Cob House TA Fur and Feather

3 bites, 1 lost foul hooker, 1 weigher 3-7-0.
No where, nothing, nadda, zip!!!!!!!!!!!!!











































But, a massive well done and thanks to Bob (20meterking) for putting on a brilliant day and fantastic prize selection!

Cob House Fisheries, Sunday Open, 06-12-09

Well it was back to Cob House this week, with an open match on Sunday filling in for the cancelled winter league.

Wyatts pool was the venue this week. Although not my favourite pool on the complex, there is certainly nothing wrong with it and i've done pretty well on there historically (i held the venue record for a while from Wyatts with 207lb). Wyatts is all about a fish race, rather than the proper siazed fish that Laugherne holds. Weather leading up to the match had been very changeable, with frosts one morning and +8 degrees the next with plenty of wind and rain mixed in, but i was still looking forward to getting out on the bank.

Unfortunatley the day didnt go to well and i found myself lacking in 2 areas, 1 of which was completely my own fault and the other due to the extreme conditions on the day. I'll explain!!

The draw put me on peg 9, in the middle of the near bank. a pretty non-descript peg with a spare peg either side like everyone else but i was at the back of slight of a slight bay.

The wind at the start of the match wasnt to bad, blowy but very manageable and the rigs held steady when i was checking the shotting. my plan was totally based around pellets with some maggots and pinkies as backup.

So i set the following up: -

Rig 1 - 0.7g slim pencil with 1.5mm tip, 0.15 Ultima Power Silk mainline to 0.10 Power silk hooklength and an 18 G-Point Pellet.

Rig 2 - 1g Fat pencil with 2mm tip, 0.15 Power Silk Mainline, 0.12 Power Silk Hooklength and an 18 G-Point Pellet

Rig 3 - 0.5g slim pencil with 1.5mm tip, 0.15 Power Silk mainline, 0.10 Power Silk Hooklength and an 18 G Point Pellet

Rig 4 - 0.4g Rounder bodied float (a new shape i'm playing with), 0.14 Power Silk mainline, 0.10 Powersilk hooklength and an 18 B611.

Rigs 1 and 2 were for the main pellet lines at 11m where the wind was easily manageable and i could follow the fish out if necessary without resorting to going really long. rig 1 was set just touching with a spread bulk and droppers and rig 2 was set 3" over depth with a spread bulk and droppers. i gave myself 2 lines here at 10 and 2 o'clock and would feed micro's on one line and 4mm on the other to determine if the fish prefered one type of feed.

Before the match kicked off i managed to have 5 minutes talking to Chris Cameron who was pegged next to me and an absolutely brilliant pellet angler so i chekced his rigs out. he uses a very positive shotting pattern which 'looked' totally wrong to me, as i like nice spread out shotting to give a nice slow fall through the water, but his way obviously works. With this in mind i altered rig 2 with the bulk 18" from the hook and a second bulk in between the first and the hook. i just couldnt go as positive as chris who fishes a single bulk 12" from the hook!

Rig 3 was plumbed at 4 sections where the inside shelf starts to flatten slightly to me left out of the noisy water which would be created by netted fish and would be hand fed with pellets and rig 4 was plumbed at the same place as rig 3 but 9m to my right nearly in front of the peg next door. this was going to be dump potted with pinkies as was only to be used as a back up.
The maggot dumping line has worked for me at various venues in the depths of winter as i liken it to a bloodworm and joker approach where the majority of the bait is introduced at the start and the fish are left to graze over it with nothing else over the top and picked off as and when required.

the bait table as very simple, with 2 pints of soaked micros, 2 pints of soaked 4mm's, half of red maggots and half a pint of mixed pinkies all mixed together and some 4mm expanders.

On the whistle my 11m lines received a medium CAD pot of pellets on each (i was going to feel my way in), the 4 section line got a few pellets hand fed and the maggot line got a full small cupping pot of feed.

This is where the issues started and the struggle began. 10 minutes after the whistle went the wind quickly picked up quite dramatically and was really gusting and creating some sizeable waves on the surface. for the first 45 minutes i could get half decent presentation and i manged to put a few mirrors in the net. i had too fish the 2 O'clock line as the sun had come out and i couldnt see a thing on the 10 o'clock line! but then the tow started to kick in!!!!!!!!!!!!

for some reason i hadnt put my ready rod bad in which had micro method and maggot feeder rods set up in it. the tow became relentless and bites dropped away and i was left struggling just gettin the odd indication if i could keep it still for a few seconds. Chris next door and John opposite me chucked small feeders and were instantly rewarded with fish when i was sat there struggling. Must remember rods!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

my other issue was not being prepared for the situation. after the match Steve Ford told me he had caught using a 2g rig held back against the tow and nailed in place. the biggest rig in my box is only 1g. the wind didnt stop and my rigs just werent right for the conditions. if there was the slightest break in the wind my float went straight under and there was a fish on. i did put an extension onto my rig with 3ft of line above the float and a couple of number 8 back shot but the wind and waves were pushing the float through way too quickly!!! i think a round bodied float 2-3g would have been perfect, but with my own float making (slim float making) hobby kicking in i was left short of the right gear. But on the flip side the conditions were pretty extreme and the rod and line approach would have the best on the day!?!?!?!

i did manage occasional bursts of fish and could only manage 2 fish from each of my 11m lines before they needed topping up and resting. the fish definately wanted some feed and regular top ups gave me bites through out the match, but it was really hard work holding the pole against the constant wind with regular gusts!

I couldnt muster a bite from either of my close lines and had everything from my 11 meter lines on a 4mm expander. bites were pretty positive and the 6-8 middy latex doubled in my match kits is absolutely perfect. i will definately be using this from now on. i need to get hold of some of the 8-10 to try it out on Laugherne island for the bigger carp and find a regular source as i cant seem to get in anywhere in my local area.

I managed to put 36lb on the scales for midway in the match. 65lb won with 63lb second so overall not the best of days!

Cob House again this week with the Talk Angling fur and feather. 40 guys booked on with Wyatts and Laugherne island in! Should a be good match, i just hope that wind ides of and gives us a decent day for once!!!!

Chestnut Pool Fishery - 29/11/09

This week was a change to the usual trip around the corner to Cob House as Pete Bailey had invited me to join him at a match at Chestnut Pools near Bedford.

Format for the day was pole only, 14.5m limit, and a silvers match. I hadnt targetted silvers specificially for a long time so i fancied the change and the challenge. its quite a jaunt from Worcester and i was at petes loading the van up at 6am!! was going to be a long day!

all my gear was targetted to carp to 8lb so a major overhaul of my pole and rigs was in order to getit suitable for the target fish. i was happy using my winter commercial rigs which are made up on 0.14 mainline and i would happy putting a 0.08 hooklength on. my top kits got the light elastic treatment and i put 2 sets of doubled 2, 2 sets of double 4 and i final double 6. this would give me a good range of rigs to set up for whatever species may appear.

I spent the second half of the previous week trying to do some research and formulate a reasonable plan to put some weight in my net. it was very hard work to be honest, although a beautifull pool it doesnt seem to be all that well known so info was minimal. a few calls to pete and the few snippets of info off the net gave me a reasonable idea of what to do but i would have to be on my toes during the match to tailor my tactics when i needed too. target wieght was set to double figures to do well.

the journey over was pretty easy and the services did well out of me with a couple of breakfasts and drinks to nearly £20! BUT i then watched Pete pour the 2 bottles of water i'd just bought him into his groundbait bucket to finish his mix off!!!! he's only person i know who uses Evian to mix groundbait! TART!!!

We arrvied in good time and i finally managed to shake hands with the legend known as Mr Scone!! Not as tall as i thought he would be!!

With monies paid and the shuttle loaded i managed to pull out peg 3. it didnt mean anything to me apart from a short walk and a high bank behind me.

plan for the day was initially going to be kept very simple but meant i could add to it as i needed too. i spent a good 20 minutes plumbing my peg and found a good 4ft of water in the margin, the inside shelf finishing at 4 sections to out then the peg flat as a pancake out to the 14.5 limit!

4 lines were going to be my initial plan of attack, from top to bottom: -

- 1 - 0.2g slim pencil with 1.5mm tip for the margin at 9m to my left. Pellet and worm.

- 2 - 0.7g slim pencil with 1.5mm tip for 14.5m, front right, pellet.

