Cob House - 24-04-10

Another visit to my favourite Cob House this week, and Oak pool was the destination. Oak is one of the smaller match pools on the complex, and easily the shallowest with 3-4 ft pretty much all over. its very well stocked, as per the whole complex, with fish in the 1-3 bracket.

I've fished Oak once before on a Sunday afternoon pleasure session last year and had a few but not mega, so i used a few contacts to gather some more info. As with all the pools at Cob pellet was to be my main attack, but i now also knew that the fish were hard to pin down in one position because of the depth and the very silty bottom of Oak pool.

so the attack was going to be a couple of long pole lines for the pellet, a couple of shorter pole lines for some paste then whatever margins looked nice.

After sorting myself out with a very nice sandwich i got the fishery in plenty of time (in fact loads of time because the draw was at 10 and not the 9am i had assumed). so with plenty of time in hand, Scott took me up to the hatchery for another look round to see what was in stock. i'd visited 2 weeks prior and the hot tanks were full of fry, around 10-15mm long. well they were now triple the size and looking absolutely stunning. lots of ghost and koi carp! they also had loads of tench, golden tench and rudd in the holding tanks ready for delivery! tens and tens of thousands of fish in all!! it really i interesting the amount of effort and hard work that goes into the hatchery side of Cob House.

Anyway we eventually got round ot the draw, and with just 5 people in the match we had loads of room and a lovely day on the cards! peg 5 stuck to my hand, which is on the laughenre island bank and next to the aerator.

i had plenty of room, with 3 pegs spare either side. The aerator rope prevented me having a left hand margin line, but i had plenty of room to the right, but marginal vegetation would limit how far along i could fish.

I set plenty of rigs up to cover my chosen attack: -
1 - 0.25g SP slim pencil 1.5mm tip, 0.15 Ultima Power Silk mainline to 0.14 Power Silk hooklength, 16 B911 shotted with No.11 stotz so i could spread or bulk as necessary (light pellet)
2 - 0.3 SP fat pencil 2mm tip, 0.18 G line to an 0.16 G line hooklength, 14 B911 shotted with number 8 stotz for a positive bulk (heavy pellet)
3 - Self cocking pea float (not sure which make, got em off flea bay) 0.18 G line to a 0.16 G line hooklength with a 16 B911 set at 1 foot deep (shallow)
4 - KC Carpa Paste, 4x12, 0.18 G Line to 0.18 G line hooklength, 12 B911 with 3 number 8 spread over the line to keep the rig straight whe n the paste is in the pole pot during shipping (short Paste)
5 - 0.1 SP margin 2mm tip, 0.18 Gline to 0.16 gline hooklength with a 14 B911. Shotted with a few number 11 stotz

The weather had really turned out very nicely all week with high teens degree C during the day, but a light frost most mornings so i wasnt 100% sure how much to give them at the start. i ended up on the side of caution and gave them less that a 1/4 pot of soaked 3mm feed pellets on each long line, 1/2 pot of 4mm feed pellets and a couple of blobs of paste on the short line, and a half pot of 3mm feed on the single margin line i had plumbed up.
it didnt take long to get signs on the long pellet lines, but i was easily the last person to catch a fish out of the 5 of us. i was getting bites off both long lines, but the right hand line was quicker. i disciplined myself to only take 1 fish from each line as i wanted them to last. after each fish the line would get a small CAD pot of feed and i'd fish the alternate line. it was working well, and regular fish were coming to the net, but it definately wasnt hectic!
it was also a little strange as my left hand line produced only common carp and the right hand line produced only mirror carp!! there was an inch difference in depth between them, and the rig was dead depth to the right, and slightly over to the left so that might be the reason!
After an hour i had 8-9 fish in the net and boy-o-boy they fight hard in that pool. last week on Laugherne i was using the doubled middy 6-8 latex kits and landing 4-6lb fish with ease, but now on the same setup i was struggling to land 2lbers!! they really were awake! but on the flip side i was getting everything in the net. the bites were coming with a Cob House 4mm expander on the hook as i couldnt get a bite on a 6mm.
i'd been dripping feed onto the short line regularly, so fancied giving it a go to rest the longer lines and managed 4 paste fish quite quickly which included a nice 4lber. i also tried the margin while i was short but didnt get a bite.
Pegs 9 and 11 had loads of room in the margin with one side of the pool to themsleves and they were making the margin line work, but i wasnt too worried as they werent accelerating away just yet.
aftet the stint short i went back out long and found the left hand line very quiet. i was still making myself swap lines but it was taking a long time to get a bite. i started a third line long further to the right and left it for 20 minutes to settle. first chuck on there and i did have a bite but missed it. this line was as slow as the left hand line. the now middle line, was by far the strongest, but i didnt want to ruin it, so would catch a couple of fish long then come short for a couple of paste fish. this worked quite well for a while and saw me through the middle part of the match. with 2 hours to go i was quite happy putting a few fish in the net and enjoying myself, but knew i was behind the 2 guys on 9 and 11 and needed to do something.
the aerator was at 14.5 meters and i'd seen fish moving round it all day so i added a section and put 1/4 of a pot by it. as the left hand long line wasnt producing i'd left it for an hour with nothing going in on it, but decided to see of anything was there, an instant bite told me the long rest had done it good, and in half an hour put 5 fish in the net between it and the middle long line.
90 minutes to go and i gave the aerator line a try and it was solid!!! i finished off the match on this line with the heavy pellet rig, with it was banging under every chuck with some quality fish to 4lb. i did lose a couple as i was in bagging mode and lost 1 silly one under my own landing net. it managed to transfer the hook from its lip to the net, how it done is a complete mystery unless carp carry disgorgers around with them nowadays!!!
The whistle went and i was pretty pleased overall, i think i put around 35lb in the net over the last hour and thought i'd done well overall. the scales came round and my two nets went to 104lb. i genuinely didnt think i had that much at all, and was pleased to break the ton (first time this year i think).
peg 9 next to me put 80lb odd on the scales then peg 11 put 111lb on to beat me! i was a bit gutted because i'd worked hard all day rotating lines and then exploiting the long line in the last 90minutes, but it wasnt quite enough! second will do on this occasion!!

