 2lb size, anyway to cut a long story short the rest of the match carried on exactly the same i had skimmers with the odd carp thrown in for good measure, I did try the inside line and had one fish off it but the bites weren,t coming quickly so i didn't waste anytime on it just carried on fishing in front.
I ended up winning the match withe around 129lb which comprise of around 80lb ish of carp and 44lb of skimmers,A really enjoyable day.
apologies for the wait between posts but unfortunately as we all know the fishing has been very hit and miss and i haven't been out much.
Andy

Tunnel Hill Cheltenham 29/01/2012

Had a good think about this one the day before and decided to go down the punch route as my main attack the reasoning behind this was that it had got allot colder a couple of days before the match and we'd had a couple of frost's, So i figured I'd try and catch the silvers and just hope some carp came along too, i also took with me 1/2 pint of maggots and 1/2 pint pinkies some corn and a couple of sizes of expander pellet,For feed i had some micro pellet and some 4mm feed pellet also i had bought along some punch crumb feed that i had left from the previous match.
   Right the day of the match arrived and when all packed up i left the house not knowing how it was going to fish, it was cold but not as cold as forecast (-2.5 in fact), there was a very slight frost on the car but nothing major. I arrived at the venue and after the obligatory jesting of the Man Utd supporters out of the way i drew peg 7 which was the second peg in the bay which i wasn't too keen on as i also wanted to fish the tip as some stage with some bread popped up off the bottom we'll the bay where i drew wasn't really wide enough for that so my mind was made up and the pole it was to be.I decided to keep it simple and fish just the 2 line one out at about 7 metres the other down the edge about 6 metres.
  On plumbing up i found i had a good 5 1/2 foot of water on my 7 metre line and this was the same and it didn't change until i came back a metre where it was probably 2 inches shallower, so i decided 7 metres it was, I decided on a 1gramm Maver Invincible float and weighted it so just a few millimetres of tip was showing, i fished this 3.3lb straight through to a size 16 hook. When i plumbed my down the edge line i found that right next to the reeds i had probably 12 inches of water so decided to fish probably 2ft from the bank where i had roughly 3ft of depth this rig was a 4x14 Maver Invicible float again set so i could just see the tip and again 3.3lb straight through to a size 16 hook.
At the All In i fed the inside line with a small amount of pellets with 4 or 5 maggots as well and would leave that until my main line at 7 metres slowed up i thought, this line i fed with some punched bread but this was mixed up so it was just like white water it was that wet, i fed this through a kinder pot putting two pots in to kick start the swim. Hook bait was to be an 8mm pellet of bread hoping to bypass the really small fish that are in this water. First put in resulted in a roach of a decent size for Tunnel Hill and this continued for the first 40 to 45 minutes at a bite a chuck then the bites slowed so i re-fed  and went in on the inside line just to have a look and within a minute or so had my first carp of the day again on the 8mm punch, a nice surprise so i dropped in again but nothing, I stayed there for another 15 Min's then decided to go back out on the 7 metre line. Again first put in was a small carp then another and then another, so i thought that I'd give a small piece of paste a go and i had 6 or 7 slightly bigger carp on the trot then it died so i went back on the punch.
  The last half of the match was a bit of  struggle with just the odd small fish, With about an hour to go i decided to have another look on the inside line but re fed the 7 metre line again,Well nothing on the inside so back out and thankfully enough i started  to get a run of small skimmers but found to get these fish i had to put two 8mm pieces of punch on the hook and for the last hour i had bites every 5 to 10 minutes or so, I also had a couple of bonus carp in the last hour just to add to the weight i already had.
All in all i think it was a pretty decent day everybody had a few fish and the weights were close
1st Jon cook 27lb odd 12lb of which was one fish
2nd Gerry Chivers 25lb
3rd Myself with 24lb
I was happy with third as i thought the best i was going to do was my section as i thought Mark 2 pegs away had caught alot more than i did but fortunately i did him by 3oz.
The match went pretty much as i thought it would but i didn't expect to have the run of fish on the paste but i do think i wasted a bit to much time on it when the bites dried up, I probably should have went back out on the punch sooner.but the rest of the match pretty much went to plan. In fact i could have fished the whole match using just 1/4 pint of Bread mix and 1 slice of bread what a cheap day that would have been.
Next match is 2 week at Manor Farm Windmill Lake which I'm told has had some more fish put in so we'll see if that's going to a good or bad thing so soon after introduction.
As always please let me know if you want anything else included in these write up's.
Andy