- 3 - 0.4g silver fish float, 1mm tip for 13m in front, groundbait and pinkies

- 4 - 0.3g silver fish float, 4 sections in front, loose fed caster.

All the rigs were made up on 0.14 Ultima Power Silk with 0.10 Power silk hooklengths and B611 hooks.

my bait table consisted of 1.5kg of roach noire and matchblend mixed the night before, 1/2 pint of dead pinkies, 1 pint of maggots, 1 pint of micro's , 1.5 pints of casters and 1/4kg of worms and some 4mm expanders.

On the whistle the 13m line recieved 3 balls of GB with a small sprinkling of pinkies and casters in, 2 well squeezed balls and 1 loose one. the 14.5m and margin lines recieved a golf ball of micro's with a bit of worm and caster mixed in, and the 4 section line was going to get casters flicked in at regular intervals.

the weather wasnt very nice at all with swirling winds and rain mixed in, so it was quite a miserable day. its took 10 minutes to get an indication on the GB line and a small blade roach saved the blank! no more indications followed for half an hour apart from 4 leaves hooked. it was looking quite desperate as no one else had caught much, if anything at all. Pete had managed 1 net fish.

the sun decided to make an appearance and i could not see my 4 section line and knew it was going to drift over my 13m line making those lines impossible to fish. i had an early try on the pellet line without a sniff with the same on my margin line. i really fancied the margin line for a tench or big perch with a good depth tight in to the reeds but i didnt have a touch there all day.

With 1.5 hours gone i was getting desperate and Pete had started to catch a few fish fairly regularly so i started a new line 45 degrees to my right at 13m with just chopped worm and caster and gave it 20 minutes to rest.

i strung my 13m rig right out to give a slow fall with the bait 1" off the bottom and finally got some more bites and put another 4 roach in the net in that 20 minutes. my first try on the new line gave me 3 fish, 2 perch and roach for 10-12oz and my spirits lifted and thoughts of a come back came into my mind. my concentration was renewed.

I didint want to over do that line so i converted my 14.5 line ot just worm and caster and topped up with a good handfull of bait and went back over the GB line for another couple of blades. i then spent the next coupld of hours catching 2-3 fish from the 2 worm and caster lines, each time topping up with a pinch of bait and resting them to keep them alive for as long as possible.

I was catching some nice sized perch, definately net fish, but i was concerned whether they would weigh much. By this time pete had managed some bonus fish in the shape of a massive Rudd, a tench and crucian so he was in a commanding position. 1 other angler had had some net fish too, so out of those i could see, 15 anglers, i thought i was 3rd.

the middle part of the match produced fish but they were getting more and more finicky and i had to reduce the size of hookbait the longer i fished on. from a fat worm head down to a small tail section down to a maggot to keep fish coming.

with 90 minutes to go i lifted into a some thing more substantial and the double 2 cushioned a nice 2lb bream easily into the net which doubled my weight at that point.

Things really slowed down at that point as the rain got steadily worse and the wind was really swirling. but the fish did not want a positive/heavy rig in front of them. 0.7g rig got me one indication with all the rest of my fish coming tothe 0.3g float strung out over the bottom half of the rig. bites were fairly instant if the bait was constantly worked.

the last half an hour gave a string of rudd to put another 6oz on the net but my new next door neighbor (the guy originally next to me packed up after 2 hours and went home) hooked and landed a proper perch easily 2.5lb. he had been putting a few roach together over the second half of the match and i feared he had done me with it.

I was first to weigh as peg 2 didnt bother the scales and was quite pleased to put 5lb 13oz in the sling. that bream really helped! the guy next door put 6lb 12oz in the sling with the big perch nearly 3lb and Pete put 12lb 12oz on the scales for a convincing victory. one other 8lb weight made the frame with me picking up my section by double default!!! YAY!

Once the i'd got the worm lines sorted i was happy with my performance as i'd kept the lines going for the remainder of the match and managed to land my bonus, put it took a prompt from Pete to start the new worm line. i did try the worm early doors over the long pellet line but didnt have a touch on it so put me off the scent slightly but the hard work second part of the match meant i went home happy.

the journey back was an effort with a lorry shedding its load of hay, so an hour sat still on the M6 didnt help but we made it with nodding dog Pete snoring in the passenger seat waking up to the sat nav teeling us where to go!

Cob Hosue again this sunday, Wyatts Pool, with a match filling in for the cancelled winter league. weather this week has been noticably colder so it will be hard work! I love it!

Cob House Pairs Match 22-11-09

With the winter league not happening over the winter the dates are being used to hold opens in various guises. this week it was to be a pairs match, with one person on Laugherne (me) and the partner to be on Wyatts (my mate John Watson).

The weather agian leading up to this match had been shocking with lots of rain and high winds. Pete Bailey must have half enjoyed his last visit to Cob as he asked if we could find him a partner he'd come and have a go!

I also managed to persuade Pete out for a few beers Saturday at the German market in Birmingham and a good day was had with a fair few beers drunk by us and and fair few Gluehvien's drunk by the girls!

A bit of a bad head got Sunday morning started but sausages sandwichs when Pete came to pick me up soon perked us up and we arrived at Cob House in good time for the draw and a little walk round laugherne to see what activity there was. and there was plenty with fish crashing pretty much all around the pool. we were both pretty confident of a good day, but with the weather forcast to deteriorate over the day we both new we had get as much action in early as we could.

With John running the match and me helping we had a draw bag each and got the draw underway in good time. John managed to draw the peg which had won the previous days open on Wyatts and i drew peg 10. Although peg 10 is not noted for anything, its in the middle of the left hand bank with the island infront of it. with out sounding to cocky i absolutely love Laugherne and i'm totally confident no matter what peg i draw.

the wind wasnt to bad when i got to my peg and i was happy to stick to my main line of attack which would be at 16m in front of me, just where the island shelf starts, a margin line where i can find 3-4ft of water and the island attacked with a rod and line.

Pete managed to draw directly opposite me and the island must be slightly closer as when he was plumbing up he was using rigs at 4ft deep at 16m when i had 5.5-6ft at 16m.

Tackle for the day: -

RODS

- 11ft Maver Powerlite Feeder System @11ft, TD-R 3012 with 6lb sensor to drennan carp feeder and 0.16 hooklength, size 15 B711

-11ft Maver Powerlite Feeder Ssytem @11ft, TD-R 3012 with 6lb sensor to micro drennan cage feeder, 0.18 hooklength and knotless knotted 18 drennan carp feeder with a quick stop

-12ft Daiwa SR3 match rod with a 3AA insert wag, 0.16 hooklength and knotless knotted 16 b911 with a pellet band.

the feeder rods were clipped 1m off the island and the waggler rig plumbed in the same spot. this is the first occasion i have plumbed to the island with a waggler and was suprised how far the sheld came out. it came a good 2-3m out and gave plenty of room to cast the waggler and sink the line before it got pulled off the shelf.

POLE

Rig 1 - 1g fat pencil with 2mm tip, 0.15 powersilk mainline to 0.14 powersilk hooklngth and 16 B911

Rig 2 - 0.5g Slim pencil with 2mm tip, 0.15 power silk mainline to 0.12 powersilk hooklength and 18 B911

these were both plumbed at 16m in front of me with the heavy rig 3" overdepth for when the wind got up and rig 2 just touching for when conditions were reasonably calm and good presentation could be achieved.

Rig3 - Preston PB float set at 3ft for fishing up in water if conditions allowed (with carp crashing all day i had to set one up)

Rig4 - 0.2g fat pencil with 2mm tip for the margin in 4ft of water 9m to my right just down the inside shelf.

Bait for the day was simple with 2 pints of softened micros, 2 pints of hard 6mm's, 1 tin of corn, 1 pint of reds with lots of maize and red atomic, and some 4 and 6mm expanders.

On the whistle i cupped in 1/4 of a small preston pot of mircos with a scattering of expanders and corn on my 16m line, the same on my margin line and catapulted some 6mm's to the island ready to prime the waggler/feeder line.

with the weather at this point very manageable i went straight onto the pole line get as much in the net as possible. after 2 minutes of lifting and dropping the float dipped and fish number 1 was on. at around 1.5lb it was small for Laugherne but a great start and proved to me my choice of pole line is totally correct. (i have to blow my own trumpet at this point and say i'm really pleased with the performance of my floats. they shot up really nicely, are very sensitive as the profile is nice and slim, but they are really stable considering the conditions i've used them in)

the next 3 chucks produced fish, but they were all of a smaller stamp than i'm used too for laugherne. but it was fish in the net.