Cob House is really waking up now and the weights will ramp up considerably, so looking forward to the bank holiday Monday match on there this week. With Oak, Laugherne and Wyatts in i dont care where i draw as all the pegs are full of fish!

Tight lines, catch you all next time!

23-04-10 - Arrowvalley Lake Redditch

Just a short and sweet entry before the weekend activities.
With a half day at work today, and the weather making a change for the better, i fancied a pleasure session on my favourite Arrowvalley lake in Redditch, 2 minutes from work. I say the weather was better, with excellent day time temperatures and pretty much constant sun, but we had a frost most mornings this week!!


Plan for the day was simple, very simple. i loaded the ready rod bag with a rod and my landing net handle, and took my box, carry all and a keepnet. Rod was my old trusty MAP matchtek 13ft float rod, brilliant for silvers, small TDR loaded with 0.17 Genesis and a Cralusso Rocket light waggler. I finished the rig off with an 0.10 Ultima Power Silk hooklength with an 18 B611.
i'd been very interested in these floats after seeing them in action so got myself a couple to try out and this was the perfect time. The rocket floats feature a wire guide running from the bottom of the float around and up the side of the float, this moves the attachment point of the waggler during the cast, aiding range.
The float was loaded to the tune of 3g, with an extra gram required to set it perfectly. i didnt have the proper waggler attachments so locked a snap link in place with a few number 8 stotts, then the final amount of loading set with a main bulk of numbers 8's and a couple of positive number 8 droppers.





Bait for the day was a bag of Dynamite Silver X Fishmeal Bream, and half a bag of Sensas lake, then half a pint of dead red maggots. Simple, again!!
I plumbed the depth with a normal unloaded waggler on the snap link to get a positive depth finding, then replaced it with the cralusso to set it properly. first impressions, they cast like a dream!!!
a 4g float isnt big, around 5AA, but it was casting 8-10g float distance!! So with the conditions of the day, an irregular blustery wind, i set my clip at a positive 35 yards and gave myself 3 turns of the reel to sink the line. groundbait mixed, with very good helping of dead reds added, i gave the swim 5 sausages of GB (and i'm getting pretty accurate with the groundbait catty now! england call up coming i reckon - i wish!!!) to get the swim going.
It took some time to get my first bite after around 30 minutes and a perch was the culprit. not a great sign with so many skimmers and roach present in the lake. I was giving the swim a couple of sausages of GB every 15 minutes to spark some activity. i managed 3 perch and blade roach before i connected with my first proper fish. At first i felt it was a skimmer but it gave a real good account of itself under the rod tip and a lovely hybrid was the culprit.