WALKER CROSS ANGLING CLUB POOL

We'll -6.5 degrees this morning and not looking promising is what i told myself when i left the house.When we all arrived at the lake we decided to do a roamer as there was only seven of us who braved the cold.after the usual banter i decided to fish the far side of the lake on the corner of an island ,My thinking was that hopefully i would still have a chance if fishing was hard to sit on the tip and snag a couple of carp. I knew this was going to be hard day after the previous two nights of hard frost so went with the intention of fishing the bread punch as my main line on plumbing up i found only 2ft of water in front of me but found just under 3 ft of water in front of the next peg, so i set up at 13 metres to fish across into the deeper water.My set up was going to be a 0.03 maver invincible float i fished this with a bulk of 3 no6 shot about 12 inches from the hook with a number 10 shot about 5 inches below that, this left me with just a pimple of the float tip showing. At the whistle i started with a 4mm piece of Punch for the hook and a thumb nail size of Punch crumb with 4 pinkies fed through the pot.It was that cold my caster i brought were freezing in the tub!!
First put in resulted in a roach about 1/2 ounce, I then without topping up at all keep a string of these roach coming for the first hour.by the halfway mark i had about a dozen small roach when i decided to up the size of punch to a 6mm nugget and first put in i had the shiest of bites which resulted in a carp of about 2-3lb,the only problem with this was as i was on light elastic ( No5) and was only fishing a 1.7lb bottom i had to take my time,anyway carp landed and next put in nothing and that's the way it stayed for the rest of the match, i tried re-feeding but that didn't produce anything else from the swim, i did look over on the feeder line to the island but had no indication whatsoever.
At the end of the match i finished with 3lb 9oz for third the match was won with just over 6lb which was 2 carp so all in all i felt i fished well, and enjoyed fishing the punch which is something i don't fish that often.
All in all in  good day (for those in the sun)and a method I'm going to use allot more in the winter.
next match 29th january at tunnell hill

Paste Fishing, Myth's,Mixing,and how it all started.NO 1

Paste Fishing.
It can be one of the most frustrating methods to master but when you do big weights and money placings are sure to follow,and more than that it will work on any lake in the country with a large head of carp and even Skimmers and Bream love the stuff, That's how confident i am fishing it!!!, This is one of the most important things when fishing this method is confidence, I know this may sound big headed,cocky etc but i have beaten some of the biggest names in fishing using the paste, and am confident that when using it i can frame or at least take section money every time i use it.This is the first hurdle to cross CONFIDENCE.
   Now for some of the myth's involved
1) Paste fishing is easy the fish hook themselves you dont even have to strike.
    Wrong sometimes they do hook themselves but isn't this the same with most methods!
2) The sloppier the paste the better.
    Wrong it actually depends on conditions,how many fish youv'e got in front of you and what other species are in the lake your'e fishing.Even the time of the year dictates what consistency of paste i use.
3) You must use specific paste floats for the Job.
    Wrong any float that will register the paste on the tip will do.(i'll cover this more later  on ).

Now i'm not quite sure how to break the rest of the blog up but i'll just ramble on and hopefully we'll cover every aspect of what and when i do something when paste fishing.
I actually started paste fishing because i noticed Greg Dovey taking apart fisheries using the method so arranged some practice sessions with Greg up at Manor farm, The important thing to remember here is i picked a venue stuffed full of fish, The reasons for this will become clear as we go along.
Anyway the first four or five times up there i was pulling my hair out (re my bold patch)with missed bites and foul hooked fish, Then eventually after a while messing around with shotting patterns , different hooks,sizes etc my catch rate started to up and got to the stage where i was fully confident with this method.

Making My paste.
I fill a tub 3/4 full of my chosen pellet (which i buy in 25 kilo bags).
Next i boil the kettle and with that water i'll fill the tub so the water just covers the pellets.
leave the pellets until they have soaked up all the water.
Now again fill the tub so the water just covers the pellets for a second time.
now they are finished, i will then place them in the fridge overnight so they are ready for the morning.
When i arrive at the venue the next day they are ready, At this time they still look like pellets.I'll go through the consistency i require later.
If for instance i'm fishing somewhere like Hillview where you have to use their pellet for mixing then i take some hot water in a flask and mix when i get there.It is i feel important to make my paste from the same pellets i'm feeding if i choose to feed at all.