Pete managed his first fish when i lifted into my third and he was off the mark. but no ne else on the pool was doing much with people fishing the pole short because of the conditions or chucking to the island.

NOTE - i managed to get hold of some middy hi-viz latex to try and put the 6-8 in 3 top kits in stead of my usual slip number 6 on some recommendations and i have to say its really nice. As smooth if not smoother flowing than the slip and Hi-viz colours really do stand out. the 6-8 although a little soft for the stamp of fish in Laugherne gave me total confidence to ship back from 16m and not risk yanking the hook out of the fish all of a suddne went on a run. I will be getting the 8-10 stuff to finish off the rest of my kits.

the long swim would slow off every so often so i would rest it with a 1/4 cup of feed and try some of my other lines. i manged to keep a steady flow of fish coming ot the net for the firs thalfof the match and felt i was leading the pool but Pete was also putting fish in the net and wasnt too far behind. i was catching all my fish on a 4mm expander and couldnt get a bite on a 6mm.

During the rest periods i did manage to get i small 12oz fish off the island on the wag and a better 6lb fish from the margin but apart from those all my fish came from the 16m line. the weather did deteriotate during the second half of the match and i had to spend a bit of time on the tip to the island because the pole was unmanageable, and we had a horrible rain/hail storm for 10 minutes which i just hunkered down from with the tip to the island fishing itself.

the 3 and 4th hour were very quiet and i think i lost some focus as i spent too much time flitting between lines not catching fish when a dedicated approach to making a specific line work would have been better.

But a break in the weather in the last hour meant i managed to put a few last fish in the net from the long pole line and boost my weight by a good 10lb's. Pete had had a good last hour catching some better fish from the margin including playing a fish on the whistle, which is always pleasing.

I knew i had done very well and thought it would be close between me and Pete for the pool win. i just now hoped John has done the business on Wyatts.

My nets went to 60lb exactly which i fell any other day should have been worth 80-90lb but i'd managed to find a smaller stamp of fish. Pete won the pool with a cracking 80lb weight. he had probably 10 less fish than me but the proper fish down the margin had really bumped him up. i got second with 44lb third. i found out he'd used corn on the hook in the margin and i hadnt tried it. must remember to remove those blinkers and put some variation into my hookbaits!

wyatts had fished hard considering its potential and the wind had much more of an effect on this pool. 89lb won the pool with John coming 5th. Pete's partner had managed 4th so we were already 2 points behing them.

We finished 4th overall with pete and Co winning the day and putting £140 away between them , a great and well earned result. me and jonh had £50 between us, but i think everyone agreed it was a great days fishing with everyone getting bites and fish.

Silvers matchthis week, come back to see how i get on!!

Cob House Fisheries - 15/11/09

Well another session at my favourite Cob house was on the cards this week, specifically on Laugherne Island!

The weather leading up to this match was shocking, very wet and extremely windy but still holding quite mild considering the time of year!

my preperations for this match revolved around ensuring i had rod and line coverage if the pole was not going to be an option on the day, although the pole was definately ready and waiting!

A top Suasage and Bacon sandwich was consumed on my way over and i arrived in plenty of time to get some pellets and get my shuttle loaded and pool side.

QUICK NOTE - Mrs P treated me a Preston Shuttle and i have to say (after only the second time of using it) i dont know how i managed to get around without one previously. i had a fox trolley which when loaded properly was ok, but the shuttle blows it away and i now no longer need to carry anything on my shoulders!

With only 5 anglers braving the conditions today the right hand bank of Laugherne was used with the wind off our backs as best as possible, and i managed to pull out peg 37 out of the bag. this was end peg with the corner of the pool 18-19 meters away to my left.

The wind was pretty much coming straight across the water right to left but the corner to my left was looking quite calm and with the angler in this area last week caught in the margin, so i was quite confident of catching towards the corner.

Tackle for the day consisted of: -

RODS

Maver Powerlite feeder system @ 11ft, 3012 TD-R, 6lb sensor, with a drennan carp feeder (maggot) to 0.16 and a 15 B711, clipped 1m off the island.

Maver powerlite feeder system @ 11ft, 3012 TD-R, 6lb sensor with micro drennan cage feeder to 0.18 and a knotless knotted 16 B911 clipped at 16m over my long pole line.

Daiwa SR3 12 match rod, TD-R 2508, 0.18 genesis, 3AAA maver waggler, 0.16 hooklength with a pellet band on 16 B911 for 1m off the island.

POLE

Rig 1- Heavy pellet rig, 0.9g fat pencil with 2mm tip, 0.18 mainline to 0.15 Ultima Power Silk hooklength and a 16 B911. plumbed up at 16m where the island slope just startes to kick in.

Rig 2 - Light pellet rig, 0.5g slim pencil with 2mm tip, 0.15 power silk mainline, to 0.14 power silk hooklength, size 18 G-Point Pellet plumed the same as rig 1.

Rig 3 - Margin rig, 0.2 fat pencil with 2mm tip, 0.18 mainline to 0.16 hooklength and a size 16 B911, plumbed at 16m to my left up the margin in 3ft of water.

Rig 4 - Margin Rig as above but plumbed at 11m to my right to marginal reeds but found 4ft of water on this line. (this was set up 2 hours after the whistle)

the bait table for the day was very simple. 2 pints of softened micros for feed, 1 pint of reds and white maggots and some 4 and 6mm expanders.

It may seem crazy plumbing the pole line so far out considering the conditions but experience over the last few weeks has told me thats were the fish are and i could always chuck my little cage feeder over the line if it was really bad.

On the whistle i potted a 1/4 small preston cup of pellets with a few expanders mixed in on my long out line and long margin line then chucked the maggot feeder just off the island. i gave the maggot feeder 20 minutes with regular chucks but only managed a few liners with no positive pull rounds.

with nothing positive happening and a few fish coming out down the bank i needed to try some thing so out went the pole in front of me and i could hold it pretty well in the very strong wind, but the water was towing quicker than the Severn and after 5 minutes i knew it wasnt going to happen (yet, i'm always hopefull!)

My next port of call was the long margin to my left and shipping out the wind was still blustery in the corner but i was happy with the presentation. with a small CAD pot attached with a few micros potted in and a 4mm expander on the hook, the float went under after a minute and carp munber 1 was on and in the net afer 2 minutes. Again double number 8 slip is doing the business for me and keeping all my carp from 2lb to 8-9lb perfectly under control.

Catching on this line early put a smile on my face and i managed to put another 4 fish on the net over the next half an hour. i really didnt want to ruin this line and wanted to make it last all match. so another 1/4 pot of pellets went out on this line and my maggot feeder was sent ot the island. second cast on this session and the tip dropped back and a 3lb carp was quickly netted

ANOTHER QUICK NOTE - i've been looking for a good maggot hook for maggot feeder work as i feel the B611, although a perfect shape, is just a tad under gunned, so someone on Matchfishing-scene.co.uk recommended the B711 so i gave them a try. well they handled this carp with ease so so far i'm very happy!!!

With no more wraps in the next 15 minutes i felt the margin had had time to settle so i gave it another try and another 4 fish in 1/2 an hour kept me settled and i felt i was now doing well in the match. at this point with the margin working well i felt the margin to my right looked inviting and stood a chance of holding fish so rig number 4 was set-up , plumbed and fed with a 1/4 pot of pellets.

the magority of the match followed a cycle of catching 2, 3 or 4 fish from the long margin then a rest and where i'd try elsewhere to catch some thing else while the corner settled. incidently i only managed 1 foulhooked fish from the newer margin line. the hour brough a settled period in the weather and the long pole line looked quite calm so i potted some more bait in and had another session in the margin for another couple of fish.

With 45 minutes to go i gave the long out pole line a try and the tow had disappeared and the light pellet rig held nicely and actually went under and a fish was landed. i'd got double 6 on this rig as i wanted some security if the fish ran whilst shipping back from such a distance and breaking down twice that the fish could go quite easily with out pulling the hook out before i realised anything was happening.