It really was a beautifull fish and my first hybrid from Arrowvalley that i can remember.
things werent amazing on the bites front, but they were regular enough to keep me interested. i was getting on well with the wagglers, with bites showing up nicely on the dotted down float. when the wind got up taking a shot off helped me keep the float in sight, and being able to change the tip insert for a red, yellow or black tip instantly is an absolutely superb facility.
i did suffer a few tangles over the session, which could be down to my shotting pattern, but i did find if i didnt hit the clip fully and straighten the rig out, it would definately tangle. i also found it a massive help to let the float settle for a second or two to allow the snaplink to drop form the side of the float down to the bottom of the float before sinking the line.
i ended the session with the majority of the extra shotting around the float with just a couple of droppers down the line. this was getting me the most bites in the 5 foot deep swim. i'd pretty quickly got through my bait, but felt the regular top ups were definately worth bites.
i finished with 2 nice hybrids, 2 bream, and few perch and roach for around 12lb and a lovely afternoon.
Roll on more Friday afternoon sessions!!!!!

Net Review part 2 - Willow Marsh Open

Following being set up in the garden the nets first outing was to be at Willow Marsh for the Saturday open, a venue i've fished a couple of times but with mixed results.
Dragonfly pool was the destination but with a club match on the near bank the far bank later pegs were available for the open. Things would be tight, but with good results the previous couple of weeks a decent match should be on the cards (although you wouldn't think it with the amount of moaning going on before the draw had even taken place!!! lol)


Into the draw bag and peg 29 stuck to my hand, not a peg thats usually included apparently. I was hemmed in open water wise with and angler to my right and another 3 down on the bank to my left, but i had some room in my left hand margin.

Setting my gear up and getting my box right i attached the net and as predicted the top ring was securely locked in place by the knuckle and easily took the weight of my landing net resting on it. Fortunately i had plenty of room to my left so set the net out to that side. with 18" of water in the margin, the net barely sunk half way up the ring and promply collapsed. with a bit of persuassion from my handle it stood up but took up a hell of a lot of room. (i didnt put it straight out because i wanted a short line in front of me). my Maver carp net looked tiny in comparison next to it but i was happy with my set-up.

My plan of attack for the match was fairly simple with a single long pole line with pellet deep and shallow, a short corn line down the near shelf with corn and paste on the hook, and a margin line long to my left in the quiet water. Rigs were 0.18 with 0.18 hooklengths as the fish run very big and you dont need that many to make a weight.

Bait for the day was 2x1kg bags of frozen corn, 1 bag of 4mm pellets, some 6mm expanders and some paste (they were getting the corn big style. the venue record went with 32 tins of corn being fed!)

Within half an hour the net had collapsed again and what i'd forgotten about new nets it started to float! With some more persuassion it was easy enough to get right. On the whistle the long line got a big pot of pellet, the short line got a big pot of the corn with some paste and the margin got the same. Straight out onto the pellet line and the float didnt move for half an hour, but with plenty of fish moving on the surface i didnt put the catty down and was happy to leave the deep rig alone and come shallow (with only 1 bag of pellets aloud per match, around 2 pints, i wouls have to be really carefull to make them last)

Some movement in the margin prompted me to have a fairly early look after 45 minutes and a quick 3lber gave me some hope but i couldnt get another touch there. Out shallow and i managed a quick fish around 7lb. double 8 latex as usual doing a great job to get the fish with minimal fuss (i will say the middy 6-8 was definately under gunned for the fish at willow). things were very slow tho, and it was taking around half an hour to get signs from any more fish. i'm sure with more feed available i could have made things improve but i had to make that precious 2 pint bag last. the rig was getting lots and lots of work to try and complement the amount of feed actually going in with fake feed splashed by the float, bulk and expander!!!!!

I kept the short corn line and margin toppped up all match but didnt have any other bites from them. The fish were a good size each and the Garbo net was swallwoing them easily and the extra large top ring made transferring the fish in landing net very easy and they were swimming off as if they weren't in a net!!!!!

well there isnt a fat lot else to write about with regards to the match, i managed 10 carp in total plus 2 chub, all shallow apart from the early margin fish. it was very hard work and i had to keep ringing the changes with the rig depth. i did up the feed half way through and definatley had a better spell of 3 fish but knew i'd run out of bait way before the end and with not much happening anywhere else in the i couldnt let that happen. i knew i'd done pretty well but also know a couple of other lads had caught well too. i put 54lb on the scales and was really pleased to beat all those around me from such a restricted peg. the end pegs on each bank had 70, 78 and 80lb to push me to 4th overall and 1 out the money! Gutted!

the net had done me good, and swallowed everything i threw at it. it did keep collapsing on me and had to be readjusted but as i wasnt to busy i didnt mind to much. the handles and large top ring made weighing in really easy and the fish rolled out nicely and stayed calm in the weigh sling, probably because they had so much room in the keepnet.

