Saturday 28 April 2012

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.

Monday 16 April 2012

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)