Going into the last 15 minutes i'd 2 more touches on the out line so wanted sneak a last couple of fish out on the margin line! at this point Phil, the fishery manager turned up on the quad and parked about 20 metres away from the corner and i could only manage 1 more fish before the whistle went and the match was over.
I still felt confident and was happy i'd made the most of my peg. the scales confirmed i'd put 76lb 10oz in the nets with 57lb next weight i'd earned a vistory. i say earned because i spent 4 out of the 5 hours fishing 16m down the margin which was pretty hard work as it pretty blustery down in the corner.
I'm not sure i'd do anything different if i re-ran the match i's done enough to win and i only lost 2 fish. i could have tried the long out line earlier which may have put 2 or 3 more fish in the net, but i didnt need them.

Cob house again this Sunday with a pairsmatch to replace what would have been the second round of the winter league. See you all soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cob House Fisheries Open, 08-11-09

Well this was supposed to be the first round of the teams of 4 winter league but unfortunatley due to a lack of teams the league was cancelled and dates used for opens instead.

With Laugherne island (my favourite) the venue for the day, is was hoping for a good match and nice day after the Blythe disaster! as it was a Sunday and the sandwich lady wouldnt be on the Powick Island so i made myself 4 thick slices of egg bread from a fresh crusty loaf and they went down beautifuly! althoug the aroma got Mrs P out of bed and she nicked a slice! but i was ready to begin the day!

On my way to the venue and at the cash point i came a across a 'lost' Pete Bailey who'd returned early from an unsuccessfull foray at Stafford moor so after some persuation he decided to join us and boost numbers to 11 on the day!

it started off, weather wise as a very reasonable morning but over the day conditions were all voer the place with sporadic wind rain and cloud cover! i managed to draw end peg 3 on the far bank with the end of the island slightly to my left.

Tackle for the day was: -

Rods

Maver powerlite feeder @11ft, TD-R3012 to a small drennan carp maggot feeder, 0.16 hooklength to 16 B911

Maver Powerlite feeder @11ft, TD-R 3012 to a small preston in line method, 0.20 hooklength to 16 knotless knotted B911

Pole

Rig 1 - Light rig, 0.14 Power silk mainline to 0.12 power silk hooklength with an 18 G-Point Pellet. float is one of my onw fine patterns featuring a 1mm hollow tip, 0.8 carbon stem. Shot were spread over the last 3rd of the rig. Double 6 latex

Rig 2 - Pellet Rig, 0.18 Genesis mainline to 0.14 powersilk hooklength with an 16 B911. Float is a slim pencil with 1.5mm tip. spread bulk with 2 No.10 droppers. Double 8 latex

Rig 3 - Shallow Rig - 0.15 powersilk direct to 16 B911 with a preston PB2 (i think) set at 3ft deep. Double 6 latex

Rig 4 - margin Rig - 0.18 genesis, 0.18 hooklength with a fat pencil with 2mm tip. spread bulk 12" from the hook. Double 8 Latex

I plumbed 2 lines at 13m, one for pellet alone and one for pellet and maggot if it was real struggle. i plumbed 7m down the bank and found a nice plataeu with 2.5ft of water.

Bait for the day was 2 pints of red and white maggots (with loads of maize and red atomic cloud), 3mm/4mm softened fed pellets, 1 tin of corn and some 4mm and 6mm expanders.

On the whistle i fed a large CAD pots worth of micros on the left hand 13m line and the same of micros and maggots on the right hand 13m line. i then filled the maggot feeder and chucked it 1m off the island into slightly deeper water than tight over.

A few quick chucks in the first 20 minutes got a few signss but no wraps so a quick look o nthe pole was needed. second drop and a bite was met with resistance and carp number 1 was on and in the net in no time and at 4lb was a nice start. 15 minutes later with no more bites it was back on the feeder.

i was very hopeful of fish off the island and wanted to keep it topped up regularly so was happy to leav ethe pole line to improve. second chuck o nthe tip resulted in a positive pull and carp number 2 on its way over. this stint on the tip resulted in 3 fish with 1 proper fish of 8lb and 2 small fish for 1lb total!

I kept a pattern going over the middle stint of the match and didnt spent more than 30 minutes on any one line. i could get 1 maybe 2 fish off the tip line before it went quiet but didnt manage another fish or bite off either the 13m pole line or margins. i fouled one fish shallow at 13 m when i started flicking a few micros out but that was the only indication.

With 2 hours to go i decided a change was needed and got all my extnesions out and plumbed a new line at 16m in front of me and fed it with a handfull of micros and a few expander samples. i left this for 20 minutes to settle and had a biteless spell on the tip.

With my pellet rig on set 1" overdepth and a positive shotting pattern i shipped out to 16m and waited. i half filled a the smallest CAD pot and kept a sprinkling of bait going in. After 1 minute there were a few signs and then it dipped and fish on! i managed to put 4 fish in the net before it went iffy. i topped it up with some more pellets and tried the tip agian for 1 6oz carp.

Going into the last hour i had a run of 3 fish lost on the 16m pole line and came back with 2 big scales, but i kept my head together and kept plugging away and ended up with 12 proper carp and 5 bits with 75% of my fish coming from the 16m pole line. the sun was becoming a problem as it was straight in front of me, but it actually highlighted the dimple my dotted down float was making on the waters surface. when the dimple disappeared i lifted!

At the weigh in i put 48lb 12 on the scales and was happy with that although i knew it wouldnt get me far as 3 people on the other side of the pool and a guy 2 down had caught more than me so i knew i wasnt in for any envelopes. but i really enjoyed it as i like this time of year when effort and hard work are paid of with bites and fish.

Next time i will be starting at 16m and feed a couple of lines nad rotate them to keep fish coming all day as the bottom gently starts to slope up to the island there. i've also made some more floats to suit long long pole fishing a bit better and have made some slim pencils with a very long stem for stability and thick 2mm tip for visibility at range!

I hope they work as i'm going to laugherne again this Saturday to try them out!

Come back again and see how i get on!!!

Manor Farm/Blythe

This is a bit of catchup so will keep this extract short and sweet.

Manor Farm 24-10-09



I managed to get myself on a club Match with Matchbox A.C. to be fished at manor Farm Fisheries in Harvington. this is a great place with plenty of water and fish although its seems to have had a harder year this year but i suppose its justone of those things.


The match was supposed to be on Ash pool, but with the numbers that turned up it was split onto Ash and Windmill. Now Windmill is my favourite at Manor (as i like winter fishing) as its got nice deep water and plenty of features to islands and margins.


I managed to draw windmill pool and cracking a peg in the form of peg 24. this is behind the second island away from the cafe


Bait for the day was micros and 4mm pellets, softened for feed with 4&6mm expanders for the hook and 1/2 pint of red maggots if it got hard.

I set up rigs for the front of the island 1 meter off, front of the island tight (using my own fat pencils with 2mm tips) round the side of the island tight (slim pencil with 1.5mm tip), a shallow rig and a margin rig(fat pencil with 2mm tip). the front island rigs and margin rig used double 8 latex, with the shallow and side island rigs connected to double 6 latex. I'm still completely sold on double latex for pretty much all my commercial work! even with big proper fish i'm completely in control and i believe this is down to using half lengths of elastic rather than a full top kits worth!!!

A quick note on the float front. iIve now made a good few different patterns with variations on a theme so i've scrapped my SP numbering system for now and will review it when i've stoppped playing about!!! i will re-do my blog with the new floats soon!!

On the whistle i CAD potted some micros to the front 'off the island' line and 'round the side' island line and kicked off to the front of the island. Now i've never been very confident fishing on a slope but i just couldnt find any flat spots anywhere near the island in a decent depth (between 3 and 4ft) of water so this was going to be a real test of my own confidence in what i was doing!

Anyway after 5 minutes with lots of lifting and dropping i latched into my first fish, a nice F1. over the next 20 minutes i fot 5 more with no real problems. i had to really work the bait to keep the bites coming (probably because of my lack of confidence on the slope and fishing the bait to far over depth!!!!!)

Then it started to go wrong. the first line was really slowing off and i didnt want to pillage it totally so i went round the corner (which i had topped up twice) to try there. i was getting plenty of bites, not missing them, but bumping at least half of the fish i was connecting with. i could bump one fish within seconds, the next half way back and the next near the net and all the places inbetween! I was pulling my hair (well stubble) out! i tried to alter my rig as much as possible from shirt button over the whole rig to a bulk 6" from the hook.