Paste Fishing, No2

Rigs

Float choice really is a personal preference thing and believe me you will go through various makes and sizes before you eventually find one that will be suitable to you,and how you fish, what depth you are fishing etc, All these factors are of personal preference and my choice may not work for you,Its the same with hook choice i only ever use one type of hook for all my fishing because i have confidence in it, You may have a different preference but that's OK if you're confident with your choice stick to it, I think sometimes as anglers we are swayed by peer pressure or magazine articles etc. just because something works for an England international doesn't mean it will work for you.You'll notice in magazines there is never an article written about an item giving it a bad review,Remember these tackle manufacturers pay their sponsored anglers to give rave reviews and these sponsored anglers aren't paying out of their own pockets for these items. Also the magazine gets paid for publishing kit reviews. advertising etc, So don't take what is written as gospel.

Rigs,Floats,Shotting etc
My Rigs are pretty simple, The floats I'm currently using for 4ft of water and under are Maver invincible series 6 floats in the 4x14 weight range, this float has a standard size tip(Note this is not a paste float).this has a hole through the body for the line to pass through and i use three small lenghts of silicone tubing on the stem, I have these in various colours to suit the light conditions.
The floats i am currently using for deeper water are Preston Tyson 4's 0.8 grams up to 1gram these have an eye above the body and again 3  lengths of silicone tubing on the stem, but noticeably have a longer bristle.
The line i use used to be Silstar Matchteam which has now been re branded as W B Clarke matchteam, I have been using this line for probably 20 years and am fully confident in it and see no reason to change, For my paste fishing i will use breaking strains from 3.3lb up to 6.6lb and all of these i will fish straight through.
The hooks i use after trying many,many different shape's size and manufacturers are the Preston PR 28's or 29's.
Now the shotting is as follows for the smaller float i use 2 no 8's about 14 inches from the hook with a number 10 dropper below that, This may change throughout the match depending on conditions and how the fish are feeding, I find some matches i have to constantly change my shotting patterns to keep the fish coming, whether this be stringing the out ,moving the dropper up to bulk even sometimes putting all the shot under the float so there is nothing down the line. But experiment as the match progresses and i feel this has brought me fish when they shy off etc.But always remember that you're paste needs to register on the float tip, sometimes in the summer i will have no float showing above the surface, as long as i can see the tip under the water  so i can see bites that's fine, this again is something that has brought me the odd fish when the bites dry up, the only thing i can think of is that it offers less resistance to the fish.
The deeper float rig is shot exactly the same as the shallow rig but the difference being the bulk is 4 no 4's 14 inches from the hook with 2 no 8 droppers below, obviously you don't have the scope to move the shot around as much but still play with the shotting because like I've said before what might work for me may not work for you.but play around with it as what works one day might not the next you will throughout a session find a pattern that improves bites and hooking etc.
My hook size depends on what size of bait I'm thinking of using and what size fish I'm looking to catch but as a general rule most of my paste fishing is done using a size 14 hook.
My elastics for those of you that know me are heavy usually size 16-18 hollow but again preference is you re's.As most of my paste fishing is done no more than 4 metres from the bank and for big weights i need to get that fishing under control and in the net as quickly as possible so i fish heavy for that reason.I'm not going to slate puller bung etc as I've never used them so can't comment i just use what I'm confident in.

Paste fishing No3

Ive never really thought about how much detail goes into my paste fishing i just take it for granted and get on with it,but after being asked to write about it on this blog, It's actually bloody hard work!!