Overall, i'll say again i think its useage will be quite restricted. in a tight peg it simply wont fit with a second net in and it needs to be out to its full length or it will collapse. i also now dont know what to do to store it. it fits in my stink bag, but i cant do the top up on it. i usually store my gear in the in-laws garage but i know there are mice in there so i dont want it chewed through. i'll have to have a think.

It is certainly a quality item, and looks the dogs set up. i'm hoping to do some big pellet waggler work this summer at earlswood and Larford for big fish so it will be absolutely perfect for that.

Will let you know how i get on with it in a couple of months!

Garbolino Squad Mega Carp Keepnet

Well first of all i've got to thank Darren Cox at Garbolino and Match Fishing Scene for allowing me to get hold of the net and give it a review. Well here's part one, first impressions.

First of all its HUGE!!! and i mean seriously big. Here it is photographed next to a 3 meter maver carp keepnet, which in itself is more than big enough for standard carping.

The extra large top ring will easily swallow the biggest match carp, and its bigger brothers. the top ring features a sturdy locking mechanism that should easily ensure the top ring stays horizontal even with a landing net resting on it.

The second ring from the end features a couple of solid handles that can be used to pull the ring through for weighing in purposes. with such a massive top ring it is really easy to pull through.

The actual net material is really soft and finely woven so shouldnt present any problem with fins getting stuck. the net as a whole is quite heavy and the bottom few rings have a rubber coating to prevent any wear on the net when its in the water and being dragged out, hopefully full of fish.

My main concern was whether the net would fit in my stink bag, but with some persuassion it went in, but i'm pretty sure the lid wont zip up now. will have to investigate whether Garbolino do a specific stink bag for it.

Overall, its certainly quality piece of kit and should provide some very long service. i'm not sure where it'll find its best use, as most venues i fish arent stuffed with double figure lumps and a lot of venues now impose net limits, which goes against the need for a massive net.

BUT i will certainly be putting it to maximum use and will report back after its first use!

Cob House Open, 27-03-10

Ultimate Ultima

I'm going start this entry off with a thanks to Ultima for some excellent customer service. i had noticed on a some spools of line in my box that the spool itself had a couple of defects where the spool hadnt been adequately frazed when the spool was moulded. i was concerned this may affect the line wound over this defect when being loaded onto the spool.

A quick email to ultima to highlight the point was greated with a pretty quick repsonse assuring me the problem had been recognised and had already been dealt with at the manufacturers. Also Ultima would send replacement line for those which i have in my box with defects, then on top of that they would sent some more line in dimaters i had yet to try!

Thank you very much Ultima, excellent service.


Cob House Open

Well after a long absence i finally made it back to Cob House to fish the Saturday open on Laugherne Island pool.

I was really looking forward to it as i'd been away for so long, the weather had dramatically improved in the previous week and Laugherne Island is my favourite pool on the complex (well prob my favourite pool anywhere)

As i've said the weather had improved from the arctic conditions we've been experiencing over the last few months and a walk round the open on wednesday on Wyatts confirmed the fish had started moving, with people even catching fish from the margins.

my preperation for this match started on my pole. i was pretty confident of a good day, so i raided the summer elastic store and rigged 3 kits with double slip 8 and 2 kits with some fresh middy Hi-Viz 6-8 latex. the weather for the day wasnt predicted as brilliant with blustery winds so i made sure i had some 1g rigs ready to go and plenty of hooklengths to 0.18 diameter to suit the hard fighting nature of the Laugherne carp to double figures.

Bait was going to be 3mm for feed with some 4mm for catapulting and 4 and 6mm expanders for the hook. i was going to take corn too, but forgot to put it in my bag! oops!

A very nice sausage and Bacon sandwich on my way to the draw got me ready for a good days hauling. With some extra advertisement through the online communities 19 anglers had turned for todays match.
The draw bag looked after me and took me to peg 1 for the day. its a peg i've fished before and managed a match win of it with 115lb, so my previous confidence was boosted nicely.



The predicted weather of high winds wasnt showing itself while setting up and all was reasonably calm. the peg is on the near end of the pool with no island cast but the whole end bank of the pool (up to half way obviously) available for use with a number of margin lines to be created. there were plenty of fish moving when we were setting up especially round the islands.