Looking around me no one was really catching anything, although i couldnt see that many people and i was still putting fish in the net so i struggled on. when a line slowed i would go to another and caught fish from all 3 lines around the island. I didnt have a bite from the margin or shallow, but to be fair didnt give them that much time as the island was producing.

the last hour setteld a bit for me as i stuck to the side island line which had been the best all day (as its open ot the rest of the pool) and fished a positive rig with a spread bulk 12" from the hook feeding after every second fish, and put 10-12 fish in the net with only a couple of lost fish! I also managed a few decent skimmers around the 12oz-1lb mark. they have really put weight on in the last 12 months!

At the weight i didnt really know what i'd got in the net as i'd lost a hell of a lot of fish but put a fair in the net too! 79lb was winning the pool when the scales got to me and i knew i didnt have that much. i put 68lb in the bag and got 2nd on the pool. with the fish i lost i should have doubled that weight!!!!!!!!

The payout was split over the pools so i picked up £30, which i was happy with. In hindsight i'd fed micros all day in 4ftof water and the fish were all over the water column so i should have either dumped it and fished it out or swapped over to 4mm to try and keep them on the bottom, but i didnt see it when the blinkers were on during the match.

Solihull Summer League - Blythe Pools - 01-11-09

Finally the last round of the summer league was upon us and a day at Blythe was on the cards. Historically i've done well at Blythe with either section wins or seconds so was pretty confident. the league standings were tight wit hthe top 4 having only 4 points between them with my team in 3rd!

Unfortunately this is going to be really brief as i had a shocking day.

The wind was gail force with driving rain and pretty much in my face. drew peg 10 on bridge with a lovely method chuck to the island so was pretty happy. i did set up a pole at 11m for the pellet and a margin line as it had been very mild coming into the match, but i didnt expect to use them. the method set up was Maver powerlite feeder system at 11ft, with 3012 TD-R, 6lb sensor, small garbo elasticated feeder, 0.20 hooklength to drennan carp feeder for either meat corn or dead red.

On the whistle i just about managed feed some corn and pellet on the pole and a maggot line then chucked the method tight and settle for a wait! an hour and a few chucks later not even liner was had. other chcking ot the island had had fish so iwas confident of getting wrap. another hour passed with 1 liner so i tried the maggot line to get a fish in the net and was immediately rewarded with a 2oz roach.

With a fish in the net i went back to the method as 3-4 fish had been caught off the island. still no wraps and after nearly being blown off my box a good few times, and various bits of other peoples luggage blowing across the pool i was thoroughly bored and annoyed going into the last 45 minutes.

So to make time pass and get warm i re-fed some maggots on the pole and gave it a try. the floats didnt stay still and small roach came steadily for the last 20 minutes.

I managed to weigh 1lb 2oz and beat 1 in my section. the rest of the team did pretty average and we lost out on third place by 2 points.

Again mr hindsight had a very important lesson to learn because if i wasnt so lazy and set up a close whip type line and fished for silvers i know i could have beaten another 2 anglers in my section and got those points the team needed. but with the occasional fish coming off the island i sat there waiting for the wrap that never came!! GUTTED!

Anyway roll on to next years league, more teams and i should be able to fish all the matches as the wedding is done and dusted!!

Tight lines!

Arrowvalley lake and Skilts!!

This weekend saw the last match of my works club aggregate league on Sunday so i put my name down although this is actually the first match of the series i've fished!

But before that i fancied another go at Arrow Valley for a Friday afternoon session as i was at a loose end!

Arrow Valley - Ultimate Ultima!!!!

After last weeks lovely session on the tip for bream i fancied a few roach this time on the pole as there is some excellent roach action to be had!

I decided to fish a peg in front of the sailing club car park. Its a lovely sheltered bay 5-6ft deep tops and usually full of fish!

On my way over i got a pint of whites with some reds in and a bag of Roach Noire and Matchblend to be mixed 50/50. Bait sorted.

Tackle for the day was going to be the pole at 13m with a couple of kits with a soft set double original slip number 4 (mainly because its the lightest elastic i had at the time and couldnt be bothered to fit the cut back number 1's in my top kits for a one off pleasure session, in hind sight a good choise, read on!).

Rigs for the day were some home made floats i've been working on for silver fish/maggot work. they feature a 1.2mm solid plastic bristle with 0.8mm carbon stem. I've actually managed to drill out the bristle and glue the stem into it to made it strong and durable, which i fell is missing from commercially made silver fish floats.

2 rigs were set up, with 1 taking approx 0.2g and the second around 0.4g (i havent worked out the exact shotting capacity yet! something i need to do for all my floats)

The lighter rig had no. 11's strung out over the bottom half of the rig set 1" off bottom and the heavier had a spread bulk of number 10's with 3 no. 11 droppers set 2" on the bottom. Both rigs featured 0.14 mainline to 0.10 hooklengths.

Now i've recently had a sort out of the box and got rid of a load of old line which i felt had come to the end of its life and my line drawer was looking pretty sparse. So i decided to make use of some recent fishing mag freebies and used some 0.14 Ultima Power Silk as mainline and bought some 0.10 Power Silk for hooklengths.

I have got to admit i was extremely impressed with it!

So much so when first cast after putting 3 balls of GB with some maggot i hooked into a very angry 8lb carp on the lighter strung out rig.

The doubled 4 did a great a job and the fish quite nicely plodded around on the strike and let me ship back to my top kit, when it quickly woke up when it came into the shallow water! I had to give it some more pole but the hooklength held brilliantly and i landed it on a top 4 after about 10 mins and increasing pressure as the fight went on!! I'm sure other lines i've used at 0.10 would have broken way before the Power Silk didnt! The Hooklength looked perfect after that battering so i didnt need to change it.

All my winter hooklengths with B611 and G point Pellets from 0.10 to 0.14 will now be done with Power Silk. I would like to use itto make all my winter rigs (i have a set of summer rigs on 0.18/0.20 mainline, and a set of winter rigs on 0.14 mianline) but its a bit pricey at around £5 for a 50m spool.

Anyway the day wasnt the easiest with the roach being very finicky and i had to either swap rigs or play about with the shotting to keep bites coming.

I ended up with 1 carp, 4 bream to 5lb, 9 roach to 12oz and a couple of stripeys to 6oz in the 3.5 hours i ended up fishing.

Skilts Pool - Hymatic AC Fur and Feather.

The last match of the year was planned to be on Skilts pool, a really nice pool in Redditch, but with a killer of a walk. Not a long walk, just a hard one up a newly rotivated corn field! The pool used to be run by the needle industries and i fished when i was younger with my mom, but it had been recently taken over by Matchbox AC and they've done a great job getting all the pegs up to spec!

There are some right lumps in there and some cracking silvers so i planned on a 'catch most things that swin' line on the pole and a method line towards the middle of the pool. Also a throw away margin line that i knew deep down i wasnt going to get a bite on but had to be ready for if something turned up!

Bait for the day was a couple of pints of soaked micros' and 3mm's for a pellet method and pole, some pumped expanders and couple of pints of maggots and a pint of hemp.

Rigs for the day, from the top: -

1 - Maver paste float, 0.20 straight through to a 12 B911 - for the paste!

2 - Home made Pencil (2mm tip, 1.2mm stem) 0.5g with a spread bulk to 0.16 hooklength with a 16 B911 - for the pellet.

3 - Homemade maggot float, 0.2g, 0.14 to 0.10 hooklength with a 18 B611 - for silvers.

4 - Homemade margin, 0.20 straight through to a 14 B911 - for lumps.

5 - I also set up an SP1 in 0.5g with an 0.14 hooklength and 16 B611 for a compromise roach rig after the whistle. Hopefully i'd get a carp out on it if i hooked one, but the roach would still take a maggot presented on it! - for anything!

then 2 rods: -

1 - Maver Powerlite Feeder System @ 11ft, TD-R with 6lb sensor to a small garbo elasticated method feeder and 16 Mustad meat hook 0n 3" of 0.18 for dead red maggot hook bait.

2 - Maver Powerlite Feeder System @ 11ft, Daiwa Capricorn 0.22 Genesis to a small Guru pellet feeder and 14 QM1 on 6" of 0.18 for hair rigged corn.

The pole line was plumbed up at 13m in 9ft of water with the rigs set pretty much at dead depth. the margin at 9m to my right (i'm left handed) in 2ft of water and the rods clipped up at about 30 metres. A second line at 9m to my right in 5 ft of water dropping down the near side shelf was plumded for out and out silvers and would be fed with maggots only.

On the whistle i fed a quarter of a small pot of micros, maggots and hemp on the pole, half a pot of maggots in the margin and then chucked the pellet method and settled for a wait! i was going to give the method at least an hour while the pole line settled.