So I've made all my rigs up made my paste and its time to get fishing, lets say I'm at Tirley court and I've draw the deeper bank.
Plumbing up, I'm looking for a flattish area(for those who have fishing this bank at Tirley you know this is not an easy job).Now I'm really looking for and area 3 metres from the bank but not too worried if the area i find is dinner plate sized or the size of a dinner table as long as it's flat. I will do this at 3 metres at around 5 metres and one last line where i can fish just my top 2. Now i found the depth and i will start by fishing dead depth on all lines, this may change if there's any tow or if the bites dry up etc.if its towing i have no problem fishing over depth but not too much maybe maximum of 2 inches if its still towing then I've no problem with some movement as when paste fishing really the float shouldn't have much time to settle. the bites should be present almost immediately, if there not it just means you have less time for you're paste to stay on the hook before you have to re bait.
So now my attention turns to my paste which at the moment just looks like over damp pellet.Take a good handful out of the tub and mould it so it has a smooth consistency. Now if I'm planning to fish the 3 metre line at the start i will place the paste that I've mixed in my landing net and give it a good dampening in the lake, then i will give it another good mixing with my hands, i don't want it too soft as i need it to stay on the hook when shipping out and also i don't want it to fall off the hook when fish brush the line etc. I want it to stay on until i get a proper bite.The rest of the mixture in the box will be for fishing further out as it will be stiffer and for re mixing to fish the nearer lines too.
To start off i will feed with a pole pot to get the fish there, and once I'm catching regular i will feed by hand. Now one point i will make is if you're trying to catch 100lb plus of fish you will need more than 1 pint of feed pellet i will  take with me 8-10 pints of feed pellet for a venue like Tirley.That doesn't mean i will always feed heavy but if i didn't have it ,it could affect my whole match.
Now i will feed a good handful of pellet at the start every put in, in fact i could use 2 pints of pellet within the first hour.Now if i find that I'm starting to get foul hookers i will reduce my feed until i start getting proper bites again, i will even reduce this to nothing if needed as the paste will still feed the line I'm fishing, I will still feed nothing if have to until my bites start to slow and then will feed again, and will continue to feed this way until the end or until circumstances require me to do something different.
The bites I'm expecting are the same every fishery which contains carp they never seem to differ,You will start by the float moving,dipping,slowly going under but you're not going to hit these bites,i know it's tempting to strike but don't, you will either miss the bites or foul hook fish and lose them, the bite you're waiting for is a quick almost violent, slamming of the float under then you know this is a proper bite, so you have to be quick to hit these bites miss it and you miss the fish.Like i said before sometimes you will have adjust you're shotting etc to get these proper bites and sometimes it also helps when hitting the bites.
really the be all and end all is Practise and perseverance and you will do the "Ton" if you haven't before and will get more coin.
I have unless I've forgotten anything given you my advice on how i fish the paste but ultimately it's up to you to put them into practise. The biggest part of paste fishing is confidence, use the tackle you find best and the rest will come with practise.
I look forward to my 50% of you're winnings when you win with paste lol
Don't forget any questions please ask (I'm a good liar)
Anything I've forgot let me know and I'll add it in another blog

another grueller

We'll here we go again,This time a knock-up arranged by Nick for the period in betweeh Christmas and New Year at Harescombe.Arrived at the lake about 8.30am had the usual banter and made the draw at 9.00am last two pegs in the hat just me and Tim to draw peg 11 came out, so at least no walking for me.I decided i would set up just the two rigs one for across to the far shelf the other to fish at the bottom of the far shelf,The shallow far shelf swim would be a rig that took 2 no 8's with a number 10 dropper with a size 18 pr28 hook,Line was 3.3lb straight through.I thought i would fish for anything that swims at the bottom of the far shelf so went to a lighter 2.2lb mainline straight through to again a size 18 pr28, This rig was 4 no 6's and 2 no8 droppers.
First droop in on the far shelf and the tow was incredible so i ended up laying on by some 4-6 inches,Back across with 6mm pellet on the hook and within minutes a bite and a small mirror about 1.5lbs was in the net. Good start or so i thought, The hour or so nothing no bites no indications nothing. Across the lake i could see Chris catching across on the waggler so i decided i would set up the wand and try that, First cast i tried hair rigged corn on the bomb, I was getting liners but no bites so at least i knew there was fish there, I had been feeding the least amount of bait possible for the whole match just 4 or 5 pellets or maggots every time over with the pole on both lines.I decided to give the deeper bottom of the far shelf line a go but after 30mins without even a sign of life i gave that up and went back up on the top of the shelf. anyway to cut a long story short for the rest of th match i had 3 more carp 2 on the pole and the other on the tip all on maggot.
The match was eventually won by Chris who fair play to him fished how nobody else would of on the waggler. I have a couple of theories on what happened today, Firstly the same few pegs framed again and i think this time of year thats down to them being more sheltered from the conditions than the rest of the lake, secondly even though there was a nice colour to the water the might be able to see the pole waving over their heads and finally Nick is a jonah every time i'm next to him i have a crap day.
Until next time.
Oh by the way if you think i need to add more to these blogs let me know,this is all new to me and i'm trying to open up how i decide what to do ands how i do it,what rigs i'm using,baits etc.so if i'm missing anything let me know.