With plenty of options open to me i set up the following: -

Rig 1 - Margin 13m - 0.2 SP Margin, 2mm tip. 0.18 Garbo G line, 0.16 Genesis hooklength with a 18 B911.
Rig 2 - Margin 16m - 0.2 SP Margin, 2mm tip, 0.18 G Line, 0.16 Genesis hooklength with 16 B911
Rig 3 - Pellet deep - 0.4 SP Slim Pencil, 0.15 Ultima Power Silk, 0.14 Power Silk Hooklength to a 18 G Point pellet.
Rig 4 - Shallow - 4x12 Bristled preston float, 0.16 genesis direct to a 16 B911. set at 18" deep.
Rod 1 - Maver powerlite feeder system @ 11ft, TD-R 3012 with 6lb sensor, small inline preston method with 0.20 hooklength and 16 eyed B911 with korum quick stop.

The 13m margin line was 6 inches shallower than at 16m so i made a rig for each to ensure they were both perfect. The rod was clipped up at about 20m down the bank beyond pole range in the margin and would only come into play if i was struggling.

Plan for the day was to start in the deep water at 14.5m to see if there was anything moving there while the main margin lines settled. All lines recieved around 50 3mm's feed pellets and a few 4 and 6m expanders and the deep rig was despatched out to 14.5m where it settled beautifully, but stayed there and stayed there for half an hour. No amount of lifting and dropping tempted a bite and typically the wind had now decided to get up, and got progressively worse over the course of the match. Luckily being on the right end of the pool and the wind coming over my bank rather than into it kept my margin lines reasonably calm.

I really didnt want to plunder the margin lines too early and with no action in the deep water i decided to give the method a chuck to try and kick the account off for the day. i kept the casting tight too well within a meter of the margin but 5 casts later over the next 20 minutes only produced a couple of liners and locating a snag to which i lost a hooklength.

With around an hour gone and a fair few people with fish in the net i had to try and make things happen so the 13m margin line was the first margin to get some attention. first chuck the float barely settled before it was gone and lively 3lb mirror was in the net. i all of a sudden had a big smile on my face with images of 2 very full keepnets at the whistle! BUT they were short lived as i then struggled for another bite 20 minutes later. i was forced to move out to 16m to plunder the second line and fortunatley there were a few more fish there and i managed to put 4 fish in the net by the end of the second hour. i was by no means bagging but was certainly keeping up with those i could see braving the wind and putting some thing in the net.

i didnt feel like i was making the most of the margins at all, but perhaps i was remembering my last session on the peg a bit too much when i fished it in much better conditions.

the third hour brought another 5 fish, but smaller fish around 3lb each, much smaller than the laugherne average. i still wasnt happy the margin was producing to its potential and bites werent amazing. best hookbait by far was a 4mm expander with the rig bulked about 10 inches form the hook. there was a fair bit of rubbish in the peg and the bulk ensured the rig settled properly and gave the most positive bites.

i then made a decision with 90 minutes to go and force the peg a little and potted in 1/3 of a small preston pot of feed at 16m to try bring some fish in and get them to get here heads down. while that settled i had a look in the deeper water where i'd been pinging 4mm feed pellets since the early look on the line. i was suprised to see the float disappear and a 3lb common in the net! great! NOT - that was the only bite i had on that line. another quick chuck on the method didnt produce anything so with just over an hour to go i decided to concentrate on the long margin to make the most of it.

the extra feed had worked and a run of 8 fish in the last hour seriously boosted my weight and i was fairly happy. I had the best bites with bait held rock steady as tight to the margin reeds as i could get it, and sitting on the pole instead of it under my arm helped massively with that!

Swainy opposite me had been putting fish in the net fairly regularly over the coarse of the match and i thought it would be close.

Bob (nearly20mbob) had done very well last hour, so i wasnt overly sure how the final result would go, but i knew i'd done pretty well. i was first to weigh and put 56lb on the scales. i didnt follow the scales round as i had loads to pack up still but felt 56 wouldnt be enough to win.

Finally Scotty J made it back to the car park with the results and i found out i'd managed a match 2nd, with 62lb winning. the winner wasnt one of those who i'd thought with Swainy putting 50lb on the scales.

overall i was fairly pleased with the result but the win was well within the pegs potential. i had lost 5 fish over the match, all foul hooked as they came off within a few seconds but there isnt a fat lot that can be done about that. i think more positive feeding from the start may have unlocked the peg earlier. the double 8 slip and middy 6-8 have done the job again with all fish under total control from the strike to netting.

i also feel i shouldnt have fed the 16m line before i was ready to fish it as it choked the 13m. apart from the first fish i didnt have another bite at 13m and i think the fish never made it past the feed at 16m to settle shorter. All part of the learning curve i guess!!

Anyway Cob House again for me Bank holiday Monday with a rover with Oak, Wyatts and Laugherne available for use!