After 10 minutes of motionless tip it randomly pulled, plucked then went slack so i clamly pulled into the feeder and was pleased as the rod arched nicely and a fish was on! i managed to get a good few turns on the reel before the fish went on a run and started taking line.

It didnt want to stop and i got very worried about hitting the clip so i put some more pressure on. Luckily it did stop and i put a couple of quick turns on to settle my nerves! I dont know how close to the clip i got, but i bet it was wasnt far off!!!

I really took my time with this fish and 15 mins later finally put the net under, for the second time, a nice big common. Good start, who needs a silvers line now!!!

I re-cast and another 10 minutes later the tip went again, a proper pull round this time and carp number 2 was on, but a few seconds later the hook pulled! i was proper gutted because in the back of my head i knew today was going to be grueller and every fish will count, but at the same time 2 wraps in 2 chucks was good going!

Not - i didnt have another touch for the next hour!

So i got my pellet rig out and gave the pole line a try. 20 minutes later i hadnt had a touch so i tried my compromise rig and had 3 beautifully conditioned roach in 15 minutes! The pole line then really slowed so i topped up with some micros and maggots and went back onto the method. i didnt want to ruin my pole line.

A pattern emerged where i would try the method for 30 minutes (with no signs usually) then i could catch a couple of roach after a rest. This suited me quite nicely because at the half way stage there was only me and 2 others with a single carp each, but i was the only one also putting roach in the net.

I did have 1 more wrap on the method and i got a stocky 3lb carp to the net only for the hook to pull just before it got in the net! the air was blue! i then foul hooked a carp on my compromise rig as i was shipping back but it came off after 30 seconds!

Going into the last 1/2 hour i was getting a bit nervous as i knew 1 more carp from those with 1 already in the net could do me over, so i sat on the method hoping for a wrap and my eyes on stalks keeping an eye on everyone! Then disaster happened, my fishing partner leant into a fish and 10 minutes later (after some abuse from me) put the net under another carp!

i really thought i'd been done (but me and my mate were splitting any money so it wasnt to bad if he beat me) . i was nicely suprised when my carp went 10-8 and even more pleased when my roach went 3-10 for a 14-2 total!! my mate was admitting to a 7lb and 5lb carp but i know his estimations are pants! but today he wasnt far off and weithed 12-12!

I'd won, and felt really happy with my performance (apart form the lost fish) as my hard work with the silvers had definately earned me the win!

no major plans set for the next couple of weeks so it'll be Cob House for me paractising for the teams of 3 winter league!

Arrow Valley Lake - 9-10-09

Well with another weekend of no fishing, i had to get my fix somehow so i planned a pleasure session on my local Arrow Valley lake in Redditch.

A bit of history, Arrow Valley is where my grandad took me fishing for the very first time and got me the bug, and i've visited it ever since. its where i made the transition from pleasure fishing to match fishing as its where the Redditch Kingfishers practised as a group every week.

Its a council run venue and is very rarely match fished. its a big piece of water at 30 acres but has a couple of islands at one with depths from 5 to 10ft in places and is stuffed with fish, with roach to 2lb, bream to 8lb and carp to 20lb. it really is a place where you could practise pretty much any method you like, from punch on the pole to meat on the method. and its fished its nuts off this year so far!

So a friday afternoon session it was to be. With a weekend in London planned, i didnt want to spent much money, so i emptied all my bits of groundbait from the cupboard into a bowl (about 2kg, perfect) soaked a couple of pints of Cob House micros and bought a pint of red maggots, total bait cost, £2.40! also any clubs affiliated to the Redditch federation of anglers can fish Arrowvalley for free and my works club is affiliated so a free ticket, brilliant!

11am rolled round and itchy feet saw me taking a little flyer from work and i was parked up and trolley loaded by 20 past!! i was purley going to target carp and more specifically bream so i packed a couple of tip rods and my landing net handle in my ready rod bag and took my pole bits out of my net bag and was off. i'd parked by the sailing club and had a stroll along the long straight Shakespeare bank (which has been recently re-pegged with some excellent staging) and settled on a flyer at the end of the island. a decent 70 yard chuck got to a small bay on the end of the island with deeper water 5-10 meters off the island. i fancied the deeper water as the temperatures had dropped recently.

Tackle for the day was simple: -

Rod 1 - Middy X-Flex medium feeder, Daiwa Capricorn 3500XTC, 0.22 maver genesis mainline with a 25g Kobra method feeder clipped on the end.

Rod 2 - maver powerlite feeder system @12ft, Daiwa Excellet Plus, 6lb Sensor with a rocket feeder paternoster to 0.16 hooklength.

Both rods were clipped up in the deeper water off the island. The Powerlite Feeder System rods never fail to amaze me as i was chucking the rocket the 70 yards accurately every time but the playing action is superb and i never pulled out of a fish all day with it! It was prob near the maximum range the 12ft rod would give me, but the 13ft section would put another 20 yards on the chuck! the Middy rod is fairly new in my bag, and has more backbone on the cast and the 70 yards was easy for it, even with the softest tip in. it has great big rings which help the cast and big spool diameter on the reel made the session really easy!

By 12.30 i was ready to go, groundbait was good, rods clipped and i was comfortable. I swapped the method for a big rocket and put 10 chucks of gb over my line with just a few reds in to kick start the session. i was intending to chuck the method very regularly and by the time i'd got the spare method feeder loaded and ready i'd reel in and re-chuck. with triple dead red on the hook, 4th cast and a nice pull round saw bream number 1 in the sack and at 3lb was a nice start even though i know they go a lot bigger as they've packed weight on over the last couple of seasons! a few more chucks with only a few signs gave me the feeling they wern't massively confident and the drop in temperature had calmed them down so i swapped over to the feeder set up.

I used a new set-up for me this time after reading Darren cox's recent article on long range feeder fishing. i started by tying a long 12" twisted loop and attaching a snap link to the end. then, slight variation to Darrens setup, tied a second 1/2" loop above the main loop. i then tied a 5" twisted loop in the end of my 3ft hooklength and then looped the hooklength inside the smaller loop in the mainline! (i hope that made sense). this set up gave me a nice paternoster with the twisted loop in the hooklength keeping the hooklength away from the mainline and tangle free! (i would like to incorporate a swivel somehow to remove any possiblility of line twist, but top and tailing my double maggot hookbait didnt actually cause any problems)

First cast o nthe feeder and bream number 2 was in the net and i was becoming a very happy man. by introducing just a few reds in my mix i was keeping things interesting and by 2 o'clock had 5 bream in the net along with a sole perch.

I was having trouble with Grebe's diving in my peg which would disturb the feeding shoal for 20 minutes or more, but a few well placed casts when they were on the surface got rid if them pretty quickly (no grebes were harmed during the writing of this blog)

My mate John watson turned up for a look and with him on my box for half an hour the peg was screwed and he didnt have a bite (cheers mate) but he did kindly take a photo of my net when he left with 8 bream for 30lb in it.

By now it was 3pm and with an hour left on the clock i got my head down on the feeder and started chcucking every 3-4 minutes to get some more feed in after the last Grebe attack and get the bream back. it worked nicely and 5 more bream in the last hour brought the session to a nice end. i reckon i had around 45lb in total with a couple of the bream easily 5lb and they're all in perfect condition with no damage at all.

While my Friday afternoons are free i'll be putting a few more free sessions in and its always good to keep practising a method you dont use very often like the feeder and even just casting practise!!

Cob House Fisheries 26-27 September

Well what a weekend, i dont think i could have made any more right decisions!!! my left bicep is positivley aching from all the hauling that i.........................................

NO NO NO, i cant do it! had a mare, fished like a complete muppet. but i'll cary on in my usual manner and tell you all about it!

Right Saturday, Cob House open on Laugherne Island Pool. coming into this match i was seriously full of confidence, and wanting to get my venue record back after Chris Cameron smashed it on Wyatts pool with 253lb. Gutted!! (mistake number 1, over confident, couldnt see the wood for the tress!!!)

Drew Peg 9, next door to last week so was reasonably happy, although there are better areas at the ends of the pools.

Learning from last weeks performance i decided that the pole was my primary tactic with the method to the island backing this up. So i set up the following gear: -

- 3 rigs for down the shelf

- 1 - 0.3 SP1 (pencil float), 0.18 mainline, 0.16 hooklength to a 16 B911. Spread bulk with 2 droppers.

- 2 - 0.5 SP2 (fatter pencil float) 0.18 mainiline, 0.8 hooklength to a 14 B911, Spread bulk with 2 droppers.

- 3 - Homemade paste float, self cocking, 0.18 direct to a 12 B911.

Rigs 1 and 2 were plumbed up at 14.5m slightly to the right as i'm left handed and i didnt want to retrieve my method over the same line and at 8m just at the bottom of the near shelf where it was the same depth as 14.5m. Rig 1 was plumbed at dead depth and would be my main rig. Rig 2 was plumbed at 2" over depth. The SP2's are made the exact same size as the SP1's but using a fatter dowel. This means i can use the same size float but get more shot down the line and hold it steadier if the conditions deteriorate or i start bagging and want to get the bait down them quickly.

Rig 3 was to be used at 8m only as i didnt want to have to fish the paste to far out and plumbed to dead depth.

I then set up a further 2 rigs -

- 4 - SP3 small for the margin, 0.20 mainline, 0.18 hooklength to a 14 B911

- 5 - SP5 for shallow, 0.18 mainline, 0.18 hooklength to a 16 B911

Rig 4 was plumbed to a small bush to my left in the margin about 7m away so i found another line to the same place but to my right to give me another line to go at.

Rig 5 was set at 12" for shallow over the 13m line. incidently for some reason you cant catch shallow on laugherne even though there are loads of signs up in the water!!

Finally, a maver powerlite feeder system @ 11ft, 6lb mainline, small preston inline method feeder, 0.20 hooklength to a 14 carp feeder barbless, clipped up 2ft off the island under a small bush.

Bait for the day was 2 pints of micros, soaked for the method and 6 pints of 4mm's dampened down slightly for the pole lines. on the whistle i fed half a large preston cup of 4mm at 13m and a full pot at 8m then chucked the method for 10 minutes to let it settle.

Then it all started to go wrong when my brain stopped working and i stopped thinking about what i was doing!

For those first 10 minutes and 4 chucks on the method i was catapulting some pellet over the pole line to really generate some interest. i had liners on the method but no real takes to promptly binned it and got on the pole.

The long line was bubbling nicely and had a fish after 2 minutes. I then went MAD with the catty as i had the venue record in my head and wanted to get bagging which promptly brought way to many fish in the peg and i was suffering from liners and plenty of foulhooked lost fish. My accuracy with the catty was pretty poor too and feed was spreading way to much!

Also my elastic wasnt right, as i had the newer preston slip (couldn't get hold of any original slip in time) number 8 doubled in my kits and just doesnt work. Its really sticky no matter how much you lubricate it and i'm sure i was pulling out of fish because of it! The original black 8 is sooooo much better!

The first hour passed and i'd only put 5-6 fish in the net and my main 14.5m line was like a jacuzzi and going no where!

So i had half and hour on the method and was nicely suprised to see it pull round virtually straight away and had 4 fish in half an hour to make me a bit happier. I cant sit still while on the tip so i made myself only catapult 3 pellets at a time over the pole line, MAXIMUM!! but after half an hour i actually had fish swirling on it so i put my shallow rig on and hooked a fish straight away! Brilliant, my first laugherne shallow fish! 10 minutes alter i had a second shallow fish but it was very slow.

Mr Brain then went potty again and i over did it with the catty and lost the shallow fish and created the jacuzzi again! IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The middle of the match was spent losing fish to the tune of at least 15, both to foulhookers and a rubbish elastic set up (must remember to hoard any original slip i can get). There were definately plenty of fish at 14.5m but the feeding wasn't right and they were all over the place. and i really didnt need to go to 14.5m. 11m would have been plenty and a lot easier to be more accurate with the catty.

All the time i was feeding my margin with small handfulls of pellet and eventually with 90 minutes to go I finally got some signs in the form of tail petterns! The margin rig was sent out and the fish disappeared from the left hand line. So i tried the right hand line and they disappeared from there but the left line came to life again! So started more fun and games. Neil Macinnon after the match said the margin fish were unbelievably finicky! In the end i lost 1 foulhooked fish in the margin and that was it!

So totally disheartened i spent the last 45 minutes on the method for another run of 5-6 fish.

At the wegh in I only managed 59lb for easily my worst weight at Cobb House by a country mile. My mate John Watson of Total Coarse Fishing fame, fished an absolute blinder to win with 187lb and found some proper lumps down the margin. Neil Macinnon was second with 147lb and 2 more tons got 3rd and 4th. overall the venue fished really well as usual.

In hindsight my brain switched off and i didnt put any thought into what i was doing and i was still in summer mode, banging the feed in trying to force the peg into a winning position. Next time i'll get my winter head on and try to build the peg a lot more carefully. I think the catapult will go away and the cad pots come out to play! Or at least limit the catapult to 2-3 pellets at a time.

Sunday

Sunday morning was started with a nice suprise as the Mrs felt like she wanted to do a load of stuff for work and i could please my self, so after the Sunday big shop at Tesco's (after a wicked Tesco breakfast). I got my gear together and headed to Cob House again for a relaxed no pressure pleasure session.

I decided to fish the waggler on Oak pool as it was empty and didnt really want to fish the long pole. I did set the pole up to fish a lovely margin line at 9 metres but that was it. armed with 2 pints of 6mm and 2 pints of 4mm i had a lovely few hours chucking a little 2.5AA wag to 25 metres in 4ft of water sprinkling 6mm pellets around it and catching a few carp to 4lb. it wasnt hectic by any means but thoroughly enjoyable. I then finished the afternoon off with an hour in the margin catching carp to 6lb.

I came home nicely relaxed and happy again following saturdays nightmare!!!!

No fishing next weekend as i'm off to the races on Saturday with the father-in-law and taking the grandparents to see my moms canal barge on Sunday down in Reading!

My Floats

Well this weekend was the fishingless for me - my car died on Tuesday, and is going to cost a fortune and i wasnt feeling in the best of fishing moods!!

I did manage a quick walk around cob house to watch on old friend catch a fish a chuck on Wyatts and win his club match with 114lb. BUT - i also found out while i was there my venue record had been smashed the previous day with 250lb odd, so was a bit gutted, but its spurred me on to have a really good go this weekend!!!
Anyway as promised i thought i'd show you my own home made pole floats.

In the last couple of years i've been getting more and more disheartened with shop bought pole floats, having so many patterns in my box, and getting through them when they break so easily, so i thought i'd get some bits together and have a go at my own floats.

I started by just getting enough stuff to made about 10-20 floats just to see how hard it really is. i used one of our small Schaublin lathes at work to turn and drill out the dowel into a simple shape then experimented with finishes to get the float smooth and looking right and also hard enough to be durable and also get tip and stem lengths proportioned right to get the floats behaving properly.

I then used our CAD machines to 3D model the floats, enter the material properties - density bouyancy etc, to give me a dimensional drawing for the various shotting capacities i wanted - NOT REALLY, i just played about until i got something that 'looked' right!!!!!!!!!!!!

When i was happy i then bought some more materials and set about stocking my box with floats that i wanted to suit the various situations that i find myself in. So far i've got 3 patterns.

First of all we have the SP1 - This is a simple pencil type float.

I've used a 1.5mm hollow bristle with a 1mm carbon stem and a spring eye on the tip. The floats range from 0.1-0.5g although i havent worked out exactly what each float takes. The tips are delightful and you can easily adjust the amount of tip showing with no.11 stotts. I used one of these floats to set the (now old) venue record at Cob house with 207lb, using the second smallest on 3ft of water and the smallest in 1ft of water. i also managed 116lb using the second biggest float in 6ft of water.

This is now my nuber 1 pellet float in reasonable conditions for small and big fish. i will be using it come summer or winter and totally love it.

Then there is the SP3, a proper rugid margin float

This float uses a 2mm hollow bristle, with a 1.5mm glass stem. The smaller floats takes just a few no.11 stotts and the bigger takes 5-6 no.10 stotts. The thickness of the tip allows it to be dotted to a pimple and the few i've made for friends have been used very effectively in combination with a corn hookbait. I've been using them with pellet in the margin and been giving them a right old beasting with excellent results. The only issues i've had is the spring eye distorting, but the floats have all remained in tact when tput through reeds, pandox and all sorts of branches. I think the 3 sealing and sanding cycles and 3 coats of varnish help with that.

Finally (so far) we have the SP5. A simple dibber

This uses the same diameter dowel as the margin floats but i've turned the tip down to a reasonable diameter and put a rad on the bottom, them glued a 1.5mm glass stem in the base.

They pretty much self cock and could be used with 1 number 10 as a shallow float with plenty of bristle showing, or i've been using them in the margin with corn with 5 or 6 number 10's down the line in a bulk. i havent put any form of eye on these and use silison on the stem and body (stick floats style) to keep them in position. nothing to rip out then!!

All of the floats have the tip glued into the stem for supreme strength and as mentioned have been sanded and sealed 3 times with 3 coats of varnish over the top. So far i only mangled 1 or 2 spring eyes, with the floats themselves still in perfect condition.

I'm now planning to knock up some rounder, thicker bodies floats for when the weather deteriorates and a bristled float for shallow work.

I love making these floats and its brilliant if you manage to get a result using them. my friday afternoons and lunchtimes are now spent sat at a lathe making the bodies and doing all the smoothing and sanding, with all the glueing and varnishing done at home!!

I'll hopoefully never be without the right float for the job again!

Cob House Fisheries Open, 12-09-09

Right, first of all a llittle introduction to Cob House.
I've only discovered the place a couple of months ago whilst searching for somewhere to fish local to my Worcester home. I first replied to a thread advertising a pairs match down there which turned into a normal open in the end. After that outing is was hooked on the place. i weighed 113lb, which was made up over 150 fish. a very very busy day and £30 quid in my sky rocket!

The venue is (or was) primarily a fish farm where all species of fish are bred, but mostly true carp including some beautiful crucians. By the way if you do ever visit, do not mention or ask about F1's as its a dirty word down there. Phil, the fishery manager, only deals in true breeds of carp and does a very good range of ornamental kio's in all sorts of colours.
The fishery is still in quite a raw state, with the match pools still quite bare. when they have developed like the victorian pools used for pleasure anglers, it will be a stunning place to be. There are 4 main match pools, Wyatts, Laugherne Island, Oaks and Laurel pools.
Wyatts pool is where ive managed to set the venue record with 207lb 14oz and is stuffed with small carp from 6oz to 1lb 8oz and a few bigger specimens mixed in. Laurels is much the same as Wyatts but has a decent stocking of silvers mixed in with the carp. Oak has bigger carp and Laugherne Island (my favourite) is stocked predominantly with carp in the 4-6lb bracket, with specimens to double figures. there is also a good number of skimmers in there too. In six visits my worst weight there is 113lb, so its pretty consistent!
Any way, back to Saturday. Unfortunately numbers have dwindled recently and only 5 were booked on for the match (this is something i dont understand as its a fantastic place, excellent weights and a brilliantly run fishery, but Phil is working hard trawling the net spreading the good word, although the match results speak for themselves).

With only 5 of us we had a little rover and could pick our pegs along the far bank of Laugherne Island pool. I draw number 4 but wasnt worried as we had 20 pegs to pick from!
I setteld on peg 8














As you can see i had a nice gap in the island to chuck a method to, and plenty of water to plumb a couple of pole lines in and 2 nice margin to my left and right. one thing i have noticed is that the pegs have deep spots directly in front of them to accomodate nets so thats always a prime area.
So tackling up i set the following gear up -
- maver powerlite feeder @ 11ft, 6lb mainline, small method, 0.20 hooklength to a size 14 QM1
- maver powerlite match 1 @ 11ft with a 6gr middy popper waggler, 0.18 hooklength to a 14 mustad meat hook with hair rigged quick stop.
On the pole: -














From top to bottom -
1. Preston tyson for shallow, 0.18 direct to a 16 B911
2. Home made margin small, 0.20 direct to a 14 B911
3. Home made pencil No.3, 0.18 to 0.16 to a 16 B911
4. Home made margin big, 0.18 to 0.18 to a 16 B911

I will be doing a little write up of my own floats very soon.

Rig 2 was plumbed in front of the next pallet to the right, and set so i could fish on, touching or off bottom on the nearside slope in 18 inches of water. i wanted signs of fish to be present before i started fishing this line, and 18 inches of water would make that happen.
Rig 3 was plumbed at 13 metres in front of me (well at about '1 o'clock' as i never like to reel in floats or feeders over my pole lines) in 5-6ft of water. this was set at dead depth with a spread bulk and a couple of droppers.
Rig 4 was plumbed at 4 section in front of me just at the bottom of the nearside slope. i didnt intend to feed this line from the off, only bringing it into play if i was struggling on my other lines.
Bait fo the day was 5 pints of 4mm feeders, 3 pints of 2mm feeders, 1 kilo of GB and a good couple of handfuls of 6mm expanders for the hook.
i was ready in good time and looking forward to the whistle. so 2 minutes before the off i got my method loaded up with an expander on the hair and GB moulded with a preston method mould. a quick note, as you have to use inline methods at cob house i bought some korum quick change beads to try, in the normal size. as i was getting my clip sorted (you have to chuck very tight to the island) i put the method in the bush on the island. i didnt mind as i could get my clip absolutely spot on. when pulling to free the feeder (i left the hooklength on) something broke and i lost the lot! on investigation the quick change bead had broken before my line had gone! this worried me big style so i didnt use one when i re-rigged up and used a swivel instead! i dont think i'll be using them again!
So on the whistle i put a small preston pot full of 4mm's (didnt use a big one as the night time temperatures have been around 4-5 degrees and didnt want to over do it) on my 13 metre line, a small pot full of 2mms over my margin line and cast the method out tight to the island.
I didnt take long to get indications and my first 5 chucks resulted in 5 fish hooked but only 2 in the net! this seriously knocked my confidence in the QM hooks, so much so i changed it for a drennan carp feeder barbless. with these lost fish bolting my method line really slowed, so i moved to the pole after 45 mins.
i'd been catapulting 20-30 pellets over this line very regularly and the line was showing lots of signs with plenty of bubbles. first drop the float settled lovely to about 10mm showing then dipped under after a few seconds and a 3lb carp was lifted into! i was really pleased! i managed another 10 fish over the next half hour from 2-8lb a piece. it then started to go really finicky with lots of missed bites. i'd unconsciously upped the feed and was catapulting pellets all the time which, i think, brought the skimmers in. the fish on Laugherne just dont seem to feed shallow for some reason!! so i put another full pot over the line and popped back on the method for another couple of fish and made sure i properly regulated the amount i was feeding. i didnt use a pole mounted pot today as i didnt want these relatively big fish fedding in a small area so i spread the feed a bit with the catapult.
i did lose a few fish over the day to broken hooklengths, which in my mind broke way to easily. my box did get a thorough drenching a few weeks ago after 5 hours of constant rain and i didnt dry my lines properly so i can only think they have have deterioriated and lost some strength. tackle shop trip for me!
the middle couple of hours were spent swapping between the pole and method putting some good fish in the net. i had been regularly topping my margin line up with 2mm feed and with 90 minutes to go a started getting signs in the shallow water.
This signalled the start of a very poor ending to the match. i manged to completely do my own head in chasing fish all along my margin. Starting on my plumbed margin swim i caught some proper fish to 8lb but realised if i stayed on it i'd ruin it so started dropping some pellets in a couple of metres down the bank. within minutes fish tunred up on this line and slightly further on then to my left where some bait had fallen in. I was surrounded!!!!!!!, but for some reason i decided to chase all the swirls with my rig and never let it settle properly to wait for a bite!! what a loser!!!!
i did catch a few in the last half hour after a few words with myself but the damage was done. I was playing a fish on the final whistle which is always nice!!
i managed to weigh in 116lb, which was more than i thought as i'd caught so sporadically, and that got me 3rd, but i was done for second with 125lb. 200lb 3oz won, which is way to close to my record for comfort!!
In hindsight i should have easily managed second and got a lot closer to the winner. i should have totally ignored the island and fished 2 pole lines out and rotated them to keep them going, but the island looks so inviting. the pole should be my primary line with the method backing it up if desperate. there is a killer hookbait for the method line as pellet takes to long, but i havent found it yet. and i need to sort my head out with my margin fishing as i easily wasted half of those last 90 minutes chasing swirls!!!!
Anyway it was a lovely day, lots of bites and action and barely a cloud in the sky!!!! theres a cob house winter league to look forward to, teams of 4 with a £1000 payout for the winners, so bring it on!